University Challenge

A bit of a Brian May lookalike. Good show tonight, plenty of handy questions thrown in, I even got two in a row correct.

UCL could be, literally, the jokers in the pack in the hunt for this yearā€™s prestigious title. It was pretty much level pegging into the last ten minutes, but in the words of David Coleman, UCL opened their legs and showed their class down the home straight.

Donā€™t hate him because heā€™s different from you.

Iā€™ve thought about it and decided that I will continue to hate him.

The show needs characters. The characters are gone out of University Challenge these last years, a bit like the snooker.

Youā€™re dead right. Heā€™s an arsehole. That yank beside him is a dick as well. Every time thereā€™s a question asked he mumbles ā€œwell itā€™s notā€¦ and itā€™s notā€¦ā€ Fuck off and answer the question.

I feel a few of the UCL team tonight would have been naturals on Blockbusters had the great Bob Holness still been on the go, what with the mascot and the endearing eccentricities of the team members. Iā€™d have fancied each of them to get a few Gold Runs at least. But they wonā€™t get that chance. Thatā€™s sad. I do however look forward to seeing them at the business end of this years University Challenge.

UCL, their Brian May lookalike and their mascot are back tonight. Tremendous.

Just caught the second half of this and all I can say is :shakefist: :shakefist: :shakefist: :shakefist: :shakefist: :shakefist: .

He must be the biggest cunt Iā€™ve seen on any TV show in ages. His double thumbs up at Paxman was sickening. There was one exchange in the team questions:
Cunt: ā€œIs it the Horn of Africa?ā€
Cuntā€™s slightly less cuntish teammate: ā€œThe Horn of Africa is on the other side of Africa.ā€
Cunt: ā€œDonā€™t Care. The Horn of Africaā€

Of course the cunt was wrong. I really really detest that cunt.

UCL play University Challenge the way itā€™s meant to be played, with flair, confidence, and a real sense of enjoyment. I thought that the days of those type of teams had gone with the departure of Bamber Gascoigne from the programme. Thank goodness theyā€™re not.

:shakefist: :shakefist:

Christmas edition on BBC2 in 15 minutes

Second semi-final of the festive mini-series now. A classic Oxbridge clash between graduates of Maudlin College, Oxford and Trinity College, Cambridge.

Enjoying it myself here and have got four questions right so far.

Norway

I was straight in with ā€œMichael Collinsā€ there.

Turned on this joke for a look, it took them nearly a minute to answer a question there after theyā€™d whispered to each otherā€¦

Are these fellas students?

Astonishing ignorance from Maudlin when asked the name of an EU capital on the River Vistula. They couldnā€™t even hazard a guess. Delighted Trinity won. I had the three questions on Irish counties marked down as a definite zero but much to my surprise they returned a full house.

Pleased to answer the question on the Communist International correctly which nobody in studio could manage.

I look forward to tomorrowā€™s final between Trinity and Warwick, itā€™ll be a perfect appetiser to the Glasgow derby match.

I was stunned they couldnā€™t get Warsaw too (the other two were quite hard) and was in like Flynn with the Canaletto identification and got two of the three follow up questions, missing the Neva as I thought it was a scene from the Danube. Shamefully, they beat me to ā€˜Downā€™.