Another Mastermind Application...

Long time readers will know that I had an audition for this years series of Mastermind and was quite disappointed not to get on. I felt the audition had went well, certainly in scoring 17/20 I did well in the GK test they gave, and they "seemed" keen on my subjects. But it came to nothing but a rejection letter. So this week I have decided to apply again for the next series which I probably won't hear back from until next year.

I figured that my GK round was sufficient so it was either a dislike of my personality or my subjects that let me down. There is nothing much I can do about my personality, so I have re thought my subjects and taken a different strategy this year.

Eurovision is top of the list again. Last year I tried to take the subject as Eurovision from 1990 which I thought was reasonable but in the audition they asked me to expand it to the full history of the contest. Now, this is a fair request but this year some subjects have been very narrow. One contestant has already had Epsom Derby Since 1980.....my Eurovision suggestion was much wider than that! So this year I have tried again and went for Eurovision since 1980. At the depth I would like to prepare for a Mastermind show I don't think expanding my choice to the full contest history would be a wise move but if I have to then I guess I will.

I have chosen something "topical" and what has been in the news more than James Bond recently. So, rather predictably, I have decided to try the James Bond Films.Although I am a huge Bond fan and would make a good go of a SS round on the subject tomorrow, I have kind of chosen this one as a SS I hope will get me on the show. If I could pick the subjects after an audition I probably would not chose Bond but if it gets me on Mastermind...

I decided after my last failed audition and watching this series I would also fling in a Monarch so have chosen The Life of Henry III. No real reason other than the fact its a period I am interested in and I don't recall it being done recently.

My fourth and final subject I wondered over for some time. They seem to like TV shows (funnily enough I was not allowed to do a Tv Show last year with over 100 episodes yet this year Fawlty Towers at a whopping 12 episodes was allowed!) but there is not one that appealed so I went down the music route again. I am trying for the Stereophonics again which was on my form last year too.

Fingers crossed.....

Breakaway Special

I have thoroughly enjoyed this series of Breakway and it is a shame it has been such a short one with the final episode airing tomorrow. I'll post more on my thoughts on this show and the series in general later in the week but I just wanted to do a quick update today to mention that the final show of the series airing tomorrow, Friday, will indeed be a Champions Special were winners will return to compete against other. Barry Humphreys, who you may also have seen on Only Connect this week, will be one of those taking part as it was indeed he who gave me the heads up about this!

University Challenge - 1st Round Qualifiers

So with the final episode of the first round of University Challenge airing this week I have devised a table of the rank order of the automatic qualifiers for the next round. A big spread in scores and based on first round performances I would be surprised if the winner came from outside the top 5 here.

UCL - 260

University of Durham – 245

New College Oxford - 230

Imperial College London - 225

Magdalen College Oxford – 205

Pembroke College Cambridge - 200

University of York – 185

University of Manchester - 180

St. Georges, University of London – 175

Warwick - 175

Jesus College Oxford – 150

Bangor University – 125

University of Bath - 125

University of Bristol – 120

We also have play off teams to add to that with  - 

Lincoln College, Oxford - 175

Kings College, Cambridge - 145

Lancaster - 145

Homerton College, Cambridge - 140

Should be an interesting conclusion to the series!

£100,000 Pub Quiz Prize...Not Too Shabby....

And here I was content with my dozen beer vouchers....

It seems that somewhere in our fair isle a team of 5 walked into a pub quiz, won it and ended up with a £100,000 win to share between them. How?? The story is below....Before you read it have a guess how it was achieved. 

Story is HERE

Hows about that then?......(Maybe I shouldn't use that saying any more)......At my work we award achievement cards to learners who complete tests etc and we present them with scratch cards and giving out £100's worth every week for a year or so now has killed my faith in them as very few people win anything let alone a big prize. But then again this proves sometimes you can just get damn damn lucky!

Bravo and a good idea for a prize! I this day and age with pubs cutting costs giving away a batch of Scratch Cards certainly sounds better than a "£3 prize for third place" so a nifty little idea.

Book Suggestion: Book of Lists

Shortly, after a few requests last year, I am going to be putting together a list of gift ideas for quizzers for Xmas. I was surprised last year to get quite a few messages from people eager to know any ideas of what to buy quiz obsessed friends for Christmas.

Anyway, a nice little book here I have been working my way through recently. The Book of Lists! Every quizzer loves a list and enclosed here are tones of them...but not the usual sort you would imagine. It is not a book like the Top 10 of Everything which I would also suggest but The Book of Lists is full of useful information, interesting facts and plenty of good humour to tie in with the vast amounts of information contained within.

One of the most useful books for both learning and setting questions I have used in recent weeks...





And as mentioned above the new version of the Top 10 of Everything is infinitely useful to any quizzer. Certain to earn you points at the next pub quiz you attend.

Only Connect 2012/2013 - Quarter Final 2

Only Connect 2012/2013 - Quarter Final 2

Last week saw a pretty one sided match and I was expecting tonights to be much much closer. Experienced quizzers galore usually makes for a top class episode...

Footballers

Barry Humphrey

Michael Mcpartland

Jamie Turner 

Cinephiles

Howard Kelly

Nancy Dickman

Tim Catlin

So the Cinephiles got us Underway tonight and Nancy Dickman picked up from where she left off in the last heat of the previous round recognising "lost" days for 2 points. In reply the Footballers went for a 3 pointer but missed out on a tough question focusing on "food that bear their own name". As always a sigh at the music round as the Cinephiles picked it up and neither team managed to spot the musical instrument clue which was a toughie. Barry Humprhey managed to get the Footballers first points of the match by spotting the American states hidden in the words.

The Cinephiles followed up their music round with the pictures and this was turning into perhaps the toughest episode of the series so far. A great link on Mario Kart items in pictures was one of the few I managed to get anywhere close to in this round. The Footballers ended the round with "God Bless Our Native Land", "Oben am Jungen Rhein" "My Country Tis of Thee".....Michael Mcpartland recognising those all being sung to the same tune that being the 4th clue, "God Save The Queen".

4-3 the footballers lead after the first round! Shaping up to a close match!

Round 2 started with a question right up my street on Fawlty Towers however very tough in the sense that the order of the episodes was the final four episodes of season 4. The Footballers picked up the bonus on by going for the most famous episode, "The Germans". The Footballers themselves extended their lead further with the picture round based on middle initials and at 8-3 in the lead were starting to pull away.

And again a question right up my street! On the local area of Bridges over the Tyne.....Michael Mcpartland (being from Middlesbrough I believe) seemed to pick this up on a bonus for the footballers. Definitely the most points I have also managed on a show by this stage. The Footballers got the dreaded formulas question and Barry Humprhey "guess at something going down" technique worked a treat for a further 2 points. Indeed Barry was playing a stormer noticing the next link early on concerning Grand National Horse Races.

13-3 the Footballers lead (Indeed a 10-0 round there which could prove crucial).

The Footballers were first to the wall and you felt a good performance here and they were in the Semi's.  An early spot got the round off to a great start and without a shadow of a doubt considering the form they seemed to be in the wall was solved with 2 connections. Surely enough to take them into the semi final!

Nothing short of a full house was needed from the Cinephiles who were way off the form they had shown in the first round. I spotted the Pokemon link straight away (sad I know but when I was a nipper this was all the rage). Nancy Dickman recognised they were "characters from a video game or something" and by spotting the remaining connection they had solved the wall. Indeed when it came to the connections Nancy Dickman saw the Pokemon link for a full house.

19-13 going into the last round. This could get interesting.

Cinephiles started superbly indeed getting the 3 of the first 4 buzzes. The Olympic Venues round got the Footballers into the round but they lost a point to take it to 21-17. Maybe I had wrote the Cinephiles off too early? A very tough round on things represented by OC had both stumped and a late loss of points from Footballers left the score agonisingly close.

Footballers ended up with a 20-19 win after loosing two points in the last round.  A gripping end to a close contest and the Footballers make it into the Semi!

University Challenge 2012/2012 - Heat 13

Warwick vs Aberdeen

Well with no Mastermind this week its all on Monday Night for the TV quizzing fix starting off with a first round match in this years University Challenge Series as Warwick took on Aberdeen  Indeed, this is the final match of the first round and Jeremy reminded us that 140 was needed by whoever looses this heat to make it into the second round. As a side, I certainly did not realise how old the University of Aberdeen was (5th Oldest in the UK)...

Warwick
Shane Quinn
Sarah Jane Rodell
Andrew Shaw
James Wheatley

Aberdeen

Thomas Ainge
Shaun Mcmahon
James King
Russ Collier


A Sunderland lad in Collier....my support was immediately with Aberdeen!

Andrew Shaw got the final first round match of University Challenge underway with a great buzz on Hitchcock but struggled to make any further gains with a tough round on duels. Shaw was in again though on the next question, on Scrooge that I completely missed, and they did far better this time with the bonuses and Warwick found themselves 35-0 ahead. James Wheatley added to this recognising Swindon from a list of tough clues ("Magic Roundabout" giving it away but interestingly the home of the first lending library which I feel I should have known but didn't). 50-0 by the time the bonuses had been taken.

I have said before the picture rounds have been fantastic this year and we had scenes of movies recreated in Lego to identify. Loved this round and Aberdeen took it with Collier buzzing in and the team working their way through all the bonuses to bring themselves back in. Indeed Shaun Mcmahon buzzed to give control to Aberdeen to open a round on Art installations...very tough indeed!

I was close as the first music round approached, again very tough as all of the music rounds have been this year. Very rarely have teams correctly answered a music starter in this series (would be interesting to know the stat for this!). James Wheatley, strong on the buzzer all night, was in on the next question though to hand Warwick the music bonuses. These were very tough again. 75-55 Warwick lead.

It was perhaps at this time when it became apparent both of these teams would probably not be reaching 140 so only the winner would advance and one teams University Challenge journey would be ending tonight. Whether time passes quickly or slowly on the show I will never know but as Warwick etched more and more into the lead,110-55, after another Shaw buzz, Aberdeen would need a strong fightback.

Another great picture round to identify World Heritage Sites, which probably-man-of-the-match Andrew Shaw, lapped up to take Warwick to 125-60. Shaw soon took the teams total over the key 140 mark to ensure they will be seen again and more than definitely it seemed at that point as winner of this heat.

At 4 minutes to go Aberdeen, at only 70, were down and out of the series this year. They did well with some of their bonuses but just weren't quick enough and let Warwick control the buzzer.

Warwick are strong on the buzzer and if they can convert this into more points via the bonuses they may be a strong team to beat.

Warwick win 175-100 for Aberdeen!

Quiz Book Suggestion

I think I may have recommended this one before but nevertheless it is a cracking book from which I have certainly learnt a great deal and has also tested my knowledge in all sorts of ways. It is of course topical as we are bang in the middle of the current series...The University Challenge Quiz Book. Well worth your time, whatever level of quizzing you enjoy.





And then if you like a laugh there is always the very different "Universally Challenged" Book which focuses on the best and most insane wrong answers given on Tv shows.

Quiz and Advice

It has been a while since I posted up some quiz questions as I have been working on a Quiz Book that I am hoping to publish on Kindle soon.

I am trying to pitch it at a certain level which is very very tricky. Can you have a go at this and let me know in the comment box how many of the ten you got!

Cheers!




1. Which Tennis Player, who turn professional in 1986, has an Iranian father, an Olympic Gold Medal and became the quickest player in history to amass $1 Million in prize money when he did so after 43 tournaments?

2. Which iconic British solo artist sang the theme tune to the TV Series “Adam Adamant Lives!” starring Gerald Harper?

3. Which nation won the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Euphoria” by Loreen?

4. Declared the “World’s Best Restaurant” by Restaurant Magazine in 2006, which chef owns the Fat Duck restaurant in Berkshire?

5. Other the Games of 2012, in which other Host City did Queen Elizabeth II officially, open the Summer Olympic Games?

6. Due to the familial relationship between them, what collection term is given to the Roman Emperors Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antonius Pius and Marcus Aurelius?

7. What was the name of the short lived ITV soap opera in the 1980’s, broadcast on Friday and Sunday Nights, focussing on the daily on goings of a Manchester market?

8. Which actor was on stage during the 1974 Oscar ceremony when Robert Opel conducted his famous streak?

9. What two word name is given the second parliament of James I due to the fact that it failed to pass a single piece of legislation?

10. Appearing with Charlie Chaplin in ‘The Kid’, which actor player Uncle Fester in the 1960’s TV version of ‘The Addams Family’?

Answers
--------------------------

1. Andre Agassi
2. Kathy Kirby
3. Sweden
4. Heston Blumenthal 
5. Montreal
6. Adoptive Emperors 
7. Albion Market
8. David Niven
9. Addled Parliament 
10. Jackie Coogan

Mastermind 2012/2012 - Heat 11

Mastermind 2012/2012 Heat 11

With it finally being confirmed this week that 3rd and 4th place players will be considered in the runners up slot it was onto heat 11 of this years contest. And a familiar face!

Contestants -

Kathy Richards
Brian O' Donnell
Nick Mazonowicz
Mark Roberts

Kathy Richards kicked us off with The Waltons, a TV show I am not too clued up on but there were a few gimmies in there I managed to get. 12 was a solid round and leaves her in contention

Brian O' Donnell was the familiar face I mentioned. He was part of our runner-up team at the Scottish Team championship, ran after the World Quiz Championships in Edinburgh earlier in the year, and is a very good quizzer. He took on Nigel Gresley as a subject. Brian auditioned for Mastermind on the off chance on the day of the WQC as the team were there looking for contestants. This round however did not go as well as he would have hoped, and even though I would have every faith he would put in a storming GK round, he left himself a lot to do scoring only 6.

Nick Mazonowicz took on a specialist subject I had no real ideas on, Len Deighton's Samson books. Nick looked sharp and confident and whacked in a score of 9. As I said last week I think taking on fictional novels as a subject is a very tricky thing.

Mark Roberts took on Lord Palmerston and a double figure score here would give him every chance of progression. A confident start continued throughout as Mark managed 9 which left him with every chance.

Again it looked like it was going to be close.


So the standings after the SS round


Kathy Richards - 12
Nick Mazonowicz  - 9
Mark Roberts - 9
Brian O' Donnell - 6

Brian was first back to the chair and I know from the WQC team event that he has a strong general knowledge. The round went in phases with strong series of answers followed by some slip ups and this really affected the rhythm. 13 scored in the round taking him to 19 and sadly probably not enough.

Nick Mazonowicz  needed at least 10 to put him in contention. Given it was 26 points to get in as a runner up it was all about the win today and an early pass stream slowed his scoring down despite a strong start. Nick had a clear strategy of passing on questions he didn't know rather than spending time thinking about them and this looked like it was going to cost him towards the end as he seemed to get stuck on 17 for a long time. Perhaps a few more seconds thinking time could have helped and ending on 19 meant he tied with Brian but again, you would imagine a 20 + score would come from somewhere.

Mark Roberts started confidently and looked very relaxed, taking his time to ensure points were on the board. Mark picked up on most of the gimmies and also worked his way through some of the tougher questions to soon be within touching distance of the lead.  It could not be closer as an answer after he buzzer landed him 20 points. Not enough to be a highest scoring runner up so....

Kathy Richards needed at least to take the win this week. Early struggles on the gimmie questions suggested it may be closer than I imagined and Kathy did not seem to be settling in to the round at all but she gave herself time to muster up enough answers to keep the scoring going. Even though this was far from the best GK round we have seen due to the nature of the heat this week it always was looking as if she would be the winner but a huge collapse towards the end of the round meant Mark Roberts with 20 had took the win. So Kathy misses her golden opportunity....

The final Mastermind standings this week -



Mark Roberts - 20
Kathy Richards - 19
Nick Mazonowicz  - 19
Brian O'Donnell - 19


Congratulations to Mark Roberts who makes it through to the next round! It was a pretty low scoring heat this week and indeed out of 44 contestants 33 have scored higher than the 20 that won this heat but you can only beat what is in front of and best luck to Mark in the Semi final!

And that leaves the overall standings of Mastermind this year at...

Qualified

Gregory Spiller - 32
Kathryn Palmer - 31
Christine Plume - 29
Jonathan Gordon - 29
Michael Wright - 29
Sian West - 26
Shahab Mossavat - 26
Matthew Bradshaw -26
Aidan Mccquade - 24
John Chadwick - 23
Mark Roberts - 20

Highest Scoring Runners Up

Chris Cann – 29

John Wheeler – 29
Helen Marshall - 28

Paul Whittaker - 27
Chris Quinn - 27

Nathan Joss – 26

Other

Alan Sharp - 26

Bart Smith - 25

Andrew Hunt - 25
Nina Fetherston - 25
Philip Walters - 25

Andrew Granath - 24

Alan Wharmby - 24

Rosalind Winter - 24

Laurie Handcock – 24

 Kevin Baker - 24 
Roland Mcfall – 23

Hazel Humprheys - 22
Chris Kirk - 22
Les Wallace - 22

Graeme Marley -22

 Ian Copping - 22

Alan Haddick - 21 
Kathy Richards - 19
Brian O Donnell - 19
Nick Mazonowicz - 19
Sarah Le Fevre - 19

Jackie Phillips - 19

Mathhew Clarke - 18
Nathan Scott – 18
Xavier Woodward - 18
Nick Gunatilleke - 17
Barbara Bell - 15

Only Connect Quarter Final 2 Preview

Only Connect 2012/2013 - Quarter Final 2 Preview

With The Draughstmen setting the standard in the first Quarter Final we move onto to the second Quarter Final in what should be another close game.

The Footballers meet the Cinephiles. The Footballers took a 18-11 victory in their first round heat which despite being one of the lowest winning scores does not put them as outsiders. With experience quizzers in the ranks including Barry Humprheys, who you may recently have seen victorious on Breakaway as well as Cleverdicks, and Michael Mcpartland they certainly have pedigree. You would have to think though that a score higher than 18 will be needed. 

The Cinephiles won the last heat and their resounding victory is still fresh in the mind with a 33-8 win. Almost double The Footballers total. With Nancy Dickman in the ranks the Cinephiles too have some great pedigree. They were solid in all 4 rounds and emerged as one of the highest scoring teams.

This one is sure to be close but based on first round form my Prediction is with the Cinephiles to advance in a narrow win although counting out the Footballers would be foolish indeed.

Mastermind Week 11 Wiki Challenge

A nice range of subjects this week...

The Waltons
The Bernard Sampson Novels of Len Deighton
Sir Nigel Gresley
Henry John Temple


I think, with it also being my week off, I will have a go at most of them. The only one I may struggle with is the Deighton novels but the other three should be much fun!

Only Connect 2012/2012 - Quarter Final 1

Only Connect 2012/2013 - Quarter Final 1

As stated in my preview I though this would be a very interesting encounter indeed with two sides with quite different strengths displayed in the first round. My prediction was a narrow win for the Draughtsmen, all top ranked UK quizzers.

Draughtsmen
Iwan Thomas
Stephen Dodding
Andy Tucker

Numerists 

Hanna Twitchell
John Wilson
Dorian Lidell

The Draughtsmen opened up proceedings with a strong first round which is what you would expect from an experience team. I think the key to this match was going to be building up an unassailable lead going into the last round as that is where the Numerists were so strong in the first heat. With the first round ending in a 6-3 lead for the Draughtsmen there was a big chance this was going to be a very close encounter.

The second round however was where the game seemed to be won this week. The Draughtsmen started off with one of the few 5-pointers we have seen this series based on Rugby Union points scorers, added  quick bonus and scored again on the next questions. All of a sudden the Numersists mood seemed to turn a little as they perhaps realised the pedigree of opponent tonight. The Draughtsmen only missed one very tough question and even though the Numerists took some confidence from lapping it up a 15-4 lead was looking ominous.

Sadly for the Numerists, the wall defeated them. So many time you hear contestants get the link but fail to identify the four...this time it was the TV shows of the 70's. Yes, it was before their time but I thought that was a very gettable link. They made a good effort on a wall that was indeed testing but 1 link and 2 connections sealed their fate.

The Draughstmen on the other hand played it perfectly. Making as much use of the time as possible, a clearly good strategy on this round, they got full points on their wall and by this point had sealed their place in the Semi Finals.  25-7

The Numerists are one of the finest players of the last round in this years series and it showed again. They dominated this round scoring more than double than the opponents but it was too little too late. 28-14 was the final score and a well deserved victory.

Congratulations to the Draughtsmen who have every chance in the contest this year, especially on this sort of form. The only downside for them could be that final buzzer round but 28 is a fantastic score and no team will want to face this experienced bunch in the Semi!

University Challenge 2012/2012 - Match 13

University Challenge 2012/2012 - Match 13

Oxford battled Cambridge tonight in a rather high standard affair....

Homerton, Cambridge

Daniel Hooper

Michael Angland

Luke Fitzgerald

Drew Miley

New College, Cambridge

Raymond Beecroft

India Lenon

Andy Hood

Tom Chappleman

After a few early episodes where no real contenders emerged, tonight we saw two teams who could definitely have an impact on later rounds. New College managed to take the win with 230-145 but a rage of knowledge from both sides suggested there is more to come.

Indeed, New College stormed into an early lead from which Homerton never recovered. A 55-0 lead early on gave them much breathing space and as the game progressed that proved vital. At 90-60 it looked like Homerton might be on the verge of a comeback but every time they put together a run, New College struck to halt the momentum. 

As usual there were some great rounds tonight in the music and picture rounds, both of which have been of such high quality this series. The Horror Film Score round I particularly enjoyed as well as the old picture of Newcastle Central station. 

Andy Hood was by this point leading well from the front and the gap started to widen again and by the time Paxman announced 6 minutes to go the 170-105 lead looked enough. Homerton did not give up but Cappleman managed some key buzzes to get New college over the line.

230-145 win for New College and we have a serious contender on our hands!

Mastermind Runners up Ruling Confirmed

Anyone following the blog over the past few days will have noticed that there has been some discussion as to how the "top 6 runners up" for the current series of Mastermind would be working. I can now confirm for sure that it will not be merely the "runners up" considered but basically the top 6 with the highest score who failed to win their heat. Hence the new standings are....


Qualified

Gregory Spiller - 32
Kathryn Palmer - 31
Christine Plume - 29
Jonathan Gordon - 29
Michael Wright - 29
Sian West - 26
Shahab Mossavat - 26
Matthew Bradshaw -26
Aidan Mccquade - 24
John Chadwick - 23

Highest Scoring Runners Up

Chris Cann – 29

John Wheeler – 29
Helen Marshall - 28

Paul Whittaker - 27
Chris Quinn - 27

Nathan Joss – 26

Other

Alan Sharp - 26

Bart Smith - 25

Andrew Hunt - 25
Nina Fetherston - 25
Philip Walters - 25

Andrew Granath - 24

Alan Wharmby - 24

Rosalind Winter - 24

Laurie Handcock – 24

 Kevin Baker - 24 
Roland Mcfall – 23

Hazel Humprheys - 22
Chris Kirk - 22
Les Wallace - 22

Graeme Marley -22

 Ian Copping - 22

Alan Haddick - 21

Sarah Le Fevre - 19

Jackie Phillips - 19

Mathhew Clarke - 18
Nathan Scott – 18
Xavier Woodward - 18
Nick Gunatilleke - 17
Barbara Bell - 15