University Challenge

[Dave2002]

The speed with which he identified the Faure piece was quite astonishing; he certainly knows his music.

Yes - but they didn't get the Stravinsky which was immediately obvious. Given the nature of the required piece, Faure and Bach immediately spring to mind as prime candidates (a Bach flute sonata has a Sicilienne movement), which reduces the time to think when the music is heard - or maybe sometimes contestants just go with their gut feeling of what's likely - particularly on the starter questions, as pressing the button seems to be a factor. We sometimes don't actually know whether participants really knew the answers, but simply had "inspired" guesses.

The Imperial team were very good.

Gray was the answer to the very last question about the Bard poem, BTW.

[Nick Armstrong]

Yes - but they didn't get the Stravinsky which was immediately obvious....

... sometimes contestants just go with their gut feeling of what's likely - particularly on the starter questions, as pressing the button seems to be a factor. We sometimes don't actually know whether participants really knew the answers, but simply had "inspired" guesses.

Well one could hear that young Kohn’s first thought WAS Stravinsky... proving your point about gut feeling. Had that been a starter, he’d just have said that, rather than losing the points due to being swayed by second/team-mate’s thoughts...

[cloughie]

Well one could hear that young Kohn’s first thought WAS Stravinsky... proving your point about gut feeling. Had that been a starter, he’d just have said that, rather than losing the points due to being swayed by second/team-mate’s thoughts...

Which of Rachmaninov’s pieces could be described as neo-classical - Corelli Variations maybe?

[Nick Armstrong]

Which of Rachmaninov’s pieces could be described as neo-classical

Quite...

Luckily those 5 points weren’t game-changing

[Nick Armstrong]

The speed with which he identified the Faure piece was quite astonishing; he certainly knows his music.

He writes about classical music for the Imperial student publication

https://felixonline.co.uk/issue/1757/music/kohnfused-about-classical

[Dave2002]

Quite...

Luckily those 5 points weren’t game-changing

Do I detect a touch of bias or favouritism? At the start Durham were looking good, but faded somewhat. I was saddened to see them weaken so much.

The program has prompted me to check relative atomic particle masses and also the fine structure constant - approximately 1/137 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine-structure_constant - as well as the accession date of Queen Victoria after her uncle.

Watch out for questions relating to: the birth of Didius Julianus and the start of the Numantine War! Also the trial and acquittal of Quintus Pompeius - somewhat arbitrarily linked to the fine structure constant.

[Boilk]

On this week’s Mastermind the Crimson King did well and his gk was good too.

I'm a '70s Prog fan for sure, but no King Crimson obsessive, and even I got over half of the KC questions right. This confirms to me what I've long suspected, that Mastermind's specialist subject questions are a lot easier today than in the Magnus Magnusson era. Similarly for general knowledge – I guess the tougher the questions the more of the audience will feel alienated, and switch off, because they don't get many right.

[cloughie]

I'm a '70s Prog fan for sure, but no King Crimson obsessive, and even I got over half of the KC questions right. This confirms to me what I've long suspected, that Mastermind's specialist subject questions are a lot easier today than in the Magnus Magnusson era. Similarly for general knowledge – I guess the tougher the questions the more of the audience will feel alienated, and switch off, because they don't get many right.

You’re probably right - There are some specialist rounds which I get very few correct, but overall I can answer more on Mastermind than on Univ Challenge - last night I was lost by many of them. I thought, bearing in mind the title of one of KC’s songs winning with 21 points was very apt!

[Nick Armstrong]

Do I detect a touch of bias or favouritism? At the start Durham were looking good, but faded somewhat. I was saddened to see them weaken so much.

It’s a fair cop:

I’m backing the winners this week (15/2 - Imperial) to get the title. Pretty dazzling and seemingly delightful people too.

But I was sad too, they are both excellent teams, the physicist-with-personality Durham captain seems a terrific person (plus one of the others is a friend of a friend and a delightful super-bright bloke by all accounts)

[cloughie]

Watching the semi finals of UC shows me how little I know about a large number of subjects.

[LMcD]

Watching the semi finals of UC shows me how little I know about a large number of subjects.

I didn't even manage my usual lucky guess or two.

[Nick Armstrong]

I didn't even manage my usual lucky guess or two.

I thought the questions in the second semi-final were the most difficult of any UC contest in the last couple of years, at least.

(It was interesting to see that it took nearly 10 min for either team to get any serious points... before one found its stride...!)

[gurnemanz]

My performance was also poor except for some questions on a subject I actually know about - phonetics. I remembered the soft palate was called the velum, which the students didn't get, (the velar fricative being the final sound in Bach, that even Radio 3 announcers often don't get right.)

Taking a rare opportunity to show off ....I also a got metathesis, the transposition of sounds as in three/third. Paxo surely mispronounced it saying metathesis rather than the correct metathesis.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I thought the questions in the second semi-final were the most difficult of any UC contest in the last couple of years, at least.

(It was interesting to see that it took nearly 10 min for either team to get any serious points... before one found its stride...!)

Thanks for confirming my suspicions. So many difficult science questions where my tactic of retrieving fragments of barely remembered 70’s science failed utterly. My only slight triumph- getting to Joni Mitchell Clouds before the youngsters before realising that I would , of course , be much more likely to remember her. Even got another pop question right - almost unprecedented. I couldn’t believe their level of geographical knowledge . I almost wonder whether the prepare by poring over atlases, flags of countries and the periodic table as these questions crop up virtually every week .

[Nick Armstrong]

I couldn’t believe their level of geographical knowledge . I almost wonder whether the prepare by poring over atlases, flags of countries and the periodic table as these questions crop up virtually every week .

The ones in which I always fail utterly (quite apart from all the hardcore maths, physics & other science subjects ) - I think you’re right about them specifically preparing for those. Oh and planetary moons