University Challenge

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I think some of the teams gained a lot of points by reasonably clever and moderately informed guesswork, rather than actually knowing everything 100%.

- and some were considerably more than "reasonably" and "moderately"! . This is where the competition moves from being a "how many facts can you memorize" to a distinct use of both knowledge and intelligence to get to a correct answer.


Mind you, it didn't always work - the ferney eyebrows were raised not merely at "Rachmaninoff/Elgar" but also "Goethe/Bismarck".

[Mary Chambers]

I was astonished by the things they did know (in particular Mr Powell, whose range of knowledge was exceptionally wide), but equally astonished they didn't get In Memoriam, especially as Paxman told them it was a two-word Latin title. I suspect the wonderful Hannah Woods knew it really, but couldn't quite bring it to mind.

I was pleased when one of the Oxford team recognised the first line of The Faerie Queene.

[Dave2002]

:
Mind you, it didn't always work - the ferney eyebrows were raised not merely at "Rachmaninoff/Elgar" but also "Goethe/Bismarck".

I got Goethe, but I didn't know he'd been a statesman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann...ang_von_Goethe

[ardcarp]

I was astonished by the things they did know (in particular Mr Powell, whose range of knowledge was exceptionally wide), but equally astonished they didn't get In Memoriam, especially as Paxman told them it was a two-word Latin title. I suspect the wonderful Hannah Woods knew it really, but couldn't quite bring it to mind.

I was pleased when one of the Oxford team recognised the first line of The Faerie Queene.

Yes, Mrs A. and I were a bit surprised about In Memoriam....possibly the easiest question of the evening, given the big hint. And I remembered the opening of Spenser's FQ from my schooldays...and for the wrong reasons....

Going back to the Norwegian flag, I didn't even understand the question.

[MrGongGong]

possibly the easiest question of the evening,

Nah
The easiest was recognising the Wyndham Lewis

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I got Goethe, but I didn't know he'd been a statesman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann...ang_von_Goethe

Snap!

[vinteuil]

... didn't know Goethe had been a statesman? Didn't know about the Vorticists??

And these are listeners to the Third Programme???

Things haven't been the same since they stopped providing free concentrated orange juice to our infants.

[jean]

... Didn't know about the Vorticists?

My theory is that he Vorticist manifesto was so weird we have preferred to quietly forget the movement, while remembering some of the individual artists involved - Wyndham Lewis, Bomberg, Gaudier-Brzeska.

[MrGongGong]

My theory is that he Vorticist manifesto was so weird we have preferred to quietly forget the movement, while remembering some of the individual artists involved - Wyndham Lewis, Bomberg, Gaudier-Brzeska.

http://writing.upenn.edu/library/Blast/Blast1-1_Manifesto.pdf

[vinteuil]

http://writing.upenn.edu/library/Bla..._Manifesto.pdf

... many thanks for that, M GongGong - glorious

[Nick Armstrong]

... many thanks for that, M GongGong - glorious

Careful, M v:




.... But I agree, what a great thing that is.

Even though Elgar gets blasted en passant...

I especially like:





Thanks to UC and MrGG, I shall go to bed less stupid this evening.

[MrGongGong]

Blast

Beecham (Pills, Opera, Thomas)
Elgar

This sounds like something I can get behind

(but i'm rather fond of Tagore :sad face:)

[Nick Armstrong]

Blast

Beecham (Pills, Opera, Thomas)
Elgar

This sounds like something I can get behind

(but i'm rather fond of Tagore )

I was thinking the same until I saw Elgar blasted....

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... didn't know Goethe had been a statesman? Didn't know about the Vorticists??

Oh, I knew about the Vorticists. They stopped giving me the orange juice (which I remember followed the spoonful of Cod Liver Oil) before I got to Goethe.

[ardcarp]

I remember the concentrated orange, the bottles and the corks so well...and the consternation when it all stopped. My mother began boiling up rose-hips...which probably accounts for a lot. But from Goethe:

We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.

Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

OTOH you can just make some Horlicks and have an early night.......