University Challenge Time Machine

In 2015 I watched the movie Spy when it came out in the cinema. I remember laughing my head off, particularly at Jason Statham's character, who spends the whole film reciting an increasingly bizarre and over-the-top series of unlikely things he has done, such as having had an arm torn completely off and then reattaching said arm with his other, still attached, arm.

I rewatched it last night and found it to be a very middling film. Some funny bits, sure, but nowhere near the romp I remembered it being. So what happened? Has the film got less funny somehow, or is it something else?

Is it just a sign that my tastes have changed over the past eight years. That I have changed as a person. This is probably more likely than the humour of the movie itself somehow degrading over time, although that does happen in some cases.

People change, but we usually change so slowly that we don't really notice. Instead, we only realise when we do something like watch a film we last watched eight years ago and find that it doesn't make us laugh as much as it used to.

Sometimes, though, we have a record of how we have changed. People keep journals, documenting every day of their lives, and they can go back and read about their past selves, seeing how different they have become, how different they used to be.

A Sales Pitch

I don't have such a comprehensive record of my life, but I do have eight years' worth of University Challenge reviews. And for the first time, I have combined the full history of this blog into one single eBook.

Enter the University Challenge Time Machine, a compilation of all the Grand Finals I have reviewed since starting this blog - including two which were previously available only on Patreon (ooh, how exciting!).

As a bonus, there is also my review of the Monkman vs Seagull episode which was the first semi-final in 2016/17.

This book covers an interesting period in the history of University Challenge, as the show became ever more popular on Social Media, and as the quizzing sub-culture grew in the real world. Quizzy Mondays, with UC as the headliner following Mastermind and Only Connect, has snowballed into a bonafide cultural phenomenon.

In 2014, Paxman was at the peak of his powers, and the first chapter of this book details one of the greatest University Challenge finals ever, starring Ted Loveday. The decade continues, with plenty more interesting characters like the aforementioned Eric Monkman and Bobby Seagull.

We see the rise of a dynasty and the first series featuring a new host, as Amol Rajan took over from Paxman in 2023. There are also a few more bonus episodes from my Patreon - a Tabloids vs Broadsheets special from 1999 which features former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. And an episode from 1987 hosted by Bamber Gascoigne.

Plus, there are also some tasty statistics at the end, for those of you who relish numbers!

You can buy it here! It makes the perfect gift for the quiz lover in your life, and you can take a trip down memory lane over the Christmas period.

If you enjoy it please leave a review as that will help me out greatly. Thanks!

Onto the episode, here's your first starter for ten! If you want to watch the episode before reading the review you can do so here.

Bristol romped to victory with the highest score of the first round, 325 in a thrashing of Gonville and Caius (who feature in the first chapter of Time Machine, if I'm permitted to continue plugging).

Exeter also racked up an impressive 240 in their opening win, and Rajan singles out Mouelhi, whose four consecutive starters to kick things off set them on their way that evening.

Steamrolling

He is unable to replicate that success on this occasion, as Bristol skipper Flanagan takes the first starter with fauvism. They eased to a hat trick on medical terms, then Flanagan takes another with a guess of harlequin, for a species of duck.

Carr buzzes early for Exeter with Slovenia but loses five points, and Warner is able to steal with Slovakia. Unfortunate, and a sign of things to come for Exeter. Perhaps if they'd got this one right things may have been different.

Warner laughs his head off at a question about laminas, but he gets it right and gets the other two bonuses as well. He also picks up the picture starter in a similar manner to his Slovakia/Slovenia answer a moment earlier. Moorcroft buzzes with Jing, recognising Beijing on a map, but Warner takes the points with Bei. Another sliding doors moment. Their last for a while, though.

Mouelhi drops another five points on a shipping forecast starter with Dogger Bank, and Flanagan picks up ten with Viking. The scores are now 110 to minus 10, and things only get worse for Exeter as Watts takes her first starter with Diels-Alder.

Warner wins a bonus set on places beginning with D-U-R, and acts as though he doesn't know the second of these is , saying 'is that a place, I looked at a map the other day'. He doesn't want to come across as a know-it-all, but he should be more confident of himself, because there are a few occasions in the episode where his lack of self-assurance nearly puts Flanagan off from taking his answers.

No one recognises Janelle Monae on the music starter. Flanagan wins the bonuses with Quasar on the replacement, and Bristol reach 200 points with a hat trick.

Finally, Exeter manage to take a starter, with Newman's mezzo-soprano bringing them back to zero points. Dendrite puts them on positive five points for the first time in the match.

One of their other bonuses was on transcendental numbers, and the following starter is on the same subject. This goes to Moorcroft, giving Exeter two in a row, and some real momentum as they try and avoid the ignominy of an all-time low score.

Warner and Flanagan trade starters, bringing Bristol close to 300 before Carr gets in on the act for Exeter with Balthazar, raising them to 35 points and knocking them off the podium of the lowest scores in the BBC era.

Exeter 35 - 290 Bristol

A ruthless performance from Bristol, who look like the team to beat heading into the quarter-finals. Had Exeter got a starter at the beginning of the match they may have been able to get nearer to a hundred points, but Warner and Flanagan were on such excellent buzzer form that they would likely have lost by a significant margin anyway.

That's all from me until the New Year, as I won't be reviewing the episodes of the Christmas series. So if you're craving UC Review content over the holiday period you know what to do... (I'll tell you anyway - buy my book, please)

You can also buy compilations of several of the earlier series I have reviewed. All here.