Ted Loveday is a hapax legomenon

[TightEnd]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/11532607/University-Challenge-the-Grand-Final-review-new-king-of-the-show-was-on-fire.html

12 10 point starter questions answered

i watched, gasping, at the range of his knowledge

He put Cameron J originally from Los Ageles California so firmly in his box that all he could do was gurn like a disgrunteld toddler

He was a joy in a sheepswool jumper to watch, don't we think?

[tikay]

He was simply stunning.

Any idea what career plans he has, or what he is studying?

Poor old Quinn got put in a box by him, pouting & all.

[Tal]

Fairly sure he's a classicist, which is why he excelled on ancient history and matters involving Greek and Latin.

Always good when someone other than the skipper steps up to the plate, though. I like seeing the best team win.

[Longy]

He was very good, though the Historian next to him deferred to him when they both clearly knew the starter question on a couple of occasions. Mr Quinn was great value throughout the series, he looked like he was going through a nasty rectal exam during the final.

[Tal]

(Gonville and) Caius has a fairly good reputation within Cambridge.

Here is the Tomkins Table, which ranks the college's each year, based on academic results (should just add almost all subjects have exams each year that count equally; there are no "finals" and you don't get a final, single grade at the end):

Click to see full-size image.

My old college, Pembroke, was up to second in the 2014 list. Nice to see it's finally learned to cope without me.

Some colleges have longstanding reputations for certain subjects. Pembroke is strong for Engineering, Trinity for Maths, Downing for Law, for example. I'm not sure whether Caius has one. They're all much of a muchness really and all things are relative.

Trinity is an elite college, where generations follow their father's footsteps and the rest are academic extremes, particularly in mathematics.

[DaveShoelace]

When I watch University Challenge I just answer Keats to every single question. He tends to come up once a series.

[AndrewT]

When I watch University Challenge I just answer Keats to every single question. He tends to come up once a series.

My standard answers

Any Shakespeare question - Merchant of Venice
Dickens - Tale of Two Cities
Opera - Carmen
Classical Music - Schubert

[edgascoigne]

(Gonville and) Caius has a fairly good reputation within Cambridge.

Here is the Tomkins Table, which ranks the college's each year, based on academic results (should just add almost all subjects have exams each year that count equally; there are no "finals" and you don't get a final, single grade at the end):

Click to see full-size image.

My old college, Pembroke, was up to second in the 2014 list. Nice to see it's finally learned to cope without me.

Some colleges have longstanding reputations for certain subjects. Pembroke is strong for Engineering, Trinity for Maths, Downing for Law, for example. I'm not sure whether Caius has one. They're all much of a muchness really and all things are relative.

Trinity is an elite college, where generations follow their father's footsteps and the rest are academic extremes, particularly in mathematics.

Edward Gascoigne - Emmanuel College 2004-2008

Suffice to say I didn't make the University Challenge team.

[DaveShoelace]

This

[Tal]

(Gonville and) Caius has a fairly good reputation within Cambridge.

Here is the Tomkins Table, which ranks the college's each year, based on academic results (should just add almost all subjects have exams each year that count equally; there are no "finals" and you don't get a final, single grade at the end):

Click to see full-size image.

My old college, Pembroke, was up to second in the 2014 list. Nice to see it's finally learned to cope without me.

Some colleges have longstanding reputations for certain subjects. Pembroke is strong for Engineering, Trinity for Maths, Downing for Law, for example. I'm not sure whether Caius has one. They're all much of a muchness really and all things are relative.

Trinity is an elite college, where generations follow their father's footsteps and the rest are academic extremes, particularly in mathematics.

Edward Gascoigne - Emmanuel College 2004-2008

Suffice to say I didn't make the University Challenge team.

Did you audition? I did. Once. Got 2/10. Apparently "there's always one idiot on every team" isn't a persuasive argument.

As for guessing, if it has violins, Vivaldi, if it has a harpsichord, J.S. Bach, if it's a posh and funny one liner, Wilde, if it's a maths question requiring a number, it's 0 or 1.

Oh and remember that the third question is always more guessable.

[edgascoigne]

(Gonville and) Caius has a fairly good reputation within Cambridge.

Here is the Tomkins Table, which ranks the college's each year, based on academic results (should just add almost all subjects have exams each year that count equally; there are no "finals" and you don't get a final, single grade at the end):

Click to see full-size image.

My old college, Pembroke, was up to second in the 2014 list. Nice to see it's finally learned to cope without me.

Some colleges have longstanding reputations for certain subjects. Pembroke is strong for Engineering, Trinity for Maths, Downing for Law, for example. I'm not sure whether Caius has one. They're all much of a muchness really and all things are relative.

Trinity is an elite college, where generations follow their father's footsteps and the rest are academic extremes, particularly in mathematics.

Edward Gascoigne - Emmanuel College 2004-2008

Suffice to say I didn't make the University Challenge team.

Did you audition? I did. Once. Got 2/10. Apparently "there's always one idiot on every team" isn't a persuasive argument.

As for guessing, if it has violins, Vivaldi, if it has a harpsichord, J.S. Bach, if it's a posh and funny one liner, Wilde, if it's a maths question requiring a number, it's 0 or 1.

Oh and remember that the third question is always more guessable.

I did, Emmanuel College bar in my second year, I remember it fondly well.

Everyone sat in the bar for a fifty question run through, writing their answers on a page for submission. We then had a couple of sherbets as we awaited distribution of the papers after marking.

I squeaked into the final 8, and was invited downstairs to join two teams of 4 for a 'live audition'. In the 15mins or so we were there and quizzed I scored a very big number indeed. A big, round number.

I don't think the team made the live shows that year, but soon after, Guttenplan joined the college, the quiz machine in the bar was a write off, and Emma were top of the Tomkins & Uni Challenge Champs in the same year (unless my memory is playing tricks on me).

None of which had anything to do with me, of course, bar for my pastoral contribution (read propping up the college bar).

[Mohican]

I all got from that was three of the winning team had jumpers on.

[AndrewT]

Ah, so we're doing University Challenge bad beat stories are we...

1995 - Warwick. The posters go up looking for people to go for the team. Like Ed did, I sat a written test. A few days later I see a scribbled note by the phone in my grotty Coventry flat - 'Barbara called re University Challenge - give her a ring'.

So, I'd made the final 10 or so, and we had a a game just like on telly - us lot across two tables, each stretching to get our fingers by the single buzzer on each desk. Questions were asked, we buzzed in, and people took note of how well everyone did and, crucially, on which topics.

It was quickly clear that there was only me and one other guy buzzing in for any sciencey questions. I remember (even to this day) a couple of relatively simple questions I got wrong (one about Huckleberry Finn and another about Frank Whittle).

They went for the other guy for the 'science' guy on the team (they picked one science, one maths, one history/politics guy (who I'm still friends with today) and the team was captained by a supremely impressive guy who covered the 'posh' questions (classics, Latin, classical music etc)).

That year we made the semi-finals (beating Pembroke Oxford, Gonville & Caius Cambridge and Newcastle before losing to eventual winners Imperial) and the guy who took the science place was the team statue.

I could have been the Loveday of the Britpop era.

[tikay]

The Times devoted an entire page to Ted Loveday today, & he features in almost every daily newspaper today. Quite the personality, now.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[hector62]

I think that is just wrong. He was not the standout performer throughout the series, not even the best in his team. He just got extremely lucky with getting the right questions on the night. Poor journalism in my opinion.

Ask him how to kill an alligator in a 1 acre area and you will see if he really is smart.