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University Challenge

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Reply 1400

Original post

by dnumberwang

Anyone else think last night's questions were ridiculously hard? Lowest I've ever got since I started watching, even harder than last season's final I reckon.

Not at all.

I got 8 right!

Reply 1401

Ho Chi Minh

Original post

by dnumberwang

Anyone else think last night's questions were ridiculously hard? Lowest I've ever got since I started watching, even harder than last season's final I reckon.

For some reason UC seems to be getting harder and Only Connect easier. Don't know why...

Also, the winning scores so far have been really low and the average overall score per game has been only 293.

Reply 1402

Variations

Original post

by DMed

I watch it, tis a good show, though it does worry me that I hold a degree, but still can't answer half the questions :P.

As for favourite teams, given that Liverpool never seem to pass the first round, I'm going with York (my brother's Uni).

One thing I don't like about it is that Oxbridge can sign up as different colleges, surely it should be one team for each Uni, just like all the other Unis

Oxbridge forever getting special treatment. :angry:

Reply 1403

eimmas

I've never watched the show regularly because I just didn't know enough in depth to get any questions right, but I've started having it on a Monday evening whilst finishing off some revision for the night...

I'm still terrible at it, but managed a personal best of 5 correct answers the other week :P

Reply 1404

tehforum

Original post

by Variations

Oxbridge forever getting special treatment. :angry:

Is Oxbridge submitted one team, they'd be invincible.

Reply 1405

LETSJaM

UC!

I love seeing how well different unis do in different years.

<3 x

Reply 1406

Variations

Original post

by tehforum

Is Oxbridge submitted one team, they'd be invincible.

I really don't think so. Would a British football team be any better than the current English, Welsh and Scottish teams?

Reply 1407

Eboracum

Original post

by tehforum

Is Oxbridge submitted one team, they'd be invincible.

That lad from Manchester in the previous series...Burke was it? He could have single handily taken on the whole university and won.

Reply 1408

tehforum

Original post

by Eboracum

That lad from Manchester in the previous series...Burke was it? He could have single handily taken on the whole university and won.

Yeah, Burke.

Reply 1409

Zuzuzu

Original post

by Variations

I really don't think so. Would a British football team be any better than the current English, Welsh and Scottish teams?

England are 3rd in the world rankings, Wales and Scotland are in the mid 40s... How does your example apply to Oxbridge UC teams?

Reply 1410

Eboracum

Original post

by tehforum

Yeah, Burke.

He was just phenomenal. He knew everything there was to know about English Literature. He must have read every book in his university library.

Reply 1411

Ho Chi Minh

Original post

by tehforum

Is Oxbridge submitted one team, they'd be invincible.

This is true. It's no wonder Manchester do so well in UC; they have a pool of about 40k students. Your average Oxbridge college has maybe 500 students.

Reply 1412

Hedgeman49

Original post

by dnumberwang

Anyone else think last night's questions were ridiculously hard? Lowest I've ever got since I started watching, even harder than last season's final I reckon.

Agreed, I really struggled compared to my usual performance. Though both teams seemed pretty poor if totally honest. Also found it strange that neither team appeared to have their strongest player as their captain.

Reply 1413

Ho Chi Minh

Original post

by ajp100688

Yet they enter multiple colleges so they can't really complain. If they wanted to they could enter combined teams (I don't see York or Durham entering individual colleges) and they'd probably have a stronger team. So Manchester's 40k is irrelevant.

Anyway know how they work out the highest scoring losers? QMUL has the #4 highest losing score with what looks to be one first round match left, so I'm curious as to whether we might get another bash at it.

Combined Oxbridge teams wouldn’t be allowed; the competition has to be balanced. The Open University was banned from UC for being too good, for example. The producers don't want two combined teams running away with it year after year, which is why Oxbridge only play as colleges. I'd say that the 40k is relevant, given that this makes Manchester the largest university in the UK by student numbers, thereby giving it the largest talent pool to choose a team from.

There are 5 1st round matches left to play. I was impressed by QMUL actually, they were unlucky. It would be a shame if they didn’t get through. It’ll be interesting to see what the cut-off will be - much lower than previous years, I suspect.

Reply 1414

username927016

Anyone just watched it right now? That Pinkerton guy was slick man :cool:

Reply 1415

Hedgeman49

Original post

by Multitalented me

Anyone just watched it right now? That Pinkerton guy was slick man :cool:

He pulled out a couple of good guesses and was hardcore on his Asian geography, felt the other captain was possibly stronger though

Reply 1416

username927016

Original post

by Hedgeman49

He pulled out a couple of good guesses and was hardcore on his Asian geography, felt the other captain was possibly stronger though

I was referring more to his appearance tbh :tongue:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 1417

IWantSomeMushu

I quite like this Pembroke team :smile:

Reply 1418

qgujxj39

Original post

by Variations

I really don't think so. Would a British football team be any better than the current English, Welsh and Scottish teams?

There are 4 home nations. There are 31 Cambridge colleges (and probably a similar number at Oxford). The better analogy is "would a European football team be better than the English team?".