Now that the dust has settled on my team's victory in Series 8 of Only Connect, I've reverted to type and gone hunting for more fun statistics from the show. My latest interest is, predictably, how the Board Gamers compare with previous series winners, as well as whether the numbers can tell us anything about what 'makes' an Only Connect champion. What follows is an assortment of those facts and figures I thought interesting enough to share. (And just in case you're new to the blog, I've done a couple of previous posts on Only Connect stats which can be found here and here.)
Before I start, a bit of statistical housekeeping. Only Connect has now used three different tournament structures and so I've done a bit of fiddling to make the eight champions a bit more comparable. In particular the Board Gamers are the only team to have played five games, while Series 2 winners the Rugby Boys only played three. I've decided to drop the Board Gamers' loss to the Lasletts from these analyses to bring us in line with all the other '4 win' teams, while taking average scores across episodes to both help accommodate the Rugby Boys but also to make the figures a bit more digestible.
First up then, the headline stat: points! Graph number one (below) shows the average score for each series champion across their four (or three for the Rugby Boys) games. There's not really much in it, with all but Series 4 champions the Epicureans averaging in the range 23-26.5. However, this disguises the fact that while rounds 1-3 are static, the missing vowels rounds can vary in length (and so a varying number of points are available in them). If we discount missing vowels we find the Crossworders are the best series champions in terms of the first three rounds, with the Epicureans dropping from first to joint last with a certain trio of board game enthusiasts. Still, though, the range of average scores across these three rounds is predictably pretty narrow, from 16.25 in last to 20.5 in first.
Average score across all games for series champions.
If we look more closely at a round-by-round breakdown (below) we get a feel for teams' strengths and weaknesses, both relative to each other, but also within themselves. For example, it's little surprise to me that the Board Gamers scored best on sequences and missing vowels, while our average score on the walls was the lowest of all the series champions. Series 3 winners the Gamblers, meanwhile, were the most consistent performers with the smallest standard deviation of scores across rounds.
Average round-by-round scores for series champions. Green and red highlight the highest/lowest averages for each round.
Again, though, we can see how the Epicureans' record is being skewed by their missing vowels scores, with an average of over 13 points in this round more than double that of some other champions. An alternative approach to assess missing vowels performance is to instead consider a team's score as a proportion of the total points scored (by both teams) in that round. This way an unusually long missing vowels round doesn't skew the data quite so much. Using this method we find that the Epicureans still turned in a perfectly commendable performance, gobbling up 70% of the points 'on offer' in their missing vowels rounds. The Board Gamers are second on this metric, while Series 6 champions the Scribes managed an almost ridiculous 88%. This isn't a perfect approach of course - my dataset doesn't account for missing vowels clues that went unsolved - but it nevertheless should give a slightly better indication of missing vowel strength than the raw numbers.
A final thought was whether series champions tend to be better or worse at certain rounds. The relative importance of each round is reflected in how many times each series champion 'won' that round during their series. For example, the Crossworders scored more than their opponents in the connections round twice, while they scored more than their opponents in all four of their sequences rounds. I've summarized the round-by-round stats in another figure (below), which highlights the importance of the mainly-green sequences and missing vowels, as well as the fun fact that the Board Gamers have the dubious honour of being the only team to win an entire series despite never outright winning on the walls...
Series champions' win/draw/loss record for each round.
Note the Rugby Boys only appeared in three episodes.
So that's your lot. Now the excitement of Only Connect is dying down, The Ones That Got Away will be returning to its normal schedule of pub quiz misses and occasional more general quiz commentary. Although feel free to ask (either here on on Twitter @statacake) if you think of any fun Only Connect-based questions you'd like answering. In the meantime, here's wishing you all a prosperous 2014!
Warning: the following contains spoilers for the Only Connect Series 8 grand final, first broadcast on BBC4 last Monday (23rd December). I'd be surprised if anyone reading this both cares about the result, and yet hasn't seen the show, but if that's you look away now!
So this was it. To the surprise of many (including, admittedly, ourselves) the Board Gamers (Hywel Carver, Michael Wallace and Jamie Karran) had made it to the grand final of Only Connect. After a day recording three shows back-to-back we had emerged victorious, leaving just one last hurdle between us and the title of 'Series Champions'. Before that, though, we had an even more challenging mission: Hywel needed some new clothes.
Before the show
After our victory over the Oenophiles at the end of a marathon day of quizzing we were fairly keen to get out of the studio environment (where the second semi-final was about to take place). Unfortunately, getting to the final meant that Hywel (who had been waging a one-man war against the show's dress code) needed another shirt to wear. Hywel likes check shirts, you see, and anyone who has been on TV shows knows that cameras very much don't like check shirts. We therefore had to take a detour via a nearby Marks and Spencer where, after some umming and aahing (while Jamie and I attempted to find - and wear - the silliest hat) he eventually found something for the final. The more observant of you will realize that this was yet another check shirt, but they were quite big checks, so it was fine. (Or at least, that's what Hywel told a very unimpressed but spectacularly patient member of the production team the next morning.)
Jamie (quite literally) letting his hair down
Then followed another fun fun evening in the super fancy Only Connect hotel with some obligatory wall practice (we felt we probably needed it) and a little bit of booze (we felt we definitely needed it). Soon enough it was time to try and get some sleep. Unfortunately, despite having slept for about two hours the previous night and the sort of medication you only get if your husband is a doctor, this was not forthcoming.
Eventually I managed about four hours and the next morning, while Jamie went through his favourite quiz show routine (hotel breakfast), I was limited to trying to make my beans look like a smiley face. "Oh well," I remarked, "at least this should only really affect my reactions for missing vowels, and Hywel's the main guy for those", at which point Hywel arrived, telling us he also felt awful - he'd been up since 4am thanks to a (apparently deaf) guest's TV watching in the room next door. Uh-oh.
We noticed the Lasletts were also at breakfast, and while I was feeling far too unwell to try and say hello (thus probably seeming horrendously rude in the process), Jamie bumped into Jake who was predictably circumspect about whether they were our opponents in the final. Taking this to imply they would be, my expectations were lowered further: they were the only team we'd met who'd matched us on missing vowels, which remained our 'get out of jail free' card should we court disaster in the earlier rounds.
Far too soon it was time to head to the studio where I noticed a 'Bakers' dressing room sign. Still assuming we were playing the Lasletts I figured they must have simply forgotten to take it down yesterday, so it came as a surprise when we found out they were our opponents after all. Knowing nothing about them other than that they'd a) also lost a game, and b) beaten the Lasletts, we didn't really know what to think, but I was nevertheless slightly excited by the prospect of an unseen enemy.
Most of the run-up to the final was, however, dominated by my feeling utterly awful. The combined forces of not enough sleep, very little breakfast, and the impending grand final of my favourite TV show wreaked havoc on my mind and body, even with the lovely Victoria Coren Mitchell (henceforth simply VCM) trying to reassure me that I was being utterly silly.
Selfie-obsessed
With the pre-show routine of going through our introductions, make-up, and painkillers complete, we headed to the green room to get our microphones. This was the first time we'd (knowingly) set eyes on our opponents, who I'd expected to be a trio of middle-aged quiz nerds, but turned out to be a trio of comparably young and altogether charming quiz nerds instead. Pre-show conversation with your opponents is, understandably, a bit awkward, although I was surprised to learn this was the Bakers' first TV appearance - my opening gambit of discussing other quiz shows we'd been on inadvertently came across as a Machiavellian attempt at mind games! I was almost glad when the call to studio came, although by now my stomach was doing cartwheels. Walking in we saw the trophy for the first time and Jamie, worried he'd never be so close to it again, snapped a sneaky shot of it on his phone. The way I was feeling at the time, meanwhile, left me no brain space to consider that in less than an hour it could be ours.
Round 1: What's the connection?
The questions
1) Ex-royal winner getting A1 returns (8); Posh convict, or Ian, confined (8); Plum sponge? (8); Presenter of OC trivia, confusingly! (8)
2) Music: Arthur Sullivan's The Lost Chord; Natasha Bedingfield's These Words; Elton John's Your Song; Barry Manilow's I Write the Songs
3) Sir Walter Scott: Chivalry; Marie Curie: Radium; Carl Sagan: Life; Harry Houdini: Conjuring
4) Sweat bee; Separate hard lumps; Light air; Talc
5) Pictures: Weeping Willow; Maple Leaf; Wall Street; The Entertainer
6) Windows Freecell Game #11982; WOPR's Global Thermonuclear War; Kobayashi Maru; Pac-Man level #256
The answers
1) Cryptic crossword clues for VICTORIA
2) Song writing
3) Authors of 'Encylcopaedia Britannica' articles
4) '1' on scientific indexes
5) Scott Joplin rags
6) Unwinnable positions
The excuses
1) A painful start for us, as Hywel and I (both being big crossword fans) saw a possible five-pointer go begging. I suspect the Bakers could have had this for five themselves (and I found the third clue the hardest of the lot) but better safe than sorry, especially with the first question of the show.
2) Despite no-one liking to get the music question, overall they've been fairly kind to us this series. This was the fourth (of a possible five) that we scored on during our run, albeit via Jamie picking the answer out of pretty much nowhere at the last second. On retrospect we had everything we needed after the third clue, having recognized Your Song and These Words; Barry Manilow, as is so often the case in life, didn't help us.
3) The first really brutal question, I thought, passing both the teams by. Our more than optimistic suggestion that they had been killed by these things was admittedly only really hanging on Marie Curie and radium.
4) A frustrating miss, as we again committed the sin of getting caught up in a wrong answer that left us little time to regroup. Talc was a bit of a giveaway, but 'light air' made us think of dephlogisticated air - an old name for nitrogen - and after mulling over this we reached the final clue too late. The bonus was duly hoovered up by the Bakers who impressively knew three of the four clues, leaving Dr Karran to finally spot the Bristol stool chart.
5) After giving up a bonus point it was a great relief to get one back. We only had the Maple Leaf Rag to go on (the penny didn't drop on 'The Entertianer' until after we answered), but it seemed plausible enough.
6) Probably our favourite question of the series. We had no idea on the Freecell clue (we briefly wondered if it could be that all the cards were in order, but that didn't seem too likely), but WOPR's Global Thermonuclear War sealed it. It's an excellent film, and the line 'the only winning move is not to play' is one of those phrases that a certain level of geek will reference fairly regularly. Unwinnable scenarios made a lot of sense for a specific game of Freecell, so we went for it. Jamie then took great pleasure in explaining the final two clues in what was a geek's paradise of a question. (He wanted to go into even more detail about how the ghosts move in Pac-Man, but thought better of it.)
I'd not kept a particularly good track of the scores in this round, but knew those three points were big. A 5-3 lead was a more than healthy start - particularly in a final - and with our usually strong sequence round to come I was a tiny bit excited that we were in the driving seat.
Round 2: What comes fourth?
The questions
1) Croesus; Benjamin Franklin's alter ego; Lazarus at the rich man's gate
2) 2x3; 6x2; 12x
3) China and Mongolia; Argentina and Chile; Kazakhstan and Russia
4) IV: Sailor; III: Billy; II: Rufus
5) Pictures: Gale; Peel; King
6) Load the toaster; Open and shut the cupboards; Break and whisk the eggs
The answers
1) (e.g.) A.J. Raffles [Rich man, Poor man, Beggar man, Thief]
2) 12 [Derivatives of the previous term]
3) USA and Canada [Longest land borders]
4) I: Conqueror [Nicknames for Kings William]
5) Purdey [Steed's partners in 'The Avengers']
6) Chop and squeeze the grapefruit [Morecambe and Wise's 'The Breakfast Sketch']
The excuses
1) Another brutal one, where I think really you need to know of Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack to stand a good chance of spotting it. I've no idea where Jamie's (inspired) attempt of "not wearing any clothes" for the bonus point came from but there's a lovely moment where he just catches the (usually unflappable) Victoria Coren Mitchell off-guard. "What?!".
2) A lovely question for us, we considered differentiation almost immediately but thought it was too risky as '12' didn't seem quite neat enough for the end of a sequence. Still, three points in the bag meant I knew we were five ahead, and the Bakers only had two of their own questions to go...
3) ...so you can probably imagine how I felt when 'China and Mongolia' popped up for the Bakers. Hywel and I immediately leaned over to each other and said "USA and Canada" and my heart sank as I was near-certain the Bakers would have it as well. After what felt like an eternity (but was really just seconds) my fears were confirmed, and we were back to all square.
4) Watching this back, none of us could actually remember the correct answer, so I was a little surprised to see my televisual self lean over without much time left and suggest kings, which triggered the correct answer for the team. A few people noticed Jamie's snigger as VCM said 'colon conqueror'. Yes, he really is that childish.
5) Our record on TV questions this series has been predictably terrible, and like the Bakers this was one that was rather before our time (as evidenced by everyone's blank expressions even after being told the connection!).
6) TV again, and no real surprise we didn't have it (it sounded a bit Rube Goldberg which put us vaguely in mind of The Wrong Trousers). Watching the sketch brought back the very faintest of memories, so I can only assume I'd seen it at some point, but at the time the answer made as much sense to us as the Avengers one before it. A good bonus from the Bakers brought the scores almost level.
The five-pointer had hurt us, but with a lead (albeit a slender one) going into the walls, we knew all we had to do was avoid catastrophe to at least have a shot in missing vowels. I was relieved we were going first (something we'd always planned to pick if we ever won the toss) so that the nervous wait could come after, rather than before, our turn.
High trajectories in ball sports (Three-pointer, Six, Hail Mary, Lob)
Two forenames combined (Denmark, Patron, Melrose, Garryowen)
Prayers (Collect, Angelus, Grace, Requiescat)
British Abbey (Sweetheart, Tintern, Battle, Glastonbury)
As VCM observed, we haven't had the best run of form on the walls this series. As I've mentioned before, this is at least in part due to our team being slightly weaker on raw general knowledge than some, and that this is a round where that can be a particularly big limitation. However, we also knew that our wall performance on the show had been significantly worse than in practice, so were a bit miffed that we'd still not solved a wall. Unfortunately, we'd left things until the final to do so, so weren't too optimistic of breaking our duck here.
It was a huge relief to see the sporting terms almost as soon as the wall started, and a huge (audible) surprise that our first attempt yielded a group. We were slightly lucky, however, as we dodged the red herring 'Garryowen' (from rugby), therby saving us a bit of time trying out permutations. "Two points in the bag", I thought, and with Tintern strongly suggesting abbeys we were on at least three. We first tried cycling through the five of Tintern, Glastonbury, Battle, Angelus and Garryowen, knowing the first two and hypothesizing that the other three sounded plausible.
After a bit of half-hearted work on "Requiescat is the first bit of R.I.P." I spotted that Garryowen was two concatenated names, and as a team we quickly found the other three. With two groups, two connections, and a strong suspicion of abbeys for a third, we were on at least five points and things were just starting to look encouraging. After a bit more thought, Hywel made the final breakthrough, realizing that Collect is a prayer. From here the final two groups fell out easily, and we suddenly realized we might have finally got a perfect wall.
Giving our answers, there's a moment I'd forgotten where I tell Jamie I'm not letting him try and give our answer to the sports question, before a description of each shot and a suggestion from Hywel just about got us the point for the answer. The rest went smoothly enough and all of a sudden we not only had a perfect wall, but also a guaranteed lead going into missing vowels. Now came the dreaded wait as the Bakers would try to emulate our feat: wall 409 on the website. (We tackled this ourselves in the run-up to our Grand Final party and, to my considerable relief, also scored ten.)
The answers
Evil spirits (Incubus, Bogey, Kelpie, Imp)
Zones on 'The Crystal Maze' (Ocean, Aztec, Industrial, Futuristic)
Linked to the number 11 (Neil Armstrong, Armistice Day, Nigel Tufnel, Cricket team)
Can be spelt with an 'ae' ligature (Eon, Demon, Encyclopedia, Medieval)
As always, the Bakers took on their wall while we sat in the green room with no knowledge of how they were getting on. Well, Jamie and Hywel sat, I paced around nervously while one of the lovely production people tried to persuade me of the (clearly ridiculous) notion that it was just a quiz show and I had nothing to worry about. Still, we knew we had a guaranteed lead, and I remember thinking "it's the final, surely they'll at least miss one connection - that would mean a four point advantage at a minimum". After what seemed like an eternity ("ooh, I wonder if that means they were struggling?") we were called back into the studio for the last time.
Round 4: Missing Vowels
I have a very distinct memory of studying the Bakers' faces as we were waiting for the final round of filming to begin, desperately searching for some clue that they'd failed miserably (or, heaven forbid, done brilliantly). At the time, I thought that their captain (Peter Steggle) looked particularly glum, and briefly got my hopes up for a somewhat more comfortable lead, so was a touch surprised to hear they had also had a perfect wall (I asked him about this later and he attributed his grim demeanour to having heard we were good at missing vowels!). With little time to think, though, the final round was afoot.
British Isles did not seem like a good start for us; we once had a pub quizmaster who, after becoming bored of us winning a little too often, started deliberately putting in questions about UK geography to scupper us. Nevertheless, we managed to reach the buzzer first for Alderney, and a missignal from the Bakers coupled with a good answer from Hywel put us four up very quickly. A cracking spot of South Uist pulled one back for the Bakers before Jamie hit back with Isle of Wight, continuing his run of being surprisingly good at missing vowels (we all expected him to be rubbish).
Porn parody titles came next, in what proved to be a good (and ultimately decisive) category for us. Like a lot of nerds I have a mild obsession with terrible puns, and once American Booty clarified the sort of thing we were looking for I was able to hoover up Pulp Friction and Flesh Gordon to give us a near-unassailable lead. (I recall pressing the buzzer instinctively having seen 'Flash Gordon', only to then think "oh hang on" and spot Flesh Gordon in time.) Some noticed my very particular way of giving these answers - as you can imagine I was trying incredibly hard to make sure I didn't misspeak! The Bakers took the last to leave us five points ahead, at which point I was thinking one more should just about do it.
The final group - UK postcode district and equivalent US state - was a welcome sight. This sort of thing plays right into Hywel's and (I thought) my hands, and Hywel duly took the first two to virtually see us home. While the Bakers pulled one back I was just starting to realize we'd done it, when Jamie (to my continued surprise) popped up to take the last clue, and our last point of the series.
The wrap-up
I'd just about kept score on my fingers during the round, so knew we'd won before VCM read out the scores, but was nevertheless surprised by the margin (the two point swing for the Bakers' wrong answer does exaggerate it slightly). What followed, we were told, was deliberately 'the most awkward trophy presentation ceremony on television', during which we had to pretend to talk to VCM while she talked about the fact we were all pretending to talk.
After the presentation (which we had to do twice for TV reasons I still don't understand) we had an actual chat with Victoria and the Bakers, before being shooed out of the studio as they prepared to record a couple of celebrity specials (one of which is yet to air, so I'll have to be vague on details). We were amused to discover we'd been kicked out of our dressing room so some guy called Clive Anderson could have it. Don't they know who we are(?!) etc. etc.
Whose wine is it anyway?
We ended up having a rather surreal experience chatting with a few of the celebrities who had shown up for the specials. Obviously there's always a slight weirdness to talk to people you've only seen on TV, but this was then completely distorted by the fact a few of them had just watched the final and so were talking to us in almost reverential tones(!). Eventually we decided the production team were probably worried about us weirding out the famous people so dropped off the trophy in the make-up room and grabbed some lunch. I remarked how this was the first time I'd been able to enjoy eating anything at the studio in four days, as I could finally stop worrying about making a tit of myself on national television. Not that making a tit of myself was entirely off the cards, though, as a chap briefly joined us to chat whom we discovered only afterwards was one of the 'celebrities' there for the recording. I don't think he noticed we had no idea who he was, at least (although having subsequently found out I shan't name names).
Pushing our luck, we asked the production team if there was any chance we could sit in on the first celebrity special being recorded, and to our surprise they said yes. Seeing the show from behind the camera was super interesting (and loads of fun after the stresses of the past few days) although at least one of the contestants complained about us sitting in their line of sight, remarking "they're just going to laugh at us!". As you'll have probably seen on the Children in Need special, however, they acquitted themselves well, although after the show Clive Anderson made the mistake of asking Jamie for his honest opinion of their missing vowels technique...
Having more than outstayed our welcome we didn't think it fair to stick around for the next recording, so said our goodbyes and headed to the station. It felt very strange returning to the bustle (and normality) of London, with the trophy - and a secret we needed to keep for the next eight months - hidden away. Our journey home, however, proved amusingly well-timed. After collapsing on the sofa I checked my watch.
"Oh, shall we go to the pub? It's Tuesday - we're just in time for the quiz..."
As promised on Friday here's the full Only Connect Jamie Karran lookalike bingo card for this evening's grand final. There will be some predictably over-the-top post-morteming once the dust settles, but for now just enjoy the show!
It's Friday, which means it's almost Monday, and Monday means the Only Connect Grand Final! In it you'll be seeing my team the Board Gamers (Hywel Carver, Michael Wallace and Jamie Karran) take on the suspiciously charismatic Bakers (Tim Spain, Matt Rowbotham and Peter Steggle) for one of the most sought-after pieces of acrylic in quizzing. Now if Million Pound Drop has taught us anything (which I appreciate sounds unlikely) it's that Event Television such as this demands copious quantities of delicious Social Media. What better way to participate, then, than through a Jamie Karran 'lookalike' quiz?
Inexplicably, Twitter seems rather preoccupied with the guy whose fashion sense is from a decade that hasn't happened yet, and one of their favourite games is to suggest he looks like famous people who also have hair. I've put together 14 faces (including a few fictional characters) to whom Kaptain Karran has been likened during our run on the show, in the manner of a 'Twitter bingo card'. For now, and for some fun Friday quiz time, all you have to do is identify them.
On Monday I'll be posting a slightly fancier card with answers conveniently included so you can play along on the night. To join in the fun (because obviously you can't simply watch the show - what is this, the 70s?) follow the #onlyconnect hashtag and tick off the names or - as we will be doing - have a drink every time a wise and learned Twitterer suggests our glorious leader looks like one of these faces.
Until then though they remain unidentified, so you can have the fun of trying this rather particular picture quiz for yourself before the big night. (And if you can't bear to wait until then for the answers, I've popped them below.)
Having posted my recap of last week's Only Connect a little early, I thought I'd post a special connections quiz in lieu of the regular Ones That Got Away. Be warned that this is rather different to the usual questions I post here; it's more of a lazy Sunday afternoon challenge than a quick tea break quiz. Nevertheless, I've tried to litter it with a mix of fun questions or essential trivia, so hopefully there's something in it for everyone.
The format
Setting an example
Below you'll find 40 questions, the answers to which - with a bit of lateral thinking - fit into eight related groups of five. Think of it like a supersized Only Connect connecting wall. The connections won't necessarily be obvious, however. For example, if you were asked "Who's this chap (pictured)?", then the group it belongs to probably isn't simply "British Prime Ministers", but could be "English Kings" (e.g. John) or "Army ranks" (e.g. Major).
Before you begin, a quick note on difficulty. I wrote this quiz for a couple of friends, so the subject matter is tailored towards them to some extent (although I've tweaked it a bit; there aren't any questions about obscure Transformers any more, for example). I'd say this is just about a fair ask for a pub of quiz teams, so if you're trying it by yourself don't be too disheartened if it seems a bit tough. You can of course just whizz through the questions if you like, but to tackle it properly you're probably going to want a pen and paper (or one of those high tech text editing programs all the kids are raving about).
Finally, to maximize fun the answers are revealed in three stages. First, you'll see the answers to the questions, from which you can try and form any groups you're yet to identify. Next you'll see the 40 questions divided into their groups of five, before finally the connections themselves are revealed. Alternatively, you can check out the connections before seeing the answers, in case you'd rather try puzzling over the questions with the aid of the related groups.
In any case, that's enough waffle, I know you're here for hot fresh quiz action, so enjoy...
The questions
1) Which poem's opening four lines end with the words 'weary', 'lore', 'tapping' and 'door'?
2) Which TV presenter was suspended for 12 weeks without pay in 2008 after teaming up with Russell Brand to leave a series of lewd messages on Andrew Sachs' answerphone?
3) Which American police drama series first aired in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes until 1987? It won eight Emmy awards in its opening season, a debut season record that was only surpassed by the West Wing, which received nine.
4) Which stringed instrument features components known as the foot, knee, neck, head as well as the body?
5) Which chemical element was formerly named hydrargyrum?
6) Which physicist, astronomer and mathematician lends his name to a reformulation of Newtonian mechanics, as well as to a number system more commonly known as quaternions?
7) Divided into 100 centavos, what is the currency of Brazil?
8) Which royal house was founded by Robert II of Scotland? He had 11 children and died aged 74.
9) What approximate (polygonal) shape is the Roger Hargreaves character known in French as Monsieur Costaud, in Spanish as Don Forzudo, and in German as Unser Herr Stark?
Question 11
10) Which British television comedy drama, whose sixth - and possibly final - series concluded in October 2013, stars an actor previously most noted for his role as Gary Strang in Men Behaving Badly?
11) Picture! What is the common name of the object we've zoomed in on here?
12) What is the middle name of Homer Simpson?
13) Which imperial coin was equal in value to five shillings? The currencies of several countries (including Denmark, Norway and Sweden) derive their name from this word.
14) Which train, built in 1938, holds the world speed record for steam locomotives of 125.88 mph?
15) Which Caribbean capital was the setting for the 2004 re-imagining of the 1987 Blockbuster Dirty Dancing?
16) Which singer won the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest with 'Boom Bang-a-Bang'? The year is infamous in Eurovision history: four countries tied for first place and, with no tie-break rule in place, they were all declared joint winners (lots were drawn for who would host the following year).
17) What name is given to the young of animals from the family Macropodidae?
18) Which enemy of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was introduced at the beginning of the show's second season? He was initially so frightening he had to be toned down after parents complained he was 'too evil' for the show.
19) In December 2010 BBC Radio 4 presenter James Naughtie was left red-faced after a slip of the tongue caused a rather unfortunate mispronunciation of which politician's name?
20) What word describes a victory in a beat 'em up video game where the victor takes no damage?
21) In which language are the most valuable Scrabble tiles the letters K, W, X, Y and Z (each worth 10 points)?
22) Which animal inspired both the 1966 World Cup mascot World Cup Willie and the Euro 96 mascot Goaliath?
23) Which item of clothing takes its name from an atoll in the Marshall Islands? In Marshallese its name means 'coconut place'.
24) What is the American name for the seven brightest stars of Ursa Major?
25) Which Countdown star was the fifth celebrity to be eliminated from Strictly Come Dancing this year?
26) 'Born' in a 1998 issue of the Beano, what is the name of Dennis the Menace's baby sister?
27) Which former world number one tennis player won nine Grand Slams, eight as a citizen of her native Yugoslavia and one as a citizen of the United States?
28) What syllable is used for the seventh note of the scale in the Sound of Music song which begins "Doe a Deer..."?
29) Which politician, who resigned as Leader of the House of Commons in protest against the invasion of Iraq in 2003, died two years later while walking down the mountain Ben Stack in Scotland?
Question 31
30) Which archipelago island nation, lying between Madagascar and mainland Africa, gained independence from France in 1975?
31) Picture! These are replicas of the four elemental stones from film The Fifth Element. Which element is represented by the 2nd stone (highlighted)?
32) What musical sign is this: ♮?
33) Which video games console was released by Sega in 1994 (Japan) and 1995 (North America and Europe)?
34) Which chocolate bar was first manufactured in Slough, Berkshire, in 1932? Though not a Cadbury's product, it was advertised to the trade as being made with Cadbury's chocolate?
35) In Greek mythology, which titan had two daughters with her brother Coeus? She is the grandmother of Artemis and Apollo.
36) What game, first released in 2001, is the flagship title of PopCap games? On average, a copy is sold every 4.3 seconds worldwide, and has inspired countless other games, with Candy Crush Saga the most recent, notable, example.
37) Which worldwide lifestyle magazine, founded by Pierre Lazareff and his wife Helene Gordon in 1945, is now the world's best selling fashion magazine? It is also the name of a village in the Central African Republic.
38) In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Lord Voldemort sustains his life by drinking the blood of which mythical animal?
39) What six-letter word can be part of an item of clothing, a type of chocolate sweet, or the centre of the scoring area in curling?
40) What specific two-word name is given to a line of zero degrees longitude?
And that's your lot. By now you've probably got some answers and a few ideas for the connections, so hopefully the trickier questions might be more attackable. Once you've had enough, you can view the answers in various ways below, depending on what you fancy.
The answers (raw)
Below this button you'll find the answers to the questions, but no information about the connecting groups!
1) The Raven
2) Jonathan Ross
3) Hill Street Blues
4) Harp
5) Mercury
6) William Hamilton
7) Real
8) Stewart (later Stuart)
9) Square
10) Doc Martin
11) Venus de Milo
12) Jay
13) Crowns
14) Mallard
15) Havana
16) Lulu
17) Joey
18) Lord Zedd
19) Jeremy Hunt
20) Perfect
21) French
22) Lion
23) Bikini
24) The Big Dipper
25) Rachel Riley
26) Bea
27) Monica Seles
28) Ti
29) Robin Cook
30) Comoros
31) Earth (from left to right: Fire, Earth, Air, Water)
32) Natural
33) Saturn
34) Mars
35) Phoebe
36) Bejeweled
37) Elle
38) Unicorn
39) Button
40) Prime Meridian
The answers (grouped)
Below this button you'll find the answers to the questions sorted into their eight groups, but not what the connections are!
Group 1: The Raven, Doc Martin, Mallard, The Big Dipper, Robin Cook Group 2: Hill Street Blues, William Hamilton, Stewart, Jeremy Hunt, Button Group 3: Venus de Milo, Mercuy, Earth, Sega Saturn, Mars Group 4: Jay, Lord Zedd, Bea, Ti, Elle Group 5: Crown, Harp, French, Lion, Unicorn Group 6: Jonathan Ross, Joey, Rachel Riley, Monica Seles, Phoebe Group 7: Square, Perfect, Natural, Prime Meridian, Real Group 8: Havana, Lulu, Bikini, Comoros, Bejeweled
The connections
Below this button you'll find the connections that link the eight groups, but not the answers to the questions, which you can find above!
Group 1: Birds Group 2: Surnames of British Formula 1 World Champions Group 3: Planets Group 4: Homophones for letters of the alphabet Group 5: Things on the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom Group 6: First names of Friends characters Group 7: Types of number Group 8: Alternating consonants and (the same) vowels
So there you go. Hopefully it all makes sense (and as always, comments/corrections are welcome). No poll for scoring on this one as it's a bit complicated (although with 1 point per answer and 1 point per group you're looking at 48 for a perfect round), but feel free to show off/cry as appropriate.
This is the first time I've tried writing a quiz of this kind, and there are (unsurprisingly) elements I'm not too happy with. Still, I think it just about hangs together, even if it is a bit skewed towards mine (and my friends') interests. Still, at least I took out the group on board games...
Warning: the following contains spoilers for Series 8, episode 11 of Only Connect, first broadcast on BBC4 last Monday (9th December). I'd be surprised if anyone reading this both cares about the result, and yet hasn't seen the show, but if that's you look away now!
We have to stop meeting like this. Another Monday, another date with the Board Gamers (Hywel Carver, Michael Wallace and Jamie Karran), this time playing for a place in the Only Connect grand final. Standing in their way: the Oenophiles. Formidable on paper, they came into the match undefeated with an aggregate score of 55-25. Even if you discounted our loss to the Lasletts our analogous record of 47-33 did not compare too favourably. What's more (although unbeknownst to us until after the show) the winos are heavyweights of the quiz world, comprising two Quizzing Grand Masters and a Master. Yes, I didn't know this was a thing either, although in any case being a Quiz Sage sounds way cooler.
Yet again, I'll be going into an alarming level of detail on how the game panned out from our perspective, as well as our thoughts on some of the mildly controversial elements. (And I'm pretty sure 'mild' is about as controversial as BBC 4 quiz shows can get, so hold onto your hats, folks.)
Almost as exciting a prospect, however, is some delicious preamble to this latest Only Connect adventure.
Before the show
The real conspiracy was 'little
Aloysius' under the desk
After our loss to the Lasletts and victory over the Science Editors, we were slightly surprised to learn we'd be going straight back in to record our third consecutive show of the day. By this point I was running exclusively on tea and adrenaline, although the team on the whole was fairly relaxed. All we'd heard of the Oenophiles was from our previous opponents (who'd lost to them 28-10 in their opening match); I now understand the accompanying thousand-yard stare.
Our concerns were compounded when we first set eyes on the team. There's a certain 'look' to an Only Connect team, and these guys certainly fit the bill. Still, we knew our strengths; avoid disaster in the opening round and (especially) the wall, and we might have a chance at another missing vowels turnaround. With a final pep talk from mascot Aloysius Ursinus (pictured), we took the (now rather familiar) journey to the studio floor once again.
Round 1: What's the connection?
The questions
1) Music: 10cc's The Dean and I; Pachelbel's Canon; The Smiths' Vicar in a Tutu; Handel's Zadok the Priest
2) The Laytons in India: 1942; Hollywood in the Depression; Plot to assassinate De Gaulle; Carnivorous walking plants
3) Pictures: Ireland on a blue shirt; Romania on a green shirt; Italy on a black shirt; Germany on a brown shirt
4) H1N1; Leeloo: the Fifth element; LSD; Frankenstein's monster
5) De Bono's thinking manager; England Test cricketer; UN Peacekeeper; Noddy
6) Japanese tradition of hanami; Lester Burnham dreams; Beauty and the Beast; British Legion Festival of Remembrance
The answers
1) Anglican clergy
2) 'The Day of the _______' [Day of the Scorpion, Day of the Locust, Day of the Jackal, Day of the Triffids]
3) European Fascist parties
4) 'Escaped' from a laboratory
5) Wear blue hats
6) Falling petals
The excuses
1) Wanting to go first on the wall we put the Oenophiles in to bat, and they picked up the question that (usually) no-one wants. While we had no idea about 10cc, we immediately recognized Pachelbel's Canon and Jamie whispered the answer to me a second later. The benefits of a classical (music) education, I suppose. The Oenophiles, meanwhile, seemed to be struggling and didn't reach the final clue - Zadok the Priest - which I assume would have given it to them. A nice start for us (although the twinge of frustration at a missed opportunity).
2) We were obviously lost until the final clue, from which we retrospectively twigged Day of the Jackal for the penultimate one.
3) Like the Oenophiles, we got this once it reached the rather more familiar territory of the Blackshirts, but no sooner.
4) Watching this back, Jamie had to admit to some bad captaining as his doctor brain was rather taken with the idea that the link would be influenza. While he almost redeemed himself with a pretty inspired answer, we left ourselves far too little time to regroup with the remaining clues. Fortunately the Oenophiles couldn't spot it either, and even without the flu fixation I don't think we would have either. A hard, but lovely, question I think.
5) Buzzing in with over 20 seconds left, I assumed the Oenophiles had got this one while I had no idea. As soon as they said 'caps', though, I realized it was specifically blue ones Victoria wanted, and I have a very distinct memory of time standing still as they were given another go. They hadn't got the specific link, however, and the last two clues made it trivial (indeed, UN Peacekeeper is more than enough).
6) Jamie's Japanese got a bit muddled as he toyed with flower arranging (Ikebana - via 'hana' for flower) and fireworks (Hanabi, which is an excellent game, by the way). The last two clues gave us flowers (roses and poppies, specifically) which was eventually (albeit generously) accepted. This proved to be the first of several controversial moments of the show, although I sympathize with the difficulties this particular question posed the production team.
We had managed to emerge from the round with a 4-2 lead, an encouraging start given our preference for the impending sequence round. As with our previous show, however, we knew how volatile these types of questions can be. An interesting aspect of playing in the studio is that you start to think of scoring in terms of how many questions your opponents have left to answer. They can only score one point at a time on any you miss yourself, so I was now thinking "right, they've got three questions left to score big".
Round 2: What comes fourth?
The questions
1) Passed on; No more; Ceased to be
2) 5 cards: City; 4 cards: Settlement; 3 cards: Development Card
3) Pictures: Commodore 64; 27 Dresses; An 8-track
4) (Digital numbers) 90210 -> 25; 25 -> 10; 10 -> 8
5) Triwizard tournament selector; Anti-Voldemort organisation; Severus Snape
6) B: Farming profits; C: Public annuities; D: Profits from trade or profession
The answers
1) Expired (and gone to meet its maker) [Monty Python's dead parrot]
2) 2 cards: Road [Card trading in 'Settlers of Catan']
3) (e.g.) The One Show [4^3, 3^3, 2^3, 1^3]
4) 8 -> 7 [Segments in the previous number]
5) Wand, stone and cloak ['Harry Potter and the ...' items]
6) E: Salaries [Tax schedules (The Addington Act)]
The excuses
1) A fairly brutal question to start off with, I think. Both teams obviously knew the link (we've all heard it countless times), but remembering the correct line was the real challenge. I mentally chalked off another Oenophiles question; they were down to two.
2) By far the most controversial moment of the night as we got a question on the topic of our team name. A great deal has been said about this particular incident, and I've decided to address it specifically in a separate post, but suffice to say we were more than a little surprised. We'd mentioned Settlers on a couple of previous episodes this series as an example of a 'good' board game (as opposed to more 'traditional' games such as Monopoly or Cluedo). It's one of those 'gateway games' that anyone who has graduated into
'proper' board games will have encountered, so seemed the one least
likely to alienate when we brought it up in our introductions. In reality none of us had played it for years, and so we needed two clues to work out the answer, with the remaining time spent convincing ourselves we weren't imagining things. I quite enjoy Hywel's disbelieving look to the board after I suggest the Settlers link after the second clue, with him able to provide the answer that both Jamie and I had forgotten.
3) Another tricky one, although it's perhaps as surprising that no-one in the studio could recognize both a Commodore 64 and an 8-track as it isn't surprising that no-one recognized rom-com 27 Dresses. (I tried to read Wikipedia's plot synopsis and got as far as "One night she is attending two weddings almost simultaneously..." before realizing my mistake.) While we suspected there was something numerical going on we only had the 64 to work with, missing that it was a cube and instead looking at a 'powers of 2' sequence (64, 32, 16, 8). However, with a five point lead and just one question for the Oenophiles to go, I was (just) starting to get hopeful.
4) Though we probably found this tougher than we should have, this is one of my proudest spots of the series given the pressure we were feeling. My mathematical background proved a double-edged sword as I wasted time trying to identify a numeric sequence before convincing myself it must be something more lateral. Watching this back I seem to get it with about three seconds left, and have a vivid memory of the clock showing '1' as I tried to describe my answer. Fun fact: the sequence itself has the fun property that all numbers will eventually terminate at 4, 5 or 6.
5) With a growing lead I knew that if the Oenophiles didn't get something here we'd be in with a shout regardless of how the walls went. However my heart sank after the first clue, as what appeared either a risky five pointer (taking a punt on whether the sequence was going up to book seven or down to book one) or an easy three pointer revealed itself. While the Oenophiles identified the correct book, to my surprise they couldn't narrow down what the Deathly Hallows actually were beyond "some sort of objects that...have magical connotations". We were able to steal the point with 'wand, cloak and ring', the last of these being accepted as it's the home of the more precise 'stone' for much of the series. It seems that this distinction, coupled with the view that the second biggest selling book series of all time is not worthy subject matter in a famously eclectic quiz, ratcheted up the controversy-meter another notch.
6) Knowing we knew little about farming profits or public annuities, and not needing to take any risks, we moved quickly to the third clue. This gave us plenty of time to move from a vague idea of 'tax' to the specific idea of income tax or, more specifically, salaries. Worried we might be starting to look a bit competent, Jamie suggested the link was "tax...plus a letter" to retouch his carefully constructed veneer of idiocy.
We knew the round had gone well, but when the scores were announced the size of our lead still took us by surprise. Going first on the walls we didn't have much time to contemplate our position, but one thing was obvious: anything on our wall and we had a guaranteed lead going into missing vowels.
'Anti-prizes' (Turnip, Golden Raspberry, Pigasus, Ig Nobel)
Settlements in the Falkland Islands (Salvador, Douglas, Goose Green, Darwin)
Famous people called Gibbons (Grinling, Stanley, Orlando, Stella)
Famous 'El _____' names (Libertador, Cordobes, Greco, Cid)
Our reputation on the wall has come to precede us, and this proved to be another minor nightmare. As always though, there was method to our (apparent) madness. We quickly spotted the presence of anti-prizes, and I systematically ploughed through the three we were certain of (Golden Raspberry, Darwin and Ig Nobel) with everything else while we all carried on thinking. By the time I'd finished this we'd identified some 'El ____' names and so I started a similar line based on Cid, Greco and Salvador. After a quick visit to some possible ports via a half-hearted group of explorers, I got back to anti-prizes, this time replacing Darwin with Turnip and repeating a 'these three with everything' routine. Eventually Pigasus fell into place and we had our first group and a guaranteed lead in missing vowels. With our last 30 seconds we tested out a few of the ideas that had emerged, moving into more vague "these sound like names" as our more specific thoughts weren't bearing fruit.
After the answers were revealed it proved to be another wall where our general knowledge was always going to let us down. Most of the Gibbons were new to us, as were half of the Els. I anticipated some flak for missing the Falklands settlements, but it's always a tough area of trivia for our generation. Too recent to be taught to us in school, you have to rely on what you pick up from the occasional news stories or from your own reading, in contrast to the presumed knowledge of those who lived through it. While things like that headline or that interview are regularly referenced, identifying one location (let alone four) from a thirty year old conflict is obviously rather trickier. By some coincidence, filming took place the day Margaret Thatcher died, and I recall seeing the name 'Goose Green' crop up in some news footage on our hotel TV that very evening. So perhaps this was a worse miss than we realized.
In any case, we'd got ourselves three points and knew we'd be in a strong position heading into the final round. Anything short of a perfect ten for the Oenophiles and the lead would be at least six. Their wall is number 399 on the website.
The answers
Major UK Government reports (Franks, Wolfenden, Hutton, Taylor)
Characters in 'Gone With the Wind' (Butler, Wilkes, O'Hara, Hamilton)
Domestic servants (Valet, Footman, Char, Nanny)
A drink of tea (Brew, Stroupach, Rosie, Cuppa)
Playing the wall from home shortly before the show aired, we managed to scrape together six, and it was interesting to compare our approach to the Oenophiles'. Like us, they immediately spotted the group of five servants (Butler, Footman, Valet, Nanny, Char). Unlike us, they spotted another group and didn't persevere with the five possible groups this set contains. If they had, I suspect they might have cracked it, as crucially it knocks out Char as a red herring for cups of tea. For us, this left Cuppa, Brew and Rosie, and while the 'three plus everything' approach would have worked, I picked out Stroupach first as it sounded the most plausible. Alas, while from here we suspected we were dealing with government reports and Gone With the Wind, we lost our three lives before we could unscramble them. (Although of course, there's no accounting for studio pressure, and I suspect the Oenophiles were watching our own wall with similarly wistful eyes.)
Round 4: Missing Vowels
As usual, we had no idea how the Oenophiles had got on, and after an excruciating wait we were eventually given the call back to studio. Pessimism setting in I was prepared for Victoria to announce that the Oenophiles were now on 12 points to our 15, so when I heard the number 'seven' I could barely believe it. We had about 10 seconds to realize that the final was virtually in sight before missing vowels kicked off.
The words 'Scandinavian television series' weren't the most welcome of sights to open the round. I know they're very popular, but I also have no idea who watches them. Luckily, it seems the Oenophiles were in a similar boat to us, and we pipped them to the buzzer on three of the four to all but see us home. (I'm pretty sure that most of us were thinking 'Matador' - the one unsolved clue - but part of the beauty of missing vowels is whether anyone is prepared to take the risk.)
The next group - 'Merged singer-songwriters' - is one of those Only Connect specials where half the challenge is working out what the category even means. I was able to get to grips with the first one (although I've only just realized I had no idea who James Taylor is) and from there we nicked another two before the Oenophiles spotted one to finish the set. Watching these again I was impressed with the range of musicians chosen; with a spread of at least five decades represented.
I can't deny that a missing vowels set on 'Concepts in mathematics' was a great way to round off the match. Admittedly, it completely eliminates Jamie from the team, but Hywel made up for it with a couple of nice spots (I would be more complimentary, but he was far too pleased to have beaten me to Newton-Raphson method). Mandelbrot Set, meanwhile, gives me an excuse to link to the excellent Jonathan Coulton song. The Oenophiles had time to take a good point from Luncheon on the Grass before time was up and we could finally relax.
The wrap-up
Hywel does not share my enthusiasm :(
What we'd expected to be a defeat had turned into a win by a hugely unanticipated margin. After the credits rolled the Oenophiles came over to have a chat, and it's to their credit how well they seemed to take the result. There's no doubt that they were unfortunate with a number of their questions, and could easily have beaten us on another day, but we were of course more than happy with our performance.
After a day I'll never forget, we were finally able to relax, get our stuff together, and head back to the hotel as Only Connect finalists. We passed the Lasletts on our way out, and were reminded of the defeat to them that morning that now seemed an age away. What we got up to that evening (spoilers: more connecting walls) and how well you sleep before an Only Connect final (spoilers: you don't) must wait for another post, so for now I'll leave you with a picture of me at a Tesco near the hotel, my day absolutely made by finding a magnetic trolley conveyor.
Special announcement! Jamie Karran (the doctor) and I are selling our spare Pointless trophy. You can check out the auction here!
Specialer announcement! Also, don't forget to catch the Board Gamers in their Only Connect semi-final showdown against Quizzing Grand Masters (and Master) the Oenophiles on BBC 4 at 8.30pm tonight!
The team name: Warum heisst Kanada, 'Kanada'? Weil es gibt keine da. [The quizmaster was German, obviously.]
The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
The ones that got away
Question 3 Question 5
1) The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement currently recognizes three symbols. Two of them are (predictably) the Red Cross and the Red Crescent. What's the other?
2) The earthquake of greatest magnitude on record occurred in which country?
3) Name the dog breed pictured.
4) Familiar to any bookworm, since 2007 how many digits are there in an ISBN (that is, an International Standard Book Number)?
5) What is this object pictured?
6) A group of which animal is referred to as a 'dazzle'?
7) Which novel opens with the sentence "You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings."?
8) How many essential amino acids are there?
9) Name the fictional character based on these clues:
a) They take the prescription medicine clozapine
b) They were an Arabic language student at Princeton
c) They have trouble keeping their work and private life separate
10) Name the fictional character based on these clues:
a) They were originally a carpenter but are now more associated with a different profession
b) They are sometimes accompanied by a dinosaur
c) Their brother is their sidekick.
The answers
1) Red Crystal
2) Chile (Valdivia, 1960)
3) Labrador Retriever
4) 13 (although before 1 January 2007 they contained ten digits)
5) Pascal's calculator (although if you said something along the lines of calculator or mechanical calculator you get the point)
6) Zebra
7) Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
8) 9 (Histidine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Threonine, Tryptophan and Valine, as I'm sure you were wondering)
9) Carrie Mathison from Homeland
10) Mario (of Super Mario fame)
Poll results: 16 votes with the average voter scoring 2.6/10!
The excuses
1) A fun question, we toyed with various religious symbols and eventually plumped for wheel. The slightly silly looking Red Lion with Sun symbol is still recognized, but no longer in use.
2) Despite having read the relevant Wikipedia page, my memory jumped to the deadliest, rather than the heaviest, earthquakes, a list where China holds the top three spots.
3) I've never been able to decide whether I approve of 'name the breed' questions. We considered Labrador, and Retriever, before ultimately plumping for bloodhound.
4) Not the most interesting of questions, but in that class of "things you've seen lots of times" that makes it moderately enjoyable.
5) Frustratingly, both the doctor and I proposed the correct answer independently of one another but couldn't convince ourselves.
6) Ah, the inescapable collective noun question. I suggested unicorns (which, as the doctor pointed out, would be a 'blessing') before we decided 'a dazzle of fireflies' sounded quite nice.
7) A hugely frustrating question where, after considerable debate, we put down the correct answer. At the last moment, however, the doctor got a flash of 'inspiration' and we changed it to the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
8) Not the doctor's greatest moment, this. Apparently you only need to know about it for the first two years of medical school. Or at least that's what he tells me.
9) While we're aware it's supposed to be jolly good, our combined knowledge of Homeland is summarized by the doctor as "there's a guy in it who's ginger, and I think the plot is about how could a ginger be a terrorist?".
10) A brilliant question. So good, in fact, that we didn't even feel too bad about missing something so ludicrously in our wheelhouse. Our last second answer of Jesus (to avoid the sin of not even guessing) may have focused a bit too much on the carpenter clue.
The alternative questions
Question 6
1) The International Committee of the Red Cross is the only organization to have won three Nobel Prizes. Four people and a United Nations agency have won two Nobel Prizes. Name either the specific organization, or one of the individuals.
2) The moment magnitude scale has largely succeeded which former scale used to quantify the magnitude of an earthquake? Media reports still often erroneously refer to the old scale.
3) Which fictional Labrador Retriever ostensibly died on an episode of a popular American TV show on November 24th this year (2013)?
4) ISBN codes are based on the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering code created for booksellers and stationers WH Smith. What do the initials WH stand for?
5) Which mathematician and mechanical engineer is considered a father of the computer? The London Science Museum boasts a difference engine built from one of his designs.
6) We are all familiar with zebra crossings, but which mythical animal lends its name to a pedestrian crossing designed with special consideration for horse riders (pictured)?
7) Though often dropped in modern editions, what is the subtitle of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein?
8) The amino acid cysteine is a key component of keratin, important in forming skin and which two non-living materials of the human body?
9) The Great Seal of the United States features an eagle holding an olive branch in its right talon, and 13 of what in its left?
10) Nintendo has never revealed Mario's full name, but have confirmed that it is not which name, used in the 1993 live action Super Mario Bros. film?
The answers
1) Marie Curie (Physics and Chemistry), Linus Pauling (Chemistry and Peace), John Bardeen (Physics twice), Frederick Sanger (Chemistry twice), and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Peace twice).
2) Richter scale
3) Brian Griffin
4) William Henry
5) Charles Babbage
6) Pegasus
7) The Modern Prometheus
8) Hair and nails
9) Arrows (the number 13 referring, as with the 13 stripes in the United States flag, to the 13 original states)
10) Mario Mario
Warning: the following contains spoilers for Series 8, episode 9 of Only Connect, first broadcast on BBC4 last Monday (25th November). I'd be surprised if anyone reading this both cares about the result, and yet hasn't seen the show, but if that's you look away now!
Immediately before Victoria drops the M-bomb
Just when you thought you'd got rid of us, the Board Gamers (Hywel Carver, Michael Wallace and Jamie Karran) were back again in the Only Connect hot seat(s). Victory would see us through to the semi-finals while defeat would see us on the train back to London (or possibly Swansea, if Jamie had anything to do with it). Having just been trounced by the Lasletts, our route through the competition had taken a slight detour, but at least it meant we got to show off an extra set of super trendy quiz show outfits. (And if a chess player can be a model, then so can we.)
In any case, if you're interested in what was going through our heads during this latest televisual adventure, read on. First though, a quick bit of background on how we wound up with the name Board Gamers.
Before the show
One thing the more regular Only Connect viewer knows is that a lot of teams have 'connections' that are perhaps a tiny bit tenuous. Sure, you have plenty of contestants with an undeniable link (tonight's Science Editors being a great example), but often you know you're watching three people who are just friends who like quizzing (it's like being friends with benefits but with less sex and more vexillology). A quick look down the list of series champions alone is quite telling in this regard: I, for instance could easily call myself a Crossworder, Gambler, Analyst or Epicurean, and at a push claim to be a Scribe or even a Rugby Boy (if watching it counts, at least...). We were prepared, then, to get a bit creative.
At first, however, coming up with a connection for our team seemed straightforward. First up, I proposed Assassins as we are all erstwhile members of the Cambridge University Assassins' Guild - a student society based around a mock assassination game where you hunt down other players with water pistols, cardboard knives and rubber band guns. However, Hywel wasn't too keen on being 'outed' as such on national television, so we didn't pursue that (and I'm just going to embarrass him in my blog instead). Our next thought was the factual-but-boring UCL Graduates which ultimately led (via a brief dalliance with Benthams) to what we put on the application form: Godless (a reference, as any obsessive University Challenge viewer knows, to Thomas Arnold's description of our alma mater as "that Godless institution in Gower Street").
This was actually Hywel trying to pitch his latest business idea.
We were known by the production team as Godless right up until we got the post-audition call to tell us we were on the show. Unfortunately, said post-audition call also involved them telling us to pick a less rubbish name. Working on the Godless angle we considered Atheists, while other options included Animal Lovers (we're all vegetarian) and Bhel Purists - an hilarious play on Bhelpuri a spectacularly delicious Indian snack that is best described as "spicy Rice Krispies with jam".
Getting more into the geeky side of things, Jamie suggested Webheads (combining both his love of the Internet and Spiderman), while Open Source Advocates was deemed too long to fit on anybody's TV screen. We knew we'd finally lost it when Hywel suggested that, based on the free and open-source software movement we could be the F.O.S.S.ils, but apparently they like you to avoid team names that take up most of the show to explain. Finally, then, we settled on Board Gamers referring to our mutual enjoyment of 'proper' games (with Settlers of Catan the standard go-to example).
Just call me Nostradamus.
Still, that's enough team name based waffle. On with the show!
Round 1: What's the connection?
The questions
1) Wheat, rice, potatoes, etc.; C. S. Lewis; Tubes for fastening oboe reeds; Office supply superstore
2) Music: Mia Madre Aveva Una Povera Ancella (Verdi); Mother and Child Reunion (Paul Simon); My Yiddishe Momme (Sophie Tucker); Mama Told Me Not to Come (Tom Jones & Stereophonics)
3) 'Dungeons and Dragons': 1 to 10; 'Harry Potter': 1 to 17; 'World of Warcraft': 1 to 100; Aureus: 1 to 25
4) Kniphofia; 'Fighting AIDS through Pop Culture'; 500-800 Degrees C; Have Flea on bass
5) Incognito; Unbeknownst; Misnomer; Nonchalant
6) Pictures: Middle C and the G above on a treble clef; We have solved the problem; A 300 game in bowling; Perfect binding
The answers
1) Staples
2) Mothers
3) Gold to silver conversion rates
4) Red Hot
5) Words that have no 'positive' opposite
6) Perfect
The excuses
1) Like the Editors, we were thinking 'staples' on the first clue, but they couldn't confirm it with either of the next two. A slight shame it wasn't our question, as Hywel knew that the CS in CS Lewis stood for Clive Staples, but nevertheless a relief after our previous episode to not be immediately 5-0 down!
2) As was evidenced by Hywel's suggestion that Paul Simon was Bob Marley, we were nowhere until the last clue where we finally recognized Mama Told Me Not to Come. Relations/mothers seemed a reasonable shout based solely off that clue, and some good captaining from Jamie steered the point home. (I'm actually a moderate fan of Paul Simon but had never heard that particular track.)
3) This seems like a question that would be right up our street, but we couldn't see it. While we've obviously played Dungeons and Dragons, none of us have ever dabbled in World of Warcraft (you lose a lot of friends to that game, believe me). Jamie's medical mindset, meanwhile, saw 'aureus' and thought 'staphylococcus' The one 'in' for us was Harry Potter where, if given a few days to think about it, the penny (ho-ho) might have dropped. A fiendishly brilliant question, I thought.
4) My understanding is that a lot of quizzers would know Kniphofia is the plant red hot poker, which would probably be enough to get this for a punty five. We only started to get an idea on the 500-800C clue, but were worried about the possibility of 'white hot' so took the last clue to confirm it.
5) It's a trite observation, but this one really does seem so easy once you know the answer, and yet so hard to miss when you don't. You can sense there's something wordy going on, but we couldn't get to it.
6) The first real breakthrough, and a veritable gift of a question. We're all musicians, so we knew we knew everything about the first clue. This meant the second clue allowed us to quickly identify which of the few features of the first could be the connection without the worry of having missed something.
In contrast to our previous game, then, we had a useful 5-1 lead after the first round. Coming out of one of our two weaker rounds with our noses in front was more than a little encouraging, but we also knew that round two can be very volatile, so no-one was even thinking of the semi-final yet.
Round 2: What comes fourth?
The questions
1) Pictures: Middle C and the G above on a Treble Clef; French Quarter of New Orleans; Bronze medallist
2) February; August; March
3) 4th: Iudaeorum; 3rd: Rex; 2nd: Nazarenus
4) Clement Davies; Jo Grimond; Jeremy Thorpe
5) Just begun; Nearly new; Hardly me
6) 4th: Hôtel-de-Ville; 3rd: Temple; 2nd: Bourse
The answers
1) (e.g.) A half-crown [A perfect fifth, New Orleans' French Quarter, Third place - 1/5, 1/4, 1/3, 1/2]
2) July [Months that contain 3, 2, 1, 0 'islands']
3) 1st: Iesus [What IRNI stands for]
4) David Steel [(Permanent) Leaders of the Liberal Party]
5) Not much more ['The End' by A. A. Milne]
6) 1st: Louvre [Arrondisements of Paris]
The excuses
1) The key to this one was identifying the second picture as the French Quarter of New Orleans. Jamie paid a visit to it while touring America with his school's handbell choir (obviously) and while he mistook it for the Latin rather than French, it was the quarter bit that mattered. My suggestion of 'a half pint of fine ale' (which I had worried would out me as a bit of a tit) went largely unnoticed, which was nice. I should have left it to Hywel, though, who was ready with 'scrum half' to help score us some ungeek points.
2) Hywel spotted the trick here as soon as we had the second clue, from which it was fairly easy to work out that the only option for the answer was July. Jamie had no idea what we were talking about, and after briefly trying to explain it you can just about hear me saying "Hywel's going to explain the answer" in my Serious Voice, before reminding Jamie that he needed to press the buzzer. What a leader.
3) Despite appearances, Jamie was raised Catholic (it's ok, he got better), and got this (along with Hywel) roughly when the Editors did.
4) Naturally, I'm calling in the 'before our time' excuse on this one. I'm not sure how Jamie got the Liberal link, but while I knew Charles Kennedy was wrong the only alternative I could've given was his equally-wrong predecessor, Paddy Ashdown.
5) Got to feel for the Editors here, as they seemed to have it immediately but couldn't drag out the fourth line. As was betrayed by Jamie's suggestion of "Merry Christmas", we were nowhere. (Although on looking this up, I've learnt that it's one of the poems from Now We Are Six, which we have at least heard of.)
6) Brutal. We were thinking Paris Métro (I mean really, what else are you supposed to know about Paris other than the tourist attractions?!), but to no avail. Quite a fun thing to find out about though, especially with their nice spiral arrangement.
We had managed to stretch our lead out to 9-3, which was starting to get our hopes up. As long as we could avoid a wall disaster we'd be well in contention going into missing vowels. Unfortunately, and as Victoria reminded us, walls were not really our friends.
Round 3: The connecting walls
We were up first with Wall 388 on the Only Connect website. Answers below.
The answers
Spanish drinks (Rioja, Sangria, Cava, Quiemada)
Residents of British Isles (Manx, Diurach, Vectian, Orcadian)
Songs by The Four Seasons (Rag Doll, Sherry, Let's Hang On, Silver Star)
Breeds of cat (Sphynx, Burmese, Korat, Cornish Rex)
After our first show I was worried about another wall that would prove tough to crack, but we quickly saw a couple of plausible sets with cats and alcoholic drinks. Initially these refused to fall out as there were two cat red herrings in Rag Doll and Manx (and we didn't have Korat), while we'd never heard of the drink Queimada. Fortunately, this was a time when being able and prepared to just cycle through as many plausible guesses as you can paid off. Here, I was rattling through various combinations of drinks when Jamie suggested sticking Queimada in as it sounded Mexican. A couple more permutations and the group fell out, to my audible relief.
Unfortunately, this hadn't used up either of the fake cats, so while we carried on thinking I tried a few more combinations of cats and maybe-cats, but to no avail. Time was slipping away and with it (we imagined) any hope of a lead going into the vowels. Then, with 15 seconds left I started to spot the 'adjective-y' sounding island names, and some more stabbing got us a second group with a few seconds to go.
With our answers, Jamie rambled a bit on the Spanish drinks, but fortunately the first thing he said was "alcoholic things...wines" which was what they wanted to hear (they're all alcoholic and either made of, or distilled from, wine). He then fished island nationalities solely off the back of his Manx heritage. Cats was a given, and while we just about recognized the songs, we had no idea about the band (despite walking past the theatre showing it in London numerous times, we never felt the urge to go and see Jersey Boys...). Five points in the end, and we knew we'd be ahead going into missing vowels; if we'd been offered that at the start of the show we would have gladly taken it.
Next came the nervous wait while the Editors tackled their wall, it's 389 on the website.
The answers
Old Testament books in singular (King, Chronicle, Judge, Number)
Silent first letter (Gnome, Ptarmigan, Honour, Psalm)
Game birds (Quail, Grouse, Pheasant, Francolin)
'The Day Today' newscasters (Partridge, O'hanrahanrahan, Wintergreen, Sisters)
In the comfort of our own (stress-free) home, Jamie and I managed to crack this, with the Bible books and birds falling out fairly quickly. If you know 'The Day Today' then it's a fairly easy wall to finish off, but unfortunately for the Editors they couldn't quite drag it out.
The only indication you get of how the other team has done on their wall
(before the scores are revealed immediately before missing vowels, that
is) is how long it takes them. A speedy turnaround and you know you're
in trouble, while a long wait (as we had here) tells you very little; it could mean an
undefeated wall, or just a slow solve. Once back in the studio the scores were finally revealed. Five points for the Editors meant that we had a six point lead going into missing vowels; and my brain had a moment to briefly glimpse the semi-final before it was eyes down for missing vowels.
Round 4: Missing Vowels
Of course, a six point lead is by no means insurmountable (after all, we'd managed an eight point swing in our first match), but similarly we knew we just had to avoid a complete disaster. Impressionists was reasonably in our wheelhouse (although I'd never heard of Alfred Sisley) with Hywel and Jamie combining to tie the round 2-2. The Editors then put on a burst of speed taking the first three of 'Words containing C-O-R-E-N' to halve our lead, and things were getting a bit hairy. Fortunately I managed to take the next three (including the first two of 'Also known as papa') and the Editors, needing to push, lost a point to let Hywel see us home. 21-12 in the end looks more comfortable than it felt, but we were nevertheless through.
As with our defeat to the Lasletts there was little time to come to terms with the result (not to mention our exciting new status of Only Connect semi-finalists - I was working on my chat-up lines already). We'd be playing our third straight game of the day against an as yet unknown set of opponents, but ironically were probably at our most relaxed. Our aim coming into the show was to win one game and avoid a record of played 2, lost 2. By making it to the semis we'd already surpassed that expectation, so the pressure felt somewhat lifted. (Either that, or I was just starting to feel delusional from not enough sleep and overdosing on game show induced stress, of course...)
Still, could we go any further, or were we about to be sent to the great game show studio in the sky? Stay tuned to find out!
+(copy).JPG "The production team weren't quite sure what to say when Hywel asked if Victoria would like to meet 'little Aloysius'")
