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Should have got a five pointer with the ‘share the same birthday’ question as I knew John & Sean Lennon did but didn’t click to start with.
A subject area which most UC teams seem to struggle with is British Geography. Hopeless in the main.
A repeat of The Chase the other day had a multi option question on top weight now carried in the Grand National. Both the contestant and Jenny Ryan chose wrongly. Jenny chose 10-10 and aired her knowledge further by saying a punter friend of hers advised always to go for a horse carrying a single figure weight. (Less than 10 stone). Ignorance is not limited to air heads.
Manchester, all those years ago.
I don’t think the team will win. I think they rely on their captain a little bit too much.
A team of students from University College London on “University Challenge” didn’t know the St Leger is run at Doncaster.
Said Halifax which is in West Yorkshire not South. Halifax racecourse went about 150 years ago.
Nothing to do with racing but I sometimes wonder why people go on television quiz shows when they don’t appear to know anything. Are they not embarrassed at showing themselves up on national television?
I watched an episode of “Tenable” last night. The first contestant was asked to name the ten most common surnames in Wales. When host Warwick Davis asked what he thought of the subject, the lad replied “Surnames are not my strong point”. Davis’s quip of “I haven’t met anyone who says they are their strong point” seemed lost on him.
His first answer was “Douglas” – about as Scottish as it gets. Unsurprisingly it was incorrect and untenable. When Davis asked the team captain (the lad’s father) why he didn’t use the overrule button, he said it was because he couldn’t think of anything better.
The lad then nominated one of his team mates. She suggested “Griffiths”, which was tenth on the list. The lad was still stumped, so nominated again. This time his uncle suggested “Price” but the lad said he would like to change it to Prince. Again unsurprisingly, it was untenable and he was out of the game.
When Davies revealed the remaining nine names (with Jones, of course, in first place), he asked the team if they recognised any of them. One said “I might have got Williams”. Davis, by now somewhat incredulous, asked the lad if he had heard of the name Jones. When he replied no, Davis asked “Not even Tom Jones, the singer?” To which the lad replied “No, I only listen to heavy metal”.
How can you reach that age and be so lacking in awareness?
The host’s name was something of a clue, I believe the alternative spelling including an ‘e’ is the Welsh variant.
I do also wonder why people bother sometimes, although in fairness plenty have done far worse just to get on television. Take just about any ‘reality’ TV for a start.
It is of course not in the programme makers’ interest to let too many knowledgeable folk on, can’t be giving out too much prize money. I suspect producers on The Chase have a fair idea which teams have any chance of winning before a question is asked. Better to keep the good players together than split them up and risk them carrying a weak team.
BBC Four is currently repeating the first series of Only Connect from 2008. No racing questions as yet but somewhat relevant to this thread. I’ve only seen the first episode so far which features now question setter Jack Waley-Cohen who is somehow related to former jockey Sam.
Cousins I think
I don’t think I saw the first 2 or 3 series. Definitely don’t remember the greek letters.
I was channel hopping and noticed Jack Whaley Cohen on Only Connect. Wondered if they all knew each other back then or met because of the programme. Have always felt that they moved in the same social circles for some reason.
I didn’t watch it back then either, it’s quite nice to have some new ones to have a go at. I believe the joke was that Greek letters were too pretentious so they changed to hieroglyphs which seems on brand for OC’s bone dry humour.
I caught up on an old Beat The Chasers the other day. To no great surprise the combined team of Labett, Hegerty,Ennis and Wallace were nonplussed when asked in which sport is Charlie Appleby a leading figure. Eventually rugby was put forward.
Made me wonder if any trainers would be known to anyone who doesn’t follow racing closely.
I don’t think so. Even in Red Rum’s day, how many people could name Ginger McCain? No horse is anywhere near that well known now.
A few would be able to pull out someone like Mullins or O’Brien, and they’re not even British.
I suppose if they had substituted Appleby with Andrew Balding in the question it would have been easier.Some will probably have guessed successfully on that too.
I suppose Jenny Pitman would have been a bit more widely known some years ago.
Hard to think of any current jockeys cutting through either.
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