mostly david ephgrave

Tonight’s episode of University Challenge was one of those rare occasions where one of the teams competing wasn’t from Cambridge or Oxford. At least normality was vaguely restored by the male to female contestant ratio with only two of the eight students taking part coming from the latter camp; it was almost as if they were trying to adhere to the BBC panel show policy of having a one-female-panelist minimum (which they seem to take far too literally by more often than not having just one taking part). As ever, I tweeted along to the show, my rather childish sense of humour revealing I didn’t go to Cambridge or Oxford either; I went to an unaccredited drama school, so the less said about that, the better. York Vs. St Edmund Hall - Oxford (03.09.18) 8:32PM: Palazzo; poor man's Doctor Who. 8:33PM: Palazzo's cardigan looks like a living, breathing, GROWING thing. 8:34PM: Leo's murder count is beyond counting. 8:36PM: Some of Oxford's team haven...

The nature of live-tweeting a TV programme is you can’t please everybody, though sometimes, you can’t please the people who were actually in it. Not amused. These days, everyone’s a critic, which is kind of ironic as tomorrow I head to the Edinburgh Fringe where they’re particularly rife. So it’s fitting that one of my tweets should disappoint someone this evening - namely one of the contestants in tonight’s show - if only to warm me up for next month. I’m prepared to admit the tweet wasn’t exactly an example of sparkling wit, but it was pretty innocuous; at the very least, it was unremarkable enough to avoid comment; it’s weird what people take offense to. Outside of this, there was little of note during tonight’s show, other than Morris’ impressively sizeable Afro. See below for what I said about this evening’s programme too. Pembroke - Oxford Vs. Downing - Cambridge (30.07.18) 8:32PM: Morris shows promise. 8:34PM: Lamb...

I sometimes wonder why I live-tweet University Challenge so incessantly. Is it a way of shifting focus from the clear gaps in knowledge when it comes to the subject-matter of most of the show’s questions? I see myself as a reasonably intelligent human being with a fairly wide field of reference until I turn to BBC2 on a Monday evening, when I morph into a gibbering, dribbling cretin. At least with Only Connect (which they now air before University Challenge, which is a mistake: it used to be quiz-show dessert, but now it’s a misplaced first course) I stand a fighting chance; with University Challenge, the only one-upmanship I can muster is I’m marginally less socially awkward than the show’s contestants…though it's probably a close-run thing. See below for tonight’s childish Twitter ramblings: Merton - Oxford Vs. Edinburgh (12.03.18) 8:32PM: Paxman looks so very, very, very, very weary. 8:33PM: Thomas looks like a Nazi a...

Tonight’s University Challenge saw a Cambridge college take on a college in Oxford; is it me, or are the teams always from there? I know there are a number of colleges in both cities, and I know both cities are famed for their top-quality education (you may not be aware of this) but still, can’t some other places have a crack of the whip? I want to see scarily well-read students from different privileged backgrounds, and not just the same two boat-race locations going at it; if not, I’m going to write a strongly-worded letter to Points of View (but only if it’s read out on the air by someone with suitable vocal standing; James Earl Jones, perhaps?) See below for my tweets about tonight's show: Fitzwilliam - Cambridge Vs. Merton - Oxford (05.02.18) 8:33PM: Typical two-out-of-four Theo team average. 8:34PM: Tindall killed five people...and that's just today. 8:35PM: Tindall's hair and Fuzzy Felt have the sam...

The plus side to my show being cancelled tonight, small as it was, was I was able to watch this evening’s University Challenge. I’ve only missed one episode in the whole series thus far, yet this didn’t stop me from receiving a couple of messages from people who know I tend to live-tweet it, expressing disappointment in my lack of commentary; perhaps this means I’m providing a service in some way, albeit a useless, frivolous one. Whatever the case may be, it was good to be able to resume my usual duties. As ever, there was plenty to mock; see below for the mocking I offered up: Oxford Brookes Vs. Merton - Oxford (22.01.18). 8:33PM: Oxford Brookes sounds like a war poet. 8:33PM: I've got an average age of thirty-six too. 8:34PM: Jeremy Paxman has two pet guinea-pigs called Come On and No. 8:37PM: Thomas looks like a child dressed as an adult...and he looks like he loves it. 8:39PM: Thomas, son of Herr F...

Tonight’s University Challenge wasn’t particularly enthralling, if I’m honest. It’s notable that one of my more popular tweets (whatever I mean by ‘popular’) during the broadcast was about my sadness at the lack of a Monkman in this series; despite there having been the odd - ‘odd’ being the operative word - amusing contestant, no one’s come along yet to steal Monkman’s throne; in fact, I’m beginning to wonder if anyone ever will. I guess there’s still time. Until then, I’ll keep watching each week, in the hope someone funny crops up; I’m not entirely sure I’ve grasped what University Challenge is all about. Merton - Oxford Vs. King's - London (23.10.17) 7:32PM: Thomas looks like an android. 7:33PM: "I'm reading for a masters in medieval studies". Useful. 7:33PM: I've got an average age of forty too. 7:34PM: Richard Senior is actually senior. Beautiful. 7:35PM: Oxford's Thomas...

The out-and-out winner of tonight’s University Challenge had to be Oxford’s Parr-Reid for me. His similarities to a young Michael Caine (or Phil Cornwell’s Stella Street impersonation of him at least) were pretty uncanny, and the gift that kept giving (when you weren’t sucked in by the thickness of UCL Raii’s wonderous beard). My eyes kept being drawn back, like a moth to the-guy-in-Zulu-with-the-unconvincing-upper-class-accent flame; all he needed was the trademark angry point for the illusion to be complete. With each passing episode, I listen to the questions less and less: it's just become an exercise in posting childish observations about the contestants on Twitter; It shouldn’t be allowed. See below for what was said this week: Trinity - Oxford Vs. UCL (04.09.17) 8:02PM: Parr-Reid is like a shifty Where's Wally. 8:04PM: When Nicole Rosenfeld wears her hair over her right shoulder, she's Evil Nicole; ...

I was disappointed to discover I missed last week’s episode of University Challenge when they broadcast it a day early to make way for coverage of the IAAF World Championships (because apparently watching the likes of Usain Bolt and Katarina Johnson-Thompson compete at an international level takes precedence over seeing eight hyper-intelligent yet self-conscious students preen as they express their knowledge to a tetchy ex-Newsnight host. Having messed up last time, there was no chance I’d make the same mistake again; it's hard enough to get through an average week without my UC fix, let alone when I need a little light relief from my current run on the Edinburgh Fringe. So it was that I settled in front of my temporary TV in my adopted front room for a good old-fashioned bout of Twitter mockery; I'm clearly just jealous. St Edmund's Cambridge Vs. Magdalen Oxford (14.08.17) 8:02PM: I suspect St Thomas Cambridge's team might w...