Skip to main content

University Challenged: Volume Nineteen (09.01.17)


I don’t know why tweeting along to University Challenge became a thing I do, but it certainly has.

It’s got the point where, if I’m out when it’s on, I start to feel tetchy; “What am I not at home, when I could be being gently snarky about a socially challenged student I’ve never met?”

This was nearly the case today, as I was meant to be gigging, but London's tube strike meant I had to forgo that, with the positive upshot that I could resume my usual Twitter antics. See below for today’s result:

Peterhouse Cambridge Vs. Corpus Christi Oxford (09.01.17)
8:01pm: Paxman's eyebrows look darker. Discuss.

8:02pm: Levinson has so many names. So many many names.

8:02pm: I'm taking how Levinson says "Hello" as my own.

8:03pm: Sweetenham: pour honey on it.

8:07pm: The lenses of Oxford Fleet's glasses are as thick as Bowen's.

8:07pm: Sweetenham's thick luxuriant hair.

8:08pm: Levinson's beard is a secret, even to himself.

8:10pm: Fleet's glasses are thicker than brick.

8:12pm: Peterhouse's Sweetenham's hairstyle is a feat of hairspray-based engineering.

8:12pm: Sweetenham's head has one of the only thatched roofs in Cambridge.

8:15pm: There will never be a more dramatic sound than Roger Tiling saying, "Corpus Christi Venkatesh".

8:17pm: Fleet with the thick glasses had to be the one to say "Philip Glass".

8:19pm: Imagine trying to push your fingers into Sweetenham's hair; a physical impossibility.

8:22pm: Requirements of a #UniversityChallenge contestant:

1) Being a gimp.
2) That's it.

8:23pm: Corpus Christi's Fleet.


8:25pm: I want Levinson saying "A Tale of Two Cities" as my morning alarm.

8:27pm: Voake and Johnson should stage a sullen-off.

8:28pm: Oxford's Wright has an emotionless pulling-the-legs-off-a-crane-fly quality.
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Not The Bayeux One.

The Carole King album Tapestry has been my 'getting-ready-in-the-morning' soundtrack for the past few weeks.  It's been a favourite album ever since I was a student, which makes for a pleasantly gentle way to usher in the start of a day. I've always been a fan of a well-crafted song, which is something of a Carole King hallmark, ever since she started writing with her first husband in the early Sixties. Tapestry may be an unimaginative choice for a favourite LP, as it suggests I haven't delved that far into her career, but it's still an undoubted classic; anything with '(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman', 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?' and 'You've Got A Friend' on it can't really fail; if nothing else, it proves she likes writing songs with long titles.  Next month, she's set to perform the album live in its entirety for the first time at a gig in Hyde Park, which I would have loved to have gone to, if it weren...
Read more

Hitchin is Mine.

As of six o’clock tonight, I take over the Hitchin is Yours Twitter account for a week; a stewardship I’m anxious to get right. I’m proud of my hometown. It’s a great place to live, with so much going for it. I've always sold it to my non-Hitchinite friends; so much so, that a lot have gone on to move here. Any town expansion plans are partly my fault. Feel free to picket outside my house. I love its history and architecture. Take St Mary’s Church, for example. The building is beautiful inside and out, and huge for a town of our size. There has been a place of worship on site since the 7 th Century. Much of the present building dates from the 1300s. You wouldn't get that in America. (Don't forget the British Schools Museum too.)  Hitchin is a hive for creative people and a hub for the arts. It boast two theatres, two comedy clubs, a couple of art galleries, a festival for world music and a thriving music scene. This drew...
Read more

'Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream..."

While I’ve been practising meditation for quite some time now, I’ve recently taken to using the mindfulness app 'Headspace' . If you’ve never meditated before, or you’re an old hand at it, it’s a great resource, offering daily ten-minute guided meditations that create a sense of progress, rather than stagnating and going through the same process every day. Until I started using the app, I’d often listen to a handful of audio guided meditations I have on my phone in case of a brain emergency. If you see me with my eyes closed and my earphones in on public transport, I’m probably doing this (unless I’m sleeping and using this blog as an elaborate alibi). While the tracks on my phone are great, they can get a little repetitive as I become too familiar with them and start to anticipate everything the person on the recording will say. This is where Headspace is great, as it offers you a daily course with a different focus each day, as well as pl...
Read more