Quizzy Mondays 2026-27 Week 5: University Challenge R1M5, Only Connect R1M5

Good evening my friends, and welcome to another, now somewhat shorter, Quizzy Monday! Yep, no Mastermind this week, but mercifully it's just one week; back to a full line-up next week. Thankfully yesterday's Brain of Britain (though I listened to it today!) did somewhat make up for it. More on that later, but, firstly, UC, and a match that just about sums up how much its balance of power has changed over the past decade...

 

Magdalen College Oxford is the most prolific Oxford college to appear in the BBC era, this is its fourteenth; it has, of course, won it four times, in 1996-97, 97-98, 2003-04 and 2010-11, but its last three teams, including that of last year, haven't made it past the second round. Playing for them this year were:

Anapan Bandi, from Southeast London, studying Medicine

Ellie Spicer, from Bray in Berkshire, studying Chemistry

Captain: Bernardo Lustrini, from the Netherlands (originally Naples), studying Biomedical Engineering

Ioan O'Reilly, from Hereford, studying History  

 

Warwick has sent 22 previous teams to the BBC series, two of whom, in 2006-07 and 2020-21, won the series; its teams since the first win tend to either go out in the second round or make it all the way to the final, though last year's was an exception, going out in the QFs. Playing for them this time around were:

Jolie Yeh, from Sheffield, studying Maths

Patrick Hartley, from Aberdeen, studying for a PGCE

Captain: Odysseas Gabrielatos, from Lancaster, studying Maths

Tobin Payne, from Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire, studying Maths  

 

Warwick took the first two starters of the match, and exactly half the resulting bonuses. Magdalen's first contribution was a penalty, but they did get going proper with the third starter, taking two bonuses. The first picture round went to Warwick, after which they led 60-15. The starters continued to fall for Warwick and their lead continued to build. Magdalen did get another starter on the board, but, after the music round, Warwick's lead stood at 125-35.

 

And it was pretty much one way traffic thereafter, Warwick's score continued to tick over as the starters just kept falling for them, while Magdalen valiantly tried to buzz their way back into the game, but just lost five most of the time. After the second picture round, they led 210-30. It was now just a question of how high both teams could get. Magdalen did get another starter, and a well deserved full set of bonuses, but a further three (very forgivable) penalties lost them those resulting points. Warwick continued to score, and a final starter and full set saw them just touch 300 before the gong; they won 300-40.

 

A one-sided but still enjoyable game that, as I say, sums up how much things have changed for UC over the past decade. Very well done Warwick, a very impressive first performance indeed, keep this up and they'll be tough to beat; best of luck in the second round. Hard lines to Magdalen, who simply had no answer to that and did exactly the right thing in keeping on buzzing in which, on another day, would've paid off for them; thanks to them for taking part.

 

The stats: Tobin Payne was the best buzzer of the night with SEVEN(!) starters (his colleagues all got three each), while Ellie Spicer was best for Magdalen with two. On the bonuses, Magdalen managed a very good 7 out of 9 (with a forgivable five penalties) and Warwick 28 out of 48.

 

Next week's match: Bath vs City St George's

 

Only Connect’s fifth first round heat was contested by the Double Features, Daisy Jeavons, Katie Rae Taylor and captain Mia Lewis, and the Colonial Geese, Reuben Bennett, Sharon Lam and captain Henry Schofield.

I claim two points as the ‘not knights’ question in the first round, while my Mum claims the same two points as the Geese on the perpendicular question and the Features on the ‘up’ question; they led 3-2 after what was I thought a tough first round for a first round match. We worked out the clock degrees question between the two of us for two points in the second round; the Features led 8-4 after that.

On to the Walls, and the Features struggled badly with theirs unfortunately, failing to work anything out in the allotted time; they did claim three connection points though, so three points. The Geese did find two groups, but failed to get the remaining two in their three attempts; they did also claim three connections though, so five points, which meant they’d reduced the gap to 11-9 going into Missing Vowels. And they fared better in that to complete the comeback and win 16-14! Well done both teams though, they did well in what was a tough episode I thought; best of luck both next time!

Next week’s match: Accrual World vs Knitwits

Yesterday’s Brain of Britain was won by Ewan MacAulay (formerly of UC, OC and the revived Fifteen-to-One), who won a very high scoring game with 24 ahead of second placed Paddy Moore, whose 21 points will almost certainly bring him back for the semis as well. Diane Howe, the current Mastermind champ, also participated, but had an unlucky first question in the first three rounds before her ‘Spotlight’ round finally gave her five in a row and a bonus mark, and she went on to finish with 8. Lindsay Gartland completed the line-up, also scoring 8.

 

And that's it for another week! Thanks as ever for reading; back to a full house next week thankfully, and I'll also be able to report on whether Deja News is a better choice for the Friday 6:30 slot than either of the new shows in it this summer, Ian Smith's show (the name of which escapes me) begins its run this week. Anyway, back same time same place, so, see yous then...

Quizzy Mondays 2026-27 Week 4: University Challenge R1M4, Only Connect R1M4, Mastermind Heat 4

Hello my friends, and welcome to another Quizzy Monday! Our last with a full line-up for a couple of weeks at least though as, surprise surprise, Mastermind is off next week (Barney Gumble: "It begins!"). Still, at least Brain of Britain is back now as well to compensate for it, though I'm still not totally sold on this new specialist round format it's doing. More on that later, plus OC and Mastermind itself. But firstly, UC...

 

The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is making its debut on the main series, its only previous foray onto the show being in the Christmas series of 2019 (so forgettable that even I honestly didn't remember that!), where its team was defeated in the first round by a U.C.L. team who'd go on to lose to eventual winners Leeds in the semis. It's first ever student team consisted of:

Sam Warburton, from North London, studying Orchestral Artistry

Jamie Harms, from Southeast London, studying Jazz Saxophone

Captain: Tara Beavon, from Berkshire, studying Classical Composition with Honours

Dara Toal, from County Down, studying Electronic and Produced Music  

 

Darwin College Cambridge has only appeared in four previous BBC series (and only once during the ITV era); however, three of those previous teams reached the semis, those of 2018-19, 2024-25 and last year's team surprised everyone by doing so as well before finally losing to Edinburgh in said semi-finals. Playing for them this year were:

Ella Mason, from Birmingham, studying Photosynthesis

David Lumsden, from Melbourne, studying Maths

Captain: Rachel Gu, from Liverpool, studying Primary Education

Macsen Brown, from Kilburn in London, studying Research and Second Language Education  

 

Tara Beavon had the honour of taking Guildhall's first student series starter, which was followed by a single bonus. Neither side took the second, Darwin took the next three, including the first picture starter; after the first picture bonuses they led 60-10. A fourth consecutive starter went to the Cambridge side, before Guildhall got back on the board with two in a row, but just one bonus followed each. The music round went to Darwin, after which they led 95-40.

 

Now it was Guildhall's turn to get a run on the buzzer; three starters in a row, but they continued to struggle with the bonuses, taking just one from all three sets (their failure to get Massive Attack in a set on trip hop music really annoyed the chairman!). They had nonetheless closed the gap, and the second picture starter pulled them level; after the second picture bonuses, which they finally took a full house of, they now led 110-95. Back came Darwin though with two starters in a row giving them the lead back. Only for Guildhall to respond with two of their own to take it back again! Another starter to Darwin pulled them level pegging, and a second in a row gave them the lead again! Two bonuses put one of their collective feet over the line. Guildhall took the final starter, missed the one bonus there was time for, and that was the gong; Darwin won 165-155!

 

A good close contest between two pretty well matched teams; well played both! Well done Darwin, and best of luck in the second round! Hard lines to Guildhall, but a very good first showing on the series, and we may well see them again in the repechage; thanks for playing for now though!

 

The stats: Macsen Brown was the best buzzer of the night with four starters, while Sam Warburton, Jamie Harms and Tara Beavon all got three each for Guildhall. On the bonuses, Guildhall managed 12 out of 28 (with the night's one penalty) and Darwin 15 out of 27, so it was the bonuses that won the game as Darwin actually got one starter fewer.

 

Next week's match: Magdalen Oxford vs Warwick

Only Connect was contested by the Frenemies, Jason Butler (BoB alumnus), Karen Wooding and captain Nia Roberts, and the Marvins, Dan Walsh, Kate Mac (who I think I’ve seen elsewhere before but can’t work out where) and captain Ben Jewell.

 

My Dad claims the same three points as the Marvins on the birds of prey question in the first round, and I claim a rare point for our extended household on the music question; the teams were level on 5-each after that round. I spotted the Thunderbirds connection in the second round but wasn’t quite able to complete the sequence; we definitely claim the same two points as the Frenemies on the Cyprus question, but the Marvins claim the kudos of the first five point answer of the series! Despite this, the Frenemies led 13-12 at the end of the round.

 

On to the Walls, and the Frenemies went first, and took their time, but same result as the previous six teams this series, a full ten! This remarkable run was finally broken when the Marvins worked out two groups of their wall; they did get three of the connections though, which meant the Frenemies led 23-17 going into Missing Vowels. They maintained and increased their advantage in that and won the game 30-22. Well done both teams, best of luck next time!

 

Mastermind was, for the second heat in a row, won on passes. Josh Duckmanton won the show, he and Briony Richards both finishing on 15 points, but he had only passed four times to her seven, so he took the win. Ria Drabble and Gurdas Singh Sually also competed, finishing with 12 and 10 respectively.

 

Yesterday’s Brain of Britain was won by Padraig O’Kane, thanks in part to a perfect specialist round on the Song of Fire and Ice books; he ended up winning by just a point ahead of Ailsa Watson (OC semi-finalist and winner of the revived Fifteen-to-One) and Ellie Mackin, both of whom scored 16 and will surely be back as well as high scoring non-winners. Sam Haywood (OC winning captain) completed the line-up with 9, very unluckily getting the first question of his specialist round (the first of the show) wrong and never really getting back on the pace afterwards.

 

And that's it for another week! Thanks as ever for reading; as I said, the last super full line-up for a while as Mastermind is off next week (at least). Still, at least now that TPTB have cancelled the celebrity series (this Christmas' one will be the last), we shouldn't get as much disruption in future, though given the BBC's love for showing repeats of celeb quiz shows, I certainly wouldn't put it past them to repeat old celeb Mastermind series at some point! Anyway, back with the truncated line-up next week, so, see yous then... 

Quizzy Mondays 2026-27 Week 3: University Challenge R1M3, Only Connect R1M3, Mastermind Heat 3

Hello again my friends, and welcome back to another Quizzy Monday! And a happy one as, for the first time in nearly two years, we have an ultra-complete line-up of the three BBC2 quizzes, plus Brain of Britain is finally back as well! But not exactly the same as before; more on that later. But, for now, on with the TV quizzes, beginning with UC; hope you weren't all caught out by the slightly late start due to that Romesh trailer being shown in full beforehand!

 

University College Oxford (Univ from here on in as I go against Roger T for the first time in this blog's history!) won the show twice during the ITV era; its best BBC era performance was reaching the SFs in 2000-01, and its last appearance in 2022-23 saw its team go out in the second round. Playing for them this year were:

Adam Sakabani, from Purley in London, studying Physics

Deepro Choudhury, from Tonbridge in Kent, studying Statistics and Machine Learning

Captain: Delia Cropper, from Loughborough, studying Theoretical Physics

Shaaon Bhattacharya, from Cambridge (originally New Hampshire), studying PPE  

 

St John's College Cambridge has appeared in seven previous BBC series, of which its best showing was when it won the 2017-18 series; its last appearance was in the 2021-22 series, where its team had a marathon run to the QFs before being defeated by eventual runners-up Reading. This year's team comprised of:

Callum Thomas, from Queensland, Australia, studying Zoology

Jonathan Watts, from London, studying Maths

Captain: Liam Plimmer, from Dorset, studying English

Aurelia Walker, from London, studying Maths  

 

Univ took the first two starters of the match and all six of the resulting bonuses; St John's maintained this run by taking all three of their first set as well. We finally got a wrong answer during the first picture round, after which Univ led 65-25. St John's took a couple of starters to pull within five, but Univ duly pulled away again. St John's kept the pressure on though and, after the music round, they'd narrowly taken the lead 90-85.

 

But a penalty allowed Univ to retake the lead again, their captain Delia Cropper taking a fourth starter of a productive night, followed by a fifth with a memorable answer of 'Mario 64'! A further two starters to the Oxonians ensured all four of them had a correct starter and, after the second picture round, they'd opened up a lead of 160-85. Another starter and it looked like Univ had the game won, but St John's got a run of starters going, the bonuses fell very nicely for them with three full sets in a row, and suddenly they were just fifteen behind! But a penalty handed Univ back possession, their captain took the final starter of the game, and that was game over. At the gong, Univ won 200-170.

 

A very good game indeed, two excellent teams, well played both! Well done Univ, their captain especially, they look a very good team at this early stage; best of luck to them in the second round! Hard lines to St John's, who so nearly pulled a massive rabbit out of the hat there, but a score that good will almost certainly bring them back in the play-offs; best of luck to them in those!

 

The stats: Delia Cropper was easily the best buzzer of the night with EIGHT(!) starters, while Messrs Watts and Plimmer were joint best for St John's with three each. On the bonuses, Univ managed 19 out of 30 (with one penalty) and St John's 19 out of 27 (with three penalties), and all eight players contributed at least one correct starter.

 

Next week's match: Guildhall School of Music and Drama vs Darwin College Cambridge

 

Only Connect’s third heat was contested by the Sinistrals, Mia Eaglesham, Geena Baird and captain Millar McGroarty, and the Merseyside Eyes, Tolu Ajayi, AJ Dowler and captain Elliot Otty.

 

My Dad claims the same two points as the Sinistrals on the football rivalries question in the first round; they led 3-2 at the end of that. I think I got the ‘seven’ question in the second round at the same time as the Sinistrals; they led 8-7 afterwards.

 

On to the Walls, and the Sinistrals polished off theirs in pretty short order, a full ten there. The Eyes took longer, but they also got everything right, another full house (six out of six so far this series I believe), so, as you were, they trailed 18-17 going into Missing Vowels. The Sinistrals fared considerably better in that, winning each (completed) set 3-1 and running out winnings 28-10. Another good contest, well played both, best of luck next time!

 

Next week’s match: Frenemies vs Marvins

 

Mastermind was won by Piers Marchant (who I’m pretty sure was on UC not long ago), who only just snuck home ahead of second placed Lorraine Behrens; both scored 19 points, but Lorraine had passed once whereas he hadn’t at all, thus giving him the win. Han Ket Li and Dom Mottram also participated, finishing with 10 and 15 respectively.

Brain of Britain returned yesterday after a year’s absence, and has some new rules. Beat the Brains has been done away with, which is fair enough as it allows for more rounds of questions. More significantly, each contender gets a ‘Specialist’ round where their run of up to five questions is on a subject of their choice; same rules apply though, get a question wrong, it goes open to the other three for a bonus and their go is over. Not sure where I stand on this yet; will come back to it after a few more shows.

 

Anyway, Claire Reynolds, recent Mastermind runner-up, was the first winner of the series, running away with it in the third round, her specialist round, and didn’t come close to getting caught; she ended up winning with 21 points, twelve ahead of second placed Adam Macleod (for whom his specialist round was also his most productive) with 9. Olivia Woolley and Jacob Roberts (both alumni of UC and Mastermind) also competed, finishing with 6 and 4 respectively.

 

And that's it for another week! Thanks as ever for reading; it's good to have a very complete line-up of shows back at last, though we fear it won't be long before Mastermind (at least) starts having weeks off again. And as for the matter of Lucy Porter's new Friday night show Current-ish, it's very meh, and, given the choice, I'd definitely choose Deja News over it. Watch this space for Ian Smith's show when it starts. Anyway, back with my write-up again next week, so, see yous then... 

Around the World in 80 Ways: New Radio 4 Quiz 4

OK folks, so, so far, we've had three excellent new quizzes, all of which are excellent shows that, with a little fine tuning, would all be fine additions to the Radio 4 quiz stable. The last of these pilots had its second show on Sunday and, once again, is a very respectable show and well worth a listen.

 

Simon Reeve is our host this time, someone I am familiar with due to seeing bits of his travel shows on Dave. He's a decent enough host, able to get the best out of the contestants and inject humour and/or personality into the proceedings when needed to.

 

Now, like the preceding three shows, 80 Ways (as I'll be calling it from now on) is contested by two teams of two (once again introduced by first name only). Unlike the preceding three shows, 80 Ways is different in that it's really just one big quiz with no real 'rounds' as it were.

 

To begin with, Simon reads out a series of clues to a random country; the teams simply have to buzz in when they think they know they which one. Buzz and get it wrong and they're frozen out of the next clue; get it right, and they get to choose their set of questions for the rest of the show, with the other team getting the one they didn't choose.

 

You see, the idea of the show is that we start in the country described in the first question and have to get from there to a predesignated finishing point by means of a series of questions. For example, in the first show, the teams began in Moldova and had to get from there to Paris.

 

The team that correctly identified Moldova for the first question got a choice of routes: they could have either 'Moldova to Ukraine to Poland to Germany to Luxembourg to France' or 'Moldova to Romania to Hungary to Croatia to Italy to France'. They chose the latter, leaving their opponents with the former.

 

Now, in order to get into a new country, the teams need to answer a series of questions to do so; how many, they have a choice. For example, for their first choice, one correctly answered question about Moldova will get them there, two about Ukraine will get them there and three about Poland will get them there.

 

These latter two options (to skip countries) are known as 'train journeys' and 'plane journeys' respectively, and may only be attempted once in every show. If a team gets stuck, they can ask Simon for an extra clue, or 'tourist information' as he phrases it; you are allowed two of these per show.

 

Once a team gets to the country of the destination city, they have to answer four further questions about said country, the last of which about the city in question; get them all right and they've won the game.

 

And that's it basically. Apologies if my phrasing sounds a bit complicated, but it honestly isn't. Once you get the gist of it, things flow very easily.

 

In summary, 80 Ways is another excellent quiz that would definitely fit into the Sunday quiz slot perfectly well. I think it'd probably have to stick to single episodes though; I can't really see a tournament format working here.

 

So, we've had four quiz pilots then: Bookmarks was a fine show a few tweaks away from being great, Deja News a good show in the wrong slot, You're Number's Up surprisingly fun and Around the World in 80 Ways is just simply a decent listen. All four would definitely make worthy full series and, if there really is only room for one of them, I honestly don't envy whoever has to decide which one it is.

 

Now, this time last week, I'd have said: "Put Deja News in the Friday 6:30 summer slot to replace that Catherine Bohart TLDR show". As it turns out, TPTB have had the same idea and binned that show off to replace it with a (different) show hosted by Lucy Porter! Plus another hosted by Ian Smith as well. Depending on how these shows go, I'll update my thoughts afterwards.

 

But anyway, these have all been excellent shows and I'd be said to lose any of them for good. Thanks to all involved, it's been a lot of fun listening to them over the last few weeks!

 

Back next Monday with my usual write-up; see yous then I guess... 

Quizzy Mondays 2026-27 Week 2: University Challenge R1M2, Only Connect R1M2, Mastermind Heat 2

Hello my friends, and welcome to Week 2 of this season's Quizzy Mondays! I am pleased to report I am in a better mood this week than last week due to it being nowhere near as hot here as last week; but a brief respite as apparently going to warm up again tomorrow. Coming up, the second heat of OC brings about some clarity, but firstly UC, and an excellent follow up to last week's excellent series opener...

 

Durham have appeared on the BBC series of UC more times than any other institution, winning two series, 1999-2000 and 2022-23, to add to the ITV series they won; last year's team were defeated by Merton College Oxford in the first round. Playing for them this year were:

Robert Morris, from Wigan, studying Maths

Bella Thomas, from East Sussex, studying Philosophy

Captain: Dominic Challis, from Bournemouth, studying History of Economics

Andreas Ktori, from Birmingham, studying Physics  

 

Manchester are, of course, the defending champions, winning a joint record fifth title last series to add to the ones from 2005-06, 2011-12 and 2012-13, plus the 08-09 title they were awarded after that which we do not talk about; this is their 24th BBC series they've appeared in. Representing them were: 

Maciej Wojdyła, from London (originally Poland), studying Nuclear Science and Technology

Ethan Lehane, from Havant, studying Maths

Captain: Argyro Olympitis, from Manchester (originally the British Virgin Islands), studying the Immune Matrix

Caroline Ball, from York, studying Library and Archive Studies  

 

The match began with... a penalty, incurred by Durham; Manchester duly pounced and took all three bonuses. Durham recovered to take the next starter, but the defending champs took the next two, including the first picture starter; after the first picture round, they led 55-15. Another starter and a full set of bonuses increased that lead, but Durham took a couple of their own and had suddenly cut the gap down to just twenty points. Manchester took the music round though, taking one bonus (and were unlucky not to get the other after offering the full 'Diana Ross and the Supremes' when just the band was needed), which upped their lead to 95-60.

 

Now it was Durham who went on a roll though, taking three starters in a row and suddenly they'd taken the lead and reached three figures first. Manchester took the second picture round though, and had just about taken the lead back afterwards, 110-105. And from here on in, it was virtually all Manchester, as the champs ran away on the buzzer and getting the vast majority of the accompanying bonuses. Durham did take the final starter of the game and the one bonus there was time for; at the gong, Manchester won 190-120.

 

Another good contest, a close one until Manchester's late sprint. Well done them, and best of luck in the second round! Hard lines to Durham, a capable team who won't be back in the repechage I fear, but a good effort from them, thanks for playing!

 

The stats: Andreas Ktori was the best buzzer of the night with five starters, while Messrs Wojdyła and Lehane were joint best for Manchester with four each. On the bonuses, Durham managed 11 out of 19 (with the night's one penalty) and Manchester 18 out of 30.

 

Next week's match: University College Oxford vs St John's Cambridge

 

Only Connect continued with the second episode of its now-extended run of 34 episodes, plus four Christmas specials, so 38 overall. It would appear the show IS doing the extended format with the QFs like UC does and, given that I’m in a much better mood tonight than I was last week, I do actually agree with this; going straight from the extended group stage to instant KO QFs did maybe seem a bit abrupt (albeit not as bad as the second round on UC), so… yeah, I agree with this.

 

Anyway, playing tonight were the Two Hearts, Ben Baker, Olivia Grimes and captain Eden Cook-Watson, and Ad Astra, David Howes, Paul McMillan and captain Louise McMillan, daughter of David and wife of Paul, who I’m pretty sure was on UC many many years ago (which reminds me, I really should finally update that list of joint alumni of the two shows when this first round is done).

 

I claim two points on the ‘eaten by tigers’ question in the first round; Ad Astra led 5-2 at the end of that. I also claim two points on the World Wide Web question in the second round, and we came close on at least one other question in that round; the teams were level on 8-each after that was done.

 

On to the Walls; Ad Astra went first, and polished theirs off in pretty quick succession for a full ten. The Hearts took a bit longer, but same result, another full house (a fourth out of four this series), so as you were, an 18-each tie going into Missing Vowels. And, thanks in part to a virtuoso performance from Eden on the category of ‘Phrases seen in arcade games’, the Hearts just emerged on top 25-24! Another excellent contest though; well played both teams and best of luck in your next games!

 

Next week’s match: Sinistrals vs Merseyside Eyes

 

Mastermind’s second heat was won by Elsie Clark, whose 20 points saw her just edge home ahead of Farrar Hornby (a recent Brain of Britain semi-finalist) with 18; Emily Ryan and Adam Royston completed the line-up with 14 and 16.

 

And that's it for this week! Thanks as ever for reading; stay tuned for my review of the final Radio 4 quiz pilot, Around the World in 80 Ways, coming up either tomorrow or Wednesday. And there might be something else I'll be talking about on here in the coming weeks, we'll wait and see. Anyway, see you tomorrow or Wednesday, and then again next week; until then, sayonara...