Quizzy Mondays 2026-27 Week 8: University Challenge R1M8, Only Connect R1M8

Good evening my friends, and welcome to another, shorter, Quizzy Monday! Yes, no Mastermind again this week, despite the cricket, which it was initially displaced for, ending early yesterday. But that's nothing compared to the right fankle the UC PTB have gotten themselves into; over the weekend, tonight's match was changed, with Birmingham vs Leicester postponed for a second time and the match scheduled for next Monday shown in its place. Except they evidently haven't worked out what WILL now be shown next Monday instead (schedules currently still show tonight's); hopefully everything will resolve itself in due course. For now, let's focus on the match we did get tonight...

 

The London School of Economics is appearing in a twelfth BBC series tonight; of the previous eleven, its best was when it was runners-up in the 1995-96 series, but its last two teams have all unluckily exited in the second round, last year to eventual champs Manchester. Playing for them this year were:

David Worley, from Tunbridge Wells, studying Economics

Diya Khatri, from London, studying Politics and Philosophy

Captain: Henry Jameson, from Ripon in Yorkshire, studying Economics and Economic History

Daniel Yang, from Calgary, Canada, studying International Relations and History  

 

King's College Cambridge has appeared in five previous BBC series, of which its best performance was that of our old friend Jim Gratrex, whose team reached the QFs back in 2012-13; its last appearance was a first round exit to eventual runners-up UCL in 2023-24. This year's quartet were:

Niall Kim, from Hatfield in Hertfordshire, studying Economics

Ben LaFond, from Sharon, Massachusetts, studying Linguistics

Captain: Claire McLellan-Cassivi, from Minnesota and Saskatchewan, studying Astronomy

Adhyan Shukla, from New Delhi, studying Maths  

 

L.S.E. took the first starter of the night, their captain Mr Jameson taking the first of a productive night; but King's took the next two and thus went into the early lead. They also took the first picture round, after which they led 50-15. The two sides then swapped starters, though neither took any bonuses, before L.S.E. finally broke this rot with a starter and two bonuses. They also took the music round, during which I thought the chairman was a bit harsh to express Paxo-esque exasperation when they didn't know one of them! L.S.E. had nonetheless cut the gap to 65-50.

 

The bit now between their teeth, the Londoners took two further starters to go into the lead. But their momentum duly ran out as King's reawoke and a run of their own took them into the lead and three figures. They also took the second picture round, after which they now led 125-90. Another couple of starters to King's, a good haul of bonuses, and the game looked won. But L.S.E. weren't done yet; a starter and two bonuses took them into three figures, and another was enough for them to make it onto the repechage board. Another couple of starters, two bonuses from each, and they were suddenly just twenty behind! But a penalty halted their run and that was game over. At the gong, King's won 185-160.

 

An excellent contest, a slow burner that got better as it went along; well played both teams! Well done King's, and best of luck in the second round! Hard lines to L.S.E., but an excellent effort and we may well see them again in the play-offs; thanks for playing in the meantime though!

 

The stats: Henry Jameson was the best buzzer of the night with six starters, while Messrs Kim and LaFond were joint best for King's with four each. On the bonuses, L.S.E. managed 14 out of 30 (with two penalties) and King's 17 out of 30, so it was a few extra bonuses plus those two penalties that decided the game.

 

Next week's match: no idea yet, but we'll find out in due course hopefully, and we do still have Birmingham vs Leicester to come at some point...

 

Only Connect’s final first round heat saw our final two debutants of the series, the Creepy Crawleys, Stuart Crawley, Fiona Parmee and captain Robert Crawley (son of Stuart and Fiona), and the Risk Takers, James Hall, Chris Shore and captain Sarah Bailey.

 

My Dad claims the same point as the Takers on the farms question in the first round, and the same three points as the Crawleys on the ‘easy’ question; the latter led 6-1 at the end of that. I don’t think we got anything in the second round; the Crawleys led 7-4 after that.

 

On to the Walls, and the Crawleys solved everything in theirs in fairly short order for a full ten. The Takers in contrast struggled with theirs and didn’t work anything out in their allotted time; they did get two of the connections, so two points, which meant they trailed 17-6 going into Missing Vowels. They recovered well there, but it was too big an ask in the end; the Crawleys won the show 20-15. Well done both teams there, and best of luck next time!

 

Next week’s match: the knockout round begins with the Culture Club vs Ad Astra

 

Yesterday’s Brain of Britain was a closely fought heavyweight contest, with at least four five-in-a-row-and-a-bonus-pointers; in the end, it was Frankie Fanko (OC winner and a finalist on Mastermind and a previous BoB series) who emerged on top with 21 points, ahead of Chris Ducklin (UC and OC alumnus who I chatted with on a short lived podcast many years ago) with 15 and James Devine-Stoneman (UC winner and OC alumnus) with 12. Carl Josham, who claims the award for the most brilliantly random Spotlight subject so far in ‘mustard’ completed the line-up with 8.

 

So halfway through the heats, Chris is now fourth on the highest scoring non-winners board, Ailsa Watson and Ellie Mackin are joint second with 16 and Paddy Moore is top with 21.

 

And that's it for another week! Thanks as ever for reading; hopefully this UC mess will resolve itself by this time next week. As for The People Have Spoken, which has been airing on Radio 4 on Fridays at 6:30 for the last three Fridays, it's OK, but, if I had to choose between it and Deja News, I'd probably still favour the latter, just about. Anyway, back same time same place next week, so, see yous then... 

Quizzy Mondays 2026-27 Week 7: University Challenge R1M7, Only Connect R1M7, Mastermind Heat 6

Good evening my friends, and welcome to another Quizzy Monday. Coming up, more Mastermind and Brain of Britain and the penultimate pair of new teams are met for the first time on OC. But firstly, as ever, UC, and a change to the match some of you may have been expecting; Birmingham vs Leicester was the initially announced game for tonight, but that match will now be shown next Monday. Instead tonight, we have a classic first round match-up: an Oxbridge college vs an illustrious university...

 

Pembroke College Cambridge has appeared in seven previous BBC era series; its team were the runners-up of the 2011-12 season, but its last three teams, in 2013-14, 14-15 and 18-19, have all very unluckily gone out in the first round (albeit in different circumstances each time). Hoping to make up for that was this year's foursome of:

Hebe Robertson, from Oxfordshire, studying Classics

Arvin Boraghi, from Orpington in London, studying Medicine

Captain: Timothy Ho, from Singapore, studying Maths

Rory Moloney, from Gosfield in Essex, studying Natural Sciences  

 

St Andrews won one of the later series of the ITV era and were runners-up of another IIRC; of its 19 previous appearances in the BBC era, its best was reaching the SFs in 2003-04, and its last before tonight was a repechage exit two series ago. Its 20th BBC era team comprised of:

Barney Young, from London, studying Classics

Rowan Pelfrey, from West Palm Beach, Florida, studying Museum and Heritage Studies

Captain: Harry Howard, from Rayleigh in Essex, studying Animal Behaviour

Hugo Shaw, from Murthly in Perthshire, studying Arabic and Persian  

 

St Andrews lost five straight away, allowing Pembroke to take an early lead with a starter and two bonuses, only to then lose five themselves. St Andrews got back into positive equity and levelled the scores, but Pembroke retook the lead with a starter and full house. After the first picture round, Pembroke led 35-30. The Scots side went in front with the next starter, only for Pembroke to overtake them again with the next. St Andrews then took two correct starters in a row, but only took one of the resulting bonuses. After the music round, they nonetheless led 65-60.

 

Pembroke duly retook the lead with the next starter and, in contrast, took two bonuses, one of which looked to be a total guess. At this stage, St Andrews had the better of the buzzers, but Pembroke were doing much better on the bonuses. Two successive starters and full sets of bonuses allowed the Cambridge side to pull away and, after the second picture round, they now led 140-70. Another starter and two bonuses all but won the game for Pembroke. St Andrews did manage another starter and the bonuses finally went for them, two taken, but they just fell short of three figures. Pembroke took the final starter to see out the win. At the gong, Pembroke won 180-90.

 

A somewhat low scoring affair, but another enjoyable contest between two pleasant teams. Well done Pembroke; if they can keep that bonus rate up they should definitely not be written off in the second round, best of luck to them there! Hard lines to St Andrews, who did well enough on the buzzers but just couldn't follow through on the bonuses; they definitely didn't disgrace themselves though, thanks to them for playing!

 

The stats: Arvin Boraghi and Harry Howard were joint best buzzers of the night with five each for their respective teams. On the bonuses, Pembroke managed a pretty good 20 out of 27 (with two penalties) and St Andrews 7 out of 21 (with three penalties).

 

Next week's match: the postponed from this week Birmingham vs Leicester

 

Only Connect’s penultimate first round heat was contested by the Six Sevens, Henry Tang, Anneka Streule and captain Alice Barrett, and the Meat and Two Veg, Matt Morrison, Heather Badcock and captain Mark Deeks, a semi-finalist on Countdown many years ago.

 

My parents claim two points each on the picture question and the double surnames question in the first round; M&TV led 7-1 at the end of that round. I think we all claim (at least) the same three points as the Sevens on the South African flag question in the second round, and we jointly claim two points on the prize winners question (I said ‘Imperial College London (University Challenge)’!); M&TV led 8-4 after that.

 

On to the Walls, and the Sevens, after getting nothing for almost the entire time, suddenly got two groups right at the end, but couldn’t work out the other two in time; they did get three connections, so five points. M&TV also worked out two connections, but didn’t manage to work out the other two in their three attempts; they did work out two connections, so four points, meaning their lead had been trimmed to 12-9 going into Missing Vowels. They maintained their advantage in that, as I suspected they would as Countdown people are usually quite good at MW, and won 19-14. Well done both teams, and best of luck next time.

 

Next week’s match: Creepy Crawleys vs Risk Takers

 

Mastermind was won by Hugh Nicholl, whose 19 points saw him edge home ahead of Akim Ajayi and Paula Lawford, both of whom scored 17, and Mary Obodo, who completed the line-up with 14.

 

Yesterday’s Brain of Britain was over as a contest after the first round: Michael McPartland, a former OC semi-finalist and Mastermind finalist, took five in a row and a bonus point on his ‘Spotlight’ round, on WWE, and two pick ups of his opponents’ questions, and so already had 8 points while they had 1 between the three of them. He finished with 19 points, 12 ahead of second placed Arun Uttamchandani (UC alumnus) with 7; Jo Hancox and Claire Cooper completed the line-up with 6 and 5 respectively.

 

And that's it for another week! Thanks as ever for reading; join us again next week when the first (and my personal favourite) round of OC concludes, and we get the edition of UC postponed from this week, maybe we'll find out why that was as well. So, see yous then I guess...

Quizzy Mondays 2026-27 Week 6: University Challenge R1M6, Only Connect R1M6, Mastermind Heat 5

Good evening friends, and welcome to another, now back to full strength, Quizzy Monday! Yep, Mastermind is back this week. And not only that, but as I write this intro, BBC4 is showing, what is apparently, a very famous episode of the show from half a century ago; I am recording it to watch in the week. Anyway, on with tonight's new quizzes; OC, Mastermind and Brain of Britain all to come, but first, UC as usual...

 

Bath have appeared on six previous BBC series, including last series, but have only won one match in that time, way back in the first series I covered on this blog; last year's team were defeated by Southampton in the first round. Playing for them this year were:

Henry Hill, from Southwest London, studying Physics

Molly Marshall, from Woodbridge in Suffolk, studying Maths, Stats and Data Science

Captain: William Turner, from Castle Eden in County Durham, studying Architecture

Bill Fudge, from the Forest of Dean, studying Biochemistry  

 

City St George's is debuting on the show in this form, having previous been City University and St George's College, which merged in 2024; the latter last appeared on the show in the 2015-16 series, the former way back in the Gail Trimble series of 08-09. It's first ever joint UC team consisted of:

Massimo Lecavalier, from Montreal, studying Law

Alisa Butterwick, from London, studying International Journalism

Captain: Nathan Leung, from Leicester, studying Medicine

Nick Brown, from London, studying Medicine  

 

Bath's captain William Turner answered the first two starter of the night, with his side taking one of the first set of bonuses and all of the second. City St George's opened their joint UC account with the third starter of the game, and took one bonus. Bath took the first picture round though, after which they led 55-20. Their captain continued to dominate on the buzzer, taking a further two meaning he already had five on the board. A second Bath player in Molly Marshall finally got a starter on the board, taking them already into three figures. City St George's bounced back with two starters in a row, including the music starter, but failed to take any bonuses; after the music round, they trailed 110-40.

 

A technical penalty lost the London side five points, allowing Bath to pull ahead with the starter and all of a pretty straight forward bonus set on 90s Disney films. City St George's made it back into the game and did take a bonus this time, but lost those five points and Bath pulled ahead again. After the second picture round, during which Mr Turner earned the kudos that automatically comes from answering 'Toxteth O'Grady'(!), Bath led 165-45. You'd have to say the game was as good as over, and Bath made doubly sure with a starter and full bonus set. Like Magdalen last week, City St George's did the right thing by keeping on buzzing in, and did take another starter to ensure we wouldn't get two successive new members of the Sub-50 Club, but two further penalties pegged them back. At the gong, Bath won 215-50.

 

Another one-sided contest, but another enjoyable one between two very pleasant teams. Well done Bath, their captain especially; best of luck to them in the second round! Hard lines to City St George's, but, again, they did the right thing in keeping on going for it; thanks to them for playing!

 

The stats: William Turner was easily the best buzzer of the night with SEVEN(!) starters, while Nick Brown was best for City St George's with two. On the bonuses, Bath managed 19 out of 33 and City St George's just 4 out of 15 (with four forgivable penalties), and, for the first time in a few weeks, all eight players got at least one starter right.

 

Next week's match: it was going to be Birmingham vs Leicester, but apparently it's now Pembroke Cambridge vs St Andrews; presumably the former will be back at a later date...

 

Only Connect’s sixth first round heat was contested by Accrual World, Reggie Chamberlain-Wilde, Niccola Mullin and captain David Evans, and the Knitwits, Dom Hewett, Charlotte Stokes and captain Sam Hosegood (all UC alumni, Charlotte for Imperial a couple of series ago, while Dom and Sam were on the same Bristol team of 2017-18).

 

I claim the same two points as AW on the lightning bolts question in the first round and the same single point as them on the ‘Death of a’ question; they led 7-2 after that round. I think we can claim the same two points as AW on the wartime PMs question in the second round; they led 13-8 after that.

 

On to the Walls, and AW worked out two groups pretty quickly, but couldn’t get the remaining two in their three goes; they did get both connections though, so six points. The Knitwits did work everything out, getting all the groups in fairly short order; a full ten, which meant they’d cut the gap to 19-18 going into Missing Vowels. I had a feeling they might be quite good at that, and indeed they were, getting the better of the round and completing the comeback, winning 26-22. Well done both teams though, and best of luck in your next games!

 

Next week’s match: Six Sevens vs Meat and Two Veg

 

Mastermind was won narrowly by Donald Campbell, whose 20 points saw him just edge home ahead of Fernanda Partridge with 19. Emily Medhurst and James Clayton completed the line-up with 16 and 15 respectively.

 

Yesterday’s Brain of Britain was won by Harry Heath, who led virtually throughout and finished with 16 points, three ahead of his former OC teammate Claire Barrow, whose 13 points currently has her fourth on the ‘high scoring runners-up’ board. Peter Friel and Steve Lilley completed the line-up with 8 and 7 respectively.

 

And that's it for another week! Thanks as ever for reading; back next week with my usual write-up, plus my thoughts on the new Radio 4 Friday evening show The People Have Spoken, as, unlike the pretty meh Current-ish, I don't think one episode is enough for me to judge whether its better than Deja News or not. So, see yous then I guess...