Talk:University Challenge

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1 Quizbowl
2 controversy
3 Format change
4 Highest Scores

[edit] Quizbowl

2006: Didn't the Author's win the special? I'm pretty sure I read Iain Banks captained them to victory.

I've been meaning to get around to this article for a while. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that College Bowl was the original and University Challenge was based on it. Mintguy

Hm... just found quizbowl which I was unaware of until there was an article at University Challenge with a link from quizbowl. Mintguy

The quizbowl thing intrigued me too. Can anyone let us know what, if any, differences in format, rules, etc, are between the two shows? Deb 13:57 Feb 8, 2003 (UTC)

Its pretty similar, see quizbowl and College Bowl. There is a quizbowl circuit in the UK of sorts:

Sorry, I had missed the description under quizbowl - I had only looked at College Bowl. It sounds like the quizbowl format was identical to the original "University Challenge" format, which has changed slightly over the years, eg. all bonuses are now worth 15 points, whereas before they used to vary in value.Deb 17:32 Feb 8, 2003 (UTC)

Back in my days at Kent, one of the bars there had a number of photo blowups trumpeting our victory at University Challenge at some point in the 1960s or 1970s. Now where they telling porkies or is this a case of a "forgotten" winning team - by all accounts the Reunited series exposed a lot of confusion about who exactly won in which year. Timrollpickering 10:39, 13 May 2004 (UTC)

"The fact that Oxbridge colleges can enter singly was the ostensible reason behind a bizarre 1975 protest."

"Bizarre" isn't NPOV, folks. Change it or I will. --62.254.0.38 22:17, 6 Apr 2005 (UTC)

"Teams consist of four members and represent a single university or an Oxford, Cambridge, Wales or London college."

Can't Durham also can enter colleges? Would a better phrasing be "Teams consist of four members and represent a single university or an University college."?

No because, if you read in the article, only colleges from Oxford, Cambridge, Wales or London universities may enter (the reason behind the 1975 protest), else it is only the university. Basically, only a university as a whole can enter the competition, with the exception of the universities I mentioned - in which the colleges of those universities can enter (My way of comprehending it isn't very good). --Mark PEA 21:56, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

I think in the case of Wales and London it is different. King's College, UCL and Imperial are completely independent of one another aside from their tie under the university of London badge. As are Swansea, Cardiff independent but within University of Wales. However in the case of Oxbridge universities they all lie within the sanctuary (for lack of a better word) of Oxford university and Cambridge university. The colleges are not independent of one another. -Iscariot 21:51, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

Durham hold inter-collegiate competitions to see who makes it into the Durham University Quiz team. Not very fair as Durham have had a collegiate system for as long as some of the universities listed, but that's life I suppose Mouse Nightshirt 15:02, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] controversy

The University of Sussex was also banned for about 25 years, for doing what in the article the University of Manchester team apparently did, except Sussex did it a few years earlier. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 139.184.30.17 (talk) 11:05, 1 February 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Format change

The article refers to "changes to the long-standing format of the programme", but does not describe what the changes were. I can only remember them vaguely - they were indeed introduced near the end of the Gascoigne era, but the only detail I recall was each team had a large baton, which had sections that lit up and was slid upright along the desk from contestant to contestant. I'm surprised that no-one else ever seems to remember this. None of the websites devoted to the show linked here mention it. --Richardrj ^talk ^email 00:03, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

I've added a bit about the revised format. There was indeed a large baton, that was used in the second legs of first-round games, but I can't recall the details. Anyone? Widmerpool 09:06, 1 March 2007 (UTC)