News! Robinson!
As if wasn't bad enough.
As if being kebabbed by Messrs Merton & Hislop didn't seal it, I have now added exposure as an intellectual fraud to my list of recent achievements as ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ political editor.
Last night on University Challenge, a News team were beaten - no, overwhelmed - oh all right then, slaughtered by a team of writers.
I'm often asked to list my scariest moments on TV. This was it. Sitting for half an hour under the glare of studio lights knowing that your credibility is being being stripped away layer by layer is, to say the least, alarming. Now I know everyone says this but I did know the answers to some of their questions but in this game you have to be first to get "the starter for ten".
Increasingly desperate I pressed my buzzer and blurted out the wrong answer only to be rewarded by the full-on Paxman sneer. Off air, Jeremy couldn't have been more generous, even agreeing to sign a question card for my son who watches the programme each week after Cubs.
"Bet you know more than your Dad" he wrote. Thanks Jeremy. If you think we were bad, remember that we beat the MPs team to get to the final.
New Year's Resolution 2006 - stick to the day job.
I'm 
Comments
I thiught the questions were loaded towards the writers. Nick Robinson & co have nothing to be ashamed of.
Dear Nick,
I only saw the closing few minutes of the University Challenge final, but if that was representative, I don't blame the News team for losing. At least in those few minutes, all the questions seemed to be about literature and authors -- definitely slanted in the Writers' favour. While I was watching, there was not a single current affairs, political or general knowledge type starter question. I would call for a rematch if I was you!
Anyway, well done and keep up the ... err... good work!
I wonder if the questions are of the same unversity caliber or are they already dumbed down for celebrities.
Now come on Nick, don't be so hard on yourself. After all, remember those people who finished on a negative score.
A little unfair on yourselves, I feel. The proportion of starter questions that fell directly into the English literature category seemed horribly high to me.
Surely that's what being a journalist is all about. People expect you to know the questions, not the answers.
I offer consolation as above - the question content was overwhelmingly biased towards the arts and literature, as it always is on University Challenge.
In any given episode there will be (on average) one question on science, one on sport, perhaps one on current affairs... The rest is books and plays, with perhaps some history thrown in. This imbalance is the main reason I've largely stopped watching the programme (along with the desecration of the theme music).
Sorry to Nick and co but that University challenge was the most hilarious thing I've seen in ages. And I don't think the questions were loaded towards literature at all. Gorges anyone?
Perhaps the journos are not as clever as they make us all believe. Doesn't someone else write the stuff that they just read out anyway???
Another faux moan from Nick as he embraces the cult of celebrity. Next up will be speeches thanking his news team without whom... yawn. Sofa news and dancing journalists are fast becoming the norm on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ and are clearly interfering with the job in hand.
Oh come on! Its a Christmas show for fun, I don't think anyone was shown wanting...it was good fun to watch and now you know what its like to be on the other end of the questions - always a good thing to know in your job!
I agree with a few of the other comments here - it was certainly my feeling that questions on literature comprised more than 70% of the total. I recall one painting round and one science question. Entertaining nonetheless!
Perhaps some investigative journalism would shed light on this mystery!
The writers weren't all that good at answering literature questions, funnily enough. Not at all impressive.
"University Challenge" is a good deal easier than "Mastermind" - I've done both and a well-balanced team has always got more resource than any individual.
Nick your a good news reporter don't let a game of uni challenge get you down . Keep to news reporting your much better at that
Dave
Nick, this was your puff of white smoke, your harbinger foretelling of the woes of Celebrity Big Brother; Don't do it Nick! Stick to politics it is often less revealing.
All the comments above toadying to you are rubbish. The questions were easier than the non-celebrity version, the questions on literature were very mainstream and certainly were not enough in number to explain the huge gulf in scores. The journalist team were poor - no getting away from it. The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ really does seem to be dumbing down.