University Challenge

[clarion]

Which side?

[redshift]

You might think a keyboard player would know more about electro pioneers.  I think that the Human League was one of the very first bands playing entirely synthesised music.

Tangerine Dream?  Kraftwerk?  Both pre-dated post-punk/late-1970s-early-1980s British electronica by a fair bit, as I remember.

TD were never truly fully synthesised, and were more in the zone occupied by NEU! and Can.  Konrad Plank from NEU! later worked with Ultravox.  Kraftwerk had patents on their transducers, and eventually sacked the drummer for 'moving about too much.' *  They all owed lots to Musique Concrète in the sense of 'music from sounds' as opposed to just notes.  We could use that to lead into Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire, The Radiophonic Workshop and the Doctor Who? theme.  Jean Michel Jarre (who is excellent as a live performer BTW) also worked in experimental Musique Concrète in the 60's.  I saw a documentary during which JMJ said 'watching somebody stand behind a laptop for two hours isn't very sexy...' and having seen Kraftwerk, I can only agree.

I'm only a keyboard player in the sense of dabbling, but I know quite a bit about the history of electronic music, mostly by osmosis over the years.  I'd suggest that 'lack of interest' in your chosen field might be a disadvantage.  Having said that, I can also say without a doubt that not knowing about what's on TV isn't a barrier to working in that field - but that's because I need to know about technology, rather than production ideas.  I'm not sure where I'd stand on popular culture:  Like the stuff in the gutter, I'd probably prefer not to.


*This may be slightly exaggerated for comic effect.  

[clarion]

You remind me that we can bring together the strands of 'serious' music and the strand that leads to Heaven 17, and, beyond, to Wow's son, in the eccentric figure of Karlheinz Stockhausen.  I remember recording the performance of 'Donnerstag' aus 'Licht' off the radio, and wondering whether 'Licht' would ever be completed.

I lost the cassette at a venue where I once played it as ambient music for a theatre piece.  Sabotage is not implausible.

[bikenerd]

Also - Walter / Wendy Carlos' first album was a collection of Bach played on a synthesizer in 1968.

[Arch]

Good general knowledge is an indicator of a rounded personality but not the only one.

And not always. The Balliol team who beat us had a guy in it who was lightning quick on the buzzer, and was then able to come up with the answer in the time it took for the voice to say "Smartarse, Balliol".  The rest of his team said he was an utter geek, who sat and read dictionaries in the union bar and were actually a bit scathing about him. Brilliant in a quiz team, but no good as a mate.

Having the knowledge is one thing, understanding how it all fits together is perhaps the more important thing.

[clarion]

But quizzes are quizzes, and not debating fora.  There is something about the setting which means you need to be able to access disaparate trivia in a concise format.  RBQ is the only format where I think a more discursive format is preferred.

[Arch]

Built in Howden in Yorkshire of course, which is why there is a pub called the Barnes Wallis next to the railway crossing passed on the LEL.

Where the airship sheds used to be is now a golf club. I was taken on a ride near there once, and shown, in the verge opposite, a big metal ring bolted into the ground which was apparently used to tether the 'ships.

I've been that way a few times, and never found it again from my bike - maybe I'll have to walk the verge and trip over it. Or it's been removed.

Also, extra trivia, in the graveyard of Howden Minster is a headstone done with that laser etching style, featuring three motifs - a gun, a pigeon, and a bike.

[Arch]

But quizzes are quizzes, and not debating fora.  There is something about the setting which means you need to be able to access disaparate trivia in a concise format.  RBQ is the only format where I think a more discursive format is preferred.

Oh yes, certainly. But I was just making the point that having the knowledge doesn't always make you a rounded personality. I like RBQ, because even if you don't know all the answers, you can usually get some, as it unfolds.

One of my proudest moments was so damn nearly winning a game of Trivial Pursuits, where the others were playing in teams of two, and I was playing alone. It came down to the last question in the middle between me and one team, and they chose a football question, guaranteed to have me beat.

Ok, half the other people were Canadian, and one Polish, so British popular culture was on my side, but I was very pleased to have put up such a good fight.  I'm not sure that makes me a rounded personality, or just a competitive git with a grudge against one of my opponents...

[Cudzoziemiec]

Can there be a greater piece than Notes from Underground, or a more complete novel than The Brothers Karamazov?  Maybe so, but they would not have been written if Les Miserables had been regarded as the pinnacle.

And thank goodness people carry on trying! Dostoevsky was a great writer - probably my favourite overall - but I'd hate it if all novels were as gloomy and laden with significance.

[Wowbagger]

But quizzes are quizzes, and not debating fora.  There is something about the setting which means you need to be able to access disaparate trivia in a concise format.  RBQ is the only format where I think a more discursive format is preferred.

Oh yes, certainly. But I was just making the point that having the knowledge doesn't always make you a rounded personality. I like RBQ, because even if you don't know all the answers, you can usually get some, as it unfolds.

I have, on rare occasions, sat watching UC and scored more points than both teams put together. OK, of course I have the chance to answer all their follow-up questions as well as starters. I don't consider that this sort of geekery contributes much at all to a well-rounded personality.

Also, in another life I used to be included in quiz teams especially for my near-encyclopaedic knowledge of obscure cricket records (the late lamented Bill Frindall wasn't the only Bearded Wonder). However, Brian Lara came along and broke nearly all the batting records and my capacity to commit useless facts to memory has declined greatly with age.

[mattc]

Good general knowledge is an indicator of a rounded personality but not the only one.

I don't think that holds up much. I suppose it indicates you are not obsessed with one area of life to the exclusion of wider society, so that's good.

But more likely it just shows you remember facts well. Or waste a lot of time learning the stuff in those pub quiz books! Neither indicate a 'rounded personality'.

A better indicator would be an interest in a variety of things, rather than being dismissive of things you know nothing about.

[Jaded]

I think that's complete nonsense.








 

[Exit Stage Left]

Knowledge is a funny thing, I reckon you need a peg to hang new stuff onto and that if you don't constantly rummage around in your store of information those pegs are not available. Not only do you forget stuff you knew, but you have less links to retrieve other facts. It's no earthly use to know who was the female presenter on Blue Peter before Valerie Singleton, but forgetting it is an early warning that your capacity to access things you did once know is on the wane.

[mattc]

Knowledge is a funny thing, I reckon you need a peg to hang new stuff onto and that if you don't constantly rummage around in your store of information those pegs are not available. Not only do you forget stuff you knew, but you have less links to retrieve other facts. It's no earthly use to know who was the female presenter on Blue Peter before Valerie Singleton, but forgetting it is an early warning that your capacity to access things you did once know is on the wane.

I believe that fits perfectly with the research in the area wot I has studied skimmed.

(Except that I'm not sure what new stuff would be easier to learn due to having a good recollection of Blue Peter presenters).

[Mr Larrington]

FWIW there was a whole genre of bands from the 70/80s that I simply CNBA with, incl: Heaven 17, The Smiths, The Cure, Joy Division. Teardrop Explodes, Echo and the Bunneymen, OMD, etc.

+1.  The original Human Leg were interesting but after they underwent binary fission their various members fell off my radar quicker than a Super Etendard encountering a Sea Harrier.

[Ham]

I'm with Homer Simpson on this

But every time I learn something new, it pushes out something old!

[Wowbagger]

Good grief! That was close!

[her_welshness]

Good grief! That was close!

Come on Sheffield! 

[Riggers]

It was an absolute corker wasn't it!

[Mr Larrington]

I bet that bloke from Footlights College, Oxbridge who got the last Q wrong is now and forever treated like a right tool.

[citoyen]

Crikey. That was close. And in a high-scoring game.

d.

[her_welshness]

F*ck. Christs Cambridge are being bitch-slapped  I have never seen an opening like that before!

[citoyen]

Well, if you will go on telly looking like a total tit (yes, I mean you, Walmswell).

d.

[border-rider]

was he the twat in a hat ? There's a time and place for a hat like that, and it's on a middle-aged chap in  sunny place, outdoors.

[Wowbagger]

More to the point, how much effort does someone from the London Borough of Newham have to make to cultivate an accent like that?