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Related: Film discussion forum.

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Related: Film discussion forum.

Telly addicts

What about this brainy University Challenge girl then?

149 replies

UnquietDad · 22/02/2009 23:09

I've been following Miss Trimble's progress keenly over the last few weeks. Now she is featured in both the Observer and the Mail on the same day.

Some of the blog articles mentioned in the article and linked to in the comments are not very nice.

What's the betting she turns up presenting a "Classical world for Beginners" type documentary? I'd watch!

OP posts:

Report

MaryAnnSingleton · 23/02/2009 13:20

well done Unquiet ! she was bright and not cocky with it

SheWalksAmongUs · 23/02/2009 13:20

Would we be slagging her mannerisms and social background off if she were a man, eh, eh ?

MaryAnnSingleton · 23/02/2009 13:23

yes, actually...

MaryAnnSingleton · 23/02/2009 13:24

here is Totty of Imperial - can't remember a thing about him, only that it was a joy to hear Imperial Totty being announced

edam · 23/02/2009 13:25

Haven't seen the episodes she's been in so no idea whether she's irritating. But read the feature in the Obs yesterday and it would appear some of the negative comments are basically sexist. Can't remember any such attacks on clever male contestants.

Agree being a Latin scholar will help her answer questions even where she doesn't know the subject. My scraps of knowledge about Greek and Latin acquired as I've gone through life are certainly useful in pub quizzes.

bagsforlife · 23/02/2009 14:47

Oooh yes, I remember Fitzpatrick from Magdalen!! She was lovely which shows we aren't being sexist. Trimble is just soooooo irritating, like the girl at the front of the class who always puts her hand up, embarrassingly eager. I personally don't think it is a particularly attractive trait.

Actually the questions aren't that hard: once you know the answer to one, you realise that (apart from the maths of course....) I suppose it is her breadth of knowledge for one so young (although she is 26, hardly an 18 year old)which is impressive. As others have said, the Latin will help tremendously. She probably spends all her time swotting up too....

bagsforlife · 23/02/2009 14:49

btw, am just as irritated by some of the male contestants too.

Agree about the water sipping MAS

Habbibu · 23/02/2009 14:52

English grammar bears very little relation to Latin grammar! If you want to understand English better, study German, or a Norse language. Or possibly just Study More English.

Pruners · 23/02/2009 14:56

Message withdrawn

ThreadieMair · 23/02/2009 15:03

On holiday I was watching some crappy Dutch quiz show on satellite TV. Whole format incomprehensible and I don't speak Dutch. Question master asked a question, I shouted out "The Spice Girls!"

And I was right! I am a quiz show genius.

MaryAnnSingleton · 23/02/2009 15:08

oh yes, Minger !!

Habbibu · 23/02/2009 15:10

Oh Pruni! My comrade-in-English-linguistics.

Threadie - hie thee to Millionaire Right Now.

Pruners · 23/02/2009 15:21

Message withdrawn

Habbibu · 23/02/2009 15:29

I did Old Icelandic too! Loved it - much more fun than OE, I think - the stories were much more fun. I miss it too, actually. But got 8 years of it, so that'll have to do...

Pruners · 23/02/2009 15:33

Message withdrawn

Habbibu · 23/02/2009 15:34

We have - I was on The Other Side (Glasgow). I think there was a Big Schism between the two depts sometime in the dim and distant past, only partly healed by the Linguistic Atlas of Later Mediaeval English...

Pruners · 23/02/2009 15:38

Message withdrawn

Habbibu · 23/02/2009 15:41

was very bad at declensions...

MaryAnnSingleton · 23/02/2009 15:52

hey I reckon we could have a pretty shit hot UC team here...Mumsnet Habbibu, Mumsnet Pruners

Habbibu · 23/02/2009 15:53

just don't ask us about maths.

Pruners · 23/02/2009 15:55

Message withdrawn

cocolepew · 23/02/2009 15:58

DD, aged 11 years, came down for a drink of water, while UC was on. She walked through the living room and answered 4 questions .

DH was very pissed off

She didn't even sip the water after answering

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mrsbabookaloo · 23/02/2009 16:00

Nobody has pointed out that all the shows that Trimble et al have appeared on have had questions that have been heavily arts-biased and hardly any of those " if x is a constant to y at a tangent to z what is the blah blah blah" sort of qs, which I think seems grossly unfair. They usually have loads of maths and science questions.

I am a linguistics graduate myself and I'm afraid I too, felt irritated at the pointlessness of a DPhil in Latin literature. Of course, some things should be studied for their own sake, but there are limits! Self-indulgence and disappearing up your own arse in my opinion. I would have loved to do a Masters in Theoretical Linguistics, but I couldn't justify it.

I have no opinion on her attractiveness or otherwise, but was struck by how timeless she is: a classic posh intellectual girl, you could isolate her from her surroundings and have no idea if she was from the 70s, 80s, 90s, or today. Fashion has not touched her. And that's a good thing...I think.

Habbibu · 23/02/2009 16:02

. Do you think that academic staff in the arts have been self-indulgent and up-their-own-arse?

MaryAnnSingleton · 23/02/2009 16:04

ds is shit hot with the questions about which other countries border a particular country and flags and anything about birds. Dh and I look forward to where the answer is ' 'the Spinning Jenny ' - it has come up a couple of times

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