Challenge accepted!
FAMOUS FACES WERE AMONG THOSE QUIZZED AFTER UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE ARRIVED ON OUR SCREENS 60 YEARS AGO, WRITES MARION McMULLEN
UNIVERSITY Challenge was the quiz show that asked the toughest questions on TV.
Students across the country battled it out for the prestige of being named Britain’s top eggheads, with Bamber Gascoigne, the ever calm and patient question master, putting their knowledge to the test.
The show began on ITV 60 years ago in 1962. Bamber would front the quiz until 1987. It attracted up to 12 million viewers at its peak and Bamber became famous for phrases such as “Your starter for 10”, “Fingers on buzzers” and “I’ll have to hurry you”.
Past contestants who have gone on to find fame include Stephen Fry, Miriam Margolyes, Downton Abbey creator
Julian Fellowes and TV presenter Clive James.
Stephen Fry, who competed in 1980 on behalf of Queen’s College, Cambridge, recalled Bamber as “kind and warm” to the “nervous” students on the show. Following the former quizmaster’s death last week at the age of 87, Fry tweeted: “Such an elegant, intelligent man.” Sherlock star Mark Gatiss also portrayed Bamber in the 2006 film Starter For 10, starring James McAvoy.
The show was revived on the BBC in 1994 with Jeremy Paxman as the quizmaster and Peter Gwyn, the current executive producer of University Challenge said: “Bamber was unlike anyone else on television when the programme started back in 1962. He was utterly charming, erudite and, at times, seemingly omniscient, and his 25 years spent presenting the programme established it firmly as the institution it is now. “He was a unique presence in British broadcasting and he’ll be very sadly missed.”