I am sure that Paxman was well aware that it was the German name for the area, he has written at least one book on WWI, but when you ask a question in English then you expect an answer in English.

I think you'll find that it's just how the battle is named. Both areas exist: the Skagerrak is a body of water to the north of Jutland, the Danish peninsula. Both are called that in English.

Since it was a naval battle, Skagerrak is arguably the better name for it.

I studied ballet for years and it was always pronounced 'Keeshot'.

Yes! It reminded me of that recurring sketch on the Fast Show with the one woman and two or three men and she comes up with a solution to a problem straight away but they just talk among themselves for a few minutes and then give the same solution!

"Excuse me, am I invisible?!"

Thought the questions were a lot harder last night. All the years I have followed cricket and never heard a certain dismissal named after a player!

I wonder if this evening the BBC will be able to bring us contestants of whom none have any link to The Guardian.......

Hasn't the Grauniad got rid of a lot of their journalists in the cost cutting so perhaps a lot of them with time on their hands?

I did know that one because it's very rare but every time it happens it causes huge controversy because there's a 'gentleman's agreement' that you don't appeal for it

But it has happened recently and in a match in England ...........the bowler later said that he'd warned the batsman to stay in his crease and eventually lost patience and ran him out

I think it might have been Josh Buttler was the batsman ?

Yes, it was Buttler. I got that question correct too.

6/8 (yes, I know, 3/4) media / BBC types last night. A pity for all those graduates who have achieved distinction but not been on the telly or Radio 4 (or don't work for the Guardian).

In this frame of mind it seems that being on the telly / BBC / radio / Guardian is the real achievement while those who are not meeja types but may be involved in such tediously low-profile activities as medical research don't get a look-in.

It appears that the BBC is now so in thrall of "celebrity" culture and so far up its own fundament that nothing else really counts.

I think it is more a matter of finding four volunteers, most alumni have little contact with their former university so it quite possibly is done by word of mouth. The obvious thing would be to enclose a request with the applications form to teams in the main competition but often they will get lost. Perhaps they should put up something at the end of the programmes asking for volunteers for next year though I suspect they will still get the same type of people.

I presume you have applied to be on your old university's team next Christmas?

You do talk a load of tosh. All academic post are kept by publishing, publishing and then publishing some more these days. Universities and research establishments basically demand that their brightest lights get on telly and radio or writing for the broadsheet papers. So it's inevitable that 'distinguished' alumni of the academic persuasion will either have been the subject of or the creators of media output on a regular basis. That's just hard cold reality. If colleges are involved in the selection of their teams they're obviously not going to put forward people nobody's ever heard of. If it's left to the Beeb researchers, do you really expect them to trawl through literally millions of graduates rather than contact the usual suspects? Frankly it's a miracle that they're able to get any kind of diversity at all.

This evening (Tuesday 27th) is the first of the semi finals so whoever is on we have seen already.

Reminds me of that Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich song - "Zabadak" ! God, that shows my age.
Have a look anyway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEBFH9R3cg4

As an alumnus of a university which is no stranger to UC I have never heard or seen mention of the Christmas competition in any of the correspondence (...please fund our...) I receive from my alma mater. I conclude that inclusion is by invitation or recommendation. Of course outside of my particular company, a few customers, suppliers and trade associations I am unknown, even if my batting average in these Christmas specials is a bit higher than some of the participants.

I've often wondered why the contestants on Come Dancing are all media types these days. I'm sure that when I was young the contestants were just people who liked dancing. Is the BBC so in thrall to celebrities that it even puts them on shows that are about things that celebrities aren't good at?

I don't know about the OP but I watch UC but never went to university myself.

We had a talk locally by one person who does quite a bit of media work. Someone asked about it and I think he said he does six months academic then six months travelling abroad researching and filming, writing and filming. Subjects like archaeology are also very keen on "Outreach" and are expected to do plenty of promotion and work with local groups and schools.

That was "Come Dancing" not "Strictly Come Dancing", it was taken off because viewing figures had away whereas Strictly Come Dancing is one of the most popular programmes on British television.

Are you allowed to watch?

Ooooooh, hard luck for Kent at the end there! If Paul hadn't buzzed with an incorrect answer, they'd have won straight out.

Excellent showing tonight from Leeds, especially after they nearly suicided early on, giving away 'Holly(wood)' and 'Darlington(Arlington)' where they clearly knew the full answer but didn't listen to the flipping question properly

I found the one on the right hand side of the Kent team quite scary!

Dammit. That's my alma mater out then!

They could of course have tried reviving the original format in the earlier Saturday evening slot - it was usually on quite late.