- Radio Times
- Review by:
- Laurence Joyce
“Fingers on buzzers; no conferring . . . The son of a Polish-Jewish delicatessen owner, he was born in 1955 and studied history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, before joining the BBC as a producer for the World Service in 1981, eventually becoming controller of Radio 4, a position he left in 2010 to become Master of St Peter’s College, Oxford . . .”
The man in question is Mark Damazer, presenter of this rich panorama of University Challenge from its Granada days to its recent resurrection under Jeremy Paxman on BBC2.
But it’s Bamber Gascoigne (quiz master 1962—87), who has most to say about the show’s highs and lows, which include the anarchic Manchester team of 1975 and the disqualification in 2004 of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, captained by Gail Trimble, the “human Google”.
About this programme
Mark Damazer, former Radio 4 controller and Master of St Peter's College, Oxford, pays tribute to the academic quiz show, highlighting the triumphs, records and controversies from its 50-year history. He meets past contestants including Gail Trimble, Sean Blanchflower and Luke Pitcher, and invites TV executives Mark Thompson and John Whiston, representing BBC and ITV respectively, to debate the programme's enduring success.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Presenter
- Mark Damazer
- Contributor
- Gail Trimble
- Contributor
- Sean Blanchflower
- Contributor
- Luke Pitcher
- Contributor
- Mark Thompson
- Contributor
- John Whiston
Crew
- Producer
- Jo Meek
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