No tears or soppy speeches – Jeremy Paxman bowed out of University Challenge in style
If the University Challenge final makes the news, it is usually because viewers have taken particular contestants to their hearts. Gail Trimble (2009) because she was so good at answering questions that fans dubbed her the “human Google”. Eric Monkman (2017) for his bellowing voice and sensible jumper. Brandon Blackwell (2020) for his commanding presence and the fact he was from Queens, New York, which sounds very cool compared to Market Harborough. And despite its old-fashioned format, the show is a cult hit on Twitter, where each week a student will start trending thanks to a certain feature. (She’s got great eyebrows! He’s wearing a leather vest!)
This year, though, the final was about one man: Jeremy Paxman. This was his last episode. He has stepped down after 29 years, making the decision after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. In an ITV documentary last year, Paxman explained his reasons. “The University Challenge people have been brilliant, but I do think that I ought to stop doing it. I will be sad to give it up but no-one is indispensable,” he said. “It will become obvious that there’s something funny about me – I mean unusual, not ‘funny’ funny. So I don’t want to spoil it for them.”
He has been a formidable host over the years, occasionally greeting a wrong answer with withering – and amusing – disdain but always being fair. He treats the contestants with due respect, recognising that he is dealing with a bunch of young people who have put in months of preparation for this.
In the final, he was also very kind, assuring the losing team: “To go out in the final is fine, it’s absolutely fine.” That team was Bristol, who lost by a respectable 120-155. The winners were Durham, who put in an excellent performance and whose captain, Alex Radcliffe, wore a natty patterned shirt. Alas, not a leather vest.
Unlike watching Mastermind, where you can kid yourself that you’re smart by answering the not-especially-hard general knowledge questions, University Challenge is fiendish. At least, if you were a person of a certain age who used to spend Thursday nights in front of Top of the Pops, you could console yourself by answering one of the few questions that had Durham stumped. Who are the New Wave band described as mixing “kitsch, Americana and some really big hairdos”, formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976? The correct answer is the B-52s and not, as Durham suggested, Bananarama.
As most would expect, Paxman departed with great class and no soppy speech: “University Challenge returns later in the year and I look forward to watching it with you. So it’s goodnight from me. Goodnight.” His replacement is Amol Rajan. Mastermind has transitioned pretty seamlessly from John Humphrys to Clive Myrie, but the personality of the presenter matters less on that show. University Challenge is different – the host needs to be authoritative, never matey, with a personal style that fits into the format and doesn’t overpower it. Does Rajan have the right stuff? We’ll have to wait and see. But Paxman did, and we will miss him.
