[News] Bambi RIP

[Titanic]

University Challenge presenter and author Bamber Gascoigne has died aged 87.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-60301687

"I'll have to hurry you" so much more classy than Paxman's snarling 'Come on' .

 

[Is it PotG?]

Top quizmaster.

RIP.

 

[happypig]

My mum always referred to him as Bob Shilling. When I asked her why she said it was because they had a gas meter that took 1/- coins, hence gas coin.

Lovely lady, mad as a box of frogs

 

[Ooh it’s a corner]

Yes deffo a quiz legend of my youth. Fingers on the buzzers! I could rarely answer any of the questions but BG was always engaging - must be in the initials!
RIP Bamber

 

[hart's shirt]

Any excuse....

 

[Hampden Park]

Old school joke - Who has an IQ of 167 and green pubic hair? Bamber Grassgroin - taxi for HP

 

[vegster]

RIP Bamber, great score.

 

[Monkey Man]

My mum always referred to him as Bob Shilling. When I asked her why she said it was because they had a gas meter that took 1/- coins, hence gas coin.

Lovely lady, mad as a box of frogs

In our house he was Dan the Gas Man.

 

[el punal]

A rather rude joke did the rounds ages ago about Bamber.

The story goes that he was having a bit of rumpy-pumpy with a girl. “Ooh Bamber! It’s not very big.” said the girl.
Bamber replied “That’s a starter for ten, and now for a bonus of fifteen!”

 

[zefarelly]

Any excuse....

Can you give me any more

Certainly, will £50 do.

absolute gold.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

Always thought he was overly pompous, but I guess that's just him. RIP fella.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Honestly thought he had passed ages ago!
On the Paxman issue, I watched it the other day and it sounded as if he was really starting to struggle with reading some of the questions out...time for another presenter change?

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

Paxman couldn’t hold a candle to him. I can remember watching it occasionally when BG would make comments which showed he probably knew all the answers: “no, you’re thinking of……….” Or similar. Right at the very beginning he did apparently write all the questions.

 

[rippleman]

"Asking the questions................."

And in my head I still say "Bamber Gasgoine"

RIP Bambi

 

[Questions]

Oh my God. I thought the post was referring to Bambi Woods….. Phew.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Honestly thought he had passed ages ago!
On the Paxman issue, I watched it the other day and it sounded as if he was really starting to struggle with reading some of the questions out...time for another presenter change?

That's because Paxman has been diagnosed with Parkinson's.

Paxman's deterioration has really affected the show. He is now unable to deliver the questions quickly, which means Bamber's trademark machine-gun delivery of closing questions now never happens, so we are denied the spectacle of incredibly fast recall from Britain's brightest brains. On two occasion this series there have been amazing second-half comebacks that have may have yielded knife edge closing moments, but Paxman's pedestrian delivery has meant teams closing a 100-point gap have fallen 5 or 10 short at the gong. Basically, if you reach 175 points you've won.

Paxman has been doing it for so long people forget how good Bamber was, especially as each episode reached the end. He could deliver so many questions that scores of over 300 were commonplace. UC could be SO much better if they had someone of his ability presenting it now.

I'm sure every quiz lover out there will lament the passing of this remarkable man. R.I.P. Bamber.

 

[jakarta]

Always thought he was overly pompous, but I guess that's just him. RIP fella.

He just knew his stuff, in an era when being intelligent and educated wasn't a problem for TV.

Stephen Fry seems the obvious man to take over from Paxo?

 

[Gwylan]

Always thought he was overly pompous, but I guess that's just him. RIP fella.

He wasn't pompous at all - a genuinely nice bloke. He was ferociously bright - he didn't write the questions but he fact-checked them and edited them, if necessary.

I saw someone on Twitter say that he, Humphrey Littleton and Barry Cryer should meet upstairs and produce a mash-up of ISIHAC and UC. It was a lovely thought (not least because it was a tweet mentioning three celebrities, all of whom I'd met!)

 

[Eeyore]

Next to Tony Bloom, our best ever chairman. RIP.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

That's because Paxman has been diagnosed with Parkinson's.

I had no idea about that...sad to hear.