- (Derby) Rhys Darby: New Zealand comedian, Murray in Flight of the Conchords.
- (Ely) Jennifer Ehle: played Elizabeth Bennet in the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice.
- (Ripon, one of the smallest cities in England) Angela Rippon: first woman to regularly present the national news on the BBC.
- (Leicester) Adrian Lester: star of Hustle.
The Highgates got this off the last clue in their match against the Shutterbugs.
These are the reverse of common portmanteaux (combinations of words)
- SMOKE + FOG = SMOG but when reversed makes FOKE.
- BOMBAY + HOLLYWOOD = BOLLYWOOD but when reversed makes HOMBAY.
- GIGANTIC + ENORMOUS = GINORMOUS but when reversed makes EGANTIC.
- BREAKFAST + LUNCH = BRUNCH but when reversed makes LEAKFAST.
Here are a few more: COMA (DRAMEDY), FOON (SPORK), ENTERCATION (EDUTAINMENT).
No points for either team on this one. Well done if you got it – it was in the series 11 final between the String Section and the Wayfarers.
- The Crow Road, novel by Iain Banks (a murder of crows).
- Flaubert’s Parrot, novel by Julian Barnes (a company of parrots).
- Where Eagles Dare, World War II adventure thriller by Alistair MacLean (a convocation of eagles).
- ‘The Owl and the Pussy-Cat’, poem by nonsense poet Edward Lear (a parliament of owls).
The Cosmopolitans scored 2 points on this question in their match against the Taverners.
Each clue gives an artist, and what was unusually mimed during a song in an appearance on Top of the Pops
- ‘Roll With It’: for fun, Noel pretended to sing and Liam mimed playing guitar.
- ‘Lonely This Christmas’: Les Gray, on Mud’s 1974 Christmas no. 1, explained that miming the singing parts was relatively easy, but miming to a spoken part was almost impossible, so he didn’t bother.
- ‘Maggie May’: Rod Stewart asked Peel to come on and mime the mandolin part. It was actually played by Ray Jackson of the band Lindisfarne.
- ‘Martha’s Harbour’: All About Eve appeared live and couldn’t hear the foldback so sat doing nothing, unaware they were ‘on’. A big cheer came from the crowd when the track eventually became audible, so the band at last began miming.
The Networkers failed to answer this, so it was picked up for a bonus by their opponents the Psmiths.
- Artist Grayson Perry’s childhood bear is called Alan Measles.
- In Brideshead Revisited, Sebastian Flyte’s constant companion is his teddy bear Aloysius.
- Spotty Man is best friends with SuperTed, in the cartoon SuperTed (Spotty Man does not actually own SuperTed, but it would be harsh to disallow ‘teddy bear owners’). The executive producer of Only Connect wrote the theme tune for SuperTed.
- Christopher Robin is the best friend of Winnie-the-Pooh, in the books by A. A. Milne.
The Policy Wonks picked up a crucial 3 points on this question in their match against the Maltsters.
All of these clues describe where certain African countries got their name from
- Djibouti was named after its coastal capital city in 1977.
- Kenya is named after Mount Kenya.
- Liberia comes from the Latin ‘liber’, meaning free.
- Central African Republic is named after its location.
The Oxonians picked this up as a bonus from the Politicos.
The last clue can be seen as a bit of a nod to a favourite answer on Pointless.
- Sei – Six
- Sette – Seven
- Otto – Eight
- Nove – Nine
In series 10, neither the Nightwatchmen nor the Nordiphiles spotted this, so well done if you did.
- 23.95 million.
- 22.78 million.
- 24.35 million: the Trotters finally become millionaires.
- 19.29 million.
An impressive 3 points for the Fire-Eaters in their match against the Korfballers.
Oddly, these unique initials can be arranged to spell the word ‘quiz’
- Quito, capital of Ecuador. No other world capital begins with Q.
- Ulaanbaatar, capital of Mongolia. No other world capital begins with U.
- Islamabad, capital of Pakistan. No other world capital begins with I.
- Zagreb, capital of Croatia. No other world capital begins with Z.
Two points for the Verbivores in the series 12 final against the Cosmopolitans. A classic quiz fact and a classic Only Connect question.
ACCEPT: any other example meaning Black Friday, e.g. ‘Day gold prices plummeted’, or indeed just the words ‘Black Friday’
- 29 Oct 1929: 16 million shares traded, taken to be the beginning of the Crash.
- 16 Sept 1992: Britain forced to leave European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
- 30 Sept 2010: announcement of cost of bailout of Anglo Irish Bank.
- Post-Thanksgiving sales: annual shopping frenzy.
One point against the head for the Mixologists versus the Collectors.
ACCEPT: rental property or other definitions of let
- Delta – LETTER: fourth letter of Greek alphabet.
- Mad Cows author – Kathy LETTE: Australian author.
- Native of Latvia – LETT: native or citizen of Latvia or area formerly known as Lettland.
- Tennis service – LET.
In series 9, the Erstwhile Athletes spotted this on Clue 3 in their match against the Software Engineers.
Sung as the workhouse boys are dreaming and fantasising about food while going to collect their gruel from the staff of the workhouse.
Lyrics are … (you may now recreate the famous Only Connect singalong experience):
‘Food, glorious food! Hot sausage and mustard!
While we’re in the mood – Cold jelly and custard!
Peas pudding and saveloys,
What next is the question?
Rich gentlemen have it, boys – indigestion.’
The Clareites picked up a bonus point after the Wrestlers failed to answer this.
CHILDREN IN NEED 2013
Konnie Huq
‘I was pleased to get that right. It’s weird because I remember going to a pub quiz once and there was a tie-breaker about The Simpsons, and I got that too. It was a bit fluky. I’d love to say my best area of expertise is astrophysics, but clearly it’s The Simpsons.’
