Occasional Limericks Only #12

I’ll have to hurry you…

So, Bamber Gascoigne has died at the grand old age of 87. I remember him as the oddly-named question master of University Challenge who presided over the TV show throughout my childhood and youth, so it has come as a bit of a surprise that his first name was the altogether more prosaic Arthur!

He was the originator of a number of quiz-orientated catchphrases such as Fingers on buzzers, please and No conferring as well as a couple of others on show in this post. Moreover, as has been said elsewhere, you really believed that he could answer all the questions himself – unlike Jeremy Paxman, his successor, who carries what appears to be a mock intellectual air about him.

Bamber Gascoigne (centre) along with my alma mater’s University Challenge winning team of 1983. I’d graduated a year before and can’t say that I knew any of the team well, if at all. Peter Burt (seated right) studied zoology like me and was clearly more learned, but then again, he didn’t represent Scottish Universities at rugby (haha, see postscript here: https://blog.piscibus.com/a-limerick-a-week-131)

… and this is the limerick

Bamber was one of those men
Whose name, every now and again,
Brought a smile to your face,
But has now left this place
‘Cos he’s run out of starters for ten

Published by

LanterneRouge

😎 Former scientist, now graduated to a life of leisure; Family man (which may surprise the family - it certainly surprises him); Likes cycling and old-fashioned B&W film photography; Dislikes greasy-pole-climbing 'yes men'; Thinks Afterlife (previously known as Thea Gilmore) should be much better known than she is; Values decency over achievement.

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