c4countdown

(not in a gay way)

So CF and I have been 'shortlisted' for series 2 of Pointless. It's not entirely clear what this means, given that at the audition they said that we'd either be selected or not, so hopefully it's just a case of "you're on the show, but we're just covering ourselves in case at the last minute we change our mind".

Now obviously what this means is that CF and I have got to do some serious boning (fnar) up on Pointless-style lists, which is hopefully where you lot come in. If you're feeling helpful, we're trying to put together two lists. One is questions asked in the first series, since it seems a reasonable bet they won't use the same ones twice, and the other is any ideas people have for future questions. My plan is to edit this post as people remember/suggest stuff, although you might all find this far too tedious/be out to get me anyway (I will be very if other c4cers have applied, got on, and secretly mine this thread for tips without revealing themselves, I know a few of you said you'd apply, any joy?).

So, questions we can remember from last series, with question marks on ones I'm not sure about (if anyone can confirm/deny that'd be great). I've been through the old Pointless thread to try and drag up stuff, too.

Geography:

Countries beginning with B, C, S, ...
Capitals beginning with B,...?
European capitals.
Original EU states (?)
Countries who use the Euro (?)
Countries with red and white flags.
Countries with stars on the flag.
Countries with Spanish as a national language.
Country names 5 letters or fewer (?)
Countries with 5/6 letter names.
Countries in Africa.

Films/TV:

Movies featuring: Tom Cruise, Bruce Willis, Hugh Grant, Leonard di Caprio, Jonny Depp, Angelina Jolie
Oscar winners: Best actor, actress, picture
Oscar categories
David Jason programmes (wasn't it characters in Only Fools?)
James Bond films/theme singers

Music:

Top 40 singles by: Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Michael Jackson, Bee Gees
Songs from Grease, the Sound of Music,
Andrew-lloyd-webber musicals?
Beatles albums
Queen A sides
Wind, String or Brass instruments in a major orchestra
Christmas number ones.

Sport:

2009 F1 drivers
F1 championship winners
2009/2010 Premier league (football) teams
2009/2010 Premier league stadia
European championship winners/runners up, same for Wolrd cup?
Champions league winners(?)
Wimbledon men's winners? (women?)
British Olympic track gold medalists since 1970.
Modern(?) Olympic host cities.
Winners of the Open (golf) championship.

Literature:

Named characters in Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth
Bronte novels
Mr Men books.

Miscellany:

Anagrams of words, words ending/beginning in, that sort of stuff.
Prime Ministers since 1900
Chancellors of the exchequer since 1900
Presidents since 1900 (and 19th century, too)
(Latin names of) Constellations
Time Person of the Year
Books of the OT.
Chinese Zodiac/elements.
Elements in Earth's atmosphere.
Royal houses.
Colours in Joseph's gaycoat.

Ideas I think for questions, please let me know if you think it's a bad idea (e.g. the list is too short, or if it's already been done)


Countries beginning with $letter (depends on what's been done, not sure how many are likely)
Flag questions seem a really rich source (could be anything though, we're just going to generally revise flags).
Countries with 4/7 letter names (too few/many?)
Stuff about states, maybe just US states, or US states < certain number of letters? We're going to learn them anyway.
Countries in Asia/South America/Central America(?)

Films featuring $dude(tte), again, any suggestions welcome.
Top 40 singles by $whoever

Booker/Turner prize winners.

What do we think of prime ministers? In fact, didn't they do 19th century presidents? I can't remember.
Home Secretaries, Foreign Secretaries and Leaders of the Opposition
Losing wimbledon finalists?

If you think of questions that might be worth revising, it'd be even more awesome if you could suggest any good answers you happen to know. Similarly if you have any revision strategy ideas (at the moment I'm thinking of looking at plausible "countries/capitals beginning with/countries in $continent/etc." lists and learning a handful of really obscure ones from each, rather than trying to learn every country/capital/currency/flag.

Thanks in advance. (And if after all this we don't get on the show, hopefully everyone will have had fun doing this anyway...)

(It's got too complicated to acknowledge everyone next to their contributions, so instead thanks to Howard, Phil M, Marc, Liam, James, Karen, Phil R, Clive, Hugh (if you just said 'good luck', thanks too, but I'm not going to give you glorious space in this post for it, we need questions ))

I only watched one programme, and can only remember one round:

Music - Wind, String or Brass instruments in a major orchestra

Best of luck!

Howard Somerset wrote:I only watched one programme, and can only remember one round:

Music - Wind, String or Brass instruments in a major orchestra

Best of luck!

Every little helps, thanks

tl;dr

- Formula 1 World Champions came up. Jody Scheckter and Denny Hulme were definitely pointless and Emerson Fittipaldi may have been. Surprisingly, Phil Hill wasn't.
- Queen Top 40 singles.
- Winners of the Open championship (golf). Ian Baker-Finch won the game as a pointless answer.

Michael Wallace wrote: (I will be very if other c4cers have applied, got on, and secretly mine this thread for tips without revealing themselves, I know a few of you said you'd apply, any joy?).

I've actually never the heard of the programme but sounds right up my street. I have just this minute sent them an email asking them for more information and an application form. There you go, I've revealed myself!

Haven't got a clue who I could persuade to come on with me though....

I had my audition in Manchester 2 weeks ago. Me and my sister were the best team by miles.

We got just 8 points out of 300, the next best team had 53 points. The worst got 275 points.

Darren Carter wrote:

Michael Wallace wrote: (I will be very if other c4cers have applied, got on, and secretly mine this thread for tips without revealing themselves, I know a few of you said you'd apply, any joy?).

I've actually never the heard of the programme but sounds right up my street. I have just this minute sent them an email asking them for more information and an application form. There you go, I've revealed myself!

Haven't got a clue who I could persuade to come on with me though....

Second thoughts: Application form has arrived and I can't be arsed to fill in 8 pages!

James Robinson wrote:I had my audition in Manchester 2 weeks ago. Me and my sister were the best team by miles.

We got just 8 points out of 300, the next best team had 53 points. The worst got 275 points.

And...?

Edit: This is me asking if you've heard if you're on yet, rather than me being all "so what?" (although tbf, I'd be surprised if how you actually did in the audition game mattered)

Ideas for questions:

Winter olympic venues

books of the new testament

movies directed by Clint Eastwood

movies starring Michael Caine

Radio one breakfast show DJs

Marc Meakin wrote:Ideas for questions:

Winter olympic venues

books of the new testament

movies directed by Clint Eastwood

movies starring Michael Caine

Radio one breakfast show DJs

Thanks for these (also good work on the avatar). That's reminded me of the fact they did Old Testament books and hosts of the (modern?) Olympics, which I'll add.

Did they do Christmas no.1's as well?
I also remember elements in the earths atmosphere
And royal houses and Chinese Zodiac signs

Another good one is to name the actors in the Magnificent Seven.

Marc Meakin wrote:Did they do Christmas no.1's as well?
I also remember elements in the earths atmosphere
And royal houses and Chinese Zodiac signs

Ah yes, I think you're right about those - the chinese zodiac came with chinese elements too, IIRC.

Charlie Reams wrote:tl;dr

too long; did read for me sadly. good luck tho!

I might just go for the show too. To be fair, I was discussing this possibility with someone (who'd be my partner in awesome) on Saturday over a few beverages.

British Oscar winners
American states/capitals
Canadian provinces
Countries of Oceania
Golf- Open/Masters/Majors
Open courses
Racecourses
Grand National winners
Cathedral cities
Sea areas
WWII aircraft
Airlines
WWII neutral countries
Mediterranean countries

Michael Wallace wrote:

James Robinson wrote:I had my audition in Manchester 2 weeks ago. Me and my sister were the best team by miles.

We got just 8 points out of 300, the next best team had 53 points. The worst got 275 points.

And...?

Edit: This is me asking if you've heard if you're on yet, rather than me being all "so what?" (although tbf, I'd be surprised if how you actually did in the audition game mattered)

I haven't heard yet, although I must surely be considered since I did give 2 Pointless answers in the audition.

Marc Meakin wrote:Ideas for questions:

Winter olympic venues

books of the new testament

movies directed by Clint Eastwood

movies starring Michael Caine

Radio one breakfast show DJs

They did the last one in the last series.

James Robinson wrote:

Marc Meakin wrote:Ideas for questions:

Winter olympic venues

books of the new testament

movies directed by Clint Eastwood

movies starring Michael Caine

Radio one breakfast show DJs

They did the last one in the last series.

Oh, I thought it was radio 2 DJs

Marc Meakin wrote:

James Robinson wrote:

Marc Meakin wrote:Ideas for questions:

Winter olympic venues

books of the new testament

movies directed by Clint Eastwood

movies starring Michael Caine

Radio one breakfast show DJs

They did the last one in the last series.

Oh, I thought it was radio 2 DJs

That was done as well.

Quite a lot of the topics are very similar to those used on Who Dares Wins.

I will see what James and I can remember from last year. One that has already come up, that springs to mind, is celebrities on Strictly Come Dancing. I think Cluedo and Monopoly have both come up too.

Others I recall off the top of my head, that I don't think have come up yet (but I didn't see every episode of Pointless), include characters who appeared in the first Harry Potter book, songs from Grease, Leonardo Di Caprio films, David Jason programmes, 100 Greatest Britons, Scrabble letters worth more than 1 pt, Spielberg films, first 20 in line to the throne, Stephen King films, characters who appeared in the first episode of Eastenders.

We were planning to enter but we're away in Florida for all of January and that's when filming is apparently.

Good luck to you both!

Karen Pearson wrote:Quite a lot of the topics are very similar to those used on Who Dares Wins.

I will see what James and I can remember from last year. One that has already come up, that springs to mind, is celebrities on Strictly Come Dancing. I think Cluedo and Monopoly have both come up too.

Others I recall off the top of my head, that I don't think have come up yet (but I didn't see every episode of Pointless), include characters who appeared in the first Harry Potter book, songs from Grease, Leonardo Di Caprio films, David Jason programmes, 100 Greatest Britons, Scrabble letters worth more than 1 pt, Spielberg films, first 20 in line to the throne, Stephen King films, characters who appeared in the first episode of Eastenders.

We were planning to enter but we're away in Florida for all of January and that's when filming is apparently.

Good luck to you both!

The ones in bold have come up. Interesting 2 of the Indiana Jones films were Pointless answers in the Spielberg round.

Awesome. Me and Emma were thinking of applying since we have the awesome triple whammy of being young, attractive and personable on screen (well I meet 2 of the requirements) with very different special areas , but we're busy with exams, Christmas and other stuff atm so might wait for Series 3 should there be one.

Good luck on the show lads should you get on. Might I recommend this website for your revision. You'll have fun while you learn! http://www.sporcle.com

Michael Wallace wrote:questions we can remember from last series [...]

Movies featuring: Tom Cruise, Bruce Willis, Hugh Grant

They also did Leonardo di Caprio, Johnny Depp and Angeline Jolie.

wasn't one just oscar categories?

Yes.

(speaking?) Characters in Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth

I think the questions were actually specified as named characters from those plays - so for example the English and Scottish Doctors in Macbeth weren't valid.

Constellations (did they specify hemisphere?)

They didn't, but they wanted the Latin names - I was yelling "Crux Australis" all through the round.

What do we think of pre-1900 presidents/prime ministers? In fact, didn't they do 19th century presidents? I can't remember.

I'm pretty sure they did US presidents before 1900 - I remember thinking "I bet nobody says Ulysses S Grant" and then someone did.

Another random one that I remember from the first series: colours in Joseph's Amazing Techniclour Dreamcoat.

Really hope you guys get on the show (so I can find out what CF looks like) - good luck!

Phil Reynolds wrote:Another random one that I remember from the first series: colours in Joseph's Amazing Techniclour Dreamcoat.

My personal favourite from the last series was Mr Men books. So hilarious.

Of course, I was in my element with James Bond films and singers of Bond themes.

James Robinson wrote:

Phil Reynolds wrote:Another random one that I remember from the first series: colours in Joseph's Amazing Techniclour Dreamcoat.

My personal favourite from the last series was Mr Men books. So hilarious.

Of course, I was in my element with James Bond films and singers of Bond themes.

This has given me an idea.
What Mister Men name would you call yourself?
I might even start a new thread on this.(then again I can't be bothered may be it should be Mr Procrastinater)
Mine would be Mr Gullible.

Chancellors of the Exchequer since 1900 was in the last series, so Home Secretaries, Foreign Secretaries and Leaders of the Opposition must be a good bet. I think they might go for post war another time - if the players had known their stuff they could have had pointlesses with Cripps, Gaitskell, Butler, Mauldling, etc. One of the more frustrating programmes from my point of view.

Actually Leaders of the Opposition is quite tough. It's hard to think of an obscure one. Does Margaret Beckett count?

Losing Wimbledon finalists perhaps?

Phil Reynolds wrote:

Constellations (did they specify hemisphere?)

They didn't, but they wanted the Latin names - I was yelling "Crux Australis" all through the round.

I think you'd have been wrong with this. AFAIK it's simply "Crux".

Clive Brooker wrote:

Phil Reynolds wrote:they wanted the Latin names - I was yelling "Crux Australis" all through the round.

I think you'd have been wrong with this. AFAIK it's simply "Crux".

James Robinson wrote:I haven't heard yet, although I must surely be considered since I did give 2 Pointless answers in the audition.

I dunno - given the quality of the contestants on the first series it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't really care about how 'good' people are at the game. I'm guessing you got called back at the end of the audition at least? They implied to us that was a pretty good sign.

Thanks to everyone for all the responses, I'll start editing my original post with all this sexy new info. And yes Dinos, we're planning on spending a *lot* of time on sporcle over the next month

Michael Wallace wrote:

James Robinson wrote:I haven't heard yet, although I must surely be considered since I did give 2 Pointless answers in the audition.

I dunno - given the quality of the contestants on the first series it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't really care about how 'good' people are at the game. I'm guessing you got called back at the end of the audition at least? They implied to us that was a pretty good sign.

Yes, we did. How well did you do at your audition, in terms of points?

James Robinson wrote:Yes, we did. How well did you do at your audition, in terms of points?

Pretty rubbish - I got a pointless, then CF got a top answer (as in, highest scoring), then we had an incorrect one. Went from 1st to last across the three rounds (finished on 187, I think). How many at your audition got called back at the end?

(I'll post details of the audition once I'm sure they've finished, just in case I get in trouble for posting the questions before they're done with them.)

Phil Reynolds wrote:

Sorry Phil - not brilliant timing in view of the thread you'd just started, and which I've now seen!

FWIW I think this place needs your style.

In relation to Pointless, the serious issue I was hinting at is that in the first series there was wild inconsistency over what was judged close enough to be correct. In your example it's anybody's guess whether that would have been accepted. I hope they'll tighten up on this, but in any event for someone practising for the show, pedantry must be good.

Michael Wallace wrote:

James Robinson wrote:Yes, we did. How well did you do at your audition, in terms of points?

Pretty rubbish - I got a pointless, then CF got a top answer (as in, highest scoring), then we had an incorrect one. Went from 1st to last across the three rounds (finished on 287, I think). How many at your audition got called back at the end?

3 other pairs were called back afterwards and 2 other pairs weren't called back.

James Robinson wrote:3 other pairs were called back afterwards and 2 other pairs weren't called back.

Badical. They called back everyone at ours, which was annoying because I wanted to see how people took being told to go home

Dinos Sfyris wrote:Might I recommend this website for your revision. You'll have fun while you learn! http://www.sporcle.com

I love Sporcle. This one's silly but amazing.

Yeah, Sporcle's great. Disney films would surely be worth learning if they haven't been done already.

Michael Wallace wrote:(British?) Olympic gold medalists (post 1980?) (from the previous thread)

It was British Olympic gold medal-winning track athletes from 1970 onwards.

Hugh Binnie wrote:It was British Olympic gold medal-winning track athletes from 1970 onwards.

Ouch, that's pretty scarily specific. I wonder if that suggests there will be more of the same this series (I bloody hope not).

Clive Brooker wrote:Does Margaret Beckett count?

Not in my quiz! She was only an interim seat-warmer.

Michael Wallace wrote:

Hugh Binnie wrote:It was British Olympic gold medal-winning track athletes from 1970 onwards.

Ouch, that's pretty scarily specific. I wonder if that suggests there will be more of the same this series (I bloody hope not).

On further reflection, I think it was track and field. Nonetheless, yes, that's very specific.

I'd go with you DC

Ian Dent wrote:I'd go with you DC

Great, let me know how you get on with filling in the 8 page application form Ian.....

Darren Carter wrote:

Ian Dent wrote:I'd go with you DC

Great, let me know how you get on with filling in the 8 page application form Ian.....

I think you might have missed the boat on this one - when they replied with an application form was it an auto-reply? (It was when I sent for one.) They said they were holding auditions for two weeks, which suggests they've already got who they want for this series. Unless of course it's already been commissioned for a third...

This suggests the closing date is Friday week.

Michael Wallace wrote:

Darren Carter wrote:

Ian Dent wrote:I'd go with you DC

Great, let me know how you get on with filling in the 8 page application form Ian.....

I think you might have missed the boat on this one - when they replied with an application form was it an auto-reply? (It was when I sent for one.) They said they were holding auditions for two weeks, which suggests they've already got who they want for this series. Unless of course it's already been commissioned for a third...

Yeah they sent the application form as an auto-reply.

Phil Makepeace wrote:This suggests the closing date is Friday week.

I'm inclined to say that's a mistake, then - as I said, at the audition they implied they'd be auditioning for two weeks, which was about 3 weeks ago, and they're recording from 4 January to 20-somethingth, so it would be pretty surprising if they managed to audition anyone before then, now.

Michael Wallace wrote:

Phil Makepeace wrote:This suggests the closing date is Friday week.

I'm inclined to say that's a mistake, then - as I said, at the audition they implied they'd be auditioning for two weeks, which was about 3 weeks ago, and they're recording from 4 January to 20-somethingth, so it would be pretty surprising if they managed to audition anyone before then, now.

I'd have to agree. My audition was nearly 3 weeks ago and they said they were recording Jan 4th-15th. They said we'd be called within 2-3 weeks if successful. Since the 3 weeks are nearly up, I'm getting less hopeful.

Mark your diaries for March 19th, raccoon boy is going to lay some pointless smackdown.

(and for those familiar with the show - I am being deliberately ambiguous about whether we are on one or two shows, so don't try and second guess me )

Michael Wallace wrote:Mark your diaries for March 19th, raccoon boy is going to lay some pointless smackdown.

(and for those familiar with the show - I am being deliberately ambiguous about whether we are on one or two shows, so don't try and second guess me )

FB event please so I don't forget

Michael Wallace wrote:Mark your diaries for March 19th, raccoon boy is going to lay some pointless smackdown.

Oh, I can't wait to see it.

I'm still miffed at not passing the audition, because I'm sure I'd have done very well on the show, but what can you do

James Robinson wrote:

Michael Wallace wrote:Mark your diaries for March 19th, raccoon boy is going to lay some pointless smackdown.

Oh, I can't wait to see it.

I'm still miffed at not passing the audition, because I'm sure I'd have done very well on the show, but what can you do

Dye your hair have a sex change and call yourself Jane Robinson, and reapply, may work on countdown too.

Erm... no.