University Challenge: Press Special 1/1/1999 (50fps)

[@davidtydeman1434]

Boris displayed the same behaviour he later brought to the Prime Ministership

[@kaytieanddreambreen4554]

Watching this now in 2022-2023 knowing it's paxman's last season on the show... makes me sad.

[@sarnobat2000]

His anxiety inducing speedup as the episode purses is patented

[@SgtLion]

If only the studio had fallen into a pit of lava that day, we'd have been spared so many arseholes.

[@jarrodanderson2124]

you sound like a fun guy

[@Rootle2]

Keep Hitchens at least

[@MrEggcake]

@@Rootle2 fuck no

[@Rootle2]

@@MrEggcake At least he's one of the only pundits who can think, whether you agree with him or not

[@rumbalala]

Absolutely, Johnson particularly.

[@sidpheasant7585]

First key thing to be noted - by the world - left and right are represented on each team. A wondrous-looking thing in and of itself, by the standards of 2024.

[@chrish2359]

An only connect episode did the same thing last Christmas. Much needed, I agree

[@MrYorickJenkins]

Good point now that you mention it

[@arleneauditor4802]

The funniest challenge I've ever watched so far. I love it😂

[@davidfearis7335]

5:15-5:50 Trust Boris Johnson To Pick A Fight With Jeremy Paxman

[@ProuvaireJean]

He's overly hasty, argues, and gets it wrong twice on the same question, while - granted - being entertaining in the process. A portent of things to come?

[@shitpostgrotto2982]

Mr. Paxman's got the answer in front of him and Boris still tries to bloody defend his mistake! He likes to be right but never had the smarts for it for sure

[@captainweekend5276]

Imagine if after watching this in '99 someone told you that in about 20 years Boris would be PM...

[@ProuvaireJean]

22:16 - Paxman's hesitation in ruling the answer incorrect is due to the fact that the movie is a remake/version of Johnson's answer under a different name.

[@janisauzins4103]

I believe in fact a "gender swap"

[@getthatcameraoutofmyface]

I don't think that's why, yes, His Girl Friday is a version of the 1928 play The Front Page (also made into a 1931 film which is about half as good as His Girl Friday). I think Pakman's reaction is more "wtf?" because it's freaking Cary Grant in the photo, Grant hadn't acted in a single movie when The Front Page (the film) came out, and His Girl Friday is one of his best-known roles. His Girl Friday is one of the three or four most famous newspaper films ever made, so it's weird someone, let alone a newspaperman, would know and guess The Front Page and not the right answer. It's not like Pakman was considering giving him credit for guessing a movie using the completely wrong title.

[@benslater3588]

Johnson confidentally and wrongly arguing that Diana/Artemis were the Gods of Fertility and Love was pretty funny

[@jackjones4248]

Well for some people it is a hunt

[@Pwecko]

Boris was very good at the Beano.

[@celestialteapot309]

We've been putting up with these shits for years!

[@BanalayerPete1972]

Tony Parsons is more chipper and relaxed than I would've expected. Boris Johnson should've stuck with punditry. He was harmless then.

[@simonbletsoe7059]

That lad Johnson is smart. He'll go far.

[@TheLucanicLord]

Not far enough. I hear PLuto's nice.

[@NothingToDismay]

20:48. It clicked as soon as cocaine was mentioned!

[@lnhart7157]

should be called Parsons vs. Johnson

[@MultiVince95]

Friday 1st January 1999

[@jackjones4248]

You can almost tell when Johnson is about to buzz in - classical mythology, art, politics or the beano

[@gedhoughton9523]

“…..and their team captain….” Oh dear 😅

[@quintiniusverginix7827]

5:45 rare belly laugh from Peter Hitchens

[@nobodydoesithalfasgoodasyou]

Quark was a perfectly satisfactory guess, not sure why Paxo felt the need to sneer. Force of habit, I suppose.

[@castelodeossos3947]

Extraordinary how some people's loathing of the good Mr Paxman makes them use just any old nastiness to describe his reactions. To describe his reaction at 9:57 as a sneer is not just wrong, it's simply st*p*d. Such corruption of the language is one of the worst manifestations of Wokery.

[@nobodydoesithalfasgoodasyou]

@@castelodeossos3947 I do not loathe Jeremy Paxman. He is as far as I know a perfectly decent and honourable man, but it cannot be overlooked that he is pompous and self-regarding, which possibly explains your affinity for him.

[@Rootle2]

I think he doesn't like Johnson for some reason. But yes, derision is just the Paxman style

[@BanalayerPete1972]

@@castelodeossos3947: I agree with the gist of your comment, but you ended it by misusing the term "Wokery".

[@fusionsuper]

Paxo still in the chair as usual.

[@TheAutisticGamer11]

He's unfortunately stepping down after the next series due to parkinsons

[@matthall3077]

@@TheAutisticGamer11 Amol Rajan Will Replace Paxman But It Won’t Have The Studio Audience

[@ProuvaireJean]

The rate at which Paxman used to fire off questions is in stark (but sadly understandable) contrast to his current pace.

[@saadahmad9298]

Oh Boris, you are still the same

[@DavidMiller-ps5rr]

Has Boris Johnson always dressed like a toe-rag (tow-rag?)?

[@JamesPawson]

Does Bojo have ADHD? I am Canadian, so I haven't seen much of him on tv over the years.

[@aaropajari7058]

He has Tosser Syndome.

[@hakc97again]

@@aaropajari7058 i reckon he has NPD and ASPD hence why he reckons he's beyond the law

[@berylmatthews8495]

he is amazing 😉

[@jackjones4248]

The claim that syllabaries are used in Japanese is very questionable

[@gurrrn1102]

8:49 is Rishi Sunak

[@ep5019]

Sadly the CONcervative membership voted wrongly back in August but it would so good of Klaus Schwab to help the parliamentary party get the right answer second time round

[@WilliamCooper2005]

@@trainrobber661 Blair still running the country from his lair.

[@Tandy683]

Gwaan boris

[@andrewwilliams8187]

Boris is pretty cleaver

[@BanalayerPete1972]

But not politician material. No integrity.

[@sticksman1979]

Moore and Aitkenhead were crap.

[@craigsimons817]

Yes they were but very easy on the eye, which is probably why they were there.

[@BanalayerPete1972]

Aitkenhead got several answers right. I suspect mild misogyny.

[@imagineslowed1099]

misogyny alert ^

[@gazoww]

لاقخهس لاخقهس

[@johnlawrence2757]

JP has not aged well, at all, has he….even considering the Parkinson’s

[@philmitchell91]

Did Peter Hitchens lose his sense of humour after the episode of this show was finished filming?

[@Scodouk]

He became a parody of himself.

[@Rootle2]

I think he just became progressively more depressed with the state of the country

[@BanalayerPete1972]

@@Rootle2: He's an arch-Conservative!

[@Rootle2]

@@BanalayerPete1972 I guess so, but change has happened so rapidly in the lifetimes of old people alive today that anyone who didn't change their mind for a few decades might be considered arch conservative too

[@BanalayerPete1972]

@@Rootle2: No one's being cruel to conservatives. If the right wing ideal is to make poor people poorer, or to be allowed to use abusive language to mock the disabled, to use two instances, they're making their own lives harder as well as others'.