Jeremy Paxman’s world-weary look of disdain has been a feature of British television screens for decades. Most of the time it has been aimed at politicians on Newsnight. But back in 2009, after recording an episode of University Challenge, it was aimed at 20-year-old me.
With the air of a man annoyed at being kept from his lunch, he spoke to the studio audience at Manchester’s Granada Studios and announced: “We have one answer to re-record. Waterson said: ‘Oh shit.’”
It turns out the microphones had picked up my cursing as I attempted to dredge up the name of the walking route that ran between Helmsley and Filey. Eventually I got it – Cleveland Way, five points, a deep pride in being a student who knew the name of long distance walking routes – but production was delayed while he read out the question a second time and the cameras could film me tapping it in without the swearing.
Anyone who has been on University Challenge will immediately be asked what it was like to be around Paxman. This is a man whose public persona is still defined by him repeating the same question 12 times during a 1997 interview with Michael Howard. Friends and family want war stories of Paxman’s barbs and rudeness. They want to hear, for some reason, how you were emotionally crushed by being in the sheer presence of the man.
The reality can disappoint them. As a student taking part in the show you are the well-looked-after human meat on a perfectly delightful quiz show production line. Episodes are filmed back-to-back, with short gaps for Paxman to change his jacket to stop viewers at home thinking he’d been sleeping in the same suit for weeks. Direct contact with the presenter consisted of a stilted chat before the first episode – while keeping out of the way of the Jeremy Kyle show which was being filmed in the studio next door.
Paxman is not going to be your mate and he might play up to his character by dismissively shaking his head when you fail to answer some supposedly obvious question. At best he’d be quietly encouraging. At worst, you were left with the impression that he really thought he’d do something more with his life than read out questions from cards.
As my friend Tom Whyman, a writer and academic who also appeared on University Challenge, puts it: “It’s not like he was all warmth and smiles. But he’s not a quizzer himself and the truth is that if you did well he was honestly really impressed. The mystique dissolves as soon as you’re finished filming your first episode and he has to be filmed repeating questions because he’s mispronounced one of the words.”
The new presenter will bring their own approach to University Challenge. Abrasive behaviour by television quizmasters is less fashionable now, with chummy chat preferred to eye-rolling at teenagers. There’s also an opportunity to subtly tweak the programme – such as updating which institutions are selected. But for now viewers have one final season hosted by Paxman to watch – and just remember, it’s more bark than bite.
