University Challenge gave easier questions to ‘old codgers’

published 2 December 2022

Jeremy Paxman has revealed University Challenge questions were sometimes made easier for “old codgers”. The broadcaster said that producers gave older contestants simpler questions but that this seemed to be changing. “We used to make the questions easier for the old codgers, but this time they mostly seemed as tricky as the ones we put to the students,” he wrote in Saga magazine. A BBC spokesman said: “To suggest questions are made easier is inaccurate.”

Musk previews brain chips

Elon Musk said that a brain chip for controlling a computer with thoughts will be tested on humans within six months. The chips, made by the colourful billionaire’s company Neuralink, are the size of a coin with flexible “threads” that can be inserted into the brain, said The Times. “It’s like replacing a piece of your skull with a smartwatch, for lack of a better analogy,” said Musk.

Rare Sondheim recording found on bookshelf

A rare live recording of one of Stephen Sondheim’s earliest musicals has been discovered on a bookshelf. “This is the first original cast recording of a Sondheim show,” Paul Salsini told BBC News, after he found the CD while cleaning his office in the US city of Milwaukee. The music scholar Stephen Banfield said he is "absolutely delighted that it's come to light" and it is a significant find.