Originally Published 29 November 2002

On Monday 25 November, the Students' Union echoed with an uplifting cheer in response to the name "Saddam Hussein". No, nothihng political, it's just that the Iraqi dictator was an answer on the latest edition of University Challenge, in which the Warwick team comprehensively beat Wadham College, Oxford, in an exciting, high-scoring game.

The team (Andrew Teale, Maths and Stats; Nick Dawson, English; Andrew Lay, Economics; Jonathan Skinner, Maths) raced to a 90-0 lead thanks to some classy interruptions (can you identify 'Armenia' from its currency and a single date? - Andrew Teale can) and eventually came out 275-140 winners.

The ease of the win belies a distinct lack of rodent knowledge and, in the words of Jeremy Paxman himself, 'a very silly interruption, Warwick'. Paxman was his usual uncompromising self, but we found him to be much friendlier in the Green Room with a can of Stella in his hand! To say we weren't nervous to begin with would be lying, but we soon got into the swing of things, and having a big points cushion calmed our nerves. Looking back, however, you could say we should have got more - some easily gettable starters went to Wadham. Still, as the say on that other quiz show of our time: "It's only easy if you know the answer"

Warwick's Second round match will be shown in the Spring.

by Andrew Lay, Economics