I find this fact strangely exciting. What I find slightly more concerning is my age.
On Breakfast TV the two presenters Sally Nugent (aged 51) and John Kay (aged 53) would have no memory of the moon landings which saw a total of 12 men walk on the moon between Apollo 11 and Apollo 17. That's a total of seven missions with only six making it and Apollo 13 having to abort in order to spend time making a movie (film).
Apollo 11 landed on July 20th, 1969. I was 16 at the time but, strangely, only have a hazy memory of the first moon landing. Perhaps at the time I wasn't that interested and have picked up that interest over the years. It was pretty much the same with the assassination of Kennedy. I seem to remember a newsflash but little else. Older readers will remember the fissure of excitement on television when a programme was interrupted to bring you a newsflash. You just knew something historic and really important had happened. Now of course we have 24 hour news coverage so no need for news flashes.
How many men have walked on the moon is always a good quiz question. The answer is six times two. Each mission saw two astronauts wander around the celestial body for a limited time. The third member of the mission stayed in the rocket as a kind of celestial taxi service for those below.
I don't remember anything about the landings after Apollo 11, although I have researched and read about them since and can name the 12 men who have gambolled and frolicked on the lunar surface. And of course the one who hit a golf ball.
So what about the latest proposed landings? Well my initial thought is "it's exciting but is there a point to it?"
Can you imagine how basic the technology was back in 1969 compared with today. It's an absolute miracle that all those men returned to earth. Now of course everything will be computerised which begs the question as to why it will be another three years before another person (and why shouldn't it be a woman?) steps foot on the moon. And what will they do when they are there? How much moon rock do we need? How much more understanding about the moon do we need? Why after a gap of almost 50 years since the landing do we need to return?
I don't know the answers to those questions but I'm sure they will unfold. Incidentally when the first moon landing took place Sally Nugent and John Kay weren't born. When the last men stepped foot on the moon they were 16 months and just over three years old. So this will all be new for them and millions of others.
The other question I have is simple: "If going back to the moon is really important why will it have taken well over half a century to do it and why was a halt called after six successful missions?
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It's over 53 years since the first moon landing but 60 years since the quiz University Challenge started and I can't help but think of the lyrics of an Ian Dury song (with apologies for the language but I am quoting).
There ain't half been some clever bastards
(Lucky bleeders, lucky bleeders)
There ain't half been some clever bastards
University Challenge has been part of my life for as far back as I can remember - firstly there was Bambi Gascoigne asking the questions with a very cultured Oxford accent despite the fact that he actually went to Cambridge. Then we have had Jeremy Paxman as question master with a much less friendly and more Gladiatorial way of asking the questions. Bamber was somebody you wanted to have as your friend, an intellectual who you felt knew all the answers anyway. Jeremy was somebody you didn't want to make an enemy of as he would probably tear you to shreds with his withering comments. But you always felt he didn't know the answer to much.
So what has made University Challenge such a success? Well all the best quiz shows have simple formats - University Challenge, Mastermind and Who Wants to Be A Millionaire. They all have one thing in common. Their success depends on sharp, bright, intelligent and knowledgeable people and while Mastermind and Millionaire feature questions that we can all answer, University Challenge features questions we can't even understand let alone answer.
I love quizzes and believe that when it comes to general knowledge I have a reasonable command. I even get some University Challenge questions correct (but not that many). But some of those students. They are mind boggling with their range of knowledge. It is sometimes beyond my comprehension how somebody in their late teens or early 20s can know all that stuff and I think that's one of the attractions of the show.
With Millionaire or Mastermind we are left thinking "I could do better than him or her" but with Uni Challenge it's more of a "Wish I had that amount of knowledge of so many subjects."
I do worry about some of the students though. "Do they have a life or do they spend 20 hours a day accumulating knowledge and reading books?"
One of my disappointments in life is never having gone to university (although technically that's not true). That may sound a bit cock-eyed as we say in Norfolk. I didn't go to Uni because I chose another path and went to journalism college which meant I had a nine month course as compared with a three year one. Many many years later I went to the University of East Anglia and gained a Master's Degree. This meant doing most of the work-based research in my own time and only physically going to the Uni on Wednesday evenings. In some ways I feel I have missed out in not having three years of sun, sand and sangria (or beer). I would love to appear on University Challenge but feel I would just sit there looking bemused at the genius around me.
They had a very good documentary last night on Uni Challenge. Brought back many memories and reminded us of some of the geniuses who took part. Men like Bobby Seagull who was so intelligent that he never got the bird. Then there was a strange character by the name of Monkman who seemed to know everything about everything.
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There's a bit of a spat going on over the Channel in France and I can't quite get my head around it. I will reveal more in tomorrow's blog.