Quote: beaky @ 25th October 2018, 11:17 PM

Why on earth should classical music be considered "posh"?

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Nothing is posh, in and of itself. Things become posh because of their association with people of breeding and education. A fondness for and knowledge of Classical music are associated far more closely with the very well bred and the very well educated than they are with folk in the middle and lower areas of the socio-educational scale.

Quote: beaky @ 25th October 2018, 11:17 PM

Music is universal, anyone can enjoy it, it's available for everyone to listen to and enjoy and enrich their lives.

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That is perfectly true. Anyone can enjoy it but the vast majority of people choose not to become well versed in the field of classical music. Indeed, most people appear not to want it in their lives at all.

Quote: Rood Eye @ 25th October 2018, 11:28 PM

Nothing is posh, in and of itself. Things become posh because of their association with people of breeding and education. A fondness for and knowledge of Classical music are associated far more closely with the very well bred and the very well educated than they are with folk at the middle and lower areas of the socio-educational scale.

That is perfectly true. Anyone can enjoy it but the vast majority of people choose not to become well versed in the field of classical music. Indeed, most people appear not to want it in their lives at all.

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That's their choice, just as most people don't read books, or have any interest in theatre or film or the performing arts. It's nothing to do with being "posh", it merely shows a lack of curiosity or interest in anything that doesn't directly touch their immediate existence. I think they're missing out - perhaps you don't.

Quote: beaky @ 26th October 2018, 12:56 AM

That's their choice, just as most people don't read books, or have any interest in theatre or film or the performing arts. It's nothing to do with being "posh", it merely shows a lack of curiosity or interest in anything that doesn't directly touch their immediate existence. I think they're missing out - perhaps you don't.

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Most people are not avid fans of books, theatre, film or the performing arts but I think almost everybody in what we call the civilised world has at some time or another derived pleasure from all those media.

The same most certainly cannot be said for classical music. In my entire life, I have never heard anybody in a real-life situation express any interest in classical music. That's not to say, of course, that I've never unknowingly met anybody who liked it. I'm just saying that I've never met anybody who has given me any indication that they like it.

Personally, I don't dislike classical music. It's just that it does nothing for me.

If I were running the British education system I would insist that every schoolchild be exposed to classical music - simply because it can do them absolutely no harm and it might open up to them a wonderful world of pleasure that will last a lifetime.

The fact, however, remains that most people in Britain have little or no knowledge of classical music and are therefore unlikely to be entertained by questions on Only Connect that require such knowledge.

Quote: Rood Eye @ 25th October 2018, 9:32 PM

My complaint is that only posh people can tell one piece of classical music from another and that, accordingly, classical music questions are heavily biased towards posh contestants.

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Look here. old boy. Back in the day when I worked as a slaughterman at Goondiwindi Abattoir in Queensland, we used to have Hooked on Classics playing on heavy rotation, along with Mozart at the Movies. So we certainly knew our Schubert from our Schumann. It's absolutely preposterous, my dear fellow, to suggest that a crew of slaughtermen -- most of whom had left school by 15 -- could be "posh" simply because of their taste in music.

Suggest you try a "quiz" show called Pointless, hosted by a pair of appalling vulgarians, who seem to have their fingers permanently on the proletariat pulses of banality.

Quote: beaky @ 25th October 2018, 7:07 PM

I'm very impressed, Herc!

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Thank you beaky.

Quote: Rood Eye @ 26th October 2018, 1:43 AM

The fact, however, remains that most people in Britain have little or no knowledge of classical music and are therefore unlikely to be entertained by questions on Only Connect that require such knowledge.

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Hmmm, I don't think OC was to "blame" as Teddy Paddalack originally said this :- "And as for the classical music that's constantly on University Challenge, whats that about?", besides which I have had a quick look at the Only Connect data base and very little of the connection questions actually relate to classical music per se. I could find only a few relating to classical music such as modern songs based on classical pieces or classical musicians and their instruments.

Quote: Kenneth @ 26th October 2018, 2:52 AM

Look here. old boy. Back in the day when I worked as a slaughterman at Goodiwindi Abattoir in Queensland, we used to have Hooked on Classics playing on heavy rotation...............

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STRUTH! Hooked on Classics, though pleasant enough, is not quite classic classicals, and I can see the point Rood is trying to put over. I was a very late comer to classical music, BUT that was only the pieces that got publicity in say TV adverts and yes, I am a heathen - when I try and watch say the proms I find the music baffling and not listenable at all, and when I see all those people seemingly enjoying same I wonder (digs deeper hole) how many are there because it is the done thing.

Quote: Kenneth @ 26th October 2018, 2:52 AM

Suggest you try a "quiz" show called Pointless, hosted by a pair of appalling vulgarians, who seem to have their fingers permanently on the proletariat pulses of banality.

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AMEN TO THAT. And yet YOU watch it.

Quote: Rood Eye @ 26th October 2018, 1:43 AM

The same most certainly cannot be said for classical music. In my entire life, I have never heard anybody in a real-life situation express any interest in classical music. That's not to say, of course, that I've never unknowingly met anybody who liked it. I'm just saying that I've never met anybody who has given me any indication that they like it.
.

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Roodeye you must either be 3yrs old or have lived in a cave your entire life. The appreciation of classical music in western civilisation is pretty much universal I'd agree with others. You'd be right in saying the poshos have tried to hog it and make it an exclusive thing, especially in GB.

They definitely flaunt an appreciation and a knowledge of it more as they do other 'high' arts as a sort of high class membership card to keep the riff raff out. This class snobbery has put a lot of people off the music but never everyone who didn't go to private school. I've met gardeners and postmen who have a genuine love for classical music. A blast of The Planets Suite could convert anyone with an ear for a tune.

Good to have it back on
The questions seemed relatively easy by their standards in episode 1
Which I wasn't unhappy with

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 21st October 2018, 12:31 PM

Oh I can't be bothered with anything complicated like that, referencing was the bain of my studenting days. Write write write is all I want to do, freedom baby. Reading's a chore. And I made about five walls so that's stuffed it. But they are easily converted into those sequences of four so maybe I'll let you have 'em as you're already on the payroll.

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Just finished the 7 questions (Connections and Sequences only at this stage, thank God - Phew! A lot of reliable [no Wiki] double cross referencing) that they have taken for Series 15 to be aired this time next year, along with 3 short listed Music connections out of the 50 odd in total I pitched, which is not bad as I'm usually on a 10% hit rate - given that there are about 50 of us pitching including contracted question setters.

Now jotting down "possibles" for Series 16 in 2020 as they pop into my head! If I'm still here.
So yes Alf, any you can throw my way would be most welcome....................and anyone else for that matter, and would be only too glad to let you know when they were aired.

Sounds like being a gag cartoonist, sending ten ideas and having one accepted if you're lucky...

What's the connection between these 4 clues?

Alan Bennett

Albert Finney

David Bowie

Alastair Sim

They are one and the same person!

Quote: beaky @ 1st November 2018, 5:42 PM

They are one and the same person!

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That is, of course, correct but I was thinking of something less obvious.

Quote: Rood Eye @ 1st November 2018, 5:32 PM

What's the connection between these 4 clues?

Alan Bennett

Albert Finney

David Bowie

Alastair Sim

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Quote: beaky @ 1st November 2018, 5:42 PM

They are one and the same person!

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Clearly I am being especially dense this morning as I have no idea of what either you are talking about.
As Popeye used to say "How embarrassking"

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 2nd November 2018, 7:15 AM

I have no idea of what either you are talking about.

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I can understand your confusion.

Beaky was being silly and then I pretended to be silly also, even though I am extremely serious normally.

For clarification and the avoidance of doubt, I must at this point make it clear that the four persons mentioned in my "connections" question are not, as far as I know, one and the same person.

They do, however, have something interesting in common.