Only Connect
Encyclopedia
Only Connect is a quiz show programme first shown on BBC Four
on 15 September 2008, presented by Victoria Coren
. In the series, teams compete in a tournament of finding connections between seemingly unrelated clues. Radio Times
s listings usually describe it as "a game of patience and lateral thinking".
The phrase "Only connect" was originally used as the epigraph
to E. M. Forster
's 1910 novel Howards End
.
. In series 4 Coren announced that this idea had been dropped, ostensibly due to viewer complaints that it was too pretentious, and that henceforth Ancient Egypt
ian hieroglyphs
would be used instead.
Teams score 1 point for each puzzle they solve, but lose 1 point for guessing incorrectly; furthermore, the opposing team can take a guess. The team with the most points at the end of the game advances in the tournament. If teams are tied, then a single sudden-death puzzle is given to the captains of each team with no category given. If a captain correctly buzzes in with the correct answer first then their team wins, but an incorrect answer automatically forfeits the game.
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
on 15 September 2008, presented by Victoria Coren
Victoria Coren
Victoria Elizabeth Coren is a British writer, presenter and champion poker player. Coren writes weekly columns for The Observer and The Guardian newspapers and hosts the BBC Four television quiz show Only Connect....
. In the series, teams compete in a tournament of finding connections between seemingly unrelated clues. Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
s listings usually describe it as "a game of patience and lateral thinking".
The phrase "Only connect" was originally used as the epigraph
Epigraph (literature)
In literature, an epigraph is a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the beginning of a document or component. The epigraph may serve as a preface, as a summary, as a counter-example, or to link the work to a wider literary canon, either to invite comparison or to enlist a conventional...
to E. M. Forster
E. M. Forster
Edward Morgan Forster OM, CH was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society...
's 1910 novel Howards End
Howards End
Howards End is a novel by E. M. Forster, first published in 1910, which tells a story of class struggle in turn-of-the-century England. The main theme is the difficulties, troubles, and also the benefits of relationships between members of different social classes...
.
Format
Each programme has two teams of three people competing in four rounds of gameplay. In the first three series, clues in Rounds 1 and 2 and the connecting walls in Round 3 are identified by Greek lettersGreek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
. In series 4 Coren announced that this idea had been dropped, ostensibly due to viewer complaints that it was too pretentious, and that henceforth Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
ian hieroglyphs
Hieroglyphs
Hieroglyph or hieroglyphics may refer to:*Anatolian hieroglyphs*Chinese character*Cretan hieroglyphs*Cursive hieroglyphs*Dongba script*Egyptian hieroglyphs*Hieroglyphic Luwian*Mayan hieroglyphs...
would be used instead.
Round 1 - Connections
Teams are given up to four clues and must try to figure out the connection between them within 40 seconds. The team is initially shown one clue, and may request the remaining three clues at any time within the 40 seconds (they are not automatically shown). The team may press their buzzer to guess after the first clue for 5 points, the second for 3, the third for 2, or the fourth for 1. If the team guesses incorrectly, or fails to buzz within the time allotted, the question is thrown over to the other team for a bonus point, after being shown any remaining clues. Typically, one of the six puzzles involves pictures, and another uses pieces of music, both classical and contemporary.| Clue 1 | |Clue 2 | |Clue 3 | |Clue 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| A hammer and feather | Six US flags | Eugene Shoemaker's ashes | Two golf balls |
| Connection: Items left on the Moon | |||
Round 2 - Sequences
Each set of clues is now a sequence, and teams must try to figure out the fourth item in the sequence, again as early as possible. They must give the final item in the sequence, and score points even if their theory for the connection is incorrect. As in the previous round, each team will play three sets; again, if one team fails to guess, it is thrown over to the other team, who can see any remaining clues and earn one point by guessing correctly.| 1st Item | |2nd Item | |3rd Item | |Missing Item |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 C in a N | 2 N in a D | 2½ D in a Q | ? |
| Answer: 4 Q in a D - US coin values (5 cents in a nickel, etc.) | |||
Round 3 - Connecting Wall
Each team receives a wall of 16 clues and must figure out a perfect solution, consisting of four connections for four different items. The puzzles are designed to suggest more connections than actually exist, and some clues appear to fit into more than one category. Teams score 1 point for each connection spotted within 2 minutes 30 seconds. They may make unlimited guesses until they have identified two of the four connections, but have only three guesses for the remaining connections. Teams can then score 1 additional point for identifying each connection, even if they did not spot them earlier. Two bonus points, for a total of ten, are earned for a perfect solution. On 1 March 2010, an interactive online version of this round was put on the Only Connect website. In the Summer of 2011, coinciding with Series 5, the website took online submissions for new Connecting Walls, although a successful submission does not guarantee publication on the site.| Love* | Ace*** | Crab** | Puck^ |
| Squash Ball^ | Deuce** | Goose-Egg* | Cowboy** |
| Zip* | Buttress*** | Bullet** | Fox*** |
| Elastic Band^ | Nil* | Fish*** | Condom^ |
| *Answer: Terms for Zero. | |||
| **Answer: Poker terms. | |||
| ***Answer: Flying _____. | |||
| ^Answer: Things made of rubber. | |||
Round 4 - Missing Vowels
In a final buzzer round, the teams are presented with a series of word puzzles. Each puzzle is a word or phrase with the vowels removed and the spaces shifted to disguise the original words. The category of the puzzles is given prior to them being displayed.Teams score 1 point for each puzzle they solve, but lose 1 point for guessing incorrectly; furthermore, the opposing team can take a guess. The team with the most points at the end of the game advances in the tournament. If teams are tied, then a single sudden-death puzzle is given to the captains of each team with no category given. If a captain correctly buzzes in with the correct answer first then their team wins, but an incorrect answer automatically forfeits the game.
| Clue | |Answer |
|---|---|
| Category: Booker Prize-winning novels | |
| T HG HS TRD | The Ghost Road The Ghost Road The Ghost Road is a novel by Pat Barker, first published in 1995 and winner of the Booker Prize. It is the third volume of a trilogy that follows the fortunes of shell-shocked British army officers towards the end of the First World War... |
| LFFP | Life of Pi Life of Pi Life of Pi is a fantasy adventure novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist, Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age... |
| S CRN DLCN D | Oscar and Lucinda Oscar and Lucinda Oscar and Lucinda is a novel by Peter Carey which won the 1988 Booker Prize, the 1989 Miles Franklin Award, and was shortlisted for The Best of the Booker.-Plot introduction:... |
| VR NNGDLT TL | Vernon God Little Vernon God Little Vernon God Little is a novel by DBC Pierre. It was his debut novel and won the Booker Prize in 2003.-Plot introduction:The title character is a fifteen-year-old boy who lives in a small town in the U.S. state of Texas... |
Original series
| Series | Start date | End date | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Only Connect (series 1) Series 1 of Only Connect began on 15 September 2008 and aired on BBC Four. Below is a list of the teams, the matches they played and their scores.-Schedule:The series comprised 15 matches over four rounds, airing between September and December 2008.... |
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| Only Connect (series 2) Series 2 of Only Connect began on 13 July 2009 and aired on BBC Four. Below is a list of the teams, the matches they played and their scores.-Schedule:The series comprised 8 matches over four rounds, first aired in July and August 2009.-Teams:... |
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| Only Connect 2010 (September) Series 4 of Only Connect began on 6 September 2010 and ended on 27 December 2010. Below is a list of the matches played with their scores and outcomes.-Schedule:... |
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| Only Connect 2011 (August) Series 5 of Only Connect began on 15 August 2011. Below is a list of the matches played with their scores and outcomes.-Schedule:The series comprised 16 matches over four rounds, airing between August and December 2011.-Teams:-Results:... |
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Specials
| Date | Entitle |
|---|---|
| 21 December 2009 | Series 1 & 2 Champions Special |
| 15 November 2010 | Children in Need Children in Need Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long... Special - The Wheelmen vs. The Larks |
| 10 January 2011 | Series 3 & 4 Champions Special |
| 17 January 2011 | Crossworders vs. University Challengers Alexander Guttenplan Alexander Guttenplan is a student of natural sciences at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, known as the captain of the team that won University Challenge in 2010, scoring 315 points to 100 against St. John's College, Oxford in the final. His performance in this has been compared with that of Gail... |
| 14 March 2011 | Comic Relief Comic Relief Comic Relief is an operating British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Lenny Henry in response to famine in Ethiopia. The highlight of Comic Relief's appeal is Red Nose Day, a biennial telethon held in March, alternating with sister project Sport Relief... Special - The Treesome vs. The Larks |
| 14 November 2011 | Children in Need Special - Great Believers vs. Free Speakers |
- The Wheelmen - Rev Richard ColesRichard ColesRichard Coles is a musician, journalist and Church of England priest. He is known for having been the multi-instrumentalist who partnered Jimmy Somerville in the 1980s band The Communards, who achieved three Top Ten hits, including the Number 1 record and best-selling single of 1986, a Hi-NRG...
, Adam Hart-DavisAdam Hart-DavisAdam John Hart-Davis is an English scientist, author, photographer, historian and broadcaster, well-known in the UK for presenting the BBC television series Local Heroes and What the Romans Did for Us, the latter spawning several spin-off series involving the Victorians, the Tudors, the Stuarts,...
and Grub SmithGrub SmithMichael 'Grub' Smith is an English television presenter and journalist for FHM and Poker Player magazines.-Early life:Born Michael Smith, he adopted the name Grub when at Downside School, effectively a promotion after being given the nickname Maggot by a master at his prep school.Grub Smith is a... - The Larks - Michael BywaterMichael BywaterMichael Bywater is a British writer and broadcaster.-Biography:He was educated at Nottingham High School, an independent school...
, Sir Andrew MotionAndrew MotionSir Andrew Motion, FRSL is an English poet, novelist and biographer, who presided as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009.- Life and career :...
and Stuart MaconieStuart MaconieStuart Maconie is an English radio DJ and television presenter, writer, journalist, and critic working in the field of of pop music and popular culture. He is currently a presenter on BBC 6 Music, where he hosts an afternoon show five times a week , alongside Mark Radcliffe, called the Radcliffe... - University Challengers - Alex GuttenplanAlexander GuttenplanAlexander Guttenplan is a student of natural sciences at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, known as the captain of the team that won University Challenge in 2010, scoring 315 points to 100 against St. John's College, Oxford in the final. His performance in this has been compared with that of Gail...
, Jenny Harris and Josh Scott - The Treesome - Brian SewellBrian SewellBrian Sewell is an English art critic and media personality. He writes for the London Evening Standard and is noted for artistic conservatism and his acerbic view of the Turner Prize and conceptual art...
, Adam Hart-Davis and Grub Smith - Great Believers - Nick HornbyNick HornbyNick Hornby is an English novelist, essayist and screenwriter. He is best known for the novels High Fidelity, About a Boy, and for the football memoir Fever Pitch. His work frequently touches upon music, sport, and the aimless and obsessive natures of his protagonists.-Life and career:Hornby was...
, Joan Bakewell and John LloydJohn Lloyd (writer)John Hardress Wilfred Lloyd CBE is a British comedy writer and television producer. He is the great nephew of John Hardress Lloyd.-Early life and career:... - Free Speakers - Ian HislopIan HislopIan David Hislop is a British journalist, satirist, comedian, writer, broadcaster and editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye...
, Simon SinghSimon SinghSimon Lehna Singh, MBE is a British author who has specialised in writing about mathematical and scientific topics in an accessible manner....
and John SessionsJohn SessionsJohn Gibb Marshall , better known by the stage name John Sessions, is a Scottish actor and comedian. He is known for comedy improvisation in television shows such as Whose Line Is It Anyway?; as a panellist on QI; and as a character actor in numerous films, both in the UK and in Hollywood.-Early...
Champions
- Series 1Only Connect (series 1)Series 1 of Only Connect began on 15 September 2008 and aired on BBC Four. Below is a list of the teams, the matches they played and their scores.-Schedule:The series comprised 15 matches over four rounds, airing between September and December 2008....
- Crossworders (Mark Grant, David StainerDavid StainerDavid Stainer is an English quizzer best known for outstanding team playing skills.After studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oriel College, Oxford he works as a solicitor in the City of London....
, Ian BayleyIan BayleyIan Bayley is a UK quiz player who, despite his youth when compared with other leading players , won several medals in quizzing, both in singles and as a member of a team. He is largely known as a strong team player winning the European Championships three times straight from 2007 to 2009 with...
) - Series 2Only Connect (series 2)Series 2 of Only Connect began on 13 July 2009 and aired on BBC Four. Below is a list of the teams, the matches they played and their scores.-Schedule:The series comprised 8 matches over four rounds, first aired in July and August 2009.-Teams:...
- Rugby Boys (Richard Parnell, Guy Dermody, Mark LabbettMark LabbettMark Labbett is a personality in the UK quiz scene. He attended Exeter College, Oxford University, graduating with a degree in Mathematics...
) - Series 3 - Gamblers (Jenny Ryan, Dave Bill, Alan Gibbs)
- Series 4Only Connect 2010 (September)Series 4 of Only Connect began on 6 September 2010 and ended on 27 December 2010. Below is a list of the matches played with their scores and outcomes.-Schedule:...
- Epicureans (David Brewis, Katie Bramall-Stainer, Aaron Bell) - Series 1 vs. Series 2 - Crossworders
- Series 3 vs. Series 4 - Epicureans