Sunday, January 11, 2009

YOU SAY HERCULES, I SAY HERACLES, LET'S CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF

I know I've been critical of "In It To Win It" before but it's unforgivable when they make mistakes with questions.

Last night a contestant was asked, "In Greek mythology, who killed Medus the Gorgon?" She was given the choice of Hercules, Perseus or Theseus. The problem is that "Hercules" is actually the Roman name for the Greek hero Heracles, therefore the choices given should have included Heracles and not Hercules. In the end she picked Hercules instead of Perseus and left with hee-haw. As is my want, I've e-mailed 12 Yard, who make the show, and the BBC, who broadcast it, for their comments.

I got a response back from STV as to why they didn't show the FA Cup highlights programme last weekend. On Tuesday, they said, "stv has chosen not to purchase the rights to English FA Cup football. Although we are part of the UK-wide ITV Network, we are an independent commercial company funded entirely by advertising and sponsorship. The decision not to acquire the FA Cup rights is a commercial one. We will instead invest in programming which is more relevant to Scotland, which we will roll out in our 2009 schedule." Okay, I'll watch them on another channel then. I find it hard to believe that they would turn their noses up at some football, which, whether you like it or not, pulls in the viewers. It's not as if ITV/STV has many other sports to show. A wasted opportunity.

Most bizarre sight of this morning was seeing Richard Thompson closing The Andrew Marr Show on BBC1 with a rendition of "Oops!...I Did It Again"! He originally recorded it for his album "1000 Years of Popular Music", which he'll be reproducing in full during Celtic Connections. Bizarrely, the album came out of a request from Playboy magazine for his favourite songs from the millennium. He took them at their word and produced a list of tracks going back as far as the 11th Century! They didn't print the list but it gave him the idea for the album.

2 comments:

office pest said...

Ha well my daughter got that question right. After choosing 'B' she explained by eliminating Theseus ('he killed the Minotaur'), and Hercules or Heracles, as 'it wasn't one of his tasks'.
She is 7. I haven't deliberately discussed mythology with her, except over that question, so obviously they do still get taught some good stuff at school these days.
Her mother felt rather left out and has identified 10-1-09 as the day when her daughter officially became 'brainer than her'!!

Marty said...

Perseus - "Clash of the Titans" every clay-mation fan knows that...