I'll Admit I Was Wrong About Amol Rajan
Far from ruining University Challenge, the new question master has brought the show brilliantly up to date.
The Australian band Telemachus Brown wrote a song entitled ‘(Wrong About) Justin Langer’ in which they confess that the misgivings they had about the recall of the batsman to Australia’s test XI were unfounded. Were I so inclined, I might compose a similar ditty concerning my concerns about Amol Rajan taking over as the host of University Challenge following the retirement of Jeremy Paxman.
Perhaps it was down to my general resistance to change. Maybe it had something to do with not much caring for Mr Rajan’s other work. Or it could just be because there seemed a point not to so very long ago where Amol Rajan was on everything from the Today programme to the One Show. Whatever the reason, I thought there was a real possibility that one of the few programmes I make a point of catching (anything Attenborough, non-celebrity Pointless and House Of Games fall into the same category) might be losing it’s ‘record series’ Sky+ status.
Fast forward to the end of his first year in charge and it’s my very real joy to pronounce Amol Rajan not only perfectly competent but in fact the shot in the arm I only now realise the series badly required. To have someone hosting who clearly plays along with the show at home has made for a quicker programme, one in which contestants are encouraged not to linger too long over the music questions (“It’s not a concert”) and where, in one really brilliant moment, a team that had no chance of winning where urged to answer quickly in the hope that they’d have enough points to qualify for the repechage.
Okay, so he gabbled a bit to begin with and his obsession with team mascots was a trifle bizarre but this is nitpicking at its pettiest. Likewise, while it didn’t hurt that he had a raft of impressive teams competing, I prefer to think of this as the piece of good luck this beloved show deserved having said goodbye to its beloved Mr Chips.
And it all ended up on a sunny roof terrace across the way from the Royal Albert Hall with all the finalists looking rightly chuffed with their performances and slightly over-awed to be in the company of Sir Tom Stoppard. To say the next term can’t start quickly enough would be the understatement of understatements.
Now can anyone think of something to rhyme with ‘Rajan’…?