19th December 2023

All this week and next week are the Christmas specials of University Challenge. Even though Jeremy Paxman has retired from the job, we are still faitfully watching Amol Rajan and his giant TV screen every week. For Christmas though, they have celebrities (or at least grown-up academics) and Amol's TV screen is much smaller.

Sadly some of the Christmas traditions have gone - one year there was a little toy train going round a snowglobe in the middle of the studio. And the photos of the adults when they were tiny students have also been scrapped.

We're missing Paxo, as he was the ultimate quizmaster, and yet wasn't averse to a bit of seasonal tomfoolery. Who can forget his untrendy Christmas jumper? Or the time he asked a question about Widow Twankey in full panto dame regalia?

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Pearson Textbook Corrections

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Advent Calendar 2025

1st December 2025

Hello! We've sort of lost count, but think the first Advent Calendar was back in 2003, the Internet Archive Wayback Machine says it looked like this: Of course all the links are dead, but the thing it has in common with this year's is that it is still coded in HTML, probably the last thing I will ever rely on coding for. Now it looks like this: Happy Advent! We have gone for the Bonne Maman JAM Calendar again this year, after leaving it too late last year and it selling out at both Fenwick and Selfridges! We get a fresh pot of jam every day to enjoy with our tartines and Ovomaltines. We also have the Domino's "Merry Crustmas" leaflet, and a MUJI calendar we'll show you later in the month. Do let us know what you are opening every day! You can leave a message below, or email us your ideas and suggestions for future days at robotmaths@outlook.com Have a great day!

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