It's back and Monday evenings are interesting again. Well I suppose Paxman has been back for weeks hectoring various juveniles on Junvenal and other such esoterica but only Only Connect can supply meta-questions - pure intelligence that tests the intellect as well as the memory and all without any dramatic unresolved chord to ramp up the tension.
But what happens at the start - that nice Victoria Coren suggests that they have been receiving letters on the subject of the symbols used by the contestants to select each bank of things to connect. They are seen as elitist and pretentious and so they are going to change them. Horror! I don't know about anyone else but the show being pretentious and elitist is among the finest reasons for watching it. We are disappointed - the Chavs have breached the walls of BBC4 and are battering at the citadel of our intelligence. We are doomed to be overrun by the hordes of know-nothings who can just about deal with the first six letters of our normal boring alphabet. And so with heavy heart and weary countenance we sink back down in our chairs, resigned to this outrage. Victoria looks at us dryly (as always) then glances to her side - "Contestants" she says "pick your ......" (we pause, our hearts still beating harder at the moral failure of the BBC.) ".... Egyptian Hieroglyph". For a moment the world stops turning as we take this in. ...... Then we punch the air - all is right with the world - the barbarians have been repelled. Pretension level of 100 has been restored - elitism readings normal. Move on please - nothing to see here.
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