I appeared on University Challenge in 2002 and can confirm beyond doubt that it's the most harrowingly tough show on TV. The questions are unrivalled in their difficulty, easily surpassing the relative inobscurity of Mastermind general knowledge questions.Paxman's sarcastic nature is, however, more than a little grating. His presentation comes across as nothing short of sneering and his snorting and derisory laughter at even slightly incorrect answers makes him look, at times, like a poor man's Anne Robinson: something which would no doubt horrify him if he realised.I cringe every time an Oxford scholar is cut down to size with a cackling laugh and a "nooooooooo" every time they mispronounce a chemical element. There will be some who enjoy this.All in all, UC is for those who like a challenge, whether you're competing or just watching at home.

University Challenge has been on our screens since the 1960's and is still going strong. It has only had two presenters, Bamber Gascoigne and the excellent Jeremy Paxman.Two university teams compete to answer questions on various subjects and the winner goes through to the next round. This is done in knock out stages.University Challenge is currently shown on BBC2 between 8:30 and 9:00 pm.I like Jeremy Paxman as he is rather strict, especially if one of the teams takes a long while to answer questions. He usually says "come on" to hurry them.The show always ends with the presenter saying "its goodbye from..." and each team then say it personally themselves.Long may University Challenge continue.

Well, other than The Simpsons. But University Challenge is undoubtedly the best quiz show. No fabulous prizes, celebrity specials (though wouldn't it be cool if the BBC showed the episodes with people like Stephen Fry in?) or tacky formats; just a good, solid series. Yet there is still enough of a 'format' present to endear the show to me - the classic dialogue ("your starter for 10" has actually made it into the Oxford Dictionary of Quotation), the one-team-on-top-of-the-other set (famously parodied in The Young Ones), Roger Tilling's blink-and-you'll-miss-it voiceover that he nevertheless gets credit for, and the fact that every week seems to include Somethingorother College, Oxford playing either the Open University or UMIST.Most importantly though, where most other quiz shows only seem to point out your ignorance of certain topics and leave you feeling stupid for the questions you can't answer, the ultra-difficult nature of University Challenge means that you don't feel bad about the questions you get wrong, but when you get one (or more!) right it seems as if your whole life spent collecting arcane facts has been validated.You could also argue that University Challenge is more wholesome than other quiz programmes. The winners don't play for prizes but rather for the honour of their university (and, if I remember rightly, some money and a nice statue too). It was watching this programme that I knew I wanted to go to uni, and someday be able to say to a BBC studio audience "I'm Richard Magrath, and I'm reading English Literature". It was through University Challenge that I learnt that you "read", rather than "study", your course at university, about the Oxbridge collegiate system and that I have a talent at being able to recognise pieces of classical music when played backwards.Finally, as the icing on the cake, the series is filmed in Manchester. What more could you want?