University Challenge Roads Questions

[the cheesecake man]

The answer given was 112.

Sadly no explanation was provided. For example do northbound and southbound services count separately, or as 1, or as 1 if and only if they're connected by a footbridge, or as 1 if they're opposite but not if they're staggered...?

[Big L]

Sporcle quiz from 2014 wants 91 answers, and the comments section mentions Gloucester and Scotch Corner not being on there, and there must be some more additions.

[trickstat]

Depends how “motorway services” is defined. I reckon for a mainline MSA it’s about half of that.

That's a valid point. Do you count something accessed via a roundabout off the mainline that was built when the road was still an A road?

Baldock is off the mainline but is adjacent to the northern end of the Herts A1(M) but the road was motorway for many years before the services opened.

[DavidB]

From 'Pointless' today on BBC1:

From the following list of Motorways, two are made up, four are real but only two of them are Pointless (i.e. nobody in the panel of 100 people gave them as answers):

M18, M24, M67, M83, M90, M898

Answers:
M24 & M83 are made up
M67 & M898 are Pointless
M18 scored 8, M90 scored 3

The two pairs of contestants went for M90 & M83. (The idea of this particular round is simply to guess the Pointless answers to add £250 for each one to the Jackpot total.)

[Bfivethousand]

I think every last person on here that watched Only Connect last night would have scored 5 points when the first clue in a particular 'sequence' question appeared

Clue 1 was

4: Avonmouth

[the cheesecake man]

I think every last person on here that watched Only Connect last night would have scored 5 points when the first clue in a particular 'sequence' question appeared

Clue 1 was

4: Avonmouth

Of course. Six of the country's finest minds thought it was about ports and guessed Felixstowe and Southampton.

[tom1977]

I think every last person on here that watched Only Connect last night would have scored 5 points when the first clue in a particular 'sequence' question appeared

Clue 1 was

4: Avonmouth

Of course. Six of the country's finest minds thought it was about ports and guessed Felixstowe and Southampton.

Mea culpa. So did I. Of course, it was obvious!

[IAN]

I think every last person on here that watched Only Connect last night would have scored 5 points when the first clue in a particular 'sequence' question appeared

Clue 1 was

4: Avonmouth

Of course. Six of the country's finest minds thought it was about ports and guessed Felixstowe and Southampton.

Mea culpa. So did I. Of course, it was obvious!

Pedant mode- You would need the second clue to be certain as the number sequence could be counting upwards, in 10s etc.

[Bomag]

I think every last person on here that watched Only Connect last night would have scored 5 points when the first clue in a particular 'sequence' question appeared

Clue 1 was

4: Avonmouth

I was having a nibble so only started thinking on the second clue. Being perverse I had 1: Felton - Having built Avonmouth Way in 1994 and provide support for Brexit signing on the A2/A3 at Portsmouth and Dover I had the last A1 scheme I provided advice on.

In any event the answer was London, as that is the end for any right thinking person

[hoagy_ytfc]

Pedant mode- You would need the second clue to be certain as the number sequence could be counting upwards, in 10s etc.

Not really, going up from 4 would be so rare for that programme that one would take the risk and assume it’s counting down.

Given that 7 and 8 aren’t “London to…” roads anyway, going up makes even less sense. Which end would be the answer?

[the cheesecake man]

Pedant mode- You would need the second clue to be certain as the number sequence could be counting upwards, in 10s etc.

Not really, going up from 4 would be so rare for that programme that one would take the risk and assume it’s counting down.

Given that 7 and 8 aren’t “London to…” roads anyway, going up makes even less sense. Which end would be the answer?

Yes you would. In theory any sequence could be used but often obscure ones would be too nasty even for that programme. For example a sequence of international dialling codes starting at 41 was only ever going to be 41,42,43,44 and not 41,40,39,38 nor 41, 46,51,56 because realistically even on that programme the contestants can't fairly be expected to know any other than 1 and 44.

So in addition to the uncertainty over which is the "end" (they could just accept either end) how many ends could they fairly use? Eg this is a valid sequence 4: Avonmouth > 8: Glasgow > 16: Grimsby but would they really expect contestants to place the A32?

[Was92now625]

From 'Pointless' today on BBC1:

From the following list of Motorways, two are made up, four are real but only two of them are Pointless (i.e. nobody in the panel of 100 people gave them as answers):

M18, M24, M67, M83, M90, M898

Answers:
M24 & M83 are made up
M67 & M898 are Pointless
M18 scored 8, M90 scored 3

The two pairs of contestants went for M90 & M83. (The idea of this particular round is simply to guess the Pointless answers to add £250 for each one to the Jackpot total.)

M83 would be some road !

[hoagy_ytfc]

As a fan of the French electronic pop outfit of that name, I wouldn't have fallen for M83, I like to think

[the cheesecake man]

Another Pointless bonus booster round. Two answers score points, two are pointless and two are wrong. Which is which?

Motorway Service Stations
Hopwood Park
Armitage
Annandale Water
Leicester Forest West
Blackburn with Darwen
Woolley Edge

The contestants chose Armitage and Leicester Forest West.

[M4Simon]

Another Pointless bonus booster round. Two answers score points, two are pointless and two are wrong. Which is which?

Motorway Service Stations
Hopwood Park
Armitage
Annandale Water
Leicester Forest West
Blackburn with Darwen
Woolley Edge

The contestants chose Armitage and Leicester Forest West.

I'd go for Annandale Water and Blackburn with Darwen as pointless.

Simon

[Helvellyn]

Another Pointless bonus booster round. Two answers score points, two are pointless and two are wrong. Which is which?

Motorway Service Stations
Hopwood Park
Armitage
Annandale Water
Leicester Forest West
Blackburn with Darwen
Woolley Edge

The contestants chose Armitage and Leicester Forest West.

I'd go for Annandale Water and Blackburn with Darwen as pointless.

Hopwood Park and Armitage are the ones I wasn't really sure where they are. Annandale Water would surprise me but then I've driven that way quite often (including spending quite a bit of time sat in the cafe watching a kingfisher in the lake), so definitely a familiarity bias based on where I happen to have been.

[M4Simon]

Another Pointless bonus booster round. Two answers score points, two are pointless and two are wrong. Which is which?

Motorway Service Stations
Hopwood Park
Armitage
Annandale Water
Leicester Forest West
Blackburn with Darwen
Woolley Edge

The contestants chose Armitage and Leicester Forest West.

I'd go for Annandale Water and Blackburn with Darwen as pointless.

Hopwood Park and Armitage are the ones I wasn't really sure where they are. Annandale Water would surprise me but then I've driven that way quite often (including spending quite a bit of time sat in the cafe watching a kingfisher in the lake), so definitely a familiarity bias based on where I happen to have been.

Hopwood Park is a regular stop for me, and is on the M42 on the south side of Birmingham. Therefore, I think it is well known and unlikely to be pointless. Armitage is one of the wrong answers and therefore on pointless would either give you a score of 100, or, in the case of this round, would not add any cash to the bonus pot.

The other wrong answer is Leicester Forest West (it should be East).

That left me with the choice of Annandale Water, Blackburn with Darwen and Woolley Edge to choose my two pointless answers from. I went for the first two because Woolley Edge is on the M1 near Barnsley and I assumed that more people would pass that than Annandale or Blackburn with Darwen.

It's a difficult one to call because I chose the ones I have passed or stopped at the least, but someone from further north, like yourself, may never have heard of Hopwood Park or not consider it to be a well known service area, but you are very familiar with Annandale Water. I guess it all depends on where the 100 people the Pointless team surveyed have come from.

Simon

[the cheesecake man]

I guess it all depends on where the 100 people the Pointless team surveyed have come from.

Absolutely. To me Woolley Edge is immediately obvious and should score highly while Leicester Forest West is equally obviously fake, but I had to think for a few seconds about the others.

Hopwood Park and Blackburn with Darwen were pointless. Woolley Edge and Annandale Water scored 1. I guess the 100 people surveyed were in London?

I'm sure everyone here spotted the Leicester Forest East West trick.
Armitage is in Staffordshire, on the Trent & Mersey Canal near Rugeley. It has no motorway service station, but it does have a large toilet factory whose products provide a welcome break.

[Helvellyn]

I'm sure everyone here spotted the Leicester Forest East West trick.

Sadly not I did say to myself "Thought it was East" and then moved on. I've not watched Pointless very often so didn't know they had trick ones in it to catch people out.

[M4Simon]

I'm sure everyone here spotted the Leicester Forest East West trick.

Sadly not I did say to myself "Thought it was East" and then moved on. I've not watched Pointless very often so didn't know they had trick ones in it to catch people out.

They do on this bonus builder round, which is relatively new to the show.

I've done some of the Sporcle MSA quizzes so while I think I'd recognise all the MSA names in the UK, I don't think I'd be able to write a list of them all.

Simon