6720/19640
The bees were quiet today. Maybe the smoke was enough to get rid of them. Fingers crossed.
Our bedroom smells of smoke though and I think it might have permeated its way into our curtains, so it’s really a question of whether you think the noise of bees is worse than the smell of smoke.
We might still end up with both.
It’s taken 15 months (and then another fortnight thanks to the bloody Duke of Edinburgh) but finally my fourth crack at Pointless Celebrities has aired. It’s been so long that I had forgotten pretty much everything apart from the result. Spoilers coming up, of course.
It’s been a hard result to sit on, though looks like I might have to reassess the running joke that I always miss out on the trophy. In 2020 I triumphed on Taskmaster, The Chase, Tipping Point (though that was recorded in 2019) and finally on Pointless. I’ve had that trophy for well over a year and I hadn’t told anyone except my wife (who could have had one too if she’d pulled her finger out on appearance 3) - not even my mum and dad, even though they are old and Covid might have taken them. The sanctity of Pointless must be preserved.
I was delighted to be paired with Les Dennis, even if he is famous for the anti-Pointless Family Fortunes and even though he’d previously played twice and lost twice. He was a great player and we complimented each other as a team. I was able to play relatively safe on round one due to him doing so well (I should have gone for Miss Saigon, though as it turned out would have known or guessed all the board correctly). In round two I think he took an unnecessary risk after my fine performance (I assumed he’d follow my lead and go for mast or mask, but he took a chance on math, the glory seeking fool. Luckily it paid off. And luckily I didn’t go for my long shot of mach which would not have counted. It was all rather easy though. We were through to the next round both times as soon as we’d had out turn. And then the head to head, we had the advantage of going first and luckily the other side didn’t get Mulan either and then somehow keratin was a very high answer so we got through in almost an anti-climactic fashion.
My brain had emptied on the jackpot round, though I was largely trying to think of Booker Prize winners. I had wanted to say Salman Rushdie and I can’t remember if I just couldn’t think of his name or got cold feet, but that would have been pointless. Luckily Les was there to save the day and get the jackpot answer. You could see how much it meant to us both.
I am not sure that in a show with a one in four chance of winning that you can be too cocky to win it one our of four times, but it was good to banish those demons and walk away the winners. And deny Bonnie Langford her third trophy!
I watched the show with my family, but the kids remain blasé and unimpressed with me being on TV and they didn’t really pay any attention. It’s not like they will feel differently about Pointless when they are older.
Luckily some people on Twitter thought it was good and they mean more to me than the stupid children who live in my house. Imagine how much Richard Osman would have loved it if I’d lost again. It’s good to ruin his day and to have stolen some of his money to give to charity.
