Irks at Birkbeck

Mat Gilman and Sally Whitaker's defence of Birkbeck's performance on University Challenge (THES, December 13) is an attempt to shift the blame from where it really lies, with Gilman himself, as president of the student union. Unfortunately this is more than another student union debacle. Staff at the college are predicting that recruitment will be down by 10 per cent next year. Perhaps faculties should take an interest in such high-profile student events.

Birkbeck's team was a scratch team only because the union failed to put together proper publicity and support, although it had plenty of time to do so. And postgraduate students are more, not less, interested in entering the game than undergraduates. I base this on my experience as captain of Warwick University's University Challenge team, albeit in the Bamber Gascoigne era. Lastly, because of the need to defend his union, Gilman has failed properly to defend his team.

Preparations for a television series have to begin many months in advance. There was, therefore, plenty of warning that a team was needed. At Warwick, as soon as we were told we were in we put a scant half-dozen posters in the student union and art centre bars, plus an article in the student newspaper. That small amount of publicity drew easily 10 per cent of the students. But it was early publicity. That failure can only be blamed on Birkbeck student union.

It has damaged Birkbeck, and perhaps the lesson is that universities and colleges should make sure that very high-profile events like these are properly run. The belief that next year's applications will be badly affected seems realistic.

The real reasons Birkbeck did so badly are three-fold. The first is to do with the Manchester team itself. Their captain was truly astonishing. Birkbeck did so badly that people have not sufficiently praised the winners. If you have sat answering the questions at home you probably find you answer the majority of them. The same is true on the panels. The difference is speed on the buzzer, and the Manchester captain was phenomenal, beating even his own team almost all the time.

The second point is that Birkbeck had not had their skills honed. After playing heat after heat, and competitions against departmental teams, you have opened channels to a quite different sort of memory, which psychologists can explain better than I.

Third, having buzzed too early on three or four occasions, and lost points, the Birkbeck team were fatally hesitant on the buzzer. Above all, Birkbeck went down so badly because of the sheer brilliance of Manchester's captain.

University Challenge is won by people with the brain and outlook of a magpie. So is Mastermind. The only competition of that kind with any merit was The Krypton Factor. But problem-solving, analytical skills and physical fitness have no cachet in this country, so The Krypton Factor soon faded away. But froth like University Challenge is important, and colleges ought to see they put their best foot forward, rather than in Gilman's mouth.

Nick Gillies, West Green Road, London N15