Comber brainbox Matt is hit on TV’s University Challenge

Comber brainbox Matt is hit on TV’s University Challenge

26 July 2017

ULSTER University’s first ever appearance on cult TV show University Challenge featured local man Matt Milliken.

Matt, a former youth worker in Downpatrick, was in a team of mature students who had an average age of 50.

The team came within touching distance of victory in their debut against Edinburgh University in the first episode of the BBC 2 series.

As the match see-sawed dramatically in the closing moments the Ulster team nearly snatched victory by answering the final starter-for-ten seconds before the gong signalled the fight was over.

With a close score of 160 compared to Edinburgh’s 165, the team now has a good chance of being recalled for the knock-out rounds.

Matt (54), now living outside Comber, is currently undertaking a PhD in Education at the UNESCO centre in Coleraine but also has a Jordanstown base for ease of travel.

He said that co-ordinating team practice had been a bit problematic.

“Logistically getting our team together was complex – we’re all on different campuses and had to travel miles to get together to practice,” he said. “As first-timers we didn’t really know what to expect, Edinburgh have serious form in this competition. Having said that, I think we performed well as a team and perhaps surprised a few people. Edinburgh were deserved winners. We wish them well for the rest of the competition.  

“We weren’t good enough but we aren’t out of it yet. We’ll be watching avidly as the competition progresses to see if we make the play-offs. Teams have won matches with fewer points than we accumulated last night but unfortunately our destiny in the competition is out of our hands now.”

Before meeting their famously prickly host Jeremy Paxman, Matt made a tongue-in-cheek prediction of him being a “pussycat”. And amid the rapid fire pace of the opening round encounter, Matt manage to extract a joke from him — even if it was at his own expense. 

Having correctly identified the famously bald actor Yul Brynner in the picture round, Matt drew attention to his own similar look by brushing his head.

“No-one’s saying anything,” Paxman quipped, to laughter from the audience.

Referring to some of the reaction online, Matt said: “I told my daughter that her father was now a meme.”

Matt was a youth worker in Down District between 1990 and 1994 and youth officer from 2000 until 2003. He went on to mange and support the delivery of community relations, and intercultural and inclusion initiatives in the SEELB area. He is now studying full time.

He explained there was quite a process involved in getting selected for the University Challenge team after an email seeking interest was sent out by the Students Union.

“There was a selection quiz carried out under exam conditions,” said Matt. “You have to hit a certain standard. Then the team had to do a test working collectively. The third hurdle involved being assessed by the production team. They like to have a bit of a demographical mix with the teams so it’s not always just Oxford and Cambridge teams.

“They also like to see if you can have a conversation, are you sociable.”

Matt said the four-strong team all brought their own strengths and interests to the table. He said that he personally had seemed to pick up a lot of random information over the years.

He summarised the secret to his general knowledge success as: “I lived in Germany for a while, I listen to Radio 4 a lot, I’m big into current affairs and I read newspapers from cover to cover.”