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Jim Denny Minds his Ps & Qs in the Great, "Is Paxman a Pussycat?" Debate

Jim Denny

FHS student employee Jim Denny recently achieved nationwide notoriety when he appeared on University Challenge and failed to spell “psoriasis” correctly.

Mercilessly bullied by Jeremy Paxman, Jim crumbled to dust in front of the cameras and tried to spell it with three f’s, two m’s and a q (but no u).

Clinging to the hope that his misfortune was only noticed by a few BBC2 viewers on a Wednesday evening, Jim’s misery was increased when Points of View turned him into a national celebrity the following week by using him as a test-case in the never-ending “Does Paxman eat children?” debate. Mr Denny Snr. rushed to his son’s defence by proclaiming on televison that his son could, in fact, spell psoriasis quite properly and that Paxman is actually a bit of a pussycat.

This last bit does not appear to cut much ice with his son, but we can happily confirm Jim’s aptitude for spelling the names of all sorts of skin complaints. Unfortunately this has done nothing to dissaude all those who want to know why he couldn’t recognise the voice of James Brown for his starter for 10. To be fair, Jim looks more like the Radiohead type to us, but he should have known better: a catholic taste in just about everything has always been a pre-requisite for appearing on University Challenge.

Although defeated by Cambridge, Jim’s team - Exeter - progressed to the next round as one of those outfits that didn’t get thumped quite so badly as some of the others. This means he’ll be on your screens again sometime soon, making a mess of “physiognomy” and looking blank while listening to Nina Simone. Jim, who worked for FHS during his summer vacation, sits in the top half of the screen.