Physics Teacher Sparks Life into University Challenge

A Shropshire teacher was part of the Open University team which took part in the current series of the legendary quiz show University Challenge.

Dale Crawford, a physics teacher from Ellesmere College was part of the victorious team who took on the University of Salford, accompanied by their lucky OU owl mascot. A former graduate from the University of Oxford, Dale has been teaching at the school for over 12 years and his commitment to education continues with a Mathematics degree with the Open University.

"When I heard the University were looking for candidates I thought I'd give it a try. We had to go through a number of on-line general knowledge tests before 750 participants were whittled down to a team of four with one reserve" he said.

Morale was high following their landslide win in their warm up match the month before, when Team Open took on OU staff members and a team of student representatives from the Association's Central Executive Committee. The only question was could they keep they keep it up? The OU team had only met once before, but they bonded over their OU experience and the love of Maths.

The team with their broad general knowledge in topics from geography to literature and the sciences did not fail to impress! The first round which aired earlier this month was a nail-biting match and the Salford students were good opponents, but at three minutes to go, Open University had a lead of 175 points to Salford's 105. When the final gong came both teams earned a round of applause, and the final score saw the Open University team claim victory at 210 points to 115.

Dale said "As a team we were pleased with the result and really enjoyed the experience".

26th September 2016  Back to News