Eric Monkman and Bobby Seagull

Eric Monkman (born c.1988)[1] and Bobby Seagull are academics and television personalities based in the United Kigdom.

They came to fame as a result of appearances on the 2016–17 season of the BBC Two quiz show University Challenge.[2] Monkman was captain of the Wolfson College, Cambridge team, and Seagull was captain of the Emmanuel College, Cambridge team. They met in the semi-final where Wolfson won, but were beaten by Balliol College, Oxford in the final.[3]

They presented the BBC Radio 4 programme Monkman and Seagull’s Polymathic Adventure, and wrote the quiz book The Monkman and Seagull Quiz Book published by Eyewear Publishing in October 2017.[4] They presented Monkman and Seagull’s Genius Guide to Britain, a four-part series on BBC Two, first broadcast in 2018.[2]

Monkman comes from Oakville, Ontario, where his father was a doctor; Dr Monkman died when Eric was thirteen. Monkman obtained his first degree from the University of Waterloo[5] and then studied for a master's degree in economics at Wolfson College, Cambridge, when he captained the college's University Challenge. The team lost in the 2017 final to a team from Balliol College, Oxford. His girlfriend, Jiang Na, who teaches law at Beijing Normal University, had previously also appeared on the programme.[1] Viewers described him as the most intense contestant ever, and reviewers called him an "unexpected hero".[1]

Seagull is a secondary school mathematics teacher from London. As of October 2018, he is also pursuing a doctorate at the University of Cambridge relating to mathematical anxiety. He has been a columnist for the Financial Times since January 2018.[6][2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Rachael Pells (10 April 2017). "Who is Eric Monkman? All you need to know about the University Challenge finalist". The Independent. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 Amy Walker (17 August 2018). "University Challenge duo Eric Monkman and Bobby Seagull to star in BBC show". The Guardian.
  3. "Who are Eric Monkman and Bobby Seagull and how are they best known?". Metro. 17 September 2018.
  4. Monkman, Eric; Seagull, Bobby (20 December 2017). "Monkman and Seagull's brainbox quiz of 2017". the Guardian. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  5. Alice Vincent (10 April 2017). "Quizzing, canoeing and family tragedy: 10 things you didn't know about University Challenge finalist Eric Monkman". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  6. "Bobby Seagull". Financial Times. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.