Challenging Times

Challenging Times was a quiz show for teams representing higher education institutes in Ireland, both those in the Republic of Ireland and those in Northern Ireland. It was televised by RTÉ from 1991 to 2001, sponsored by The Irish Times, and presented by Kevin Myers, then a columnist with that newspaper.^[1] The programme used a quizbowl format similar to that of University Challenge in the United Kingdom, which is itself a licensed version of the College Bowl format popular in the United States. Each year, 16 teams qualified for the televised knockout stages, with two teams of three competing in each programme up to the final.

The programme was cancelled after the 2001 series, at a time when RTÉ was in financial difficulties.^[2] The final of that series was postponed at short notice and an episode of The Simpsons was broadcast instead.^[3] Kevin Myers later complained that RTÉ had given The Irish Times no notice that the series was being discontinued,^[4] though RTÉ disputed this contention.^[5]

Finals

year	winner	runner-up
1991[6]	St Patrick's College, Maynooth	University of Limerick
1992 [7]	St Patrick's College, Maynooth	Trinity College, Dublin
1993[8]	University College, Cork	Bolton Street College of Technology
1994[9]	University College, Cork	Cork Regional Technical College
1995	University College, Galway [10]	University of Limerick[11]
1996 [10]	University College, Galway	Cork Regional Technical College
1997[12]	Dublin City University	University of Limerick
1998 [13]	University College, Dublin	Dublin Institute of Technology
1999[14]	National University of Ireland, Maynooth	Dublin Institute of Technology
2000 [15]	National College of Ireland[16]	National University of Ireland, Galway
2001[17]	University College, Cork	National University of Ireland, Galway

References

1. ^ Ferrie, Liam (1991-01-14). "Education". The Irish Emigrant. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. http://web.archive.org/web/20070927005128/http://www.emigrant.ie/article.asp?iCategoryID=200&iArticleID=51386. Retrieved 2007-05-31. 
2. ^ O'Mahony, Catherine (2002-03-24). "Independent producers bemoan cutbacks". Sunday Business Post. http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2002/03/24/story46842728.asp. Retrieved 2007-05-31. 
3. ^ McGarry, Patsy (2001-05-31). "Final of quiz series replaced by `Simpsons'". The Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2001/0531/archive.01053100022.html. Retrieved 2007-05-31. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ Myers, Kevin (2001-07-12). "An Irishman's Diary". The Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2001/0712/archive.01071200101.html. Retrieved 2007-05-30. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ "'Challenging Times'". The Irish Times. 2001-11-28. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/letters/2001/1128/archive.01112800092.html. Retrieved 2007-05-30. ^{[dead link]}
6. ^ Ferrie, Liam (1991-04-22). "Education". The Irish Emigrant. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. http://web.archive.org/web/20070927004814/http://www.emigrant.ie/article.asp?iCategoryID=200&iArticleID=54557. Retrieved 2007-05-31. 
7. ^ Ferrie, Liam (1992-05-25). "Education". The Irish Emigrant. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. http://web.archive.org/web/20070927004835/http://www.emigrant.ie/article.asp?iCategoryID=200&iArticleID=66701. Retrieved 2007-05-31. 
8. ^ Murphy, Christina (1993-04-20). "Great victory for UCC". The Irish Times: p. 1 (Education & Living). 
9. ^ "UCC on top in Cork challenge". The Irish Times: p. 7 (Education & Living). 1994-04-26. 
10. ^ ^{a b} "Top prize goes west, again". The Irish Times. 1996-04-23. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/education/1996/0423/archive.96042300164.html. Retrieved 2007-05-31. ^{[dead link]}
11. ^ "How the West was Won". The Irish Times. 1995-04-04. 
12. ^ Connolly, John (1997-04-22). "UL fall down under the gong". The Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/education/1997/0422/archive.97042200189.html. Retrieved 2007-05-31. ^{[dead link]}
13. ^ O'Sullivan, Roddy (1998-04-21). "Champion stuff, boys". The Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/education/1998/0421/archive.98042100189.html. Retrieved 2007-05-31. ^{[dead link]}
14. ^ O'Sullivan, Roddy (1999-04-27). "Maynooth, DIT revisit triumph, heartbreak". The Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/education/1999/0427/archive.99042700194.html. Retrieved 2007-05-30. ^{[dead link]}
15. ^ Tanney, Paul (2000-05-09). "Titan clash in quiz final". The Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/education/2000/0509/archive.00050900193.html. Retrieved 2007-05-30. ^{[dead link]}
16. ^ "Foundation / Access Course Graduate Reunion". National College of Ireland. 2004. http://www.ncirl.ie/Alumni/Events_&_Reunions/Past_Reunions/Foundation_/_Access_Course_Graduate_Reunion. Retrieved 2007-05-31. "John was a member of the NCI team who became overall winners of RTÉ's university quiz show, Challenging Times." 
17. ^ "Gallery: Challenging Times Final". NUIG Student Information Network. March 2001. http://www.sin.nuigalway.ie/gallery2/v/0103/010313/?g2_page=4. Retrieved 2007-06-01. 

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