Call My Bluff

Only in our country could there be a programme like 'Call My Bluff', a show in half-hour editions which suggests three different definitions for an actual (but obscure) word, and lets one of the opposing team guess which one is correct.

In such a simple set-up there's a lot of humour. There had been a couple of earlier incarnations of this show (one I remember being presented by Robert Robinson, with Arthur Marshall and Frank Muir as team captains) before it returned in 1997 with Bob Holness as presenter, Sandi Toskvig and Alan Coren as team captains. This was a good mix, and in the actors, comedians and journalists who came on as guests there was a lot of scope to make the half-hour as entertaining as possible.

Threatened with cancellation after five years the show underwent a further revamp with Fiona Bruce replacing Bob Holness, and Rod Liddle replacing Sandi Toskvig. Alan Coren lingers on as an entertaining and crabby bon viveur. 'Call My Bluff' is a look back at TV past, a gentler time, and all the better for it. I hope it continues in some form or other for a long time yet.

Be honest... not a lot of us are not that literate or have a rich vocabulary, unlike your English teachers. But there is a way without reading a dictionary and a thesaurus. There is this unique game show, which has, for this version, Fiona Bruce, instead of being presented by Bob Holness of Blockbusters fame.

For those of you that do not live in England, Call My Bluff is a television show in England that goes out, seasonally, every weekday in England on BBC 1 at about midday. And, briefly, they are two teams; each one consists of one captain and two players. For each team, they have to guess out of the other team member who is always telling the correct meaning to a word introduced by the host.

I have always found this show a great format and always make the late-morning schedules very intellectual and extremely interesting! But, it does not have the charm of Holness, Fiona Bruce is still quite a good presenter, and the team captains always bring their bit of humour to the show, which still makes this amusing.

So, although it is still a shame to not see Bob Holness again, but is still a great way to boost your word power.