FURTHER sporting events have been playing havoc with the television schedules this week.

The European Championships meant University Challenge was bumped. This was unfortunate since my husband had been gifted with an almost unheard of night in, without me or the children, in which he could sit and answer all the questions without fear of being interrupted by small people in need of bedtime stories/drinks/the toilet.

Instead it was, of course, the ever dependable Clare Balding talking us through the many sports she is an expert on.

He wasn’t happy. So while this is a bit controversial, I think maybe they need to be putting all this sport on the red button. Then you could choose if you wanted to treat yourself to Clare (again) or your usual fare. 

That way everyone wins don’t they?

There is this assumption that everyone wants to watch Wimbledon on both BBC Channels, or that every match in the World Cup will be enjoyed which is not always the case is it?

Too much of it and we will become inured to it - it only seems like a few months ago we had the Olympics and while continued success in sports is fantastic, I don’t really want to watch it all day, every day.

Sport or Love Island seems to have been the, slim, choice on terrestrial channels this summer.

Or documentaries about the solar system - there are an inordinate amount of those lately too alongside many, many adverts for upcoming series which presumably will all start once the autumn rolls around and the children have gone back to school.

Among those are yet another adaptation of vanity Fair, star-studded no less, which is headed to ITV soon. No doubt they are hoping this will be their War and Peace, a massive hit for the BBC a few years back now, but I am not holding out much hope for it since there have been so many adaptations including a hit film starring Reese Witherspoon a few years ago.

There are thousands of novels ripe for the TV screen - why choose the same ones over and over again?

Although if it means the generation of young people currently thinking going on Love Island is a dream job, actually pick up a book then I am all for it.

On the radio this week they were discussing how 25,000 hopefuls applied for the 2019 series in just one week - some ten thousand more than applied for places at Oxford or Cambridge last year.

Which made me feel even more disappointed I watched it myself.