Saturday 24 October 2015

Mastermind : Round One: Heat 12

You know, I once met a contender in the first round of Mastermind who confided to me that the extent of his preparation for his specialist round was reading one book – and only getting through about the first half of it. His score, when he appeared, was predictably low. At the time I made a lot of sympathetic noises, but the older I get the more it frustrates me when I see people who, for whatever reason, just don’t seem to have put in the required time and effort into learning their subjects. Nobody gets forced to take part, and if you do get invited after audition, and you do decide to accept the invitation, then I think you have an obligation to respect the competition and take it seriously. Just my opinion, and as always, feel free to disagree. So it was a pleasure this week to see that all four contenders – Mastermind virgins all – had at least prepared well, and two of them had prepared extremely well.

The first of these was Gary Wright. Gary’s specialist subject was The History of Las Vegas. Now, I have to be honest, I didn’t think that I knew a lot about Las Vegas. Yet two minutes later I had accrued 8 points – the nature of these 8 questions being of the kind that you would know or could guess with a good general knowledge. For example, I didn’t know the name of the senator, but I know that Las Vegas’ airport is McCarran airport. I take nothing away from Gary, because he had a perfect round – which meant that he knew all the other questions as well, and these did require specialist knowledge. 13 questions and 13 correct answers. A fine performance.

The ‘Anne’ books of Lucy Maud Montgomery are remarkable in as much as they take the heroine, Anne, from being a young girl all the way through to her late 50s, I think. By crikey, but Sarah Elder, who offered us the series for her specialist round, knows these inside out. As with Gary’s round on Las Vegas, you got the distinct feeling that John could have carried on asking her questions on this subject for the full half hour, and she wouldn’t have had any wrong. Answering at pretty much top speed she managed to get one extra question in, and finished with a perfect 14 to take the lead. Game on.

Put yourself in the position of Alan Martin. He had just seen the two previous contenders come out and smash it out of the park, and now it was his turn. No pressure. I don’t have to put myself in that position, since I’ve been there. In 2006 both Kath and Neil who went before me in my heat scored 17s. I felt like I was staring down the barrel of a gun! Back then I produced a good, solid round, and so did Alan here. He couldn’t manage perfection, but he could manage the psychologically important double figures, and finished with 10.

As did Bob Mayho. I’m not a great fan of Westerns, and so “The Western Films of John Ford” was my lowest scoring round of the evening with 2. Going back to westerns, I think it was a generational thing. Westerns were my Dad’s thing – he was born in the 40s and grew up in the 40s and 50s and he loved them. Going into the round we had yet to see a pass from any of the contenders, and I did wonder whether we were going to make it a clean sweep. We came close, but Bob passed on one, although he too did manage to achieve a double figure score with 10.

Going into the GK round, then, essentially both Alan and Bob looked like outsiders, while there was hardly anything to choose between Gary and Sarah. Alan returned to the chair first, and shame though it is to say it, he made rather heavy weather of his round. We’ve noted the importance of building momentum during a Mastermind round, and this never quite happened with Alan. He seemed to have decided on using the tactic of passing, which is fine, but if you are going to pass, then it’s vital you make the decision and do it quickly, otherwise every pass just robs you of any momentum you might have built up through a couple of consecutive correct answers. Alan finished with 18 – perfectly respectable, but not enough to worry the leaders.Bob did a bit better with his round. He can be pleased with having achieved double figures in both rounds – the mark of a decent contender, that. Being realistic you need to have a lead of at least 10 to put the contenders coming after you on GK in the corridor of doubt, and Bob was a little way short of this. It had looked a two horse race at the halfway stage – now it definitely was.

Gary went first, and of all the contenders, his performance was the performance of a quizzer. He missed a couple where the answer steadfastly refused to take the plunge off the tip of his tongue, but even so a round of 14 was well up to scratch, and gave him a total of 27. Putting it into perspective, even if Sarah could improve upon this, he would certainly have an excellent chance of returning for the semis via a highest loser slot. It was unfortunate for Sarah that she had what I felt to be slightly the hardest of the GK rounds – yes, I do know that it’s all in the eye of the beholder, and they’re all easy if you know the answer, and hard if you don’t. To be fair, her GK wasn’t of the same level as Gary’s, but she can be pleased with her final total of 23, even though I doubt it will bring her back for the semis.

Well played Gary Wright – best of luck in the semis.

The Details

Gary Wright
The History of Las Vegas
13
0
14
2
27
2
Sarah Elder
The Anne Books of LM Montgomery
14
0
9
0
23
0
Alan Martin
Paul Simon
10
0
8
5
18
5
Bob Mayho
The Western Films of John Ford
10
1
11
1
21
2

Answers to News Questions

In The News

Who or What are the following and why have they been in the news?

Gladys Hooper
Nick Gargan
Mauricio Pochettino
Holigost
Simon Rookyard
The Blind Man
Dickson Chumba and Florence Kiplagat
Anthony Agogo
Red Road
Angus Deaton
Alexander Lukashenko
Sue Lloyd-Roberts
Marlon James
A Brief History of 7 Killings
Danny Cohen
Johnny Gray and Ross Ford
 – and the Missing Scroll
Alison Sharland and Varsha Gohil
Sir Albert Bore
Adil Rashid
Jimmy Adams
Weald of Kent
George Bingham
Toki Sekiguchi
Scenic Railway, Margate
The Silkworm

In Other News

A former chief executive of Adidas claimed that votes had been bought for which FIFA World Cup?
Which slogan was created above the Long Man of Wilmington yesterday?
Alastair Cook scored the longest test innings by an Englishman in test history with 263. How many minutes did he bat for?
Kenneth Clarke came out strongly in favour of which campaign last week
What was the RWC score between Scotland and Samoa?
And England and Uruguay?
– and Wales and Australia?
– and Ireland and France?
How much did Facebook UK pay in corporation tax last year?
What was the result of the Rugby League Grand Final last week?
Football – what was the score between Wales and Bosnia?
– and Finland and Northern Ireland?
– and Scotland and Gibraltar?
– and Poland and the Republic of Ireland?
– and England and Lithuania?
– and Wales and Andorra?
Who won the Russian GP?
The Government announced it will sell its 14% stake in which company?
Tom Watson refused to apologise for what?
Which former Nationwide and Antiques Roadshow presenter passed away last week?
Which publisher, known for their series of children’s books, introduced new titles for adults including ‘mid-life crisis’ etc?
It was claimed that Queen Victoria had once used what?
Which ‘vehicles’ were banned from roads?
Which pledge was made by Playboy magazine?
Which shop had an advert banned for oversimplifying the baking process?
Which Welsh referee will ref the NZ v France RWC ¼ final?
Name the Irish captain out of the RWC through injury?
Around 20 labour MPs defied the party whip in the vote on what?
Which company have refused to reduce hospital shop prices?
Which judges’ ruling on GCHQ caused consternation?
Stephen Fry is leaving QI – who will take over as chair?
Who had a one match stadium ban for his complaints over refs?
Who is to be released into house arrest under parole?
IN which US show did a graffiti artist outwit the producers by spraying in Arabic slogans which declared that the show was racist and rubbish?
What ruling did the High Court make about the game of Bridge?

Answers
Who or What are the following and why have they been in the news?

Oldest person ever to have a hip replacement (112)
Chief constable of Avon and Somerset resigned
Premier League manager of the month
Wreck of Henry V’s warship which has been found
Winner of the world porridge making championship
Unproduced screenplay by Hitchcock to be broadcast on Radio 4
Winners of the Chicago Marathon
Olympic boxer, second celebrity out of Strictly
Glasgow flats whose demolition didn’t quite go to plan
Winner of Nobel Prize for Economics
Retained the presidency of Belarus in election
BBC journalist – passed away from leukaemia
1st Jamaican to win Man Booker Prize
Book for which he won
Stood down as BBC Director of Television
Banned for three weeks playing rugby for Scotland for dangerous tackles
New Asterix Book based on wikileaks
Won right to fresh divorce settlements
Labour Birmingham Council leader to step down
Worst figures ever by a debut test bowler – 0 – 163 in 34 overs
Resigned as Hampshire captain
New Grammar school approved by government
Instituted legal proceedings to inherit his father’s title – Lord Lucan
10 year old knocked over playing touch rugby with Boris Johnson
The oldest roller coaster in Britain – reopened in Margate
Latest JK Rowling/Robert Galbraith novel

In Other News

2006 Germany
Frack Off
836
The Yes campaign for staying in EU
36 – 33 Scotland
60 – 3 England
15 – 9 Australia
24 – 9 Ireland
£4327
Leeds 22 Wigan 20
2 – 0 Bosnia
1 – 1
6 – 0 Scotland
2 – 1 Poland
3 – 0 England
2 – 0 Wales
Lewis Hamilton
Royal Mail
Accusation about Leon Brittan
Hugh Scully
Ladybird books
Cannabis
Hoverboards
No more fully nude pics
Iceland
Nigel Owens
Paul O’Connell
Fiscal Charter
Marks and Spencer
That it can bug MPs
Sandi Toksvig
Jose Mourinho
Oscar Pistorius
Homeland
It is not a sport

Saturday 17 October 2015

University Challenge : Round One: Heat 14

St. John’s , Oxford v. Bristol

JP kicked off by reminding us that the target for both teams to at least get into the repechage round was 130. Hoping to win and avoid that route were St. John’s represented by Alex Harries, Charlie Clegg, Dan Sowood and skipper Angus Russell. Hoping to block their path were Bristol, represented by Vanessa Lynn, Robert Hayman, Benjamin Crawshaw and captain Andy Saxon.

The first question asked about Dutch Palaces, and Charlie Clegg won the buzzer race to give us the answer of The Hague. Dungeons and dragons in literature brought them two bonuses. Charlie Clegg buzzed in a little too early for the second, which gave us a quote from a French composer, but even though they were given the fact that the composer had composed The Pearl Fishers, captain Andy Saxon of Bristol couldn’t dig up Bizet to capitalize. Charlie Clegg, quite rightly not daunted by his previous misfire was first in to offer that part of Austen’s Persuasion is set in Lyme Regis. A very good full house on the Yi Dynasty of Korea followed. Various definitions of hot-spot allowed Vanessa Lynn to open Bristol’s account. 2 bonuses on Carl Jung followed – I surprised myself with a full house on that set. Already we had reached the first picture starter. This one revealed a word cloud taken from a book of the King James Bible. The prominence of the names Abraham and Jacob made it fairly clear we were dealing with the Book of Genesis, and theology student Charlie Clegg was understandably first out of the starting blocks for that one. More of the same followed, and a second full house was duly taken. I’ll be honest, as soon as JP said ‘15th century thesis’ I offered ‘The Prince’, but would have waited had I been in the studio, and maybe would have been beaten to the buzzer by Alex Harries, who was first in. September 3rd. 2 bonuses took their score to 85, which gave them a 65 point lead over Bristol at the 10 minute mark. They were good value for it too.

Vanessa Lynn recognized the opening of Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar”. I may have said this before, but Sylvia Plath always reminds me of sitting in 20th century poetry seminars, and every time that Ted Hughes’ name was mentioned a chorus of voices would intone ‘the wife murderer!’. Bit harsh, that. Novels of the 1740s brought them 10 more points – they were fine on Richardson and Fielding, but floundered on Smollett. Dan Sowood scored his first starter for St. John’s, recognising a definition of menthol. Like St. John’s the only bonus on Joe Sacco that I could answer was about the Battle of the Somme. Captain Angus Russell took his first starter, recognizing that JP was describing Greater Manchester. This now meant that all 4 of St. John’s had correctly answered at least one starter each. Mark of a useful team, that. One bonus was taken on scientific instruments. Nobody recognized the work of Tchaikovsky for the music starter – me neither. Alex Harries took a good starter on the word fulminate. The music bonuses were all other pieces which were savaged by the critic Hanslick, otherwise known as the critic Who? St. John’s took one. It’s worth noting that St. John’s had already reached the magic number of 130. Bristol, though, were going to need to go like the clappers to give themselves a chance of getting there. A superb UC special starter asked the teams to combine two names to come up with Franz Ferdinand – lovely bit of work that – and Charlie Clegg, pick of the contest’s buzzers by some distance, was first in with the answer. 2 points on seas of the Pacific Ocean followed. Andy Saxon managed to beat the might of St. John’s to the buzzer to answer that endocrinology deals with glands. Sadly embryology yielded them no further points. This meant that the score at the 20 minute mark stood at 150 – 50. The match was over as the result was already sorted. How many points could St. John’s score, and how close could Bristol get to the repechage remained the only real questions to be answered.

I wouldn’t claim to be an expert on paintings, but there was something about the second picture starter that screamed out Caravaggio. Charlie Clegg thought so too, but he did hesitate, and earned a wigging from JP for his pains. The painting showed Judith beheading Holofernes, and three more paintings of the same subject followed. A full house was duly taken. Robert Hay man knew that any questions with the words Spanish – Greek and painter in it will probably be looking for the answer El Greco – and he was right. 2 bonuses on the novel Venus in Furs took them to 70 points. None of us knew enough about crystal lattices to take the next starter. Andy Saxon knew about some of ‘lands’ in Antarctica to take the next starter, and Bristol were having their best passage of the competition. Two bonuses on the Gulf of Guinea took them to 90 points, and the cusp of the respectability represented by a triple figure score. That was achieved with the next starter, as Vanessa Lynn knew various thingummybobs which respond to the sense of touch. This was followed by a full house on human anatomy. Fair play to Bristol, when they did get a starter they weren’t doing too badly with the bonuses. The old chestnut Baron Bannside went to Angus Russell, who knew it was Ian Paisley. A full house on rulers brought St. John’s double century up. When I hear an astronomy question and the words German mathematician are included I always go for Kepler. That’s what Charlie Clegg did, and rightly so. 2 bonuses on latin abbreviations followed. A good buzz from Alex Harries saw him confirm that 22,000 use British Sign Language as their first language according to the most recent census. They took just the one bonus on the five pillars of Islam. Alex Harries knew that a Viscount comes in precedence above a Baron. Saints and their symbols added another 10 points to their total. Nobody knew that there’s a palace or something called Cuba on Sicily. Robert Hayman knew that the Deity Hapi was the personification of the annual inundation of the Nile. There wasn’t time to complete a set of bonuses on Administrative regions of European countries, which was a bit of a shame for Bristol, as they finished close to a repechage slot with 125. Had they found their buzzer fingers a little more quickly they might even have made it. Take nothing away from St. John’s though – they look a good outfit, and could go well in the rest of the series.

Jeremy Paxman Watch

A wee dram of the pedantic early doors in this show when JP took Charlie Clegg’s ‘Lyme’ and made it clear he was waiting for more. Well, what else could it be, Jez? Light? Cordial?!

Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week

The Kanchatka Peninsula is bordered by the Sea of Okhotsk

In the News

In The News

Who or What are the following and why have they been in the news?

Gladys Hooper
Nick Gargan
Mauricio Pochettino
Holigost
Simon Rookyard
The Blind Man
Dickson Chumba and Florence Kiplagat
Anthony Agogo
Red Road
Angus Deaton
Alexander Lukashenko
Sue Lloyd-Roberts
Marlon James
A Brief History of 7 Killings
Danny Cohen
Johnny Gray and Ross Ford
 – and the Missing Scroll
Alison Sharland and Varsha Gohil
Sir Albert Bore
Adil Rashid
Jimmy Adams
Weald of Kent
George Bingham
Toki Sekiguchi
Scenic Railway, Margate
The Silkworm

In Other News

A former chief executive of Adidas claimed that votes had been bought for which FIFA World Cup?
Which slogan was created above the Long Man of Wilmington yesterday?
Alastair Cook scored the longest test innings by an Englishman in test history with 263. How many minutes did he bat for?
Kenneth Clarke came out strongly in favour of which campaign last week
What was the RWC score between Scotland and Samoa?
And England and Uruguay?
– and Wales and Australia?
– and Ireland and France?
How much did Facebook UK pay in corporation tax last year?
What was the result of the Rugby League Grand Final last week?
Football – what was the score between Wales and Bosnia?
– and Finland and Northern Ireland?
– and Scotland and Gibraltar?
– and Poland and the Republic of Ireland?
– and England and Lithuania?
– and Wales and Andorra?
Who won the Russian GP?
The Government announced it will sell its 14% stake in which company?
Tom Watson refused to apologise for what?
Which former Nationwide and Antiques Roadshow presenter passed away last week?
Which publisher, known for their series of children’s books, introduced new titles for adults including ‘mid-life crisis’ etc?
It was claimed that Queen Victoria had once used what?
Which ‘vehicles’ were banned from roads?
Which pledge was made by Playboy magazine?
Which shop had an advert banned for oversimplifying the baking process?
Which Welsh referee will ref the NZ v France RWC ¼ final?
Name the Irish captain out of the RWC through injury?
Around 20 labour MPs defied the party whip in the vote on what?
Which company have refused to reduce hospital shop prices?
Which judges’ ruling on GCHQ caused consternation?
Stephen Fry is leaving QI – who will take over as chair?
Who had a one match stadium ban for his complaints over refs?
Who is to be released into house arrest under parole?
IN which US show did a graffiti artist outwit the producers by spraying in Arabic slogans which declared that the show was racist and rubbish?
What ruling did the High Court make about the game of Bridge?

Friday 16 October 2015

Answers to News Questions

In the News

Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?

Tunisia’s National Dialogue Quartet
Gordon Honeycombe
Hugh Scully
Pauline Cafferkey
Lord Stuart Rose
Shridar Chillal
Lord Adonis
No Villain
Monsignor Kryzstof Claramso
Golden Horn
The Smurfs
John Guillermin
Ched Evans
Ivan Basso
Taaki Kajita and Arthur McDOnald
Nadiya Hussain
Peter Ball
Thomas Lindahl – Paul Modrich – Aziz Sancar
Eastern New York Correctional Facilifty
Svetlana Alexievitch of Belarus
Riley Millington
Ivo Karlovic
Clayton Williams
Issa Hayatou
  
In Other News

An auction of 120 statues of whom from Bristol have raised £1m for charity?
Who missed a show following a fall at his home?
What are Waterstones removing from their shelves due to falling sales?
What was the qualifying group match score between England and Estonia?
Who is the new manager of Sunderland?
Who was sacked as Liverpool manager, and who replaced him?
How long did it take for tickets for Glastonbury to sell out?
Who is ITVs new political editor?
2 former chancellors of the exchequer passed away. Name them
What was the result in the American football match at Wembley?
RWC – Ireland v Italy?
Arsenal v Man Utd?
Who was the first celebrity out of Strictly?
Which city is applying a sugar tax to soft drinks, supposedly?
Where did the awful murder of PC David Phillips take place?
What is the England carrier bag charge?
Which famous detective author passed away?
Which team won the ladies English football premier title?
Which Italian great was ruled out of RWC through injury?
Which food group were accused of breaking their pledge on sustainability?
Which drink had an internet advert banned for suggesting that alcohol is more important than relationships?
Who left the UK to return to live in Israel?
What was used to deliver a petition to the European Commission?
Which crashed WWII plane was partially recovered in Holme, Cambs?
What happened in the South Sudan’s first ever world cup qualifier against Mauritania?
Which two teams reached the RL Grand Final?
Who equaled Jonah Lomu’s record of 15 RWC tries?
Who could not attend last week’s Privy Council Meeting?
What has been removed from vintage post boxes in Hong Kong?
Which former cricketer is on trial for perjury over match fixing?
Name the president and vice president of FIFA suspended for 90s days
Who apologized for saying that Obama is not a real black president?
Euro qualifying matches – what was the score between Northern Ireland and Greece?
– and Republic of Ireland and Germany?
– and Poland and Scotland?
Who has been charged with tax fraud in Spain?
Where is a no fly zone to be established in Britain?

Answers

Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?

Nobel Peace Prize
Passed Away
Passed away 72
Scottish nurse who contracted Ebola – admitted to hospital with serious condition
Former M and S boss to lead Yes campaign for Europe referendum
Man with world’s official longest fingernails
Labour Peer appointed by George Osborne to head Govt Building drive
1st play by Arthur Miller – to be staged for first time
Catholic Priest who came out
Won prix de l’Arc de Triomphe
Nickname of computer programme which gives spies control over phones according to Edward Snowden
Director of Towering Inferno who passed away
Rape conviction footballer, case to be re examined
Retired from pro cycling
Winners of Nobel Prize for Physics
Won GB Bake Off
Former Bishop of Gloucester imprisoned for sexual offences
Won Nobel Prize for Chemistry
Defeated the Harvard University Debating team
Won Nobel Prize for lit
1st transgender actor to play transgender character in Eastenders
Pro tennis players has hit most career aces now
Teen accused of murder of PC Dave Phillips
Acting Fifa President

In Other news

Shaun the sheep
Sir Bruce Forsythe
Kindles and other ereaders
2 – 0 England
Sam Allardyce
Brendan Rogers out – Jurgen Klop in
30 mins
Robert Peston
Dennis Healey and Geoffrey Howe
Miami Dolphins 14 – NY Jets 27
16 – 9 Ireland
3 – 0 Arsenal
Iwan Thomas
Brighton and Hove
Wallasey
5p
Henning Mankell
Chelsea
Martin Castrogiovanni
John West
Strongbow
Uri Geller
A Trojan Horse
Spitfire
It was rained off
Leeds and Wigan
Brian Habana
Jeremy Corbyn
The crown symbol
Chris Cairns
Sepp Blatter – Michel Platini
Rupert Murdoch
3 – 1 N. Ireland
1 – 0 Ireland
2 – 2
Lionel Messi

Over the Duke of Cambridge’s house. 

Mastermind : Round One: Heat Eleven

All four contenders on last night’s show came up clean on my contender database. Come to that they also came up clean on LAM, so any attempts to predict the result prior to the first rounds would have been rather futile. So let us, instead, start with Liz Macinally. Liz’s subject, Kathleen Ferrier, resonated with me for one reason. In Magnus Magnusson’s excellent history of the first 25 years of the show, “I’ve Started So I’ll Finish”, he explained how Paul Campion, having taken Kathleen Ferrier as a specialist subject, was contacted by the singer’s sister, and then went on to write a book about her. It would be nice to think that Liz had actually used Paul’s book in her preparation for her round, but that’s pure speculation on my part. As for her round, well I know very little about Kathleen Ferrier, I’m afraid, and so it looked a pretty good round to me. However, I did think that at 10 she might find herself just a few points adrift at half time. Ideally you need at least 12 in the current series to have a realistic chance in the GK round.

Lewis Newburn offered us The History of Everton Football Club. It was nice to see that the old chestnuts about Everton originally being called St. Domingo’s FC, and playing for a while at Anfield, were both asked. I wouldn’t have had many of the others. Once again, it was a pretty good round, but just one or two short of being what was needed for a realistic tilt at the win. Also, 11 would require an extremely good round on GK to get him up to the kind of score which would put him into contention for a repechage slot.

I haven’t read any of the Rivers of London Novels of Ben Aaronovitch, so I can’t really comment on the difficulty or otherwise of the questions. Like both of the previous contenders, Mike Wiles knew his stuff, and tried hard to avoid passing, only passing the once. Like Liz he finished with 10. So looking at the first three contenders it was fair to say that we’d had three contenders who had prepared well, and obviously knew their stuff, but none of them had done quite well enough to blow the opposition away yet.

The last contender, Mark Livesey, offered us another traditional Mastermind subject, “The Albigensian Crusade”. If your reaction to the title of the subject was gesundheit, well, this wsa the crusade ordered against the Cathars of southern France. Now, all three of the previous contenders had prepared well for their subjects. Mark Livesey, though, had prepared exceptionally well. This is not necessarily the kind of subject where you’d expect a contender to have a clear round, and yet that’s exactly what Mark managed to do – 14 from 14, in a textbook display of how to handle going last in the specialist round. A good three points ahead of Lewis in second, he was very much the favourite to go through now.

It was slightly ironic that having taken care to hardly pass in the first round, Liz, going first in the GK found herself falling into a pass spiral. Look, it can easily happen, and you just don’t know how you’re going to react until you sit in that chair. Especially if you haven’t decided on a tactic. Passing on what you don’t know is a valid tactic, but it’s also a dangerous one. Passes have a tendency to beget passes – instead of thinking for a moment the tendency is to say it again if the next answer doesn’t pop into your head immediately. So Liz managed 8 correct answers, but also accrued 8 passes, and ended with 18 – perfectly respectable, but not a winning score. Mike provided a real rarity with his round. He answered the first 5 questions on the bounce before getting one wrong, and was amassing what was looking like a useful score. Then he was asked the name of UKIP’s second MP, who lost his seat in the 2015 General Election, and answered Mark CARELESS, instead of Mark RECKLESS. He cracked up himself, and John Humphrys came close, and actually said after the round that he wished he could give a 50 point bonus. Quite. Thankfully it didn’t completely destroy Mike’s concentration, and he posted the final score of 12 for 22.

Lewis Newburn found his own GK round rather heavy going. As we often say, sometimes it’s just not your night, and when that happens there’s not a great deal that you can do about it. He finished with 18, the same as Liz. All of which meant that everything was down to Mark. The target was 9 for an outright win, or 8 and no more than 2 passes. That’s not a huge score, but it’s enough that you can’t take it too lightly. Apart from the unintentionally funny answer. Mark’s round was similar to Mike’s. He took a number of early answers, lost a couple in the middle, but kept his head, and kept answering what he knew. I’ve said it before, a GK round is a marathon, and not a sprint, and Mark still had plenty of puff left by the end of it. His 26 was clearly the best performance of the week, and well worth the semi final slot. Well played.

The Details

Liz Macinally
Kathleen Ferrier
10
1
8
8
18
9
Lewis Newburn
History of Everton FC
11
1
7
6
18
7
Mike Wiles
The Rivers of London Novels of Ben Aaronovitch
10
1
12
2
22
3
Mark Livesey
The Albigensian Crusade
14
0
12
5
26
5