University Challenge - Round One - Heat 6 - Oxford Brookes v. The Courtauld Institute

Oxford Brookes v. Courtauld Institute

It seems to me that Oxford Brookes always field a useful team when they get the invite to appear. Representing them in this week’s heat were Inigo Purcell - yet another contestant from the Centre Of The Universe – that is, Chiswick - ,Pat O’Shea, Emma-Ben Lewis and their captain Thomas De Bock. Now, their opposition were provided by the Courtauld Institute. I always worry that UC is going to be a tough ask for an institution like the Courtauld, far more so than for other specialist institutions like schools of Medicine, for example. The problem is Science. This is by no means an original observation, but the fact is that while you don’t have to be a Historian to answer many of the History questions, or an English student to answer literature questions, or, dare I say it, a Fine Art student to answer an Art question, for most of the Science questions you’re not going to answer them unless you have at least one person studying Science in your team. Not only that, but the Courtauld’s whole student body consists of less than 500. So, frankly, they’d already done brilliantly to be good enough to be invited to the televised stages. But . . . well, they were well beaten in the first round last time they passed this way in 2014. So, that having been said, Courtauld’s team were Ty Vanover, Margaret-Anne Logan, Jack Snape and their skipper Harvey Shepherd. 

In a quiz, if you hear the name “Karel Capek” there are a couple of possible answers. If, though, the questions begins “Which word. . . “ the answer is robot, and you go for your buzzer, as did Thomas De Bock. Indie bands seemed to promise little in the way of bonuses, but the additional information in the questions ensured we both had a full house. Anode and cathode did for both teams, and the Courtauld lost 5 points in the process. Pat O’Shea came in too early for the next starter, yielding 5, but the Courtauld could not capitalise, not seeing various definitions of the word gimmick. Probably feeling under pressure, Harvey Shepherd came in too early for the next question about a French Impressionist painter, losing 5 and allowing Pat O’Shea in with Degas once horse racing and ballet were mentioned. Bonuses on Galileo provided me with one and Oxford Brookes with 2. Now, I didn’t know that Mary Queen of Scots lay for a while in Peterbrorough Cathedral, but I knew Catherine of Aragon did. So did Thomas De Bock, and we both managed 2 of a UC special set on Greek Mythology and Theme Parks. Kudos to the setter of that. A fantastic picture starter followed. We were shown three flags – Thailand, Laos – Vietnam – and asked which country they all bordered. The answer was Cambodia, identified impressively quickly by Thomas De Bock. More of the same provided a fine full house. Thus right on the cusp of the 10 minute mark, Oxford Brookes led by 85 to the Courtauld’s minus 10.

Captain Thomas De Bock ensured that the lead stretched out further, knowing about Gauss’ law. Fathers and Sons known as the Elder and the Younger brought his team 2 correct answers, and allowed him to show us all how to pronounce Breugel  correctly. Now, I’ll be honest, when I heard the novelist’s quote about his own novel for the next starter I thought it sounded like E.M.Forster’s Maurice. Da iawn to Ty Vanover for thinking so as well, and putting his team back on the starting line. Was it pure coincidence that their first set of bonuses were on American Expressionist artists? Who knows? I’ve never heard of any of them, but the Courtauld took a full house. Good. Pat O’Shea took a shy several feet wide of the stumps for the next starter, and I’ll be honest, I did not know Mankad as a type of dismissal in cricket. Neither did Oxford Brookes. Inigo Purcell knew the debut novel by Kate Tempest, and this in turn earned a set of bonuses on the Shipping Forecast. Like US State Capital Cities, this is one of those small sets of knowledge which is a steady source of points in a quiz, and I took a full set. Finisterre becoming Fitzroy is one of those old chestnuts that a regular quizzer would just know. No points though to Oxford Brookes. Margaret-Nne Logan won the buzzer race to say the US General who defected to the Brits was Benedict Arnold. Right – I believe that the Coutauld were – forgive me for using a technical term here – shat upon in one of their bonuses on Tennyson. They were asked which figure from Greek mythology was the basis for a poem ending with specific lines. They answered Odysseus. “No,” replied JP, “It was Ulysses”. For crying out loud! Ulysses might have been the figure in the poem, BUT it is the ROMAN name for Odysseus! This is something that really gets up my nose in quizzes, where the question master specifies Greek Mythology, then requires answers such as Diana, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars etc. It’s the last thing I expect from University Challenge frankly. OK – rant over, but please – the answer given wasn’t wrong, but the question – figure from Greek Mythology indeed – was wrong. As a result Courtauld took no bonuses where they should have had one. For the ensuing music starter, both teams sat on their buzzers before Emma-Ben Lewis identified the song Summertime as coming from Porgy and Bess. Other versions of the same song followed and delivered a further five points. I’ll be honest, the unmistakeable Billie Holiday was the only one I recognised too. I took my lap of honour around the living room for guessing that the celestial objects in the next starter were asteroids. The Oxford Brookes skipper, having a very fruitful evening, took that one. One correct answer on the British coastline followed. A terrific buzz from Harvey Shepherd identified Watteau as the painter referred to in the quote “Is he French or is he Flemish . . . “ Human anatomy rather proved the point I made in the introduction to this review, as they failed to add to their score. Thus at the 20 minute mark Oxford Brookes led by 145 to 35. Theoretically the Courtauld could still win, but in reality I think we all knew that the game as a contest was over by this stage. 

Given a question referring to Orwell’s 1984, Pat O’Shea buzzed early with an answer from Huxley’s Brave New World, earning a bit of a look from JP – he hates it when you get a lit question wrong. It was a good question too – apparently in the book the prole’s favourite form of public entertainment is the lottery. JP did not need to say anything more for the point to sink in. Well done to Harvey Shepherd for buzzing in with the title of one of my least favourite Thackeray novels, Barry Lyndon, for the next starter. Women buried in Highgate Cemetery provided two bonuses. The second picture starter showed us a seashore picture by Constable, and the unfamiliar subject matter did for all of us, I think. When I hear ‘Muslim’ and ‘mystic’ I invariably answer Sufism, and Ty Vanover did the same. This earned the picture bonuses on paintings in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. I identified Landseer, which they missed. Neither of us had Joseph Wright of Derby, and they recognised Ford Madox Brown for the last. Thomas De Bock got his team moving again knowing that Andrew Wiles had proved Fermat’s last theorem – well, something like that – and earned another terrific UC special set. These were all about African capital cities and words spelled with their first 4 letters – Bang and Bangui for example – and they took Oxford Brookes to 165. Along with the OB skipper, I knew that the Saarland was twice returned to Germany. A single bonus on German baroque architecture followed. Surprisingly the OB skipper buzzed with an incorrect interruption for the next starter, allowing Harvey Shepherd to bag 10 points more for Courtauld with the Austro Hungarian Empire. They couldn’t answer the first two bonuses on the performer Danny Kaye correctly, and there was no time for the third, meaning that Oxford Brookes won by 175 – 85.

Look, I take no great satisfaction in the fact that my theory about the Courtauld struggling against disadvantages was conclusively proven by this show. But the fact is that I didn’t find it a great contest to watch. It didn’t help that this was the third show out of 6 so far where the contest has already been decided before we reached the 20 minute mark. As for Oxford Brookes, well, s with Warwick last week, it’s difficult to tell how good they really are. I didn’t count, but I reckon that they probably got very slightly more than half of their bonuses right, which is decent, but not great. As for the Courtauld, well, if you divided the number of points each team score by the number of students in the institution, then they’d probably be right up the top for the series. That is not, however, the way the cookie crumbles on UC, which is all for the best.  

Jeremy Paxman Watch

“ No,” replied out hero when Oxford Brookes suggested that Odyssey (the theme park ride) might be in Chessington World of Adventures, “it IS Odyssey, but it’s in Fantasy Island in Skegness.” Cue much laughter in the studio. All of this moved JP to ask “Why is Skegness funny?” – Well, why did you take that very slight pause between Fantasy Island – and – Skegness? Now, I’ve never been to Skeggie, but I bet it’s great fun. But, maybe it’s something to do with the Viking name of the place, but Fantasy Island in Skegness sounds like an oxymoron to me. 

There was a flash or more of the old JP when he berated the Courtauld for not recognising the Constable painting. When they only managed Ford Madox Brown for the picture bonuses he gleefully exclaimed “You’d have been in deep doo doo if you’d missed that one.” AS far as he was concerned, they still were, since he made sure to rub in the fact that they’d missed these bonuses at the end of the contest.

Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know of the Week

The late, great Vincent Price studied at the Courtauld.

University Challenge - Round One, Heat 5 - York v. Warwick

University of York v. University of Warwick

Yes, my friends, I can only apologise to the two teams and any loyal readers I still have left that I haven’t posted earlier this week. Well, the fact was that I was in Berlin for most of the week, and only got to watch the match for the first time late last night. Enough of such frippery.

York, then, were represented by Connor Bindler, Ben Longworth – who is the first PGCE student I can remember on the show for a long time. Well done, sir, and I hope that you enjoy your career in teaching when you qualify – Matthew De Sousa, and captain Benjamin Maier. Opponents Warwick were represented by Flora Jackson, Daniel Arribas, Charlotte Symons and their skipper, Ben Salter. Let us begin.

A lovely starter saw Charlotte Symons win the buzzer race to recognise several uses of the word starter itself. I bet they’ve been saving that one up for a while. This ushered in a set of bonuses on poetry, based around the Shakespeare line that all that glisters is not gold. 2 bonuses were taken. Now, you can’t blame Benjamin Maier for connecting US State – and – Element – with California, but it was an incorrect interruption and lost 5. I didn’t know that ununseptium has now been named after Tennessee , but Ben Salter worked it out from the details given. Bonuses on the Scottish Enlightenment brought another 2 bonuses. Now, I did think that the two teams both sat on their buzzers a little for the next starter. In a buzzer competition, once you hear the name Gaudi you have to go for your buzzer and answer “Sagrada Familia”. You will be right far, far more often than you are wrong. Flora Jackson took that particular unconsidered trifle. Ancient writings almost inevitably yielded another two bonuses. Now, with the score at 60 to -5, I don’t blame Benjamin Maier for throwing caution o the wind with the next starter. Nor do I blame him for coming up with the name of Thomas Wyatt for a court poet of Henry VIII. Crucially, though, it wasn’t right. None of us could dredge up the name of John Skelton. Right – here’s another tip. If you’re asked for a Greek letter, and you don’t have a Scooby, try Omega. It will be wrong more often than it’s right, but it will be right more often than a lot of other Greek letters. There was a Maths thing for the next starter, and following my own advice I just got in with Omega before Ben Salter, who clearly actually knew the answer, buzzed in with the same. Minimalism promised me a minimal return but I knew Beckett for the last. Warwick – all together now – took two bonuses. The picture starter showed us a chart giving details of a decisive battle, and asked us for the country in which it was fought. I got Chile from the name Bernardo O’Higgins, and while I don’t know if that’s what gave it to Daniel Arribas, the fact is that he had it as well. More stuff concerned with 1817 provided the bonuses. Now, see if you can guess how many Warwick answerd. Buzz – unlucky, it was 1. Still, that meant that they had a huge lead , as the score stood at 100 to minus 10. 

There was a really beautiful starter next, which asked for the EU member country whose flag consists of vertical bands of the colours of the seas on which Odessa – at which pint I answered Belgium, and Flora Jackson incorrectly guessed Ukraine (horizontal bands of blue and yellow) which allowed Matthew De Sousa to earn a huge round of applause by giving the correct answer. Now, you so rarely see a team which has been patently struggling to win a buzzer race get a gimme set of bonuses, and certainly the set that York were given on analytical techniques used in art conversation was not full of Eastern promise. At least the one bonus they took gave them a positive score. This seemingly did little to raise the spirits of York’s skipper though. Asked for Truman’s defeated Republican opponent in 1948, he launched an extremely speculative punt with Smith. That’s my – haven’t a clue but don’t want to leave the answer blank – name, and from the tone of his voice Benjamin Maier knew it was unlikely to be right. Sadly that wiped out York’s score. Daniel Arribas had that one. Post war American elections provided some amusement as Flora Jackson tried in vain to convince her team that Ronald Reagan won the 1972 election. They stuck to their guns with Nixon, correctly, and added the other two for their first full house, to add to York’s woes. At last Benjamin Maier got in with a correct interruption when he recognised a description of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. I don’t blame him for his victory celebration , raising his arms. After three points losers a lesser man would have fought shy of buzzing for the rest of the contest. The bonuses on Razia Sultan must have daunted their spirits a bit, but we still both managed a couple of correct answers to this set. Benjamin Maier was in very quickly to recognise Blondie’s Union City Blues for the music starter, and more groups that made their names at the CBGB club brought both of us 10 more points. The next starter was lovely to watch . “Which Japanese expression means Hello, and is also the title. . . “ at which point Ben Salter buzzed in with an expression which said – I can’t believe this question is this easy, there must be a catch.” Well it was, there wasn’t, and his answer of konnichi wa was correct. Diseases whose names were derived from African languages sounded hard, and both of us only managed the last. Some thing about polysaccharides saw Ben Salter give the correct answer on an impressively early buzz. Robert Baden-Powell  sawBen Salter manage to give the title “Scouting for Boys” without laughing – well done sir, and a full set was taken. Sadly Ben Longworth came in too early for the next starter, but Warwick didn’t know that the oldest university in South America is in Peru. So it was that on the cusp of the 20 minute mark, Warwick led by 160 to 35. It is possible to score 140 unanswered points between the 20 minute mark and the gong, but let’s face it, we all knew that it wasn’t going to happen in this show, and the match was over as a contest already. 

I was fortunate enough to take part in several seminars on Manley Hopkins led by Stan Tottman, so I was straight in with windhover/kestrel for the next starter, and Charlotte Symons provided the same answer for Warwick. I certainly never leapt in on any of the bonuses on leptin, and in fact we both only scored on insulin for the last of the set. The picture starter was obviously from the Alhambra in Spain, and Daniel Arribas won that buzzer race. 3 more pictures of lion sculptures brought a further 2 bonuses. None of us knew the term diecious, and so the next starter after that Saw Ben Longworth correctly answer that Cameroon had won the African Cup of Nations . UK Geography bonuses took York through the 50 point barrier. Charlotte Symons knew who wrote Everything is Illuminated which took Warwick through 200. Royal burials saw them rather underperform – no marks for not knowing St. George’s Chapel Windsor, and in fact they took no points on this set. Charlotte Symons knew that the two consonants in Charles Dickens’ pen name – Boz – are B and Z. There was plenty of snigger material on the bonus set on British tits. Warwick only took the one bonus, but it was immaterial. Any dditions ot their score at this stage were just gilding. I was late getting my lap of honour around the living room in this match, but I took it after guessing that in some electrical thing the voltage would be halved blah blah blah. Matthew de Sousa had that one. Debut novels by musicians took their score to 80 after a full house. Flora Jackson took the next starter with Richard II, and if I hadn’t already done the lap of honour I would have done it after taking a full house on the periodic table. Warwick managed a couple. That was it. We were gonged with the score at Warwick 240 to York’s 80.

Based on what we saw when York did manage to get a starter, they actually looked a pretty decent team on the bonuses, certainly better than a sub 100 team. But you have to win the starters or you’re just not going to get very far. As for Warwick they’re clearly a useful outfit, but just how useful probably won’t become clear until the second round, and opposition who are more handy with the buzzer, I fancy.

Jeremy Paxman Watch

I have to pay tribute to JP for not allowing himself to condemn York with his customary kiss of death – plenty of time to catch up. 

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

Element 117 is now named Tennessine.

Mastermind 2018 - Round One - Heat Four

You know, I’m a simple soul at heart, dearly beloved, and it really doesn’t take that much to make me happy. One of the things which will do it every time is an edition of Mastermind in which every one of the contenders has clearly taken their preparation seriously, and given a good account of themselves. Such a one we were served up last night.

M*A*S*H* was something of a phenomenon in American TV shows of the 70s – American sitcoms of the 70s in particular. It ran for 9 years, 11 seasons and 251 episodes. All of which made Emma Busk’s specialist round task more difficult, I’d wager – there were an awful lot of them. Bearing in mind what we’ve been saying for several years now, that anything in the teens on specialist with the length of these questions is a very good score, then Emma’s 12 was a good return, and it was probably fair to say that barring something exceptional she would be in with a shout in the GK rounds. As for me, well I loved M*A*S*H*, and I managed 8 of these, which looked as if it might be the springboard to a new season highest aggregate.

David Sutherland looked rather familiar, and a quick check on my archive revealed that he had indeed been a contender before. Twice in fact, in Jesse’s 2010 series in which he reached the semi-finals, and in Clive’s 2014 series, when he lost by a point in his first round. Bearing in mind my theory that it becomes easier to handle the experience of being in the chair the more times that you do it, then this gave him every chance of doing well again this year. He did too, getting into the teens with his round on the First Earl of Durham. I didn’t know much about the Earl, but I did know enough about the history of the time around the first great Reform Bill to add another 3 to my aggregate, which now stood at 11.

Now, if you’ve been with me for any great length of time, you know me and you know how proud I am of being the last schoolteacher to win the series. I However, the fact is that I would actually like to see another schoolteacher win. I think that the longest gap between schoolteacher wins would be that between David Edwards in 1990, and Michael Penrice in Discovery Mastermind in 2001. Well, all of this is, I suppose, a longwinded way of saying that as much as I take a keen interest in the performances of all contenders, I am especially interested in schoolteachers, and so I was willing David Noble to do well. Answering on English League Football Stadiums I thought he did well to get 12, but ironically his two passes were ones I got. The Hawthorns being the highest ground in England is an old quiz chestnut. In fact I got the 9 I needed to set a new aggregate high score of 20 for this series. There was still a round to come as well. 

I’m not a huge fan of the band U2. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’ve nothing against them or their music, but they’re unlikely to make an appearance in the Clark CD player in the Clarkmobile any time soon, if you know what I mean. They were being offered by Michael Taylor. Now, I may well be wrong, but I have a feeling that this is none other than 2015 University Challenge winner Michael Taylor of Gonville and Caius. He certainly shaped up like a UC winner in this heat, taking 14 consecutive correct answers, and only missing out on a perfect round on the last question. Me? 4 more points to take the new aggregate target for the season to 24.

Based on what I knew about the contenders it looked to me like a straight shootout between the experienced recidivist, David S., and the proven champion, Michael. First back to the chair, though, was Emma. Now, when you start a GK round and you’re a couple of points adrift, it can look like a huge gap, whereas in reality it’s a gap which can be wiped out with just a couple of moments of hesitation by the opposition. So if Emma could manage a decent score there was always the chance of putting those yet to come within the corridor of doubt. Ideally, you want to set a target that is 10 or more points ahead of all of those yet to come. She didn’t quite manage that, and I dare say that her round of 10 points didn’t mark her out as a quizzer. It did mark her out, though, as someone who had a good enough GK to compete, and someone who had achieved a highly respectable score.

Much the same could be said for David Noble. His round was not exactly a carbon copy of Emma’s, but the end result was pretty much the same. Nice to see that. I take no pleasure in anybody only achieving a modest total on Mastermind, but I’m especially glad when a schoolteacher acquits him or herself well.

So to David Sutherland, who has had, if truth be told, mixed fortunes in the General Knowledge rounds in his previous appearances. He wasn’t the quickest to answer that we’ve seen, but on the other hand if it means that you’re making sure that you answer every question you possibly can, then it can be a successful tactic. For the first minute the score built rather slowly, with David only managing correct answers on just over half of the questions. In the last minute, though, he really clicked into overdrive, and took his score up to 26. That’s a score which would win a significant number of first round heats, and it meant that while Michael could still do it, it wasn’t necessarily going to be easy.

It never looked difficult, though. Michael didn’t miss any low hanging fruit, and took a lot of the high hanging stuff as well on his way to a score of 14, and a total of 28, which meant that he won with a little bit of daylight between himself and David S. It looked like a pretty nerveless performance too, and I dare say that he is a contender we need to keep an eye on this season. Recently we saw UC winner Adam Barr get as far as the semis, and just miss out on the final. Stephen, it looks like you have another serious challenger again. As for David, well on 26 you never know. As regards a highest scoring runner up slot, I’d say that the coin is in the air.

Well played all – good show.

The Details

Emma Busk	M*A*S*H*	12	3	10	2	22	5
David Sutherland	John George Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham	13	1	13	5	26	6
David Noble	English League Football Stadiums	12	2	10	3	22	5
Michael Taylor	U2	14	1	14	4	28	5

Mastermind - Round One - Heat Three

So to heat three. A quick glance at the subjects showed me that I had a chance of nswering questions on 3 of them, and so maybe there was a possibility of exceeding last week’s specialist aggregate of 19. The first of the three subjects I might be able to pick up points on was offered by tonight’s first contender, Alan Burns. He was answering on Clint Eastwood. I felt that this was a fair to relatively gentle round, as I was able to pick up 8 myself, albeit that I was sitting in the comfort of the Clark sofa. Alan’s 11 points therefore seemed perfectly competitive, but not the sort of score which would end the competition by half time. 

Dan Martin, our second contender, was answering questions on the Tommy and Tuppence novels of Agatha Christie. I’ve never read any myself, but I’ve always viewed them as very much bargain basement Agatha Christie when compared with Marple and Poirot. My grandmother was a great aficionado (see last Monday’s University Challenge) of Agathat Christie, and she held that view herself. Coming back to Dan Martin, it seemed to me that he walked towards the chair with all the enthusiasm of a French aristo approaching Madame Guillotine, and this nervous appearance was augmented when he spent a couple of seconds before answering the first question. After that, though, he settled down, and produced a good round of 12 and no passes to take the lead. Incidentally, this round provided me with a guessed point, and considering the fact that I’d expected none, this was a result.

If you can remember the 60s, they say, then you weren’t there. What it means if you can remember the 80s, I’ve no idea, but I do, and so I felt there would be a few points for me on Duran Duran, the subject being offered by our third contender, Maggz Bennett. Indeed there were, four to be precise. Maggz did considerably better, as she too managed a round of 12 and no passes. Judging by the fact that there was only a point separating our first three contenders all the appearances were that the show was going to be decided on GK. 

So, recapping, I needed a score of 7 on the last round, on Eleanor of Aquitaine to set a new aggregate target of 20. I’ll put you out of your misery now, and tell you that I scored 4, to finish with 17 in total. Not bad, but no cigar. To take the lead, Robert Butlin needed to score 13. Well, he didn’t quite manage that, nor did he manage 12, or 11. SO the 10 he did score left him in 4^th as the half time oranges were being doled out. More importantly, though, only 2 points separated him from the joint leaders, so the matchmakers seemed to have got it right in this show. 

Experience shows us that in its current format, you really need a double figure lead in order to put those who come after within the corridor of doubt. Robert Butlin, making a swift return to the chair did at least manage to take his total to 20 – and if you can achieve any score in the 20s in Mastermind then you’ve justified your appearance in the show. However his 20 meant that if any of the following three contenders scored in double figures, then they would beat him. I felt that Alan Burns, in third at the turn around, was going to do it as well, until a horrible pause stopped him in his tracks. The poor chap was caught in two minds between answering and passing, and so, for a couple of seconds, he did neither, eventually passing. By the end of the round he too had scored 20 in total, but the look on his face showed us that this was a case of what might have been. 

After another very hesitant start, Dan Martin started to put together a good run of answers. I often play a game of ‘spot the quizzer’ while I’m watching the GK rounds. By this I mean that you can often tell who might be a regular quizzer from the sort of questions that they answer correctly, and of all the contenders tonight Dan was the one I got that feeling most with – sort of. I’ll explain that when we get to Maggz’ round. Having said that, his return of 10 points on the round was no better than Robert’s. H started two points to the good, though, and so led with 22.

Right, let’s get to Maggz’ round then. It really was a round of two halves. For the first minute or so she didn’t seem like a regular quizzer at all as she failed to grasp some pretty low hanging fruit. Then, all of a sudden it was as if a switch had been flicked, as Maggz began answering the majority of questions correctly, and not all of the ones she answered from this point onwards were by any means easy ones either. So in the end she not only made it, but put daylight between herself and Dan, scoring 12 to take her winning score to 24. SO well played Maggz, and best of luck in the semi final. 

The Details

Alan Burns	Clint Eastwood	11	0	9	1	20	1
Dan Martin	The Tommy and Tuppence mysteries of Agatha Christie	12	0	10	1	22	1
Maggz Bennett	Duran Duran	12	0	12	1	24	1
Robert Butlin	Eleanor of Aquitaine	10	0	10	0	20

University Challenge - Round One - Heat 4 - St. Edmund's, Cambridge v. Magdalen, Oxford

Yes folks, it’s another Oxford v. Cambridge duel, with St. Edmund’s taking on 4 time champions Magdalen. St. Edmund’s were represented by Zou Tang-Shen, Alex Knight Williams from Putney (close to Chiswick but no cigar), Ryan Blank and captain Sahaid Motala. Magdalen’s team were Winston Wright, Christopher Stern, Sarah Parkin and skipper Johnny Gibson.

Now, when the first starter mentioned a river, with a huge length and a Portuguese sounding name, I thought exactly the same as Zou Tang-Shen, that we were dealing with the Amazon. We were both correct and this brought up a set of bonuses on educational philosophy. As did St. Edmund’s, I had the first and last, but I should have done better with Rudolf Steiner. Now, when the words “Sometimes described as the most famous Kurd in History. . . “ had come from JP’s mouth I immediately leapt in with ‘Saladin’, but both teams waited until the reconquering of Jerusalem was mentioned, at which point Johnny Gibson leapt in. This earned bonuses on sleep in Shakespeare. I had the first two, but missed out on Othello for the last. The Magdalen skipper took a double by recognising a description of Karl Popper – ‘Party’ as his mates called him, I believe. Physics in the 1970s promised me but little, yet Dennis Gabor and holography saw a early outing for the ceremonial lap of honour around the sofa. A great buzz from Alex Knight Williams saw him identify the Mosque of Djenne as being a world heritage site in Mali. Greek Mythological fathers and sons brought both of us two bonuses. Winston Wright came in too early on the next starter, dropping five points, and this allowed Alex Knight Williams to take his own double, knowing that IFF stands for If and Only If. Fair enough. Classical music and birdsong provided two bonuses, one more than I managed. Schoolboy French helped me answer the picture starter, which showed a quotation to the effect of – If God did not exist then it would be necessary for Man to invent him – and I knew this was one of Voltaire’s one-liners. Sarah Parkin knew that one, and more of the same for the bonuses brought Magdalen both of us two more correct answers. This meant that the score at just after the ten minute mark was a pleasingly symmetrical 60 – 60.

Sahaid Motala came in too early for the next starter, allowing Christopher Stern to identify tau as the Greek letter standing for various bits and pieces in Science. Questions on Mayfair brought me a full house, and Magdalen were unlucky to only manage the two. Various Fulks were given for the next starter, and after both teams sat on their buzzers a little it was Ryan Blank who answered that they were Counts of Anjou. When JP said the bonuses were on stereoiosmers I replied gesundheit, and then supplied not another word until St. Edmund’s had added a pair of bonuses to their score. Fair play to Zou Tang-Shen – JP did not quite hear his answer to the last bonus, and he sportingly admitted that he had given a wrong un. I didn’t begin to understand the next question, but Christopher Stern knew that it related to nuclear fission reactors. Spanish cities and their patron saints gave a single bonus, and took us to the music starter. I recognised the theme of “Out of Africa”, and knew it was composed by John “Mr. Bond Theme” Barry. Nobody else did. Both Johnny Gibson and I knew that the first president to impeached was Andrew Johnson. This brought Magdalen the rollover music bonuses, and composers who have been nominated for both an Oscar AND a Golden Raspberry. They recognised the work of Jerry Goldsmith, which I missed, but I did have Giorgio Moroder. Hey, I grew up in the 70s, be fair. There was a terrific twist on the next question. ‘My brother is an aficionado of oolong tea – give the dictionary spelling of the word – “ and at this point Johnny Gibson buzzed in with “o-o-l-o-n-g.” JP docked him 5 points, and continued “ give the dictionary spelling of the word aficionado – at which there was much laughter. Which grew even more when St. Edmund’s tried to spell it with a double f. As a punchline JP added. Oolong – you were quite right. It’s the way he tells them. None of us knew the term mercerisation for the next starter, but there was a bit of a buzzer race for the next starter, won by Zou Tang-Shen who recognised that a group of given countries were all bordered by countries beginning with the letter I. Bonuses on music did nowt for me nor for St. Edmund’s for that matter. This meant that Magdalen led by 105 – 85 on the cusp of the 20 minute mark. Still very close, although you did sense by this stage that Magdalen looked to have the edge on their opponents. 

“The Lady Of Shalott” made it’s officially umpteenth appearance in a UC question for the next starter, and this was swooped upon by Johnny Gibson. British armies in India brought one correct answer, but they were in the lead, and putting daylight between themselves and St. Edmund’s. Now, if you’re shown a picture of a blue and white vase and asked which Chinese dynasty it belongs to, if in doubt always answer Ming. That’s what Ryan Blank did for the next picture starter, and it worked. 3 more Chinese artifacts followed, of which they managed the same 2 that I did. This narrowed the gap to 15, and there was still little to choose between Oxford and Cambridge in this contest. Both teams really sat on their buzzers for the next one – lucky shot and parasitic flatworm should have been enough – as it was there was time for the whole question to be asked and a pause before Zou Tang-Shen gave the correct answer of fluke. Lead down to 5 points. Inevitably St. Edmunds took 1 of the chemistry bonuses to give us a tied game. Squeaky bum time. Neither team could come up with the term sidereal year for the next starter. Neither team managed the next starter on Devon either. Finally Magdalen’s indefatigable captain stopped the rot, telling us that Maine is the most sparsely populated US state east of the Mississippi. Italian neorealist cinema saw a brilliant full house, which not only gave Magdalen a 25 point lead, but which also must have taken at least a bit of the wind out of St. Edmund’s collective sails. Zou Tang-Shen did what was probably the right thing to do at this stage of the game, and came in early with a plausible answer to the next question about a formula of a substance used in old school non digital photography, but sadly lost 5, allowing Magdalen the actual formula of AgBr. Well, I’m sorry but even I know that’s silver bromide, as did Christopher Stern. Human physiology provided points which gave them a lead of 55, and with very little time remaining you could have named your own price on St. Edmund’s. I doubt there would have been many takers after Johnny Gibson identified the work of Giotto in the next starter. Russia and the United States saw Magdalen take another ten points but this was almost irrelevant. There wasn’t time for the whole of the next starter, although sadly there was enough of it for Zou Tang-Shen take a good stab with a flying interruption, losing 5. 

So Magdelen won by 185 to 105. Looks like a comfortable win, going by the score line, doesn’t it? Yet it really wasn’t – until the last 4 minutes it really was anyone’s game. This, I’m sure is scant consolation to St. Edmund’s, but I am sure they would admit that in the final analysis Magdalen had just that little bit more , and were worth the win, even if the margin of victory was a little flattering.

Well played both – a good and enjoyable contest. 

Jeremy Paxman Watch

I think we have to admit it – our JP has mellowed (translation – gone soft). For example, when St. Edmund’s only offered Beethoven, all he did was ask – which – and even the ‘come on’ which followed seemed to lack conviction. 10 years ago our man would have unleashed a blast of withering scorn at this point.

There was just one nice bit of sarcasm, when, having failed to answer the music starter, JP greeted their answer to earn the rollover bonuses with “Lucky old you, Magdalen, you’ve got the music bonuses. . . “

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

Maine is the most sparsely populated state to the east of the Mississippi

Mastermind - Round One - Heat 2

Right, let the catch up begin. I didn’t actually get to see this heat when it was broadcast, as I was in Spain, but now that I’ve returned I’ll give you the benefit of my opinion.

Ian Dunn was making a quick return to the show after last year’s first round appearance. Ian was answering on the radio show “Bleak Expectations” last year – and very well he did too. In this year’s heat he picked on the topic of the 4 (synoptic) Gospels. We last saw these as a specialist subject back in 2008, when Kathryn Price scored an impressive 14. Ian’s score, sadly, was half that. Maybe I’m wrong, but looking at him as he answered in several cases I formed the distinct impression that he was having one of those rounds when the answers just won’t jump off the tip of your tongue. 

By way of contrast we had Christine Quigley’s round on Margaret Atwood’s Maddaddam novels. I’ll be honest, the only one I’m at all familiar with is “Oryx and Crake”, and that one not much. So I didn’t trouble the scorer on this particular set. Christine, on the other hand, produced a perfect round of 15. Now, that, ladies and gents is how you prepare for a specialist round. You can’t expect to get a great score without at least knowing your subject inside out. It looked to me as if Christine knew hers up and down and side to side as well. Fantastic performance. 

Now, let’s think about Colin Atkin’s specialist round for a moment. Some might say that he was tempting fate by taking World Flags. Why? Well, National Flags of the World was the subject which yielded the all time Mastermind record score of 23, for Jesse Honey in his heat of the 2010 Champion of Champions series. Well, nobody is going to get 23 on a specialist round nowadays, with the length of questions. However I did think that Colin might well have been kicking himself a little with his round of 9, having let several gettable ones pass by. 

So to Simon Cottee, and the colour films of Danny Kaye. Here’s a funny thing. I watched a lot of Danny Kaye films when they were on telly when I was a kid, and I thought all of his films were in black and white. Then I realised that we only had a black and white telly when I was a kid. Enough of such nonsense. Simon too looked as if he maybe missed a couple he might have had on another occasion, reaching 9 as well. Totally off the point, I was banking on the flags round to break last week’s aggregate of 10, which it did, and when you added my score from the flags round to 4 from the Gospels and 3 from Danny Kaye I set the new mark at 19. Getting back to the point, with a lead of 6, Christine Quigley pretty much had one foot in the semis already.

I felt for Ian when John told him that there was plenty of time left just before the start of his round. It kind of leaves you in no doubt that you didn’t do brilliantly with your specialist round, does that, however kindly it’s meant. Maybe it put Ian a little off his game as well - last year he scored a competitive 11, whereas this year he put 8 more on the board. Some nights, Ian, it’s just not your night. Hard lines. Colin, now, started 6 points behind Christine’s score. Being realistic, you need to set a target of as close to double figures as possible in order to force other contenders to traverse the corridor of doubt. Colin never really looked like doing that. Oh, don’t get me wrong, it was a gritty, battling performance, and any double figure round is a good one, but a target of 6 for a win was never going to be enough.

So it fell to Simon Cottee to try to raise the bar. What we got was a perfectly respectable round of 9, but again, in terms of raising the tension for Christine’s round yet to come, I’m afraid it couldn’t do it. So Christine had the luxury of knowing she only needed to answer 6 questions. Never having been in that position in any of my own appearances I can’t tell you if that would make you more relaxed, but the first 2 minutes of Christine’s round were pretty good. Then, surprisingly, she fell into a pass spiral for the last 5 questions. None of which mattered, since she’d already set the highest GK total for this show, and passed the target some time previously. Well played Christine – good luck in the semi finals. 

The Details

Ian Dunn	The 4 Gospels	7	0	8	2	15	2
Christine Quigley	Margaret Atwood’s Maddaddam novels	15	0	12	6	27	6
Colin Atkin	World Flags	9	3	11	3	20	6
Simon Cottee	The colour films of Danny Kaye	9	2	9	3	18	5

Warning: Departure to Spain imminent

Yes, just a wee note to say not to worry if I don't manage to post for the next seven days or so - it's only because I'll be in Alicante. If I don't manage to post I will try to catch up with what I missed when I get back.

Happy Holidays!

Only Connect Fans - New Quiz Book

Just seen this on Facebook - if you're a fellow fan of the show you might be interested in checking this out: -

The Only Connect Quiz Book

University Challenge - Round One - Heat Three

Southampton v. Cardiff

In this third round Southampton were represented by Juan Paolo Ledesma, Andrew Knighton, Niall Jones, and captain Lorna Frankel. Their opponents, Cardiff University were Freddie Colleran, Daniel Conway (Who, I believe, is this year’s second contestant from the centre of the universe – Chiswick), Rosie Cowell and skipper Ian Strachan. Let us begin.

Both teams rather sat on their buzzers for the first starter, and eventually it was Niall Jones of Southampton who claimed first blood for recognising definitions of the word diet. In fairly short order Southampton converted this to a full house with bonuses on Sinbad the sailor. Again, both sides sensibly sat back on the next starter until it became obvious the slang to which JP was referring was Polari, as claimed by Lorna Frankel. A second consecutive full house on citizenship continued Southampton’s impressive start. An impressive early buzz from Juan Pablo Ledesma saw him identify the word syndrome taking Southampton to 9 consecutive correct answers. However events of 1867 brought the run to an end at 10. Never mind, they had a lead of 55 already. Asked which in field athletics event Yuri Sedykh set a world record Ian Strachan did what he had to do for Cardiff by throwing caution to the wind and having a punt with discus. It might have been right, in which case it would have robbed Southampton of a little momentum. As it was, it lost 5. Almost inevitably Juan Pablo Ledesma’s guess of hammer proved right. City planning bonuses brought Southampton a third full house out of 4 visits to the table, and they were looking mightily impressive, as much for their breadth of knowledge as for their buzzer speed. The picture starter showed a map of the USA with the border between two states erased. Juan Pablo Ledesma buzzed in to identify the missing border between Mississippi and Alabama. Impressive – and it brought Southampton a 3 figure lead even before the 10 minute mark. 3 more maps with borders between countries erased saw another full house. To put things into perspective, up to the end of the picture round, right on the cusp of the end of the first 10 minutes of the show, 20 questions had been asked, of which Southampton had correctly answered 18. That’s the most impressive start I can remember for a very long time. They led 115 to minus 5.

Niall Jones refused to show Cardiff any mercy, correctly answering that Kyrgyzstan had staged the first two world nomad games. Helen of Troy in stage works brought another full house. When you hear “Along with the White Devil. . . “ you have to go for your buzzer and answer “The Duchess of Malfi” which is exactly what English student Niall Jones did for the next starter. Scientific terms beginning with ‘homeo’ slowed the Southampton juggernaut somewhat, as they only took the one. The old chestnut about Brownian motion gave me the pretext for a lap of honour around the living room, and Andrew Knighton a correct buzz. 20^th century psychologists gave none of us very much, although I did know Piaget. Nobody knew the economist Simon Kuznets, which meant we were almost halfway through the show and this was the first starter that Southampton had failed to answer. Niall Jones showed a nifty buzzer finger to identify Julian of Norwich for the next starter, bringing up a set of bonuses on Chopin. Southapton’s fabulous form on the bonuses seemed to have dried up a little by this time, as again a set went begging. The agony continued for Cardiff though, as Juan Pablo Ledesma identified the warblings of Katy Perry for the music starter. More examples of the millennial whoop – gesundheit – brought both a full house, and a score of 200 for Southampton. As if things weren’t bad enough for Cardiff, JP gave them the kiss of death by telling them there was still plenty of time to get going at this point. Nobody knew that Bridget Riley was heavily involved with Op Art, and so this allowed Daniel Conway (from Chiswick) to identify the word matrix. Bonuses on Dories Day promised them but little, and delivered nothing, but at least they had a positive score now. They looked to be on a roll as Rosie Cowell identified the word March as following Long and Salt. Estates with landscapes designed by Lancelot Capability Brown brought their first correct bonus answer. At just before the 20 minute mark the score stood at 200 – 20. 

Ian Strachan couldn’t repeat Cardiff’s recent successes with the next starter, incorrectly answering, leaving Niall Jones to identify Stamford Raffles as the founder of Singapore. Didn’t matter. The contest was over, and had been for some time, and the only questions that really remained were whether Cardiff could get to 100, and Southampton could get to 300. The latter looked at this stage a lot more likely than the former. Bonuses on the skeleton made this look even more likely as a full house was taken. Shown a geodesic dome for the next picture starter, Ian Strachan correctly recognised the work of Buckminster Fuller. Two other remnants of world fairs took Cardiff to 40. Niall Jones came in far too quickly for the next starter on GBS and lost 5, but Cardiff could not capitalise through not knowing the term bardolatry. Nobody knew a series of Haydn symphonies linked by Paris. Neither did anyone know of the use of the word Guillotine in Carlyle’s History fo the Revolution. Niall Jones knew that Reagan was president at the times of the deaths of Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenko (is the name Reagan by any chance Russian for ‘jinx’?) and thus earned bonuses on more US presidents. These only earned another 5, and the 300 mark seemed to be receding towards the event horizon away from Southampton. Nobody knew the term validity in logic. Juan Pablo Ledesma won the buzzer race to identify Whooper, Bewick and Mute as swans. Astronomy, and star classification yielded nothing to any of us. For these last few starters it seemed like each was an example of low lying fruit, easy for Southampton to pick up, but the bonuses seemed to have dried up. Sparkling wine saw them take just 1 of a very gettable set. A second lap of honour resulted from me knowing that the flavour of quark with the shortest name is up. Andrew Knighton also had that one. Bonuses on the Nobel Peace Prize saw them take the first two before the gong denied them of the chance of a full house. Final score – 280 – 40.

Well, what can I say? Granted, Southampton were generally much faster on the buzzer, and there isn’t a great deal you can do about that. However, what we did see of Cardiff suggested that even if you took the buzzer out of the equation, judging by the answers both teams provided, Southampton were considerably stronger. That’s just my opinion, feel free to disagree. As for Southampton, well they buzz well, and have a wide range of knowledge throughout the team. One to watch, I fancy.

Jeremy Paxman Watch

Seemingly despite himself JP couldn’t help acknowledging the superb form of Southampton in the first 10 minutes with a ‘well done’.

It had to happen. I was laying mental bets with myself about just how early JP was going to tell Cardiff that there was still plenty of time to get going. If you’re going to say it at all Jez, then waiting until the score is 200 to minus 5 is possibly a little late. Then, moments later when Daniel Conway (from Chiswick) scored Cardiff’s points, JP looked on disapprovingly as he earned a fistbump from the Cardiff skipper, and told them to get on with it. That’s more like it.

He was rather gracious at the end, though, saying that Cardiff never got a chance to show us what they can do – a commendably charitable interpretation of what happened.

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

George Bernard Shaw first coined the term ‘bardolatry’