Round 2 Heat
2 – St. John’s Cambridge v. Corpus Christi Cambridge
One of the
more impressive teams of the first round, St. John’s were represented by John-Clark
Levin, Rosie McKeown, Matt Hazell, and their captain James Devine-Stoneman.
Their opponents were Corpus Christi Cambridge, and they were Tristram Roberts, Kripa
Panchagnula, Benedict McDougall and skipper Joseph Krol.
Off we went,
then. Matt Hazell took first blood for St. John’s , recognising early that a type
of deer and a type of star could both be red. Good shout. A full set on
Zavodovski island, part of the South Sandwich islands gave them the best
possible start. Tristram Roberts struck back equally quickly for Corpus
Christi, knowing that Fermat didn’t have enough room in the margin to write the
solution to his last theorem. I’ll be honest, the only one of their bonuses
that I knew on choreographers was the one that they got on Bob Fosse – whom I
also though was the subject of the film Gorillas in the Mist. Rosie McKeown
knew that Prayers and Meditations was written by Catherine Parr – good shout
again. Thermodynamics bonuses followed. In the words of Ultravox, thie means
nothing to me, but provided another full house for St. John’s. John-Clark Levin
had a speculative punt that the European capital described in the next starter
would be Stockholm, being 7 degrees further North than London, and he was right
to do so. Once again, St. John’s took a full house on bonuses, this time on
Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Never read that myself, but I read the
Oryx and Crake trilogy over the summer and rather enjoyed them. Again Tristram
Roberts hauled Corpus back into the game, knowing that the result of the
meeting of particle and anti particle is annihilation. One bonus on mutinies
followed to take us up to the picture starter. An abridged set of first lines
from a famous poet appeared. In the middle, “Let us go then, you and I” was the
big clue that this was TS Eliot. Rosie McKeown snapped that one up. For the
bonuses St. John’s had to supply both poet and title of collection, and yes,
they did have another full house. This meant that every question that St. John’s
had answered up to the 10 minute mark they had answered correctly. Corpus Christi,
with 30, were not playing at all badly. But to this point St. John’s, with 100,
were playing brilliantly.
It really paid
to wait with the next starter, as all of a sudden it became clear that the
answer required the word longhorn, supplied by Rosie McKeown. The Geography
bonuses saw them wavering on a couple of questions, but still they supplied the
answers to a full house of bonuses. The impressive Rosie McKeown showed no
mercy towards poor, shell shocked Corpus, knowing the Cuban dance, the Habanera
for the next starter. Finally they showed just a little vulnerability on a set
of Geology bonuses, not knowing the term orogeny. Is that where orogenous zones
come from? Mind you, they still took the other two bonuses. Again, Tristram
Roberts interrupted the run of St. John’s starters, knowing the definition of
the metre squared. Sadly they only managed one of a gettable set on Edouard
Manet. It was Rosie McKeown again who knew that the Iolani Palace is in
Honolulu. Again they missed out on a full house, but staphylococci bacteria
still provided two correct answers. So to the music starter, and for once St.
John’s supplied an incorrect starter answer.Neither Corpus nor I recognised the
work of Weber. The St. John’s skipper was very quickly in to win the dubious
honour of the music bonuses, knowing all about particles and spin. The bonuses did
nothing for any of us. Matt Hazell correctly identified sparrows as being one
of the four pests, the eradication of which was one goal of China’s 1958 Great
Leap Forward. Bonuses on works of European Romanticism brought a further two
correct answers, and I did wonder if JP was about to administer the coup de
grace to Corpus by telling them that there was plenty of time left to come
back. Rosie McKeown edged her team through the 200 barrier, recognising various
writers with the Christian name Elizabeth. A single bonus on capitalism
followed. Joseph-Clark Levin knew that Stalin was criticised in the work The
Cult of Personality and its Consequences, which brought up an excellent UC
special set on nationalities whose name appears when a certain combination of
words are entered in Google – eg – cheese and army knife for Swiss. 2 correct
answers meant that on the cusp of the 20 minute mark St. John’s led by 230 to
45.
Nobody
recognised the work of Delacroix for the 2nd picture starter.
Tristram Roberts knew the acronym DDS in computing terms, and received the picture
bonuses for his pains. The team could only recognise the work of JMW Turner.
Rosie McKeown knew or guessed that the 1930s was described poetically as a low,
dishonest decade, and bonuses on Shakespeare provided 2 more correct answers.
Matt Hazell knew that in biological terms NK stands for Natural Killer. 5
letter cricketing terms only provided one guessed answer, but so what? St. John’s
were through, and poor old Corpus were over 200 points behind. One had to feel
for Tristram Roberts. HE took another starter knowing Confucianism, and his
personal total was a good one, but sadly none of the rest of his team had been
able to find their range with the buzzer. I’ll be honest, when JP announced
that they had won a set of bonuses on Norwegian writers, I would have blamed
them for saying ‘you’re having a laugh, aint yer? ‘ – my answer to each was
Ibsen, and was wrong. This left Corpus becalmed on 70. James Devine-Stoneman
guessed that cetane rating applies to diesel fuel, to stretch the gap to over
200 points again. 10 points on chess terminology put St. John’s within striking
distance of the 300 barrier – one visit to the table could be enough. Yet it
was the Corpus Christi skipper who recognised the 2 St. Bernards (humans, not
dogs) in the next starter. Sadly there was no time for them to find a correct
answer to the set on Archbishops of Canterbury, and at the gong the score was
285 – 80 in St. John’s favour.
I’m glad
that JP said nothing to rub it in to Corpus Christi. Yes, maybe they might have
thrown caution to the wind a little more with the buzzer, but let’s give credit
where it’s due. The margin was heavy because St. John’s played so well, and
displayed good and at times great knowledge across a very wide range of
disciplines. Nobody will fancy playing against them in the quarters, and they
need to be taken extremely seriously. A very fine performance.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
Nothing to
see here. Get on with your lives, citizens.
Interesting fact That I Didn’t Already Know
Of The Week
Both Temple
Archbishops of Canterbury, father and son, died in office.
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