Newcastle v. Fitzwilliam, Cambridge
Here we are then, dearly beloved, the
last instalment of what has been a very enjoyable set of quarter finals. Newcastle,
represented by Jack Reynard, Mollie Nielsen, Adam Lowery and captain Jonathan
Noble beat Bristol in their first quarter match, but lost out to St. John’s Cambridge
in their second. Opponents Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, in the shape of Theo
Tindall, Theo Howe, Jack Maloney and captain Hugh Oxlade fell to the might of
Merton in their first quarter, but came back to beat Emmanuel, Cambridge to set
up this match.
First indications of how the tie
might go were given when skipper Jonathan Noble won the buzzer race to
recognise that the terms ‘fade’ and ‘bunker’ – answers to the first two clues
in the question, related to the game of golf. They took two out of three
bonuses on conveyances. I didn’t get palanquin either. Neither team really
covered themselves in glory with the next starter. It asked for a European
capital, and was one of those where you had to wait for it to become clear.
Theo Tindall didn’t wait, and lost five. Newcastle might well have guessed
Warsaw from King Stanislaus, but zagged with Berlin instead. Force, friction,
heating and bulge may all be preceded by the word tidal. None of us knew that.
For the next one we had a quote about Orwell. Then the question asked “which
other English novelist . . . “ – which led both Jack Reynard and me to think that
the other one who often gets paired with Orwell is Aldous Huxley. We were both
right, earning the always valued Paxman ‘well done’ for doing so. Descriptions
of Tory Prime ministers from the gov.uk website provided a gettable set of
bonuses, which earned Newcastle their first full house of the contest. I don’t
think that Jonathan Noble quite heard the part of the next question which asked
for the given name of a sister of Lazarus in the gospels, as he buzzed early to
answer Daniel. Granted, that might have been Martha or Mary, but the clincher was
that the same name belonged to two of the first three first ladies of the USA.
Theo Tindall tapped that one into the open goal with Martha. That put them 5
points to the good, and bonuses on curves in Mathematics added a further 10. I
toyed with taking off on a lap of honour for knowing that Descartes’ birth
fitted the last question, but inertia won. For the picture starter we saw a
section of an electrocardiograph trace. Asked for the specific term for the
highlighted section Mollie Nielsen supplied the correct answer. More questions
about specific SCG traces provided one bonus. I answered tachycardia to each,
and thus earned myself a bonus on the
third. That was enough to set me off on the lap of honour. It was also enough
to ensure that Newcastle had a healthy lead of 55 – 15 just a little shy of the
10 minute mark.
None of us knew Karl Popper, inventor
of the snap fastener, for the next starter. Jonathan Noble guessed, as did I,
that the next question referred to the UC – Canada border, and zigged correctly
with 49th Parallel. Battles described in poetry furnished Newcastle
with a further ten points. Jack Maloney knew that if you multiplied the number
of sides on a teradecagon (14) by the number of sides on an undecagon (11) you
get 154. Quick buzz, and much needed by his team at this stage. A lovely UC
special set, pairs of place names in which the final part of the first is the
start of the second – ClitheROE and ROE Hampton being the given example – followed,
and provided Fitzwilliam with a full house. I was very pleased with myself for
coming up with the anatomical term vestigial for the next starter, especially
when Molly Nielsen did the same, and JP confirmed we were both right. Bonuses
on Passing provided nowt for Newcastle. So to the music starter. A brief snatch
of Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring was enough for both me and Jonathan Noble to
identify the work of JS Bach. Other recordings made by Dame Myra Hess provided
a further ten points and took Newcastle into triple figures. Molly Nielsen
correctly guessed that La Parisienne was by Renoir. Fossils provided a single
bonus, but to an extent that didn’t really matter. Every time that Newcastle
returned to the table, Fitzwilliam’s chances were growing slimmer. Molly
Nielsen came in too early for the next question about Albert Schweitzer. He may
well have also established a hospital in Hungary, but is better known surely
for doing so in Gabon, which was Jack Maloney’s answer. I was out with the
washing on Chinese Emperors, but Fitzwilliam managed the first. A little short
of the 20 minute mark, Newcastle now led 110 – 55. That’s actually a gap which
can be bridged in a few minutes, but nothing so far within the match had
suggested that this was at all likely to happen.
Jonathan Noble knew that Young challenged
Newton’s view that light was a stream of corpuscles. Fair enough. 3 bonuses on
slate brought 2 correct answers, although no points for not knowing the rather
wonderful Ffestiniog Railway line in North Wales. The second picture starter
announced an actor, and showed us John Wilkes Booth. (Apart from that, Mrs.
Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?)Hugh Oxlade won the buzzer race to
identify him. 3 more political assassins who subsequently died at the hands of
the state gave Fitzwilliam a further 10 points. Interestingly John Bellingham
was one of them, while the man he assassinated, Spencer Percival, had been the
answer to one of the Tory PM bonuses earlier. Theo Howe seemed most surprised when
his answer of Tantalus as the brother of Thyestes was wrong – sorry, but it was.
This allowed Jonathan Noble, who had led his side from the front all evening,
to correctly identify Atreus. Women born in the 1870s and 1880s gave them the
two bonuses they needed to reach 150. The Newcastle skipper won the buzzer race
for the next starter as well, knowing that the white boar was the personal
emblem of Richard III. A UC special set followed on words which begin and end
with the same three letters, for example HOTsHOT. 2 bonuses gave Newcastle a
lead of 100, and there was not time for the 4 full sets that Fitzwilliam would
now need to bridge that gap. Molly Nielsen knew that macrolides are antibiotics
which brought up a set on poetry. Both of us only managed the one. None of us
knew the term minimal pairs from linguistics. Jack Maloney came in too early
for the next starter, allowing Adam Lowery to work out that if it’s a spice
made from a dried bud, it’s probably cloves. Bonuses on Pascal’s Triangle
brought a further 10 points to Newcastle. That was it, as the next starter was
gonged halfway through.
Newcastle won convincingly by 205 –
65, against a Fitzwilliam team who have been better in this series than their
score in this match suggests. Sometimes teams just seem to run out of steam,
and that was what happened to them, I think. Another very good performance from
Newcastle. By my reckoning they’re underdogs for the series, but hey, what do I
know? Best of luck in the semis.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
Rather tetchily, I thought, JP
greeted Mollie Nielsen’s correct answer to the picture starter with , “Thank
Heavens for that! You’re going to be a doctor, aren’t you?” Look, Jez, it’s not
her fault that she was asked a question which related specifically to her own
field of study.
For the placenames bonuses, when Hugh
Oxlade gave the correct answer – EccLES and LESbos, he made a wry observation “Rarely
run together, I think”.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
The 49th Parallel was nicknamed the
Medicine Line by indigenous peoples because of its miraculous ability to halt
troops from the USA
1 comment:
Deserved win for Newcastle, who seem to have been steadily improving over the course of the series, but Fitzwilliam were a better team across the series than the scoreline suggests, nothing for them to be ashamed of. In fact, it was pretty much on the buzzer Newcastle won, their bonus rates, 20/36 to Fitzwilliam's 8/12, being rather even.
Post a Comment