University Challenge - Quarter Final Sudden Death Play Off - Edinburgh v. Bristol

Sudden death play off – Edinburgh v. Bristol 

After all the ballyhoo it comes down to this in the quarters. Both teams knew if they won they were through, and if they lost it was the minibus home. Edinburgh had fairly comfortably beaten Manchester in their first quarter, but then lost to Durham in their first qualification match.  Playing for Edinburgh we had Matt Booth, Marco Malusa, Robbie Campbell-Hewson and captain Max Fitz-James. As for Bristol, well, the team of George Sumner, Owen Iredale, Pushan Basu and skipper Anne le Maistre had been drawn in their previous two matches against the two best starter buzzers in the whole series, Jason Golfinos of Darwin, and Freddy Leo of Teddy Hall. They had beaten Darwin on a tie break, and lost very narrowly to Teddy Hall. Morally, you could argue, they deserved a place in the semis. It doesn’t always work like that though.

In both previous quarter final matches, the early buzzing of Owen Iredale had seemed to put messrs Golfinos and Leo off their stride for the early stages of the contests. However it was Max Fitz-James who won the buzzer race to ascribe ‘hope springs eternal’ to Alexander Pope. John Everett Millais provided a couple of bonuses. Matt Booth came in too early for the next starter, losing five, allowing Pushan Basu to answer that Tolstoy had written of his experiences in the Crimean War. Bonuses on molybdenum brought me a lap of honour for knowing that tungsten and osmium have a melting point above 2500 degrees Celsius. I actually knew two of the bonuses to Bristol’s one. George Sumner knew who invented transistors, a question which also was asked in this week’s Mastermind. Balkan combatants in World War I earned just the one bonus. The astronomy starter which followed , describing a star, sounded difficult until it mentioned that it was in Ursa Monir. You hear of a star in Ursa Minor, you thump the buzzer and answer Polaris/Pole Star/ North Star. That’s what the Edinburgh skipper did. A rather complicated Maths Science set brought me nowt and Edinburgh a full house, and a Paxman well done. The picture starter showed us a county town on a map, and both Owen Iredale and I answered Winchester. Three other settlements that were seats of rulers of Anglo Saxon kingdoms brought me my first full house of the evening, and Bristol one correct answer. It had been a well matched contest so far, and Bristol led by 45 – 40 at the 10 minute mark.

Robbie Campbell Hewson recognised works by Isaiah Berlin for the next starter.  Cecil Woodham-Smith – yes, Cecil Woodham-Who – actually provided us both with a full house. I didn’t understand the question which led to the answer congruence, and neither team managed an answer. I guessed that the next starter, about a Greek Historian was referring to Herodotus, and Max Futz-James ventured the same answer, winning a set of bonuses on abbreviations of provinces of Canada and corresponding UK postcode areas. This took their score to 80. Owen Iredale won a fine buzzer race to answer Las Meninas for the next starter, which earned a set on works in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. These brought me just the one bonus, but Bristol none. So to the music round. After some consideration, Pushan Basu identified the work of Debussy. Other works dedicated to the Princess of Polignac brought 2 bonuses. Max Fitz-James came in too early for the next starter and the scores were level again. The rest of the question made it seem fairly obvious that the answer was surface tension, but Bristol shot wide of this open goal. OK, now, whenever you get a UC question which contains the words ‘a group of ministers of Charles II’ you slam the buzzer and answer cabal. That’s exactly what Robbie Campbell Hewson did. Ancient Athens brought me just the one and Edinburgh two correct answers. Both Owen Iredale and I knew that George Canning was briefly Prime Minister in 1827, and this earned bonuses on astronomical terms. Just the one was taken. This meant that the two teams were still separated by just 5 points at the 20 minute mark, Edinburgh leading 95 – 90.

This gap was reduced to zero as Max Fitz-James came in too early for the next starter. Anne Le Maistre knew that Detroit is the largest city in Michigan, to earn bonuses on linguistic typology. Meant little to me, to be honest, and only brought one bonus to Bristol. For the second picture round we saw a Rodin sculpture. Max Fitz-James was first in to see it. Three more sculptures brought a full house and the lead. Matt Booth did exactly what I would have done and guessed that the artist born in 1862, whose early works included portraits of Viennese society figures was Gustav Klimt. Bonuses on film directors did not help them to extend the lead. Owen Iredale knew that Russia and North Korea have borders on the Tumen river. Words relating to groups of trees brought just one bonus. Now, I didn’t work out the complicated sum for the next starter, but I guessed that if the answer was a number then the well known novel we were talking about was very likely to be 1984. So did Robbie Campbell Hewson and we were both right. A full house would just about seal the deal for Edinburgh. Magazines founded in the 19^th century brought 2 bonuses, and Edinburgh could still be caught with a full set. Nobody could get the next starter on the planet Jupiter. Robbie Campbell Hewson sealed the deal for once and for good by buzzing early to guess that the work by Ravel alluded to would be the Bolero. British and US history was announced, but there was not time left for this set of bonuses. Edinburgh had won by 155 to 120.

Hard lines Bristol. The matchmakers did you no favours in the quarters and you acquitted yourselves very well in all three matches. As for Edinburgh, well done. This was a match won on the bonuses, and for me Edinburgh were clearly better on bonus conversion.

Jeremy Paxman Watch

Not a lot. With a few minutes to go Owen Iredale correctly answered a starter, putting Bristol back to within 15 points of Edinburgh at which JP observed jocularly “Don’t look so despairing, there’s still time!” Well as we all know, encouragement from JP is usually the kiss of death to a team, so no wonder Bristol lost.

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

In the Hindu calendar, the planet Jupiter is associated with Thursday

Mastermind 2019 - First round heat 22

Heat 22

So here we go, dearly beloved, just another couple of heats to go after this, and then we’re into the hurly burly of the semi finals.

Last night then we kicked off with Nick Henderson, who was answering on top 40 music of the 1970s. Now, I was a kid throughout the 70s, and I didn’t fare too badly on this round, scoring 7. Granted, that was under no pressure, sitting on my own sofa. Nick also scored 7, and 6 of these were the same ones I answered. I didn’t know the La Belle Epoque one, but I knew the old quiz chestnut about Pussycat being a Dutch group. This suggests to me that like me, Nick got most of the easy ones, but failed on the harder ones, and that, I’m afraid, suggests a contender who was underprepared.

I only managed 5 on the next round on Neville Chamberlain, offered to us by Derek French. This was a better round, but even having said that Derek’s score of 10 left quite a bit of wiggle room for the contenders yet to come. To more or less guarantee that you’re still going to be in the contest at the hald way stage whatever your fellow contenders do you really need to score 12.

Third to go was Paula Keaveney. Paula was making what I believe to be a fourth tilt at the title. In 2006 she appeared in the first round, then in both Nancy’s 2009 series, and Marianne’s 2015 series she won her heats to reach the semis. In fact I believe that Paula is one of a small number of contenders to have to endure a tie break. So this all attests to a certain pedigree in the show, and made her the pre race favourite if you like. Her round on the history of Sparta was, disappointingly, the lowest that she has produced in a first round heat. She obviously knew her stuff judging by the correct answers she gave, but she didn’t know enough of it, and finished on 9.

This left Judith Lewis, who was answering on her namesake, the great Clive Staples Lewis. What followed was fine demonstration of how you take a round by the scruff of the neck and give it a good old thrashing. Judith scored 14 and no passes. Putting that into perspective this put her 4 points ahead of the chasing pack. Only something remarkable looked likely to prevent her from winning.

So to Nick Henderson’s GK round. Now, with some contdners it’s pretty obvious that it doesn’t matter how well or how badly they do on their specialist because their General Knowledge is just not good enough to give them a realistic chance of a win. I get really frustrated with people who clearly have a good general knowledge, but have put themselves so far behind on specialist that they completely negate their own advantage. So you can imagine how I felt as Nick proceeded to score 16 in a fine GK round. As it was this took him to 23, which is the brink of a score which might just be good enough in some heats. Had he managed a good specialist score, well . . .

It's fairest to say that Paula’s previous displays on GK have been steady but not spectacular, and following Derek’s round she was going to have to be on her very best form to take the lead. This wasn’t how it worked out. She’d made the clear decision to pass rather than agonise, but seemed to fall foul of this as she amassed 5 passes for only 8 correct answers and finished with 17.

Such was the nature of Nick Henderson’s performance that Derek French would need to score 14 on GK to go into the outright lead, and while he stuck manfully to the task it had become clear before the appearance of the blue line of death that he was going to fall short. He finished with a respectable 10 to take his score to 20.

This left just Judith. Now, we have seen people go from last to first during the GK rounds before, but it’s still relatively unusual, especially when the gap between 4^th and 1^st is so wide at the halfway stage. Still, Judith needed 10 to take the lead, and that‘s enough to put some contenders into the corridor of doubt. There was precious little sign of this in Judith’s round, mind you. Hers wasn’t quite as good as Nick’s, but it was still very good, and her score of 15 gave her a great total of 29. Now that’s how you win a heat of Mastermind. Well done, and best of luck in the semi finals.

The Details

Nick Henderson	Top 40 Music of the 1970s	7	3	16	1	23	4
Derek French	Neville Chamberlain	10	1	10	2	20	3
Paula Keaveney	History of Sparta	9	3	8	5	17	8
Judith Lewis	The Life of C.S.Lewis	14	0	15	2	29	2

University Challenge 2019 - Elimination Match - Darwin, Cambridge v. Emmanuel, Cambridge

Elimination Match – Darwin, Cambridge v. Emmanuel, Cambridge

Well, dearly beloved, last Monday we had two of the more interesting teams in this year’s contest drinking in the last chance saloon. Darwin lost to Bristol last time out, when their lightning fingered skipper didn’t quite manage to buzz them back after a bad start. Stuart Macpherson, Chris Davis and Guy Mulley were hoping that skipper Jason Golfinos would manage another virtuoso performance to see them through. Standing in their way were Emmanuel, felled by this year’s other buzzmeister, Freddy Leo of Teddy Hall last time out. Connor Macdonald, Vedanth Nair, Ben Harris and skipper, LAM reader Dani Cugini were hoping that the fighting qualities which have seen them safely this far would stand them in good stead once again.

A good old chestnut kicked us off, and it was Connor Macdonald who won the buzzer race to say that it was Gladstone who Victoria claimed spoke to her as if addressing a public meeting. World history, and events which happened in years made of a recurring number, eg 1414, provided a bonus. The next starter featured a riddle by Jonathan Swift, and maybe I was just having a good evening but I was surprised that neither team could see that the answer was vowels, and it’s not as if I’d encountered the riddle itself before. I didn’t know the term Mean Free Path, but Stuart Macpherson did, and opened Darwin’s account with it. Being two seats removed from his skipper he had to make do with a Golfinos fist bump. Literary criticism of Kate Millet – yes, Kate Who in LAM Towers – brought two bonuses to give Darwin the lead. Jason Golfinos took his first starter of the evening, knowing that Debussy and Charles Trenet both produced works entitled La Mer. A good old UC special set on pairs of words, the last letters of the first of which are the first letters of the second followed, and provided controversy with the first. Asked for a Russian born pioneer of abstract art and a US orbiting space laboratory, the required answer was Kandinsky and Skylab. Darwin offered El Lissitzky and Skylab. Now, I’m sorry, but it’s Skylab, not Zkylab. Yet JP accepted the answer. It didn’t necessarily make any difference to the outcome of the show, but I’d be interested in the justification for accepting that one. For the picture starter Ben Harris recognised the English city marked on the map we saw as Chester. Other cities that have won the EU’s Access City award provided a couple of bonuses and narrowed the gap to 5. A range of things and people referenced in the opening of Trainspotting brought Stuart Macpherson another starter. We both took two bonuses on last lines of American works of literature from the middle of the 19^th century. All of which meant that Darwin led by 60-35 just after the 10 minute mark.

Jason Golfinos’ buzzer finger was in perfect working order to win the buzzer race to answer that Portugal and Spain concluded the Treaty of Tordesillas. Matilda of Tuscany didn’t seem to promise a great deal, but actually delivered the Darwin skipper a very good full house. He seemed to have warmed to the task now, as he buzzed early to identify the Dunning (Clive? Surely not.)-Kruger Effect. Gesundheit. Physics, and a UC special set which involved using the initials of scientists to give chemical elements provided me with what I thought was a well earned lap of honour for getting Isaac Newton – In – Indium. Incidentally this was the only one that Darwin took as well. Ben Harris knew that if the breastbone is the sternum – and it is – then S for sternum will probably point towards the Spanish word for South. This earned much needed bonuses on Russian poet Anna ‘Who’ Akhmatova. The second bonus required the answer of Osip Mandelstam. Dani said that she hadn’t heard of him. I think he’s probably best known through the book “Hope Against Hope” written by his wife Nadezhda Mandelstam, about their torment and persecution before he was taken away by Stalin’s thugs, and died on the way to the gulag. Emmanuel took the other two bonuses. Dani had a great early buzz for the next starter to identify Dario Fo from his Nobel Citation. Two more bonuses on dwarf planets reduced the gap to 25 as we approached the music starter. It took quite a long time before Jason Golfinos identified the work of Gil Scott-Heron. Three other artists who have also in their time been called the Godfather/mother of a genre of music brought a full house. Jason Golfinos correctly guessed that a political and military figure born in Dublin in 1769 was the Duke of Wellington. Sculptures in the Palazzo della Signoria in Florence saw Darwin take another very good full set, and suddenly the gap between the teams was widening ominously. On the cusp of the 20 minute mark Darwin led by 150 – 75.

I was pleased with myself for guessing that aesthetics has been defined as the Science of sensitive knowing – neither team managed that. A great early buzz from Connor Macdonald identified former Brazilian leader Dilma Rousseff for the next starter. Bonuses on the world in 1919 brought a timely full house and took Emmanuel’s score into triple figures. Jason Golfinos took his 6^th starter with Juergen Habermas, (who I thought was the left back for East Germany in the 1974 World Cup.) Creative works sharing the same titles were all too easy for Darwin, and brought them another full house. Neither team – nor me – recognised a still from the film Wild Strawberries for the second picture starter. Now, you hear the nickname Kingmaker, you sling some buzzer and answer Warwick. Stuart Macpherson missed with York, allowing Ben Harris in with the correct answer.  The picture bonuses rolled over from the previous starter promised but little on non American road movies, but they might possibly have had Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Nobody knew that Koplick Spots are associated with measles. I don’t blame Ben Harris for answering Leviathan as the creature mentioned in the Book of Leviticus – it sounded a 50/50 between that and Behemoth. Sadly for him it was Behemoth and this gave Jason Golfinos starter number 7. Rivers and National Parks only brought the one bonus, but time was very much on Darwin’s side now. Starter 8 followed fast on its heels as Jason Golfinos identified Dover as the first of the Cinque Ports alphabetically. Cameo appearances of Alfred Hitchcock took them to 210, and the game was all over bar the shouting. Bose Einstein Condensate brought Vedanth Nair the next starter, and a set of bonuses on Lewises brought a full house. Guy Mulley took the next starter, recognising the titles of Alan Ayckbourn’s Norman Conquests. There was time for just one bonus on the prophet Samuel before the gong ended the contest. Darwin won by 225 – 130.

Hard lines to Emmanuel. They didn’t play badly at all, but were beaten on the buzzer, and also to an extent beaten on the bonuses. They did well on their own bonuses, but not as well as Darwin, who were hitting them out of the park largely in this contest. They’ll fancy their chances of progression after this, and not without good reason.

Jeremy Paxman Watch

You ust got the idea that JP was telling Darwin off for showing off when he told them they could have given the better known Kandinsky for the bonus question. Wonder what he would have said if he’d realised that strictly speaking they gave a wrong answer (I think).

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

Nothing especially grabbed my attention this time. Sorry about that.

Mastermind 2019 - First round heat 21

Well, we’re coming towards the end of the first round, dearly beloved. It seems as if the contenders have been walking through the portal of portent for years now, but there we are, just a few more heats and then it’s the semis.

First to try to earn his place in aforementioned semis was Abhi Chatterjee. Abhi was answering on The Goons. Now, although I wouldn’t call myself an expert, or even a great fan, I do know a little bit about the Goons, and I managed to get 9 on this round. Yes, I was sitting on the Clark sofa, not in the studio. Still, when Abhi managed to get 7, you got the feeling that either nerves or some under-preparation had affected his performance, and it was likely that he was going to have some catching up to do after half time.

I had another good round on Kathy Bracy’s questions about the Trojan War. Greek mythology was my specialist subject in my first ever Mastermind competition (Elthorne High School Mastermind 1981 – won thanks very much) and I once rewrote the Iliad in double dactyl verse – don’t ask. So this time I took 10. However this was not as good as Kathy, who managed 12. Trust me, on those questions this was a fine performance and meant that she would certainly be in contention going into the GK.

My run of good rounds soon came to an end, though. I provide that I don’t know a great deal about the artist Egon Schiele. Sean Climo, though, proved that he knows a great deal indeed about him.  This was a terrific round, where Sean had obviously thoroughly prepared, and he made pretty short work of it. A score of 14 on GK in this day and age is a really terrific performance, and the way that he’d answered his questions made him a pretty safe bet for the Clark 50p.

Which wasn’t to dismiss the chances of Jeremy Baker. He was answering on the novels of Mary Wesley. Now, apart from having watched a couple of episodes of The Camomile Lawn back in the day – ah, Jennier Ehle – I am a stranger to the works, which I proved as the round progressed. Again, Jeremy obviously knew his stuff, but the round found out a few gaps in this knowledge. 9 is a perfectly respectable score, but it left him 5 points behind, and that’s the kind of gap which is very, very difficult to bridge.

So Abhi returned to the chair, then, probably knowing in his heart of hearts that the gap was too wide to have any realistic chance of winning. Sadly what followed was not a great GK round. The questions didn’t fall his way, and he joined the ranks of those who failed to score more than 6 in GK – and I don’t want to bang on about this but there have been far more contenders this series who have done so than there were in the previous. Hopefully the new production team will reverse this trend next year. Apart from any other consideration, it looked like quite a painful experience for Abhi, who shook his head in pain when John announced he had 6 passes.

Jeremy gave his own GK round a good old lash, and emerged with a fighting 12 points to take his score to 21. I did think that he’d started too far behind Sean to have a realistic chance, and I was sticking with that, but it was still a decent round, and gave him a score over 20. This was put into perspective by Kathy’s round which followed. Kathy had started with 12, 3 ahead of Jeremy, but she never looked convincing in her round. She came close to matching Jeremy’s total, but couldn’t answer the last question as the blue line of death completed its stranglehold of her score while it still languished on 20.

Yes, if I’m honest I did think it was all over bar the shouting as Sean took his seat in the chair, knowing that 8 would be enough to win outright. But then I’ve thought that before and been proven wrong. But no, Sean didn’t quite produce an outstanding round, but then he didn’t need to. He still produced the best GK round of the show, and added a good 13 to take his total to 27, which gave him a winning margin of 6 points. Very well done Sir, and you never know, he may just be one to watch in the semi finals.

The Details

Abhi Chatterjee	The Goons	7	5	5	6	12	11
Kathy Bracy	The Trojan War	12	0	8	4	20	4
Sean Climo	Life and work of Egon Schiele	14	0	13	1	27	1
Jeremy Baker	The Novels of Mary Wesley	9	2	12	2	21	4

University Challenge - Qualification Match

University Challenge – Bristol v. St. Edmund Hall

Bristol, in their first quarter final, beat one ‘superbuzzer’ in the shape of Darwin’s Jason Golfinos in their first quarter. To make it through to the semis in this match they would have to beat another in the shape of Freddy Leo. Hoping to do just that were George Sumner, Owen Iredale, Pushan Basu and skipper Anne LeMaistre. In their own first quarter final, Teddy Hall beat Dani Cugini’s Emmanuel, Cambridge, through the inspired buzzing of that man Leo. Favourites to win this contest, the team were once again Agastya Pisharody, Marceline Bresson, Lizzie Fry and captain Freddy Leo.

This was a rare occasion that Mrs. Londinius was in the front room while the show was on, and I confidently predicted that this would be a Teddy Hall win, with Leo again starring on the buzzer. So of course, Bristol won the first starter. Nobody seemed to fancy a shy at the country alluded to in the question, so it fell to Owen Iredale to have a correct punt with China. This earned bonuses on the American bishop, Elizabeth Poet – sorry, I’ll read that again – the American poet, Elizabeth Bishop. Bristol took a good full house. Mr. Iredale’s buzzer finger was obviously well warmed up since he beat Freddy Leo in the buzzer race to answer that the elements of the periodic table with the longest and shortest names are tin and rutherfordium. Yes, of course I took a lap of honour for that one. European folk dances didn’t look likely to be particularly fertile ground yet yielded me a full house and Bristol 2 correct answers. The next starter, using the memorable phrase ‘frozen music’ is one of those UC hardy perennials, but neither team knew it referred to architecture. Freddy Leo made his first buzz of the night, and lost five points for his pains. Once again, Owen Iredale beat Freddy Leo to the buzzer for the next starter, knowing that the Poe story often regarded as one of the earliest works of detective fiction is “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”. Some physics bonuses brought me absolutely nothing (say it again) and Bristol one, although if skipper LeMaistre had nominated George Sumner for the last rather than misrepeating his answer, they would have had 2. So to the picture starter. A capital city was indicated on a map, and both Owen Iredale and I identified it as Khartoum. That was his 4^th correct starter so far. Three more major cities that grew up around the confluences of major rivers provided a full house, and only one of those was anything like a gimme. George Sumner recognised a definition of the term Moment of Inertia for the next starter, while Teddy Hall continued to have moments of inertia whenever a starter was being asked. Bonuses on cyborgs brought the 5 points Bristol needed to reach 100 just after the 10 minute mark, while St. Edmund Hall languished on minus 5. Mrs. Londinius complimented me on my powers of prophecy and skill as a tipster. My reply was spherical and in the plural.

A three figure lead is not to be lightly dismissed. It was too early to say that the contest was over, but it would take a hell of a fightback for St. Edmund Hall.

They missed an opportunity with the next starter when Pushan Basu came in too early and lost five, but they were unable to recognise John Keat’s “Ode to Autumn”, one of the most perfect poems in the English (or any other) language. At last the Leo buzzer finger found its mark with the next question, on the Italian drinking song called a Brindisi. Places described in a work on Anglo-Indian words and phrases brought a couple of bonuses. Freddy Leo then took his second starter in row, knowing that Vega completes the summer triangle with Deneb and Altair. The communist politician Anna Pauker – yes, Anna Who? in LAM Towers – proved equally tough to Teddy Hall who drew a blank. Rather bizarrely, Pushan Basu came in very early on the music starter to suggest that Tina Turner’s River Deep Mountain High was the work of Kate Bush. This allowed Lizzie Fry in for the correct answer. Other works featuring the session musician Carol Kaye only produced a further five points. Still there was a lot of time still remaining, and the gap was narrowing. Freddy Leo linked stoa and stomata to get S T O for the next starter to narrow the gap further. The Hogarth Shakespeare bonuses saw Mrs. L observe that Freddy Leo wasn’t really listening to the advice of his team, and was dropping gettable bonuses. Well he certainly did that with the first, and his team only managed one bonus from a gettable set. So as we approached the 20 minute mark this last ten minutes had been all Teddy Hall, yet they had only taken their score to 55, while Bristol’s had been reduced to 95.

Now, all the momentum being with Teddy Hall at this stage of the competition, what was called for was a good buzz from Bristol, and that’s what we got from Owen Iredale, who identified Dr. Tulp from the famous work by Rembrandt. Orbital elements from Astronomy provided a distinctly useful 2 bonuses. I didn’t understand the next question, but Marceline Bresson knew the answer was 2.5%. Good answer. Bonuses on Lactantius brought a well earned full house. For the second picture starter Freddy Leo did a Golfinos, buzzing then pausing before answering, and was called out for it by JP, He still got the right answer of Toni Morrison, though. Other givers of the Jefferson Lecture took Teddy Hall into triple figures, and more importantly, one good buzz would give them the chance of taking the lead. Asked the number of the English King in 1414, Anne Le Maistre missed an opportunity by answering 4. Freddy Leo buzzed and then didn’t answer for a long pause. He earned even more of a Paxman wigging, but was still given the points for a correct answer. Quotations from the 1860s provided the one bonus they needed to draw level with Bristol. It had taken a long time, but all the evidence of the last 15 minutes suggested that they would go on to take the contest. Bristol seemed a little shell shocked, as Leo was having it all his own way on the buzzer. The final words of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner proved all too easy for him to identify for the next starter. Jewels provided a full house in short order, which actually gave time for Owen Iredale to take the next starter, knowing that as well as Peru, Paraguay, Chile and Argentina are all entirely south of the Equator. Bristol needed a full house on place names beginning with Kar but passed on the second and third. It was all down to the last starter – and it was Freddy Leo who applied the coup de grace, knowing that Thoreau wrote Walden. Gong.

What a thoroughly interesting contest. It showed that what Bristol did to Darwin was no fluke, and also that Teddy Hall are vulnerable if Leo’s buzzing is a little off, as it was for the first ten minutes. However it also showed that Teddy Hall are resilient when things don’t go their way. That contest could have gone either way – both teams over 50% on the bonus conversion rate. Well done to St. Edmund Hall, but certainly don’t write Bristol off after that.

Jeremy Paxman Watch

JP back was to his stern self early doors, giving Anne Le Maistre a wigging for not repeating George Sumner’s answer to the Physics bonus correctly. He didn’t give them the points either. I’ve no problem with that as long as the rule is applied consistently.

As early as 10 minutes into the competition JP was issuing the dreaded “Perhaps you’ll get going with this” to Teddy Hall. Few teams ever come back from words of encouragement from Paxman. He was very disbelieving when Marceline Bresson offered Spring for the Keats question, but then just chuckled. Time was when he’d have ridiculed her unmercifully for that.

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

Emperor Hirohito made the Jewel Voice Broadcast in 1945

Mastermind 2019 Heat 20

Mastermind 2019 – Heat 20

So to another Mastermind, dearly beloved, and one which had to contend with competition from Comic Relief over on BBC One. Would hat prove to be a good or bad thing for our four contenders? Well, first up was Lucy Glass. Lucy was answering questions on 80s icon Prince. Cards on the table, I was never a fan myself, although I thought he was a brilliant songwriter, and loved some of the songs he wrote for other artists. So as it was I was quite happy to take my 3 points on this one and run. Lucy did quite a bit better. 11, as we all know by now, is a competitive score. However it did leave quite a bit of wiggle room for any contender who could have a belting round on their own subject.

Next to try to administer said belting was Geoff Stephenson. He was answering on a good, old traditional Mastermind specialist with the engineer Thomas Telford. I did slightly better on this round with 4. Geoff started like he really meant business. However, as the round progressed he began picking up a few errors. Nothing too serious, but it did again limit his score to 11.

Now, the next contender was another Stephenson, Tom of that ilk. Nobody mentioned whether he and Geoff were related, but if they were, then it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve had relatives on the same show together. It’s not important anyway. What is important is that Tom was answering on the Julio Claudian dynasty, which is something I rather immodestly claim to know a bit about. So I was satisfied when I accrued a score of 13 from the comfort of the Clark sofa. From the clutches of the black chair, Tom managed 11. That’s a perfectly good score, but I would argue that at least 2 of those he dropped were perfectly gettable.

Finally Susan Simmons, answering on the novels of Charles Dickens. Phew, that’s a subject fraught with danger I thought to myself, and despite the fact that I love Dickens, I’d never have opted to take it as a specialist subject. He wrote 14 completed novels and one incomplete, and each of the complete ones is a hefty tome. To learn them to the kind of depth needed to give yourself a fighting chance would be a mammoth undertaking. Seen in this light Susan’s 7 doesn’t seem quite such a modest score, but the fact remains that it left her out of the competition to all intents and purposes with the GK still to come.

I never had to go first in a GK round, so I don’t actually know what the experience is like, but I’d imagine it can’t be an easy one. So Susan returned to the chair, and she scored 9 points, a respectable round, certainly in the context of some of the GK rounds we’ve seen in this series. But with all due respect, this was never going to have a bearing on the race for the semi final seat.

Lucy Glass’ round, on the other hand, looked very competitive. I always like to see a contender getting the most points the possibly can by using the supposedly simple tactic of treating each question on its own merits, answering what they know, and coming up with a decent guess for what they don’t. It sounds simple when I write it like that, but it’s so easy to end up dropping points on stuff you know, or could work out when you’re in the chair. Lucy’s 13 for a total of 24 looked the kind of target which could actually give her a fighting chance of the win.

It looked even more so after Geoff had returned to the chair, and never looked quite convincing as he rather laboured to 11 for a total of 22. That’s a perfectly respectable overall total, but it’s not quite enough to give you a realistic chance of winning.

All of which meant that only Tom stood – er – sat between Lucy and the semi final. And to be fair to Tom, right up until the end of the round he looked on target to do it. He Was on 22, with a good 5 questions still to come. If he could answer three of them, then he’d go through. Well, the questions came, and they went, and it was only as the blue line of doom completed it’s stranglehold on the score box that he managed to find a correct answer, leaving himself stranded on 23.

Well played Lucy – good luck in the semi finals.

The Details

Lucy Glass	Prince	11	1	13	4	24	5
Geoff Stephenson	The Life and Work of Thomas Telford	11	1	11	2	22	3
Tom Stephenson	The Julio-Claudian Dynasty	11	3	12	3	23	6
Susan Simmons	The Novels of Charles Dickens	7	2	9	2	16	4

University Challenge 2019 - Quarter Final Elimination Match

Glasgow v. Manchester

Yes, drinking in the last chance saloon on Monday we had Glasgow and Manchester. Glasgow were represented by Lewis Barn, Freya Whiteford, Cameron Herbert and captain James Hampson. Manchester were beaten last time out by Edinburgh, and they were represented by Alexander Antao, Georgia Lynott, Joe Hanson and skipper James Ross. Favourites? Well, you pays yer money. . .

I had a very early lap of honour in this show. The first starter was extremely science, then took a swerve asking about a theoretical wager on the existence of God. Pascal! I shouted at the same time as Georgia Lynott buzzed in with the same answer. The architectural partnership of Venturi and Scott-Brown brought Manchester just the one bonus. Both teams let the next starter play out rather longer than absolutely necessary – after all, fictional work inspired by Carlyle’s History of the French Revolution rather screams out A Tale of Two Cities, but eventually Cameron Herbert went first and picked up the points for Glasgow. 20^th century inventions brought 2 bonuses and the lead. A good early buzz from James Hampson identified La Boheme from a description. Cell biology did not fill me with optimism, with good reason for I couldn’t get any of the bonuses. Glasgow managed just the one as well. For the picture starter we saw a map showing an island country. Now, the country itself was enlarged in relation to the rest of the map, the most obvious feature of which was the island nation of Sri Lanka. This was a pretty big clue to the Maldives, but not a clue either team could pick up on, and the picture bonuses rolled over. I spotted the Monroe Doctrine in the next question early doors, and shortly afterwards so did Joe Hanson, to get Manchester on the move again. Picture bonuses of 3 more island groups provided 2 correct answers, and this meant that we had a tied game at 35 apiece by the ten minute mark.

Neither team knew the optical axis any more than I did for the next starter. There was a lovely UC special for the next starter. If you take the initial letters of a country and its capital, then France would be FP and Germany GB. Got it? The teams were asked to name two countries of Europe which would be SB. Lewis Barn had it with Serbia and Belgrade, and Slovakia and Bratislava. I’m sure he could have had Switzerland and Bern as well. Film criticism brought them two more correct answers. James Ross knew works that were connected by Warsaw. The Cote d’Azur brought absolutely nowt to Manchester for the bonuses. I only knew the perfume one myself. I have no idea what blockchain is all about but Freya Whiteford was in with it very early for the next starter. Ted Hughes brought two bonuses, the other was very gettable too. So to the music starter, and Joe Hanson veritably leapt in to provide the identification of the work of Philip Glass. This was Einstein on the Beach. Three more songs about Scientists saw both of us take a single bonus on Kate Bush. Something about pressures of a gas passed me by completely, but Alexander Antao supplied the correct answer of 2.5 atmospheres. Purpose built capital cities saw Manchester really fail to get to grips with any of the questions and a full set of bonuses went begging. A really lovely starter asked us for the common name of sambucus niger, then helpfully told us it could be made from the Spanish and German masculine definite articles singular – el and der. Alexander Antao was first to work that out. This gave Manchester the lead and a set on classical mechanics. Again unable to convert any bonuses – which can’t have done much for their overall conversion rate, this meant Manchester led by 80 – 70 at the 20 minute mark – but crucially, they had the buzzer momentum at this vital stage.

This state of affairs continued as Alexander Antao took his third consecutive starter with Jack Nicholson’s Chinatown. Three bonuses on fictional works about non existent works brought at last 1 bonus. So to the second picture starter, and James Ross buzzed in to identify a sketch by Tracey Emin. Works by other people who have held professorships at the Royal Academy brought a more healthy pair of bonuses. It seemed a long time since Glasgow had managed to buzz in for a starter. The next starter on Geology didn’t help, as Joe Hanson supplied the correct answer of James Hutton. Pyrotechnic colorants – which I thought were in Persil biological – provided a couple of bonuses, and pushed Manchester closer to the event horizon. I didn’t know but guessed that Jan Smuts was the only person to sign the peace settlements of both the first and second world wars. Alexander Antao lost 5, but Glasgow couldn’t capitalise, and with that, you felt, their chance had gone. Now, I’m sorry to boast, but Dorothy Hodgkin earned me a second lap of honour for the next starter. She’s a Science answer I’ve been waiting to trot out for ages. That fell to the highly effective Alexander Antao, who was one of the main differences between the two teams in this contest. People with the surname Talbot brought just the one bonus, but it was all academic by this point anyway. Alexander Antao had pulled his team ahead through quick buzzing, but came in just a tad too early on the next starter and lost 5. Again, Glasgow couldn’t capitalised, not having worked out that Napoleon’s Corsican birthplace would have been Ajaccio. James Hampson correctly buzzed in the moment he’d heard ‘sporting figure born in Sao Paolo’ but then knew that the answer had just gone. Not your night, sir, I’m afraid. Manchester thus took the whole question, and Joe Hanson supplied the coup de grace with Ayrton Senna. Three bonuses on music provided one correct answer, one wrong answer and then the contest was gonged. Manchester won by 155 to 70.

Not hard to call this one. Both teams were pretty evenly matched up to about 18 minutes, then Manchester’s buzzing, and once again I pay tribute to Alexander Antao’s buzzing in particular because it turned the contest at the crucial time, just overwhelmed Glasgow. This is just as well, since their bonus conversion rate was a miserable one in three. Hard lines Glasgwo, best of luck in the next match Manchester.

Jeremy Paxman Watch

Early indignation as James Ross deliberately wound JP up by suggesting that the Aland Islands might be the Faeroes. “The Faeroe Islands!!” spluttered out hero in mock indignation. Freya Whiteford raised her arms in frustration over not being able to dredge up an optics answer and JP sniffily asked “Are you miming something?”

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

Mark Kermode conducted an interview in 2006 with Werner Herzog, during which Herzog was shot with an air rifle.

Mastermind 2019 - Heat 19

Good morning, dearly beloved. After the break for the European Indoor Athletics Mastermind was back on the screen last night. Well, team GB did better than we’ve ever done at last week’s event, so were we gong to see comparable fireworks from last night’s contenders?

First through the portal of portent was Karim Lalani. Karim was offering us Vivien Leigh. This would prove to be my best specialist round of the night. This is no great boast when you consider that I only managed 4 correct answers. Karim, on the other hand, did rather better than that. All the evidence was that he’d thoroughly prepared his subject, and he finished with 12 and no passes. That’s a good round.

Certainly it was a bit better than Elizabeth Boughton’s round on the Cazalet novels of Elizabeth Jane Howard. I’ve never read any of them, so was out with the washing on this round. Research shows it’s a five novel series, and was adapted for TV in 2001. Elizabeth was of course a lot better than I was. Nonetheless, there were a few occasions during the round when she was caught out, but smart fast answering pushed her into double figures. She finished her round with 10 points and 3 points.

Benjamin Meredith was third into the chair. He was offering a subject about which I know absolutely nothing, 1990s hip hop. Sadly we’ve seen a few contenders having a ‘mare on specialist during this series, and I’m afraid that Benjamin was another. For whatever reason, he was stumped by the majority of the questions, and finished his round with 3 points. Yes, quite right, that was three more points than I managed on the round. In all honesty he neither looked nor sounded like he had any problem with nerves, and so I think the most likely explanation was a lack of preparation.

So to our final round, with Anne Stewart answering on the Flight of the Earls. This passage of history occurred in 1607 when Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone and Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, and about ninety followers left Ulster in Ireland for mainland Europe. Although Anne obviously had some depth of knowledge on the subject she was never quite convincing, and in the end finished with a respectable 8 and 2 passes, which left her some way off the lead.

I think Benjamin had an inkling that he’d be first back into the chair, indeed he almost got up before John had actually announced that he had the lowest score. I always think that it’s probably best not to allude to a low specialist score when the contender returns for GK, but John will insist on it. This time he said “You were having a bit of an off day, I suspect, Benjamin.” You think? I had a feeling that Benjamin probably wouldn’t do badly on GK – don’t know why, but just had a feeling, and indeed he raised his score to 15. Look, 12 isn’t an earth shattering score on GK, but it’s not bad, and certainly in this show it would have given him a pretty decent shot at a win had he just known his specialist subject. A lesson for all would be contenders there, I think.

Anne Stewart’s tactic seemed quite interesting for her own GK round. I think she may well have decided that if she didn’t know it quickly then she was going to pass. As a result she accrued 10 correct answers, but also a further 7 passes. I couldn’t see any way that 18 could possibly be a winning score for the show, but she had at least put herself in the lead for now.

She was still holding the joint highest total by the end of Elizabeth Boughton’s round as well. To be fair to Elizabeth, I felt her round was slightly trickier than the two previous round, but that’s all in the eye of the beholder as we know full well. She added a further 8 to her total, which meant that she had 18 as well, although five passes meant that she had significantly fewer passes than Anne.

So to Karim. Putting it into perspective a modest round of 7 correct answers would give him the outright win. To be honest he was making pretty heavy weather of it, picking up 5 passes, and really labouring to get the 6 he needed to get to 18. Then it was as if the handbrake was suddenly taken off the round. There were four questions remaining, and he answered every single one of them correctly, to finish with 22 and a clear outright win. Well done, sir.

Gotta be honest, folks, that wasn’t a great show. That’s the way that it goes, sometimes.

The Details

Karim Lalani	Vivien Leigh	12	0	10	5	20	5
Elizabeth Boughton	The Cazalet Novels of Elizabeth Jane Howard	10	0	8	5	18	5
Benjamin Meredith	1990s hip hop	3	6	12	3	15	9
Anne Stewart	The Flight of the Earls	8	2	10	7	18	7