Lancaster v. Glasgow
My cup overflows. Not only did the
school term finish yesterday, but on Monday, University Challenge returned. Given
the honour of being the first team to introduce themselves on this series were
Lancaster, represented by Steven Ford, Daniel Green, Matt Roscoe and captain
Holly Lawton. Their opposition came from Glasgow university. Fair play to the
researcher who found out that the Doctor, from “Doctor Who” once claimed to
have studied there (for purists he made the claim during the 1966 story, “The
Moonbase”.) The team were Ben Whitcombe, Cat McAllister, Ben Whitworth and
skipper Finlay McRobert.
Both teams showed commendable
patience with the first question, waiting until the answer became obvious, at
which point Ben Whitcombe buzzed in to supply the link between all the clues,
the name Seth. Glasgow took the first two bonuses on Prime ministers and
monarchs, but missed out on the gettable third. An early UC special starter saw
Finlay McRobert work out clues to punt and punnet, which could obviously be
formed from some of the letters of Neptune. Only one bonus on poverty followed.
Ben Whitworth and I both got the next starter following JPs revelation of some
of the cast members of the film version of the 1928 novel Orlando. Sets of Science
answers, beginning with the consecutive letters A B C saw me take an early lap
of honour for getting Arcturus, Betelgeuse and Castor for the second. As it
happened I also got Ampere, Becquerel and Coulomb for the third answer. However,
I believe that the IOC has instituted a ban on taking more than one lap of
honour during any single UC match, so I remained in my seat. Blooming
bureaucrats. Three consecutive starters had fallen to Glasgow, and I really
felt that Lancaster needed to start slinging some buzzer, if only to break up
Glasgow’s momentum. The Glasgow skipper was the first in to try his arm with
the next starter, and correctly adjudged that the question was working its way
through a number of clues towards Frederick the Great of Prussia. Bonuses on Wilfred
Owen were something of a set of gimmes, and to be fair to Glasgow they had a
full house. So to the first picture round of this series, and a straightforward
starter saw us asked to identify the state highlighted on a partial map of the
USA. Steven Ford made Lancaster’s first buzz of the match, with a quite close
but no cigar answer of Kentucky. This allowed Ben Whitcombe in with the correct
answer of Tennessee. Other maps showing locations with chemical elements named
after them brought two more correct answers. This meant Glasgow had achieved a
rare double, shutting out Lancaster completely and reaching 100, a triple
figure score, by the ten minute mark.
Seemingly roused by his previous
buzz, Steven Ford buzzed in with the far from absurd answer of surd to take the
next starter. Ideal gases – that’s a new one on me – provided nowt for any of
us. Still, at least Lancaster were in the black now. I did think that one of
the teams might have had Christy Mahon as the protagonist in “The Playboy of
the Western World” rather more quickly, but after both teams had mulled it
over, Ben Whitworth buzzed correctly. The deaths of philosophers in an article
in the Oxford Companion to Philosophy – sounds a barrel of laughs, that –
brought 2 more correct answers. Ben Whitworth also took the next starter,
knowing that the words ‘palace’ and ‘Marco Polo’ are the cue for an assault on the
buzzer, and the answer ‘Xanadu’ – Kublai Khan’s Palace named in homage of the
Olivia Newton-John movie, I believe. Right then, the next starter opened by
asking which museum had satellite museums in various places. Frankly, I would
have done what Glasgow did and guessed Guggenheim, but actually it was the
Louvre. This set of bonuses was the first from which Glasgow failed to take any
points. Poor old Lancaster couldn’t take any heart from that mind, since JP at
this point tried to encourage them, and we all know what that means. So to the
music starter, and the kind of classical music starter that I like, ie one that
is bleedin’ obvious. Steven Ford won the buzzer race to identify the Blue
Danube Waltz. Three more classical works that evoke waterways brought just the
one bonus. Steven Ford continued to do the heavy lifting for Lancaster,
guessing that Foster’s observation about smaller mammals increasing in size
referred specifically to islands. Geometry was far more to Lancaster’s liking,
and brought their first full house of bonuses. Their mini revival though was
halted as Cat McAllister took her first starter with magic numbers. Ideal gases
– Magic numbers ? What were we going to get next? Sexy metals? Well, the bonus
set on people whose 4 letter surnames used Y as a vowel brought a couple of
bonuses. The next starter asked for the animal on the British road sign which
indicates a zoo. Ben Whitcombe was first in for that particular piece of low
hanging fruit. The river Garonne provided no bonuses. This meant that at the 20
minute mark, the score stood at 155 – 55 to Glasgow. However, at least that
proved that Lancaster had taken as many points in the second ten minutes as
Glasgow had.
A great early buzz from Steven Ford
identified Kansas City as being the name of settlements in the Show Me State
and the Sunflower state. Good shout that. Vulcanologist Matt Roscoe gladly took
a full house on Volcanoes. So to the second picture round. We saw a black and
white still showing Gregory Peck, in glasses and a courtroom. “To Kill A
Mockingbird” said I. So did Ben Whitcombe. Other films on the BFI list of films
to see before you’re 14 brought a full house. Steven Ford knew that the Saha
equation relates to stars, and the set of bonuses on surnames gave them the
opportunity to take their score to triple figures. I’ll be honest, I only got
the one of these, while Lancaster managed two. For the next starter, asking who
wrote “Leaves of Grass”, Whitworth beat Whitcombe to answer Whitman. Parasitic
plants brought both of us two bonuses. When JP started talking about
Russell-Saunders coupling I wondered if my prediction about sexy metals was about
to come true, but it was some Science thing requiring the letters L S. Neither
team had that one. A good old quiz chestnut saw us asked for the single word
name of the maidenhair tree. Both teams rather sat on their buzzers, before
Daniel Green launched a speculative punt with Monkey Puzzle, but Glasgow couldn’t
dredge up gingko to capitalise. Steven Ford, so admirably battling on his team’s
behalf, was a little out with his next buzz, offering Charles Parnell instead
of Gabriel Wolfe Tone. Sadly this lost 5 of his hard earned points. Ben
Whitworth knew that one. Major cities of Brazil provided a couple more bonuses.
There was just time for Ben Whitworth to take the last starter with Leonard
Bernstein before the gong brought proceedings to a close. Glasgow won by 230 to
95.
Hard lines to Lancaster. They had
some decent answers, and a conversion rate of over 60%. Special commiserations
to Steven Ford, whose 5 starters made Lancaster respectable. Congratulations to
Glasgow, though. That was a useful showing, with all 4 members taking at least
1 starter, and Messrs Whitcombe and especially Whitworth particularly impressing
on the buzzer.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
Well, there were just a couple of
encouraging signs that the mellow Paxman of recent years still has a little
fire in his belly. When asked for the American writer of the 1879 Progress and
Poverty, Glasgow knew they didn’t have a Scooby, and did what you should do, lofting
a hopeful punt skywards with the suggestion of Paine. If they meant Thomas,
then they were quite a long way away. JP clearly seemed to think so. His
eyebrows shot skywards, and he repeated the answer “Paine?!” as if holding it
in a pair of tongs.
There was just a hint of irritation
in the JP voice when Glasgow failed to get Cardinal Richelieu, or as he rather
exaggeratedly pronounced it “Reeshleeyur”, which he then followed with the kiss
of death for poor Lancaster “There’s plenty of time left to get going,
Lancaster.” I’m sure he is only ever trying to be encouraging when he says
this, but I doubt that it’s helpful because a) there isn’t lot of time left,
less than half the show, and b) chances are they won’t get going.
His prickliness towards Lancaster
when Steven Ford answered the first music bonus with “Smetana – Die Moldau” was
evident as he sniffed, “Yes, I only needed the composer.”
I suppose it was only to be expected
that he’d pass a comment like “Well Lancaster, you never really got a chance to
show us what you were made of.” But it was rather unfair, nonetheless. They did
have a chance, and Steven Ford certainly did. They were undone not by a lack of
knowledge, but by a lack of buzzing – being brutal, they didn’t create their
own chances. That’s the way it goes.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t
Already Know Of The Week
Hassium was named after the state of Hesse
