In the previous heat we saw the first
of this year’s Oxford colleges – Corpus Christi – take their place in the
second round. Aiming to join them were Magdalen, in the shape of Dominic Brind,
Josie Dallas, Harry Stratton and Captain Alex Hardwick. Aiming to prevent them
from doing so were York, who were represented by Mickey Conn, Sophie Williams, David
Eastham and skipper Sam McEwan.
Sophie Williams opened York’s
account, recognising various definitions of the word graft. Books that had a
profound effect on the creature in Shelley’s Frankenstein brought two good
bonuses. Captain Alex Hardwick may well have known the answer to the next
starter anyway, but any question which starts with the world championship of
which game is always going to give you a decent chance if you answer chess. He
still earned a well done from JP for it, which as we know is the UC equivalent
of the Hollywood handshake. This brought 3 bonuses on Einstein. Now I’m sorry,
but chances are I would have taken a lap of honour around the living room for
knowing any of the answers. For knowing all three, though, I had to accompany
it with a rousing rendition of that popular classic, Earwig O, as I did so.
Thankfully Magdalen refrained from doing so when they also took a full house. Encouraged
by his success, Alex Hardwick came in far too early for the next starter,
allowing York a couple of moments to work out that the bone being referred to
had to be called the axis. The year 1994 in video games proved very much to
York’s collective liking, as they took their own full house. The only one I got
was Donkey Kong, which I remember playing in a pub as early as 1983 – yes,
dearly beloved, I was actually old enough to go into pubs in 1983. Given a list
of leaders, Mickey Conn correctly took his second consecutive starter by
recognising that two of the four countries alluded to were Gabon and Cameroon.
Piano makers gave none of us anything in the first two questions, but we both
despatched a very gentle underarm ball to the boundary knowing that a 97 key
imperial grand has 9 more keys than a standard piano. For the picture starter
we saw an erasure, or blackout poem. Basically you take the first page of a
well known novel, and erase words to leave you with a poem of your own making.
Told that this was from a 19th century novel, Sophie Williams zigged
with “Wuthering Heights” The word truth on the top line suggested “Pride and
Pred” and indeed Harry Stratton gave the same answer. JP leapt up from his seat
and slapped him across the head calling him a “Cocky Australian oik.” No he
didn’t. Jusrt testing if you were paying attention. This earned bonuses with
more of the same taken from 20th century novels, and I thought that
Magdalen did really well to get the first two – I only managed the first. So
slightly past the 10 minute mark the scores stood at 60 – 40 in York’s favour.
Neither team could name an English
monarch whose reign coincided with that of Suleiman the Magnificent, and
Dominic Brind came in just a millisecond too early. Alex Hardwick was the first
to recall that the creature slain at Delphi was the python, and this earned a
set of bonuses on pairs of words – one of which was made by adding the letter J
to the other, for example ape and jape. I usually think that you have to aim
for a full house with this kind of set, and that’s exactly what Magdalen earned.
Alex Hardwick certainly seemed to have the fastest buzzer finger at the moment
as he took a second consecutive early buzz to correctly identify the definition
of martial law. Incidentally, when I typed it in I accidentally put marital
law. Freudian slip? Behave yourself. Prominent rulings of the US Supreme Court
brought another full house, and Magdalen were now in the lead. The big clue
about the short name of raphus cucullatus was that it was first sighted in the
16th century by Portuguese sailors. David Eastham chanced his arm
with dodo, and he was right to dodo so. The story of Little Red Riding Hood
brought York their own full house, and meant that both teams were one set away
from a triple figure score. Good match. For the music starter we were played a
composition written for piano but played on a synthesizer. Alex Hardwick was
the first to notice that this was Debussy. Three more pieces played on a
synthesizer provided two correct answers. Josie Dallas was very quickly in to
identify Serial as being Apple’s biggest selling podcast in 2014. No, me
neither. Dwarf planets provided just the one bonus to any of us. Asking for an
18th century furniture designer, Dominic Brind buzzed early and
zigged correctly with Chippendale. Two bonuses on Fosse Way took their score to
140, which followed a five minute blitz during which Magdalen had completely
shut out York, who languished on 85.
David Eastham got York moving again,
knowing that if you throw two standard dice, excluding movements dictated by
cards, the probability of landing on a railway station from Go in Monopoly is
one in 9. Universities often known as UC provided a tricky set, with only The
University of Canberra coming good for any of us. For the second picture
starter Sophie Williams identified a still from The Twilight Zone – itself a
specialist subject on the most recent heat of Mastermind. 3 more recent
anthology TV series brought me nothing, but a full house to York. Consideirng
the quality of both teams I was surprised that neither managed archetype from
the definition that they were given for the next starter. David Eastham knew
that the Wollaston medal is presented for achievements in Geology, and brought
his team to within 5 points of Magdalen. Women bornin 1819, the same year as
Queen Victoria (Gawd Bless ‘Er!)provided the one bonus to put the scores back
on level pegging. Altogether now – squeaky bum time for both teams. Alex
Hardwick played another captain’s innings, coming in early to identify a set of
words all ending in – ling. Reptiles of the UK brought just a single bonus.
However this meant that the next starter was crucial. If Magdalen could get it,
then the chances were that there wasn’t enough time for York to come back. I
took a flier on the next starter, thinking that the answer would be neutral,
which is ph7. Harry Stratton confirmed I was right when he buzzed in to seal
the deal for Magdalen. Classical music and German literature provided just one
more bonus, but that was enough to ensure that York would need at least 2
visits to the table, and there was never going to be enough time for that.
David Eastham had a go, though. He correctly identified the philosopher Zeno
for the next starter, at which point the contest was gonged. Magdalen won by
170 to 150.
Well played Magdalen. Well played
York – you deserve a place in the repechage round. Both teams had a bonus
conversion rate of slightly more than 66%, which shows just how evenly matched
they were. 3 games in, and no duffer teams yet. Let’s hope that this continues.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
Blimey, but the great man started
early tonight. Harry Stratton, from Sydney, introduced himself with G’day, which
caused JP to sneer – “Subtlety, such a great characteristic of Australia!” Jez,
it’s not as if he stood on the desk doing a kangaroo impression and singing
Waltzing Matilda, for heaven’s sake! Something must have rattled his cage
earlier, because when Cam McEwan correctly answered the sorrows of young
Werther, JP deliberately corrected his pronunciation from Werva to Vurta. Mind
you, when the team selected The Faerie Queen as one of those books you put down
and never pick up again he heartily agreed that it could have been, even though
the correct answer was Paradise Lost.
Interesting Fact that I didn’t Already Know Of The Week
The Wollaston Medal is presented for
achievements in Geology
1 comment:
Another good contest between two good teams, both deserve to return, and, again, I'm pretty sure York will.
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