University Challenge 2023 - Round 1 Match 1 - Bristol v. Durham

The Teams

Bristol

Sam Kehler

Jacob McLaughlin

Tess Richardson (capt.)

Alejandro Ortega

Durham

Harry Scully

Chloe Margaux

Alex Radcliffe (capt.)

Bea Bennett

University Challenge is always one of the things that makes the fact that Summer’s lease hath all too short a date more bearable. This will be the last series to be helmed by Jeremy Paxman, as I’m sure you’ll have read, so let’s make the most of it.

As it so often is, the first starter was a nice gentle underarm delivery, which saw Alex Radcliffe identify blank as the word linking verse, slate and look. The geology of British National Parks sounded the sort of thing Alex Yee would have snapped up in the last series. In this one Durham didn’t add to their score on this set of tricky bonuses. Bea Bennett knew that the US congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene confused Gestapo with Gazpacho. Bet that landed her in the soup – and no, I’m afraid, the puns aren’t going to get much better than that in these reviews. Novels written by political leaders brought their first correct bonus, but they’ll be kicking themselves for not getting the First Consul reference, an obvious pointer to Napoleon Bonaparte. I thought that the Churchill one was gettable too. A good UC question for the next starter saw Alejandro Ortega earn Bristol’s first points by recognising the first and then most recent examples of the phrase single-use from the OED. Bnuses on algebra followed. I’ll say something about what seemed to me to be a very large amount of Maths and Science in this match a little later. Now, being as Boolean algebra is the only type of algebra I’ve heard of (know nowt about it either), I was delighted when the last bonus asked for a type of algebra and this proved to be the right one. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this did earn the first lap of honour around the sofa of the series. Bristol took that one and the previous. So to the picture starter – and it was a Science one, showing us the formula for a chemical process. Harry Scully quickly knew that it was the contact process. More formulae for chemical processes saw me giving the one answer I had in my locker – the Haber process for all 3, and thus getting the last one right by a process of elimination. Harry Scully also took the first one. Another Science starter followed, and Harry Scully took his double by knowing that GRBs are Gamma Ray Bursts. Which surely were responsible for turning Bruce Banner into the Incredible Hulk, although sadly that did not form part of the question. Bonuses on video games by Polish developers promised me nothing, which they duly delivered. One correct answer was enough to give Durham a lead of 60-20 at the 10 minute mark. They were being somewhat profligate with the bonuses, but it was all looking fairly comfortable for them at this point.

Alejandro Ortega knew that Robert Bresson and Carl Theodor Dreyer both made films about Joan ‘Lawks a-lordy, my bottom’s on fire’ of Arc. Bonuses on – oh bloody ‘ell – Physics brought none of us any points. Jacob McGlaughlin knew that the Great eastern and western Ergs are in Algeria. Sporting firsts in 2021 were tricky but gettable. Bristol remembered Sky Brown. If you didn’t have it from Bellamy’s, I’m sure all hardened quizzers would have been slinging buzzer at the mention of Drones in the next starter. Bea Bennett came in just as Diogenes was added to the list to give the correct answer of clubs in works of fiction. A relatively gentle set of bonuses on notable earthquakes allowed Durham to widen the gap, which had shrunk to fifteen points, out to forty. So to the music starter, and Harry Scully recognised a piece of music from the film Spirited Away. The bonuses were more film music from the same composers – I answered My Neighbour Totoro to all of them and thus earned the last bonus. This was the only one that Durham managed as well. The next starter, a Science one, was worth waiting with. We were looking for a word beginning with C, and as soon as JP said ‘ basic to the structure of plants’ I yelled ‘CELLULOSE!!!!’ – which caused my cat to run out of the living room. It was right though, as Jacob McLaughlin’s buzz confirmed. The Italian artist, Rosalba Carriera, better known as Rosalba Who? gave a surprisingly gentle set of bonuses of which Bristol took a brace. Peka peka tou roa certainly sounded Maori enough to make me identify its country of origin as New Zealand, much as it did for Alex Radcliffe. Alright, so the bonuses were on microbiology. Leeuwenhoek was a gift I was happy to accept, as was Agar and then Gram. Bloody hell – I’d just had a Science full house. To be fair Durham did too, and since they didn’t get up and do a lap of honour around their seats, I stayed put on the sofa as well. Now, in my world, NFT stands for National Film Theatre, but Alejandro Ortega said it was non-fungible token and who am I to argue. Neolithic sites in Scotland didn’t require much more than a decent knowledge of Scottish Geography for another full house – which Bristol had. The next starter saw both teams sitting on their buzzers a little but Sam Kehler chanced his arm just before the clincher – the Battle of the Boyne – was mentioned to correctly give the answer William III of Orange. Operas featuring children as lead characters gave me a third consecutive full house. Bristol took two. This meant that as we reached the 20 minute mark Durham still led, but only by fifteen points, 110 to 125. A grandstand finish looked to be a distinct possibility.

So to the picture starter, with a painting obviously the work of Gustav Klimt. Tess Richardson won that buzzer race for Bristol. Other artworks associated with court cases gave Bristol a full house, and the lead for the first time in the match. Nobody knew that torque multiplied by angular velocity is power. I thought that knowledge was. In comparison the next starter, with the last words of “A Tale of Two Cities” set off a buzzer race won by Jacob McLaughlin. Computing bonuses saw me expostulate ‘more bloody science’ somewhat unfairly. Bristol managed one, but crucially they had the momentum at this vital stage of the match. A good early buzz from Durham’s go-to buzzer, Harry Scully, saw them add 10 precious points to their total for peer review. Even if they didn’t win they were close to a repechage score already with several minutes to go. Bonuses on books first published in 1982 gave them the one correct answer they needed to narrow the gap to 10 points. Jacob McLaughlin, the bit now firmly between his teeth won the buzzer race to give observe – obverse or verbose would have done equally well. Languages of India brought us both just the one correct answer. I’ll be honest, Stoicism is my usual answer for any school of philosophy and it worked for the next starter. The mention of Marcus Aurelius confirmed it for me. Sam Kehler thought so too. Words ending in -use – brought me a full house, and Bristol 2 bonuses. This put them within one starter and one bonus of the psychologically important 200 barrier. I’ll be honest, I did know Rubik’s Revenge 4x4 cube, but not Rubik’s Professors 5x5 cube, but Harry Scully did, improving his team’s chances of a repechage slot. Events in years ending in 99 obligingly coughed up a full house, and put Durham just 20 points behind, so even the win was not out of the question now. What a good contest. It would be unforgiveable for me to say that Alex Radcliffe got the horn for the answer to the next starter so I won’t. He did buzz in to answer horn as in flugel correctly, though. Two of a set of bonuses on Norway put the teams dead level. Looking at the clock, surely whoever took the next starter would win. It was the Durham skipper who did so with the answer of simultaneous equations. There was no time left for the literature bonuses, and this meant Durham won by 195 to 185.

Well played both teams and thank you. JP told Bristol he bets that they will come back to play in the repechage, and I’m sure he’s right. As for Durham, excellently held nerves put them straight through. Well done!

As for the Science thing – my initial impression was that there was a lot of Science and Maths for my liking. Watching it back, I don’t think there was any more than usual, it was just a little unevenly spaced. It seemed like almost every set contained either a Science based starter or Science based bonuses in the early-mid part of the match, with much less in the later stages. Panic over. As you were.

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

Mussolini wrote a novel called “The Cardinal’s Mistress”. Dirty sod.