University Challenge 2023: First Round: Sheffield v. University College London

The Teams

Sheffield

Rachel Haw

Andrew Fisher

Lewis Jones (capt.)

Danny Lardner

UCL

Rachel Collier

Michael Fleetwood-Walker

James Salmon (capt.)

Louis Collier

Well, there was one interesting thing about the make up of the teams in last night’s match. For the first time ever on the show, a mother and son represented the same team, in the shape of Rachel and Louis Collier of UCL.

Of course, that wasn’t the only interesting thing about last night’s match, which turned out to be an absorbing contest. For the first starter I guessed the architectural form we were talking about was an arch, even before the Gateway to the West confirmed it. Always looked like half a McDonalds sign to me. Andrew Fisher, who seemed a little jumpy at this stage of the contest, had it about the same time that I did. A full houses on varieties of apples promised good things from Sheffield. Skipper James Salmon came in too early for the next starter on Spanish royal ladies, and thus lost five, being too early to hear the clincher which made it clear we were dealing with Isabellas. Danny Lardner stuck that one into the open goal. Only 1 bonus on world war II followed, but a forty five point lead at this point was really not to be sniffed at. Skipper James Salmon atoned for his previous misbuzz by identifying Karl Benz as the creator of the first practical motor car. The astronomy bonuses brought me the lap of honour around the sofa for this week. Yeah, okay, the Crab Nebula question was an extremely gentle delivery, but I’ll take them in whatever shape or form they come. If I hadn’t have taken it for that I would have taken it for Tycho Star anyway. UCL claimed their own full house for this set. Picture, then. We saw an Aerial photo of a British city. Did nowt for me I’m afraid, but Michael Fleetwood-Walker said it was Plymouth, and he was blimmin’ right too. Of the bonuses I did correctly identify New York, but that was me done, while UCL managed a full house again. I didn’t understand the next question, but Louis Collier knew it was supersymmetry. Well, Sheldon Cooper won his Nobel Prize for his work on super-asymmetry, didn’t he? Why not ask about that? Nominees for the BAFTA rising star award proved to be as much of an Achilles heel for UCL as it did for me, as neither of us managed any of them. Still, UCL had responded well to the Sheffield lightning start, and now led by 55 – 40.

Rachel Collier knew the origin of the word Memorabilia for the next starter. Rococo paintings saw UCL return to form with another full house. Malaria was the answer to the next starter, and James Salmon knew it. At this stage of the competition it was beginning to look as if Sheffield’s buzzers had been disconnected. Appearances, though, can be deceptive. Back to UCL, they had a nice UC special set of words differing only in the way that one was the same as the other once the letters DI had been removed. Yeah, UCL took a full house on that set too. Andrew Fisher took his second starter, knowing that painter – impressionism – still life – Provence very much means Paul Cezanne. They only took a single bonus on platys, but at least they were on the move again. This took us up to the music starter, but nobody identified the work of John Coltrane. Incidentally I was very saddened that his brother Robbie passed away last week – brilliant actor, when all is said and done. For the Maths question that followed, I followed my preferred method of shouting out 0 or 1 – in this case 0 and I was right. Andrew Fisher, who’d had the dashed bad form to sit an work it out properly, also had the same answer. 3 pieces of music followed – 2 enjoyable pieces of jazz, and one god-awful atonal racket. Sheffield took one with Miles Davis, but the gap was narrowing. One mention of the Hangang River in the next starter and Michael Fleetwood Walker was after it like a rat up a drainpipe with South Korea, and rightly so. Indigenous people of North America provided two correct answers for UCL. ‘Air tight seal’ and ‘mysticism’ said hermetic to me, and to Andrew Fisher as well. He was suddenly having a very good evening, dragging his own team up by their collective bootstraps. Curves and cones – I’ll have a 99 if you’re offering – brought me nowt – didn’t even understand the questions – but then they didn’t bring Sheffield any points either. N-u-n- words brought Rachel Collier another starter, and the single bonus on H is for Hawk was taken. So that man Fisher took another starter, identifying Chagos from the description. The bonuses were linked by the word Thunderbolt – seeing Ealing Studios get a welcome name drop into the bargain and Sheffield took a full house. Which meant that at 20 minutes UCL still led by 140 – 105.

For the second picture we saw a house, and I though – it’s Mies van der Rohe, but I bet they say Frank Lloyd Wright. Right on both counts, neither team getting it. Captain Lewis Jones of Sheffield broker up the Fisher monopoly, knowing that Sumo takes its name from the Japanese for ‘to fight’. This earned the modern houses picture bonuses, of which Sheffield managed one, the famous Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright. This reduced the gap to less than a full set. UCL already had a score that looked set for a repechage slot, and Sheffield were also in touching distance. Louis Collier didn’t recognise words by Browning, or ‘Gravy’ as I hope that his mates called him. Danny Lardner did, and earned bonuses on words beginning with Vol. They didn’t get them all, but what they got was enough to give them a narrow lead. You would have forgiven UCL for folding now, but instead Louis Collier took a great buzz on the periodic table to put them ahead again. Elements beginning with L brought me a rare science full house, and what’s more it brought UCL one as well. Whatever happened a repechage spot was surely in the bag here. Andrew Fisher wasn’t finished though, and he knew that Frank Abagnale makes a cameo appearance in the film based on his exploits, Catch Me If You Can. Two correct answers on Upton Sinclair (Top ‘Rankin’ as his mates probably didn’t call him) levelled the scores at 160 apiece. What a great contest. Nobody got Bruckner for the next starter. James Salmon knew that Bennu was an asteroid. 1 bonus on France was taken. So little time remained that unless Sheffield got the next starter, it was all over. They got the next starter! What’s more UCL lost five on an early wrong answer, leaving Danny Lardner to level the scores with The Mayor of Casterbridge. GONGGGGGG! The scores were level, which meant one final starter. Get it right, you win. Get it wrong, you lose. Michael Fleetwood-Walker knew three cities in Emilia-Romagna, and that was the win.

Very hard lines to Sheffield, but they’ll surely be back with this score. Congratulations to UCL, whose bonus conversion rate especially caught the eye tonight. Thanks both for a most enjoyable contest. Made no less enjoyable that for the first time in living memory we weren't treated to JP's 'Godless institution of Gower Street' Not gonna miss that, I'll be honest. 

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

There’s a variety of apple called topaz