University Challenge 2023: Round One: Gonville and Caius v. St. Andrews

 The Teams

Gonville and Caius

Zoe Zhang

Jasper Maughan

Abigail Tan (Capt)

Stefan Ivanov

St. Andrews

Alec Csukai

Simon Gibbons

Joseph Cryan (Capt)

Sofya Anisimova

Hello, good afternoon and welcome. Two venerable institutions locked horns in yesterday’s first round heat. I agree with JP that the rules are unchanging, but unchangeable? Really? They might not have changed before, but it’s not totally beyond the bounds of possibility. Enough of such chaff.

I didn’t have the first starter until it connected conservation with millinery which signposted the RSPB. Simon Gibbons took that one, which put him on the road to becoming the most successful buzzer of the evening. This brought St. Andrews a set of bonuses on photographer Eve Arnold. I knew little about her, but I did know that Marilyn Monroe’s last film was the Misfits. St. Andrews didn’t and failed to add to their score. Various rhyming words pointed the way to Wordle for the next starter and skipper Abigail Tan opened G and C’s account. Place names in England and Scotland ending in -ington – yielded a single bonus, and also the lead. A very good buzz from Joseph Cryan identified Sandra Mason as the first president of the new republic of Barbados. Good shout, that. Worthy of a triumphant raised fist, though? A little early for that, Mr. Cryan I would have thought. Former names of chemical elements were greeted by me putting on my trainers in anticipation of a lap of honour. Niobium set me off on the circuit of the sofa, and astatine and antimony added the gloss of a full house. St. Andrews managed the last, although weren’t far away from either of the other two. So to the picture starter and Simon Gibbons correctly identified the French City indicated as Le Havre. Other cities which have also hosted Olympic Sailing events where the main Olympic city was much further inland – like Weymouth in 2012 (not included presumably because as nice as it is, it’s not a city) brought a timely full house, which meant that right on the cusp of the 10 minute mark St. Andrews led by 50 – 15.

Stefan Ivanov got G&S on the move again, knowing the Exosphere. John Waters films saw the team chew over the three bonuses, but pass 2 and get 1 wrong. Both teams seemed to spend a lot of time on the bonuses last night. None of us knew the Pandora Papers for the next starter. The geometry starter was going nowhere until it mentioned the middle value in a range, at which a buzzer race ensued, won by Stefan Ivanov who gave the correct answer of median. Two bonuses, coupled with a five point deduction for St. Andrews’ early buzz for the Pandora Papers put the teams level. Now, if I hear the words ‘soviet films’ I’m always going to answer Andrei Tarkovsky, and this is what Sofya Anisimova did with the next starter. Semi autobiographical TV series (serieses? Gawd knows) brought two correct answers, although Sofya Anisimova had to verbally beat her team across the heads to get them to accept her correct answer for the last. So to the music starter, and what to me, sounded like the different section of the orchestra were playing completely different pieces from each other. ‘Gotta be Shostakovich!’ I said, and it was too. Sofya Anisimova took her double with that one. Two bonuses on classical composers followed, and the lead was stretching out again. However an interruption lost them five and allowed Abigail Tan to identify the city of Quebec from the clues. Philosophical works translated into English narrowed the gap to a starter and a bonus. Simon Gibbons knew a definition of genes, and this brought a set on measurements. Which was a complete waste of time as none of us knew any of them. It wasted a lot of time too, taking us through the 20 minute mark. St. Andrews led by 90-65.

When you take the number of EU members from the number of countries in the Commonwealth you get 27, which I amazed myself by working out. Alec Csukai was close enough with 28. I took a rare full house on sport on tennis while St. Andrews picked up a brace. This took us to the second picture starter. Alec Csukai took his double by recognising the work of Vermeer. Other works stolen in the largest art heist in history brought again a couple of bonuses, and things were looking highly dangerous for G&C. They weren’t done yet, though. Jasper Maughan correctly identified the work of Wordsworth, which enabled them to take a couple of bonuses on elections in Asia. Skipper Abigail Tan narrowed the lead further with the next starter, knowing that if its about a monkey and about its voice, just buzz and say Howler. A bonus on lager took them into three figures. Nobody knew that Tom Wolfe wrote the Electric Kool Aid Acid Test. Jasper Maughan knew various French words beginning with Fr. English words and their earliest OED citations narrowed the gap to just 10 points. It was close. . . but so was the gong. I didn’t understand the question, but Simon Gibbons did, and his fourth starter was probably the most important of the show. Had G&C got it, then it would have been a draw. As it was, the contest was gonged before JP finished reading out the first bonus, and St. Andrews won by 140 – 120.

I was a bit disappointed that JP had no words for G&C at the end – their fightback was worthy of comment. However the spoils go to St. Andrews, who go forward to the second round. Well played.

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

The Paul Bunnell test is used to detect the presence of Glandular Fever