University Challenge 2023 First Round, Jesus College, Cambridge v. St. Catherine's College, Oxford

The Teams

Jesus College, Cambridge

Josh Kaye

Juliette Tindall

Hamish MacGregor (Capt.)

Sumit Aggarwal

St. Catherine’s College, Oxford

Peter Olive

Tom Laskowski

Ollie Spacey (Capt.)

Holly Partis

Morning to you, dearly beloved. Well, last night the luck of the draw threw up another trans-Oxbridge match, and that’s rarely a bad thing in my opinion.

Battles which occurred within the lifetime of a religious figure made me think of the Prophet Muhammed, and Tom Laskowski must have had the same thought as we were both right. Literary works whose titles include the word wife didn’t do much or either of our scores with both of us only managing the Wife of Bath’s Tale. I will be honest, I’ve never heard of Moore’s Law, or if I have I’ve forgotten about it. Sumit Aggarwal hasn’t forgotten though, and he leapt for his buzzer like Maradona to put that one in the back of the net after a great early buzz. I’d guess that there are no fans of American sport in the Jesus team, since they missed out on taking any of a set of bonus on animals that share their name with Major League baseball teams. I have to say I was quite pleased to dredge up the Arizona Diamondbacks. Josh Kaye took his first starter knowing the 2020 drama Windermere. This time, given locations in Scotland, Jesus took a couple, and to be fair I’ve never heard of Greenockite either. Sounds like a supporter of Morton FC to me. So to the picture starter. We were shown the site that tops the Twentieth Century Society’s list of buildings at risk and as I only visited Coventry last year, I was onto that one, as was Sumit Aggarwal. Three more of the same followed – and I was surprised to see the last set since I know the Swansea buildings well – quite literally I gave my Mother-in-Law away their – and be honest, how many of us can make that boast? Jesus took a full house as well, and they looked as if they were starting to motor. ‘German mathematician .  . . introduced. . . Hebrew letter. . “ began the next starter, so I took a pure guess with the first that came into my head – aleph. Josh Kaye wasn’t guessing but thankfully he gave the same answer and we were both right. This was followed by a full house on women in the Old Testament. Josh Kaye took his double when he recognised words from FDR’s inaugural address. Recently published memoirs only yielded five points. However at just past the 10 minute mark Jesus had an ominous lead of 95 – 15, and all of Jesus’ points had been scored without St. Catherine’s troubling the scorer.

Hamish MacGregor continued the Jesus onslaught, identifying targe , buckler and scutum as types of shield. Words containing each of the five vowels only once provided a very nice UC special set, and they showed a little profligacy in taking only 2 of this gettable set. Knowing praseodymium was enough for me to award myself a Science lap of honour around the Clark sofa. The merciless Jesus onslaught continued when Juliette Tindall buzzed early to identify the film “City of God”. Now all four members of the team had contributed at least 1 starter. 2 bonuses on space exploration were taken, but they missed out on Ray Bradbury. Josh Kaye chanced his arm with the next starter but missed. St. Catherine’s just sat there like rabbits caught in headlights, until JP’s exhortation that this was an open goal led Tom Laskowski to answer that the word linking all the clues in the question was banner. The director Karyn Who? – alright, Kusama – brought just one bonus but at least their buzzers had been reconnected. So to the music round, and by the time I had clocked that this was Cavalleria Rusticana Hamish McGregor had already given the correct answer of Mascagni. 3 more intermezzi took the Jesus score to an ominous 150. If they didn’t manage another point in the contest they were at least looking set of a repechage slot. Nobody knew the Rabi model for the next starter. Hamish MacGregor maintained his team’s momentum recognising a definition of Rationalism. Two bonuses on road use protocols were taken, which was one more than I managed. I always say that for Maths questions which ask for the value then it’s more likely to be 1 or 0 than any other number. Noc cigar thanks for playing anyway this time, as Hamish MacGregor knew it was minus one. Medieval Wales saw them take 2 bonuses, after an amusing discussion on whether Tintern Abbey was a real place or made up. Now, the next starter mentioned the words ‘allotrope of carbon’ which was the cue for one of my standard answers – buckminsterfullerene. Captain Ollie Spacey’s early buzz confirmed it was right. A couple of bonuses on countries meant that the score was 190 – 45 to Jesus at the 20 minute mark.

The game was over as a contest, but there was still some interest, as it remained to be seen how high a score Jesus could post, and whether St. Catherine’s could at least achieve triple figure respectability. Nobody knew about a waterfall in Latvia for the next. Ollie Spacey, who by now had figured out that you ought to buzz when you think you MIGHT know the answer rather than waiting until you’re certain took the next starter, knowing that the three places mentioned were all in New England. A full set on London Boroughs beginning with B certainly helped the St. Catherine’s cause. Nobody recognised a Deathwatch beetle for the picture starter. Tom Laskowski knew Julian the Apostate for the next starter to earn the dubious honour of the picture bonuses. Three more pests of which they managed to identify one, which was one more than I managed. Ugly little devils all of them – that’s the pests and not the St. Catherine’s team. The next starter began – “Named after a Swedish physicist which unit of length –“ ANGSTROM! I shouted, leaping off the sofa and into a rarely taking second lap of honour. Sumit Aggarwal had that one as well. Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” and as I recall I didn’t very much – yielded nothing, but hey, they were on 200 so it didn’t matter. Sumit Aggarwal knew that in addition to sport climbing and karate, surfing and skateboarding were the new sports in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. 1961 Nobel prizes yielded a single bonus. Nobody knew that the Fujita scale measures tornadoes. Holly Partis knew that St. Columba founded a monastery on the island of Iona. Words ending in -etto gave St. Catherine’s not just one, but two which put them into the safe harbour of a respectable triple figure score. Josh Kaye knew that Mars was the planet which takes just over 600 days to orbit the sun. I thought I knew nowt about test cricket, but I knew enough to take the first two bonuses on a set on bowlers in the 00 test wicket club before we were gonged.

Jesus won by 225 – 105. It’s a good performance. Their bonus conversion rate was higher than fifty percent despite having more than one set where they failed to answer any. I was particularly impressed with the fact that messrs Kaye, MacGregor and Aggarwel each managed four correct starters. When you’ve got sharp buzzing spread throughout the team like this, you’ll always have a chance. Let’s spare a thought for St. Catherine’s. They too had a bonus conversion rate of 50 percent and when they started throwing caution to the wind on the buzzer they looked like a team who might well have made it to the repechage had they only started doing so a few minutes earlier. That’s the way it goes, I’m afraid.

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

Tarana Burke is credited with being the originator of the MeToo movement.