University Challenge: Repechage 2 - Bristol v. Oriel College, Oxford

The Teams

Bristol

Sam Kehler

Jacob McLaughlin

Tess Richardson (Capt.)

Alejandro Ortega

Oriel, Oxford

Thomas Ford

Jerric Chong

Tanmayee Deshprabhu (Capt.)

Katy Marchant

Okay, dearly beloved. The tale of the tape informs us that Bristol were the highest scoring runners up of the first round with 185 while Oriel scored a more modest 135 in their heat. Advantage Bristol? Not necessarily. Different questions, different opposition could possibly mean different result. Just out of interest, Thomas Ford said when introducing himself “I live in Norway, but I’m from the United States.” Norway? Hell of a commute to Oxford there, Tom.

Okay, so off we go. Jacob McLaughlin heard the words “time’s arrow” in the first starter and grasped the wrong end of the stick. He answered Kingsley Amis – which was written by son Martin Amis anyway. This allowed Oriel to hear the whole question and allowed me to earn a ridiculously early lap of honour by answering ‘entropy’. So did Jerric Chong, thus earning Oriel a set of bonuses on fallacies and biases. A bit like the judges’ scores in the last couple of series of Strictly Come Dancing. These brought a couple of correct answers. A lovely UC set on a composer gave a series of locations of compositions working backwards chronologically. Jacob McLaughlin fell into the trap of possibly going by the first – Egypt, and answering Verdi. I went by the last, Crete (Idomeneo), and answered Mozart. Nobody had that. Alejandro Ortega wiped out his team’s minus score, recognising a list of things denoted by the Greek letter rho. 2 bonuses on botany meant that their score looked a lot more healthy. Now Jacob McLaughlin found his range with the buzzer, correctly identifying the term Theatre of the Absurd for the next starter. It would not be his last of the night. Ways of walking brought Bristol two bonuses, although they might have been expected to get meander, what with the helpful mention of a river in the question. This was enough to put Bristol into the lead as we arrived at the first picture starter. Nobody could identify the world heritage site of Delphi just from its position on a map. Me nether. Jerric Chong earned the picture bonuses when he identified the type of soil that lent itself to the name of a fictional county in some of the novels of George Eliot as loam. Other places which, like Delphi, have been described as the navel of the world, brought 1 bonus. Now, with the next starter, which asked for the African empire of Mali, we had the unusual spectacle of one team member buzzing, Thomas Ford, and another team member, Jerric Chong, jumping in with the answer. If JP had not pointed it out I would not have noticed, since the camera was zooming in and cut out Mr. Chong. No points for that. Jacob McLaughlin knew that any question mentioning Impressionism and America will give you a good chance of success if you answer Mary Cassatt. The paintings of Ustad Mansur brought 10 points which were enough to see Bristol lead by 40 – 35 at just past the 10 minute mark.

I didn’t understand the next question about kinetic energy but Alejandro Ortega got the correct answer of four. This gave them the chance to take a full house on short novels. The next starter gave us several people all nicknamed The Tiger and Thomas Ford won the buzzer race to give the answer. The answers to the bonuses all began with diff – and Oriel took a full house. A fine buzz from Sam Kehler saw him identify isolate languages for the next starter. Session musicians brought a bonus, and a bit of embarrassment for Tess Richardson who misheard Motown and answered Motel instead. It can happen in the heat of the moment. The music starter followed, and Katy Marchant and I both answered ‘The Clash. The Ice age is coming – how appropriate that feels at the moment. Three more bands for which Don Letts made videos or documentaries reduced the deficit between the teams to just five points again. Now, for the next starter I did actually know that bromine is a halogen that is a red volatile liquid yuttah yuttah. Probably should have taken a lap of honour again, but what the hell. Jerric Chong took that one to give Oriel back the lead. One of a set of bonuses on the Lake District extended the lead a little. If it’s the 1920s and its about a German philosopher you’ll be right more often than wrong with Wittgenstein (whom I ‘m told was a beery swine). Thomas Ford took that one. They didn’t do much with bonuses on Eastern European architecture, but Oriel were pulling ahead. Now, for the next starter the subtitles mentioned the River Mono. No such place – it’s the Monnow. Katy Marchant zigged with Severn allowing Jacob McLaughlin to zag with Wye. The Bafta award for documentary brought one bonus. This meant that Oriel led by 110 to 100 at just after the 20-minute mark.

Jacob McLaughlin knew that Alex Haley wrote the ‘autobiography’ of Malcolm X. A swift full house on Greek letters put Bristol back in the lead. For the second picture starter Thomas Ford recognised a photo of Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes. More pairs of tennis players brought them nothing, and this was sadly rather the tale of Oriel’s evening – failing to answer bonuses correctly when they needed them. Jacob McLaughlin knew that Lingala is spoken in both Kinshasa and Brazzaville for the next starter. His powerful buzzing was proving the difference between the two teams at this vital stage. Mind you, Bristol struggled with African fauna, taking just the one bonus. Still Oriel came back. Thomas Ford knew the title A Theory of Justice. Oriel managed just the one bonus on a pretty gettable set on Thomas Hardy. Jacob McLaughlin buzzed in again with the answer of the Han dynasty for the next starter and took the spoils. Which in this case were bonuses on Caribbean islands and their flags. This brought a full house which crucially meant that Oriel could not pull level with just one visit to the table. Again, the McLaughlin buzz beat Oriel to win the buzzer race, identifying Gods of Fire in various flavours. A couple of bonuses on eponymous scientific principles really put the outcome of the match beyond question. This didn’t stop Thomas Ford coming back with vena cava for the next starter. There was time for one correct answer on bonuses on Pennsylvania, but then the contest was gonged. Bristol won by 185 – 150.

It wasn’t just about Jacob McLaughlin’s buzzing, although with 7 this was impressive. Bristol converted two thirds of their bonuses – Oriel slightly less than half. Nonetheless, as JP said it was a close, exciting contest, and a pleasure to watch. Hard lines Oriel, congratulations to Bristol.

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

A language unrelated to any other language, thus the only member of its language family, is a language isolate.