University Challenge 2023: Quarter Finals stage - Southampton v. Durham

The Teams

Southampton

Ethan Lyon

Magda Steele

Dom Belcher (capt)

Elliot Miles

Durham

Harry Scully

Chloe Margaux

Alex Radcliffe (capt)

Bea Bennett

Well, if you read my preview you’ll know that despite Durham’s higher aggregate I fancied Southampton a little more. In all honesty, though there are four or five teams who there seems to be very little to choose between and both of these teams are in that category.

Now, if you’re asked for a type of igneous rock and you hear the name Aberdeen, just sling buzzer and answer granite. Harry Scully did just that, and it was enough to earn Durham a set of bonuses on literary titles containing the names of fruits. Which brings me to ask, did you know that Jane Austen’s working title for 'Pride and Prejudice' was 'Mr. Darcy’s Plums?' Shouldn’t think so since I just made it up. Durham took a full house. Neither team knew materialism for the next starter, and Dom Belcher lost five. However he more than made up for it knowing a whole slew of things which happened during the 1770s. Bonuses on UK National Parks brought a further 10 points. Harry Scully looked most disbelieving as he answered feedback inhibition to the next inscrutable starter- but he was right. The bonuses were on green tea. Now, I’m a teetotaller – I don’t touch tea and never have – so these meant little to me, and indeed both Durham and I only got the one. None of us recognised a Segre chart for the picture starter. Ethan Lyon won the buzzer race to identify the words ‘Only connect’ as having originated in Howard’s End – (a bit like Hayes End, only posher. Forgive me for a little West London suburbs reference there.) For the bonuses it was back to the Segre chart. I could tell you that I understood the questions, but that would be an utter lie and so I will suffice it to say that Southampton managed one. This meant that at the 10 minute mark Durham led by 40 – 30.

You had to really stay with the very long winded next question, but Ethan Lyon did and it enabled him to get the legal term mischief. Video game types were very much to Southampton’s liking, especially Elliot Miles and they took a good full house. Now, when asked for a Greek titan for the next starter I was pleased I had it after just one clue – NASA launch vehicles, and Dom Belcher got it from the North African mountain range – Atlas. The Solar System seemed to promise much, but delivered but little to any of us. I will admit that I took a lap of honour for knowing that the densest planet of the solar system is Earth and the least dense is Saturn (which would float if you could find a large enough body of water to put it in. Harry Scully applied a bit of a halt to the Southampton charge, knowing that Koumbi Sele is in Mauritania. Good shout. Philosophical terms beginning with ab provided just one bonus. For the music starter Ethan Lyon jumped in to identify the work of Wendy Carlos. Three more adaptations of classical works by electronic musicians followed. Hmm – electronic musicians? Androids, perhaps? Now, I am proud to say that I guessed Delia Derbyshire, who played the original and best version of the Doctor Who theme. So did Ethan Lyon, but that was the only one of the bonuses that any of us managed. For the next starter the mention of a world heritage site with Polder in the name really suggested Netherlands and skipper Alex Radcliffe thought so too. This earned Durham bonuses on animals, although they could only manage one of them. Which was one more than I managed. Right. You hear ‘painter’. You hear ‘Sondheim’ You buzz and the answer you give should be Seurat. To be fair that’s what Harry Scully did. Bonuses on mistral brought a timely full house that saw Durham retake the lead on the twenty minute mark with 90 – 85. Good match!

Alex Radcliffe extended the lead with Cream of Tartar for the next starter. Grammatical cases were not easy – I’ve never heard of the ergative case – but Durham still managed a full house. Southampton weren’t giving up though. For the second picture starter Ethan Lyon dragged his team back into contention by recognising the work of George ‘Who?’ Grosz. Work by other artists who were persecuted by the Nazis who branded their work degenerate proved too tricky to provide any more points. The gap narrowed further when Ethan Lyon took a piece of low hanging fruit, naming the Comedie Francaise. Rulers of the Holy Roman Empire brought the two bonuses they needed to draw level. I didn’t get the next starter, but then neither did either of the teams. It was ten to the power of nine if that helps. Me neither. Now, with regards to the next starter – who would you say is 3rd in line to the throne? Prince William is first in line to the throne, so surely Prince George is 2^nd? This starter said he was 3^rd, so I can only surmise that the show was recorded before the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Dom Belcher had it anyway. Capital cities that had taken over capital status from others brought a full house. So now Durham needed their own full house to draw level. Well, Alex Radcliffe knew Cosmic Microwave Background radiation for the starter. Goddesses in Virgil’s Aeneid only provided two bonuses though. This really was squeaky bum time. The next question asked Pepin the short was one of which dynasty – Dom Belcher won the buzzer race, but oh no, he answered Merovingian. Five points away and Harry Scully provided the correct answer of Carolingian. Two bonuses on the human muscular system gave Durham a 20 point lead. A full house would do it for Southampton but there was hardly any time left. As it was the excellent Harry Scully won the buzzer race to identify riboflavin as vitamin B2 – and that was the game. Durham won by 165 – 135.

A thoroughly enjoyable match. Durham have shown themselves to be a team of some substance, and Southampton are not out of it either. Southampton managed a 54.1 percent bonus conversion rate and Durham a 65.8 percent rate – both teams having the same number of bonuses. Well played both.

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

No. 1 on the Goodreads list of novels with fruit in their titles is James and the Giant Peach. Quite right too.