University Challenge 2023 Second Round UCL v. Newcastle

The Teams

UCL

Rachel Collier

Michael Fleetwood-Walker

James Salmon (capt)

Louis Collier

Newcastle

John Ingham

Tom Speller

Sam Keay (capt)

Elizabeth Lamb

The Tale of the Tape

1^st Round

UCL 180 – Sheffield 170 – 70.3

Newcastle 195 – Open University 115 Bonus conversion 63.3

Yes, that makes interesting reading doesn’t it, dearly beloved. Two teams with excellent bonus conversion rates, and one of them would be home before the postcards. Hardly seems fair, but that’s tournament play for you.

Rachel Collier (mother of Louis Collier of the same team) was first in to identify Ovis Aries as a ram. This earned bonuses for UCL on the poetry of WB Yeats. Now you’re talking, says I – yum yum, yes please. UCL took two, but possibly should have known gyre from “The Second Coming” – it’s a pretty well-known poem. Skipper James Salmon knew transaction costs for the next starter, and then a good full set on Mount Semeru. Tom Speller earned his ‘one decade out’ T shirt for the next starter (Oh, come on, you must know Popmasters on radio 2) allowing Louis Collier (son of Rachel on the same team) to identify 1730s as the decade that saw Robert Walpole move into 10, Downing Street. Bonuses on George ‘Who’ Gamow saw the first one earn me my lap of honour around the living room. Lemaitre ?– oh well, said I, gotta be the Big Bang Theory. And it was. Paled into insignificance next to the full house that UCL earned, though. So to the picture starter. A map of the counties of England as they were following the 1972 reorganisation saw Michael Fleetwood – Walker identify Hereford and Worcester, although he did get a telling off for saying Hereford and Worcestershire. Three more counties created at the same time which have since been abolished brought a couple of bonuses. We were some way short of the 10 minute mark, and UCL already led by 90 – 0. At this point they did falter a little, though. A chemistry starter saw captain Jamie Salmon in with a wrong answer allowing Sam Keay, his Newcastle counterpart in with the correct – or at least acceptable – answer of hydrogen oxide. Paintings by Leonardo da Vinci brought two bonuses and it meant that the scores were 90 – 20 to UCL as we approached the ten-minute mark.

I don’t claim to have understood the next question but Sam Keay, who now seemed set on hauling his team back into contention said it was gravitational lensing. Hey, that works for me. It worked for him too as it earned Newcastle bonuses on three word alliterative expressions. ‘Veni, vidi, vici !’ I shouted to nobody in particular. This is why they won’t watch UC with me. That one didn’t come up and like Newcastle the only one I knew from the others was Wee Willie Winkie. John Ingham knew the prefix meta for the next starter, and Newcastle were eating up the gap. Zoology questions brought them a timely full house which did even more damage to the UCL lead. Now, I don’t often get music starters, so when a lady came on singing in German, sounding suspiciously like Lotte Lenya, I bit the bullet with Kurt Weill as the composer. So did Rachel Collier, and we were right to do so. More songs from the Threepenny Opera recorded at a later date by other artists brought one correct answer with Marianne Faithfull, while I took one for Bobby Darin. I can’t claim to know a great deal about philosophy, but I knew who wrote The Subjection of Women. Neither team could dredge up John Stuart Mill (who, incidentally, on half a pint of shandy was particularly ill). James Salmon knew that the ash is one of the species of British tree with pinnate leaves, the rowan being the other. Places associated with Mary Wollstonecraft brought just the one bonus. The only dwarf planet inside the orbit of Neptune was a bit of a naughty question. I mean it was obviously Ceres which is always within the orbit of Neptune, but then Pluto does cross inside Neptune’s orbit for part of its own orbit too. Sam Keay was in like lightning for that. The financial crisis of 2008 provided a full house. James Salmon, having a good evening on the buzzer, came in early to supply the word gaucho for the next starter. White blood cells could only bring them a single bonus. Again, James Salmon struck on the next starter with Public Lending Right. Bonuses on Susannah Clarke were enough to bring the score to 155 – 85 in favour of UCL as we approached the 20 minute mark. Looking pretty clear cut, you think?

Sam Keay stuck early to identify 1974 as one of the 20^th centuries years of 2 elections – 1910 being the other. British rivers sharing their names with animals did none of us much of a favour though. So to the picture starter. In all honesty I don’t recall having heard of a Barcelona chair before, neither, I think, had either team. So the pix rolled over while Tom Speller worked out that a Queensland hairy nosed could only realistically be a wombat. This earned the poisoned chalice of the picture bonuses. I answered Eames for all three and was right with the last. John Ingham knew that Queen Vic’s youngest lad was called Leopold for the next starter. Irish history saw them miss one of the set, but what they did get put them just one full house behind. Again the Newcastle skipper went early to identify the city of Persepolis. London Prisons left them just 10 points adrift, with all of the momentum. What a great buzz from inspiational captain Sam Keay to identify Meitnerium as the only element named solely after a female scientist. European history failed to supply the bonus that would have given Newcastle the lead. A Thomas Hardy quote looked to be hinting at Shakespeare. Louis Collier zigged with John Donne allowing John Ingham to zag with Shakespeare. A full set would leave UCL needing more than one visit to the table. Novelists yielded just one, but even so a fifteen point lead with hardly any time left looked good. If they could just take the next starter . . . It fell to Louis Collier who knew that Tom Daley and Mattie Lee won gold from the 10m platform. Borneo brought a full house, and the lead. If Newcastle could take the next starter – ah, but it was gonged before JP had finished asking it.

Newcastle, I’m very sorry that you didn’t quite do it. You would, I dare say, have won several of the other 2^nd round heats. All I can offer is the cold comfort of having made a wonderful fightback. As for UCL – congratulations – it was won, for my money, through achieving a 66.66 percent bonus conversion rate. Newcastle’s was slightly less than 50 percent. A really good show, that frankly deserved to have happened in the quarter finals, semi finals or final.

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

Meitnerium is the only element named SOLELY after a female scientist.