University Challenge 2024: Round One: Emmanuel, Cambridge v. Jesus, Oxford.

The Teams

Emmanuel, Cambridge

Jerry Chen

Alex Sutton

Jay Alagar (Capt)

Alexander Harrison

Jesus, Oxford

Andy Deng

Andy Schwebel

Ben Biggs (Capt)

Meg Goundry-Napthine

Yeah, look, I’m sorry about this – posting late for the second week in a row. Would you believe that it’s because today was the date for the semi annual filial visit to Worthing? Well, it doesn’t really matter, but I do think that these little personal vignettes add a little flavour to a review, don’t you?

The first Oxbridge Derby of the Amol Rajan years, then. The first starter was one of those where it pays to keep your nerve, and a steady finger on the buzzer. It was Alexander Harrison who struck first, recognising references to FW Murnau’s original film version of “Nosferatu.” Now, look, I’m no expert on goats, (I ain’t ‘fraid of no goats) but pair the topic with Greek Mythology and I’ll usually give a good account of myself. Both Emmanuel and I managed a full house on a relatively gentle set. For the next starter Alexander Harrison took his second correct buzz knowing that the names Chatterton et al. can be preceded by – the death of -. T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste(of time)land” provided me with a second consecutive full house, while Emmanuel took just the last one. Lusophones took me to 9 in a row and gave Jesus their start when skipper Ben Biggs identified them as speakers of Portuguese. A rather wonderful UC special set followed, which asked Jesus for the names of countries that begin and end with two letter symbols for chemical elements. Senegal brought my streak to an end at 9. I took Argentina, as did  Jesus, but they failed to get Cuba.Now I did consider taking a lap of honour after recognising a diagram of a cosine for the next starter. In the end I gambled and let it ride. Graphs of other trigonometrical functions brought Jesus a full house, and me nowt, and levelled the scores. I did cash in my lap of honour for knowing that the nucleus of a cell contains most its genetic material, as did Alexander Harrison. Science bonuses saw me get Mr. Van De Graff which Emmanuel missed, but miss the next two which Emmanuel got. A great fast buzz from Alexander Harrison saw him identify Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan from its subtitle. Bonuses on professional football clubs associated with industrial concerns brought the 10 points that gave Emmanuel a lead of 70 – 40 at just after the 10-minute mark.

Ben Biggs did just what a captain should by taking the bull between the horns and buzzing when he thought he might know the answer to the question – who was the last British monarch prior to Elizabeth II to die in Scotland? He was wrong, sadly, but the tactic was right. This allowed Alex Sutton in with the correct answer of James V of Scotland. They managed two words ending in tic. That man Alexander Harrison piled on the agony for Jesus, recognising the Sorrows of Young Werther. ‘That’s original’ I punned to the empty room. The Earth’s atmosphere continued what had already been an unusually successful evening on Science for me as I managed a full house as opposed to the two taken by Emmanuel. None of us recognised Shostakovitch’s Leningrrad Symphony for the music starter. Now, believe it or not, I had the Science starter that came next before either team did. Yes, I knew that if it’s radiation and has something to do with a black hole, then Hawking Radiation’s yer man. Alexander Harrison had that one. This earned the music bonuses, that asked Emmanuel to identify the composers of pieces named after cities. They only took one, but it was enough to give them a 100 point lead. A lead which grew when the Emmanuel skipper knew that the second largest city of Washington state is Spokane (birthplace of Bing Crosby) which starts with SPO. Brazilian states brought us both just the one bonus with Amazonas. Weber’s definition of the word state saw Alexander Harrison just beat Ben Biggs to the buzzer with the next starter. The set of bonuses on culinary plants included one about the mango being a member of the cashew family. Hang about a cotton picking minute. Haven’t we already had a virtually identical question in an earlier match in this series? Ironically Emmanuel had that one wrong. This completed a shut out of Jesus for the ten minutes since the ten-minute mark, and Emmanuel had what looked to be a game-over lead of 170 – 30.

Both teams had the name Fourier in their answers to the next starter but neither also had the word transform which is what Amol wanted to hear. Again Alexander Harrison outbuzzed Ben Biggs for the next starter, knowing works containing the word Beyond. Funny enough, - the Poseidon Adventure – wasn’t one of them. Final plays brought one bonus. So to the second picture starter. Finally Ben Biggs won a buzzer race to answer that the house we saw was the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. More buildings brought one correct answer. Jerry Chen took his first starter knowing that in Entertainment terms BET stands for Black Entertainment Television. A couple of maths bonuses brought Emmanuel to 200. It was all too easy for Alexander Harrison who took the next starter  - his ninth - on aromatic compounds. A nice UC set on years consisting of three consecutively descending digits brought just the one bonus, but it was all academic in terms of the effect on the result of the match. Alex Sutton took the next starter, knowing that if the name’s Jinnah, the answer must be Pakistan. A full house on defaced works of art followed.  Ben Biggs took another starter recognising the translated title of a chapter of the Tale of Genji. There was only time for one bonus on the US penal system. Emmanuel had won by 240 – 60.

How is Amol Doing?

We were just over 12 minutes into the show when Amol issued the dreaded ‘Plenty of time to go, Jesus.’ Sadly, this really did seem to act as the kiss of death for them. He repeated this when Emmanuel stretched their lead to 100 a couple of minutes later, but then added “See if you can get going with this.” It’s tricky for a question master, trying to encourage the team who are lagging behind, without it sounding like ‘let’s hope this is a nice easy one for you.’ Would JP have accepted Amazon for Amazonas as Amol did? Not sure, the coin is in the air on that one. Especially considering he had to apologise to Jesus for not accepting Vienna School, when he had asked for a three word name. “Sorry Jesus. And Emmanuel, you’re just wrong.” Miaow! Fair play to Amol for telling Jesus “It just wasn’t your night.” At the end of the day, that’s what the scale of victory and defeat often comes down to.

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

In the Southern hemisphere, more people speak Portuguese as a first or second language than any other single language.