University Challenge 2025 Round Two Exeter v. Bristol

The Teams

Exeter

Ryker Moorcroft

Lucy Carr

Martin Newman (Capt.)

Elliott Mouelhi

Bristol

Ted Warner

Bridie Rogers

Kevin Flanagan (Capt.)

Olivia Watts.

Another Monday, another second round match. First round form suggested that high scoring Bristol (325 in round one) might be too hot for Exeter to handle in this West country derby.

I went early for Fauvism for the first starter. Bristol skipper Kevin Flaagan was first to chance his arm with the same answer. This earned a set of bonuses on medical terms beginning with peri-. Both Bristol and I took a full house. Unlike me Bristol stayed on their chairs and did not set off on a lap of honour. With the next starter it soon became obvious we were looking for a harlequin duck. Kevin Flanagan took his double with this one. Depictions of insects brought two bonuses, but the Soul of a Flea eluded Bristol. I did think the description smacked of Blake who was, if truth be told, a bit of a fruitcake. A flag was described for the next question and sadly Lucy Carr got her Slovs mixed up and lost five with Slovenia. This allowed Ted Warner in with Slovakia. Another full house on plant structures followed. The picture starter showed an outline of China with a couple of administrative areas highlighted. Exeter had a go but it was Ted Warner who supplied the correct answer of Bei, as in -jing. More of the same brought another full house. The next starter asked for a shipping area and Exeter buzzed first, but sadly incorrectly. This allowed Bristol’s Captain Fantastic in again with Viking. Video games featuring well known TV and film actors only brought one bonus but it really didn’t matter. Exeter had been shut out completely so far and Bristol led by 110 to minus 10 at the 10 minute mark.

Diels Alder? Means nowt to me but Olivia Watts was in very quickly with it for the next starter. Dishes named after the vessel in which they are cooked brought two more bonuses for Bristol, and an unexpected full house for me. Ted Warner continued the Bristol onslaught with Spinoza’s ever popular “Ethics.” (His sequels, Suthics and Middlethics were less popular). Place names beginning with Dur – piled on the agony for Exeter as Bristol took another full house. Ted Warner wasn’t showing ay mercy to Exeter as he took the next starter, recognising a description of the language Burmese. Leaders who were known as The Apostle of . . . brought two bouse and put Bristol one full set away from their double century. Nobody recognised the dulcet tones of Jonelle Monae for the music starter. Incidentally this was the first starter of the competition that Bristol failed to answer correctly. Had I not already taken my lap of honour I would have done so for recognising the description of a quasar. Kevin Flanagan knew it too. More songs inspired by movies brought the full house Bristol needed for their double century. Kevin Flanagan took the next starter with Problem Plays. A couple of literature bonuses followed. Finally, 17 minutes into the competition, Exeter managed to get a word in edgeways as captain Martin Newman supplied the term mezzo-soprano. They took one bonus on – ites. No, I can’t tell you what the hell a transcendental number is, but my guess that pi was the one the next question wanted was right on the money. Ryker Moorcroft took it and earned bonuses on Spanish Pianist Alicia ‘Qui?’ de Larrocha brought them another bonus. So, right on the 20 minute mark, they trailed Bristol 20 – 220.

Ted Warner got Bristol moving again by knowing Valladolid for the next starter. Thebes in Greek Mythology brought just the one bonus. For the second picture starter nobody recognised Aitama Bonmati. Neither did they recognise clues to the word white. Kevin Flanagan knew that Paul Lynch won the 2023 Booker. Other notable players from the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup brought two bonuses. Ted Warner knew the term cordillera. This brought Bristol another two bonuses on astronomy. Nobody knew that Queen Anne ruled for another 7 years after the Act of Union. The long migration of the artic tern (which is considerably longer than that of the funny tern) was too easy for Ted Warner. WHR Rivers (surely WHO Rivers?) brought just one bonus, but what of it? We were way past the stage in which the outcome of the match had been in any doubt. Lucy Carr knew the name Balthazar for the next starter, and Exeter took one bonus on 17^th century British politics. That was it. Bristol won by 290 – 35.

For the record Exeter managed a BCR of 33.3, but that was off such a small number of bonuses I shouldn’t read too much into it. Bristol on the other hand managed a BCR of 71.4 and it’s difficult not to read a lot into that.

Amol Watch

“Good job you’ve got medics on your team.” Observed Amol after the peri bonuses.”Good job you’ve got a biologist on your team.” He quipped five minutes later after the plant bonuses. Alright, already, Amol. We’ve got it. Vary your material, mate. On the one hand Amol was correct when he said “Plenty of time to get starter,” to Exeter on 6:35, but on the other hand, how discouraging must it have been to have been, essentially, told that you’re not doing very well so early in the match?

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

A musca depicta is a trompe l’oeil depiction of a fly on a painting

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

I have to be fair. I didn’t know anything about many of the questions, but none of them were soporific enough to be nominated for this show.

Mastermind 2025 - First round Heat 17

Heat 17 now folks, so not too long to go before we’ll have seen all of his year’s contenders. But what of last night’s?

I may have retired from education, but I still root for teachers giving it a lash in the black chair, so I feared for first contender Phil Nowek last night. My support over the years has proven to be the kiss of death for many a likely contender’s chances. Phil was answering on George R R Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” . Answering really well for over a minute, too. However a few wrong’uns in the later part of the round limited him to 7 points where a double figure round had looked possible at one point.

Next came Chris Murphy. Chris was answering on Whales, which I believe was the subject my friend and former skipper Gary Grant took in his own winning performance in the final in about 2012. Back then Gary set a Hall of Fame score of 19, I think. Well, in the current era nobody is give the chance of getting close to that score. Sadly for Chris, the questions seemed to find him out a little bit, exposing what seemed to be a few gaps in his knowledge of the subject. He ended with four points.

Marianne Harman came third to the chair. She was answering on Reinhard Messner. What did I know about Reihard Messner? That he was the first person to climb to the summit of Everest without using oxygen. (All of you who think, ‘silly sod’ may be heartened to know that I thought the same the first time that I heard it.) So I was gratified to find that I knew the Eiger Sanction and guessed K2 to bag a couple of unexpected points on this round. Marianne did better than that, but I think a stumble on one question just robbed her of the chance to go joint top with Phil.

Finally Emma Carter Brown. Emma was answering on what should have been the closest thing to a banker subject for me in this show, Emily Bronte. I have an often dented theory that the world is largely divided between Jane Eyre people and Wuthering Heights people. I’m a Wuthering Heights man. I wasn’t unhappy to take three on this round which took me to 7 overall. Emma joined Phil at the top with 7 and no passes.

Chris returned to the chair first for the General Knolwedge. It looked a bit of a struggle at times, but Chris battled his way to a respectable score of 8 to set the bar at 12.

Marianne, with all due respect to Chris, was the first of the three potential winners of the heat to return to the chair. She did well, too achieving a double figure score. 10 gave her 16 – not a guaranteed winning score certainly but enough to give the two leaders something to think about.

Well, it didn’t seem to take much thought on Phil’s part. He produced a very fine 14. Sometimes you can look at a contender as a question is being asked and think – he/she doesn’t know this. It happened to me a number of times during Phil’s round, but each time I thought so he gave the right answer. Fair play. Phil’s total of 21 looked very much like a winning score to me. Unless Emma knew differently.

Well, Emma needed 15 for an outright win, and 14 and no passes for a tie break. She had a decent go at it as well, but by about a minute into the round she was behind on the clock and didn’t look like she was going to make it. She too though scored double figures, her ten bringing her second place on 17.

I’ll be honest, I don’t really like what has happened with the specialist subjects this year. In general they’re a couple of points down across the board, and I don’t think it’s down to the contenders. I don’t think it adds to the show, in fact for me, it detracts. Just my opinion and feel free to disagree.

Well done Phil. Your GK in particular gives you chances. I hope that you can find time – not easy for a teacher – to learn your second specialist as well as possible so that you have a real chance in your semi. Best of luck.

The Details

Phil Nowek	A Song of Ice and Fire	7	0	14	0	21	0
Chris Murphy	Whales	4	2	8	3	12	5
Marianne Harman	Reinhold Messner	6	0	10	0	16	0
Emma Carter Brown	Emily Bronte	7	0	10	0	17	0

University Challenge 2025 Round Two - Durham v. The Open

The Teams

Durham

Joe Ancell

Emilia Brookfield-Pertusini

Jake Roberts (capt.)

Luke Nash

Open University

Nicky Maving

Tom Barber

Karie Westermann (capt.)

Hector Payne

The first starter asked for the name of an Africa capital city. Both teams sat back a little but Luke Nash was in with the correct name of Harare before the end of the question. They took two bonuses on glass. Joe Ancell knew that the word Matrix is derived from the latin for womb or source. Bonuses on pirates – arrrhhhh, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum, me hearties etc. etc. brought just the one correct answer. Nicky Maving managed to drag the Open into the competition, knowing the term picaresque for the next starter. Questions on electronics meant nowt to any of us but at least took us up to the first picture starter. My old mate KD Johnson will have shouted ‘peregrine falcon!’ the moment he saw the bird silhouette we were shown. He often complains that the bird questions on the show are easy and that people don’t get them when they should.  I didn’t. Luke Nash had it. Three more silhouettes brought two correct answers – we both recognised the buzzard and the red kite, but not the sparrowhawk. A fine early buzz from Karie Westerman recognised the words of artist’ Jenny Saville. Three questions on Love’s Labours Lost brought no points. I always thought a costard was an apple, there you go. Luke Nash recognised the Palmetto as being a symbol of South Carolina. Durham took what I thought were the two harder bonuses on classical music, but surprisingly missed Delius’ On Hearing the First Cuckoo of Spring. Nonetheless, at just past the ten minute mark Durham were leading by 75 – 20.

Neither team knew the answer to the next question. That was central – gawd knows what the question was about, but it wasn’t – what is the red line on the tube map, more’s the pity. AAARRRGGGGHHHH! The next starter mentioned Milos Forman who lost me thousands of pounds on Millionaire. (Alright, strictly speaking it was me who lost the money, but the question was about him.) I know he’s Czech now. So did Hector Payne. Large lakes in smaller countries provided one correct answer but at least Open were closing the gap. Karie Westerman knew about samphire for the next starter. Morphogenesis, who I believe may have been a renegade Time Lord during the JNT era of Doctor Who, bought just the one bonus. The music starter followed and Hector Payne very quickly recognised the work of Richard Wagner. Other pieces of music using the Dresden Amen – no, me neither – brought the Open a timely full house and tied the scores. Nicky Maving recognised a reference to Riot grrrl to take the next starter. Player managers in football brought another full house. This was turning into a very good spell for the Open. This continued as Nicky Maving took a second consecutive starter with Leap Second. Like a Leap Year, it is a tradition for ladies to ask gentlemen to marry them on a leap second, but they have to do it quickly. Cocteau provided Eaupen with two beaunuses. Godel, Escher, Bach escaped all of us for the next starter. Nicky Maving struck again with Keystone species for the next. Rulers brought a full house. At just past the ten minute mark Open had inflicted a ten minute shut out on Durham and led by 75 to 145.

For the picture starter nobody recognised the work of Paula Rego. Joe Ansell knew about a diplomatic mission to the Qing Empire. More pictures depicting dancers by the sea brought two correct answers in quick time. This seemed to energise Durham and skipper Jake Roberts took the next starter with electronegativity. Avant garde cinema brought one bonus, but the Durham charge was on. Luke Nash buzzed early for the Ardennes and he buzzed correctly to earn bonuses on Adam Bede, but sadly they just failed to take points on them. They were only a full set behind Open though. Karie Westermann recognised several meanings of the phrase Hail Mary, and the gap stretched again. Towns on the English coast with names ending in – mouth brought just the one bonus, but importantly it ran the clock down. Nobody knew Lagrange for the next starter. Jake Roberts went all in for the next starter, but came too early, leaving Nicky Maving to give the correct answer of quick. Particle physics just washed over me for the bonuses and brought nowt to the Open. But again, it brought the gong ever closer. There was just time for Karie Westermann to give us the Crime Writers Association and then that same gong announced the end. Open had won by 180 to 115.

Both teams had similar BCRs – Durham had 48 while Open finished with 47, but when you look at the contest as a whole Open were better on the buzzer which is why they won, even if the gap between the teams did flatter them a little at the end. Just my opinion, feel free to disagree.

Amol Watch

I think Amol was as surprised as I was when Durham missed the cuckoo and suggested woodpecker. “Said with such confidence. But no.” I wonder if it was with a sense of irony that Amol stated ‘Six minutes to go Durham, plenty of time.’ Either one or the other, Amol, but not both.

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

The word Matrix is derived from the latin for womb or source. How have I never heard that before? Just ignorant, I suppose.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

The German biologist Christine Nusslein-Volhard discovered the first morphogenic protein, named bicoid, as part of her work on which popular model organism? Thomas Hunt Morgan had earlier used it to demonstrate sex-linked inheritance. Huh? Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.

Mastermind 2025 First Round Heat 16

Hello, good morning and welcome. What, me? Fine, thanks for asking.

Now, looking at last night’s menu of specialists, I should have done a lot better than I did, since on paper I knew something about three of them. Nowt about the other one, mind you, but we’ll come to that. In the end though I just about scraped an aggregate of 6, which all goes to show that you never can tell. First up was Jeremy Hicks answering on the Manx Missile, Sir Mark Cavendish. Now, I was in London to watch the Prologue of Sir Mark’s first Tour de France, and I watch it every year, but even so I couldn’t do much with these questions. I thought it was a tough round, and that puts Jeremy’s 8 into perspective. We’ve already seen this series how 8 can be a competitive score in the first round.

Back in the day I really used to like The Darkness, the subject of Lucie Knight’s round. Lucie again really knew her subject. This was a wide ranging set – and not all of them, I noted, were specifically to do with the music despite the title of the round. Anything in double figures nowadays and you know that you’ve done really well. Lucie came close with 9 and no passes. It all depended on how our last two contenders would do, but it looked as if she would be in contention by half time.

I thought I recognised Dom Tait, our third contender. Indeed I did. For Dom Tait is an Only Connect champion, a member of the Scribes. ‘Allo, thought I, expect fireworks. Dom was answering on The Day Today. Not just the Day Today, either, but also its radio predecessor, On the Hour. Again, it was a show that I enjoyed very much, but that didn’t seem to help me in accruing many points. Still, at least I had the pleasure of watching Dom put on a text book performance of how to answer Mastermind questions. It wasn’t quite a full house, but by golly it was close. 11 points and no passes.

Having to follow Dom’s round renders Jeff Davies’ round on Sylvia ‘Who’ Towsend Warner all the more praiseworthy, since you wouldn’t have blamed him for being daunted by what had come before. Jeff treated us to a perfect round of 11 correct answers from 11 questions. He wasn’t answering at express pace which explains why he ended up with the same score as Dom, who really was. But at least it guaranteed that he would be last to go in the GK and would know the exact size of the task ahead of him.

Spare a moment of sympathy for Jeremy Hicks. He returned to the chair first for the GK round and delivered a very good GK round indeed, a round which might have been good enough to win another heat of the show. Well, at least he set the bar at 21 and I’m sure it’s not much consolation, but Jeremy, I appreciated your round and I’m sure many others will have as well.

Lucie Kight came back next. She had one of those rounds where it seems like every time you narrow down your answer to a couple of possibilities in your head you end up picking the wrong choice. Not that she did badly. As it was she scored a respectable 8, but on this particular show it was not going to be enough. She ended with a total of 17.

So to Dom, and if I was to tell you that I wasn’t expecting something a bit special, then you know that I’d be lying. It wasn’t just the fact that he answered so many of his questions correctly – 16 in total. No, it was the way he did it. Concentrating intently until the last syllable of the question issued from Clive’s mouth then leaping straight in with the answer. For the second time this series I found myself applauding the telly. Relatively few people have the level of GK you need in order to be able to deliver a round like this, but it’s so gratifying when you see someone who can.

Jeff, then, had to follow that. He gave it a go, I give him full credit for that. He started well, but a couple of wrong uns robbed him of momentum and to be honest it was a bit of a grim old slog from that point. What I liked was that when Clive announced that he had scored 8 for 19 points there just seemed to be the tiniest nod and a look of satisfaction, as if for him this had not so much been about winning, as about doing as well as he could. I can run that up the flagpole and salute it.

Well done Dom, a really first class performance. No predictions from me – they rarely come true anyway. But I wish you the very best of luck in the semi final.

The Details

Jeremy Hicks	Sir Mark Cavendish	8	0	13	0	21	0
Lucie Knight	The Music of The Darkness	9	0	8	2	17	2
Dom Tait	The Day Today	11	0	16	0	27	0
Jeff Davies	Sylvia Townsend Warner	11	0	8	0	19	0

University Challenge 2025 Round 2 UCL v LSE

The Teams

UCL

Calum Jack

Josh Mandel

Olivia Holtermann-Entwhistle (capt)

Sanjay Prabhakar

LSE

Albert Ying Zhi Nyang

Grant Dalton

Sebastian Bramley (capt)

Christina Jiang

 With the first starter Albert Ying Zhi Nyang tried a wild early buzz and lost five, but don’t knock it. Sometimes if you can take that first set it gives you a momentum that can last for the whole show. Once the question mentioned a particular US abolitionist it became clear that the given name required was Harriet as in Tubman. Olivia Holterman-Entwhistle took that one. The book Time’s Echo (the book Time’s Echo – see what I did there?) brought UCL a full house of bonuses. The Sight and Sound List of the 100 greatest films has My Neighbour Totoro as the highest ranked animated film. Did you know that? Calum Jack did. Amines actually brought me a full house, and if I was able to walk on my hands I would have done so, but I can’t so I didn’t. UCL took two. I knew aniline because I’ve read all about William Perkins because he set up his synthetic dye factory in my home borough of Ealing. Calum Jack showed remarkable powers of concentration to still be alert and even awake by the end of the most incredibly waffly starter question about Francis Crick. Three questions on flags of communities of Spain brought just the one bonus. So to the picture starter. We had to identify the city indicated. Since it was clearly inside the borders of Mongolia it was surely going to be Ulaanbaatar? You might be able to name another city in Mongolia, but me? Not so much. Sanjay Prabhakar thought the same and we were both right. Other cities that are home to over half of their respective country’s population brought a full set. Calum Jack took another starter, knowing that the city of St. David’s is in the utterly gorgeous county of Pembrokeshire. Marguerite ‘Who’ Yourcenar brought a full house. This meant that UCL led by a impressive 110 to minus 5 at 10 minutes.

Finally UCL mistimed a buzz and the full question allowed LSE skipper Sebastian Bramley in with rococo. World-systems theory did not sound very promising but two bonuses at least kept the score moving in the right direction. It had taken this long for Josh Mandel to take his first starter, which he did, dating the Battle of Bannockburn to 1314. Tom Lehrer and his “The Elements” song brought two bonuses. The Undivine Comedy brought Albert Ying Zhi Nyang a starter with a fast buzz for Polish. The photographer C.M. Battey (known as Norah to his mates) brought a good and fast full house to LSE. Nobody recognised an uncharacteristic bit of Bach for the music starter. Nor did anyone know Pumped Hydro Storage – not surprised. Josh Mandel knew that the shade of red sharing its name with a 19^th century battle was magenta. This earned the dubious reward of the music bonuses. Only one of them was answered but still UCL had a three figure lead. Anitra’s Dance, the first title mentioned in the next starter was clearly Peer Gynt. Josh Mandel took that one. Varieties of the Persian language brought two more bonuses. Sanjay Prabhakar just beat LSE to the buzzer to identify the polymath Mersenne. People who played a key role in the 1916 Easter Rising brought two bonuses. This meant that they led by 180 to 40 at just after 20 minutes. It was no longer a question of who was going to win, just by how many points they would.

Albert Ying Zhi Nyang took his second and LSE’s third starter with the Deccan Plateau. There would not be another, I’m afraid. Women who have won the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society brought two correct answers. For the second picture starter nobody recognised a still from One Man Two Guv’nors. Albert Ying Zhi Nyang threw caution to the win with the next starter and lost five for doing so. UCL couldn’t quite get the city of Ur. (incidentally the interiors of the buildings of the city could be described as Ur Indoors. I’m ‘ere all week, Ladies and Gents.) Sanjay Prabhakar worked out that the star taker had to be the Astrolabe. The picture bonuses showed us other nominees for Best New Play at the Oliviers. They only took one, but we were long past the point where his would make any difference. Nobody knew the Treaty of San Francisco for the next starter. The UCL skipper knew that lettuce derives its name from the Greek for milk. Theatre architect Frank Matcham brought a full house in fairly short order and the UCL juggernaut bulldozered on. It was all too easy for them as Josh Mandel supplied the words – My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings – from Shelley’s brilliant poem. Characters whose names ended with – ette brought another single bonus. Josh Mandel knew various consorts called Anne. Counties of Ireland brought the one correct answer needed for 250 points. Nobody knew Bantu knots for the next starter. Josh Mandel knew that DC is 600 in Roman numerals. The contest was gonged before UCL could add to their score, meaning hat they won by 255 to 55.

For the record LSE had an incredible BCR of 78. However this was achieved by scoring 7 out of a possible 9 bonuses, and that tells its own tale. For the record UCL had a BCR of 63. If you’re outbuzzed, you’re outbuzzed and I’m afraid that’s what happened to LSE.

Amol Watch

For once Amol was absolutely right when he issued an encouraging ‘Plenty of time to get going” to LSE on ten minutes. But their crestfallen faces suggested that the knew the score at this point in both literal and figurative meanings of the phrase.

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

Kuwait City, Djibouti City and Montivideo are each home to more than half of their respective countries’ inhabitants.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

Along with Graeme Mitchison, who published a 1983 article in Nature entitled the Function of Dream Sleep, where he proposed that a major function of dreams was to forget memories formed during the day, a concept he called reverse learning? He’s better known for his work in Cambridge where he formulated the so-called central dogma of molecular biology and where his research led to the discovery of the structure of DNA.

Alright, so its not as unfathomable as most questions that provoke my dum dums, but come on! There’s no way that this question needs to be this long! Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.

Mastermind 2025 First Round Heat 15

Yeah, I’m sorry for anyone whose day was ruined by me no being able to post until now. Normally I do my write up early in the morning before I go to work, but I overslept this morning.

Charles Boden kicked us off last night with the solo career of Robbie Williams. It seems to me that we don’t see quite so much of the talented Mr. Williams now, but it’s worth noting just how big a star he was back in the day. Charles seemed pretty secure on the music but was caught out by the odd question on the videos and other periphera. That’s the thing about a Mastermind specialist round – if it could possibly be asked about something then you have to know it or learn it. Nothing to be ashamed with on 6, but unlikely to win.

Mark Kerr gave us a more traditional subject in the shape of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. Goodness me but I loved those books when I was in the primary school. However. . . that was half a century ago, and frankly, I didn’t remember very much about them – other than Eustace’s surname being Scrubb and gawd only knows why I remembered that. I thought Mark didn’t do at all badly with the set, but again, although 7 is perfectly respectable, it does leave you with a mountain to climb in the General Knowledge.

So we come to last night’s government health warning subject. I had answered Charles’ first question correctly and no others. Then I answered Mark’s first question and no others. Now I answered Matilda Makemson’s first on the Fauna of Madagascar and didn’t manage any others. What a subject. I don’t know how many species of creatures inhabit the place, but it’s a big old island. You had to feel for Matilda. She had a couple of wrong ‘uns and it certainly seemed to play on her mind as the round went on. Then to add insult to injury she had to endure Clive announcing both of her passes with the coda ‘You knew that, didn’t you?!” Fair play to Matilda, she didn’t say “Oh, sod off Clive!” as some of us might have been tempted to, but just nodded with a smile. Clive, mate, I know you’re trying to be kind, but please don’t. Matilda scored four.

It isn’t often that there is anything that even approaches controversy in Mastermind, but I was a little surprised in Roopam Carroll’s round on the Matrix Films. Roopam was going great guns until she was asked for the name of the award winning Australian costume designer credited on the first three films. She answered “. . . Kim . . . sorry.” Now had she just said “Kim” then I think Clive’s prompt of ‘more?’ would have been quite acceptable. However, for me the sorry seemed to mean ‘I’m sorry I don’t remember’ and I was a little surprised that he gave the prompt after. It’s a marginal call and I do not for one moment blame Roopam or taking advantage and giving the right answer, and fair play, she kicked in the best specialist round of the night with 9 and no passes.

You know me by now. I like it when a contender can put adversity behind them and whack in a good GK round, so I was very pleased to see Matilda Makemson manage to do just that. She scored a double figure round to finish with fourteen.

This looked even better as Charles in his round scored 8 which meant that he too finished with fourteen.

So we came to the business end of the competition. If you’re only two off the lead at the turnaround then you have a chance. Mike whacked in his own double figure round to at least give himself a chance. 17 meant that Roopam would need 9 to win outright, however the fact that Mike didn’t incur any passes made this look just a little more tricky.

Not that it appeared to affect Roopam. Without going quite at express pace she quite easily broke the tape with time enough to add a couple more correct answers to finish with her own 10 to finish with 19. My daughter Phillippa doesn’t often watch the show with me, but she was there last night, and she complained that Clive accepted Alto for Contralto. I’ll be honest, I thought this was okay, but it didn’t matter because Roopam was already in the winner’s enclosure.

Well done Roopam! Best of luck in your semi.

The Details

Charles Boden	The Solo Career of Robbie Williams	6	0	8	0	14	0
Mike Kerr	“The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis	7	0	10	0	17	0
Matilda Makemson	The Fauna of Madagascar	4	2	10	1	14	3
Roopam Carroll	The Matrix Films	9	0	10	1	19	1

University Challenge 2025 - Repechage 2 - Durham v. SOAS

The Teams

Durham

Joe Ancell

Emilia Brookfield -Pertusini

Jake Roberts (capt.)

Luke Nash

SOAS

Janet Delves

Ella Dorn

Tom Hasler (capt.)

Cameron Lambert

I couldn’t call how this one would go. Mind you, that’s not uncommon for me. So, as soon as the first starter mentioned a monumental tapestry of Christ I shouted Coventry Cathedral. A TV documentary about the building a few years ago made me want to visit and I’m really glad I did. The sheer monumental scale of the tapestry is absolutely breathtaking. I do like Jacob Epstein’s sculpture of St. Michael vanquishing the Devil too. Janet Delves was first in with the answer. Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities brought just one bonus. Luke Nash buzzed early for the next starter on pheromones. Which reminds me of a particularly funny episode of ‘Bottom’. But then that’s my problem. Towns or cities lying almost precisely on the Greenwich meridian did not include Greenwich but still brought a brace of correct answers. Tom Hasler knew that Canada has 10 provinces for the next starter. For the bonuses on probability distribution captain Tom used the time-honoured technique of giving the same answer to each bonus until it was the right one. So to the picture starter. We saw the name of a vegetable given in Spanish, French, German and Japanese. Sadly not English. I knew it wasn’t carrot since they are rather splendidly called zanahorias in Spanish. I’ll be honest, I have never had occasion to use the word navet, or turnip in French, but at least I know now. Nobody had that. Nobody knew Oscar Wilde’s ‘Salome’ either. The next question about Bennu suddenly launched a buzzer race when it became clear that Bennu was an Ancient Egyptian deity (as opposed to Richie Bennu, who was an Australian one.)

Jake Roberts won the race to answer that. This took us back to the picture bonuses. Only one more edible root was correctly identified. An early buzz from Luke Nash identified parts of the early telephone. Free time brought a timely full house. This meant that Durham led by 55 to 25 at a tad past ten minutes.

Cameron Lambert knew that Cannakale in Turkey is home to a statue of the Wooden Horse of Troy. Mythological figures in Botticelli’s Primavera yielded just the one bonus. Tom Hasler was in very quickly with the phrase Manifest Destiny for the next starter. Evolutionary biology brought two bonuses, and the lead to SOAS. So to the music starter and Emilia Brookfield -Pertusini was in very quickly to recognise a piece of music used as a theme to Peep Show. The bonuses – songs also used in Peep Show at times brought just one correct answer. This was turning into a bit of a grim old arm wrestle. Jake Roberts knew that element 116 was named Livermorium. Durham’s bonuses on Mexican president Benito Jarez provided two correct answers. Nobody knew Lake Volta for the next starter. The clue was in the question with the next stater. The August prize for literature, we were told, took its name from one of that country’s best known literary figures. August Strindberg, thought I, hence Sweden. Ella Dorn probably worked it out in the same way. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings turned out to be meat and drink to Cameron Lambert and he handed SOAS a rare full house. I’ll be honest, whenever you’re asked for an opera by Donizetti, if you say ‘Lucia di Lammermoor” you’ll be right more often than you’re wrong. Ella Dorn took her second consecutive starter with this. Plants and folk medicine did not exactly seem full of eastern promise but to be fair we both had ginseng and St. John’s Wort. This was enough to ensure that as we closed in on the twenty minute mark SOAS were now leading by 105 to 85.

The last lap began with the second picture starter. We were shown a well-known cover of a well-known novel. Emilia Brookfield-Pertusini knew it was Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. More of the same followed. The only one Durham didn’t have a scooby about was the only one I knew – Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre. The time I spent reading that should best be described as hours of my life that I will never get back. Neither team knew about strangeness for the next starter. They should have tried teaching some of my old pupils, then they’d have been intimately acquainted with this particular concept. Ella Dorn knew Makaton – wasn’t he one of the Decepticons? – to keep SOAS edging towards round two. Two bonuses meant that Durham would need at least two visits to the table to take the lead. They didn’t get one from the next starter. Cameron Lambert recognised that the pirate Henry Avery – as featured on Doctor Who (played by Hugh Bonneville) – gained fame from attacking a convoy belonging to the Mughal Empire. Three questions on suspension bridges followed. Yum yum, thought I, but only had 2 of them. 2 more than SOAS managed – tricky set. A lovely UC special set gave stars in flags, and led Tom Hasler to work out that if you aligned the colours of the stars vertically you’d end up with the flag of Germany.  They could really have done with a nice easy set of bonuses at this point, but instead got a set on Hilma af Klint. They were pretty close to the first. They discarded the correct answer for the second, then took the third. Amol told us that there were only two minutes left and SOAS led by fifty. I didn’t get the next question but Luke Nash did. Two correct answers on Alexander Pope’s Essay on Criticism helped but Durham still needed two visits to the table. Jake Roberts earned one visit through recognising words from Shakespeare’s Richard II. Shorter wors that can be made with any letters from the word solstice brought a very useful full house. Now Durham trailed by just 10. Captain Marvel, Jake Roberts equalled the scores by answering scattering for the next starter. There was only time for one wrong answer on the bonuses.

We don’t often see tie breaks on UC. Amol asks a starter. If you interrupt and get it right, you win. If you interrupt and get it wrong, you lose. If you let the question be completed, then answer correctly you win. If neither of you do, then we have another starter. And so on. Neither team got the first. The second asked  - the guanaco was the ancestor of which domestic animal?  Cameron Lambert went for it before the question was finished. All or nothing. ’Alpaca?’ he answered. It was Llama. Heartbreak for SOAS, relief for Durham, who now automatically won.

With SOAS slightly better on the buzzer it came down to the bonuses. SOAS had a BCR of 48, while Durham’s was 60. It was that BCR which enabled them to reel in SOAS over the last frantic couple of minutes. Well played both teams – this was a match high on excitement at least.

Amol Watch

Amol does enjoy listening to the teams’ deliberations, and he told off the rest of SOAS for telling skipper Hasler ‘it’s all on you.’ In case we should forget Amol also used the opportunity to remind us that Bertrand Russell is his hero.

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

The word pheromone is ultimately derived from the Greek for ‘to carry’.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

What probability distribution is the continuous analogue of the geometric distribution? It has a particular memoryless property, such that the time for an event to occur is not conditional on any time that has already passed.

Huh?

Dum de dumdum  dum dum dum dum dumdum.

Mastermind First Round - Heat Fourteen

After last week’s pyrotechnics it was only to be expected that we might return to earth a little with last night’s show. Nonetheless there was plenty of interest as the drama of the show unfolded.

First up was medical student Arnav Umranikar, answering on Winston Churchill’s wartime premiership. I helped myself to four points on this round. Arnav did a bit better with 6. He knew his subject, but somehow the questions exposed a few gaps and at 6 points he looked to have blown his chance.

I think it’s fair to say that I know more about Churchill’s wartime premiership than I do about Mariah Carey, yet I came close to equalling my score on the previous round with three. Tim Kew did considerably better. It wasn’t quite a perfect round, but it was pretty close. A splendid 11 put him very comfortably out in front with two contenders still to go.

Next came student Alice Perkins. Alice was answering on what I considered to be last night’s government health warning subject, seals. I guessed the grey seal at the start and that was my lot. Alice coped well with what certainly sounded like a difficult round – my lack of knowledge on seals prevents me from speaking authoritatively here. Ironically I do remember seeing an item on John Craven’s Newsround many years ago on the seal that said ‘Hello there!’ but couldn’t remember the name. Alice scored a battling 7.

Finally Elina Kharmats on Kandinsky. He’s another one of those 20^th century artists whose work I can appreciate but could never say that I particularly like. I took one to leave me with a very acceptable aggregate of 9 for the specialists. As with Arnav, during Elina’s round I definitely felt that it was a subject she knew, but the questions did not fall kindly enough to enable her to build what would appear to be a competitive score. She finished with 6.

I think that one of the more appealing things about Mastermind is its simplicity. This is the amount of time you have. Here’s the questions. Try to go like billy-o and give it some stick. There was a real never-say-die quality to Arnav’s GK round. It didn’t seem like the round of someone who had only scored 6 on specialist. If the five point deficit played on his mind at all during the round it certainly didn’t show. 12 was a good return. Did I think it was enough to win? Nah, but at least it would give the leader something to think about.

Neither Alice nor Elina came close to Arnav during their rounds. Both picked off what they could, but were unable to answer enough questions correctly to get close to double figures. Elia scored 8 and Emily 7 so that they both finished with fourteen.

Ad so to the Key round, should you pardon the pun. Tim needed 8 to win outright. 7 and no passes would bring a tie break. After the first four questions of the round you could have named your own price on Arnav winning. Tim answered his first four correctly. Then he had a couple wrong. Then he had another correct answer, and then some wrong answers. And this, it seemed, played on his mind, and the wrong answers just kept coming. It was compelling to watch for all the wrong reasons – every time he had to zig or zag he took the wrong option. I sometimes talk of rounds where the questions just don’t fall for you, and this was a prime example. In the end, Tim scored 7, but he incurred 1 pass, and that brought Arav the win.

Well done, sir! A fine example of what you can achieve when you put setbacks behind you and give it your best shot. Best of luck in the semi final.

The Details

Arnav Umranikar	Winston Churchill’s wartime premiership	6	0	12	0	18	0
Tim Kew	Mariah Carey	11	0	7	1	18	1
Alice Perkins	Seals	7	1	7	2	14	3
Elina Kharmats	Wassily Kandinsky	6	3	8	2	14	5