University Challenge 2024 Second Round - Sheffield v. Aberdeen

The Teams

Sheffield

Saffiyah Rujak

Joe McGough

Cameron Colclough (capt.)

Mathew Nail

Aberdeen

Archie Broomfield

Zachary Eisler

Emily Osborne (capt.)

Callum McClements

Ah, UC is back! Yippee! The problem I find with the Diet University Challenge Christmas series is that I get so frustrated with a) the gaps in GK of the very clever people in the teams, and b) the inability some of them have in listening to the questions carefully. This is very unfair of me, I know. Can’t help it. I’d be thrown out of the Grumpy Old Gits association otherwise.

Joe McGough came in too early for the first starter and put Sheffield in deficit for his pains. Aberdeen did not know that the detective in The Murders of the Rue Morgue’ was Auguste Dupin. However Zachary Eisler opened their account on the nest starter by recognising a reference to US abolitionist John Brown. None of them knew Henri Dunant, founder of the Red Cross, nor the battle which he witnessed which led to his founding of the Red Cross, However, they did know that the first Nobel Peace Prize went to him in 1901. Zachary Eisler took his second consecutive starter, knowing that the tree associated with death common in the UK is yew. Supply your own puns on the theme, please. The Glasgow School of Art saw three tough bonuses pass us all by. I’ll be honest, I thought it was a very difficult show last night – I was conscious of being unable to even guess at a large number of bonuses and this set was a portent of that. Callum McClements buzzed after “Which city hosted the first modern Summer Olympics-“ then held his head in his hands as he realised that Amol had continued ‘since overturning the rule – “ He provided the answer “Athens” knowing it was not the right answer, and losing five. I think it was gettable from this point since the rule overturned was surely about professional athletes being allowed to compete. Given the whole question which provided a lot more helpful information Joe McGough correctly answered Seoul. A UC special set on words in Shakespeare that feature within the names of Premier League Football clubs proved too tricky for either of us to get more than the last one right. Now, it’s not often that the first picture starter brings me a lap of honour but it happened last night. We saw a diagram of a chemical process. “Distillation!” I shouted, before Zachary Eisler supplied the same answer to take his third starter. More diagrams brought me nowt and Aberdeen just the one. Mind you, it could have been two. The team supplied Chromatography, but captain Emily Osborne misheard and this earned her a bit of an admonition from Amol. More of that later. It was ironic really. Back in July skipper Emily Osborne was criticised a lot on Twitter for nominating her teammates to answer a large number of the questions. You’re damned if you do, so it seems, and you’re damned if you don’t. Zachary Eisler continued to show why any sensible captain would have done just what his skipper did in their first-round heat by taking a fourth starter, recognising a description of the Barnett formula. Me? I thought the Barnett formula was the recipe for Head and Shoulders (other anti-dandruff shampoos are available). Proteins yielded a set of bonuses that set my internal orchestra off playing at full blast. When the din ceased Aberdeen had got one of them right and were leading by 50 – 10 at just past the ten minute point.

Zachary Eisler’s previously sure hand on the buzzer let him down as he came in too early for the next starter. Given the full question Saffiyah Rujak supplied the correct answer with krater/crater. Japanese Straits in History provided another of those sets of bonuses where only one of them was easily guessable, so we both managed just the one of them. Archie Bloomfield came in too early for the next starter which allowed Saffiyah Rujak to take her second consecutive starter with the graphic novel Ghost World. I wasn’t thrilled when a set of bonuses on economic DSGE models was announced to follow, and none of us could get any of them. However I did enjoy the answer to the last one being a French economist called Leon “I am the” Walras. Gawd knows why but for the next starter when it mentioned a web browser amongst other things I said Mosaic. It was one of very few instances of inspiration striking me during this show. Saffiyah Rujak completed an excellent hattrick of starters with his one. Film maker Mike Flanagan (who had formed a great striking partnership with Clive Allen at QPR in a past life) provided a rare full house which gave Sheffield the lead. So to the music starter. Being one of the hardest shows I can remember for some time, we had classical music, and not Mozart or Beethoven neither. Nobody recognised Brahms (no, I will not mention Are You Being Served? ) Fair play to Archie Broomfield who knew the Buddhist term samsara for the next starter. Although I would argue that the bonuses of classical pieces written as gifts for individuals weren’t much of a prize. None of us knew any of them. As it happens I several times passed by Fairey Engineering as I was going into Heathrow as a kid, so I comfortably beat Callum McClements to the next starter. Maths bonuses followed. I know you’ll be shocked at this, but I did get the last one right. So did Aberdeen. What, more Science? Yes, the next starter required the answer of the Planck Constant, given by Cameron Colclough. The Elizabethan navigator Martin Frobisher brought a little welcome relief – although the setters sneaked a question about Geology in there. Both Sheffield and I missed that one. So at the 20 minute mark, following as tough a ten minutes as I can remember on the show, Sheffield led by 80 – 65. For a second round match those scores tell their own story.

Archie Broomfield wiped out two thirds of the deficit knowing the term phenomenology. The origins of dance music genres gave both Aberdeen and me nothing – it was that kind of show. I was impressed with the speed with which Matthew Nail recognised a painting of Danae from Greek Mythology. (You want a reference to golden showers? You can provide it yourself. Dirty boys.) We all recognised a Klimt depiction of the same scene, but that was it for the bonuses. Miklagard – at last something I recognised. Zachary Eisler found his buzzer finger again to supply the correct answer that this was what the Vikings called Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul (delete where applicable). What did we get as bonuses? Early contributions to the study of climatology! Despite my dismay it was actually one of my better bonus rounds of the night where I knew both Halley and Franklin. So did Aberdeen. It was now all square between the teams. Hopelandic or Volenska was enough to bring in Matthew Nail with the name of popular Icelandic musical performers Sigur Ros. Hurrah! We had a literature set of bonuses, on juvenilia. At last I had a full house for my pains. Sheffield had the first two but missed out on Virginia ‘Big bad’ Woolf and Vanessa ‘Saved by the‘ Bell. Zachary Eisler worked out that the birds referred to in the next starter must be penguins. I could feel their dismay when they were given bonuses on treatments for syphilis. It showed in the way that they didn’t have a scooby on the first two, and passed on the gettable one on penicillin to have a go at another starter. On bloody Maths again! Matthew Nail knew about completing the square – no, me neither – to earn bonuses on film adaptations of Hamlet. Thankfully the contest was gonged before the set was completed. Sheffield had won by 130 – 105.

Sheffield won because they did better with the bonuses – their BCR of 47 was something of a triumph on this particular show. Aberdeen’s was slightly over 22, and I really don’t think mine was any better either.

Old, white bearded quizzers, such as myself, are given to saying that all questions are easy if you know the answer and by implication difficult if you don’t. I wouldn’t be surprised that if you have a background in he Sciences you would have done well on this episode. I only have a background in the Arts, and I found it a struggle. That’s the way the questions crumble, but my impression was that the balance could have been better.

Amol Watch

Yes, I’ve changed the heading of this section because we already know that Amol is doing us fine, thank you very much. What would Amol have done, I wonder, if any of the team members had responded to his matey ‘Any questions about the rules?’ at the start of the show? ‘No, thought not’ he answered his own question. I loved the look on his face when Emily Osborne facetiously suggested that the Swiss founder of the Red Cross was Toblerone.

It was to Emily Osborne that Amol offered the words of advice “Feel free to nominate one of your teammates if it makes things easier.” Which does illustrate one of the differences between Amol and his predecessor. Can you imagine how a vintage JP from c. 2010 would have phrased that admonition?

Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know

Kraters – ancient Greek vessels for diluting wine, were often used as grave markers.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

From the worlds of Science and Economics there were two absolute beauties in last night’s show -

Proteins that contain a mitochondrial targeting sequence can enter the mitochondria through the T-O-M or Tom40 pore in the outer mitochondrial membrane. Here 40 refers to the molecular mass of this protein and is measured in what units?

Then -

Dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models updated the neo-classical RBC theory, which explained macroeconomic fluctuations with technical shocks and productivity changes, allowing the economy to respond to changes rationally. For what do the letters RBC stand?

Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.