University Challenge 2024 Grand Final: Imperial v. University College, London

The Teams

Imperial, London

Justin Lee

Adam Jones

Suraiya Haddad (capt.)

Sourajit Debnath

University College, London

James Hall

Ali Izzatdust

Tayana Sawh (Capt.)

Jacob Finlay

Here we are, ladies and gentlemen. After last week’s Mastermind Grand Final we have the University Challenge Grand Final, which really brings to an end the quizzy Mondays that have kept us going throughout the long autumn and winter months. Much to my delight as a Londoner by birth, and an alumnus of London University (Goldsmiths College), the final pitted the best two teams of the series against each other and both are from London. Imperial, independent from London University for some time now, I think, could look back on series wins in 1996, 2001, 2020 and 2022. No team had ever yet won five series. UCL had also been this way before, having lost the 2005 and 2012 series grand finals, but had not yet won a series. Now, to use a footballing analogy, conventional wisdom has it that two London teams in an FA Cup Final usually produces an underwhelming match – and my own attendance at the 1982 replay of Spurs v. QPR would certainly bear this out. But I had a feeling that we could expect better from these two.

So, who would be fastest on the buzzer? Well, Ali Izzatdust won the first buzzer race to identify methods of naming days of the week. The medieval Egyptian ruler Baybars gave us both a full house. Justin Lee came in too early on the next starter. It became obvious that the necessary answer would be an Italian city. James Hall played the percentages with Rome but ‘Ocean’s Nursling’ had suggested Venice to me, and that’s what it was. James Hall buzzed in too early for the next starter, and given the whole question Sourajit Debnath came in with the correct answer of urea, to get the Imperial juggernaut moving. A great set on artworks created through defacing existing artworks was despatched to the boundary by Adam Jones to level the scores at one penalty and one full house each. James Hall identified the artist Lubaina Himid for the next starter. Biological terms starting with chi brought me a lap of honour for getting chimera. Look, I’ll take them where I can get them. I could have waited for the third of the set because I knew chitin too. UCL took the same two bonuses. I’ll be honest, when I saw the picture starter quoting Chaucer and showing various sites of places visited by one of the pilgrims I nearly shouted Wife of Bath, but checked the text first. Just as well for it was clearly the Knight. Justin Lee took his first starter of the evening – it wouldn’t be an only child for long. More pilgrims followed – they had the more difficult ones but the character most famous for the number of pilgrimages she made, the aforementioned Wife of Bath, they missed. Justin Lee buzzed early to explain that St. Bartholomew and Jude were martyred in Armenia. To have one saint martyred in Armenia is misfortune, to have two martyred sounds a bit careless. One bonus on ocean habitats followed. Sourajit Debnath knew that Elia Kazan was the director who co-founded the Actors Studio. Video games that have won the BAFTA for best debut game were very much to Mr. Debnath’s liking and he took a full house in short order. We approached the 10-minute mark with Imperial just beginning to apply the afterburners, leading, as they did, by 80-40.

Sourajit Debnath doesn’t answer as many starters as Justn Lee, but most of the starters he answers are ones which seem to leave all 7 other players scratching their heads. For example the next starer, to which the answer was spline. (I’ll exspline later). Biogeographic regions of Australia sounded harder than they proved to be and Imperial took the two that they needed to put their score into triple figures. Ominous times for UCL, who could really have done with getting the next starter. Ali Izzatdust tried, but lost five for his pains allowing Justin Lee to identify the city of Maastricht. 18^th century wars of succession mean that the answers were going to be the Polish, Spanish and Austrian, so it was a matter of getting them in the right order. Not a problem for Imperial – another full house. Jacob Finlay jumped early on the next starter, but lost five, allowing Adam Jones in with Thailand. The International Phonetic Alphabet opened up the puzzling world of plosives, and fricatives, velars and labials, yielded a single bonus, This led us to the music starter, and for once in this series, something I recognised – Faure’s Pavane. Justin Lee took that one. Other composers associated with the Paris Conservatoire brought Imperial one bonus. None of us knew Pierre Bourdieu (wasn’t he the author of perennial favourite ‘Ce n’est pas mon cochon, c’est ma Belle-mere’?). Tayana Sawh tried to break the stranglehold but gave an incorrect answer to the next starter, allowing Adam Jones in with Cryolite (either a 1980s Doctor Who monster, or a member of the R and B group who had a UK hit with the song ‘Have You Seen Her?’, take your pick.) The book “Mythologies” by Roland Barthes brought the points to stretch the Imperial lead to 150.UCL were looking to be in a right old Imperial leather and their plight was not helped when Justin Lee buzzed in incredibly quickly to identify Berengaria. Mythological paintings by Angelica Kauffmann brought the full house that Imperial needed to take their score to 200. Poor old UCL. They’re a great team, and Heaven knows they had tried hard to beat Imperial to the buzzer. There was nothing more that they could have done. The next starter on Bambara was a good demonstration of this. Ali Izzatdust buzzed incredibly quickly, but he was still beaten by Justin Lee, who knew that the language in question hailed from Mali. Sackings of Rome brought Imperial lashings of points, another full house. The lead had stretched to 200 points. I nearly awarded myself another lap of honour for knowing Fermi was the answer to the next starer, but I was just relieved that Ali Izzadust won the race. Two bonuses on philosophers meant that as we approached the 20 minute mark Imperial led by 225 – 40.

For the next starter Adam Jones identified a painting by Winslow Homer. 3 more paintings of fishermen, although these were by French artists, brought just five more points. Jacob Finlay recognised a description of the Andaman Sea for the next starter. Subatomic particles raised their ugly miniscule heads for the bonuses – I got two!! – bringing a full house to UCL. Ali Izzatdust came in extremely early to identify Ponta Delgada in the Azores. 2 bonuses on the American Civil War and their score was beginning to look more healthy. Not a score that looked high enough to challenge, mind you. Especially when Justin Lee took the next starter on the language of the Cherokee. Bonuses on international economics yielded nowt, but who cared? It wasn’t going to affect the result. Nobody knew about vitamin B1 thiamin curing beri beri. Justin Lee, who would end the evening with 8 starters and the series with a magnificent 36, recognised a description of a rondo. Architecture of the 30s brought us both just the one correct answer with the inevitable Frank Lloyd Wright. Gordon Comstock allowed Adam Jones to give the title ‘Keep the Aspidistra Flying ‘ for the next starter and the novel The Princess of Cleves brought two correct answers to give Imperial just the chance of reaching the rarely achieved 300 point mark. Ali Izzatdust denied them on the next starter on the oryx. Composers brought two correct answers. Jacob Finlay denied them on a starter on the work the Strange Death of Liberal England. But that, as they say, was that. The gong struck, leaving Imperial the champions having won the match 285 – 120.

Many, many congratulations to Imperial. They become the first institution to win five series. I think that bearing in mind the quality of the UCL team, this must have been their finest performance of the whole series. For the record Imperial’s BCR was 62, while UCL’s was 78.

Full marks to Suraiya Haddad for praising first her team, then UCL when being presented with the trophy. Then we had the cutaway to a filmed presentation of the trophy by Sir Tom Stoppard. He’s apparently a huge fan of the show (although not enough of a fan to clear his schedule enough to allow him to attend the final on the day, so it would seem.) This happened of the roof of Imperial, which gave the whole thing a sort of Let it Be vibe.

Well, there we are, that was University Challenge 2024. Congratulations and thanks to all of the players, teams, and to the team who put the show together for us. Here’s looking forward to University Challenge 2025

Amol Watch

Amol, did you have to pick on Justin Lee for wearing his hoodie? It’s a measure of just how good this Imperial team were that Amol felt the need to offer encouragement to UCL on the fifteen-minute mark. Another example of Amol addressing contestants by their given names came when he admonished Suraiya Haddad with ‘ You should have listened to Sourajit.” Well, this is part of Amol’s relaxed style and I have to say that if you take the series as a whole, he really has taken to it like a mallard to water. It’s nice to see a question master who isn’t shy about showing just how much he has enjoyed each contest in the series. Very well done, Sir and keep it up.

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

Cryolite was obtained from a single mine in Greenland.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

Meanings of which short term include, in a mechanical context, a ridge on a surface of a part usually used to prevent an otherwise circular part from turning and in mathematics, a function commonly used for interpolation and described by multiple polynomial equations, each one used only within a particular interval to produce a simpler description of a more complex curve or surface?

What do you mean you’ve never heard of a spline?!!!!!!! Dum de dumdum  dum dum dum dum dumdum.