Mastermind 2025 Heat 6

At last, dearly beloved, at last we had a roster of specialist subjects in a Mastermind heat that offered me just a chance of more than the slimmest of pickings. Not the first subject though. This was a subject that has featured on Mastermind more than once before, the Ghost Stories of M.R. James – who was not, as I once thought, the author of Fifty Shades of Whatsaname. As you can tell, I’ve ever read them, although I have copied a illustration from one. 

Thomas Banbury had prepared well enough to score 8, which is a competitive score that has given contenders a chance during the series so far. Me? Nul points.

So the first subject to offer me just a glimmer of a chance was snooker legend Ronnie O’Sullivan, offered by Liam McCarthy. I have actually read the Rocket’s autobiography, name checked in one of the questions, but that was quite a few years ago, so it didn’t seem to do me a lot of good. I limped along to two points. Liam, like Thomas before him, scored a good 8 and no passes, so he was still in the hunt.

Third to go was Jane Northen. Jane was offering my first real ‘fill yer boots’ subject of this series, in the shape of Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds. This was, incidentally, Alan Heath’s winning subject in the 2016 Grand Final. Like a lot of kids of my generation I absolutely loved this show and watched the episodes time and time again. Then, as a dad in the 90s I got to do it all over again with my son, for whom I even made a Blue Peter Tracy Island – and damn good it was too, though I say it myself. So yes, the 7 I got was a good total, although not a surprise. Not as good as Jane’s though. Her 10 was the best round of the night so far.

Having to follow that was Helen Lawson. She was answering on Hans Holbein the Younger and this subject brought me the 1 point I needed to take my aggregate for the specialists into double figures. Yes, you are allowed to indulge in a small celebration at this point. There. Did you enjoy it? Helen again did well, but she was just a tiny bit behind Jane on the clock and finished with 9. Kudos to all four contenders for not passing in any of their specialist rounds.

Thomas did not start his GK round brilliantly, but rather grew into it, so much so that he managed to post double figures. His 10 gave him 18, which we always say is unlikely to prove a winning score, but is enough to make the other contenders have to pass through the corridor of doubt.

Liam McCarthy did even better. He started better but didn’t gain quite as much momentum as Thomas had done. Even so his consistency meant that he scored 11 and 1 pass, a good performance which raised the bar to 19.

Helen Lawson didn’t look quite as comfortable in the chair as she had during her specialist round, but even though she seemed to be making slower progress she was still edging closer to the target. She took 9 which put her up with Thomas, but just one point behind Liam.

Finally Jane, then. I often mention momentum in GK rounds, and Jane’s round was a good demonstration of what I mean. Jane took the tactic of passing when an answer – right or wrong – did not occur and in this way she kept up her momentum throughout the round. This meant that she kept going and passed the finishing post with several questions to spare. She scored 12 for a total of 22. Yes, she passed more than any of the other contenders, but this didn’t make the slightest difference because she scored more.

In her piece to camera at the end Jane revealed that she really is a Thunderbirds fanatic. Nothing so wrong with that either. Well Jane, I hope that you have another such subject in your semi. The very best of luck to you.

The Details

Thomas Banbury	The Ghost Stories of M.R.James	8	0	10	1	18	1
Liam McCarthy	Ronnie O’Sullivan	8	0	11	1	19	1
Jane Northen	Thunderbirds	10	0	12	3	22	3
Helen Lawson	Hans Holbein the Younger	9	0	9	1	18	1

University Challenge 2025 - Reading v. Exeter

The Teams

Reading

Kissani Selvamaresh

Josh Finkelstein

Rhiannon Snook (Capt.)

Stuart Rock

Exeter

Ryker Moorcroft

Lucy Carr

Martin Newman (Capt.)

Elliott Mouelhi

I didn’t pick out that all the references in the first starter were pointing to violence, but Elliott Mouelhi did and he claimed first points for Exeter. A relatively gentle set on Scottish Geography brought two bonuses. The next starter saw a long wait until the name Dolores O’Riordan ignited a buzzer race, won by Elliott Moelhi to answer the Cranberries. South African cricket grounds brought a full house. Again both teams waited with the next starter, but with the name check for family favourite Viking Chief Rollo, Elliott Mouelhi took his third consecutive starter with Normandy. Written Japanese seemed right up Ryker Moorcroft’s street as he supplied the answers for another full house. The picture starter that followed showed us a table with national flags, and tonnage of countries producing the most of a particular metal. I was nowhere near a correct answer, but Elliott Mouelhi took his fourth in a row with copper. More tables with more metals brought another full house. The Kjedahl Method gave Josh Finkelstein the opportunity to give Reading a visit to the table. Variation in biological organisms promised me little but meiosis delivered a lap of honour around the sofa. Only a slightly misheard question prevented Reading from taking a full house. Emboldened by his success on the previous starter, Josh Finkelstein came in early with the island of South Georgia. Constitutional legislation in the UK brought Reading’s score to 35, but at the ten minute mark Exeter led with 95.

Now as soon as the words ‘golden record’ were mentioned in the next starter I thought Voyager. But then I’m the right age. Ryker Moorcroft is considerably younger, but he still managed to supply the same answer. A lovely UC set on name drops in the song “Late night double feature” from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, saw a point of contention when Flash Gordon was described as a superhero. Comic book hero yes, but what’s super about him? (At this point anyone who brings Batman into the conversation is deliberately being picky) Maybe that’s why Exeter failed to add to their total. Captain Rhiannon Snook knew that Wes Anderson directed several Roald Dahl stories on Netflix to get her team moving again. Steven Vincent Who Benet brought them just the one bonus. So to the music starter. Eddy Grant is a musician very much to my taste and very much of my vintage, and so I recognised his Electric Avenue slightly more quickly than Stuart Rock – another more mature gentleman like myself. Other British tracks that also made the US charts in 1983 were very much music to my ears, and both Mr. Rock and I supplied a full house. The next Science starter was so long winded we would have been in Baby Elephant Walk territory, were it not for the fact that it took a really simple turn at the end, and I had it right with condensation. Ryker Moorcroft was the quickest to work out that yes, it really was that simple and he earned a set of bonuses on geometrical terms as described by some old buffer who was translating Euclid. One was taken but hey, the clock was running down and the gap was still growing. Ryker Moorcroft took another starter knowing that Slovenian not only has singular and plural, but also has dual. Does Old Norse have something similar? Maybe I’ve misremembered that. Jules Hardouin- Mansart – Qui? brought two bonuses – but if they’d known their 1919 treaties they’d have had a full house. Didn’t matter. Just coming up to the 20 minute mark they led by 140 – 75.

For the next starter Amol accepted the Independence of India, as opposed to the partition of India, but not to accept it would have been churlish and Amol is not a churl. A really lovely UC special set on places sharing their name with European names of colours took Reading to triple figures, and being only forty behind it looked as if we could be in for a closer contest than it had seemed. Nobody on either team could identify a still from the film Paper Moon. We’re off to paper moon, we followed Mr. Spoon? No, that was Button Moon. Stuart Rock came in too early for the next starter. I don’t blame him – had he been correct and his team have taken all of the bonuses, then the gap would have been much narrowed. But then, if my Auntie had pollocks, she’d have been a fishmonger, as they say. The mention of the Olympics, and the sculptor Myron gave Lucy Carr the discus, and a set of bonuses on other Oscar winning film debuts. A full house fell to Exeter, and with the benefit of hindsight that was the pivotal point of the match. Not that Reading were giving up yet. Josh Finkelstein buzzed in early with bone marrow for the next starter. The roman republic provided a single bonus on what was, to be honest, a very gettable set. Eagles from Mythology gave Ryker Moorcroft another starter, earning a set of bonuses on lead, which led to a full house. Again, Josh Finkelstein threw caution to the winds – which I applaud – but knew he had done so in vain while Roger Tilling was calling his name on the next starter. Exeter skipper Martin Newman knew if Lord Salisbury was talking about a conflict it was probably going to be the Boer War. Two bonuses on judgement of the dead followed. Demolished churches designed by Christopher Wren gave Elliott Mouelhi another starter and his team swiftly took two bonuses on Jonathan Swift. See what I did there?  Poor old Josh Finkelstein came in too early again on the next starter, the answer of which was the astronomical unit as given by Ryker Moorcroft. That was it. There was no time left for bonuses. In the end Exeter had come out comfortable winners with 240 – 100.

Reading managed a BCR of 61, which is pretty decent, but it’s only effective when you’re getting your fair share of starters. Exeter had a fine BCR of 73. Whether they’re amongst the fastest teams on the buzzer – well only time will tell that. But it was a pretty good start.

Amol Watch

I’m not sure if 7 minutes and 38 seconds is the earliest Amol has offered encouragement to a team, but it has to be up there. Mind you, I don’t blame him for Reading were down by almost a hundred at this point. I liked the way that he gee’d on the hesitant Reading team during the roman republic bonuses, and he was right to do so as they still had an outside chance of a repechage score.

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

Amarillo, Texas is the largest city of the Texas panhandle AND is named after the tawny colour of the soil. 2 facts for the price of one.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

Invented in 1883 by a Danish chemist, the eponymous Kjedahl Method is used to measure the content of which chemical element in substances such as food and fertilisers? It involves digesting a substance with sulphuric acid and determining the amount of ammonia released.

Alright, not complete gibberish, I grant you. Don’t care. Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.

Mastermind 2025 Round 1 Heat Five

Yes, my first day in my new job went very well, thank you for asking. Don’t worry, I’ll still be supporting teachers in Mastermind, but I’ll also be supporting NHS workers too now.

So, off we go. First up was Mike Noyes and he was answering on the only specialist subject which looked likely to bring me any points during the specialists yesterday. This was Admiral Horatio Nelson. I took three of those, one I knew and two I made educated guesses at. My uneducated guesses in two of the other subjects meant that I was not looking that good as we went into the final specialist. However, I digress. Mike Noyes managed 8. In previous series this would have looked a more modest score, but for this series that looked like a decent effort which would leave him in contention.

Meg Koo offered us Battlestar Galactica. I remember the original series back in the 70s, which I used to watch but which hardly really lit my candle that much. I haven’t ever watched the newer version. Meg Koo has. She was just one correct answer from a double figure score and knew her stuff very well. As I’ve mentioned, scores have been just a tiny bit lower in this series than in the previous – or so it seems to me – and 9 put her certainly in with a chance.

I will put my hand up and say that I am not the least bit familiar with the work of Michael Kiwanuka. Fair play, I doubt he’s familiar with any of mine either. That’s not his fault, though, just my bad luck. Thankfully, Stanley Thomas is definitely familiar with his work. Stanley managed 7. I would have said that this looked a little low, but no, in fact it put him just two points off the lead and we’ve often seen how this can easily be overcome in a GK round.

One specialist subject remained though and this was offered by Emma Gallen, on the films of Sofia Coppola. I wonder whether being her father’s daughter proved to be a help or a hindrance to her career? This is not the kind of question you can ask in a specialist round however, but the ones that were asked brought my specialist aggregate to five in total. Emma again knew her subject, but film rounds can be tricky beasts and she too scored 7 points.

Stanley gave it a lash in his GK round, and he certainly didn’t do badly. However the whole thing was a little bit staccato. He never quite got the run of three or four consecutive correct answers you need to build up momentum. In the end a late rally saw him score a respectable 8 to set the bar at fifteen.

You could make a similar observation about Emma’s GK round. Once again she gave it a good old go, never seeming to lose her composure, but again she couldn’t really get the momentum going to set a really competitive score. She finished with 14.

I made the point about momentum, because that’s what Mike managed to do by way of contrast with his own GK round. With the first four or five answered correctly on the bounce at the start of the round he was moving well. This meant that on the few occasions when he gave wrong answers he was able to keep going and driving on towards a score in the teens. He finished with 13 points. This set the target at 21 and meant that Meg had to get at least 12 and no passes for an outright win.

She certainly tried. Actually, I still refuse to believe that anybody does ever sit in the chair and not at least try to do as well as they can. But the clock can be a harsh mistress and the second minute it looked as if Meg was off the pace a little. She was just a smidgeon away from a 20 point total, scoring 10 for 19 and second place.

Well done Mike! Best of luck in the semis.

The Details

Mike Noyes	Horatio Nelson	8	1	13	0	21	1
Meg Koo	Battlestar Galactica	9	0	10	0	19	0
Stanley Thomas	Michael Kiwanuka	7	0	8	1	15	1
Emma Gallen	The Films of Sofia Coppola	7	0	7	1	14	2

 

University Challenge 2025 - Round 1 - Imperial v. Manchester

Before we get started on last night’s UC, if you haven’t see the latest Only Connect can I say that you might like to do so. The two teams, The Bloomsbury Group, and the Tea Totallers put on a contest that was frankly better than some Grand Finals. Hardly surprising considering the amount of quiz talent across the two teams. After a dazzling display of brilliance from both teams, the Bloomsbury Group won. But I reckon both teams are going to go far this year. Fatima Sheriff, the winning captain, was part of the Imperial team that won UC in 2022, ironically beating her team mate Michael Hutchinson’s Reading team in the Final. Has anyone yet won both UC and Only Connect? Answers on a postcard, please.

The UC review may now begin.

The Teams

Imperial

Charlotte Stokes

Mattia Elkouby

Matthew Spry (Captain)

Jaime Salamanca Camacho

Manchester

Adam Dodd

Millie Sutherland

Joel Crossley (Captain)

Nathan Easow

It was a battle of the multi champs last night on UC. Imperial (five times winners, three times in the last five years) and Manchester (four times winners between 2008 and 2013). That’s some serious previous form.

Millie Sutherland came in too quickly on the first starter. She was unlucky for if she’d been a second later she would have heard nine-banded, which gave me and Matthew Spry the answer that the creatures in question were armadillos. Thalassocracies – altogether now, gesundheit! – brought a full set of bonuses in fairly short order. I thought that both teams sat on their buzzers a bit with the next starter. Asked for a pair of roman deities appearing in a set of paintings , Venus and Mars is always likely to be a good shout. That provided Jaime Salamanca Camacho with his first starter of the night. Mythological firsts brought a second consecutive full house. Matthew Spry lived a little dangerously by pausing almost too long before giving the correct answer of Henry Kissinger (how we’re missing ‘yer) for the next starter. I am not familiar with the Baillie Gifford Winner of Winners Prize, but I took a full house, while Imperial missed out on the last through not listening carefully enough to the question. Nonetheless it had been a great start for them. Likewise, Mattia Elkouby missed out on a correct answer to the picture starter. We saw a map with a location highlighted, and a blank periodic table with the space for one element highlighted. The name of the element was taken from the location. Mr. Elkouby gave us the location, Stockholm but we wanted the element – Holmium. Hard lines. This enabled Nathan Easow to lift Manchester out of negative equity with Therevada. The picture bonuses on more elements and locations brought us both a full house which I celebrated with a lap of honour around the Clark sofa. I didn’t have a scooby about the chemistry starter that followed but Mattia Elkouby knew it was chromatography. Two bonuses on the circulatory system ( which for some reason made me think of Hanger Lane) meant that the score at the ten minute mark stood at 90 – 15 to Imperial.

Did you know that Gjirokaster is in Albania? Matthew Spry did. Large dams did nothing to stem the flood of points for Imperial and they added another full house. Despite Amol’s encouragement for Manchester it was Jaime Salamanca Camacho who took the next starter on swans. Celebrations depicted in opening scenes of Daniel Craig Bond films sadly did not include the Hanwell Carnival, but then that might have prevented Imperial from taking the full house that they did take. And the agony continued for Manchester as Mattia Elkouby buzzed in with valence for the next starter. The end of history – which we all know is y – saw Imperial falter a little as they scored just the one bonus. Didn’t matter. They were closer to 200 than 100 already. It’s been a while since we had a jazz starter and Jaime Salamanca Camacho came in very early to identify Rhapsody in Blue. I loved the story which followed about how Gerschwin, thinking he’d refused to compose the piece, had to compose it in a hurry when he read about where and when the premiere was being held. More musical rush jobs took Imperial to one full set away from 200.Jaime Salamanca Camacho knew about the mathematician Bernhard Riemann for the next starter. Observatories brought me a second science based full house of the night, and took Imperial to a score of 200. The next starter became a frantic buzzer race when the title “Leaves of Grass” was spoken, and Nathan Easow showed a clean pair of heels as he won to answer Walt Whitman. Bouses on Art brought two correct answers. Captain Joel Crossley built on the good work by knowing that Matadi is a port in Congo. Personally I still think you ought to distinguish between the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo in your answer, but there we are. Writers whose names are anagrams of constellations – Hardy and Hydra eg – brought two more correct answers. Sadly Joel Crossley pushed his luck a little too far and only gave half the answer to the next starter after buzzing early, allowing Matthew Spry in with Sun and Son. Two bonuses on decimalisation meant that by the twenty minute mark Imperial were home and dry with 220, while Manchester were some way short of a repechage score with fifty.

They didn’t get any closer with the second picture starter which showed pictures of Mary Shelley and her ole mum Mary Wollstonecraft. Jaime Salamanca Camacho added that one to his starter collection. More family pictures brought two bonuses. James Crossley beat Imperial with diffraction for the next starter. The heritage orchestra supplied a bonus. The deliberately excruciating rhyme alluded to in the next starter pointed to Byron’s Don Juan, and Mattia Elkouby took it. The enzyme amylase, always such a popular topic of conversation around the dinner table, brought two bonuses. Could Imperial break 300? Well Matthew Spry’s answer of the human development index HDI for the next starter would help. A full house on people born in 1923 pushed them to the brink. Matthew Spry raced in to answer that Brisbane is set to host the 2032 Summer Olympics. Incidentally I think that will make Australia the first country to host Summer Olympics in three different cities (and none of them is the capital city!). You can have that one for free. One bonus would have been enough to put Imperial on 300, but Emily Dickinson failed them on this score. Look , don’t ask me about Qubits. It was the correct answer that Jaime Salamanca Camacho gave to the next starter which brought up Imperial’s triple century. Wartime Cabinet Ministers yielded one bonus. Didn’t matter now. Imperial were over 300 and Manchester weren’t going to get a repechage score. Joel Crossley knew a series of events occurring in years ending in 89, but they didn’t get the one bonus on a French river before the gong sounded. Imperial 310, Manchester 75.

Manchester were living off famine rations from their buzzers, but managed a good BCR of 62 on the bonuses they did earn. Imperial had a BCR of 71. A great score, and a great performance. As impressive as the BCR they scored was the fact that Mattia Elkouby, Jaime Salamanca Camacho and Matthew Spry each took multiple starters – with the two latter taking 6 each.

Amol Watch

Fair play to Amol, he usually makes a telling off still seem friendly, as seen when he warned Matthew Spry about hesitating on a starter. With Jeremy Paxman you always felt he wanted to say – don’t do it again or I’ll smash yer face in.

Amol’s encouragements have been more timely this series than they seemed to be last year, but it can’t have been much consolation to Manchester when he felt moved to issue his first before 11 minutes were on the clock. A few minutes later he reiterated his encouragement, this time with rather more urgency.

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

The official terminology for rule by Maritime Empire is Thalassocracy.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

In analytical chemistry a compound’s RF value or retention factor can be used to identify components of a mixture in what class (here there was an incorrect interruption) of analytical techniques based on a compound’s interactions with stationary and mobile phases? Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.

 

Mastermind 2025 - Round 1 Heat 4

There’s no point me moaning about the Autumn hiatus we Mastermind fans have to endure so often. I’ve been moaning about it for years– I even wrote an Angry of Mayfair style letter about it to Points of View once. Rather sportingly they offered me the chance to be videoed making said complaint. In the interests of posterity I declined. It didn’t seem to make the slightest difference then, so it probably wouldn’t do now.

Still, at least Mastermind is back with us now. On paper I reckoned I had chances to score in three of the four specialists. The first of these was offered to us by bank manager James Waller, and was the Films of Martin Scorsese. The thing is, though, Martin Scorsese has directed a lot of films. I reckon I’ve only seen about four of them. I absolutely love Raging Bull and Goodfellas, but got wrong the questions about them. Bearing all this in mind it helped me appreciate James’ round of 7 points a lot more. I don’t know how many hours it would take to watch all the movies again for preparation, but it could easily be over 60. And that’s before you start the actual revision.

Well, I didn’t know that I knew so little about Scorsese’s films. At least I knew that I knew nothing about Phil Ochs. Sometimes you can have a round where you know nothing about the titular subject, and general knowledge and guesswork will still bring you a point or two. This wasn’t one of those rounds. Schoolteacher Tom Clarke (no relation. I spell my name without an E at the end because my ancestors were Scottish presbyterians who looked on silent letters as a sinful extravagance) had the dubious honour of support from the Clark sofa – both for the name and for being a teacher. I’m no longer a teacher, but old habits die hard. He too scored 7.

Possibly, I thought, my interest in the golden age of Hollywood might bring me a point or two during Michelle Miller’s round on multiple Oscar winning costume designer Edith Head. Well, it did bring me a single point – ‘actress’ and ‘sarong’ had to be Dorothy Lamour. ‘sarong answer’ was the description of all of my other guesses, though. Michelle seemed to be answering pretty accurately. She didn’t have many wrong but pauses cost her dearly. Her knowledge deserved to be rewarded with more than a 6 point round, but that’s what she got.

If indeed there was such a thing as a baker round for me in this show, then Lizzie Hancock’s round on Mary Tudor would be it. Give me an English or British monarch and I can usually manage a few points. A few is what I managed here, four to be precise. And after all that had gone before I was grateful for every single one of them. Lizzie was more than equal to the task. Precious little passed her by and she treated us to the only double figure performance of the round, giving her a decent cushion of thee points going into the GK.

You know, I always like it when a contender bounces back from the disappointment of a relatively modest score in the specialist to have a good GK round. That’s exactly what Michelle Miller did. She scored 12 to take her score to a highly respectable 18. What impressed though wasn’t just the score, it was the breadth of knowledge she displayed in doing so. I always feel that if you can have a round like that, then regardless of your finishing position you’ve got something to show for your time.

James Waller, I have to say, did even better. In the current era of the show, if you can score in the teens in any round then you’ve done well. James scored 13 and this took his combined total, and the target to 20. I hadn’t felt that Michelle’s 18 was going to be enough to win. However there’s a world of difference between a score of 18 and a score of 20. I’ve said before that in some shows there just seems to be something in the air, and I had a sneaking feeling that this might just be enough.

I don’t know if Tom Clarke felt daunted by the fact that he had to score 13 on his round just to tie with James but whatever the case, he had one of those rounds where the questions don’t really fall for you, and the guesses just don’t come off. He finished with 13.

So to Lizzie. Lizzie as I said earlier had a three point lead at half time. However, she still needed 10 and no passes to take the contest into a tie break. Yes, a score of 10 and no points needs to be within your capabilities if you’re going to go far in the competition, but it’s certainly enough to put you into the corridor of doubt. And Lizzie came close. She was on 19 as Clive began to ask the last question, although getting it right wouldn’t have been quite enough as she had incurred a pass during the round.

Well done James. Best of luck in the semi final. With the right specialist subject, and that general knowledge, you are certainly looking like a dark horse, if you’ll forgive me for saying so.

The Details

James Waller	The Films of Martin Scorsese	7	0	13	0	20	0
Tom Clarke	Phil Ochs	7	0	6	3	13	3
Michelle Miller	Edith Head	6	0	12	0	18	0
Lizzie Hancock	Mary Tudor	10	0	9	1	19	1

University Challenge 2025 - St. Catharine's , Cambridge v. Wadham, Oxford

The Teams

St. Catharine’s, Cambridge

Jay Sardesai

Malhaar Moharir

Nina Jarvis (Capt.)

Larabella Myers

Wadham, Oxford

Aarav Billore

Arthur Bellamy

Johnny Worden (Capt.)

Anjali Cheung

Being an alumnus of a collegiate university myself I don’t have a problem with Oxford and Cambridge having multiple entrants to UC each year, and if it means that we get more matches pitting the two against each other then so much the better. They’re usually value for money.

Johnny Worden won the buzzer race to give the term motte and bailey castle for the first starter. Bonuses on Stephen Sondheim musicals passed them by, although some would argue that they were unlucky with one of them. More about that later. For the next starter Aarav Billore took his first starter of the night linking up clues with the word final. Nobel Prize winning physicists featured in the film Oppenheimer saw Wadham using a tried and tested quiz tactic – that is they didn’t seem to know the film well, but gave the same plausible answer – Richard Feynman, to each question until it was right. Now, sometimes you’ll get a question where you have the correct answer, but no idea how. Asked about the French naturalist who coined the term invertebrate I answered Lamarck. I have NO idea where on earth that answer came from. Aarav Billore took his double with the same answer. Historical regions of France brought two correct bonuses. The picture starter showed Wales and the parts of England bordering Wales with the location of a town highlighted. I went for Shrewsbury – relatively close but no cigar, it was Ludlow. Nobody had it. Various authors whose initials were AB allowed Arthur Bellamy whose initials are also AB - to take Wadham’s fourth starter. The picture bonuses followed, more locations of towns that have won the Great Towns award. 2 of a relatively gentle set were taken. Finally Jay Sardesai broke St. Catharine’s duck, recognising several things each symbolised by the letter E. 2 bonuses on medical terms meant that Wadham led by 65 – 20 at just after the 10 minute mark. To be honest, give their dominance on the buzzer I couldn’t help thinking that they ought to have been further ahead.

For the next starter the country required remained obscure until the name Manuel Quezon set off a buzzer race won by Malhaar Moharir. The Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, who may or may not have had a shiny nose, brought just one bonus. The musical Marsalis brothers saw both teams sitting on their buzzers before Malhaar Moharir took his second consecutive starter. I remember Branford Marsalis from as long ago as 1985 when he accompanied Sting for one of his songs in Live Aid. Early figures in the development of photography (if he’s English it’s Fox Talbot and if he’s French it’s Daguerre) brought 2 bonuses that took St. Catharine’s to within a starter of Wadham’s score. Neither team recognised the work of Boccherini. Me neither. Various drinks with the appellation Americano fell to Aarav Billore. More 18^th Century minuet movements yielded an unlikely full house. The next starter saw me earn a lap of honour on a baby elephant walk moment question, for knowing phosphorescence. Neither team quite managed it. Aarav Billore, who had come closest with the previous starter, knew the term soft power for the next. Model organisms used for research was not, as a set of bonuses, full of eastern promise for me and it did nowt for Wadham either. Jay Sardesai knew that Seoul is the capital city at one end of the world’s busiest air route. A really lovely set of bonuses on names of discontinued colours in the Crayola range yielded two when it might well have yielded a full house. Neither team recognised a description of millet for the next starter, which meant that as we approached the 20 minute mark St,  Catharine’s led by 95 to 65. It was becoming clear that this was a contest in which the winners would go through and the runners up would go home. Neither team looked that good for a repechage score at this point.

This was even more so when Aarav Billore came in too early for the next starter, losing five and allowing Malhaar Moharir to identify Lake Ladoga correctly. Works by the director Jonathan Glazer brought them one bonus and put them just 10 behind. So to the second picture round, and a little bit of Michelangelo. Johnny Worden took that one. Three more artworks featuring a bright sun brought two correct answers that meant St. Catharine’s would need at least two visits to the table. Nina Jarvis earned the first visit for her team knowing that Gwendolen Harleth features in “Daniel Deronda”. They took two bonuses on exchange rates. The next question seemed one of those horrible maths things until it ended by saying that the mathematician in question shared his surname with the director of Battleship Potemkin. Arthur Bellamy won the buzzer race. Brain Science (as opposed to brainy science) brought Wadham a timely full house, and at this point it began to look as if St. C’s would be the ones needing to use their bus fare home. Given the full question and the clues therein I was surprised that either team worked out that the term meaning painting onto dry plaster is secco. Aarav Billore knew that Sumatra is the largest island that is totally in Indonesia. Bonuses on Medusa brought another full house and suddenly St. Cat’s didn’t just need unanswered visits to the table, they needed snookers as well. With the next starter, it all hinged on the words ‘theft of a loaf of bread’ and it was Malhaar Moharir who won the ensuing buzzer race to answer Jean Valjean. Names of taxonomic ranks which are also used as terms in Maths brought a full house, and just the possibility of getting a repechage score if they could take a full house with the next set. Well, Aarav Billore, the night’s top marksman with the buzzer put paid to that notion. He knew something about isotopes and gubbins inside carbon 14. Bonuses on the Belgian city of Tournai only served to reveal that History is not one of Wadham’s stronger subjects. Arthur Bellamy knew that various French words all begin with the letters TA. There was no time left for bouses on Nobel Prize winning dramatists. In the end Wadham had asserted their authority in the last few minutes to stretch to a comfortable win by 180 – 120.

St. Cat’s had the better BCR as it happened with 51 to Wadham’s 47, but they were outbuzzed at the end of the day. A close match until the last few minutes. Hard lines to St. Cat’s, well done to Wadham.

Amol Watch

For the last Stephen Sondheim musical bonus Arthur Bellamy offered ‘A funny thing happened to me on the way to the Forum.” An apologetic Amol rightly explained that he couldn’t accept it because there is no ‘to me’ in the title. It seems harsh but it really isn’t. After all, if you meant carbon dioxide but answered carbon monoxide there would be no question of accepting it as close enough. However this caused controversy later when St. Catharine’s offered Arcimboldi instead of Arcimboldo and it was accepted. I don’t know – is Arcimboldi an acceptable alternative? Tricky one.

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

The world’s busiest air route is between Seoul and the island of Seju

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

Sometimes lasting for several seconds due to a forbidden energy transition from a triplet state to a singlet state, what type of photoluminescence sees a substance emit light for much longer than fluorescence? This process shares a Greek word root with a chemical element isolated from urine by Henning Brand in 1669.

This question was so long that I switched off, then switched on again after St. Catharine’s interrupted incorrectly, and I had it right! I tell you, if it concerns Greek word roots and weewee, I’m your man.

University Challenge 2025 - Warwick v. University of East Anglia

The Teams

Warwick

Ananya Govindarajan

Thomas Hart

Oscar Siddle (Capt.)

Benjamin Watson

University of East Anglia

Nik Willis

Marlowe North

Soumyajit Saha (Capt.)

Ciaran Shaffrey

Yeah, it did feel a bit strange yesterday, thanks for asking. After all, it was the first time that a new school year began without me being involved for almost forty years. But thankfully there was UC last night to put me back on an even keel.

The Warwick skipper was very quick off the mark with the first starter, identifying the country containing the mosques mentioned as Afghanistan. His team impressed with a full set on the US Electoral college in quick time. The next starter referenced the late wrestler and actor Andre the Giant. Whether this first clue to the name Andre alerted Thomas Hart I could not say, but it earned him his first starter, of what would turn out to be a virtuoso demonstration of buzzing in this show. Brutalist architecture in the UK saw Warwick come close with each bonus yet fail to add to their score. Nobody knew the emulsion test for lipids for the next starter. That wonderful trigger finger of Thomas Hart came in very early to identify The Dark Knight Returns as one of the first feature films to make use of IMAX. Tupac Amaru II gave Warwick a full house. So to the picture starter. I always enjoy it when we get flags for a picture starter. This showed us the flag of an island country, with three flags nearby – the one above being its closest neighbour to the North, below the closest neighbour to the South, and to the left, well, you get the point I’m sure. With Italy above it had to be Malta. Nik Willis thought so too, and more diagrams representing island neighbours similarly brought three well earned bonuses. Nik Willis took a second consecutive starter with frozen shoulder. Medical terms beginning with dia – brought UEA 2 bonuses, but remarkably brought me a full house. I was out of the chair and off on my lap of honour before you could say Cardiff. You could probably have said Llanfairpwyllgwngyllgogerychwyrndrobollantysiliogogogoch before I finished circling the sofa, but hey, I’m getting on a bit now. By the time I sat down the game was nicely poised at the 10 minute mark with Warwick leading 60 – 45.

Another remarkably quick buzz from Thomas Hart to identify the term Mandate of Heaven brought Warwick a set of bonuses on world events. It was a lovely UC special set. Basically, Amol announced two world events. The teams had to say the single city which hosted the summer Olympics in the two years those events took place. So you were narrowed down to Athens, Paris, London, Los Angeles and Tokyo. Warwick took a full house. Soumyajit Saha cut a long winded biochemistry question slightly shorter knowing the prefix ribo. This earned three questions on rivers of Western Europe. The questions were all linked to wine, and UEA failed to score. Oscar Siddle knew the symbolist movement and earned his team bonuses on dwarf planets. 2 bonuses were taken. So to the music starter. Even Amol was impressed with the speed with which Thomas Hart recognised the work of Verdi – Triumphal March from Aida – and earned bonuses on more marching music which provided 2 correct answers. Now in triple figures Warwick were starting to put a spurt on. Neither team had Fanny Price from Mansfield Park for the next starter. Marlowe North knew it but gave the name of the novel rather than the heroine. Right, if you’re given a question which namechecks Birmingham and Heavy Metal then Black Sabbath are always going to be a decent shout. It worked for Benjamin Watson. Brass band instruments brought us both a full house. Markov Chain, the answer to the next starter given by Thomas Hart apparently had nothing to do with poison tipped umbrellas. Sven ‘Who?’ Lindqvist brought us both two bonuses. Given encouragement by Amol, UEA struck back as Ciaran Shaffrey identified Plutarch as the writer of Parallel Lives – later made into a hit album for Blondie if I recall correctly. Greek mythology saw UEA take two on what was not an easy set. Ciaran Shaffrey took a second consecutive starter knowing about South African cricket victories over England. Pre-telescopic observatories in the Islamic World brought me one and UEA two. At just past the 20 minute mark the score was 170-95. UEA could still do it, but they needed to keep pounding the buzzer.

The next question was always going to be a buzzer race to give the answer – jamboree – and in this form you’d put you money on Thomas Hart winning. He did again. Marriage proposals in the novels of Thomas Hardy brought just the one bonus. The second picture starter saw Ciaran Shaffrey identify a still from The Aviator. More films that earned Sandy Powell (Can you ‘ear me, mother? Ask your great grandparents)  costume BAFTA and Oscar nominations brought a couple of bonuses. That man Hart again buzzed his way to another starter with Newtonian Fluids. Innuendo overload. Island flora and fauna from some of the largest islands on Earth brought Warwick a full house. Thomas Hart took the next starter with the French second republic. A UC special set on contemporaries brought just the one bonus. For once Oscar Siddle managed to beat his teammate to the buzzer for the next starter, with A Tale of Two Cities. Cities in Ukraine brought another full house. Could we possibly see another 300 point score? There wasn’t a lot of time left and Warwick needed two full houses. Soumyajit Saha scuppered their chances a bit by giving the letter F as the correct answer to a number of clues for the next starter. The Mole Antonelliana in Turin did nowt for any of us. Stay – the answer to the next starter provided Thomas Hart with his 9^th starter. Some maths thing provided me with a rare correct answer when I guessed Descartes. Benjamin Watson made a great early buzz to identify Herdwick sheep as being associated with the Lake District. There was time for just one bonus before the contest was gonged, Warwick winning comfortably by 275 to 125.

You know, Amol often says that the losing team knew a lot of the answers but were just beaten on the buzzer. In this case I’m sure it’s true. Thomas Hart’s display of buzzing of course caught the eye, but there were fast buzzes from other team members too. For the record UEA had a BCR of just a tiny fraction less then fifty percent. Warwick achieved 68. That’s good. It’s all very well being able to outbuzz your opponents, but you have to do something with the bonuses once you’ve earned them. For the second week running we have a team who should be worth keeping an eye on.

Amol Watch

I think Amol got it just about right this time, issuing his encouragement to UEA on the 17 minute mark. By this time Warwick were over 100 points ahead and UEA were in danger of slipping into that state where your team is being consistently beaten to the buzzer and subconsciously you maybe start to give up a little.

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

The Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts at UAE has been used as the Avegers HQ in various MCU films.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

In bio-chemistry which four letter combination indicating a five carbon sugar begins words meaning a small body which is the site of protein synthesis in the cell and an alternative name for vitamin B – (buzz). Yep, the question was not even finished by the time Soumyajit Saha put me out of my misery. Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.