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 9th 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.
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