The Teams
Darwin, Cambridge
Rebecca McClelland
Sophie Willis
Harrison Whitaker (Capt.)
Rowan Stewart
Birkbeck, London
Rosalie Van Onzenoort
Uma Moorthy
Alex Evans (Capt.)
Eric Skidmore
Well, the big question is whether Uma Moorthy is the same
Uma Moorthy who played in the Birkbeck team of 2000? I don’t know if UC has rules
regarding whether you can play in more than one season? I always thought that
you couldn’t, but hey, what do I know?
Let’s begin, then. Fair play to Harrison Whitaker for
knowing that E.M.Forster’s first book was ‘Where angels fear to tread.’ I’ve
heard of the quote from Pope, but never the book. Cities whose names in English
have more than one letter Z in their names brought two more correct answers and
a namecheck for Alfonso the Battler. A bit like Alfred the Butler, but a tad
more aggressive. The next question, asking for a view of History, suddenly became
clear with the namechecks for Walpole and Charles James Fox, and Eric Skidmore
won the buzzer race to give the answer of whig. Novels of Jane Austen in the
words of the Oxford Companion to Shakespeare (I thought that was Anne Hathaway)
delivered 2 bonuses to level the scores. Marina Abramovitch, another member of
the ubiquitous Who family, was the answer to the next starter, gladly supplied
by the Cambridge skipper. Song cycles brought me a correct answer with Schubert
and both Darwin and I took the last with Vaughan Williams. For the picture
starter, was it the word Morlocks that told you the work in question was Wells’
The Time Machine? It was for me. Harrison Whitaker, very much leading his team
by example took his second consecutive starter with that one. More redacted contents
pages of works of speculative fiction saw none of us recognise the first two,
but Muad’Dib gave us both Dune. Sorry, but it is one of my all time favourite
books. Rosalie Van Onzenoort was in very quickly with the word elasticity for
the next starter but the set of bonuses on glassmaking processes only yielded
one correct answer. I thought about taking a lap of honour for annealing, but
let it ride. Which was a mistake since I didn’t get another opportunity. This
meant that at the ten-minute mark Darwin led by fifty to thirty.
Pashtun Nationalists was the clue with the next starter.
Both teams had Pakistan, but neither had Afghanistan so no cigars there. New
York, and immigrant German instrument makers had me, and Rosalie Van Onzenoort
saying Steinway which was the correct answer. Sicilian food beginning with ca brought
just the one bonus, but it meant Birkbeck were just a few points behind Darwin.
Various Hamiltons brought another starter for Harrison Whitaker. Ivo Van Hove
meant little to me but he still brought both me and Darwin a full house. Poland
and cosmetics company gave that man Whitaker another starter – and he wasn’t
halfway done yet. Scientific terms beginning with the letter x brought one
correct answer. If it sounds like Sinatra, then you might just as well buzz in
and answer Sinatra. That’s what Alex Evans did with the music starter and earned
his team bonuses on songs referencing the transition from Autumn to Winter.
They knew the same two that I knew. Nobody knew Jesus in the line of prophets
in the next starter. Harrison Whitaker knew works of David Hume. He’d already
had a very satisfactory night’s work, and more was yet to come. Films with
scores by Rachel Portman brought them two bonuses and a triple figure score.
See if you can guess who knew a reference to The Last Judgement on the walls of
the Sistine Chapel? Come in, Harrison Whitaker. Eyes in 20th century
works of art brought a full house, and what had seemed a pretty close contest
up to this point was seeming more of a done deal. As we approached 20 minutes
Darwin led by 135 – 60.
Rosalie Van Onzenoort knew Thomas Bayes, which is more than
I could say for myself. The Kennedy Center Honours brought just the one bonus
at a time when they really needed to start batting doubles and triples. Kudos
to Alex Evans for recognising the work of John Singer Sargent so quickly for
the second picture starter. More portraits of artists at work by other artists
brought another single. Uma Moorthy knew that a german novel about the first
world war had to be All Quiet on the Western Front. Words that contain four consecutive
vowels saw Birkbeck dithering.Two bonuses put them just one full house behind.
-That’s quite enough of that- Harrison Whitaker might well have said, for he
buzzed early for the next starter and fortune favoured the brave, as he correctly
identified a series of events from the 9th century. Again, they only
managed the one bonus, this time on libraries. The clouds of Venus were all too
easy for Harrison Whitaker, and this time Darwin took two bonuses linked by the
colour white. Harrison Whitaker was reigning unopposed on the buzzer at this
point and took the next starter on Albanian speaking Italians. Types of sleeve
were a gettable set, but Darwin only got 1. Harrison Whitaker took the next
starter on Salisbury Cathedral. Michael Chabon yielded two bonuses, and the
contest ended with Darwin winning comfortably with 205 to Birkbeck’s 110.
What can we say? Well, let’s start with Birkbeck. Their BCR
of 48 was not great, and they just didn’t have the firepower on the buzzer to
stop Mr. Whitaker in full flow. As for Darwin, their BCR of 59 isn’t bad at
all, but doesn’t quite match the top teams so far. On the one hand I salute
Harrison Whitaker’s Hall of Fame performance with 11 starters. On the other
hand, it worries me what might happen if he has an off night – I may be wrong
but I think he answered all of the starters for Darwin.
Amol Watch
Amol is a great fan of caponata. Who would have known? By
the time of the consecutive vowel bonuses Birkbeck weren’t that far behind, but
Amol, who could see the way the wind was blowing, urged them to give themselves
a chance of getting a high score. Good man. It didn’t work, but kudos for trying.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
In 1118 the city of Zaragoza was captured by Alfonso the Battler.
I bet he was fun on a Saturday night out with the boys.
Baby Elephant Walk Moment
Yeah, this is rare, but nothing in the show really made my
mind switch into standby mode. Well done UC!
No comments:
Post a Comment