The Teams
Christ’s, Cambridge
Anniko Firman
Brendan Bethlehem
Oscar Despard (Capt.)
Linus Luu
St. Edmund Hall, Oxford
Jeffrey Liu
Robert Elkington
Sophia Bursey (Capt.)
Daisy Prendergast
Going into Monday’s match, Christ’s had already beaten one
Oxford college. I fancied them to make it two from two.
It took a fairly long preamble to the first starter before
Linus Luu buzzed in with US author Louisa May Alcott. Cecco del Caravaggio
brought just the one bonus. Jeffrey Liu opened the Oxford side’s account
recognising a reference to the concept of knowledge – episteme. Chemical
reactions – announced Amol – do me a favour - announced Dave. One bonus evened
the score. Now, come on. We’d just had three chemistry questions, and the next
began with “Which protein. . . “I nearly told the TV ‘I’ll get me coat’, but
instead my eyes just began to glaze over as Oscar Despard correctly answered with
myoglobin. Thankfully three bonuses on wine from the Napa Valley – as opposed
to my whine from the Afan Valley – at least gave me a guesser’s chance. We both
took two of them. Brendan Bethlehem knew the term vowel harmony for the next
starter. Cities in Belgium, and their names brought a full house and served to
take us up to the first picture starter. Look, I don’t know anything about the
Dunning Kruger Effect and its probably too late for me to learn, but Linus Luu
recognised a graph pertaining to it. Three visual stimuli used in ‘well known
psychology experiments’ – surely a contradiction in terms – brought me nowt and
Christ’s 2. Bodhisattva – said Robert Elkington in response to the next
starter. Gesundheit thought I, but it earned Teddy Hall some much needed bonus
attempts on video game franchises. Had the setters for Monday’s show
deliberately raided the huge file named ‘Subjects which Dave knows sod all
about’? It felt like it. Even the team only managed 1. This meant that Christ’s
led 75 – 30 at almost 11 minutes.
I guessed that the ‘world (French) capital of gastronomy’
was Lyon. Brendan Bethlehem gave the same answer. This brought the Cambridge
side a set of bonuses on – gulp – scientific terms. (The agony continued.
Alright, I admit I took a lap of honour for knowing amygdala). Christ’s took a
full house and I took a nap. To come round only to hear this starter – “In
either upper or lower case which single letter of the latin alphabet denotes –
in chemistry – “ and my brain switched off again. Oscar Despard offered a P
please, Bob. The Morant Bay Rebellion brought a point for John Stuart Mill (of
his own free will, on half a pint of shandy was particularly ill. I know the
feeling.) Sophia Bursey buzzed her team back into the game, working out that a
particular plot had been aimed against Henry V. Tense, aspect and mood in verbs
brought a timely full house. This brought us to the music starter but nobody
recognised the work of Johannes ‘Shirley’ Brahms. Robert Elkington knew that
the largest islands of the Bismarck Archipelago are New Britain and New
Ireland. More classical works brought two music bonuses. Robert Elkington took
a second consecutive starter, knowing that Callicrates and others were
architects to Alexander the Great. The Novels of Graham Greene saw them take
just 1 of a gettable set. I had breakfast with him once. Great writer – awful
breakfast conversationalist. Nobody knew about Iranian New Wave Cinema for the
next starter. Brendan Bethlehem knew about programme music for the next. This
brought up bonuses on chess and cognitive science of which Christ’s took one.
At 20 mins they led by 120 – 90.
Anniko Firman buzzed early with Iphigenia for the next
starter. Did you know that this was also Mrs. Doubtfire’s first name? Works
inspired by the case of the Papin Sisters yielded nothing. For the second picture
starter Teddy Hall identified the death cap mushroom but not any of the other
poisonous fungi that followed. Linus Luu knew bubble sort in computer science.
Composer’s attempts to destroy their own works proved to be an interesting set
but only brought Christ’s one correct answer. For the next starter Oscar
Despard correctly answered that the Japanese term suiboko represents the medium
of ink. British anthropologist Marilyn Strathern brought Christ’s a full house
and looked like it would seal the deal for them. Brendan Bethlehem recognised a
description of Smyrna for the next starter.ISRO space missions brought two more
correct answers. Look, I don’t know what the term adiabatic is all about, but
it was what Oscar Despard gave for a correct answer to the next starter. The War
of the Spanish Succession brought two correct answers before the gong brought
matters to an end. Christ’s won by 215 to 100.
When you get right down to it the stats tell us that
Christ’s were clearly the better team, both on the buzzer and also on bonuses,
with a BCR of 57 to Teddy Hall’s 44.
Amol Watch
Amol reacted as if he thought that the Morant Bay Rebellion
taking place in Jamaica was obvious. Montego Bay, maybe. I liked his ‘you can
have a little bit more of the music but let’s not be silly’ on the music
starter. Not even Jeremy Paxman ever came out with that one. I was pleased to
see Amol succumb to the comic potential of shiitake mushrooms, too.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know of
The Week
Bangalore- or Bengaluru – is the ‘silicon valley of India’
Baby Elephant Walk Moment
Secondly, abnormal fibrous, insoluble protein deposits in
organs and tissues, they are associated with the development of diseases
including Alzheimer’s and type 2 diabetes.-
Now okay, by itself that question is far from deadly. But
it wasn’t on its own. I wilted under the sheer quantity of these science
questions in this show.
Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum
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