Tuesday, 12 August 2025

University Challenge 2026 First Round - Manchester v. New College, Oxford

The Teams

Manchester

Ray Power

Kirsty Dickson

Kai Madgwick (Capt)

Rob Faulkner

New College, Oxford

Benji Stimpson

Paige Crawley

Jonah Poulard (Capt)

Daan Timmers

All ready then? Eyes down for a full house. Kai Madgwick came in very early for the first starter, things named after the city of Nice. Never even got onto those horrible coconut biscuits – yeah, just my opinion and feel free to disagree. Abi Morgan stubbornly refused to yield any bonus points. Benji Stimpson opened New College’s account with my long time favourite Nina Simone. What seemed to be a relatively gentle set on Monmouth’s rebellion did not bring them any bonus points. Clues to descriptions of the rainbow saw Benji Stimpson beat Kai Madgwick to the buzzer, but an incorrect answer allowed the Manchester skipper to give the correct one. Artists and designers who collaborated with Merce Cunningham (from Happy Days?) brought two correct answers. Which brought us to the first picture starter. An alternative national flag saw a buzzer race between the two captains won by Kai Madgwick who identified it as belonging to New Zealand. More flags with native flora or fauna brought Manchester the first full house of the whole competition. Nobody seemed to have heard of a depot injection for the next starter. A question which namechecked the Aztec fondness for crunchy frog tamales saw New College lose another five for an incorrect interruption and Manchester took advantage and earned two bonuses on theoretical physics while I earned a lap of honour for knowing that the theoretical particles named after the Greek for swift are tachyons. Manchester led comfortably by 70 – 5.

1837 History of the French Revolution? Gotta be Carlyle, but both teams sat back a moment or two before Paige Crawley buzzed in with the right answer. The 1954 FIFA World Cup brought two bonuses, but an inability to conjure up the name of Bobby Charlton’s brother Jack robbed them of a full house. Kai Madgwick knew various film directors called Jacques (Becker, Demy and Hattie?) Languages of India brought two bonuses and took us to the music starter. The more I heard of this piece from the 18th century the more I thought it was Bach. Neither team did though. Jonah Poulard earned Amol’s approval knowing that the British Colonial Federation of Rhodesia and Nyassaland being dissolved in 1963 led to the independent countries of Zambia and Malawi. For the music bonuses pieces featuring more than two timpani brought precisely nowt. Daan Timmers knew about pair production for the next starter and the New College revival continued. Floods in Science Fiction brought a single bonus. Kai Madgwick was in very quickly to identify Morgan Le Fay as the legendary figure after whom the Italian mirage (the Fata Morgana) was named. To be fair to myself, protein shapes are of less interest to me than pasta shapes so I wasn’t surprised that I failed to add to my score. Manchester took two. The museum in the next starter in Barcelona wasn’t dedicated to Dali or Picasso, I reckoned so that brought Miro into the equation. Kai Madgwick thought so and it earned his team bonuses on Chinese history. Thank you very much, said Manchester and took a full house on Chinese Imperial dynasties. Kirsty Dickson buzzed in quickly to identify sarco as the Greek prefix meaning flesh. Lodis brought a full house, and despite New College’s mid round revival, Manchester led by 160 – 50.

For the second picture starter Kai Madgwick leapt a bit theatrically for his buzzer but Benji Stimpson beat him to identify a still from 12 Angry Men. (For some reason I have never yet seen this film. I really should.) 3 more Sidney Lumet film stills followed. New College only managed 1 but at least they were going again. Kai Madgwick leapt to the buzzer again, but just too early with the next starter allowing Paige Crawley in with the latin centum. Two bonuses on alphabets were taken, and captain Jonah Poulard was visibly becoming more animated with each correct answer. Paige Crawley, doing so much good buzzer work now, took her third starter knowing that the Phoenicians who founded Carthage came originally from Tyre. Nanoparticles? Nanothankyou I replied. I still knew Buckminsterfullerene. So did New College and more besides. The gap would still require more than one visit tot the table, but things were beginning to look interesting. Even more so when Benji Stimpson correctly linked Katherine Graham with the Washington Post. The petting of dogs in literature was a lovely UC special set which brought 1 bonus. Nobody quite knew the Medieval Warm Period and Kai Madgwick lost five for an unlucky early buzz. Again, Kai Madgwick buzzed early on Jebel Toubkal and lost five. He knew it was the Atlas Mountains, but that wasn’t the question. Jonah Poulard knew the country required was Morocco. Italian architectural terms brought two bonuses and narrowed the gap to five points. Paige Crawley took the next starter knowing the Ars Poetica of Horace. New College had wiped out a huge deficit and had the lead and all of the momentum. People sharing their names with European Capitals did not, annoyingly, ask for Karol Ljubljana, inventor of the hole in the lavatory seat. New College took the harder second but missed the easier first and third. Still Kai Madgwick hammered the buzzer on the next starter and this time he really hit the target knowing that we were talking about a Neutron star. Well, I wasn’t but you know what I mean. Just one bonus on rivers emptying into the Channel gave Manchester a five point lead. There was time for one more starter. The whole contest boiled down to this one question. Given several places in different countries Joah Poulard knew they each housed amphitheatres. He won the buzzer race, but . . . argghhh! He called them colosseums. Kai Madgwick gratefully came in with amphitheatres and the game was over. Very, very bad luck, but ultimately a correct call in my opinion. Manchester won by 170 to 150.

Well, at 20 minutes it looked like a fairly comfortable stroll in the park for Manchester, but a really splendid fightback gave New College at least the chance of a repechage spot and made for a very exciting contest. For the record New College had a BCR of 40 while Manchester’s was 67. So it’s a tribute to the New College buzzing that they managed to come as close as they did.

Amol Watch

It was a little bit much to say that every football fan in the country was cursing New College for not knowing Jack Charlton. Not everyone is obsessed with the boys of 66, Amol. Not any more, anyway.

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

The California Grizzly Bear as featured on the state flag is actually extinct.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

In medicine what five letter term is informally applied to a injection that delivers a slow release form of a medication – for example, contraceptives (incorrect buzz at this point ) for example contraceptives or anti-psychotics. They are so named because they create a reserve of the medication in the injected muscle. The word in question being used in other contexts to mean place where goods are stored. Hmmmm – dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum?

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