University Challenge 2026 First round Cardiff v. Bristol

The Teams

Cardiff

Harri Slaughter

Aeron Wheel

Carenza Danko (Capt)

Freddie Lancett

Bristol

Lewis Jenkins

Lois Connolly

Hugo Goodwill (Capt)

Nathaniel Joyce

As soon as the first starter mentioned Ilich Ramirez Sanchez Freddie Lancett went for his shooting irons and hit the target with jackal. Philosophers brought us both a brace of correct answers. We had gone an awfully long way with the next starter before the words Sonic and Mega Drive signposted the way to the answer of Sega at which point Lois Connolly opened Bristol’s account. Perennial favourite Old Cat’s Book of Practical Possums yielded a full house and put Bristol in the lead. Nobody really fancied the next starter but Nathaniel Joyce had a punt with imprinting and he was right. France’s Ecole Polytechnique (who was also a mid 80s mime artist who appeared in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) brought two bonuses and took us all up to the first picture starter. This was a great UC special. Silhouette maps of Britain and France had three red dots showing the places of death of three Kings with the same regnal name. I thought it would be Richard because the locations seemed right and so did Lewis Jenkins, earning Bristol three more of the same thing. They took their second full house of the night. The next starter was one of those where one word suddenly makes everything clear. Joanna Bonger and artist did not seem to do much to enlighten us, but the name Theo sent Carenza Danko for the buzzer and the Cardiff skipper gave the correct answer of Van Gogh. Operas of the 1830s brought two bonuses, but at the 10 minute mark Bristol were comfortably ahead with 70 – 40.

For the next starter I followed the dictum that if it’s a 20^th century German dramatist its probably Brecht. So did Freddie Lancett. Artists with the same surname but unrelated to each other brought us both just the one correct answer. None of us knew that Kil as in Kildare and Kilkenny means church. Lewis Jenkins knew the south Asian cookery term dal. Instruments for land surveying beginning with the letter t brought two bonuses. So to the music starter and Lois Conolly was the first to recognise the distinct stylings of the Stone Roses, a popular beat combo of the 90s, so I’m told. A lovely UC special set of bonuses asked them to identify bands whose song was also used as walk out music for a Premier League Football team. And yes, I did get The Dave Clark Five and no, that’s not where my parents took my name from even though I was born in 1964 at the height of the short-lived Tottenham Sound. For the first time Bristol only managed 1 bonus. Play word association for the next starter – dinosaurs – literary award – Manhattan Concert Hall. Did you say Carnegie? Freddie Lancett did. Japanese cinema was the subject of the bonuses, specifically films with a prime number in the title, and yes, Seven Samurai was one and no, none of us got any of the others. As soon as Amol reached ‘inventor sent a signal in 1901’ with the next starter a buzzer races ensued, won by Hugo Goodwill. The Great Whin Sill only provided a single bonus. Isabella of Castille showed a clean pair of heels to both teams, and Lewis Jenkins lost five with an injudicious interruption. This meant that at the 20 minute mark Bristol led 115 to 70.

Bristol looked the more likely winners now, but a Cardiff purple patch might change everything. It didn’t begin with the next staretr as Lewis Jekins, unflustered by his previous incorrect buzz, came in with Arthur Schopenhauer, much to Amol’s approval. Stuff about making cheese – and don’t forget, blessed are the cheesemakers – brought Bristol a full house and increased the height of the mountain Cardiff would have to climb. For the second picture starter Harri Slaughter recognised the work of Rembrandt. 3 more paintings also made for city governments brought two bonuses and narrowed the gap to 50.I’m surprised nobody had the literary term corpus as in a body of work for the next starter, but there you go. Bristol buzzed early and lost five. Nobody got the word nitro for the next starter, and Cardiff in their turn came in too early and lost five. When you hear ‘Anglo Saxon’ and ‘rampart and ditch’ you buzz and say King ‘Make Me An’ Offa. Aeron Wheel did. Well, the Offa bit anyway. The latin phrase Cuius Regio Eius Religio brought one bonus, but the result was still in doubt since over tree minutes remained. It looked less doubtful after Lewis Jenkins buzzed in with the correct answer of Burkina Faso to the next starter. You know Burkina Faso – it has a capital city named after the group that had a 1983 hit with Too Shy Shy (hush hush, eye to eye). Formula 1 drivers who took more than 100 GP starts to win one brought two bonuses. What small chance Cardiff had with Lewis Jenkins’ correct buzz for the next starter to identify references to the word lag. A full house on Shakin’ Shakespeare only served to apply some gilding. Freddie Lancett gamely fought on, identifying Ely Cathedral as the Ship of the Fens for the next starter. The inaugural winners of the Kyoto Prize did nowt for me but brought 1 correct answer to Cardiff. That was it. Bristol won by 180 to 115.

For what it’s worth Cardiff achieved a BCR of 47 while Bristol achieved an excellent 74 – a coincidental inversion there. Bristol didn’t thrash Cardiff, but they were better on both buzzer and bonuses and that pretty much sums it up.

Amol Watch

We all of us have our go-to phrases. Jeremy Paxman could never introduce UCL without the phrase ‘Godless Institution of Gower Street’ and Amol always suffixes a mention of Bertrand Russell with ‘my hero’. Fair enough.

We saw the rare sight of Amol having to ask ‘anyone fancy a go?’ when both teams showed extreme reluctance to try their luck with the imprinting starter.

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

Kil- in Irish place names derives from a word for Church.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

Sorry to disappoint but there was nothing to initiate the chorus of dum de dums this week

Repechage Table

Sheffield	170
SOAS	170
New College Oxford	150
Cardiff	115
-----------------------------------------	------
Newcastle	105
Bath	70

 Last week we saw Bath elbowed out of the repechage slots to become the first team to definitely leave this year’s competition. This week Newcastle joined them. I can’t see it being long before Cardiff follow.