The Teams
UCL
Zak Lakota-Baldwin
Alice Lee
Michael Doherty (Capt)
Manny Campion-Dye
Merton, Oxford
Ciaran Duncan
Eveline Ong
Elliot Cosnett
Verity Fleetwood-Law
Off we go then, with neither team to be given their bus
fare home at the end of this match, since it’s the quarters. Ciaran Duncan came
in too early for the first starter allowing Alice Lee to identify Anthony and
Cleopatra for the first starter. Bonuses on films whose titles contain a
chemical element (the Unsinkable Molybdenum Brown?) brought them the best
possible start with a full house. Alice Lee zigged with Dekker for the next
starter when she should’ve zagged with Desmond allowing Elliot Cosnett to put
his team into a positive score. Bonuses on John Marston’s The Malcontent brought their own full house to level the
scores. Eveline Ong recognised references to Gericault for the next starter and
Hollywood film legends yielded the third consecutive full house of the show. None
of us recognised Blackburn for the picture starter. I didn’t get the next
starter about molecular modelling but Eveline Ong knew the answer was methane.
I often find that. Bonus photographs of towns with Cathedrals but lacking city
status – I thought they might show Guildford but didn’t – brought no points.
Manny Campion-Dye came in remarkably early for the next starter to identify the
words of Kant. Veterinary medicine brought a single bonus and this meant that
UCL trailed at just after 10 minutes as Merton led 55-35.
For the next starter Michael Doherty was first to realise
that South American country – and – ask permission from Amsterdam must mean
Suriname. Plutarch’s Parallel Lives (I preferred Blondie’s) brought UCL the two
bonuses they needed to draw level. Eveline Ong was very quick to recognise a
description of the opera Elektra. Three plays with the word God in the title brought
both of us just the one correct answer. Nobody knew the document legitimizing
the rule of Richard III. Zak Lakota-Baldwin took his first starter recognising
a description of viruses. Women honoured in the Pantheon in Paris brought a
single bonus. It was back to opera and back to Eveline Ong for the music
starter. She recognised Delibes’ Lakme. Other musical works with lyrics by
Gille brought a single bonus. The match had developed into a bit of a dour old
slugfest at this midway point. Now, I did know that Hans Christian Anderson was
born in Odense and so did Alice Lee. Statistical mechanics announced Amol. No
thanks, I replied, but he carried on anyway. UCL were quite happy about it and
took a full house. Ciaran Duncan knew y-u-g-a (it’s fun to stay at the y-u-g-a)
for the next starter. Poems of Shakespeare brought two bonuses. Manny
Campion-Dye had a great early buzz to identify T.S.Eliot’s description of Tiresias.
Japanese authors whose names included Kawa or Gawa brought nowt to any of us.
Still, UCL had a narrow lead of 105-95 at just after 20 minutes.
Who wanted it more? Well, Elliot Cosnett was first to buzz
for what was surely the work of Durer. So it was. More etchings brought us both
just the one bonus. Michael Doherty won the buzzer race to identify a minority
language in Portugal. The ceremonial county of South Yorkshire brought just one
bonus. Individual bonuses looked as if they would be crucial to the result in
this match. Nobody knew about the FBI approach to offender profiling. Nope, me
neither. Elliot Cosnett knew the Federalist Papers for the next starter. Baked
goods made from choux pastry brought just a single bonus. Nothing to choose
between the teams at this point. Elliot Cosnett took a flyer on the next
starter and fortune favoured the brave as he identified rivers forming the
border between China and North Korea. European history yielded a full house –
was this going to be the decisive moment that separated the teams? No, for
Michael Doherty knew that the first head of CERN was called Bloch. So a Bloch-head,
in fact. Well, please yourselves. Zora Neale Hurston brought just the one
bonus. Zak Lakota-Baldwin knew the Coltranes (Robbie and Roscoe?) for the next
starter. Disguises in opera brought them the one bonus they needed to tie the
score. Surely the next starter would win. The answer was Fleurs – as in du Mal –
and it was given by Elliot Cosnett. GONG! Merton had won by 160-150.
Both teams managed the same number of starters. UCL managed
a BCR of 48% while Merton managed 55.5%. That’s the tale of the tape, folks, it
all came down to just two bonuses. A great match.
Amol Watch
I felt Amol was just a little arsey in this show. ‘Chester
is absolutely nowhere near there!” he sniffed on the picture starter. After the
picture bonuses he added ‘you’re quite right, your Geography is terrible’ and
without a chuckle in his voice either. Amol, mate, you don’t need to try to be
Jeremy Paxman.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of
The Week
The name Desmond is derived from words meaning from South
Munster
Baby Elephant Walk Moment
In thermodynamics the words ‘canonical’ or ‘grand canonical’
may precede what 8 letter word to refer to a collection of many sets of particles
that each represent a possible state of a physical system? - it’s not the longest dumdum we’ve ever had,
but flippin’ ‘eck! Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.
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