University Challenge 2026 Quarter Final - Darwin, Cambridge v. Sheffield

The Teams

Darwin, Cambridge

Lewis Strachan

Ruth Ni Mhuircheartaigh

Louis Cameron (capt.)

Jonathan White

Sheffield

Rhys Lewis

Abdelrahman Elsisi

Jacob Price (capt.)

Isobel Dobbie

Okay folks, so it’s another quarter final. No bus fare home in this one, but that’ll come soon enough. With the first starter I recognised the given name we needed was Gustave on the reference to Caillebotte. Isobel Dobbie seemed to have the same revelation as she opened the scoring for Sheffield. Two bonuses on Elizabeth Barrett ‘Gravy’ Browning followed. Jacob Price recognised two principal divisions of Austria Hungary for the next starter. Dilma Rousseff brought two more bonuses. Nobody knew that the Jaen in Spain produces mainly a lot of olive oil. The next starter on celluloid went begging as well, but while Sheffield lost five I took my lap of honour for knowing it while the going was good. Louis Cameron knew that the Books of Chronicles take their name from a Greek word for time, to open Darwin’s account. Mathematical transformations brought one bonus. So to the picture starter and Isobel Dobbie identified the logo of the International Criminal Court. Three special ICC tribunal logos brought Sheffield a full house. This meant that as we approached the ten minute mark they led by 60 – 10.

Louis Cameron recognised Keats’ Belle Dame Sans Merci for the next starter. Actors who have played the same role in different films that are not part of a franchise brought them one bonus. Ideally they could really have done with a full house at this point to get the scoreboard really moving. Louis Cameron, clearly undaunted, took the next starter on the term Inherent Vice. (As opposed to the TV series with Don Johnson which was often incoherent vice.) Prominent sexologists (innuendo overload imminent) brought just a single bonus again. Jacob Price recognised a description of Baku. Pairs of bowlers who bowled unchanged throughout a whole test innings in the 21^st century saw Sheffield dispatch all three over the boundary rope for a full house. For the ensuing music starter the Sheffield skipper was first in to recognise the voice of Patti Smith. Other artists associated with Max’s Kansas City – nope, me neither – in the 70s and early 80s brought Sheffield no joy. Gawd alone knows what magnetic monopoles are when they’re at home but Jacob Price recognised them when he heard them described in the next starter. Shellac brought one bonus. Now, if you didn’t know about the Revie plan, then you had to wait until the very end of the next starter, and when Leeds United was finally mentioned Rhys Lewis won the buzzer race. Major settlements located close to the Tropic of Capricorn saw Sheffield take two bonuses, and they talked themselves out of the other. Abdelrahman Elsisi was a little unlucky that his early buzz on the next starter didn’t quite come off. He said ethics – but as the rest of the question showed, our survey (and Louis Cameron) said Medical Ethics. Quarter Days and Cross quarter days failed to provide Darwin with any points. There’s actually a park in the London Borough of Ealing where I grew up called Lammas Park. There you go. Almost twenty minutes gone and Sheffield looked comfortable with 130 – 50.

For the second picture starter Louis Cameron buzzed in having recognised a still from Citizen Kane. Other directorial debuts on the BFI’s list of The Greatest Films Of All Time Yes We Really Mean It This Time (Until The Next Time) at least brought them 2 bonuses. Jonathan White knew the Battle of Evesham for the next starter. The extinct language Auregnais failed to bring them more points. Nobody got the Holmes and Moriarty Problem for the next starter but Sheffield lost five. Lewis Strachan recognised various theories to do with dreaming – or did I dream it? – only to earn a set on creatures that can produce silk or silk like threads. One bonus put them one question away from a triple figure score. Abdelrahman Elsisi was first to recognise Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go. The artist Joseph ‘Betta’ Beuys didn’t help the Sheffield cause but did at least serve to run the clock down a bit. Darwin came back with Louis Cameron first to leap on the term Veldt. Sarasate the Spanish violin virtuoso brought two bonuses and the gap was down to 20. Nobody knew the operculum. Gesundheit. Abdelrahman Elsisi was first to work out that there were 24 states of the USA in 1825. That more or less sealed the deal for Sheffield. Greek letters used in statistics brought pushed the Sheffield score further out of reach. The next starter went unanswered. That was it. Sheffield won by 155 to 115

There wasn’t that much to choose between the teams in terms of starters, but Darwin could only manage a 33.3% BCR while Sheffield posted 63%. That tells its own story.

Amol Watch

When he’s not trying to be a) too matey with the teams or b) Jeremy Paxman and just gets on with it, Amol does a fine job. Last night was such an occasion.

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

In some languages the chess bishop is called the elephant.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

On its establishment in 2009 the principal aim of the MoEDA experiment at CERN was to search for which hypothetical particles known bya two-word alliterative name? The second of Maxwell’s equations states mathematically that these particles cannot exist, but (thankfully Jacob Price buzzed in at this point. Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.)