University Challenge 2026 - Round 2 - Churchill, Cambridge v Merton, Oxford

The Teams

Churchill College Cambridge

Ella McGovern

Matt Hasler

Sam Webber (Capt)

Shiv Seshan

Merton College Oxford

Ciaran Duncan

Evelyn Ong

Elliot Cosnett (Capt)

Verity Fleetwood-Law

I’ll be honest, I don’t really mind UC at Christmas, not like I’m really going off Sleb Mastermind. Part of that is because it doesn’t outstay its welcome, at least. Mastermind, take note.

So here we go then. With the first starter, I’ll be honest, when I heard it was Jean Paul Sartre describing a sculptor I thought Rodin. But when Amol started going on about elongated figures it had to be Giacometti. Nobody got it but Merton lost five. If you knew that William of Orange landed in Brixham then the first four letters were the answer to the next starter. Ella McGovern buzzed in and took first blood for Darwin. Now I take pride for knowing that the Barrons created electronic music for one of my favourite films, Forbidden Planet, which Churchill didn’t, and we both knew Stanley Kubrick for the last of the set on electronic film music. Elliot Cosnett took his first starter recognising a Tolkien quote about Beowulf. Philosopher/mathematician Putnam (David? Surely not.) brought two correct answers. Elliot Cosnett knew that there have been more popes called Pius since the reign of Napoleon I than you can shake a stick at for the next starter. Trust me, shaking a stick at a pope is a greatly overrated hobby. A full house on Thomas Middleton’s ever popular blockbuster A Game of Chess pushed Merton ahead. For the picture starter Ciaran Duncan recognised the work of George ‘Spotty’ Herbert. Other examples of concrete poetry (google it) provided nowt. If you came in too early on the next starter chances are you would lose five like Churchill. But Merton, hearing the name Sarajevo could be very certain the conflict described was the Bosnian War. Locations in some video game or other surprisingly gave me a full house. Merton managed one, and this meant that as the 10 minute mark loomed large in our collective windscreen they led by 65 – 10.

Elliot Cosnett knew Stephen Jay Gould’s The Hedgehog and the Fox for the next starter. Owen ‘Who’ Jones, architect and designer, brought two bonuses and Merton marched onwards. Siv Seshan stopped the rot for Churchill, winning the buzzer race to identify Crispin as one of two saints name checked in a famous speech in Henry V. Photographer and activist Nan Goldin brought a welcome brace of bonuses, at a time when Churchill were in danger of being muscled out of the match. Siv Seshan took his double with the next starter on the original kilogram. Pasta dishes whose names begin and end with the same letter  - al fabetti spaghetta, anyone? – yielded one correct answer. Nobody recognised a wee bit of Liszt for the music starter. Ciaran Duncan was in very quickly in for the next starter – he only needed one Pauline (probably Kael). Music bonuses on classical works written in memory of cultural figures brought one bonus. Elliot Cosnett knew that Hermes killed a tortoise (and a cow) in order to make the world’s first lyre. Those Greek gods, eh? The moon Europa brought two bonuses, and even the one they didn’t get was mentioned. Elliot Cosnett knew the two Erskines – Caldwell and Childers for the next starter. The German noble house of Thurn and Taxis (far more noble and more expensive than Thurn und Minicabs) brought another 2 bonuses. Again Siv Seshan buzzed to pull his team back from the brink with Active Galactic Nucleus (a support act for Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark in their 1981 tour, surely). 2 correct answers on the Chinese monk Faxian brought the score to 145 – to 65 to Merton just before the 20 minute mark.

Matt Hasler knew that the only team from a landlocked country to win the America’s Cup came from Geneva. Fossils discovered by Mary Anning brought two bonuses. I didn’t get the Buckland one either – I thought it might have been someone like Gideon Mantell. For the second picture starter Verity Fleetwood-Law correctly identified a painting by Hans Holbein. When Amol announced the bonuses would all be portraits of Doctors by other artists, Dr. Gachet sprang irresistibly to mind. Indeed, that was the only one either of us identified. A series of clues pointing to Charles I saw the splendid Merton skipper add another starter to his collection. Usage of the Hangul alphabet in languages other than Korean promised but little yet Merton again took a brace, and let’s be honest, it ended any real doubt that we might have had about the outcome of the match. Nobody knew Chanakya for the next starter. Nobody knew Oswald Avery (Tex’s brother?) for the next starter. For that matter nobody recognised a couple of lines from Keats’ Ode to Psyche for the next starter either. At last Ciaran Duncan took the next starter recognising the Concrete Jungle as the first example of the Heist movie. I do like a heist movie, me. Yom Tov, 6 major festival dates in the Jewish calendar, brought nowt. Siv Seshan knew that the second hand on an analogue clock passes through 6 degrees every second. I liked that question. One bonus was taken from a gettable set on Cicero. Fair play to Siv Seshan, he was still bussing away gamely at this point and took the next starter recognising that two Scottish 13^th century kings and two successive 19^th century Tsars were all called Alexander. Sarah Siddons added just one bonus to their score. That was that. Merton won by 180 to 115.

For the record Churchill achieved a BCR of 48% while Merton’s was 52%. Fairly even there, but there just wasn’t enough buzzing throughout the Churchill team to munt a realistic challenge.

Amol Watch

Nothing to see here. Go on with your lives, citizens.

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

The original kilogram was made from platinum and iridium

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

Nope, noting bored the pants off me this week. Don’t worry. There will be another soporific science question along shortly