The Teams
Trinity, Cambridge
Sarah Henderson
Agnijo Banerjee
Ryan Joonsuk Kang (capt.)
Jeremi Jaksina
Southampton
Elise Harrington
Rhys Counsell
Roshana Wickramesinghe (capt.)
Chris Meredith
What, the first repechage already? Yes indeed. Trinity you may
recall narrowly lost out in a firecracker of a high scoring first round heat
against Manchester – so narrowly in fact that it could only be settled by a tie
break. Southampton, on the other hand, were beaten by Christ Church, Cambridge.
Both teams had the same BCR in their respective first round matches, so it
looked as if this match might be settled on the buzzer.
The Trinity skipper took the first starter with a very
quick buzz to identify types of stainless steel. I amazed myself by getting two
of the bonuses on fashion designers right, the same two that Trinity managed. Jeremi
Jaksina followed his captain’s example by buzzing early on the next starter to
identify two generations in literary history as relating to Spain. This brought
a set of tennis bonuses, and again we both got the two easy ones. Now, as soon
as the next starter mentioned Murray Gold I was straight in with Doctor Who, a
split second before Sarah Henderson did the same. Multilateral military operations
in Africa did not promise a great deal, but Trinity managed a good full house.
3 sets and a few minutes in and Trinity’s lead was already threatening. It was
Sarah Henderson again who won the buzzer race to figure out that the next
starter was alluding to metronomes. More on that story later. Bonuses on
electrical components saw me award myself a lap of honour for knowing
capacitor. Trinity on the other hand took a full set. – Uh oh- thought I –
encouragement from Amol must be coming early in this match. I was right too. It
came immediately before the next starter. This was the first picture starter
and we were asked to identify a major river on a map of east Asia. If it’s
China I usually guess the Yangtze. I don’t know if Chris Meredith was guessing,
but he answered the same and put Southampton’s first points on the board. The
arrow pointed at the site of the Three Gorges hydroelectric power plant.
Locations of others of the world’s largest hydroelectric power plants brought a
full house. For the next starter Agnijo Banerjee recognised several definitions
of vertex, thus ensuring that everyone in Trinity had at least 1 starter to
their name, and putting his team into three figures. Three bonuses on Blake’s
(that’s William, not Sexton) The Marriage of Heaven and Hell and works
influenced by it gave us both a full house. Thus on the cusp of the 10 minute
mark, Trinity led by 115 to 25.
Restoration . . . German city . . . 1945? It’s gotta be
Dresden, hasn’t it? Agnijo Banerjee thought so and took his second consecutive
starter. Two bonuses on Ray Liotta films pleased captain Ryan Kang, who was
getting very excited with every correct answer. It was he who correctly
answered the next starter, identifying mantis from a description. That’s the
insect rather than the Guardian of the Galaxy. Bonuses on Bertrand Russell (I
used to think he was the same guy who ran a circus in the first decades of the
20th century) brought just the one bonus. Nobody knew the term
demerit good from economics. Rhys Counsell took Southampton’s second starter
for knowing that the late, great Jimmy Greaves holds the record for the most
goals scored in the top flight of English football. Words sharing their endings
with Middle Eastern capital cities provided a UC special set, and the two
correct answers took us up to the music starter. Nobody recognised a wee bit of
Bach. Agnijo Banerjee took his third starter by recognising various meanings of
block. This earned the music bonuses on musicians who, like JS Bach, had spent
part of their working lives in Weimar. Trinity managed the last one. We were
past the halfway point, and Southampton frankly needed a comeback of Lazarus
proportions. Their skipper knew that if you mix the authors of Brick Lane and White
Teeth you get the author of the Accidental. Thermodynamic cycles – no I didn’t
know what this meant although I’m pretty sure that you can’t buy them in
Halfords. Southampton knew the last of these. This seemed to give Southampton
heart, because Rhys Counsell buzzed correctly for the next starter, knowing
about the flame test. I’ve done some flamin’ tests in my time too. The bonuses
on picaresque novels gave a name check to my favourite Vanity Fair. We both
took two of these. The next starter allowed Trinity back in as Agnijo Banerjee
recognised a definition of Simple Harmonic Motion. A UC special set or pairs of
words where a final y is added to one to make the other brought two bonuses and
this meant that Trinity led by 190 – 75 at the 20 minute mark.
Jeremi Jaksina recognised a photo of Rosalind Franklin for
the second picture starter. Three more photos of female scientists who
contributed significantly to work for which their male collaborators won the Nobel
prize brought a full house for Trinity. Agnijo Banerjee knew tha the roman
tablets recovered near Hadrian’s Wall were from Vindolanda. Keep taking the
tablets. The Church in Scotland brought a single bonus, but this was irrelevant
to the result of the contest. Agnijo Banerjee took yet another starter,
recognising clues to the word Unionist. Again, they took just the one bonus. Roshana
Wickramesinghe recognised a work of TS Eliot in the next starter and this
earned bonuses on rediscovered mammals. Sadly they didn’t manage any of them. Elise
Harrington took the next starter on turmeric which meant that all four members
of both teams had answered starters correctly. A full house of bonuses on books
in the genre of magical realism took Southampton through the 100 barrier. Chris
Meredith knew three countries whose currencies start with the letters B,C and D
respectively. If Southampton had only buzzed like this earlier in the competition
– well, no use crying over spilt buzzers. The first bonus I knew because the
answer had been given in Mastermind an hour earlier about Whistler’s portrait
of Thomas Carlyle. Then the gong struck, and Trinity had run out winners by 245
– 120.
Yes, it was a bit of a one sided contest. Trinity always
had ar too much firepower on the buzzer, and if you can’t get the starters then
you can’t win. For the record, Southampton’s BCR was 53, while Trinity managed
69. They seem to be set for a good run.
How is Amol Doing?
At 7 minutes and 15 seconds Amol issued his first jedi
encouragement to Southampton. The Force was not strong in him during this
contest. Amol was most indignant when Trinity mixed up their Wittgenstein (yes,
the beery swine) with their Bertrand Russell. He revealed that Russell is his
hero, although not why. At 12 minutes and 28 seconds, Amol issued more
encouragement to Southampton.
Fair play to Amol for taking Ryan Kang to task for
exghorting his team to try to make it to 250. Although one rather thinks that
Jeremy Paxman might have applauded this attitude!
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of
The Week
The metronome was invented by Johann Malzael. I once taught
a kid who thought that metrognomes were bearded short persons who lived on the
Underground. True story (sort of).
Baby Elephant Walk Moment
The four phases of which idealised cycle consist of an
isothermal expansion, isentropic expansion, isothermic compression and
isentropic compression ? Altogether now – dum de dumdum dum dum dumdum dum dum.
