University Challenge 2025 Round 1 - Exeter College, Oxford v. Christ's College , Cambridge

The Teams

Exeter, Oxford

Edie Allden

Benjamin Gray

Schuyler Colfax (Capt.)

Daniyal Vemuri

Christ’s, Cambridge

Anniko Firman

Brendan Bethlehem

Oscar Despard(Capt.)

Linus Luu

Second Oxbridge match of the season, dearly beloved. Just before we start, I don’t normally comment on contestants’ names, but I’m moved to ask whether Exeter captain Schuyler Colfax is a descendant of Ulysses S. Grant’s first vice president who shared his name?

Let us begin, then. I’ll be honest, the only female 19^th century pianist I know of is Clara Schuman, which is just as well since she was the answer to the first starter. Brendan Bethlehem knew it, and this earned bonuses on pairs of years with reordered digits eg 1066 and 1660.A nice set which brought a full house and a name check for the most famous man to be named after 3 sheepdogs, Bonnie Prince Charlie. My internal orchestra struck up after the words - Motile versions of which cellular structure – and when it stopped Oscar Despard had given the correct answer of cilia. Imrie or Johnson? Didn’t say. German language films that take place at least in part before the reunification provided us both with nowt. A quote from the rejection letter of a famous work of fiction had to refer to Proust. Oscar Despard certainly felt so and he took the starter. Provitamins – as opposed to amateurvitamins – brought two correct answers. The opening paragraph of a work originally written in French was recognised by Benjamin Gray as the opening of Le Petit Prince. Three short extracts in their original languages put Exeter’s collective translation skills to the test and brought them two correct answers, and they were only a tense error away from a full house. We were just shy of the 20 minute mark and Christ’s led by fifty five to twenty.

Brendan Bethlehem came in too early for the next starter on a city before the words Mons Meg gave Edinburgh to some of us, but not Exeter. Nothing daunted Brendan Bethlehem buzzed early again and this time was right on the money that Teresa of Avila and Catherine of Siena were given the title of Doctor of the Church. For the bonuses Christ’s managed to identify two names from the titles of poems. Daniyal Vemuri dredged up the term interpreter from computing to pull his team back into the game. A full house about quotations on the subject of violence proved a most timely boost to their fortunes. It was worth hanging on during the next question about a prestigious American prize, for when it mentioned that one recipient designed buildings it became obvious this was the Pritzker, and Oscar Despard showed the quickest finger to win the ensuing buzzer race. Venetian artists brought just the one bonus. The Christ’s captain was on a little bit of a roll, as he took the next bonus on a German chappie who studied serfdom in Russia. Beats working for a living, I suppose. Highest mountains completely within one country brought two correct answers. At this point Amol unleashed a little encouragement upon Exeter. Maybe it worked too as Benjamin Gray recognised the work of Saint-Saens for the music starter. The team managed one bonus. Bejamin Gray took a second consecutive starter with Felix Klein.Pascal’s Triangles yielded two correct answers and the gap was starting to look distinctly bridgeable. So Brenda Bethlehem widened it again by answering that the Peljesac Bridge is in Croatia. One bonus on operettas meant that Christ’s led by 120 – 80 on the cusp of 20 minutes.

Schuyler Colfax won the race to answer that the fruit at the heart of the Atalanta myth is the apple. Porfirio Diaz brought them two bonuses to narrow the gap to 20. Bejamin Gray came in too early and lost five allowing Brendan Bethlehem to join up the dots of the clues and give the correct answer of the tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth. Rocket fuel bonuses helped Christ’s rocket away again. So to the second picture starter. Now look, if it’s an early photograph of a ballerina, it’ll be Anna Pavlova. It just will, alright? Brendan Bethlehem took that one. Other people who inspired the name of a food item surprisingly failed to include Ignacio Chilliconcarne but Christ’s still managed one of a difficult set. Nobody knew Nietzsche’s Twilight of the Idols (Billy, Eric and Bone.)It was nice to see Exeter starting to really sling some early buzzer. It didn’t work on the next starter as they lost five, but it was the right tactic I think. It allowed Anniko Firmin in for her first starter with velvet. The next starter, about Eisenstein’s use of montage, allowed Lius Luu I and that meant everyone in Exeter had correctly answered at least 1 starter. The term bottleneck as associated with population development proved strong contenders for the baby elephant walk moment. When I woke up, Christ’s had scored a full house and crossed the event horizon. A great UC special question on flags was taken by Brendan Bethlehem who was having a very good evening. Two bonuses on Natural History put Christ’s on the brink of a double century. Schuyler Colfax was first in to answer that Shakespeare’s Richard III keeps asking for a horse before he snuffs it. Early 20^th century art took Exeter to 110. Another set and they’d have at least a chance of a repechage slot. Almost inevitably it was Brendan Bethlehem who took the next starter with octahedron. No, I don’t have the slightest idea what the question was actually about. That was it, no time for bonuses. Christ’s won by 205 to 110.

For the record Exeter had a BCR of 67. Pretty good, but it don’t mean a thing if you can’t win the race to answer the starters. Christ’s had a BCR of 58, but were clear winners on the buzzer.

Amol Watch

First encouragement to Exeter was timed at fifteen and a half minutes, which is fair.

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

Mount Kosciusko is in New South Wales. I knew it was in Australia, but not where.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

Motile versions of which cellular structure are formed by a pair of microtubules surrounded by a ring of nine more pairs of microtubules. These structures are found in many cell types, but are abundant in the lining of the respiratory – and at this point Oscar Despard thankfully brought an end to the tedium by giving the correct answer. Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.

Mastermind First Round Heat 8

Well, I have to be honest, The latest heat of Mastermind did little to allay my suspicions about the specialist rounds in this year’s series. This is just my impression and I haven’t done any statistical analysis yet, but the scores do seem to be a couple of points down on what you would expect. No, we haven’t seen a contender absolutely devour a specialist subject in the last few weeks, but even so, you’d still expect contenders who show the kind of knowledge that the average contender has shown this series to get a couple more points. Just my opinion and feel free to disagree.

First into the chair was Richard Saunders. Richard was answering on the Culture novels of Iain M. Banks. (M when it’s sci fi, no M. when it isn’t. Helmet off Korky, helmet on Constable Turnbull. Ask your grandparents.) I have never read any of Mr. Banks’ work in either guise, so got what I deserved, 0. I don’t know if Richard Saunders deserved only 6, but that is what he got. Well, in this series that is not necessarily an uncompetitive score.

Primary school teacher Constance Cooper was taking on my ‘banker’ subject of the evening, Alan Partridge. She was also taking on the curse of support from the Clark sofa, being a teacher. Partridge is a wider subject than you might think, considering the number of different shows on different media featuring the character. I took four. Constance did better with 7, although I did wonder if her two passes might count against her in a tight game.

Third to go was Rakesh Sharma. Rakesh was answering on Bollywood screen star Madhuri Dixit. My knowledge of Bollywood is woeful – I was a schoolmate of Mohammed Rafi’s nephew many decades ago, but that’s as far as it goes. I didn’t expect to get any points on Rakesh’s round, and indeed I didn’t. Rakesh though produced the round of the night, achieving the coveted double figures on a round that seemed to my untutored eye to cover a lot of ground.

Finally Fiona Denby. Right, I know as little about Fiona’s subject, English Wine in the 21^st century, as I do about Bollywood, what with my little kid’s palate and being teetotal. So I was a little surprised to get a guess right to take my aggregate to five for all four specialist rounds. Fiona did better, stretching her total out to 7. So at the halfway mark all four contenders were just about still in it, but you’d have to say that Rakesh had a decent lead approaching the Canal turn.

Richard returned first for the GK round. Not a lot I can say. He had one of those rounds where the answers don’t come to you and your guesses don’t work out. He finished with 12. Hard lines.

Constance had looked to be enjoying the Mastermind experience very much, judging by her expression and she continued to smile during her GK round. The points steadily racked up and just for a moment I thought that she might just get into double figures. She certainly came close but fell just one short, getting nine to take her total to 16.

Fiona Denby certainly gave it a lash, but every time she looked as if she might just be building up momentum a wrong answer would pull her back a little. In the end she repeated her score of seven from the specialist round and this gave her a score of fourteen.

So to Rakesh. 6 and 1 pass would be enough to bring him the win. On paper that doesn’t sound like a great deal to ask. Mastermind isn’t played on paper though. At first Rakesh looked like he would do it easily, reaching the brink of the target in pretty quick time. For a while though it looked as if the wheels had come off, as Rakesh’s aim wobbled and the wrong answers began cropping up. Like Constance, though, Rakesh seemed to be really enjoying his Mastermind experience. He kept his composure and a couple of correct answers saw him crossing the line ahead of the clock. He scored 7 for 17.

I ca salute competitors for whom the experience is the thing, while winning would just be a bonus, and Rakesh certainly gave this impression in his piece to camera. Well done sir, and I hope you enjoy the semi final just as much.

The Details

Richard Saunders	The Culture Novels of Iain M. Banks	6	0	6	3	12	3
Constance Cooper	Alan Partridge	7	2	9	2	16	4
Rakesh Sharma	Madhuri Dixit	10	0	7	0	17	0
Fiona Denby	English Wine In the 21st century	7	0	7	0	14	0

University Challenge 2025 - Round 1 - Oriel, Oxford v. Durham

The Teams

Oriel, Oxford

Samin Taseen

Theo Sharkey

Danaan Kilburn (Capt.)

Tom Armstrong

Durham University

Joe Ancell

Amelia Brookfield-Pertusini

Jake Roberts (Capt.)

Luke Nash

Well, it’s been a week or two since we saw a runner up team score enough to have realistic hopes of a repechage slot. Maybe tonight would be different.

Luke Nash came in too early for the first starter about a city on the Tagus and missed the key information that it was home to El Greco for some years. This allowed Samin Taseen in with Toledo to earn bonuses on works on colour. They took two, but should have had a full house, a salutary lesson on the value of nominating the person who gave the answer to say the answer. Amelia Brookfield-Pertusini knew that Annie Ernaux won the 2022 Nobel Prize for Literature. Drinking establishments in the works of Charles Dickens were all gettable, but Durham only got the one. A good early buzz from Joe Ancell identified the chess term pin. Handel gave us both a full house. For the picture starter Luke Nash identified the old county flag of Middlesex. I was born in what was then Middlesex but became Greater London when I was 1. Which is probably why I always say I’m from London while my parents, born in virtually the same place, said they came from Middlesex. Anyway, more old county flags brought two correct answers for Durham on what I thought was by no means an easy set. Nobody knew biotin for the ridiculously long starter that followed. A very early buzz from Theo Sharkey identified people linked by the surname Cavendish. I didn’t understand any of the cell biology questions that followed but Oriel took a full house. So on ten minutes Durham had a tiny lead of fifty to forty five.

Both Tom Armstrong and I knew the film director Spike Lee (not personally ) for the next starter. The Chagos Archipelago – which was not the name of a 70s prog rock band surprisingly – brought a full house to Oriel. Jake Roberts knew that you find Harris lines on bones. So named after Dave Harris, a milkman I worked with as a kid who was a notorious teller of tall tales. All the time I knew him he swore blind that he drove the first underground train into Heathrow. But I digress. Headingley brought 2 bonuses. If you’re asked for a classical epic, buzz and mentally flip a coin between the Iliad and the Odyssey. Amelia Brookfield-Pertusini zagged correctly with the Iliad. Saints’ days brought another two bonuses, and Durham were unlucky to just miss out on St. Brice’s Day. So to the music starter. Joe Ancell knowns his Brahms from his Liszt, correctly identifying the latter. Other works which the composers dedicated to their teachers who were also composers brought, well, yes, two bonuses.The world’s oldest continuously inhabited is Damascus. It’s an old stager and Jake Roberts won the buzzer race. Agricultural innovaters brought (say it quietly) two bonuses. It was at this stage that Amol unleashed full strength encouragement upon Oriel, some sixty odd points in arrears at this point. It seemed to work too as Tom Armstrong came up with the correct answer of Justice to the next question on philosophy. Renaissance cartoons brought two much needed correct answers. Tom Armstrong took his double with refractive index for the next starter. Fallen idols brought a full house, and those two or three minutes’ good work ensured that the gap had shrunk. By the 20 minute mark Durham led, but only by 130 – 115.

The second picture round starter showed us a photo of Frank Capra. Nobody recognized him. The next starter showed Amol being generous when Theo Sharkey decided to join in with Tom Armstrong when answering the question. Both knew that if it’s a literary question about an early president you’ll be right more often than you’re wrong with Jefferson. Stills from great Frank Capra films brought nowt. Again, Amol correctly disallowed A Wonderful Life for It’s A Wonderful Life. Samin Taseen knew that the last dynasty to rule the Byzantine Empire was the Palaeologi – gesundheit. That brought Oriel the lead and two bouses on extraterrestrial features increased it. Joe Ancell decreased it by recognising a reference to Hokusai. A full house on Bennington College gave Durham back the lead. A lead which was wiped out by Tom Armstrong as he gave the mathematical term roulette. A full house on English cheeses was taken in short order, and Oriel were back ahead. Jake Roberts played a captain’s innings to buzz early with the term concentration. Tattooing only provided one bonus and the scores were now tied. I’ll be honest, I shouted Norwich as soon as Amol mentioned Julian and Revelations of Divine Love. And winning the buzzer race for this most crucial of starters was Theo Sharkey. Pigments used by L.S. Lowry brought two bonuses. Durham could do it, but they needed a full house. Was there enough time left? Jake Roberts again took a flier on the next starter. It was the right thing to do, even though it didn’t come off this time. This allowed Tom Armstrong to seal the deal by identifying the Tenor clef. Insect anatomy did not do much damage before the gong ended proceedings. Oriel won a superb match by 200 – 165.

Surely Durham will be back with that score. Both teams had a BCR of 67. It could have gone either way, but it’s Oriel who deservedly go straight through.

Amol Watch

I agree with Amol that the Wittgenstein answer just wasn’t quite close enough. It’s still a novelty when Amol calls the team members by their first names, as he did here.

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

The name for the traditional tattooing practised by Maori people is Ta Moko.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

In cell biology a variant of what molecule is used to label proteins in a technique know as apex proximity labelling? Proteins labelled with this molecule are purified by binding them to avidin or streptavidin. A deficiency of this molecule, also known as vitamin B7 can cause hair thinning, brittle fingernails and skin rashes . . . The question wasn’t even finished yet as Joe Ancell was penalised for buzzing in now. For heaven’s sake – the programme is only half a hour long as it is! Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.

Mastermind 2025 - First round Heat 7

Alright, let me address the elephant in the room. What on Earth is going on with the specialist rounds this season? Now yes, we all know that the questions in both rounds tend to be much longer than they were ten years ago, but I don’t know, in the last few shows it has seemed worse than ever. You see since the show returned after the early season break for the cricket, we’ve had just one double figure specialist round, and that was a 10. I just think it’s a little disheartening for people who obviously know their subject to end up with 7s and 8s, which in previous years would have been looked on as pretty unimpressive scores.

Well, the first of last night’s contenders was Dan Shoesmith who was answering on the Star Wars sequel trilogy. My son took me to watch The Force Awakens, which I enjoyed, but the last two films which I caught on telly not so much and I took the first but didn’t trouble the scorer again. Dan took 7 points. In previous years this would have meant he would have been out of it by half time. But then in previous years that performance would, I feel, have earned more points.

Emma Cresswell virtually scuppered her own chances as soon as she revealed that she is a teacher. This meant that she received the curse of support from the Clark sofa. Emma was answering on Henry Moore. He is an artist whom I can respect, but I cannot say I have a deep and heartfelt attachment to his work. Which is a long winded way of saying I didn’t add to my aggregate on this round. Emma scored five.

James Sowden offered us the band Elbow. This proved to be another fruitless round for me. James started pretty well, and I never felt that he wasn’t coping with it. However he had only scored 6 by the end of it.

Finally student Morgan Bush with a round on King Edward VI, my banker round for the night. Yes, the traditional history subjects like this have been a steady source of points for me over the years, and I was pretty happy to add four easy ones to my total to give me an aggregate of five. Morgan himself scored five. I did think he missed at least a couple he might have had, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

Emma returned to the chair. It’s often hard to say something which isn’t mean about GK rounds where the contender doesn’t do as well as they would have liked. Emma gave it a lash, as we say, but the questions just did not seem to fall her way and she finished with a total of 12.

Right. Morgan Bush’s GK round put me in mind of something I used to say. When my late grandmother used to predict that one day I would win Mastermind – yes, honestly she did – I used to reply that I wasn’t going to go on it until I was in my forties when I’d still be quick to answer, but would know a lot more. This annoyingly precocious attitude is only slightly ameliorated by the fact that I was in my early forties when I did go on it and I won. Still, Morgan’s GK round demonstrated a very good reason to try the show at his age. Because his GK round was very good! Having said that, if he’s that good now, if he keeps quizzing he’ll be great in a decade or two. An absolutely terrific 13 gave him 18 and a shot at a win.

Mind you, James Sowden wasn’t too far behind after his round. In fact, his 12 put him as close as you can be without actually tying. He scored 12 to take his total to 18 and one pass. However Morgan Bush’s old head on young shoulders had seen that he hadn’t passed at all. Just Dan to go, then.

Dan did not answer very quickly. However, that slight pause before a lot of the answers ensured that he gave a correct one rather than blurting out a wrong one. Don’t knock it. A significant number of Mastermind GK questions that you don’t immediately KNOW the answer to will yield results after a moment’s thought. Dan was across the line with a couple of questions to spare and he too scored 13 for 20. Well played, sir. Best of luck for the semi finals.

The Details

Dan Shoesmith	The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy	7	2	13	1	20	3
Emma Cresswell	Henry Moore	5	0	7	1	12	1
James Sowden	Elbow	6	1	12	0	18	1
Morgan Bush	Edward VI	5	0	13	0	18	0

University Challenge 2025 First Round - Darwin, Cambridge v. Birkbeck, London

The Teams

Darwin, Cambridge

Rebecca McClelland

Sophie Willis

Harrison Whitaker (Capt.)

Rowan Stewart

Birkbeck, London

Rosalie Van Onzenoort

Uma Moorthy

Alex Evans (Capt.)

Eric Skidmore

Well, the big question is whether Uma Moorthy is the same Uma Moorthy who played in the Birkbeck team of 2000? I don’t know if UC has rules regarding whether you can play in more than one season? I always thought that you couldn’t, but hey, what do I know?

Let’s begin, then. Fair play to Harrison Whitaker for knowing that E.M.Forster’s first book was ‘Where angels fear to tread.’ I’ve heard of the quote from Pope, but never the book. Cities whose names in English have more than one letter Z in their names brought two more correct answers and a namecheck for Alfonso the Battler. A bit like Alfred the Butler, but a tad more aggressive. The next question, asking for a view of History, suddenly became clear with the namechecks for Walpole and Charles James Fox, and Eric Skidmore won the buzzer race to give the answer of whig. Novels of Jane Austen in the words of the Oxford Companion to Shakespeare (I thought that was Anne Hathaway) delivered 2 bonuses to level the scores. Marina Abramovitch, another member of the ubiquitous Who family, was the answer to the next starter, gladly supplied by the Cambridge skipper. Song cycles brought me a correct answer with Schubert and both Darwin and I took the last with Vaughan Williams. For the picture starter, was it the word Morlocks that told you the work in question was Wells’ The Time Machine? It was for me. Harrison Whitaker, very much leading his team by example took his second consecutive starter with that one. More redacted contents pages of works of speculative fiction saw none of us recognise the first two, but Muad’Dib gave us both Dune. Sorry, but it is one of my all time favourite books. Rosalie Van Onzenoort was in very quickly with the word elasticity for the next starter but the set of bonuses on glassmaking processes only yielded one correct answer. I thought about taking a lap of honour for annealing, but let it ride. Which was a mistake since I didn’t get another opportunity. This meant that at the ten-minute mark Darwin led by fifty to thirty.

Pashtun Nationalists was the clue with the next starter. Both teams had Pakistan, but neither had Afghanistan so no cigars there. New York, and immigrant German instrument makers had me, and Rosalie Van Onzenoort saying Steinway which was the correct answer. Sicilian food beginning with ca brought just the one bonus, but it meant Birkbeck were just a few points behind Darwin. Various Hamiltons brought another starter for Harrison Whitaker. Ivo Van Hove meant little to me but he still brought both me and Darwin a full house. Poland and cosmetics company gave that man Whitaker another starter – and he wasn’t halfway done yet. Scientific terms beginning with the letter x brought one correct answer. If it sounds like Sinatra, then you might just as well buzz in and answer Sinatra. That’s what Alex Evans did with the music starter and earned his team bonuses on songs referencing the transition from Autumn to Winter. They knew the same two that I knew. Nobody knew Jesus in the line of prophets in the next starter. Harrison Whitaker knew works of David Hume. He’d already had a very satisfactory night’s work, and more was yet to come. Films with scores by Rachel Portman brought them two bonuses and a triple figure score. See if you can guess who knew a reference to The Last Judgement on the walls of the Sistine Chapel? Come in, Harrison Whitaker. Eyes in 20^th century works of art brought a full house, and what had seemed a pretty close contest up to this point was seeming more of a done deal. As we approached 20 minutes Darwin led by 135 – 60.

Rosalie Van Onzenoort knew Thomas Bayes, which is more than I could say for myself. The Kennedy Center Honours brought just the one bonus at a time when they really needed to start batting doubles and triples. Kudos to Alex Evans for recognising the work of John Singer Sargent so quickly for the second picture starter. More portraits of artists at work by other artists brought another single. Uma Moorthy knew that a german novel about the first world war had to be All Quiet on the Western Front. Words that contain four consecutive vowels saw Birkbeck dithering.Two bonuses put them just one full house behind. -That’s quite enough of that- Harrison Whitaker might well have said, for he buzzed early for the next starter and fortune favoured the brave, as he correctly identified a series of events from the 9^th century. Again, they only managed the one bonus, this time on libraries. The clouds of Venus were all too easy for Harrison Whitaker, and this time Darwin took two bonuses linked by the colour white. Harrison Whitaker was reigning unopposed on the buzzer at this point and took the next starter on Albanian speaking Italians. Types of sleeve were a gettable set, but Darwin only got 1. Harrison Whitaker took the next starter on Salisbury Cathedral. Michael Chabon yielded two bonuses, and the contest ended with Darwin winning comfortably with 205 to Birkbeck’s 110.

What can we say? Well, let’s start with Birkbeck. Their BCR of 48 was not great, and they just didn’t have the firepower on the buzzer to stop Mr. Whitaker in full flow. As for Darwin, their BCR of 59 isn’t bad at all, but doesn’t quite match the top teams so far. On the one hand I salute Harrison Whitaker’s Hall of Fame performance with 11 starters. On the other hand, it worries me what might happen if he has an off night – I may be wrong but I think he answered all of the starters for Darwin.

Amol Watch

Amol is a great fan of caponata. Who would have known? By the time of the consecutive vowel bonuses Birkbeck weren’t that far behind, but Amol, who could see the way the wind was blowing, urged them to give themselves a chance of getting a high score. Good man. It didn’t work, but kudos for trying.

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

In 1118 the city of Zaragoza was captured by Alfonso the Battler. I bet he was fun on a Saturday night out with the boys.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

Yeah, this is rare, but nothing in the show really made my mind switch into standby mode. Well done UC!

Mastermind 2025 Heat 6

At last, dearly beloved, at last we had a roster of specialist subjects in a Mastermind heat that offered me just a chance of more than the slimmest of pickings. Not the first subject though. This was a subject that has featured on Mastermind more than once before, the Ghost Stories of M.R. James – who was not, as I once thought, the author of Fifty Shades of Whatsaname. As you can tell, I’ve ever read them, although I have copied a illustration from one. 

Thomas Banbury had prepared well enough to score 8, which is a competitive score that has given contenders a chance during the series so far. Me? Nul points.

So the first subject to offer me just a glimmer of a chance was snooker legend Ronnie O’Sullivan, offered by Liam McCarthy. I have actually read the Rocket’s autobiography, name checked in one of the questions, but that was quite a few years ago, so it didn’t seem to do me a lot of good. I limped along to two points. Liam, like Thomas before him, scored a good 8 and no passes, so he was still in the hunt.

Third to go was Jane Northen. Jane was offering my first real ‘fill yer boots’ subject of this series, in the shape of Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds. This was, incidentally, Alan Heath’s winning subject in the 2016 Grand Final. Like a lot of kids of my generation I absolutely loved this show and watched the episodes time and time again. Then, as a dad in the 90s I got to do it all over again with my son, for whom I even made a Blue Peter Tracy Island – and damn good it was too, though I say it myself. So yes, the 7 I got was a good total, although not a surprise. Not as good as Jane’s though. Her 10 was the best round of the night so far.

Having to follow that was Helen Lawson. She was answering on Hans Holbein the Younger and this subject brought me the 1 point I needed to take my aggregate for the specialists into double figures. Yes, you are allowed to indulge in a small celebration at this point. There. Did you enjoy it? Helen again did well, but she was just a tiny bit behind Jane on the clock and finished with 9. Kudos to all four contenders for not passing in any of their specialist rounds.

Thomas did not start his GK round brilliantly, but rather grew into it, so much so that he managed to post double figures. His 10 gave him 18, which we always say is unlikely to prove a winning score, but is enough to make the other contenders have to pass through the corridor of doubt.

Liam McCarthy did even better. He started better but didn’t gain quite as much momentum as Thomas had done. Even so his consistency meant that he scored 11 and 1 pass, a good performance which raised the bar to 19.

Helen Lawson didn’t look quite as comfortable in the chair as she had during her specialist round, but even though she seemed to be making slower progress she was still edging closer to the target. She took 9 which put her up with Thomas, but just one point behind Liam.

Finally Jane, then. I often mention momentum in GK rounds, and Jane’s round was a good demonstration of what I mean. Jane took the tactic of passing when an answer – right or wrong – did not occur and in this way she kept up her momentum throughout the round. This meant that she kept going and passed the finishing post with several questions to spare. She scored 12 for a total of 22. Yes, she passed more than any of the other contenders, but this didn’t make the slightest difference because she scored more.

In her piece to camera at the end Jane revealed that she really is a Thunderbirds fanatic. Nothing so wrong with that either. Well Jane, I hope that you have another such subject in your semi. The very best of luck to you.

The Details

Thomas Banbury	The Ghost Stories of M.R.James	8	0	10	1	18	1
Liam McCarthy	Ronnie O’Sullivan	8	0	11	1	19	1
Jane Northen	Thunderbirds	10	0	12	3	22	3
Helen Lawson	Hans Holbein the Younger	9	0	9	1	18	1

University Challenge 2025 - Reading v. Exeter

The Teams

Reading

Kissani Selvamaresh

Josh Finkelstein

Rhiannon Snook (Capt.)

Stuart Rock

Exeter

Ryker Moorcroft

Lucy Carr

Martin Newman (Capt.)

Elliott Mouelhi

I didn’t pick out that all the references in the first starter were pointing to violence, but Elliott Mouelhi did and he claimed first points for Exeter. A relatively gentle set on Scottish Geography brought two bonuses. The next starter saw a long wait until the name Dolores O’Riordan ignited a buzzer race, won by Elliott Moelhi to answer the Cranberries. South African cricket grounds brought a full house. Again both teams waited with the next starter, but with the name check for family favourite Viking Chief Rollo, Elliott Mouelhi took his third consecutive starter with Normandy. Written Japanese seemed right up Ryker Moorcroft’s street as he supplied the answers for another full house. The picture starter that followed showed us a table with national flags, and tonnage of countries producing the most of a particular metal. I was nowhere near a correct answer, but Elliott Mouelhi took his fourth in a row with copper. More tables with more metals brought another full house. The Kjedahl Method gave Josh Finkelstein the opportunity to give Reading a visit to the table. Variation in biological organisms promised me little but meiosis delivered a lap of honour around the sofa. Only a slightly misheard question prevented Reading from taking a full house. Emboldened by his success on the previous starter, Josh Finkelstein came in early with the island of South Georgia. Constitutional legislation in the UK brought Reading’s score to 35, but at the ten minute mark Exeter led with 95.

Now as soon as the words ‘golden record’ were mentioned in the next starter I thought Voyager. But then I’m the right age. Ryker Moorcroft is considerably younger, but he still managed to supply the same answer. A lovely UC set on name drops in the song “Late night double feature” from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, saw a point of contention when Flash Gordon was described as a superhero. Comic book hero yes, but what’s super about him? (At this point anyone who brings Batman into the conversation is deliberately being picky) Maybe that’s why Exeter failed to add to their total. Captain Rhiannon Snook knew that Wes Anderson directed several Roald Dahl stories on Netflix to get her team moving again. Steven Vincent Who Benet brought them just the one bonus. So to the music starter. Eddy Grant is a musician very much to my taste and very much of my vintage, and so I recognised his Electric Avenue slightly more quickly than Stuart Rock – another more mature gentleman like myself. Other British tracks that also made the US charts in 1983 were very much music to my ears, and both Mr. Rock and I supplied a full house. The next Science starter was so long winded we would have been in Baby Elephant Walk territory, were it not for the fact that it took a really simple turn at the end, and I had it right with condensation. Ryker Moorcroft was the quickest to work out that yes, it really was that simple and he earned a set of bonuses on geometrical terms as described by some old buffer who was translating Euclid. One was taken but hey, the clock was running down and the gap was still growing. Ryker Moorcroft took another starter knowing that Slovenian not only has singular and plural, but also has dual. Does Old Norse have something similar? Maybe I’ve misremembered that. Jules Hardouin- Mansart – Qui? brought two bonuses – but if they’d known their 1919 treaties they’d have had a full house. Didn’t matter. Just coming up to the 20 minute mark they led by 140 – 75.

For the next starter Amol accepted the Independence of India, as opposed to the partition of India, but not to accept it would have been churlish and Amol is not a churl. A really lovely UC special set on places sharing their name with European names of colours took Reading to triple figures, and being only forty behind it looked as if we could be in for a closer contest than it had seemed. Nobody on either team could identify a still from the film Paper Moon. We’re off to paper moon, we followed Mr. Spoon? No, that was Button Moon. Stuart Rock came in too early for the next starter. I don’t blame him – had he been correct and his team have taken all of the bonuses, then the gap would have been much narrowed. But then, if my Auntie had pollocks, she’d have been a fishmonger, as they say. The mention of the Olympics, and the sculptor Myron gave Lucy Carr the discus, and a set of bonuses on other Oscar winning film debuts. A full house fell to Exeter, and with the benefit of hindsight that was the pivotal point of the match. Not that Reading were giving up yet. Josh Finkelstein buzzed in early with bone marrow for the next starter. The roman republic provided a single bonus on what was, to be honest, a very gettable set. Eagles from Mythology gave Ryker Moorcroft another starter, earning a set of bonuses on lead, which led to a full house. Again, Josh Finkelstein threw caution to the winds – which I applaud – but knew he had done so in vain while Roger Tilling was calling his name on the next starter. Exeter skipper Martin Newman knew if Lord Salisbury was talking about a conflict it was probably going to be the Boer War. Two bonuses on judgement of the dead followed. Demolished churches designed by Christopher Wren gave Elliott Mouelhi another starter and his team swiftly took two bonuses on Jonathan Swift. See what I did there?  Poor old Josh Finkelstein came in too early again on the next starter, the answer of which was the astronomical unit as given by Ryker Moorcroft. That was it. There was no time left for bonuses. In the end Exeter had come out comfortable winners with 240 – 100.

Reading managed a BCR of 61, which is pretty decent, but it’s only effective when you’re getting your fair share of starters. Exeter had a fine BCR of 73. Whether they’re amongst the fastest teams on the buzzer – well only time will tell that. But it was a pretty good start.

Amol Watch

I’m not sure if 7 minutes and 38 seconds is the earliest Amol has offered encouragement to a team, but it has to be up there. Mind you, I don’t blame him for Reading were down by almost a hundred at this point. I liked the way that he gee’d on the hesitant Reading team during the roman republic bonuses, and he was right to do so as they still had an outside chance of a repechage score.

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

Amarillo, Texas is the largest city of the Texas panhandle AND is named after the tawny colour of the soil. 2 facts for the price of one.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

Invented in 1883 by a Danish chemist, the eponymous Kjedahl Method is used to measure the content of which chemical element in substances such as food and fertilisers? It involves digesting a substance with sulphuric acid and determining the amount of ammonia released.

Alright, not complete gibberish, I grant you. Don’t care. Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.