University Challenge 2027 Repechage 2 - Bristol v. Queen's University, Belfast

The Teams

Bristol

Jake Wingfield

Francesca O’Connor

Freddie Burns (Capt.)

Artem Borisov

Queen’s University, Belfast

Owen Carter

Thomas Dean

Isa Arellano (Capt.)

Noah Calhoun

The first starter twisted and turned like a twisty, turny thing, losing 5 for Queen’s before the mention of George Gerschwin, Liszt and Rachmaninov made it clear to Jake Wingfield that we wanted the term Rhapsody. Who I believe was one of the Angels in Captain Scarlet. You can have that one for free. Questions on a video game, Clair Obscur got Bristol off to the best possible start with a full house. “Portrait” and “prominent piece of jewellery” had to be driving at Girl With A Pearl Earring and it gave Jake Wingfield his double. A slightly macabre UC special set on the graves of mathematicians saw Amol give a rather snappy response to the suggestion of Euler for the first. I hoped we weren’t going to see a repeat of last week’s display from him. Both of us took just one for the obvious answer of Euclid. Look, I didn’t have a clue what the next starter was all about – still don’t – but Thomas Dean gave the correct answer of the Lorentz Factor. Christians in the Mongol Empire brought two bonuses but Queen’s were let down by their dates of English kings. Something really tickled Noah Calhoun about the second bonus, but whatever it was I couldn’t make it out. Come on Noah, share the joke with the whole class, please. What is represented by the formula for the SI derived unit in the picture starter? This was actually the answer as well as the question. It works better if you say it out loud – watt, you see. Jake Wingfield took his third, knowing that the second Hunger Games book is Catching Fire. Three more SI unit formulae provided us both with just the one correct answer for lux. Surprisingly the mention of neighbouring Rawalpindi was not enough to give either team Islamabad for the next starter. So at the 10 minute mark Bristol led by 55 – 10.

Glass and navigation tool pointed to the sextant for the next starter which was taken in an early buzz by Noah Calhoun. Bahamian artist Tavares Strachan (yes, alright, Tavares Who?) yielded 2 correct answers, but they missed on Jack Johnson, the man of whom Nat Fleischer once said he was the only boxer who might have beaten Muhammad Ali in his prime (before his 3 year ban for refusing to fight in Vietnam) You can have that for free too. Poor Owen Carter had been just a little buzzer happy in this first half of the contest and lost five for the third time with a bit of a wild guess. Livonia was enough for me to guess Latvia while Artem Borisov answered Estonia, both of which answers were acceptable. The science of colours brought two bonuses. I guessed, along with Thomas Dean, that the sect referred to in the next question were the Shakers. (I didn’t immediately launch into a chorus of Shake yer booty – but it was s struggle). Lakes that have vanished or greatly diminished in size brought a timely full house to take us up to the music starter. Very quickly Jake Wingfield identified The Marriage of Figaro. “Of Course!” exclaimed Amol. Yeah, well, we don’t all have the answers in front of us like you do, mate. Three more pieces of music whose titles reference Zephir/Zephyr brought two bonuses. Walled city – and – game – were enough to give Freddie Burns Carcasonne. Baroque architecture saw Bristol get one bonus – but a single letter robbed them of two. Amol ruled out Trompe d’oeil for trompe l’oeil and was right to do so. For the next starter the mention of a book title with the latin for logarithm gave Freddie Burns John Napier. Literature set in LA in the 1970s brought a full house to Bristol. Thomas Dean knew the Overton Window for the next starter. We had some blinds put up by our Overton window last year. Physicists in the RNA tie club – don’t ask – brought both of us two bonuses and I made my lap of honour around the sofa while the going was good. This meant that Bristol led 130 – 70 as we approached 20. Just a few minutes earlier the gap had narrowed to 25 points, but it was widening ominously now.

A beautifully constructed UC special on flags saw Jake Wingfield first in with Italy. The inaugural Best Album Cover Grammy brought two bonuses. Fair enough. Noah Calhoun guessed we were seeing a photo of a golden eagle for the next starter. More birds that are shared as national symbols by multiple countries brought 1 bonus, although they were nearly there with the first but said swallowtail rather than swallow. Artem Borisov knew the word for eggs in Korean cuisine. Phonetics saw Bristol take a full house leaving them just one full set away from their double century. They didn’t get it with the next starter for Noah Calhoun correctly buzzed in with algae. A couple of bonuses on Linus Pauling put Queen’s into triple figures. Freddie Burns knew that Joseph Wright of Derby painted Vesuvius a lot. Had he never heard of Etna or Stromboli? Mountain bike challenge races promised but little but we both got the gimme by knowing the capital of Costa Rica. Thomas Dean knew that Japan has been governed by the 1955 system. The late Catherine O’Hara brought just one bonus, but the answer of Schitt’s Creek set my grandson giggling for the rest of the show. He’s a chip off the old block, that boy. Francesca O’Connor knew that the first word of ‘Daffodils’ is I. Off the point, Stan Tottman, one of the best teachers I ever knew, once explained that the first line of Daffodils encapsulates the romantic movement “I wandered lonely as a cloud” – and he was right. It really is all there. Innominate parts of the body (Innominate – de do de do do, Innominate do do do do. etc) brought 1 bonus. Thomas Dean knew that SG was sublimation. Fair enough. There was time for just one bonus on islands. Bristol won by 205 – 135.

Bristol deserved their win and achieved a healthy 60.6% bonus conversion rate. Queen’s BCR was even slightly better, with 63.6%. But you know the old saying – it’s bonuses for show, but starters for dough.

Amol Watch

We saw an unusually snarky Amol last week. Thankfully that Amol seems to have put back in his box. Don’t be in a hurry to let hm out again any time soon, please.

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

The swallow is the national bird of both Austria and Estonia.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

There were just a couple of times when the internal orchestra was about to strike up with the familiar dumdums but on these occasions an early answer put a stop to it, I’m happy to report.

Mastermind 2027 First Round Heat 14

Well, I know what you’ve been worrying about, dearly beloved. Did I manage to get any points on the specialists at all? In the words of the Duke of Wellington himself, it was a damn close run thing. No points on the three subjects offered by our first three contenders, but . . . well, a general knowledge of Hollywood and a guess or two brought me three points on Gene Tierney – I’m perfectly happy to take the money and run with that for tonight.

As for the contenders, well, the contest kicked off with Gordon Rogers’ round on Creation Records. Now, I think I mentioned this in last week’s review. You have to know your subject to get as many as 7 points which is what Gordon managed to do. So nothing to be ashamed of there. But as a score it does leave you with quite a lot to do and you are vulnerable to other contenders who don’t just know their subjects, but know them inside out, up and down and any which way you want to put it.

It looked as if Naomi Liddle might well turn out to be just such a contender – certainly for the first minute of her round on the X Files. A couple of questions in the second minute just robbed her of a little momentum and in the end she just fell a tiny bit short of double figures. Nonetheless, in the current era a score of 9 is going to leave you well in contention when the half time oranges are brought out.

Lewis Sinclair’s round was like a mirror image of Naomi’s. Answering on the Waterloo Campaign, it was his first minute that was less impressive while a storming comeback in the 2^nd minute brought him right up to his own 9 points. Again, his fate in the show would be in his own hands in the GK round.

Finishing the round of specialists was retired civil servant Matin Whitelegge, who thankfully had opted to answer on Gene Tierney. No, they didn’t ask about the song “24 Hours from Tulsa” since that was Gene Pitney. Like Naomi and Lewis before him, Martin impressed with his knowledge of the subject without quite managing to nail down a double figure score. Like the two aforementioned contenders he too took just the one pass. Were we, perchance, on the road to another tiebreak?

You have to feel a little sorry for Gordon Rogers. It’s quite a lonely place when you’re returning to the chair 2 points adrift of 3^rd place, especially when GK is not necessarily your strongest round. He struggled manfully picking off what he could and in the end he finished with a total of 13.

Naomi Liddle, on the other hand, did very well on her return to the chair. We’d been close to a double figure score in three of the specialists and now Naomi supplied one, then adding another GK point for 11 and a total of 20. Whatever happened in the rest of the show, she’d earned a score which would have won several of the other heats. Is that a comfort ? Well, I didn’t think so in 2006 when I was on the wrong end of it, but enough of such things for now.

I have to say that I really enjoyed Lewis Sinclair’s General Knowledge round. You watch these rounds, and you see a contender start to build up a good score, and you’re always a little worried that they’re going to run out of steam and tail off a bit. Lewis didn’t. After a minute he looked likely to beat the target and after two minutes he almost had. After two and a half minutes he’d scored a very fine 13 to set the target at 22.

It would have been tempting fate to suggest that Martin might have given us a third consecutive double figure round. Whether he had been affected by the two preceding rounds I don’t know, but he never really got into his stride and added 7 to finish with 16.

Well done Lewis! Scores in the teens on a single round have been pretty sparse in the series so far. So thank you very much for that. I do wish you every success in the semi-finals – with GK like that you’re always going to be in with a shout. Very hard lines to Naomi. Take heart from a good performance and the knowledge that you were good enough to have won quite a few of the other heats.

The Details

Gordon Rogers	Creation Records	7	1	6	1	13	2
Naomi Liddle	The X Files	9	1	11	2	20	3
Lewis Sinclair	The Waterloo Campaign	9	1	13	0	22	1
Martin Whitelegge	Gene Tierney	9	1	7	3	16	4

Mastermind Heat 14 Specialist Subjects

 Sorry that I didn’t get around to posting this yesterday, peeps. So, tonight’s Mastermind specialist subjects will be:-

Creation Records

The X Files

The Waterloo Campaign

Gene Tierney

Once again I feel nothing but gloom about my prospects of a decent aggregate. I know nothing about Creation Records. I know hardly much more about Gene Tierney – although I do like 24 Hours from Tulsa. (I know.) Maybe there’s a point or two on Waterloo, though I know more about the station and much more about the bridge. Again, I used to watch the X-Files but not as more than a casual viewer from time to time. I’d like to think I won’t get zero, but it’s nothing I’d want to put money on.

Good Quiz at the Club

You may well have noticed that I am not exactly complimentary about the other question setters/masters at the rugby club who aren’t in my  team. I will concede that it’s mean – none of us pretend to be professional question setters/quiz hosts (although I have accepted payment for setting questions in the past and could probably be persuaded to do so again.) All we get for doing so is a few free drinks. But, I don’t know. It’s not exactly rocket science, putting together a decent quiz. Yet the other setters at the quiz with the exception of Dan, Jess and Adam just fall into such easily avoidable traps – asking too many guess a number questions – not checking the answer they have is correct – not taking enough care over the phrasing of the questions – asking things which are just not interesting. I will give some credit to Dai – and not just because he has been known to read the blog – but I like his quizzes more than the others. Damning with faint praise, I know.

So, having said all of that, it’s a pleasure to say that we had a quiz at the club on Thursday night which I enjoyed every bit as much as the quizzes set by Jess, Dan and Adam. Our new question master was Claire. I’ve known Claire for a long time – she used to come to the quiz with my pal Robert Merrill and play for the Lemurs – the team who used to beat us more often than we beat them. I don’t recall her writing the quiz before. But it was just such a pleasure to play in a quiz which seemed to have been written by someone who has a clear idea what a good question sounds like, and what makes a good quiz. I don’t think I once responded to any of the questions with words to the effect of – what the ‘ell’s she asking that for? - . It was a very good quiz and I hope she’ll take her place on the regular setters’ roster. And maybe give a few tips to some of the other setters. . . Just saying.

University Challenge 2027 Repechage Round - ST. John's Cambridge v. London School of Economics

The Teams

St. John’s Cambridge

Callum Thomas

Jonathan Watts

Liam Plimmer (Capt)

Aurelia Walker

London School of Economics

David Worley

Diya Khatri

Henry Jameson (Capt)

Daniel Yang

What, repechage round already? Yes indeed. On paper these were two very evenly matched teams – St. John’s scoring 170 in round 1, while LSE scored 160. However the BCRs of the teams suggested a different story. St. John’s was 70.6% while the LSE had a BCR of 46%. All of which suggested that if St. John’s could achieve parity on the buzzer, then they looked the most likely winners.

Skipper Liam Plimmer got St. John’s going, knowing that Goethe and Schiller in the same question suggested Weimar. Wei not? Representation and democracy did not seem to be doing anyone favours until the quotation from Lincoln’s Gettysburg address brought us both one bonus. Both teams sat on their buzzer for the next starter, until the mention on Van Dyke (Anthony, not Dick) made it clear that the royal collector had to be Charles I. Henry Jameson opened the LSE account with this. Bonuses on cakes and pastries in Victorian novels - they missed a trick by not asking about Kipling here, I would have thought - were not actually about the cakes or pastries at all in the first two questions. They were just a different way of asking – in which novels do Mrs. Tulliver and Esther Summerson appear? LSE didn’t know, although they did get the third which was the only one really about cakes and pastries. A literary starter followed, with various Daisys (Renton, Miller and Buchanan) giving Liam Plimmer the answer. Birds with names linked to war was a lovely and really rather informative set, from which St. John’s took a full house. I had never linked sniper with snipe before, even though it sounds obvious once you know. For the first picture starter Henry Jameson recognised a printed recipe for a Singapore sling. More cocktails featuring the names of nationalities or countries in their official names brought just one bonus. Callun Thomas recognised references to indigo dye for the next starter. English towns and cities beginning with B and ending with Ford brought two bonuses. This meant that on ten minutes St. John’s led by 60 -30 and were having the better of the buzzer races.

Having said that it was a very good early buzz that saw Daniel Yang identifying that Japan left the League of Nations in 1933. Notable goals at the 2025 Women’s European Football Championships saw a welcome name check for Hanwell’s Chloe Kelly, the only answer either of us got. Nobody got Robert ‘Who?’ Merton for the next starter. You had to wait and wait with the next starter – LSE didn’t and so lost five – but eventually ‘a walled city on the Black Sea’ was enough to suggest Baku. Callum Thomas took that. Recent recipients of the Charlemagne Prize yielded a good full house. A lap of honour came my way for immediately guessing that the K in KIE stood for Kinetic in the next starter. Aurelia Walker had that one. James Prescott Joule (nicknamed ‘Uncut’ by his mates, I believe) refused to yield any bonus points. For the music starter Diya Khatri recognised the dulcet tones of the La’s singing There she Goes. There you go. More songs used in The Gilmore Girls didn’t bring any points, but it did bring a hell of a lot of frustration for Daniel Yang who just couldn’t dredge up the name of the Bangles. All of which was compounded by a rather snarky remark from Amol. A long winded description of tooth decay fell to Callum Thomas. Greek mythology is often a fruitful subject on UC and so it was for St. John’s, providing a full house. Liam Plimmer knew that Sonia Knips was painted by Klimt (2 coats of whitewash and then rubbed down with a copy of the Sporting Life, I believe) Fish and ways of cooking it brought just the one bonus. Liam Plimmer knew that the next starter was talking about badminton but couldn’t quite dredge up shuttlecock for the next starter which allowed Diya Khatri to take the points. Bob Dylan’s The Girl from the North Country (an ode to Elsie Tanner, by any chance?) brought a couple of bonuses, but St. John’s led by 130-60 on 20 minutes.

For the second picture starter Callum Thomas identified politician Lula da Silva. Other recipients of the Grand Collar Order of Camoes for services to Portuguese took them to 145, and they looked about to cross the event horizon. Aurelia Walker worked out that the various clues in the next starter pointed to the colour red. I believe that the next bonus set may have been linked by the theme of chemical gobbledygook. I didn’t get any, while St. John’s got two. Moving swiftly on Henry Jameson recognised a reference to Twain (I think it was Mark, but might have been Shania) and the phrase Gilded Age. Terms for Church windows brought two bonus in short order. Henry Jameson also knew two rivers in Bangladesh for the next starter. Things in the natural world whose common names are used poetically as synonyms for black saw them take just the one from a pretty gettable set. Jonathan Watts knew several species of gibbons, although ‘funky’ and Stanley’ were not among those mentioned. Works in philosophy and the social sciences from the first decade of the 20^th century brought two bonuses and the double century looked on the cards for St. John’s. I understood the next starter relating author’s names to chemical elements but I didn’t know who wrote the Neapolitan Quartet (the Neapolitan trilogy of course being vanilla, chocolate and strawberry). Callum Thomas worked it all out and gave the correct answer of Iron. SI base units are hardy perennials on UC and St. John’s gathered a full harvest. Henry Jameson got his fourth and fifth French Republics mixed up and this allowed Liam Plimmer in for another starter. Events of 1924 in the USA didn’t add any gloss to their score, but it was all academic by this stage. David Worley won the buzzer race to answer Charleston for the next starter. There was no time left for bonuses, thpugh. St. John’s won by 220 – 100.

St. John’s were the better of these two teams on the night. They achieved a BCR of 58.3% this time to LSE’s 33.3%.

Amol Watch

“I don’t think I’d have forgiven you if you got that one wrong” said Amol to St. John’s about the Gettysburg address question. This was just an early example of the rather bumptious mood he seemed to be in for this show. Maybe it was filmed just after he was first to be kicked out of The Traitors. He then rather condescendingly told LSE he would accept Alice in Wonderland even though the official title is Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. When Daniel Yang couldn’t dredge up The Bangles he rubbed it in with “Never mind. We enjoyed watching you struggle.” What had rubbed Amol up the wrong way before the show, one can only ask. Even at the end he had another little dig – “you gave us such wonderful entertainment in the bonuses, having these feverish discussions then getting them wrong.” Oh, come on, Amol. This is not big and it’s not clever.

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

The bird on the flag of Kiribati is a frigate bird. I don’t know how I’ve never known that before, but I’m glad to know it now.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

Smooth surface, pit and fissure, and root are three main types of what condition caused by exposure to acidic substances produced by bacteria? The last of these types is more common in older people, because the area exposed is more . . . (incorrect interruption) vulnerable lacking the hard protective surface known as enamel. – Yeah, it wasn’t the most difficult to understand, but surely didn’t need to be so long winded. Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.

Mastermind 2027 First Round Heat 13

Well, dearly beloved, I did predict that I wasn’t going to get many points in the specialists in tonight’s show and I was certainly right about that. 1 from Peep Show and 1 from the Lake District as it happens.

First up was Matt Malin. He offered us Peep Show. I was always more of a casual viewer than a regular but I did catch one or two of them at times. It didn’t help me. Matt scored 7. We’ve seen a lot of contenders during the series who all knew their subject, and I’d put Matt in this category, but not quite in enough depth to be able to reach a really commanding total. It takes a hell of a lot of focussed preparation and revision, I can tell you.

Emily Freeman was answering on the subject about which I knew least, probably because I’d never even heard of Aemilia Lanyer before the subjects for this show were announced. Again, Emily knew her stuff, but again, not quite in the depth needed to give yourself a realistic chance. Sh too scored 7 and I was beginning to wonder whether we had another of those heats where there is something in the air that limits the scoring.

Maria Nagle made a good start with Joni Mitchell and she scored quite well throughout the round. As it was, only an unlucky close but no cigar answer to the last question prevented her from a good 9. Nonetheless, 8 was enough to put her into the lead with one contender still to go.

This contender was Tony Barnes. Tony was answering on The Lake District. I often feel that such a wide subject as this should carry a government health warning. Once again, Tony obviously knew his stuff, but it seems such a catch all subject that there were aspects of it he maybe hadn’t considered which is probably why he too scored 8.

Would the ‘something in the air’ I’ve speculated about continue to affect the scores as we headed into the General Knowledge rounds? Time would tell. Matt Malin came back and he delivered the highest scoring round of the night so far with 9. This boosted him to 16. If you’d asked before the start of the show whether I thought that 16 could be a winning total I would have said it was unlikely. After the specialists though, it looked more possible.

Poor Emily Freeman never really managed to get to grips with her GK round. She gave it a lash, but in the end she could only take her total up to 12.

Maria Nagle only needed to match Matt’s 9 points to take he lead. She too gave it a lash, but in the same way you often see track athletes tightening up as they enter the home straight, so Maria just couldn’t quite maintain the momentum to get herself over the line before time was up. She scored 7 to finish with 15. No cigar I’m afraid.

So it was all down to Tony. He too scored 7 for 15, although I would say that he didn’t run out of steam so much as never quite had the momentum he needed throughout the whole round.

So Matt Malin achieved the rare feat of going first in the last round, and hanging on to win the show. Best of luck in the semis.

Right, please do not take this comment as an intended criticism of any of tonight’s contenders – it is not meant that way. But last week, all 4 contenders scored more highly than any of tonight’s. I’m not saying that Matt does not deserve his place in the semi final. Of course he does! It always has been you win a heat and you go through and it always should be. But surely, surely it’s time to go back to recognising exceptional performance by runners up by awarding a couple of wild cards through to the semis.

It’s a lot fairer on the viewers, if you want my opinion.

The Details

Matt Malin	Peep Show	7	2	9	2	16	4
Emily Freeman	Aemilia Lanyer	7	2	5	6	12	8
Maria Nagle	Joni Mitchell	8	0	7	3	15	3
Tony Barnes	The Lake DIstrict	8	1	7	1	15	2

Mastermind 2027 first Round Heat 13 Preview

Tomorrow night’s specialist subjects are:-

The TV comedy series Peep Show

English poet Aemilia Lanyer

The singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell

The Lake District.

A quick search on LAM reveals that since LAM started Peep Show has been a semi final subject in both 2023 and 2018 and a first round subject in 2013. I doubt I got many on any of those rounds and I doubt I’ll get many tomorrow night. That goes for the other subjects too. Aemilia Lanyer was a contemporary of Shakespeare (there is no evidence that she was the ‘Dark Lady’ of his sonnets) but I only know that because I just googled her name. I know what everyone knows about Joni Mitchell but that really isn’t a lot. I think that the Lake District has been a subject a couple of times in the last 10 years – again, I don’t expect many points.