Wandering Minstrels v. Gallifreyans
I can’t say
that I recognized any of the contestants in this week’s heat, but that doesn’t
necessarily mean owt. First up were the Wandering Minstrels. Which, tangentially
reminds me that the best definition of futility I think I’ve heard is
attempting to explain the Black and White Minstrel Show to anyone born after
1970. Vyvyan Almond, Fergus Butler-Gallie and skipper Edward Green were all
linked by their love of Gilbert and Sullivan. Ah, “Claire”, “Matrimony”, “What’s
in a Kiss?”. They don’t make them like that any more. John Dorney, Stuart Wildig
and skipper Giles Sparrow were the Gallifreyans. If you need me to explain that
this refers to the home planet of Doctor Who, you may be reading the wrong
blog. You’re very welcome, whatever the case. The lads had found each other on
an online Doctor Who forum, and only met face to face in the auditions. Fair
enough.
Round One – What’s the Connection?
The Gals
picked Eye of Horus to start with. I was impressed with the way that they knew
that Rachel Carson Ecology bible referred to The Silent Spring – didn’t know
that myself. I was surprised that they had the confidence to consider going for
a five pointer. Wiser counsels prevailed, and they took the next clue – Franz Gruber
carol. They had Silent Spring – but they never considered Silent Night for this
one. They had a real rush of blood to the head, going for seasons when they
didn’t have much of an idea what the carol might be, and the chance to get
points on the board went begging. Bit of a tactical error that one. Given
forensic pathology series, and then the big give away – ansWer, the Wands
couldn’t do anything with it, which was a little surprising. Twisted Flax gave
them Blender – too many possibilities – Tumbler – Grinder and I’ll be honest I
didn’t have a Scooby. I think it was Vyvyan at this point who said that Grindr
was a mobile app, and the last – Flicker confirmed that this was definitely the
right kind of tree to be barking up. It might only have been one point, but it
was well earned. My fears for the Gals were allayed when Giles next asked for
Hornéd Viper the way we like to hear it pronounced. Ah, they were back on
track. Peggy Mitchell was never going to be a five pointer, but Darin Stephens
was going to be a three. The lads knew that these were all played by more than
one actor. The Wands opted for Two Reeds, and kicked off with Steve Jobs.
Marcus Garvey followed, then Dave Swarbrick. Mark Twain finished it off, and
that was the only one which gave it to me, and I guess to the Gals – all had
early obituaries. Tricky one that. Music lurked behind Lion, and that was the
next one the Gals picked. Busy Doing nothing was the first, followed by The
Importance of being Idle by Oasis. Lazy Sunday Afternoons by the Small faces
confirmed that, if such confirmation were necessary, and “The Lazy Song “
finished it off, and just about gave the Gals the answer, even though they
seemed reluctant to offer it. I thought that the Wands had had the hardest two
sets so far, and this time they were given the pictures. I didn’t identify the
first, but the second was clearly my favourite-boxer-of-all-time-after-Muhammad-Ali,
Sugar Ray Leonard. I guessed that the first small creature would be a sugar
glider. So I went for sugar at this point. A ballet dancer was conceivably the sugar plum
fairy, and Sugar Loaf mountain (the one above Rio, not the one by Abergavenny)
finished the set off. That gave the Wands the point. So at the end of the round
the Gals led by 5 – 2.
Round Two – What comes Fourth?
The Gals picked
eye of Horus, and were handed a five point chance. 4th: Portugal led
me to speculate that this could well be Lusophone countries, in order of size.
In which case 1st: Brazil would be the obvious answer. 3rd:
Angola confirmed it for me. The Gals needed the last clue – 2nd:
Mozambique and then they were there. The
Wands opted for Lion, and amazingly, I had a second consecutive 5 pointer. a1:R
looked immediately like chess notation, since that’s what it was. Which meant that
d1:Q would bring home the bacon. b1:N didn’t do it for the Wands, neither did c1:B.They
just didn’t see it. The Gals did, but didn’t know whether it would be Q for
Queen or K for King. They went for K, missing out on the bonus. Twisted Flax
kicked off with Jack Lemmon and Whoopi Goldberg. Nope, did nothing for me. Johnny
Carson didn’t help me, but John was in there with Oscar hosts with the most appearances.
That meant it would be Billy Crystal next, and Bob Hope as the answer. Fair
play, once Billy Crystal came up I might have had it, but I wouldn’t have done
from the first two. Having learned their lesson earlier, they took the third to
make sure, and then took the point. Two Reeds gave the Wands more pictures. We
saw the Duomo of Florence Cathedral, a rose, and then the giveaway, St.
Endellion, Cornwall. Cameron was obviously the answer. A lovely set, but try
getting a five pointer from it. The Gals then opted for water. With 5:Eggheads,
John was onto it immediately, knowing that there are 5 per team in Eggheads.
Thus all you needed to do for 5 points was supply 2: Pointless, or another show
with teams of two people. They took the next – 4: University Challenge to be
sure, and then scooped the points. Only horned viper remained, and we already
know that Victoria prefers the conventional way of voicing it. The Wands worked
out the link between subdominant – median – that being that they are chords, or
notes, or summat like that. I couldn’t answer it, the Wands took supertonic but
still couldn’t get it, allowing the Gals in with tonic for a bonus. When chided
for their inability to answer, and asked who is the main singer on the team,
skipper Edward came up with the best quip of the evening, saying “We’re not
really singers. Musical ability has nothing to do with Gilbert and Sullivan.” Harsh.
The Gals led by 13 – 4.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Wands
kicked off with the Lion wall. A set of dictionaires looked obvious, and old
coins, and pigs. Edward impressed with the way he methodically tried out all
the different old coin combinations before the right one was found. At this
point Edward did actually say three – Clancy – Judd – Gough , not knowing that these would give
him most of a list of Strictly Come Dancing winners. After a bit of discussion
they decided to take out the pigs, and duly separated Percy – Stuck – Guinea and
Male Chauvinist. This left the dictionaries and the Strictly winners. Websters –
Collins – Oxford and Macquarie were the dictionaires. However when asked for
Judd – Clancy – Chambers and Gough they opted for cricketers. Still, 7 points
are not to be sniffed at.
The Gals were
left with the Water. They didn’t manage to quite match the performance of the
Wands. Childrens TV series looked obvious with Number 73 not really being able
to be anything else. Nor Button Moon for that matter. I could see some Formula
1 world champs too, although these escaped the Gals for the moment. Number 73 –
Button Moon – Pipkins and Magpie made the set of ITV kids shows. Now they saw
the racing drivers, and started to try to work out what the other lines might
be before taking the drivers out of the equation. They could see some Canadian
cities – which I could see were all in Ontario. Thunder Bay – Toronto –
Kitchener and Ottawa made the set. Left with a bit of time having taken out two
lines they just didn’t see a set fo things you can be over – moon, rainbow,
odds and hill. Had they seen it, then they could have taken out Hill to isolate
the 4 champs they wanted – Hamilton, Hawthorn , Hunt and Button. Thus having
found 2 groups, and giving all 4 connections they earned 6 points. So they had
only lost one point of the lead and were ahead by 19 – 11.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
It wasn’t
impossible for the Wands to win, but it looked highly unlikely. The first set was
places to store things. They say it never rains but it pours, and poor Edward of
the Wands did brilliantly to see external hard drive, but he popped the word ‘an’
before it, lost a point and handed another one to the Gals. 22:10. Olivier
Awards for the best new musical saw the Gals pay back that point, when John
said Chorus Line rather than A Chorus Line. 23:12. Noted sports commentators
and their sports took the score to 26 – 12, and we had no time for characters
in Cheers.
Well played
both. Once they settled down the Gals gave a good account of themselves, and
will be tough opposition for whoever faces them next. I think that the Wands
were a little unlucky in their choice of sets in the first two rounds, so they’re
not out of it yet either.
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