University Challenge - Round Two - Match 8

Oxford Brookes v. UCL

Simon Joyce, Paula Ayres, Stephen Mayes, and skipper David Ballard of Oxford Brookes scored a narrow victory over Jesus College in their exciting first round match. Bethany Drew, Andrew Brueton,  Haraldr Gunnarsson. and the captain Thomas Halliday of University College London had rather more of a comfortable ride in their last match against Exeter. Difficult to pick a winner before the start of the show, but it was a high stakes match, with the winners going on to take the last place in the quarter final stage.

Asked for the three letter combination linking the start of the name of the nobody whose diary was written by the Grossmiths, the Hill in the title of a Kipling story, and a well known literary bear, Bethany Drew buzzed in early with an incorrect guess, leaving the field clear for Oxford – Brookes to have a go but fail to see they are all Poo - . David Ballard knew The Night Café was one of Van Gogh’s for his team’s first points. South Africa provided them with nowt. Early days yet. Haraldr Gunnarson buzzed in very early to correctly answer that the only one of the Chartist’s 6 demands never even partly accepted was annual elections. Bertrand Russell was the subject of their bonuses, of which they managed 1. There was a long and involved question for the next starter, but the answer was beryllium, as Stephen Mayes well knew. The brightness of celestial objects left me feeling anything but bright, but Oxford Brookes took two of them. Now, the only reason I got the picture starter was because I’ve had a question or two about it on Superbuzzer. We were shown the title of a film in ite original language. In this case it was – El laberinto del fauno. Well, say what you see – Pan’s Labyrinth then. David Ballard had that, and more of the same followed, one of which was taken. Simon Joyce worked out that Patroclus said “Good Riddance” at one stage of Troilus and Cressida. The internet provided Oxford Brookes with 5 more points. So, having had by far the better of the opening exchanges they led at the 10 minute mark by 60 – 10.

Something about configurations of LEDs followed – and Haraldr Gunnarson knew it was 16. Narrative paintings in the Manchester Art gallery provided the first full set of the contest. Skipper Thomas Halliday buzzed in too early on the largest Austronesian language said to be the largest language without an official status. Simon Joyce was close, but giving Javan rather than Javanese was not given the points. Bethany Drew knew Calvinism in an early buzz for the next starter. Bonuses on Physics brought 5 more points. On to the music starter by an Austrian composer, but nobody knew it.Now, Bethany Drew knew that if you’re asked for a Lancashire artist born 1887 you buzz as fast as you can and you answer ‘Lowry’. This brought up the music bonuses on recordings of composers conducting their own work. They actually managed two bonuses, but missed out on Aaron Copeland. Whether that was after or before he was the drummer with The Police, JP didn’t say. Simon Joyce won the buzzer race for the term ‘greenstick fracture’. French Presidents provided one correct bonus. David Ballard knew several cities which were all linked by the letter V. Simple heraldic designs, sometimes called ordinaries, sounded somewhat harder than they  proved to be, and Oxford Brookes duly obliged with a full set. You had to feel for Haraldr Gunnarsson. As soon as he heard the name “Steven Levitt” he buzzed right in with the title of his famous book, Freakonomics, only to lose 5 as the question swerved by asking for the title of the sequel. Oxford Brookes could not capitalise on this. Andrew Brueton took a flyer on the next starter on a pope’s regnal name, and it didn’t come off. Given the whole question Oxford Brookes knew it was the pope who commissioned the Sistine Chapel, but they went for Sistus rather than Sixtus. All of which meant that at the 20 minute mark Oxford Brookes had pulled away again to lead by 100 – 55. One had the feeling that UCL felt that they were chasing the game and playing catch up, hence the hopeful buzzing which was costing them points.

Haraldr Gunnarsson knew that the largest dolphin is the orca. A full set of bonuses on cities with 4 letter names provided another 15 points. The second picture showed us a still from The King and I , which Paula Ayres well knew. Stills from three other films which won Oscars for costume design brought them their own full set, and the gap was as wide as ever. I had a Science starter! With the next question I shouted “Latent heat of fusion!” That must have been the Science lesson when I was actually paying attention – there was only ever one of them. Poor old Thomas Halliday lost five for just saying Latent Heat, which let Stephen Mayes in for the points. Ophthalmology, and colour blindness provided them with 2 correct answers. A great starter followed – During the 1990s two Booker Prize winning novels were adapted into films that won the Oscar for Best Picture. Neither team could dredge up either Schindler’s List or The English Patient. Simon Joyce knew that Guangdong is the most populous province of China. Titles linked by the number 7 provided them with nowt, and maybe they might have done a bit better with them, but nonetheless they had a lead of 80, and to all intents and purposes looked certain to win. Bethany Drew knew a list of books all by Thomas Pynchon. Two word names that include the name of a US state brought UCL 5 more points. Which were lost by another fast buzz on the next question. You can’t blame them. If you have to go down, then go down buzzing, I say. Anyway, nobody else knew Active Galactic Nucleus. Nobody knew that the Madonna of the Carnation is by Da Vinci either. Simon Joyce won the buzzer race to say one of the sports governed by FINA – he went for swimming, as you would.  Bonuses on rocks and stones brought a full house. UCL were still going for the early buzzes, unsuccessfully on the next starter, all words which can be combined with the word angle for concepts in Physics. Fair enough. Bethany Drew buzzed early for the next starter, knowing that the famous WH Davies couple ends with the word stand and stare. Fictional Books and the works in which they appear was a bit tricky. I too went for the first Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy book rather than the second. That was it – we were gonged before the next.

The final score was 180 – 90 to Oxford Brookes. They were pretty good value for their win too. Best of luck in the quarters. 

Jeremy Paxman Watch

JP got quite funny with David Ballard for attempting the Dutch pronunciation of the painter we call Van Goff. He got him to repeat it, then said “Yes . . . you’re just pronouncing it correctly. “ He didn’t actually say – don’t do it again! – but I’d like to think he was thinking it.

There was more than a little exasperation when Oxford Brookes offered Haydn as the Austrian Composer. “Haydn?!” our hero queried, his eyebrows shooting towards the ceiling, “It was Mahler!” Well, excuse me. I mean, it’s not like they answered Ronnie Hazlehurst is it? 

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

Men Who Hate Women was the original language title for the film of “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”