I’ve had a better week, ladies and
gents, I know that you’ve been worrying about that. So I will try to be more
objective tonight than in previous weeks, although I will make an observation
when we get to the GK rounds about something that struck me this time out.
If you twisted my metaphorical arm
behind my back, then I would have to admit that for me pop music pretty much
ended in about 1986- or that’s when I stopped taking a great deal of notice of
it, anyway. So Nirvana were a little after my time. This meant I was glad to
take the money and run with the two points that I managed on Mohan Mudigonda’s
round on them. Mohan set a good pace and a high standard for the others to
follow, putting on 11 points before the end of the round.
It looked like we were in for another good round for the first few questions
of Peter Young’s round on the Empress Elizabeth of Austria. He rattled them off
without much hesitation, and I know just enough about the Empress Elizabeth to
know that these were not gimmes. However
- and this is pure speculation on my part – I think he was thrown by his
first wrong answer, and this robbed his round of all momentum. It’s a cruel
thing, if that is what happened, and there’s precious little you can do about
it. Nothing prepares you for the experience of being in the chair – other than
actually being in the chair, if you see what I mean. My experience was that
coping with the experience got easier each time that I did it.
My eldest daughter never missed “Buffy
the Vampire Slayer”, and I’d guess that the same was true for Cathy Gibbons.
You had to feel sorry for Cathy, since, as John made a point of saying, she was
actually rather close on a number of her incorrect answers. The fact of the
matter was, though, that she ended the round with 5 points.
A fellow teacher, Simon Rule, offered
us Wainwright’s Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells. Now, I have nothing
against the Lake District – how could I, since the only time I’ve experienced
any of its delights first hand was from a railway carriage. So I have absolutely
no idea whether Simon’s questions were hard, easy, fair or whatever. But I do
know that this was another double figure round, and in fact I’d go so far as to
say he was unlucky, since he was probably only a fraction of a second off John
starting to ask another question once the buzzer went. Nonetheless at only 1
point behind at the halfway stage at least he was in a very handy position.
Right, the GK rounds. If you’ve been
with me for any length of time in this particular series you’ll possibly have
noticed my theory that the GK rounds have been noticeably easier this time
around. Well, something happened tonight. I felt that the level of the GK
rounds served up tonight were far more like the previous few series – and I’m
not just saying this because some of the contenders’ GK scores were lower than
the average we’ve come to expect this time around. Now, as a viewer I’d far
rather watch rounds of at least this level, rather than the getting on for
sleb-Mastermind level of the GK rounds we’ve seen so far this series. It would
have been a bit hard lines on the contenders in this show if they’d been in
with a realistic shot at a repechage score, though.
As for those GK rounds, well, Cathy
managed to smile after taking her score up to 11. Peter Young managed a double
figure score of 11 to set the bar at 17. In any of the other shows of this
season so far that wouldn’t have necessarily seemed that daunting a target.
However, as I said, there was a funny feeling about this set of GK rounds.
Simon Rule needed 8 to take the
outright lead, and in normal circumstances this year you wouldn’t have bet
against him getting them. Yet tonight was a funny old show, especially in the
GK, and what followed was something of a grim old struggle. You sensed that
Simon knew a couple which he just couldn’t get to leap off the tip of his
tongue. This meant that he managed just the 7 which put him level with Peter,
although he was ahead on pass countback.
Needing just 7 himself in order to
win, Mohan could have approached the chair again with confidence, and he
certainly showed no nerves as he breasted the tape with time and questions to
spare in the round. Indeed he went on to set the best GK total of the show with
12, for a comfortable win on a total of 23. Well played sir, and best of luck
in the semis.
The Details
Mohan Mudigonda
|
Nirvana
|
11
|
1
|
12
|
3
|
23
|
4
|
Peter Young
|
The Empress Elizabeth of Austria
|
6
|
3
|
11
|
4
|
17
|
7
|
Cathy Gibbons
|
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
|
5
|
0
|
6
|
1
|
11
|
1
|
Simon Rule
|
Wainwright’s Pictorial Guides to the
Lakeland Fells
|
10
|
1
|
7
|
3
|
17
|
4
|
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