University Challenge 2022 - First Round Heat 11 - St. Catharine's, Cambridge v. University College, Oxford

The Teams

St. Catharine’s, Cambridge

Jenny Hay

Emma Dinnage

Nick Scott (capt.)

Lydia Michaelides

University, Oxford

Leonardo Buizza

Anisan Qausher

Oliver Hargrave (capt)

Abby Karas

Nearly there, dearly beloved – just the one heat left after this one. A nifty turn of speed on the buzzer was shown by Nick Scott, the Cambridge skipper, as he buzzed just when the first starter, asking for the 30^th member of Nato, became obvious as JP started to say about the addition of a word to its name. Bonuses on names in architecture beginning with the same letter were not especially difficult, but the Cambridge team couldn’t take any of them. A lovely UC special starter saw Abby Karas correctly answer that the first word of Pride and Pred, amongst other novels, is ‘it’. Book titles taken from lines of poetry saw University take just the one bonus. Incidentally, one of the titles – “Eyeless in Gaza” I once saw written as “Eyeless in Gazza”. I think we’ll leave that one and move on.  Leonardo Buizza won the buzzer race to identify a definition of palm oil for the next starter. Provincial birds of Canada saw University miss out on tits – ooh Matron – but score on ravens and puffins. For the picture starter, asked to identify a city on map of part of Britain, Leonardo Buizza was close but no cigar with Leeds, leaving Jenny Hay to swoop in with Bradford. More cities in the UNESCO Creative City network brought our first full house of the evening. Nick Scott, not for the first time or the last of the contest won the buzzer race for the next starter, identifying the fortress of Masada. Silence in television brought a further two correct answers, and this was enough to give the Cambridge team a lead of 55 – 35 at a little past the 10 minute mark.

Time was that the answer to any questions featuring the words “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” was as likely to be the film ‘Rollerball’ as it was to be JS Bach. Well, the film, which used it as its theme music, has largely faded from public memory so it fell to Emma Dinnage of Catz to provide the name of the composer. Bonuses on two digit numbers earned my respect for referencing the best number according to Sheldon Cooper – 73.*WARNING – Lap of honour is imminent* - Yes, I awarded myself a lap of honour for knowing the atomic number of chlorine – 17. Catz took a full house, and it was just starting to look as if they were pulling away from University. I knew that the 19^th century translator of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam – who incidentally is also a character in Noel Dyson’s enchanting ‘ The Land of Green Ginger – was Edward Fitzgerald, so Fitz was the prefix linking all the clues. Oliver Hargrave took that one. Slim pickings were to be had by them on Metropolitan Boroughs and rivers. Nobody knew that The Committee on Evil Literature was formed in the Irish Free State in 1926. The next question, about a mathematician, took a long time to get where it was going, but as soon as the word enigma was uttered Jenny Hay buzzed in with Alan Turing. Bonuses on History took Catz to within one starter of triple figures. The music starter offered us Donna Summer, who was gratefully accepted by the University skipper. More tunes which Georgio Moroder included on his top disco tunes list saw them add just the one bonus. Nick Scott was the quickest to play through the to be or not to be soliloquy in his mind to be able to buzz in and provide JP with the two nouns he wanted – slings and arrows. Bonuses on Edith Wharton provided just 5 points, nonetheless this was enough to ensure that as we approached 20 minutes, Catz had a useful lead of 110 to 60.

Cometh the hour, cometh the team. The fightback for University began as Oliver Hargrave identified concepts associated with Nietzsche – there’s nothing Nietzsche couldn’t teach yer ‘bout the raising of the wrist, you know. There was only one bonus they managed on Geology, but never mind, their score was at least rising. Oliver Hargrave took a flier that the story of Samson and Delilah was in Genesis, which let theology student Jenny Hay in with Judges. Bonuses on Juliet Binoche saw them rather tie themselves in knots, but then running down the clock is not a problem when you’re in the lead. For the second picture starter Abby Karas identified one of the many film versions of Jane Eyre, or as I preferred to refer to it when studying A Level English, ‘ that bloody awful Jane Eyre’. I never put that in an essay about it, mind you. More stills of other actresses playing the title role showed that University had not, I believe, really listened to the question. A great early buzz from Leonardo Buizza saw him concatenate the two letter code for given US states to make the name Ganymede. Too fast for me. Bonuses on metabolism meant that University were now a mere starter behind Catz. Leonardo Buizza soon added that starter, knowing that the Lelos is the nickname of the Georgian international rugby team. They failed to answer any of the bonuses on ruins in Asia, and with hardly any time next, chances are the next correct answer would win it. Neither team knew Alan Aykbourne for the next starter. Just one last throw of the dice remained, and it was Nick Scott who knew that immediately to the west of Ghana you get Cote D’Ivoire. We were gonged before the first bonus, giving Catz a win by 130-120. What a good contest.

JP was uncertain whether we’ll see University College again. Well, hard lines if we don’t, but well played. Kudos to Catz. They rode their luck a little at times, and will want to do better with some sets of bonuses, but they’re safe in the second round. Best of luck.

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

The Committee on Evil Literature was formed in the Irish Free State in 1926