University Challenge 2023 - Quarter final stages - Royal Holloway, London v. Robert Gordon University

The Teams

Royal Holloway London

Joel Abramovitch

Joanna Brown

George Harvey (capt.)

Micka Clayton

Robert Gordon University

Samuel Fregene

Donald Anderson

Emily Cullen (capt.)

Fay Cooke

Well, if you read my preview of the quarter final round you’ll know that neither of these teams featured in my predicted semi final line up. Why not? Well, Royal Holloway have a decent average bonus conversion rate but a low average score, while Robert Godon have a decent average score, but a low average bonus conversion rate. So, you pays yer money . . .

For the first starter, linked by a weapon, the 1991 novel by Martin Amis looked like Time’s Arrow, so arrow was the answer. Sadly skipper Emily Cullen lost five for Bob G, allowing RH’s star buzzer Joanna Brown to supply the right answer. Supporting characters in The Hunger Games series brought a full house, and RH were away. I haven’t heard of the Birmingham Surrealists – although I’m sure I watched them perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the 80s – but Joanna Brown took her second consecutive starter with them. Computer bonuses saw me take an early lap of honour for Colossus. Neither RH nor I knew the second one, but we both knew the chess playing Deep Blue. I didn’t understand the next question, but Emily Cullen buzzed in with the correct answer of kinetic energy. Japanese architectural features brought just the one bonus – in all honesty Bob G. should probably have had Keep. So to the pictures – French phrases all with the same preposition missed out. Joanna Bown knew it was à. More French prepositions provided us both with a full house. I’ll be honest, I think that the next starter was phrased somewhat awkwardly. Although it mentioned the Millenium Trilogy it wasn’t clear it was asking for the author’s name. Had it just asked – who wrote the Millenium Trilogy - I’m sure it would have been a buzzer race to answer Steig Larsson. As it was RH got nothing and Bob G. lost five. So just on the cusp of the 10 minute mark Royal Holloway led by 70 – 5.

I’ve heard of the thought experiment The Ship of Theseus, but didn’t know it had been made into a film. George Harvey did. Bonuses on Audre Lorde (‘my sweet’ to her mates) delivered just the one correct answer. Joanna Brown continued to shine on the buzzer being first to recognise a description of what the OED apparently describes as a mistake – the word hiccough. Biological terms beginning with apo provided RH with just the one correct answer, which was one more than I got. I guessed that the word coming from the Greek for preparing drugs would be pharmacopoeia and Emily Cullen then buzzed in with the same answer. When JP announced that the bonuses were going to be on map projections my tactic of answering Mercator to all questions until it was right was foiled because it was the answer to the first. I was out with the washing with the others. So, sadly, were Robert Gordon. For the music starter nobody recognised the work of Schubert. Me neither. Now, if you hear L’Anse Aux Meadows, if the question mentions Vikings you buzz and say Newfoundland, but if it says Newfoundland you buzz and say Vikings. George Harvey got that one and earned the music bonuses. More examples of the key of D Minor in works relating to Death brought them 2 bonuses, and me a rare one, recognising Don Giovanni. Emily Cullen knew that the novel Drood is written from the perspective of Wilkie Collins, novelist and friend of Dickens. Recent works of speculative fiction proved too recent for me. To be fair Bob G. didn’t get any of them either. Emily Cullen, doing a stirling job trying to buzz her team back into the game took another starter knowing that the Druidic festival of May Day was Beltane. 2 bonuses on South Yorkshire meant that Robert Gordon trailed Royal Holloway by 120 – 50 at the 20 minute mark.

Emily Cullen tried for a triple with the next starter, but sadly lost five points. George Harvey correctly supplied Rhodium. Amazingly so did I. Bonuses on fashion gave me a rare correct answer with Coco Chanel. Actually I, like Royal Holloway, got a full house, which is certainly a new experience for me on fashion. I didn’t know the film “The Battle of Algiers” but Joanna Brown recognised a still from the film for the second picture starter. Stills from other films connected with the Algerian War of Independence brought us both just the one bonus for The Day of the Jackal. Incidentally I was once introduced to Edward Fox, star of The Day of The Jackal, by the Master of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers. Long story. Donald Anderson buzzed in for the next starter to identify the philosopher Gilles ‘Qui?’ Deleuze. Bonuses on Grime – the music that is – did nothing to help the Robert Gordon cause. Some chemistry thing saw Emily Cullen continue playing a captain’s innings knowing it referred to sulphur. This brought bonuses on areas of England, of which they could only manage the one. As soon as the quote “Fled is that music – Do I wake or sleep?” was read I thought – I bet Joanna Brown knows that this is Ode to a Nightingale. She did, too. Whales yielded nowt to Royal Holloway, but ran down the clock, and besides a Robert Gordon win had moved from the unlikely to the impossible quite some time earlier. The NZZ is an old newspaper based in Zurich. The superb Emily Cullen had that one, equalling the superb Joanna Brown’s haul of 6 starters for the evening. Bonuses asked for the dope on the popes and there wasn’t time for more than the first. In the end it turned out to be a comfortable win for Royal Holloway by 170 – 85.

Remember my comments at the start? Well, Royal Holloway did have a pretty good bonus conversion rate with 59.25 percent, while Robert Gordon managed a rate of 31.5. So, beaten on both buzzer and bonuses. Well played to Royal Holloway, and Bob G. have to write it off as a bad night, and go hell for leather on their next.

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

The traditional gateway structure at the entrance to a Shinto shrine is a torii.