University Challenge Quarter Final: Newnham, Cambridge v. Bristol

The Teams

Newnham, Cambridge

Bethan Holloway-Strong

Hannah Bowen

Roma Ellis (capt)

Chen Zhiyu

Bristol

Sam Kehler

Jacob McLaughlin

Tess Richardson (capt)

Alejandro Ortega

The Tale of the Tape

So there we are. This quarter final tie matched the two repechage winners, Bristol and Newnham. Bristol had the more impressive stats from their first three matches, having a highly impressive average bonus conversion rate of over 62 percent. Newnham on the other hand have a far more modest bonus conversion ate, but had won through great early buzzing, with captain Roma Ellis particularly impressing. With Bristol also being one of this year’s most impressive teams on the buzzer, the odds seemed to be stacked in their favour. But as we so often say, matches aren’t played on paper.

Newnham had won their previous two matches through slinging buzzer early and often and they were obviously planning on using the same tactics in this match. Chen Zhiyu came in too early for the first starter, though and lost five. This allowed Bristol’s Jacob McLaughlin to put Dennis ‘Hologram’ Gabor and the Holocene epoch together to come up with holo. This earned bonuses on History and Poetry. Living up to their reputation Bristol took a full house. Again, captain Roma Ellis went early n the next starter, and again the team lost five, giving Bristol another shot at the open goal. Which was again gratefully accepted by Jacob McLaughlin who supplied the answer of the Chilterns. Fabrics beginning with C saw Bristol drop their first points – I’m just a little surprised that they didn’t get corduroy. No points from a tricky set. An early buzz from Sam Kehler saw him identify Colin in black and White as a series about the early life of Colin Kaepernick. Cholera gave Bristol two bonuses – and thankfully not vice versa – and it was interesting to see the team play a German variant on the old – if in doubt just answer Smith -tactic so beloved of quizzers through the ages. For the picture starter we saw a list of titles in German, the original language in which the works were published and asked for the author’s name. Me? No idea. Hannah Bowen knew these were works by Freud – Sigmund presumably rather than Clement or even Emma. Definitions in German of concepts in Freudian psychoanalysis saw me surprise myself by getting superego (which unlike ego is vulnerable to kryptonite) and Oedipus complex. More impressively Newnham had all three. Nothing daunted by previous setbacks Roma Ellis came in very early for the next starter about the shape of an orbit and this time struck gold with parabola. Civil Rights cases in the United States saw the team miss a bit of a sitter in Dred Scott but still take the other two bonuses. Which meant that they had pulled back after a shaky start, yet Bristol led by 55 – 35 at the 10-minute mark.

Art exhibitions 1905 and 1908 begged the term cubism for the next starter. Jacob McLaughlin thought so too. We could have had fauvism for that matter. Mechanisms that produce electromagnetic waves saw my heart sink a little when it was announced as the next bonus set. No, of course I didn’t get any. Be fair, Bristol only managed the one. Now, Miss Pinkerton’s Academy on Chiswick Mall features in the early part of my favourite 19^th century novel, Vanity Far. Roma Ellis zigged with Jane Eyre and lost, although there is a strange connection between the two novels (answers on a postcard please) then Jacob McLaughlin also went all Bronte with Wuthering Heights. Sadly Hannah Bowen also lost five coming in too early for the next starter on economics allowing Jacob McLaughlin in with Hotelling’s Law. Supply your own puns please. Bonuses on terms in Economics produced just the one bonus. This can’t have been doing much for their conversion rate. Being an old codger myself, the name LCD Soundsystem means nowt to me, but it meant something to Hannah Bowen who was first to buzz in when we heard their work for the music starter. Three more tracks paying tribute t other artists saw us both get two right, with Newnham strangely missing out on Bowie – too young, I guess. Jacob McLaughlin failed to spot a description of the location of Zagreb in the next starter and offered Bratislava instead, allowing Roma Ellis to supply the right answer. This brought Newnham bonuses on the Event Horizon Telescope, one of which we both knew. This reduced the gap to a single full set. The next starter saw Bristol’s go-to man Jacob McLaughlin recognise words from the ending of Paradise Lost. Depictions of Hercules – the mythological figure, not Steptoe and Son’s horse – brought two bonuses and took Bristol into triple figures. A region dedicated to sufferers of which disease? is usually going to bring you success if you answer leprosy. Sam Kehler won the buzzer race. Bonuses on Song dynasty China brought them just one bonus. Mind you, I can’t say anything, since I was having a bit of a mare on the bonuses in this show myself. Even so, they had stretched the lead out again and at the 20-minute mark led by 120 – 60.

Still Newnham continued to throw caution to the wind. Bethan Holloway-Strong false started this time, allowing Bristol a free throw. Knowing that Once is also the Spanish and Elf is also the German for eleven brought Tess Richardson the correct answer. Victor Moritz ‘Who?’ Goldschmidt surprisingly brought me points for knowing that chalco denotes copper.I had two on this set while Bristol only had the one. The picture starter was obviously a pre Raphaelite work, but whose? I guessed Millais, just before Tess Richardson confirmed it. 3 more depictions by artists of scenes from Shakespeare’s comedies brought two more correct answers. I was surprised how long both teams sat on their buzzer for the next starter but once it became obvious that vulcanisation was the answer Jacob McLaughlin won the buzzer race. Philosophy brought two bonuses as the Bristol machine picked up speed with the finishing line now in sight. I think Sam Kehler only listened to the second half of the next starter which asked for Greek letters three of the symbols on a play station controller resembled, giving only the shapes themselves. This allowed Chen Zhiyu in with the right answer of Delta, Omicron and Chi – which are essentially a triangle circle and cross. The Bookseller’s Young Adult Book Prize brought two correct answers, but Newnham were still slightly more than 100 points behind. Jacob McLaughlin won the buzzer race to identify JJ Abrams as the director of films in both Star Trek and Star Wars franchises. American state capitals with 2 word names delivered a full house. Hannah Bowen knew that the mammal whose name can preceded a species of shrew is elephant. Dmitri Muratov brought two bonuses and put Newnham just one correct buzz away from a triple figure score. Chen Zhiyu was in very quickly to identify the use of the letter X in the pinyin system of notation. Waltham Forest brought just the one bonus before the gong brought the match to a close. Bristol had won by 205 – 110 and for once the form book had got it right.

Not the end of the world by any means for Newnham. It was a wee bit of a topsy turvy night for them – a great bonus conversion rate of 62 percent, but being second best on the buzzer, with four deduction that didn’t help. As for Bristol despite having a testing time with bonuses they still managed 57.5 percent.

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

In Germany corduroy trousers are often known as Manchesters.