University Challenge Quarter Finals Jesus, Cambridge v. UCL

The Teams

Jesus, Cambridge

Josh Kaye

Juliette Tindall

Hamish MacGregor (Capt)

Samir Aggarwal

UCL

Rachel Collier

Michael Fleetwood-Walker

James Salmon (Capt)

Louis Collier

The Tale of the Tape

So, what were the prognostications for last night’s contest, then? Well, I picked out UCL as one of the two teams I felt most likely to be destined for the semis. The other one, Bristol are already halfway there. I just thought that they would have a little too much firepower for what is in it’s own right a pretty useful Jesus outfit.

For the first starter, asked for an animal I got it from the first clue, referring to talking the hind leg off a donkey. Coming in after me Michael Fleetwood-Walker went for dog, losing five. I think it was the allusion to Donkey Kong that maybe meant that Juliette Tindall saw the light and gave the correct answer. Sweyn Forkbeard – now that’s what you call a name isn’t it, boys and girls – brought them two bonuses. Godel may have been a clever mathematician, but dying from starvation due to his fear of poisoning puts him firmly into the stupid git category as far as I’m concerned. James Salmon put his team on the board with that one. Systems of nomenclature saw them mix up Flamborough with Flamsteed, but they still managed the other two. Knowing Messier stirred me to an early lap of honour around the Clark living room. You had to stay with the next starter, but once it mentioned the General in Question shared his name with George Washington’s Virginia Estate it became clear that this was Admiral Vernon. James Salmon took a second starter with this one. Fowler’s (Harry? Robbie? ) Dictionary of Modern English Usage provided two more correct answers to push UCL into the lead. Nobody recognised an overhead map view of Rio de Janeiro for the next starter. James Salmon knew his coelocanths when he heard about them, and took his third starter with the world’s best known living fossil. This on the picture bonuses on three other cities that are home to the largest favelas in Brazil. Both of us only managed to get Manaus. Detection of residue on non-porous surfaces? Surely fingerprints I felt. James Salmon zigged with blood, allowing Samir Aggarwal in with my answer. Picnics in Art brought just one bonus. The mention of Laurent de Brunhoff brought me to my feet shouting ‘Elephants! Elephants! That’s the Babar man!” This all meant that the scores were nicely poised at 45 – 35 to UCL at a little after the 10-minute mark.

Rachel Collier knew a pair of creoles when she heard them. This meant that we had a UC special set on pairs of words where the first letter of the first word is replaced by the next letter of the alphabet for the second, as in cart and dart. We both got a couple of them. James Salmon knew Corrie Ten Boom for the next starter and his fourth. Bonuses on East Africa saw JP asking them to clarify which Kenyatta they were referring to. Were there that many? John-Boy Kenyatta, Jim-Bob Kenyatta and Mary-Ellen Kenyatta? Despite this we both took a full house on this set. This was followed by the music starter where we were given a none-too-pleasant snatch of Rigoletto, which was identified by Hamish MacGregor. Three more excerpts from operatic depictions of storms saw us both get Berlioz, but fail to identify Ethel ‘Who’ Smyth and Richard Wagner. Now, had Borussia Dortmund not been a specialist subject in Mastermind only half an hour earlier I might well not have guessed that Dortmund was where the Bundesliga was formed. But it had so I did. So did James Salmon taking his fifth. Bonuses on gothic church architecture beginning with T provide two more correct answers. Primes – quantum computation – it’s all Greek to me, but Samir Aggarwal knew that the answer was fifteen. W.H.Auden’s clerihews – hmmm, an acquired taste I dare to say – brought one bonus. Michael Fleetwood-Walker came in too soon for the next starter, allowing Jesus a free shot, but they couldn’t dredge up Seine Maritime. James Salmon took his sixth starter recognising definitions of anagrams of triangle. Bonuses on philosophy brought one correct answer. I did know Emerson, who must have become a philosopher after he stopped playing for Middlesbrough. It had been a ten minute period which UCL had made the better of, and they now left by 120 – 65.

James Salmon took a seventh starter recognising a lovely bit of Raphael – the artist, not the turtle. The work of three more artists brought two bonuses. I didn’t know any of them I’m afraid. Josh Kaye knew that the Dacians were in modern day Romania in Roman times. Five letter anatomical words beginning with V didn’t help Jesus at all. Hamish MacGregor knew that Teddy Roosevelt said to speak softly and wield a big stick. Titles beginning with A Brief History Of – brought two bonuses and showed that the outcome of the match was still to be decided. However James Salmon took his eighth starter with chromatography. Bonuses on backgammon again brought UCL a couple of bonuses. Josh Kaye recognised a wee bit of Richard III for the next starter. A frankly rather difficult series on battles passed all of us by without troubling the scorer. Nw, since Dee and Mersey were both mentioned it looked as if the county in question had to be Cheshire. Michael Fleetwood-Walker found his range and knocked that one to the boundary. Scotland’s great ways saw UCL fail to score on what I felt was a distinctly gettable set. Never mind. Skipper James Salmon soon took his ninth starter with the Beaux Arts style of architecture. Artists and author with the surname Brown brought just the one for Ford Maddox of that ilk. Hamish MacGregor knew that M as in MIC stands for Methyl. That was it, though. The contest was gonged before there was any time for bonuses, leaving UCL the winners on 185 – 115.

One felt that UCL were the stronger team through the contest, and the stats seem to bear this out. They managed a 54.5 percent bonus conversion rate, while Jesus could only manage 33.3 percent. Mind you, they had some very tricky sets in that. Well, they can still make the semis, but have to win their next match.

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

The Comoros National Football team, who qualified for the African Cup of Nations in 2021 have the splendid nickname of the Coelocanths