Sorry I didn’t post last night. I wasn’t very well. So, semi final five, dearly beloved. Just wo more shows and it will all be over until the Autumn. So, who did we have?
First up was George Scratcherd. George had answered on the
wines of Portugal in his heat. Last night his subject was Fridtjof Nansen. I
did say in my preview that I felt that I might scrape one or two on th subject,
and indeed I did – two. George did considerably better. There were very few
wrong answers, and in the current era we know that any double figure score in a
semi final specialist round is a good performance. George scored 10.
William Andrews gave us Arab Death – that’s Theda Bara to
the uninitiated – when he won his heat. Last night he was answering on the record
label 4AD. I honestly cannot comment on how hard/easy/fair these questions were
because I knew nothing about the record label before the start of the show. I
predicted that I’d get zero and I was right. William scored 10 on his
specialist in the heat and I’d say that his performance to score twn in the
semi was better.
Ben Whitworth exchanged the History of the Orkney Islands
for Christina Rosetti. I’m always a bit wary of English Literature rounds. I
feel that I should do alright on them, yet very often don’t, and indeed I only
scraped 1 point on this set. Ben, on the other hand, seemed to be going very
well. However he fell just one point short of double figures ending with nine.
Three contenders so far and all of them separated by a single point. This is
what happens when you put strong contenders together.
Our last strong contender was Stuart Field. Stuart won a
superb first round heat on Jonathan Creek, where his intensity sparked a
certain amount of online comment. Look, when you watch Stuart it’s obvious that
it really matters to him. I say, good on him! Think about it – as Vince
Lombardi said, if winning isn’t important then why do we keep score?. There
were two ways of looking at his specialist round. On the one hand you could
criticise him for letting precious seconds tick by while he struggled for an
answer that just wouldn’t come. On the other hand though, the way he pulled
himself together and went on to assemble the highest score of the round with 11
deserves nothing but praise. Me? Oh, I remember seeing just a tiny bit of a
Bourne film in Waterloo Station which brought me 1 point for a total aggregate
of 4. Meh.
Ben was first to return to the chair for the General
Knowledge round. He scored an excellent fifteen in his heat. He certainly didn’t
do badly in this round either, but it wasn’t. to be fair a round out of the top
drawer like the previous one. He added 9 to take his total to 18. That’s
perfectly respectable but had next to no chance of being good enough in this
company.
George Scratcherd scored fourteen on GK in the heat, and he
certainly gave it his best shot again this time out. The highest score in GK so
far in the semi finals has been Michael McPartland’s 14. Well, George didn’t
score that, but he came very close. He added 13 to take his total to 23. Interestingly
he seemed to have adopted the tactic of, if you don’t know, don’t agonise just
pass. It’s a valid tactic, but a gamble, and George added four passes to the
total.
On paper William had the lowest total score of all four
contenders in this semi final, however his General Knowledge, like George’s,
had been an excellent 14. Well, he gave it a lash. It really was too close to
call for much of the round – and William wasn’t passing. However the line
started to snake its way around the score box and he just wasn’t quite there.
It was very close, but William scored 12 to leave him adrift on 22.
So, just Stuart remained. He needed 12 and fewer than 4
passes to claim his place in the final. Bearing in mind the massive 17 he
scored on GK in the heat, he’d surely find this a doddle, shouldn’t he? Well,
not necessarily. He would certainly need to cross the corridor of doubt to do
it. As the round progressed it looked tight. As it neared the end it looked
like he was not going to score 13 – but then he didn’t have to score 13. 12
would do – and that’s what he scored – as long as he kept the number of passes
down. He didn’t pass at al, and in the end that’s what guaranteed him the win. 23
and no passes beat George’s 23 and four passes.
I liked Stuart’s piece to camera at the end. He gave the
impression that he’s a pub quizzer but not a league quizzer, which makes getting
to the final a fine achievement. Well done, sir.
The Details
|
George Scratcherd |
Fridtjof Nansen |
10 |
0 |
13 |
4 |
23 |
4 |
|
William Andrews |
The Record Label 4AD |
10 |
0 |
12 |
0 |
22 |
0 |
|
Ben Whitworth |
Christina Rosetti |
9 |
0 |
9 |
1 |
18 |
1 |
|
Stuart Field |
The Jason Bourne
Films |
11 |
0 |
12 |
1 |
23 |
1 |
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