University Challenge 2023 - Semi Final 1 - Royal Holloway v. Durham

The Teams

Royal Holloway

Joel Abramovitch

Joanna Brown

George Harvey (capt.)

Micka Clayton

Durham

Harry Scully

Chloe Margaux

Alex Radcliffe (capt.)

Bea Bennett

In his opening comment JP pointed out something I’ve already noted in this very blog – that only one team has made it through to the semi finals unbeaten. That team was the first of last night’s teams, Royal Holloway. Interestingly the way that the semi final draw worked out meant that their opponents were the team they defeated in their last match, Durham, whom they beat to secure their place in the semis. In that contest Durham had taken an early lead, but were pegged back in the second half of the contest. They hadn’t been helped by giving away five penalties. Take away those penalties and there was nothing to choose between the teams.

For the first starter Alex Radcliffe was the first to recognise a description of HMS Endeavour. Bonuses followed on popular Science books. If you’re like me, then you probably view popular science as an oxymoron. A couple of correct answers brought a reasonable return on this set. The Durham skipper struck again for the next starter, recognising a group of words that can all precede gaze. Bonuses on cow-connected films yielded nothing to any of us. Having failed to answer a single question correctly thus far I was relieved to hear the next starter ask about a nasty Shakespeare character who has more lines than the title character in the play in which he appears. I answered Iago, so did Bea Bennett and we were both right. Early 20^th century literature provided some bounty too, in the shape of a full house. So to the picture starter, where a photograph and a map helped George Harvey identify the ruins of Palmyra. 3 more endangered World Heritage sites brought just one correct answer, but at least Royal Holloway were on the move now. I didn’t get the reference to a sentence consisting of 8 iterations of the same word, but Alex Radcliffe knew that the word in question was buffalo. Bonuses on the Theory of Relativity brought two correct answers. I earned myself a lap of honour for guessing that time and space were two of the three possible answers for the third of these. It’s funny how things work out sometimes. Bearing in mind the way things worked out the last time these teams met, if anything Durham had made an even better start than last time, leading 75 – 15.

I might have taken another lap of honour for working out that France and cock combined led to Gallium in the periodic table. George Harvey took that one. Words and their origins in Indian states did not manage to provide further points. I don’t know the novelist Tokarczuk but Harry Scully did for the next starter. 2 bonuses on – flippin’ heck – protein analysis followed. One more correct answer and Durham would be in triple figures while Royal Holloway were only just out of the starting gate. So to the music starter where none of us could identify the work of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. Alex Radcliffe – who was playing a real captain’s innings last night – recognised a description of adjectives for the next starter. This earned the dubious reward of the music bonuses, of which I surprised myself by getting one for recognising the Clash. Durham failed to add to their score. By this time the last time these teams met Royal Holloway had started their charge. However Durham just kept on outbuzzing them last night, as Harry Scully recognised the equation of a plane – well, it was something like that. A single bonus on Swiss cantons followed. Then Alex Radcliffe struck again, knowing the term autarky. To add to Royal Holloway’s problems Durham took a full house on the painter Veronese. George Harvey finally managed to strike a blow for Royal Holloway knowing the story Flatland for the next starter. Optics provided nothing for the bonuses. At just past the 20 minute mark Durham led by 145 to 35. Last time out, Royal Holloway were just 25 behind at this stage.

Literature specialist Bea Bennett struck to identify a photograph of Truman Capote for the second picture starter. Other writers who had major non fiction works published in The New Yorker magazine brought two correct answers and seemed to pretty much seal the deal as far as the result of the match was concerned. Joel Abramovitch scored his first starter with the abbreviation PCR. Baroque composers added nothing to heir score. Joanna Brown, so often Royal Holloway’s star buzzer, took her only starter of the night with lavender. A brief history of metaphysics according to Existential Comics brought two bonuses and something I always like to see, a reference to Wittgenstein the beery swine. Chloe Margaux buzzed in and lost five for only giving us Stalin for a question that required the answers Stalin, stirling and starling. George Harvey took that one. Once again the bonuses, this time on Sociology, proved unforgiving towards RH. Some maths thing where he answer was 10 fell to Joel Abramovitch. Title characters of Phillipa Gregory novels yielded one bonus. The contest was gonged before JP had time to complete the next starter, bringing Durham a comfortable win by 160 – 90.

Some nights it’s just not your night. I’ll be honest, I struggled last night too. Bad luck Royal Holloway, that’s the way that it goes sometimes. Nothing to be ashamed of. As for Durham, a great performance to make them worthy finalists. Best of luck to you.

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

The temple from which we derive the word juggernaut is in the state of Orissa.