The Teams
Aberdeen
Archie Broomfield
Zachary Eisler
Emily Osborne (Capt.)
Kyle McClements
Birmingham
Archie Bennett
Faiz Ahmed
Will Rogers (Capt.)
Sam Hastings
Good afternoon, dearly beloved. It’s already the second
heat of the first round of UC: The Next Generation, and last night it was
Aberdeen v. Birmingham. The Birmingham team seemed to have a mascot of the
famous Joseph Chamberlain clock tower made of lego (other plastic brick-based
construction toys are available although don’t ask me to name any of them right
at this moment.)
Both teams were sensible to wait with the first starter
until the word ‘ragtime’ was mentioned. As we all know, when you hear that word
you slam the buzzer and answer – Scott Joplin. Archie Broomfield did and opened
Aberdeen’s account. This brought them bonuses on the body and they knew their
vertebrae well enough to brig a full house. Again, both teams listened to the
question for the next starter and as soon as it became obvious this time
Birmingham skipper Will Rogers nipped in with the correct answer – poet Andrew
Marvell (known as ‘Captain’ to his mates.) With a set of bonuses on forms of
Japanese theatre, Birmingham got their Kabuki confused with their Noh and ended
up with 1 correct answer. Archie Broomfield chanced his arm with the Byzantine
Generals’ Problem for the next starter about a thought experiment, and was
close but no cigar losing five, allowing Archie Bennett in with the correct answer
of the Two Generals Problem. Never heard of either, me. Chemical elements used in
the making of red and green pigments earned me a lap of honour for a full
house. I was surprised that Brum didn’t know that chromium is used in stainless
steel. So to the picture starter. We saw titles of works in their original
German. Now, to me, Aschenputtel – ash – screams Cinderella, so I answered that
the authors were Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Zachary Eisler took his first starter
with the same answer. Extracts from the original texts of some of the stories
in the original German saw Aber take two and the lead. With a rush of blood to
the head Zachary Eisler came in too early on the next starter. Asked for an
artist he gave Jackson Pollack, allowing Archie Bennett in with the correct
answer of Mondrian, whose picture had hung upside down for many decades.
Indigenous peoples brought Brum two bonuses and they led by 55 – 35 as we
approached the ten-minute mark.
The Fascist, the Communist and the Hitler-Lover were not as
it happened rejected names for three of the seven dwarves, but three of the
Mitford Sisters. Zachary Eisler had that one. Words containing ‘bit’ brought a
full house. Will Rogers took the next starter knowing that the two neighbouring
countries on the Mediterranean whose names, and the names of their capital
cities both begin with the same letter are Algeria and Tunisia. Home victories
by home drivers driving for home teams in F1 Grand Prix brought a couple of
bonuses for Brum. Had I not already taken a lap of honour I would have taken
one for recognising a description of what had to be superconductors. Sam
Hastings took that one. With the set of bonuses on Toni Morrison, Brum only
knew Beloved but they made sure they got the points for it. Zachary Eisler, who’d
now found his range, buzzed in early with a good interruption on the term
Orientalism for the next starter. Now, I’ll be honest, polymerase chain
reaction rarely comes up in conversation in LAM Towers. So I was surprised that
my hastily made up word thermophile was right for he third bonus on it!
Aberdeen did the same and took one bonus. Emily Osborne recognised the unique
stylings of Taylor Swift for the music starter. Extracts from others of the
official best albums of the 2010s provided 2 bonuses. The artist they didn’t
get was Frank Ocean. I remember his dad, Billy, and his grandad, Pacific. (Note
to self: You can do better than that. Note to note to self: No I can’t) Zachary
Eisler knew that Charles Edward Stuart won the Battle of Prestonpans – although
one suspects that his soldiers had rather more to do with the outcome than he
did. Aber took 2 bonuses from a gettable set on Angela Lansbury. For the next
starter Fiaz Ahmed identified Heimdall as the deity protecting Bifrost (which I
was once told was pronounced beef-roast in the original Old Norse) which led to
three bonuses on the Bounty. That’s the Mutiny on the – as opposed to the taste
of paradise. They missed out on Bligh’s eventual destination – Timor – but took
the other two. Arche Bennett recognised a description of Agar – incidentally John
Agar was, I believe, the first husband of Shirley “You can’t be serious”
Temple. Bonuses on the tomb of Oscar Wilde brought just the one bonus on what
seemed like something of a hail Mary punt. Still, that was enough to ensure
that they led by 125 – 110 at the 20-minute mark.
Kyle McClements took his first starer knowing a variety of
football teams who play in green and white. Bonuses on the Markov chain – me neither
– gave Aber back the lead. Back in 2019 I was lucky enough to visit Vienna, and
the Kunst – or Culture – Museum has a superb collection of Brueghels, so I
recognised the second picture starter as their work. Neither team did. That man
Zachary Eisler, building up a very useful set of starters, knew that the King
James Bible was published in the 1610s. Other paintings featuring Mount
Vesuvius brought just one bonus. All still to play for. Now, if you know that
gypsum is 2 on the Mohs scale, you’ll know that this corresponds to Helium on
the periodic table. Kyle McClements was first to work this out. German states brought
a single bonus. Fiaz Ahmed did exactly what you should do when you’re behind
with little time remaining. He buzzed for the next starter as soon as he might
have known it. OK, this time it didn’t work, but you’re never going to win if
you don’t buzz. Kyle McClements completed his treble, knowing that all of the
places alluded to in the question only contained a and no other vowel. Aber only
managed the one bonus on Shakespeare, hinting that Literature may be a weaker
area for them. Not that it seemed to matter in this match. Sadly, Fiaz Ahmed lost
another five points, but Aber could not capitalise with bhaji. For the next
starter Fiaz Ahmed hit the jackpot with the mathematician Ramanujan. I enjoyed “The
Man Who Knew Infinity” based on his life. Brutalist architecture in London
brought a name check for Erno Goldfinger – the story goes that when he threatened
to sue Ian Fleming for using his surname, Fleming offered to rename it
Goldprick. Sadly Aberdeen missed all of the bouses, and to be honest this felt
very much like a last despairing throw of the dice for them. Especially when
Zachary Eisler buzzed in with the correct answer of the Palaeolithic for the
next starter. 1 out of three bonuses on types of stone added a little gilding
to Aber’s score, but the contest was already won. As Amol began the last starer
we were gonged, Aberdeen winning by 190 – 125.
It was a close contest for the first 20 minutes, but Aber’s
superior buzzing told in the last third. Added to that, their bonus conversion
rate was above 50 percent while Birmingham’s was slightly below. Another good
show – keep it up.
How is Amol Doing?
In short, very well. He began by giving us the full run
down of the rules which he didn’t do last time out. Shades of Bamber Gascoigne
when he explained, kindly, that the Byzantine Generals Problem was actually
related to the Two Generals Problem, which Archie Broomfield seemed to
appreciate. Good. Is Amol a formula 1 fan? I asked because in the appropriate
question he responded ‘the GREAT Alain Prost’. When Emily Osborne recognised
the Taylor Swift starter Amol responded “You’re obviously a fan.” Hmm – not too
sure about that one Amol. Just because you recognise someone’s music it doesn’t
mean you like it. Not sure if he was having a little dig there. Late on in the
contest Amol said, “Just under 4 minutes to go.” then immediately added, “Plenty
of time Birmingham.” Now, I’m sorry, but those two statements are mutually
exclusive. If the first is correct, then the second cannot be. Time will tell
if this piece of encouragement proves to be as much the kiss of death as it was
in the Paxman era. Then when Emily Osborne took a wild punt with plantain for
the question about bhajis Amol once again channelled Paxman. “Plantain?!!!!”
Finally, he paid tribute to his father’s love of Ramanujan. “My dad’s hero.” Having
a mathematician as a hero? Fair play to you, Mr. Rajan, Senior.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of
The Week
Scott Joplin was actually born in Texas.
1 comment:
Starter watch:
Archie Broomfield - 1 (1)
Zachary Eisler - 6 (1)
Emily Osborne - 1
Kyle McClements - 3
Archie Bennett - 3
Faiz Ahmed - 2 (2)
Will Rogers - 2
Sam Hastings - 1
Winner: Zachary Eisler
Sorry for the delay in doing these - to be honest, I've been having a few mental health problems recently and it's caused me to struggle to keep up with some of my quizzes! I'm going to try to catch up with them all today.
I would say (and I know it's been so long since you put up this post that you may well not even remember saying this) that I disagree with you about it being a contradiction to say 'Four minutes to go' and then 'Plenty of time to catch up' to the team that's behind. Doesn't this depend on how far behind they are? At the time Amol said that they were behind, but not so far behind that four or five correct answers in a row wouldn't catch them up. In the circumstances, they could have done it even though there wasn't much time left.
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