University Challenge 2024 - Trinity, Cambridge v. Manchester

The Teams

Trinity, Cambridge

Sarah Henderson

Agnijo Banerjee

Ryan Joonsuk Kang (Capt.)

Jeremi Jaksina

Manchester

Bluma De Los Reyes – White

Ilya Kullmann

Hiru Senehedheera (Capt.)

Dan Grady

Yes! It’s back. Another series of University Challenge, although for the first time since the return of the show to TV in 1994, no Jeremy Paxman. Commencing his run as QM was Amol Rajan. We’ll say a little more about him later on. I did think that the new set contrived to make Amol look a lot smaller than the mighty Paxman did, but this is of little import.

George Berkely is not, for me, a name to conjure with, but it was the correct answer to the firs starer of the Rajan era, provided by Agnijo Banerjee. Cultural references in the novels of Murakami saw Amol seemingly channelling Jeremy Paxman, as he queried “What?!” when Trinity offered Gone with the Wind as an answer to the second. Thankfully this was one isolated incident. There’s only one Jeremy Paxman, after all. We both only managed the one starter. I’ve never heard of Uncanny Valley, let alone picnicked there, but Hiru Senhedheera came in early to give it as the answer to the next starter. Films directed twice by the same director provided an interesting bonus set. I had the DeMille one and the Hitchcock one. Manchester didn’t, but they did have the second. The next starter saw Mr. Banerjee interrupt incorrectly. I was pleased with myself for working out that the most likely city of more than 100,000 furthest away from any other was probably Honolulu. Manchester couldn’t capitalise. Mr. Senhedheera knew that the American artist being referenced in the next question was Georgia O’Keefe and buzzed early. Monarchs who reigned for 70 years or more did not actually reference Her Majesty, the late Queen Elizabeth II. Nevertheless we both took a full house on them. So to the picture starter. We saw, written in Cyrillic the title of a famous Russian novel. Jeremi Jaksina – of Bialystok, Poland – was very familiar with the language as he came straight in with the answer of Boris Pasternak, the writer of the novel Doctor Zhivago. 3 more of the same brought 3 more correct answers for a timely full house. Now, as soon as Solomon – Queen of Sheba – and – Menelik were mentioned I shouted “Ethiopia!”. A split second later Mr. Banerjee buzzed in with the same. We were both right. The Greek letter Phi bonuses weren’t quite all Greek to Trinity as they managed one of the bonuses. All of which meant that they led 50 – 40 at the 10 minute mark.

Jeremi Jaksina took his second starter in a row knowing the Miller – Urey experiment. No, me neither. Works of art depicting crimes brought me a full house, although Trinity missed out on Cezanne. Bluma De Los Reyes – White struck back for Manchester, knowing that Wandavision is set in New Jersey. Weighing it up carefully, I’d have to say that I preferred Wandavision to Chucklevision. The Frankfurt school is not an establishment with which I have any familiarity. As it was Manchester only managed the one bonus. Still, I did recognise a description of the Kalevala for the next starter. So did Mr. Banerjee. Various Hydes brought one bonus to Trinity – although none of the questions referenced Tanya Hyde, a name with which my late father would oft times threaten to do to me in days of yore. Sarah Henderson was in for the music starter extremely quickly, recognising a piece by Britten which was based on a piece by Purcell. More composers of variations brought a full house. I don’t know a great deal about cricket, but I remember Warwickshire (captained by Dermot Reeve?) carrying all before them in 1994. So did Ilya Kullmann. Photo electric gubbins provided Manchester with the same number of points as it provided me – nowt. Still, when asked about a Nobel Prize winner Hiru Senehedheera played a captain’s innings, buzzing early with the correct answer of Lorenz. Malthus and his ideas gave us both one bonus. That man Banerjee took the next starter, knowing where the Machu language is written in the Forbidden City in Beijing. 2 bonuses on the parsley family – he was a lion, wasn’t he? – were enough to give Trinity a lead of 130 – 80.

With the comfort of a lead of two full houses, you’d have been forgiven for thinking that Trinity already had one foot in round two. Well, nobody seemed to have told Dan Grady who immediately wiped out ten points of the deficit by buzzing early with the name Shoegaze. A UC special set of three word names or terms in which each word has the same number of letters – Salt Lake City for example – saw a name check for the Great Vowel Shift – always a pleasure to see this come up. Manchester took a full house, which reduced the gap to a single full house. So to the second picture starter, and a detail from one of Vermeer’s paintings. Jeremi Jaksina took that one and earned bouses on more paintings depicting women and plucked instruments, which brought a full house and stretched the lead to fifty again. Again, it was Dan Grady who struck early to pull back Trinity on the next starter, recognising Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea. Chemistry bonuses saw me earn a belated lap of hour for getting formaldehyde. Mind you, I also knew bakelite as well. Manchester took a couple, but were still in need of at least two visits to the table. Trinity Skipper Mr. Kang recognised references to yellow for the next starter. Trinity did well to get two bonuses on a difficult set on antipodal cities. Ilya Kullman knew that Dijon is the capital of Burgundy. Plays that feature scientific themes brought a full house. Surely now both of these teams would be going through, one by right and one by repechage. But which team would go through by right? It was thrown wide open when Bluma De Los Reyes – White took the next starter, knowing the works of Messrs Miyazaki. 1 bonus on words derived from the Indo-European root Kers meat that Manchester were still 10 behind. Was there time for a last starter? Yes! Both Bluma De Los Reyes – White and I answered Yak! And that was it – teams tied. GONNNGGGG! Yes, the first game of the series ends in a tie break. Well, fortune favours the brave, and it was the Manchester skipper, Hiru Senehedheera, who buzzed bravest, and came up with the correct answer of Guerilla Girls. A remarkable comeback to see Manchester win by the narrowest of margins.

Congratulations to both teams – this was a really good match. Both teams had a bonus conversion rate a little over 50. Up to last year Trinity’s 175 would pretty much guarantee a repechage slot. I’m just being a little cautious, since it remains to be seen whether Amol’s noticeably faster delivery will result in higher scores this season. Speaking or which . . .

How is Amol Doing?

In a nutshell, pretty well in my opinion. His delivery is noticeably faster than JP’s, which is no bad thing. I didn’t notice any stumbles on any questions either – his diction was clear and pleasant. There was just that one response to an early bonus, but other than that he projected warmth and friendliness to the teams. A good start. I will mention that he hailed the cricket question, saying we should have more of them. Well, Amol, only if it means a Science or Philosophy question gets jettisoned to make way for it, old son.

Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already know of the Week.

Burgundy takes its name from a Germanic tribe originating in Bornholm Island.