The Teams
Emmanuel, Cambridge
Jerry Chen
Alex Sutton
Jay Alagar (Capt)
Alexander Harrison
Jesus, Oxford
Andy Deng
Andy Schwebel
Ben Biggs (Capt)
Meg Goundry-Napthine
Yeah, look, I’m sorry about this – posting late for the
second week in a row. Would you believe that it’s because today was the date
for the semi annual filial visit to Worthing? Well, it doesn’t really matter,
but I do think that these little personal vignettes add a little flavour to a
review, don’t you?
The first Oxbridge Derby of the Amol Rajan years, then. The
first starter was one of those where it pays to keep your nerve, and a steady
finger on the buzzer. It was Alexander Harrison who struck first, recognising
references to FW Murnau’s original film version of “Nosferatu.” Now, look, I’m
no expert on goats, (I ain’t ‘fraid of no goats) but pair the topic with Greek
Mythology and I’ll usually give a good account of myself. Both Emmanuel and I
managed a full house on a relatively gentle set. For the next starter Alexander
Harrison took his second correct buzz knowing that the names Chatterton et al.
can be preceded by – the death of -. T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste(of time)land” provided
me with a second consecutive full house, while Emmanuel took just the last one.
Lusophones took me to 9 in a row and gave Jesus their start when skipper Ben
Biggs identified them as speakers of Portuguese. A rather wonderful UC special
set followed, which asked Jesus for the names of countries that begin and end
with two letter symbols for chemical elements. Senegal brought my streak to an
end at 9. I took Argentina, as did
Jesus, but they failed to get Cuba.Now I did consider taking a lap of
honour after recognising a diagram of a cosine for the next starter. In the end
I gambled and let it ride. Graphs of other trigonometrical functions brought
Jesus a full house, and me nowt, and levelled the scores. I did cash in my lap
of honour for knowing that the nucleus of a cell contains most its genetic
material, as did Alexander Harrison. Science bonuses saw me get Mr. Van De
Graff which Emmanuel missed, but miss the next two which Emmanuel got. A great
fast buzz from Alexander Harrison saw him identify Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan
from its subtitle. Bonuses on professional football clubs associated with
industrial concerns brought the 10 points that gave Emmanuel a lead of 70 – 40 at
just after the 10-minute mark.
Ben Biggs did just what a captain should by taking the bull
between the horns and buzzing when he thought he might know the answer to the
question – who was the last British monarch prior to Elizabeth II to die in
Scotland? He was wrong, sadly, but the tactic was right. This allowed Alex
Sutton in with the correct answer of James V of Scotland. They managed two
words ending in tic. That man Alexander Harrison piled on the agony for Jesus,
recognising the Sorrows of Young Werther. ‘That’s original’ I punned to the
empty room. The Earth’s atmosphere continued what had already been an unusually
successful evening on Science for me as I managed a full house as opposed to
the two taken by Emmanuel. None of us recognised Shostakovitch’s Leningrrad
Symphony for the music starter. Now, believe it or not, I had the Science
starter that came next before either team did. Yes, I knew that if it’s
radiation and has something to do with a black hole, then Hawking Radiation’s
yer man. Alexander Harrison had that one. This earned the music bonuses, that
asked Emmanuel to identify the composers of pieces named after cities. They
only took one, but it was enough to give them a 100 point lead. A lead which
grew when the Emmanuel skipper knew that the second largest city of Washington
state is Spokane (birthplace of Bing Crosby) which starts with SPO. Brazilian
states brought us both just the one bonus with Amazonas. Weber’s definition of
the word state saw Alexander Harrison just beat Ben Biggs to the buzzer with
the next starter. The set of bonuses on culinary plants included one about the
mango being a member of the cashew family. Hang about a cotton picking minute.
Haven’t we already had a virtually identical question in an earlier match in this
series? Ironically Emmanuel had that one wrong. This completed a shut out of
Jesus for the ten minutes since the ten-minute mark, and Emmanuel had what looked
to be a game-over lead of 170 – 30.
Both teams had the name Fourier in their answers to the
next starter but neither also had the word transform which is what Amol wanted
to hear. Again Alexander Harrison outbuzzed Ben Biggs for the next starter,
knowing works containing the word Beyond. Funny enough, - the Poseidon Adventure
– wasn’t one of them. Final plays brought one bonus. So to the second picture
starter. Finally Ben Biggs won a buzzer race to answer that the house we saw
was the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. More buildings brought one correct answer. Jerry
Chen took his first starter knowing that in Entertainment terms BET stands for
Black Entertainment Television. A couple of maths bonuses brought Emmanuel to
200. It was all too easy for Alexander Harrison who took the next starter - his ninth - on aromatic compounds. A nice UC
set on years consisting of three consecutively descending digits brought just
the one bonus, but it was all academic in terms of the effect on the result of
the match. Alex Sutton took the next starter, knowing that if the name’s
Jinnah, the answer must be Pakistan. A full house on defaced works of art
followed. Ben Biggs took another starter
recognising the translated title of a chapter of the Tale of Genji. There was
only time for one bonus on the US penal system. Emmanuel had won by 240 – 60.
How is Amol Doing?
We were just over 12 minutes into the show when Amol issued
the dreaded ‘Plenty of time to go, Jesus.’ Sadly, this really did seem to act
as the kiss of death for them. He repeated this when Emmanuel stretched their
lead to 100 a couple of minutes later, but then added “See if you can get going
with this.” It’s tricky for a question master, trying to encourage the team who
are lagging behind, without it sounding like ‘let’s hope this is a nice easy
one for you.’ Would JP have accepted Amazon for Amazonas as Amol did? Not sure,
the coin is in the air on that one. Especially considering he had to apologise to
Jesus for not accepting Vienna School, when he had asked for a three word name.
“Sorry Jesus. And Emmanuel, you’re just wrong.” Miaow! Fair play to Amol for
telling Jesus “It just wasn’t your night.” At the end of the day, that’s what the
scale of victory and defeat often comes down to.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of
The Week
In the Southern hemisphere, more people speak Portuguese as
a first or second language than any other single language.
1 comment:
Starter watch:
Jerry Chen - 1
Alex Sutton - 2
Jay Alagar - 1
Alexander Harrison - 9 (1)
Andy Deng - 1 (2)
Andy Schwebel
Ben Biggs - 3
Meg Goundry-Napthine
Winner: Alexander Harrison
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