University Challenge Round 1 - Open University v. Hertford, Cambridge

The Teams

Open University

Ellie Romans

Mike Holt

Anne Gavaghan (Capt)

James Davidson

Hertford, Cambridge

Ollie Sourbut

Omer Keskin

Daniel Whittle (Capt)

Rupavardhini Balakrishnan Raju

Here we go, then, eyes down for another UC first round match. The words lambda calculus brought on the first blast of the Baby Elephant Walk from my internal orchestra. Not for the last time in this contest Omer Keskin beat the rest to the buzzer and gave the correct answer – this being Alonzo Church. Recent winners of the Baillie Gifford prize for nonfiction brought Hertford a full house. That’s how to make a statement of intent. Omer Keskin was in very early again with the next starter, the answer to which was male gaze. Universities named after prominent thinkers did not, strangely include Rab C. Nesbitt University, but they brought a second consecutive full house. We’d hardly warmed up and Hertford were already fifty points to the good. The next starter soon seemed as if it could only be Benedictine or Chartreuse. Mike Holt zigged with Benedictine and lost five. Given the useful information that the answer could also refer to a shade of green Hertford didn’t get that it was Chartreuse. Omer Keskin took his third starter out of four knowing references to John Singer Sargent, although the question didn’t mention about him inventing the sewing machine or taking over the role of Darren in Bewitched. The zoology bonuses saw a welcome name check for Przewalski’s Horse. It’s a name I’ve always wanted to use more in casual conversation. Hertford took two of them. For the picture starter nobody recognised the ceremonial county of Middlesex. Ollie Sourbut was the first to identify the chickenpox virus for the next starter, earning the map bonuses. These highlighted places sharing their names with novels. None of which were identified correctly.

Cometh the hour cometh the man. It was at this point that the Force began to crackle in the air, and Amol issued the challenge “Plenty of time,Open’ . Omer Keskin buzzed early with Cyberpunk, allowing  Open to get off the mark with Steampunk. Scores by Hildur Gudnadottir (er. . . gesundheit?) brought a full house, and meant that the score was 75 – 25 to Hertford at the ten-minute mark.

For the second consecutive starter Omer Keskin buzzed in too early and lost five. However Open didn’t know Karachi and therefore could not capitalise. Indefatigable Omer Keskin buzzed early again for the next starter and this time was right with speciesism. A nice UC set the answers to which all shared names with members of the 2022 England European championship winning football team brought a very quick full house. Neither team knew Coleridge’s Christabel. Expressions beginning with au – pair, fait etc. fell to an early buzz from Ollie Sourbut. Bonuses on words or phrases beginning with – pil – brought two correct answers. Ollie Sourbut took the next starter as week, knowing a groyne when he kicked one. Vera Mukhina, who sounds like a character in a Cold War era political thriller but was actually a sculptor brought two correct answers. It seemed as if Amol’s Jedi exhortation had worn off early in this show. But Anne Gavaghan put the lie to this, buzzing in to identify the work of Joan Jett for the music starter. More female artists from the same era brought a full house. For once Omer Keskin lost a buzzer race as Anne Gavaghan identified Starman as the work of the great David Bowie. Open only took one bonus on astronomical catalogues, but they were at least putting a spurt on. For the next starter, if it’s about Tsars and not Russia, then it’s Bulgaria. Omer Keskin had that. Bonuses on North Macedonia followed. Omer Keskin won the next buzzer race, but unfortunately provided the wrong son of Priam. There’s no Hector in Romeo and Juliet. There is, as James Davidson knew, a Paris. A very gentle set on Tutankhamen provided a full house. When the next starter got as far as “nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy analysis” the internal orchestra struck up with the Baby Elephant Walk again. Whatever it meant Omer Keskin had it right. The theatre and plays within a play brought a full house. This meant that Hertford led by 185  - 80 at the 20.

Game over then. But not show over. There was still the question of a potential repechage slot for Open. It didn’t help them when Rupavardhini Balakrishnan Raju correctly identified Mount Ararat for the second picture starter. Two bonuses were taken on other sacred mountains. Ellie Romans  knew that .fk addresses are in the Falkland Islands. The video game series God of War (not Mario or Sonic) offered me but little, yet knowledge of Greek Mythology netted me two. Open also took two, although not both the same ones as me which pushed them into triple figures, and a opened the opportunity to get on the repechage board for now. They came even closer when skipper Anne Gavaghan knew that John Jacob Astor was one of the real life people portrayed in the film “Titanic”. Guy Debord brought us both just the one bonus. Ellie Romans recognised a description of 3x3 basketball, new  to the Olympics in 2021 and Open took a full house on the three film bonuses that followed. The gap was down to fifty five. Surely the Open, even with the lingering effect of Amol’s jedi boost could not pull this off. I couldn’t repeat the maths/physics starter that followed because the Baby Elephant thing was playing too loudly in my head again, but Omer Keskin said it was power and that was good enough for me. For Amol as well. Bonuses on the cell cycle in biology passed by without me troubling the scorer, and Hertford took just the one. Omer Keskin came in too early for the next starter, allowing Open to try but none of us knew Citium. Even the Waterloo and Citium. After being given ‘wabi, sabi and –‘ Rupavardhini Balakrishnan Raju correctly informed us that these were cultural values of Japan. I’d like to think that the complete list would have been wabi, sabi and Jimmy Tarby, but I’ve no great hope that it was. Matrilineal societies provided a brace of bonuses. Anne Gavaghan took the starter which put Open onto the repechage board, knowing that the only one of Switzerland’s four official languages unique to Switzerland is Romansch. Which was just as well because we were gonged before Open could add further to their score.

So, congratulations to Hertford. A fine score of 230 to the 155 of Hertford. A bonus conversion rate of 69 percent marks them out as very much a team to watch. As for Open, they managed a 73 percent rate. Extremely good, although they were too often second best on the buzzer. The repechage board currently looks like this –

Oxford Brookes – 205

Trinity, Cambridge – 175

Open University – 155

Southampton – 155

With King’s Cambridge having been pushed off the bottom. 

How is Amol Doing?

Amol flexed his metaphorical jedi muscles early last night. After 8 and three quarter minutes he said ‘these aren’t the droids your’e looking for Plenty of Time, Open. See if you can get going with this one.’. Disaster! Omer Keskin buzzed in with an answer. Ah, but the Force is strong in Amol, and Mr. Keskin’s answer was wrong. Mastermind 2023 grand finalist James Davidson swooped in for the points.

At the end, Amol paid tribute to Omer Keskin’s buzzing skills. Fair enough, but don’t underestimate the contribution of the others, Amol. You win or lose as a team.

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

Lake Ohrid is the deepest lake in the Balkans.