University Challenge 2024 : First round heat: Lincoln, Oxford v. King's, London

The Teams

Lincoln, Oxford

Ella Warde

Mehmed Tatoğlu

Alexander Baker (Capt)

Anna Drummond Young

King’s, London

Alex Halliwell

Alessandro Bogo

Taiga Clarke (capt)

Zahra Sultan

Yeah, I know. It’s Wednesday. Sorry about that. Let’s no waste any more time then. Eyes down and devil take the hindmost. First question was about all of the Balboas – explorer, currency, and doubtless fictional boxer would have followed. Not before Alessandro Bogo buzzed in with the right answer. This brought King’s a set of bonuses on islands that follow the word ‘and’ – like Barbuda in Antigua and -. This set brought us both a full house. Mehmed Tatoğlu recognised the epitaph from the tomb of Robert Frost to get Lincoln off and running. The historian Doris Kearns Goodwin brought another full house, and for the moment the scores were tied. Amazingly I carried my streak to 9 consecutive correct answers even though we had a starter on mathematical terms, which all ended with -ix. Subgenres of science fiction and fantasy brought me another full house, although Lincoln missed on one. The picture starter took me to 13, guessing correctly that the seal we were shown belonged to the EPA. Mehmed Tatoğlu had that one. More seals of US federal agencies brought my streak to an end with 13. Lincoln managed one. The kingdom of Aksum pushed me to the Ethiopia area, so it stood to reason that Eritrea was the country that derived its name from the Greek and Latin for red. Mehmed Tatoğlu took his third starter with that one. The architect Eric Mendelsohn I didn’t know, but I’m a fan of his De La Warr pavilion in Bexhill. He brought just the one to Lincoln. This was enough to give the Oxford team a lead of 75 – 25. It was already looking a bit ominous for King’s.

Both teams sat on their buzzers a little for the next starter, but it was the Oxford skipper who provided the answer that pimento is also known as allspice. The lifetime of a cell promised me nothing, but the one that Lincoln got right pushed them to the brink of triple figures. The next starter was asking for the word pillars and Ella Warde won hat particular buzzer race. Top goal scorers at FIFA world cup tournaments brought just the one correct answer. Mehmed Tatoğlu took a fourth starter, knowing of the derivation of the name Burkina Faso. Three bonuses on langue and parole – no, me neither – yielded nothing for Lincoln, but I did know that fabula is Latin for story, I did not know it means the same in Russian. This brought us to the music starter and a little bit of Britten. None of us recognised it. The agony for King’s continued as Alexander Baker correctly provided the answer simple machines for the next starter. Other pieces of music from 1962, the year of UC’s first broadcast, brought two more correct answers. For once Mehmed Tatoğlu miscued on a starter, but King’s could not capitalise with roman a clef. You could see Henry VII coming up for the next question and Mehmed Tatoğlu made no mistake this time to take his fifth. Female heads of government brought two correct answers. It never rains but it pours. Alessandro Bogo came in too early for the next starter and lost five. That man Mehmed Tatoğlu came in with the language Turkic to earn a set of bonuses on translations of Japanese anime and manga. 2 correct answers brought the score to 165 – 20 at twenty minutes.

Mehmed Tatoğlu continued in the same vein, getting the next starter about Kansas. Literature, communism and US politics coalesced in the next set which again brought two for Lincoln. Unsurprisingly neither team recognised a photo of the moon Callisto. Finally Alessandro Bogo hit the starter target knowing that some silly sod had created a symphony using data output from Black Holes. Beats working for a living, I suppose. More photos of Jupiter’s moons as taken by the Galileo probe followed. (The photos taken by the Figaro and Magnifico probes were crap.) King’s took one, which was one more than I managed. Still, at least King’s were away now. Alessandro Bogo knew that the total number of provinces and states in respectively Canada and Australia is 16. Theatre and the Law brought two bonuses. A triple figure score sill looked a long way away. Nobody knew that the pipe organ is deadly from close up for the next starter. Mehmed Tatoğlu brought a hiatus to the King’s mini revival, knowing the term realism. Questions on the river Taff brought nowt to Lincoln, but at least we could enjoy a name check for Richard Trevithick. Alessandro came in too early for the next starter. As clues to peacock and mustard were revealed, Ella Warde gave the correct answer of characters from Cluedo. Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy added 10 points and a little more gilding to the Lincoln total. Taiga Clarke finally forced his way onto the stater board , knowing a reference to Just Stop Oil when he heard it. One bonus on winter bird visitors brought another bonus. Ella Warde knew the element Lutetium takes its name from the roman name for Paris. That was it, he contest was gonged with the score at 225 to 65 in Lincoln’s favour.

Well, very much a case of SIJNYN (Sometimes it’s just not your night) for King’s. They had a BCR of 58, but that was just off 12 bonuses. As for Lincoln, their BCR of 46 was one of the less impressive we’ve seen from winners thus far this series.

How is Amol Doing?

There’s just a couple of times when Amol says things and I’m not quite clear whether he’s being mean or ot. For example, when Lincoln struggled with the seals he rather dismissively said ‘well you got that one at least’ when they had the CIA.

The encouragement to the trailing team came at a relatively early 12 and 3 quarter minutes.  The fact that he felt the need to do so again a mere four minutes later should give an idea of how successful the first was.

Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know of the Week

Mensa was originally formed in Lincoln College, Oxford.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

Not this week.