University Challenge 2024 Second Round Open University v. University of East Anglia

The Teams

UEA

Melissa Shiress

Bryony Yates

Owen Tobin (Capt.)

Matthew Jennings

Open

Ellie Romans

Mike Holt

Anne Gavaghan

James Davidson

Already we’re on the second match of the second round. Last night the University of East Anglia, who gave Strathclyde a wee bit of a hiding last time out, played the Open University, comfortable winners of the second repechage match. The winners of the first repechage went through to the quarter finals last week. Were we going to see lightning striking in the same place this week?

In their last match the OU were much sharper on their buzzer than their opponents. James Davidson showed that he hasn’t lost any of that sharpness on the buzzer, coming in early for the first starter to give the answer of “The Silent Spring”. WD40 can help you get one of those. Two bonuses on blue plaques in Birmingham took their score to 20 for their first visit to the table. That man Davidson knew the next starter, that the Babadook (Babawhat?) was inspired by The Man In the Beaver Hat (Beaverwhat?) This brought them bonuses on the 2022 Mercury Music prize and they gratefully took a full house. UEA Skipper Owen Tobin did what you have to, and tried to come in early for the next starer before Open went for their buzzers. He guessed the latin American country referenced would be Peru, and sadly lost five for his pains. Give the cities Leon and Guadalajara I was surprised that OU didn’t get Mexico. “Keep still you little devil or I’ll slit your throat! – are the first words of . . . ” No, funnily enough it’s not Pride and Prejudice. I shouted Great Expectations just as James Davidson buzzed in with the same answer. Bonuses on computation brought OU another two correct answers and me nowt. Finally UEA got started when Matthew Jennings recognised various uses of the word classical. The bonuses on films with the word ‘tree’ in the title saw an always welcome name check for The Singing, Ringing Tree, some really weird shit  enchanting fantasy made in 1957 in East German and still being regularly shown on BBC children’s TV when I was growing up in the 70s. UEA managed 2 of these. The picture starter was a real UC special. We were shown a map of English postcode areas with one highlighted in red. Not only did the teams have to work out the postcode, but then they had to name the chemical element with the same symbol. Impressively quickly Bryony Yates worked out that it would be Lanthanum, for the Lancaster postcode area. Great work. UEA took two of the bonuses on other areas, but missed out on the Portsmouth Polonium pair. When Mary Anning was name checked in the next question, Bryony Yates zigged with Geology, allowing James Davidson to zag with Palaeontology. Bonuses on Virginia ‘Big Bad’ Woolf gave OU a lead of 80 – 30 as we closed in upon the 10 minute mark.

Now, if it’s a design and a Renfrewshire town, then it’s got to be Paisley. Melissa Shiress won the buzzer race for that one. One of a set on Plains was taken. Mike Holt recognised a description of the flag of Austria . 1 correct answer on the unpromising subject of pollen was given. James Davidson took another starter, recognising the title of a novel by Eleanor Catton. British Prime Ministers who all died in office in the 19^th century brought a full house, and stretched the lead so far that I felt it wouldn’t be long before Amol felt the need to encourage UEA. Without that though Matthew Jennings took the next starter with Friedrich Hayek. Marie ‘Qui?’ Laurencin yielded nothing for any of us. This was followed by the music set, and it was James Davidson who won the race to identify the work of Ludvig Van. Other composers who made symphonies with five movements brought a further two correct answers. With the lead beginning to approach close to triple figures Amol couldn’t hold himself back any more, and issued the exhortation to UEA, and the encouragement that there was plenty of time left. Owen Tobin found his range with the next starter, knowing that all the examples in the question could be symbolised by Tau. People whose initials are/were DD provided a brace of bonuses. James Davidson knew that a plaster and wood statue of an elephant used to stand in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Physics questions I didn’t even begin to understand brought just the one correct answer. Nobody knew the term first principles for the next starter. Now, if a question references an album by the Clash, slam the buzzer through the desk and answer London Calling. Matthew Jennings did just that. Novels inspired by Don Quixote sullenly refused to relinquish any points to either of us. Surprisingly nobody knew the old quiz chestnut of the Chiltern Hundreds for the next starter. Melissa Shiress came in just too early for the next starter. Given that the surmae required also belonged to a New Zealand born Nobel prize wining scientist, Rutherford always looked like a good shout. Captain Anne Gavaghan took that one meaning that all of the OU team had answered at least 1 starter.. The writer Abu-Lughod brought us both a single correct answer. It was enough to ensure that OU now led by 170 – 80 at the 20-minute mark.

All over bar the shouting? Well, not necessarily but it was asking a lot of UEA to come back from this. Ellie Romans won the buzzer race to say that the two football clubs on either side of Stanley Park are Liverpool and Everton. One bonus on African leaders kept the ball rolling. So to the 2^nd picture starer – which was clearly Van Gogh’s Wheatfield with Crows. I just love Van Gogh’s work. James Davidson too recognised the work of Vincent Van. Other works cited in John Berger’s Ways of Seeing provided two more correct answers, after a misunderstanding about the first. Melissa Shiress correctly guessed that a Munsell Chart related to colour. Disaccharides – gesundheit – gave a full house that took UEA into tiple figures. They deserved that. But it was all too easy for Jams Davidson to take the next starter, answering that Monsieur Jean-Baptiste Poquelin was none other than Moliere. Planet Earth and Middle Earth provided a UC special set which rather stretched the idea of similarly sounding names a little too far for my liking. What the hell, OU still took a full house. Owen Tobin recognised various things called Flint – would James Coburn have been mentioned if we’d had the full set? Writers associated with the BBC World Service Caribbean Voices programme brought nowt to UEA. I was delighted to see Sam Selvon getting a namecheck. I read his excellent “The Lonely Londoners” a couple of years ago. Finally I got a Science starter to award myself a lap of honour. Yeah, I know Brownian Motion was a gimme, but I gotta take it where I can get it. Matthew Jennings had that one. Names of bicycle parts provided an interesting set which should have been a full house for UEA. Ellie Romans knew that Reading is at the western end of the Elizabeth Line for the next starter, and compounded it with a bonus on CERN. Nobody knew that 264 is the perfect square of a perfect square. The moment that Dwitt Wallace was mentioned it was clear that the next answer would be Reader’s Digest. One of my prouder achievements is managing to cancel a Reader’s Digest subscription that I had never actually taken out in the first place. It took a while to get to the end of the question and then Anne Gavaghan won the buzzer race. Okants mentioned in the Lady of Shallot – other than Shallots – allowed OU to give two correct answer just as the gong sounded. OU had won by 260 to 130.

A fair result, one thought. James Davidson scored a massive 9 starters, worthy of the Mastermind finalist that he is. They had a BCR of 62 while UEA who were having to live off scraps with some very tricky bonus sets had a BCR of 40.  Another great show, even if it wasn’t that close a contest.

How is Amol Doing?

I’m going to have to change the title for this section of the reviews, because you all know the answer – very well, thank you. I think I’ve worked it out now. While Jeremy Paxman was always the stern public schoolmaster who gave you a metaphorical six of the best if you didn’t do your prep, Amol is more the laid back, comprehensive school teacher who’s not that long ago completed his PGCE, and finds it easy to make friends with the kids, share a joke in class, lets you take five minutes off at the end of the lesson, and is not averse to having a quick puff of your ciggie behind the bike sheds.

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

The U shaped slots at the end of a pair of front forks that a bicycle wheel slips into are called dropouts.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

When the force driving a harmonic oscillator approaches the natural frequency of the oscillator what phenomenon occurs whereby the amplitude of the oscillations increases significantly? That ain’t English! Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.