Hello there. Well, the last couple of shows have certainly been interesting, haven’t they? Alright, I’ll start the review before I say too much in this opening.
The poetry of Carol Ann Duffy was the subject offered by
our first contender Kimia Etemadi. Thinking about it, of all the possible
literary specialist subjects, poetry should probably come with a government
health warning, more so than novels or plays. There’s no way I can think of to
sugar coat this – Kimia didn’t have the kind of round she would have liked, and
scored 3. Kimia, please don’t let it get you down. You came and you had a go –
not many can say that. At the end of the day it’s only a game, as Magnus
Magnusson used to say.
I’d managed 2 on Kimia’s subject. I didn’t know if I was in
with a shout of getting any on Sharon Chambers’ subject, “The League of
Gentlemen”. Back in the day I rarely watched it, although I did like the radio
show. In the end I got a couple of easy ones. Sharon did a lot better, scoring
a very respectable 8. Normally I would have thought that this would leave her a
fair amount of work to do in GK, but after last week, well, anything was
possible.
It’s been a little while since we saw a contender have an
absolute barnstormer of a specialist round. Well, Graeme Barton gave us exactly
that in his round on Nigel Mansell. This was a wonderful round by anyone’s
standards. 13 asked and 13 answered correctly. Nothing phased him at all. It
makes me feel almost ashamed to admit that I only had 3 on what I’d pegged as
my banker round. However I was happy to take the money and run with this since
it was already my highest aggregate for
3 weeks.
Finishing the round was Matthew Harper. He was answering on
Rene Magritte. Yes, I did add one to my score taking me to 10 for the
aggregate. Matthew did a lot better than that. He ended in 3rd place
at the turn around with a respectable 7. Putting that into perspective though
it meant that he was 6 behind Graeme.
At the end of the day, you can only do your best and
sometimes, whoever you are and however good you are, sometimes it just ain’t
your night. Kimia, on returning to the chair, battled her way to the
respectable 7 she needed to take double figures. She won points from me for
smiling at Clive when she sat down for this second round, obviously accepting
the slings and arrows with fortitude.
Matthew Harper needed to open the corridor of doubt to the
remaining two contenders, and this would take a double figure GK score. Well,
he certainly provided that, and then some. He added a rousing 13, to put him on
the psychologically important score of 20.
Sometimes, as we’ve noted, it’s not your night. Sometimes,
however, it most emphatically is your night. This is exactly what Sharon
Chambers found. Fair play to Sharon, as she sat down for the GK round she
seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself. She certainly didn’t let any hint of
nerves affect her performance. Sharon scored 16. I’ll say that again. Sharon
scored 16. It’s not the highest GK score of the Clive Myrie era, but it must be
in the top five or so. I think it’s the highest GK score of the series so far,
but am willing to be corrected on this. A magnificent round. Sharon
demonstrated that if you snap the answers out quickly, Clive’s speed of
delivery increases, and this was a round that got faster and faster, and better
and better. Beat that!
Well, Graeme Barton certainly tried. He didn’t need to
equal Sharon’s 16, but he needed 11 and no passes to force a tie break, and 12
to win outright. It was desperately close. Graeme would get a couple right and
seem to be building momentum, but then be foiled by the next question. He
inched towards the line, but the white line of death beat him across the finish
line. In the end, Graeme scored a good 10 for 23. Bad luck, sir.
Sharon was modest in her piece to camera, saying that her
GK round went quite well. I was interested to hear her say that she plays in a
pub quiz in Cardiff, not so very far away from LAM Towers. Well, Sharon, if you
play like that I bet you win more often than you don’t. I wish you the very
best of luck in the semi finals.
|
Kimia Etemadi |
The poetry of Carol
Ann Duffy |
3 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
|
Sharon Chambers |
The League of
Gentlemen |
8 |
0 |
16 |
0 |
24 |
0 |
|
Graeme Barton |
Nigel Mansell |
13 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
23 |
0 |
|
Matthew Harper |
Rene Magritte |
7 |
0 |
13 |
0 |
20 |
0 |
2 comments:
16 is indeed the joint-highest GK score of the series so far - it was also managed by Thomas Nelson in Heat 3 (although it was not enough for victory). The highest of the Myrie era is Alice Walker's 19 in the 2022 final.
Thanks Paul
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