University Challenge Round Two - York v. Birkbeck

The Teams

York

Emma Giles

Emma-Mae Smith

Ollie Smith (Capt)

David Bachelor

Birkbeck

Danny McMillan

Olivia Mariner

Samir Chadha (Capt)

Margherita Huntley

Well, no prizes for guessing which team were the recipients of the dubious benefit of support from the Clark sofa last night. Birkbeck being from the University of London, and having a captain from my home borough of Ealing were always going to win that one. But could they win the show?

Well, first blood fell to David Bachelor who recognised a reference to Shakespeare’s Henry V. They went on to take a full set on the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. It was double bubble for David Bachelor as he recognised a description of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge for the second starter – good shout. They took two bonuses on the Roman Empire in North Africa and were a little unlucky not to get a full set. None of us knew about the post war Survey of English. If you stuck with the next question it eventually became obvious we were needing the name Simon de Montfort. This allowed Danny McMillan to take Birkbeck’s first points. A full set of unfathomable (for me) questions on complex numbers narrowed the gap significantly. Danny McMillan completed his double recognising various people who shared Henrietta as one of their names. Jacobean playwright Thomas Middleton brought Birkbeck nowt. So to the first picture starter, and the teams were shown script and asked to identify the language. Now, it was correctly identified as Thai by Emma-Mae Smith. For the show, since she shared her last name with her skipper, she was called E. Smith and he O. Smith. So when Roger Tilling called her name it sounded just like ‘Yorkie Smith’, and this conjured up mental pictures of a cheeky chappie late-middle aged man on his way to the allotment where he grew his rhubarb, accompanied by his whippet. I can only apologise – I’m a product of my upbringing so please feel free to blame my parents. More scripts derived from the Brahmi script of ancient India brought two correct answers. This meant that as we approached the ten-minute mark, York led by 65 – 35.

If a question unites the words Damon Runyon and musical, then you answer Guys and Dolls. Margherita Hutley won the buzzer race to supply that correct answer. Bonuses on the Belgian F1 Grand Prix brought one bonus. Danny McMillan interrupted on a quotation about Kant (Immanuel rather than Brian, I should think) and turned away in shame. Don’t beat yourself up, Danny. York could not capitalise. I was glad to see that the interruption penalty did not deter Danny McMillan from buzzing for the next starter, giving the correct answer that Harold Pinter had written the screenplay for the film The Go Between. The Royal Society’s most influential women in British Science history brought us both one bonus for Dorothy Hodgkin, and I set off on my lap of honour. Margherita Huntley took the next starter on chickpea flour, to put Birkbeck into the lead. 2 bonuses on women who have played the lead I Hamlet (the play, not the cigar advert) took Birkbeck further ahead. The music starter that followed led us into the unfamiliar realms of jazz hip hop. None of us identified the stylings of Mr. Eric B and his friend Mr. Rakim. For the next starter Samir Chadha recognised titles of works by Angela Carter. This earned the music set of bonuses brought two more correct answers. Danny McMillan’s nippy buzzer finger won the race to identify Joseph Lister for the next starter. Hydrocarbons brought just the one bonus, but this was enough to make Amol issue York with some encouragement. 3 minutes before they were in the lead. Now they were fifty behind. It seemed to work as David Bachelor was first to work out that clues in the question were pointing towards Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. Sadly for them the bonuses on the French Left Bank group eared nul points. Nobody could find 2 of the three countries – Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi – which had been German colonies. This meant that Birkbeck led by 115 – 75 as we approached twenty minutes.

Danny McMillan zigged with Liz Gaskell’s North and South for the next starter which allowed Yorkie – sorry – Emma-Mae Smith to zag with Mary Barton. Historians know by initial(s) and surnames brought a further ten points. Neither team knew something about the letter Q in Physics. Emma-Mae Smith came in too early on the next starter and gave ISIS allowing Margherita Hutley in with Daesh. Artists who have sampled Rick James’ Super Freak brought a brace of correct answers. Neither team recognised the work of Pierre Auguste Renoir for the second picture starter. Danny McMillan groaned as he supplied the wrong answer but soon provided the right one – Descartes for the next. Further depictions of knitting or needlework in art brought one bonus. With a lead of over fifty points Birkbeck were looking pretty secure. Amol offered encouragement and David Bachelor struck again recognising several species of whale. Nobel Laureate Barbara ‘Frank’ McClintock brought us both two bonuses – I nearly awarded myself a second lap of honour for bacteriophages. Not to worry for Birkbeck, since Danny McMillan took the next starter on the musical Groundhog Day. Not to worry for Birkbeck since Danny McMillan took the next starter on the musical Groundhog Day (geddit?) They took one bonus on verse forms. A fifty point lead with maybe 3 minutes to go. A rush of blood to the head saw Danny McMillan lose five for an early buzz which saw him say that the French word for butterfly, for example, began with P – O. This allowed David Bachelor in with P-A. It was even more costly when York managed a full house on events of the 70s. That one set reduced the gap by 30. Captain Yorko Smith – sorry – Olllie Smith took the next starter, knowing the SI unit the Pascal. A full house would win the match. They took the first on Honfleur. They took the second. But oh, lack of knowledge about the French Impressionists cost them again. We had a tie. Would it be Mr. Bachelor or Mr. McMillan to take the last starter? It was fearless Danny McMillan who knew that the sensory organ required for the answer was the eye.

Well played both teams. A great fightback from York, and neither team really deserved to lose. For the record York had a BCR of 67, while Birkbeck, who took more starters, had a BCR of 47.

How is Amol Doing?

Look, I think I may well stop doing this section in the reviews, because he’s great. One of the things I judge a question master on is whether they make the job look easy. Amol does just that, while I’m sure it really isn’t easy at all. Good job, sir.

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

Frances de la Tour became he first woman to play the lead in Hamlet on the English stage in 1979.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

The complex argument for any complex number z, what two word term denoted the complex number found by reflecting the argand plot of Z in the X axis typically written z-bar.

The answer turned out to be complex conjugate. Too complex conjugate for me. Mind you, I do remember the Argands from the original series of Star Trek. Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.