University Challenge 2024 - Quarter final qualification match: Trinity, Cambridge v. UCL

The Teams

Trinity. Cambridge

Sarah Henderson

Agnijo Banerjee

Ryan Joonsuk Kang (Capt)

Jeremi Jaksina

UCL

James Hall

Ali Izzatdust

Tayana Sawh (Capt.)

Jacob Finlay

How are we, then? So, last night we saw another quarter final qualification match, this time between Trinity and UCL who both won their first quarter final matches.

Normally I never get any questi9ons about Greek letters in Science and Maths, but after a number of given uses for it were given, I knew that the letter Mu is used for the SI prefix micro. Dunno how I knew it, but it was good enough for me and I set off on my ap of honour. James Hall came in too early with lambda and lost five which left the Trinity skipper to snap up that unconsidered trifle. The government’s tentative list of proposed new UK UNESCO World Heritage Sites brought two out of three bonuses. A very quick buzz from Jeremi Jaksina identified assassinated poet and playwright Lorca. Films whose titles contain the full name of a character brought the disarming comment from Mr. Kang – pffft – we’re not going to get this right – but we did both get Casper Hauser, the last one right. None of us knew the Growing Block Theory about time for the next starter, but Trinity lost five for an early incorrect buzz. Nucleophilic substitution sounds completely disgusting, but it was the answer to the chemistry starter that followed and Ryan Joonsuk Kang, playing a captain’s innings, supplied it. One bonus on genetics followed. So to the picture round, showing a relief map of China with an arrow pointing to a city’s location. I took a bit of a punt with Nanjing, and was right to do so. That man Kang had it. Three other treaty ports from the Treaty of Nanking brought a single bonus. As we approached the ten minute mark, Trinity led by 60 to -5 and UCL could give thanks that Trinity weren’t quite firing on all cylinders with the bonuses yet.

Amol encouraged UCL, reminding them that they had plenty of time to get going.Well, no. They had plenty of time to come back, but they needed to get going very, very soon in order to do so. Jeremi Jaksina came in too early for the next starter and lost 5, but none of us knew mise en abyme so that shot at an open goal went wide of the posts. Jeremi Jaksina knew about the Unification Day of Bulgaria for the next starter. Works in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum’s Gallery of Honour brought one correct answer. Ali Izzatdust did the right thing by buzzing early for the next starter, but sadly could not quite summon the correct answer. Given the whole question Agnijo Banerjee buzzed in with the correct answer of Sir Francis Bacon. A full house on anarchists took them to 95 points, 105 ahead of UCL. Finally Ali Izzatdust found his buzzer range to come in early with the British social anthropologist Evans-Pritchard. Who was also a character in Under Milk Wood, surely? Two bonuses on garden biodiversity narrowed the gap further. This brought us to the music starter. Jacob Finlay recognised the vocal talents of Kendrick Lamar. The bonuses were three jazz artists who played on one of his albums. None of us had any of them. Well, at least UCL were moving now as James Hall buzzed in on the next starter to identify the Uralic Mountain range. We both took a full house on Boccaccio’s Il Filostrato. Right – a question beginning Sir Stamford Rffles founded which – is fraught with danger. Ali Izzatdust zigged with Singapore. Nope. Which meant it had to be London Zoo. Ah, but the question asked for the organisation with the initials ZSL. Sarah Henderson tried London Zoo, but it was the Zoological Society of London that was required. A bit of a let off for UCL. Ali Izzatdust buzzed in on the Superbike world championship with Marquez, to earn bonuses on Chinese mythology. 2 correct answers followed. James Hall came in too early without an answer to the next starter. Given the whole question Jeremi Jaksina recognised a description of surrealism. Or do I mean a fish? A full house on Japanese culinary terms undermined a lot of the good work that UCL had been doing. However James Hall took the next starter with osprey. Holidays and celtic festivals brought two correct answers. So just after the 20 minute mark Trinity still held a useful lead of 120 to 75. But UCL were starting to come back. . .

James Hall knew that Wordsworth wrote the Prelude. Some stuff about saccharides meant nowt to me, but kept the UCL bandwagon rolling. So to the picture starter. Now, if it’s a Shakespeare play with a young woman with bandaged hands and blood all round her mush, a pound to a penny it will be Titus Andronicus, the play that proves that even a genius could write a turkey. James Hall took that one. Photos of productions of Shakespeare’s Roman plays brought a timely full house, and voila! The scores were tied. However it was UCL who had the momentum. Mind you they weren’t anything like home and dry. Asked about the post held by Eamonn de Valera and others, Jacob Finlay offered the Taoiseach. Close but no cigar. It allowed Jeremi Jaksina in with the President of the Republic of Ireland – not the Taoiseach. Trinity only managed the one on Japanese and British Monarchs whose reigns coincided. Jacob Finlay made up for losing five on the previous starter by taking the next with the film Triangle of Sadness. I thought that was a 1980s BBC soap opera but there you go. Two bonuses on Mountain ranges levelled the scores again. Another good buzz from Jacob Finlay took the next starter on iron. Any old iron? Gawd knows. Christopher Wheeldon provided just the one bonus, but the collective UCL nose was in front now for the first time in the match. Ali Izzatdust almost jumped out of his seat buzzing for the next starter, but it fell to James Hall, who knew the islands of Estonia (which country’s capital is close to the top of my bucket list now). Place names in Roman Britain brought just one bonus, but crucially it gave UCL a 30 point lead which meant that Trinity would need at least two visits to the table. Well, Agnijo Banerjee won them one with the term genus.They took the first two bonuses on ancient civilisations, but the contest was gonged before the third. UCL won by 165 – 150.

Amol hit the nail on the head when he called this a great contest. I don’t know what the biggest comeback in UC history was, but this has to be one of the best. For the record, Trinity had a BCR of 54%, while UCL’s was 60%. I certainly won’t be betting against Trinity taking their own place in the semis in their next match.

Amol Watch

Fair play to Amol, he took mateyness to new heights in this show. Dear old Bamber , if I recall correctly, was always on second name terms with the team members. JP was often not even on that, but certainly never first name terms. When Ali Izzatdust buzzed too early on the Bacon question, Amol went on to commiserate, “Bad luck, I’m sure you knew the answer, Ali.” Well, this is the 21^st century after all. Will we eventually see nicknames being used to address the students? I look forward to Roger Tilling announcing “Keble – Jimbo “ in the future.

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

This was one of those rare occasions when none of the many things I didn’t already know particularly grabbed me.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

First a disaccharide consisting of two glucose molecules connected by an alpha linkage. It is a product of starch breakdown by amylases.

By normal standards that’s short, but it’s still pretty deadly. Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.