The Teams
London School of Economics (LSE)
Albert Nyang Ying Zhi
Grant Dalton
Sebastian Bramley (Capt.)
Christina Zhiang
Leicester
Noah Lister
Greg Beeden
George Gowland (Capt.)
Edward Owen-Shah
I knew that Mackenzie King was
the PM of Canada at the start of WWII
so came in a little bit faster
for the first starter than Grant Dalton of LSE. This earned the Londoners a set
of bonuses on electric batteries. We both took a full house and I took an early
honorary lap of honour. Honorary? Well, I’m not well, you know. Again it was
Grant Dalton who was first in for the next starter when it became clear that
the answer was going to be he Commonwealth. So this earned the LSE questions on
E. (Economics, that is).They duly took a full house. Me? – well. When asked for
a number value I usually go for zero and it brought me more than zero again.
Albert Nyang came in way too early before the next starter became obvious. It’s
a great question – many people know that Uranus’ moons are named after
characters in Pope and characters in Shakespeare – but of them all, only Ariel
is a character in both. Good stuff. George Gowland opened his team’s account
with this one. The Polish sculptor Magdalena Abakanowicz – no, me neither –
brought 1 correct answer on a gettable set. For the picture starter we saw a
picture of the George Cross and were asked on which flag it featured. Too easy
for Noah Lister who won the buzzer race to answer Malta. Three more flags
featuring dragons did not sadly include Wales or Bhutan and once again
Leicester only took one of them. The next question about a TV show seemed
unfathomable until the title of an episode– The Prisoner of Benda – launched a
buzzer race to answer Futurama. George Gowland won that one. Bonuses on
fictional artists brought two correct answers. This gave Leicester a narrow
lead of 55 – 45 as we closed in on ten minutes.
Madha and the Musandam Governorate
are exclaves of Oman. I didn’t know that, but Grant Dalton did. The second Scottish
war of independence brought the bonus that LSE needed to retake the lead. The
fashion designer who passed away in 2022 had to be Vivienne Westwood for the
next starter. LSE skipper Sebastian Bramley thought so and he was right.
Bonuses on insects brought LSE nowt. The economics starter was easy meat for
the LSE’s Albert Nyang who buzzed in very quickly with Ceteris Paribus. Well,
what else? The film and TV work of Alice Birch provided a full house which
stretched the LSE’s lead. I was pleased when mass extinction in the next
starter gave me Triassic, confirmed when the start of the age of dinosaurs was
also mentioned. Albert Nyang took his second starter with that one. LSE took
one bonus on the netball world cup and his took us up to the music starter. A
wee snatch of Cream led Noah Lister to identify the guitar work of Eric Slowhand
Clapton. Leicester did not manage to identify any of the inspirational Chicago
and delta bluesmen in the bonuses. When it became obvious that the next starter
was looking for The Marriage of Figaro George Gowland buzzed in with the
correct answer. Shorter words that can be made using any of the letters from
Love Island – which I’m told is a popular TV show – provided Leicester with no
answers and it was at this point that I felt that their chances were receding
quite quickly. Nobody got the next starter which had clues pointing to the word
elephant. Christina Zhiang recognised the work of Ursula LeGuin which meant
that every member of the LSE had answered at least 1 starter. A rapid full
house on South America meant that they led by 135 to 75. One foot in round two
and at least the big toe of another.
Saturated fats gave Noah
Lister the next starter. Flags in formula 1 provided a surprisingly tough set
of bonuses and Leicester failed to add to their score with them. Sebastian
Bramley knew that the former name of Harare was Salisbury for the next starter.
Presidents of the Royal Society saw the LSE only manage 1 bonus, but Leicester
just were not going to be able to bridge the gap. Albert Nyang identified a wee
splodge of Van Gogh for the second picture starter. They took two bouses on
other artists’ paintings featuring Autumn leaves. Albert Nyang took another
starter with Samurai. Victoria sensation novels brought two correct answers and
widened the gap into triple figures. The next question related to Cologne
Cathedral, and Grant Dalton buzzed in with the right answer, which brought up
LSE’s double century, and they earned a full house on well known bird lovers.
The clue was in the question for the next starter, with melittin being a
constituent of bee venom. Either team had that. A great early buzz from Greg
Beeden identified four as the only regnal number of two consecutive British
kings – George and William. German cities with four letter names yielded just
one bonus on a gettable set. Sadly George Gowland buzzed too early for the next
starter which allowed Albert Nyang in with derby winner Auguste Rodin. A
difficult set on poetic terms yielded two bonuses. For the quark question that
followed Noah Lister ignored my advice to chose strange or charm, and was right
to do so. The answer he gave, correctly was up. Mind you, so was the game as
far as Leicester were concerned for the gong ended the contest. LSE won by 235
to 100.
Sorry, Leicester, but LSE were
better on the buzzer, and they were better on the bonuses. LSE’s BCR was 67,
while Leicester’s was 29. Sometimes it just isn’t your night.
Amol Watch
It was interesting that Amol called the Leicester captain ‘Mr.
Gowland’ when Greg Beeden also said the answer at the same time as his skipper.
He soon corrected himself, and called him George.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of
The Week
Benjamin Franklin invented the word battery for an electric
battery.
Baby Elephant Walk Moment
The statistical measure of inequality described by the
relationship A/A+B is known by what two-word term, where A is the area between perfect
equality and the Lorenz Curve and B is the total area under the perfect
equality line? I mean, come on, dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.
No comments:
Post a Comment