The Teams
Imperial
Charlotte Stokes
Mattia Elkouby
Matthew Spry (Cap.)
Jaime Salamanca Camacho
Christ’s College, Cambridge
Anniko Firman
Brenda Bethlehem
Oscar Despard (Cap.)
Linus Luu
Well, be honest, you’d have put your money on Imperial for
this one, wouldn’t you? It wasn’t just the cricket scores they’d racked up in
both matches so far, but the BCR of over 70 too. Yeah, Christ’s looked a decent
enough side, and they’d have a buzzer’s chance, but even so . . .
Well, if Christ’s were underdogs, nobody seemed to have
told them. Both teams held their nerve with the first starter but when it
became obvious that the Italian term for a long short story was novella Brendan
Bethlehem won the buzzer race to give the answer. Ancient Greek theatres saw
Christ’s take a full house in short time. Again both teams sat on their buzzers
for the next starter which again played into Christ’s hands as Anniko Firman
knew that the object being described in the question had to be an obelisk. As
Amol might one day say, oodles of time left, still, if you were looking for
omens. . . Extinct eastern Iranian languages promised but little, yet Brenan
Bethlehem brought two of them to his team. However he came in too early for the
next starter, just before it became obvious that the answer was leprosy. Matthew
Spry tapped that one into the open goal. Old rocks and minerals brought two
bonuses, and I was tempted to take a lap of honour for knowing that Zr is
zirconium, but what the hell, I let it ride. So to the picture round. None of
us could identify the Sinoatrial Node, who was one of the lesser known Doctor
Who villains during the Peter Davison era if memory serves me right. Matthew Spry earned the picture bonuses for
knowing that Degas slashed one of Manet’s canvases once. Electrocardiograms saw
me earn a bonus for saying tachycardia to each one until it was the right
answer. Imperial got one bonus for the same answer. Mattia Elkouby knew about
grape must for the next starter. Cinema brought Imperial just the one bonus but
they had at least clawed their way into the lead. At the 10 minute mark the
score stood 50 – 40 in their favour.
There were several clues to Wuthering Heights in the next starter
and Oscar Despard was the first to buzz in. This earned them bonuses on old
areas of Europe and they managed two of them. Amol had hardly had time to say a
few words before Matthew Spry showed an equally swift buzzer finger to answer
mass spectrometry. Bonuses on terms from French for ways of cooking potatoes –
none of which was Le Mache - brought two bonuses. For the next starter Christ’s
lost five while Jaime Salamanca Camacho recognised one definition of ellipsis. Gawd
alone knows what the bonuses were all about but Imperial took a full house.
Were they now starting to pull away from Christ’s? Well, no, because Brendan Bethlehem
took the next starter, the music starter, with a wee bit of Schubert. More of Schubert’s
lieder brought them two correct answer and kept the gap to a manageable 20
points. Following the lieder was the Mackenzie River, which fell to Matthew
Spry. Fictional characters and the higher education establishments they attended
brought two bonuses, but they zagged with Mr. Burns having attended Harvard
when he really attended Yale. Still, the momentum remained with Imperial as Matthew
Spry took the next starter with Parallel Lives and Parallel Lines. Bonuses on
Indonesia brought just the one correct answer. Linus Luu made a timely early
buzz with the concept of curvature for the next starter. Christ’s only took one
bonus on works with very similar titles, but at least it meant that the score
now stood at 130 – 90 at the 20 minute mark. Ominous, but still bridgeable.
Brendan Bethlehem recognised some vibraphone virtuosi to
take the next starter. Energy storage in ecosystems brought two bonuses and the
gap was down to 20. The second picture starter saw Jaime Salamanca Camacho
identify a self portrait by Albrecht Durer. More youthful self portraits brought
one bonus. Still, Christ’s were going to need at least two visits to the table
now. It looked as if Jaime Salamanca Camacho’s buzz with Apollonius for the
next starter might prove to be decisive. Bonuses on music saw them take just
the one, missing out on an old quiz chestnut on Rule Britannia. All done and
dusted? Well, cometh the hour, cometh the man. Oscar Despard buzzed early and accurately
to give the answer of the well-known Decepticon, Synchrotron. Philosophy
brought one bonus. But there was still hope for Christ’s as long as they could
keep slinging buzzer. Brendan Bethlehem did so, taking the next starter with
Sukkot. Historical figures in the plays of Shakespeare brought a correct
answer, and the gap was down to 20. The Persian Sassanids saw Bendan Bethlehem
strike again. Gap down to 10. Two bonuses on web design meant that the scores
were level. All of the momentum was with Christ’s. Gastrulation sounds like a
particularly nasty method of murder, but whatever it really means Oscar Despard
knew it and took the lead back for Christ’s with it. Translators and languages brought
two bonuses. Was there time for a last starter?
No. This meant that Christ’s had won a terrific contest
with 180 – 160.
For the record, Imperial achieved a BCR of 52 while Christ’s
achieved 60. The result, though was in doubt right up until the last starter. Nobody
will fancy facing Christ’s after this, but then Imperial aren’t finished yet
either. Could we see these two sides meeting again in the final? Well, there’s
a long way to go yet.
Amol Watch
“Four minutes to go. Plenty of time, Christ’s, for you.”
When Amol said this there was a gap of fifty points between the teams. Amol,
when you’re making predictions like this I wish you’d give us the name of this
year’s Grand National winner.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of
The Week
One of those rare occasions when nothing especially struck
me.
Baby Elephant Walk Moment.
The eigenvalues of a matrix are usually represented by the
lowercase form of which Greek letter? Elsewhere it is used to represent
Lagrange multipliers and the radioactive decay constant.
Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.
No comments:
Post a Comment