The Teams
Darwin, Cambridge
Rebecca McClelland
Sophie Willis
Harrison Whitaker (Capt.)
Rowan Stewart
Bristol
Ted Warner
Bridie Rogers
Kevin Flanagan (Capt.)
Olivia Watts
Well, after all the excitement earlier in the evening in
Mastermindland were we, I wondered, in for a wee bit of a change of pace in UC?
Probably not. For this was another qualification match. To the winners a place
in the semis and to the losers a bar stool in the last chance saloon.
I will confess that I didn’t really get where we were heading
with Iris van Herpen’s skeleton dress for the first starter, however it was
Darwin’s top buzzer who did. Harrison Whitaker knew that this must have been
the first dress made by 3D printer. Good shout. - Norse Myths as chronicled in
Gylfaginning - announced Amol. Yum yum, announced I. I had the lot, but only
the last one, Bifrost the Rainbow Bridge was at all easy, and this was the one
bonus Darwin took. Bristol’s top buzzer, Ted Warner took the next starter
knowing the Mukden Incident, among others. Muk Den was the main character in
the Beijing based version of Eastenders back in the 80s, I believe. Winners of
the Queer Palm at the Cannes Film Festival brought us both just the one point
for Pride. For once I awarded myself a lap of honour for something other than a
Science question. I know as little about video games as I do about Science so
when I correctly guessed the Final Fantasy series of games for the next starter,
off around the Clark sofa I trotted. Ted Warner gave Bristol the lead with that
one. Amol announced a set of bonuses on proteins and my mind went back to sleep
for a bit. Bristol took two, and received an apology from Amol that he couldn’t
accept the third. For the picture starter we saw a map and a vinyl disc. The
vinyl disc contained a photograph of a recording artist. The map showed the
location of a town or city mentioned in the name of a well known song recorded
by the artist. Olivia Watts knew it was Aretha Franklin so the city had to be
San Jose. Ah, but she didn’t ask Amol if he knew the way to San Jose so was
right, but didn’t get the starter. Rebecca McClelland knew Nobel Laureate Felix
‘Everybody in the whole cell’ Bloch for the next starter. This earned the picture
bonuses. The last answer was Tina Turner and Nutbush City Limits, which I once
thought was about Rupert Bear’s home town. Darwin took a single bonus. Nobody
knew the Rhinemaidens for the next starter but Darwin lost five. So at the ten
minute mark Bristol led 35 – 25.
Now, thanks to Alex Haley’s “Roots” I knew the term griot
for the next starter. Harrison Whitaker
knew it as well. Gloria Steinem brought a full house which pogoed Darwin into
the lead. I haven’ t heard of the Crying of Lot 49 but Harrison Whitaker was in
quickly for it. Medieval philosophy provided a second consecutive full house to
give Darwin fifty points on the bounce. Centimorgan? Me? Nope, but it gave Ted
Warner the next starter. The artist Barbara Walker brought just one bonus, but
Bristol will have to view that particular set as a missed opportunity. With the
next starter we had to wait and wait until suddenly it became clear we were looking
for the mother of invention. Harrison Whitaker won the buzzer race to say
necessity. Science stuff brought a full house, and Darwin had a fifty point
lead. I was very pleased with my guess of Poulenc for the music starter –
nobody else had it. Ted Warner knew an inlet of the Caspian Sea and this earned
him the music bonuses on Les Six. A full house halved the gap between the
teams. Bridie Rogers knew trochlea and trochlear for the next starter. Ways of preparing
vegetables for cooking did not include the classic British method of boil the
bejeesus out of them. We both took the same one with Julien. Darwin lost five
with an early interruption for the next starter, allowing Ted Warner in with
the cocktail party problem. Women and the Mexican Revolution brought just the
one bonus. So as we zeroed in on the 20 minute mark Bristol led by 105 – 95.
Anyone’s game.
Harrison Whitaker traced the Lords Appellant to the reign
of Richard II, without mentioning the Lords Repellant in every reign since. 3
questions on the element Mercury brought two bonuses. So to the second picture
starter and Kevin Flanagan identified a beautiful painting by Rousseau. Bonuses
on three more carnival scenes brought two correct answers. French philosopher
Lyotard gave Harrison Whitaker another starter. The literary magazine Blast
brought Darwin two correct answers. A good old quiz chestnut about the acid
present in culinary vinegars saw both teams hesitate before Olivia Watts gave
the answer of acetic acid. A really tricky set on semantics yielded nowt. All
square again. “The Journey Across the Heath” was the clue that we wanted The
Return of the Native for he next starter. Ted Warner zigged with Tess of the D’Urbervilles.
This allowed Harrison Whitaker in with the right answer. European place names
beginning with the English name of a culinary herb – eg – Dillenburg – brought just
the one bonus, when a full house would have been possible. Nobody knew Don
Giovanni for the next starter. Captain Kevin Flanagan knew that Marie Curie
would be he right answer to the next starter. Historical fashion brought nowt
and Bristol still trailed by 10. Olivia Wats wiped this out recognising a
starter alluding to the Japanese Tea Ceremony. They got one bonus wrong, and
then came the bong. Another tie break! For once, I also knew the answer to it.
I knew my favourite poem, Ode to Autumn ends with “Gathering swallows twitter
in the sky”. So did Harrison Whitaker. On such small margins. Darwin went
straight through to the semi final.
It seems an obvious thing to say that there wasn’t much in
it. Darwin were slightly outbuzzed by Bristol. However their BCR of 67 kept
them in the game. Bristol won two more starters than Darwin did, but their
bonus conversion rate of 38 meant they couldn’t seal the deal in full time.
Amol Watch
Whatever else I say about Amol, I freely admit that he
consistently gets it right with his rulings on whether answers are acceptable
or not. Yes, I know that he probably has direction coming into his ear about
this, but his “I’m so sorry, I can’t accept that Olivia, I did ask for the full
title of the song. . . “ just strikes the right note. I yield to no one in my
admiration for Jeremy Paxman, but sometimes his rejoinders in such cases were
tantamount to insult being added to injury. While I’m praising Amol, I like the
way he makes it clear just how much fun he’s having. His reaction to Tina
Turner’s Chattanooga Choo Choo from Darwin was rather infectious.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of
The Week
The cocktail party problem is a term describing the phenomenon
of selective attention wherein someone can attend to a single auditory stimulus
tuning out surrounding noises.
Baby Elephant Walk Moment
In enzymology, the Km is the substrate concentration where
half of the maximum rate of reaction is reached. The letters Km stand for which
constant?
I was fine up to ‘in’. Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum
dumdum.
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