The Teams
SOAS
Hatau Mozayen
V Davis-Aladren
Andrew Graham (capt)
Matthew O’Regan
Imperial
Rahim Dina
Eugenia Tong
Oscar O’Flanagan (capt)
Justin Keung
So to the repechage round. Last night was an all-London
affair with SOAS taking on Imperial. Rahim Dina came in early for the first
starter and correctly identified meanings of the word rust. Works in the
National Portrait Gallery did not sadly mention my ancestor George Dawes’ work –
he has a couple of portraits of Royalty there, don’t you know – but despite
this oversight they took one bonus on King ‘Make Me An’ Offa of Mercia. An
early buzz saw Imperial lose five, allowing Andrew Graham to answer that the
name of Pakistan first appeared in print in 1933. 3 questions on Wheelers –
none of them namechecking Geoffrey, sadly – brought one correct answer. Andrew
Graham took his second starter in a row, recognising a quote referring to logic.
You know, it’s a funny thing, but I still think of Mr. Spock every time I hear
that word. Umbrellas in British novels, a subject about which we just don’t
hear enough these days, brought two correct answers. Imperial’s star buzzer, skipper
Oscar Flanagan, opened his account recognising that a graph related to a fuel
source used in electricity generation was pertaining to coal. More graphs
brought us both a full house. The next starter about an order of mammals took a
long time to get where it was going but when it mentioned navigating around a
room at night it was obviously bats, and Oscar Flanagan took his second
starter. Darleane ‘Who?’ Hoffman brought me last night’s lap of honour for
correctly guessing plutonium for the first bonus. Imperial took that and the
second into the bargain. This ensured that they led by 55 – 35 at just after
the 10 minute mark.
V Davis-Aladren knew various works linked by the word
adventure for the next starter. Spanish food items beginning e and ending ada brought
two bonuses and put the teams level again. Matthew O’Regan was first in to
answer a question about the late, great Benjamin Zephania for the next starter
and biographers of Richard III proved my point about needing someone familiar
with Tudor history in your team – even if Andrew Graham earned brownie points
for daring to give Young Ones’ University Challenge answer Toxteth O’Grady for
the archbishop of Canterbury in whose household the young Thomas More lived.
SOAS did not score on a really rather gentle set. I think Eugenia Tong was
thinking of the right answer to the next starter when she gave Bevin instead of
Beveridge – which is a shame because she didn’t get any points for it. Rahim
Dina worked out from the question that American artist Harvey Littleton
specialised in glass – must have been when he wasn’t recording I’m Sorry I
haven’t A Clue (and don’t pretend you didn’t see that one coming). A full house
on creatures and people described as infelix in the Aeneid followed. Music,
maestro please. Nobody recognised the work of Brahms. (insert Are You Being
Served reference here please.). Neither team dredged up coeliac disease for the
next starter. Justin Keung recognised tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow from
Shakespeare’s Scottish play to earn the music bonuses. Other composers of
classical works used in Civilisation IV – no, me neither – brought a lot of
discussion and one correct answer. And an apology from Oscar O’Flanagan for
saying ‘I bloody hope so’. The momentum was with Imperial and their skipper who
knew Guy of Lusignan was the meat of a question to which the answer would be
The 3rd Crusade. Computing vocabulary in French were surprisingly
easy, and Imperial took two while the word repertoire went begging. Justin
Keung knew that Rossini wrote The Thieving Magpie. Two bonuses on a tricky set
on literature meant that Imperial led by 135 – 55 at 20 minutes and SOAS were
in the do do.
Oscar Flanagan knew that Saskatchewan is the only Canadian
province not bordered by – well, a lot of stuff frankly. The Shah Jahan Mosque
in Woking brought just the one bonus – I was surprised they didn’t recognise
the War of the Worlds for the last. For the picture starter Matthew O’Regan
buzzed but couldn’t answer allowing Imperial to identify senator Joseph
McCarthy. Notable people testifying before HUAC brought Imperial 2 bonuses as
they marched onwards towards round 2. Now Andrew Graham finally managed to get
his team a word in edgeways identifying a description of the velociraptor
dinosaurs. People who died on their birthdays I felt sure would include
Shakespeare but I was wrong, Nonetheless SOAS had two of the three who were described.
Seretse Khama saw Eugenia Tong strike like a coiled cobra to give the answer of
Botswana. A full house on Olympic Water Polo (do the gold medals for the event
have holes in the middle? I think we should be told.) followed. Oscar Flanagan
is very effective on what I think of as ‘penny dropping’ questions – the sort
which suddenly become clear and launch a buzzer race and he had mutation for
the next. Waterways of London brought just one correct answer, but hey,
Imperial had already won, even if there were still a couple of minutes on the
clock. Hatau Moyazen correctly answered that Gibraltar Point is in
Lincolnshire. Best International Feature Film Oscars brought a good full house
and at least put SOAS into triple figures. Andrew Graham identified the Mekong
Delta (named for the little green fellow in Dan Dare) for the next starter and
the team took two bonuses on ancient Mesopotamia. Oscar Flanagan knew about
someone or other’s law, At this point sounded the gong, giving Imperial a win
by 220 – 115.
As for the stats, SOAS BCR fell from 80% in round 1 to
round about 50 in this match. Imperial managed 64%. Thanks SOAS and hard lines.
Amol Watch
I’m always pleased to see Amol namechecking the BCR. It’s
fine Amol, you don’t have to confess that you’re really a LAM reader, we’re just
happy to have you.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of
The Week
The first portrait acquired by the National Portrait
Gallery in London is a portrait of Shakespeare.
Baby Elephant Walk Moment
Congratulations setters! Nothing soporific in this show.
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