Tuesday, 16 December 2025

University CHallenge 2026 - Manchester v. The London School of Economics

The Teams

Manchester

Ray Power

Kirsty Dixon

Kai Madgwick (capt)

Rob Faulkner

London School of Economics

Ryan Sharpe

Cormac Beirne

Andy Huff (capt)

Catherine Tan

A little bit of confusion came when both Cormac Beirne and Andy Huff seemed to answer about the architect I.M.Pei. Amol gave Cormac a wee bit of a telling off but accepted the answer. Theories of intelligence brought one bonus. One more than I got. Andy Huff came in too early for the next starter allowing Kai Madgwick to correctly answer Whitehead. (Or penguin in Cymraeg.) Zurab Tsereteli seemed like stony ground yet yielded Manchester a full house. Ryan Sharpe knew if it’s a Roman Emperor and Croatia, then it’s Diocletian.LSE took one bonus of a set on novels set in Vienna. For the first picture starter we were showed a chess opening, and alongside it a map showing the location from which it takes its name. Both Ryan Sharpe and I recognised Budapest. 3 more of the same brought 2 correct answers. Amol asked the next question through the medium of double dutch – well, that’s what it sounded like to me – but Andy Huff understood it and gave the answer of replication. Anime director Satoshi Kon is not well known in the Clark household, but he brought one bonus to the LSE. They’d had the better of the opening and led by 60 – 25 at just after 10 minutes.

For the next starter Kai Madgwick almost jumped out of his seat, but was still beaten by Cormac Beirne. Who lost 5. He’d zigged with Ibsen, allowing Kai M. to zag with Strindberg. Blood glucose – which has never actually been an ingredient of Mars Bars – provided two bonuses. Andy Huff knew that for John Locke, LT stood for Labour Theory. The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian brought a brace of bonuses. Kai Madgwick came in too early for the next starter allowing Ryan Sharpe to identify the Beagle Channel. The use of almonds in alcoholic beverages brought a full house and took LSE smartly into triple figures. For the music starter that followed Kai Magdwick identified the work of Scott Walker. More English versions of pop songs originally performed in French brought just the one bonus, and sadly did not include The Sex Pistol’s lively performance of Sacha Distel’s “Ce n’est pas ma Cheval, c’est ma Femme!” Manchester took 1. Kai Madgwick recognised clues to the word Caustic for the next starter. Operas featuring the card game faro brought two bonuses, and narrowed the gap between the teams to one full set. Kai Madgwick took the next starter recognising references to the Greek town of Philippi The Turkic family of languages brought them no joy. Never mind. Kai Madgwick was on a roll and recognised various people with the surname Fuchs – oh, please stop giggling at the back. Cassiopeia brought the two bonuses Manchester needed to take the lead, by 105 – 100 at the 20 minute point.

That man Madgwick was in for the next starter identifying a picture of the work of Marcel Duchamps. Just one bonus followed, but hey, it was a long time that LSE had been shut out now, and the longer you wait, the harder it gets to win a buzzer race. Credit to Andy Huff for getting back in with nori for the next starter. A full house on books about film meant that the contest was far from over yet. “Ballet . . . Katchaturian-“ said Amol and Cormac won the race to say “Spartacus”. Two word Latin terms from Roman Law – no, Cuttius Headoffus was not one – brought just one bonus. Cormac Beirne came in too early for the next starter but Manchester could not capitalise. Kai Madgwick recognised a reference to Henry V for the next starter. Cultural figures namechecked in Cole Porter’s Anything Goes gave them the one correct answer they needed to tie the scores. Squeaky bum time for both teams. Kai Madgwick lost five, but LSE couldn’t capitalise. The indefatigable Manchester skipper did it again with the next starter, but again damage was limited because LSE did not know the answer. Rob Faulkner took the next starter to level the scores with parasport tennis great Alfie Hewitt. There was very little time left  and a couple of bonuses on George Eliot were not enough to seal the deal yet. Kai Madgwick’s very physical buzz for the next starter did though. World Heritage sites in Ethiopia would be enough. Manchester took one bonus, and ended up winning by 160 – 135.

It was a close run thing. LSE took a BCR of 55.5% while Manchester’s was 58.3% Bad luck to the LSE, but a fine match from both.

Amol Watch

Are we to assume that Amol is a fan of the Sugababes? He certainly approved when Manchester recognised them in the music round. Also he does have this habit of informing teams that one of the had the right answer which was ignored by the others.

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

I must be going soft, but again nothing stuck out for me.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

In eukaryotic cells, origin licensing and origin firing are necessary precursors to which fundamental biological process the occurs in the S phase of the cell cycle. These steps involve the loading and activation of, respectively, of DNA helicases to allow access to DNA polymerases. Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.

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