The Teams
Sheffield
Rhys Lewis
Abdelrahman Elsisi
Jacob Price
Isobel Dobbie
Imperial
Rahim Dina
Eugenia Tong
Oscar O’Flanagan
Justin Keung
Good evening. In this second qualification match one of our
two repechage winning teams was going to earn that coveted place in the semis.
But which team would it be?
Jacob Price buzzed first to identify a description of
lemongrass. Three Shakespeare bonuses saw me fail to score, to my shame. Well
I’ve neither studied nor seen Measure for Measure. Sheffield managed one. Nobody
knew that the Five Sisters window is in York Minster. Jacob Price knew the
largest city in Western Sahara. South American cowboys seemed an unlikely
subject but it brought Sheffield a full house. Oscar O’Flanagan opened the
Imperial account, knowing the Overground Liberty Line. Particle physics brought
them a brace of bonuses. For the first picture starter nobody could quite
identify Cologne and Mainz from their positions on a map. Not surprised – not
many clues on the map at all. Abdelrahman Elsisi recognised a description on
mark up language for the next starter. More pairs of cities mentioned in
Baedeker’s guide books brought them two bonuses. Oscar O’Flanagan identified
fictional colonels for the next starter – sadly Bloodnok and Mustard did not
feature. A pair of Swiss cheeses took the scores at just past the ten minute
mark to 60-40 with Sheffield ahead.
Oscar Flanagan took a flyer on the next starter coming in
early to identify Norway as the country with specific difficult climbs.
Surveillance capitalism – no, me neither – brought one bonus. Nobody knew the
Epistle to the Romans was the answer to the next starter. Sheffield committed
the first incorrect interruption of the contest for the next starter allowing
Oscar Flanagan to supply the geographical term Badlands. Works by architect
Hiroshi Sugimoto brought not a lot but took us up to the music starter. Rhys
Lewis recognised the work of Grieg (Edvard, not Tony) Classical pieces written
for types of dances brought one bonus. Eugenia Tong knew that Palladium is the
catalyst for more chemical processes than you can shake a stick at. Crelle’s
Journal brought two bonuses. Nobody had the next starter on French cinema.
Various phrases containing the word ‘vulgar’ launched a fantastic buzzer race,
won by Oscar Flanagan. Ray’s Apu trilogy – much appreciated by Amol himself –
brought two correct answers. Which meant that Imperial now led by 105 – 70 as
we approached 20 minutes.
Nobody knew the Swiss mathematician Paul Bernays for the
next starter. It seemed as if Oscar O’Flanagan got his west mixed up with his east
when he went for Edinburgh for the next starter allowing Isobel Dobbie in with
Glasgow. Countries with exactly three official languages brought 2 correct
answers. For the second picture starter we were shown what was so obviously the
work of William Hogarth that I was surprised when only Justin Keung went for
his shooting irons straightaway. This brought bonuses on other representations
of the Wheel of Fortune – none of which incidentally featured Michael Miles
(ask your grandparents) Nicky Campbell or Graham Norton. They took one bonus. Oscar
O’Flanagan seemed very excited to take the next starter on Seamus Heaney’s poem
about blackberry picking. Foundation myths brought two correct answers and let’s
be honest, you wouldn’t have bet against Imperial at this point. Nobody
recognised the term ablation for the next starter although Imperial tried too
early and lost five. The next starter asked which king was married to Isabel
and Isabelle and Oscar O’Flanagan was just far too quick, supplying the correct
answer of King John. Three questions on Birch reduction (doesn’t a chain saw
usually do the trick?) saw Eugenia Tong take two correct answers for her team,
earning her skipper’s approbation. Said skipper was dominating on the buzzer by
now and he knew the term quench from metallurgy for the next starter. The
Devils of Loudon by Aldous Huxley brought just the 1 point, but it was all
academic by now for Imperial had a winning lead. Oscar O’Flanagan buzzed early
again for the next starter, but this time it didn’t come off. Sheffield could
not answer that Petunia is ultimately derived from a guarani word. Abdelrahman
Elsisi knew that the word hippogriff was first mentioned in Orlando Furioso which
at least put Sheffield into triple figures. 3 questions on Labuan brought two
bonuses. Jacob Price recognised a description of the term inertia and took the
next starter. There was no time for them to earn any bonuses on Speedway.
Imperial had won with 160-120 and are through to the semi finals.
Amol Watch
He can be a little tease, our Amol. When Oscar Flanagan
gave the answer Internet of Things, teammate Justin Keung said “No!” “I have to
take your first answer,” said Amol. Dramatic pause.”Which is just as well for
you because it’s right!” Nice one.
In his comments Amol seemed to think that Imperial only
came into the contest in the last 10 minutes. Yet they were ahead with half of
the contest still to come. Shome mishtake shurely?
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of
The Week
Daniel Defoe thought that
Glasgow was the most beautiful city in Britain after London.
Baby Elephant Walk Moment
Which Greek letter denotes the type of meson discovered by
Aihud Pevsner in 1961? Consisting of a mixture of up, down and strange quarks,
their discovery completed the meson octet proposed in the Eightfold Way model.
No, it’s not the longest, but it’s still deadly at up to 100 paces. Dum de
dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.
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