The Teams
Manchester
Ray Power
Kirsty Dickson
Kai Madgwick (Capt.)
Rob Faulkner
Imperial
Raheem Dina
Eugenia Tong
Oscar O’Flanagan (Capt.)
Justin Keung
Amol did mention the fact that both of these teams have
shown that they can be beaten already during this series. But which team would
be defeated again in this match? It certainly pitted two of this series’ most
proficient buzzers against each other – the skippers Kai Magdwick and Oscar
O’Flanagan. If you were looking for an omen to show who would win, it arrived
in the shape of Kai Madgwick who correctly answered the first starter to
identify the flag of Guyana. Starter 1. One bonus fell to the team on languages
of Ethiopia. I got one right too by the expedient of answering the only
Ethiopian language I know about, Amharic, to each. Various people with the
given name Camille were identified by Kai Madgwick. Starter 2. A lovely bonus
set on triple crowns in sport brought a full house. Now, with the third starter
came what was arguably the key point of the match. It was a long starter, and
Oscar O’Flanagan buzzed in early but gave a wrong answer. Given the whole
question it became clearer that the city being described was Amman, This gave
Kai Madgwick his triple. Starter 3. Russian artist Ilya Repin – who was surely
also one of the Men from UNCLE – brought 2 bonuses and took us to the picture
starter. A neurological condition described in French saw Oscar O’Flanagan,
doing what a captain should in trying to spark his team into life, buzz early
but he could not provide an answer. This allowed medical student Kirsty Dickson
to identify a description of Tourette’s. More conditions, described in French
and named after French people brought two bonuses. Nice to see a namecheck for
Raynaud’s Syndrome, with which I was once misdiagnosed. Another story for
another time. Kirsty Dickson came in too early for the next starter but in the
spirit of it never rains but it pours, Imperial did not have the answer, Dead
Space. Nevertheless, Manchester had achieved a near perfect start and they led
by 75 to minus 5 as we approached ten minutes.
Kai Madgwick knew Tithonus from Greek Mythology. Starter 4.
A couple of bonuses on neurotransmitters added to the already impressive lead. Now,
we didn’t get enough of the question for the next starter to know why the name
of Barbara Loden inspired Ray Power’s answer of Wanda, but it was right. Stuffed
breads caused amusement when Ray Power admitted after the first bonus ‘Sorry, I
zoned out there.’ It was like me with a chemistry bonus. Manchester took one of
these. Rob Faulkner took the next starter with Diophantus – nope, me neither. I
apologise for pointing this out but it did mark that rare occurrence when all 4
of one teams answered a starter correctly before the whole of the opposing team
answered one correctly. Sometimes, however good you are – and Imperial ARE good
– it just ain’t your night. It was nice to see Chretien de Troyes being
namechecked in the set of bonuses on Arthurian myth. He’s been out of the
spotlight too long, in my opinion. Manchester took two. Nobody recognised a bit
of Ludwig Van for the music starter. Likewise, nobody knew the Washington
consensus for the next starter. That was enough. For the next starter Oscar O’Flanagan
finally beat Kai Madgwick’s somewhat flamboyant buzz to give the correct answer
of the play “A Raisin in the Sun’ They received the music bonuses for their
pains, three pieces of music that use variations of ‘God Save the King/Queen.
Sadly they could only convert one of these into points. But at least they now
had a positive score. Kirsty Dickson knew a description of paracetamol when she
heard it in the next starter. Tunisian politics proved not to Manchester’s
collective liking. Nobody recognised clues to the Futura font. Kai Madgwick
knew that David The Builder - yes, I really wish he had been given the name Bob
too – had reigned in Georgia. Starter 5. The Harvard system of stellar classification
and two bonuses took Manchester serenely past 150. Nobody took fulminate for
the next starter. Rahim Dina knew that both the prose and poetic Eddas describe
Ratatoskr, a squirrel. I’ve read both in Old Norse but I couldn’t answer that. Short
stories of Katherine Mansfield brought two very quick bonuses and meant that
the score stood at 160-25 to Manchester on 20 minutes.
Nobody identified Apollo and Daphne for the second picture
starter. I’ll be honest, I don’t remember Apollo being in Scooby Doo, but then
I don’t know everything. Kai Madgwick knew that Sgurr Alisdair is the highest
peak on Skye. Starter 6. More Apollos and Daphnes brought two more bonuses. Kai
Madgwick knew that if the next starter was asking about Mansa Musa then he
could afford to take a flyer on Hay on Wye’s twin town of Timbuktu. Starter 7. Supergroups
proved right up Manchester’s street and they took a full house. As soon as Amol
mentioned a novel’s subtitle Kai Madgwick identified it as “Tess of the D’Urbervilles.”
Starter 8. Terms that appear more than once in citations for the Nobel Prize
for Chemistry (ugh) may have appeared more than once but only once they brought
any points to Manchester. Raheem Dina could not quite pull Eduardo Paolozzi out
from the dump bin of memory for the next starter, but Manchester had lost 5 for
an incorrect interruption. Kai Madgwick knew the Delian League. Starter 9. My
team, Spurs, will probably be playing in it soon if things get much worse. The
Via Emilia brought two more correct answers. Credit to Oscar O’Flanagan. He was
still attacking the buzzer as if there were only 5 points between the teams and
it now paid off as he identified several Irish architects. Iranian film directors
bro9ught two more correct answers. I guessed that the roman law mentioned in
the next starter was about marriage, but neither team did. Eugenia Tong
recognised a quote from Twelfth Night’s Malvolio. Expressions taken from the Vulgate
brought a full house. Oscar O’Flnagan zigged with Chile for the next starter
allowing Kai Madgwick to zag with Peru. Tenth starter. Algorithms in quantum
computing (no , of course I didn’t get any) took Manchester’s score to 250.
That was it.
It really wasn’t so much about the bonuses in this show,
but for the record Imperial managed a BCR of 66.6% while Manchester’s was 57.1%.
It was all down to the buzzing, and I must be forgiven for singling out Kai
Madgwick for his double figure total of starters in this match. That puts him
in very good company. Hard lines to Imperial and thank you for the excellent
entertainment you’ve provided this year. Manchester – congratulations and best
of luck in the final.
Amol Watch
Amol pretty much put his finger on what happened in this
match in his comments at the end. Manchester got off to such a good start that
Imperial were doing what you must do, trying to take a flier and put the brakes
on the Manchester momentum. Had Oscar O’Flanagan’s first attempt worked, it
might well have been a closer contest. I do like the way that that Amol always
tries to apply a little balm to the feelings of the defeated teams.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of
The Week
Futura font was used on the plaque left on the moon by the
Apollo 11 astronauts.
Baby Elephant Walk Moment
The citations for both the 1937 prize, won by Norman Haworth
and the 1970 prize won by Luis Leloir reference which group of biomolecules
with Leloir’s citation specifically noting his discovery of sugar nucleotides
and their role in the biosynthesis of these molecules?
You know it, I know it – it’s dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum
dumdum.
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