University Challenge 2026 First Round Bath v. City St. George's

The Teams

Bath

Henry Hill

Molly Marshall

William Turner (Capt.)

Bill Fudge 

City St. George’s

Massimo Lecavalier

Alisa Butterwick

Nathan Leung (Capt.)

Nick Brown

We kicked off with a starter calling for the three letters starting a series of words beginning – cub – and both teams rather sat on their buzzers until captain William Turner of Bath took his first. Major cities lying on an isthmus brought just one bonus. The Bath skipper took his second starter on the bounce, knowing the derivation of the word filibuster. Good shout. This time they followed with a full house on the Home Office. Nick Brown recognised the name Andrew Wiles for the next starter to get Fermat’s Last Theorem and open his team’s account. The mathematical puzzle of the Knight’s Tour allowed me to take a bonus point for Euler. It is purely because of UC that every time I hear the phrase ‘swiss mathematician’ (not all that common in the NHS dental department) I blurt out Euler. City St. George’s took 2. So to the picture starter and the already impressive William Turner recognised the flag of the Axores. I think he may be a bit of a vexillologist given the way he theatrically rubbed his hands together when Amol announced three more subnational flags. Bath took one bonus, recognising the flag of Wallonia. Starter four for William Turner recognising a description of Burkina Faso. The 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony brought a full house for Bath. At almost 10 minutes they led by 80 – 20

It was that man Turner who took his fifth starter on the next question knowing that if its an art form and linked to Stoke on Trent it has to be ceramics. Long tennis matches in Grand Slam events brought a single bonus, but already the course of the match looked pretty well set. For once it wasn’t the Bath skipper who answered the next starter, but Molly Marshall who reckoned that the language in the question might be Cornish. Good shout. Right, I’ll be honest, I visited it last September and have drawn it more than once, but I have never heard of the nickname The Mersey Funnel for Liverpool RC Metropolitan Cathedral. As soon as I heard it, though, I guessed what it had to be – for the main shape of the building does resemble an upturned funnel. Bath took a single bonus. Massimo Lecavalier won the buzzer race to identify the surname Wright and give City St. George’s a rare chance at some more points. The ensuing bonuses were a UC special set of rare beauty. They asked for the names of elements. We were given clues to words you would get if you took the chemical symbols from their names. So, for example, if you ad Rh to odium you get Rhodium, for which Rh is the symbol. My God, that’s a great set! Sadly City St. George’s didn’t get any of them, having done the hard graft with cobalt they gave Balt and Baltic. Still they were at least answering questions now. Alissa Butterwick was first to recognise Outkast for the music starter – a popular beat combo, so I’m informed. Other artists taking part in their 2025 induction ceremony into the rock and roll Hall of Fame failed to add to their score. Maya Angelou is a little bit of a hardy perennial in these parts, but City St. George’s lost five on her for the next starter allowing Bill Fudge to supply her name. Singing voices of Disney characters looked like a full house all the way and indeed it was. Nick Brown won the buzzer race to identify Hazlenuts for the next starter (Cadburys take the and they cover them in chocolate, so I’m told.)Pairs of exact contemporaries – people who were born and died in the same year as each other – brought just one correct answer. So on 20 minutes Bath led by 135 to 50.

After CSG lost 5 on the next starter, Henry Hill chanced his arm with infarction and was correct meaning that all 4 of the Bath team had answered at least 1 starter correctly. Ireland, France and Britain in the Middle Ages brought 2 bonuses. For the second picture starter nobody recognised the work of Miro. William Turner took a 6^th starter recognising references in the Aeneid to the Trojan Horse. Three paintings of people harvesting potatoes saw William Turner lighten the mood by throwing in the famous Toxteth O’Grady from the UC parody in The Young Ones when his team could not find any correct answers. William Turner recognised references to bluegrass to take starter 7. People who helped shape Science in 2025 brought a full house to take Bath close to the 200 barrier. CSG lost five more on an incorrect interruption on cricket allowing Molly Marshall in with India. 200 up. One bonus on social control followed. Nathan Leung took a starter on the furthest point from the sea in the British mainland and thus ensured that all 8 players had answered at least 1 starter correctly. One bonus on 19^th century funeral marches was taken. Sadly 5 of those points were lost to an incorrect interruption on the next starter allowing Henry Hunt to identify real life figures who featured in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. No time for bonuses. Bath won comfortably by 215 to 50.

For the record Bath ended with a decent BCR of just below 58%, while City St. George’s was 27% - let’s acknowledge that this was off a small number of bonuses and the fewer bonuses there were, the more skewed the BCR can be.

Amol Watch

Nothing to see here. Go on with your lives, citizens.

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

Burkina Faso literally translates as ‘Land of Upright People’

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

Well done setters! I didn’t feel any of those questions were needlessly prolonged beyond their natural lifespan last night.