Well, it wasn’t quite a case of all human life was there in the specialist round in tonight’s first round heat, but we certainly got to see the highs and the lows. The high was provided in the very first round. Rob Hayman was answering on The Aztec Empire, and he scored a magnificent 12 from 12. I predicted I might get one of these. In fact I got 2 – Mexica and Lake Texcoco. I should have got 3 but I mixed up my Teotihuacan with my Tenochtitlan. Don’t you just hate it when that happens?
Could Sara Knapper match that on Janis Joplin? Well, no, or
rather, not quite. Nonetheless she managed a good 9 points. In this day and age
to get 9 you just really have to know your subject and Sarah clearly did that.
In fact I felt that she was a little rushed with the last question and might
just have had 10 otherwise. Well, that’s the way it goes.
Right. Polly Allen’s round on the TV series Agatha Christie’s
Poirot. I’m afraid that Polly only scored 3. It didn’t look as if Polly was
especially nervous and I suspect that only Polly could really say why things
didn’t work out for her. She has my sympathy. Her expression on the return to
her chair was a salutary reminder of just what prospective contenders could be
letting themselves in for when they apply to the show.
Finally Jag Bhogal with the Dutch superstar racing driver
Max Verstappen. With 2 on the Aztecs and one on Poirot I had been on famine
rations and this round only added 1 more point to my aggregate. Jay hesitated a
bit, but for the most part he followed the hesitation with a correct answer.
Again, he knew his stuff. He was rewarded with a double figure round of 10
which as we know is a mark of quality.
Polly was first back to the chair. You know, I’ve said
before how gratifying it is when you see a contender who has had a bit of a ‘mare
on specialist manage to compose themselves and put together a much better GK
round and Polly did this. A satisfactory 8 put her into double figures. Not,
sadly, a target, because Rob had already scored 12, but at least a battling
performance.
Sarah was next. It’s not been that often in this series
that a contender who has scored 9 in specialist is only in third at the
turnaround, but notwithstanding Sarah gave it a good lash. For the second round
running she didn’t quite make it into double figures, but as we’ve already said
9 is a pretty decent score and her 18 set a competitive target for the others
to aim at.
Jag Bhogal’s hesitations seemed even more obvious in his GK
round than they had in the specialist. So while he was getting the first few answers
right, he was losing time and when he started getting a few wrong it was
looking touch and go as to whether he would be able to match Sarah’s total. As
it happens he did, scoring 8 to take him to 18 and by virtue of having only 1
pass he was actually the leader in the clubhouse. However Rob was still to
come.
For the first few questions Rob looked like he might very
well be on for the best performance on GK of the series so far. The word
aileron saw him passing though, and he lost just a bit of momentum. Not in a disastrous
way, though and he kept on picking off the points to take him into double
figures for the second time this evening. He finished with 11 for a total of
23, winning both rounds and putting a five point gap between himself and the
others. Thou hast it all - King, Cawdor, Glamis and all. Well done, sir! Best
of luck in the semi finals.
The Details
|
Rob Hayman |
The Aztec Empire |
12 |
0 |
11 |
1 |
23 |
1 |
|
Sarah Knapper |
Janis Joplin |
9 |
0 |
9 |
0 |
18 |
0 |
|
Polly Allen |
Agatha Christie’s Poirot |
3 |
2 |
8 |
0 |
11 |
2 |
|
Jag Bhogal |
Max Verstappen |
10 |
0 |
8 |
1 |
18 |
1 |
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