University Challenge 2027 First Round SOAS v. Edinburgh

The Teams

SOAS

Josephine Newcombe

Seb Lawson

Lola Finch (capt)

Aidan Langston

Edinburgh

Daniel Bloom

Caitlin Tambini

Fred Whibley (capt)

Siddhant Kumar

London’s School of Oriental and African Studies have passed this way before – not as many times as Edinburgh – but at least they’re not strangers to the competition.

First blood fell to Aidan Langston, recognising a group of words, each beginning with bis. 20^th century history brought two bonuses. SOAS’ Seb Lawson, who was going to have a most productive evening, took the first of his starters knowing that Wimbledon’s Crazy Gang defeated Liverpool in the 1988 Cup Final (Lawrie Sanchez goal won it). I’ve lived in Wales for 40 years, but have never before heard of the Seven (so called ) Wonders of Wales but two of them were easy for us to guess, the same two that SOAS took. Keen to halt the SOAS charge, Edinburgh captain Fred Whibley buzzed early for the next starter and got the correct answer with third. The bonuses for you, then Edinburgh, announced Amol, are on the control of gene expression. I think my exact expression when he announced this was – oh, bloody hell. Which should make me feel slightly guilty for the fact that I had a full house because of the very helpful clues given at the end of each of the questions. Edinburgh took 2 and I set off on my wheezy lap of honour around the sofa. Every year I think I can’t get any slower and every year I prove myself wrong. For the picture starter we saw a flag representing the office of president of a country. Nobody, me included, knew it was Cuba. Fred Whibley tried another interruption on the next starter but unsuccessfully. Given the whole question he’d have known the answer required was St. Elmo’s Fire – the weather phenomenon, not the song nor the brat pack movie it was taken from. Aidan Langston had that. More presidential flags brought two correct answers – I only had Botswana. (If you have Botswana, try a little ointment to help clear it up). The next starter gave us the first line of Thomas Hardy’s gagfest “Jude the Obscure”. The mention of Christminster in the question gave Seb Lawson what he needed to take a second starter. Characters whose names appear in novels with title and surname, eg Mr. Hyde, saw SOAS take two, and just miss out on Mr. Norrell from the excellent Susanna Clarke novel “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell”. Nonetheless it had been a fine first 10 minutes for SOAS who led by 80-10

Seb Lawson started the middle 10 the way he had ended the first, correctly answering that Frankfurt is the home of the European Central Bank for his third starter. Philosophical zombies – nope, me neither – conjured up some strange mental images and also two correct answers for SOAS. Poor Siddhant Kumar took a flier on the next starter and was a little unlucky to get his water pump mixed up with his vacuum pump. This gave Seb Lawson his 4^th starter. SOAS took 1 bonus on alloys and should probably have had the old quiz chestnut, amalgam for another. You had to wait with the next starter for it to become obvious. Edinburgh understandably didn’t and unfortunately lost five. Seb Lawson did and took his fifth starter with John Wycliffe. Grammatical aspects of verbs meant nowt to me – well, be fair, I only taught English for 37 years – but brought a couple more correct answers to SOAS, whose lead was now over 100 points. A fine buzz from Daniel Bloom brought an early correct answer to the music starter as he recognised the work of Siouxsie and the Banshees. (Their Dear Prudence is probably my favourite Beatles cover) Other works that sample songs by them brought 1 bonus. Gawd knows why, when the next starter mentioned ‘which brand of physics’ I said thermodynamics, but Siddhant Kumar did the same and we were both right. Central Asian History brought just the one bonus although they did throw one away when the correct answer had been very much on the table. Daniel Bloom was on a roll though and took the next starter with the term ‘calque’. Animals whose names are part of the name of teams in the NHL brought two bonuses. SOAS didn’t panic, though, and the words ‘painter’ and ‘yellow house’ were enough to give Seb Lawson a 6^th starter with Vincent Van Gogh. People born in 1825 yielded two bonuses and the revelation that Darwin’s bulldog, Thomas Huxley, was born in my home borough of Ealing! Yay. Skipper Lola Finch knew the term diegetic for the next starter. Atypical instruments used in works of classical music brought another two bonuses. This meant that on the cusp of the 20 minute mark SOAS led by 175 – 45. Game over? Probably.

Edinburgh were still leaping to the buzzer, though and Daniel Bloom was very quickly into identify a wee bit of Rousseau for the second picture starter. Two bonuses on paintings of storms followed. Seb Lawson’s 7^th starter identified Frederick the Great. The chemistry of painkillers brought a bonus, and only a very slight mispronunciation robbed them of one more. A good buzz from Siddhant Kumar linked Kekule – whose chief claim to fame was almost being an anagram of ukulele – with the word ouroboros. Publications linked by the word crisis brought a bonus.  Nigerian writer looked likely to be Wole Soyinka or Chinua Achebe – Seb Lawson zigged with Soyinka, but he shoulda zagged with Achebe. I didn’t get enough of the next question to understand it but Daniel Bloom knew the answer was zakat. Decades of the 11^th century brought just one bonus. Would they quite get to triple figures, I wondered. Well, Seb Lawson took starter 8 knowing beta carotene is a precursor to vitamin a. SI Derived units and elements were a nice UC special set but brought just one bonus. Didn’t matter, it was all gilding by this point. Aidan Langton knew that a language is a dialect with an army and a navy for the next starter. Two bonuses on pink were taken. Seb Lawson completed a haul of 9 starters knowing Krakatoa is in Indonesia (although not East of Java). Tone poems brought just 5 more points. My grandson was tickled pink to hear that the first tank was nicknamed Little Willie – he has inherited his old Grampa’s schoolboy sense of humour I’m afraid – but nobody had it. GOOONNNGGGG! SOAS won by 240 – 80.

With a bonus conversion rate of 56.4% to Edinburgh’s 42.8% it’s clear that SOAS were the better team in both buzzing and bonuses, and may well be worth an each way bet at this stage of the competition. Me? Sorry, no, with my tipping track record the Clark 50p is staying glued in my pocket. Even if SOAS swore to have wrapped Seb Lawson in cotton wool and given him a 24 hour bodyguard between matches.

Amol Watch

Can’t say anything caught the eye particularly tonight.

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

The phrase St. Elmo’s Fire derives from an Italian corruption of the name of the patron saint of mediterranean sailors.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

Conversely, what term is used for a region of DNA immediately upstream of a gene that facilitates binding of RNA polymerase, therefore initiating transcription? The same word is used generally for a person who organises or supports an event. Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.