Politicos v. Oxonians
What, is it time for the first elimination match already? Well, yes,
I’m rather afraid that it is. The Politicos, Ross Goodwin, Joe Kerrigan and Thomas Williams, were
fairly comfortably beaten by the Felinophiles in their previous match, while
the Oxonians, John Jenkins, Ian Hughson, and captain Justin Floyd, lost
28 -19 to our own History Boys. As a rough guide, the Pols didn’t score n the
vowels round, while the Oxos scored 5, so if it was close going into the last
round then you’d fancy the Oxos.
Round One – What is the Connection?
The Oxos won the toss, but
they decided to put the Pols in to bat first. They picked Two Reeds, and
received – The Murder of Gonzago – Inferior Cheese – which meant little – then Thing
a ma jig and bowling ball, and that certainly did. This was mousetrap. Now the
Pols probably knew too much for their own good here. I heard them after the
first clue make the connection with the play within a play in Hamlet, and thus
they went with Hamlet as the connection. When the Oxos were given the last clue
– World’s Longest Running Play – they knew that the connection was indeed
Mousetraps. Captain Justin of the Oxos capitalised on the advantage by
stressing the second vowel of Hornèd Viper, and received the music set for his
pains. I recognised the second, The Sunny Side of the Street, and the third,
Misty by Johnny Mathis. Weather conditions seemed a good bet, especially when
Windy was the last. The charm of the Hornèd Viper seemed to work its magic when
Victoria allowed the Oxos to change their answer from precipitation to weather
in general – specifically those types ending in – y -. The Pols took Eye of
Horus, behind which the first clue was – from its coastal capital city. I
guessed that we were possibly talking about where countries derived their names
from. From its highest mountain could well be Kenya, I reckoned, and from being
established by freed slaves was clearly Liberia. So the derivation of names of
African countries seemed to me to be the precise shout. From being a republic
in the centre of Africa confirmed it. The Pols, clearly not on song yet, went
for Liberia. Another bonus to the Oxos. For their own second set they chose
Twisted Flax. This kicked off with Diamond Sutra. That I didn’t get. However
Benin Bronzes was enough to tell me that these are all artifacts that other
countries would like to be returned by the British Museum. Rosetta Stone
confirmed it, and I predicted that the Parthenon Frieze/Elgin marbles would
come 4th. The Oxos took it off three clues, and the Elgin marbles
were indeed revealed as the last. Water then was the Pols last choice of the
round, and they kicked off with Jaws 19. Nope, me neither. Mr. Fusion, though
was a definite giveaway. In the original Back to the Future, when Doc Brown at
the end of the film returns from the future to tell Marty that he needs help
with Marty’s kids, the DeLorean is powered by a kitchen gadget called Mr.
Fusion. Self Tying Shoes are also in the second film,as is Jaws 19. That was
enough for them to get it, and the official title of the category was Back to
the Future’s 2015. This left just the Lion set for the Oxos. This was a picture
set which began with a Technicolor film poster for one of the versions of The
Mummy. Next showed a group of West Ham footballers. Now with Hammer films, and
West Ham being nicknamed The Hammers, the connection was clear. The Oxos felt
so too, and they buzzed in off two. This gave them a significant advantage as
they led by 8 – 2 going into the second round.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
Now, there was a definite
chance of a five pointer on the Pols’ first set in this round. Robin Leigh-Pemberton
was a former Governor of the Bank of England. The obvious answer to go for
would be current governor Mark Carney. That’s what I said, anyway. The second
clue – Eddie George – gave it to the Pols. Oxo captain Justin played his trump
card by opting for the viper again. The first clue was 1:7, and the second
2:41. I didn’t have a clue. 3:12 didn’t make it any clearer for me. It looked
like Ian who worked this one out. If you read the second number backwards, then
you get multiples of 7. So he saw 4: 82 as the last. Brilliantly worked out.
Again, the Pols were given a shot at a 5 pointer. Tommy Docherty made me think
Man Utd. Managers, which would give us Dave Sexton – Ron Atkinson – Sir Alex
Ferguson. The Pols took Dave Sexton as the second, and Ron Atkinson as the
third before coming in with the answer. Twisted Flax gave the Oxos – RD, which
didn’t mean much to me, then RNG. Now it looked like Justin who worked this out
about the same time that I did. What we had was a missing vowels set of colours
of the rainbow. Working on that we should finish with GRN for green. That’s
what the Oxos thought, and they duly earned the points for it. For the third
set in a row the Pols were offered a shout at a 5 pointer. Flt Lt was obviously
the rank of Flight Lieutenant in the RAF. Working upwards, the 4th
should be Gp Capt – or Group Captain. To be fair to the Pols they knew the
connection but just weren’t sure of the ranks. So they took Sqn Ldr and Wg Cdr
before supplying the correct answer. Once again, the Oxos were left with
something which didn’t really invite a guess at a five pointer. We saw a hand
with the thumb up, a men’s shoe, and a pair of knees. Huh? Well, the Oxos were
looking at something rhyming with four, like door. As it transpired, this was
correct, even though none of us could see that this was from this old man, he
played one etc. Well, when you voice Hornèd correctly, good things happen
sometimes. This was enough to ensure that the score at the end of the round was
15 – 9.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The first thing that the Oxos
noticed on their wall was a set of Spice Girls songs. When these wouldn’t
resolve after a few goes they switched their attention to synoyms for shout. When
these didn’t resolve, islands of the Shetlands finally worked the trick for
them with Unst – Mainland – Bigga – Papa Stour. The shouts – Scream – Bellow –
Yell and Caterwaul – resolved next. They could see the Spice Girls songs –
Goodbye – Holler – Viva Forever and Wannabe – but held off for a moment until
they figured out that the remaining words – House _ Strength – Stop and English
can all be preceded by – Full. They stumbled rather on the first set for the
link. There is a Mainland in the Orkneys as well, and they went first for
Orkneys, then Shetland and finally settled on Scottish lighthouses. That’s why
they ended up with only 7.
The Pols kicked off going for
female animal names, and Jenny – Hind – Sow and Hen obliged early doors. Text –
scrap – ration and coffee table were all books. Wee – eye – ewe and hymn were
all sound-alikes of personal pronouns, which left ratio – compass – boot and fleece,
which can all be golden. They made no mistake with their explanations, and so
pulled back three points of the Oxos’ lead . The score was 22 – 19.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
I’ve already pointed out the
disparity in the teams’ first round vowels performances, but then these were
against different opposition with different sets. The first set – Big Things –
fell 2 apiece, althought he Oxos were perhaps slightly fortunate to be allowed
Ass instead of Issue. 3 points to 1 on Fax Machine error messages gave the Oxos
the comfort of a five point lead, and another 3 – 1 haul in Plays which
Premiered in the 1890s put them home and dry. Almost inevitably the items in
Mary Poppins’ handbag fell 3 -1 to the Oxonians as well, putting a gloss on the
final scores at 33 – 24. Hard lines Politicos, and well done to the Oxos – this
was a very convincing all round performance.
