University Challenge - Round Two - Match 5

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine v. Bristol

The LSHTM team of Andy Taylor, Rebecca Glover, Anjaneya Bapat, and their captain Sarah Legrand defeated fellow London University team, the LSE in the first round, by just one starter. Monday’s opponents, Bristol, had a rather more easy time in their own first match, when the team of Lewis Rendell, Benjamin Moon, Miles Coleman and their captain, Anastasia Reynolds comfortably saw off the Courtauld Institute of Art. Let’s get on with the show.

It to0o0k a while for the first starter to get to the point, but when it did, it was Sarah Legrand who buzzed in first with the Blair quote – Educationx3. Three questions on the Minoan civilization followed – ah yes, a small thing, but Minoan. 1 was taken. Right, surgical instrument and window were not enough to provoke a buzz, but the addition of the word journal gave Sarah Legrand her second starter with The Lancet. A UC special set of pairs of words beginning with the same 4 letters – eg – protozoa and proton – provided two bonuses. Neither team could quite dredge up the name of the Leeds and Liverpool canal – home to Wigan Pier. This was only delaying Sarah Legrand’s hattrick of starters, as she knew next that Marc Chagall painted sad clowns etc. The music bonuses that followed asked for names linked by a word or words – for example – Ode to Joy and Joy Division. A full set of these followed. I was a little surprised that nobody took the picture starter which marked the site of the Battle of Monte Cassino on a map of Italy. Sarah Legrand was rather unfortunate to buzz early on the latin name passer domesticus with sparrow. The question specifically asked for a two word name, although this wasn’t obvious until after she had buzzed. This allowed Benjamin Moon in with House sparrow. This brought them the picture bonuses on locations of other battles in the Mediterranean during world war II. 2 bonuses made a dent in the lead, which stood at 55 – 20 at the 10 minute mark.

Now, I didn’t know Chebyshev, but Lewis Rendell of Bristol did, and that brought them the next starter. Last words in poetry provided an interesting set of bonuses, and Bristol were slightly unlucky not to get. Asked for the full name of the academy of drama whose acronym resembles a Greek letter minus one letter, Miles Coleman eventually gave us the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Meteorology offered me little although I did get Indian Summer. Bristol had that and another and now trailed by 10. Anastasia Reynolds showed some nifty buzzer work on the next starter. Asked for an English King, as soon as she heard ‘born in Pembroke Castle’ she went for it and gave the correct answer of Henry VII.Bonuses on British monarchs since 1600, in the words of Walter Bagehot. 2 correct answers gave them a lead of 15. For the music starter the teams were asked to name the composer of the theme of Dances with Wolves. Nobody knew John Barry. A splendid speculative buzz from Sarah Legrand on The Well of Loneliness dragged LSHTM back into  the match following a fallow period of a few minutes. This brought the dubious blessing of the music bonuses. Three more winners of the Oscar for best original film score brought ten more points, the only one missed being the only one I got, Giorgio Moroder. Now, I got the geometry starter, don’t ask me how, but basically if you take all the internal angles of a 100 sided polygon and divide by 98, what you’re left with is 180 degrees. Only just behind me was Lewis Rendell. The judiciary provided two bonuses and the points to take the lead again. On the cusp of the 20 minute mark they led by 90 – 75.

Miles Coleman extended this lead knowing that the OPCW is dedicated to the eradication of Chemical weapons. For bonuses T H Huxley provided two more bonuses. The picture starter showed a University building. Andy Taylor took a punt that it was in Mexico and earned a heart felt Paxman ‘well done’. The bonuses were UNESCO world heritage sites that have housed educational institutions. I managed the same two that LSHTM managed. Now, if you’re asked for a French wine growing region, Burgubndy is always worth a shout. Especially if the question mentions Dijon. Rebecca Glover took that one.They took two bonuses which put them 5 points ahead, which moved JP to erroneously say ’10 points from this starter and you’ll be ahead.’ Already there Jez. Whatever the case, Sarah Legrand made sure of it by buzzing early for the next starter on smelting. The bonuses on number theory did nothing for me, but LSHTM took two of them, and with 3 minutes left they led by one full set. Asked for the two countries involved in the Chaco War, Miles Coleman supplied Bolivia and Paraguay to keep Bristol just 15 points off the lead. They duly obliged with a full set on forms of the verb avoir. All square, and what a good contest these two teams were serving up for our delectation. A crucial, and ironically appropriate buzz from Benjamin Moon saw him identify the IAU as the International Astronomical Union. Bonuses on sausages saw Bristol guess the name of a French city, any city, linked with a sausage. They came up with Toulouse, and that correct guess ensured a full set, and looked to be a crucial one. Quite simply, LSHTM needed a correct buzz on the next starter, or game over.Neither team recognised lines penned by A E Houseman. Neither did I. Was there time for a full set? Agaricae might have given either of the teams the idea of mushrooms – but it didn’t. Surely not enough time left for an LSHTM come back now? Indeed not. Bristol ran out winners by 160 – 135. Full marks to Bristol for holding their nerve after the LSHTM went off to their blitz start, and especially after being given the kiss of death encouragement from JP.

Jeremy Paxman Watch

Oh dear. We hadn’t even reached the ten minute mark and our hero was already issuing the dreaded ‘Plenty of time to come back’ kiss of death to Bristol.

Later on , when asked for the name which appears at the end of last lines of a specific poem, he wouldn’t accept Lady of Shalott when only Shalott was wanted. His explanation “It’s harsh, I know, but it’s the only way to play this game.” Very true – just so long as the same harshness is applied to ALL teams – and there are some times it doesn’t seem to be.

Ah, at last a flash of spirit from the great man. When Miles Coleman suggested that the composer of the film theme ‘could be Purcell’ he gave him a splendidly old fashioned look and replied in high dudgeon, “No it couldn’t! It’s not a bit like Purcell!’

Having said all this, our JP is still taking his happy pills, as he hailed the gallant runners up as being ‘certainly the giggliest team we’ve ever had’ but also as being ‘very, very good.’ Well said.

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

The word chipolata originally denoted an onion stew.

Mastermind - Round One - Heat 17

I allowed myself a little chuckle as last night’s first contender, Carys Logan, settled into the chair, when I thought that she said that her specialist subject was the Life and Films of Gary Grant. Now, my erstwhile skipper is a man of many talents, but I didn’t know he’d branched out into acting. But no, it was in fact Cary Grant. As usual with an actor round there were a few gimmes – I’d never have had any right otherwise, but enough tough ones to almost stop Carys in her tracks once or twice, and so bearing that in mind she did rather well to rally enough to make 9.

Former semi finalists really haven’t been in short supply this year, and David Sutherland was just the latest to make a reappearance. Back in Jesse’s 2010 series he won his heat, but didn’t have the happiest of times in his semi. Last night he was offering us the C.S.S. Alabama. The Confederate warship is one of those subjects which you feel that a contender would only take if they have a special interest in the subject, and feel confident that they are unlikely to be caught out. David’s round of 11 was certainly a perfectly good one, but it wasn’t perfect, and it did allow just a little bit of room for another contender to head him at the turn.

Ewen McPherson was our second recidivist last night. His subject was the Masters of Rome novels of Colleen McCullough. Now, I will be honest, if you are going to take a series of novels as your specialist subject you have to know them inside out. I’m not saying that Ewen had not worked hard on preparing for his round, and I’m not saying that he does not have a deep knowledge of them. Not having read them myself I’m not in any position to comment on the difficulty and/or fairness of the questions. However the fact is that Ewen failed to answer as many correctly as he succeeded in answering, and he scored 7.

The man with the famous name, Rod Laver, finished off the specialist round with Marc Almond and Soft Cell. What a round it was. Rod had time to pass on one question, and still answer 16 questions correctly. It proves that it can be done this series, and would have put him in a good position in any heat. In this one it gave him a 5 point lead at the turn, and we were going to have to see something extraordinary if he wasn’t going to win.

Ewen’s GK round was a good demonstration of how frustrating a Mastermind appearance can be. Ewen’s answers showed that he is a good general knowledge quizzer, and he comfortably accrued 12 points to push him up to 19. Unfortunately though it still meant that he only led Rod by 4 points – a case of shutting the stable door, if you like. Carys was unable to match this in her round. She actually started very well, but there was a string of wrong answers and passes during the second minute, which took away all of her momentum, and meant that she was only able to equal Ewen’s overall score of 19. She still managed double figures on GK though.

David had the opportunity to make a second semi final, but being realistic it was either going to need a brilliant GK round to set a high enough score to give him a chance of a repechage slot, or a good enough one to at least put Rod into the corridor of doubt. It wasn’t a bad round at all, when you got right down to it. There were good answers throughout the round, but a few guessables which went begging as well. This meant that David levelled out at 11, which I thought just wouldn’t quite be enough to put Rod into the corridor of doubt. Which goes to show how little I know . . .

There was little or no hint that Rod would struggle to find the 8 points he needed to win outright, and the first couple of questions provided him with a couple straight away. After that, though, the nerves really set in, and what followed was actually a grim old struggle, with points being clawed in singly. It was tortuous at times, and as a viewer you genuinely started to fear that maybe Rod wouldn’t do it. He reached 22. Then one more answer followed, and he was through with hardly any time to spare. Congratulations Rod – you were made to suffer for your place in that semi – and best of luck.

The Details

Carys Logan	The Life and Films of Cary Grant	9 - 3	10 - 4	19 - 7
David Sutherland	The C.S.S.Alabama	11 - 2	11 - 5	22 - 7
Ewen McPherson	Masters of Rome novels by Colleen McCullough	7 - 1	12 - 2	19 - 3
Rod Laver	Marc Almond and Soft Cell	16 - 1	7 - 5	23 - 6

LAM Podcast 22

In this week's show: -

Connections/News headline questions
Talking points - positive discrimination - favourite shows
Court of Public Opinion
Do You Remember
Answers to Last week's questions

Only Connect - Match 14

The History Boys v. The Felinophiles

On paper a very serious contest between Rob Hannah, Gareth Kingston and Craig Element, the History Boys who comfortably beat the Oxonians in the first match, and the Felinophiles. Simon Turmaine, Helen Lippell and Simon Koppel also scored a ten point win in their first match against the politicos. Knowing Rob, Gareth and Craig I fancied the Hists to go straight through after this one, but then the Clark tip has been fatal to many a team in the past. Let’s see what actually happened.

Round One – What’s the Connection?

The History Boys chose Lion first and kicked off with Oswald Mosley Group, 1934. I idly toyed with blackshirts, and British Union of Fascists as did the Hists. The second was Polish rebellion 1863. Wisely I think the Hists took the third – number 1 single for Pilot 1975. Now that I knew for a fact could only be January – which the Hists knew full well. I stuck on January, while the Hists twisted and took the final clue – Betty Draper 2007. Betty Draper was played by January Jones in Mad Men – apparently. Never mind – much better to make sure of the point. After being told off by Victoria for being Felinophiles rather than the probably more correct ailurophiles the Fels opted for Twisted Flax, and GB1331655:Flying Saucer. Huh? The second – GB1426698: Cat flp/Peace keeping bomb shed a little more light. This looked like patents . The third – GB1333548 – Exploding nail was enough to convince the Fels, and they took the two points. Opting for Eye of Horus the Hists received Meher Baba. Nope – didn’t know him. Cuzco, Peru for the second clue was the capital of the Incan Empire. The boys toyed with going for capitals of ancient empires – just as well they took the next clue, for this one was Peace. Did they all have roses named after them? I mused. Stumped, they opted for the final clue – LGBT Community. All I could come up with were rainbow flags – which the History Boys went for as well – and was correct. So far the Hists had come up with the harder sets. The Fels now took full advantage of being ahead, and opted for all the blessings upon their houses that pro0nouncing Hornèd Viper doubtlessly brings. Lara Croft:Tomb Raider suggested possibly Angelina Jolie films, but that was surely too straightforward. Wall Street, the second clue, was a film, but I didn’t think that Angelina Jolie had been in it. The Pursuit of Happyness came third and I had an inkling. Angelina Jolie – star of the first, has a film star Dad, as does Michael Douglas, star of the second, as does Jaden Smith, star of the third. The Fels were in with this idea as well and pointed out that Will Smith was also in the third. So did their Dads all appear in their film with them? On Golden Pond, the last clue, fitted that very well. A bit mean the adjudication. When they gave a general answer the Fels were asked for more. They went for fathers and sosn – not correct. The Hists went for fathers and daughters – not correct. Fathers and children PLAYING fathers and children was the answer. Fair enough.  The Hists took their last clue of the round with Two Reeds and the Music set. The immortal Hayzi Fantayzee with John Wayne is Big Leggy kicked off, followed by Scritti Politti which suggested groups/artists with rhyming names. The Hists needed Milli Vanilli to get there. This left the Fels with Water and pictures. The first was a ladder in a lady’s tights, with a big red circle and diagonal bar across them. No ladders then. Huh? Next a silhouette of a family with a small dog, and the circle and bar through the dog. So no dogs. Huh? Simon had it at this point. It wasn’t a ladder – it was a run. Dog was too specific – it was a pet. No running – no petting – surely they weren’t going to also include no peeing in the shallow end? No, thankfully – the missing ones were ducking and bombing. That was a timely answer off two for the Fels, as it meant that they had a lead of 5 to 4.

Round Two – What Comes Fourth?

The Hists started again with Lion. 3: Connecticut didn’t look very helpful to me. They ingeniously came up with the fact that there are 3 Cs in Connecticut. The second – 2: Florida didn’t help that hypothesis. However 1. Maine did help . They worked out that it’s borders with other states, and knew that they could go with 0: Hawaii or Alaska. That was a well worked out set. 2 reeds gave the Fels pictures – the first of which looked like an Alsatian or German Shepherd dog, the second a springer spaniel and the third a cocker spaniel. I reckoned that these were most popular breeds in the UK, the 4^th of which ahd to be a Labrador. The Fels didn’t get it going with poodle, and the Hists aren’t going to turn their noses up at that kind of bonus. Gareth too offered Hornèd for the Viper, and this gave the Hists Battery LR8D425 – Highest credit rating. Well, the highest credit rating is Triple A, presumably the battery was a quadruple A – so what we were looking for was something A – eg. -  highest mark in an exam. That’s what the Hists went for, correctly so. Up against it the Fels opted for water, and immediately encountered Count Dooku. OK – so we had a dark lord of the Sith from Star Wars – but where would that lead? Next was Qui-Gon Jin. Right – I reckoned it might be that he trained Obi Wan. Which gave us a problem – since to some extent Obi Wan trained both Anakin/Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. Mind you – Yoda also trained Luke – and Anakin was his official apprentice, so that was what I went for. The Fels went for Luke and were denied,since Luke was not Obi Wan’s Padawan. There you go. Bonus for the Hists. Eye of Horus gave them a musical sequence, and Hit the Road Jack, by Ray Charles, The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba by Handel, and In the Hall of the Mountain King by Grieg were a lovely little sequence. I predicted Ace of Spades by Motorhead. The Hists just didn’t see it. The Fels went for Ace of Spades, which was indeed the example. A much needed bonus there, and they finished the round with Twisted Flax. The first clue – E:13.6.10 meant nowt to me. S:17.3.19 didn’t help. The Fels were thinking about compass points, and the next was W: 8.11.14 didn’t discount this. I had no idea nor, really, did either team. The answer – N:5.20.1 came from the sections of a dartboard. Fair set – it just didn’t click with me. Ironically I think that the letters on each really didn’t help. Well, it’s often said that the second round is the one which seperates the really good from the nearly good, and plain fact was that the Hists now led by 11 – 6.

Round Three – The Connecting Walls

The Fels opted for Water. Extremely quickly they sorted out Help The Aged – Common People – Disco 2000 and Mis-Shapes, all linked by Jarvis Cocker/Pulp. Mencap – Scope – Save the Children and Refuge fell very quickly as well, as a set of charity organisations. I could see Agony Aunts and TV cops in the other sets – Ironside – Proops – Sanders and Rayner being the Agony Aunts, which left them Drebin – McNulty – Mcmillan and Lacey.  Think the key was getting the songs first – that helped make the wall – which wasn’t easy – look easy.

So the Hists needed a full house to preserve a serious lead. Lion wall offered them Muse rather than Pulp songs, but they still found them quickly – Starlight – Hysteria – Uprising and Knights of Cydonia. There looked to be Expresses, Bears and heaven alone knew what. Shanghai – Pineapple – Midnight and Von Ryan’s were the Expresses. Left with two lines to solve they worked out that there was also a set of words with numbers spelled out in them. Bingo. Quinine – Weighty – Network and Honey left bear – Polar – Cinnamon – Spectacled and Brown. A full house asked for, and a full house supplied.

Round Four – Missing Vowels

So, at 21 – 16 it wasn’t over, and we’ve seen bigger turnarounds. It was asking quite a bit though. The first set were all domestic assistants, and they fell 2 apiece. I thought that Gareth might do well on former English football league grounds, but the Fels also managed 1 to 3 for the Hists. Chemical elements and symbols seemed made for the Hists as well, being good old standard quiz stuff. Again these fell 3 – 1 and the game was as good as over. Actually, come to that, it really was over. Winners by 29 – 20 were the Hists – when you got right down to it they just had too much all round knowledge for the Fels. Don’t count the Fels out yet though – if they win their own next match, then they also go through. Well done boys – good performance. 

University Challenge - Round Two - Match 4

Gonville and Caius v. Manchester

Way back in August I was unable to review Ted Loveday, Michael Taylor, Anthony Martinelli, and Jeremy Warner’s splendid win in their first round heat, and I apologise for that. They broke the 300 barrier in that performance. Opposition in the second round was provided in the shape of Manchester, whose team of Edmund Chapman, Matthew Stallard, Charlie Rowlands and captain John Ratcliffe did that rare thing for Manchester by losing in the first round. They were narrowly defeated by Selwayn College, Cambridge, but bounced back to beat Sussex in the repechage. Well, the form guide said a Gonville and Caius win, but then we’ve already seen the form guide turned on its head in one or two of these second round matches.

It seemed as if both teams were sitting on their buzzers a little for the first long winded starter. It was clearly Mrs. Malaprop after the mention of Lydia Languish, but Michael Taylor was first to buzz in after the question was completed. Bonuses on film adaptations of Richard III brought 10 more points. In the second starter Matthew Stallard, so good on the buzzer in the last match, was first to recognise two definitions of the word parole. Fluid Dynamics provided one bonus. Right, I’d forgotten the start of the next question long before we reached the end of it, but the answer, provided by Charlie Rowlands, was Dirac and Fermi. A set of bonuses on the Irish national cricket team provided two correct answer. This brought us to the picture starter – which asked for a city on a map and the name of the airport which in turn was named after a composer – Anthony Martinelli knew it was Salzburg and Mozart. More of the same followed for the bonuses, of which G&C took 2, and were perhaps a little unlucky to get the composer but not the city on the third. Poor Matthew Stallard was very quickly onto the next starter, which asked for a nationality related to jumping beans, and to a wave at a sports stadium, but he offered Mexico losing 5 and letting in G&C with Mexican. It’s harsh, but it’s fair, as long as the same strictness is applied to both teams if such occasions arise. Eye – rhymes  - eg – demur and lemur brought G and C little, although the suggestion of geminine and feminine  was rather inspired. This brought us nicely to the 10 minute mark, with G&C leading by 50 – 30.

A UC special starter involving adding together numbers in the titles of novels failed to add to either team’s points. A Maths thing came next and whatever it was, Jeremy warner knew that the answer was pi squared over 6. Well done sir. The solar system, and in particular Lagrange points brought them 10 points. In the next starter nobody knew about various Madonnas, and so we moved on to various Trotters, which I’ll admit was much more my level. Matthew Stallard took that one. In augural addresses of US presidents provided 10 points and then led to the music starter. Michael Taylor recognised Talking Heads, and more of the favourite tracks of the narrator of Brett Easton ellis’ American Psycho followed. All they had to do was name the artists. Being as they were from my era I was able to identify the three, although G&C missed out on Whitney Houston. Matthew Stallard did the right thing in buzzing when he thought he knew the answer to the question – “The Cordillera Darwin is found on the largest island of which archipelago – “ and Galapagos certainly made sense. Sadly he lost 5, although even when given the fact that it is partly Argentinian and partly Chilean wasn’t enough to give G&C Tierra del Fuego. Ted Loveday knew that William the Conqueror’s wife, and those of several other people, were called Mathilda. This took his team to 100 points. William Hogarth gave them just the one bonus. Matthew Stallard, still trying manfully to drag his team back into the contest, identified Granta as the literary magazine in question for the next starter with a terrific early buzz. Terms in music offered a difficult set and brought only the one answer. Still, captain John Ratcliffe got in his own early buzz for the next starter, recognising definitions of words that end with ette. Botanical bonuses provided a timely full set, which meant that Manchester trailed by 85 – 105. That’s only a starter and two bonuses. So what it would all come down to was which team buzzed better in the last section. Matthew Stallard had been demonstrably quicker than G&C so far, but then everyone in G&C was buzzing, so the coin was definitely in the air.

We moved to the second picture starter, and an absolute gift in the Laughing Cavalier by Franz Hals. Skipper Anthony Martinelli took that crucial buzz for G&C, to earn three more paintings from the Great gallery of the Wallace collection. A full set was duly taken, and Manchester needed to start climbing the mountain all over again. Michael Taylor knew that when you hear the words ‘utilitarian philosopher’ you answer Jeremy Bentham, simply because you will be right a hell of a lot more often than you’ll be wrong. Balloon flights in literature again privded a full house, and G&C looked good for the win, even with several minutes left. Charlie Rowlands took the next start on double letters, and if Manchester could take a full set then all was not yet lost. On some thing about Geography and Maths they only managed 1. Still Manchester weren’t giving up. In another terrific early buzz, John Ratcliffe identified the word proboscis as being part of an animal which appears in the name of a creature. Politics – with the team being given the names of foreign sec and home sec saw the team asked for three prime ministers – crucially brought them no points, and the gap remained over 40 points. Nobody knew about Pop 3 stars. A significant early buzz from Michael Taylor, identifying Emile Zola as the author of a series of novels, pretty much guaranteed G&C the win. Bonuses on official languages of India provided a full set – an extremely impressive way to apply a little gilt to the gingerbread. With Manchester seemingly cowed, Michael Taylor correctly answered that the opera Gloriana concerns the relationship between Elizabeth I, and the Earl of Essex. The circulatory system of a mammalian foetus didn’t sound promising but G&C made short work of the first two. Well done to Charlie Rowlands for still buzzing in for the next starter, even though the match was lost, to identify the word sarcophagus as meaning flesh eater. Bonuses on philosophy refused to help them out much, only yielding 5 points. For once, Michael Taylor missed out on a starter, incorrectly answering that Truman was president when Hawaii and Alaska gained statehood. Matthew Stallard knew it was Eisenhower. There was no time for bonuses on regencies.

So the final score was Gonville and Caius 200 – Manchester 135. Hard lines Manchester, but there’s no dishonour in losing to a team who overall were better on the day. Many congratulations to Gonville and Caius – that was a good performance against a good team who are no mugs, and bodes well for the quarter finals.

Jeremy Paxman Watch

Nothing really this week. The great man allowed himself a little chuckle at the suggestion of the german noun gender, and the mood suggested by an astrological term being feminine and geminine – but he was laughing with the team, and not at them.

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

Mathilda actually means Mighty in Battle

Mastermind - Round One Heat 16

The last time we saw Katy Bateman was in 2013 when she offered us Red Dwarf as a specialist subject. She put up a good performance too, coming second in her heat with a total of 24. She’s a lady after my own heart, since having offered the wonderful Red Dwarf last time out, she offered us Doctor who 2005 – present last night. Now, I personally would prefer a round on classic Dr. Who – or even better, just the Tom Baker years, but nevertheless I managed 8 of these. Not as good as Katy, though. She raced through the round, only passing on the one, and finishing with 13.

Our second contender, John Wheeler, had also played in the same series as Katy. John reached the semi final via a repechage slot, having scored a fine total of 29 in his first round. During that first round he offered us a splendid specialist round in the shape of The Shipping Forecast. His round on Magna Carta for the semi didn’t go so well at all, and so there was a question to answer about how he would do on specialist last night. His round was The lost Rivers of London – which was another round guaranteed to make me sit up and take notice, bearing in mind I’ll always have a go at rounds about London. I managed 7 of these to take my total for the show up to 14. John did rather better, scoring 9, but at least 4 points behind the leader he would have a bit to make up in the GK round.

According to my records Bill Carey has not appeared on the show before. He was answering questions on the third round in a row to tickle my fancy – Brian Epstein. As a huge lover of the Beatles I again fancied my chances, and surpassed myself by getting into double figures on this round. Not as good as Bill, though. He displayed exemplary focus and technique to race through a set of fifteen questions, answering every single one of them correctly. That was one of the finest and most impressive displays on specialist that we’ve seen all series. It also meant that he was looking very much the favourite to go through.

Our final contender, well, our final contender was Michael Wright, and yes, you’ve guessed it, we last saw Michael in that same 2013 series. Back in that series Michael won his first round heat answering on The Hornblower novels. In the semi final he was narrowly beaten by series champion Aidan McQuade, when he answered on military aircraft of world war II. So last night Michael gave us the only specialist round that wasn’t really to my linking, with The Anglo Zulu War of 1879. I managed a couple, mainly through having watched Zulu too many times (Oi! Don’t chuck them blardy spears at me! – and – For God’s sake Ivor, sing something they like!) This took my total for the show to 26 – which is probably an unwikied record for me. Michael managed double figures, ending with 10 and 1 pass. A decent total, but 5 points is a massive gap to have to chase.

Now, going back to John Wheeler, when we last saw him in 2013 he put on GK rounds of 16 in the first round, and 13 in the semi – seriously good rounds. When you looked at his round last night you could see how he did it – he answered very quickly, didn’t hesitate, and tried very hard not to pass. The problem was that this particular set of GK questions just really did not suit him. Which is not to say that 10 is not a decent score, because it is. However it wasn’t as high as his previous rounds, and a total of 19 would not be enough to put Bill into the corridor of uncertainty.

Michael Wright scored 15 in his first round in 2013, and 9 in the semis- and remember that semi final rounds are shorter. He had a smile on his face throughout the round, and seemed to be enjoying the experience, and that’s definitely something I can respect. Like Michael before him, he managed double figures, and 10 was a decent return. Still, it only raised the bar to 20, and that was just not going to be enough.

Now, playing the same comparison game with Katy, back in 2013 she scored 10 on GK. This was rather put into shadow by the fact that in the same show Didier Bruyere scored 16 to overhaul a significant lead on specialist. If she could improve on this slightly to set a target in the mid 20s, then that could at least place Bill within the corridor of uncertainty and give her the chance of a win. For a while it looked as if she might do that as well. However the last minute or so was pretty tortuous for her, and a run of passes put paid to her chances of double figures. All of which she took with good humour, acknowledging that she should have known a few, although contradicting John Humphrys when he suggested that she should have known the Arctic Monkeys. Good on you for that, Katy. She scored 8 for 21.

For Bill, then, the target was 21 and few passes, or six correct answers. It’s not a huge ask, but even so that chair can do things to you, and so it was something of a relief to see him set about accumulating points steadily. He was there or thereabouts by halfway, and in fact scored double the amount of points needed, 12, to take his final score to 27. That’s a good score, and it should be noted that he defeated three former contenders in the show, two of whom are semi finalists. A very good performance – good luck in the semis.

                The Details

Katy Bateman	Doctor Who 2005 - Present	13 - 1	8 - 5	21 - 6
John Wheeler	Lost Rivers of London	9 - 2	10 - 2	19 - 4
Bill Carey	Brian Epstein	15 – 0	12 - 3	27 - 3
Michael Wright	The Anglo-Zulu War of 1879	10 - 1	10 - 1	20 – 2

Answers to News Questions

In the news

Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?

Craig Beevers

Goncheh Ghavani

Grey Power

Tony Bellew

Chuck Hagel

Marion Barry

Katie Taylor

Fairlife

Anthony Noto

Frodsham

Kim Sears

‘Mad’ Frankie Fraser

Isaac Andrews

Jean Eric Vergne

Harriet Green

Moeen Ali

Mr. Justice Mitling

Sean Abbott

Jamie Cooper-Hohn

Toby Rowland

James Watson

Susie Wolff

In Other News

Who is the world F1 driver’s champion?

The government officially abandoned their target on what?

To whom did Max Moseley offer £1 million?

Which film won children’s BAFTA for best film?

Which country won the Davis Cup final?

Where was the last Grand Prix of the season held?

How many races did Lewis Hamilton win this season?

What was the result of England v. Germany in women’s football?

– and Ireland v. Australia in rugby?

– and England v. Samoa?

– and Wales v. New Zealand?

– and Scotland v. Tonga?

And France v. Argentina?

Who was the latest out of Strictly?

A Christmas Wonderland attraction designed by Laurence Llewellyn Bowen fell foul of visitors, and was closed after one day last week. Where?

What was the score between Arsenal and Man Utd.?

Who won the Golf DP World Tour Championship?

Which museum, is taking on the task of reuniting the Munich Nazi art hoard with its rightful owners?

In which city was a baby found dumped in a storm drain?

Which organisation condemned the decision to present Tony Blair with a Global Legacy award?

Which controversial TV show, in the news in October, is to be screened on the BBC during the Christmas period?

Who admitted he takes his kids to A and E rather than to his GP?

Which article from the film Casablanca sold for £1.9 million at auction?

What was the Champions League score between Man City and Bayern Munich?

– and Chelsea and Schalke?

Who scored a record breaking 72^nd champions league goal?

Which multinational firm announced they will not be renewing sponsorship deals with FIFA?

Which rare book was discovered in a library in St. Omer?

Who are the two favourites on the short list for BBC Sports Personality Of The Year?

What was the Champions League score between Arsenal and Dotrmund?

– and Liverpool and Ludogerets?

Joan Collins announced what about her first husband Maxwell Reed?

Who received a lifetime achievement award from Equestrian sport’s governing body?

Which famous author passed away aged 94?

Which work will be broadcast in a 10 hour production on New Year’s day on Radio 4?

Counterfeiters from Italy were able to put what into circulation in Germany?

What was the Europa League score between Everton and Wolfsburg?

– and Spurs and Partizan Belgrade?

– and Celtic and Salzburg?

Who formally announced that he will stand for IAAF president when Lamine Diack steps down?

In a protest, what did French farmers release to wander around beneath the Eiffel Tower last week?

Who quit his job with Aston Villa?

Answers

Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?

New British World Scrabble Champion

‘Volleyball’ protestor freed in Iran while appeal is conducted

Boat in which Sir Robin Knox Johnston placed third in Route du Rhum yacht race

Boxer who defeated Nathan Cleverly in their rematch

US Defence Secretary stepped down

Disgraced former mayor of Washington DC passed away

Irish boxer who won her 5^th consecutive world title

New coca cola ‘super milk’ to go on sale in USA

Twitter financial officer who accidentally sent out a confidential email to all 9000 of his followers

English village which was hoaxed into thinking that William Shatner was coming to switch on their Christmas lights

Became engaged to Andy Murray

Violent criminal passed away aged 90

11 year old boy who will play the voice of God in Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings

Driver who quite the Toro Rosso F1 team

CEO who left Thomas Cook

Bowler who hit 119 opening for England in the ODI v. Sri Lanka

Ruled against Andrew Mitchell in the ‘plebgate’ hearing

Bowler who bowled ball that injured the late Phil Hughes

Awarded highest ever divorce settlement in the UK £337million

Plebgate pC

Discoverer of shape of DNA to sell Nobel medal to donate money to scientific research

Promoted to official test driver for Williams for 2015

In Other News

Lewis Hamilton

Reducing Migration

The Labour party

The Lego Movie

Switzerland bt France

Abu Dhabi

11

3 – 0 Germany

26 – 23 Ireland

28 – 9 England

34 – 16 NZ

27 – 12 Scotland

18 – 13 Argentina

Steve Backshall

The Belfry Golf Course

2 – 1 Man Utd.

Henrik Stenson

Bern Museum

Sydney

Save the Children

The Top Gear Argentina special

Jeremy Hunt

Sam’s piano ( Dooley Wilson – Sam – just mimed playing it. He was a singer, not a piano player)

3 – 2 Man City

5- 0 Chelsea

Lionel Messi

Sony

A copy of the First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays

Rory McIlroy and Lewis Hamilton

2 – 0 Dortmund

2 – 2

She says that he raped her when she was 17 and she married him out of guilt for it

The Queen

P D James

War and Peace

300 Euro notes (these don’t exist)

2 – 0 Everton

1 – 0 Spurs

3 – 1 Salzburg

Lord Coe – he will probably face competition from Sergei Bubka

Sheep

Roy Keane