Congratulations to the two new Eggheads, Steve Cook and Beth Webster.
I was offered the chance to audition for the series by 12 Yard Productions, who still have my details on file after I reached the quarter final of series 2 of "Are You An Egghead". One of my criteria for having another go at a show is that I would only do it if I felt that I had a realistic chance of doing better than I did the previous time. That's why I did reapply to Mastermind after getting beaten in the first round in 2006, and why I haven't reapplied to Brain of Britain after being joint runner up in 2010. As for Are You/Make Me An Egghead, unless the standard of competitor was significantly lower than it had been in 2009, there was no way that I wold have done any better. For example, I cannot see any chance that I would have beaten winner Steve Cook in a month of Sundays had we met in any stage- I met Steve when he won the 2014 Brain of Mensa competition in impressive style.
Congratulations both.
Friday, 23 September 2016
Mastermind Round One: Heat 11
Hello again. Another week, another 4
contenders. Last night’s first was Janet Jackson, who offered us Formula One
Grand Prix Circuits. Janet scored 6 on her round. Now, at the risk of being
seen as unkind I must make the observation that, when a contender has a modest total like 6 in specialist there
can be a number of reasons why this has happened. It could be nerves. It could
be that they have a different understanding of the parameters of the subject
from the question setters. Sometimes, it could be as a result of the contender
just failing to prepare in the kind of depth in which you need to prepare in
order to negotiate a Mastermind specialist round. This is just my impression,
but I thought the latter was true in this case. I’m afraid Janet dropped points
not only on things like the first circuit to host a night time GP which any serious F1
fan might know, but also on things specifically about designers of circuits. I’m
sorry if this is harsh, but to me it looked as if she just didn't know here subject well enough. Sorry to be blunt.
I’m tempted to make a similar
observation about Philip Dubois. Unless it’s a subject that I know extremely
well – for example, one of my own former specialist subjects - I never expect
to outscore a contender on theirs, and yet last night I outscored Janet on hers,
and I outscored Philip on his. There were quite a few more general questions on
Cromwell’s times as well as his life, and I picked up 7 altogether. Philip
languished on 6. He did seem rather more nervous than Janet did, and this may
have had a part in his rather modest score.
So it was something of a relief when
Pamela Culley came in to answer on the Charles Paris Mysteries by Simon Brett.
For one thing I have never read any of them, so there was no way I was going to
outscore her. For another thing it was a relief to see a round where the
contender had prepared thoroughly, and was not laid low by nerves. 11 is a good
but not a great SS score. In the context of last night’s show it looked
extremely good.
David Pickering followed on the
renaissance artist and architect Brunelleschi. I picked up 4 on this to take my
aggregate ( 8 – 7 – 0 – 4 ) to 19. Not my highest of the series so far, but a
pretty decent effort. Not as decent as David’s on this round. He too picked up
double figures, scoring 10 to leave him just behind Pamela and in with a great
chance at the halfway stage.
John at least forbore from making the
‘redeem yourself’ comment that he made as Janet returned to the chair for her
GK round. And I have to say that what she served up showed what a shame it was
that she hadn’t managed to do better in her specialist. She scored a good 13,
in some style I might add. She answered quickly too, which meant that I think
she was asked 20 questions. As a measure of the relative gentleness of the GK
rounds in this season, this was another round in which I managed to answer all
of the GK questions correctly , a feat I had never done, I don’t think, in the
regular series before this season, although it’s relatively easy to do in Sleb
Mastermind.
Philip sadly did not quite make it
into double figures in his own GK round, and finished with 15. With 10 on specialist,
David needed to get into double figures in order to overtake Janet, and it
certainly looked as if this relatively modest ask had been enough to place him
within the corridor of doubt. He got here, and put daylight between himself and
Janet, but he had to work for it, and in the end added 12 to his total to set
the bar at 22.
It goes without saying that at the
very least you need a decent general knowledge to get a decent score on GK in
Mastermind. There are two other abilities though that are pretty useful too.
One is to recall the correct answer quickly when you know it. Another is to
take an educated guess when you don’t. This last ability is especially useful
in this series when the questions are that bit more straightforward. In a
significant number, even if you don’t know, the obvious answer will be the
right one. Just by keeping her cool, answering what she knew and guessing what
she didn’t, Pamela produced a round which was head and shoulders above the
other GK rounds in the same show. A win by 5 is a significant victory, and in
both rounds Pamela was clearly the best of the contenders in this heat. Well
played.
The Details
Janet Jackson
|
Formula One Grand Prix Circuits
|
6
|
1
|
13
|
4
|
19
|
5
|
Philip Dubois
|
Oliver Cromwell
|
6
|
1
|
9
|
3
|
15
|
4
|
Pamela Culley
|
Charles Paris mysteries by Simon Brett
|
11
|
2
|
16
|
3
|
27
|
5
|
David Pickering
|
Filipo Brunelleschi
|
10
|
0
|
12
|
0
|
22
|
0
|
Saturday, 17 September 2016
University Challenge - Edinburgh v. Durham
Hoo- blooming-ray. At long last we have
a non-English University. Edinburgh were represented by Luke Dale, Euan Smith, Emily
Goddard, and their skipper Joe Boyle. Durham, that rarity, a collegiate
University appearing as a single entity, were represented by Thomas Brophy,
Owen Stenner-Matthews, Nat Guillou, and their captain Cressida O’Connor.
Cressida O’Connor was the first to answer
that it was the Rubik’s Cube invented in 1974. In 1981 I once managed to
complete one in 56 seconds. Mind you, the world record at the time was under
half that. Bonuses on Norah Ephron. We both took two bonuses. Incidentally,
Mrs. Londinius, making a rare viewing of UC with me, distinguished herself in
this set by suggesting that Norah Ephron scripted a film called “Silkworm”.
Bless. Cressida O’Connor lost five by buzzing in too early on ‘vandalism’,
allowing Luke Dale to scoop the pot. Astronomy bonuses on the solar system
brought both of us a full set. Normally a single correct Science answer is
enough for a lap of honour for me. I suggested to Mrs. L. that she join me in a
Mexican wave at this point. Her reply was spherical and in the plural. Now I’d
say if you’re asked about a psychologist who wrote something in 1918, Freud is
always going to be in the ballpark, and it certainly allowed Cressida O’Connor
to take her second starter. Campaigning organisations looked promising, but
were actually a lot harder than I expected, and I thought that Durham did well
to get 1. The picture starter showed a map with an island highlighted. Nat
Guillou took a punt with Gotland and was right to do so. This brought up three
flags of UK islands. I’ll be honest, I didn’t get Anglesey either, but had the
two that Durham had. Nobody knw that the new recommendation is that men drink
no more than 14 units of alcohol a week. I don’t get through 14 in a year – don’t
like the stuff. Both teams sat on their buzzers a bit I thought for the next
starter. Novel . . . unusual vocabulary . . . Paris. . . 1092 – if that doesn’t
shout Ulysses, then you’re probably playing the wrong game. Owen
Stenner-Matthews took it, and earned a set on British theatres. They failed to
score, but even so led by 60 – 25 at the 10 minute mark, after by far the
better buzzer work.
Emily Goddard began the fight back,
recognising a series of definitions of words beginning with sph. Bonuses on chemical elements saw me miss the
first, but knowing that the others began with the same letters saw me get the
last. “You dare!” warned Mrs. L. as I rose from the sofa. Euan Smith recognised
a group of people with the surname Strauss. Writers born in Shropshire weren’t
all easy, but they should have known Owen for Futility. The music starter saw
Owen Stenner-Matthews recognise the strains of Gorillaz’ Clint Eastwood very
quickly. The bonuses saw them given three other songs referencing film stars.
They didn’t recognise Roxy Music which I did, neither of us had Bauhaus, and we
both had REM. US artist – death – car accident. You hear these words, you go
for the buzzer with Jackson Pollack. Durham had a shy at it with Rothko – wasn’t
he Ron Moody’s character in “Into the Labyrinth? – and Edinburgh a speculative
long ball with Lichtenstein. Well done to Ewan Smith for knowing the two towns
of Flint, though. Singapore provided a very good full house of bonuses. Again,
both teams sat on the buzzer a bit for the next starter. Travelled to England in 1849 after abdicating the French throne . . . can only be Louis Phillipe, but
it was another second or two before the impressive Euan Smith, having a real
purple patch of buzzing at this point, came in with the right answer. Bonuses
on John Locke – didn’t he bowl for Surrey? – sorry, I’ll stop that now – didn’t
provide much, but did take Edinburgh into double figures. Thanks to Sporcle I
said Actinides for the next starter just before Cressida O’Connor buzzed in
with the same correct answer. Mrs. L. was currently engaged in the manoeuvre we
call makinacuppa, so this time I did get my lap of honour. I knew nothing about
T cells, so failed to follow it up, though Durham took 2. Nat Guillou buzzed in
at exactly the point where the next starter became obvious – partitioned three
times in the 19th century has to be Poland. Good buzz. Back in the
lead, descriptions of warriors from the Iliad gave them another 5 points. So
the score at the 20 minute mark was 110 – 100 in Durham’s favour. Good game.
Euan Smith hit back immediately,
recognising a reference to Alexander the Great. Tectonic plates did nothing for
me, but provided Edinburgh with 10 points. In the second picture starter we saw
an engraving by Durer. It was that man Smith who recognised it. Three more
personifications of death brought 10 points. Nobody knew Kraits for the next
starter. Owen Stenner-Matthews, having a good night on the buzzer, recognised a
work by Steven Pinker – also known as Steven Who? in LAM Towers. Various people
called Lamb followed – sadly Larry of that ilk’s work in Gavin and Stacey
remained unreferenced. At last we got a Maths starter – and I GOT IT RIGHT AND
I WASN’T GUESSING! I worked out that the sum of the 5th prime number
– 11 and the 5th digit of p is 20. Nobody had it. The next starter was
an old quiz chestnut about Australia. South Australia touches more states than
any other. Neither team knew it. Back to the Science starter about hormones. Asked
about a gland which had something to do with endocrines I had a strong feeling
that it would be pituitary – the so called conductor of the endocrine
orchestra. Cressida O’Connor thought the same thing, and JP confirmed we were
both right. Malay words in English saw us both get kapok and gecko but miss out
on rambutan. All square. Emily Goddard knew that you hear ‘patterns’ and ‘19th
century designer’ you say William Morris. Royal memorials gave a timely full
house. Nobody fancied a go at OAS, and a despairing Nat Guillou offered “Organisation
of American States “ in a tone which said, surely this can’t be right? It was.
US History offered three gettable bonuses. They only managed 2, and if they
were going to lose, then it was this slight profligacy with bonuses which would
be the main reason. Sadly Owen Stenner-Matthews just buzzed in too early to
identify the Washington Monument for the next starter. This allowed Euan Smith in,
and Swiss food and drink allowed them to bag another full house. After a
titanic contest Edinburgh now had daylight – not a lot, but one suspected
enough at this late stage. Indeed it ws. The gong announced that they had won
by 190 to 155. JP was sure that Durham would be back, and so am I. Well played
both – a great match, which I thoroughly enjoyed. As for Mrs. L’s verdict? Is
it over? (dramatic pause) Good.
Jeremy Paxman Watch
JP does like the opportunity to show
off his superior knowledge, and give him a sniff of one he’ll be on it like a
Jack Russell after a rat in a hay barn. When Euan Smith suggested Mamba for the
snake bonus he sniffed,
“No, they’re in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t
Already Know Of The Week
The word vandalism was originally
coined during the French Revolution by Henri Gregoire.
Friday, 16 September 2016
Mastermind: Round One: Heat 10
Mastermind
Heat 10
Morning all.
To be honest I found last night’s heat a bit of a bread and butter episode.
Nothing drastically wrong with it, but never the most exciting thing on the
menu.
Well, our
first slice was provided by Rob Mansfield. He was answering on the life and music
of Nick Drake. Nick Drake has been a specialist subject a couple of times
before in the last few years, so obviously inspires devotion in his fans, but I
know little or nothing about him. I certainly knew nothing about any of the
questions that Rob was asked, so I can’t comment on whether, given the
questions, Rob’s 9 was merely decent, or a little better than that.
Emil
Zatopek, on the other hand, I do know a bit about, having recently read a good
biography. I love track and field, and of all the greatest Olympians, I would
have loved to have met Zatopek, who wasn’t just a great runner, but also, I
feel, a great man. So I do know enough about the subject to say that Dave could
conceivably have scored a few more – he missed points on what were some pretty
important life events for Zatopek. One feels he maybe concentrated on preparing
to answer questions mostly on the athletic career.
Like Nick
Drake, the TV series “Band of Brothers” has also been a subject on Mastermind
within the last few years. Right, what do we say about Adam Wilson’s round? The
bare fact of the matter is that he only scored 4, and whatever spin or gloss we
put on it, that is not a good score. It looked like he was a bit shellshocked
by an early wrong answer, and couldn’t recover, but only Adam could really say
what happened to him. We’ll come to John Humphrys’ take on the round a little
bit later.
Kate McAllister
finished off the first half by answering on a more traditional SS, Hernan
Cortes and the Conquest of Mexico. Of all the 4 contenders in last night’s show
she seemed most at ease with her subject, and produced the only genuinely good
specialist round of the show. 12 points gave her the Eldorado of a 4 point lead
over her nearest rival at the halfway stage. One thing was certain already –
only the winner of this one would be going through to the semis.
OK, as Adam
returned to the chair, I had a feeling that John would make a comment.
Thankfully he didn’t give us any of the ‘redeem yourself’ codswallop that he
has treated us to in the past. Instead he observed, “You probably
underestimated the amount you needed to know. . . “. Ouch. Mind you, I reckon
that’s probably true, and Adam admitted as much, with his, “I knew quite a lot
about it, just not the right things.”. That’s the point though. If you’re
learning a specialist subject, you could be asked anything about it, and you
have to try to prepare for that eventuality. At least he scored double figures
in GK.
Dave Ryan
had a spirited crack at putting the other two contenders yet to go within the
corridor of doubt. The only thing is, the GK rounds in this series so far have
been pretty gentle, almost in the Sleb Mastermind category of GK rounds. Just
my opinion, but one based on years of watching the show and writing about it.
With rounds like these if you just keep your head, and above all else guess
when you don’t actually know the answer, you can rack up a score in the teens.
I rather fancied that this would not be enough.
Rob
Mansfield couldn’t get there though. He fell one short, and although he managed
12 his round was never really convincing. This left Emma, who needed 11 to win.
Now, as I said, a couple of seasons ago, if a contender needed anything in
double figures on GK then this was by no means a given that they could do it,
and was certainly enough to give pause for thought. Now, though, 11 is the kind
of score that the majority of contenders, by keeping a cool head and answering
and guessing, should be able to get. Emma did it comfortably. Her final
question, though, for me, is an example of what has happened with a proportion
of questions this year. I’ll paraphrase, but basically it started – in which
part of the face is the masseter -Now that is enough. In years gone by that
would have been seen as a perfectly fair question, as indeed it is. Now,
though, the question went on – which takes its name from a Greek word meaning to
chew.- Now, with that bit added on, instead of having to think or guess to get
it right, it would take a real effort to get it wrong. Rant over.
Well played
Emma, clearly the best in this show. Good luck in the semis
The details
Rob Mansfield
|
The Life and Music of Nick Drake
|
9
|
0
|
12
|
1
|
21
|
1
|
Dave Ryan
|
Emil Zatopek
|
8
|
1
|
14
|
1
|
22
|
2
|
Adam Wilson
|
Band of Brothers
|
4
|
5
|
10
|
6
|
14
|
11
|
Emma McAllister
|
Hernan Cortes and the Conquest of Mexico
|
12
|
1
|
13
|
2
|
25
|
3
|
Sunday, 11 September 2016
Mastermind Round One - Heat Nine
Hello everyone. I’ve been away all
weekend since Friday afternoon – Mary and I have been in Devon, attending her
first cousin’s wedding, but also celebrating our own Pearl Wedding. So it’s
only now that I’ve managed to catch up with Friday night’s Mastermind.
First up was Steve Lacey. Steve was
offering us the films of Peter Sellers. Don’t mind admitting that I’m a bit
partial myself, and so I was quite happy to take 7 on this round. Nice to see
that it mentioned one of my favourite of his films, “The Wrong Arm Of The Law”.
Steve didn’t have a perfect round, but it was still a pretty good one, and as
we’ve seen, scoring 12 n the first round should give you a realistic chance of
a win.
I can’t really explain what happened
at the start of Nigel Jones’ round. Whether it was nerves, whether it was not
getting the first question in the round which put him off for his first few
questions I just don’t know. Still, he was floundering at the start. 4 or 5
questions in everything suddenly clicked into place, and he showed that he does
know his subject. Sadly, though, by the time that this happened he was fighting
a bit of a rearguard action, and in the end he finished with 8. I scored 7
myself, and that aggregate of 14 was what I ended the whole of the SS round with.
First of the 2 subjects on which I
scored narry a point was Graeme Ross’ round on Arthur Lee and Love. When I was
reading up the blurb on this show I thought it said Arthur Lowe and Love, which
might have been interesting but bizarre. Graeme posted the best SS score so
far, and so he was going to be in the shake up when we got to GK.
As indeed was Lynne Edwards. Now,
many moons ago I did read the first Forsyte Trilogy, but baulked at the second.
Made no difference to this round. For all I know there might have been some
easy questions in the round, but none of them were easy enough for me to
answer. Lynne though made short work of everything which was put in front of
her, and finished with a tremendous score of 15.
I don’t know if he was daunted by the
target, or whether the questions just didn’t fall his way, but after his first
30 seconds or so Graeme Ross was behind the schedule needed to match Steve, and
by 1 minute it was clear that he was going to fall a little way short. In the
end he finished with 23. This left Lynn. Now, there were a number of times
throughout the round when Lynn looked as if she was very much in the corridor
of doubt, judging by her expression. Well, if she was guessing on these
occasions, then she was guessing correctly for the most part. No, she couldn’t
quite match Steve’s 16, but she didn’t have to. Leading him by 3 points at half
time, her 15 was more than enough to give her a fine total of 30, with just a
little daylight between her and Steve,
Well played both. Lynn, good luck in
the semi final, and Steve, fingers crossed that you make it.
The Details
Steve Lacey
|
The Films of Peter Sellers
|
12
|
0
|
16
|
1
|
28
|
1
|
Nigel Jones
|
Astronomy
|
8
|
0
|
13
|
2
|
21
|
2
|
Graeme Ross
|
The Life and Music of Arthur Lee and
Love
|
13
|
0
|
10
|
2
|
23
|
2
|
Lynn Edwards
|
The Forsyte Novels by John Galsworthy
|
15
|
0
|
15
|
0
|
30
|
0
|
University Challenge - Round One - Heat Nine - Open University v. Salford
Open University v. Salford
Open University were represented by Rob
Mitchell, Dale Crawford, Mags Adamson and captain Sarah Banks. Their opponents,
Salford, were Robert White, Mark Sanders, Peter Smith and their skipper Bradley
Wakefield.
I felt we might be in for a good
match when I saw the way that both teams waited on their buzzers to identify a
1944 novel until JP starter saying the name George Orwell, at which Mark
Sanders won the buzzer race to give the answer 1984. Types of apple only
brought the one bonus. Rob Mitchell of Open, who was to have a very good night,
opened their account, knowing who coined the term ‘scientist’. They too managed
one bonus, this time on the dramatist
Thomas Dekker. Open took their second starter as Dale Crawford, who was also to
have a very good night, identified the film “Kinky Boots”. This time they took
a full house on atom stuff. This brought up the picture starter, on a map of a
model village. Robert White had that. Three more model villages – I predicted
Bourneville, Port Sunlight, and New Lanark would be coming up, and I wasn’t
disappointed. Neither were Salford who took a full house. Rob Mitchell knew
that Glucinium was the former name of beryllium. This earned bonuses on Lord
Chancellors of England. The fact that they only took 1 out of three gettable
questions suggested that maybe they were a little light on the historical side
within the team. Never mind – at the 10 minute mark both teams had shown good
form, but Open led by 55 to 40.
In 1861 the only writer likely to
start a book with a section titled The Mistress was Mrs. Beeton, and Peter
Smith was the first to the buzzer on this starter. They were unlucky to get a
tricky set on Germanic tribes, of which the only one any of us got was the
last. Mark Sanders knew several definitions of the word impact for the next
starter. Joan Didion, who apparently has no connection to Ken Dodd, earned us
both a full house. Peter Smith knew that Dave Brailsford introduced the concept
of marginal gains, and presidents of the Royal Society who won the Nobel prize gave
me an unexpected bonus, while Salford, who had made a blitz start to this
second phase of the competition, scored a different correct answer. So to the
music starter. I t was so obviously Louis Armstrong that a buzzer race ensued
in seconds, won by Dale Crawford. 3 other musicians sent to propagate jazz overseas during the Cold War brought no
rewards. Both teams sat on their buzzer a bit for a starter on Tasmania before
Dale Crawford buzzed in. Acts of parliament and the decades in which they were
passed provided a single bonus. A third starter in a row fell to Dale Crawfod
who knew Patrick Leigh Fermor. Italian operas and their Italian titles provided
them with a full house, a triple figure score, and the lead. Mags Adamson knew
that if you hear the words ‘early form of writing’ and ‘Sumerian’ – or indeed anything
Mesopotamian, then you go for the buzzer and answer cuneiform. Two bonuses on
Nishapur followed. Thus, by the 20 minute mark Open had wrested back the lead
from Salford, with the score standing at 125 – 95.
Rob Mitchell was the first in to
identify a quotation from Pygmalion. Archaea – no, me neither – provided Open
with 2 bonuses, and me with an opportunity for a lap of honour around the Clark
sofa for knowing that Halo – refers to salt. For the second picture starter we
saw a Gustav Doré engraving of Jacob fighting with an
angel. Neither team had both engraver and subject. Rob Mitchell took the next
starter, some Maths thing, and earned the picture bonuses. Which brought none
of us any points, so lets move on from that. Rob Mitchell knew the Government’s
Chief Scientific Officer, and earned bonuses on the films of Carol Reisz. I
didn’t know the name, but I did know the films. We both had a full house, and
poor Old Salford had been shut out completely for the last five minutes or
more. That can seem like a lifetime in UC. Their main chance at this stage
seemed to be a repechage score. Peter Smith put them ten points closer with the
word trousseau. A tricky set on religious terminology didn’t help much. Dale
Crawford knew of Gestalt psychology, and three bonuses on Asian G20 countries
brought 10 more points. Now Open skipper Sarah Banks muscled in on the Starter act
, recognising some examples of beta blockers. Bonuses on novels with the word
fear in their titles frankly should have been a full set even if you’ve never
read the books, but only brought a single bonus. Mind you, any more points for
Open at this stage would have just been gilding. Mark Sanders knew that Viti
Levu is an island of Fiji, and that was that. The final score was 220 to 115.
Hard lines to Salford. They didn’t play at all badly, but just were not as fast
on the buzzer as Open, and when that happens there’s precious little you can do
about it. Well played Open – a team worth watching I’ll be bound.
Friday, 2 September 2016
Mastermind: Heat 8
It was last
week’s show which saw a particularly favourable set of specialists let me hit an
aggregate of 30 in the first round. A quick glance at tonight’s clutch of
categories promised no such largesse. Of the 4 I could only really say that I
knew anything about ocean liners – and not much about them for that matter.
Michael Ward
kicked us off with the films of the Cohen Brothers. Thankfully there were 4 of
what I would call easy ones – they must have been since I was able to answer
them correctly. You know John H. seemed positively downcast when Michael just
missed out on a full house to the tune of having an answer about a stamp miss
out by 1 cent. Well, let’s not concentrate on that, but on the 14 correct
answers which lay down a particularly hefty gauntlet before the other 3
contenders.
The next of
these was Alison Rawlinson. Alison answered on Flanders and Swann. I bet myself
that the first question would be about the Hippopotamus, and I was right, and
one point to the good. I managed another 3 to double my aggregate so far.
Alison produced a good secure round of 11, but 3 points behind at the halfway stage
is a difficult position, even when there is a 2 and a half minute GK round to
come.
It's not
impossible that I’m reading more into this than I should, but to my eyes Lyndon
Easterbrook lost everything on his first question. I’ll try to explain that. He
was answering on Tom Wait. He got his first question, about a club in which Tom
Wait performed, wrong. I dare say he might even have misunderstood the question
since the answer he gave was actually the answer to a later question in the
same round. I think he couldn’t believe it was wrong, and was so shaken by it
that he just couldn’t regain his composure, and this dragged him into a
terrible spiral. John H. put it down to the effect of the black chair, and
while I’m not sure that it was the piece of furniture itself that was
responsible I’m pretty sure that the pressure of the situation was. Lyndon
finished his round with 4.
I was on 8,
and thankfully Lynne Francis’ round on Transatlantic ocean liners 1899 – 1950 I
pushed on to a respectable aggregate of 14. Nowhere near last week’s, but
beggars can’t be choosers. Lynne knew her stuff on a subject that I know enough
about to be able to say that these were quite a testing set, and a score of 12
was a good return. Even so, this did mean that there was daylight between
Michael and the peloton at the halfway mark.
I was glad
to see that John restrained himself from making any unfair ‘redeem yourself’
comments this time round. If a contender has an unfortunate score in their
first round, I personally feel that it’s better not to draw attention to it
when they sit down for their GK. If you must mention it, sympathising over the
effect of the black chair, as did John this time, is probably the best thing to
say. Michael added 11 to his score to achieve what John hailed as
respectability. Fair comment, I think – although at one stage he was looking as
if he might score high teens – the first 2 minutes of his round were actually
pretty good, although he did run out of steam somewhat.
Alison Rawlinson
did exactly what you should do with this kind of GK round. She didn’t hesitate
when she knew the answer, and she didn’t second guess and start doubting
herself along the lines of – surely they’re not asking me something as easy as
this? Her round of 16 was very good all round – there wasn’t much at all which
caught her out. When you’re 3 points behind that’s exactly the kind of round
you want to throw in to give the opposition pause for thought, and more importantly,
it would give her a realistic chance of a repechage slot whatever happened.
Lynne
Francis had a rueful look on her face as she sat down for her own GK round. She
was only a point ahead of Alison at half time, and within about half a minute
it was looking unlikely that she could approach her score. In all honesty she
looked as if the round was a bit of a trial to her, but she did manage to get up
to 20, and there’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed about a score in the 20s.
All of which
only left Michael Ward. He looked a little daunted when John reminded him of
the size of the task ahead of him. Basically, he needed 13 points just to equal
Alison’s round. Yeah, that may sound reasonable, especially in a 2 and a half
minute round, but think on. If you think that doesn’t sound too hard, all I can
say is, just you try it yourself. Maintaining your concentration, especially if
you have a couple wrong, is hard, especially in the last part of the round. So
full credit to Michael for being able to keep ploughing on. With one question
left he was level on correct answers. If he got it right, then the job was
done. He didn’t. I’ll be honest, I hadn’t kept track of the passes to this
point, but it transpired that Michael, with 3 passes to Alison’s 5, had done
enough. Very well played both.
The Details
Michael Ward
|
The films of the Cohen Brothers
|
14
|
0
|
13
|
3
|
27
|
3
|
Alison Rawlinson
|
Flanders and Swann
|
11
|
4
|
16
|
1
|
27
|
5
|
Lyndon Easterbrook
|
The Life and Work of Tom Wait
|
4
|
1
|
11
|
0
|
15
|
1
|
Lynne Francis
|
Trans Atlantic Liners 1899 - 1950
|
12
|
0
|
8
|
4
|
20
|
4
|
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