University Challenge: Round One: Heat 13

St. Andrews v. Worcester College, Oxford

Well, it seems that the exchange rate this year  is that if you don’t have any Welsh teams then you can have two Scottish teams. St. Andrews, who this time around opted not to wear their traditional red gowns, were represented by Matt Eccleston, James Green, Andrew Vokes, and their captain, Toby Parker. Worcester College were represented by Sam Barnett, Rosemary Walmsley, Dennis Wang, and their own captain, Nick Williams.

When I was 16 I was given a beautiful ly bound 2 volume edition of The Outline of History, so I knew it was H.G. Wells’ work rather earlier than Sam Barnett, who buzzed in for Worcester. Bonuses on forms of amusement sw them take only 1 of an eminently gettable set. The St. Andrews skipper buzzed in and offered paraffin as the answer to a definition, with a wonderfully despairing look on his face, but he was right, and so was I. Being a correctly answered Science question the traditional lap of honour around the living room followed before the bonuses. These were on naturalists, and we both had the first and last. Nick Williams knew or guessed that the Enid Blyton character in question for the next starter was Noddy. This brought Worcester a set on the works of Roald Dahl with extracts from the opening paragraph. And they took a full house. This brought us to the picture starter, where James Green correctly identified the diocese of Ely on a map. Three more of the same followed, and St. Andrews managed 2 of these. It was nice to overhear one of these young whippersnappers referencing the ‘baby eating Bishop of Bath and Wells’ from Blackadder 2 – especially considering that this venerable classic is 3 decades old now. A good shout from James Green saw him identify Victor Hugo as the writer of the verse drama “Cromwell”. Bonuses on optics provided neither of us with anything, so at the 10 minute mark St. A’s led by 50 – 35, and up to this point neither team had lost 5 for an incorrect interruption.

Something about analogue and digital signals passed well over my head, but Rosemary Walmsley had it right. Governors General of India brought 1 bonus, and tied the scores. As soon as it became clear that the next starter was galloping towards the Alamo, Dennis Wang buzzed in correctly with San Antonio. Romantic poets offered a lot, and provided two bonuses, and the lead for Worcester. Toby Parker provided the first incorrect interruption of the contest when he buzzed in too early on a question about a mathematician called Abel. Dennis Wang was Abel to provide the right answer. Historiography sounded rather unpromising but Worcester managed 1 bonus. And so to the music starter. Both teams slept on their buzzer a little as we heard part of the overture to Carmen, and it was James Green who buzzed in with the answer. 3 more classical works inspired by Spanish folk melodies and dance forms provided them with a useful brace of bonuses. Dennis Wang, buzzing very well at this stage of the competition, identified a definition of the word metonym. I groaned as the set of astrophysics bonuses were announced, but actually managed the 2^nd and 3^rd, as did Worcester. James Green knew that Eragon is the first in the Inheritance cycle. Emma Goldman – wasn’t she the Six Million Dollar Man’s boss? – provided a couple to keep St. Andrews in touch with Worcester, who had been in danger of disappearing over the event horizon. A timely buzz by Andrew Vokes saw him correctly answer Skara Brae, and St. A’s were also in triple figures before the 20 minute mark. I think Joe Orton only wrote 3 plays, and so his bonuses promised much. St. A’s managed 2, but couldn’t quite get the title of Entertaining Mr. Sloane. Nevertheless, this meant that Worcester’s hard earned lead had been whittled down to 5 points, as the score stood at 110-105 in their favour.

For the second picture starter nobody identified a still from Citizenfour. So the picture bonuses rolled over. Both teams slept on their buzzers a little for the next one – Second World War. . . and . .  Mannerheim should have been enough. After a moment Matt Eccleston gave the correct answer of Finland. The picture bonuses, stills from three BAFTA winning documentaries saw them take a 15 point lead. Dennis Wang struck back, naming Tanzania and Burundi as two of the countries with shoreline on Lake Tanganyika. Iraqi cities saw them take their score to 130 with 5 minutes to go. What a good contest between two evenly matched teams this was turning out to be Sam Barnett knew that serialism is associated with the composer Schoenberg. Geology provided a few more points. It was all very tight, as James Green identified Pistol from Shakespeare’s Henry V. Bonuses on Milton and Cromwell brought the teams level. Could it all come down to the next starter? Possibly. It was something about stable isotopes of the first two elements of the periodic table. Rsemary Walmsley had first bash, but it fell to Andrew Vokes to give the correct answer of 4. Fair enough. Winners of the Academy Award for the best foreign language film meant they had a 15 point lead. You sensed that there was time for just the one more starter. If St. A’s got it, then game over. Neither team seemed willing to commit to the buzzer to identify pinus sylvestris, but eventually Matt Eccleston chanced his arm with scots pine, and he sealed the game for his team by doing so. There was time for them to get a bonus on King John, and the gong ended the contest. In the end St. Andrews won by 175 – 145, but there was literally nothing to choose between the teams until the last 2 starters. Well played both, and hard lines Worcester.

Jeremy Paxman Watch

JP was being interviewed on the Steve Wright Radio 2 show earlier this week, and he did admit that he’d become a lot more mellow in his responses to some of the answers on UC in recent years. We’ve noticed, son, we’ve noticed.

In fact all that was really worthy of note was his response to St. Andrews’ first buzz as he put my thoughts into words as he told Toby Parker, “For giving the correct answer you do look a bit miserable about it.”

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

St. Anthony (San Antonio) is often invoked as a finder of lost property.

Mastermind Round One: Heat 13

I must be getting older. Well there’s no must be about it, I am getting older, and it would be remarkable if I wasn’t. But I’m getting less tolerant, and I don’t think that’s ever a good thing. At the end of the day does it matter if someone gets a low score in their specialist subject on Mastermind. No, not really. Yet for the third week running I found myself coming to the conclusion that at least one of the contenders hadn’t prepared well enough, and feeling a bit frustrated about it. Now, I’ve no doubt that every contender who enters really does want to do well. But if we take Gary Maggs’ first round, on Queen, I would say that I liked their music, but I wasn’t a massive, massive fan. Yet I managed 8 on these questions with no preparation, while Gary only scored 6. Yeah, I know, I’m in the comfort of the Clark sofa and it’s different in the studio in the chair. You don’t have to tell me since 've done specialist rounds on no fewer than five occasions in the chair. But that's just it. I know what a commitment it should be in order to prepare for a specialist round.

Of course, poor old Gary’s round was thrown into stark relief by the fact that it was followed by LAM reader Rod Allday’s perfect round on Dame Laura Knight. There was no angle he hadn’t covered, and no question he couldn’t answer . . . and that’s how you must at least try to do it. 13 points meant that Gary would need to get 7 on GK just to equal Rod’s SS score.

Emma Harris’ blank looks at some of the questions she was asked about Anita Roddick led me to believe that there were areas of her subject’s life and work that she just hadn’t covered in her preparation as well. I really, really do not mean to be critical, but I just don’t enjoy heats so much where half the contenders rule themselves out before the general knowledge round through the gaps in their preparation.

Thankfully LAM reader, Mastermind recidivist and University Challenge alumnus Tony Richardson gave us a fine round on Don Revie to bring the specialist rounds to a more successful conclusion. Not quite a perfect round, but Tony’s quick-fire answering enabled him to accrue 12 points by the end of the round. Bearing in mind his track record I confidently turned to nobody in particular after his round and predicted ‘There’s the winner.’

Well, we were left with what was only ever going to be a two horse race, but that would come after Gary and Emma had returned to the chair. It isn’t true that you can’t prepare for General Knowledge, but it is true that preparation is no real guarantee of success in it – well, unless we’re talking about years of preparation, perhaps. So I can’t blame Gary so much for his modest 7 in General Knowledge. His round was what it was. Emma’s was rather better, although she still fell short of double figures, and we’ve already noted that this season the rounds are of a gentle enough hue that the majority should be able to acrrue a double figure score in 2 and a half minutes. Still, there we are – I hope that they both enjoyed their Mastermind experience anyway.

On his last time out in Mastermind a couple of years ago Tony fell just a couple of points short of a win in the first round. I’ve always said that if you have a good level of GK to start with, then coping with the chair gets easier each time that you do it. Tony’s task was clear. He was only one point behind Rod at half time. He was certainly going to beat Emma’s score, so his job was to set the bar at a level which would force Rod to traverse the corridor of doubt. Which is exactly what he did. Tony maintained a great tempo throughout the round – in fact unless I’m much mistaken he had time to attempt over 20 questions – and he managed to answer 15 of these correctly which is not bad going by anyone’s reckoning. The door to the corrido was gaping wide for Rod.

Which is not to say that he made a bad job of his round, for he didn’t. He answered those he knew, and guessed some he didn’t. However he was going more slowly than Tony had gone, and getting more of them wrong. With a minute to go he was behind the clock, and with half a minute to go he wasn’t going to make it. In the end he finished with a worthy 24. Not enough for a repechage slot, I’m afraid.

Well played Tony, and good luck in the semis. If you go all the way I am more than ready to hand over the title of the last schoolteacher to win Mastermind.

The Details

Gary Maggs	Queen	6	1	7	4	13	5
Rod Allday	Dame Laura Knight	13	0	11	0	24	0
Emma Harris	Anita Roddick	7	4	9	5	16	9
Tony Richardson	Don Revie	12	0	15	0	27	0

University Challenge: - What - no Welsh team?

Jack always knows what he's talking about when it comes to UC - so I have to say that I'm flabbergasted to see that there will have been no Welsh university or college represented in the first round this year.

Just what is that all about?

I don't know if anyone knows the answer, or if any member of the production team is reading this, but I'd really like to know the answer to that one.

University Challenge - Queen's University Belfast v. Birmingham

In Monday’s heat Queen’s University Belfast were represented by Padraig Regan, Caitlyn Newby, Enda Doherty and captain Stuart Mathieson, from Belfast. Their opponents, Birmingham, were represented by Elliot Jan-Smith, Fraser Sutherland, Chris Rouse and their skipper George Greenlees. Let’s get down to business.

Formed in 1934 . . . political party . . . first seat 1945 , , , At this point quizzers up and down the length and breadth of the country would have been giving the answer Scottish National Party, but Chris Rouse gave UK Communists, which allowed Queen’s the benefit of the full question. Their bonuses were on vandalism and the arts. They took two. George Greenless gave an early interruption to identify Clodagh and others as named British storms. Good shout. Bonuses on Wikipedia followed, but failed to add to Birmingham’s score. . nor mine for that matter. Caitlyn Newby was the first to identify cockroaches from their description, earning Queen’s bonuses on the Fields Medal, and they managed a couple of these. Both Fraser Sutherland and I were quickly in with the answer that the ancient port shown on a map in the picture starter was Tyre. 3 more cities founded by the Phoenicians followed, of which they took two. Again, Chris Rouse was in too early fr the next starter which allowed Padraig Regan to supply the correct answer, the political term neo-conservatism. A bonus on China meant that by the ten minute mark Queen’s were comfortably ahead, leading by 60 – 20.

Something about wavelengths saw Enda Doherty provide the correct answer of 5. Fair enough. The poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, known in LAM Towers as Edna Who? - promised me but little, yet delivered two more correct answers, while Queen’s managed the one. On the next starter it was Fraser Sutherland who tried the speculative early interruption, and waved bye bye to another 5 points. Even with the full question, Queen’s couldn’t identify the term Chamberlain. Captain George Greenlees showed how it was done on the next starter. He knew very well that it was Ancient Egypt where people believed that their hearts were weighed in the Underworld, and he buzzed the second that the question became clear, not the second before it became clear. Two bonuses on shrubs and trees made their score look a lot more healthy. I don’t blame Fraser Sutherland for thinking that Life on Mars might have been on the Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, but it was an opportunity missed, as it allowed Padraig Regan to give the correct answer of Hunky Dory. Queen’s only managed the one bonus on Bowie albums. A good buzz from George Greenless on the next starter saw him correctly identify a reference to Botticelli. 2 bonuses on the films of Luc Besson followed. Caitlyn Newby played with fire by buzzing in for the next starter – name two British monarchs not succeeded by their son or daughter, giving one and then umming for a few moments. She received a restrained wigging for her pains, and this allowed the battling Birmingham skipper in with William IV and Edward VIII. 2 bonuses on constellations were taken, and there looked little doubt that Birmingham were on the comeback trail. It seemed rather inevitable that it should be George Greenlees in for the next starter, which asked about the Chinese Army’s involvement in the Korean War. I rarely get more than one of any set of bonuses on economics, and this was what both Birmingham and I had this time. Mind you, this was enough to ensure that Birmingham had come back from the brink of disaster to be only 5 points behind at the 20 minute mark – Queen’s led 90 – 85, but Birmingham had the momentum.

That man Greenless identified a painting as the work of Monet for the second picture starter. I have actually made a copy of that painting using oil pastels, many years ago. I did like the French Impressionists of that period back then and I identified all three views of Argenteil by other painters. Birmingham managed narry a one, but importantly they were in the lead for the first time in this match. George Greenlees buzzed in with the correct answer of presbycusis – gesundheit – for the next starter. One bonus on airports named after fictional characters followed. George Greenlees also knew that the telephone was invented in the 1860s. Well, that’s a bone of contention. Let’s say that Alexander Graham Bell filed his patent in that decade, and ignore the claims of Mr. Meucci who seems to have invented a telephone device quite a bit earlier. English words taken from French past participles. How long since a starter had been answered correctly by anyone other than George Greenlees? He added another with the Lizard Peninsula. A timely full house of bonuses on Tolkein’s “The Hobbit” put them over the event horizon. Enda Doherty broke the spell that George Greenless had woven over the match by correctly answering that Ohio joined the USA in 1803. We both knew that the stirrup is also known as the stapes, but that was the only Science bonus that either of us managed. At least Queen’s, beaten into submission by the power of Greenlees were into triple figures now. Fraser Sutherland added a little gilt to the Birmingham victory by identifying the French Lieutenant’s Woman for the next starter. That was all there was time for, and Birmingham, owing a massive debt of gratitude to their skipper, won by 165 to 105. Well played.

Jeremy Paxman Watch

A rather wistful comment from JP after Queen’s told him that the Fields Medal is only for mathematicians under the age of 40. “I’d be happy enough with 40”. Is that a sigh for lost youth from the sexagenarian?

Then, when Birmingham took a full house on The Hobbit he felt moved to observe “I don’t think we’ll enquire too closely about what you get up to at night.” What precisely was he suggesting there, do you think? Answers on a postcard to the usual address.

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

There are more Wikipedia articles in Swedish than any other language apart from English

Mastermind: Round One - Heat 12

Mastermind can be a cruel mistress. If you’re still with me after that pretentious opening, then I’ll endeavour to explain. In order to save yourself an awkward walk back to the chair after a disappointing first round it really demands that you put a lot of time and effort into preparing for your specialist. Even if you do, there’s no guarantee that nerves or some other factor won’t scupper your chances, but you can bet your bottom dollar that if you haven’t prepared thoroughly then it will be cruelly exposed. Last week I felt that at least one and probably two contenders had not prepared well enough, and I’m afraid that I had a similar feeling with Marcia Bull’s round. If I’m being unfair I apologise, but I did feel that the way that she passed some of them so quickly made me think that there were things she probably should have prepared that she maybe didn’t. 7 is nothing to be ashamed of – well, let’s be honest, it’s only a game and so no score is anything to be ashamed of, but it is a modest SS score.

Keith Nickless is an old hand, having reached the semi finals in Ian’s 2011 series. Ironically in his 2011 first round he scored a massive total of 18, while this time out he posted exactly half that score with 9. It should be noted that as a rule the questions that are asked in SS now seem significantly longer than they did in 2011, and scores above 15 in specialist are very rare beasts indeed now. That having been said it really looked as if Keith was going to have his work cut out making a second semi.

Paul Armstrong offered us a subject about which I knew nothing, Sophie Scholl and the White Rose. Having seen scores of 7 and 9 so far I thought that Paul had an excellent chance of taking a good lead, yet he too put in a round which could have been a bit better. He seemed a little nervous compared with the previous two contenders, so maybe this just prevented him from reaching a double figure score.

So the stage was set for Adam Tumber to give himself a winning lead by the half way stage. Well, he didn’t manage that, but his 12 on Ayrton Senna was significantly better than anything else we’d seen in this contest so far. As regards taking an unassailable lead, well, I tend to think that a lead of 5 points will put you over the event horizon except in very exceptional circumstances.

Marcia bull returned to the chair first, and she actually looked a lot better on GK than she had looked on her Bath round. Now, I don’t blame Marcia, or any of the contenders in this series at all for this next point, but I’m going to say it anyway. I’ve already made the point several times about how gentle these first round GK rounds have been this series, but I have to say – is it just me or do these rounds seem to be getting even easier? Case in point – in which city would you find Orly and Charles de Gaulle airports? – I’m not being funny, but this is meant to be Mastermind, not Tipping Point. Well, Marcia scored a decent 12. This paled into insignificance when Keith took the chair. The only thing you can do with sets of easy GK questions like these are is knock them to the boundary with the contempt they deserve, and that’s precisely what Keith proceeded to do. Mind you, he needed to do so since he was 3 points off the lead, but his final total of 26 was just what was needed to put half time leader Adam into the Corridor of Doubt.

Before that, however, Paul returned to the chair. Without dwelling on it his GK round was not a conspicuously good one. Nerves, possibly, but whatever the reasons he only added 7 points to his total to finish off the pace with 16. This brought Adam to the chair, and a fascinating round followed. Adam was clearly not answering as well as Keith had done. However he wasn’t answering that much worse. The score was creeping up, but the clock was ticking away as well. In the end, he managed to take his score to 14 for 26 with the last question of the round. A good battling effort. . . but sadly not quite enough, for he had incurred 3 passes, while Keith had used the classic recidivist’s tactic of avoiding passing. Well played both.

The Details

Marcia Bull	The History of Bath	7	3	12	4	19	7
Keith Nickless	The Faces 1969-75	9	0	17	0	26	0
Paul Armstrong	Sophie Scholl and the White Rose	9	1	7	6	16	7
Adam Tumber	Ayrton Senna	12	0	14	3	26	3

Brain of Mensa Final 2016

I joined Mensa in the summer of 2013, so it was too late for me to enter the Brain of Mensa competition that year. I got to the final in 2014, and finished 3rd. I didn't participate in Brain of Mensa last year - it was not a great year for me for one reason and another. Still, I missed it last year, and so had another go. I won my first round heat, and came second in the semi, earning a place in the final. To be honest, I wouldn't have been too disappointed if I'd managed third again. I'm still in a bit of a state of shock that this happened: -

It would not be a lie to say that my main motivation in joining Mensa was to play in and try to win Brain of Mensa. I can't think of anything more to say about it other than clichés. But I am over the moon. 

University Challenge: Wolfson, Cambridge v. SOAS

Wolfson College Cambridge were represented by Justin Yang, Ben Chaudhri, Paul Cosgrove and Eric Monkman, their skipper. Their opponents, the London School of Oriental and African Studies, or SOAS were represented by David Bostock, Magda Biran-Taylor, Odette Chalaby, and captain Henry Edwards.

Eric Monkman was in with the answer Discworld about the same time that I was for the starter – immediately after JP said the title “The Colour of Magic”. Scientists who were also proficient musicians provided a full house, but only two for me. My suggestion that Richard Feynman might have been a dab hand at the musical saw – well, Marlene Dietrich was – fell somewhat wide of the mark. The Wolfson skipper took his second consecutive starter, knowing all about how the rules for zero originally being written in verse – There was a young figure called zero? Eleventh century English history brought just the one bonus. When asked which European capital had artworks decorating more than 90 of its 100 stations I had a feeling we might be looking at the Stockholm T Bana. Skipper Henry Edwards from SOAS buzzed too early to offer Moscow. Given the names of several stations Wolfson should have done a little better with it, offering Amsterdam. That early buzz seemed to infect Wolfson for a while afterwards, since Justin Yang buzzed in too early on the next starter which asked for the greek-originated term sclerosis. Nobody had that. I’ll admit that like Justin Yang I came in too early with John Donne for the next starter – poet and cleric seemed to suggest that – but nobody had it was Robert Herrick. Magda Bira-Taylor waited until it became obvious that the edible nut of Jupiter was the walnut, and that tactic paid dividends. I thought that Alfred Nobel would be an answer to one of the questions about explosives, and that was the only one that we both had right. Still, at least SOAS were now in credit. Cuba, Hispaniola and others were highlighted on a map for the picture starter. ‘Greater Antilles’ I suggested, but neither side had that. The next starter Asked about the first person to reach his funding goal on Kickstarter. Henry Edwards took that one. In the picture starter SOAS gave an example of what can happen if you don’t listen closely to the question. Told that JP wanted the island name highlighted, and that it might not necessarily be the name of the nation, they offered Trinidad and Tobago rather than just Trinidad. It’s a shame, but at least the two bonuses they did answer meant that the two teams were all square on the cusp of the 10 minute mark.

Eric Monkman began the next section of the contest in the same way he had began the previous with a good early buzz to identify King Stephen as the father of Eustace of Boulogne. They took one bonus on the Battle of the Somme, and frankly might have done a bit better with them considering that this is the centenary of the battle. A great early buzz from the SOAS skipper identified Tennyson’s Ulysses and earned a full set of bonuses on rice cultivation to give SOAS the lead for the first time in the competition. Gibbs free energy sounds rather jolly. Never heard of it myself, but Paul Cosgrove knew it Both of us took the first two bonuses on Miranda Carter. Now, if you hear the words ‘loudest sound in recorded history’, just slam the buzzer down and answer Krakatoa. Both teams rather slept on their buzzers, until Eric Monkman made a despairing lunge with the fall of the Berlin Wall, allowing David Bostock to have a three frow with the right answer. Places named after saints is one of those categories which can be nice or nasty – on this occasion it proved relatively benign providing two  strictly speaking two and a half – correct answers. Ben Chaudhri was in extremely quickly to identify a wee snatch of Elgar. The bonuses were other pieces played by Jacqueline du Pree. Off the point completely, but it was at this point of the proceedings that it struck me that the way the Wolfson scarf was draped in front of the team resembled nothing quite so much as a giant Walkers’ Frazzle. Sorry. Eric Monkman couldn’t resist the lure of the early buzz on the next question, and lost 5 for his pains, but it fell to JP to tell us all that both Florida and Texas joined the USA in 1845. Eric Monkman again came in too early for the next starter, giving away another 5 hard earned, but Magda Biran-Taylor knew that Sun Yat Sen was highly influential in the removal of the Chinese Imperial Dynasty in 1911. Nobel prizes for economics provided two bonuses. I applaud Eric Monkman by not being deterred from another early buzz, and he was right to come in early with the dwarf planet Ceres. Scientific unit provided both of us with just the one answer. Once again, Eric Monkman timed his buzz correctly for the next starter, about the derivation of the term Art Deco, after David Bostock had buzzed too early. One suspects that SOAS might have fancied bonuses on languages of China more, but Wolfson managed enough to take them into triple figures. AT 20 minutes they led 105 – 90.

Fair play to Justin Yang for getting the letters ZA from little more than Japanese dumplings. A full set of bonuses on Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” saw them start to pull away from SOAS. I loved Wolfson’s attitude of buzzing first even if they’re just guessing, but Justin Yang misidentified Martina Navaratilova as Steffi Graf for the second picture. Odette Chalaby supplied the correct answer. Three other players to have won career Grand Slams narrowed the gap a bit. Apparently something was derived from the cells of Henrietta Lacks. Henry Edwards knew all about it, and earned bonuses on books published in 1516 put SOAS back in the lead. Against expectations, this was turning out to be a good contest. Would Wolfson come to regret those incorrect interruptions? Ben Chaudri added another one, by misidentifying the founder of the Seleucids as a general of Ptolemy. No, the first Ptolemy too, like Seleucus, was a general of Alexander the Great. Henry Edwards had that. Amino acids both promised and delivered little. Both teams had, it seemed by the next starter, learned to wait until the question became obvious. Flightless birds was not enough, but Emperor and King gave Henry Edwards penguin. Fictional newspapers saw them only get one of three very gettable literature questions. Still, with a 40 point lead SOAS now had the upper hand. A rush of blood to the head saw Henry Edwards sacrifice 5 points of the lead by saying Presbyterian when the answer required was Episcopalian. The Wolfson skipper was never going to make a mistake on that one. Lead down to 25. Three correct answer on Sanskrit film titles and the lead was down to 10 – one starter. Again SOAS didn’t listen to the question. Magda Biran-Taylor correctly answered got, but didn’t add the rhyming stoat. Lead down to 5, and an easy tap in for Wolfson to take a 5 point lead. A full house on Christmas Day Coronations and Wolfson now had a 20 point lead. Fair play to Henry Edwards, he was in like a whippet to identify some Persian poet for the next starter. Right – I’ll be honest, I thought it was Castor and POLLUX in Roman Mythology, and Castor and POLYDEUCES in Greek – but if Pollux is also applicable in Greek, then I withdraw my objection. A second correct answer was enough to level the scores.

Bong.

A one question tie break saw Ben Chaudr correctly identify the radula as something you find in molluscs. A great game, and I look forward to seeing both teams again.

Jeremy Paxman Watch

JP was guilty of a pedantic and unnecessary correction. When offered the equally correct – in fact, technically more correct since it is the original Anglo-Saxon Harold HARfoot, he corrected it with – Yes, Harold HAREfoot – which is the modern rendition of it.

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

J. Rule from New York was the first person to reach his target for crowd funding on Kickstarter.