Mastermind First Round - Heat 8/24

Sacrilege this may be, but my wife Mary is not a fan of Mastermind. However, she is away at the moment, staying with her mum in Spain while her stepfather is in hospital. You don’t need to know that, but at least it meant that I could watch Mastermind in the comfort of my front room for once. I was eagerly awaiting tonight’s show since I knew that we’d be seeing LAM reader Brian Pendreigh tonight . Brian however was drawn to go fourth in the first round, so lets look at the competition first.

Vicky Versaci answered questions on The Hannibal Lecter Novels of Thomas Harris. Tonight was one of those nights when I achieved my aim of answering at least one question in each of the specialist rounds. Mind you, this was only because I’ve seen “The Silence of the Lambs “ a couple of times – I’ve never read any of the books. Vicky did rather better than this. On 4 points she hit a mini pass spiral which rather took the wind out of her sails, and although she pulled herself out of it she didn’t really get a huge amount of momentum going. Never mind, she reached respectability with double figures.

The History of Alcatraz was the interesting subject offered by second contender Paul Philpot. This looked on the surface to be the kind of unusual subject where you’d expect the contender to be extremely well prepared, and to be fair Paul didn’t disappoint on this score. He was going great guns – very fast answers without a hint of a wrong ‘un anywhere, until just the one answer tripped him up in the second half of the round. Not to worry, he mentally picked himself up, dusted himself off, and completed the round at top speed. 17 is a great score – well done.

I’ll admit it, I have a soft spot for British comedy films from the 50s through the 70s, so I was looking forward to Carole Symonds’ round on The Carry On Films. We last saw this as a subject when Sally Lindsay won her Celebrity Mastermind show a year or two ago. Carole obviously knew her stuff, but I’m afraid that nerves were rather her undoing. For example, when she was asked the name of Hengist Pod’s wife in the very finest of the films, Carry On Cleo, she knew the character was played by Sheila Hancock, but couldn’t remember the character’s name – inevitably Senna. She did remember enough to gain 8 points – not a huge total, but not one to be ashamed of either.

At last Brian. Now, being realistic, Brian was going to be good on General Knowledge, so there would be no need to panic if he couldn’t match Paul’s score. His subject was the Beatles – ah, another great subject. Although having said that , there has been so much written and said about them, that the amount of work it must take covering all the angles and any potential questions is mind bogging. Brian didn’t quite manage a perfect round, but it was extremely good. 15 and no passes put him handily placed at Paul’s shoulder, as we progressed to the General rounds.

Carole was already out of the running, to be fair. I thought that her general questions were very fair, but I’m afraid that she made rather heavy going of it. She added another 7 to her score to make a total of 15. Vicky had a two point advantage over Carole at the halfway stage, but she needed all of this, as nerves and a pass spiral ate into her time in a big way. She knew a lot more than she answered, as she ruefully showed when John gave her the answers to her passes. She took her total to 16.

Brain returned to the chair, and what followed was a performance straight out of the top drawer. The highest scores in a 2 and a half minute GK round we have seen before were the 19 scored by Jesse Honey, and the 20 scored by Pat Gibson in the Champions final. The highest score in a GK round of this series so far had been LAM reader Paul Steeples’ 17. Brian equalled Pat’s record with 20. It was a fabulous round, answers snapped out with no hesitation, no time wasted on the ones he didn’t know which produced the 2 passes. Some great answers, but just as impressive was not dropping a point on any bread and butter either. Brian , that was magnificent !

Not that the show was officially over yet, but in all honesty the chances of having two contenders who could perform like that on the same show seemed slim. Paul returned to the chair, and he certainly started brightly enough. However I’m afraid that the enormity of the task ahead of him seemed to adversely affect his performance. He was becalmed on 21 for what seemed like a very long time. The win slipped away very quickly, and it became less and less likely he’d manage to get enough to get on the semi final board. That’s a shame, but at least he takes away the memory of a very fine Specialist performance.

As for Brian, you have to say that Scotland has found in him a contender who shows every sign of giving them a very good run for their money this year. Many, many congratulations !

The Details

Vicky Versaci	The Hannibal Lecter Novels of Thomas Harris	10 - 6	6 – 7	16 – 13
Paul Philpot	The History of Alcatraz	17 - 0	7 - 5	24 – 5
Carole Symonds	The Carry On Films	8- 0	7 - 4	15 – 4
Brian Pendreigh	The Beatles	15 - 0	20 - 2	35 – 2

Current Highest Scoring Runners-Up

Anne Skillen - 30 -7
James Collenette - 29 - 2
Ian Packham - 27 – 7
Chris Harrison - 26 - 1
Laura Humphreys 25 – 4
Simon Martin 25 – 6

TV Watch - Only Connect

Round One – Match 5 – Fantasy Writers v. Bridge Players

Yes, tonight another team who scored highly on the Exotic-team–ometer, as Victoria introduced us to the Fantasy Writers. All of them , as the team name suggests, are Fantasy Writers. Geoff Rhyman and Liz Williams – whom I think Victoria described as a witch – flanked captain Paul Cornell, who has written for Doctor Who. We are not worthy ! Slightly less exotic were their opponents, the Bridge Players. Chris Cooper and Tim Dickinson made up the team with captain Nick Smith, who confidently asserted that bridge combines individual skills and teamwork . Can’t argue with that, but would it make a difference in an ongoing Only Connect situation ?

Round One – What’s the Connection ?

The Writers kicked off tonight. You can believe this or not, but I had an inkling that the connection was Brutus when the first clue Mythological first king of Britain came up. I’d never have had the guts to go for it until the second clue – Jean’s On came up. The team rightly said this was a one hit wonder for David Dundas, but it was the company being advertised, not the singer required. Popeye’s nemesis and Assassin of Julius Caesar completed it. 1 point, but its better to be cautious and get a point, than to be headstrong and get none. The Players began with twisted flax, and were given Miss Scarlet – not sure – then Blue Ball in Croquet – had a clue at this point – then Women and Children first , at which point I was certain, and so were the Players that these were all things that go first. 2 points thank you very much. The Writers liked the look of eye of Horus, and let Philip II of Spain and Simon Bolivar come up, and then had a rush of blood to the head, guessing that they were all kings of countries where they were not born. Incorrect , I’m afraid, which gave the Players Christopher Columbus and Juan de Bermudez. They were close, but didn’t quite get that they all had countries named after them. No bonus. Still, it was their own go next, and they opted for two reeds. The dreaded music connection. They guessed all were connected with Australia – again not a million miles away from the connection, but not close enough. The Writers knew that the last piece of music was Brazil, and correctly gave the answer they were all countries. Hmm – bit of a theme going on in this round ? Pure coincidence, I’m sure. The Writers took the Lion, and received pictures of a Pfennig, and Norman Bates in the film Psycho. I think they had the connection now, but took another ppicture pto pbe psure. A pterodactyl confirmed that these were all words beginning with a silent p – as in bath . I’m here all week, ladies and gents. The Players were left with water, and revealed monocaine – Helmet of Perseus – Siefried’s Cloak – and James Bond’s Aston Martin in Die Another Day. Yes, they all turn invisible, or turn the user invisible, which they knew, for a point. By the end of the round the Writers led by 4 to the Players’ 3

Round Two – What comes Fourth ?

Twisted flax had been kind to the Players in round one, so the Writers chanced their collective arm with it to start the second round. Chowsingha , then Triceratops, then bull convinced them we were looking at a 4 horned beast , a three horned beast, and a two horned one, so the last picture would be a unicorn, or any one horned beast. Irrefutable logic, which earned a point. The players took the Lion, and were given EHF and SHF to start. They were sensible to wait for the next one. Obviously the 4th would be VHF or UHF , but which ? Well, UHF came next, which meant they secured 1 point with the other. The Writers got a lovely set next, seemingly easy, yet a real potential pitfall. April – June and September appeared. They offered January, worked out by a mathematical formula of increasing gaps, but no. The Players had seen that we had three of the months from – 30 days hath September . So the last in the year would be November. 1 bonus. The Players took the horned viper, and were given 20 H in a T , 8 S in a H, and 14 P in a S. It was only at this point that I cottoned on, and so did the players, realising that 16 ounces in a pound would give you 16 o in a p. 1 point earned for patience there. The Writers, who’d been struggling to make an impact in this round, took two reeds , and were given pictures of a baby and a letter M, a christening and a letter T, a wedding and a letter W. They knew it was to do with Solomon Grundy, but not what came next. The Players did though, and snapped up another bonus. Which left them to mop up the last set under the eye of Horus. 4th Indonesia I think gave them a clue. 3rd USA strengthened it, and 2nd India confirmed it. This was countries with the largest populations, and 1st would be China. Another point, and by the end of the round now the Players led by 11 points to 6. Good round.

Round Three – The Connecting Walls

With the wind in their sails the Players tackled the wall carefully. Quickly unravelled were a line of Dark – Fine – Beaux and Martial , all of which can be suffixed with the word Arts. Later on they untangled Jester – Morris Dancer – Sleigh and Swiss Cow, all of which have bells on. Pull the other one. Sorry. At the death they untangled the last two sets. Cutaway - Noddy – Wide and Talking Head gave them all names for camera shots or angles. However they failed to see the connection between Edmonds – Bickle – Housego and Fry. This was my d’oh moment of the show. I knew that Travis Bickle was from Taxi Driver , that Fred Housego was a taxi driver when he won Mastermind, and that Stephen Fry drives a taxi. Did I see the connection ? Did I heck . Still, 7 points was a good return for the Players, and meant that even if the Writers got a maximum, they would still lead into the vowels.

The Writers got the water wall. Very early on they saw a set of battles, but never unravelled the right combination of them before the end of the round. They did untangle Wall – 42nd – Lafayette and Canal as streets in New York City. Good shout. Time ran out before the other lines were solved. When the wall was resolved they saw that Ernst – Hastings – Clifford and Miller are or were all Max. The battles they had seen but not solved were Sedan – Gettysburg – Balaclava – Waterloo. However Dogs – Country – Wire and Top of the Class escaped them. You can go to each of them. Yes, easy when its explained to you. This left the Writers with a mountain to climb, as they trailed by 10 points to the Players’ 18.

Round Four – Missing Vowels

The game wasn’t over, since the gap could be bridged, but it would take a huge effort on the buzzer. The first category was Invertebrates. Both teams buzzed incorrectly once, but this was a lot more damaging to the Writers than the Players, who at least also got two correct answers. Things that can be capped followed, and the Players were happy to take three of these. Fiction set in Australia didn’t seem to please either team, and only the Writers managed a point. To no avail, since Victoria only had time to announce the next set – Weather Phenomena – as the round ended. The final score was a comfortable win to the Bridge Players by 23 to 11. Hard lines to the Writers, but beaten by a good team, I think its fair to say. Good show – especially welcome since University Challenge was cancelled yesterday due to some golf tournament in Newport.

Only Connect - Interview with Victoria Coren

I've been keeping an eye on Jamie Miller's Quiz Genius site, and I was interested to see that he has bagged an interview with Victoria Coren - lucky man ! If you want to read it for yourself, then just follow this link

Quiz Genius - Only Connect Interview

Mastermind - First Round Heat 7/24

Tonight’s show offered another enjoyably wide selection of specialist subjects. Being heat 7 as well it meant that for the first time this series we would see a runner up drop out of the running for a semi final slot.

Paul Hardy was the first to make his bid to secure a semi final place by right. He was answering on The Football World Cup 1970 – 2006. Now, if you take a subject where the field has been narrowed down like this you can bet your bottom dollar that the setters are really going to dig deep for some of the questions. Paul passed on the 3rd and 4th questions, and although he did pick up speed in the middle of the round you have to say that there seemed to be clear gaps in his knowledge of his subject. He finished with 8 points, and it looked unlikely that he would be pushing for a semi final slot after this. I did enjoy the question referring to Diana Ross missing the goal , and yet still managing to break it in two in an opening ceremony.

By way of a contrast Robin Seavill, our second contender, answered questions on the TV Plays of Alan Bennett. This is another quality subject. Robin clearly knew his subject, and kept the momentum throughout his round. He wasn’t quite perfect, and picked up a couple of wrong answers and a pass, but 14 was certainly a score to be reckoned with. Good round.

Chris Harrison’s subject was simply Bletchley Park. I think its famous enough by now that it probably needs no extra explanation. This was a difficult round for the casual viewer such as myself. I guessed the answer to the Station X question, but that was about it for me. Not so Chris. This was a round which a veteran would have been proud of. Slow answers were given to the first couple of questions, but after that there was no stopping Chris. An interesting point was that he was only giving surnames when asked for names, an old hand’s tactic that. A score of 15 was an excellent return on this round.

Completing the specialist round was vicar Steve Taylor, answering on U2. I have to say that I found Steve’s performance rather hypnotic. He kept nodding back and forward, almost rocking in his chair as the round progressed. It was a good round too, again, there were things he didn’t know, but these were spaced throughout the round. Careful plugging away brought him a good return of 13 points. So at the halfway mark three of our four contenders were still very much in it.

Paul Hardy was first back into the chair. He made the best start you could hope for in a GK round, by taking the first 5 questions on the bounce, and they certainly weren’t all gimmes, either. He pushed his score up to 15 in good time, but I’m afraid at this point he ran out of both steam and luck. When things don’t run for you, they just won’t run for you. In the end he added another 9 to his first round score to set the target at 17.

Steve Taylor followed, and had the chance to set a score which would put the fear of God into the opposition. Once again I found I was unable to take my eyes off him , his expressive face making it absolutely clear what he thought of each question. Quite often this was frustration, or amused resignation, as the round failed to be kind to him. He took the lead, but only managed to take his score up to 21, which surely would not be good enough.

Robin Seavill needed 8 to take the lead, but needed rather more to set a challenging enough target for Chris Harrison to aim at. This was a pretty good GK round. You’ll have noticed a developing theme in my reviews of this series so far , that of the importance of mental stamina in the GK round. Neither of the previous contenders had shown it, but Robin did. He missed a number of questions, yet, but kept picking off the answers he knew, and in the end added 13 to take his score to 27. Certainly enough to give Chris Harrison pause for thought.

For the first half minute or so it looked like Chris was going to walk it. Like Paul Hardy he picked off the first 5 questions, and was well ahead of the clock. Then the brakes seemed to come on. He was becalmed in the early 20s for a long time, and although he did manage to get going again, he was only clawing his way towards the target of 27. To put it into perspective, 27 would be enough, since he had significantly fewer passes than Robin. 25 . . . 26 . . The buzzer went, but John had started asking the question. If Chris got it, then he was through. Asked in which city Jane Austen had lived for a time, and in which parts of two novels , Persuasion and Northanger Abbey had been set, Chris answered Winchester. Oh, that’s a sensible suggestion, Chris. I think she was actually buried in Winchester cathedral. But the answer required was Bath. John Humphrys had certainly been feeling the tension, and he commiserated with Chris at the same time as congratulating Robin. Well played gents, and thanks for a very exciting finish.

The Details

Paul Hardy	Football World Cup 1970 – 2006	8 – 5	9 – 8	17 – 13
Robin Seavill	The TV Plays of Alan Bennett	14 – 1	13 – 6	27 – 7
Chris Harrison	Bletchley Park	15 – 0	11 – 1	26 – 1
Steve Taylor	U2	13 – 0	8 – 2	21 – 2

Current Highest Scoring Runners-Up

Anne Skillen - 30 -7
James Collenette - 29 - 2
Ian Packham - 27 – 7
Chris Harrison - 26 - 1
Laura Humphreys 25 – 4
Simon Martin 25 - 6

Millionaire - Phone A Friend

Although it was recorded ages ago, the Millionaire where I was a phone-a-friend was only broadcast last night, and it has led to a couple of interesting questions. Regular LAM reader Terry Collins emailed me today. He was intrigued by the fact that both I and Chaser Anne Hegerty popped up as phone-a-friends for different contestants on the same show. He asked whether Millionaire keeps a pool of friends and gives these out to the contestants. Good question Terry, but the answer is no. I selected my own friends when I went on Millionaire, and although I know Richard's dad Alan rather better than I know Richard, I have quizzed with both of them before. I think that its just a pure coincidence that Anne and I both popped up on the same show - our paths do seem to keep crossing.

Nancy asked me why Richard didn't pick me to answer the question, and whether I would have had it right. Richard's other phone friends were his dad Alan, and my dear quiz mate John, often honourably mentioned in this very blog. The fact is that over the years John has proven himself better at answering Geography questions than I am. Quite simply, we'd decided that if Richard was stuck on a Geography type question, John would be the best bet as a phone friend.

In my youth I was a bit of a railway nut, so I was pretty certain that the answer was Iceland, without being absolutely 100%. Whether I would have advised Richard to go for it is another question entirely.

I did think Chris Tarrant was a class act when I appeared on the show myself. Still, hearing him describe me as a Christopher Biggins lookalike I've gone off him a bit.

TV Watch - University Challenge

University Challenge – First round match 13 - University of the Arts, London, v. Imperial

Ah, the exquisite agony of choice ! Two London universities, yet neither of them London University . The University of The Arts London is a new one on me, which is not surprising since they only became a University in 2004. Still, they’ve certainly made up for lost time, being now the largest educational establishment solely for the Arts in Europe. They were represented by Nigel Booth, Mary Vettise, Cliff Andrade, and captain Adam Walker.

Imperial actually used to be part of the University of London, but became independent in 2007. Their record in UC commands respect, having won the title twice. They were represented by Ed Brightman, Elliot Bajema, Courtney Williams, and their skipper, Nayer Youakim. JP helpfully reminded me that it was a case of Arts v. Sciences, and so not even having so much as an O Level in Science to my name I decided to support artists and new boys UAL.

Nigel Booth of UAL showed an impressive disregard for the gravity of having to bear the curse of the Clark sofa by snapping up the first starter for UAL, recognising several applications of the word green. A set of bonuses on children’s novels followed, two of which provided them with points. Nigel Booth must have enjoyed getting the first starter so much that he took the second as well for good measure, spotting that the greek philosopher referred to in the question was Aristotle. Bonuses followed on specific websites, of which one was taken. Courtney Williams of Imperial made a hell of a good answer to an inscrutable starter on square root days, which impressed JP as well.

The next starter was one of the picture starters that UC does so well. The outlines of countries of Europe were represented, but joined together in an unusual fashion so that they looked for all the world like an angry man about to stamp on something. If you didn’t see the show you’ll have to just trust me on this one. The country being stamped on was called for, but neither team could see that it was Iceland. Never mind, the bonuses on this picture came after the next starter, when Williams of Imperial correctly identified the conical hills of Auvergne. 2 out of the 3 map bonuses were taken. A definition of parts of the body followed, which began ‘humans have 2 over 2 ‘ , and it foxed Imperial. UAL had it eventually though, with teeth. The bonuses which followed were on Scientists, and understandably these weren’t so much to UAL’s liking. At the 10 minute mark it was pretty even, with UAL leading by 40 to 30.

The middle period saw UAL pull away, and yet it didn’t look like this would happen when Courtney Williams took another starter when she saw that the link between one of Chaucer’s pilgrims and a husband of Marilyn Monroe was Miller. Tit for tat, this time the scientists got asked bonuses on artists, and didn’t convert any. Nice little irony that. Ed Brightman of Imperial unsuccessfully interrupted a Geology starter next, five points away, but UAL didn’t know the answer. Elliot Bajema knew that if it’s a composer, and its something to do with fossils, then you won’t be far away with St. Saens’ Carnival of the Animals. In fact he was spot on. 2 bonuses followed.

The music starter was a lovely idea. JP announced that he was going to play a condensed album, with a very brief snatch of each of the tracks. UAL ‘s Mary Vettise needed only a couple of notes of the title song to correctly answer that it was London Calling by The Clash. Three more of the same followed, 2 of which were gratefully taken, although a point was dropped when they failed to give the title of the correct album by the Velvet Underground. Never mind, they had built up a little momentum, which they maintained by taking the next starter for a set of bonuses on Einstein.

Adam Walker at this point began at this point to play a real captain’s innings. He took the next starter with a correct identification of a couple of euphemisms for syphilis – ooh, Matron. With a full house on a set of bonuses on one of last week’s Mastermind subjects – Tennessee Ernie Williams – the team had begun to hit a rich vein of form. Adam Walker took the next starter, saying that Scotsman John Ray surveyed much of Northern Canada. Then he took the next as well. When JP asked which mood he was describing, and launched into a quote from a Keats ode, Mr. Walker buzzed in with the correct answer – Melancholy. Even a set of bonuses on biology didn’t do much to halt them in their tracks. However the next starter did – a great starter which asked which three elements of the periodic table start with two consecutive letters of the alphabet. Neither team managed it. At last Imperial managed to get a toehold back in the game when Courtney Williams earned a set of bonuses on sculptors. Still, this section of the contest clearly belonged to UAL, who now led by 130 to 70.

UAL looked good for a win, or at the very least a repechage spot. Imperial, though, were going to need to get a wiggle on to have even a chance of that. Adam Walker had no intention of allowing that to happen. Showed a picture starter of a landmark wrapped up in material, he correctly identified it as the Pont Neuf over the River Seine in Paris, when it had been wrapped up by the artist Christo. Whatever lights yer candle . . . I do like a good bridge bonus, and so did UAL who took a full set. I was surprised that JP reacted so calmly when neither side could correctly identify which Shakespeare character ‘murdered sleep’. Normally he takes it as a personal insult when a team get a Shakespeare question wrong. Adam Walker, the huge difference between the two sides tonight, stepped back up to the plate to take the next starter by explaining that VED stands for Vehicle Excise Duty. This earned a really nice set of bonuses on quotes by fathers of British Prime Ministers. UAL took one, but to be honest the bonuses were looking irrelevant, since they were ahead anyway, and Imperial weren’t hardly getting a sniff of a starter. Still Elliot Bajema hadn’t given up, and he knew that a set of deities from various religions were all identified with the sun. Two bonuses followed, but were in all honesty too little too late. Adam Walker won the buzzer race to identify that lemurs and loris were primates. Elliot Bajema took the next starter, explaining that the Dunlap Broadside and the Goddard Broadside were forerunners of the Declaration of Independence. Good shout that. Still, one more starter remained, which fell to Mr. Andrade of UAL, correctly explaining that a set of definitions all belonged to words containing a double e. At the gong UAL looked good value for their win, by 215 to 95. Very well done , and commiserations to Imperial, comfortably beaten on the night, but certainly not disgraced.

Jeremy Paxman Watch

I think , this being the penultimate match of the first round, that JP was a little demob happy tonight. He seemed almost charming, although when one of the teams offered Limbs rather than Teeth he did favour them with one of his patented ‘are you out of your tiny mind ‘ hard stares. For once though he really hit the nail on the head when he congratulated UAL on a fantastic performance for a first appearance on the show. Amen to that, Jezzer.

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

Bebo is actually an acronym, and it stands for Blog Early, Blog Often. I can’t always promise the first, but I do try to live up to the second.

TV Watch - Only Connect

Round One – Match Four – Britpoppers v. Geocachers

Yes, normal service is resumed with a proper review of OC, after last week’s account of our own first round match. Tonight’s teams were the Britpoppers, a team of British music industry stalwarts consisting of William Higham, Chris Roberts and captain Andy Ross. If that wasn’t exotic enough for you, the opposition was a team called the Geocachers.Quizzed by Victoria they revealed that Geocaching is a treasure hunting game using GPS. Frankly it makes our moniker of the Radio Addicts look positively mundane by comparison. The Geocachers were Sarah Bain, Lisa Grant, and skipper Andy Bain.

Round One – What’s the Connection ?

The Britpoppers won the toss and elected to take the first hit. They were offered a tricky bouncer to start – Sugar 2.08 kg – Vitamin C 833g – Nicotine 3.5g – Strychnine 1.1g. Time actually ran out for the ‘Poppers, and that’s a rare sight on OC indeed. The ‘ Cachers had a stab at maximum recommended intakes, - close but no cigar , despite the nicotine. It was actually lethal doses of the 4 substances. Tricky, but the strychnine made it gettable. The Cachers took the pictures, and were given prairie dog – killer whale – starfish and koala bear Yes, maybe it looks easy when they are all written down, but these two teams are no mugs, and neither managed to say that the prairie dog isn’t a dog, the killer whale isn’t a whale – and so on. No points yet. The Poppers were then given The Channel Tunnel – US Space Programme – Loom and Badminton. For the first time tonight there was egg on my face here too, since I didn’t spot the connection. Neither did the Poppers, but the Cachers swooped in for the first points of the show, correctly saying that they all used shuttles. Of course. D’oh ! The Cachers couldn’t capitalise on their head start when they couldn’t see the connection between Rocks Ricks Racks, Pif Paf Pof and others. The Poppers well deserved their bonus for answering with no hesitation that they were all Snap Crackle and Pop in other languages. Great connection – only on this show do you get anything like this. The Poppers got the music set, and with their background they were under a lot of pressure to get it right. And so they did, identifying four pieces of music linked with opposites – Night and Day for example. It remained for the Cachers to try their luck with Mao Zedong – David Hume – Casanova and Philip Larkin. Well, I would have had a stab at it from Philip Larkin, but I wasn’t certain. The Cachers didn’t get it, but William from the Poppers earned a valuable point for saying that they were all librarians. Good shout, and the Poppers led by 3 points to 1.

Round Two – What Comes Fourth ?

The Poppers continued scoring with the first set of the round. 16.666 and 33.333 gave them a good idea what it was, and 45 confirmed it. Hey confidently answered 78, this being the next record turntable speed followed. The Cachers were offered one of those where you see the connection, but what comes next is still not clear. Oregon Country – Mexican Cession – Gadsden Purchase were clearly land augmentations of the US, but there were two biggies to choose from. The Cachers zigged wrongly with the Louisiana Purchase, while the Poppers zagged correctly with Alaska – or the Alaska Purchase. Them’s the breaks. Fair play to the Poppers, when they got a decent lead they seemed to know how to build on it. Given Amsterdam – Atonement and Saturday they knew it was Ian McEwan novels, and even more impressively they knew that On Chesil Beach came next. The Cachers took the pictures, and again they knew the connection, but not the final link. Explorer , Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird, and a cub gave them the scout movement. However both teams gave terms from the Guiding movement, and missed that beavers would come fourth. Funnily enough, when the Poppers first clue of the next set came up – Hertford – I immediately showed my age by chanting “In ‘Ertford , ‘Ereford and ‘Ampshire – ‘Urricanes ‘ Ardly ‘ever ‘ Appen “ – not thinking that this would be the connection. It was though, and the Poppers got it. The Cachers were under the coche, er, cosh by now, and the next set didn’t help them. Lina Wertmuller – Jane Campion – Sofia Coppola escaped them, but the Poppers were quite ruthless, taking the bonus by identifying that the next woman director nominated for the Oscar was Katherine Bigelow – who actually won it. Good round for the Poppers, who had shown themselves a force to be reckoned with by now, and led by 10 to 1.

Round Three – The Connecting Walls

The Cachers went first, and solved -Insert – Escape – Function – and Control as keys on a PC keyboard. Before time ran out they also found Home – Defence – Justice and Scottish, a series of Cabinet Secretaries. They KNEW that there was a set of stages from the Glastonbury Festival there, but three attempts to unravel them weren’t enough, and the board froze. They soon saw that Toxic – Electric – Future and Culture would be followed by shock, leaving John Peel, Acoustic, Pyramid and Other which were indeed Glastonbury festival stages. Still, 6 points well earned.

The Poppers had a comfortable lead, but a poor performance on the wall can turn many a game on its head. They saw that there must be a set of hats there, but a first attempt failed, and they let it lie for a bit. They also early on picked out Bibendum as the Michelin Man, but never got as far as really following through with other advertising characters. They could also see that a set of joints was there, but not which. Returning to hats they soon unravelled Derby – Pork Pie – Busby and Toque. However time was seeping away, and no other lines were uncovered by the end. Still , when the sets were resolved they did see that Vinnie – Aleksandr Orlov – Bibendum and Nipper were the advertising characters. Hmm – all this AND snap crackle and pop in the same show ! Butt, Dovetail , Mitre and Finger they knew were joints, and the last set were lovely – coat – carrot – pipe – scarf – all being things you would put on a snowman. So the round went to the Cachers, but not by much, and the Poppers led by 15 to 7.

Round Four – The Missing Vowels

The walls had taken a lot of time, and so there wouldn’t be a very long last round to finish. The first set of flowers saw 3 fall to the Poppers. The Cachers got one but also dropped one. They were playing cache up, sorry, catch up, and this means you have to buzz early, and sadly it didn’t quite work. Sets of Companies Founded during World War II, and Films featuring Cross Dressers saw them buzz too early another three times, and in the end the Poppers scored a comfortable win by 21 points to 4. Victoria rightly was genuinely sympathetic to the Cachers by the end – they might not have looked like winning, but with a little bit of the rub of the green they would have posted a much higher score. Guys, you have nothing to be ashamed of. As for the Poppers, they take the fifth place in the second round. Very well played gentlemen.