With Regards to the Curse of the Clark Sofa

Even after you strip away all the myths, legends and downright lies that have become attached to his story and just stick to the facts, you have to accept that George Herman Ruth was a phenomenon. The Babe, as he was universally known, had a hard childhood, being brought up in a reformatory but went on to become probably the single most renowned baseball player in the history of the game. He won the World Series in 1916 and 1918 with the Boston Red Sox. In 1919 the world of baseball was rocked by scandal as members of the Chicago White Sox were shown to have colluded with a betting scam to throw the World Series. Baseball seemed crying out for a hero who could restore the public’s faith in the game and Babe Ruth would fit that position like a glove. So in 1920 Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee decided to sell him to the New York Yankees. The previously run of the mill Yankees went on to dominate the sport for several decades. The Red Sox didn’t win another World Series until 2004. And that, in a condensed form, is the story behind the Curse of the Bambino. Boston were cursed for selling Ruth.

Now, before I get on to curses, hexes and hoodoos in general, we should probably acknowledge the fact that the term ‘Curse of the Bambino’ didn’t really come into general usage until the publication of Dan Shaughnessy’s book of the same name in the 1990s. And the fact was that in moving teams, Ruth was leaving a team that were already in decline and joining one that was very much on the up. Still, it’s a fact that after 1918, Boston didn’t win another World Series for 86 years.

You can find several stories of sporting curses or hoodoos without having to look very hard. In 1912 Tottenham Hotspur beat Liverpool at Anfield. 73 years later they did it again, having lost on every occasion they played at Anfield in between. We were riding high in the league at that time in 1985 and dared to dream that this was an omen that this would be our year. It wasn’t. Everton won the League.

We could say a lot about how psychology influences so called curses, but let’s just say that when you get down to it, there’s little or no substance to the idea. So when I refer to the Curse of the Clark Sofa, meaning the way that the people or teams that I predict are going to win or that I support in a quiz usually lose, I know deep down that there is really no such thing as a curse. I know that all this means is that I’m a lousy tipster.

But.

When it comes to superstitions, a kind of mindset, not unrelated to Pascal’s Wager comes into play. Pascal said basically that it’s logical to believe in God, because if God doesn’t exist then it hasn’t cost you anything, and if God does then the rewards for belief are incalculable. So by not tipping anyone this year I don’t lose anything even if the curse did exist (it doesn’t). Well, I didn’t claim that it made a lot of sense, to be fair.

University Challenge 2025 - Grand Final

The Teams

Christ’s Cambridge

Anniko Firman

Brenda Bethlehem

Oscar Despard (cap.)

Linus Luu

Warwick

Ananya Govindarajan

Thomas Hart

Oscar Siddle (Capt)

Benjamin Watson

Well, you read my preview (I hope) so let’s get on with it. With the first starter it seemed as if all concerned had read the script. Brendan Bethlehem beat the buzzers of Warwick to give the answer of Sardinia in a starter about gawd knows what. Alright, it was about the Nuragic Civilization. Still none the wiser. Bonuses on Watling Street provided a full house and the Christ’s juggernaut seemed to be on the move. Now the thing about Warwick is that while the sheer volume and seeming theatricality of Thomas Hart’s buzzing catches the eye, Benjamin Watson, while not taking as many starters as his team mate, tends to get them at important times, and it was he who took Warwick’s first starter with Milk being in the title of the 2018 Booker Prize winner. John Akomfrah provided Warwick with a full house. Great start to the contest. Not so great was both team’s failure to get Diesel from the next starter. My grandfather was a diesel fitter in a knicker factory. He’d pick up a pair from time to time and say ‘de’se’ll fit ‘er’. Thomas Hart opened his account with Chantal Akerman. The bonuses on the solution of Laplace’s equation promised some baby elephant walk moments and indeed delivered them too. By the time I could zone in again Warwick had answered two of them correctly. So to the picture starter. The flag we saw looked a bit like the Czech flag – right shape, right colours but wrong order. Phillippines, I said. So did Thomas Hart and this earned more flag bonuses and Warwick took two of them. Thomas Hart recognised a quote from Karl ‘Party’ Popper, to earn a set on Ancient Greek language. It’s always nice to see Linear B getting a name check. Another two bonuses were correctly answered. Oscar Siddle knew that Silas Marner was a weaver. A lovely set on the holy trinity of Middle English poetry – Chaucer, the Gawain poet and Langland, brought a full house. So, at 10 and a half minutes in, Warwick were leading by 105  - 25, while Christ’s were looking as uncomfortable as they had ever been in any stage of this year’s competition.

Now, even though the next starter didn’t mention the original series of Star Trek, I’m pretty sure that Oscar Despard’s answer. Introns, were a race of aliens responsible for the increasing rattiness of William Shatner’s hairpiece in the third series. Bonuses on Chinese cities only yielded one correct answer. Before Christ’s could build any momentum Benjamin Watson took the next starter, recognising a description of the flag of Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Bonuses on John ‘Percy’ Dalton brought me a lap of honour for knowing the question about sunspots. Warwick missed that one but took the other two. For the music starter it sounded, thought I, a bit like Mozart. Bloomin’ was too. Brendan Bethlehem took that. Other flute works used as test pieces nowadays gave Christ’s a bit of a mare, and they didn’t trouble the scorer. Still, the Bethlehem buzzer seemed to have freed up a little as he took the next starter with sprechstimme. Gesundheit. Modern Art movements in Russia yielded two bonuses. Benjamin Watson knew that the figure from Greek mythology who is a minor character in Macbeth is Hecate. Utopian fiction yielded just one bonus. Linus Luu knew the mathematical term focus. With American composers the Christ’s run of bad luck with the bonuses continued as they managed just one. Brendan Bethlehem knew that Mongol Kahnate of Chagadai for the next starter. 2 science bonuses took Christ’s into triple figures. Back came Warwick as Oscar Siddle recognised the work of Edward ‘Grass’ Hopper for the second picture starter. 3 more American paintings produced since the Wall Street Crash yielded just one bonus. So at the 20 minute mark Warwick still led, by 155 to 105.Christ’s were coming back, but quickly enough?

Brendan Bethlehem ate further into the lead knowing Shi ( who may be the face I can’t forget) for the next starter. The history of the USA saw Christ’s score 3 near misses and no points. Well, if you’re going to do that then do it quickly, and they did. Key figures in the art of Brazil fell to Benjamin Watson, simultaneously widening the gap and running down the clock. The Olorun religion delivered two correct answers – if you had to bet on either team at this point you’d most likely have backed Warwick. The German chemist Nernst fell to Oscar Despard. Capitals of Brazilian states yielded nowt. Christ’s were still two full houses behind. The gap narrowed by five when Oscar Siddle came in too early for the next starter. Brendan Bethlehem came close but didn’t quite get Botero. I got Botero once, but a couple of Imodium cleared that up for me. He got the next one knowing that it was Pope Alexander who blessed William the Conqueror’s invasion. Maria Casares didn’t help. Nobody knew the battle of the glorious first of June. Oscar Despard knew the SI unit the Sievert. Two bonuses on lentils narrowed the gap to a mere 10 points. Hardly any time remained. If Warwick could take the starter, the title would surely be theirs. It was Anniko Firman who took the next starter, the most important question she  - or anyone - answered in the whole series. She knew Agamemnon. All square. There was just time for two bouses. They missed the second, but knew that George II’s oldest son was Frederick. That answer, that one answer, gave Christ’s the lead. The gong gave them the win.

If you read my preview you’ll know that Christ’s were remarkably consistent in their BCR around the 60 mark throughout the series. Last night they only managed a rather nervy 41. Warwick on the other hand achieved an excellent 67, which explains why they came so close, so close. My congratulations to both teams, who put on a splendid show for us, not just last night but throughout the series. Roll on UC 2026!

Amol Watch

I call it as I see it and to me Amol was pitch perfect last night. He built up momentum and speed with the questions as the finish line approached and seemed to know that the last starter would settle the series title. A great showing from a question master who seemed to be enjoying the contest as much as everyone at home. Full marks, Mr. Rajan.

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

Les Enfants du Paradis is a title that is taken from a term referring to a theatre’s upper galleries – Children of Paradise.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

The solution of Laplace’s equation in two-dimensional Cartesian coordinates involves the product of trigonometric functions in one variable, with what type of function in the second?

At Long Last - Mastermind 2025 Semi Final 6

 

							Table Position
Olivia Woolley	11	0	13	1	24	1	5
Ivan Milatovic	12	0	10	0	22	0	=9
Neil Pritchard	9	1	10	1	20	2	16
Rakesh Sharma	10	0	7	0	17	0	24

Well, thanks BBC. Good of you to at last let us see the final semi final of a series that has already been needlessly prolonged through a tiresomely extended season of the Celebrity show.

The first round stats showed we had two contenders from the top 10 and two from the bottom 10. For all that though, first round form can only tell you so much. So let’s get on with it. First into the chair was Neil Pritchard who was answering on Spike Milligan’s war memoirs. I’ve read them all in my time, finding parts of them to be sublimely funny. It didn’t help me that much – I had three. Neil gave it a lash, but the fact is that you cannot afford to be more than one or two points behind at half time in a semi-final and having scored 7 it really looked like this was going to happen to Neil.

Next came Rakesh Sharma. He had a bit of a hard time of it in his GK round last time out. He won his heat largely on his double figure specialist. In tonight’s show he was answering on singer M.S.Subbulakshmi. I could tell you that I am familiar with her work, but it would be a lie. So I did not add to the aggregate. Rakesh, although he failed on a couple, put in a similarly good performance to his first round heat, scoring 10 and no passes. So from this point on the banker was only going to pay out for double figures.

Olivia Woolley was in the top five performers in the heats, which is an achievement in its own right. Her subject was my ‘fill yer boots’ subject for this show in the shape of The Glorious Revolution. Fair play, I had five of these, which was only half of the total that Olivia achieved. I was interested that when asked about the story that the baby James Stuart had been smuggled into Queen Mary of Modena’s bedchamber Olivia gave the answer it was said to have happened in a bedpan – the usual answer being a warming pan. Granted, a warming pan is a pan you put in a bed, but an actual bedpan has quite a different function from a warming pan. Whatever the case, Olivia got the nod for the answer and she too finished with 10. Game on.

Finally Ivan Milatovic. Ivan had particularly impressed with his Specialist round in the heats. Then he was answering on Velasquez. I don’t know if his semi subject, Novak Djokovic, paints at all, but I bet Velasquez was no great shakes at tennis, not least because it would be a couple of centuries before lawn tennis was invented. We’ve seen before how in some shows there’s something in the air, so it didn’t prove too much of a shock when Ivan slightly underperformed compared with his heat score and he too ended with 10 and no passes. I had 2 which took me to a double figure aggregate of 10.

The way things worked out meant that the order for the GK rounds remained the same as for the specialists. Neil returned to the chair knowing that he was three points behind and nothing short of something extremely good could bring him a realistic chance of a win. Well, he did produce a good round, no doubt about that. 11 gave him a total of 18, but a rueful smile in the chair showed that he realised that at least one of the remaining three would surely beat that total.

I wonder Ramesh Sharma reflected on the fact that his GK score from the heat would not be enough to bring him the lead? Whatever the case the fact was that he managed to put on a much more effective display now. It wasn’t quite as good as Neil’s, but it was good and with 10 points it was enough to take him to twenty and make him the leader in the clubhouse.

So to Olivia Woolley. Now, you can only call things as you see it. To me, Olivia had looked a little more keyed up and nervous in her specialist than she had in the heats, and again she seemed to be a bit more on edge in the GK. Although she had quite a bright start she became a bit bogged down, snatching at answers as the time ebbed away. By the time that Clive asked the last question she knew that she had not scored enough, judging by the expression on her face. She still scored a respectable 8, but it could only take her to 18.

Finally Ivan, who returned to the chair I what I like to think of as the Dave position – last to go in a semi final where the total required is within your capabilities and you know deep down that you’re never going to have a better chance to get to the final. He set about his task with grim determination.11 and no passes would do it, and he passed this point and added another 1 for good measure, finishing with 22 points, which incidentally was the score he achieved in his first round heat. There’s a lot to be said for consistency.

Well done sir! You are now a Mastermind finalist and nothing can take that away.

And so to the final. I will be posting my non-tip preview within the next few days.

The Details

Neil Pritchard	The War Memoirs of Spike Milligan	7	1	11	1	18	1
Rakesh Sharma	M.S.Subbulakshmi	10	0	10	0	20	0
Olivia Woolley	The Glorious Revolution	10	1	8	1	18	1
Ivan Milatovic	The Career of Novak Djokovic	10	0	12	0	22	0

University Challenge Grand Final 2025 Preview

The Tale of the Tape

Christ’s Cambridge

Round	Opponents	For	Against	Margin	BCR
1	Exeter College, Cambridge	205	110	95	58
2	St. Edmund Hall	215	100	115	57
QF1	Imperial	180	160	20	60
QF2	Warwick	205	155	50	62
SF	Bristol	220	50	170	58
Total		1025	525	500	295
Average		205	101	100	59

 Warwick

1	UAE	275	125	150	68
2	Oriel, Oxford	215	110	105	70
QF1	Queen’s Belfast	215	95	120	46
QF2	Christ’s Cambridge	155	205	-50	40
QF3	UCL	220	125	95	63
SF	Darwin, Cambridge	180	160	20	61
Total		1260	800	440	340
Average		210	133	71	57

Well, I promised that I wasn’t going to make predictions about the Mastermind Grand Final this year, but I gave no such undertaking about University Challenge.

So what do the statistics tell us? Well, the first statistic that I will draw your eye towards is the fact that these two teams have met before, in the quarters. Both had won every match up to this point. It was Christ’s who had a clear fifty point win.

Christ’s have allowed an average of 101 points to be scored against them in each match, to Warwick’s 133. Their average winning margin has been 100 points, while Warwick’s has been 71. So a clear win for Christ’s then?

Well, hang on a moment. Let’s look at that quarter final meeting. For Christ’s were only 1 starter better than Warwick. That margin of victory was achieved through a BCR that was 20 percent higher than Warwick’s. When it comes to bonus conversion, Christ’s are extremely consistent, with a low of 57 percent and a high of 62. Warwick, on the other hand, although they have an average BCR of 57, are far less consistent, ranging from a low of 40 to a high of 70 percent. So, if Warwick can get close to their best BCR it changes the complexion of the match too.

Let’s think about the buzzer. Again, this is by no means clear cut. In both teams all four members buzz and get starters. Both teams have buzzing captains in the two Oscars, Despard for Christ’s and Siddle for Warwick. Both teams have brilliant starter machines in the shape of Brendan Bethlehem for Christ’s and Thomas Hart for Warwick. In the semi final Thomas Hart didn’t manage to find his buzzing range until the last ten minutes or so of the match – if this happens again he may find it’s too late to snatch victory. Brendan Bethlehem has, like his team, been remarkably consistent. He seems to know things that none of the opposition knows and that’s worth its weight in gold in UC.

So, what’s the prediction, Dave? On balance there is not really that much separating the teams. If both were to equal their best score of the series, for example, Warwick would win. However, I think that Christ’s are our more likely winners. They have a level of performance that they have ever really dropped beneath throughout the whole series.

Whatever the case, I’m really looking forward to it.