Evening all. You join me, for the first time in months, in my city flat, which I have just moved back into. To kill time while sitting around in it, I've been speed watching the current series of Only Connect, which I haven't seen much of due to writing these. I'm up to the end of the first round at the moment; hopefully, I'll be up to speed in time for the knockout stage in two weeks' time.
On to tonight's show. St Peter's College Oxford won through their first two matches against Sussex and Selwyn College Cambridge comfortably, almost entirely carried by their captain's superlative buzzing skills. Hoping for similar good fortune tonight were the same four as before:
John Armitage, from Lancaster, studying Maths
Ed Roberts, from London, studying History
Captain: Gabriel Trueblood, from London, studying Medicine
Spike Smith, from Maidenhead, studying Maths
Oxford Brookes came through a low scoring first round match against Jesus College Oxford, then surprised many by beating U.C.L. in the second round in a match where the opposition defeated themselves via numerous penalties. They too were unchanged from before:
Simon Joyce, from North Oxfordshire, studying Spatial Planning
Paula Ayres, from Hertfordshire, studying the History of Medicine
Captain: David Ballard, from Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, studying Politics and International Relations
Stephen Mayes, from Canterbury, studying History
Off we set again, and Oxford Brookes took off the mark first by taking the first starter, and one bonus. Gabriel Trueblood, exemplary in the earlier rounds, then took his first starter of the night, and the side took a full set of bonuses on 'googols', including one about them being the subject of Major Ingram's million pound question! Mr Trueblood then lost his team five points via a slip-up, but Oxford Brookes couldn't take it. Our friend Simon Joyce ('aspinctersays') then took his first starter of the night, but no bonuses followed. He also took the first picture starter; the bonuses, on logos of European free alliance parties, gave his side a lead of 40-20.
Up now rose Mr Trueblood, who took the next starter, and his side took all their bonuses. As with before, Mr Trueblood was hoodie-clad, and was playing with its toggles to keep his hands occupied. The Oxford college side seemed to be getting most of their bonuses, and that, combined with their, or rather, Mr Trueblood's, quicker buzzer hands, was starting to give them a steady lead. A third full bonus set out of four, preceded by Mr Smith taking his first starter of the night, added fuel to this.
The music round, on classical pieces most commonly played at funerals, went to St Peter's thanks to Mr Trueblood taking the starter; they had now opened up a lead of 100-40. Mr T. wasn't giving up yet, and took the next starter, opening up a set of bonuses on telescopes, which saw him take a rather desperate but plausible guess, which nearly paid off! Mr Smith now took St Peter's further ahead, and a set of bonuses on potatoes gave them two. Mr T. very promptly completed a piece of arithmetic most were probably still calculating when he buzzed!
The second picture round, on portraits of the art dealer Ambroise Vollard, went to St Peter's, and their lead now stood at 165-40. Mr T.'s latest starter related to the Seoul district of Gangnam, which leaves me wondering how long before someone does a YouTube mashup of him singing the eponymous song! Oxford Brookes, who had fallen silent since the first picture round, now woke up again courtesy of our man Simon, and they took two bonuses to lift themselves out of the Sub-50 club, which they totally deserved to do.
Another starter fell to Mr T., who now seemed to be playing with the front of his collar as well as his toggle. The bonuses took them through to 200. Simon J. gave Oxford Brookes another starter, and another two bonuses fell their way. The remaining starter went to that man Trueblood, and all but one bonus was converted too. At the gong, St Peter's won 240-80.
Another fine showing from St Peter's, or rather Mr Trueblood, who will surely be fancied to go through to the semis based on that and before; we shall see how they fare in their qualification match. Unlucky Simon and co, who were outbuzzed for most of the match, but we shall look forward to see them play again in the next phase; best of luck to yous for then!
Mr Trueblood finished the night with ten starters to his name, while our man Simon was best for Oxford Brookes with four. On the bonuses, St Peter's converted 23 out of 38 (with one penalty), while Oxford Brookes managed 6 out of 15.
No word on next week's teams: my guess would be Trinity vs Magdalen.
Only Connect carried on as well, with another team going through. Good to see our man Filip on the show again too; watched his first match the other day in my speed-watch. I look forward to watching tonight's match when I get to it.
I am told it will be Caius v Durham.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that. So I'd guessed it right, but the wrong way round.
DeleteNow confirmed by Durham Uni website http://www.palatinate.org.uk/?p=54394
ReplyDeleteWe recorded this match the morning after our win vs UCL which, as the last match of the previous day, finished late in the evening. I for one didn’t sleep especially well that night and this match was a case of ‘the morning after the night before’ for us. When we found out we were facing St Peter’s we knew we’d be in for a tough time; we’d seen their first two matches against Sussex and Selwyn on monitors backstage before our first and second round recordings and like everyone else had been impressed with Gabriel Trueblood’s speed on the buzzer and breadth of knowledge. Also, we’d noticed Spike Smith had a few good interruptions and with him and Jon Armitage, they had two mathematicians on the team, this being an area we knew we lacked knowledge in. Maths, science and classical music were probably our three biggest blind spots and we knew that is a serious miss in UC. So, one outstanding player, a better subject spread and two 200+ point performances added up to a tough ask.
ReplyDeleteI was personally quite pleased with my performance in gaining four starters, but this was mixed with frustration at it not being more due to Gabriel Trueblood’s impressive speed on the buzzer. I admit to being a little hesitant on the buzzer throughout all our matches, but he just kept beating me to the punch; there were four starters (Strasbourg, the flag question, seven deadly sins and Gangnam) where I actually had the buzzer pressed flat into the table and fully expected Roger Tilling to call my name, but instead ‘St Peter’s, Trueblood’ was called.. Had I been fractionally faster on these, it would have been a far closer match, but these are the margins at play and I’m sure plenty of players on losing teams will have had the same experience. It just proves the old adage of it often comes down to speed – they locked us out for the best part of the match.
The bonuses on the English coastal areas was especially excrutiating for me – I’m from the south coast originally so missing out on the Selsey Bill was annoying – I had that and Hayling Island in my mind and went the wrong way. Missing out on Morecambe Bay was equally as painful! Baobab tree was bad too, I could see it, sat there in Jeremy’s chair, but couldn’t for the life of me summon up the name, though naturally as soon as Jeremy said it, I recognised it!
It was a shame that Paula, Dave and Steve couldn’t get into the match more, nevertheless it was a convincing win for St Peter’s and although they have an outstanding player, they aren’t just the ‘one man’ team some paint them as. I would put them slightly below Caius and Magdalen, but certainly able to spring a surprise.