Evening all. No footie and resultant moaning from EastEnders fans tonight, so all the focus can go on tonight's match, the first of four all-male matches we will have to end the series (unless one of the teams pulls out a late substitution). Whoever won tonight's show would take the final place in the semi-finals.
Liverpool defeated Sheffield, Glasgow and Bristol en route through the early rounds, but were overpowered by St Peter's in the qualifiers. Hoping to atone for that tonight were the unchanged foursome of:
Ben Mawdsley, from Southport, studying Astrophysics
Jim Davis, from Gullane near Edinburgh, studying Tropical Disease Biology
Captain: Declan Crew, from Liverpool, studying Biochemistry
Hugh Hiscock, from Southampton, studying French
Durham arrived here by beating Brasenose and York in the earlier rounds, but lost to Caius in the preliminaries, before redeeming themselves by taking out Trinity. Hoping to become the first team to reach the semis having failed to break 100 in an earlier match were the also unchanged quartet of:
Daniel Morgan-Thomas, from East London, studying History and Classics
Freddie Lloyd, from Penshurst in Kent, studying Philosophy
Captain: Fred Harvey, from Bridlington in East Yorkshire, studying Physics
Nikul Boyd-Shah, from Bournemouth, studying Law
Off we set again then, and Durham were the first to break free, taking the first starter and all three bonuses on London squares. A second starter and full bonus set followed, and de ja vu feelings of last week's show began to creep in. These stopped when Durham only took one bonus from their third set. Durham then slipped-up, but Liverpool couldn't pick it up; the Merseysiders then slipped up themselves, and Durham shot back in. The first picture round, on awkwardly shaped US congressional boundaries, allowed Liverpool to, eventually, get going; though they took all three bonuses, they trailed 70-15.
The second phase was very short, with Daniel Morgan-Thomas slipping up, and Liverpool failing to collect the points. Mr Morgan-Thomas made up for his error by taking the next starter, and two bonuses followed. Just two starters and one bonus set between the first picture and music rounds; I think that may be a record.
That music round, on Desert Island Discs selections by future presenters of the show, went to Liverpool, who reduced the gap to 90-35. Hugh Hiscock, excellent in the earlier rounds, took his first starter of the night, but a set of bonuses on Chinese provinces yielded just one correct answer. The next starter asked for the completion of a JM Barrie quote: "Some [of my works] peter out, some...?" Daniel Morgan-Thomas was unlucky to offer 'Peter Pan', but Ben Mawdsley put him right with 'pan out'! The gap was now down to just twenty points, but Durham recovered with two correct starters and a Liverpool slip-up upping the gap again.
The second picture round, on the work of British illustrators from the 'Golden Age of Illustration', went to Durham, who now had a lead of 145-65. And when Mr Boyd-Shah took the next starter, and when two bonuses from a complex set on pairs of surnames took their lead to 100, that looked like it would see them safely home. But Liverpool were going to go out fighting, and Ben Mawdsley identified a set of galaxies for the next starter, and two bonuses on film documentaries followed, with their (not unreasonable) wrong answer to the third amusing Paxo!
A second starter went to the Merseysiders, but just one bonus on another complex set requiring the answers to be spelled bought them one bonus to bring them into treple figures, which they certainly deserved to do. Durham took the next starter, but got nothing from yet another complex bonus set, this time on countries with larger populations than all their neighbours. Not that it mattered; at the gong, Durham won 175-100.
Another pretty slow moving match, as has been the theme of many a match this series. Unlucky Liverpool, but a very respectable series of performances and nothing to be ashamed of, so well done yous. Well done to Durham though; as Paxo said, it wasn't the best of offerings, but it's sufficient to get you through to the semis, so well done and best of luck!
Daniel Morgan-Thomas was the best buzzer of the night, with four starters, while Messrs Mawdsley, Crew and Hiscock got two each for Liverpool. On the bonuses, Liverpool managed an OK 11 out of 18 (with three penalties) while Durham finished with 17 out of 30 (with two penalties).
Next week's match: the first semi-final! My guess is St Peter's vs Magdalen first, followed by a Caius-Durham rematch in two weeks' time.
Only Connect had its second semi-final tonight. Sadly, I already knew the result thanks to an indirect spoiler from a TV guide website (not the Radio Times). Hoping for a fine final to end a fine series next week. Hopefully, I'll be able to do a semi-final run-through later this week, and a full review of the final next week.
You are right about the pairings.
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