Evening all. A second early start tonight, but back to normal next week, so hope you haven't got too used to it. Many have complained about the Olympics flipping between channels every half hour or so, but at least it keeps the EastEnders moaners happy, so it's fine by me. Match of the Day got the same treatment yesterday and Saturday, although that may have been so that as many people as possible could see if Mr Lineker kept his promise! On with tonight's show.
Emmanuel College Cambridge was founded in 1584, and alumni include novelist Sebastian Faulks, Python star Graham Chapman and dirty old man Rory McGrath. The college, as you'll no doubt know, won the show in 2009-10 thanks to the buzzer brilliance of Alex Guttenplan, who, along with Gail T. the previous year, helped transform UC from niche quiz into must-see telly. This year's foursome, with a lot to live up to, were:
Tom Hill, from London, studying History
Leah Ward, from Oxfordshire, studying Maths
Captain: Bobby Seagull, from East Ham in London, studying Education specialising in Maths
Bruno Barton-Singer, from Wandsworth in London, studying Physics
Nottingham University was founded in the 1920s, becoming a university in 1948, and alumni include writer DH Lawrence and former MI6 head Sir John Sawyers. It has regularly sent teams throughout the BBC era; last year's team won a low scoring first round match before falling in the second round, as well as infuriating Twitter by mistaking Tony Adams for Martin Keown! This year's quartet were:
Joseph Meethan, from Plymouth, studying Viking Studies
Wester van Urk, from Culemborg in the Netherlands, studying Maths
Captain: Hugh Smith, from Brighton, studying International Social Policy
Isaac Cowan, from Ottawa, studying Medicine
Off we set again then, and an immediate slip-up from Emmanuel allowed Mr van Ukr to take the first starter for Nottingham, and two bonuses on Euro coins followed. (No Scotland-Finland confusion this time!) A second penalty reduced Emmanuel to (-10), and Nottingham gave a repeat performance to give them an early 50 point lead, though sadly a bonus set on Wernher von Braun made no mention of Tom Lehrer! Third time lucky, Emmanuel returned to 0 thanks to Mr Seagull, and they also took two bonuses. A second starter went to Mr Meethan, but no bonuses on aquarium fish went the Trentsiders' way. The first picture round, on purpose built capital cities, went to Nottingham, who swept the board, upping their lead to 75-20.
Mr Meethan lost five on the next starter after being beaten by a swerve, allowing Mr Seagull to take the points for Emmanuel, but just one bonus followed. Mr Barton-Singer then took a second starter in a row for the Cambridge side, and a somewhat complicated biochemistry bonus set nonetheless gave them two correct answers. Emmanuel then took a third starter in a row; two bonuses from a complex set on novelists' names (one of which they deliberated for ages on, earning applause when they got it right!) reduced the gap to just five. Mr Meethan increased the lead by taking the next starter, but just one bonus followed this time.
The music round, on operatic duets, went to Nottingham, who couldn't take any of the bonuses, but nonetheless still led 95-65. Emmanuel were now nipping their heels, though, as Mr Seagull took the next starter, and bonuses on Italian history gave us the comedy moment of the night as they indirectly suggested Berlusconi was around in 1861! A starter was dropped, before Miss Ward pulled Nottingham back to within five points, and a full house on the Song of Ice and Fire novel series (aka Game of Thrones) gave them the lead for the first time.
Mr Smith identified the late Sir Christopher Lee for the second picture starter; the bonuses, on film stills of him, gave them two correct answers and the lead back, 115-105. A very quick buzz from Mr Meethan doubled that lead, but just one bonus on European football stadiums followed. Mr Hill now took his first starter of the match, but Emmanuel got nothing from a complicated bonus set.
Mr Hill then took a second starter in a row, and a full bonus set on foreign words that have different meanings in English, gave them a 10-point lead. Mr Cowan took a punt on the next starter, but lost five, and allowed Mr Barton-Singer to take the points, and two literary bonuses. And when Mr Hill took the next starter, that was likely game over; Emmanuel took one bonus just to make sure. Mr Cowan did take the final starter of the game for Nottingham, but none of the bonuses went with it. At the gong, Emmanuel won 175-135.
A fine close match between two decent teams who both deserve to come back one way or another. Unlucky Nottingham, who just let it get away from them at the end, and whose score is right on the borderline for the play-offs; hopefully they'll get another go, but thanks for playing in the mean time. Well done to Emmanuel though; a fine first effort against decent opposition, despite the unsteady start, and very best of luck to them next time.
Mr Meethan was the night's best buzzer with four, while Messrs Hill, Seagull and Barton-Singer all got three for Emmanuel. On the bonuses, Emmanuel converted an OK 17 out of 30, while Nottingham managed 11 out of 26; both sides incurred two penalties and, yet again, all eight players got at least one starter right.
Next week's match: Balliol College Oxford vs Imperial College London
Only Connect saw it's final match of the first half of the first round tonight, and the play-off matches for the first half actually start next week. All will hopefully become clear when I do my usual review tomorrow night.
I'm Manny the Lion - one of #TeamEmma's three mascots! My mascot friends were Kleiny the Bottle and Ellie the Duck, who also took part in the match against Nottingham.
ReplyDeleteIt was a tricky match against Nottingham and they would have been equally worthy victors. Thanking them for a tough match and we're grateful to have qualified directly to Round 2.
Despite between behind -10 to 40 and 10 to 65, Team Emma managed to keep ourselves just in touch but it was only till with about a minute or two to go that we realised that we had pulled this out of the bag.
Team Emma generally spent a little bit too long on bonus discussion and this is something we'll have to improve on for Round 2.
Fingers crossed for Nottingham to make the repechage, it'll be tight I think.
I think this week was a lesson not to look at Twitter before the match began because for some reason I knew that Cambridge would win, simply due to the presence and eagerness of the college and its captain on Twitter, weeks beforehand, whereas the University of Nottingham only shared one tweet about the match on that day. The same goes to the Oxford-Manchester match the week before, but to less extent.
ReplyDeleteThe point is, I doubt that they would've been that excited on Twitter before the match was aired if they had lost it! I guess the only thing to do to avoid these 'unintentional' spoilers is to avoid Twitter before the match!
Nonetheless, this match was close and I hope Nottingham also make it through, as for Cambridge it's thanks to Mr Seagull's enthusiasm that he got the rest of the team to pull their socks up and lead them to victory! The rest of the team seemed a bit half asleep at the start! Entertaining to watch, and nobody so far is trying to copy Powell from last year which I worry someone will one day.