OK, right, finally I can do this; so sorry to keep yous waiting. It's no secret, if you follow me, that I'm not best pleased with Only Connect's move to Friday night, not least because it now clashes with Room 101, another show I like to watch, and with my eveningly shower! I will persist for now, but I can only hope the show returns to its rightful place on David Murray's magnificent mantelpi... sorry, wrong show... on Monday nights after UC before long.
Anyway, Friday night, and the start of the group stage. Playing the first preliminary match were the Fire-Eaters, Andy Davis, Tony Moore and captain Jonathan Elliott, who defeated the Eurovisionaries and the Clareites to get this far, and the Korfballers, Taissa Csaky, Niall Sheekey and captain Michael Jelley, who have overcome the Channel Islanders and the Shutterbugs in the knockout rounds.
Round 1. The Eaters went first, and kicked off the round with Two Reeds, and the music set: we heard 'Should I Stay or Should I Go', then 'The Joker' by the Steve Miller Band, as made famous by HJ Simpson, then Marvin Gaye's 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine', and finally 'Spaceman' by Babylon Zoo. They didn't get it, their opponents did: they have all been used in ads for Levi jeans. For their own first question, the Korfballers chose Lion: 'The Ilchester Estate of Abbotsbury: the Ilchester Estate of Abbotsbury', then 'The Wonderful Company of Vintners: the Thames', then 'The Worshipful Company of Dyers: the Thames', and finally 'The Queen: open waters'. The last one gave it to them: they are the people who own the swans in those areas. The Eaters chose Twisted Flax next: 'Graffiti', then 'B-boying', then 'Deejaying', and finally 'Emceeing'. Again, they didn't see it, but their opponents did: they are the four elements of hip-hop. For their own question, the Korfballers chose Horned Viper, and got the picture set: we saw ice hockey player Rob Zepp, with '+O' in the corner, then the band Chic, also with a '+O', then Oscar the Grouch, likewise, and that gave it to them, adding the O to each gives one of the Marx Brothers! (Zeppo, Chico, Groucho, and the last one would've been a harp for Harpo!) Excellent stuff! The Eaters chose Water next: 'Occipital nerve', then 'Apostle James', then 'Antilles'; they thought it at the second, but the third confirmed, they all have 'lesser' and 'greater' variants. Left with Eye of Horus, the Korfballers saw 'Tom Dacre (Songs of Innocence)', then 'Mr. Gamfield (Oliver Twist)', then 'Tom (The Water Babies)', and finally 'Bert (Mary Poppins)'. Final one gave it to them: they are chimney sweeps. The Korfballers led 6-2.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Eaters kicked off with Eye of Horus, and the picture set: we saw the Muppets Christmas Carol, then Carol Channing, and then Channing Tatum. They didn't know who the middle two were, so didn't get it; their opponents did, offering Tatum O'Neal for a bonus. For their own question, the Korfballers chose Two Reeds: 'Franklin D. Roosevelt', then 'Harry S. Wallace', and then 'Dwight D. Doud'. Both saw it to be US presidents with initials with their wife's maiden name, but neither got the right surname for JFK, the Korfballers making the mistake of offering 'John F. Onassis'. As any Simpsons aficionado will tell you, 'John F. Bouvier' is the right answer. The Eaters chose Twisted Flax next: 'Paseillo (or 'parade')', then 'Tercio de varas (or 'the part of the lances')'; they saw it to be stages in bullfighting, and, though they didn't know the Spanish, offered 'the part of the sword', which was accepted for three points. 'Tercio de muerte' is the Spanish, with 'Tercio de banderillas (or 'the part of the barbed sticks')' third. The Korfballers chose Lion next: '6 + 15 + 21 + 18 = 4', then '20 + 8 + 18 + 5 + 5 = 3'. They saw this excellent sequence to be the letters of the alphabet that spell the numbers in reverse, so '15 + 14 + 5 = 1' completes the set, with '20 + 23 + 15 = 2' third. For their final choice, the Eaters chose Water: '1994: Torvill & Dean - Olympic Ice Dance Championship', then '1995: 'Panorama' Special - Princess Diana'; they identified it as the highest rated TV programmes of those years, and correctly offered '1997: Diana's funeral' for three points, with '1996: 'Only Fools and Horses' Christmas special pt 3' third. Left with Horned Viper, the Korfballers got a music sequence, and heard Rihanna's 'Umbrella', then 'Rose Marie' by Slim Whitman, and then 'Love Is All Around' by Wet Wet Wet; they identified the sequence to be the songs that spent the longest at number one, and offered '(Everything I Do) I Do It For You' by Bryan Adams to be first for two points. (Cue a pretty good enforced singalong!) At the end of the second round, the Korfballers led 12-8.
On to the Walls. The Korfballers went first, and chose to tackle the Lion wall. They very quickly isolated 'Nicholson', 'Sherwood', 'Hoddle' and 'Pleat', which are surnames of Spurs managers. A second set of 'Kielder', 'Ashdown', 'Hainault' and 'New', which are English forests, swiftly followed. They spotted the final links and solved the wall on their second go: 'Brace', 'Gross', 'Score' and 'Nelson' are slang words for numbers, while 'Crown', 'Amalgam', 'Calculus' and 'Root' are terms in dentistry. Well solved, full ten.
The Eaters set to work on the Water wall. They too took their first two sets pretty quickly: 'Heartbeat', 'Threads', 'Downton Abbey' and 'Happy Valley' are dramas set in Yorkshire, which alas they didn't get close enough to for the point, while 'Oscillating', 'Reciprocating', 'Linear' and 'Rotary' are types of mechanical motion. They looked over the remaining clues, but appeared to forget they only had three gos, and thus used up two rather quickly. They had no more luck on their final go, and thus had to collect bonuses: 'Hercules'', 'Monday', 'Golf' and 'In the pudding' can all precede 'club', which they got, while 'Selenium', 'Lunatic', 'Jericho' and 'Month' are all named after the moon, which they also knew. So five points there, which left them trailing 22-13 going into the final round.
So, the Eaters would have to break the Verbivores' record by three if they were to triumph, as we went into Missing Vowels. 'Things connected to Jamaica' went to the Korfballers 3-(-2), so that was game over. 'Musicals merged with sci-fi films', such as 'JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR WARS' was a 2-each split. 'Moveable feasts' went to the Eaters 2-0, with time running out before they could answer the third. The Korfballers won 27-15.
A good start to the group stage. Unlucky Eaters, but you're not out of the running yet, so very best of luck in your elimination match. Well done Korfballers though, and very best of luck in your qualification match!
Next week's match: Surrealists vs Verbivores
Advanced warning: next week's UC is on at the earlier time of 7:30 due to Winterwatch intervening, while OC is on at 7pm next Friday (27th) due to Eurovision: You Decide. Which means its out of the way before the evening cup match on BBC1, but now clashes with the Simpsons on 4+1, which I usually watch it on! Grr!
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