Evening all. So, the first proper quarter-final match. Both tonight's teams began the group stage in the bottom half of the table, but both impressively trounced their top half opponents in their preliminaries, and tonight one of them would be the first team to reach the semi-finals. And one certainly wouldn't have betted against the runners-up making it through too.
Emmanuel College Cambridge have quietly but comfortably made it this far, coming from behind on all three occasions to beat Nottingham, SOAS, and in their first quarter-final, Warwick, who they ran away against late on to win 200-90. The same four as before lined up hopeful of going straight to the semis:
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
Corpus Christi College Oxford have already beaten two Cambridge teams, Jesus and Peterhouse, both by narrow margins, before trouncing Bristol 250-70 in their first quarter-final outing. Also hopeful of bypassing the play-offs were the also unchanged four of:
Tom Fleet, from Pendoggett in Cornwall, studying English
Emma Johnson, from North London, studying Medicine
Captain: Nikhil Venkatesh, from Derby, studying PPE
Adam Wright, from Winnersh in Berkshire, studying Physics
Off we set again then, and Mr Venkatesh opened the scoring; two bonuses on Homer's Odyssey (I'll resist any cheap Simpsons jokes!) gave the Oxonians an early advantage. Mr Seagull quickly fired Emmanuel off the mark, and they equaled their opponents score with two bonuses on the films of Gurinder Chadha. Mr Barton-Singer then gave his side the lead; just the one bonus followed this time. The first picture round, on illustrations of roulette curves, went to Emmanuel, who took just the one bonus again, giving them a lead of 50-20.
The lead increased when Mr Hill identified a list of Alexander Is; no bonuses came from a tricky set on Queen Zenobia (who gives her name to a film starring Oliver Hardy which is well worth a look). Neither side took the next starter, before Mr Venkatesh broke his side back into the match; an amusing full bonus set on psychology put them right back in the match. Another starter was dropped, before Mr Wright just avoided being docked five for a borderline incorrect buzz; Emmanuel took the points, and two points on NATO accompanied.
The music starter was dropped; the bonuses, on pieces performed by contralto singer Kathleen Ferrier, went to Emmanuel, with Corpus Christi losing five in the process. The Cambridge side took one music bonus, giving them a lead of 95-40. Mr Venkatesh took his third starter of the night for Corpus Christi, but the Oxonians got nothing from the resultant literature bonuses. Emmanuel had no luck either with their next bonus set, on political history. (I got John Major as one of two PMs who were Foreign Secretary and Chancellor beforehand) A nice bonus set on the largest countries to begin with certain letters of the alphabet proved more to the Cambridge side's liking, as they took two and unluckily missed the third.
The second picture round, on self-portraits of the artist at work, went to Emmanuel, who swept the board on the bonuses, putting their lead at 150-50. Corpus Christi could still catch up if they put their feet down; Mr Venkatesh did, but only lost five points. He then made up for that by taking his fourth starter of the night, but, again, his side got nothing from the resultant bonuses.
Emmanuel confirmed their victory when Mr Seagull took the next starter, identifying a list of words beginning 'F-I-L-O'; astronomy provided them with two correct bonuses which they took their time with, the match having already been won. The final starter was missed by both sides; at the gong, Emmanuel won 170-55.
A rather slow match, but both teams did OK considering the expected difficulty of the questions at this stage of the contest. Unlucky Corpus Christi, who were simply outbuzzed, but who aren't out of the running yet, so good luck in your play-off. Very well done Emmanuel though, and very best of luck in the semi-finals!
Messrs Barton-Singer and Venkatesh were joint best buzzers of the night, with four each for their respective teams, taking their series totals to 18 and 13 respectively, meaning the latter is now his side's best buzzer. On the bonuses, Emmanuel converted 14 out of 30, while Corpus Christi managed 5 out of 12 (with two penalties); both just shy of 50%, proving how hard the questions were tonight.
Next week's match: don't know for sure yet, but Bristol vs Warwick is my best guess, followed by Wolfson vs Edinburgh and Balliol vs Birmingham. Hopefully we'll find out of sure before long.
And I'll get on to Only Connect tomorrow night as well, as it enters the elimination stage of its QF process.
You've got a better grip on the UC broadcast structure than I have! :)
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