University Challenge 2017-18: Round 1: Match 12: St Andrews vs St John's

Evening all. Might be a bit disjointed this evening, receiving text updates from my Dad on events in Cardiff. We're at the business end of the tournament now, with Ulster now safely through to the play-offs. The job for tonight's two teams fairly simple: win, or lose with a score of 155 or more to make the play-offs. A rematch tonight from a play-off from 2010-11 (my first full series after starting watching properly).

St Andrews is the oldest university in Scotland, and the third oldest in the UK, founded in the 1410s in what is otherwise a rather small town. Alumni include mathematician John Napier, Prince Wills and Princess Kate, and some chap called Alex Salmond, whoever he was. It won the series in 1982; last year's team went out in the second round. This year's foursome were:
Euan Grant, from Edinburgh, studying Divinity
Christina Fell, from Coventry, studying Statistics
Captain: George Davies, from Houston, Texas, studying Ancient History and Archaeology
Matthew Leighton, from Hereford, studying History

St John's College Cambridge was founded in 1511 by the estate of Lady Margaret Beaufort, who also founded Christ's College Cambridge. Alumni include the poet Wordsworth, the physicist Paul Dirac and the actor Derek Jacobi. It last sent a team four years ago, who lost in the first round, it's best Paxo-era performance being the semi-finals in 2008-09, losing to Trimble's Corpus Christi. This year's quartet were:
John-Clark Levin, from Los Angeles, studying Politics and International Studies
Rosie McKeown, from Kingston-upon-Thames, studying French and German
Captain: James Devine-Stoneman, from Southall in London, studying Superconducting Spintronics
Matt Hazell, from Ringwood in Hampshire, studying Veterinary Medicine

Off we set again then, and Mr Devine-Stoneman very quickly opened the night's scoring by identifying George as the first name of the prime minister who died after just four months in office; his side took a full set of bonuses to start the show. A second starter went the way of St John's, and while I nipped to the bathroom for a Strepsil, they took two bonuses on Islamic art. Mr Davies now opened St Andrews' account, but they got nothing from their first bonuses. A second set, on women buried in Pere Lachaise proved more to their liking, taking two. The first picture round, on maps of empires, went to St Andrews, who took two bonuses, and, with them, the lead, 50-45.

Several players went for their buzzers when 'Amstrad' was mentioned for the next starter; Mr Hazell was first in with Sir Alan Sugar, and St John's had the lead back; they took a full bonus set to boot. A second starter in a row went the Cambridge side's way, but they finally showed a chink of armour as they missed all the bonuses. A slip-up then gave St Andrews a route back into the match, but they could only take one of the resulting bonuses. Miss McKeown recouped the lost points for St John's, and they two bonuses on electricity, unluckily missing the third after giving an answer which, I'm informed, is also a valid answer to the question in question.

The music starter saw Miss McKeown, and myself, identify Mendelssohn; the bonuses, on symphonies in A-major, gave St John's two right answers and, with them, a lead of 115-65. In came Mr Devine-Stoneman with the next starter, and bonuses on film adaptations of Shakespeare provided them with two correct answers. Mr Levin took the next starter, on his native US, and the result bonuses gave them enough points to came back win or lose. Paxo didn't quite believe how quickly Mr Hazell got the next starter; to be honest, I don't think he did either! St John's now had a 100 point lead, and bonuses on natives of Herefordshire gave them two more to add to their collection, as did full names of picture file abbreviations for their next set.

The second picture round, on multiple Pulitzer prize winners, went to St John's, who got nothing from the bonuses this time, which left their lead at 205-65. With the match pretty much over a contest, St Andrews were now playing for a play-off place; Miss Fell set them on their way by finally breaking them back into the match, and bonuses on biblical figures gave them two correct answers. A second starter in a row went to the Scots side, and one bonus was enough to put them into triple figures and within sight of the play-offs.

Back came St John's though, with Mr Devine-Stoneman doing the honours; an excellent set of bonuses on Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start the Fire' gave them another full house. Mr Leighton gave St Andrews more hope by taking the next correct starter, and two bonuses on author's pseudonyms put them one starter away from a play-off place. Alas, that starter never came, as St John's took the remaining correct starters, plus one of the bonuses there time for. At the gong, St John's won 255-120.

A pretty decent match, finally the series picking up after the slow-ish start. Unlucky St Andrews, a decent team, who I suspect would've beaten another team and who have fallen just short of the play-offs, but a fair effort, so thanks for playing. Very well done st St John's though on an excellent first performance against decent opponents, could be a team to watch methinks; best of luck in the next round!

The stats: Mr Devine-Stoneman was the best buzzer of the night, with five to his name, while Mr Davies was best for St Andrews with three. On the bonuses, St Andrews converted 10 out of 21, while St John's managed a very decent 24 out of 39 (with the night's one penalty), and for the first time this series, all eight players got at least one starter right.

Safely through to the repechage: Ulster (160) and St Hugh's (155)

Next week's match: Corpus Christi College Cambridge vs St Anne's College Oxford

Back with the final Only Connect first round match on Monday; I'm off now to follow the dramatic events elsewhere in Cardiff.