Monday 9 March 2020

University Challenge 2019-20: Qualification Quarter-Final 2: Durham vs Imperial

Evening all. First things first, my condolences to the family and friends of Dave Rainford of Eggheads fame, who sadly passed away over the weekend. As well as his fame on that show, he was also a member of the WWTBAM Thirteen Club (£250,000 winners). He always came across well to me on screen, especially his applauding vanquished challenger teams on Eggheads, and I am very shocked and saddened that he has passed away at such a young age. Lovely tribute paid to him by Quizzy Monday alumnus Rachael Neiman-Wiseman when she appeared on this morning's Popmaster. On with the show...

Durham narrowly lost to fellow QFers Trinity in the first round, but rebounded with wins over York and Southampton, and their first QF was a 195-110 win over Jesus. They were unchanged from those prior matches: 
Charles Bland, from Sutton in Surrey, studying Philosophy 
William Tams, from Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria, studying Biosciences 
Captain: Joe Cooper, from London, studying Chemistry 
Arthur Raffle, from Manchester, studying French and German

Imperial College London strolled to the QFs with victories over Brasenose of Oxford and St John's of Oxford, and had a similarly easy run in their first match against Courtauld, running home 240-75 winners. They were also unchanged from before: 
Richard Brooks, from Stockton-on-Tees, studying Mechanical Engineering   
Brandon, from Jamaica, Queens in New York City, studying Computing   
Captain: Caleb Rich, from Lewisham, studying Controlled Quantum Dynamics   
Connor McMeel, from Dublin, studying Computer Science

Off we set again then, and Mr Tams opened the scoring for the night, identifying where copes of the Magna Carta are housed; bonuses on Franklin's lost expedition gave the Wearsiders two bonuses to start with. Imperial quickly followed them off the mark, with Brandon doing the honours, and a full house on a classic UC set asking for any one of three successive years gave them the lead. That advantage increased when Mr Rich identified Freud for the next starter, and two bonuses went with it this time. The first picture round, on the rhyming final words of lines of poems paired up, went to Durham; another two bonuses saw them cut the gap to 45-40.

The next starter was one that suddenly became obvious when a certain bit came out; when 'the Chagos Peninsula' was read out, Brandon visibly won the buzzer race to say 'Mauritius'. The Londoners took full advantage, a full set of bonuses. Brandon took a second starter in a row, and two bonuses on literature were taken alongside it. Mr Bland got Durham moving again, giving his a set of bonuses on the Golden Mean, in which they continued their bonus rate of two per set. Another buzzer race ensued when 'Mayor of Greater Manchester' was read out on the next starter, and it was Mr Raffle who was first in with 'Burnham'; another two bonuses followed.

The music round, on video game sound tracks included in the Classic FM Hall of Fame, went to Imperial; the first fully dropped bonus set of the night followed, but they still led 100-80. Up it went further as Mr Rich took the next starter; winners of the Nobel Peace Prize provided the bonuses, and the Londoners duly swept up a full set. Mr Raffle had a punt at an 'endearing cartoon character' at the next starter, but his offer of 'Noddy' in lieu of 'Betty Boop' cost his team five; Imperial didn't get that one either. Mr Tams recouped the lost points on the next starter, but the Wearsiders' bonus rate ended, none on a set on Italian philosophers. Brandon quickly shot in on the next starter, but just one bonus on artists in legal trouble followed.

The second picture round, on founders of the Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War, went to Durham; two correct answers took the scores to 140-105. Still a closeable gap; but when Brandon quickly identified screenwriter Charlie Kaufman for the next starter, Imperial had one foot in the semis; two bonuses on missions to Mars followed (I got Professor Colin Pillinger).

A slip-up from Imperial gave Durham a chance to pull back, but they had to pass it up. And when Brandon took the next starter, that was game over; two bonuses on German universties followed, but it didn't really matter now. Mr Bland pulled one back for Durham, but no bonuses on 1969 films went with it (I got Maggie Smith in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie). Both sides missed the penultimate starter, the last went to Mr Brooks, and the gong cut off their conferring on the first bonus. Imperial won 185-115.

A good match between two good teams, either team's match until right near the end. Unlucky Durham, but still a good performance, still not worth writing off yet, best of luck in the play-offs. Very well done Imperial, another strong performance and worthy semi-finalists, best of luck in the semis!

The stats: Brandon was the best buzzer of the night again, with six starters, taking his series total to 22, while Mr Tams was best for Durham with three. On the bonuses, Durham converted 10 out of 21, while Imperial managed 18 out of 28, and both sides incurred one penalty each.

Next week's match: Jesus vs Courtauld, followed, I would guess, by Wolfson vs Durham and Trinity vs next week's winners

Only Connects entered its semi-finals tonight, with the Forrests vs the Suits. A difficult and low scoring match, the latter took the lead with a better wall, and just about clung on in Missing Vowels for a 15-14 win!

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