Good evening friends, and welcome back to University Challenge! Only five shows left including tonights, and only four Only Connects left as well, before the blog goes into hibernation for the Spring as usual. No idea yet on their next series, but other shows have been filming recently despite the current lockdown, so hopefully we'll be back again as usual in July. On with tonight...
Imperial lost their first match to fellow quarter-finalists Strathclyde, recovered by beating Exeter and St Andrews, then lost to Warwick in the preliminaries and recovered again by comfortably beating King's in the eliminators. They were the same four as those five previous games:
Justin Wong, from Hong Kong, studying Maths
Katie Marrow, from the Peak District, studying Physics
Captain: Michael Kohn, from North London, studying Pure Maths
Imran Rahman, from Petaling Jaya in Malaysia, studying Theoretical Physics
Durham came straight through the earlier stages with wins over Leicester and Edinburgh, then defeated Strathclyde in the preliminaries, but then lost to Balliol in the qualifiers. They were also the same four as those prior matches:
Harry Regan, from Sevenoaks, studying Liberal Arts
Tom Banbury, from Shipston-on-Stour in Warwickshire, studying History
Captain: Holly Parkinson, from Brighton, studying Physics
Thomas Wilkening, from Ramsgate, studying Biology
Off we set once again then, and the match got off to a false start as neither team got the first starter. Mr Kohn picked up where he left off last time by getting the second, and the Londoners began with two bonuses from their first set. Durham set off the mark on the third starter with Mr Wilkening, and they took took just one bonus from a complicated set on years and physical constants. The Wearsiders took two further starters, one of them preceded by Imperial losing five, and they took three bonuses out of six. The first picture round, on temporary capitals during wars, went to Imperial; one correct bonus left them trailing 50-30.
The next starter asking after a planet saw a race to the buzzer when it was mentioned that Titania was one of its moons; Mr Rahman won the race to say 'Uranus' in the way most avoid so as not to be sniggered at! No bonuses followed, but Mr Wong took the next starter and a full bonus set, another about pairs of place names whose letters form Greek letters, gave them a full set. Ms Marrow then ensured all four Imperial players had a starter to their name; another full set duly followed. The music round, on classical 'sicilianas' went to Imperial; two bonuses followed, one so quickly even Paxo was caught out(!), after which they now led 110-50.
Back came Durham into the game with Mr Regan first in with 'Polonius', and the Shakespearean theme continued with their bonuses, but they couldn't add to their score with them. Imperial soon got going again with Mr Kohn once again doing the honours, and two bonuses being taken (I got El Greco). The second picture round, on paintings of witches, went to Durham; two correct bonuses meant they were still very much in the game, trailing 130-80.
Their task became a bit harder, though, when Ms Marrow identified the buttercup for the next starter; a sole bonus followed. Mr Banbury kept his side in the game by taking the next starter and a full set of bonuses deservedly took the Wearsiders into three figures and kept them in the game if they could keep it going. But when Mr Rahman took the next starter, and two bonuses on solar flares were taken, that was game over. Mr Regan did the right thing and took a flyer on the next starter, but was wrong and lost five; Mr Kohn confirmed his side's win by taking the points and a full set of bonuses on Romania was taken. The Imperial captain took the final starter, but the gong interrupted their discussion of the second bonus; Imperial won 200-100.
A good contest between two good teams that, again, wasn't that one-sided until right at the end. Well done to Imperial, worthy winners and best of luck in the semis! And well done to Durham too, a good team who deserved to get this far and would've been worthy semi-finalists too, thanks for playing!
The stats: Mr Kohn was, once again, the best buzzer of the night with five starters, taking his running total to 38(!), while Messrs Regan, Banbury and Wilkening got two each for Durham, Mr Banbury ending their series their best buzzer with 16. On the bonuses, Imperial managed 19 out of 32, and Durham 9 out of 18, and both sides incurred one penalty each.
Next week's match: Magdalene vs Strathclyde
Only Connect entered the
semi-finals, with the Whodunnits vs the Puzzle Hunters. The former led 5-2
after a first round that saw a first for the show in the form of a flashback to
a previous episode (is this Only Connect or later years Deal or No Deal?!), before
a better second round saw the latter take a 9-7 lead. Six each on the Walls
left the Puzzle Hunters ahead 15-13 going into Missing Vowels, and they just
maintained it to win 20-16; they go through to the final, the Whodunnits to the
third place play-off.
Mastermind, meanwhile, was won by
Mark Robotham, for whom it was another comfortable victory, 21 points, seven
clear of the joint second placed contenders on 14.
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