Good evening friends, and welcome back to University Challenge! Tonight's edition started with Paxo reminding us of the special measures taken to keep the participants safe, and also revealed that, as the show will, again, be filmed over two academic years, graduates will be allowed to continue to play after completing their degree, which was, of course, banned after what happened in 2009. And with that info, on with tonight's show...
Strathclyde University is appearing in its seventh BBC series, and for the fourth time in five series; last year, its team made it all the way to the play-off quarter-finals before losing to Magdalene, which was its best run in the BBC era. This year's team were:
Nicolas Kirsch, from Potsdam, Germany, studying Data Analtyics
Andrew Laird, from Denny near Falkirk, studying Chemical Engineering
Captain: Martin Monaghan, from Whiteinch near Partick, studying Physics
Rihanna McGhee, from Gourock in Inverclyde, studying English and French
Reading University has also appeared six times before in the BBC revival, but has yet to reach the QFs; last year's team were unlucky to face Birkbeck of London in the first round and were soundly beaten by the team who would later lose to Strathclyde. This year's foursome were:
Alex Skopic, from Springville, Pennsylvania, studying English Literature
Margaret Ounsley, from Reading, studying Poor Law History
Captain: Michael Hutchinson, from Caversham (originally Andover), stuyding for a PGCE
Sylvain Jesudoss, from Thanjuvar, India, studying Marketing
So off we set again, and Paxo was maybe a touch lenient to accept Ms Ounsley's offer of 'showers' for 'rain' for the first starter, but accept it he did, and the Berkshire team took a full set on films whose titles begin with 'My'. Ms Ounsley took the second starter, and Mr Hutchinson the third, only one of the resulting six bonuses gave them more points. The first picture round, on departments of France with shared name elements, gave Strathclyde their first points; a full set of their own cut their deficit to 50-25.
It then increased again, though, as the Scots side lost five and Mr Hutchinson took the points, followed by two bonuses. Strathclyde recovered well though, with two starters in a row taken by Messrs Laird and Monaghan and three of the six resulting bonuses. Mr Hutchinson maintained breathing space for his side taking the next starter and two bonuses with it. Neither side identified the singer Daddy Yankee for the music starter; the bonuses, on reggaeton collaborations, went to Strathclyde, who took one bonus to reduce the gap to 90-70.
Mr Monaghan identified Philip II of Spain for the next starter to cut the gap to 10 and give his side a chance of the lead, but they got nothing from the resulting bonuses on ratios. Back came Reading with Mr Hutchinson once again taking the points, putting them into three figures, and two bonuses maintained their slender lead. Strathclyde came back again and took two bonuses to also reach three figures. The second picture round, on stills from folk horror films, went to Reading, who took another two bonuses to increase their lead to 130-100.
And it was that man Mr Hutchinson who once again did the honours for the next starter, and a full set of bonuses on the Isle of Lewis pretty much confirmed victory for the Biscuitmen. Two further starters for the impressive Reading captain confirmed the win; no points came from either of the bonus sets, including one on Latin mottos of English football clubs not dissimilar to one Alex Guttenplan's Emmanuel team encountered many years ago, but it didn't really matter now. Mr Laird did take the final starter for Strathclyde, but the gong went before they could answer the first bonus; Reading won 175-110.
A good contest I thought, either teams' game until Reading pulled away in the final third. Well done to them, Mr Hutchinson in particular who was very good on the buzzer, and best of luck in the next round! Hard lines to Strathclyde, but they gave a good account of themselves, thanks for playing!
The stats: Mr Hutchinson was easily the best buzzer of the night with EIGHT(!) starters, while Mr Laird was best for Strathclyde with three. On the bonuses, Strathclyde managed 9 out of 19 and Reading 16 out of 30, and both sides incurred one penalty each.
Next week's match: Durham vs Trinity Cambridge
Only Connect pitted the Debuggers,
Patrick Knowles, Rohit Gupta and captain Jacob Warbrick, against the Steelers,
Henrietta Ford, Jennifer Martino and captain Andrew Fisher. The latter led 5-3
after the first round, which increase to 10-5 after the second. A better wall
increased the Steelers’ lead to 20-10; the Debuggers fought back valiantly in
the final round, but ultimately fell just 1 short, the Steelers won 21-20.
Brain of Britain was won comfortably
by Alan Hodgson with 14 points, 10 ahead of second place Paul Hood on 4; Colin
Atkinson and Gaetana Trippetti also competed and both finished with 3.
And don't forget Mastermind returns next Monday at 7:30 with new host Clive Myrie!
No comments:
Post a Comment