University Challenge 2021-22: Round 1: Match 11: St Catharine's vs University

Good evening friends! Quizzy Mondays is finally complete again, with Mastermind returning after what was supposed to be a two week break for cricket, though, of course, it ended up only lasting one week thanks to you-know-what. Anyway, after a couple of good UC games in a row, would we get a third in a row tonight? In what was, amazingly, the first Oxbridge match of the series...

 

St Catharine's College Cambridge, Paxo's old college, though he didn't say so in his intro, is appearing in a fourth BBC series; of the previous three, its best performance was reaching the QFs in 2015-16. This year's team were:

Jenny Hay, from South Lanarkshire, studying Theology, Religion and the Philosophy of Religion

Emma Dinnage, from London, studying Natural Science

Captain: Nick Scott, from London, studying Maths

Lydia Michaelides, from Saffron Walden, studying Veterinary Medicine

 

University College Oxford won the show twice in the ITV era, and were runners-up of its final series; it has appeared four times in the BBC series, most recently just last series where they lost in the first round to eventual runners-up Magdalene. This year's quartet were:

Leonardo Buizza, from London, studying Condensed Metaphysics

Anisha Qausher, from North London, studying English

Captain: Oliver Hargrave, from Hertfordshire, studying Pre-Modern China

Abby Karas, from South-East London, studying Russian

 

So off we set again, and it was Mr Scott who opened the scoring with 'North Macedonia', but the Cambridge side got nothing from the resulting bonuses. University (not 'Univ.' as they've been in past series for some reason) followed them off the mark thanks to Ms Karas, and they fared a bit better on their first set, taking just one correct. A second starter to the Oxonians and two bonuses with it was followed by the first picture round, on UNESCO Creative Cities of Film, which went to St Catharine's; they completed the sequence with a full bonus set, which leveled the teams at 35-each. 

 

The Cambridge side began to stamp authority on the game now, Mr Scott and Ms Dinnage taking the next two starters, and they continued their bonus form, taking two from the first set, and a full house on the second, on pairs of prime numbers. University finally broke back into the game courtesy of Mr Hargrave, but they got nothing from a bonus set on metropolitan areas of England. Another starter to St Catharine's and a single bonus to go with it brought us to the music starter, Donna Summer's I Feel Love; Mr Hargrave took that, and his side took one of the music bonuses, on Giorgio Moroder's Billboard list of favourite disco songs. They now trailed 95-60.

 

Mr Scott took the next starter though, taking his team into three figures, and his side added one correct bonus to their score. Back came University, and they also took just a single bonus on geology (my geologist Dad had a full set). St Catharine's took the next starter though as Ms Hay identified Judges as the book of the Bible various listed stories were told in; they didn't add to their score though, Paxo penalising them for offering wrong information alongside the right answer. The second picture round, on actresses portraying Jane Eyre, went to University, who took one correct to reduce the gap to 120-90.

 

The Oxonians were still very much in the game, as Mr Buizza took the next starter, identifying Ganymede as the moon whose name is made up of various name elements listed. Two bonuses cut the gap to ten points, and a second starter in a row to Mr Buizza put them on level pegging! But they couldn't take any bonuses on ruined cities in Asia. Next starter would surely win it; a dropped one added to the tension, but Mr Scott was first in to take the next starter, on African geography, and that was the gong! St Catharine's just won 130-120!

Another low scoring contest, but a good one between two well matched teams, well played both! Well done St Catharine's, and best of retrospective luck in the next round! Hard lines to University, who so nearly pulled it off at the end, but still a respectable performance, and it may yet be enough for the play-offs; we shall see, but thanks for playing for now!

The stats: Mr Scott was the best buzzer of the night with four, while Messrs Buizza and Hargrave got three each for University. On the bonuses, St Catharine's managed 10 out of 21, and University 8 out of 24, so it was those two extra bonuses that won the game.

Next week's match: Dundee vs the Royal Northern College of Music

Only Connect saw a return for the Debuggers and the Discotheques, with the winners staying in and the runners-up going out. The Discotheques led 6-1 after the first round, and maintained it to lead 11-6 after the second. A better wall allowed them to increase their lead to 21-11, and an almost shutout in the final round saw them run away to win 29-11.

 

Mastermind returned after its cricket break, and was won comfortably by Ro Duns, whose 22 points was four clear of second place David Finlay. Shamina Chowdhury led after the specialist rounds, but fell to third with 17 after General Knowledge; John Charnock-Wilson completed the line-up, ending with 12 points.

 

Brain of Britain was another high scoring contest, Edward Brunt with 17 points, largely thanks to a 5IAR in the third round. OC alumnus John Payne finished second with 13 points, and should have done enough to come back as a high scoring runner-up; Alan Hay and Ian Welham, also OC alumni, also competed, finishing with 6 and 8 respectively.