Good evening friends, and welcome back to this most unpredictable series of UC! After what's, of course, been a very sad week for the show following the death of Bamber Gascoigne last Tuesday. In happier news, I've set up the Only Connect Wiki I hinted I might do last week, and am currently in the process of writing up the results of every series on it; link to it pinned on my Twitter if you're interested in helping. Anyway, on with a much anticipated match, as we continue this differently ordered to usual QF phase with the first qualifying match...
Reading were comfortable winners of their first and second round matches as they saw off Strathclyde and Dundee; their preliminary match against Birmingham was much closer, but they still just about made it through 170-135. Playing their reserve tonight, as Mr Skopic had returned to America, their new line-up comprised of:
Sylvian Jesudoss, from Thanjuvar, India, studying Marketing
Margaret Ounsley, from Reading, studying Poor Law History
Captain: Michael Hutchinson, from Andover, graduated with a PGCE
Kira Bishop, from Slough, studying Maths and Psychology
Imperial College London have lived up to their name so far with three comfortable wins with 200+ scores, beating fellow QFers St John's in the first round, Exeter in the second, and last week's winners King's 235-50 in their preliminary. They were unchanged from those three previous games:
Max Zeng, from Singapore, studying Biochemistry
Fatima Sheriff, from Hitchin in Hertforshire, studying Science Communication
Captain: Michael Mays, from Montrose, studying Computational Fluid Dynamics
Gilbert Jackson, from Bury St Edmunds, studying Chemistry
Off we set once more then, and Ms Ounsley opened the scoring with 'gross'; the Biscuitmen set their stall firmly out with a full bonus set, before Mr Hutchinson took a second starter in a row and two bonuses on the novel Vanity Fair were taken. Mr Jackson then got Imperial off the mark, but they got nothing from their first bonus set on dodecahedrons. They did take the first picture round though, on the Italian navy's coat of arm, and took two correct bonuses, which reduced the gap to 45-30.
It quickly went up again though as Ms Ounsley took the next starter, but just the one bonus on opera was taken by them this time. Neither side took a starter about Roman numerals on a keyboard that I'm sure has been on the how before; Mr Hutchinson very quickly took the next and they pushed home with a full bonus set on Diane Fossey. Back came Imperial with Mr Mays taking the points for them; no bonuses followed, but Ms Sheriff quickly took the next starter, and bonuses on Indian coloured cities saw their resident geographer Mr Zeng provide two correct answers. He took the next starter as well, and a full bonus set on popes gave them the lead. The Londoners also took the music round, on pieces parodied in Carnival of the Animals; another full house meant they now led 110-80.
The Londoners now had their tails firmly up, and Mr Zeng quickly knew 'European country' and 'partitioned' would likely be Poland more often than not; two correct bonuses were taken. Mr Mays lost five on the next starter, but Reading couldn't take the points; the Imperial captain then made up for his error, and two bonuses followed in short order. Mr Zeng quickly took the next, and bonuses on elements proved all too easy for them. Reading finally got going again with the second picture round, on stills from Ahmir Thompson's documentary Summer of Soul; two correct answers took them into three figures, but they still trailed 170-100.
And when Ms Sheriff took the next starter, that looked like game over, even when just one bonus was taken; Mr Jackson made double sure when he took the next, and bonuses on Welsh geography provided them with another two correct answers to make it past 200 again. And further past it they went as Mr Zeng took the next starter, and another two correct bonuses, on apples in art, just added to their score and lead. Ms Ounsley did take the final starter for Reading, and they ensured they'd also had a good night with two bonuses on their own on McLarens. At the gong, Imperial won 225-120.
A seriously good game between two fine times, one of whom ultimately won it comfortably, but both were on great form, well played both! Very well done to Imperial, another very strong showing that marks them down as lukewarm favourites for the title I'd say; very best of luck in the semis! Hard lines to Reading, but still a very good showing and they'll probably reach the semis as well if they keep up that form; very best of luck to them there!
The stats: Mr Zeng was the best buzzer of the night with five, taking his series total to 24, while Ms Ounsley and Mr Hutchinson got three each for Reading, the latter taking his to 30. On the bonuses, Reading managed a good 13 out of 18 and Imperial 22 out of 36, and both sides incurred one penalty.
Next week's match: either Emmanuel vs Edinburgh or St John's vs Trinity
Mastermind was won very easily by
Helen Garner, who led after the specialist rounds and had easily the best GK
round as well to triumph with 27 points, seven clear of Judith Edward and
Lizzie Mackarel in joint second with 20 each, with Mark Spencer Turner
completing the line-up on 14.
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