University Challenge 2022-23: Round 1: Match 4: Coventry vs Cardiff

Good evening friends, and welcome back. Another very sad day for the nation today, so another shorter than usual blog out of respect. Tonight's UC pitted a university making its debut on the show against one that's appeared plenty of times before, but not done all that well.

Coventry University, formerly Lanchester Polytechnic and Coventry Polytechnic, is the debuting institution, and in years gone by, would be the only 'new' university in this series; not this year, as we know at least two more will be showing up in the coming weeks. The first ever Coventry UC team were:

Dino Buratti, from Bromsgrove, studying Automotive Journalism

Kirsty Harrod, from South London, studying Ancient Greek

Captain: Aksshat Goel, from New Delhi, studying English Literature

Meredith Whiting, from Warwickshire, studying Environmental Management and Sustainability

 

Cardiff University, formerly part of the University of Wales, has appeared on seven previous BBC UC series, but has only gotten past the first round on two of those occasions, and only actually won three matches in that time as well; last appearance was a first round defeat five series ago. This year's quartet were:

John Wimperis, from Stroud, studying News Journalism

Will Balkwill-Western, from North Devon, studying Chemistry

Captain: Zoe Revell, from Cardiff, studying Maths

Ella Freeman, from Cardiff, studying Psychology

 

So off we set once again, and after a false start, Mr Buratti gave Coventry their first ever UC correct answer, followed by two bonuses. Cardiff followed them off the mark, and the sides exchanged starters for a bit, so that after the first picture round, on flags of capital cities, they were tied on 40-each. After that though, the Welsh side began to pull away on the buzzer; Coventry did halt them by taking the music round, on pop songs whose titles are written in lower case, which cut their deficit to 95-60.

That would sadly be their lot however, as Cardiff ran away with it on the buzzer after that and, after the second picture round, on animals that first appeared during the Pliocene epoch, 185-60. Mr Buratti did the right thing and valiantly tried to buzz his side back into the match, but only managed to lose five a couple of times. In fact, Coventry were giving it a very good go, buzzing in several times; it's just that they weren't getting the right answers and Cardiff were. The Welsh side ran up their score higher in the final minutes and, at the gong, Cardiff won 230-50.

A one sided match, but another enjoyable one, two more pleasant teams. Well done to Cardiff, an impressive first performance and best of luck in the second round. Hard lines to Coventry, who gave it a good go and are I think a better team than that score suggests; thanks very much to them for playing.

The stats: Mr Balkwill-Western was the best buzzer of the night with six starters, while Ms Harrod was best for Coventry with two. On the bonuses, Coventry managed 6 out of 9 (with two penalties) and Cardiff 20 out of 39.

Next week's match: Cranfield vs Royal Holloway London

Only Connect was contested by the Cryptics, Jade Harvey, Padraig Sheehy and captain Molly O’Gorman, and the Strigiformes, Jonathan Taylor, Joshua Mutio and captain Jonathan Williams, who you may remember as ¾ of the Birkbeck team who reached the QFs of UC a couple of series back. Their opponents led 9-3 after the first round however, helped by the first five pointer of the series, and 12-6 after a more evenly scored second round. Two tough walls left the Cryptics’ lead at 17-10 going into Missing Vowels, and despite a valiant recover from the Strigiformes, they just about held on to win 18-16.

 

Mastermind’s first episode of the new series was a very high scoring affair, with Ben Spicer winning with 26 points and one pass, compared to the 26 and two passes of second place Ruth Gibbons. Alexia Jarvis and Davey Garrett completed the line-up with 25 and 23.

 

No Brain of Britain this afternoon, but the originally planned episode is still currently scheduled to air in the usual late night Saturday repeat slot. If that is the case, summary of it coming up next week alongside next Monday’s planned new episode, hopefully.