University Challenge 2022-23: Round 1: Match 5: Cranfield vs Royal Holloway

Good evening friends, and welcome back to JOW! Back to business as usual this week after the last two weeks, though I will maybe try to keep my write-ups slimmed down a bit for the rest of the first round at least. Tonight, as Paxo pointed out in his intro, two irregular visitors to the show returned for the first time in many years...

Cranfield University is appearing for the first time in exactly 20 series; last time around, its time made it all the way to the final, defeating the Leeds team of Jenny 'Vixen' Ryan and WWTBAM Thirteen Clubber Steve Kidd in the semis, before narrowly losing to Birkbeck. Its other three BBC era appearances were first round losses. This year's foursome were:

Jack Chivers, from Crawley, studying Business Administration with a focus on Performance Management

Raman Suri, from Essex, studying Water Engineering

Captain: John Joseph Stephenson, from Preston, studying Metals in Extreme Environments

Charlotte Keenan, from Northumberland, studying Safety and Human Factors in Aviation

 

Royal Holloway London is appearing for the first time in sixteen series; its last appearance in 2006-07 saw its team lose to Wadham of Oxford in the second round, the same stage its only other BBC era team fell at two series earlier. This year's quartet were:

Joel Abramovich, from Highgate in London, studying Biology

Joanna Brown, from North London, studying Creative Writing

Captain: George Harvey, from Dunmow in Essex, studying Physics

Micka Clayton, from Richmond (originally South Africa), studying Music and Neuropsychology

 

So, off we set once again then, and it was Ms Brown who took the first two starters of the night; the London side followed these up with one bonus from their first set and two from the second. Cranfield then responded with two starters of their own, including the first picture round, on proposed US states; two bonuses from each set gave them the lead, 40-35.

Mr Harvey quickly gave Royal Holloway the lead back with the next starter however, with one bonus following, only for Cranfield to go back in front with two starters and sole bonuses of their own. The London side then took a starter and the first full bonus set of the night, on time periods, which put them back in front. They also took the music round, on songs about train journeys, requiring the destination mentioned in the title rather than the act; two bonuses gave them a lead of 95-70.

A penalty set Cranfield back five, only for Mr Stephenson to bring them the points back immediately, but no bonuses followed. Royal Holloway did at least manage one from their next set, before Cranfield drew a blank on a second successive set. Which took us to the second picture round, on non-English language BAFTA Best International Programme nominees; Royal Holloway took that, and a full set to boot (or rather, Ms Brown did!), after which they led 135-85.

And when Ms Brown took a second starter in a row, and two bonuses followed, they were pretty much out of sight. Which left Cranfield with the job of running up as high a score as possible; Mr Stephenson took the next starter, but just one bonus followed (and they unluckily talked themselves out of the right answer to another), and a penalty pretty much ended their chances. They did take the final starter, and the one bonus there was time for at least. At the gong, Royal Holloway won 155-110.

A closely fought match, with the bonuses ultimately winning it for Royal Holloway. Well done them, and best of luck in the next round! Hard lines to Cranfield, but a fair enough effort, and if the bonuses had fallen better for them, it could've been a lot closer; thanks very much for playing.

The stats: Ms Brown was the best buzzer of the night with four, while Mr Stephenson and Ms Keenan got three each for Cranfield. On the bonuses, Cranfield managed 8 out of 22 (with two penalties) and Royal Holloway 15 out of 24, so the same number of starters each, but the bonuses saw Royal Holloway through.

Next week's match: Glasgow vs Queen's Belfast

Only Connect’s fifth heat was contested by the Cunning Planners, Nic Paul, Hugh Williams (both of whom were on WWTBAM many years ago) and captain Iain Thoms, and the Seagulls, Noami Lask, William Bradley and captain Liam Agate (whose intro provided a very welcome mention of Otis the Aardvark!). The teams were tied on 3-each after the first round, before the Planners opened an 8-6 lead after the second. A better wall increased their lead to 18-11 going into Missing Vowels, which was very one sided in their favour; their final winning score was 27-11.

 

Mastermind’s second heat was a high scoring one, won by Ben Whitworth with 27 points, with blog reader and UC alumnus Keshava Guha coming second with 24. Anu Mitra (who gave us the very welcome SS of Laurel and Hardy films!) and Eleanor Jardine also competed, finishing with 20 and 17 respectively, both fine scores that could’ve won on other days.

 

Last week’s Brain of Britain, aired on Saturday night, was won by Mastermind and Counterpoint finalist Sarah Trevarthan, who broke away from the rest in the third round and ran out easily with 14 points, six ahead of second placed Jim Maginnis. Jo McEvedy and Rob Earnshaw (not that one I don’t think) also competed, finishing with 7 and 4.

 

This week’s BoB was won by recent UC and OC alumnus Gill Taylor, who also maintained a steady lead throughout, also boosted by a very strong third round, and won with 17 points, eight clear of Carol Bates in second. Scott Torrance and Carolyn Evans completed the line-up with 8 and 5 respectively.