University Challenge 2023-24: Round 1: Match 6: King's vs U.C.L.

Good evening again friends, and welcome back to Quizzy Mondays! Which, next week, will finally be complete again, as Mastermind returns next week! Which means, unless one of them takes a week off, we're in for fifteen weeks of a complete line-up of all the Monday quizzes! On with tonight's UC, the latest in a series that is shaping up nicely under the new regime, with two institutions that went far in the first series I covered on this blog 11 years ago...

King's College Cambridge surprisingly only appeared four times in the Paxman era, of which its most successful team was that of our old friend Jim Gratrex that reached the QFs. Its last appearance was a first round exit in 2015-16 infamous for one of its team wearing a leather vest! (Must've been a slow news day for that to have gotten as many articles as it did) This year's team were:

Elizabeth Zachariah, from Surrey, studying Medicine

Alexander Ward, from Kensington, studying Engineering

Captain: Rex Phillips Dibb, from Islington, studying Russian, Italian and Ukrainian

Krishnan Mulholland, from Hertfordshire, studying Classics

U.C.L., in contrast, sent fifteen teams in the Paxman years, with, among them, two runners-up in 2004-05 and 12-13, two SF exits in 2006-07 and 11-12, and three QF exits, including in the last series with the famous mother-and-son team. This year's quartet were:

James Hall, from North Finchley, studying Law

Ali Izzatdust, from Portugal and Azerbaijan, studying Intellectual History

Captain: Tayana Sawh, from North London, studying Medicine

Jacon Finlay, from Cranleigh in Surrey, studying Public Administration

So, off we set once again then, and it was Mr Izzatdust who took the first starter of the night, and the Londoners took a full set of bonuses on Hermann Hesse (including the Glass Bead Game, nearly two decades after a question about that book sent their team into the final!). Two further starters and a penalty to their opponents sent U.C.L. into a strong early lead, but King's finally opened their account properly with the first picture round, on Indonesian islands, which they took a full house on, closing that gap to 60-20. A nip and tuck period ensued, as the teams swapped starters and took two bonuses from the resulting sets each, with the gap alternating between 20 and 40 as a result. The music round, on 19th century composers who began composing as kids, broke this sequence as King's only took one bonus; they thus trailed 95-70.

Up went the lead again as U.C.L. maintained their two bonuses record, only for King's to respond likewise. The Londoners then finally went one better again as they took a full set on fictional prime ministers. The second picture round, on paintings featuring umbrellas, went to King's; one bonus took the scores to 140-105. Still either team's game, but another starter and single bonus to U.C.L. made it their's to lose. But King's then lost five on two successive starters; the Londoners didn't pick either up, but a very quick buzz from Ms Sawh put them within sight of victory, and a full bonus set on words beginning 'cat' made it game over. King's did pull back well in the final minutes though, and racked up a sufficient score to push Birmingham off the repechage board, but maybe not quite high enough for a final place on it. The final starter went to Mr Hall, and that was the gong; U.C.L. won 190-145.

A good match, on the buzzer especially with all eight players getting at least two starters right, which I don't recall happening before in recent UC history. Well done to U.C.L., and best of luck in the next round! Hard lines to King's, whose score I fear won't quite be enough for the play-offs, but a fair effort, thanks for playing!

The stats: Ms Zachariah and Messrs Hall and Izzatdust were joint best buzzers of the night with three each for their respective teams. On the bonuses, King's managed 15 out of 27 (with a costly four penalties) and U.C.L. 19 out of 27 (with one penalty).

Next week's match: East Anglia vs Strathclyde

Only Connect reached its sixth heat, contested by the Also Rans, all of whom were beaten Mastermind finalists in 2020-21, Harry Heath (also of UC), Claire Barrow (also of Brain of Britain) and captain Dan Afshar (also of Brain of Britain and the revived WWTBAM), and the Gardners, Louise, Kate and captain Anna Gardner. The former led 6-4 after the first round, but the latter took the lead 7-6 after the second (I claim three points on the M question). A better wall gave the Also Rans the lead back, 16-13, going into Missing Vowels, and they fared much better in that to run out 26-15.

 

Brain of Britain continued this afternoon; unfortunately, I was out this afternoon and missed it, so I’ll listen to it in my own time some time this coming week and do a double summary next week.