Christmas University Challenge 2024: Matches 1-5 (Monday 23rd - Sunday 29th)

Greetings friends! Hope you all had a good Christmas this week. Anyway, our final blog posting of 2024 and, as usual, we'll be looking at the first week of this year's Christmas UC, including tonight's match. A pretty good first week as well, though I must say that, after a somewhat Paxo-esque performance last year, AR has been more like his usual gentler self this year so far; make of that what you will. Anyway, let's do this...

 

Monday 23rd: Warwick vs Durham

Warwick: Mimi Fawaz, Syma Khalid, Yomi Adegoke, Huma Qureshi

Durham: Liz James, Tracey Macleod, Carla Denyer, Sophie Smith Galer

 

A very one-sided start to the series, with Durham absolutely dominant on the buzzers, with three of their four players getting four starters right, and a very impressive showing on the bonuses too. Warwick were restricted to just two starters all night, though they did get all but one of their bonuses right to be fair. Durham won 265-35, and are so far the red hot favourites for this week's semis.

Tuesday 24th: Worcester Oxford vs Bristol

Worcester: Glyn Maxwell, Alice Jolly, Tom Parker-Bowles, Peter Barnes

Bristol: Danny Robins, Briony May Williams, Paul Boateng, James Stewart

A much closer contest this time, with Worcester leading for the most part, but Bristol put up a good battle. Ultimately, Worcester won it thanks to, again, a team effort of the buzzer, three of their four player getting three starters each. Worcester won the game 155-105 and will also definitely be returning for the semis.

Thursday 26th: Manchester Metropolitan vs Brighton

Manchester Met: Lee Chambers, Vicky Tolfrey, Debra Stephenson, Rachel Mann

Brighton: David Taylor, Hannah Berry, Adam Pearson, Chris Riddell

A match of three thirds this one: Brighton raced into a strong early lead in the first, before Manchester Met pulled back in the second, before a fairly evenly matched third saw Brighton hold on to secure the victory. Credit to Ms Mann for a very impressive individual total of seven starters which largely kept her team in the game. Brighton won 135-110, which I suspect probably won't be enough to bring them back, but we'll see.

Friday 27th: Leeds Trinity vs Nottingham

Leeds Trinity: Harpz Kaur, Mobeen Azhar, Lauren Layfield, Dorothy Koomson

Nottingham: Rutendo Shackleton, Clive Tyldesley, Yasmin Ali, Lynn Saunders

A pretty even contest indeed, with a couple of extra starters ultimately winning it for Nottingham, though Leeds Trinity actually fared a bit better on the bonuses. Nottingham won 115-100, and sadly are definitely not coming back in the semis.

Sunday 29th: Southampton vs Churchill Cambridge

Southampton: Benjamin Pritchard, Tom Jubert, Justine Greening, Nathan Robinson

Churchill: Catherine Green, Diarmaid MacCulloch, Helen Czerski, Spencer Kelly

And finally tonight's match, and a slight reversal of Friday's, in that Southampton got one starter more than their opponents, but Churchill fared considerably better on the bonuses, getting exactly two thirds of theirs correct. Southampton started better before Churchill pulled away, only for Southampton to pull back. The Cambridge side recovered to keep themselves in front though. Churchill won 150-120 and I would guess that'll be good enough to bring them back.

So, Durham and Worcester are definitely coming back next week and I would say Churchill probably will be too. Whatever happens, hopefully the second week will be just as good as the first.

Back next weekend with my review of the second week; until then, thanks once again for reading and supporting the blog this year, have a safe and Happy New Year, and sayonara...

Brain of Britain 2024 Final

Greetings friends! Well, the festive season is finally upon us properly again. The Christmas specials of the main Quizzy Mondays quizzes began this evening; as per usual, I won't be covering every episode of them in immense detail, but I will do my usual two weekly summaries of Christmas UC. For tonight, though, there's the small matter of yesterday's Brain of Britain final.

 

Our contenders were Andrew Fanko, whose presence here justifies the allowing of high-scoring non-winners to come back in the semis (Mastermind PTB take note), Anthony Fish, Alan Gibbs and Tim Hall.

 

An amusing moment in the first round when I incorrectly guessed Raj Bisram as the TV antiques expert who used to be a hairdresser and then Anthony did so too! He had nul points at the end of that first round, Andrew had 2 and Alan and Tim both had 4.

 

Things were a lot tighter after the second round, the scores at the end of which were a nicely ascending sequence of Anthony with 3, Andrew with 4, Tim with 5 and Alan with 6. Tim had taken the lead after the third however, now having 10 to Alan’s 8, with Andrew and Anthony on 6 and 5 respectively. At which point, we paused for Beat the Brains, with outgoing champ Dan Adler setting the questions as is traditional, and winning as they could only answer one of them.

 

A low scoring fourth round, the highlight of which was a question about the Spice Girls’ three successive Christmas No 1s which was rather similar to a question on this morning’s Ten to the Top! Tim had increased his lead over Alan by one after this, 11 to 8, while Andrew and Anthony now had 8 and 6 respectively.

 

Anthony had the best of the final round, and he and Andrew ended up with 9 each. Tim maintained his lead over Alan though, and finished with 13 to his 10, making him the new champion! Congratulations to him, and kudos for his words of congratulations to his opponents at the end too, and thanks to him and everyone involved for another most enjoyable series!

 

That's that then, but before I go, a quick update on Mastermind, which, given that another celebrity edition is scheduled for January 13th, I suspect the earliest we can now expect the regular series to return is February 3rd, nearly a month after UC and OC.

 

Back on Sunday with my usual summary of the first week of Christmas UC; until then, wherever you are whatever you're doing, have a very Happy Christmas, and sayonara...

Quizzy Mondays 2024-25 Week 19: University Challenge R2M3, Only Connect Play-Off 3, Mastermind Heat 17

Good evening again my friends, and welcome to the last 'regular' Quizzy Monday of 2024! Yes, tonight we have the last 'regular' episodes of the three main quizzes for this year; next two weeks, it's Christmas specials, then we resume normal service on January 6th. Well, sort of; more on this later. For now, let's do this thing, beginning with UC, and a match-up that just sums up why I really hate the second round.

 

Exeter defeated Reading in their first match, leading from the off and ultimately winning 240-100. They were unchanged from that match:

Ryker Moorcroft, from Ramsgate, studying Natural Sciences

Lucy Carr, from Hitchin, studying Art History and Classics

Captain: Martin Newman, from Leighton Buzzard, studying Modern History

Elliott Mouelhi, from Wells, studying Ancient History and Archaeology

 

Bristol were also comfortable winners in their first match, indeed getting the highest score of the round as they soundly trounced the decent team from Gonville & Caius of Cambridge 325-80. They were also the same foursome as before:

Ted Warner, from Wiltshire, studying Biology

Bridie Rogers, from Brighton, studying Medicine

Captain: Kevin Flanagan, from Dublin, studying AI

Olivia Watts, from York, studying Organic Chemistry

Bristol started like a house on fire, taking the first four starters of the game and the vast majority of the bonuses, while their opponents were restricted to a penalty (and an unlucky one at that). After the first picture round, Bristol already led 95-(-5). And the one-way traffic just kept on coming; another penalty to Exeter, while Bristol just kept getting starters and generally the bonuses too. After the music round, they led 200-(-10).

Exeter did finally get some points on the board, taking two starters in a row, taking two starters in a row and a sole bonus from both sets, thus ensuring they bettered their predecessors' infamous low score from 2008-09. After the second picture round, Bristol led 255-20. The Avonsiders' previously imperious bonus rate did slow up a bit in the home straight, but it hardly mattered really. Exeter did take a third starter, and another sole bonus, but, alas, were not to make it out of the Sub-50 Club. At the gong, Bristol won 290-35.

A most one-sided contest to say the least, but enjoyable nonetheless. Very well done Bristol, another storming performance, and against such good opponents too, they really are serious contenders for the title now! Best of luck to them in the QFs! As for Exeter, we know from their first match that they're a fine team as well, but they were quite simply outplayed here; thanks very much to them for playing!

The stats: Mr Warner was the best buzzer of the night with seven starters to Mr Flanagan's six, while Messrs Moorcroft and Newman and Ms Carr got one each for Exeter. On the bonuses, Exeter managed 3 out of 9 (with two forgivable penalties) and Bristol a mightily good 30 out of 42.

And that's it for this year; two weeks of Christmas UC coming up, with quick summaries at the ends of both weeks (I hope) before we resume normal service on January 6th.

Only Connect concluded its normal service for the year with the third play-off and another avoidable rematch, with the Uisge Beathas and the Crunchers meeting again; the former subsequently beat the Third Agers after being narrowly beaten in the first match between the two, while the latter were subsequently beaten by the Introverts.

 

I claim two points on the ‘became saints’ question in the first round; the Crunchers led 7-3 at the end of it. My Dad claims three points on the horses question in the second round; thanks largely to an excellent five pointer (possibly the latest in the allotted time a team has ever buzzed in for one!), the Crunchers’ lead had increased to 17-5 at the end of that.

 

The Crunchers went first on the Walls, and got all four groups, but missed a connection point, thus giving them seven points. The Beathas were in desperate need of bettering that, and did indeed get a full house, so 24-15 the scores going into Missing Vowels. The Crunchers easily maintained, and indeed extended their lead there though, finally winning 29-19. Well done them, and best of luck in the QFs, and thanks to the Beathas for playing.

 

OC also now pauses for two weeks of EIGHT(!) Christmas specials; we resume on January 6th with Too Many Cookes vs the Tea Totallers.

 

Mastermind’s final regular episode of the year was opened by Phil Nowek, answering on George RR Martin’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ novels; he put in a respectable effort, scoring a par for this series 7 points. Chris Murphy followed him into the chair, answering on whales; he started well, but then ran out of steam, finishing on 4 points, with two passes too. Next was Marianne Harman, answering on Italian climber Reinhold Messner; she fell just one short of Phil’s score, finishing with 6. Finally, Emma Carter-Browne was answering on Emily Bronte; she did equal Phil’s score, another 7, leaving the show more or less a three-horse race going into GK.

 

Chris returned first needing a really good performance to stand a chance; he didn’t manage that, but he did score a further 8 points to finish with a respectable score of 12 points. Marianne came next; her round was a steady round where she started rather slowly, then a late run took her into the lead and she scored 10 for a good total of 16.

 

Phil then gave us a very good round indeed, not quite as good as Dom’s last week, but still pretty good indeed; 14 for a total of 21 was an excellent showing, and left Emma needing near perfection to stand a chance. She gave it a go, but, after a decent start, fell off the pace and was soon out of the running. Still, another 10 gave her a decent total of 17. Which makes Phil the winner! Well done him, and thanks to the others for playing.

 

Mastermind will also be running celebrity specials for much of the next two weeks, with one straying into the first ‘regular’ week of the New Year too, plus a further three supposedly in the bag as well; surely they won’t keep showing them a full four weeks into the year? As it stands, the earliest we can expect the regular series to resume is January 13th.

 

Brain of Britain’s final quarter-final featured two heat winners and two HSNWs; sadly, David Edwards, who’d already had to pull out of the first QF, was unable to make it this time as well, so Alan Eeles took his place in the line-up alongside Tim Hall, fellow HSNW Caroline Latham and Sarah Thornton.

 

For the third show in a row, we began with 5IAR+ABP, courtesy of Tim, who was thus quite far ahead of the rest at the end of the first round and ended up maintaining that advantage for the rest of the show, ultimately winning with 18 points, 7 ahead of Alan and Sarah in joint second with 11 each, while Caroline finished not far behind with 9.

 

So, the line-up for Sunday’s final is Tim, Andrew Fanko, Alan Gibbs and Anthony Fish; a very good line-up that, best of retrospective luck to all four! A summary will be coming up on here next Monday.

 

And that's it for this week, and this year as well! Thanks to everyone who's read and supported this blog in 2024; much appreciated as ever! Normal service (sort of) resumes on January 6th as I've said before. I'll be back next Monday with a summation of the BoB final, so, see you then.

Quizzy Mondays 2024-25 Week 18: University Challenge R2M2, Only Connect Play-Off 2, Mastermind Heat 16

Good evening again my friends, and welcome to the penultimate Quizzy Monday of 2024! Well, full strength one anyway; UC and OC are, of course, carrying on with Christmas specials over the festive fortnight, OC this year doubling their festive output to EIGHT specials! Mastermind will be breaking for three weeks after next week and Brain of Britain's final will be dealt with in a seperate blog post on here two weeks today. I hope. Anyway, coming up, the latest installments of those shows, beginning, as ever, with UC, and the second second round match.

 

Durham made a swift return to our screens after their dramatic play-off win over SOAS two weeks ago, winning on a tie-breaker after a 150-each draw; their first match, of course, saw them lose to Oriel. Playing for them for a third time were:

Joe Ancell, from South Gloucestershire, studying History

Emelia Brookfield-Pertusini, from Balham in South London, studying English Literature

Captain: Jake Roberts, from Goostrey in Cheshire, studying Physics

Luke Nash, from Hindolveston in Norfolk, studying Biology

Open were the winners of the second match of the series, and defeated the U.C.L. team who have since strolled into the QFs most easily 190-175. Hoping to join them were the also unchanged team of:

Nicky Maving, from Jarrow, studying Natural Sciences

Tom Barber, from Bournemouth, studying Physics

Captain: Karie Westermann, from Glasgow (originally Denmark), studying Art History

Hector Payne, from Teddington in Middlesex, studying Finance

Durham got off to the better start, taking the first two starters and half the bonuses; Open, in contrast, got nothing from their first set. After the first picture round, Durham led 55-10. Open didn't get any bonuses from their second set either, but then got a run of starters together and the bonuses finally began falling for them. After the music round, which they, or rather, Mr Payne, took a full house on, they'd pulled level on 75-each.

Another starter and full bonus set in a row gave Open the lead. Their tails firmly up now, two further starters meant they now had nearly doubled their opponents' score; AR duly told Durham there was plenty of time for another dramatic comeback! The Wearsiders did take the second picture round, after which they'd cut the gap to 145-95. Another two starters suggested a repeat of two weeks' ago could be on, but Durham only took one of the resulting six bonuses, and Open duly reawoke and increased their lead with a starter and sole bonus. Mr Roberts did the right thing and took an early punt on the next starter, but was wrong and lost five; Mr Maving picked up the points and that was game over. At the gong, Open won 180-115.

A good contest that could easily have gone to either team until Open snuck away again at the end. Well done to them, another good showing against strong opponets; best of luck in the QFs! Hard lines to Durham, but they gave a good contest and can be pleased with their performances this series; thanks for playing!

The stats: Mr Maving was the best buzzer of the night with five starters, while Mr Nash was best for Durham with four. On the bonuses, Durham managed 10 out of 21 (with the night's one penalty) and Open 14 out of 30.

Next week's match: Exeter vs Bristol, the final regular match of the year, then we break for two weeks of Christmas specials

Only Connect’s penultimate regular match of the year was the second play-off match, between the Hopsters and the Al Frescans, both of whose two previous appearances were wins over the Midlanders and defeats to the Sprouters! Though not in the same order of course.

 

I claim the same point as the Hopsters on the first question of the show, my Mum claims the same point as the Al Frescans on the trees question. The former led 4-3 at the end of the first round. My Dad and I were in the process of getting the singing voices question when the Hopsters got it for three in the second round; I worked out the A-N-G-E-L-A question after I heard them say the first pic was of Ang Lee and I’m claiming two for a flat-out guess of ‘1 is A’ for the Base 26 question! The Hopsters now led 10-8 after that.

 

The Frescans went first on the Walls, and got a very quick and well worked out full ten. The Hopsters took longer, but same result, another full ten, so as you were, they led 20-18 going into Missing Vowels. But the Frescans fared considerably better on that to come from behind and win 26-23. Well done them, and best of luck in the QFs, and thanks to the Hopsters for playing.

 

Next week’s match: another avoidable rematch, the Uisge Beathas vs the Crunchers, then we also break for two weeks of specials

 

Mastermind entered the second half of its heats; Jeremy Hicks opened the show, answering on Sir Mark Cavendish, and put in a respectable round about on a par with the series so far, 8 his score. Lucie Knight followed him into the chair; answering on the Darkness, she just bettered Jeremy’s score, finishing with 9. Next up was Dom Tait, captain of the Scribes who won Series 6 of OC and who has also been on UC and the revived Fifteen-to-One; answering on The Day Today, he very much raised the bar with an excellent round and score of 11. Finally, Jeff Davies was answering on author Sylvia Townsend Walker; he duly put in a perfect round and matched Dom’s score of 11.

 

So, all four still reasonably in contention going into GK. Jeremy returned first, and put in an excellent showing that very much gave his opponents something to think about; 13 gave him a very good total of 21. Lucie couldn’t equal that score, starting well before losing momentum and a pass plus some long pauses pretty much ruled her out; she still finished with a respectable total of 17.

 

Dom, on the other hand, gave a very good performance indeed, answering quickly and never really losing momentum despite a few wrong answers; he passed Jeremy’s score with time to spare and ended up scoring a mightily impressive 16 for a superb total of 27. So Jeff had a bit of a task on his hands to match that, let alone better it; he started well, but then hit a run of wrong answers and never looked like catching up afterwards. Clive M was somewhat harsh I thought to disallow one of his later answers, but it didn’t matter in the end; 8 points gave him a respectable total of 19. So Dom is through to the semis! Well done him, and thanks to the others for playing.

 

Brain of Britain’s third semi-final featured a rather neatly themed line-up, with Anthony Fish, token HSNW Andrew Fisher and Shanine Salmon involved; Russell D assured us this was purely coincidental, before saying it was just the ‘net result’ of the draw! (rolling eyes emoji) Vicky Johnson completed the line-up.

 

For the second week in a row, we began with a 5IAR+ABP, this time courtesy of Anthony, who thus led with 7 after the first round. A shutout in the second, however, allowed Andrew and Vicky to pull level, with Shanine just behind on 6. Anthony just eked back ahead in the third round, however, and fared best in a high scoring final round to win with 15 points, two ahead of Andrew with 13; Vicky and Shanine finished with 10 and 8 respectively. Well done all of them, and best of luck Anthony in the final!

 

And that's the penultimate regular week of the year done! Thanks as ever for reading; next week, the last one of the year, then this blog series will be taking a break for Christmas, with a single post for the BoB final and two for the two weeks of Christmas UC. So, until same time same place next week, sayonara...