Pembroke
College Cambridge was founded in 1347, and is the third oldest college of the
university. Alumni include Eric Idle, Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor. The
college were runners-up in the last series, losing to Manchester in the final.
Hoping to go one step further this year were:
Robert Scanes, from North London,
studying Natural Sciences
Emily Maw, from Oxford, studying Maths
Captain: Tom Foxall, from Birmingham,
studying Classics
Jemima Hodkinson, from Portsmouth,
studying Natural Sciences
Lancaster
is one of the ‘plate-glass’ unis founded in 1964, and it’s alumni include Alan
Milburn M.P. and the actor Andy Serkis. It last entered the contest two years
ago, where they lost to Nottingham in the first round, but survived to the
repechage, where they were thrashed by Birmingham 315-50, despite going into
the match as favourites. Playing tonight were:
Alan Webster, from Preston, studying Resource
and Environmental Management
Anne Kretzschmar, from Chesterfield, studying
Environmental Modelling
Captain: George Pinkerman, from Surrey,
studying History, Philosophy and Politics
Ian Dickson, from Stirling, studying
Ecology and the Environment
Bit
of a theme in there, somewhere.
The
match started off evenly, with the two sides generally swapping starters.
Pembroke began to pull away a bit in the second quarter, but not totally out of
sight. The music round, on birds in classical music, provided some hilarity,
when Lancaster began to struggle hilariously on one of the bonuses, leading to
a superb facepalm from Paxo!
Pembroke
continued to pull away in the third quarter of the match. The second picture
round, on actors portraying Hamlet, was dropped as well; Mr Webster of
Lancaster got a stern telling-off from Paxo for not answering quickly enough
after buzzing. A slightly amusing moment came during the bonuses when Lancaster
suggested Vincent Price was born in the 19th century; Paxo said it wasn’t a bad
guess.
At
this point, Pembroke led by 160-95, and another starter edged them further
towards safety. Lancaster broke back into the match with the next starter (cue
some rather noisy cheers from their supporters), and began a sprint that saw
them just manage enough points to get them into contention for the repechage.
Pembroke got another starter, and were unlucky to say ‘327’ for one bonus when
the answer was ‘326.85’!
In
the end, Pembroke won the match by 200-140. Lancaster may have done enough to
make the repechage, which would be fair, as they were a decent enough team.
George Pinkerton answered three correct answers for them; the side managed 12
bonuses out of 23. Tom Foxall’s five starters were best for the Cambridge team,
who answered 18 bonuses out of 33. There were no penalties, which is always
good to see.
Next
week’s match: Bath vs Liverpool
Tonight’s
Only Connect was a bit of a trouncing, I’m afraid, with the winning team
winning by 34-18. They should definitely be taken seriously for the next round.
Their opponents weren’t a bad team; they just got off to a slow start, and had
trouble catching up.
A tepid series? How harsh. And yet, sadly, even though I've taken part in it, does seem true. Not at all sure why. Has Paxo slowed down a bit? Are the questions slightly harder on average? Or maybe we've been spoiled by Guttenplan et al.
ReplyDeleteAnyway the average score per match is some 50 points down on this time last year. Although that does count the two very low scoring matches featuring scores of 120 and 125 winning. Maybe things will pick up later. We can only hope. And even if the scores are lower then we've still had some great entertainment! The St. Andrew's captain's "trust me, it's wrong" was a stand-out moment, and Paxo has been brilliantly scathing as ever.
Still in second high-scoring position with four matches to go, so we look in for a great chance to get a second shot...
Hi Jim
ReplyDeleteDon't really know what's the matter. It's been entertaining, yes, but few of the matches have been truly spectacular. I'd say your match has been one of the better ones so far this series.
Cheers,
Jack