Pembroke College Cambridge comfortably defeated Lancaster and Bath early on, but lost to St George's in a dour first quarter-final. They remained:
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 SciencesKing's College Cambridge also lost to St George's, but in the first round; they survived as highest scoring losers, and subsequently defeated Homerton and Warwick, before losing to New College last time. They were still:
Curtis Gallant, from North London, studying Classics
Amber Ace, from Perthshire, studying Classics
Captain: Fran Middleton, from Chorleywood in Hertfordshire, studying Classics
James Gratrex, from Leeds, studying Physics
So, two Cambridge teams, both very likeable sides. I'd normally be impartial. But not with LAM and OW reader James 'jim360' Gratrex on the show. King's had my full support tonight.
At first, King's got off to a storming start, with Pembroke's contributions being confined to penalties. Two successive starters went unanswered, both of which I got the answer to. The first picture round saw Pembroke get their first action of the game, but they still trailed by 45-5.
Throughout the second phase, King's continued their impressive run on the buzzer, with Pembroke's contribution being confined to a third penalty, reducing their score to zero. Just before the music round, Paxo told them there was plenty of time left, the surest sign that you're in trouble. The music starter went to James, and King's now led by 115-0.
Pembroke finally managed to get a second starter, and began to pull their way back into the match, getting the starters comfortably, and shutting King's out on the buzzer. By the second picture round, they had reduced the gap to 135-80, and were well back in the hunt.
And the Pembroke momentum continued. Two more penalties were incurred, but they were both very swiftly cancelled out by starters. Soon, the gap, which had by 135 at one point, was down to just twenty-five points! Could Pembroke pull off one of the biggest shock comeback victories of all time?
Fran Middleton thought otherwise, taking a much needed starter for King's, and giving them a bit of breathing space. But Pembroke weren't going to let them get away, and kept the pressure on them with more starters. With barely any time to go, the gap was just fifteen points! A very topical starter, on the most common papal name, was dropped by both teams. And the gong! King's had it, 150-135!
What a match! Very well done James and co, for another gripping match, and another deserved victory! But very hard lines to Pembroke, who so nearly pulled it off, and, as Paxo said, may well have done it had they got off to a better start. Robert Scanes got five starters, one more than our man James got for King's. James and co managed 10 bonuses out of 30; Pembroke made 12 bonuses out of 30, but five penalties was what cost them the match.
Next week's match: Manchester vs St George's. Which points to a very interesting match up between Bangor and King's, with Adam P. vs James G., the week after!
Tune back in tomorrow for my review of the first new episode of the Third Degree.
Phew! A lot closer than I thought it was going to be after we'd got so far ahead basically without response. I wonder if we stopped playing! I know I certainly made the fatal mistake of tuning out for a bit during that "impulse" starter, and then after that I didn't actually know any starters for a while anyway. But either way nearly paid a heavy price for not turning the knife in the wound! Very careless. I was panicking so much as they got closer and closer, and without Middleton's 12 I think we would have lost...
ReplyDeleteI think we were unlucky to miss out on the Mary Queen of Scots starter, because I'm fairly sure I remember being beaten to the buzzer twice! Once by the wrong Mary I, and then again by Ace. Oh well.
At least I enjoyed the feeling of getting another music starter - this one was one of my favourite pieces ever, Rite of Spring. Ever since I've watched University Challenge the Classical music starters are the ones I look forward to. A lot of people these days seem to know less about it than I think is ideal, so I was looking forward when I got on the show to get lots of music starters. I've been lucky that so far we've been asked 4 starters on classical music. My bad luck that the bonuses this week were on modern composers, whom I've heard of but don't listen to.
Yes, we will be indeed playing Bangor in a fortnight. The gloves are off, Welshguy!
I'm very jealous that you keep getting these classical music questions, and yet we kept getting pop music/poorly worded ones/impossible ones. I'd have got all 4 of those music ones, and yet we hadn't got a single music starter at this point!
ReplyDeleteI wanted the match vs. Kings from the moment I heard that they were also in the competition. King's Cambridge was my brother's Alma Mater, so I wanted the chance to play them; plus we hadn't played an Oxbridge team yet (and maybe I felt I had something to prove, having been rejected by King's when I applied many years ago).
It's all down to the way the questions fall, isn't it! I know Pembroke are a better team than they looked in the first half, going backwards for most of it. Questions fell for us and not them, and then things just dramatically reversed in the second half. Credit to them for still being so sharp even after such a horrible start.
ReplyDeleteI've been lucky to have been asked to identify three of my fave pieces. Rite of Spring, Organ Symphony, Schubert's Unfinished. Just throw in something by Beethoven next time and I'd die happy.