So, off we went on another UC outing, following on from a repeat of an old Only Connect Champion of Champions shown beforehand, and a weekend that saw Gok Wan (possibly) break the record for the smallest amount won by a celeb for charity on a gameshow, winning 10p on Celebrity DoND.
Brasenose College is one of the smallest colleges in Oxford, founded in 1509. Alumni include Michael Palin, John Mortimer and a certain Mr D. Cameron. Tonight was the college's first UC appearance since 2002-03, when they lost their first match to Cranfield on a tie-break, and were narrowly denied a place in the repechage via a three-way tie for the last two places. Tonight's quartet were:
Joshua Phillips, from Radlett in Hertfordshire, studying English Language and Literature
James Burt, from Colchester, studying Law
Captain: Ben Ralph, from London, studying Maths and Philosophy
Turner Edwards, from Los Angeles, studying Classics and French
Now, what can one say about Manchester University? Since the 2004-05 series, they have sent a brilliant team every year (except 2010-11, which they sat out), reaching at least the semi-finals on all eight occasions, with five teams reaching the final and three winning it (plus a fourth default win following that disqualification business no-one talks about). Last year's team got off to a shaky start, before powering through the contest to the title, with a loss in the QFs proving but a brief blip. No pressure on this year's quarter to match that standard then! They were:
Ed Woudhuysen, from London, studying History
Joe Day, from Bideford in Devon, studying Physics with Astrophysics
Captain: Elizabeth Mitchell, from Birmingham, studying PPE
Jonathan Collings, from Manchester, studying Geography
I'm guessing that Mr Woudhuysen is in some way related to George Woudhuysen, who captained St John's College Oxford to second place four series ago.
Until last year, Manchester usually ran away with their first match. Brasenose weren't going to let that happen though, and, through the first phase, kept well in touch of them. After the first picture round, on orchestra sections, Manchester led by 50-20.
Brasenose quickly caught up again, and took back the lead, leading to a good set of bonuses on places names beginning with the names of Greek letters. And (what looked like) a complete guess pulled the Oxford side further ahead. But Manchester soon caught up with them, drawing the score, and then took back the lead with the music round, on actors singing in musicals; Miss Mitchell quickly identified Colin Firth for the starter, much to Paxo's amusement.
Manchester now led by 95-80, and pulled further away with the next starter. But then they lost five on an unlucky early buzz, and Brasenose failed to capitalise, buzzing but not answering. But another starter for the Oxford side made up for that, but no bonuses followed. The second picture starter was David Haig portraying the Rt Hon Jim Hacker in the recent redone series of Yes Prime Minister, which I haven't seen, and if I did, I wouldn't think it would be as good as the classic series with Paul Eddington.
Neither team got that picture starter, before Miss Mitchell just beat Mr Ralph to the buzzer on the next starter, giving Manchester the picture bonuses. The side now led by 130-90. Another starter, and a full set of bonuses gave Manchester enough points to ensure they'd get into the repechage at least.
But could Brasenose yet pull back? They tried, with Turner Edwards getting the next starter, earning a set of bonuses on Premier League runners-up who never actually won it. But that was as far as they could go, as Manchester dominated the remainder of the match, and pulled away into a commanding lead. At the gong, they had won by 215-105, though I'd say it was a closer match than that.
Still, another good performance by Manchester, which certainly shows they have potential to reach the QFs at least. But a gallant effort by Brasenose, who were a decent team, and it's a shame we won't see them again. Messrs Burt, Ralph and Edwards all got two starters each for the Oxford side, which helped them answer 9 out of 18 bonuses correctly. Miss Mitchell was Manchester's best buzzer with four starters, and the side managed 20 bonuses out of 36, with one penalty.
Next week's match: Keele vs Liverpool
Right, I'm off to India tomorrow, so I won't be replying for a couple weeks (but naturally I will catch up when I get back to the UK).
ReplyDeleteHere are this week's stats: Manchester (196), Brasenose (133). Brasenose were a bit hard done by, I thought; they were doing really quite well through the first half.
I'm not sure what to think of this Manchester team. They were strong on the buzzers but (at least compared to some of the other teams we've seen) not so good on the bonuses. I guess we'll just have to see how they do in round two!
This Manchester team don't seem quite as formidable as previous generations, and as they come up against stronger teams than Brasenose (who as you say, were doing fairly well for the first half, but lost out on the buzzers later on), they'll face a sterner test. Joe Day looked strong, however.
ReplyDeleteJack, the new series of Yes, Minister was shown on UKTV Gold earlier this year - I found it amusing enough (they add in a new, female, PR consultant character that mixes up the dynamic a bit), but having also watched the whole 5 series of the original Y,M and Y,PM this year, I can testify it's not a patch on the original!
I watched this match live in the studios shortly after my own game was recorded. I remember it being a particularly enjoyable game to watch, and having seen it on screen for the first time, I definitely stand by that assessment.
ReplyDeleteThis match was a lot closer than the final score suggested, if you ask me. Brasenose started off very strongly, and when they were on the money, they were very much so – even if, in their introductions to camera, they seemed a bit overwhelmed by proceedings! It’s a shame we won’t be seeing them again, particularly since their last appearance on the show took place before the most famous Brasenose alumnus even became Leader of the Opposition.
Manchester won the game largely on the basis of their buzzer work, which certainly seems to be the main weapon in that institution’s arsenal these days. Joe Day’s “57 degrees per radian” buzz-in was particularly impressive, as was the unforgettable “answer first, embarrassment later” moment when Liz Mitchell pounced on the music starter! If this team ups its bonus conversion rate next time, they’ll be serious contenders. My team, I have to admit, were hoping not to get drawn against Manchester in round 1, and we were right to fear them, on the evidence of their first performance!
Annoyingly, the questions in this game were much more gettable for me than those in our actual match against SOAS. Manchester’s chemistry bonus set, unsurprisingly, would have been great for a chemist. Curiously, one of those bonuses (the one about phenolphthalein’s colours) was a duplicate of a starter question that fell to Ewan MacAulay of Christ Church a few weeks ago. Less curiously, Paxo can’t seem to pronounce the word “stoichiometry” correctly.
And you are right about the Woudhuysens. In the studios, I took one look at Ed’s name plate and said, “There’s another Woudhuysen brother, is there?” Ed later confirmed that he was George’s brother.