Evening all. It's fair to say none of the matches thus far have been particularly memorable so far, with the obvious exception of Manchester's getting trounced. Tonight, two London teams would no doubt be hoping to do something about that.
The Institute of Cancer Research, appearing on UC for the first time, was began life in 1909 as a lab in the Royal Marsden Hospital of Chelsea, and separated in 1948, becoming a college in 2003. Alumni include cancer research pioneers Sir Ernest Kennaway, Philip Lawley and Peter Brooks. Tonight's foursome, whose main ambition was apparently to make the college more well known, were:
Stuart Rankin, from North Berwick, studying Medicinal Chemistry
Ravindhi Nathavitharana, from Barnes in London, studying Molecular Pharmacology
Captain: Sabrina Talukdar, from North West England, studying Cancer Genetics
Josh Meyers, from Chiswick in London, studying Chemoinformatics
St George's is a medical college founded in 1733, originally in Hyde Park, but is now based in Tooting, alongside St George's Hospital. Alumni include smallpox vaccination inventor Edward Jenner, anatomy expert Henry Gray, IVF pioneer Patrick Steptoe and retired TV critic Harry Hill. It sent a very good team to UC three years ago, who lost to eventual champs Manchester in the QFs. This year's quartet were:
Alex Costley-White, from London, studying Medicine
Charles Nicholas, from Lewes, studying Medicine
Captain: Tom Burns, from Amersham in Buckinghamshire, studying Medicine
Lucy Studd, from London, studying Medicine
Off we set again then; St George's kicked things off first, and took two from a getable bonus set on Nobel Physics Prize winners. A second starter for the medics followed, but no bonuses followed this time. A third bonus set, on Mercury prize winners, proved more to their liking, though a humorous guess of Dizzee Rascal for an artist who shares his name with an author got them nowhere! St George's dominated proceedings until the first picture round, on train lines between cities (the starter being my local line between Aberdeen and Inverness!). I.C.R. got off the mark, but took just one picture bonus, leaving them trailing 70-15.
St George's dropped five on the next starter, but I.C.R. refused to try for a pick up, despite Paxo's encouragement! Miss Talukdar promptly took a second starter for I.C.R., and a set of bonuses on the 2014 Winter Games provided two correct answers. St George's started up again on the next starter, but got no bonuses from a set on Holst's Planets suite. A second starter in a row for the medics this time gave them two bonuses. It was their better showing on the buzzer that was keeping them well in front at this point.
The music round, on songs by artists who share their names with US president's surnames; they were unlucky to miss one of them, while another I recognised from the Simpsons, but didn't know who it was! They took the other bonus, which decreased the deficit to 95-50. Neither side got the next starter, on the final UK communist MPs. An unlucky slip up from I.C.R. allowed St George's to regain control, but no bonuses followed again. Another starter to St George's, accompanied by one bonus, gave them a strong lead going into the final round of play.
The second picture round, on stills from films on the Library of Congress' National Film Register, went to St George's, and they took all three bonuses, which took their lead to 145-45. I.C.R. would have to get a move on if they were going to catch up, or failing that, reach the repechage. Miss Talukdar was first on the buzzer to spell 'effervescent', and two bonuses on cities and their suffixes in search engines, gave them two correct answers. A second starter in a row for Miss Talukdar, and you began to think they could yet fight back. But when no bonuses followed, and Miss Talukdar then slipped up on the next starter, it looked like it may be game over.
Mr Costley-White confirmed this by identifying Kazakhstan as the ninth largest country ("What a weird thing to know!", Paxo quipped). Another started was dropped completely, but when St George's took the next starter, that was definitely game over. An appropriate set of bonuses on nursing gave them two correct answers, and a lot of laughter when they missed the other! At the gong, St George's won 190-70.
A pleasant enough match between two pleasant teams, even though it was rather one sided. Unlucky I.C.R., but you came across very well, and didn't totally disgrace yourselves, so well done. Well done St George's; a good performance, but I suspect you'll need to improve on the bonuses next time. We'll look forward to seeing you then!
Mr Nicholas was best buzzer of the night, with five to his name; Miss Talukdar was I.C.R.'s best with three. On the bonuses, I.C.R. converted just 6 out of 15 (with two penalties), while St George's managed 15 out of 33 (with one penalty).
Next week's match: Christ's College Cambridge vs Kellogg College Oxford
I hope to review tonight's Only Connect by Thursday at the latest.
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