OK all? Hope everyone is having a good Christmas. Someone on Twitter remarked that one of the good things about the festive period is UC being on daily! Indeed it has. So here is a rundown of the story of this year's Christmas UC so far. (NOTE: these reviews are based on memory, so may not be as completely accurate as my regular blogs)
Sunday 20th: U.C.L. vs Birmingham
U.C.L.: Vivienne Parry, Adam Rutherford, Lynne Truss, Tom Dyckhoff
Birmingham: Emma Darwin, Joanna Gosling, John Hammond, Pamela Relph
A nice steady match to begin the series. U.C.L. led from the off, and, while Birmingham managed to catch them a couple of times, couldn't overhaul them, and thus a better consistency gave U.C.L. the win 155-80. Highlights included a set of bonuses on easily misspelt words, none of which Birmingham got as the answers had to be spelt, and they misspelt all of them! As well as a bonus set on high profile casualties of May's election, and a music round on readings of Peter and the Wolf, including a Ms E. Everage!
Monday 21st: Oriel Oxford vs Trinity Cambridge
Oriel: John Nunn, Camilla Wright, Jon Bentley, Peter Harness
Trinity: Timothy Gowers, Zoe Heron, Faisal Islam, Bee Wilson
A good close match between two very evenly matched teams, both of whom seemed to take their time conferring on the bonuses. Highlight was a music round on popular dance tracks, which Mr Islam single handedly swept the board on, much to everyone's amusement! In the end, Trinity just scraped the win 140-135!
Tuesday 22nd: Manchester vs U.E.A.
Manchester: Lucy Porter, Jesse Armstrong, Christine Burns, Robert Rinder
U.E.A.: Andy Stanford-Clark, Erica Wagner, Caroline Flint, Tim Bentinck
The most one sided UC match in a long time. Manchester led from the off, with U.E.A.'s sole scoring in the first half of the show being a penalty! (They were on (-5) for so long, my Dad texted me saying he thought they'd end with it!) They eventually got a starter right about twenty minutes in, by which time Manchester were well out of sight. Manchester won 195-35, and will definitely be back for the semis next week.
Wednesday 23rd: Christ's Cambridge vs Essex
Christ's: Kieran West, Nina Gold, Natalie Haynes, James Reynolds
Essex: Richard Bartle, Rupert Maas, Dotun Adebayo, Nick Dear
This was a close match at first, with the sides pretty evenly matched for the first three quarters of play. Highlight was Mr Bartle's insistence that his wrong answer to the music starter was right, that went on so long Mr West had to buzz twice for Christ's! In the end, Essex won the match by taking the final three starters of the game, and emerged victorious 140-90.
Thursday 24th: Exeter vs Magdalen
Exeter: George Stiles, Hannah Kendall, Nick Baker, Barnaby Edwards
Magdalen: Robin Lane Fox, Heather Berlin, Louis Theroux, Matt Ridley
Best match of the week by miles. Both sides gave an excellent account of themselves, with all eight players getting at least one starter right, and the vast majority of bonuses being answered correctly too. It was close for the first half, then in the second, Magdalen ran away on the buzzer, and emerged on top 220-130. They'll definitely be back next week, Exeter are unlucky not to be; I suspect they'd have beaten some of the teams from earlier in the week.
So, at the end of the first week's play, Magdalen and Manchester are definitely through, and U.C.L. are borderline. We still have two first round matches next week before the semis. Hopefully they will make for just as good viewing as the first lot.
That, I imagine, is my final post on here this year, so all that remains is for me to wish yous all a Happy New Year, and I'll see you again in 2016!
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