OK, here we go with Only Connect once again. One thing I've noticed this series is the lack of serial quizzers, ie people I've seen on other shows, which is one of the things that attracted me to Only Connect in the first place. I do check LAM every week to make sure I haven't missed anyone, but haven't been getting anything out of that.
Anyway, playing on Friday night were the Eco-Warriors, Jonathan Kershaw, Peter Barlow (not that one!) and captain Brett Bostock, and the Escapologsists, Frank Paul, Tom Rowell (a Fifteen-to-One winner last year) and captain Lydia Mizon.
Round 1. The Warriors went first, and kicked off the match with Lion: 'Giovanni Bellini, Andrea Mantegna', then 'JFK, Peter Lawford'; they identified them as pairs of brothers-in-law, and collected three good points to start the match. The Escapologists opened their account with Eye of Horus, and got the music question: we heard Dame Janet Baker, then Cole Porter, then 'Abracadabra' by the Steve Miller Band, and finally Alice Cooper's classic 'School's Out'. They suggested they share their names with Labour MPs; nice guess, but not right! Their opponents suggest that they share their names with occupations, and collected a bonus. For their own question, the Warriors chose Horned Viper, and got the picture set: we saw an Austin Allegro (prompting laughter from Mr Kershaw, who learned to drive in one!), then the singer Joe Dolce; they identified them as sharing their names with directions in music, and collected another three points. The Escapologists chose Twisted Flax next: 'Polonius', then 'Waymar Royce', then 'Reg Cox'; that gave it to them, and me, they are the first characters to die in the works they appear in (in Hamlet, Game of Thrones and EastEnders respectively; the last clue would've been 'Abel', as in The Bible). The Warriors chose Two Reeds next: 'People carrier (V)', then 'Audio format (3)'; they spotted that adding 'MP' to the brackets gives the former, and collected ANOTHER three points! Left with Water, the Escapologists saw 'Vertical and Horizontal', then 'Horizontal', then 'Two Diagonals'; they saw them to be the compositions of the basic arithmetic operators (plus, minus and times, and the last clue would've been 'Horizontal between Two Dots' for divided by), and collected two points. At the end of a high quality first round, the Warriors led 10-4.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Warriors kicked the round off with Eye of Horus: 'Do 10,000 steps a day', then 'Give up smoking', and then 'Grow a moustache'; they saw it to be charity doings in various months, but were timed out before they could come up with an answer. Their opponents identified the correct link of them being charity campaigns in September, October and November, so a charity event for December, such as 'Grow a beard' for 'Decembeard', would satisfy. For their own question, the Escapologists chose Lion: 'Tiffany', then 'Eric', and then 'Ivanka'; they saw them to be the eldest children of Donald J Trump, and so offered 'Donald Jr' for two points. The Warriors chose Horned Viper next, and got the picture set: we saw some Brazil nuts, then a still from the film 'The Russia House', and then a bottle of India Pale Ale. They didn't see it, their opponents did: they are the 'BRIC' nations, so a China doll would satisfy for the bonus point. For their own question, the Escapologists chose Two Reeds: 'Minyan', then 'Field Hockey team', and then 'English jury'; they identified them as being compositions of ten, eleven and twelve people, so 'a Rugby League team' would satisfy for the points. For their final choice, the Warriors chose Twisted Flax: 'Live and Let Die', then 'The Living Daylights'; they identified them as the first films of successive James Bond actors, so offered 'Casino Royale' as Daniel Craig's first for three points. Left with Water again, the Escapologists saw 'cumber', then 'dvark'; they spotted this excellent sequence to be omitted homophones of Q, R, S and T, so offered 'sside' for three points. At the end of a good second round, the teams were tied at 13-each.
On to the Walls. The Escapologists went first, and chose to tackle the Lion wall. They isolated two sets pretty quickly: 'Aherne', 'Cash', 'Tomlinson' and 'Johnston' are actors in The Royle Family, while 'Kari', 'Willow', 'Cookie' and 'Socks' are the names of Blue Peter pets. They came stuck with the remainders for a bit though, but did solve the wall on their second go with just seconds to go! 'Bruton', 'Cowen', 'Kenny' and 'Haughey' are Irish prime ministers or Taoisigh, but they offered 'Irish presidents', so dropped three, while 'Oke', 'Roe', 'Little' and 'Nort' can precede 'hampton' to give place names. Seven points there then.
So the Warriors needed a similar performance on the Water wall to keep the pace. After some early problems, they isolated 'Chania', 'Volos', 'Larissa' and 'Patras', which are cities on Greece, and then 'Chelsea', 'Cowboy', 'Go-go' and 'Ski', which are types of boot. After that, they had everything worked out: 'Onken', 'Muller', 'Oykos' and 'Total' are makers of yoghurts, while 'Sally Lunn', 'Colston', 'Belgian' and 'Hot cross' are types of bun. A full ten there, which gave them a crucial lead of 23-20 going into the final round.
So, all to play for, and Missing Vowels would decide the winners. 'Things found on a business card' went to the Escapologists 3-1. 'Postcode areas and their postcodes' proved rather tricky, the Warriors winning 2-(-1). 'Things that happened in 1917' was split 1-each, and that was time. The Warriors won 27-23.
A good close, high quality match, well played both teams. Unlucky Escapologists, but I would imagine that will be a good enough score to come back in the play-offs, so hopefully we'll see yous again, and best of luck then. Well done Warriors though, and very best of luck in the next round!
Next week's match: Lapsed Physicists vs Belgophiles
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