University Challenge 2020-21: Repechage Play-Off 2: Linacre vs Edinburgh

Good evening friends, and welcome to the second edition of new socially distanced University Challenge! The first episode of which caused much disappointment to some on Twitter, who felt TPTB missed an opportunity; with screens now between the players, they should've also added gunge tanks that Paxo could activate if they gave a bad answer! Thankfully not running that risk were tonight's two teams, whose matches came at opposite end of the first round; winners would get the final place in the second round.

Linacre College Oxford were well beaten in the first match, losing to the Open University 210-140, showing good promise nonetheless. They were unchanged from before: 

Alex Blandford, from Cambridge, studying the Anthropology of Civic Technology 

Josh Dorrington, from Windsor, studying Atmospheric Physics 

Captain: James King, from Fordingbridge in Hampshire, studying Climate Science 

Claudine Tinsman, from Switzerland, studying Cyber Security

 

Edinburgh lost a great first round match to Manchester just three weeks ago, also well beaten 200-155, but also showing plenty of promise. They too were the same team as before: 

Zak Jeffcoat, from Edinburgh, studying Architectural History

Matthew Fricker, from Shipley in Yorkshire, graduated with a degree Maths and Physics, now studying for a PGDE

Captain: Niamh Clarke, from Hollywood, County Wicklow, studying Physics with Meteorology

Nicholas Winter, from London (via Angus), studying Maths

 

Off we set once again, and it was Mr Winter who opened the scoring for the night with 'The Favourite'; the bonuses, also on film, gave Edinburgh a full set. But a penalty gave Linacre a way into the match, which Mr Blandford took, and they took two bonuses on medicine. But Edinburgh quickly recovered with the next two starters and they missed just one of the six bonuses. The first picture round, on definitions of Italian words, went to Linacre, which cut the gap to 65-35.

This seemed to start a bit of momentum for the Oxonians, who took the next two bonuses, though just one bonus out of six. A third in a row then gave them the lead though, and two bonuses on winter fruits were taken this time. But back came Edinburgh, with a starter and two bonuses of their own giving them the lead back. They also took the music round, on acts who the late Vaughan Oliver designed album covers for; another two bonuses took the lead to 105-80.

A third starter in a row, taken by Mr Winter, increased the advantage, but they missed all three bonuses on humourous works by Robert Rankin, including at least one answer that, judging by Paxo's reaction, might have had him reaching for the gunge button! Back came Linacre with Mr Blandford doing the honours, and they moved into three figures with two bonuses on tennis, including my Dad's go to answer for tennis questions on Pointless, Evonne Goolagong/Cawley! The second picture round, on copies by Van Gogh of works by other artists, went to Edinburgh, but all three bonuses went begging (two on coinflip decision), though they still led 125-100.

But Mr Fricker then made sure all four Edinburgh players had a starter to their name, and two bonuses on Indonesian wildlife put them within sight of victory. But Linacre weren't done yet, Mr Dorrington taking the next starter, and the bonuses on maths falling into his lap too, a full set. But when Mr Fricker took the next starter, that was game over. No time for further answers; at the gong, Edinburgh won 155-125.

A good contest between two good, well-matched teams, well played both! Well done to Edinburgh and best of luck in the second round! Hard lines to Linacre, but you gave a good account of yourselves in both your matches, thanks very much for playing!

The stats: Messrs King and Winter were joint best buzzers of the night, with three each for their respective teams. On the bonuses, Linacre managed 11 out of 21, and Edinburgh 14 out of 24 (with the night's one penalty).

Next week's match: the first second round match! Don't know for sure who's playing yet, but will retweet anything I find. You may also notice from my thread that a special Children in Need episode has been filmed, thus suggesting they've also, hopefully, been able to film the final rounds of this series. Again, will let you know anything I hear.

 

Only Connect pitted two married couple plus one teams against each other, with the Dungeon Masters, Charlie Deeks, Sam Hayfield and captain Anna Hayfield, playing the Severns, Kiran O’Brien, Michael Houghton and captain Paul O’Brien. The former led 5-3 after the first round, which they then increased to 9-4 after the second. Tough difficult walls which neither team got a full house on gave the Dungeon Masters a 14-8 lead, and an evenly split Missing Vowels saw them win 18-13.

 

Mastermind, meanwhile, was won by Jacqueline Jones with 19 points, with the other three contenders a few points behind and just two points apart.

University Challenge 2020-21: Repechage Play-Off 1: Imperial vs Exeter

Good evening friends, and welcome to the first socially-distanced University Challenge! Just like with OC, the players now have screens between them, are miced up to each other allowing them to confer, and all have their own monitors for picture rounds. Some nice new camera angles too; the shots of the captains answering bonuses from afar is very reminiscent of the 90s series! I'm also guessing the applause is canned. Apparently, they've managed to film the play-offs and second round, but not the final three rounds. I would maybe recommend going back to single knockout QFs for one series only so that these can be filmed in just a couple of days. Anyway, on with the show...

Imperial lost their first match 190-155 to Strathclyde back at the start of August, the highest losing score of the first round. They were unchanged from that time: 

Justin Wong, from Hong Kong, studying Maths

Katie Marrow, from the Peak District, studying Physics

Captain: Michael Kohn, from Finchley in London, studying Pure Maths

Imran Rahman, from Petaling Jaya in Malaysia, studying Theoretical Physics

 

Exeter lost the first match of the series to the other Glasgow based university, Glasgow, by 200-145. They were also the same team as before: 

Edward Parker, from Braintree, studying Archaeology and Anthropology 

Alfie Riden, from Brixham in Devon, studying Mechanical Engineering 

Captain: Cleo Gravett, from Faversham, studying English 

Matthew Williams, from Bromley, studying Physics

 

So off we set, and it was Mr Kohn who started the bold new era of UC with 'scarlet', and two bonuses came from the first set of bonuses. Exeter were quickly off the mark as well, and they took a full set of bonuses. The third starter and a pair of bonuses also went to the Grecians, as did the first picture round, on trios of locations linked by a common term; they now led 70-20.

Back came Imperial with Mr Kohn doing the honours again, giving them a bonus set on edible tubers, which they again took two of. The Imperial captain took a further two successive starters, one of which gave them a full set of bonuses, the other just one, but they had now taken the lead. But two successive penalties put them back on level, and Mr Parker then gave Exeter the lead back; one bonus on art was taken. The music round, on pop songs sung by a member of the group who doesn't usually sing, went to Imperial; another sole bonus kept the teams level at 85-each.

A very quick buzz from Mr Kohn gave Imperial the lead back, and a bonus set on ocean currents, which they took just one of. The Londoners' impressive captain took two further starters, both of which, on astronomy and musicals respectively, yielded two correct bonuses. The second picture round, on stills from sitcoms that won the BAFTA for Best Scripted Comedy, went to Exeter, who took also took two correct bonuses and were unlucky to offer 'W1A' instead of its forerunner '2012'; the gap was now 140-105.

Still either team's game, as Mr Parker proved with a buzz that even Paxo was impressed by, and a full bonus set on Finland put them within ten again. But that man Kohn pulled another out of the hat for Imperial, and two bonuses gave them more room to breathe. But Exeter weren't giving up, Mr Parker taking another starter, but a dropped set of bonuses on rotten boroughs suggested they wouldn't get there. Or would they, as Mr Williams took the next starter, and one bonus put them five away. One final starter, neither team got it, and that was the gong! Imperial won 160-155!

A great high quality contest, two solid teams neither of whom deserved to go out with two defeats, well played both of them. Congrats to Imperial on a worthy win and best of luck in the second round! Hard lines to Exeter, but a fine performance to go out on, thanks very much for playing!

The stats: Mr Kohn was head and shoulders the best buzzer of the night with NINE(!) starters (the biggest individual haul so far this series), while Mr Parker's also impressive five was best for Exeter. On the bonuses, Imperial managed 16 out of 27 (with two penalties) and Exeter 15 out of 24.

Next week's match: Edinburgh vs Linacre

Only Connect saw the Barons, Gareth Jones, Kieran Connolly and captain Jamie Frier, play the Whitcombes, captain Joe Whitcombe and his parents Jenny and David. The teams were close at first, 4-all after the first round, before the Whitcombes pulled out an 11-6 lead after a second round that ended in a protracted debate over whether a crab’s claws count as legs. A better wall saw the Barons pull it back to 17-16, before a much better Missing Vowels saw them win 24-18.

 

Mastermind was close, with just two points separating the four players! Jane McDonnell and Steve Goddard both finished on twenty points, with the latter winning on fewer passes.

 

And finally, we have the Brain of Britain final: competing were Graham Anderson, Graham Barker (alumnus of OC and WWTBAM among others), Hugh Brady (another OC alumnus) and Michael Smith. After an evenly matched first two rounds, it developed into a two-horse race between Messrs Barker and Brady, and it was the former who emerged on top with 16 points, with Mr Brady on 12 and Messrs Anderson and Smith on 7 and 5 respectively. Well done to him, a worthy champion!

University Challenge 2020-21: First Round Review

OK, so we're all a bit distracted at the moment, and so a lot of things have kinda slipped under the radar, but we're reached the end of the UC first round! A first round we weren't sure if we were going to get it or not, but we have, and it's been a good first round, one of the best in recent years IMO! And at the end of it, we have our fourteen first round winners, listed, as usual, alongside their score and winning margin:

• Glasgow (200, 55)
• Durham (180, 55)
• Open (210, 70)
• Strathclyde (190, 35)
• Birkbeck (295, 245)
• Balliol College Oxford (150, 15)
• Corpus Christi College Oxford (175, 40)
• St Andrews (255, 145)
• King's College London (170, 70)
• Merton College Oxford (210, 170)
• St John's College Cambridge (220, 170)
• Warwick (255, 150)
• Manchester (200, 45)
• Magdalene College Cambridge (170, 40)

So, those are the raw figures; now, as usual, we need to go into greater detail.

Well, Birkbeck have comfortably the biggest score of the round, and by far the biggest winning margin as well. The second highest score is jointly held by St Andrews and Warwick, and, although their winning margins are also similar, both had very different matches, St Andrews being pretty much dominant from the off, while Warwick struggled initially before fighting back.

Anyway, those three would probably start the second round as the obvious standout favourites, although, especially in Birkbeck's case, how they would fare against a more well matched team isn't exactly clear yet. As I said, Warwick had the toughest match out of the three, so I'd probably make them the most likely to progress.

After those three, it's a pretty tight field among the rest, with scores ranging from the 220 of St John's to the 150 of Balliol. And of these eleven teams, all bar two scored their points against opponents who managed double figures themselves, including the four repechage teams who we'll get to in a moment.

As I said, a pretty closely packed and well balanced set of teams, and whoever plays who, I'd expect reasonably tight contests. Even the lower scoring teams have plenty going for them and shouldn't be written off completely.

And then we have to factor in those four teams who'll be coming in from the play-offs; they are, again, in order of score and losing margin:

• Imperial College London (155, 35)
• Edinburgh (155, 45)
• Exeter (145, 55)
• Linacre College Oxford (140, 70)

Now, if a Wikipedia update is to be believed, the draw will break with the traditions of the past several years and place Imperial vs Exeter, followed by Edinburgh vs Linacre. If you asked me to guess on those two matches, I'd go for the two 155 teams to win, and I'd say the same if they switched opponents, but we shall see.

And then, in both these play-offs and the second round matches, there's the unusual circumstances that these matches will have been filmed under...

As far as I understand, the first round matches were filmed, as usual, back in Febrary-March time, just before the ban on indoor gatherings and subsequent lockdown. The show started filming again early last month, around the same time OC and Mastermind filmed, and I'm guessing they did the remaining 21/23 episodes in one big swoop. (I say 21, because I don't know if they still record a couple of second round matches in the same block as the first round)

We'd hope that the teams would all be relatively unchanged from the first round, but there may have to be some exceptions. Back in my blog of the first ep of the series, regular contributor dxdtdemon reported that the two overseas students on the Glasgow team had returned abroad following the initial lockdown. Whether they've been able to come back or not, given the current caution over unnecessary overseas travel, isn't clear. But, if not, I imagine they and several others may have to be substituted.

 

And what about the show itself? Well, I'd imagine similar steps to those taken on other shows, namely spacing the players out a bit more if possible (they do already sit reasonably far apart compared to other shows) and putting perspex screens between them. And maybe extra microphones to allow easier conferring.

We shall have to wait and see. At least the show has been able to remount production and complete the series run, which, given that we weren't sure if it was going to be able to complete at one stage, is only a good thing. Well done to all involved in getting things going again!

However the rest of the series looks, I can only hope it maintains the same good standards of the first round; as I say, it was one of the better first rounds of recent series and I hope the disrupted film schedule won't have taken too much wind out of the sails. Best of retrospective luck to all involed, hopefully the play-offs and second round will be good matches!

Back on Monday with my usual, hopefully shorter than before, summary; until then, sayonara!

University Challenge 2020-21: Round 1: Match 14: Magdalene vs Univ.

Good evening friends, and welcome to the final match of this year's UC first round. A first round during which my reviews, which I promised originally to shorten, seem to have been getting longer again, so back to shorter write-ups this week. Quick mention of Brain of Britain, the final semi this afternoon saw Graham Anderson win the final place in next week's final. And, on with tonight's show, a rematch of a very one sided first round match from twenty(!) series ago...

Magdalene College Cambridge were on the wrong end of that match's 335-85 scoreline; its two appearances since, the last in the Alex Guttenplan series of 2009-10, also ended in first round defeats. This year's team were:

James Byrne, from Welwyn Garden City, studying Maths

Adam Davies, from Wichita, Kansas, studying History

Captain: Daniel Lawson, from the Wirral, studying Medicine

Kerry Payne, from Little Weighton in Yorkshire, studying Theology for Ministry

University College Oxford were the high scorers that time, and went on to reach the semis of that tournament, losing to St John's of Oxford; its one appearance since, in the 2004-05 series, ended in a second round exit. This year's quartet were:

Barney Pite, from Bristol, studying Classics

James Crompton, from Cambridgeshire, studying Chemistry

Captain: Eric Sheng, from Sydney, studying History and Politics

Lydia McDermott, from Reading, studying PPE

Off we set again, and it was Mr Pite who shot off the mark to open the scoring for the night with 'fountains'; the Oxonians took just the one bonus, before surrendering those five to a penalty. Magdalene opened their scoring with Ms Payne doing the honours, and took two bonuses on flowers. A 'just an' interruption lost Univ. another five, but they were soon going the right way again, and, after the first picture round, on the names of novels in their native German, they led 45-20.

A third starter in a row went to Univ., but they missed all three bonuses; Mr Byrne then gave a very quick buzz to reawaken Magdalene, and they took two bonuses on cereals. Another Univ. penalty allowed the Cambridge side to take the lead, but they then dropped five of their own. Univ. duly retook the lead, giving them a set of bonuses on tripoints, which they took two of. The music round, on classical pieces that memorably feature in AC Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, went to Magdalene, who took two correct answers, giving them a slim lead of 75-70.

Which was quickly wiped over as Univ. took the next starter and a full set of bonuses; back fired Magdalene with a starter and full set of their own, and both sides were now within sight of the magic score of 145. Univ. took back the lead with a starter and two bonuses, but a penalty after Mr Pite offered 'Kurt Vonnegut' instead of his novel 'Slaughterhouse-Five' handed Mr Davies a tap in, which he took. Magdalene duly swept up a fairly straight forward bonus set on rivers, and also took the second picture round, on film posters designed by Bill Gold. They now led 140-110.

Then came a crucial moment, as Mr Crompton 'just' interrupted wrongly, before realising his answer was wrong after he said it. Mr Byrne picked up the drop, two bonuses went to Magdalene, and went Mr Byrne took the next starter as well, that was game over. Which left Univ. needing 145 to push Linacre out of the play-offs; Mr Sheng took the next starter, but just one bonus left them with too much to do in too little time. At the gong, Magdalene won 170-130.

A good match to end the first round. Well done to Magdalene on a deserved win, and best of luck in the second round! Hard lines to Univ., but you gave a respectable account of yourselves, thanks for playing.

The stats: Mr Sheng was best buzzer of the night with five, while Mr Byrne and Ms Payne were joint best for Magdalene with three each. On the bonuses, Magdalene managed 18 out of 27 (with two penalties) and Univ. 13 out of 25 (with a very costly [in more ways than one] five penalties).

Next week's match: the first play-off between, I'm guessing, Imperial vs Linacre, followed by Edinburgh vs Exeter. Also, I'm guessing, our first glimpse of socially distant UC!

Only Connect saw a noted first tonight: a pro-celebrity team, the Walruses, with Christmas UC alumni Emma Kennedy and Mitch Benn alongside serial quizzer Dan Adler; playing them were the Puzzle Hunters, Paul Taylor, Ali Lloyd and captain Katie Steckles. The Puzzle Hunters led 4-3 after the first round, and 11-9 after a very impressive second round from both teams. A slightly better performance on both the Walls and Missing Vowels gave the Puzzle Hunters a 21-16 lead after the former, and a final winning margin of 28-19.

 

While on Mastermind, Frankie Fanko, she of reigning 0C champs the 007s, easily won the night with a score of 27, 9 ahead of her nearest opponent. UC alumnus Dani ‘Emmanuel’ Cugini also participated, finishing third with 16.