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.
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