University Challenge 2020-21: Round 2: Match 5: St John's vs Balliol

Good evening everyone, and welcome back! I went into tonight's match in good spirits after a superb FA Cup draw, highlight of which was Marine of the eighth tier drawing PL bigwigs Tottenham! But, now, I feel a tad deflated, not because of the show, it was another great one, but because, whoever had lost, it would've resulted in another good team being knocked out unfairly early. I don't want to start talking about that every week again; just re-read what I said a while back here.

St John's College Cambridge were comfortable winners in their first match against the Royal Academy of Music, leading almost throughout and winning 220-50. They were the same four as before: 

Rebecca Marrow, from the Peak District, studying Biology

Milena Malcharek, from Krakow, studying Biological Natural Sciences

Captain: Tom Musgrove, from Shotesham in Norfolk, graduated History, about to start an MPhil in World History

Sam Willis, from London, graduated in History

 

Balliol College Oxford, in contrast, were on level terms with Clare of Cambridge throughout their first match, and ultimately snuck home 150-135. Playing their sub tonight, they were now:

Ben Tomasi, from Sydney, graduated in Law

Selen Scholefield, from Bath, studying Classics

Captain: Michael O'Connor, from Blackheath in London, graduated in Philosophy and Politics, about to start a graduate degree in Philosophy

Lily Crowther, from Royal Leamington Spa, studying History

 

So off we set, and Mr O'Connor opened the night's scoring by identifying 'Valentine' as the saint linking various given clues; the Oxonians took two bonuses on histories of the world. The Balliol captain took the second and third starters as well, with his side taking a full set of bonuses and just one from the respective sets. St John's opened their account on the fourth starter with Mr Musgrove taking it, and they took two bonuses on French artists. The first picture round, on lists of a composer's works in their native Russian, went to Balliol; two bonuses took their lead to 80-20.

Another starter to Mr O'Connor, and a full bonus set on Monopoly, and Balliol had already broken three figures. St John's, though, now began to recover, Ms Malcharek taking the next starter, and the side taking a full house on the Electoral College. Mr Musgrove then took two starters in a row, and the side took three of the six bonuses, thus putting well back in the game. They also took the music round, on operatic arias sung by the late Mirella Freni; two bonuses saw them close the gap to 105-100.

Back awoke Balliol though, with Mr O'Connor once again doing the honours, and two bonuses on geology were taken. Back came St John's thanks to Mr Willis, and they also took two bonuses, gap back to five points. The next starter was a long one which eventually boiled down to "Who was president of France from 1995 to 2007?"; Mr O'Connor was first in with Jacques Chirac, and the bonuses, appropriately, were on French departments, just one taken though. The second picture round, on artworks that prominently feature text, went to St John's; one bonus meant the gap was back to five points, 140-135.

A straight sprint to the finish it would be then. Ms Marrow gave St John's the lead for the first time with 'interferons', and the Cambridge side took two bonuses on 'I's in science. Back hit Balliol with Mr O'Connor once again, and bonuses on flightless birds also gave them two correct, and the lead back. Ms Crowther then took a crucial starter of 'wasabi', and two also crucial bonuses were taken. And when Mr O'Connor took the next starter, that was game over. No bonuses followed, but it mattered not. At the gong, Balliol won 200-155.

A top match between two fine teams, neither of whom deserved to go out for good at this stage; I could've said that about a lot of first round matches lately. Well done to Balliol on another great performance and best of luck in the QFs! And well done to St John's too, a good showing to go out on!

The stats: Mr O'Connor was easily the night's best buzzer with NINE(!) starters, while Ms Malcharek and Mr Musgrove were best for St John's with three each. On the bonuses, St John's managed 15 out of 24, and Balliol 18 out of 30.

Next week's match: again, don't know, will retweet anything I find.

Only Connect moved on to its third eliminator, between the Whitcombes and the Severns. They were very closely matched over the first two rounds, the Whitcombes leading 4-3 after the first round, and the Severns 9-8 after the second (I got the odd letters sequence at the second clue). The Walls proved decisive, the Severns getting a full house while the Whitcombes only managed three, thus leaving them trailing 19-11. Missing Vowels was thus too much of a formality, the Severns winning 22-15.

 

Mastermind was won by Claire Barrow, whose 23 points was four ahead of the nearest contender, OC alumnus Lawrence Cook. Another OC, and UC, alumnus, Thomas de Bock, also participated.

University Challenge 2020-21: Round 2: Match 4: Edinburgh vs Durham

Good evening friends, and welcome back to University Challenge! The second round continues tonight with a battle of my parents' alma maters, with the winners going on to the QFs and the runners-up earning the right to call themselves unlucky to go out here. It was good to hear Paxo acknowledge how brutal this is in his intro, good to know TPTB are aware of how unfair this can be at times.

Edinburgh came through the repechage, losing a good first round match to Manchester before beating Linacre of Oxford 155-125 in the play-offs. Manchester already out of course, so hoping to be the first time to outperform their first round conquerors in nine series were the unchanged team of: 

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

 

Durham first appeared way back in the second show of the series, back when we didn't really know what was going to become of the later stages, when they recovered from a slow-ish start to beat Leicester 180-125. They were also the same foursome as that time around: 

Harry Regan, from Sevenoaks, studying Liberal Arts

Tom Banbury, from Shipston-on-Stour in Warwickshire, studying History

Captain: Holly Parkinson, from Brighton, studying Physics

Thomas Wilkening, from Ramsgate, studying Biology

 

So off we set, with Mr Winter opening the scoring for the night with a quick buzz of 'water', and Edinburgh set out their intentions with a full bonus set on Korean Choson dynasty. Two further starters went to the Scots side, and a good haul of five bonuses out of six too; Durham, in contrast, were restricted just to a penalty. Now, as Dave C. of LAM would say, if you hear the name 'Leon Festinger', you should immediately buzz and say 'cognitive dissonance', because nine times out of ten you'll be right; Mr Winter did so, but Edinburgh took just one bonus on Anime. Durham opened their account with the first picture round, on lists of male characters in Jane Austen novels, which took the score to 85-20.

And, just like their first match, now the Wearsiders had a foot in the game, they really went for it, taking a second starter in a row and two bonuses on fictional medicine. Another starter and full bonus set pushed Durham within twenty, and a fourth in a row and two bonuses drew them on level pegging. The music round, on Italian operas sung in English, went to Durham, who took two bonuses, and had suddenly pulled out a 105-85 lead.

Back came Edinburgh with Mr Fricker answering 'Trinidad'; one bonus was taken, before Mr Winter gave the Scots side the lead again, but they failed to add to it with bonuses on monkeys. Durham, in contrast, took the next starter and the lead back, with Mr Regen making sure all four Durhamites had a starter to their names, and took a full set of bonuses, though one of them was a touch lenient as they gave a wrong answer before the right. The second picture round, on stills from films with art direction by Cedric Gibbons, went to Edinburgh; two bonuses levelled the scores at 130-each, setting up a straight race for the finish.

Edinburgh blinked first with Ms Clarke identifying 'Utah' as an anagram of the French word for 'high'; this gave them a bonus set on physics, which they took one of, with Paxo also letting them off with a slight infringement on the grounds he did so with Durham earlier too (good to see). Back came Durham with Mr Banbury, giving them bonuses on unsuccessful US presidential candidates; two correct answers gave them the lead again. Next starter would win it: Mr Wilkening took it, and the gong went during the bonuses. Durham won a good match 165-145.

A good contest, two very good team, unfortunate that one of them would be going out here. Well done Durham, another solid victory, and best of luck in the QFs! Hard lines to Edinburgh, a good team unlucky to go out here, but a good performance to go out on, thanks for playing!

The stats: Messrs Banbury and Winter were joint best buzzers of the night, with four starters each for their respective teams. On the bonuses, Edinburgh managed 13 out of 24 and Durham a very good 18 out of 23 (with the night's one penalty); that's where the game was won then.

Next week's match: again, don't know, will retweet anything I find.

Only Connect continued with the second elimination match, between the Ticket Collectors and the Walruses. The Collectors led 7-1 after a rather one-sided first round and 9-5 after a rather difficult second. A better wall allowed the Walruses to pull back to 14-12, before a virtuoso performance from Mitch Benn in the Missing Vowels gave them a come-from-behind win of 21-14.

 

No Mastermind tonight, pulled at short notice due to the One Show having to switch channels.

University Challenge 2020-21: Round 2: Match 3: Merton vs Warwick

Good evening friends, and welcome back to University Challenge! So far, we've had two second round matches that were highly unfortunate, as they were both between two good teams and the runners-up could well have beaten another team. Tonight's match-up continued that unfortunate form, with the two teams whose first round matches were comfortable wins over a Wolfson college!

Merton College Oxford very comfortably defeated Wolfson of Cambridge, racking up 185 points before their opponents even got off the mark; they eventually won 210-40. Playing the reserve, who Paxo pointed out to be the daughter of Anne Le Maistre, who captained Bristol a couple of series back, they were now: 

Elizabeth Le Maistre, from Bristol, graduated in German and Linguistics

Connor Ó Síocháin, from Cork, graduated in PPE

Captain: Pax Butchart, from London, studying English

William Isotta, from London, studying Physics

 

Warwick won a somewhat closer match against Wolfson of Oxford two weeks later, trailing at first and not leading until halfway through the match, but pulling well away in the second to win 255-105. Unchanged from before, they were still: 

Richard Pollard, from Cheshire, studying History and Politics

George Braid, from Brighton, graduated in Physics

Captain: Andrew Rout, from Bearsted in Kent, studying Maths

Owen Burrell, from Lancaster, studying English Literature

 

So off we set once more, and it was Merton who got off to the quicker start, with the first starter and one bonus from the first set, on criminal law, going to them. Mr Ó Síocháin took the second starter, but no bonuses followed, and they then lost five on the third; Warwick thus got off the mark and drew level with two bonuses from their first set. The first picture round, on the names of recent novels translated into Old English, went to Merton, but another blank on the bonuses left their lead at 30-20.

A second Merton penalty and a pickup from Warwick gave the Coventry side the lead, and they took two bonuses on rice dishes. They went one better with the bonuses from their next starter, a full set, but a third starter in a row was followed by just one bonus on this year's Oscars (in a normal year, you'd be waiting a year before getting a bonus set on a year's Oscars). A third penalty to Merton, a third pickup to Warwick, but just one bonus on local government districts left them five shy of three figures. The music starter was dropped, the bonuses, on music by members of the Grand Ole Opry, went to Merton; they didn't take any of them, so trailed 95-30.

Mr Isotta, Merton's MVP in the first round, now found his form at last with two starters in a row, but the bonuses continued to trouble the Oxonians, none from the first bonus set, and just one from the second on the Dutch city of Haarlem. Warwick, in contrast, took the next starter, or rather Mr Rout did, and took a full house of the bonuses. The second picture round, on paintings involving eggs, went to Merton; one correct bonus left their deficit at 120-70.

Still a match up for grabs, if Merton could get a run on the buzzer and the bonuses fell for them. But Mr Rout took the next starter, and two bonuses went to Warwick, and Merton's job became a bit harder. And when Mr Braid took the next starter, that was likely game over, though no bonuses followed. Mr Isotta pulled one back for Merton with 'Council of Europe', and they took two bonuses on literature, unluckily one word short of a full set. But Warwick saw the show out with the final two starters and three of the six bonuses. At the gong, Warwick won 190-90.

A good match that I felt was closer than the score suggests, and pretty much was on the buzzer, it was the bonuses that made the difference. Well done to Warwick on another good victory and performance, and best of luck in the QFs! Hard lines to Merton, for whom the bonuses just didn't fall well tonight, but thanks very much indeed for taking part!

The stats: Mr Rout was, just, the best buzzer of the night with five starters to Mr Braid's four, while Messrs Ó Síocháin and Isotta got three each for Merton. On the bonuses, Merton managed just 5 out of 24 (with three penalties) and Warwick 18 out of 30.

Next week's match: again, don't know, but will retweet if we find out. It would maybe be appreciated if TPTB did start releasing fixtures in advance again, provided they don't spoil the results of yet-to-air matches like they did early last decade. (Go back to blog posts on here and LAM from back then to get the picture)

Only Connect began the elimination matches with the Pilgrims vs the Bridges. After a first round of three three-pointers, the Bridges a lead of 8-5, before a better second round that included a five-pointer gave the Pilgrims a 12-9 lead going into the Walls (I got a rare five-pointer of my own on the Wacky Races question!). Two perfect walls left the scores at 22-19, before a very dramatic Missing Vowels saw the Bridges snatch a 26-25 win on the final clue of the show!

 

Mastermind returned, also in its earlier slot, and was another close call, with all four contenders within a point of each other! Jackie Hunter won the show, and the semi-final place, with 20 points.