University Challenge 2020-21: Preliminary Quarter-Final 3: Strathclyde vs Durham

Greetings friends, and welcome back to University Challenge. This was evidently the first one back after a recording break, as Paxo had his smart haircut from the Xmas specials back! Tonight, a fixture I've blogged about twice before, both those matches ending up pretty one sided; on paper, this shouldn't have been, but paper isn't all that reliable when it comes to UC...

Strathclyde came through two close matches to get here, firstly beating fellow quarter-finalists Imperial 190-155 in the first round, and then Manchester 135-100 in a lower scoring second match. They were the same four as before: 

Cameron Welsh, from Glasgow, graduated in Applied Statistics

David Curran, from Glasgow, studying Civil Engineering

Captain: James Whittle, from Glasgow, studying Power Systems Engineering

Tom Starr-Marshall, from Colindale in London, studying Speech and Language Therapy

 

Durham comfortably won their first match against Leicester 180-125, before a strong second match against Edinburgh saw them just win out 165-145. They were also unchanged from those two prior matches: 

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 once again, and Mr Banbury opened the scoring for the night with 'Stonehenge', and the Wearsiders secured a full set of bonuses on French words used in English. Mr Wilkening took the second starter which was, appropriately for Burns Night, 'Macbeth' (ARGH! Hot potato, Oxford shores, Puck will make amends!); their luck on the bonuses changed though, as they missed all three, Ms Parkinson mishearing 'the Jarrow march' and 'the January march'. Another starter and dropped bonus set was followed by Mr Welsh taking Strathclyde off the mark, and they took two from their first set. The first picture round, on American cities with just one major sports team, went to Durham; one correct bonus gave them a lead of 65-20.

That lead shrunk when Mr Starr-Marshall correctly answered a starter I'll certainly be using in my next lockdown quiz for my relatives! The Scots side, again, took two bonuses, another on pairs of similar surnames. Back came Durham with a starter and sole bonus on corvine birds, before Ms Parkinson made sure all three Durhamites had contributed a correct starter; a full set of bonuses took them into three figures. Neither side identified Schumann for the music starter (I did, though it was an educated guess!); the bonuses, on pieces for piano and string quartet, gave Durham two correct answers and their lead to 125-40

Another starter and pair of bonuses took the Wearsiders' lead into three figures, but only briefly as Mr Whittle finally got his side moving again, though they got nothing from a bonus set on the city of Ripon. And when Mr Banbury restored Durham's three figure lead with the next starter, that was game over; just one bonus on novels with alliterative names followed, though they were unfortunate to dredge up Nicholas Nickleby a split second too late. The second picture round, on paintings depicting card games, went to Strathclyde; one bonus took the scores to 160-65.

Strathclyde pulled back to respectability in the final straight, Mr Starr-Marshall giving them a second starter in a row, and one bonus on organic chemistry followed. Mr Whittle gave them a third in a row, and one correct bonus put them within one starter of three figures. Another starter to the Strathclyde captain did just that, and two bonuses on Pluto were taken. And that was the gong, Durham won 155-115.

A good contest between two good and pleasant teams, good on both for clapping each other at the gong. Durham were worthy winners, but Strathclyde deserved to recover in the final minutes; well done both, and best of luck in your next matches!

The stats: Mr Banbury was the best buzzer of the night with four starters, while Mr Whittle was best for Strathclyde with three. On the bonuses, Strathclyde managed 9 out of 21 and Durham 14 out of 27 (with the night's one penalty).

Next week's match: Imperial vs Warwick, presumably

Only Connect continued with its penultimate play-off match, between the Barons and the Colleagues. The former led 4-3 after the first round and 8-7 after the second. A better wall allowed the Barons to open up an 18-14 lead, and they maintained it in Missing Vowels to win 25-20.

 

Mastermind, meanwhile, was won by Alison Lyndon-Parker, who just pipped second place Sam Stalkartt-Yarwood by a single point. Ti Maja-Roebuck, who was on OC last series, and Stephen Fuller, who I believe has been on other shows before, also took part.

University Challenge 2020-21: Preliminary Quarter-Final 2: Balliol vs King's

Good evening friends, and welcome back to my University Challenge write-ups! Special mention before we start to Weaver's Week, which, as pointed out in yesterday's edition, celebrated its 20th anniversary at the turn of the year! It may not do them anymore, but without the reviews of UC it used to do, this blog probably wouldn't exist; at least, not in the form it does. Speaking of which...

Balliol College Oxford started out slowly with a low scoring 150-135 win over Clare of Cambridge in the first round, before taking it up a notch in an excellent second round match against St John's of Cambridge, winning 200-155. They were the same team as that second match: 

Ben Tomasi, from Perth in Australia, graduated in Law 

Solenne 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

 

King's College London got to the group stage by winning two lowish scoring matches, firstly a 170-100 first round win over York, before their second match against Glasgow saw them triumph 175-95. They were the same team as both their previous games: 

Simon Xu, from Wallington in London, studying Cardiovascular Science 

Louie Triggs, from England and New England, studying Politics, Philosophy and Law

Captain: Sam Jackson, from the Eastern Extremity of Somerset, studying War Studies and History

Grace Weaver, from Bournemouth, studying Medicine

 

So off we set once more in this strangest of series, and Mr O'Connor, his side's MVP in the second round, opened the scoring for the night with 'I'; the Oxonians opened with a full set of bonuses, only to then lose five to a penalty. King's took the opportunity to open their scoring for the night, and took one bonus on Irish sports venues. Another starter and sole bonus gave King's the lead, taking us to the first picture round, on borders between countries; Balliol took this, which gave them back the lead, 35-30.

A second starter in a row to the Oxonians tripled this lead, giving them a bonus set on lesser known works of Charles Darwin, which they took two of. Back came King's with Mr Triggs doing the honours for a third time, and they drew level again with a full bonus set on Shakespeare's Henry VIII. This took us to the music starter, where neither side recognised the Everly Brothers, much to Paxo's (and most of Twitter's) disgust! The bonuses eventually went to Balliol, and the outrage continued as they missed all three bonuses, on songs written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. After this, they led 65-50.

Mr O'Connor then identified Schumpeter for the next starter, prompting the host to remark "At least you know the important stuff!"! They didn't take any of a confusing bonus set on writers with 'similar names', but this sparked a run on the buzzer that saw them take the next three starters and a solid haul of bonuses, which saw them pull out into a strong lead. And when they made it six in a row with the second picture round, on details from artworks nominated as the 'best museum bum' online during the first lockdown(!), that was game over. Two bonuses gave them a lead of 145-50.

King's finally got going again thanks to Mr Jackson, and took two bonuses on the work of writer and translator Julia Lovell. In fact, the Londoners managed a good run of their own in the final minutes, taking the final two starters, though just one of the resulting six bonuses, and just fell short of reaching three figures. At the gong, Balliol won 145-95.

A good entertaining contest played well by two pleasant and entertaining teams, well played both. Well done to Balliol, and best of luck in the qualifying matches, and best of luck to King's as well in the eliminators.

The stats: Mr O'Connor was the best buzzer of the night with five starters, while Mr Triggs was best for King's with four. On the bonuses, Balliol managed 12 out of 27 and King's 8 out of 15, and both sides incurred one penalty.

Next week's match: don't know yet, but, as usual, will retweet anything I find. It'll be two of Imperial, Strathclyde, Warwick and Durham.

Only Connect moved on to its second play-off match, with the Bridges vs the Puzzle Hunters. The teams were level at 4-all after the first round, before the Puzzle Hunters eked into a 7-6 lead after the second. (I claimed five points for getting the Family Fortunes question after just one clue, though I was helped a bit by VCM’s tweet earlier saying Max Bygraves would be mentioned in the show!) Two perfect walls put the scores at 17-16 going into Missing Vowels, where the Puzzle Hunters just hung on to win 24-22.

 

Mastermind, meanwhile, was won by Dan Afshar; after a close first round where he and three others were level on 10 points, he ran away with it on general knowledge and finished on 22 points, four clear of the second placed contender.

University Challenge 2020-21: Preliminary Quarter-Final 1: Magdalene vs Birkbeck

Good evening my friends, and welcome to the University Challenge quarter-finals! The phase with the rules that are a lot simpler than they appear. Simply, you keep playing until you win twice or lose twice. After a brutal elimination round, we have a very high quality group of quarter-finalists, and tonight's match was a testament to that.

Magdalene College Cambridge defeated two Oxford teams en route to this match, firstly Univ. in the first round by 170-130, and then in the second round they beat Corpus Christi 185-115. They were unchanged from those previous games: 

James Byrne, from Welwyn Garden City, studying Maths

Adam Davies, from Wichita, Kansas, graduated in History

Captain: Daniel Lawson, from the Wirral, studying Medicine

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

 

Birkbeck won both their first two matches easily, beating Reading 295-50 in the first round, then last week they defeated Open 205-95. The first team to appear in two consecutive non-final matches in quite a few years, they were also unchanged: 

Jonathan Taylor, from London, studying Environment and Sustainability

Nicky Clarke, from Leicestershire, studying Early Modern History

Captain: Jonathan Williams, from London, studying Classics

Joshua Mutio, from St Helens, studying PPE

 

So off we set, and Birkbeck started better as Ms Clarke took the first starter and two bonuses on the Trojan War were taken. The Londoners took a second starter and pair of bonuses before Mr Byrne opened Magdalene's account, and they took a full set of bonuses on place names. Honey badgers gave them a second starter, and they took the lead with two bonuses. The first picture round, on curves, went to Magdalene; one bonus this time gave them a lead of 60-40.

Back came Birkbeck with 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', and bonuses on Olympic snowboarding gave them another two bonuses. Back came Magdalene, and they also took two bonuses, before a second starter and pair of bonuses in a row took them into three figures first. An amusing starter on languages spoken by elves gave Magdalene a third in a row, and they took a full set of bonuses on pairs of countries. The music round, on jazz records produced by Nesuhi Ertegun, went to Birkbeck; another two bonuses pulled them back to 125-80.

Magdalene reawoke as Mr Davies took the next starter, but they only took one bonus on arts writers. Back came Birkbeck with Mr Mutio, and their bonus consistency continued, two correct took them into three figures. Another two starters to Birkbeck and two bonuses from both sets, and they had suddenly leveled the scores. The second picture round, on philosophers who were members of Cambridge University's Moral Science Club, went to Magdalene; two bonuses of their own gave them a lead of 160-140.

Still either team's game, but Magdalene now switched on the afterburners, Mr Byrne taking the next starter and a full bonus set on former African colonies going with it. And when Mr Lawson took the next starter and a second full house in a row, went with it, that was game over. Mr Byrne confirmed this by taking the next starter; just two bonuses followed this time, but it mattered not. Mr Lawson took the final starter, but there was no time for any bonuses. At the gong, Magdalene won 240-140.

A seriously good high quality match between two great teams, both of whom I fancy will reach the semis if they keep playing like that. Well done to Magdalene, who have been getting better with every match; best of luck to them in the qualifiers! Well done to Birkbeck too, who still played very well in spite of their defeat, and best of luck in the eliminators!

The stats: Mr Byrne was the best buzzer of the night with five, while Messrs Taylor and Mutio and Ms Clarke all got two each for Birkbeck. On the bonuses, Magdalene managed a very good 24 out of 33 and Birkbeck an also admirable 14 out of 21.

Next week's match: don't know, but anything I find on Twitter will get retweeted.

Only Connect began its play-off matches with the Whodunnits vs the Walruses. The latter led 5-3 after the first round, but a better second round saw the former sneak into a 7-5 lead. A better wall gave the Whodunnits a lead of 17-12 going into Missing Vowels, and they maintained it with a better performance to win 26-15.

 

Mastermind was won by Mohan Mudigonda, who won on 18 and no passes against the 18 and four passes of Josh Benfield. The other two contenders finished further back.