Mastermind 2020-21 Grand Final (and Semi-Finals 3-6)

Greetings friends. So, Mastermind ended its current series tonight with an excellent final, the last before John Humphrys steps down as chairman and Clive Myrie comes in. I covered the first two semi-finals alongside the UC final three weeks ago, so, here, before we get to tonight’s final, is a quick run through of the other four.

 

Semi-Final 3, from two weeks ago, was won by Dan Afshar, who I’m pretty sure has been on other quizzes before. He led after both rounds, and ended the shows with 24 points, four clear of Steve Goddard in second. Jackie Hunter and Sallie Phillips, a high scoring runner-up who came in to replace Briony Havergill who had to withdraw, came joint third with 14 each.

 

SF4, shown immediately afterwards, was won by Harry Heath, who I think may have been on UC for Exeter back in the 2014-15 series. He also led after both rounds and won the show with 24 points, though he was just two clear of joint second place Tim Hall and Ashton Davies. Sally Wilson, another high scoring runner-up who was replacing Edena Guest who withdrew, finished third with 18.

 

And so to last week’s two semis, both of which were utter crackers. SF5 was won by Frankie Fanko of OC and Brain of Britain fame; she was joint first with Clare Murphy on 10 each after the specialist rounds, but a better GK performance saw her win with 24 points to Claire’s 21. Mohan Mudigonda wasn’t far behind on 20, while Maxim Hughes finished fourth with 13.

 

And the sixth and final SF was won by Jonathan Gibson, another UC alumnus, who captained Magdalen of Oxford in the 2017-18 series. He was also joint first with 10 points after the specialist round, before producing a barnstorming GK run that saw him rack up a terrific 27 points! Alsion Lyndon-Parker, the other 10 pointer, finished second with an also good 19 points, while Mark Robotham and David Workman finished just behind with 18 and 17 respectively.

 

And so, to tonight’s final. As per usual, each contestant’s specialist round was preceded by a short film discussing their previous performances, previous quizzing experience and why they chose their specialist subject for the final. I believe this used to happen in the semis as well, but is now strictly Grand Final only.

 

First up, Dan was answering on Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition of 1914-17, and correctly answered all his questions correctly for a total of 10 points. Second up was Clare Barrow, who took old UC favourite Cole Porter as her subject, and scored 7.

 

Frankie was next up, answering on the Vienna Secession of 1897-1905, and only made one mistake en route to a total of 9. She was followed by Harry, who was answering on former US president Jimmy Carter (who, as revealed in the VT, even sent him a letter wishing him luck!); he also scored 9 points.

 

Next up, Jonathan gave us my personal favourite subject of the final: Flanders and Swann, who I’ve long been a fan of, and he duly gave us a clean sweep to finish on 11 points. Finally, Hazel Humphreys gave us the films of David Cronenberg (who also gave her a good luck message in her VT!), and she ended that round with 6 points.

 

So, at the half way stage, Hazel had 6, Claire had 7, Frankie and Harry were tied on 9, Dan had 10 and Jonathan led on 11. And none of them had any passes.

 

So, General Knowledge saw Hazel go straight back into the chair, and a solid performance of 11 (with two passes) took her score to 17. Claire came in next, and equalled Hazel’s performance, also scoring 11, but with no passes, which took her to 18.

 

Frankie was the first of the two 9 point scorers to return to the chair, and completed the hat trick with a score of 11 with no passes, taking her score to 20. Harry was next in, and he broke the run with a still respectable 9 (with one pass) that took his final score to 18.

 

So, Frankie’s 20 was still the target as Dan returned to the chair; he surpassed that with a couple of questions to spare, and ended with a very good 24 (with no passes), with just Jonathan left to go. And given his excellent GK round in the semi-final, you’d have fancied his chances.

 

And indeed, he surpassed the total with about half a minute to spare, and ended on 28 points! He duly returned to the chair and collected the trophy, as the other finalists gave him a standing ovation. Many congratulations to him, a very worthy winner, and the youngest in Mastermind history as well! Well done indeed!

 

And that concludes Mastermind for another series, and indeed John Humphrys’ tenure as host of the main show (there are still a couple of celeb editions fronted by him to be shown). As I said in my UC retrospective last year, considering the near impossible job he had taking over from the late great Magnus Magnusson, I think he’s done a good job as host in the circumstances. Thanks very much to him for his years of service, and I look forward to seeing Clive Myrie’s take on the show when it returns next series.

 

Yeah, so last time I said I wasn’t sure whether a new series of UC had been filmed or not; I have since learned that it has, and so, hopefully, it will return in mid-July as per usual. Hopefully with OC and Mastermind not far behind.

 

So, until then, I’ll be putting this blog into its usual Spring hibernation, as I don’t have any big essays planned this time. I may decide to reawaken my Second Blog at some point, but, as far as here is concerned, I’ll be back with my usual UC coverage in July.

 

So, as usual, until we next meet here, sayonara!

University Challenge 2020-21: Series Highlights

OK, time to round off my coverage of this year's University Challenge with my usual round up of series highlights, stats and demographics, and various other bits and pieces.

Starting with my usual selection for the best match of each round:

• First Round + Play-Offs: Definitely Imperial vs Strathclyde, though Edinburgh vs Manchester and Imperial's play-off win over Exeter were also stand-outs.
• Second Round: Definitely St John's vs Balliol, with Durham vs Edinburgh and Corpus Christi vs Magdalene the runners-up.
• Quarter-Finals: The very first one, Magdalene vs Birkbeck.
• The Final Three: The Imperial-Warwick rematch just edges it.

Like most recent series, there weren't exactly that many very close matches, but there were a lot of very high scoring ones. Most of the ones that were both seemed to come in quick succession in the second round. I also think there were a lot of matches this series where the final scores were deceptive; the matches themselves were closer/not as close as they suggest.

Highest score of the series goes to Birkbeck for their 295 against Reading in the second round; second highest was Magdalene's 270 in their semi-final against Balliol, and Imperial take bronze with their 265 in the QFs against King's, with Warwick and St Andrews joint fourth for their 255 each in their respective first round matches. For the second series in a row, the lowest score of the series was one of 40 from Wolfson of Cambridge (I believe the first time such a low score has been 'achieved' by the same institution two series in a row?), while the highest aggregate score was 280 in the Magdalene-Birkbeck quarter-final.

In terms of Oxbridge representation, Oxford had six teams to Cambridge's five, but, for the second series in a row, Cambridge reached further in the tournament; in fact, this was the first time there was no Oxford team in two successive finals since the 2005-06 and 06-07 series (the latter, coincidentally, being Warwick's first series win!). There were four London teams in the series, three from the UoL plus Imperial, four teams from Scotland, the first time that's happened since the very first BBC series, and, for the second series in a row, Wales and Northern Ireland were not represented.

Now normally at this point, I'd give you a list of series highlights, but this year, I've decided not to do so, mainly because there aren't many that I can immediately think of, but also because I think this series the 'entertainment' factor was very much second to the quizzing itself. In fact, in terms of pure quizzing, I think this was the strongest series in a while. All the teams involved, including those that fell in the first round, were strong quizzing outfits, and the series was all the better for it.

Every team involved was also entertaining and watchable in their own right; I mean, that's always been the case, but I really think it was a lot more noticeable this series. Or maybe it was just me and the by-product of my new way of reviewing the show here.

Speaking of which, you may recall back at the start of the series, I said my reviews would be shorter than before, and while this was the case at first, by the end of the series, you could be forgiven for thinking we'd gone back to the way things were before.

You may also recall how, in previous series, I've occasionally stated how I've often felt somewhat fatigued towards the end of a series; this series, not so much. This was the first series in a good few years when I wasn't exhausted of writing my reviews come the end of the series and glad of a rest.

I can think of two possible reasons for this, apart from how enjoyable the series was (which doesn't really count, as every series of the show that I've covered here has been enjoyable in its own right). One is that I'm not really doing anything else at the moment due to the current situation we all find ourselves in, so have been able to put more energy into these posts.

The other is that by ditching the rigid format for my reviews that I spent the past six series adhering to has given me a new lease of life and interest for writing these blogs. You may have noticed a slight formation did eventually slip into the blogs this series, but it doesn't feel as restrictive as the old one did. Plus, being able to devote more wordspace to OC and Mastermind helps to I feel.

So, unlike past series where I usually find myself debating with myself whether to carry on again next series, this year there's no doubt in my mind: I will definitely be covering the next series as well!

Assuming there is a next series that is. I would hope they've been able, or will be able, to get a new series recorded in the current situation. I mean, they found a way to get this series completed, so I would imagine getting a new series remounted and recorded in a shorter timeframe should be a lot easier in comparison. But we shall see.

So, that's my UC coverage completed for another year. All that remains is for me to, once again, thanks Paxo, Roger Tilling and all the participating teams for keeping us all entertained and occupied over the past nine months. And another extra special thanks to all who helped get the show filming again after the long enforced break; much appreciated and many thanks indeed!

I'll be back in a few week's time with a run through of the remainder of Mastermind, and I'll get my UC index page updated in the coming days as well. Until then, sayonara!

University Challenge 2020-21: Best Buzzer Per Team

OK, well, the series is over, so, once again, its time for my annual end of series review. First off, the short bit that's rather redundant now that UC stat compiling has become so widespread on Twitter, but which I still do for old time's sake. So, here are the best players on the buzzer for each quarter-finalist team:

Michael Kohn (Imperial) - 45 over seven matches

George Braid (Warwick) - 25 over six matches

Michael O'Connor (Balliol) - 24 over five matches

James Byrne & Daniel Lawson (Magdalene) - 23 each over seven matches

Cameron Welsh (Strathclyde) - 22 over five matches

Tom Banbury (Durham) - 16 over five matches

Louie Triggs (King's) - 14 over four matches

Jonathan Williams (Birkbeck) - 13 over four matches

 

Honourable mentions go to:

 

Andrew Rout (Warwick) - 21 over six matches

Adam Davies (Magdalene) - 19 over seven matches

Lily Crowther (Balliol) and Tom Starr-Marshall (Strathclyde) - 10 each over five matches

Owain Burrell (Warwick) - 10 over six matches

 

And special honourable mention goes to Shaun Webb of Corpus Christi for his 14 over two matches, one of the best ever from a player whose team didn't get to the QFs.

As usual, I have full tallies for all the quarter-finalists; let me know if you want them and I'll find some way to get them sent to you.

Back tomorrow or Sunday with my longer end of series review and some final thoughts; until then, sayonara.

University Challenge 2020-21: Grand Final: Warwick vs Magdalene

Good evening friends, and welcome to the 50th University Challenge final! At the end of a series we weren't sure if we'd be getting back in June, and then if it would be finished once it started, but here we are. Special credit to all who made the extra effort to remount production and get these final stages recorded in the circumstances. Whoever won tonight would be worthy champions.

Warwick got here undefeated by beating Wolfson of Oxford, Merton of Oxford, Imperial twice and their opponents tonight as well. Hoping to win their second title were: 

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

 

Magdalene College Cambridge reached this final by beating Univ. of Oxford, Corpus Christi of Oxford, Birkbeck of London, Strathclyde and Balliol of Oxford, with the only blip being the afore mentioned defeat to their opponents tonight. Aiming for their first title were: 

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 East Yorkshire, studying Theology for Ministry

 

So off we set for the last time this series, and Magdalene got off to an unfortunate start as Mr Lawson dropped five; Mr Burrell took the points for Warwick, and they took a single bonus on mistaken identity cases, including the famous Guy Goma incident! Mr Braid took the second starter for the Coventry team, and this time they took a full set of bonuses. A third followed, as did another two bonuses, before Magdalene got their first proper points with the first picture round, on a gridded map of Africa, where they were asked to give the sqaure where a certain location was; a full bonus set took the scores to 60-20.

A starter was dropped before Mr Burrell pushed Warwick further ahead by taking the next starter, and all three bonuses went with it again. Mr Braid took the next, but the bonuses on vampire films saw Mr Rout declare this to be "another example of us not knowing popular culture"(!), though they did get one right at least. Back came Magdalene with Mr Davies, and a full set of bonuses on men called Marmaduke suggested they weren't out of it if they could get a run of starters. They did take the music round, on classical works based on epic poems, and one correct bonus cut the gap to 100-60.

Mr Davies took a third starter in a row, and two bonuses on scientific terms cut the gap down to 20. Mr Braid then reawoke Wawick with 'pinion', and they took just one bonus on politicians associated with the defense of slavery. A nice starter asked which European country's flag bears the colours of the two left most rings on the Olympic logo; Mr Byrne knew it to be Ukraine, and a full bonus set on Chinese provinces cut the gap to 10. But Mr Byrne then lost five after zigging with Henry IV, allowing Mr Rout to zag with Henry V, and Warwick took a full set of bonuses to boot. And when the Coventry side took the second picture round, on paintings from Titian's poesie series, and they took two correct bonuses , the title was now their's to lose; they led 160-100.

And when Mr Davies accidentally offered 'Bannerman-Campbell' instead of 'Campbell-Bannerman', losing five and handing Mr Rout a tap-in, that was game over. Two bonuses on Belize were taken, and Mr Braid made doubly sure by taking the next starter; just one bonus mattered now, but it didn't matter now. Magdalene did pull back to respectability with a late rally, Mr Lawson taking two starters and Mr Byrne one, and half of the six bonuses there was time for being taken. At the gong, Warwick won the game, and the series, 195-140.

I didn't think we'd get a trophy presentation, but we did indeed, with poet laureate and Xmas UC alumnus Simon Armitage emerging and saying a few words, before Mr Rout stepped forward alone and collected the trophy.

A good final to end a good series. Well played both teams, and many congratulations to Warwick, a fine team throughout the series and very worthy champions indeed! And well done to Magdalene too, who've also been great throughout the series and would've been worthy winners too; well done indeed!

The stats: Mr Braid was the best buzzer of the night with five starters, ending the series his side's best buzzer with 25, while Messrs Byrne and Davies were best for Magdalene with three each, with Messrs Byrne and Lawson their joint best for the series with 23 each. On the bonuses, Warwick managed 19 out of 30, and Magdalene 15 out of 21 (with three penalties).

And that's it! Thanks to all the teams who took part, and to Paxo and Roger Tilling for their ever excellent work! And well done again to all who helped remount the show after the enforced delay. I'll say some proper final words in my review of the series later in the week.

Mastermind began the semi-finals with a double bill. The first was won by Claire Barrow, who was level on 10 each with Aidan Linge after the specialist rounds, and just beat him on General Knowledge to win 21 to 19. Tom Lee came third with 18, and Jacqueline Jones finished with 12.

 

The second was won by Hazel Humphreys, who, similarly, was joint first with Peter Timms on 9 each after the first round, and ended up winning with 21 points to his 18. Tom Gibson and Laura Myles also competed, and ended with 14 and 15 points respectively. I’ll cover the remaining semis and the final in one big post after the final airs, whenever that is.