Good evening friends, and here we go again! England vs Scotland tonight, with two teams hoping to give us a livelier contest than we got between the two nations at Wembley back in June! Winners would go straight through, runners-up would have to wait and see for the play-offs. It's been a rather low scoring start to the series so far, so maybe tonight's match would up the ante a bit...
Emmanuel College Cambridge is appearing on its seventh BBC series tonight, and its fourth in six years. Its most successful run, of course, being when it won the series under the captaincy of Alex Guttenplan in 2009-10, its second most being a semi-final appearance under Bobby Seagull's captaincy in 2016-17. This year's team were:
Nicole Pullinger, from Hong Kong, studying English
Nicholas Thatte, from Oxford (originally Greece), studying Physics
Captain: Kara Malcolm, from Guildford (originally Capetown), studying Engineering
James Wrathall, from Mistley in Essex, studying Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
St Andrews is appearing for the seventeenth time in the BBC series; of its previous sixteen appearances, its best was a semi-final run in 2003-04. Its greatest success came in the ITV series though, winning in 1982 and runners-up in 1984 to an Open University team captained by Brain of Britain and Fifteen-to-One champ Barbara Thompson. This year's St Andrews foursome were:
Alastair Fennell, from Edinburgh, studying Physics
Harry Alderson, from Shelford in Cambridgeshire, studying Physics
Captain: Jack Wigg, from Glasgow, studying Maths
Aine McMenamin, from London, studying Classics
So off we set once again, and the first starter was a gimme to anyone who's seen the film version of 'Starter for 10', as you'll have known instantly that Patrick Watts was played by Benedict Cumberbatch; Mr Thatte waited for the more obvious clue of Sherlock Holmes before buzzing correctly. Emmanuel took two bonuses from their first set, and all three of the second set that came next. St Andrews got going on the third starter, answered by Ms McMenamin, and they took just one of their first set. They also took the first picture round, on the outlines of equatorial countries; another sole bonus cut the gap to 45-30.
Emmanuel increased that gap again as Mr Wrathall took the next starter, but got nothing from bonuses on recent sporting achievement (I got two). St Andrews then lost five on two successive starters; Emmanuel picked up both, but only got one bonus from both of the resulting sets, amongst them an unfortunate suggestion that Joan Collins was born in 1893! St Andrews got going again as Mr Fennell won the race to identify Oliver! for the music starter; the bonuses, on musicals whose book, music and lyrics were all written by the same person, gave them two correct answers, to reduce the gap to 85-40.
Another starter to the Cambridge side increased it, and they took a full bonus set on piracy. St Andrews needed to get a move on if they were to stand a chance, and get a move on they did, two successive starters and five out of six bonuses took them right back into the game. They also took the second picture round, on paintings by French impressionists of their contemporaries, and took two bonuses to cut the gap to 110-105.
It increased again when the Scots side lost another five, but Emmanuel didn't pick up this time. Ms Pullinger did make a very good quick buzz on the next starter, but just one bonus left the door ajar for their opponents. Mr Wigg duly ensured all four St Andrews players had contributed a starter, and they took a full set of bonuses to put the teams level! A straight shootout to the end now; Emmanuel blinked first, but none of the resulting bonuses kept their opponents in the game. Mr Fennell capitalised as he took the final starter, and one bonus was enough to see his side home and dry. At the gong, St Andrews had snuck the win, 140-135.
Another good close match between two well matched teams, well played both; the second 140-135 of the series too! Well done St Andrews and best of luck in the next round! And well done Emmanuel too, and hopefully 135 will bring you back in the play-offs, we shall wait and see, but thanks for now!
The stats: Mr Wrathall was best on the buzzer with four starters, while Mr Fennell and Ms McMenamin got three each for St Andrews. On the bonuses, Emmanuel managed 11 out of 24 and St Andrews 15 out of 24 (with three penalties), so the bonuses just about won the game.
Next week's match: Queen Mary London vs Oxford Brookes
Only Connect pitted the Golfers,
Evan Lynch (UC alumnus), George Charlson and captain Frances Clark-Murray,
against the Wildlifers, Harry Kanagaratnam, James True and captain Lucy Harry, wife of Harry.
The Golfers led 5-2 after the first round, and 9-4 after the second. Two
perfect walls left it as you were, 19-14, going into Missing Vowels, and the
Golfers maintained and increased their advantage to win 27-17.
Brain of Britain’s third heat was
a lower scoring one than the first two; Mark Manson won with ten points, Bernadette
Stott, Lisa Tulfer and Caroline Markovitch also competed and finished with 6, 4
and 2 respectively. Highlight was an audio question about I’m Sorry I Haven’t A
Clue that I could’ve answered without the clip!
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