Good evening friends, and welcome to the penultimate first round match of this year's UC! It's been a low scoring first round, but, to be fair, the quality has been getting better again in recent weeks. The task for the two teams playing tonight was simple: win, or, failing that, lose with 140 or more; 135 would mean a very tricky four-way play-off for three places. Thankfully, the subtitles, which have been a bit all over the place following that Red Bee incident last weekend, were working properly for tonight's show too...
Wolfson College Oxford is appearing for a third series in a row, having previously not been seen at all during the revival; two series ago, they reached the QFs, but last year's team were soundly beaten by eventual winners Warwick in the first round. This year's foursome were:
Martin Nowakowski, from Poland, studying Applied Linguistics
Maitrai Lapalikar, studying Modern South Asian Studies
Captain: Daattavya Aggarwal, from India, studying Mathematical and Theoretical Physics
Archie Williams, from Henley-on-Thames, studying Islamic Art and Architecture
Bristol University, in contrast, has appeared 17 times before, and this is its seventh series in a row, though it has never got further than the QFs; last year's team were also defeated in the first round, by Corpus Christi of Oxford. This year's foursome were:
Alex Regueiro, from London, studying Philosophy of Physics
Sam Woodcock, from Birmingham, studying Geology
Captain: Seb Priest, from Lippstadt, Germany, studying Medicine
Anna Brian, from Tunbridge Wells, studying Economics
So, off we set for the thirteenth time this series, and it was Mr Williams of Wolfson who opened the scoring by identifying a set of revolutions; words that form part of the acronym TARDIS in literature gave the Oxonians two correct bonus answers. Both sides then lost five, before Mr Regueiro opened Bristol's (positive) scoring, but they only took one correct bonus from their first set. Mr Williams gave Wolfson a second starter and pair of bonuses, and his side also took the first picture round, on fruit in heraldry; no bonuses followed this time, but they still led 45-10.
Mr Williams gave Wolfson a third starter in a row, and video games provided a bonus set for the second week in a row, this time games released in 2001 (Simpsons Road Rage was sadly not one of them), but the Oxonians didn't take any of them. Mr Nowakowski gave them a fourth in a row, but, again, they got nothing from the bonuses. Bristol finally got going again with Mr Woodcock identifying Debussy as the composer of La mer, and the Avonsiders correctly converted two bonuses. They also took the music round, on teenage tragedy pop music; one correct bonus meant they'd cut the gap to 65-45.
And when Mr Regueiro gave Bristol a third starter in a row, and they took a full bonus set from a classic UC set on film titles spelled using two word country codes, they had suddenly taken the lead. And they kept the momentum going with a second starter and full bonus set in a row, before Mr Aggarwal finally got Wolfson back into the game; in contrast, though, they got nothing from their bonuses, on opera. Bristol re-established their new found authority with a starter and pair of bonuses, and they also took the second picture round, on works by artists inspired by El Greco; one correct bonus took their lead to 130-75.
Mr Priest then ensured all four Bristolians had contributed a starter to the game, and a full bonus sets on US and Canadian state borders pretty much ended the game as a contest. Mr Woodcock confirmed this as he took the next starter; no bonuses followed, but they now home and dry. Which left Wolfson with the task of chasing a play-off place; Mr Aggarwal duly took another starter for them, but, again, the bonuses didn't fall for them, and the dropped set pretty much ended their repechage chances. They did, at least, go out with a flourish though, with their captain taking another starter and a full bonus set on Chinese history. At the gong, Bristol won 165-110.
Another good enjoyable game, two good teams well matched on the buzzers, but the bonuses proved the difference. Well done to Bristol, who look a potentially good team if they can improve their buzzing further, best of luck in the next round! Hard lines to Wolfson, who were undone by an unlucky run of bonuses, but still a respectable effort, thanks for playing!
The stats: Mr Woodcock was the best buzzer of the night with four, while Messrs Aggarwal and Williams got three each for Wolfson. On the bonuses, Wolfson managed 7 out of 21 and Bristol 16 out of 27, with both sides incurring one penalty.
Next week's match: Birmingham vs Sussex
Only Connect began its qualifying
matches with the returns of the Librarians and the Animal Lovers. The teams
were tied on 3-each after the first round, before the Lovers opened a 6-4 lead
after the second (I got the EastEnders, presidents and BBC radio questions). A
slightly better wall saw the Librarians cut the gap to 12-10 going into Missing
Vowels, but the Lovers just had the better of that and secured the win and the
first QF place 18-12.
Mastermind was comfortably won, in
the end, by Patrick Wilson, whose general knowledge round proved the difference
after a close specialist round; he ended with 24 points, five clear of Gill
Austen in second. Mohammad Shakir and Elizabeth Dawson completed the line-up,
and scored 16 and 15 respectively.
Brain of Britain’s final heat was
narrowly won by Liz Walliker with 11 points, just one ahead of second place
Nicola Barker with 10. Graeme Johnson and Brenda Mortimer also competed, and
finished with 6 and 4 respectively. The semis begin next week, though there is
still the matter of the highest scoring runners-up, with three definitely
through on 13 each and two tied for the fourth on 11 each…
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