Good evening friends, and welcome back to JOW for the start of the second round of this year's University Challenge! This round is, of course, sudden death, with the winners being rewarded with a breather in the preliminary round of the QFs; it's not exactly a popular format, but, as has been posited many times before, its the fairest possible without dragging the series on interminably. Whoever won tonight would take the first place in the QFs...
St John's College Cambridge came through the play-offs, losing their first match to Imperial, before winning a very good play-off against U.C.L., eking out a big lead and surviving a scare as their opponents fought back ton win 175-170. They were the same four as before:
Thomas Clark, from the USA and Japan, studying Linguistics
Louie George, from Lyme Regis, studying Human Social and Political Sciences
Captain: Jonathan Chan, from Cambridge, studying Veterinary Medicine
Kyanna Ouyang, from New Jersey, studying Natural Sciences
Queen Mary London came straight through to the second round after winning a low scoring match against Oxford Brookes, which they led throughout and ultimately triumphed 115-90, and ending that institution's record of always winning their first match. They were also unchanged from before:
Ab Uthayakumar, from Chessington in London, studying Economics
Marcus Deal, from Hertfordshire, studying Medicine
Captain: Alex McGill, from Driffield in East Yorkshire, studying the Maths of General Relativity
Catherine Dominic, from Hull, studying Medicine
So, off we set for the first time this round, and Mr Chan, easily his side's MVP in the previous matches, started as he meant to go on by taking the first starter; the Cambridge side got off to a flyer with a full bonus set on fictional monsters. The St John's captain would also take the second starter of the game, and the third, with two bonuses following from both resulting bonus sets. Queen Mary got off the mark with the first picture round, on host cities of African Union summits; no bonuses followed though, leaving them trailing 65-10.
Mr McGill duly took a second starter in a row for the Londoners though, and fared better with their second bonus set, taking two. Mr Chan then reawoke though, taking a classic UC starter that required the word 'nacho' to be spelled using chemical formulae; the Cambridge side took one bonus on Indian cities. Queen Mary then unluckily lost five for a 'just an' interruption; St John's didn't pick it up, but Mr Clark took the next starter, and the one after too, and three bonuses from six took them into three figures. The music round, on waltzes from ballets, went to St John's, but nothing came from the bonuses; nonetheless, they led 125-25.
Queen Mary duly broke back into the game with Mr Deal doing the honours, giving them a bonus set on dogs in art, which they took one of. Mr Deal then took a second starter in a row, which lifted his side above 50, but bonuses on political treaties didn't add to their score. Back came St John's thanks to Ms Ouyang, but they too drew a blank on bonuses on early World Cups, unluckily swerving away from Chile at the last moment. The second picture starter was dropped, with Queen Mary then very harshly losing five for a 'literally only just an' interruption; the picture bonuses, on stills from films set in real time, which they took two of to increase their lead to 155-45.
The match looked as good as over, and Mr Chan seemed to confirm this by taking the next starter and his side took two bonuses on musicals, again, unluckily missing the third due to a last minute change of answer. Mr Clark took the next starter, though only one bonus followed this time, but it didn't really matter now. Mr Uthayakumar did the right thing and had a guess on the next starter, but zigged with 'cello', allowing Mr Chan to zag with 'violin' and move his side past 200. Two bonuses followed, and there was time for Mr Clark to take one more starter before the gong; St John's won 220-45.
A rather one-sided game it must be said, but still a watchable one between two pleasant times. Well done to St John's, another solid performance and another deserved win, best of luck in the QFs! Hard lines to Queen Mary, who were simply outplayed, but thanks very much indeed for taking part!
The stats: Mr Chan was, again, his side's best buzzer with seven, taking his series total thus far to 22, while Mr Deal was best for Queen Mary with three. On the bonuses, St John's managed 18 out of 36 and Queen Mary 3 out of 12 (with two very pedantic penalties).
Next week: St Catharine's return; I do know their opponents, but won't reveal them yet out of respect for my source...
Only Connect began its play-off
matches with one of its classic avoidable rematches, with the Apollos and the
Jukeboxers fighting it out again. The former led 3-1 after the first round, and
8-5 after the second (I got the Death in Paradise question, natch). A dropped
connection each on the walls made it as you were, the Apollos led 15-12 going
into Missing Vowels, and, unlike last time, they maintained their lead and won
17-14.
Mastermind was won by Gary
McKenzie, whose 22 points and winning margin of four was off the back of a
strong GK round after a close specialist round. Krittika Bhattacharya led after
the specialists, but fell to second on 18 after GK; Alison Jay and former UC
winner Julian Sutcliffe also competed, finishing with 16 and 17 respectively.
Brain of Britain’s fourth and
final semi-final was won by Dave McBryan, who started slowly, then hit his
stride in the later rounds to win with 15 points, five clear of Rachel Pagan in
second, and will probably begin next week’s final as the tentative favourite.
Derek Hayes and Liz Walliker also competed, finishing with 8 and 6 respectively,
while the Beat the Brains questions were set by none other than Bobby Seagull!
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