University Challenge 2022-23: Round 1: Match 12: Bangor vs Nottingham

Good evening friends, and welcome to the final installment (for now, at least, World Cup on the way...) of Quizzy Tuesdays! Back to business as usual on Monday next week, and just in time for one final Monday where all four of the major quizzes are on the same day! On with tonight's UC, the ante-penultimate first round match, with the task for the teams to either win, or lose with a score above 170 for a guaranteed play-off place, though 140 or 150 will probably be sufficient...

Bangor University is appearing in a sixth BBC series, having reached the semis twice before, including the team from the 2012-13 series than included our old friend Adam 'Welshguy' Pearce; its last appearance before tonight was a series later, where they lost in the second round to another 'blog reader' team, Messrs Evans, De Caux and Loxham's Southampton. This year's foursome were:

Gus Bastiani, from Dorset, studying History and Archaeology

Ethan Silcocks, from Cumbria, studying Molecular Medicine

Captain: Laura Lloyd-Williams, from North Wales, studying Medical Sciences

Ro Pounder, from Reading, studying Medieval and Early Modern History

 

Nottingham University is appearing for its twelfth series of the BBC era tonight, of which its first, in 97-98, was its best, reaching the semi-finals (after defeating the infamous New Hall Cambridge team in the first round); it's last appearance was a first round defeat to Bobby Seagull's Emmanuel team six series ago. This year's quartet were:

Karen Moran, from Lincoln, studying Medicine

Will Noble, from Leicester, studying Contemporary British History

Captain: Robert Allen, from Norfolk, studying Mathematical Neuroscience

James Hadland, from Chelmsford, studying French and Spanish 

So, off we set again, and Bangor got off to the better start, Messrs Pounder and Silcocks taking the first two starters; two bonuses came from the first set on scientific awards, but none from the second set on The Great Gatsby. Nottingham made it off the mark on the third starter via Mr Allen, and they also took two bonuses on Australia. The first picture round, on galaxies, went to Nottingham; another two correct bonuses gave them the lead, 40-30.

Mr Bastiani pulled Bangor back level again with the next starter, and they took the lead with a single bonus on pairs of people with shared given names. A second starter in a row went to the Welsh side, but no bonuses meant Nottingham quickly pulled level again with a starter and sole bonus of their own. Mr Silcocks put Bangor in front again by knowing K2 to be the second highest mountain in the world, but, again the bonuses didn't fall for them. The music round, on film scores involving harmonicas, also went to Bangor, but, again, they didn't get anything from the bonuses (they knew one of them to be Moon River, but didn't remember it to be from Breakfast at Tiffany's). Nonetheless, they led 75-55.

That lead went up again as Mr Pounder quickly identified the prime minister at the start of the 20th century to be 'Robert Gascoigne-Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury' ("Thank you for such a full answer!"), and the bonuses finally fell for them, two on tv shows set in Philadelphia. Back came Nottingham, with Mr Allen and Ms Moran providing them with two starters in a row, and three bonuses from the resulting six put them back within five points. Only for Ms Lloyd-Williams to take the next to increase Bangor's lead, and a full bonus set on words with multiple definitions kept them in the driving set. The Welsh side also took the second picture round, on locations featured in the works of Jane Austen; one correct left their lead at 135-90.

Still time for Nottingham to pull back, and Mr Noble pulled the next starter back to help their cause, but no bonuses on 00s novels didn't help it. Mr Allen gave the Trentsiders a second starter in a row, and one bonus was sufficient to keep them in the game. A second starter in a row from the Nottingham captain pulled them within ten points, and, just, into the play-off places, but no bonuses on Olympic mascots were taken. The final starter was missed by both sides, and that was the gong; Bangor won 135-125.

A low scoring but close contest, ultimately just won on the buzzer. Well done to Bangor, and best of luck to them in the second round! Hard lines to Nottingham, but their score does at least get them into contention for the play-offs and, with just two games to go, they may yet make them; thanks for playing in the meantime though!

The stats: Mr Allen was the best buzzer of the night with five starters, while Mr Silcocks and Ms Lloyd-Williams were joint best for Bangor with three each. On the bonuses, Bangor managed 9 out of 27 and Nottinam 9 out of 24, so it really was one extra starter that won it for Bangor there.

Next week's match, back on Monday at 8:30: Newnham Cambridge vs Courtauld Institute of Art

Only Connect had its final eliminator, with the Scrummagers and the Irregulars returning. The latter led 9-1 after a rather one-sided first round where they got three points on two questions (I claim three on the Hitchcock question), and 12-7 after a more balanced second. A better wall saw the Scrummagers close it up to 15-13 going into Missing Vowels, and they just snuck it on that after a tense round to win it 20-19!

 

Mastermind was won comfortably by Ben Farren, who led after the specialist round and increased his advantage in the GK round to finish on 25 points, 7 ahead of second placed Richard Taylor with 18. Raminder Kaur and Quinn Holmes also competed, and scored 10 and 11 respectively.

 

Yesterday’s final semi of Brain of Britain was a real cracker, with Emma Laslett beating second place Darren Martin by a single point on the final question of the game(!), with 17 points to his 16, to complete (what she herself assures me on Twitter is) the show’s first ever all-female final line-up! Tom Gibson and Helen Blackburn also competed, finishing with 12 and 3 respectively.