University Challenge 2023-24: Round 1: Match 3: Birkbeck vs Oxford Brookes

Good evening again friends, and welcome back to the new look Quizzy Mondays! The new look UC hasn't gone down too well with some for various reasons (some understandable, some not worth dignifying with comment), but I've enjoyed it so far, apart from the mistake the scorers made last week that I spotted when rewatching it at the weekend! (See my Twitter X thread for more info) Anyway, on with the third contest of the series tonight...

Birkbeck were regulars in the early days of the BBC era, but, after winning it in 2002-03, disappeared for 16 series, eventually returning in 2019-20; the following series, they reached the QFs with a team 3/4s of whom won the last series of UC. This year's foursome were:

Danny McMillan, from Belfast, studying Modern Irish History

Olivia Mariner, from London, studying Maths

Captain: Samir Chadha, from Ealing, studying Creative and Critical Writing

Margherira Huntley, from South London, studying Law and Political Economy

 

Oxford Brookes is the post 1992 institution to have appeared on the show the most times, five previous ones in total; the first four saw its team win at least their first match, a run that was broken by a low scoring first round defeat two series ago. This year's quartet were:

David Caldecott, from Henley-on-Thames, studying Biology

Lara Gardner, from Ledbury in Herefordshire, studying Human Biosciences

Captain: John Manton, from County Tipperary, studying Fine Art

James Broadbent, from Wallingford in Oxfordshire, studying International Relations and Politics

 

So, off we set once again then, and Oxford Brookes got off to a bad start with a penalty straight away; Mr McMillan took the pickup, and Birkbeck took all three bonuses. The Oxonians did bounce back with a starter and full set of their own, triggering an early run of the sides swapping starters. After the (rather late) first picture round, on flags featuring stars and stripes, which Oxford Brookes took a clean sweep of, the teams were level on 65-each. The Oxonians then pulled away a bit, but, in spite of two penalties of their own, Birkbeck were never out of sight of them. The music round, on songs from biographical musicals, went to the Londoners; one bonus levelled the scores again, 110-each.

The nip and tuck continued as the two teams, not just kept getting starters, but generally getting the bonuses that went with them too; an excellent feat. After the second picture round, on stills from non-European winners of the Best non-English langauge film BAFTA, which Birkbeck took all three of, the Londoners led 160-155. Another starter and full house pushed them closer to 200, but Oxford Brookes responded with a perfect 25 of their own. And then another to take them past 200! Only for Birkbeck to take one too to put THEM past 200 too and into the lead! The final starter went to Mr Chadha, and that was the gong! Birkbeck won a fantastic game 220-205!

An utterly superb game, with both teams breaking 200 for the first time since the QFs of the 2013-14 series; very well done both of them! Well done Birkbeck, who'll take some beating in the second round; best of luck there! Hard lines to Oxford Brookes, but their score all but guarantees they'll be back in the play-offs; best of luck to them there!

The stats: Mr McMillan was easily the best buzzer of the night with SEVEN(!) starters, while Mr Manton was best for Oxford Brookes with four. On the bonuses, Birkbeck managed 24 out of 30 (with two penalties) and Oxford Brookes 24 out of 27 (with one penalty); both utterly fantastic rates, well done again to both! It's going to take something to top this for Game of the Series!

Next week's match: Southampton vs Christ Church Oxford

Only Connect’s third heat was contested by the Antiphons, James and Felicity Barnard and captain Andrew Lay (who I think was on UC many years ago), and Drop of Red, Jezz Sterling, Jane Kendrick (an finalist on the revived Fifteen-to-One) and captain John Clarke (who I believe was the winner of a very early series of Countdown). The former led 6-2 after the first round (I claim the ‘over the head’ question earlier than they did), and 11-7 after the second. A better wall saw Drop of Red pull the scores level on 17 each going into Missing Vowels, but the Antiphons just edged a round where both teams lost points to win 21-20!