University Challenge 2023-24: Round 1: Match 7: UEA vs Strathclyde

Good evening again friends, and welcome back to the now complete Quizzy Mondays! Yep, Mastermind is back, so, at last, the four big Monday quizzes are all running at the same time! Enjoy it while it lasts! Anyway, on with UC firstly, and the first first round of the Amol Rajan era is halfway through, and so far things have been going pretty good all things considered. Tonight, two 60s university teams fought for the seventh place in the second round...

The University of East Anglia surprisingly only appeared three times in the Paxman era: a second round exit to eventual runners-up U.C.L. in 2004-05, a (somewhat controversial) second round loss to eventual winners Warwick in 2006-07, and a first round defeat in 2018-19. This year's foursome were:

Melissa Shiress, from London, studying Pacific Collections in National Museums Scotland

Bryony Yates, from Wolverhampton, studying Plant Biology

Captain: Owen Tobin, from Nottingham, studying Medicine

Matthew Jennings, from King's Lynn, studying Philosophy

Strathclyde University appeared seven times on the BBC series, five of which came in this blog's lifetime, and three of which saw them lose to Durham; the most successful of the seven was the team of 2020-21 who reached the quarter-finals. This year's quartet were:

Nina Reid, from Worcestershire, studying Forensic and Analytical Chemistry

Gregor MacDowall, from the Black Isle, studying Aeromechanical Engineering

Captain: Stephen Gault, from Glasgow, studying Educational Leadership

Prys Hughes, from Deiniolen in Gwynedd, studying Mechanical Engineering

So, off we set once again then, and an immediate penalty from UEA (not 'East Anglia' as Mr Tilling called them on their previous appearances) allowing Strathclyde to open the scoring, but they only took one bonus from their first set. UEA immediately bounced back and took two bonuses to draw level, only for the Scots side to immediately go back in front again with a starter and two bonuses of their own. The first picture round, on diagrams of sub units of a kidney nephron, went to UEA; one bonus meant they just trailed 35-30. The Norwich team then took the lead with the next starter, and went on to take another two in a row, which saw them pull away into a lead. The run stopped when Mr Tobin unluckily offered 'Cult' instead of 'Blue' when asked for the adjective in the name of the band who sang 'Don't Fear the Reaper'; Mr Gault swooped, but his side only took one bonus. The music starter saw Mr Tobin identify that old UC fave the Buggles; the bonuses, on bands produced by their frontman Trevor Horn, gave UEA a full set, after which they led 95-50.

The lead only got better with two starters in a row to Ms Yates and three of the resulting six bonuses. But Strathclyde bounced back well now, as Mr MacDowall took three starters in a row, which saw his team deservedly reached three figures and cut the gap to just 30 points. But UEA took the second picture round, on stills from rediscovered films (no Hal Roach stuff sadly), and a full bonus set increased their lead to 155-100. Strathclyde were still in the game though, as responded with a starter and a full bonus set of their own, on German football captains. But that would be as close as they would get, as UEA ran away with it on the buzzer from here on in, and, despite their bonus rate alternating wildly between three and none, it mattered not as they ran out into an impressive late lead. At the gong, UEA won 235-125.

Another good contest that was actually a bit closer than that scoreline suggests IMO. Well done to UEA, a most impressive performance against decent opponents, suggests they'll be a team to watch if they keep this form up; best of luck in the next round! Hard lines to Strathclyde, a decent team who'd have probably beaten another opponent; thanks for playing!

The stats: Ms Yates was the best buzzer of the night with five, while Mr MacDowall was Strathclyde's best with four. On the bonuses, UEA managed 21 out of 39 (with two penalties) and Strathclyde 11 out of 21.

Next week's match: Open vs Hertford Oxford

Only Connect’s penultimate first round match pitted the Mercians, Ian Fennell (formerly of Brain of Britain and Mastermind), Pam Douglas (also formerly of Mastermind) and captain Jamie McNeill, against the Volunteers, Sunth Siva, Rebecca Brown and captain Sarah Holey. The former led 5-1 after the first round (I claim three points on the failed mergers question) and 14-3 after the second. A better wall increased that big lead to 24-8 going into Missing Vowels, and it only increased further there to leave the Mercians winners 36-10.

 

Mastermind returned for its new series tonight of course. Ruth Hart was the first winner of the new series, winning a high scoring contest with 26 points, ahead of Chas Bedford with 23 and Christine McBurney with 19. (Sadly, despite, what looks like, a new format, it seems there’s still no room for high scoring non-winners in the SFs; what a shame). Sanjay Nath completed the line-up with 10.

 

Last week’s Brain of Britain was won by UC and Fifteen-to-One 2.0 alumnus George Scratcherd, whose 18 points saw him win ahead of Sue Brearley with 12 and Peter Almond with 11, both of whom are in early contention for a possible high scoring non-winners place. Leigh Hagger completed the line-up with 8.

 

This afternoon’s show was another close high scoring one, with John Esling winning with 15 points ahead of Dave Cowen (another revived Fifteen-to-One alumnus), whose 13 points will surely be enough for a HSNW place. Emma Goodridge-Hobson and Atalanta Beaumont also competed, finishing with 9 and 8 respectively.

University Challenge 2023-24: Round 1: Match 6: King's vs U.C.L.

Good evening again friends, and welcome back to Quizzy Mondays! Which, next week, will finally be complete again, as Mastermind returns next week! Which means, unless one of them takes a week off, we're in for fifteen weeks of a complete line-up of all the Monday quizzes! On with tonight's UC, the latest in a series that is shaping up nicely under the new regime, with two institutions that went far in the first series I covered on this blog 11 years ago...

King's College Cambridge surprisingly only appeared four times in the Paxman era, of which its most successful team was that of our old friend Jim Gratrex that reached the QFs. Its last appearance was a first round exit in 2015-16 infamous for one of its team wearing a leather vest! (Must've been a slow news day for that to have gotten as many articles as it did) This year's team were:

Elizabeth Zachariah, from Surrey, studying Medicine

Alexander Ward, from Kensington, studying Engineering

Captain: Rex Phillips Dibb, from Islington, studying Russian, Italian and Ukrainian

Krishnan Mulholland, from Hertfordshire, studying Classics

U.C.L., in contrast, sent fifteen teams in the Paxman years, with, among them, two runners-up in 2004-05 and 12-13, two SF exits in 2006-07 and 11-12, and three QF exits, including in the last series with the famous mother-and-son team. This year's quartet were:

James Hall, from North Finchley, studying Law

Ali Izzatdust, from Portugal and Azerbaijan, studying Intellectual History

Captain: Tayana Sawh, from North London, studying Medicine

Jacon Finlay, from Cranleigh in Surrey, studying Public Administration

So, off we set once again then, and it was Mr Izzatdust who took the first starter of the night, and the Londoners took a full set of bonuses on Hermann Hesse (including the Glass Bead Game, nearly two decades after a question about that book sent their team into the final!). Two further starters and a penalty to their opponents sent U.C.L. into a strong early lead, but King's finally opened their account properly with the first picture round, on Indonesian islands, which they took a full house on, closing that gap to 60-20. A nip and tuck period ensued, as the teams swapped starters and took two bonuses from the resulting sets each, with the gap alternating between 20 and 40 as a result. The music round, on 19th century composers who began composing as kids, broke this sequence as King's only took one bonus; they thus trailed 95-70.

Up went the lead again as U.C.L. maintained their two bonuses record, only for King's to respond likewise. The Londoners then finally went one better again as they took a full set on fictional prime ministers. The second picture round, on paintings featuring umbrellas, went to King's; one bonus took the scores to 140-105. Still either team's game, but another starter and single bonus to U.C.L. made it their's to lose. But King's then lost five on two successive starters; the Londoners didn't pick either up, but a very quick buzz from Ms Sawh put them within sight of victory, and a full bonus set on words beginning 'cat' made it game over. King's did pull back well in the final minutes though, and racked up a sufficient score to push Birmingham off the repechage board, but maybe not quite high enough for a final place on it. The final starter went to Mr Hall, and that was the gong; U.C.L. won 190-145.

A good match, on the buzzer especially with all eight players getting at least two starters right, which I don't recall happening before in recent UC history. Well done to U.C.L., and best of luck in the next round! Hard lines to King's, whose score I fear won't quite be enough for the play-offs, but a fair effort, thanks for playing!

The stats: Ms Zachariah and Messrs Hall and Izzatdust were joint best buzzers of the night with three each for their respective teams. On the bonuses, King's managed 15 out of 27 (with a costly four penalties) and U.C.L. 19 out of 27 (with one penalty).

Next week's match: East Anglia vs Strathclyde

Only Connect reached its sixth heat, contested by the Also Rans, all of whom were beaten Mastermind finalists in 2020-21, Harry Heath (also of UC), Claire Barrow (also of Brain of Britain) and captain Dan Afshar (also of Brain of Britain and the revived WWTBAM), and the Gardners, Louise, Kate and captain Anna Gardner. The former led 6-4 after the first round, but the latter took the lead 7-6 after the second (I claim three points on the M question). A better wall gave the Also Rans the lead back, 16-13, going into Missing Vowels, and they fared much better in that to run out 26-15.

 

Brain of Britain continued this afternoon; unfortunately, I was out this afternoon and missed it, so I’ll listen to it in my own time some time this coming week and do a double summary next week.

University Challenge 2023-24: Round 1: Match 5: Emmanuel vs Jesus

Good evening again friends, and welcome back to the new slightly bigger Quizzy Mondays! For Brain of Britain returned this afternoon for its 70th(!) series, so recaps of that coming from now on too (except next week, where I won't be able to listen, so double recap in two weeks' time). Anyway, the new era of UC continues to motor along nicely; the repechage board is now full and, given the higher scores of this series, Southampton's score last week may well not be enough for a return. Tonight, the first Oxbride derby of the new era...

Emmanuel College Cambridge was a fairly irregular sender of teams for most of the Paxo era, but following our friend Bobby Seagull's team's run to the semis in the 2016-17 series, it has appeared in a further three of the six series since, reaching at least the QFs each time. It's best team, though, was Alex Guttenplan's series winning team of 2009-10. This year's foursome were:

Jerry Chen, from Glasgow, studying Medicine

Alex Sutton, from Reading, studying Biological Anthropology

Captain: Jay Alagar, from Pennsylvania, studying Population Health Sciences

Alexander Harrison, from Cardiff, studying Chemical Engineering

 

Jesus College Oxford is another relatively infrequent sender of teams to the BBC era, with six so far, its best performers being the team that reached the QF play-offs four series ago; the second best, ironically, lost to Alex Guttenplan's Emmanuel in the 2009-10 QF prelims. It also won the penultimate ITV series in 1986. This year's quartet were:

Andy Deng, from Croydon, studying Physics

Andy Schweber, from Birmingham, Alabama, studying History and Politics

Captain: Ben Biggs, from Southend-on-Sea, studying History and Politics

Meg Groundry-Napthine, from Bishop Auckland, studying History and English

 

So, off we set once again then, and Mr Harrison, who was to have a most impressive night, started as he meant to go by taking the first two starters of the game; four bonuses from six gave the Cambridge side a decent head start. But Jesus responded well with two starters of their own, including the first picture round, on graphs of trigonometric functions, after which the teams were level on 40-each. But after that, Emmanuel began to run away with it, with Mr Harrison in particular dominating the buzzer race, and a steady bonus race saw them quickly pull away into three figures. Neither side got the music starter; Mr Deng did the right thing and had an early buzz on the replacement starter, but was wrong and lost five. Mr Harrison swooped and Emmanuel got the music bonuses, on symphonies known by the names of cities; one bonus took their lead to 135-35.

And the lead was just getting bigger, as Ms Alagar took the next starter, which pushed their score to 150. Mr Deng was most unlucky on the next starter as he offered 'Vienna School' when AR wanted 'Second Viennese School' (having specified he wanted three words), losing another five to boot. Emmanuel duly resumed their buzzer dominance and, despite Mr Harrison incurring the first penalty for a 'just an' interruption of the AR era, were well on their way to the biggest win of the series so far. Jesus did take the second picture round, on buildings featured in World Heritage Sites dedicated to a single architecht; one bonus took the scores to 180-45. Just a question of how much both teams could score in the final minutes; Mr Chen ensured all four Emmanuel players had answered at least one starter as he took the next starter, and two bonuses took their score past 200. Two further starters pushed them close to a 200+ lead, but Jesus did take the final starter, thus avoiding becoming the first Sub-50 Club members of the AR era. They took the one bonus there was time for; at the gong, Emmanuel won 240-60.

A one-sided contest (that I guess we were due), but still as enjoyable as the rest of the series has been so far. Well done Emmanuel, an impressive performance, from Mr Harrison in particular, that marks them as a team to watch in the second round; best of luck in that! Hard lines to Jesus, who are almost certainly a better team than that and would've fared better on another day; thanks for playing!

The stats: Mr Harrison was, easily, the best buzzer of the night with (another) NINE(!) starters, while Mr Biggs was best for Jesus with three. On the bonuses, Emmanuel managed 23 out of 39 (with one penalty) and Jesus 6 out of 10 (with two penalties).

Next week's match: King's Cambridge vs U.C.L.

Only Connect entered the second half of its first round with the Isotopes, Matilda Makemson, Angus Eady and captain Sanjay Boor, playing the Academicals, Yvonne Corbishley, Chris Jackson and captain Tom Kelly. The former led 4-3 after the first round, but the latter turned it round to win 11-6 after the second. A better wall for the Isotopes put the teams level on 13-each going into Missing Vowels, and they fared better on that too to win 22-17.

 

Brain of Britain returned this afternoon as I meantioned earlier; Jason Butler was the first winner of the series, winning with 12 points to the 9 of joint second placed Jude Child and Susannah Croft and the 4 of Akin Yilmaz.