Quizzy Mondays 2024-25 Week 6: University Challenge R1M6, Only Connect R1M6, Mastermind Heat 4

Good evening again my friends, and welcome back to another Quizzy Monday! And a very high quality one indeed we have tonight! Finally a full line-up again with Mastermind back as well. It's a shame the Radio 4 PTB decided to move Brain of Britain to Sundays so we won't have a full round again, but at least we have Sounds to fix that little problemo. On with tonight's pretty explosive events...

 

Beginning with UC as ever, and two of the most successful institutions in the show's history. Firstly, reigning champions Imperial, whose title win last series was their fifth, a new record for the series; their previous four came in 1995-96, 2000-01, 2019-20 and 2021-22 (more on that later). Big things no doubt expected, therefore, of this year's team; they were:

Charlotte Stokes, from Chester, studying Applied Genomics

Mattia Elkouby, from South London, studying Chemistry

Captain: Matthew Spry, from Gateshead, studying Electrochemistry

Jaime Salamanca Camacho, from Madrid, studying Quantum Fields and Fundamental Forces

Manchester is now the joint second most successful, winning three titles and being retroactively awarded a fourth within a ten year period that saw them reach at least the semis in all nine series they partook in. After that, though, they didn't reach the semis again until last series. This year's line-up comprised of:

Adam Dodd, from Exeter, studying Medicine

Millie Sutherland, from Brasted in Kent, studying Philosophy and Political Theory

Captain: Joel Crossley, from Chester, studying Physics

Nathan Easow, from Chelmsford, studying Medicine

Imperial immediately picked up where their predecessors left off last series, taking the first three starters of the game and every bonus bar one to immediately pull into a strong lead. Manchester were restricted to a penalty, but did eventually get some points on the board proper with the first picture round, a full set on which took the scores to 70-20. But another penalty allowed Imperial to quickly take the initiative back, and they never looked back; starter after starter and the vast majority of bonuses, and their lead was soon already in three figures. After the music round, the lead stood at 175-15.

Manchester did manage to get a couple more starters and a solid haul of bonuses, but this run was halted by a forgivable penalty, which handed Imperial back possession. After the second picture round, the gap stood at 240-50. It was now just a question of how high both teams could get; Manchester did get another starter, but just one bonus followed, and their hopes of a late play-off charge were dashed as Imperial went on a strong late run of their own, which saw them reach and break 300. At the gong, Imperial won 310-75.

Another forebodingly brilliant first performance from Imperial; carry on like that and they'll be finalists at least again! For now, though, best of luck in the second round! Bad luck to Manchester to come up against that; they'd have beaten another team on the evidence of what they managed. Thanks very much for playing though!

The stats: Messrs Spyr and Salamanca Camacho were joint best buzzers of the night with six starters each, while Mr Crossley was best for Manchester with three. On the bonuses, Imperial managed an amazing 32 out of 45(!) and Manchester an also pretty good 8 out of 13 (with three forgivable penalties).

Next week's match: Reading vs Exeter

Only Connect featured a pretty strong line-up indeed tonight, as we met the Bloomsbury Group, Michael Hutchinson (UC runner-up captain with Reading three series ago and a strong player on UK Jeopardy earlier this year), Michael Kohn (UC semi-finalist captain with Imperial a year prior) and captain Fatima Sheriff (part of the Imperial team that beat Mr Hutchinson’s Reading to win that series), and the Tea Totallers, Eleanor Ayres (Mastermind and Brain of Britain finalist and big winner on revived WWTBAM), Rob Sassoon and captain Matt Taylor.

 

The former led 6-5 after a very high quality first round which saw some very complex questions worked out by both teams; I got the Catchphrase question at the same time as the Totallers did in the second round, but that was nothing compared to the two teams, who managed to get all six questions for three points, a truly spectacular achievement, after which the BG led by a record after R2 aggregate of 15-14!

 

The high quality continued as the Totallers easily solved their wall for a full ten in pretty quick order; the BG took rather longer, solving everything with just seconds to go, but the result was the same, so, as you were, 25-24 going into Missing Vowels. The BG fared better on a pretty tough and lower scoring round (“Finally foxed you!”) to win a superb contest 29-26. The show certainly lived up to the expectations I had when I saw the two line-ups though; very well done indeed both teams and best of luck next time!

 

Next week’s match: Third Agers vs Introverts

 

Mastermind returned from its break tonight. James Waller resumed the series with the films of Martin Scorsese, doing well to score 7 on a pretty broad category. Tom Clarke followed him into the chair, answering on singer-songwriter Phil Ochs, and matched James’ score, another 7. Michelle Miller was next, answering on costume designer Edith Head, but fell short of matching the previous score, 6 her total. Finally, Lizzie Hancock gave us the best score of the round, scoring 10 on Mary I, putting her in pole position for GK.

 

So Michelle returned for GK first, and gave a very good effort indeed, scoring 12 to take her total to 18 and set a solid benchmark for the others. James did better though; despite a few pauses, he scored a good 13 to take his score to 20. Tom’s round never got going for him sadly; he could only manage 6, giving him a final score of 13. Lizzie thus needed 11 to win the game, but she fell agonisingly just short; 9 points gave her a final score of 19.

 

So James goes through to the semis; well done him, and thanks all for a close contest!

 

Brain of Britain was also a pretty formidable line-up yesterday, and, for the second week in a row, ended in a dead heat, with Helen Lippell (another Mastermind finalist and OC alumnus) and Shanine Salmon (a recent contestant on Counterpoint) both finishing on 13 points! Shanine won the resulting tie-breaker to ensure passage to the SFs, though Helen’s score stands her a fine chance of going through too. UC and OC runner-up Dennis (using his mononym like he did on the latter as opposed to his full name on the former) wasn’t far behind on 11, which sadly won’t be enough for a HSNW slot probably; Mark Robotham, a former Mastermind semi-finalist) completed the line-up with 8.

 

And that's this week's action done, and what a week it was! Even with the later stages of these fine shows to come, it's going to have to go to some distance to top the quality on display today, on UC and OC especially! Anyway, thanks as ever for reading, and see yous again same time same place next week...

Quizzy Mondays 2024-25 Week 5: University Challenge R1M5, Only Connect R1M5

Good evening again my friends, and welcome to Week 5 of Quizzy Mondays! The second of two weeks with no Mastermind, though at least this week, there was actual cricket to justify it not being on. Back to normal next week I believe, thankfully, meaning we'll finally have a full house of four quizzes to cover! On with the quizzes that were on this week, with some familiar faces (and voices) returning later on...

 

Starting, as ever, with UC though, and the first Oxbridge derby of the series. St Catharine's College Cambridge, firstly, who only appeared four times during the chairmanship of their alumnus Paxo, of which their best performance was reaching the QFs in the 2015-16 series. They were represented by:

Jay Sardesai, from Cambridge, studying Physical Natural Sciences

Malhaar Moharir, from Toronto, studying Politics and International Studies

Captain: Nina Jarvis, from North Norfolk, studying Biological Natural Sciences

Larabella Myers, from Milan and South East London, studying Technology Policy 

 

Wadham College Oxford have appeared in one more previous series of the BBC than their opponents, of which the best showing was, also, the QFs, this time in 2006-07 where they were unlucky to draw and lose to eventual runners-up Manchester. Their line-up consisted of:

Aarav Billore, from San Jose, studying Economics and Management

Arthur Bellamy, from Brentwood, studying English

Captain: Johnny Worden, from Cambridge, studying Maths and Theoretical Physics

Anjali Cheung, from North West London, studying Experimental Psychology

Wadham took the first three starters of the night, though only three of the resulting bonuses, and I thought AR was most harsh to disallow one of their answers; I suspect his predecessor would've accepted it. They also took the first picture round, after which they led 65-0. St Catharine's came back well in the second phase though, getting three starters in a row to draw back within 10 points. Wadham took the music round though, increasing their lead to 90-55.

Lots of penalties in the third phase, which St Catharine's had slightly the better of to pull back within ten points. Again, though, Wadham took the second picture round, which increased their advantage to 110-80. St Catharine's pulled back within ten with a starter and two bonuses, but Wadham then took two in a row, and the bonuses finally fell nicely for them, two full sets, and that was game over. St Catharine's did take a full house of their own, but that was as far as they could get. At the gong, Wadham won 180-120.

 

A lower scoring match than previous this series, but still a watchable one with two pleasant teams, thanks to both for playing. Wadham probably deserved winners in the end; well done them and best of luck in the next round. St Catharine's did perfectly respectably well though; sadly I don't think they'll be coming back, but thanks for playing!

 

The stats: Mr Billore was the best buzzer of the night with six starters, while Mr Moharir was best for St Catharine's with four. On the bonuses, St Catharine's managed 13 out of 21 (with three penalties) and Wadham 16 out of 31 (with two penalties).

 

Next week's match: Imperial vs Manchester

 

Only Connect was contested by Too Many Cookes, Charlie, Benedict and captain Jonathan Cooke, and the Pipe-Dreamers, Lucy Westall (formerly a Mastermind semi-finalist), Leonie Mercedes and captain James Devine-Stoneman (former UC winning captain who I’ve been name-checking on the blog quite a bit lately!).

 

I claim the girls’ names invented by writers question in the first round, after which the Cookes led 5-4. I also got the ‘four things that rhyme with four’ for two points, and FIVE POINTS(!) on the World Cup debutants question, neither of which the teams came close to getting; the Cookes had extended their lead to 9-4 afterwards.

 

The Dreamers got back on track with a full house on their Wall; their opponents did so too, so it was as you were, 19-14 going into Missing Vowels. The Cookes increased their advantage with some very impressive workings-out in that though; 27-20 the final score. Well done to both teams, and best of luck next time!

 

Next week’s match: Bloomsbury Group vs Tea Totallers

 

Yesterday’s Brain of Britain was a very good contest indeed, with Anthony Fish (formerly a Mastermind finalist among many other previous quiz outings) and Caroline Latham both finishing on 16 points! Mr Fish won the resulting tie-break to definitely go through, though Ms Latham’s score will surely bring her back too as a high scoring non-winner. OC winning captain Andrew Fanko came third with 12, which also stands a very good chance of a HSNW spot; Sarah Merry completed the line-up with 7.

 

And that's another week in the bag; thanks as ever for reading. Back to normal service next week with Mastermind returning; see you then for the usual summarisation...

Quizzy Mondays 2024-25 Week 4: University Challenge R1M4, Only Connect R1M4

Hello my friends, and welcome back to JOW for Week 4 of Quizzy Mondays! Althought somewhat shorter than usual this week and next, with Mastermind taken off air for, well, it was supposed to be cricket highlights this week, but that seems to have fallen through and we got Celebrity Antiques Roadtrip with Jeff Stelling and Chris Kamara instead! The two big hitters of the block were still on though, as was Brain of Britain yesterday as well, so still plenty to talk about; let's do this...

We start as ever with UC, which was, as I already mentioned in my Sliding Doors post, a rematch of an infamous second round match from the 2006-07 series. Firstly, we had Warwick, who've had many strong teams over the years, including the winners of that series and 2020-21, but many have unluckily been knocked out in the second round, including, as AR and Mr Banerjee of the Trinity team that beat them have both pointed out, last year's quartet. This year's team comprised of:

Ananya Govindarajan, from Edgware in London, studying Engineering

Thomas Hart, from Miskin in South Wales, studying Maths

Captain: Oscar Siddle, from Islington, studying Maths

Benjamin Watson, from Amersham, studying PPE

UEA, as it now seems to favour being announced as rather than 'East Anglia' as before, are appearing in a fifth BBC series, of which all of the previous four bar one, including the afore-mentioned 06-07 team and last's year's team, have all gone out in the second round (last year's, fittingly, the week after Warwick went out!). This year's line-up consisted of:

Nik Willis, from Lichfield, studying Medicine

Marlowe North, from Dublin, studying History

Captain: Soumyajit Saha, from Kolkata, studying Medicine

Ciaran Shaffrey, from Reading, studying Environmental Science

Warwick started stronger with the first three starters, with two full sets of bonuses and one dropped completely set; UEA didn't get going until the first picture round, but took a full house on that, taking the scores to 60-25. The two teams then alternated starters for the second phase of play, but Warwick fared better with the bonuses to maintain a steady lead. They also took the music round, with Mr Hart impressively getting the starter very quickly; two bonuses took their lead to 125-55.

 

UEA had an unlucky miss as Mr North unluckily offered the title of a novel, Mansfield Park, instead of the sought-after character Fanny Price; let off the hook, Warwick proceded to take two starters and all bar one bonus to increase their lead. UEA did have a good little run then though, with three starters including the second picture round, after which they trailed 185-115. Warwick then turned on the afterburners however and raced further away in the final straight and were out of sight by the time UEA next scored. At the gong, Warwick won 275-125.

Impressive stuff from Warwick, Mr Hart especially; they'll be hoping not to suffer another unlucky early second round exit, best of luck to them there! Hard lines to UEA, who probably won't be back in the play-offs, but they gave a very fair account of themselves indeed and can be satisfied to have done pretty well against such a good opposition; thanks for playing!

The stats: Mr Hart was easily the best buzzer of the night with NINE(!) starters, while Mr Shaffrey was best for UEA with three. On the bonuses, Warwick managed a pretty good 27 out of 40 and UEA 11 out of 21.

Next week's match: St Catharine's Cambridge vs Wadham Oxford

Only Connect’s fourth heat was contested by the Harmonics, Lisa Karlin Curtis, Alice Young and captain Zahava Rosenthal, and the Cat Cows, Iona Twaddell, Molly Glaze and captain Max McGenity.

 

I’m claiming points on the ‘spoken in unison’, ‘anapoditon’ and tattoo questions in the first round, after which the teams were tied on 3-each. I also half-got the Harder Better Faster Stronger question in Round 2 (I worked it out but not the exact answer); the Harmonics led 9-6 at the end of that.

 

The Cows then struggled a bit with their wall, only taking four points; the Harmonics did better, getting all the groups, but only two connections, for six points, meaning they led 15-10 going into Missing Vowels. But the Cows fared very much better on that with a superb showing on the first two categories especially, and turned it around to win 19-17! Another good contest though, well done both teams, and best of luck next time!

 

Next week’s match: Too Many Cookes vs Pipe-dreamers

 

Brain of Britain began in earnest yesterday afternoon (although, yeah, I waited until this afternoon to actually listen to it!) with its first heat of the new series. Heather Smith was the first winner, winning a closely fought contest with 10 points, one ahead of Richard Aubrey (OC winning captain) with 9 points, which probably won’t be enough for a high-scoring non-winner slot sadly; Sophie Williamson and Brendan Curtis (another OC alumnus IIRC) also competed, and finished not far behind with 8 and 7 respectively.

 

Interesting at the start that Russell Davies acknowledged how frustrating the show’s format can be, how a good player can be undone by a tricky question early in their turn; as I said last week, a few folks have raised similar objections about the format before. I may go into this in greater depth at some point.

For now, though, another week is in the bag; thanks once again for reading, and I'll see yous again next week...