University Challenge 2020-21: Qualification Quarter-Final 1: Magdalene vs Warwick

Good evening friends, and welcome to the qualifier matches of this year's UC! In a week when I've started the long task of researching the history of Fifteen to One, watching a whole load of old episodes on YouTube and logging the results; will get an online database set up later this week I hope. But, of course, the big quizzing news this week is that John Humphrys is stepping down from Mastermind at the end of the current series, and much speculation has since begun as to who'll replace him. More on that in due course, but, for now, on with Quizzy Mondays...

Magdalene College Cambridge defeated Univ. of Oxford in the first round, then Corpus Christi of Oxford in the second, and Birkbeck in an excellent preliminary match, seemingly improving with every game. Hoping to carry this on were the unchanged four of: 

James Byrne, from Welwyn Garden City, studying Maths

Adam Davies, from Wichita, Kansas, graduated in History

Captain: Daniel Lawson, from the Wirral, studying Medicine

Kerry Payne, from Little Weighton in East Yorkshire, studying Theology for Ministry

 

Warwick also defeated two Oxford teams, Wolfson and Merton, in the first two rounds, both by comfortabl margins, and then last week, they defeated Imperial in their preliminary match. Also hoping to continue in the same vein were the also unchanged four of: 

Richard Pollard, from Cheshire, studying History and Politics

George Braid, from Brighton, graduated in Physics

Captain: Andrew Rout, from Bearsted in Kent, studying Maths

Owen Burrell, from Lancaster, studying English Literature

 

So off we set once again, and Mr Davies was first off the mark identifying a list of things that make their wearer invisible; two bonuses on philosophy were taken. Mr Braid quickly took Warwick off the mark as well, and they went one better, a full set on the Avengers films. Magdalene then lost five, and Mr Burrell took the points, and the next starter as well, and the Coventry side took three of the resulting six bonuses. The first picture round, on lists of French prefixes and infinitives that can follow them, went to Magdalene; a single correct answer took the scores to 60-25.

Mr Braid re-established Warwick's buzzer advantage with 'Lulu' for the next starter, and they set their stall further out with a full set of bonuses. Another starter and sole bonus took Warwick into three figures, before another starter and full house put them within one starter of a 100 point lead already. Highlight of the show for me came next when I got 'Jump' before Mr Burrell did, giving Warwick that three figure lead. Magdalene got back into the match with the music round, on classical pieces that employ every key in the scale; one correct bonus cut the deficit to 145-45.

Mr Lawson then took a second starter in a row and the Cambridge side took a much needed full set of bonuses. Neither side got the next starter, Ms Payne took the next, and Magdalene took two bonuses from a tricky set on pairs of words whose final letters put together give a Greek letter. A third starter in a row to the Cambridge side took them into three figures, and another two bonuses put them well back in the game. Mr Rout arrested that momentum as he took the second picture starter; the bonuses, on Dresses of the Year and their designers, gave Warwick just one correct answer from what looked like an educated guess, taking their lead to 160-115.

The Warwick captain then took a second starter in a row, giving them a good old fashioned UC bonus set of different genre questions linked by the word 'Emperor', of which they took a full house. And when Mr Braid took 'Richard II' for the next starter, that was game over; just one bonus followed, but it didn't matter really now. Magdalene managed a late flourish, Mr Byrne taking two starters in a row and the side missing just one of the six bonuses. At the gong, Warwick won 200-160.

Another very good high quality contest between two strong teams, well played both. Congrats to Warwick, worthy semi-finalists and surely one of the favourites to win the series; best of luck in the semis! Well done Magdalene as well, who still gave a solid account of themselves and will surely be semi-finalists too if they keep playing like this; best of luck in the play-offs!

The stats: Mr Braid was the best buzzer of the night with four, while Mr Davies was best for Magdalene with three. On the bonuses Magdalene managed a solid 17 out of 24 (with the night's one penalty) and Warwick an also good 20 out of 30, and, for the second week in a row, all eight players contributed at least one correct starter.

Next week's match: the first eliminator match. I have been told by one of the participants who's playing, but I promised I wouldn't say yet. I think I can say, though, that the practice of pairing the teams based of their preliminary opponents will be broken for the first time...

Only Connect began its quarter finals with the obligatory avoidable rematch, with the Whodunnits and the Corkscrews playing each other again. The Whodunnits led 6-3 after the first round thanks to a three-pointer reminiscent of a couple of starters I remember from UC back in the day, but the Corkscrews pulled back in the second round to lead 7-6 going into the Walls. Two perfect walls made it 17-16, and the Whodunnits got the better of it to 26-20.

 

Mastermind was won comfortably by Maxim Hughes, who led after the specialist rounds, and increased that gap on General Knowledge, ending on 22 points, eight clear of the joint second placed contenders.

Fifteen to One: a show deserving of its own Wiki?

OK, so, if you've been following this blog for the entirety of its existence, you'll know that I used to review the finals of the revivial of Fifteen to One, back at a time when nobody else seemed to be doing so. Eventually, Weaver's Week started doing them as well, so I phased out of doing them, but I stuck with the revival afterwards, even though I stopped giving it attention on here.

 

In fact, I'm sad that Channel 4 appeared to have called time on it. I mean, sure, it was never going to hit the heights of the original with William G. Stewart, but still, it was good to have the show around in some form.

Which brings me to the main thread of this...

You see, in the same way that I found myself drawn back to Deal or No Deal last year following Weaver's Week's review of Noel Edmonds' life and career, I myself have found myself drawn back towards the original Fifteen to One in the past weeks after a number of episodes appeared on YouTube in quick succession.

One episode that came up was the third episode of the 30th series (the last one before the major set overhaul, won by Daphne Fowler), which WGS claimed to be episode number 1,850. And that goes against the transmissions list available on Wikipedia, which claims that episode 1,850 happened in the final week of the previous series.

Not only that, but a later episode from the same series uploaded by the same user is said by WGS to be episode 1,920, which suggests that this series thus has more episodes than the 70 Wikipedia claims. In contrast, we know for sure that Series 29 had 70 eps as WGS makes reference in the first episode of that series that we're at episode 1,778.

Now, I'm pretty sure that that list is, for the first 17 series at least, correct, given that we know the 1,000th episode came during Series 16, and the episode with the famous dropping the cards blooper was episode 1,016.

However, from Series 18 onwards, things get a bit more complicated, as the show moved from alternating with Countdown at 4:30 to being on alongside it at 4:00. And thus, like with Deal in its later years, often had to take days off for horse racing. The third episode of Series 18 demonstrates this, as does at least one other episode from the latter half of the show's run that I've come across.

Of course, it's quite possible that whoever put together that transmissions list on Wikipedia took the 2,265 episode count made by WGS in the final episode and gave an educated guess as to how long each series ran for. It would be good if we could work together to try and put together a more accurate list.

 

And then I had a thought that I had a while back, but which vanished for a while: what a shame it is that the show doesn't have a comprehensive wiki and record of every episode every made, in the same way that Countdown does. I suppose, in that sense, the show is the victim of having come off air by the time Wikis became a thing. Though, on the other hand, Robot Wars, which came off the air just after original Fifteen to One did, has a very thorough Wiki, of which I am a member.

I have thought long and hard a few times about setting one up and seeing if it catches on, and maybe now, when many of us have a lot more time on our hands than usual, would be a good time to do it. I'd require a great deal of assistance with it, though, so, if anyone reading this would be interested in this, do let me know either on here or on Twitter.

If we did create a Wiki, it would give us a chance to sort out some of the quibbles and mistakes with the information about the show we have.

Obviously, the quibbles over the precise running time of some series that I've gone on about here is one thing; another would be which episodes exactly go towards that final running total of 2,265. For example, does the Schools series that came between Series 25 and 26 count towards it? (Google says yes, Wikipedia says no)

And also the finals boards, at least three of which, available on both the defunct fansite accessible from UKGS's page about the show and here, at least three contains errors. The most notable being for Series 25, for which the boards on both sites list Dennis Collinson's score of 201 at No 15, when, in reality, that score was pushed off the board on the last show before the final.

So, I'm up for starting a Fifteen to One wiki, but it will require a great deal of hard work and research. If enough people express interest in participating in this, I shall go ahead and do it at some point in the coming weeks. So, if you are up for this, let me know below or on Twitter.

That's it for now, back on Monday with my usual write-ups; until then, sayonara.

University Challenge 2020-21: Preliminary Quarter-Final 4: Imperial vs Warwick

Good evening my friends, and welcome back to JOW! Where I'm in the early stages of planning a big and rather ambitious research project involving a certain other TV quiz show that I will require a great deal of assistance with, mainly on Twitter, but on here as well. I shall announce it later this week. I hope. On with today's UC now though, and the final preliminary match...

Imperial, the reigning champions of course, came through the repechage, losing their first match to fellow QFers Strathclyde, then narrowly beating Exeter 160-155 in the play-offs and comfortably beating St Andrews 180-90 in the second round. They were unchanged from those matches: 

Justin Wong, from Hong Kong, studying Maths

Katie Marrow, from the Peak District, studying Physics

Captain: Michael Kohn, from North London, studying Pure Maths

Imran Rahman, from Petaling Jaya in Malaysia, studying Theoretical Physics

 

Warwick took the direct route to the group phase via two very comfortable wins, both over Oxford colleges, firstly Wolfson 255-105 in the first round, and then Merton 190-90 in the second. They were also the same foursome as before: 

Richard Pollard, from Cheshire, studying History and Politics

George Braid, from Brighton, graduated in Physics

Captain: Andrew Rout, from Bearsted in Kent, studying Maths

Owen Burrell, from Lancaster, studying English Literature

 

So off we set once again, and Mr Braid opened the scoring with 'quarter'; the Coventry side firmly put their marker down with a full set of bonuses. Imperial were off the mark quickly too with Mr Rahman, and they also took a full bonus set on mathematician Paul Erdos, who, as I said before, Stephen Fry may have stolen a QI anecdote from! The two sides exchanged further blows with a starter and bonus each, though Imperial also lost five in the process. The London side did take the first picture round, on tri-points, which gave them a 50-40 lead.

Back came Warwick as Mr Rout identified President Hoover, giving his side a bonus set on flags which they took two correct answer of. Messrs Burrell and Rout took two further starters for Warwick, the latter of which saw Mr Rout visibly beat at least two Imperial players to the buzzer, but they didn't take any of the bonuses from either set. This brought us to the music starter, which Mr Kohn got after just a few notes; the bonuses, on classical pieces depicting Bacchanalia, gave the Londoners two bonuses, which cut the gap to 80-70.

Warwick duly reawoke with Mr Braid doing the honours, and their earlier bonus profligacy evaporated as they took a full set on spirals. Paxo seemed very impressed when Mr Burrell quickly identified the fennec fox for the next starter, and they backed it up with a second full set in a row. Mr Pollard then ensured all four Warwickers have contributed to the game; just one bonus followed this time, but when Mr Braid took the next starter and all three bonuses followed, they had a 100 point lead and had one foot in the qualifiers. And when Mr Rout took the second picture starter, that was game over; the bonuses, on portraits by Berenice Abbott, gave them no further points, but they now led 180-70.

Mr Wong did the right thing and had an early punt on the next starter, but only lost five; Mr Rout took the points and another full house took the Coventry side past 200. Mr Kohn finally got a quick buzz in to get his side going again, and they took one bonus on Chinese history. Another starter to the Imperial captain and two bonuses deservedly took the Londoners into three figures, before Ms Marrow ensured all eight players had a correct starter to their name for the first time this year. At the gong, Warwick won 200-120.

Another good contest between two solid teams, well played both. Well done Warwick on another strong performance, one that keeps them marked down as one of the series favourites, and to Imperial too on another good showing; best of luck to both teams in your next matches!

The stats: Messrs Braid, Rout and Kohn were joint best buzzers of the night with four each. On the bonuses, Imperial converted 12 out of 21 (with two penalties) and Warwick 19 out of 33 (with one penalty), and, as I said earlier, all eight players contributed at least one correct starter, for the first time since the Balliol-Clare match back in August!

Next week's match: the first qualifier. Don't know who's playing, but I would guess Magdalene and either Balliol or Durham.

Only Connect concluded its first round phase with the final play-off, between the Polyhymnians and the Severns. The teams were tied on 3-all after the first round, before the Severns pulled into a 10-6 lead after the second. A better wall then allowed the Polyhymnians to take a 16-14 into the final round, before a very choppy changey Missing Vowels saw the Severns pull back again and win 18-17.

 

Mastermind was won by Peter Timms, whose winning score of 20 was comfortably clear of the two contenders in joint second with 14, one of whom fell into an unlucky spiral in the general knowledge round and never recovered.

University Challenge 2020-21: Preliminary Quarter-Final 3: Strathclyde vs Durham

Greetings friends, and welcome back to University Challenge. This was evidently the first one back after a recording break, as Paxo had his smart haircut from the Xmas specials back! Tonight, a fixture I've blogged about twice before, both those matches ending up pretty one sided; on paper, this shouldn't have been, but paper isn't all that reliable when it comes to UC...

Strathclyde came through two close matches to get here, firstly beating fellow quarter-finalists Imperial 190-155 in the first round, and then Manchester 135-100 in a lower scoring second match. They were the same four as before: 

Cameron Welsh, from Glasgow, graduated in Applied Statistics

David Curran, from Glasgow, studying Civil Engineering

Captain: James Whittle, from Glasgow, studying Power Systems Engineering

Tom Starr-Marshall, from Colindale in London, studying Speech and Language Therapy

 

Durham comfortably won their first match against Leicester 180-125, before a strong second match against Edinburgh saw them just win out 165-145. They were also unchanged from those two prior matches: 

Harry Regan, from Sevenoaks, studying Liberal Arts

Tom Banbury, from Shipston-on-Stour in Warwickshire, studying History

Captain: Holly Parkinson, from Brighton, studying Physics

Thomas Wilkening, from Ramsgate, studying Biology

 

So off we set once again, and Mr Banbury opened the scoring for the night with 'Stonehenge', and the Wearsiders secured a full set of bonuses on French words used in English. Mr Wilkening took the second starter which was, appropriately for Burns Night, 'Macbeth' (ARGH! Hot potato, Oxford shores, Puck will make amends!); their luck on the bonuses changed though, as they missed all three, Ms Parkinson mishearing 'the Jarrow march' and 'the January march'. Another starter and dropped bonus set was followed by Mr Welsh taking Strathclyde off the mark, and they took two from their first set. The first picture round, on American cities with just one major sports team, went to Durham; one correct bonus gave them a lead of 65-20.

That lead shrunk when Mr Starr-Marshall correctly answered a starter I'll certainly be using in my next lockdown quiz for my relatives! The Scots side, again, took two bonuses, another on pairs of similar surnames. Back came Durham with a starter and sole bonus on corvine birds, before Ms Parkinson made sure all three Durhamites had contributed a correct starter; a full set of bonuses took them into three figures. Neither side identified Schumann for the music starter (I did, though it was an educated guess!); the bonuses, on pieces for piano and string quartet, gave Durham two correct answers and their lead to 125-40

Another starter and pair of bonuses took the Wearsiders' lead into three figures, but only briefly as Mr Whittle finally got his side moving again, though they got nothing from a bonus set on the city of Ripon. And when Mr Banbury restored Durham's three figure lead with the next starter, that was game over; just one bonus on novels with alliterative names followed, though they were unfortunate to dredge up Nicholas Nickleby a split second too late. The second picture round, on paintings depicting card games, went to Strathclyde; one bonus took the scores to 160-65.

Strathclyde pulled back to respectability in the final straight, Mr Starr-Marshall giving them a second starter in a row, and one bonus on organic chemistry followed. Mr Whittle gave them a third in a row, and one correct bonus put them within one starter of three figures. Another starter to the Strathclyde captain did just that, and two bonuses on Pluto were taken. And that was the gong, Durham won 155-115.

A good contest between two good and pleasant teams, good on both for clapping each other at the gong. Durham were worthy winners, but Strathclyde deserved to recover in the final minutes; well done both, and best of luck in your next matches!

The stats: Mr Banbury was the best buzzer of the night with four starters, while Mr Whittle was best for Strathclyde with three. On the bonuses, Strathclyde managed 9 out of 21 and Durham 14 out of 27 (with the night's one penalty).

Next week's match: Imperial vs Warwick, presumably

Only Connect continued with its penultimate play-off match, between the Barons and the Colleagues. The former led 4-3 after the first round and 8-7 after the second. A better wall allowed the Barons to open up an 18-14 lead, and they maintained it in Missing Vowels to win 25-20.

 

Mastermind, meanwhile, was won by Alison Lyndon-Parker, who just pipped second place Sam Stalkartt-Yarwood by a single point. Ti Maja-Roebuck, who was on OC last series, and Stephen Fuller, who I believe has been on other shows before, also took part.