University Challenge: Repechage Play-Off 2: Homerton vs King's

Well, after last week’s shock result, it’s fair to say neither outcome would be a shock tonight, as the two teams were very even in terms of performance.

Homerton College Cambridge were soundly defeated by New College Oxford in their first match against New College Oxford, losing by 85 points, but still managed a decent 145. Their unchanged team comprised:

Jack Hooper, from Althrincham in Cheshire, studying Natural Sciences

Michael Angland, from Cork, studying Arabic and Spanish

Captain: Luke Fitzgerald, from Hadley in Suffolk, studying History

Drew Miley, from Durham, studying Maths

King’s College Cambridge also scored 145 in their first round match, and lost to St George’s College London by a smaller margin of just 30 points. Their team was also unchanged:

Curtis Gallant, from North London, studying Classics
Amber Ace, from Perthshire, studying Classics
Captain: Fran Middleton, from Chorleywood in Hertfordshire, studying Classics
James Gratrex, from Leeds, studying Physics

Given that Mr Gratrex has been kind enough to post on here and on LAM regularly, King’s had my support tonight. But statistically, despite scoring the same score in their first matches, neither side were favourites. I mean, yes, King’s lost by a much smaller margin, but Homerton scored their points against a team strong enough to score 230 points. So that evens things out.

Honours were even to start with, with the first four starters being split evenly between the two teams, resulting in it quickly being 35 each. The sides remained level until King’s began a sprint which saw them pull away to 100-45.

Homerton got going again at the music round, and began to claw back the deficit. There was much hilarity when the teams suggested that Chelmsford and St Albans were in Denbighshire (dread to think what my Dad, who once lived in North Wales would make of that!).

By the second picture round, Homerton had reduced the gap to nothing, and it was 100 all. The second picture round, on Raphael’s fresco of the School of Athens, saw King’s pull away again. As Paxo remarked, this was where having three classicists on your team came in useful! But a great interruption from Jack Hooper saw Homerton pull level again. Two more starters went to Homerton, but no bonuses went with them.

Homerton were now 20 points ahead, but King’s weren’t finished just yet, and, with four minutes to go, switched into gear, and began a surge on the buzzer. Mr Angland tried to buzz his team back into the match, but miscued, and allowed James [Gratrex] to pull King’s further ahead. Amidst this final flurry, Miss Middleton forgot James’ name, and spluttered ‘nominate… him’ instead of ‘nominate Gratrex’! Though Homerton did manage one more starter, the match was now won. At the gong, King’s won by 205-160.

Great match to watch, with both teams performing finely, and it’s a shame that one must lose. Jack Hooper was Homerton’s best scorer with four starters; his side answered 13 bonuses out of 30 with one penalty. Amber Ace’s six starters were best for King’s, who managed 17 bonuses out of 36. All eight players got at least one starter correct, which just adds to how enjoyable this one was.

Next week: the second round kicks off with Pembroke vs Bath.

Only Connect took a break from the current series tonight for the annual Children in Need special. Naturally, as a Pointless fan, I was supporting Richard Osman’s team, and found it interesting to see him in a different environment to his usual role as the know-it-all who explains the answers. His team won a closely fought match.

Deal or No Deal - 5th-10th November

Oh dear. What a week it’s been. Nothing seems to have gone right this week, for several different reasons.

Monday 5th: Smithy

Winnings: £9,000

Dealt at: 11-box

Highest offer: £66,000 (2-box)

Box value: £250,000

Smithy was certainly a memorable character on the wings, but his game seemed to descend into silliness. When he did focus on the game, he surprised many with a rather cautious 11-box deal. Which was rather unfairly punished by the £250,000 being in the box. Still, at least Smithy was able to handle selling the £250,000 well; in fact, he did it better than some players who’ve won over three times what he won!

Tuesday 6th: Mick

Winnings: £1,000

Opened the box

Highest offer: £4,400 (8-box)

Box value: £1,000

When you’re biggest offer if a lowly £4,400, you know you’ve had a poor game in terms of luck. Of course, it would’ve been nice if he’d dealt there for a Banker spanking, but such a low stakes gamble was well worth the punt. Shame the game fell apart, but at least he got a consolation £1,000 from the box. Considering the game beforehand, to win a four-figure sum is a result in itself.

Wednesday 7th: Betty

Winnings: £20,000

Dealt at: 5-box

Highest offer: £78,000 (2-box)

Box value: £250,000

Another selling of the jackpot, but from a much more reasonable deal than Smithy’s. In fact, with just the £250,000 higher, it was a very sensible decision. Just unlucky that the £250,000 was in the box really. An enjoyable game though.

Thursday 8th: Mev

Winnings: 1p

Opened the box

Highest offer: £13,000 (17-box)

Box value: 1p

Mev made it clear early on that ‘what will be will be’, which suggested he was going all the way. Some says it’s typical that, after two £250,000 sellings in the games prior, we finally get a determined player, and he wins 1p. It’s unfortunate, yes, but Mev was able to handle it well. That said, he did seem a bit rattled when the Banker didn’t give him a final offer due to not thinking he could buy him, and simply offering the swap. Like Betty’s, an enjoyable game despite the outcome.

Friday 9th: Carrie

Winnings: £5

Opened the box

Highest offer: £8,517 (11-box)

Box value: £5

A second consecutive blue win. However, while Mev got a couple of decent offers worthy of considering, Carrie was pretty much forced to the end by terrible luck. Terribly unfortunate. However the Banker later gave her a present for her son, an aspergers syndrome sufferer and huge fan of the show, which was a miniature box replica.

Saturday 10th: Win

Winnings: £30,000

Dealt at: 8-box

Highest offer: £90,000 (2-box)

Box value: £250,000

No idea why the weekend game was on Saturday this week, not to mention at 12:55pm (it’s on Saturday again next weekend, at an even earlier 12:40pm).

Win was a memorable player, at 91 years of age, and very pleasant to watch. Her board was one of the strongest for a while, and, though her deal at £30,000 may have been cautious with four of the Power 5 left, it was perfectly reasonable for her. The £250,000 may have been sold for the third time this week, but Win didn’t seem bothered at all. And who would be if you had £30,000 consolation?

Overall, an unfortunate week for the show. Once again, we can only hope for better things to come next week.

R.I.P. Clive Dunn (1920-2012)

I have just found out that Clive Dunn, the actor famous for playing Lance Corporal Jack Jones in Dad's Army, has passed away.

Unlike most of the Dad's Army cast, Dunn was not actually that old when the series was made; he was just made up to resemble an old chap.

Unlike Jones, who loved war, Dunn was not such a fan, as he had been a Prisoner of War during the Second World War.

After Dad's Army, Dunn starred in the children's show Grandad, and also released a single of the same name.

His passing is such sad news indeed. My condolences to his family.

University Challenge: Repechage Play-Off 1: Lincoln vs Lancaster

So, we move on to the repechage play-offs. The first is always interesting, as it’s the first time we see a team a second time, so we can start to draw comparisons between matches, as well as comparisons between previous performances. So, moving on…

Lincoln College Oxford looked certain to defeat Manchester in their first match, but victory was snatched away in, literally, the final half second before the gong, seeing them lose 180-175. Even so, their score was the highest losing score of the first round, so they were clear favourites tonight. The unchanged team comprised:

Victor Jones, from South Africa, studying Plant Sciences

Michael Hopkins, from Haywards Heath in West Sussex, studying Biochemistry

Captain: Jackie Thompson, from Orange County, California, studing Experimental Psychology

Hugh Reid, from Winchester, studying History

Lancaster were more comprehensively defeated by Pembroke College Cambridge, losing 200-140 in one of the many steady but not spectacular first round matches we saw this year. Their team were also unchanged:

Alan Webster, from Preston, studying Resource and Environmental Management

Anne Kretzschmar, from Chesterfield, studying Environmental Modelling

Captain: George Pinkerton, from Surrey, studying History, Philosophy and Politics

Ian Dickson, from Stirling, studying Ecology and the Environment

So, on paper, Lincoln had the clear advantage over Lancaster, and looked clear favourites. But, that was the first round, this is the repechage. Previous stats mean nothing, as we found out.

Lancaster quickly got the first starter, Lincoln the second. Throughout the first half, the sides generally swapped starters, and, while Lincoln kept the opposition close, Lancaster managed, for the most part, to retain the lead. The shock was on.

While Lancaster stayed out in front, they never really managed to pull out to a meaningful lead. If Lincoln could get back on the buzzers like they did against Manchester, they could easily turn things around. The music round was on very obscure Elvis songs, and, unsurprisingly, Lancaster didn’t get any of them (not even Danny Boy, which Paxo seemed very annoyed they didn’t get!). But they still led 95-70.

Lincoln were buzzing in, but they didn’t really seem to have the power they did in the first round. Maybe that last half-second defeat took the wind out of their sails. By the second picture round, Lancaster led 140-100.

With all due respect to a very good Lincoln team, throughout the final phase of player, I was hoping Lancaster would hold on to the lead, and pull off the shock. Michael Hopkins, Lincoln’s best player in the first round, immediately buzzed in for the next starter, and pulled Lincoln back into the game. Now, could they get a few more starters to take the win? They couldn’t, but Lancaster could. In the final minutes, Lancaster got a couple more starters, and, although Mr Webster miscued on one, Lincoln were unable to pick up the points. At the gong, the shock was complete: Lancaster had won 165-120.

Definitely the first shock of the series (and we’ll likely have more to come). On paper, Lincoln were hot favourites, but Lancaster gave a good fight, and deserve the win. Alan Webster and George Pinkerton got four starters each, but just 12 bonuses out of 32 (with one late penalty) will have to be improved on in the second round. Jackie Thompson got four starters for Lincoln, who managed 10 out of 21. They’re very unlucky to go out this early, especially given the circumstances of their first round defeat.

Next week’s match: a Cambridge derby between Homerton College and King’s College (with LAM and OW reader James Gratrex)

As for Only Connect, another trouncing tonight, I’m afraid. Two good teams, but one was just better than the other by some distance. And that’s how these things go sometimes.

Deal or No Deal - 29th October - 4th November (Show Me The Mummy)

So, it’s been Halloween week on Deal or No Deal. If the players got the 5-box, a game of skill known as ‘Show Me The Mummy’ was played, in which they would try to knock the head off of a model mummy with brain balls. They would get three shots. They had two choices of where they could stand: the ‘Minor Feet’, a reasonable distance from the mummy, or the ‘Major Feet’, which were further away. Hitting the mummy’s head when standing at the ‘Minor Feet’ would win the player a holiday, with no penalty for missing; hitting it from the ‘Major Feet’ would get a holiday and the final round would be played one box at a time, but missing would result in the Banker being allowed to look in the player’s box.

Got all that?

Monday 29th: Versila

Winnings: £13,000

Dealt at: 8-box

Highest offer: £13,000 (8-box)

Box value: £35,000

So, like Banker’s Birthday week earlier this year, the first show of the week did not see the twist played out. At first, it looked like Versila had done the right thing in dealing before the twist, but she was denied a Banker spanking when £35,000 was revealed in the box.

Tuesday 30th: Richie

Winnings: £50

Opened the box

Highest offer: £13,500 (11-box)

Box value: 1p (swapped for £50)

Richie was a great board reader on the wings, and was likely to give the Banker a good fight. But, unfortunately, the boxes just weren’t kind to him. At least the twist, which he played from the Minor Feet, got him a decent consolation prize of a holiday to Barcelona.

Wednesday 31st: Emma

Winnings: £26,000

Dealt at: 5-box

Highest offer: £81,000 (2-box)

Box value: £250,000

So, on DoND’s official seventh birthday, we had a pretty tense game. Emma did manage to keep the entire Power 5 in play quite far into the game, but, by 5-box, she had been reduced to £50,000 and the £250,000. She might have failed the twist (from the Minor feet, so no penalty), but she still got a decent £26,000 offer, which she sensibly dealt, but, once again, a reasonable deal was made to look bad by the jackpot being in the box.

Thursday 1st: Sam

Winnings: £7,000

Dealt at: 2-box

Highest offer: £8,500 (17-box)

Box value: £500

This may not have been terribly spectacular, but it was still a good result considering the game appeared to be falling apart after the opening round. And Sam did succeed at the twist from the Minor Feet, which won him a holiday to Egypt. A decent result on an offer arguable either way on a final two of £500 and £20,000.

Friday 2nd: Mahmoud

Winnings: £30,000

Dealt at: 4-box extra offer

Highest offer: £50,000 (3-box extra offer)

Box value: £100,000

Definitely an exciting game, with multiple tough calls. Mahmoud succeeded the twist from the Major Feet, which got him a holiday to Spain, and also extra offers in the final round. With three of the Power 5 (£35,000, £75,000 and £100,000), it was worth a punt. His decision to deal at 4-box was perhaps cautious, but perhaps the right thing for him to do. He may have had £100,000 in his box, but he didn’t seem terribly bothered, and who would if you had £30,000 consolation?

Sunday 4th: Laura

Winnings: £25,000

Dealt at: 5-box

Highest offer: £30,000 (2-box)

Box value: £50,000

Another tense game, with tough calls from 8-box, which got even more interesting when Laura failed the twist from the Major Feet, which saw the Banker claim he’d seen the £250,000 in her box. It may have been a low offer, but perfectly acceptable given the £250,000 and the £50,000 were exposed.

So, not a terribly bad week; there may have been four Power 5 undersellings, but there was plenty of tension, and some very interesting decisions. Not a bad week; yes, kinda disappointing given what could’ve been won, but then, if everyone opened their box, the show would be really boring and predictable, and wouldn’t still be on after seven years. We need different players with different gameplay tactics to make the show what it is.