The Third Degree: Week 5: Bath Spa

Well, here we go again with the Third Degree. This week, coming from Bath Spa University, which was became a university in 2005, and, in contrast to Bath University, seems to have a focus on the arts, rather than maths and science. It has yet to send a team to University Challenge, but we may well see them on it soon.

Playing for the Students were:
Daniel Tappel, studying Creative Music Technology
Tilda Holt, studying Creative Writing
Peter Bridge, studying Geography

And playing for the Dons were:
Martin DuPra (Creative Music Technology)
Celia Brayfield (Creative Writing)
Mark McGuinness (Geography)

And so off we set. As usual, we began with questions alternating between the teams. And straight away, we got a complicated maths question for the Dons. An interesting question followed about the origins of the Post-It note. Later, another complicated question involving three phrases differing by the addition of two or more letters at the start. At the end of the round, the Dons led 8-7.

Specialist round no. 1 next, on Creative Music Technology. And then on to the lists round. The Dons were answering on 'Individual Team GB Gold Medalists in the 2012 Games', which they struggled on, only managing three. The students were given 'Countries who's names contain a Z', a somewhat easier subject, which they managed seven on. The gap was now back to a single point, the Dons leading 15-14.

It was all still to play for, as we went into the next specialist round, on Creative Writing. Highbrow-Lowbrow next, which is always good fun, and could be a good idea for a show in it's own right. This week, only five  participants were allowed a choice of questions (the sixth may have been cut for time); two of them opted to go for the two-points option. One of the lowbrow questions asked how to spell Dannii Minogue, which was narrowly missed out on by forgetting the double I. Another entailed how a cricketer got into trouble for using a metal bat, and how the rules were subsequently updated so that the bats had to be wooden.

At this point, the Dons were ahead by 21-17. Still very much up for grabs, going into the final specialist round. On to the final quickfire buzzer round, and Francis Walsingham came up as one of the answers, in a coincidental repeat answer from Monday's UC (the sort of thing Weaver's Week used to pick up on). The final score was a very narrow win for the Dons by 24-22. A slightly lower scoring game than some we've seen this series, but a good showing by both teams.

Tune in next week for the final show of the series. And then, the week after sees the return of Counterpoint.