Evening all. After the divided response to Watergate-gate last week, I've had an idea for a new feature of this blog: if something contentious that has the potential to split the online fandom, I'll set up a new thread on here giving my views on the issue, and allowing others to air and debate their's. Nothing worth doing that for next week, but if anyone has any requests, do let me know. On with the show, and the penalty for losing tonight would be elimination from the contest.
Oxford Brookes defeated Jesus College Oxford in the first round and U.C.L. in the second, but found St Peter's to be too much for them in their preliminary. Hoping for better things tonight were the unchanged foursome of:
Simon Joyce, from North Oxfordshire, studying Spatial Planning
Paula Ayres, from Hertfordshire, studying the History of Medicine
Captain: David Ballard, from Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, studying Politics and International Relations
Stephen Mayes, from Canterbury, studying History
Bristol defeated the Courtauld Institute and L.S.H.T.M. in their first two matches, before narrowly losing their preliminary to Liverpool. They too were the same four we've got used to seeing these past few months:
Lewis Rendell, from Saffron Walden, studying Maths
Benjamin Moon, from Bath, studying Geology researching Ichthyosaur Systematics and Taxonomy
Captain: Anastasia Reynolds, from Scholes in West Yorkshire, studying Czech and Russian
Miles Coleman, from North London, studying Spanish and Portuguese
Off we set again then, and Bristol started the night's bidding with Lewis Rendell taking the first starter, and the side took one bonus, unluckily missing another. Oxford Brookes followed shortly afterwards identifying Vine as the Twitter service sharing it's name with a fruit bearing climbing plant! They went one better than their opponents, taking two bonuses. Neither our man Simon Joyce ('asphinctersays') nor Mr Moon worked out 1927 as the year of the first talkies, before Mr Rendell was first in on a rather clever and cheeky starter. The first picture round, on family trees of US political figures, went to Oxford Brookes, and gave them a lead of 40-30.
Mr Rendell pulled Bristol level with his latest starter of the night, but again, the side could only manage one bonus. Controversial moment of the night came when Mr Mayes corrected himself on a slightly mispronounced answer, was disallowed it, and was also fined five for interrupting even though Paxo had more or less finished the question. Bristol broke back in, but this time managed no bonuses. A couple of starters were then dropped before Ms Ayres identified the famous Oliver Sachs work 'the Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat'. The Oxonians weren't getting as many starters as Bristol, but their slightly better bonus rate was keeping them in touch.
The music round, on classical pieces with mountains as their theme, went to Bristol, and allowed them to increase their lead to 75-50. It got bigger when Mr Rendell took his latest starter of the night, but, despite his area of study, could only help his side to one bonus on maths. David Ballard bought Oxford Brookes back into the match, and they took a full set of bonuses on revolutions. If they could string a starter run together and keep that up, they could easily still win this.
The second picture round, on directors of the National Theatre, saw Bristol make a wild guess of 'Daniel Welbeck', which got them nowhere! They now led by 100-75, a lead almost entirely due to their better buzzer work. Neither side took the next starter, Mr Rendell took the next, but again, the Avonsiders dropped all the bonuses. The next starter was dropped, as was the next, before Bristol broke in again, and this time managed one bonus on football.
Oxford Brookes were still in with a shout if they could get their buzzers in gear; Mr Mayes managed to break them back into the match, but they couldn't manage any of the resultant bonuses. Mr Mayes unluckily missed the next starter and got so flustered Paxo had to make sure he was OK! When Mr Coleman took the next starter for Bristol, however, that looked like it would see them safely home; as if to confirm this, they took all the bonuses. The match ended with both sides proving they aren't Millionaire aficionados, as they didn't know Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry II. At the gong, Bristol won 150-85.
A pretty slow moving match throughout. Unlucky Simon and co, but you did not disgrace yourselves at all, and gave us some good highlights throughout your four matches, so well done yous! Well done Bristol though; Paxo put it best when he said their score was sufficient to win this match, heavily implying they'll need to do better to make the semis. Best of luck to them next time anyway!
Lewis Rendell finished the match with six starters under his belt, while Ms Ayres and Mr Ballard were joint best for Oxford Brookes with two each. The bonus rates were telling: Oxford Brookes managed 8 out of 15 (with one penalty), while Bristol could only muster 10 out of 30; that will definitely need to be improved next time.
Next week's match: I guess it's the one we've all been anticipating, between Caius and Magdalen, then Durham vs Trinity the following week.
Only Connect continued with its third quarter-final tonight; haven't seen last week's yet, but will do so as soon as is feasible.
Neither team knowing the husband of Eleanor of Aquitaine rather summed it up, I felt.
ReplyDeleteI think we are overdue for a classic, so let's hope that next week's match lives up to the billing. A tight, fast-paced affair would be nice, with both teams scoring 200+.