Monday 2 March 2015

University Challenge 2014-15: Qualification Quarter-Final 2: Caius vs Magdalen

Evening all. Well, after last week's match of very little note, I think we were all expecting better things this week given the teams were thought would be involved. Whoever won tonight would probably be considered lukewarm favourites to win the whole series.

Gonville & Caius College Cambridge defeated St Anne's College Oxford, Manchester (The Team Everyone Wants To Beat) and Durham in their three matches so far, looking highly impressive in all three cases. Hoping to live up to their previous form tonight were the unchanged foursome of:
Ted Loveday, from Hammersmith, studying Law
Michael Taylor, from Ballymena in Northern Ireland, studying History
Captain: Anthony Martinelli, from Hertfordshire, studying Medicine
Jeremy Warner, from Southampton, studying Natural Sciences

Magdalen College Oxford's (at times controversial yet) impressive run to this stage saw them defeat Pembroke College Cambridge, Open and Trinity College Cambridge, with bigger scores each time. No doubt hoping to keep that going tonight were the also unchanged quartet of:
Harry Gillow, from Stone in Staffordshire, studying Classics
Chris Savory, from Burgess Hill in West Sussex, studying Chemistry
Captain: Hugh Binnie, from Cheltenham, studying Chemistry
Cameron J. Quinn, from Los Angeles, studying Philosophy and French


Off we set again then, and it was the Oxford side who got off the mark quicker, with Hugh Binnie quickly taking the first starter of the night, on photobombing. (Well, it was only a matter of time...) The side took two bonuses, before Mr Gillow won the hotly fought buzzer race on the next starter, allowing a full bonus set to be converted. Cameron Quinn took the third, and Magdalen looked to be running away with it again. But then Mr Quinn slipped up, and, while Caius didn't directly pick it up, they did subsequently get off the mark. The first picture round, on logos of international organisations that officially speak French, went to Magdalen, who led 70-15.

Now, though, Caius began to fight back, with Mr Martinelli taking two starters in a row, one of which opened up a set of bonuses on terms starting with three consecutive letters of the alphabet (we had that just two weeks ago, didn't we?), the other of which saw Mr Quinn slip up again and lose a second five. The Cambridge side dropped one of the six bonuses, and, as a result, were now well back in the hunt. A slip-up from Ted Loveday went unpicked up, before Mr Quinn made up for his prior mistakes with a very good buzz to earn points that gave his side more room to breath.

The music round saw Ted Loveday identify Mendelssohn almost as soon as I did! The bonuses, on pieces commissioned by the Philharmonic Society, went to Caius, who now trailed by 90-75. A very good buzz from Hugh Binnie allowed Magdalen to pull away again, and break three figures, but they only managed one bonus. Michael Taylor, quiet early on, took his first starter of the night, and a full set of bonuses meant they were breathing down Magdalen's collective necks like Mark Labbett on top Chase form. Cameron Quinn gave them more maneuvering room with another starter, but none of a very tricky bonus set on computing acronyms followed. Mr Binnie took the next starter, to pull his side further away, but Mr Taylor took the next, and Caius took all three bonuses to remain right behind Magdalen. What a match this was becoming!

The second picture round, on portraits of influential figures of the Reformation, went to Magdalen, and allowed them to lead 145-125. But Caius just wouldn't give up the hunt, and pulled right back up behind them with the next starter. And when Mr Loveday took his second starter in a row, Caius took the lead for the first time. The Cambridge side were now in the ascendancy, as Mr Martinelli took the next starter, and they took two bonuses. Throughout the match, they had been getting fewer starters, but generally getting more bonuses, and now they were getting the starters too, this was beginning to prove key.

When Mr Taylor took the next starter, you began to think it was game over; as if to further this, the side took all three bonuses on homophones. Hugh Binnie finally broke Magdalen back into the match, but they could only manage one bonus on currencies. Cameron Quinn bravely tried his luck on the next starter, but only slipped his side back five, handing Caius the points. The gong went before the first bonus could be asked; Caius won a great match 215-155.

Well, whatever the rest of the series holds, it'll take something to beat that; it was the best match for months. Unlucky Magdalen, who led almost throughout and, as Paxo said, got unlucky with the starters late on, but I can't see how they won't make the semis if they keep playing like that; best of luck to them next time. Very well done to Caius though; a fine showing against excellent opposition, and surely they must now be taken seriously in the semis.

Mr Quinn was the night's best buzzer, with five starters, while Messrs Loveday and Martinelli were joint best for Caius with four each. The bonuses proved crucial: Caius converted a good 22 out of 30 (with one penalty), while Magdalen only managed 14 out of 30 (with three penalties); that's where the match was won and lost.

Next week's match: by process of elimination, it must be Durham vs Trinity.

Only Connect reached the end of it's quarter-final stage tonight; I'll try to get a QF summary posted once I've been able to watch tonight's match back. Next week, the regular series pauses for a Comic Relief special, incidentally.

9 comments:

  1. I haven't been looking forward to a match as much as this one for a very long time, and it certainly delivered. The second half, in particular, gave us some of the most exciting UC in a while, and I wasn't expecting Caius to run away with it at the end quite like they did. Very well done to them, and I dare say we'll be seeing them in the final now.

    My guess would be that Magdalen will now have to get past Bristol to reach the semis. If that's right, I'm afraid it's not looking good for the Avonsiders on tonight's evidence - their winning score last week was five points lower than Magdalen's losing score tonight, and the Oxford four have got that score against much stronger opposition.

    Incidentally, this week contains several major TV/quizzing anniversaries for me. Six years ago tomorrow, I participated in a local radio quiz after an invitation from my school, and it proved to be one of my first major quizzing experiences on the road to UC. (One of my teammates that day had won Junior Mastermind in 2005.) And you may be interested to hear, Jack, that one day earlier - six years ago today - my grandfather's "Game" of Deal or No Deal was broadcast.

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    1. Dennis 'Den' Evans, I presume. He was on the wings at the same time as the administrator of the forum! You don't mind if I tell him do you?

      I agree that Magdalen would probably do to Bristol what they did to Trinity, but you never can tell with UC.

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    2. Was the administrator a Deal superfan by the name of David? I remember him getting to keep his box after his game. I can imagine he'd be interested to hear about this tenuous connection...

      I actually appear in Grandad Den's game, albeit only in a photograph, so that's my first claim to TV fame. (We've never known him as "Den" offscreen!)

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    3. The very man! And he did indeed get his box to keep. I wasn't around on the forum at the time, but so many people tried to comment on it during his game the forum crashed for a couple of hours!

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  2. What really impressed me is how Caius held their nerve this game. I know how awful it feels being behind in a game like this, and especially how agonising it is to miss a question which could finally give you the lead - which happened to them over and over! To win anyway, and to win reasonably comfortably in the end, is really quite the performance.

    I reckon St. Peter's could still throw a spanner in the works of either of tonight's teams, and I'd only favour Caius by a little in any potential rematch, but if the overall winner isn't one of those three I'll eat my hat.

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  3. This was an excellent match.

    As for our Bristol match, obviously this was the last chance saloon for us and reaching the quarters far exceeded our expectations, but this third trip up to Salford was for me by far the most disappointing. The day hadn’t started well; I had a severely upset stomach (I’m blaming the extra jalapenos on my lunchtime sandwich) and had to visit the toilet three times in between leaving the green room and walking out onto the set. At one stage when testing the buzzers I contemplated having to leave the stage and I certainly wasn’t feeling up to par for the match. Nonetheless, it was just one of those matches – I was gutted that I didn’t get a single starter. Bristol were a great bunch and fully deserved the win – perhaps on another day with another set of questions we’d have had a good chance, but being honest, I think the quarters were as far as we should have gone and given that Bristol are likely to face Magdalen, it’s possibly better that we were spared an embarrassing defeat in that match!

    The bonus set on languages from sci-fi and fantasy series was excrutiating! I knew the third one was from Game of Thrones and although I wouldn’t class myself as a big fan, we watch the TV series at home. I just had a complete mental block, one of those times where you can see the characters in your head, but can’t summon up the right answer – I knew ‘Targaryan’ wasn’t right as it was Daenerys’ family name, but it was all I had and no-one else on the team had watched the series or read the books. Not for the first time, I knew that up in the audience my wife would be sat with her head in her hands! I knew the Henry II starter and a few others, but just wasn't quick enough on the buzzer - to an extent my experience throughout our run.

    Personally whilst it was a disappointing way to go out, but it in no way marred my experience. This was something I never even considered doing, I was only at Brookes to get a Masters for my job and seeing the email come through from Ian Bayley who organises the Brookes team thought ‘what the hell I’ll give it a bash’. I’ve competed nationally in several sports down the years, but this was completely different and really, really enjoyable. Despite the fact I’m not a quizzer and don’t do any quizzing now the series and my time at Brookes is over, the only quiz I watch is UC every week, having done so since the late 90s and to appear on an absolute televisual and pop culture institution was definitely a dream come true. Having the film, pictures and name plate as souvenirs, having sat behind that desk, having Roger Tilling call my name when buzzing in and being berated by Jeremy definitely completes the full UC experience.

    With this and the Quizbowl competitions we competed (not very successfully) in, I learnt a lot and met some really interesting and intelligent young people. It was a pleasure being teammates with Paula, Dave and Steve and I hope that in beating representatives of two of the world’s best universities, we gave Brookes some good publicity in a field where the university isn’t usually recognised.

    I don’t know who wins the deciding quarter final matches, let alone semis and final, but I would foresee the final being between Caius and Magdalen or alternatively between Caius/Magdalen and St Peter’s if Magdalen win their third quarter and the producers draw them vs Caius in their semi (which would be harsh).

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    1. As long as you had fun Simon, then you should be pleased with yourselves. Well done on a respectable series performance!

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  4. Great match. I was really impressed with how Caius recovered from being shut out on the first 3 starters, where Binnie and Quinn were looking ominous. But they kept themselves within touch and in the final third, steamed away in style. Even after Caius got their noses in front, I was surprised at how quickly Magdalen faded. If I recall correctly, Messrs Gillow and Savory did not contribute any starters, and that may have been the difference (whereas their opponents had 3 players on fine form). Caius are well and truly the favourites now, in my view.

    It'll be interesting to see if the producers will seed Caius and St Peter's apart in the SF. It would certainly make sense as they are the two undefeated sides.

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    1. Mea culpa: having re-watched the episode I see that Mr Gillow did in fact get a starter.

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