Your Starter For Glory

Last night's University Challenge was a blinder, the best I've ever seen. It's not the first time there's been a tie break, but the passion of the contestants was something to behold, one of them so passionate in fact he has apparently become an internet and twitter sensation. Well, I don't know about that and it's not the first tie break ever, but it was the way the game was played, with feeling and gusto that made it stand out.

If you're not familiar with the format teams compete over a starter question, if a team interrupts and gets the question wrong they lose five points, get it right and not only do they get ten points but they also get three bonus questions where the other team cannot buzz in. Normally there is no point interrupting a bonus question, but Wolfson College Cambridge, playing School of Oriental and African Studies did this many times in order to avoid wasting so much as a second when playing catch up.

It seemed contagious too as SOAS made several interruptions on starter questions and lost points accordingly. Despite several penalties on both sides and the lead changing constantly, it was a very high scoring game for both teams, finally resolved by a sudden death starter question after a tie at full time so to speak. Remember, interrupt a starter question and get it wrong and you  lose five points, so the pressure was intense. It was also fascinating as a match between old and young effectively as well, something most unusual. I won't spoil it for you in case you watch it on iPlayer, catchup or whatever.

Anyway, all eight contestants were post grad students, but the SOAS team were considerably older. I watch BBC's Mastermind too, where I can usually answer a smattering of questions, but University Challenge is in another ball park completely, it has always amazed me that people so young can have learned so much, in so short a time. Sadly the speed of it means I fail to retain much of what I should be learning, but as entertainment, when something happens the way it did last night, it's hard to beat.

You can find out for yourself whether the older or the younger team prevailed. It's to be hoped that the losers will go through as one of the top losers. Sadly a contestant on one team appears to have died between filming and screening, sincere condolences. This was TV history.

Something for the hobbyist