WHAT ON EARTH HAPPENED ST JOHN'S COLLEGE OXFORD IN LAST NIGHT'S UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE?

WHAT ON EARTH HAPPENED ST JOHN'S COLLEGE OXFORD IN LAST NIGHT'S UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE?


I had been so psyched up for a St John's College win.  Strange how an event like this can bring on atavistic loyalties. And St John's went down to such a dreadful defeat! I felt it very personally.  I'm not too proud to admit that I was devastated.


I've had a lot of ribbing from colleagues today about St John's crushing defeat. My own fault. For the last few days I had been boasting in the staffroom about how my old college was going to take Peterhouse, Cambridge to the cleaners.

The University Challenge final, reviewed by last year's winner

Two beloved teams of student quiz titans faced off last night – and the winner racked up the only hat-trick in the show’s history

 

In the dark-blue corner, it’s St John’s College, Oxford. Harries, Clegg, Russell and Sowood – four formidable quizzers who’ve racked up some of the highest scores in the series.

Add to this Angus Russell’s chunky cardigans and Charlie Clegg’s soothing Glaswegian burr and, if the final goes their way, the nation could be swept by Cleggmania.

In the light-blue corner, it’s Peterhouse, Cambridge. Skipper Hannah Woods has guided her team through a lightning campaign with her obscure knowledge, unflappable leadership and quizzical eyebrow. Oscar Powell has sent the internet wild with his endearing grimaces, Michael Gove glasses and natty tweed suits.

Oscar Powell, who has sent the internet wild with his endearing grimaces. Photograph: BBC

These student quiz titans had faced off before, in the quarter-finals. Peterhouse had narrowly taken it, but it was close. St John’s earned a very respectable 150 points to Peterhouse’s 195. There was every reason to think the rematch would be even tighter.

                    

It wasn’t to be. After a slow start, Powell snapped up Jeremy Paxman’s first starter for ten on comets. Peterhouse were off and soared ahead, rattling off answers on poets, prime numbers, Panama and Naomi Klein. They simply didn’t stop until the end of the match, winning with a stunning 215–30.

Woods kept her cool, reining in her highly-strung colleagues. She knew the best person for each question – turning to her right for Thomas Langley or to her left for Julian Sutcliffe (the resident expert on Asian geography and Mesopotamian architecture). When Powell began rambling about his poor German skills, Woods shot him a steely “do we know any German scientists, Oscar?” He straightened up, stopped to think and correctly suggested Max Planck.

It was a pleasure to watch Peterhouse in action. Their high spirits, their early buzzes, their way of accidentally stumbling to brilliant answers through educated guesswork – this is what viewers have loved about University Challenge since 1962. Only today, it’s made even better with a healthy dose of social media hype: all those storming cries of Powell for President!

Why didn’t St John’s get a chance to shine? As a former contestant, here’s my best guess. Buzzer quizzing is a bit like any other high-performance sport. Knowing stuff is important – but it’s also about reaction speeds. When we recorded our final in the last series, both teams worked hard to keep up their motivation. If you’re not “in the zone”, you’ll be beaten to the buzzer every time.

You didn’t need to be a sports psychologist to clock that St John’s weren’t on form. We have no idea what happened off-camera, but something must have done. Could it be that they hadn’t laid the ghost of losing to Peterhouse in the quarter-finals? Maybe they were thrown out of kilter when the first few questions didn’t go their way? Or perhaps they had a dodgy curry?

                    

                           

Partly, they were just unlucky. When they got bonus rounds, they were dealt unusually nasty questions. What a rubbish music round! And what was all that stuff about vorticism and cubism? By the middle of the match, Charlie Clegg looked more forlorn than his Lib Dem namesake on the 8 May last year.

To their credit, St John’s slugged away right up to the gong. With an early buzz on Shostakovich and an answer on black mambas, they doubled their score from 15 to 30 in the final minute.

Now will come the questions even Peterhouse couldn’t answer: how did this become yet another Oxbridge final? Why are so many contestants still middle-class white blokes? These complaints are as unsettlingly familiar as classical music questions where the answer is Rachmaninov. They return every year – and they need to be tackled for good.

But for now, huge congratulations to Peterhouse. They’ve notched up Cambridge’s third consecutive win, making it the only hat-trick in the show’s history. What’s more, they won in absolute style. They’ve been a very special team.