2016/17, Episode 9 - Salford vs Open

If you haven’t already you can watch the episode here before reading my review:

We are now well into the first round of this marathon contest, and week nine sees a sleeping giant of University Challenge, the Open University, making only its second appearance since 1999, a year in which they claimed the coveted trophy for the second time. Their first victory came in the Bamber-era 1984 tournament and for the first five years of the Paxman era they were ever present, reaching a quarter-final and losing the 1997 final on top of their win. And then nothing.

The new millennium was not kind to the largest educational institution in the UK, and the fifteen years from 2000 to 2014 saw an incredible barren run. No one is entirely sure of the reasons behind their lengthy disappearance (well, I’m sure someone is, but my internet research hasn’t as yet turned over the right stones) 2015 saw a second round exit, but that’s understandable given that the team were dozy as they emerged from a decade and a half long slumber. Two years on, this quartet should have had plenty of time to fully reawaken this lost University Challenge leviathan.

Last week I sparked debate on Twitter with my blog questioning whether the Oxbridge Universities should be allowed to enter multiple teams, and the Open University too, have not found themselves outside the realms of controversy in the past.

Paxman allegedly accused two of the victorious 1999 squad of being professional quizzers, a strange accusation to level at someone taking part in a quiz. One of them retorted, to his face or not I couldn’t say, “That seems to me to be analogous to saying Carl Lewis is too athletic to compete in the Olympics”. Bravo, sir.

With an average age of forty six (compared to the twenty of their opponents in the final, Oriel College, Oxford, and as was typical of Open Uni teams) they also later became the subject of arguments in favour of an age cap in the tournament, because of a perceived unfair advantage older contestants had over their younger counterparts. Suggestions included banning the oldies altogether, or limiting teams to one member over thirty. Obviously nothing was to become of these complaints, which definitely have their flaws, and this years team have an average age of fifty two.

Salford University haven’t the pedigree of their opponents tonight, and haven’t been on the show since 2002, but they bring with them the greatest mascot of the season, and possibly all time. Punk poet John Cooper Clarke, himself born and raised in Salford and awarded an honorary doctorate by the University, adorns the desk of the team in puppet form, and somehow, I think he’d like that. Regardless of how they do in the competition, no one can take that away from them.

Salford’s Sanders, who is remarkably from London and Manchester opens the scoring with an early buzz of ‘Animal Farm’ and his team keep up the good form, opening up a lead of 95-55 at the halfway stage. This is despite one of their number having apparently mistaken himself for a teapot and worn a tea cosy onto the set. You might be able to deduce that he’s from Yorkshire by the words he uses to introduce himself.

Unfortunately for Salford, once the Open University steam in with the musical starter (on Jazz Ambassadors, which is surely the most chilled out diplomatic job title in the world) they blast ahead, not allowing any retaliation until the scores lay at 180-95, at which point the battle had been lost and won. An unlucky guess of minus one for a maths question, to which the answer was plus one summed up how much luck they were having during this period - none.

Their scoreless run had been defeated, however, with perhaps a sprinkling of it. Snarled at by Paxman for conferring on a starter, Salford’s Smith held his hands up with fearful and palpable regret and avoided penalisation before buzzing in correctly by himself. The zero streak was brought to its end, but it was too late to mount an unlikely comeback and the match reached its conclusion shortly after.

Paxman couldn’t resist a cheeky quip as he congratulated the Open team, ‘You did quite well, considering you hadn’t met before tonight’, but with the second highest score of the round so far (after Warwick’s 235) who knows how good they’ll be once they know each other a little better… Definitely ones to watch as the series progresses.

Final Score: Open University 210 - 115 Salford

So that was week nine and John Cooper Clarke was a puppet. Next week sees Edinburgh (come on Auld Reekie!) take on Durham. Only five more first round matches to sink our brain-teeth into before it really gets serious. As ever any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading