All The Quizzical Ladies

Been trying for the past ten minutes to come up with a lyric or pun-based title to let you all know that this is the first University Challenge Grand Final contested by two female captains (something like All the Quizzical Ladies, maybe, but I don't think that's very good). What I could do instead is tell you that here, as I have just done. That's probably easier than shoehorning in some hamfisted attempt at humour.

One of Tayana Sawh and Suraiya Haddad will become only the eighth female captain to lift the University Challenge trophy, and the first since Hannah Woods in 2016. This is the 53rd series of University Challenge, and there have been more winners called John (13) or David (10) than there have been winning female captains.

That's going to remain the case for the moment, regardless of the result, but the heydey of the Johns is long over (see chart) and it's surely only a matter of time before it's reversed.

Sawh is joined by James Hall, Ali Izzatdust and Jacob Finlay. They have defeated four Oxbridge colleges along the way, and Manchester in the semi-final, saving their most impressive performance to date for this clash against the northern institution.

This is the thrid time UCL have made the final, but they were beaten on both previous occasions, by Corpus Christi, Ox in 2005 and Manchester in 2013. Hoping that it won't be third time lucky for their cross-capital rivals are Imperial who are looking for a record fifth Uni Challenge crown (this being a first London derby at this stage since Imperial won their maiden trophy against LSE in 1996).

Assisting Haddad on this front are Justin Lee, Adam Jones and Sourajit Debnath. They have knocked out three Oxbridge colleges, along with quarter-final wins over Sheffield and Manchester. They come into the final with a slight edge in terms of their scoring, but this kind of statistical forecasting has not served me well in the past.

The key buzzer-battle will be between Messers Lee and Izzatdust, who have lead the way in starters for their respective teams. But this too fails to tell the whole story, because I can remember key buzzes from all of the other members too.

So here we are, thirty-six episodes into a series which has had it all - two tiebreakers, a new host, a new studio. a new question screen and we need Jungle, I'm afraid - ready to face, for the last time, our first starter for ten.

Izzatdust kicks off the final with a question featuring the phrase interpretatio germanica, and UCL took a hat-trick of bonuses on the medieval Egyptian ruler Baybars. The perfect start.

A neg from Lee put Imperial below zero, but Hall couldn't capitalise with one of his trademark guesses, and a neg of his own allowed Debnath in with urea. A full set tied the game at twenty each.

At the third time of asking Hall gets on the board with Lubaina Himid, but UCL's lead doesn't last long, with Lee cruising through the first picture round on The Canterbury Tales. A second on the trot for Lee, an early buzz of Armenia, put Imperial in front for the first time.

Elia Kazan from Debnath extended their lead, and he backs up his starter with a perfect set of bonuses on video games, requesting a nomination from his captain each time with a gentle flick of his finger. Firewatch, Tunic, Disco Elysium. Imperial are forty clear.

This becomes fifty, and then one hundred, as Debnath, Lee and Jones take advantage of a few UCL slip ups. Lee knows the music starter too, Faure, and Imperial are starting to run away with this. It is somehow like they've been saving their best performance for the final, and you can only feel sorry for UCL, who are helpless as buzz after buzz goes against them.

The execution on the bonuses is also solid, meaning that the gap has been stretched beyond closing before UCL are able to get in a buzz of their own. Brutal, relentless quizzing from Imperial. Their dominance forces UCL into risky buzzes, which unfortunately don't pay off, dropping them further back. It is definitely the right tactic to go early with a guess when the deficit is pushing one fifty, but it doesn't work on the night.

When Lee buzzes with Berengaria after three or four words of the starter, it signals the spiritual end of the game. The gap is too big, and Imperial are playing too well to drop this now.

When UCL finally get started again they are two hundred points behind, but they are not disheartened and fight on till the very end, with Hall, Izzatdust and Jones taking great pleasure in a few excellent buzzes.

What at one point looked like it could have been a historic drubbing turned into a very respectable slugfest, in which one team merely outclassed rather than decimated the other.

Imperial 285 - 120 UCL

A third title in five years cements Imperial's status as a University Challenge dynasty. It is also their fifth title overall, a new record which sees them stand alone above Manchester and Magdalen.

For UCL a third Grand Final defeat, which is heartbreaking, but they had no answer for Lee and his eight starters tonight and can take immense credit for the little flourish they had to close the match.

Tom Stoppard presented the trophy to Imperial on a roof, and talked about how much he enjoys the show, which is always nice to see, though I don't know why they did it on a roof.

And that's it for another series.

Congrats to Imperial, to UCL, and to you, dear reader, for making it the end of this post. If anyone deserves a trophy its you.

(Lucky for you, such a trophy exists. If you subscribe on this site you'll be ready for the next series when it starts in July! And if you subscribe to my Patreon, you'll get access to two series-worth of retro reviews, which detail the quarter-finals and onwards of older series)

Thanks for reading, and see you soon. Goodnight.