The Old College Try

A friend of mine recently moved to Oxford and has made it his mission to visit every single one of the forty three colleges. I'm not sure if he's been to Lincoln, who face off against King's College, London tonight, but I'll have to get his list so I can compare how nice he thinks they are with how good they are at University Challenge, just in case there's any correlation.

One of his new mates is a former Balliol captain, and they got into a lively discussion about whether or not Oxford should be allowed to enter multiple teams - a classic debate. The Balliol captain was of the opinion that they should, and my friend made the point that it doesn't make any sense. Captain Balliol countered with the idea that each College is supposedly its own little institution, but no one has ever been able to convince me that this is the case.

Its one of those things that is the way it is because thats the way its always been. Because we've gone 60 years with things being done a certain way so its accepted that this is the way it should always be. But if things were the opposite way round, and someone proposed that right now, in 2023, we start allowing random sub-entities of a larger University to enter separately, then people would be baffled by the suggestion. The very notion would seem absurd and ridiculous.

Anyway, Lincoln have been on twice since 1994, reaching the semi finals once, in 2009, where they lost brutally to Manchester by a score of 345-30. King's, meanwhile, feel like they are more of a UC staple than they actually are, with only six appearances in the BBC era, twice reaching the quarter finals in recent times.

Time for the first starter for ten...

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Bogo gets King's off to a great start with Balboa, and they take a hat-trick on the second parts of island nations with two names (Tobago, Principe and Nevis). The clue for Nevis was that it was named for a snow-capped peak, which gave me the assumption that it was named after Ben Nevis, but apparently it comes from the Spanish for snow, nieves, in the phrase 'Nuestra Señora de las Nieves, meaning "Our Lady of the Snows". Glad I googled that one.

Buzzing early on the next starter, Tatoğlu takes his first ten points for Lincoln, offering a cheeky eyebrow raise as he does so. They match their opponents with a full set on US presidents, and then take the lead through Warde. Two bonuses give them the lead going into the first picture round, which goes to Tatoğlu, who again smiles at someone in the crowd.

A third for Tatoğlu puts them in the driving seat, before captain Baker (who looks like someone famous, though I can't quite put my finger on who. Maybe James McAvoy?) gets one of his own.

King's are languishing well behind at this point (I bet captain Clarke wishes he was a bit smarter) and Warde compounds their misery with another excellent buzz. Tatoğlu pumps his fists at the bonuses on world cup golden boot winners, but they only manage one, missing Eusebio and the fact that Gary Lineker's famous hat-trick was against Poland.

At this point, Tatoğlu has recognised that Lincoln are probably going to win, and relaxes into his post-buzz expressions a bit more, letting himself fully grin after giving Burkina Faso.

Bogo buzzes early on the music question to try and get King's back into it, which is an admirable tactic, but his guess is wrong, and Lincoln streak even further ahead. He tries again later, but he's wrong that time too and can only gain a penalty.

By the time they do score another point, Lincoln are 165 clear. Saving their embarrassment, this starter goes to Bogo. He takes another to bring up their fifty, winning a bonus set on theatre and the law. This is great for him because he and Halliwell are law students. They manage prima facie and the man on the Clapham omnibus, but miss murmuring judges, which is a silly one anyway.

Lincoln 225 - 65 King's

A very solid performance from Lincoln there, with yet another standout individual showing from Tatoğlu, whose little smiles were a highlight of the episode. King's, unfortunately, were simply inferior.

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