Imperious Imperial
Just before Christmas I released a book which compiles my reviews of all the University Challenge Grand Finals since 2015. If you fancy a trip down memory lane you can buy it here...
Jez Kilvington
Imperial haven't lost a University Challenge match since 2021.
They won the title in 2022 and 2024, and were absent in 2023, so we are coming up on 4 years since their last UC defeat.
In 2021, the last series which they appeared in and did not win the title, they made it to the semi-finals but actually lost three times, as though they were getting all of their losses out at once.
Their triumphs in 2022 and 2024 were achieved without losing a match, meaning that they have a current winning streak of thirteen matches.
Magdalen went back to back in the 90s, but those series only required five wins, so their streak of 11 was ended in round two of 1999 by the Open University. That match was extremely close (210-200) and Open went on to claim that series title, so perhaps Magdalen were a mere fifteen points away from a three-peat.
Manchester were repeat champions too, in 2012 and 2013, but they didn't manage those titles unbeaten.
So by my estimate, Imperial are currently on the longest win streak in University Challenge history (certainly of the BBC era, the format was different on ITV).
There are teams like Birkbeck, who won in 2003 and didn't appear again until 2020, who can claim longer periods without being beaten, but that doesn't really count.
Can Wadham slay the giant and snap the streak? Read on to find out; here's your first starter for ten.
This is going to be one of those reviews where I throw out any pretence of keeping things exciting and answer the above question immediately.
No. No they can't.
When they score the first points of the match, it looks as though Wadham might be up for making a game of it, but over the next twenty minutes, the scores are so lopsided they make the Leaning Tower of Pisa look as though it's leaning the other way.
Bellamy's starter had given them ten points, but they couldn't add to it with any of the bonuses. A neg for Imperial put them in the minus points, but they wouldn't be there for long.
Oof, what happened there?
A 305 point turnaround, which is surely the longest streak of unanswered points in UC history (the record-breaking continues for Imperial, if my speculation is to be believed).
If a picture says a thousand words, do these two pictures say two thousand words, or should they, for the purposes of the story they are telling, be taken as a single image, and so remain as a thousand words?
Either way, you get the picture (or in this case, you get the thousand words).
Having dropped the first starter, Imperial embarked upon a mercilessly dominant performance, and they will probably be slightly annoyed that they let Wadham relieve themselves of the ignominy of a zero pointer towards the end.
Wadham 25 - 345 Imperial
Wadham must be commended for their attitude, and their celebrations at stopping the rot were a highlight of the episode, but this is all about Imperial.
Backing up a 310-point performance in round one, they look fairly unstoppable, with starters coming from all directions (at least two for each player).
With 16 starters in total (led by six from Salamanca Camacho), and a 79% bonus rate, it will take a gargantuan effort to stop the now 14-game winning streak.
Join me next week for an Oxbridge derby as Christ's, Cam take on Teddy Hall, Ox
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