By Leah Hoyle, Second Year English
The University of Bristol Team secured a victory last night in a quarter final of national quiz competition, University Challenge, winning 135-95.
Although neither team were playing to keep their place in the competition, as both Bristol and the Open University have two chances in the quarter finals, tensions were high with the final round so close.
Bristol have performed stronger than their opponents so far this season, with an average score of 310 vs 60, but this match proved far closer than expected.
Just over two-thirds into the match, the score was level at 75 points each but the Open team managed to cinch the lead with 95-85.
'Bristol, you did make it rather stressful for yourselves didn’t you?' said show host Amol Rajan. 'It was a ludicrously tight and really quite a stressful game.'
The Bristol team consisted of biologist Ted Warner, medic Bridie Rogers, chemist Olivia Watts and captain Kevin Flanagan who is doing a PhD in AI.
With such a STEM dominated team, Bristol struggled with rounds on fictional Russian families, Middlemarch characters and classical composers but persevered and managed to gain a strong lead towards the end of the match, charging ahead on Shakespeare and univocalic football teams.
The last question was on the French word 'grue', Warner correctly answering 'crane' and solidifying Bristol’s 135-95 victory.
The Bristol team will complete the second leg of the quarterfinal in the coming weeks, with a chance to win University Challenge for the first time in Bristol’s history.
Did you support the team last night?
