An awe-Some performance
SOMERVILLE COLLEGE HAVE become the 2002 champions of television quiz show University Challenge, beating former title-holders Imperial College London by 200 points to 185.
In a closely-fought match, where Imperial College came from 145 points behind to 15 by the end, Somerville team captain Tim Austin claimed that his team had "timed it to perfection".
"Before the first round, we were genuinely pleased just to get onto the show", remarked Austin. But Somerville managed to fight off competition from twenty-seven other teams, reclaiming the title for Oxford, four years since its last win.
Presenting the prestigious trophy, renowned philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock said it had been a "wonderful match".
Asked about Imperial, who beat St. Hugh's in the quarter finals, Austin remarked, "We had filmed the Semi only two hours before and just scraped through, so Imperial were definite favourites for the final."
However, on losing the match, "Frankly they were gutted. Darius Fidgett, their captain, sulked for most of the evening".
The winning team have also continued their success in University Challenge Reunited, which celebrates the programme's 40th anniversary by bringing together past and present finalists.
The college comfortably beat the very first University Challenge champions, Leicester (1963), with the highest score in the competition so far.
The series also includes a number of other winning teams from Oxford, including New College (1964), Univ (1973), and Merton (1981).
The show, which features some of the toughest quiz questions on television, and was even suggested as a substitute for A-levels by the Oxford zoologist Richard Dawkins, has featured a number of well-known past contestants, including Stephen Fry, Malcolm Rifkind, David Mellor, Clive James and John Simpson.
Asked whether Somerville could continue its new-found success on the quiz show, having failed to qualify in previous successive years, Austin commented "there is no reason why Somerville can't continue to get onto the programme - winning is slightly more difficult of course!"
25th Apr 2002