May 14, 2025 9 min read 2024-25

Oscar Oscar Foxtrot

In 2022 the University Challenge Grand Final was contested by two captains called Michael (Mays and Hutchinson). Three years later we have a Grand Final contested by a pair of Captain Oscars (Siddle and Despard).

I don't know whether this indicates a growing trend of quizzers with the same names, but I couldn't find any examples of this happening before. In the 60s and 70s there were lots of Johns on winning teams (including two on each of the 1967 Sussex, the 1978 Sidney Sussex and 1981 Queen's Belfast sides) so there was probably a John on a losing team too, but that data is harder to come by.

What it does mean, though, is that there will be an Oscar lifting the trophy for the second time in UC history (after Oscar Powell for Peterhouse in 2016).

All of the other contestants bar one will be the first of their name to win a series title. Let's go through them.

For Christ's:

Brendan Bethlehem; a charmingly nerdy Linguistics student with some incredible buzzes to his name (leads the team with 29 starters). We've had a Brandon win, of course - on Imperial's 2020 team - but no Brendans.
Anniko Firman; studying Classics (though next year she'll be studying sand). I'm semi-surprised there have been no Anne's or Ann's who won, though I probably shouldn't be given how male-dominated the finals teams have been over the years. The closest we get to Anniko is Hannah and Susanna.
Linus Luu; studying Maths. A couple of CoLINs but no LINuses.

For Warwick:

Thomas Hart; studying Maths. Iconic bent arm buzzer technique. 39 starters to his name. Will be the second Thomas to win UC after Thomas Langley of that 2016 Peterhouse team. What a lovely coincidence.
Ananya Govindarajan; studying Engineering. The first Ananya to make a UC final, but the second person, after Amol Rajan, to have Rajan in their surname this series.
Benjamin Watson; studying PPE. There was a Ben (Ben Pope) who won for Balliol in 2017, but I'm not sure I can count that. Although I did just find his Twitter account and his name on there is Benjamin, so maybe there has been a Benjamin before. Other sites have his name listed as Ben, though. I'm going to have to watch his intro from the final now, aren't I? Back in a sec. He introduces himself as Ben, so the official records are right.

That's enough on names for the moment - let me know if you think I should count Mr Watson as the second or first Benjamin should they end up winning.

Routes to the Final

Christ's

R1 - def. Exeter, Ox 205-110
R2 - def. St Edmund Hall, Ox 215-100
QF1 - def. Imperial 180-160
QF2 - def. Warwick 205-155
SF - def. Bristol 220-50

Warwick

R1 - def. East Anglia 275-125
R2 - def. Oriel, Ox 215-110
QF1 - def. Queen's, Belfast 215-95
QF2 - Lost. Christ's, Cam 160-180
QF3 - def. UCL 220-125
SF - def. Darwin, Cam 180-160

You've seen the same score twice, there, so this Grand Final is a rematch. Christ's narrowly won the first time they met, but Warwick were formidable in their next two matches.

Without further ado...

Here's your first starter for ten

Rajan is wearing a fancy velvet blazer with a bow tie and kicks us off with a question about Sardinia, which goes to Bethlehem. Christ's take a hat-trick of bonuses on Watling Street, before Watson, needing only one clue on the following starter, gets Warwick off the mark too.

They also manage three out of three on John Akomfrah, tying the game. Hart came in early on the next starter with Carnot, but he is wrong, though Christ's are unable to pick up the pieces with Diesel (last year's winning captain Suraiya Haddad was surprised by this).

Undeterred by his incorrect interruption, Hart (who would end the match as the best buzzer of the series with 42 starters to his name) was again quick to buzz in with . This time he was right, and gave Warwick the lead. He followed this up by taking a fairly easy flag starter on the picture round, and Popper gave him a personal hat-trick.

When Siddle took the next starter with weaver, Warwick were on a streak of five-in-a-row, and a hat-trick on Middle English poetry gave them a lead of 105-25.

Christ's needed to wake up, and Despard got them going with . Bethlehem and Firman collaborated on a bonus set about Chinese cities, before Watson quashed the comeback with St Pierre and Miquelon. Govindarajan came up with solar flares as a guess on one of the bonuses, which Hart and Siddle were very pleased with, but unfortunately, it was wrong. They make up for it with carbon-12 on the next bonus (a question which every 11-year-old should know, apparently...)

Next up the music round, and when in doubt, guess Mozart. Bethlehem follows this rule, winning a bonus set on flute music. On the third, upon hearing that it was going to be a German baroque composer, Bethlehem says 'it's going to be Telemann' before even hearing the music, but convinces himself it's Bach. It was Telemann. Ouch.

No problem though, because he grabs the next starter too with Sprechstimme (thank you, subtitles). Christ's are in the game, but the gap is still 55 points, and Watson stretches this out to 70 with Hecate (the only question Ian McKellen has ever got right when watching the show, apparently).

Luu focuses hard and takes the next starter for Christ's. Another for Christ's brings them within 35 points, but Siddle keeps them at bay with Hopper on the picture starter. They miss the first bonus, which is on Thomas Hart Benton, much to the amusement of Thomas Hart, but take the third with Grant Wood. 50 points the difference now.

A shining buzz of S-H-I from Bethlehem keeps Christ's in the match, and they are one decade out for each of the bonuses on when American states joined the union.

Watson has been Warwick's MVP in this match, and he comes up clutch with another starter just when they need it.

Despard hits straight back for Christ's with Nernst, but they miss all of the bonuses on translations of Brazilian cities.

Now comes the key moment of the match.

Siddle very narrowly beats his teammate Hart to the buzzer with Serra, but he is wrong. You can tell that Hart knew the right answer by the way he looks with anguish at his captain.

Bethlehem buzzes in with Boltero to steal the points, but he has included an erroneous L, and Rajan doesn't allow him the points. This is very quickly put behind him as he buzzes super early on a starter about popes.

When I was about eleven, I wrote a story which had a character who was really smart, and the way I showed the level of his smartness was that he knew the names of all the popes back to the year 900 or something. I feel quite vindicated by the speed of Bethlehem's recall here.

Things are getting tense, and Christ's are flapping on the bonuses, baffled by the questions and the speed of Rajan's asking. Despard settles them with King Lear on the third, before both sides drop a starter on the Glorious First of June.

Hesitating just a tad before giving Sievert, Despard brings Christ's within ten points. Seconds remain.

A starter on Agamemnon. Bethlehem looks to his right at the Classics student sat there, and with just two starters to her name in their previous matches, Firman comes up with the most clutch buzz of the match to tie things up. 170 apiece.

Bethlehem does some more smart-person historical-name remembering with Frederick, which he knows as the name of George II's eldest son. This gives them the lead.

He also knows that Queen Victoria's first name was Alexandrina, but Despard panics a bit and says Alexandrine. This could have been crucial.

But it wasn't, because the gong sounds before the next question can be finished. They are ahead, by 5 points.

OOF.

Christ's 175 - 170 Warwick

Holy moly what a match! Warwick lead by as many as 85 points, but Christ's never let them get out of reach. So many what-if moments, but enough from both sides that I think it evened itself out...

If Siddle hadn't negged with Serra, letting Hart in with Botero.
If Despard had said Alexandrina.
If Bethlehem had guessed any one of the decades correctly.

It could have gone either way. Christ's were in front at the gong. That's all that matters.

Warwick will be devastated, but I hope they take solace from how well they played all series.

Ian McKellen presents Christ's with the trophy and says he spent his entire time at Uni doing plays rather than studying. Fair enough, when you look at where it got him.

So that's it. No more starters for ten for a while. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you again for the next series.