The final of this year’s inter-House quiz was the first of the 33 so far to go to extra time. Earlier in the term Loveday had set out their stall as favourites by scoring 710 against West (higher than any combined total in the other matches this term) and defeating a strong North team. East had a closer match against South but lost to Cubitt by a similar margin, with Cubitt scoring 390-260 despite East getting the same number of starters correct.
So in the final Loveday were perhaps expected to win a close victory over Cubitt. Cubitt, however, made some team changes and Fin Johnston and Angus McConnell-Wood led them to what, for a few seconds, might have been a ten-point victory, notably by buzzer speed earning them a 15-10 advantage on starters. If so, that would have been the only point in the contest in which they had the lead. However, the ever-changing names of the Congo (Zaire etc) had led Loveday to be disallowed a legitimate 10 points for the venue of the ‘rumble in the jungle’ and at the end of the contest after consulting, among others, Deputy Head and geographer Andrew Griffiths, referee and question-setter PJL announced a tie. Extra time is five minutes by the rules of the competition and, as if in relief at having not been robbed of their chance to win, Loveday took four starters to Cubitt’s one and went from 320-320 to 430-330.
My thanks to the audience who gave the contest a great atmosphere and to Tim McConnell-Wood, our fluent and unflappable question-master.
PJL
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