Report by Jack Lindsey (Psychology, Van Mildert College, 1966 - 69)
On the evening of the 16th of October 2019, the British High Commissioner to Canada, Susan Jane le Jeune d’Allegeershecque, hosted a University Challenge quiz at the High Commission in Ottawa. The format was faithful to the BBC original and she was obviously in her element channeling Bamber Gascoigne, the original quizmaster. The questions ranged over a dizzying array of subjects and were no less challenging than those on the original programme. This was no typical pub quiz, although British beer was much in evidence. It was a most enjoyable evening, spiced with the spirit of competition, and will hopefully be the first of many.
There were four teams of local alumni representing Oxford, Cambridge, Durham and the London School of Economics.
After the round robin phase, Cambridge University had distinguished itself by beating all the other teams. The rest of us only managed one victory each. Our valiant Durham team beat LSE.
So, based on total points scored, LSE was chosen to face Cambridge in the final. But in that final LSE trounced Cambridge to claim the championship.
But I think you will all agree that the most important takeaway of the evening was that we beat the champions!
The intrepid Durham contestants were Chris Burn (Hatfield 1981), AJ Corner (St Aidan’s 2002),
Emil Torosyan (St Mary’s, 2018), and Mark Burke (St Aidan’s, 1999).
