Teddy Hall University Challenge team win first quarter-final!

Congratulations to the St Edmund Hall University Challenge team of Marceline Bresson (2017, Economics and Management), Lizzie Fry (2015, Geography), Freddy Leo (2016, History) and Agastya Pisharody (2017, Materials Science), on winning their first quarter-final match.

The game, against Cambridge’s Emmanuel College, was broadcast on BBC2 last Monday. Emmanuel took an early lead but the Teddy Hall team then dominated the game and eventually won by an impressive 190 points to 55. They now need to win just one more quarter-final match to earn a place in the semi-finals.

The team’s appearance once again attracted a lot of attention in the media and on social media in particular, with many people noting captain Freddy Leo’s speed on the buzzer – so much so that the BBC News website compiled a two-minute clip featuring his “best University Challenge buzzes” and featured him in an interview today which describes him as the Cristiano Ronaldo of University Challenge! He was also interviewed by Evan Davis on Radio 4’s PM programme yesterday (listen here – at about 45 minutes in).

While Freddy’s lightening reactions are a very helpful advantage, the breadth of knowledge across the team is equally impressive – particularly as they are the youngest team in the competition with an average age of 19. They are also notable for being the only team this year with an equal number of men and women, in a quiz where all-male teams are not uncommon, and for their very international mix.

Watch this episode on the BBC iPlayer.