Difference between revisions of "Cambridge"

Revision as of 14:17, 6 November 2016

Overview

The Cambridge Quiz Society is the official quiz bowl team for the University of Cambridge, located in sunny Cambridge in England. Though the facebook membership numbers in the 100s, only about 20 people come to practice consistently. The official twitter account can be found here.

History

UK University quizzing sprang up, or at least gently emerged from its cave, in the mid-1990s when the return of BBC quiz show University Challenge in 1994 began to reanimate those competitive instincts among the new generation of trivia-hungry students. In 1998 Chris Harrison, one of the Imperial team who had won the 1996 TV series, organised the first British Student Quiz Championships, and several Cambridge colleges sent teams. A year later Oxford plucked up the courage to challenge Cambridge to the first Varsity quiz match, and though the result was eventually decided by a scoring error it at least started an august annual tradition of hard-fought rivalry. It was clearly time to back up the brave teams with a proper university society and so in June 1999 Sean Blanchflower and Robin Bhattacharyya of Trinity's 1995 winning University Challenge team founded the Cambridge University Quiz Society.

Although Oxford has largely had a strangehold over the British Quizbowl scene, Cambridge has emerged as a strong challenger over the past few years. In 2014, University Challenge winner Alex Guttenplan inspired Cambridge to its first ever victory in the Varsity match, a feat which was repeated in 2016, with strong performances from Samuel Cook and Elysia Warner.

Performances

A strong core of "novice" players contributed to success at the 2016 VCU Novice tournament in london.

Cambridge teams additionally performed very well at MTU with all 4 Cambridge temas handily defeating a strong Oxford A and an upset with Cambridge B defeating Cambridge A.

At 2016 ACF Fall's UK site, Cambridge A cleared the field taking both a strong Oxford A and a strong Oxford B to pound town. Notable negs included Elysia Warner buzzing with beethoven after only hearing "this composer". A new Cambridge A composition revealed to other teams that it is, in fact, big boy season.

Hosted Tournaments

Penn Bowl 2016

MUT 2016

Cambridge Open 2017

Notable Players

Ewan MacAuley, a strong physics and chemistry player whose skills were sharpened by playing at Oxford as an undergraduate, and dulled by playing at Cambridge as a PhD student.

Sam Cook, a geography specialist

Florence Chen, since graduated, a harvard undergraduate who played while getting a master's degree. Played at VCU Novice despite not being a novice.

Tomas Kesek, since graduated, a strong player who despite being a physician by training failed to get biology questions

Oliver Sweetenham, a top tier literature and history player specializing in the works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elysia Warner † a strong linguist cut down in her prime in a dispute over time limits during a practice session. Specialized in creoles and the musical Hamilton. A fan of the transcendentalist works of William Cullen Bryant

Matthew Nixon, a musical and mathematical savant

Daniel Chiverton, a specialist in mathematics, religion, and westerosi politics

Ephraim Jacob-Jacobus Levinson, a fiesty competitor who studies the works of Steven Wallace

Tom Hill, a disciple of the famous quizzer Bobby Seagull who specializes in Sicilian religious persecution between 1120 and 1129

Bobby Seagull, whose twitter can be found here

Theo Howe, a trash and east asia specialist

Vitalijs Brejevs, a musical scholar studying the works of Stravinsky

Julian Sutcliffe, a fan of Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill

Sarah Binney, a physicist turned philosopher and one of the pub quiz managers

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 ==History==
-While the history of Cambridge University is filled with success and glory, the history of its Quiz Bowl team is not. The Cambridge Quiz Bowl team has just recently achieved its first victory over Oxford, a success motivated primarily by strong players like Sam Cook and Elysia Warner. Unfortunately, due to a serious back injury sustained by Elysia and Sam Cook's graduation, this is unlikely to be repeated.
+UK University quizzing sprang up, or at least gently emerged from its cave, in the mid-1990s when the return of BBC quiz show University Challenge in 1994 began to reanimate those competitive instincts among the new generation of trivia-hungry students. In 1998 Chris Harrison, one of the Imperial team who had won the 1996 TV series, organised the first British Student Quiz Championships, and several Cambridge colleges sent teams. A year later Oxford plucked up the courage to challenge Cambridge to the first Varsity quiz match, and though the result was eventually decided by a scoring error it at least started an august annual tradition of hard-fought rivalry. It was clearly time to back up the brave teams with a proper university society and so in June 1999 Sean Blanchflower and Robin Bhattacharyya of Trinity's 1995 winning University Challenge team founded the Cambridge University Quiz Society.
+Although Oxford has largely had a strangehold over the British Quizbowl scene, Cambridge has emerged as a strong challenger over the past few years. In 2014, University Challenge winner Alex Guttenplan inspired Cambridge to its first ever victory in the Varsity match, a feat which was repeated in 2016, with strong performances from Samuel Cook and Elysia Warner.
 ==Performances==