Tense matches for teams in the Schools' Challenge Quiz Tournament

This week saw three second round matches in the Schools' Challenge Quiz Tournament.

Sam G (Rt, IV), Douglas S (S, IV), Sam J (Ch, IV) and last minute substitute Dede T (Ch, IV) fought valiantly in the intermediate competition against Magdalen College School, Oxford but were not able to emulate their first round success.

In the senior competition,  Maggie C (M, LVI),  Merrie J (M, V), Jeremy C (R, V) and Logan P (R, V) got off to a nervous start against Wycliffe College. However their knowledge of the five smallest countries in the world, where the Limpopo flows, as well as internet acronyms and the Greek alphabet helped them to a respectable score; in fact in the final five minutes, they accrued more points than Wycliffe College but unfortunately not enough to overcome the early deficit.

The A Team of Giles H (I, UVI), James H (R,UVI),  Gabriel S (O, LVI) and Henry W (Ch, LVI) had very stiff opposition in the shape of Calday Grange Grammar School – who made it to the finals in 2020.  They too got off to a nervous start and were 50 points down after the opening three starters but they then pulled back to level with a prized “bonus bonus” for getting a full set of questions correct. 

It was a tense battle and they showed a good array of knowledge on all sorts of trivia from the Premier League to Alexander Pope.  Things got very tense, when with only a few minutes to go, Calday had a ten point lead.  However, it was four starters to one thereafter and Shrewsbury won by 450 points to 340.  They progress to the third round in the next half of term.

Dr Charlie Oakley