91�첥

“From the opening theme to the gong at the end it felt as if two minutes had passed,” says Isaac Tompkinson (Medicine 2022), who was one of four students who represented 91�첥 on University Challenge in a show broadcast on Monday (August 26).

Isaac combined with team captain Declan Gwyn Watkins Noble (LLM 2023), Rachel Bentham (Natural Sciences (Physical) 2021) and Faris Qureshi (MML 2022) on the show, with their first-round match with the University of Bristol broadcast on BBC2 at 8.30pm. There are no spoilers in this article – watch the episode to see how Caius perform.

Isaac says: “Appearing on University Challenge was quite a surreal experience. I'm sure many of us have sat on the sofa at home and imagined what it would be like to be in the studio but relatively few of us actually get to do it. To be totally honest, it was one of the most nerve-wracking experiences of my life. From the opening theme to the gong at the end it felt as if two minutes had passed.”

, and have pedigree in the long-running television show, having .

Being selected for the team and advancing to the television recordings hosted by Amol Rajan, an alumnus of Downing College, was memorable for the Caius team.

Faris added: “The whole process was filled with lots of difficult trivia and lots of suspenseful silences from the production company. But when we actually got there and when we were in front of the cameras, I suddenly blocked everything out and tried to treat it like a very strange and very intense trivia competition.

“Amol Rajan was very down to earth. He took the time to chat with us after the recording wrapped. We even talked about some Caius Fellows by whom he was supervised who are still here. I really enjoyed meeting the creative minds between the programme and even some of the people who write questions for the show (though we got no spoilers from them!).”

Watch Caius’ first round contest with Bristol on University Challenge on Monday 26 August on BBC2 at 8.30pm BST, and on .