Ep 122: Oli Bryant, Basil Theophilos (June 9, 2016; originally aired January 18, 2011)

Rounds: Here.


It's Oli Bryant's third night tonight, and we find out that he has relatively recently become an Australian citizen; he is originally from a village called Hale, south of Manchester.  Richard remarks that his parents and grandparents came from near Manchester -- Congleton and Macclesfield -- so they have something in common.

Tonight's challenger is Basil Theophilos, a retired computer software developer and masseur, who still teaches computers to adults.  Richard suggests that it would be fascinating to teach computers to people who may be completely unfamiliar with them, and asks how old some of those students are.  Basil says that the oldest woman was 89, and the oldest man was 93.  He adds that, at the end of the first lesson, the 89-year-old came up to him and asked where she could go to buy a computer.


The contestants started off equal in the first two letters rounds, then Oli took a small lead when Basil faltered on the first numbers round.  The next letter round was shared, but thereafter it was all Oli.  Basil did not score after that point, and the final scoreline was an impressive 60 to 18 in Oli's favour.

I matched David and Lily throughout, with the only blemish being a slightly slow conundrum solution.  There was one better answer to be had, so it was not a maximal game, but a tie is rare and I'm glad to have it.