Episode 28 University Challenge

University Challenge.

Asking the questions - Jeremy Paxman.

Hello.

Two more teams enmeshed in the quarterfinal stage

of this contest are playing for the first of the two wins

they'll need to compete in the semifinals.

Whichever team loses will have one more chance

to secure a victory to stay in contention.

Now, the team from the University of Newcastle

defeated Kent University by 160 points

to 115 in the first round,

then won by a slightly closer margin in round two with 175

against the 135 scored by Glasgow University.

With an accumulated score of 335 points,

let's meet the Newcastle team again.

Hello, I'm Alexander Kirkman, I'm from Guildford in Surrey

and I'm studying biomedical sciences.

Hi, my name's Nick Smith,

I'm originally from Chorley in Lancashire

and I'm studying medicine.

And this is their captain.

Hello, I'm Tony Richardson, originally from County Durham

and I'm studying for a master's in international politics.

Hi, I'm Kate Bennett, I'm from Chichester

and I'm studying for an MA in film theory and practice.

APPLAUSE

The team from the University of Liverpool

beat St Peter's College Oxford

by 205 points to 130 in the first round.

But they too had a closer run in the second round

when they sent home the University of Southampton

by a margin of 190 points to 155.

With an accumulated score of 395,

let's meet the Liverpool team for the third time.

Hi, I'm Jenny McLoughlin, I'm from Leeds

and I'm studying biological and medical sciences.

Hi, I'm Jack Bennett,

I'm from Lancaster, I'm studying law.

This is their captain.

Hi, I'm Robin Wainwright, I'm from the Wirral

and I'm studying biological sciences.

Hi, I'm Ed Bretherton, I'm from Bampton in Devon

and I'm studying medicine.

APPLAUSE

OK, you know all the rules,

so fingers on buzzers,

Here's your first starter for ten.

The two-word name of which town in Leicestershire

derives from an early English word...

-Melton Mowbray.

-Correct.

The first set of bonuses, Newcastle, are on Rene Descartes.

Firstly, consisting of three words in Latin

and five in both the English and French versions,

which fundamental dictum of Descartes has been called

the indubitably true proposition.

Cogito ergo sum.

"I think, therefore I am." Yes.

The name of which broad branch of mathematics

forms the title of a work of 1637 by Descartes

that appeared as an appendix to his Discourse On Method.

THEY CONFER

-WHISPERS:

-Geometry. Geometry.

-Try geometry.

Geometry.

Correct. Descartes died in 1650 in which European capital,

where he was employed as philosophy tutor to Queen Christina?

THEY CONFER

-WHISPERS:

-You go if you're...

Oslo.

No, it's Stockholm.

Ten points for this.

Give the single-word term

for the often devastating natural phenomenon

characterised by low amplitude and long wavelength

that is caused by a sudden subduction of tectonic plates...

Earthquake.

No, you lose five points.

..by a sudden subduction of tectonic plates under the ocean.

Tsunami.

Correct.

Your bonuses are on anatomy, Newcastle.

What name is given to the functional units of the kidney

that form urine?

Each consists of a renal corpuscle and a long, narrow tubule.

-Nephron.

-Nephron.

Correct.

Also used in botany for a head of flowers,

what term denotes the knot of capillaries

found in the Bowman's capsule in the renal corpuscle?

-Glomerulus. You have to nominate me.

-Nominate Smith.

Glomerulus.

Glomerulus is correct.

And finally, after a 19th-century German anatomist,

what term denotes the long U-shaped portion

of the tubule that conducts urine within each nephron?

Loop of Henle.

-I'll nominate Smith.

-Loop of Henle.

Correct. Ten points for this.

Einstein added

a cosmological constant

to his general theory of relativity

in the mistaken belief that the universe

was neither expanding nor contracting.

Which Greek letter was used to label this constant?

Gamma.

No. Liverpool, one of you buzz?

Sigma.

No, it was lambda. Ten points for this.

Said by Vasari

to have drawn a perfect circle for Pope Boniface VIII.

-Giotto.

-Giotto is correct, yes.

These bonuses are on an event, Newcastle.

A case of perityphlitis,

or inflammation of the connective tissues around the caecum,

was cited as the reason for the postponement of what event,

originally scheduled for 26 June 1902?

Is it coronation of Edward VII. Yeah?

The coronation of Edward VII.

Correct. Which Archbishop of Canterbury

conducted the ceremony?

As a result of his age and frailty, he's said to have placed the crown

back to front on the head of the king,

who also had to help him back onto his feet

after he knelt to pay homage.

THEY CONFER

-Shall we pass?

-Pass on that.

It was Archbishop Frederick Temple.

And finally, the crown worn by Queen Alexandra

during the ceremony was noted for the inclusion of which diamond,

formerly in the possession of the Mughal emperors?

-THEY CONFER

-The Koh-i-Noor.

Correct.

Ten points for this.

A new elucidation

of the first principles of metaphysical cognition

was a 1755 publication by which philosopher?

It allowed him to begin giving lectures

at the University of Konigsberg,

the city where he spent most of his life.

-Kant.

-Kant is correct, yes.

These bonuses are on birds, Liverpool.

What is the common name of the corvid garrulus glandarius?

It has a pinkish, fawn body and patches of white,

blue and black on its wings and tail.

Jay.

Correct. Used figuratively for a shallow or vain person,

popinjay is a regional name for a green woodpecker

and an archaic name for which bird,

for example, in heraldry?

-WHISPERS:

-Any idea?

-A sparrow or something.

Tell you the truth, I have no idea.

-No, we don't know.

-It's a parrot.

Which two titles precede Mockingjay

in a trilogy by the US author Suzanne Collins?

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire.

You ashamed to know that?

Little bit.

You're a bit, aren't you?

Right, we're going to take

a picture round now.

For your picture starter, you'll see a map

of the Mediterranean Sea

with one of its marginal seas highlighted.

For ten points, I would like you to give me the name

of that marginal sea.

Tyrrhenian.

It is the Tyrrhenian Sea, yes.

So, following on from that,

you're going to see three more maps of the Mediterranean Sea,

each with one of its marginal seas or subdivisions indicated.

Five points for each you can identify.

Firstly, this strait.

THEY CONFER

Dalmatian Strait.

No, that's the Strait of Otranto.

Secondly, this sea.

THEY CONFER

We don't know.

That's the Alboran Sea. And finally, this sea.

THEY CONFER

Sea of Marmara.

Correct.

Another starter question.

Fingers on buzzers, please.

Which fictional character is this?

Her creator said she was,

"A heroine whom no-one but myself will much like,"

while the man who marries her says,

"She is faultless, in spite of all her faults."

The man in question being George Knightley.

-Emma Woodhouse.

-Correct, in Jane Austen.

So, Newcastle, your bonuses are on an English scientist.

Firstly, The Genetical Theory Of Natural Selection

is a work of 1930 by which geneticist

and statistician born in 1890?

It contains the result known as

the fundamental theorem of natural selection.

-WHISPERS:

-Trying to think of what they're called.

-WHISPERS:

-The 20th century.

-It would be too early for...

-It is, yeah.

I've got nothing.

No idea.

That's RA Fisher.

Named after Fisher and usually denoted by a capital letter I,

what quantity and statistical inference

is equal to the second moment of the score function?

It quantifies the amount of evidence

that an observable random variable

carries about an unknown parameter.

Frequency.

No, it's Fisher information.

And finally, Fisher was an early proponent

of the method for estimating unknown parameters

that is sometimes abbreviated to MLE.

For what do those letters stand?

-WHISPERS:

-What do you think?

-I don't know.

-No.

-No.

That's maximum-likelihood estimate.

Ten points at stake for this starter question.

What seven-letter French word is this?

The object of the verb in a remark by a callous princess

recounted in Rousseau's Confessions...

-Brioche.

-Brioche is correct, yes.

Right, so, Liverpool, you get a set of bonuses on Confucius.

Confucius was born in 551 BCE and died in 479,

one year after which much-celebrated battle in the Mediterranean world,

the name of which refers to nearby hot sulphur springs?

Thermopylae, is it?

-Thermopylae.

-Correct.

Confucius' life came towards the end of which period

of the Eastern Zhou dynasty?

Named after a book of chronicles that incorporates

the names of seasons of the year.

Winter period?

Just guess.

The winter period.

No, it's spring and autumn.

And finally, the sayings of Confucius

known in Chinese as the Lunyu are often given what English name,

derived ultimately from the Greek for gather up?

Analects.

-Nominate Bennett.

-Analects.

Analects is correct.

Ten points for this.

Listen carefully, give three answers promptly.

The names of seven US states

contain more than one letter S for Sierra?

Of these, six share their names with rivers.

Name any three that do so.

Mississippi.

Three.

My mistake, my mistake.

Right, anyone want to buzz from Newcastle?

Mississippi, Missouri and Arkansas.

Correct, the other ones are Tennessee, Wisconsin and Kansas.

Right, these bonuses for you, Newcastle, are on acids.

What is the common name of the carboxylic acid

that is converted to glucose in the human body

via the Cori cycle?

It's found in foods such as sour milk and yoghurt.

-WHISPERS:

-Try lactic acid.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-Lactic.

Correct. What common name is given to the acid used in baking powder

and carbonated drinks with a basic formula C4H606?

It's compounds are often found as deposits

during the fermentation of wine.

THEY CONFER

-WHISPERS:

-Acetic. Like, vinegar.

Acetic?

No, it's tartaric acid.

With a molecular formula C6H8O7,

which carboxylic acid was isolated from lemon juice

by Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1784?

It's used in soft drinks and cleaning products.

Citric.

Correct. Ten points for this.

Answer as soon as your name is called.

Using Boyle's law, determine the final volume in litres of a gas

if the pressure of a three-litre sample is increased,

from three atmospheres to six atmospheres?

Two.

No. Anyone like to buzz from Liverpool?

Six.

No, it's 1.5. Ten points for this.

The last four letters of the full name

of which twin-island Caribbean country

are the first four letters...

I-O-L-A.

No, I'm afraid you lose five points.

..the first four letters of a capital on the River Danube

around 200km southeast of Vienna?

Barbuda.

I asked for the full name and Barbuda is correct.

But the full name, of course, is Antigua and Barbuda.

So, ten points for this.

Assuming SI units, light with a wave number of between 100,000

and one million lies within which broad band

of the electromagnetic spectrum?

Radio waves.

Nope.

Invisible spectrum.

It's infrared. Ten points for this.

Uncle Tungsten, Musicophilia and An Anthropologist On Mars

are among the works of which London-born neurologist,

perhaps best known for the 1980...?

Sacks. Oliver Sacks.

Oliver Sacks is correct, yes.

Newcastle, these bonuses are on the plays of Oscar Wilde.

First performed in 1893,

which play by Wilde has, as its title,

a phrase that Lord Illingworth uses

as an unflattering description of Mrs Arbuthnot.

-A Woman Of No Importance.

-Correct.

The plot of which of Wilde's plays centres around an object

that the title character tells Lord Darlington

is a birthday present from her husband?

-WHISPERS:

-The Importance Of Being Earnest.

The Importance Of Being Earnest.

The Importance Of Being Earnest.

No, it's Lady Windermere's Fan.

And, finally, the three-word title of which play

refers to Lady Chiltern's description

of her husband, Sir Robert?

THEY CONFER

The Ill-Tempered Man.

No, it's An Ideal Husband.

Right, we'll take a music round now.

For your music starter,

you're going to hear a piece of popular music.

For ten points, I'd like you to identify the group performing.

# Straight outta Compton... #

NWA.

NWA is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE DROWNS OUT SPEECH

It's underpinned by a sample from Amen Brother,

a 1969 track by The Winstons.

Though the original song was never a hit,

the four-bar drum solo now known as the Amen break

has become one of the most frequently-used samples

in pop music.

For your music bonuses,

you're going to hear three more songs that use it.

In each case, I simply want the band or the artist you hear performing.

SLOW ROCK MUSIC PLAYS

-WHISPER:

-It's Oasis or something?

-Yeah.

THEY CONFER

Oasis.

Oasis is right. Secondly...

ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYS

-Prodigy.

-Prodigy, yeah.

-The Prodigy.

-No, that's David Bowie.

-Oh.

-And finally...

-SOUL MUSIC PLAYS

-Amy Winehouse.

Amy Winehouse.

Correct.

Ten points for this.

Gediminas' Tower is a landmark in which European capital?

It's named after an early 14th-century grand duke

who defended his realm against the Teutonic Knights?

Vienna.

Anyone like to buzz from Liverpool?

-Prague.

-No, it's Vilnius.

And we have to fine you, I'm afraid, five points

for an incorrect interruption, Newcastle.

Right, another starter question.

Which final five letters link French words

meaning shady or disreputable, fly, shower and mouth?

Ouche. O-U-C-H-E.

Correct. Yes.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses, Liverpool, are on US presidents.

Two future US presidents signed the Declaration of Independence.

Can you name both?

-Adams and Jefferson.

-Adams and Jefferson.

Correct.

Two US presidents were shot in Washington DC.

One died the following day, the other - 80 days later.

Again, please name both.

-WHISPERS:

-Kennedy...no.

Lincoln, then it's either Garfield or McKinley.

-I'd go for Garfield.

-I think it's McKinley.

He was in Baltimore.

-Lincoln...Lincoln.

-Come on.

Lincoln and McKinley.

No, McKinley was shot in Buffalo.

Garfield was the other one.

The two US presidents who were impeached.

-Can you name both of them? WHISPERS:

-Nixon and Clinton.

Nixon and Clinton.

No, Nixon wasn't impeached, he resigned.

The other one is Andrew Johnson.

So you don't get any points there.

and we're going to take

a second picture round.

For your picture starter, you're going to see

a portrait of a British engineer.

Ten points if you can name him.

James Watt.

It is James Watt, yes.

James Watt was one of the group of pioneering philosophers,

scientists and manufacturers

who met informally as the Lunar Society of Birmingham,

and who have been called the fathers of the Industrial Revolution.

Your picture bonuses are portraits of three more members

of the society.

Five points for each you can identify.

Firstly, for five - this scientist.

THEY CONFER

When was Watt around?

-Yeah, Hooke.

-Was Davy around at that time?

Davy was...

-Was Dalton...

-Hooke?

-Go for Hooke, yeah.

Hooke.

No, that's Joseph Priestley.

Secondly, this industrialist.

Josiah. Josiah Wedgwood.

Go for it.

Josiah Wedgwood.

Correct. And finally, this manufacturer.

THEY CONFER

Abraham Darby.

No, that's Matthew Boulton.

Right, ten points for this

starter question.

At nearly 2,000 metres,

Mount Halla on the island of Jeju is the hi...

South Korea.

South Korea is correct.

Your bonuses, Liverpool,

are on words that begin with the letters Z-Y.

In each case, give the word from the definition.

Firstly, also known as a proenzyme, an inactive substance

that could be converted into one enzyme

when activated by another.

An example is trypsinogen, secreted by the pancreas.

-Zymogen or something.

-Zymogen.

Zymogen is correct.

An arrangement, secondly, of digits in birds and chameleons

with two toes facing forward and two back.

It's common in arboreal species.

Zygodactyl.

Correct.

Finally, the cell produced when a sperm fertilises an ovum.

Zygote.

Correct. Ten points for this.

Following a mission by Menasseh ben Israel

of Amsterdam,

which political figure rescinded an order of 1290,

expelling Jews from England?

-Oliver Cromwell.

-Correct.

Your bonuses which could put you in the lead

are on The Lord Of The Rings.

-Yes!

-Firstly, for five points.

Chapter one of book three of The Lord Of The Rings,

that is the first chapter of The Two Towers, is entitled

The Departure Of... which member of the Fellowship Of The Ring?

-Boromir.

-Correct.

Secondly, chapter one of book four is entitled The Taming Of...

which figure also known as Gollum?

-Smeagol.

-Correct.

Chapter one of book five, that is the first chapter

of The Return Of The King shares its name with which city -

the capital of the Kingdom of Gondor?

Minas Tirith.

Well done.

Ten points for this.

What is the national

fruit of India?

A rich source of vitamins A, C and D,

its flesh may be dried, eaten ripe or used in pickles and chutneys.

-Mango.

-Mango is correct.

Your bonuses are on African wildlife.

Established in 1951,

which national park in northern Tanzania

is the only location in Africa

where large-scale migration of land animals still take place?

THEY CONFER

Maasai Mara.

No, it's the Serengeti.

Common in the Serengeti,

which small antelope of the genus Eudorcas

is named after a Scottish explorer born in 1858?

Thomson's gazelle.

Correct.

What is the common name of large antelopes

of the genus Connochaetes,

particularly abundant in the Serengeti?

Wildebeest.

Wildebeest is correct.

Five minutes to go.

Ten points at stake for this.

That of a grandfather and his granddaughter,

what surname links the writers who created the malignant Svengali

and the troubled housekeeper Mrs Danvers?

Robert Louis Stevenson.

No, anyone want to buzz from Newcastle?

Du Maurier.

Du Maurier is correct.

These bonuses are on the Domesday Book.

William the Conqueror commissioned the Domesday Book

while at Gloucester during Christmas of what year -

two years before he died?

-WHISPERS:

-85. He died in 1080...90, was it 97?

So it would be 1085.

-WHISPER:

-You sure?

-Come on.

-Yeah, 85.

1085.

Correct.

The abbreviation TRE in the Domesday Book

refers to the last day of the reign of which monarch?

THEY CONFER

-WHISPERS:

-I would have gone for Edward the Confessor.

Edward the Confessor.

Correct.

Some major towns were omitted from the Domesday Book,

London was one.

Which former capital of Wessex was another?

-WHISPER:

-Wessex...

-Salisbury?

-Yeah, go on, then.

Salisbury.

No, it was Winchester.

Ten points at stake for this.

The age of which animals

can be estimated by Galvayne's groove,

found on the upper corner incisor?

Horse.

Horses is correct, yes.

And donkeys.

Level pegging, these are your bonuses.

They're on cities of the Commonwealth.

Beaverbrook, Britannia, Alta Vista and Avalon

are among the suburbs of which national capital?

THEY CONFER

-WHISPERS:

-Is it Canada?

-Come on.

Ottawa. Ottawa.

Correct. Gives you the lead.

Clementi, Orchard Road, Bukit Timah and Changi

are among the localities in which major Commonwealth city?

-WHISPERS:

-Kolkata?

Kolkata.

No, it's Singapore.

Which capital's suburbs include Mount Victoria, Brooklyn,

Rongotai and Ngaio?

-Sounds like New Zealand, Auckland.

-Auckland.

No, it's Wellington.

Ten points for this.

Listen carefully, I need the names

of three cities here.

Name the capitals of the US state of Oklahoma,

the Republic of Guatemala,

and the US state of New York.

Oklahoma City, Guatemala City and Albany.

Correct.

These bonuses are on Tate Britain, Liverpool.

Inspired by a boating expedition in 1885, Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose

is a painting by which US artist noted for his society portraits?

-WHISPERS:

-Winslow Homer.

Winslow Homer.

-Nominate Bennett.

-Winslow Homer.

No, it's John Singer Sargent.

Sargent's 1889 portrait of the actress Ellen Terry

depicts her in a dramatic pose

as which of Shakespeare's characters?

-Ophelia?

-Lady Macbeth.

-Ophelia.

-No, it's Lady Macbeth.

Which impressionist artist was depicted

painting by the edge of a wood in a work by Sargent

in the mid-1880s during his time in Giverny near Paris?

-WHISPERS:

-Cezanne?

-Cezanne.

No, it's Monet.

There's less than two minutes to go,

here's a starter question.

In 2014, which historic county of England

linked the winners of the LV County Cricket Championship

with the initial stages of the Tour de France?

Yorkshire.

Yorkshire is correct. Your bonuses this time are on novels.

In each case, the answer is the title of a novel

first published in 1915.

Philip Carey is the protagonist of which novel by Somerset Maugham?

THEY CONFER

-The Sun And The Rainfall.

-Nominate Bennett.

-Come on, let's have it.

The Sun And The Rainfall.

No, it's Of Human Bondage.

Edmond Ashburnham is the title character

of which novel by Ford Madox Ford?

-Howards End?

-Howards End.

No, it's The Good Soldier.

EM Forster wrote Howards End.

Richard Hannay is the protagonist of which novel of 1915

by John Buchan?

-The Thirty-Nine Steps.

-The Thirty-Nine Steps.

Correct. Ten points for this.

The name of the post-war avant-garde artistic movement COBRA

is an acronym denoting which three European capital cities?

Copenhagen, Oslo and Bratislava.

No, anyone like to buzz from Newcastle?

Copenhagen, Bratislava and Amsterdam?

No, it's Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam.

Ten points for this.

Derived from the Greek to fall short,

what term in grammar and rhetoric refers to the omission

of part of a gramatically complete sentence?

It's more generally used to denote...

Elision?

No, and you lose five points.

It's more generally used to denote the three dots

that symbolise such omission.

Ellipsis.

Ellipsis is correct, you get a set of bonuses on English forests now.

Firstly, for five.

In which English county is the majority

of the Forest of Bowland?

In 2014, it marked 50 years

as a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Lancashire.

Correct. GONG

And at the gong, Newcastle University have 150,

Liverpool have 190. APPLAUSE

Well, bad luck, Newcastle, despite leading.

You're going to have to come back again.

We look forward to seeing you in a few weeks' time,

on which occasion you must win

if you're to stay in the competition.

Well done, Liverpool.

You lived a bit dangerously, I thought

but you're one step closer to the semifinals.

One more victory means you'll definitely go through to the semis.

I hope you can join us next time for another quarterfinal match,

but until then it's goodbye from Newcastle University.

-ALL:

-Goodbye.

-It's goodbye from Liverpool University. ALL:

-Goodbye.

And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.