Magdalene, Cambridge v St Hilda's, Oxford University Challenge

Christmas University Challenge.

Asking the questions - Jeremy Paxman.

Hello.

We're about to play the penultimate first-round match of our

seasonal series for distinguished alumni.

Two more teams have gamely foregone an evening's wassailing

in order to fight for the honour of their college, and a score of 180

or more will definitely put tonight's winners in the semifinals,

alongside the University of Kent and St Anne's College, Oxford.

Now, playing for Magdalene College, Cambridge first is an academic

and consultant on the settlement of ethnic and religious conflicts.

He's been involved in peace negotiations in Iraq,

Moldova, and Yemen.

With him, a broadcaster specialising in the arts.

As well as Breakfast on Radio 3, she's reported for

The Culture Show, and presented the BBC Proms and Unreported World.

She's also a violinist, a journalist,

and the author of two novels.

Their captain is the principal investigator of Zooniverse,

which allows volunteers to participate in scientific research.

He's also co-authored popular science books

with Sir Patrick Moore,

and the Queen guitarist and Astrophysicist Dr Brian May.

Attentive viewers will no doubt remember his appearance

as a student on University Challenge some years ago,

and will be wishing him better luck this time.

Their fourth team member directed television plays,

working with writers including David Hare, John Osborne,

and Jack Rosenthal, before moving into cinema.

His numerous credits for the big screen include

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, Donnie Brasco,

and Four Weddings And A Funeral,

which became the highest-grossing British film in cinema history

at the time, and for which he won a Bafta award as Best Director.

Let's meet the Magdalene team.

I'm Stefan Wolff. I read for an M Phil in Political Thought and

Intellectual History, and now I'm a professor

of International Security at the University of Birmingham.

Hello, I'm Clemency Burton-Hill. I read English at Magdalene.

I graduated in 2003, and these days I'm a broadcaster,

and a journalist and novelist.

And this is their captain.

I'm Chris Lintott. I read Natural Sciences at Magdalene.

These days, I'm a professor of Astrophysics at Oxford, where I'm

a research fellow at New College, and I co-present The Sky At Night.

I'm Mike Newell.

I read English at Magdalene, finishing in 1963,

and I now make feature films.

APPLAUSE

Now, St Hilda's College, Oxford was founded as a hall for women,

but became co-educational in 2008, although judging by the composition

of tonight's team, it's taking a while for men to make their mark.

Their first team member has been head of several institutions,

including principal of Somerville College, Oxford,

the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges,

and the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

She chaired the Caldicott committee on Patient Identifiable Data

in the NHS, and in her present role ensures there are safeguards

to protect personal confidential data in health and social care.

Next, a specialist in the literature of Ancient Greece and Rome, with

a particular emphasis on sexuality, women and gender in Roman society.

Her books include Catullus' Bedspread,

the life of Rome's most erotic poet, and she's been the recipient

of a Gay Clifford Award for Outstanding Women Scholars.

Their captain was one of the youngest undergraduates

accepted by St Hilda's, and the first from a Scottish state school.

Happily, she says she survived the culture shock of arriving in

a place where no-one understood a word she said.

Her first novel was published in 1987,

and her prolific and award-winning output since has made her

a leading figure of the Tartan Noir.

She writes occasional journalism,

and can be heard regularly on BBC Radio 4 and Radio Scotland.

Their fourth player was an actress, singer, and a teacher of French

before taking up her present profession as a writer,

for which she's been shortlisted for the Whitbread Award,

and highly commended for the Carnegie Medal,

and anyone who listens to Radio 4's Round Britain Quiz will know her

as a member of the North Of England Team.

Now, let's ask them to introduce themselves.

Hello, I'm Fiona Caldicott.

I studied Medicine at St Hilda's, graduating in 1966.

I know chair a big teaching hospital trust in Oxford,

and I'm the National Data Guardian.

Hello, I'm Daisy Dunn.

I read Classics at St Hilda's from 2005 to 2009,

and I'm now an author and journalist.

And this is their captain.

Hi, I'm Val McDermid.

I graduated from St Hilda's in 1975 with a degree in English,

and I'm now a crime writer.

Hello, I'm Adele Geras.

I was at St Hilda's between 1963 and 1966,

reading Modern Languages, and I'm now a writer.

APPLAUSE

Well, the rules on this show are as constant as the Northern Star.

Ten points for starters, 15 points for bonuses. Fingers on the buzzers.

Here's your first starter for ten.

Forming part of Christmas decorations in British churches

since the 15th century,

what seasonal pairing links the winner of the

Best Actress Award for The Piano with the group of prestigious...?

-The holly and the ivy.

-Correct. APPLAUSE

Holly Hunter and the Ivy League was the connection.

Right, you're going to get three bonuses on world events

of January 2016, St Hilda's.

The Zika virus hit the headlines in early 2016.

Spread by the aedes aegypti mosquito,

it takes its name from the forest of origin in which African country?

Any idea?

-Congo?

-Let's go with Congo.

We're going to go with Congo.

No, it's Uganda.

Early January saw the UK government announce the creation of

a large marine reserve around which British overseas territory

in the South Atlantic?

It lies about 700 miles north-west of St Helena.

It was the Falklands, wasn't it? Was it? Was it the Falklands?

-Was it the Falklands?

-I think so. Let's go for the Falklands.

-The Falklands.

-No, that's the other direction. It's Ascension Island.

-Oh.

-And finally, in January 2016,

the Democratic Progressive Party candidate, Tsai Ing-wen,

was elected the first female president of which country?

-Is that South Korea?

-I don't know.

-I have no idea.

-South Korea?

We think it's South Korea.

No, it wasn't, it was Taiwan.

Ten points for this.

"The spell of Trafalgar has been broken."

These words of Kaiser Wilhelm II refer to which battle?

It began on May 31st 19...

Skagerrak.

No, you lose five points.

..on May 31, 1916 when British and German naval forces

sighted each other off the coast of Denmark.

-Was that Jutland?

-It was the Battle of Jutland, yes.

APPLAUSE

So, St Hilda's, you get bonuses on the magi, or three wise men.

Which of the New Testament gospels

includes an account of the three wise men

visiting Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus?

-Matthew?

-Matthew?

-I think it's Matthew.

-Matthew.

-Correct.

First performed in 1951, which opera by Gian Carlo Menotti

concerns a young boy's encounter with the three wise men

on their journey to visit the infant Jesus?

I've no idea.

-1951. No?

-No.

-Sorry, we don't know.

That's Amahl And The Night Visitors.

And finally, which poet wrote of the magi finding,

"The city's hostile, and the town's unfriendly,

"and the village is dirty and charging high prices.

"A hard time we had of it."

-TS Eliot.

-That's correct, yes. LAUGHTER

Too easy. Ten points for this.

Estimated at around 17 nanometres for an oxygen molecule

in air at room temperature and pressure,

what three-word term is used in physics

for the average distance that a molecule travels

between successive...

-It's the mean free path.

-It is.

APPLAUSE DROWNS OUT SPEECH

Right, these bonuses, Magdalene, are on space missions.

In November 2006, NASA permanently lost contact with a global surveyor

that had been launched ten years earlier

to orbit and map which planet?

-Mars.

-Correct.

For what to do the letters RO stand in the acronym MRO,

denoting a multipurpose spacecraft

able to analyse the weather and surface conditions on Mars?

-Reconnaissance Orbiter.

-Correct.

In October 2016,

the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter detected the crash site

of which probe named after an Italian astronomer born in 1835?

-Schiaparelli.

-Schiaparelli is correct.

We're going to take a picture round now.

For your picture starter,

you'll see the opening lines of a poem

which in 2016 celebrated the bicentenary of its publication.

For ten points, name the poet.

To make it a little more challenging,

we've removed every other word.

LAUGHTER

-Keats.

-It's Keats. It's On Looking Into Chapman's Homer.

And there's the whole thing. APPLAUSE

OK, St Hilda's, you have to listen carefully.

For each of your bonus questions

we've taken the opening lines of two 19th-century novels

each by the same author,

then we've taken the first word of one line

followed by the second word of the other,

followed by the third word of the first line

and the fourth word of the second and so on,

alternating between the two.

You are now going to see the results.

For five points, name both the works

whose opening lines have been combined here.

Great Expectations, and...

David Copperfield.

Great Expectations and something else.

Is it David Copperfield?

"Whether I should be the hero of my own life..."

No, because David Copperfield opens, "I was born..."

-David Copperfield's first person.

-Yeah.

It's Great Expectations and...

"..I shall be the hero in my life."

-I think that's David Copperfield.

-Do you think? OK.

David Copperfield and Great Expectations.

That is correct. You can see the whole thing now.

There we are.

And the second.

The titles of these here in translation.

-Machiavelli?

-That's...

-You know.

-No. Which one?

-So it's Tolstoy, isn't it? Anna Karenina and...

-Prince Lucca...

Is it War And Peace? Bonapartes...

-I think it's Italian.

-Or it could be...

-No, it's Tolstoy.

We think it's War And Peace and Anna Karenina, yeah?

War And Peace and Anna Karenina?

That's correct. Here they are.

Here's the third.

-Ah!

-Emma Woodhouse.

-Yeah.

-It's Pride And Prejudice and Emma.

Pride And Prejudice and Emma.

That's correct. Here they are.

Excellent. Good. Well, ten points for this.

APPLAUSE Fingers on the buzzer.

In which novel does the author offer a vision of heaven

where, having won the FA Cup,

the entire Leicester City team are selected to play for England

and go on to beat Brazil 4-1 in the World Cup final?

Beginning with a woodworm explaining

how he became a stowaway on Noah's Ark,

it was first published in 1989, the author being...

Julian Barnes, History Of The World In Ten And A Half Chapters.

That's correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on seasonal food and drink, St Hilda's.

Traditional Christmas fare in the low countries,

cougnou, coquille, or cougnolle is a festive brioche-style bread

baked with raisins and sugar in the likeness of which figure?

INDISTINCT

-Could be anybody.

-Father Christmas?

Do you think so?

-Don't know? Any guess?

-St Nicholas, I would say.

-St Nicholas.

-Make it respectable.

-St Nicholas.

No, it's the infant Jesus.

Secondly, representing Christ and the 12 apostles,

in which historical and cultural region of France

do festive meals end with the ritual 13 desserts?

-That sounds nice.

-Sounds very nice.

-I think...

Where's famous for desserts?

Brittany?

Don't they have a dessert with apostles around the edge?

If you say so.

-Brittany?

-Brittany.

No, it's Provence.

And finally, which Scandinavian country sees its breweries

annually release a Christmas soft drink for minors

called julebrus?

-Julebrus...

-Scandinavia...

Which Scandinavian country drinks most beer?

-It's minors.

-Minors?

-Shall we go for Sweden?

-Norway?

-Norway.

-Norway.

-Norway.

-Norway is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE Right, ten points for this.

Elected to the Royal Society

in 2016, which mathematician's works...

-Marcus du Sautoy.

-Correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Three questions on a playwright, Magdalene, for your bonuses.

Dated from 1992, The Gift Of The Gorgon

was the last major dramatic work of which playwright

who died in June 2016 at the age of 90?

-Guess.

-Don't know.

-Any idea?

-Yeah, but...

I'm going to go forward with your guess.

-No, no, no.

-You've got to guess something.

-Nominate Burton-Hill.

-No, no, no!

I'm afraid...

I was going to say Arnold Wesker, but I'm sure it's wrong.

You're quite right - it is wrong. LAUGHTER

It's Peter Shaffer.

First performed in 1965

with a cast including Maggie Smith and Derek Jacobi,

which one-act farce by Shaffer uses a reversal of light and dark

such that events taking place during a power cut

are depicted in full illumination onstage?

-No idea.

-No.

-We don't know.

That was Black Comedy.

And finally, Peter Shaffer's twin brother Anthony

wrote which 1970 play?

It's twice been adapted for the cinema

with both versions featuring Michael Caine.

-Still blank looks. We've no idea.

-Yeah, sorry.

It's Sleuth.

Right, another starter question.

"So little trouble do men take in the search after truth,

"so readily do they accept whatever comes first to hand."

Which ancient historian made that lament

in his history of the Peloponnesian War?

Thucydides.

Thucydides is correct, of course.

APPLAUSE

Right, Magdalene, these bonuses are on Boxing Day events.

Firstly for five points,

on Boxing Day 1966 in an East End club,

Jimi Hendrix wrote which classic song, said to have been inspired

by a dream in which he walked under the sea?

It reached number three in the UK charts the following year.

-I didn't live then.

-Neither did I.

Name a Hendrix song.

-Name a Hendrix song.

-Um... No.

Yeah, no idea.

-That was Purple Haze.

-Oh, God, of course.

On Boxing Day 1919,

which major league club sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees?

The club in question had won the World Series

in three of the four previous years.

-It's the Boston Red Sox.

-Correct.

Boxing Day 1972 saw the birth of

which British film director and screenwriter

noted for the 2002 film Once Upon A Time In The Midlands

and the feature film and subsequent TV series This Is England?

Oh, God...

Oh...

-No, I can do it.

-No, no idea.

That was Shane Meadows.

Now we're going to take a music round.

For your music starter, you're going to hear a song from a film.

For ten points, I'd like you to identify the film, please.

# But square cut or pear shape

# These rocks don't lose their shape... #

Oh, no, I was going to say Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend.

St Hilda's, you can hear a little more.

-Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

-That is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Of course, Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

was the name of the song.

-The film was called...

-Thank you for pointing that one out.

..Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Unfortunately, she couldn't hit a few of the high notes

so that was done for her on that recording uncredited

by Marni Nixon, who died earlier this year.

For your bonuses, three more of Marni Nixon's performances.

I want the name of the film in which the song appears

and the name of the actress that Marni was dubbing.

Firstly.

# There's a place for us

-# A time and place for us... #

-West Side Story.

And she was dubbing for Natalie...

-# Hold my hand... #

-Natalie Wood.

-West Side Story and Natalie Wood.

-That's correct, yes.

Secondly.

# Getting to know you

-# Getting to know all about you... #

-It's The King And I, isn't it?

And she was Deborah Kerr.

It's The King And I and Deborah Kerr.

It is. And finally.

# All I want is a room somewhere... #

-Audrey Hepburn...

-# Far away from... #

Audrey Hepburn, My Fair Lady.

That's right. Well done.

APPLAUSE

Right, another starter question.

In the Western Christian church, if, during a particular December,

the Feast Day of St Stephen falls on a Monday,

on what day of the week is the Feast Day of St Thomas a Becket?

A Tuesday.

Anyone like to buzz from St Hilda's?

Thursday?

Thursday is correct, yes. December 26th and 29th.

Right, you get a set of bonuses, then, St Hilda's,

on a mathematician.

Which German mathematician gives his name to the theorem

that generalises the product rule for differentiation

to provide a formula for the nth derivative?

The 300th anniversary of his death fell in 2016.

-Any mathematician.

-No.

No, I'm sorry, we have no idea.

That was Leibniz.

Often attributed to Leibniz, the infinite series

one minus a third plus a fifth minus a seventh and so on

approximately equalling 0.785

exactly equals what irrational number?

-GERAS CHUCKLES

-Pi?

No, it's pi over four.

Leibniz's postulation of harmonies

between metaphysical units called monads,

reflected in the aphorism of "the best of all possible worlds",

was satirised in which major French literary work of 1759?

-Candide.

-That was Candide, yes.

Right, fingers on the buzzers. Ten points for this.

Named as missing in action when he failed return from

a reconnaissance mission in North Africa in 1944,

which French writer used his experiences as a pilot...

Saint-Exupery.

Saint-Exupery is right.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, Magdalene,

are on songs that narrowly failed to make Christmas number one.

LAUGHTER

Firstly, for five points, beaten to the 1987 Christmas number one spot

by the Pet Shop Boys cover of Always On My Mind,

which song pivots on a domestic argument and takes its title

from a novel by JP Donleavy?

The JP Donleavy novel is what?

Fairytale Of New York?

We're going to say Fairytale Of New York.

That is correct, The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl.

In 2003, Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End) by The Darkness

was kept from the top of the charts by which song?

It had first been a hit in 1982 for Tears For Fears.

No idea.

The East German one?

It wasn't the NHS choir one, was it?

No, we don't know.

That was Mad World.

And finally, Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You was beaten

to number one at Christmas 1994 by which band's Stay Another Day?

That is East 17.

It was East 17.

APPLAUSE

Ten points for this starter question.

Commissioned by Catherine de' Medici,

which French royal palace occupied the site adjacent to the Louvre

until it was destroyed by fire in 1871?

Its garden adjoins the Rue de Rivoli and the Place de la Concorde.

Is that Tuileries?

It is, yes.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, St Hilda's, are on novels -

all three titles include the name of a bird.

Firstly, which science-fiction novel by John Wyndham is set

in a small English village controlled by a group of blonde,

golden-eyed, telepathic children?

The Midwich Cuckoos.

Correct. Ken Loach's 1969 film Kes is an adaptation of which novel

by the Yorkshire-born author Barry Hines?

Kestrel For A Knave.

And finally, taking its title from an old Scottish metaphor for death,

which novel by Ian Banks begins with the line,

"It was the day my grandmother exploded?"

The Crow Road.

Correct.

We're going to take a second picture round now.

For your picture starter, simply give me the surname of this family.

That's the Broons.

It was indeed the Broons.

APPLAUSE

2016 marked the 80th anniversary of the first appearance

in the Sunday Post newspaper of the Broons

created by RD Low and Dudley D Watkins

for the Dundee-based publisher DC Thomson.

Your bonuses are three more cartoon characters

from the DC Thompson stable.

Ten points for each one you can name - here's the first.

Minnie the...?

Beryl the Peril?

Is it Beryl the Peril?

No, that is Minnie the Minx.

Secondly, who is this?

That's Oor Wullie.

It is Our Woolie. Is it Woolie or Wolly?

Oor Wullie!

Oor...? Well, you would know.

Also celebrating his 80th anniversary in 2016,

and also from the Sunday Post of course.

And finally, who is this,

and of which eponymous group is he a member?

That's Plug from the Bash Street Kids.

You're quite right.

APPLAUSE

No depth left unplumbed here.

10 points for this starter question.

Which 19th-century English writer and artist gives her name to an

annual UK prize for distinguished illustration in a book for children?

Kate Greenaway.

Kate Greenaway is right.

These bonuses are on Greek mythology.

Which doctor of King Minos of Crete was deserted by Theseus on

the island of Naxos and was later consoled by Dionysus?

Ariadne.

Correct. Ariadne's sister Phaedra married Theseus

but later fell in love with his son who rejected her.

What was his name?

She told Theseus that he had made an attempt on her honour

resulting in his banishment and death.

-Hippolytus.

-Correct.

Based on the story of Phaedra,

the tragedy Hippolytus was the work of which ancient Greek playwright?

Euripides.

Correct.

10 points for this starter question.

The Welsh monk Asser was a biographer of which ruler

whose reign was noted for the promotion of learning and literacy?

A younger son of King Ethelwulf, he became King of Wessex in 871.

Alfred.

Alfred the Great is correct.

These bonuses are on 20th century artists, St Hilda's.

"The men put me down as the best woman painter.

"I think I'm one of the best painters."

So said which artist particularly known for her large-scale

paintings of flowers?

You don't need to buzz.

Sorry.

Georgia O'Keeffe.

Correct.

In 1949, O'Keeffe left New York and moved permanently to which US state,

the stark landscapes of which provided inspiration

for many of her works?

New Mexico.

In 1946, O'Keeffe became the first woman to have

a retrospective exhibition at which New York City museum?

The Metropolitan?

Metropolitan.

No, it was the Museum of Modern Art or Moma.

Ten points for this.

What is the French title of the 1929 novel by Jean Cocteau

adapted by him into a film in 1950?

It concerns the siblings Elizabeth and Paul

who isolate themselves from the world as teenagers and embark

on doomed love affairs as adults.

Les Enfants Du Paradis.

No. Anyone like to buzz from Magdalene?

You may not confer, one of you can buzz.

It was Les Enfants Terribles.

Another starter question.

On the standard London Monopoly board,

the three letters of the word ice appear next to each other

and in the correct order within the name of only one property.

Which one?

You may not confer.

Leicester Square.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

You get a bonuses on BBC dramatisations

of ghost stories for Christmas.

For Christmas 1976, the BBC adapted which chilling story by

Charles Dickens about a traveller and a railway worker

apparently inspired by the 1861 Clayton Tunnel train crash?

-The Signal-Man.

-Correct.

What refrain from a ballad by Robert Burns provided MR James with

the title of a ghost story twice adapted by the BBC in 1968 and 2010?

Whistle And I'll Come To You.

That's right.

From another story by MR James,

The Tractate Middoth aired on Christmas Day 2013

and saw the directorial debut of which actor and writer

noted for his work on Sherlock?

Gatiss. Mark Gatiss.

Sorry.

Mark Gatiss.

Correct.

What final three letters link words meaning a composite subatomic

particle made up of three quarks, the cell body of a neuron

and a synthetic fibre made from cellulose,

also known as artificial silk?

GONG

APPLAUSE

Magdalene, you were going to give the correct answer which is YON,

of course, but sadly you were too late and you were very

convincingly beaten, I'm afraid, by a very on-form team from St Hilda's,

much helped by specialist knowledge of cheap cartoons.

Anyway, many congratulations to you, St Hilda's. We shall look forward

to seeing you for sure in the semifinals.

I hope you're going to be able to join us next time for another

first-round match, the last of these ones.

But until then it's goodbye from Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Goodbye.

It's goodbye from St Hilda's College, Oxford.

-Goodbye.

-And it's goodbye from me.

Goodbye.

APPLAUSE