Episode 1 University Challenge

University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello and welcome to the first match of the 2011 to 2012 University Challenge Championship.

The team who win won't necessarily be the most intelligent people in Britain,

but they will know a lot, lot more than most of us, irritating.

But it won't be enough for them to tell us the simple things like the square root of minus 1

or whether Picasso's blue period came before or after his rose one.

They will also have to demonstrate the occasional passing acquaintance with real life,

like what a washing machine looks like. The University of Warwick came into being in 1965.

It's a campus university notably located much nearer to Coventry than Warwick

and is known for its close relationship with the business community

which earned it the warm embrace of New Labour in the 1990s.

Alumni include the singer Sting and the comedy writer Stephen Merchant

and Germaine Greer is Professor Emeritus of English.

This is Warwick's 13th appearance since this series relaunched in 1994

and they were series champions in 2007.

Representing around 21,000 students and with an average age of 23,

let's meet the Warwick team.

Hi, I'm Martin, I'm from Sheffield and I study Mathematics.

Hi, I'm Celia and I'm from Canada and I'm reading for a PhD in Film.

-And their captain.

-Hi, I'm Tom, I'm from Shepperton in Surrey

and I'm studying for a PhD in Physics.

Hi, I'm Sumac, I'm from Oxford,

I'm studying for a degree in politics, philosophy and economics.

APPLAUSE

The University of Edinburgh's foundation is attributed to Bishop Robert Reid of Orkney

who on his death in 1558 left the money for its foundation.

It got its royal charter from James VI in 1582.

Since then, alumni have included the philosopher David Hume,

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Gordon Brown and the former CEO of BP Tony Hayward.

This is Edinburgh's 15 appearance on University Challenge since the series returned,

more than any other non-collegiate institution.

But the series championship has so far eluded them.

Representing around 29,000 students

and with an average age of 22, let's meet the team.

Hi, I'm Ben Wynne, originally for Witley in Surrey

and I'm studying for a PhD in Particle Physics.

Hi, I'm Mark Allen, originally from north Cheshire

-and I'm reading History.

-And their captain.

Hi, I'm Tim MacDonald,

originally from Canterbury in Kent and I'm studying Law.

Hi, I'm Tom Facer, I'm from Leeds and I'm studying Mathematics.

APPLAUSE

OK, the rules are the same as they always are. Ten points for starters, 15 for bonuses,

five-point fines for interruptions to starter questions. Here's your first starter for ten.

Meanings of what five-letter word include, in law, children or progeny, in commerce...

-Issue.

-Issue is right, yes.

-APPLAUSE

The first set of bonuses tonight are on the European Alps.

The Hohe Tauern, a mountain range in the eastern Alps,

includes the Grossglockner, the highest mountain in which country?

-Slovenia.

-No, it's Austria.

The mountain called Mont Cervin in French and Monte Cervino in Italian, both meaning deer-like mountain,

referring to its curved peak, is known in the UK by what German name meaning meadow peak?

-Sorry, we don't know.

-That's the Matterhorn.

Lying on the border between Italy and Austria, which is the lowest of the main Alpine passes

and was the site of meetings between Hitler and Mussolini during the Second World War?

-Tyrell?

-No, it's the Brenner Pass. Ten points for this.

"I see no good reason why the views given in this volume should shock the religious feelings of anyone."

These words appeared in a later edition of which work, first published in 1859?

-The Origin Of Species.

-Indeed.

APPLAUSE

Your first set of bonuses, Warwick, are on bacteria.

From the Greek for "to eat," what name is given to a virus that infects bacteria?

-Phage?

-Phage is right. What name is given to the cycle in which phages

incorporate their nucleic acid into the chromosome of the host cell

and replicate with it as a unit without destroying the cell?

-Symbiosis?

-No, it's the lysogenic cycle or lysogeny.

And finally for five points, a lysogenic strain of the streptococcus pyogenes bacteria

produces an erythrogenic toxin that leads to which illness

similar to strep throat but with a characteristic red rash?

-Meningitis?

-No, it's scarlet fever or scarlatina. Ten points for this.

"Quite the most complimentary meaning of the adjective from his name

"is the terrible descriptive style of writing.

"The more general meaning is licentious and coarsely erotic."

These words from an 1898 reference work refer to which French novelist

whose works include The Debacle and Germinal?

-Zola.

-Zola is right, or Zolaesque.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, Warwick, are on innovations is Greek drama.

What term for an actor is derived from the name of the man often said to have been the first performer

in Greek drama to stand apart from the chorus.

-Thespian.

-Thespian from Thespis is correct.

The Persians, written in about 472BC, in one of the earliest works

by which dramatist, credited with introducing a second actor alongside the existing protagonist and chorus?

-Aristophanes?

-No, it's Aeschylus.

Which dramatist from the fifth century BC, of whose many tragedies only seven complete plays survive,

is credited with introducing painted scenery and a third actor into the performance?

-Sophocles.

-Sophocles is correct. Ten points for this. Listen carefully.

Deep resonant sound and sculpture, for example, of Nefertiti or the Tusculum portrait of Caesar,

are alternative definitions of what pair of words used colloquially of economic cycles?

-Boom and bust?

-Yes.

-APPLAUSE

Right, Edinburgh, this set of bonuses are on a shared place name.

Suffering extensive fire damage during the American Civil War

during the occupation led by General Sherman, which city is the state capital of South Carolina?

-Is it Charlottesville or something?

-Charlotte?

-Charlotte?

-No, it's Columbia.

The Canadian province of British Columbia is bordered by Alaska to the northwest

and by three other American states to the south. Washington is one. What are the other two?

-Montana and Idaho.

-Correct. The District of Columbia,

with which the city of Washington is coextensive,

lies on the bank of which river forming the border between Maryland and West Virginia?

-The Potomac.

-Correct.

We're going to take a picture round now. For your starter, I want you to give me

the alpha-numeric designation of what you see illustrated.

-AK-47?

-It is an AK-47, yes.

APPLAUSE

Most widely manufactured and sold weapon in the world, apparently.

Following the AK-47, three more diagrams of assault rifles.

So any long night misspent on the computer game Call Of Duty tremendously useful.

Identify the rifle in each case. First for five, the name of this rifle.

-An M-4.

-Oh, no, that's an M-16. Secondly, this one.

-Nominate Wynne.

-An MP5?

No, that's a SCAR, the Special Forces' weapon.

And finally, this French-designed assault rifle, adopted by the French army in 1978.

-We don't know, sorry.

-That's a... You should've spent more time playing this game, you know?

That's a FAMAS. OK, ten points for this. Being the plane of the Earth's orbit

projected onto the celestial sphere and therefore inclined at 23.5 degrees to the celestial equator,

what astronomical line traces out...

-Ecliptic.

-The ecliptic is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses, Warwick, are on rodents. What is the alternative name for the nutria,

a large aquatic South American rodent with webbed hind feet

found in the wild but also bred for its fur?

-Vermin?

-No, it's a coypu. Which rodent is the biggest in the world,

a close relative of the guinea pig, it's regarded as a delicacy and is eaten in Venezuela during Lent?

-Capybara?

-Correct.

Brevicaudata and lanigera are the two species of which small rodent, native to the Andes?

It's been hunted almost to extinction in the wild for its thick silver-grey fur.

-Chinchilla?

-Chinchilla.

-Chinchilla is correct.

Ten points for this. Quote, "Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could,

"we women won't hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation."

From a letter of 1776, these are the words of which future first lady of the United States?

-Abigail Adams.

-Correct.

-APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on George Orwell's essay on Charles Dickens. I want you to name the novel by Dickens

that Orwell is describing. Firstly, "The mental atmosphere of the opening chapters

"was so immediately intelligible to me that I vaguely imagined they'd been written by a child.

"And yet, when one re-reads the book

"and sees the Murdstones dwindle from gigantic figures of doom

"into semi-comic monsters, these passages lose nothing."

-David Copperfield.

-Correct.

"In the chapters dealing with the riots, Dickens shows a most profound horror of mob violence.

"He delights in describing scenes in which the dregs of the population behave with atrocious bestiality."

-The Tale Of Two Cities?

-No, that's Barnaby Rudge.

And finally for five, "His greatest success is not a story at all, merely a series of sketches.

"There's little attempt at development. The characters simply go on and on

"behaving like idiots in a kind of eternity."

-Is it The Pickwick Papers.

-It is! That gives you the lead. Well done.

Ten points for this. Answer as soon as you buzz. How many years separate the defeat of the Spanish Armada

from the Battle of Britain?

-352.

-Correct.

You retake the lead.

Your bonuses are on a shared prefix.

In ancient belief systems, including Hinduism and Greek and Egyptian mythology,

what is the object of veneration in ophiolatry?

-Entrails of animals?

-No, it's snakes.

Derived from the Greek for snake rock, ophiolite was the name once given to igneous rocks

composed of which group of minerals, sometimes called green marble?

-Jade?

-No, it's serpentine.

Ophioglossum, or adder's tongue, characterised by a sterile green leaf blade

and a fertile spore-producing spike, is the genus of which plant group, thought to have over 9,000 species?

-Erm, nettle.

-No, it's the fern. Ten points for this.

What four-letter Greek prefix may be added to the name of a subject or discipline

to denote another that raises questions about...

-Meta.

-Meta is correct.

-APPLAUSE

-Your bonuses this time are on physics.

After a 19th century Austrian physicist, what name is given to the shift in the frequency of a wave

due to relative motion of an observer and the source of the wave?

-Doppler shift.

-Correct.

After an American engineer born 1911, what name is given to the device that uses the Doppler Effect

caused by a rotating speaker to create characteristic vibrato or tremolo sounds?

-Leslie rotating speaker.

-Correct.

To what end of the visible spectrum is the light from receiving stars Doppler shifted?

-Red.

-Correct. Another starter question.

A major influence on medical science in the Middle Ages,

which Persian physician's works include accounts of small pox and measles,

a textbook called Almansor...

-Avicenna?

-No. You lose five points.

..and an encyclopaedia known in the western world as Liber Continens?

You may not confer, one of your many buzz.

It's Rhazes. Ten points for this. In a speech of July 1984,

Margaret Thatcher described the Argentinean junta that ordered the invasion of the Falkland Islands

as "the enemy without". Who specifically, according to her, were the enemy within, quote,

"more difficult to fight and more dangerous to liberty"?

Er, the cabinet?

-LAUGHTER

-Very witty but wrong.

Warwick, anyone want to buzz?

-The miners?

-Specifically?

-The mining unions?

-Er...

-Arthur Scargill?

Yeah, you've got it. The National Union of Mine Workers.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on a devil. What name for a demon, later sometimes applied to the devil himself,

was from a German legend about a scholar who gives his soul to the devil for unlimited knowledge?

-Mephistopheles?

-Correct. Noted for his 1956 screen portrayal of Mephistopheles,

the German actor Gustav Grundgens

was the inspiration for the novel Mephisto by which German author

who questioned his actions during the Nazi era?

-Gunter Grass?

-No, it was Klaus Mann.

Also based on the Faust legend, the Mephisto Waltzes were written between 1859 and 1885

by which Hungarian composer?

-Liszt.

-Correct.

Another starter question. Submitted for the Royal Academy exhibition of 1856,

which painting by William Holman Hunt depicts an eponymous animal

who in the Book of Leviticus is said to bear the iniquities...

-Scapegoat?

-The Scapegoat is correct. Your bonuses are on mirrors for princes.

The English poet and scholar John Skelton wrote a speculum principis,

or treatise of advice and instruction

addressed to which future monarch of whom he was then tutor?

-Henry VIII.

-Correct. The Education Of A Christian Prince is a treatise of 1516

dedicated to the future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V by which humanist and theologian?

-Erasmus.

-Correct. Basilikon Doron meaning royal gift was a treatise on government

written for his son, the Duke of Rothesay, by which monarch?

-George II?

-No, it was James I, or as you know him, James VI.

We're going to take a music round now. For your music starter, you'll hear an instrumental version

of a song associated with a specific period of history. Ten points if you can name the war

with which it's primarily associated.

-The American Civil War.

-The American Civil War is correct.

APPLAUSE

OK, so we're going to hear music bonuses now. Three more instrumental versions of songs

popular during that period of American history. I want the title of the song in each case.

Firstly for five...

-I Wish I Was In Dixie?

-I Wish I Was In Dixie's Land, that's right. Secondly...

-Pass.

-That's Battle Cry Of Freedom. And finally...

-Nominate Nicholls.

-When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again?

-Correct.

Another starter question now. What enduring term was introduced by the US sociologist Edwin Sutherland

in the 1940s to draw attention to felonies

committed by both individuals and organisations in the business world?

-White-collar crime?

-White-collar crime is correct, yes.

-APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on an element.

Which chemical element has as its symbol the only letter with the value of five

in an English Scrabble set?

-Tungsten.

-No, it's potassium, K.

Potassium metal was discovered in 1807 by which chemist who gives his name to a miner's safety lamp?

-Nominate Allen.

-Davy?

-Sir Humphry Davy is correct.

Which potassium salt has the formula KMNO4

and is used in solution as an oxidising agent and disinfectant?

-Potassium manganate?

-No, it's potassium permanganate. Ten points for this.

Ilmenite and rutile are ores of which metallic element, discovered by Cornish clergyman...

-Titanium.

-Titanium is correct. Your bonuses are on birds in poetry.

To which bird does Wordsworth address the lines,

"There is madness about thee and joy divine in that song of thine?"

-Nightingale.

-No, it's the skylark.

Which bird is the title and subject of a collection of poems by Ted Hughes

and is described at one point as being,

"Spraddled head down in the beach garbage guzzling a dropped ice cream"?

Pigeons?

-Seagull.

-Yeah. Seagull.

-No, it's a crow.

What birds are being described by WB Yeats in the lines,

"All suddenly mount and scatter wheeling in great broken rings upon their clamorous wings"?

-Swans.

-Wild Swans At Coole, yes. Ten points for this.

"Mr Attlee had three old Etonians in his cabinet, I have six.

"Things are twice as good under the Conservatives."

These are the words of which prime minister, speaking in 1959?

-Harold Macmillan.

-It was, of course.

-APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on homophones. In each case,

give the town whose name is the homophone of the word defined.

For example, historic Cheshire town and part of a yacht is Sale, OK?

First for five points, a town in west Cornwall and a variety of precipitation.

-Let's have an answer, please.

-Hayle?

-Hayle is correct, yes.

Second, a river port in east Yorkshire and a demon that preys on corpses

or a person who delights in the macabre.

-Goole.

-Goole is correct. And finally for five, a town on the River Thames near Slough

and the past participle of a verb meaning destroy by corrosion, devour or consume.

-Come on.

-Sorry.

-It's Eton.

Second picture round now. For your starter, you'll see a photograph of an international opera house.

Ten points if you can give me both the name of the opera house and the city in which it's located.

-La Scala, Milan.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Following La Scala, your bonuses. Three more photographs of opera houses.

Give me the name of the opera house and the city in which it's located. Firstly for five...

-We have no idea.

-That's the Bolshoi in Moscow. Secondly...

It's not Austria, is it?

THEY WHISPER

-I don't know what it's called, though.

-Nor do I.

-Erm, Rome Opera House?

-No, that's the Teatro Colon is Buenos Aires. And finally...

That's Covent Garden. Royal Opera House.

-The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in London.

-Correct, in London. Well done.

Ten points for this. Developed in the 15th century into a complex urban centre

with five distinct religious and administrative functions, which city in the Peruvian Andes

was the historic capital of the Incas?

-Cusco.

-Cusco is correct, yes.

-APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on paintings. Rediscovered in the Scottish borders in 2009,

a painting of 1837 by Paul Delaroche depicts which 17th century figure

being insulted by his captors?

-Let's have an answer, please.

-No idea.

-Charles I.

In a painting of 1836 by Delaroche, which advocate of absolutism and advisor to Charles I

is depicted shortly before his execution in 1641 being blessed by Archbishop Laud?

No?

-No idea.

-It's the First Earl of Strafford.

And finally, the execution of which figure in 1554

is the subject of a large work by Delaroche in the National Gallery?

-Thomas Cranmer?

-No, it's Lady Jane Grey. Ten points for this.

Who in 1975 became the first comic-strip artist to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize...

-Begelman.

-No, you lose five points.

..for editorial cartoons and is known particularly as the creator of Doonesbury?

-One of you may buzz.

-Gerald Scarfe?

-No, it's Garry Trudeau. Ten points for this. Listen carefully.

If no line may be retraced, which is the only sans-serif uppercase letter

that cannot be written without three separate strokes of the pen?

-E?

-No. Warwick?

-T?

-No, it's H. Another starter question. Listen carefully.

The study of birds' eggs, the Dutch name of a seaport in West Flanders

and the Chinese tea whose name means black dragon

all begin with what double letter?

-O.

-Double-O is correct, yes.

-APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on geophysics. What terms describes the crust and brittle part of the upper mantle

of a rocky planet when considered together?

-Lithosphere.

-Correct. What name is given to the region of the mantle directly beneath the lithosphere?

Mesosphere?

-Come on.

-Mesosphere?

-No, it's the asthenosphere.

And what theory developed by Wegener

describes the dynamics of the lithosphere?

-Plate tectonics?

-Correct.

Another starter question. Primary open angle and acute are two types of which eye condition

in which a rise in the pressure of the eye causes internal damage and can affect vision?

-Glaucoma.

-Correct. Another set of bonuses for you.

They're on cities in Wales.

Kingsley Amis's novel The Old Devils is usually thought to be set in which Welsh city

where the author was a lecturer during the 1950s?

-Cardiff?

-No, it's Swansea.

In which Welsh city is John Frost Square, named after the leader of a Chartist uprising of 1839

in which around 20 people were killed by armed soldiers?

Cardiff again.

No, it's Newport. In addition to Cardiff, Swansea and Newport,

two other communities in Wales have city status. For five points, name either.

-St David's.

-St David's. The other is Bangor.

Ten points for this. The UK's first aerial postal delivery was made from which airfield?

Now in the London borough of Barnet, in 1972 it became the site of an RAF museum.

-Biggin Hill?

-No. Warwick, one of you buzz, quickly.

-Tranmere.

-No, it's Hendon. Ten points for this.

In physics, which two sub-atomic particles have masses

1,836 and 1,839 times that of the electron?

-Neutron and proton.

-Correct. A set of bonuses now on Oxford in English history.

The Provisions of Oxford set up a council

to control the king and supervise government and were imposed on which monarch by Simon de Montford?

-Quickly.

-Henry III.

-Correct.

The Oxford Parliament saw the defeat of attempts to exclude James Duke of York from succession.

Which monarch summoned this parliament?

-Charles II.

-Correct. Which leading figure of the 19th century Oxford Movement

was beatified by the Pope on his visit to the UK in 2010?

-John Henry Newman?

-Correct.

With more than four million people in an area slightly smaller than Anglesey,

what is the most densely-populated country in Asia?

-Taiwan.

-No. Anyone like to buzz?

-Bangladesh?

-No, it's Singapore. Another starter question.

Which common tree with the scientific name fraxinus

shares its name was the non-volatile residue remaining after the ignition of an organic material?

-Ash.

-Correct. Your bonuses are on titles of rulers.

-What Hindi term meaning great king was the title...

-GONG

And at the gong, Edinburgh University have 125,

-Warwick University have 220.

-APPLAUSE

Well, I think we're going to have to say goodbye to you, Edinburgh,

but you go with your heads held high. Thank you very much for coming.

Warwick, 220 is pretty impressive. We'll look forward to seeing you in round two.

-I hope you can join us next time. Until then, it's goodbye from Edinburgh University.

-ALL: Goodbye.

-Goodbye from Warwick University.

-ALL: Goodbye.

-And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.

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