Episode 11 University Challenge

APPLAUSE

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. To err is human, but knowing everything is very irritating to the rest of us!

On the other hand, erring too often will put you on the slow bus of shame back to your campus.

Tonight, Oxford plays Cambridge and Queen's play King's.

The King's College of Our Lady and St Nicholas in Cambridge

is known to millions for its wonderful choral music especially the Christmas Service.

It was founded in 1441 for 70 poor scholars by Henry VI

who also established Eton College. For around 400 years,

that school gave us an entertaining definition of poverty

by providing all King's students.

Nowadays, King's is regarded as having particularly strong links with the state sector.

Its traditions include allowing cows to graze on Scholars' Green

and the Provost has authority to grant permission for duelling to take place on the King's Bridge.

Where are Health and Safety on the rare occasions when you need them? Let's meet the team.

Hello. I'm Andrew Tindall from Bournemouth, Dorset.

I'm studying natural sciences.

Hi. I'm Bryony Bates, from Redhill in Surrey. I'm studying English.

-And their captain.

-I'm Joshua Newton, from San Francisco,

studying for a PhD in history.

Hello. I'm Phil Davies from Goring in Oxfordshire and I'm studying philosophy.

APPLAUSE

Now, the Hall of the Queen's Scholars at Oxford, or simply the Queen's College,

was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield

the chaplain to Queen Philippa, queen consort of Edward III, and was named after her.

It's also known for its choir whose recordings include a contribution to the soundtrack of Harry Potter.

The future Henry V spent time at the college

and alumni include the theologian John Wycliffe, the philosopher Jeremy Bentham

and the astronomers Edmund Halley and Edwin Hubble.

It's properly referred to with the definite article, but we've dispensed with it tonight.

Hi, I'm Peter Sloman, from Garstang in Lancashire, studying a D.Phil in History.

Hello. I'm James Kane, from Manchester and I'm reading Japanese.

And their captain.

I'm Matthew White from Pershore, Worcestershire studying for a D.Phil in Maths.

Hi. I'm Layla Hill from Sale in Cheshire, studying Chemistry.

APPLAUSE

The rules are the same as ever.

10 points for starters, 15 for bonuses. Starters are sole efforts, bonuses are team efforts.

Five-point fines for incorrect interruptions. Here's your starter for 10.

What two-word title originated in the 19th century was popularised by a play of 1911 by Charles Nirdlinger

and has been applied to Eleanor, Betty, Jacqueline, Lady Bird and...

-First lady.

-First lady is correct.

You're first out of the traps on bonuses.

Sporting venues, tonight, Queen's.

Which area of west London takes its name from the venue of the 1908 Olympics

at which the modern length of the marathon was fixed at 26 miles, 385 yards

to bring the finishing line before the royal box?

-White City.

-Correct.

After a police officer's mount used to control the crowds,

the nickname The White Horse final is often given to the first FA Cup final at Wembley in 1923.

-Which Lancashire club were the winners?

-Bolton Wanderers.

-Correct.

Which London football stadium shares its name in part with the personal emblem of King Richard II?

White Hart Lane?

-White Hart Lane.

-Correct. Another starter question. According to the Oxford English dictionary,

the first use in English of which word occurred in 1638?

It was described erroneously by its originator as meaning "an orb of gross vaporous air

"immediately encompassing the body of the moon"?

-Atmosphere?

-Yes.

Your bonuses, King's, are on national nature reserves.

Threatened by a proposed tidal barrier,

which nature reserve in Lincolnshire and Norfolk

is a mix of open and coastal water, mud flats and salt marshes?

-The Wash.

-Correct. Which Welsh mountain to the south-east of Barmouth

rises to 2,930 feet and is one of the most southerly limits of Arctic alpine flora in Britain?

-Snowdon?

-Snowdon.

No, Snowdon's 3,500. It's Cadr Idris.

A Scottish nature reserve, which island is the location of Fingal's Cave

popularised by Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture?

-Skye.

-No, it's Staffa. Another starter question now.

What is the four-word title

of the 2004 book by the US financial journalist James Surowiecki

which argues that large groups of people are collectively more intelligent

than an elite few?

-The Wisdom of Crowds.

-Yes.

Queen's, your second bonuses are on literature.

Give the title of the early 20th century novel, the opening lines of which mention these locations.

First for five points. "The marsh farm in the meadows where the Erewash twisted sluggishly

"through alder trees, separating Derbyshire from Nottinghamshire."

-Pass.

-D.H.Lawrence's The Rainbow. Second,

"The cave, a large, old-fashioned three-storey building, a mile outside the town of Mugsborough."

-Pass.

-The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.

Finally, "The Marabar Caves, 20 miles from the city of Chandrapur."

-A Passage to India.

-A Passage to India.

-Yes.

Ten points for this starter.

What is the Si-derived unit of activity of a radionuclide,

equal to the activity...

-Becquerel.

-Correct. Yes.

Your bonuses are on medicines, this time, Queen's, now rarely used.

Which drug was developed in the 1940s and was the first antibiotic

effective against tuberculosis?

-Penicillin?

-No, Streptomycin.

The only vaccine now commonly available for protection against tuberculosis

is named after its discoverers, and is usually known by what three initials?

-BCG?

-Dunno. Go for it.

-BCG.

-Correct. The causative agent of TB in humans is Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Infection by the related strain, Mycobacterium bovis,

having been virtually eliminated in developed countries,

by what public health measure, first proposed in the 1880s?

Vaccination?

Is it banning of spitting?

Banning spitting.

No, it's pasteurisation of cows' milk. A picture round now.

Your starter is a map with the location of an active volcano.

Ten points if you can give me its name.

Mount St Helen's.

It is Mount St Helen's, yes.

In the United States. Your picture bonuses are three maps

featuring active volcanoes. Five points for each you identify.

Firstly, this volcano which last erupted in 1909.

Mount Teide.

Mount Teide is right. In the Canaries.

This, whose last eruption occurred in 1950.

-Krakatoa.

-No, that's Santorini, or Thera.

Finally, this volcano which last erupted in 2011.

-Etna.

-That is Mount Etna, yes.

Another starter question now.

"Why stop at serving them once a day? Have them twice or even three times

"for breakfast, dinner and supper."

These words appeared on war-time leaflets about which vegetable?

-Potatoes.

-Yes.

Your bonuses this time are on American universities, Queen's.

In US universities, first-year students are generally called freshmen

and second-years sophomores. What term is used for third years?

-Juniors.

-Correct. The process known as graduation in UK universities

is known by what term in American universities?

-Commencement.

-Correct.

The academic society or fraternity Phi Beta Kappa

gets its name from the initial letters of the Greek motto "Philosophia biou kubernetes".

What does this mean in English?

Philosophy, life...

..government?

-Philosophy, life, government.

-Yeah, OK.

"Philosophy is the guide of life."

Another starter question. "His essays are, in effect, an extended autobiography,

"the only one ever to be written this way." These words...

-Montaigne.

-Montaigne is correct, yes.

King's, your bonuses this time are on an economist.

Which economist gives his name to the theory that lack of demand for goods and unemployment

should be met by increased government expenditure to stimulate the economy?

-Keynes.

-I think he devised the theory while he was at King's!

Keynes led the British delegation to the Bretton Woods conference in 1944,

which set up the World Bank and which other United Nations agency?

-The International Monetary Fund.

-Correct. What general term denotes the economic discipline

of which Keynes is considered the founder? It studies whole economies or systems.

-Macroeconomics.

-Is right. Another starter question.

Give both names promptly if you buzz.

The names of which Greek god and goddess

were combined in that of their son whose body became united with that of a nymph?

His name is the derivation of the term for an animal or plant

having both male and female...

Hermes and Aphrodite.

Yes.

Your bonuses are on Ancient Greek names. The answer is a pair of names

that in English differ by only one letter. For five,

a priestess of Aphrodite who killed herself when her lover drowned

and the queen of the Olympian gods.

-Hero and Hera.

-Correct.

Second, a king of the city state of Sychian, described by Aeschylus as the son of Apollo,

and the son of Faunus, who according to Ovid, was the lover of Galatea.

-Pass.

-Apis and Acis. Finally,

the goddess of strife who gives her name to a dwarf planet, and the goddess of the rainbow.

-Eris and Iris.

-Correct. Another starter question.

Which two eukaryotic cell structures are composed of nine fused pairs of microtubules

surrounding a central pair?

-Centromere.

-No, I'm afraid you lose five points.

With the expenditure of ATP, they're able to beat in a whiplash fashion.

One of you may buzz.

-Mitochondria.

-No, the flagellum and cilium. Ten points for this.

Which town on the River Wye links the 12th-century Bishop of St Asaph,

author of The History of the Kings of Britain,

with James Scott, an illegitimate son of Charles II

executed after the battle of Sedgemoor...

-Monmouth.

-Monmouth is right.

Your bonuses are on linear algebra.

In a vector space, what name is given to the minimal size of a set of spanning vectors?

-A dimension.

-Correct. What is the dimension of the set of complex numbers

-when regarded as a vector space over the real numbers?

-Two.

-Correct.

What is the dimension of the set of complex numbers when regarded as a vector space over complex numbers?

-One.

-Correct. Which poem by Shelley is believed to have been written in competition

with his friend and fellow poet Horace Smith?

Smith's version opens, "In Egypt's sandy silence all alone stands a gigantic leg

"which far off throws the only..."

-Ozymandias.

-Ozymandias is right.

You can see why Shelley won!

Your bonuses are on words that contain all five vowels in any order.

In each case, give the word from the description.

First, a cultivar of brassica oloracea whose varieties include

snowball, clapton and romanesco veronica.

-Cauliflower.

-Correct.

An adjective describing something beyond one's reach or that cannot be acquired or procured by effort.

-Unobtainable.

-Correct.

Finally, a small percussion instrument appearing on the title

of a song written by Bob Dylan and covered by The Byrds.

-Tambourine.

-Tambourine is right. A music round now.

You'll hear a well-known song.

Ten points if you give me the singer.

# Ave Maria

# Vergin del ciel. #

-Bocelli.

-No. Queen's, one of you buzz, please.

Pavarotti.

Pavarotti. If that was a guess, it was a very lucky one!

So, following on from his version of Ave Maria,

three more Ave Marias sung by pop artists.

In each case, I want the name of the person singing.

First, for five points.

# Ave Maria... #

-Charlotte Church.

-No, that's Barbra Streisand.

Secondly, the vocalist of this alternative version.

# Ave Maria... #

Sounds plausible.

Cliff Richard?

He wishes! It's Chris Cornell's version of Schubert's arrangement.

Finally, the singer of this pop song, also called Ave Maria.

# Ave Maria

# I've been alone

# When I'm surrounded by friends

# How could the silence be so loud? #

- I've no idea. - Have a guess at someone modern.

-Eva Cassidy.

-No, that's Beyonce.

Ten points for this. The word Oriental appears in the full name

of which South American republic, describing its location.

-Uruguay.

-Is right.

Your bonuses this time, Queen's, are on pioneering American women.

Chicago's Hull House was the first major social settlement house in the US,

providing cultural and social amenities for a largely immigrant area.

Its founder, Jane Adams, became the first American woman to win which specific award in 1931?

-No idea.

-Let's have an answer.

-The Congressional Gold medal?

-No, the Nobel Peace prize.

Born Margaret Higgins, who opened the first US birth control clinic

in New York in 1916?

Her publications include What Every Girl Should Know

and What Every Mother Should Know.

-Margaret Sanger.

-Correct. A pioneer and research innovator in social anthropology,

who in 1928 published Coming of Age in Samoa,

a psychological study of primitive youth for Western civilisation?

Margaret Mead, I think.

Margaret Mead is right, yes. Another starter question now.

In physics, what adjective describes two quantum states with the same energy?

-Degenerate.

-Degenerate is right, yes.

Your bonuses are on Byzantine emperors. In each case,

I want the regnal name shared by the emperors who bore the following by-names.

The first, known as The Thracian, the third, or The Isaurian, and the sixth, or The Philosopher?

-Leo.

-Leo.

-Correct.

The first, or Bringer of Victory, whose skull was made into a cup after defeat by the Bulgars,

and the second, known as Phokas?

-Julian.

-No, Nikephoros. Finally,

the fifth, or Dung Named,

and the 11th or Palaiologus, who was the last Byzantine emperor.

-Constantine.

-Constantine.

-Constantine is correct.

Ten points for this. The Italian for mis-tuning, what term denotes the tuning of stringed instruments

to play notes outside their normal range

in order to perform particular compositions?

-A-tonal.

-Anyone like to buzz from King's?

No? It's scordatura. Ten points for this.

A serious post-war fiscal crisis and demands for parliamentary reform and Catholic emancipation

were among the challenges which faced which prime minister, in office from 1812 to 1828?

-Liverpool.

-Liverpool is right, yes.

Your bonuses this time are on dates in novels, Queen's.

In which novel of 1895 does an inventor encounter people called the Eloi and the Morlocks

in the year 802,701?

-The Time Machine.

-Correct.

Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World is set in the year 632 AF.

For what do the initials AF stand?

Anno Fordi. Year of Ford.

Anno Fordi.

No, it's After Ford. I can't give you that.

Five points for this. In which novel of 1889 by Mark Twain

does a contemporary American experience life in the year 528?

Connecticut Yankee at the Court of King Arthur.

Connecticut Yankee in the Court of King Arthur.

In King Arthur's Court. Yes. A second picture round now.

For your picture starter, you'll sees a photograph of a fruit.

For ten points, I'd like you to give me, in the correct order,

the names of the chemical elements

whose chemical symbols spell out the four-letter name of the fruit.

-Potassium, iodine, tungsten, iodine.

-Well done! Yes.

Your bonuses are more pieces of fruit or vegetables.

Again, give me the names of the chemical elements

whose one or two-letter chemical symbols spell out the name of what you see. Confer,

give me the list of elements then.

Here's the first. It's a nine-letter word.

- It's asparagus. - Is it argon?

- Ar is Argon. - Asparagus doesn't have an R.

- As is... - Arsenic.

Pa is Protactinium.

- Ra is... - Radon?

-Or is that Rm. I think it's Rm.

-It might be radium.

-OK.

-Radium.

-G.

-It would have to be Gu.

Maybe it's Ag, which is silver.

What's R?

I don't think there is an R.

OK.

This is all very entertaining, but you have to give an answer soon.

I don't know what G is, but you could have Uranium and Sulphur.

Arsenic. Phosphorous. Argon...

-Silver.

-Silver.

Uranium. Sulphur.

Well done! Yes!

Secondly for five points, a ten-letter word.

There are two ways of doing this. Either is fine.

- What is it? - Coriander?

It's ten letters.

-Is it a vegetable?

-Is it watercress?

-Yes, it's watercress.

-OK.

-That's tungsten.

-At is astatine.

And erbium.

So, tungsten, astatine, erbium. C? Carbon?

-No, no, Cr, you could have chromium.

-There's two ways.

Es is einsteinium, and S is sulpher.

So what's that again?

-Tungsten, astatine, erbium.

-Erbium.

Chromium.

-Einsteinium. Sulphur.

-Well done.

APPLAUSE

Finally, there are two possible solutions to this one as well.

I want the plural form, so seven letters.

It's a banana!

Barium. Sodium.

Sulphur.

-Bananas, so two sodiums.

-Yeah. Yeah. Barium,

sodium, sodium, sulphur.

Yes!

APPLAUSE

Another starter question.

What initial three letters link a receptacle for the bones of the dead,

a legendary Gallic poet, an Italian dish of stewed...

-Urn. U-R-N.

-No, you lose five points.

An Italian dish of stewed veal,

and a region of the Caucasus divided between Russia and Georgia?

-Abc...?

-No, it's O-S-S. Ossuary, Ossian, osso bucco and so on.

Another starter question. Crack, white, grey, bay, goat and almond leaves

are among the native British trees of what genus? You may give the common name or scientific name.

-Laurel.

-No. Queen's? Somebody buzz?

Birch.

No, it's willow or Salix. Ten points for this.

In human genetics, what percentage of the male offspring of a male carrying a Y-linked gene

will carry that gene?

-50 per cent.

-Anyone like to buzz from Queen's?

-100 per cent.

-100 per cent. Yes.

Your bonuses are on a 19th-century politician.

Born in 1819 which Liberal statesman gives his name to an act of 1870

that created the first national system of elementary education in England and Wales?

Foster. Forster.

-Forster.

-Correct. In 1872, Forster guided through an act

stipulating which reform of the voting system,

one of the Chartists' six points which helped reduce bribery and intimidation at elections?

-Secret ballot.

-Correct. Forster Square railway station is in which English city?

-Shall we just guess?

-Let's have an answer.

-Newcastle.

-No, Bradford. Three minutes to go. Ten points for this. According to William James,

which branch of philosophy "means nothing but an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly"?

-Logic.

-Queen's, somebody like to buzz?

Metaphysics. Ten points for this.

Answer when you buzz. Three countries share borders of 1,500km or more with the European Union.

For ten points, name two of them.

-Russia and Ukraine.

-No.

Anyone like to buzz from King's?

Ukraine and Switzerland.

No, it's Norway, Russia and Switzerland.

The other ones, the Ukraine and so on, are slightly shorter. Ten points for this, then.

Assuming the most abundant isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen,

a molecule of water contains how many protons?

-Ten.

-Correct.

Another set of bonuses for you, Queen's. They're on a craft.

In what traditional craft might one find oneself following a four-word instruction

represented by the abbreviation K, T.B.L?

-Knitting.

-Yes!

For what does the letter Y stand in the knitting pattern instruction yfon?

-Yarn.

-Yarn forward over needle is right.

Again in a knitting pattern for what does sl1, k1, psso stand?

Come on!

-Slip first, purl one...

-No, slip one, knit one, pass slip stitch over.

Ten points for this. B.V in Dutch,

e.e in Welsh, p.ej in Spanish,

per es in Italian,

p.ex in French and Portuguese...

-For example. E.g.

-Correct.

Your bonuses, King's, are on genetic engineering.

What name was given to the first mammal to be cloned from adult somatic cells in 1996?

-Dolly.

-Quickly.

-Dolly!

-Dolly.

Correct. Dolly was produced by somatic cell nuclear transfer.

In this technique, the nucleus from a somatic cell

is transferred to what type of recipient cell?

-Egg cell.

-No, embryonic cell.

What tissue was the source of the nucleus transferred to produce Dolly?

-Mammary.

-Mammary is right. Named after Dolly Parton. Ten points for this.

Attributing the words to the artist and writer Robert Storm Petersen,

Niels Bohr cited the observation that "Prediction can be very difficult

"especially about..." what?

-The future.

-The future, yes.

Here are your bonuses, Queen's, on codes.

Its statutes, including The Conventicle Act and the Five-Mile Act,

a code restricting the activity of non-conformists in 17th-century England

-is often named after which Lord Chancellor?

-Clarendon!

-Clarendon.

-Correct. Which Chinese dynasty gives its name to a penal code of 624 C.E

that became the basis for later dynastic codes in China and other east Asian states?

-Tang.

-Correct. Effective in the USA from the 1930s to the '60s, the Hays Code

-regulated what form of artistic expression?

-GONG

At the gong, King's, Cambridge have 95

and Queen's, Oxford, have 280!

Bad luck, King's, you never got the chance to show us what you're made of.

But you were up against very strong opposition.

Queen's, a terrific score and terrific performance. We'll see you again. Congratulations.

I hope you can join us next time. Until then,

-it's goodbye from King's College, Cambridge.

-Bye.

-Goodbye from Queen's College, Oxford.

-Bye!

And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye!

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