Episode 16 University Challenge

University Challenge.

Asking the questions - Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. Last time we saw Homerton College, Cambridge win the first of two play-offs

between four teams who lost their first round matches,

but did so with scores high enough to get another chance to stay in the competition.

The final place in round two goes to whichever team wins tonight.

Now, the defeat suffered by St Andrews University was almost certainly divine retribution

for giving Sir Fred Goodwin an honorary degree in 2004.

It could also have had something to do with Merton College, Oxford

being slightly better at general knowledge questions.

Whatever the reason, they lost by only 30 points with a very respectable 165

and are the only team left in the competition from an institution outside England.

-Let's meet them again.

-Hello. My name is Thomas Volker.

I'm from Aberdeen and I'm studying Ancient History and Archaeology.

Good evening. I'm Thomas Lazarides.

I'm from Somerset and I'm studying Chemistry.

-Their captain.

-I'm Doug Kennedy from Southampton,

studying Modern History and Philosophy.

I'm Dustin Frazier from West Virginia

and I'm doing a PhD in English and History of Art.

APPLAUSE

Worcester College, Oxford gave Clare College, Cambridge a run for their money in the first round

and were neck and neck for much of the match, only to lose in the last minute by 180 points to Clare's 190.

They were familiar with how to brew beer and the place of the oyster in literature

and they even had an answer to the eternal conundrum - what is the use of a BA in English?

Let's meet the team again.

Hi, I'm Dave Knapp from Woking and I'm studying Engineering.

I'm Jack Bramhill from Colchester, studying Chemistry.

-Their captain.

-I'm Rebecca Gillie from Weymouth,

reading French and Italian.

I'm Jonathan Metzer from London, reading Classics.

APPLAUSE

OK, the rules are unchanging - ten points for starters, 15 for bonuses,

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

The post-war series of measures known officially as the European Recovery Program

is more generally referred to as a Plan named after...

-The Marshall Plan.

-Correct.

The first set of bonuses are for you, St Andrews. They're on scientific apparatus.

Born in 1791, which British scientist gives his name to an enclosure of conducting material

that protects electronic equipment from electrostatic discharges?

-We don't know.

-Michael Faraday, the Faraday cage.

Derived from that of the botanist who devised it in around 1829,

what name was given to a glass case used to house plants,

particularly ferns, both domestically and during transportation from overseas?

WHISPERING

-A terrarium?

-No, it's a Wardian case.

The father of a noted novelist, which 19th century engineer gives his name to a shield or screen

which houses meteorological instruments while allowing the free circulation of air around them?

-Huxley?

-No, Stevenson. Another starter question.

"An example of the sad results to be expected from the over-education of the lower orders."

These words from The Morning Post refer to which author?

Born in Walsall in 1859, his best known work features himself, two friends and a dog called...

-Jerome K Jerome.

-Yes.

Your first set of bonuses, Worcester College, are on crowns.

The British Imperial State Crown, worn by the Queen for the State Opening of Parliament,

contains among its jewels the Second Star of Africa, the second largest portion of which famous diamond?

-Nominate Knapp.

-Koh-i-Noor.

-No, the Cullinan diamond.

The Iron Crown of Lombardy, formerly used for the coronation of the Holy Roman Emperors,

is kept in the cathedral of which Italian city near Milan?

-Modena?

-Modena?

Modena, I think.

-Modena?

-No, it's Monza.

St Edward's Crown, used for the coronation of a British sovereign, is named after which King?

WHISPERING

-Edward I?

-Edward the Confessor.

Ten points for this starter.

What given name begins words meaning a gambling system of doubling stakes continually in the hope of a win,

a type of vermouth, a strict disciplinarian

and a Caribbean island administered as part of France?

-Martin.

-Martin is right, yes.

These bonuses are on abbreviations this time.

The economic theory that the true rate of exchange between two currencies can be determined

by what can be bought with a unit of each is known as PPP. For what do these initials stand?

-Purchasing Power Parity.

-Correct. Founded in 1888,

which US collegiate women's sorority has the initials DDD?

-Delta Delta Delta.

-Delta Delta Delta.

-Correct, Tri Delta.

The radioactive element roentgenium, named after the German physicist,

originally had a systematic element name referring to its atomic number 111,

resulting in what three-letter symbol?

-UUU.

-Correct. Another starter question. Active in the mid-2nd century BC,

the Greek astronomer Hipparchus is credited as the inventor of which branch of mathematics,

having used tables to compute the eccentricity of the orbits of the moon and sun?

-Hyperbolics?

-Anyone like to buzz from St Andrews?

It's trigonometry. Ten points for this. What two-word term originates in Shakespeare's Hamlet

in words spoken by Ophelia to her brother Laertes,

the term denoting an easy and superficially attractive route that may lead to...

-Primrose path.

-Correct.

Your bonuses now are on a shell.

What name for a bivalve mollusc of the genus Pecten, and for its distinctive shell,

also denotes thin slices of meat or fish often dusted with flour and sauteed?

-Scallop.

-Correct. The words "I hear those voices that will not be drowned" are found

on a sculpture called The Scallop by Maggi Hambling.

On the beach at Aldeburgh, it is dedicated to which composer from whose opera the words are taken?

-Benjamin Britten.

-Correct. The scallop shell is also a symbol of pilgrimage,

denoting that the wearer has visited the shrine of St James at which site in northern Spain?

-Nominate Knapp.

-Santiago de Compostela.

-Correct.

We'll take a picture round now. For your starter, you'll see the text of a political document,

converted into a word cloud or a graphical representation

in which the font size and the colour of various words denotes the frequency of their use within it.

Ten points if you can name the document.

-Is it the 2010 Coalition Agreement?

-Yes, it is.

Your bonuses - three word clouds representing documents of historical and political significance.

Five points for each you can identify. Firstly?

WHISPERING

-The Magna Carta.

-Correct. Secondly?

-The Ministry of Work and Pensions.

-Any ideas?

It could be the introduction of state pensions or something?

Introduction of state pensions?

It did include that, but the answer is the Beveridge Report

which was the document on which all that welfare state was founded. Finally?

I would say the Communist Manifesto.

-The Communist Manifesto?

-Correct. Ten points for this.

Born in Cremona in 1567, which composer has been called

"the last madrigalist and the first operatic composer"?

Credited with the introduction of pizzicato and tremolo,

his works include the Vespers and the opera Orfeo.

-Is it Monteverdi?

-It is Monteverdi, yes.

Your bonuses this time are on Pacific islands.

Around the size of Wales, Grande Terre is the main island of which French collectivity?

1,500 kilometres east of Queensland, Captain Cook is said to have named it after his father's homeland.

-New Caledonia.

-New Caledonia.

-Correct.

Less than half the size of Scotland, the island of New Britain is part of which Pacific island state?

-I think it's Papua New Guinea.

-Papua New Guinea.

-Correct.

Before independence in 1980, which Pacific island state was known as a condominium of the New Hebrides,

administered jointly by the UK and France?

-I think it's the Solomon Islands.

-Solomon Islands?

-No, Vanuatu.

Ten points for this. Quote: "Like the procreation of eels, it is slippery and mysterious."

These words of civil servant Claud Schuster describe the relationship

between the Prime Minister and which institution?

-The monarchy.

-No. Worcester?

-The European Union.

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

From an event in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress

in which property, preferments, kingdoms and pleasures were all for sale,

what name was taken by Thackeray for the title of his novel...

-Vanity Fair.

-Vanity Fair is right.

Right, St Andrews, your bonuses are on eponymous architects.

The designer of Birmingham Town Hall, which English architect is best remembered

for his invention of a light, two-wheeled, covered carriage

in which the driver sits high up at the back?

CONFERRING

-Hackney?

-It's Hansom. You got the right idea, but it was the wrong name.

What style of architecture is characterised by classical columns in porticos

and is named after an Italian architect who based his work on that of Vitruvius?

-Nominate Frazier.

-Palladian.

-Correct. Which French architect gives his name

to a roof with two slopes, the lower of which is almost vertical?

-No idea.

-We don't know.

-It's a mansard.

Ten points for this. What is the common name for the nutritious seed

of the papilionaceous climbing plants Pisum sativum and Pisum arvense?

-Grapes?

-Anyone like to buzz from St Andrews?

-Quinoa?

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

More commonly cited in the US, the economic indicator known as the Misery Index

measures overall economic performance by adding inflation to which other rate?

-The interest rate.

-No. St Andrews?

-The rate of economic growth.

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

In 2010, Grade 2 listed status was granted to the villa in St John's Wood that was bought by EMI in 1929.

It houses which studios where Pink Floyd...

-Abbey Road Studios.

-Abbey Road is correct.

Your bonuses this time are on acids.

Muriatic acid and "spirits of salts" are names formerly given to which highly corrosive mineral acid?

-Hydrochloric acid.

-Correct.

Nitric acid, the chemical usually combined with hydrochloric acid to form aqua regis,

used to dissolve gold, was formerly known by what alchemical name?

WHISPERING

-Answer, please.

-Nominate Bramhill.

-Spirit of nitre?

-No, aqua fortis.

Oil of vitriol is an early name for the concentrated form of which acid?

-Sulphuric.

-Sulphuric acid.

-Correct. Another starter question.

Starch, cellulose and glycogen are condensation polymers of which...

-Glucose.

-Glucose is right, yes.

This set of bonuses, St Andrews, are on film noir screenplays.

Which Anglo-American author of detective fiction wrote the screenplay

for the 1946 film noir The Blue Dahlia, starring Veronica Lake?

WHISPERING

-Dashiell Hammett?

-No, Raymond Chandler.

Co-written by Chandler and Billy Wilder, which 1944 film noir starred Barbara Stanwyck,

was based on a novel by James Cain and takes its title from a term used in life insurance policies?

-Double Indemnity.

-Correct. Chandler also collaborated on the screenplay of which 1951 Hitchcock film

based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith about a proposed double murder?

-Strangers On A Train.

-Correct. We'll take a music round now.

You'll hear a piece of popular music. 10 points for the name of this solo artist.

# Ordinary boys... #

-Morrissey?

-Morrissey is right, yes.

Right, the band The Ordinary Boys chose their name from Morrissey's song of that title.

For your bonuses, three more songs where the title became the name of a band. 5 points for the name.

Firstly for 5 points, the name of this song from 1967.

MUSIC PLAYS

# They touched both my eyes

# And I touched the dew on their hem... #

It's a song about Atlantis.

-Atlantis.

-Is that a band?

-I don't think it is.

-But we have to try something.

I'm not sure about this.

-Atlantis?

-No, Sisters of Mercy by Leonard Cohen. That became a band in Leeds in 1980.

Also from 1967, the name of this song, please.

MUSIC PLAYS

# Cutie, don't you play with fate

# Don't leave your lover alone

# If you go out on this date

-# His heart will turn to stone... #

-Any idea?

-Er...we don't know.

-That's Death Cab For Cutie. And, finally, from 1986...

# You and I have no secrets

# Now, baby, let me read your mind... #

-Radiohead.

-Yes! 10 points for this.

The name of the Scottish-born designer JP Lee was combined with that of which location

in the name of a rifle made there...

-Enfield.

-Enfield is right.

Your bonuses are on pairs of words whose spelling differs by adding a T after the third letter,

for example, pin and pint. Give both words from the definitions.

A pipe for conveying smoke or hot air and a wind instrument?

-Flue and flute.

-Flue and flute.

-Correct.

Secondly, lesson of a story or fable and liable to death and, hence, ungodlike?

-Moral and mortal.

-Correct. Nerve cell and uncharged particle of similar mass to a proton?

-Neuron and neutron.

-Yes! 10 points for this.

The Hebrew word "nabis" meaning prophet was adopted as the name of a group of artists,

including Vuillard and Bonnard, who drew much of their inspiration from which post-Impressionist, born 1848?

-Degas?

-St Andrews? Have a buzz.

-Seurat.

-No, it's Gauguin. In the making of red wine, what four-letter mass noun denotes grape juice

before or during fermentation at which point...

-Pulp.

-No, you lose 5 points. ..at which point it includes stem fragments, seeds and pulp?

-Must.

-Must is correct.

These bonuses are on poetry. Which poem by Oscar Wilde begins,

"He did not wear his scarlet coat, for blood and wine are red,

"And blood and wine were on his hands when they found him with the dead"?

-Ballad of Reading Gaol?

-Correct. To whom did Richard Lovelace address his poem, From Prison, which begins,

"When love with unconfined wings Hovers within my gates"?

-We don't know.

-That's Althea. "To Althea, from Prison."

Which of the Romantic poets was the author in 1797 of the poem This Lime-Tree Bower, My Prison?

-Keats?

-No, Coleridge. The pigment red ochre is a powdered form of which mineral of iron oxide,

the most important ore of iron...

-Haematites.

-Haematite is right. Your bonuses this time are on shared surnames.

What surname was shared by a niece and uncle, the first a designer associated with shocking pink,

the latter an astronomer whose observations of markings on the surface of Mars

led to speculation about life on the planet?

Possibly Cassini?

-Let's have an answer, please.

-Cassini?

-No, Schiaparelli.

What name links the composer of the opera La Sonnambula, a Venetian painter known for his altar pieces

and an anatomist who described the excretory ducts of the kidney now named after him?

-Nominate Bramhill.

-Langerhans?

-No, it's Bellini.

Which London-born clown, who died in 1837, shares his surname with the Genoese family

who became Lords of Monaco in the late 13th century?

-We don't know.

-Grimaldi. The defeat of the LTTE

or Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May, 2009,

effectively brought to an end the 25-year civil war in...

-Sri Lanka.

-Sri Lanka is right.

This set of bonuses is on world cities.

The 40th parallel of latitude passes through the cities of Philadelphia, Ankara and which East Asian capital?

- India? - Not Beijing?

-Let's have an answer, please.

-Tokyo.

-No, it's Beijing.

London and Calgary both lie between the 51st and 52nd parallels.

Which Central Asian capital is closest in latitude?

-Go Tehran.

-Tehran?

-No, Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.

Which capital of the Americas lies close to the same parallel of latitude as Venice and Zagreb?

-Mexico City?

-No, it's Ottawa.

Time for another picture round. A photograph of an English author. 10 points if you give me his name.

-HG Wells?

-No. Worcester College? One of you buzz.

-CS Lewis?

-No, it's EM Forster, a man who liked to keep a low profile, evidently successfully.

Picture bonuses in a moment or two. Named because its spacecraft had two crew members,

which NASA space program...

-Gemini.

-Gemini is correct.

You failed to identify EM Forster, but you get the picture bonuses.

He was part of the Bloomsbury Group. Three more of the members of that group. 5 for each you can identify.

Firstly...

-Virginia Woolf?

-Nothing like her! It's Vanessa Bell. Secondly...

-Em...yeah, we don't know.

-That's Clive Bell, her husband. Finally...

-Lewis Carroll?

-Lewis Carroll?! Well, no!

Very much no! It's Lytton Strachey. 10 points for this.

-Which Commonwealth country has a bay, an island, a mountain range and a major public...

-Canada.

No. Lose 5 points. ..and a public university named after Lincolnshire navigator Matthew Flinders,

born in 1774?

-Australia.

-Indeed.

Your bonuses are on avian anatomy.

Palmate, raptorial and zygodactyl are terms applied to which specific part of a bird's anatomy?

-Foot.

-Correct. Most flying birds have how many toes on each foot?

It's three, I think. I think three.

-I'd say two.

-Three?

No, it's four. A bird's foot described as aniso-dactylic would usually have

how many toes at the front and how many at the back?

-Come on, let's have an answer.

-Three and one?

-Where?

-Three front, one back.

-Correct. Another starter question.

Equal to the work done by a force of one dyne over a distance of one centimetre,

what is the centimetre-gram-second unit of energy?

-Erg.

-Correct. These bonuses are on the work of Friedrich Schiller.

In each case, identify the title character of the work described.

A trilogy of plays based on the life of a Bohemian general, assassinated in 1634?

-Let's have an answer.

-We don't know.

-Wallenstein. An historical play

about the last days of an exiled queen, executed in 1587?

-Mary, Queen of Scots?

-Yes. The story of a legendary 14th-century freedom fighter,

later adapted into an opera by Rossini?

-William Tell?

-Correct. Another starter.

Ending in the suffix "mouth", even though it's not on the coast,

which town in Cumbria was the birthplace...

-Cockermouth.

-Correct. Your set of bonuses this time are on biology.

Found mainly in foods derived from animals, which of the B vitamins contains cobalt

and is also known as cobalamin?

-B12?

-Correct. Which Group Two metal is found in the porphyrin ring of chlorophyll?

-Magnesium.

-Magnesium.

-Which Group Eight metal readily converts between oxidation states

and is found in cytochromes of the electron transport chain?

-Iron.

-Right. Two minutes to go.

"Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify." These are the words of which...

-Thoreau?

-Thoreau is correct, yes.

A set of bonuses on a shared name.

Which US President was re-elected in 1916 under the campaign slogan, "He kept us out of the war"?

-Woodrow Wilson.

-Correct. Woodrow Wilson were the first two given names of which American folk singer,

best known for Dust Bowl ballads?

-Woody Guthrie.

-Correct. The American astronomer Robert Woodrow Wilson is jointly credited

with the discovery in 1964 of CMB. For what do these initials stand?

-Cosmic Background Radiation?

-No, Cosmic Microwave Background.

You missed out the M. Right, Duluth, Thunder Bay and Marquette are among the largest settlements

on the shore of which...

-Lake Superior.

-Correct. Here are your bonuses this time on the various treaties of Versailles.

In the Treaty of Versailles of 1768, Genoa ceded which Mediterranean island to France?

-Corsica.

-In 1783, Britain signed two Treaties of Versailles settling her colonial disputes with France

and which other country?

-Spain.

-The Treaty of Versailles of 1871, ending the Franco-Prussian War, is signed by which two leaders?

Bismarck and...

-Bismarck and...?

-Come on. Let's have it.

-We don't know.

It was Bismarck and Thiers. Probably a Greek born in Antioch, who according to Christian tradition

was the only gentile among the four evangelists?

-Luke.

-It was, yes!

Your bonuses are on an English poet.

2010 saw the announcement of discovery of a previously unknown poem, Dear Jake, by which poet?

He died in 1985, having refused the role of Poet Laureate in 1984.

-John Betjeman?

-Philip Larkin. Which future Poet Laureate was the author in 1993

of Larkin's official biography, A Writer's Life?

-Andrew Motion?

-Correct.

-GONG

We have to say goodbye, St Andrews. You were unlucky, but beaten by a pretty strong team tonight.

Worcester College, we'll see you in the next stage of the competition.

I hope you can join us next time. Until then, goodbye from St Andrews,

goodbye from Worcester College

and goodbye from me. Goodbye.

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd - 2011

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