Episode 33 University Challenge

University Challenge! Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. The mills of this contest grind slowly,

and they grind exceedingly small, and they've now sieved out

two teams, Worcester College, Oxford, and Pembroke College, Cambridge,

who have to prove themselves in the semifinals.

Whichever team wins tonight will join them.

Manchester University have adopted an approach we've come to term

"Extreme Answering" - either extremely right, or extremely wrong.

So far they've seen off Selwyn College, Cambridge,

Christchurch, Oxford, and Newcastle University,

but have already lost one quarterfinal match to University College, London.

That means they're here tonight on their last chance to stay in the competition.

Let's ask them to reintroduce themselves.

I'm Luke Kelly, I'm from Ashford in Kent, and I'm studying History.

Hi, I'm Michael McKenna, from St Anne's in Lancashire, and I'm studying Biochemistry.

And their captain.

Hi, I'm Tristan Burke, from Ilkley in West Yorkshire, and I'm studying English Literature.

Hello, I'm Paul Joyce, from Chorley in Lancashire,

and I'm studying for a Masters in Social Research Methods and Statistics.

APPLAUSE

Now, the team from Clare College, Cambridge have beaten Worcester College, Oxford in round one,

Leeds University in round two, and Homerton College, Cambridge in their first quarterfinal,

but then they lost their second to Pembroke College, Cambridge,

which means this is also their last chance to qualify for the semifinals.

Let's meet them again.

Hi, I'm Chris Cao, I'm from Abingdon in Oxfordshire, and I'm reading Mathematics.

Hi, I'm Daniel Janes, I'm from East London, and I'm studying History.

And their captain.

Hi, I'm Jonathan Burley, I'm from Bourne End in Buckinghamshire, and I'm reading Physics.

Hello, I'm Jonathan Foxwell, from Farnham in Surrey, and I'm reading Natural Sciences.

APPLAUSE

OK, fingers on the buzzers, here's your first starter for 10.

July 13th, 2010 was the 25th anniversary of which event,

ultimately prompted by BBC News reports in 1984 on Claire Bertschinger's work

at a Red Cross feeding centre in northern Ethiopia?

Live Aid?

Live Aid is right, yes.

First set of bonuses, Manchester, are on nicknames used by Private Eye.

The Grocer was Private Eye's nickname for which Prime Minister?

He was first given the name in 1962 as a result of his role in the negotiations over EEC food policy?

Edward Heath.

Correct. In the 1960s, a Scottish newspaper wrongly captioned

a photo of which Prime Minister as Baillie Vass,

having mistaken him for a Scottish magistrate,

leading Private Eye to adopt this as his nickname?

Alec Douglas-Home?

Correct. Born Jan Ludvik Hoch, which publisher and former Labour MP

was referred to by Private Eye as both Cap'n Bob and The Bouncing Czech?

-I've no idea.

-Whatisname? Daily Mirror, fell off the boat.

Maxwell. Robert Maxwell.

Robert Maxwell.

Correct. 10 points for this starter question.

What given name links a founder of the Cistercian order, born around 1028,

the eldest son of William the Conqueror, who succeeded him as Duke of Normandy,

and three Kings...

Er, Charles?

No, I'm afraid you lose five points. And three Kings of Scotland?

The first of whom was the victor of the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

Robert?

Robert is right, yes.

OK, your bonuses this time, Manchester, are on single-word pseudonyms.

Which writer, born in London in 1775, published essays under the pen name Elia,

a name he borrowed from a fellow clerk at the South Sea House, where he had worked in the 1790s?

Charles Lamb.

Correct. Cato was the collective pseudonym of the authors, in 1940, of Guilty Men,

a denunciation of public figures who were regarded as appeasers.

Which future Labour Party leader was one of the authors?

Michael Foot?

Correct. What pseudonym was adopted by the British writer Hector Hugh Monro,

born in Burma in 1870, and known particularly for his macabre and satirical short stories?

Saki.

Correct. 10 points for this starter question.

In economics, the laws stating the tendency for money of lower intrinsic value

to circulate more freely than money of higher intrinsic but equal nominal value,

is named after which Tudor financier?

He founded the Royal Exchange and financed the London College that bears his name.

Goldsmiths?

No. One of you buzz, Clare.

Wolsey?

No, it's Thomas Gresham, as in Gresham's law. 10 points for this.

Originally thought to secrete nasal mucus,

but now seen to play a key role in endocrine regulation

and the control of growth, development and metabolism, which small gland lies...

Is it the adenoids?

No, I'm afraid you lose five points.

..which small gland lies at the base of the brain in vertebrates?

The pituitary gland?

Correct.

Your bonuses, this time, are on Egyptian gods, Manchester.

In Egyptian mythology, Amon is the creator of the world,

and Ra maintains it by means of the passage of the sun.

Who created man and gave him wisdom?

Osiris? Is it Osiris?

-Atum.

-Atum?

Atum?

No, it's Ptah.

Which God of wisdom invented writing and was the protector of Egyptian officials,

meaning that he was responsible for the efficient running of the state?

Thoth.

Correct. After the world was created, which God became King of Egypt,

and ruled together with his sister-consort, Isis?

-Osiris.

-10 points for this. Identify the poet who wrote these words.

"Oh, talk not to me of a name great in story.

"The days of our youth are the days of our glory.

"And the myrtle and ivy of sweet two-and-twenty,

"are worth all your laurels, though ever so plenty."

Dryden?

No. One of you buzz, Clare.

Tennyson?

No, it's Byron. 10 points for this. Listen carefully.

Six of the traditional nine counties of the historical province of Ulster are in Northern Ireland.

For 10 points, name any one of the three in the Republic.

Donegal.

Donegal is right. The others are Cavan and Monaghan.

Right, Clare. Your bonuses are on fishing in literature.

Which US author's collection of writings on fishing, published posthumously in 2000,

include his experiences of the sport in Paris, the Pyrenees, Spain and Cuba?

-Ernest Hemingway.

-Ernest Hemingway.

Correct. Trout Fishing in America and A Confederate General...

-Nominate James.

-Richard Brautigan.

Correct. Along with salmon fishing, the name of which country of the Middle East

appears in the title of a prize-winning...

Yemen.

Yemen is correct, yes.

Right, a picture round, now, slowing things down a little bit.

Your picture starter is a photograph of a British political figure.

10 points if you can name her.

Baroness Ashton.

It is Catherine Ashton, yes.

She is the European High Representative for Foreign Affairs.

She got that job in 2010.

Your picture bonuses are three female politicians,

all of whom are or have been head of government or state.

Five points for each figure you can name.

Firstly, this figure, who was elected in 2006.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Correct, in Liberia.

Secondly, this leader, elected in 2010.

Nominate Janes.

It's Dilma Rousseff.

It is, in Brazil, and finally, this leader, also elected in 2010.

Julia Gillet.

No, it's Julia Gillard. 10 points for this starter question.

Which pioneer of the High Renaissance style

designed part of Milan's Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie early in his career,

and in 1503 became the chief architect of St Peter's Basilica in Rome?

Bernini?

No. Anyone want to buzz from Manchester?

Michelangelo?

No, it's Bramante. 10 points for this.

Renowned for its exact facial proportions,

one of the best known exhibits of the Neues Museum in Berlin

is a limestone and plaster bust of which Egyptian...

Nefertiti.

Nefertiti is correct. You get a set of bonuses now, Manchester, on thermodynamics.

Which SI derived unit is named after a physicist and brewer born in Salford in 1818?

He used a gravity-powered paddlewheel to measure the amount of heat

equal to a given amount of mechanical work.

-Joule.

-Which SI unit is named after another British physicist,

who, among many other things, collaborated with Joule?

Faraday? Is that an SI unit? Or Kelvin?

Kelvin.

Kelvin is correct.

Dividing the joule by the kelvin gives a unit used to measure

what physical property of an object?

Expansion?

Is that a physical property?

Heat capacity.

Correct, or entropy. 10 points for this.

What verb, meaning to gratify or indulge, is derived from the name of the lovers' go-between

in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, and also appears in Shakespeare's...

-Pander.

-Pander is right, yes.

Your bonuses now, Clare College, are on a Roman Emperor.

Not to be confused with the author of The Meditations,

who became the Emperor on the death of Claudius II in 270?

He was later given the title Restorer of the World

for his successful military campaigns.

Shall we say Marcus?

Come on.

Marcus.

No, it's Aurelian.

Secondly, now a World Heritage site in central Syria,

which city was the capital of a short-lived empire destroyed by Aurelian in 272?

Its Queen, Zenobia, was taken as a prisoner to Rome.

Nominate Cao.

Palmyrea.

Correct. And finally, for five points,

Aurelian's victory over Tetricus at the Battle of Chalons in 274,

marked the end of a breakaway empire named after which Roman territory?

-Come on.

-Nominate Cao.

Is it, like, the Gallic Empire, or something?

Yes, Gaul. 10 points for this. The Canadian territory of Nunavut

has an area of more than 2 million square kilometres

and comprises around 20 percent of Canada's total area.

Which country of the Americas is closest in size to Nunavut?

Is it Brazil?

Anyone like to buzz from Manchester?

Mexico?

Mexico is right, yes.

Your bonuses, Manchester, are on literary titles that contain numbers.

In each case, complete the arithmetical calculations of the numbers

in the titles of each pair of books.

For example, Dickens' cities plus Dumas' musketeers gives the answer five. OK?

Firstly, Gabriel Garcia Marquez's years of solitude multiplied by Tolkien's towers.

200.

Correct.

Second, Hosseini's splendid suns divided by TS Eliot's quartets.

-Any idea how many splendid suns there are?

-No idea.

It's something divided by four.

Four.

Four? No, it's a thousand splendid suns, I'm afraid, rather than 16.

So the answer is 250.

Kurt Vonnegut's slaughterhouse multiplied by Arnold Bennett's towns.

25.

Yes. 10 points for this.

From the Latin meaning to shear, what term denotes the shaving

of the crown of the head in the Roman Catholic Church before 1972?

Tonsure.

Tonsure is correct, yes.

Your bonuses, Clare College, are on trees.

What is the common name for the coniferous tree genus Abies,

whose species include the Caucasian, Balsam, Red and Noble?

Pine.

No, it's fir. Which firs in the genus Pseudotsuga have distinctive pendulous cones

and softer leaves than the Abies firs,

and are named after a Scottish botanist?

Douglas.

Douglas is correct. Similar in appearance to the firs,

which genus of trees has species that include Norway and Sitka?

Come on.

Spruce.

Spruce is correct. 10 points for this.

Etymologically unconnected, what short name links a French Department

named after a tributary of the Loire, with a US singer and actress

whose films include The Witches of Eastwick and Moonstruck?

-Cher.

-Cher is right, yes.

Your bonuses this time are on Homeric epithets.

As Achilles gazes out over the Aegean at the funeral

of his friend Patroclus, in book 23 of The Iliad,

which familiar epithet is used to describe the sea?

-Wine dark.

-In the Iliad, which God is frequently referred to

as God of the Silver Bow, and The Lord who Shoots from Afar?

Apollo.

Correct. Because of his ability to summon earthquakes,

which God is given the epithet Earth-Shaker?

Poseidon.

Poseidon is right. We're going to take a music round.

For your music starter, you'll hear a piece of music by a modern composer.

10 points if you can name him.

Sorry, is it Philip Glass?

It is Philip Glass, yes.

That was from Einstein On The Beach.

Your bonuses are three more modern classical pieces,

this time representing the avant-garde or experimentalist movements from the 1950s.

In each case, simply name the composer.

Firstly, the German composer of this piece.

-Nominate Janes.

-Stockhausen?

It is Stockhausen, yes.

Secondly, the Greek composer of this piece.

-Nominate Foxwell.

-Xenakis.

It is Xenakis, yes.

And, finally, the American composer of this piece,

and, I can assure you, you are hearing it correctly. Here it is.

Cage.

It is John Cage, yes. 4'33".

Right, 10 points for this starter question.

"There exists a great background, vital and vivid,

"which matters more than the people who move upon it."

These words of D. H. Lawrence refer to the works of which novelist and poet, who died in 1928?

Thomas Hardy.

Yes, it is Thomas Hardy.

Your bonuses, Clare, are on a physicist.

Which Welsh physicist gives his name to the phenomena or effects

that occur when an electric current passes through

a very thin insulating layer between two super-conducting substances?

Paul.

No, it's Josephson.

Also named after Josephson, what devices are used in a large integrated circuit

to speed the positive signals by electron tunnelling?

Semiconductors.

No, they're Josephson junctions. And, finally, the components of the Josephson junctions

only operate at temperatures close to what?

Absolute zero.

Correct. We're going to take another starter question.

George III was the last British monarchy to claim which title...

King of France?

That's correct, yes.

Get these bonuses, you'll be absolutely level.

They're on nothing.

The action of which Shakespeare's tragedies

is precipitated by an exchange in which the line, "Nothing, my Lord",

is answered with "Nothing will come of nothing, speak again."

-King Lear.

-Correct. "Nothing for nothing" was the expression

used by which 20th-century dictator to summarise his foreign policy?

Franco.

No, it's Benito Mussolini.

And finally, the song I Got Plenty Of Nothing

comes from which opera, first performed in 1935, and set in Charleston, South Carolina?

Porgy and Bess.

Correct. 10 points for this.

The order of hooved mammals known as Perissodactyla includes horses, tapirs and which other...

-Rhinoceros?

-Correct.

You get the lead. Your bonuses, Manchester,

are on expressions in which the last two letters of the first word

and the first two letters of the second word are the same.

For example, as in apple lemonade, or tomato torte.

In each case, give the name of the food or drink from the definition.

Firstly, Italian-style ice cream flavoured with citrus sinensis.

Orange gelato.

Correct.

Second, young soy beans served in their pods and prepared above boiling water.

Prepared above boiling water is steamed.

Tofu steamed!

No, it's steamed edamame.

And, finally, a quickly cooked dish, made from beaten eggs and edible fungi.

-Mushroom omelette.

-Yes.

10 points for this. In human anatomy, what term denotes the five vertebrae

lying between the lumbar and the coccygeal...

Thoracic?

No, you lose five points. ..regions of the backbone?

Thoracic?

Sorry, I didn't hear what you said!

Bad answer. No, it's sacral. 10 points for this.

Given in reverse order, Anne, Louise, James, Edward, Eugenie, Beatrice, Andrew,

Henry, William and Charles are the first names of the first 10 people...

In line to the throne.

Yes, order of succession is correct.

Your bonuses are on a medical condition.

What Greek-derived term describes an abnormal state resembling a trance,

in which a person is apparently or actually unconscious, and the muscles become rigid?

-Catatonic.

-Catatonic.

No, it's catalepsy.

Which Greek philosopher is thought to have suffered from catalepsy

because of his habit of standing fixedly

when consulting his inner voice, or daemonion?

That's probably Socrates, isn't it?

Socrates.

It was Socrates. In which novel by Charles Dickens does Mrs Snagsby become cataleptic

and need to be carried up the narrow staircase like a grand piano?

-Bleak House.

-Correct.

Another starter question now.

What three-word phrase came into general use after it was used

as the title of an economic and social study of 1958 by John Kenneth Galbraith?

The Affluent Society.

Correct.

Your bonuses, this time, are on sensory receptors.

Present in the epidermis of hairless skin,

what stimulus do Merkel cells detect?

Touch or pressure.

Correct. Found in any area of the body, both externally and internally,

what do nocio receptors detect?

Pain.

Pain or potential damage, yes.

What do the sensory hair cells of the organ of Corti detect?

Noise.

Yes, I'll accept. Sound or vibration, yes.

We're going to take another picture round now.

For your picture starter, you'll see a painting.

For 10 points, give me the name of the artist.

Van Gogh.

It is van Gogh, yes.

His Blossoming Chestnut Branches, which were stolen in 2008, and recovered shortly after.

You're going to see three more artworks that were stolen and then recovered.

In each case, name the artist. Firstly.

Edvard Munch.

It is. And secondly.

-Anyone?

-Goya.

-Goya.

It's Goya's Duke of Wellington. And finally.

Rembrandt.

It is indeed, a self-portrait.

Another starter question now. Give the four words that complete these lines from a play by Shakespeare.

"Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure, like doth quit like, and...

Measure still for measure.

Measure still for measure is right, yes.

Right, your bonuses are on short stories.

Close Range: Wyoming Stories, which includes the story Brokeback Mountain,

is a collection of 1999 by which US author?

-Nominate Janes.

-E. Annie Proulx.

Correct. The Sacrificial Egg and Girls at War are among the short stories

of which Nigerian author, born in 1930?

-Nominate Cao.

-Chinua Achebe.

Correct.

Notwithstanding is a 2009 book of stories about a fictional English village by which author?

Settings of his novels include Latin America, Australia, Turkey and the island of Kefalonia.

-Pass.

-It's Louis De Bernieres. 10 points for this.

"Alistair Campbell with an axe" is the historian David Starkey's discription

of which historical figure,

as portrayed by Hilary Mantel in her award-winning novel...

-Thomas More.

-No, you lose five points.

..in her award-winning novel Wolf Hall?

Thomas Cromwell.

Thomas Cromwell.

Right, your bonuses this time are on a regnal name.

What was the regnal name of the three Russians tsars

known as The Blessed, The Liberator and The Peacemaker?

-The latter was the father of Tsar Nicholas II.

-Alexander.

-Alexander.

Correct. Assassinated in Marseille in 1934, Alexander I was the king of which country,

established after the First World War?

Macedonia.

No, it's Yugoslavia.

Pope Alexander VIII notably rejoiced in the defeat of which Catholic ruler

and ally of Louis XIV at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690?

-Come on.

-James II of England.

-James II of England.

-James IIr is right. Five minutes to go, 10 points for this.

Which French city gives its name to a mixture of copper sulphate and calcium hydroxide

used as a fungicide...

Oh, no. Is it Paris?

No, I'm afraid it's not, and I'm going to fine you five points.

..originally used as a fungicide in vineyards?

I'll tell you, it's Bordeaux. 10 points for this.

Meanings of what six-letter word include hiatus, blank and gap,

and in anatomy can mean a bone cavity?

It's the title of an award-winning novel of 2010 by Barbara Kingsolver, and in Latin...

-Lacuna.

-Lacuna is correct, yes.

These bonuses could give you the lead again. They're on Indian states.

Panaji is the capital of which small state on the Arabian Sea?

-It was ruled by Portugal until 1961.

-Goa.

Correct.

Chandigarh, in north-west India, is a union territory

that is also the capital of two states. One is Haryana, what's the other?

-Nominate Kelly.

-Orissa?

-No, it's Punjab.

Dispur is the capital of which state?

Bounded to the north by the kingdom of Bhutan,

it produces about half the country's tea.

Kashmir? No, Assam. Assam.

Assam is right. Three and a half minutes to go, 10 points for this.

When William Howard Taft was elected President of the USA,

which Liberal politician was the UK Prime Minister?

Lloyd George?

Anyone want to buzz from Clare?

-Herbert Asquith?

-Correct.

You get these bonuses, you'll retake the lead. They're on human anatomy.

In each case, give the medical name for the following bones.

Firstly, for five points, the shinbone.

Tibia.

-Correct. Secondly, the breastbone.

-Sternum.

Correct. And finally, the lower jaw.

Mandible.

Another starter question. Answer as soon as you buzz.

Of the 88 keys on a standard grand piano, how many are black?

No, I'm sorry, if you buzz, you must answer straight away, I'm offering it to you, Manchester.

36.

36 is correct.

These bonuses could give you the lead again. They're on Scottish islands.

In each case, name the island that may be reached from the following ferry points.

First, for five points, Ardrossan and Claonaig.

-Anyone?

-Orkneys.

Come on.

-Rhum.

-No, it's Arran.

Second, Oban, Kilchoan and Lochaline.

Mull.

Correct. Finally, Ullapool, Uig and Bernera?

Harris.

And Lewis, yes. Same island. 10 points for this.

In zoology, mammals belonging to the order Monotremata have what characteristic...

-They can lay eggs.

-They are oviparous, you're right.

Bonuses, this time, on scientific lines.

After a German physicist born in 1787, what two-word term denotes

the several hundred sharp absorption features in the spectrum of the sun?

Nominate Joyce.

-Fraunhofer lines?

-Sorry?

Fraunhofer lines.

Fraunhofer lines is correct.

After the German mineralogist who noted them in 1848,

what name is given to the scratch-like marks

revealed within some iron meteorites, possibly as the result of violent collisions?

-Come on, let's have it, please.

-Koch lines.

No, they're Neumann lines.

And finally, what name is that of a 19th-century British politician,

and has been given to the line marks on the side of a cargo ship

to show when it is displacing its maximum safe load?

-Plimsoll.

-Correct. Another starter question, now. Listen carefully.

Words meaning Tokyo stock market index,

worthless household ornament,

and aficionado of the fictional universe of the Starship Enterprise all contain...

K.

Correct. Right, you get a set of bonuses on raw cuisine now.

You get these, you're on level-pegging.

What two-word term describes a dish of raw minced beef, onion and seasoning...

Steak tartare.

Correct. Literally meaning pierced flesh,

which Japanese dish consists of raw fish, cut into very...

Sashimi.

What name is given to the South American dish of raw fish marinated in citrus fruit?

-Ceviche.

-Ceviche is correct. 10 points for this.

In philosophy, what Latin phrase is used for knowledge

that can be derived from pure reasoning without reference to...

-A priori.

-Correct.

You get the lead. Your bonuses are on zoological names.

In each case, give the common name of the animal from the species or sub-specific group,

all of which denote human habitation.

Firstly, gallus gallus domesticus.

Nominate McKenna.

Just say something!

The seagull.

No, it's the chicken, or fowl. Second, musca domestica.

Ferret.

No, it's the housefly. And finally, sus scrofa domesticus.

Quickly.

We don't know.

It's pig. 10 points for this. In English folk songs, what general class of event

links buttercups and daisies, Jan Stewer and Harry Hawke, and parsley and rosemary?

Fair?

Fair is right, yes.

Your bonuses are on Irish literature. The Cattle Raid of Cooley and...

GONG

And at the gong, Clare College have 250, Manchester University have 270.

APPLAUSE

Well, thanks. It was a great game.

Clare, you nearly did it, but you didn't,

so we're going to have to say goodbye to you.

Manchester, congratulations. We'll look forward to seeing you in the semifinal.

I hope you can join us next time, for the last of the quarterfinals,

-but until then, it's goodbye from Clare College, Cambridge.

-Goodbye.

-It's goodbye from Manchester University.

-Bye.

And it's goodbye from me, goodbye.

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