Episode 6 University Challenge

University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. It was Kipling who described triumph and disaster as "those two imposters"

and invited us to "treat them both the same".

In a little under half an hour, tonight's teams should tell us if that's possible.

Christ Church, Oxford was founded on the site of a monastery by Cardinal Wolsey in 1524.

When he fell from power, it became the property of Henry VIII

who established the former monastery church as Oxford's cathedral.

Charles I lived there during the English Civil War and after the restoration of the monarchy,

money was given to allow the former student Christopher Wren

to build the Tom Tower over the entrance to the quad.

Other alumni include John Locke, John Wesley and Robert Peel.

Representing around 400 undergraduates and with an average age of 21,

let's meet four of the current crop.

I'm Thomas Hine from Twickenham in Middlesex,

reading Ancient and Modern History.

Hi, I'm Will Peveler from Southampton and I'm reading Chemistry.

-Their captain.

-I'm George Scratcherd from Northumberland.

I'm reading for a DPhil in History.

I'm Nimish Telang from Pennsylvania and I'm reading Mathematics.

APPLAUSE

The University of Bath traces its origins to 1856 and the Bristol Trade School

which became the Merchant Venturers' Technical College.

It's had several incarnations, most of them technical colleges based in Bristol,

but when it was unable to expand any further, it moved to Bath

where it received its royal charter in 1966 as one of the "plate glass universities".

It's a campus university and its functional, glass and concrete buildings provide a pleasing relief

from all that Georgian stuff in the city.

Tonight's team have an average age of 20 and represent 14,000 fellow students.

Let's meet them.

I'm Steven Pagett from Essex and I'm studying Mathematics.

I'm Dorian Lidell from Cornwall and I'm also studying Mathematics.

-Their captain.

-I'm Adam Melling-Smith from North Devon

and I'm reading French and Politics.

Hello. I'm Sam Causer from London and I'm studying Physics.

APPLAUSE

OK, the rules are as constant as the northern star. Here's your first starter for ten.

Valued as a source of energy and taking its name from the town where it was first produced in 1869,

what form of confectionery was eaten on Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing...

-Kendal Mint Cake.

-Correct.

The first set of bonuses, Bath, are on English town halls.

A statue of which Anglo-Saxon noblewoman stands beneath the central gable

of the Council House of the city of Coventry?

-Is it not Lady Godiva?

-Yes.

-Lady Godiva.

-Correct.

The subject of a biography by the historian Tacitus,

a statue of which Roman general stands above the doorway of Manchester Town Hall?

WHISPERING

-Marcus Aurelius?

-No, it's Agricola. Symbolising the city's traditional industry,

a statue of which Roman god stands on top of Sheffield Town Hall?

WHISPERING

-Vulcan.

-Vulcan is right.

Another starter question. Distinguishing between biological sexual difference

and the socially imposed categories of gender,

which work of feminist philosophy was first published in French in 1949...

-The Second Sex.

-Correct.

Your first set of bonuses, Christ Church, are on homonyms -

words with a shared pronunciation, but different meanings or spellings.

For each pair, I want you to spell both words in the order of the definitions given.

Firstly for five points, a strip of cloth wound round the lower leg and formerly worn by soldiers

and a cement made from chalk and linseed oil used for fixing glass in frames?

It's "puttee", so P-U-T-T-E-E...

-Nominate Hine.

-"Puttee", so P-U-T-T-E-E,

-and then P-U-T-T-Y.

-Correct.

Secondly, to become wearisome through familiarity

and a curved bar whose free end engages with a cogwheel to ensure movement in only one direction?

WHISPERING

-"Rachit", R-A-C-H-I-T...

-No, it's "pall", P-A-L-L and P-A-W-L.

And finally, a feeling of anger or resentment resulting from a slight or injury,

especially to one's pride,

and the summit of a mountain?

-"Pique", P-I-Q-U-E and "peak", P-E-A-K.

-Correct. Another starter question.

In 1999, the US psychologist Stephen M Drigotas argued that close partners influence each other,

so that each becomes closer to their ideal self, an effect he named after which Renaissance artist,

who viewed sculpture as the revelation of the figure already hidden within the stone?

-Michelangelo.

-It was Michelangelo, yes.

Right, these bonuses are on coastal regions.

What name derives from that of the indigenous people of North Africa

and was used by Europeans until the 19th century for the coastal region

of what is now Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya?

-Barbary.

-Barbary Coast is correct.

The Coromandel Coast extends for more than 650 kilometres along the eastern seaboard of which country?

-Chile?

-Chile?

-Chile.

-No, it's India.

The British Gold Coast colony, which absorbed the Danish and Dutch Gold Coasts in the 19th century,

became which independent West African nation in 1957?

Ghana?

-Ghana.

-Correct. Another starter question.

Paula Power is the heroine of which novel of 1881 by Thomas Hardy?

It derives its title from a word used in the Book of Revelation

to describe the uncommitted faith of early Christians in a region of Asia Minor

and has come to mean one who is indifferent to religion.

-Agnostic?

-No. Anyone like to buzz from Bath?

-Atheist?

-No, it's A Laodicean. Ten points for this.

Developed by an eponymous Swiss psychiatrist and introduced in 1921,

which projective test is designed to yield information about unconscious mental processes?

-Rorschach.

-Correct.

Your bonuses, Christ Church, are on mathematics.

What adjective is applied to a number which is not the root of any integer polynomial?

-Transcendental.

-Transcendental.

-Correct.

In 1882, the German mathematician Ferdinand von Lindemann proved the transcendence of pi

and proved the impossibility of which geometric construction,

one of the three geometric problems of antiquity?

-Squaring the circle.

-Correct. Nine years before Lindemann, the French mathematician Charles Hermite

proved the transcendence of which ubiquitous mathematical constant?

-E.

-E is right. We're going to take a picture round.

For your picture starter, you will see the symbol of a UK governing sports body.

For ten points, give me the name of the sport it represents.

-Weightlifting?

-Yes, it is weightlifting.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are three more symbols of UK sports governing bodies.

In each case, name the sport each represents. Firstly...?

WHISPERING

-Gymnastics.

-No, that's the England Netball Association. Secondly...?

WHISPERING

-Handball?

-It is handball, yes. And finally...?

It's a type of martial arts.

Which one? Not judo.

Karate?

-Karate?

-No, it's taekwondo. You're in the right direction, but not right enough. Ten points for this.

Named after an American lawyer and Usenet newsgroup user, whose law of analogies...

-Godwin.

-Godwin, that's right.

Right, your bonuses this time are on artists.

Which artist has been described by the critic Robert Hughes as "the greatest living realist painter"?

His work entitled Benefits Supervisor Sleeping sold for over £17 million in 2008.

-Lucian Freud.

-Correct. "There are modern heads which people will go on looking at for a long time to come

"and which perhaps they will mourn over after a hundred years."

These words of Van Gogh refer to his portrait of which doctor

who had tried to help him overcome his mental illness?

-No, I don't think we know.

-That's Paul Gachet. Which artist's double self-portrait of 1939

was described by her as symbolising the duality of her personality?

On the right, she is shown in Mexican costume and on the left in a colonial wedding dress.

-Frida Kahlo.

-Correct. Ten points for this.

In his 1931 book Lo!, the American paranormal investigator Charles Fort coined what term

for the hypothetical instantaneous transfer of matter from one point to another

by psychic or advanced technological...

-Telekinesis?

-No, you... And it was an interruption, I'm afraid, so you're going to lose five points.

..advanced technological means?

-Teleportation?

-Teleportation is correct, yes.

Your bonuses this time, Christ Church, are on accents and other diacritics.

Firstly, the national language of which European country uses a through-slash

to modify the letter L, for example, in the names of its longest river and its President from 1990 to '95?

-Polish?

-Polish?

-Poland.

-Poland.

-Poland is correct.

The double acute accent, for example, over the "o" of "Erno",

the first name of the inventor of Rubik's cube, is found primarily in which central European language?

-Hungarian.

-Correct. In 20th century Danish,

the double "A" diagraph, as in the city name Aalborg,

was largely superseded by an "A" with what diacritic mark?

CONFERRING

-Nominate Telang.

-Diaeresis?

-No, it's a ring or circle.

Ten points for this. Thought to have been modelled

by CS Lewis on his gardener Fred Paxton,

Puddleglum, who appears in the Narnia story The Silver Chair,

is a member of which race of pessimistic, frog-like humanoids?

-Fawns?

-No. Anyone like to buzz from Christ Church?

-Dwarves?

-No, they're marsh-wiggles. Ten points for this.

Easily mistyped, which two nine-letter anagrams mean respectively:

"yielding, flexible or submissive"

and "expression of grievance or dissatisfaction"?

-"Compliant" and "complaint".

-Correct.

Bath, your bonuses now are on novels.

I'll give you the synopsis of a novel which is a recent winner of the Costa Book of the Year award.

I want the title and the author.

The winner in 2008 - "Roseanne McNulty, perhaps nearing her 100th birthday, faces an uncertain future

"as the Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital, where she has spent the best part of her adult life,

"prepares for closure."

WHISPERING

-The Gathering by Anne Enright?

-No, it's The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry.

Secondly, the winner in 2007 - "He found his proper purpose as the tail gunner in a Lancaster bomber.

"He found the wild, dark fellowship of his crew and he found Joyce, a woman to love."

-When was this?

-2007.

Hmm... I'm not sure.

No idea? We don't know, sorry.

Day by AL Kennedy. Finally, the winner in 2006 -

"1867, Canada. As winter tightens its grip on the isolated settlement of Dove River,

"a man is brutally murdered and a 17-year-old boy disappears."

CONFERRING

-No idea.

-Stef Penney's The Tenderness Of Wolves. Another starter question.

Estimated to affect around 20% of women between 60 and 69,

which age-related metabolic disease of bone formation results in a much reduced bone mineral density...

-Osteoporosis.

-Correct.

Your bonuses are on Caribbean islands.

Which Caribbean island lies between Grenada and St Lucia and is the site of La Soufriere or The Sulfurer,

a volcano which last erupted in 1979?

St Kitts?

Montserrat?

-Montserrat.

-No, it's St Vincent.

Located on the south-west coast of Trinidad,

Pitch Lake is one of the world's largest natural resources

of which dark-coloured, bituminous substance?

-Tar.

-It's asphalt, but that's not precise enough.

Named after the Royal Navy's base during the 18th century,

the English Harbour lies on the south coast of which island, the largest of the Leeward Islands?

-Jamaica?

-No, it's Antigua.

There's plenty of time to come back, Bath, so don't get in a panic.

We're halfway through and we'll take a music round. For your starter, you'll hear some classical music.

Ten points if you can give me the title of the piece.

LIVELY CLASSICAL PIECE

-Is that a Brandenburg Concerto?

-It is indeed, No.3, yes.

The Brandenburg Concerto was presented by JS Bach

to the military officer Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt in 1721.

Your bonuses - three more pieces of music that are associated with notable historical figures.

Firstly, name the person to whom this piece was initially dedicated.

CLASSICAL PIECE PLAYS

WHISPERING

I think it was dedicated to Napoleon, but I'm not sure.

Any ideas? Napoleon?

-Napoleon?

-It was indeed, by Beethoven, of course, his Eroica.

Secondly, this piece was commissioned for which historical figure?

CLASSICAL PIECE PLAYS

CONFERRING

-Europe? America?

-I think it's a Russian.

-Tsar Nicholas II?

-No, that was for Queen Victoria. It was Elgar's Imperial March.

And to whom was this piece written as a dedication?

CLASSICAL PIECE PLAYS

It's the Radetzky March.

Radetzky.

-Radetzky?

-It was Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky.

Another starter. Which eponymous character completes these lines from a poem first published in 1833?

"Four gray walls and four gray towers

"Overlook a space of flowers and the silent isle..."

-The Lady Of Shalott.

-The Lady Of Shalott, yes.

Right, your bonuses are on mammalian physiology.

Firstly for five, the adenohypophysis is part of which gland,

dominant in the regulation of the endocrine system?

WHISPERING

-The pituitary gland.

-Correct.

Which gonadotrophic hormone, produced by the adenohypophysis,

stimulates Leydig cells in males to produce testosterone?

I can't think.

-We don't know, sorry.

-It's the luteinizing hormone.

From the Greek for "extremities" and "large",

which medical condition is caused by excessive release of growth hormone in later life?

-Elephantiasis.

-No, it's acromegaly.

Ten points for this. The German name of a legendary Nordic hero

gave Richard Wagner the title of which opera...

-Siegfried?

-Correct.

Your bonuses this time are on place names,

specifically those that differ only in their final letter of the English spelling of their names,

for example, Peru and Perm in Russia.

In each case, give me the names from the description.

Firstly, a New England state and the capital of the German state of Rheinland-Pfalz?

-Maine and Mainz.

-Correct. Secondly, a metropolitan borough of Merseyside

and an island in the South Atlantic with its capital at Jamestown?

-St Helena and St Helens.

-Correct. Finally, an Italian river

and the region sometimes known as "the roof of the world"?

-Tibet and...?

-Tiber. Tibet and Tiber.

-Correct.

Another starter question. The hypothesis

that a decision on whether or not to accept a risk depends not just on money but also on utility

is named after which 18th century Dutch-Swiss mathematician?

-Euler?

-No. Anyone like to buzz from Bath?

-Bernoulli.

-Bernoulli is correct, yes.

OK, Bath, these bonuses are on translations of the Bible.

Firstly for five points, often abbreviated to LXX,

what title is given to the earliest surviving Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible

and refers to the belief that 72 translators produced identical versions in 72 days?

Can you think of anything?

I know there's the Codex Sinaiticus, but I don't think that's it.

-Shall I say that anyway?

-Yeah.

-Nominate Lidell.

-Codex Sinaiticus?

-No, it's the Septuagint.

The first printed edition of a complete English Bible published in 1535

was translated by which reformer after whom it is usually named?

Wycliffe? I don't know.

-What do you think?

-Go for it.

-Wycliffe?

-No, it was before him. It was Miles Coverdale.

The Treacle Bible of 1568 is so called because Jeremiah 8:22 reads,

"Is there no treacle in Gilead?"

What word takes the place of "treacle" in the authorised version?

-Balm?

-"Balm" is right.

A second picture round now. For your starter,

you'll see a postage stamp issued by the Royal Mail in 2009.

For ten points, name the figure depicted on the stamp.

-Josiah Wedgwood.

-Correct, it is Josiah Wedgwood, the pottery manufacturer.

He was one of eight figures selected by the Royal Mail

for their Pioneers Of The Industrial Revolution stamp series.

For your bonuses, three more stamps in that series. In each case, name the industrialist shown. Firstly?

WHISPERING

-Newcomen?

-No, that's Richard Arkwright, the inventor of the cotton spinning frame. Secondly...?

That's an aqueduct of some sort.

Who built aqueducts?

Oh, I know this.

-Stephenson?

-No, James Brindley, the canal engineer. And finally...?

-Is that Stephenson?

-Yeah, it's got to be.

-Stephenson.

-That is George Stephenson. Ten points for this.

Ernest Hemingway's 1929 novel A Farewell To Arms has been credited

with introducing into the English language which Italian expression,

used both as a greeting and a form of goodbye?

-Ciao.

-"Ciao" is right.

Your bonuses this time, Christ Church, are on physics.

In electronics, what single-word term describes a pair of parallel conducting plates

separated by a thin insulating material?

-Capacitor.

-Correct. If two capacitors with the capacitance C and 2C are connected in parallel,

what is their equivalent capacitance?

-3C.

-Correct. What is the SI unit of capacitance?

Farad.

-Nominate Telang.

-Farad.

-Farad is right.

Ten points for this starter question.

Particularly noted for his entrances to the Paris metro,

Hector Guimard is chiefly associated with which architectural style?

-Art Nouveau.

-Art Nouveau is right, yes.

These bonuses, Christ Church, are on chaos.

"Chaos umpire sits, and by decision more embroils the fray

"By which he reigns, next him high arbiter, chance governs all."

In which work of 1667 do these words appear?

-Paradise Lost?

-Yes.

-Paradise Lost.

-Correct.

"Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul, but I do love thee! When I love thee not, chaos is come again."

Which of Shakespeare's title characters says those words?

-Othello.

-It is Othello.

According to James Thurber, what quality is "emotional chaos remembered in tranquillity"?

-Love?

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

Born in the county of Cleves in 1380,

to which monk is attributed the authorship of the devotional work The Imitation Of Christ?

Erasmus?

No. Christ Church, somebody like to have a go?

-Jan Hus?

-No, it's Thomas A Kempis. Ten points for this.

In the standard model of particle physics,

what is the only anti-particle whose name does not begin with the prefix "anti"?

-Positron.

-Correct. Another set of bonuses for you then, Bath. They're on printers' marks.

What word, meaning a stone pillar with a pointed top, is another name

for the typographical sign called a "dagger", used for footnotes or other references?

-Obelus?

-I can't accept that. It's "obelisk".

The typographical mark called the "pilcrow", resembling a reversed and in-filled capital letter P,

is a familiar ASCII character on a computer screen indicating what?

-Paragraph break.

-The end of the paragraph, yes.

What word or term is abbreviated by the symbol often found in legal documents,

approximately resembling a double letter S?

-Section?

-Correct. Three minutes to go. Ten points for this.

In terms of Latin roots, if "find" and "sleep" give "inventory" and "dormitory", what does "wash" give?

-Lavatory.

-Lavatory is right, yes.

I don't know why we smile just at the word! Your bonuses are on human anatomy.

Give the structure of the human body in which the following are found. First, the fovea centralis?

-The eye.

-The eye.

-Correct.

Second, the foramen magnum?

I don't know. Brain?

-Brain?

-It's the skull.

Finally, the fenestra ovalis?

The oval window, which is...

-The ear?

-Let's have an answer, please.

-The ear.

-The ear is correct.

Another starter question. Work this out before you buzz.

As a measurement of mass, how many kilotonnes are equal to one teragram?

-A billion?

-Anyone like to buzz from Christ Church?

-One?

-No, it's a thousand. Right, another starter question.

Yell, Unst, Fetlar, Bressay and Papa Stour are among islands...

-The Hebrides.

-No, you lose five points.

..of which archipelago whose largest town is Lerwick?

-Shetland.

-Shetland is right, yes.

Your bonuses this time are on Greek mythology, Christ Church.

Eurycleia was the nurse of which hero whom she recognised after many years

by a scar on his leg made by a wild boar?

-Come on.

-Theseus?

-No, it's Odysseus. Against Odysseus's orders,

the crewman Eurylochus persuades his fellows to slaughter cattle belonging to which deity?

Zeus then sends a storm causing all but Odysseus to drown.

-Poseidon.

-No, it's Hyperion.

Both killed by Odysseus, Eurymachus and Antinous are the two principal suitors of which figure?

-Penelope.

-Penelope is right.

Another starter. What term, meaning "resurgence", is the Italian name for the 19th century movement...

-Risorgimento.

-Risorgimento is correct. Your bonuses this time, Bath, are on ships.

The Olympic and The Britannic were sister ships of which ocean liner launched in May 1911?

-Titanic.

-Yes. The Mayflower was due to sail from England in 1620 with which other ship,

found en route to be unseaworthy?

-Speedwell.

-Yes. Which ship was named after a Roman province in Africa

and was the sister ship of the Lusitania, sunk by a U-boat in 1915?

-Mauretania.

-Correct. Another starter. What word is common to the English names of the three countries

whose capitals are Malabo, Conakry...

-Guinea.

-Correct. Your bonuses are on host cities of the Summer Olympic Games since World War Two.

Identify the city from its geographical co-ordinates. First for five,

41 degrees, 23 minutes north, 2 degrees, 11 minutes east?

-GONG

-And at the gong, Bath University have 105,

Christ Church, Oxford have 270.

You were just getting into your stride. You should have started earlier, Bath.

Thank you very much for joining us.

Christ Church, terrific performance.

You're also the best turned out team of students we've had on this programme for a very long time!

We shall look forward to seeing you again in some other elegant suit

in the next stage of the competition, in round two.

-Join us next time for another first round match. Until then, goodbye from Bath University.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye from Christ Church, Oxford.

-Goodbye.

-And it's goodbye from me.

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