Episode 7 University Challenge

APPLAUSE

'Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.'

Hello. Once again, we shine a torch around the dusty attic of the student mind

in hope of finding something remotely valuable or even useful.

The University of Plymouth was among the polytechnics

which became universities under John Major in 1992.

It's an amalgam of several colleges, dating back to 1820,

including a mechanics institute and a school of navigation,

and it maintains its links with the sea with its marine institute, one of the largest in Europe,

which offers qualifications in things like diving and surf science technology.

It's also one of the UK's largest universities, with around 30,000 students.

Let's meet the four playing on their behalf tonight. Their average age is 21.

My name's Rachel Remnant, I'm from St Albans in Hertfordshire and I'm studying medicine.

I'm Laura Donaghy from County Tyrone. I'm studying medicine.

-And their captain.

-I'm Peter Lord from Hampshire and I'm reading international relations.

I'm Rebecca Emmett from Fetcham in Surrey. I'm reading for a PhD in history.

APPLAUSE

Durham University was founded in 1832, thanks to the efforts of the last Prince Bishop of Durham.

In 1837, a royal charter confirmed its constitution

and appropriated Durham Castle for its uses.

In order to meet the needs of the Industrial Revolution,

it became one of the first universities to award degrees for civil and mining engineering,

and its academic reputation was sealed when, in 1997, a team from Durham won this contest,

a feat they repeated in 2000.

Its outgoing chancellor Bill Bryson described Durham as having

"the capacity to astound out of all proportion to its size".

With an average age also of 21, let's meet tonight's astounding four.

Hi, I'm Mark Rodgers, I'm from Staffordshire, and I'm doing a PhD in particle physics.

I'm Adam Robertson from Kent, and I'm reading history.

-And their captain.

-I'm George Twigg, I'm from Lincolnshire, and I'm reading English.

I'm James France from Lancashire. I'm reading chemistry and biology.

APPLAUSE

Fingers on buzzers. Here's your first starter for 10.

Meanings of what short word include a systematic collecting of statutes,

an individual standard of ethical behaviour,

a piece of program text in computing...?

-Code.

-Correct.

Your bonuses are on children's rhymes.

Which novel of 1974 concerns the search for a suspected Soviet mole within the British Secret Service

and derives its title from a traditional children's counting rhyme?

(Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy?)

-Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

-Correct.

The Big Over Easy, in which DI Jack Spratt and Sergeant Mary Mary

investigate the death of Humpty Dumpty,

is the first in the Nursery Crime series by who?

-Jasper Fforde.

-Correct.

Which novel of 1962 takes as its title

the words from a children's rhyme which follow,

"Three geese in a flock, one flew east and one flew west"?

-Sorry, we don't know.

-One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

The Tennessee Valley Authority Act, to ease the effects of the Great Depression,

and the Lend-Lease Act, to make war materials available to the allies,

were among the pieces of legislation signed into law...?

-FDR.

-A bit more?

-Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

-Yes, OK, fine. Thanks.

Your bonuses this time, Durham, are on names for Scotland.

Apparently derived from that of a small tribe in the Highlands,

which Roman name for a part of northern Britain was later used to mean Scotland as a whole

and is still found in many names, including that of a university?

Caledonia.

-Caledonia.

-Correct.

The name of which dukedom is an old Gaelic word for Scotland

and survives in the title of one of the Scottish heralds and the name of a block of flats in Piccadilly?

-THEY WHISPER

-Alba?

-Sorry?

-Alba.

-It could be.

-Alba?

-No, it's Albany.

For five points, which two-word term for Scotland was promoted after the Act of Union in 1707,

and was the source of the title of a periodical founded by John Wilkes in 1762?

-North Britain?

-Correct.

10 points for this. Known by the Gauls as Cularo,

which city's name derives from Gratianopolis, the name it was given in AD 381,

situated on the River Isere, close to the Dauphine Alps,

it was the venue for the Winter Olympics in 1968?

Turin?

No. Anyone like to buzz from Plymouth? You may not confer.

-Grenoble?

-Correct!

Your bonuses, Plymouth. The first lot are on eponymous spacecraft.

Firstly, for a possible five, which mission was launched in 1997

to explore Saturn and its natural satellites,

and was named after two 17th century astronomers, one Italian, one Dutch,

both of whom made major discoveries about the planet's moons and rings?

THEY WHISPER

I don't think it is.

-We need two names.

-Just go with Galileo.

-Galileo?

-No, it's the CassiniHuygens.

Secondly, for five points,

thought to have been depicted by Giotto in a fresco in Padua in the early 14th century,

which celestial body was studied at close range for the first time by a probe

named after the artist in March 1986?

I think it's Halley's Comet.

-Hades Comet.

-No, it's Halley's Comet.

You were given the right answer, but you misheard it. Bad luck.

Which spacecraft mapped the surface of Venus from 1990 to 1994

and was named after a Portuguese explorer whose round-the-world voyage 470 years earlier

had contributed to a similar understanding of the nature of the earth?

-Marco Polo.

-Magellan.

Another starter. From the name of the US psychologist who devised it,

what name is given to an apparatus

in which an animal might learn that performance of an activity is rewarded,

so that its behaviour becomes conditioned?

Pavlov.

No. Durham, one of you buzz.

It's a Skinner box. BF Skinner.

10 points for this. Crocus Valley is believed by some

to be the derivation of the name of which London borough,

perhaps indicating that it was formerly a centre for the collection of saffron?

-Croydon?

-Croydon is right, yes.

Your bonuses now, Durham, are on mythological creatures.

Derived from the Greek meaning "snatcher",

what name was given to the winged creatures who repeatedly stole the food of Phineas

as part of his punishment by Zeus?

-The harpies.

-Correct.

Quote, "Their neck and countenance, arm'd with talons keen

"The feet, and the huge belly fledged with wings

"These sit and wail on the drear mystic wood."

Which poet wrote this description of the harpies in these lines in translation?

It's, erm... Oh, in translation...

-Dante?

-Correct.

Finally, for a possible five, in Shakespeare's The Tempest,

which character appears to Alonso, Sebastian and Antonio in the guise of a harpy

reproaching them for their treatment of Prospero?

-Ariel?

-Correct.

We're going to take a picture round now.

You'll see a diagram of the chemical structure of a well-known drug.

10 points if you can name the drug.

-Morphine?

-Morphine is correct, yes!

Well done.

So we follow on from morphine with your bonuses.

Three more diagrams of chemical structures, this time of stimulants. I want their common name.

Firstly...

Erm... That's, erm, nicotine.

-Nicotine?

-It is nicotine. Secondly...

That is... amphetamine.

-Amphetamine?

-Correct. And finally...

-Caffeine?

-Alcohol?

-No.

-All right!

-Caffeine?

-Correct. Another starter. Answer as soon as you buzz.

Three countries of the Americas have capital cities

whose English name is the name of the country, followed by the word "city".

For 10 points, name two of them.

Mexico and, erm, Panama.

I'll accept that, slightly reluctantly. You were a bit cheeky there. The other is Guatemala.

A set of bonuses for you this time, Durham, on fermented foods.

Give the food or drink produced by the following fermentations.

Firstly, a flavouring liquid

obtained by long fermentation of the seeds of Glycine max and various grains

by microbes such as Aspergillus oryzae?

-Go for grenadine or something.

-Grenadine?

-No, it's soy sauce.

Lactic fermentation of Brassica oleracea

by bacteria species such as lactobacillus or pediococcus?

-Fermented cabbage?

-Fermented cabbage.

-Sauerkraut?

-Correct.

What beverage is obtained by the alcoholic fermentation of nectar

regurgitated by Apis species?

Apis species. Of course, it's mead.

-Mead?

-Mead is correct.

Another starter question. "There's a point, around age 20,

when you have to choose whether to be like everybody else...

or to make a virtue of your peculiarities."

These words appear in The Dispossessed, a novel of 1972,

by which US author, also noted for the Earthsea novels?

-Ursula Le Guin?

-Correct.

Your bonuses this time, Plymouth, are on 20th century history. Firstly, for five points. Quote,

"This is rather a naughty document. The Americans would be shocked if they saw how crudely I put this."

These words are referring to post-war spheres of interest in Eastern Europe,

and are attributed to which national leader, speaking in October 1944?

I have no idea whatsoever.

-SHE WHISPERS

-Pick anything you like.

Do you want to go with Churchill?

-Is it Churchill?

-It is. Speaking to Stalin, yes.

On the "naughty" document, Churchill wrote "Romania 90 percent Russian".

For which eastern Mediterranean country did he write, "90 percent British"?

Eastern Europe? Mediterranean. I don't know.

Greece.

-Greece or Cyprus.

-Syria.

I don't know. Go with whatever.

-Let's have it, please.

-Syria?

No, it's Greece.

In the naughty document,

there was a proposal for a 50-50 split of influence in Yugoslavia, and which Central European country?

It rebelled against its Soviet overlord in 1956.

-I say Lithuania.

-I would go with Estonia, personally.

-Estonia.

-No, it's Hungary.

10 points for this. What general phenomenon may be defined as

"an atmospheric suspension of minute droplets or ice crystals"?

-A cloud.

-Cloud is correct.

Your bonuses, Durham, are on trigonometric identities.

I want the given trigonometric expressions simplified to an expression

involving a single trigonometric function.

Cosine alpha times cosine beta minus sine alpha times sine beta?

That's cosine of alpha plus beta.

-Cosine of alpha plus beta.

-Correct.

Two sine alpha times cosine alpha?

Sine... Oh.

Sine of two alpha.

-Sine of two alpha.

-Correct. Finally, sine alpha divided by cosine alpha.

That's ten of alpha.

-10 of alpha.

-10 alpha is correct.

-APPLAUSE

Another starter question now.

In terms of both land area and population,

what was the smallest nation to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup?

The team narrowly missed qualifying for the knockout stage after losing 1-0 to England.

-Slovenia.

-Slovenia is right.

Your bonuses this time are on animals in the novels of Charles Dickens.

Firstly, in which novel by Dickens does Miss Flite own a large number of small birds

with names such as Hope, Joy, Despair, Gammon and Spinach,

which she says will be released "on the Day of Judgement"?

Nicholas Nickleby?

-Hard Times?

-No, it's Bleak House.

Secondly, clerk to an Old Bailey attorney, John Wemmick,

who makes sausages from the pig he keeps at his moated home, appears in which novel by Dickens?

-Nicholas Nickleby?

-Great Expectations.

Finally, what is the name of Dora Spenlow's pet dog in David Copperfield,

to whom she pays more attention after her marriage

than she does to the demands of housekeeping?

I don't know.

-Toto?

-No, it's...

-LAUGHTER

..Jip!

Plymouth, there's still plenty of time to go. We're about halfway. We'll take a music round.

For your music starter, you're going to hear a piece of popular music.

10 points if you can name the artist and the song.

# I fell in love with San Pedro

# Warm wind carried on the sea

# He called to me

# Te diso te amo

# I prayed that the days would last

# They went so fast #

Toto?

No!

Quite witty, but not right.

-Madonna, Spanish Infanta?

-No, La Isla Bonita, but it was Madonna.

Fingers on the buzzer. Another starter question.

When encountered by the Spanish in the mines of the New World,

which metal was discarded as an impurity...

Platinum?

-Platinum is correct.

-APPLAUSE

"La Isla Bonita" by Madonna was chosen by Michael Portillo

as one of his favourite records on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

Your bonuses are three more Desert Island Discs,

this time selected by Coalition cabinet ministers

who came to office in May 2010.

Give the politician who chose the song and the artist performing. Firstly...

# Goodness, gracious Great balls of fire

# I laughed at love Cos I thought it was funny

# You came along And you moved me, honey

# I changed my mind

# Looking fine

# Goodness, gracious Great balls of fire #

Er, artist, Jerry Lee Lewis. Politician, William Hague?

It was Jerry Lee Lewis.

It was Iain Duncan Smith, "the quiet man", presumably when he's turning up the volume!

-Secondly...

-# Believe it

# If you get down, get up, oh, oh

# When you get down, get up, eh, eh

# Tsamina mina zangalewa

# This time for Africa

# Tsamina mina, eh, eh

# Waka waka, eh, eh

# Tsamina mina zangalewa #

Shakira and David Cameron?

-No, it's Shakira and Nick Clegg.

-LAUGHTER

Finally...

# You could hear The hoof beats pound

# As they raced across the ground # I know this.

-Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West) and David Cameron?

-Who was the artist?

-Ooh.

-I don't know.

-That's a shame. I don't know.

I needed the artist. Very important distinction in a classic like that!

That was David Cameron, Benny Hill. Further comment is superfluous!

Ten points for this. Give, in the same order,

the five four-letter words, which differ only in their second letter,

and can mean "globe, telephone call,

beak, cotton seed pod and mail bovine".

-Ball, bell, bill, ball, bull?

-Yes! Well done.

LAUGHTER

Your bonuses this time are on a German city, Durham.

A centre for trade fair since the Middle Ages, which city in Saxony gives its name to a battle of 1813

in which the forces of the Sixth Coalition defeated Napoleon?

-Leipzig.

-Correct.

His works include the Hebrides Overture,

which composer became conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in 1835

and later founded the Leipzig Conservatory of Music?

-Mendelssohn.

-Correct.

Born 1646, which mathematician and philosopher is noted

for laying the foundation of integral and differential calculus?

-Leibniz.

-Correct.

Another starter question. The village of Coxheath in Kent

was the original venue for which annual event,

inspired by an episode in the Charlie Chaplin film Behind The Screen,

and won in 2010 by the High Pressure Cleaning team?

Extreme ironing?

No. Anyone want to buzz from Plymouth?

-Lawn mower racing?

-No, it's the World Custard Pie-Throwing Championships.

Oniscus asellus is a common British species

of which ubiquitous terrestrial crustacean,

preferring damp and shady places...

-Woodlouse.

-Yes.

Your bonuses are on illustrators. 15 points if you can get them all.

From 1935 to 1965, Alfred Bestall wrote and illustrated eponymous stories

of which children's character, who first appeared in the Daily Express in 1920?

-(Charlie Brown?)

-No, that was Schulz.

Just William maybe?

-Just William?

-No, it's Rupert Bear.

Pauline Baynes illustrated the works of Tolkien,

and A Dictionary Of Chivalry, for which she won the Kate Greenaway Medal,

but is perhaps best known for her work on which series of novels, published between 1950 and '56?

(The Fantastic Five.)

Mm, I don't think so. That's Enid Blyton.

-The Fantastic Five?

-No, it's The Chronicles of Narnia.

Finally, Thomas Henry is noted for his illustrations between 1921 and 1964

of works featuring which fictional schoolboy and his friends, Ginger, Henry and Douglas?

Just William?

Just William.

Correct. William Brown. 10 points for this.

Spelled out in letters, "eleven plus two" is an anagram

of which other three-word arithmetical sum

that will produce the same total?

-12 plus one?

-Yes, well done.

-APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, Durham, are on Marilyn Monroe.

Monroe's character in the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

shares her first name with which siren of German folklore

who lured men to their death in the River Rhine?

(Ondine.)

-Sorry?

-(Is it Ondine?)

-No, no, it's...

-Nominate Robertson.

-Ondine?

Lorelei.

Secondly, in which 1955 film, directed by Billy Wilder and also starring Tom Ewell,

is Marilyn Monroe simply credited as "The Girl"?

-Some Like It Hot?

-No, it's The Seven Year Itch.

And finally, the Broadway musical Sugar

took its title from the name of Monroe's character in which film,

on which the musical was based?

-I don't know. Some Like It Hot?

-That was Some Like It Hot.

Second picture round now. You'll see a notable painting.

10 points if you can name the artist.

Vermeer?

It is Vermeer, yes. You get the picture bonuses.

Your pictures are three more 17th century paintings depicting the artist at work.

Five points for each artist.

Firstly for five, the figure to the left of the painting?

(Diego Velazquez.)

-Velazquez.

-Correct.

Secondly...

(Rembrandt.)

-Rembrandt.

-Correct.

Finally, the painter next to one of his paintings.

(Van Dyck. It could be Van Dyck.)

-Van Dyck?

-It is. Well done. 10 points for this...

What name was one of those of the sun god Viracocha, of pre-Inca mythology,

and was given to the craft that, in 1947, made a voyage from Callao in Peru

to the Tuamotu Islands in the South Pacific?

Quetzalcoatl?

No. Anyone like to buzz from Plymouth? You may not confer.

No? Maritime subject, you should know. It's Kon-Tiki.

10 points for this. Also meaning "trifling" or "unimportant",

what term denotes the lightest weight allowed to be carried by a race horse in a handicap?

In boxing, it lies between...

-Feather.

-Featherweight is correct.

Your bonuses now are on the Indian Ocean, Plymouth.

Which sea of the Indian Ocean is bounded to the north by the Irrawaddy River Delta

and takes its name from the islands that form part of the archipelago

separating the sea from the Bay of Bengal?

(No idea.)

THEY WHISPER

I don't know.

-Micronesian?

-Just say it.

-Micronesian Sea?

-No, it's the Andaman Sea. That's miles away.

Rising in Zambia, which is the largest African river to empty into the Indian Ocean,

which it does in Mozambique?

The Zambezi?

Zambezi.

-Zambezi.

-Correct.

The Mozambique Channel is an arm of the Indian Ocean

that separates which large island from the eastern coast of mainland Africa?

-Madagascar.

-Correct.

10 points for this. Its name derived from the first names of their parents,

which independent film production company was created by Harvey and Bob Weinstein in 1979?

-Miramax.

-Correct.

Your bonuses now are on pairs of words

whose spelling differs by the addition of a "T" at the beginning.

For example, rash and trash.

In each case, give both words from the definitions.

Firstly, "to turn over and over on an axis"

and "one who tries to disrupt an internet community by provocative posts or messages"?

-Roll and troll.

-Correct.

Secondly, "of great vertical extent"

and "location of the semitendinosus muscle"?

-High and thigh.

-High and thigh.

-Correct.

Finally, "handsome, muscular man" and "dull, abrupt sound"?

-Hunk and thunk.

-Well done.

-Another starter question.

-APPLAUSE

Constituting roughly seven percent of the sun's energy output,

what broad band of the electromagnetic spectrum

covers the range of wavelengths between about 200 and 400 nanometres?

-Ultraviolet.

-Correct. Another set of bonuses for you.

These are on wetland plants. Its cylindrical stalks, used in weaving chair seats and in basketry,

and its pith used as wicks in oil lamps,

"juncas" is a genus of over 200 species of plants commonly given what name?

Reeds?

-Reeds?

-No, it's rush, or rushes.

Phragmites australis is the common species of which wetland plant,

the dried stem of which is used in thatching, basketry, arrows, pens and musical instruments?

-Reed.

-Correct.

Also known as reedmace, or cattail, which plant of the genus "typha"

is used in Northern India for ropes, mats and baskets?

-Sisal.

-Sorry?

Sisal.

-Sisal?

-No, it's bulrush. 10 points for this.

"The Tasty Beggar" is an anagram of the title of which novel of 1925,

set largely on Long Island, New York?

-The Great Gatsby.

-Correct, yes.

Bonuses this time on the atmosphere, Durham.

Fortin, Fitzroy and Kew Pattern are all types of what instrument?

-Let's have it, please.

-Barometer.

-Correct.

What term denotes barometers that detect changes in pressure by means of an evacuated, flexible metal box?

Coiled barometer?

-Coiled barometer?

-No, it's an aneroid barometer.

What happens to fluids when vapour pressure equals the surrounding atmospheric pressure?

-It boils.

-It boils.

-Correct.

Two-and-a-half minutes. Answer as soon as you buzz.

Seven of the first 20 prime numbers

are themselves the sum of two primes.

Name three of them.

5 and 13.

-And one more.

-17.

Er... 17?! No.

Anyone like to buzz from Plymouth?

5, 7 and 23?

That's not right, either. It's 5, 7, 13, 19, 31, 43 and 61.

10 points for another starter question.

An acidic complex mixture of melittin and other proteins,

apitoxin is produced in the abdomens of which animals?

-Bees?

-Correct.

Your bonuses are on regencies.

Richard Duke of Gloucester - Richard III - acted as regent

during the minority of which king, his nephew, in 1483?

-Edward V.

-No!

-Edward IV, wasn't it?

-No.

Edward V.

Correct. Lord Chancellor and Bishop of Ely, William Longchamp,

served as regent during the absence of which monarch on the Third Crusade?

Richard the Lionheart.

-Richard the Lionheart?

-Er, Richard I is correct.

Which of Henry VIII's wives ruled as his regent

while he led a military expedition to France in the summer of 1544?

Catherine of Aragon?

-Catherine Howard?

-No, it's Catherine Parr.

Nicholas Hilliard was a painter of miniature portraits

at the courts of two successive monarchs. For 10 points, name either.

-Mary Tudor?

-No. Anyone like to buzz from Durham?

-George II?

-No, it was Elizabeth I and James I, or James VI.

Its name meaning "inactive", which element is the third most abundant in the earth's atmosphere?

-Argon.

-Correct. Your bonuses this time

are on the French Revolutionary Calendar.

Bastille Day fell in the month named Messidor, which has what meaning in English?

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

-We don't know.

-Harvest.

Instead of weeks, every month was organised into three groups of ten days, known as...?

-Decimes.

-Decimes?

-No, they were decades.

-END-OF-SHOW GONG

And at the gong, Plymouth University have 45.

Durham University have 325.

Plymouth, we have to say goodbye to you.

You were up against pretty strong opposition. It's been a pleasure having you on.

Durham, 325 was a very impressive score.

We look forward to seeing you in the next stage of the contest.

-Until then, it's goodbye from Plymouth University.

-ALL: Goodbye.

-Goodbye from Durham University.

-ALL: Bye.

-And goodbye from me. Goodbye.

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