Episode 9 University Challenge

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. Two more teams of students have cheerily volunteered to sit in front of their illuminated surnames

and attempt to answer difficult questions for our amusement and the glory of their university.

The University of Manchester is one of the largest in the country with around 40,000 students.

The computer revolution started there in 1948 when a machine known as The Baby ran its first program

and it was at the Jodrell Bank site in Cheshire that Sir Bernard Lovell built his steerable radio telescope.

Distinctions include 25 Nobel Prize winners among its alumni

and the fact that it has reached the semi-finals several times recently

and carried off the trophy in 2006 and 2009.

With an average age of 27, let's see if this team can do as well.

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

I'm Michael McKenna, from St Annes and I'm studying Biochemistry.

-Their captain...

-Hi, I'm Tristan Burke from Ilkley and I'm studying English Literature.

I'm Paul Joyce from Chorley, studying for a Master's in Social Research Methods and Statistics.

APPLAUSE

Selwyn College, Cambridge, is named after George Augustus Selwyn, Bishop of Lichfield,

in whose memory it was founded in 1882 for 28 undergraduates.

The college cat, Gus, is also named after him.

Its charter specified it should "make provision for those who intend to serve as missionaries overseas

"and to educate the sons of clergymen". It nurtured the current Archbishop of York, John Sentamu,

as well as Hugh Laurie, Tom Hollander and author Robert Harris.

It has only around 500 students and the average age of tonight's team is 19. Let's meet them.

Hi. I'm Daniel Bental, from Staines, and I'm studying Spanish and Russian.

Hello. My name's Jack Oxley, from Streatham, studying Natural Sciences.

-Their captain...

-Hi, I'm Samuel Cook from Rugby, studying Geography.

Hi. I'm Joseph Steadman, from Northampton, reading Law.

APPLAUSE

OK, the rules are the same as ever. 10 for starters, 15 for bonuses,

5-point penalties if you interrupt a starter incorrectly.

Here's your first starter for 10. The capital of Martinique,

the site of the first engagement of the American Civil War...

-Fort?

-Fort is correct, yes.

Your bonuses are on cafes.

Former patrons including Camus and Picasso, which cafe on St Germain-des-Pres in Paris

takes its name from the two carved statues of Chinese commercial agents which form part of the interior?

-Anyone?

-Pigalle?

-Pardon?

-Pigalle?

-No, it's Les Deux Magots. Which 1951 story by Carson McCullers

tells of the tragedy of Miss Amelia, who opens an eating establishment in the American South?

-The Ballad of the Sad Cafe.

-Correct.

Which Dutch artist painted Night Cafe in 1888, of which he wrote,

"I have tried to express with red and green the terrible passions of human nature"?

-Van Gogh.

-Another starter. Using a blend of citrus and herbal oils in alcohol,

Giovanni Maria Farina, an Italian living in Germany,

created and marketed which toiletry product from 1709 onwards,

now distinguished from perfumes by its low concentration of essential oils, usually no more than 5%?

-Eau de toilette?

-Anyone from Manchester?

-Eau de Cologne?

-Correct, yes.

These bonuses are on place names.

Its name believed to derive from a Celtic term for "cave", which limestone cavern in the Mendip Hills

has yielded finds of prehistoric implements and contains a stalagmite

which, according to legend, was formerly a witch?

-Wookey Hole?

-Yeah. Wookey Hole?

-Correct.

The Hole of Horcum, which according to local legend was scooped out of the landscape by a giant,

lies south of the village of Goathland in which English National Park?

-Yorkshire Dales.

-North York Moors.

Hole formed part of the historical region of Ringerike in Norway

and was the home of which 11th-century king, who was killed when he invaded England in 1066?

-Nominate Kelly.

-Harald Hardrada?

-Harald Hardrada is correct, yes.

A starter. Superb, Shining, Regal and Wattled are species of which bird family, known scientifically...

Wren.

Er, wren.

No, I'm afraid you lose 5 points. ..Found abundantly in Britain,

it's known to mimic car alarms and similar sounds.

-Magpie?

-No, it's starling. Another starter question.

What form of record is classified in the system named after Sir Edward Henry? It was championed by him

in the early 20th century during his time as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

-Fingerprinting.

-Correct. Dactyloscopy.

Your bonuses are on plays within Shakespeare's plays. Firstly, for 5,

in which work does a troupe of actors perform the play The Murder of Gonzago,

with a new title and extra lines?

-Hamlet.

-In which work do the comic characters attempt to stage A Masque of the Nine Worthies

devised by the schoolmaster Holofernes?

-A Midsummer Night's Dream?

-No, Love's Labour's Lost.

Which work includes a masque of the goddesses Ceres, Juno and Iris, with nymphs and reapers?

-The Tempest.

-Correct. Another starter. "He affects the metaphysics not only in his satires,

"but in his amorous verses, where nature only should reign,

"and perplexes the minds of the fair sex with nice speculations of philosophy."

These words of John Dryden refer to which English poet, born...

Spenser.

No, it wasn't and you did interrupt, so you lose another 5 points. Sorry.

..born 1572?

-Donne.

-John Donne is correct, yes.

Your bonuses, Manchester, are on the cardiac cycle now.

What is the medical name for the phase of the heartbeat during which contraction of the ventricles

-forces blood into the arteries?

-Nominate McKenna.

-Systole?

-Yes.

Action potentials generated in the sinoatrial node are conducted rapidly along a network of fibres,

-causing the ventricles to contract almost simultaneously. What are the fibres called?

-Nominate McKenna.

-Purkinje fibres.

-Correct. Derived from the Greek for "accelerated",

what term denotes an increase in the heart rate above the normal resting rate of 70 beats per minute?

-Nominate McKenna.

-Tachycardia?

-Correct.

We'll take a picture round now.

You'll see a diagram representing a Formula 1 race circuit.

10 points if you can name the circuit.

-Monaco.

-Monaco is correct, yes.

Your bonuses are three more diagrams representing outlines of Formula 1 race tracks. 5 points for each.

Firstly...

-Anyone?

-It's Japan, isn't it?

-Is this Japan?

-No...

-Suzuki...Suzuka!

-Suzuka.

Correct. Secondly...

-Anyone?

-No.

Monza? Try it.

-Monza.

-No, that's Yas Marina in the UAE. Finally...

-That could be Monza.

-Monza.

-No, Hockenheim in Germany.

10 points for this. What is the common name of Pteridium Aquilina?

Its far-reaching rhizomes and tall fronds make it one of the world's tallest plants.

It has poisonous compounds in its leaves and is the commonest species of fern in the UK.

-Bracken?

-Bracken is right.

Your bonuses are on the novels of Wilkie Collins.

The fall from grace of Magdalen Vanstone is the subject of which novel on the theme of illegitimacy,

described as the work that "enchains you, but you detest it...

"the repulsiveness of the matter disturbs the...reader"?

-No Name.

-Correct. "A woman fouler than the refuse of the streets,"

is how a reviewer described the red-headed bigamist, seducer and poisoner of which Collins novel?

-The Woman In White.

-No, it's Armadale.

"The first, the longest and the best of modern English detective novels."

These words of TS Eliot describe which novel, with characters such as Rachel Verinder and Sgt Cuff?

-The Moonstone.

-It is. 10 points for this. What is being described?

Coloured appropriately blue because red light is absorbed by methane in its atmosphere,

it orbits at a mean distance of 30 astronomical units from the sun and its largest satellite is Triton.

-Neptune.

-Neptune is right, yes!

-APPLAUSE

I was going to say you're off the mark, but not quite! Here are your bonuses.

They're on place names that differ only in the initial letter of their English spelling,

for example Liberia and Siberia. In each case, give both names from the description. Firstly,

a land-locked country of West Africa and the island between Java and Lombok?

-Bali and Mali.

-Correct. The EU capital closest to Liverpool and a major city of Poland?

-Dublin and Lublin.

-Correct. An island nation of the Mediterranean and a city in the Crimea?

-Malta and Yalta.

-Yes, well done.

APPLAUSE

Another starter question.

An infrequent combination of final letters in English words,

which two consonants appear at the end of words meaning example or pattern, maxim or aphorism,

the cold, moist humour and structure separating...

-GM.

-GM is right, yes.

Paradigm, diaphragm and so on.

Your bonuses this time are on animals and constellations.

The constellation Aquila and its brightest star, Altair, are named in Latin and Arabic respectively

after which bird? In Greek mythology it carries Zeus's thunderbolt.

-Eagle.

-Said to represent the dove released by Noah, which constellation shares its name

with a 6th-century saint who established a monastery on Iona?

Columba, isn't it? Columba.

Volans is a small constellation in the southern hemisphere representing a fish

of the family exocoetidae,

found in warm and tropical waters, characterised by enlarged pectoral fins and known by what common name?

-Catfish? Catfish.

-No, a flying fish. 10 points for this. From the medieval Latin for trust or believe,

what name is given to the table in a church on which...

-Credo?

-No, you lose 5 points. ..on which bread and wine may be placed before they are consecrated?

In royal or noble houses, it was also where food was placed

before being tasted by an official in order to check for poison.

-Sacristy?

-No, it's the credence table. 10 points for this.

A long-legged wading bird, a bottle stopper obtained from the bark of Quercus Suber

and a twisting force that tends to cause rotation...

-Stork, cork, torque?

-No, you lose 5 points.

..tends to cause rotation, all rhyme with the name of which city of northern England?

-York.

-Indeed. Right. Your bonuses this time are on the laws of physics.

The First Law of Electrolysis, stating that the amount of substance liberated at an electrode

is directly proportional to the charge passed, was formulated in the 1830s by which British scientist?

-Dalton?

-Who? Dalton?

-No, it was Faraday. What name is given

to the free movement of the molecules of a gas which makes them distribute themselves equally

within the space available, the rate of the process being proportional, according to Fick's First Law,

-to the concentration gradient?

-Nominate McKenna.

-Brownian motion?

-Diffusion. "A body continues in a state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line

"unless acted on by an external force." Which scientist first published that law in 1687?

-Isaac Newton.

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

You'll hear an excerpt from the score to a popular film. 10 points if you can name the film.

MUSIC PLAYS

Is it Indiana Jones?

No, I'm afraid it's not. Manchester, you can hear a little more.

MUSIC RESUMES

-No?

-No.

-I'll tell you. That was the theme from Jaws, leaving out the most memorable bit!

So we'll take the musical bonuses in a moment or two. 10 points for this starter.

Assuming that the following takes place in air at room temperature,

to the nearest whole second how long would it take a supersonic aircraft, travelling at Mach 2.3,

to cover one mile?

It's no good sitting shrugging your shoulders! Two seconds.

Another starter question. According to Europa, the official web portal of the EU,

two EU member states do not have a one-word English name.

One is the United Kingdom. What is the other?

-Czech Republic?

-Correct!

So you get the music bonuses which are three more excerpts from scores, which like Jaws,

were composed by John Williams for a Steven Spielberg film.

They are not the most representative parts. In each case, simply identify the film. Firstly for 5,

from which series of films is this music taken?

MUSIC PLAYS

-Star Wars.

-No, Indiana Jones. Secondly, this film of 1982.

MUSIC PLAYS

ET?

-ET?

-It is ET, yes. And, finally, this film of 1993.

MUSIC PLAYS

I don't know.

-Jurassic Park.

-Jurassic Park?

-Yes, it is.

Another starter question.

"I suppose the body to be just a statue or a machine made of earth."

Which French thinker wrote those words in the 1633 work Treatise On Man?

-Descartes?

-Rene Descartes is correct.

Your bonuses are on the size of Scotland.

The UK has an area of around 244,000 square kilometres. What is the area of Scotland?

-You can have 5,000 square kilometres either way.

-Anyone?

It's a complete guess.

So what's that?

-110.

-110?

-110,000.

-No.

It's 78,770 square kilometres.

Which US state, one of the original 13 colonies, has an area closest to that of Scotland?

-It can't be Rhode Island.

-Too small.

-Too small.

-Massachusetts.

-No, it's South Carolina. Of the 27 member states of the EU,

which landlocked state has an area closest to that of Scotland?

Slovakia? It's quite small.

-Slovakia.

-The Czech Republic.

10 points for this. How many years separated the publication

of Einstein's final version of the General Theory of Relativity from his Special Theory of Relativity?

Six years?

Anyone like to have a shot from Selwyn?

-Eight years.

-No, it's 10. In fluid mechanics, what name is given to the wave disturbance

emanating from the leading edge of an object moving through fluid,

especially the V-shaped surface wave associated with boats moving through water?

-Wake?

-No. Anyone want to buzz from Manchester?

It's the bow wave. How are Zurga and Nadir described in the title of Bizet's opera of 1863?

Act One sees them affirm their mutual loyalty and friendship in the duet Au Fond Du Temple Saint.

-The Pearl Fishers?

-Correct.

And your bonuses are on 20th-century opera. First performed in Chicago in 1921, which opera by Prokofiev

is based on a comic play by the Italian dramatist Carlo Gozzi, itself based on a fairy tale?

-Beauty and the Beast.

-Love For Three Oranges. First performed in Leningrad in 1934,

which opera by Shostakovich is based on a story which in turn refers to a character in Shakespeare?

-Macbeth? Macbeth.

-That's not specific enough. It's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.

First performed in Venice in 1951,

which opera by Stravinsky is based loosely on a series of engravings produced by Hogarth in the 1730s?

-The Rake's Progress.

-Correct. Another starter. Footman, maiden and mother-of-all

are names given to parts of which device? It reached Europe from the east in the Middle Ages

and was mechanised by John Wyatt and Lewis Paul in the 18th century.

-The printing press?

-No. Selwyn?

-The telescope.

-No, the spinning wheel. 10 points for this starter.

What record was set by Nicholas Mahut and John Isner...

-The longest tennis match.

-Correct. Longest professional tennis match.

OK, Manchester, your bonuses are on rivers of the Midlands.

Which river rises on Biddulph Moor and joins the Yorkshire Ouse after 45 miles to form the Humber?

One of its crossings gives its name to a cricket ground.

-Trent.

-Correct. Which Midlands town takes its name from the River Tame,

which joins the River Anker there?

-Is it Tameside?

-No.

-Shall I say it anyway?

-No.

-OK, what shall I say, then?

-Something else.

-I'm saying it. Tameside.

-No, it's Tamworth.

Which river flows through the West Midlands and bisects Kidderminster from north to south

before joining the Severn at a river port to which it gives its name?

-The Avon.

-No, it's the Stour.

Right, another picture round now. You'll see a painting of an historical figure.

10 points if you give me her name.

-Catherine Parr?

-No. Selwyn?

-Catherine of Aragon?

-No, it's Jane Seymour, so picture bonuses in a moment or two.

Another starter question. What term denotes the electromagnetic radiation emitted by excited nuclei

with frequencies greater than 10 to the 18 hertz?

-Gamma rays.

-Gamma is correct. So you get the picture bonuses.

Following on from Jane Seymour, Henry VIII's third wife, three more of his wives.

Firstly for 5, give me the name of this queen and name the prince she married before Henry.

-Catherine of Aragon, Arthur.

-Correct. Secondly, this queen and her fourth husband,

whom she married after the death of Henry.

-Anne of Cleves, but we don't know.

-Catherine Parr and Thomas Seymour.

Finally, this queen and the poet with whom she was accused of having an affair.

-Anne Boleyn and Thomas Wyatt.

-Correct.

Another starter question now.

In the Old Testament, Hannah vowed that if God gave her a son, "She would give him to the Lord."

Of which judge and prophet did she become the mother?

-Samuel?

-Correct.

Your bonuses this time are on food safety and hygiene.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission develops internationally recognised food safety standards and practices

and was established in 1963 by the WHO and which agency of the United Nations?

-The UN Food Programme?

-No, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, or FAO as it's known.

A system of food safety management that identifies problems,

for what do the letters

HACCP stand?

-Um, pass.

-It's Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points.

Finally, belonging to the family Caliciviridae,

which RNA virus causes the common gastroenteritis known as winter vomiting disease?

-Norovirus.

-Norovirus is correct.

Four minutes to go. Common in place names in south and south-west England,

what term denotes a steep-sided valley in a limestone or chalk escarpment?

-Combe.

-Combe is right, yes!

Your bonuses are on the human skeleton, Selwyn.

Which bones articulate with the proximal phalanges on the foot?

-Metatarsals?

-Correct. Providing an attachment for the tongue, which horseshoe-shaped bone

is the only bone not articulated with any other bone?

-Pass.

-It's the hyoid.

In a normal human skeleton, how many pairs of ribs are connected to the sternum by cartilage?

-One.

-No, it's 10.

Three minutes to go now. 10 points for this.

In total, how many times does the latter O appear in the following three UK place names?

Scarborough, Middlesbrough, Edinburgh.

-Six.

-Anyone from Manchester?

Five.

No, it's three times! It's not in Edinburgh at all. Another starter.

In terms of linguistic innovation, what links the Armenian Saint Mesrop, the Goth Saint Ulfilas

and the Greek Saints Cyril and...

-They created alphabets.

-Correct.

Your bonuses are on paintings in the National Gallery.

Name the British monarch on the throne when these were painted.

Firstly, Mr and Mrs Andrews by Thomas Gainsborough.

-It's the monarch, isn't it?

-Come on.

-George II.

-Correct.

Second, The Hay Wain by Constable.

-No, George III...

-Let's have it.

-George III.

-No, George IV.

Finally, The Fighting Temeraire by Turner.

-Queen Victoria.

-Correct. 10 points for this. "Transistor density on integrated circuits

"doubles every two years." These...

-Moore.

-Moore's Law is correct.

Your bonuses are on love triangles in 19th-century literature. In each case, I want the third name.

Firstly, Eponine Thenardier, Marius Pontmercy and...?

-Pass.

-It's Cosette. Secondly, Andrei Bolkonsky, Anatole Kuragin and...?

-Natasha.

-Natasha.

-Correct. And, finally, Charles Darnay, Sidney Carton and...?

-Pass.

-Lucie. 10 points for this. What given name links the author of Revelations of Divine Love,

the calendar that preceded the Gregorian and the Roman emperor...

-Julian.

-Julian is right.

Your bonuses this time are on easily-confused words. In each case, give both words.

Fragrant fumes used, for example, in religious ceremonial

and sexual relations between close relatives.

-Incense and incest.

-Correct. Gland that surrounds the neck of the bladder in male mammals

and lying face downwards or in a submissive position.

-Prostate and prostrate.

-Correct. To act or speak evasively

and to defer or put off an action.

Evade, avoid?

-Evade and avoid.

-Prevaricate and procrastinate.

GONG

Very good punt, though. Well, Selwyn, you never got a chance to show us what you're made of.

A catastrophically bad start, but you were playing a very, very good team.

I'm afraid we're saying goodbye. Manchester, terrific performance.

We'll see you in Round Two.

I hope you can join us next time, but until then it's goodbye from Selwyn College,

goodbye from Manchester University

and it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd - 2011

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