Episode 10 University Challenge

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman!

Hello.

Another 30 minutes of intellectual lucky dip lies ahead of us,

as we do our best to pluck goodies from the student mind.

There's a place in the second round for whichever team yields the most.

Pembroke College, Cambridge was founded by the widow of the

Earl of Pembroke in 1347, under the licence granted her by Edward III.

It's the third oldest college in the University.

Its original statutes required students to snitch on each other

if anyone drank to excess or visited houses of ill repute,

but nowadays, of course, that sort of thing is more or less compulsory.

It boasts a chapel by Wren

and alumni include one Python - Eric Idle -

two Goodies - Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie -

as well as several poets, including Edmund Spenser, Ted Hughes

and Christopher Smart after whom the college cat, Kit Smart, is named.

Playing on behalf of around 700 students,

and with an average age of 20,

hoping to go one further than last year's team,

who were runners-up for the series title, let's meet them.

I'm Robert Scanes, I'm from North London,

and I'm studying Natural Sciences.

Hello, I'm Emily Maw, from Oxford, and I'm studying Maths.

And their captain.

Hi, I'm Tom Foxall, from Birmingham, and I'm studying Classics.

I'm Jemima Hodkinson, I'm from Portsmouth,

and I'm studying Natural Sciences.

APPLAUSE

The University of Lancaster

is one of the so-called plateglass universities founded in 1964,

and its campus is at Bailrigg,

around three miles from the city centre.

The campus design of cloisters

running off a central covered walkway

was a kind attempt by the architects

to shield students from Lancaster's often bracing climate.

One of the university's traditions is the annual competition called

the Roses Tournament, played against York University, of course,

and consisting of over 40 sports, including waterpolo,

kendo and ultimate frisbee.

By comparison, tonight's match should be a doddle, therefore.

Alumni include the cyclist Jason Queally, the actor Andy Serkis,

the politician Alan Milburn, and the food writer Matthew Fort.

Tonight's team are playing on behalf of a student body of around 12,000.

Let's meet them.

Hello, I'm Alan Webster from Preston.

I'm studying for an MSc in Resource and Environmental Management.

Hi, I'm Anne Kretzschmar, I originally come from Chesterfield,

in Derbyshire, and I'm studying for a PhD in Environmental Modelling.

And their captain.

Hi, I'm George Pinkerton, I'm from Surrey,

and I'm studying History, Philosophy and Politics.

Hi, I'm Ian Dickson, I'm from Stirling,

and I'm studying for an MSc in Ecology and the Environment.

APPLAUSE

The rules are unchanging. 10 points for starters, 15 for bonuses.

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

Which art gallery links How It Is by Miroslaw Balka,

Shibboleth by Doris Salcedo, Embankment by Rachel Whiteread...

Tate Modern?

Tate Modern is correct, yes.

Your bonuses are on British libraries, Lancaster.

The Mitchell Library, one of the largest public reference libraries

in Europe, is in which British city?

Glasgow.

Correct. The London Library, the world's largest independent

lending library, was founded in 1841,

largely due to the efforts of which Scottish historian and biographer?

Could it be McAuley?

McAuley?

No, it was Carlyle.

And finally, in which city are the John Rylands University Library,

the Portico Library, and Chetham's Library, the latter being

the oldest public library in the English-speaking world?

Manchester?

Correct. Ten points for this.

Born in 1890, the playwright and author Lawrence du Garde Peach

is noted as the author of more than 20 titles in

The Adventures From History series of which children's publisher?

They include Oliver Cromwell, the story of Captain Cook,

and the first Queen Elizabeth.

Is it Ladybird?

Yes.

Right, your bonuses are on a literary figure, Pembroke College.

In his 1912 work, The Victorian Age In Literature,

of which novelist and poet did GK Chesterton say,

"He went down to botanise in the swamp,

"and became a sort of village atheist,

"brooding and blaspheming over the village idiot"?

Hardy.

Thomas Hardy is correct.

Chiefly remembered for poetry written during the First World War,

who, in 1945, described Hardy

as "the nearest thing to Shakespeare I should ever go for a walk with"?

Siegfried Sassoon?

Correct. Greatly influenced by Sassoon,

whom did Philip Larkin described as "the only 20th-century poet

"who can be read after Hardy without a sense of bathos"?

Rupert Brooke.

No, it was Wilfred Owen. Ten points for this.

One of the halogens,

which yellow gas is the most electrode-negative element...

Fluorine.

Fluorine is right, yes.

These bonuses, Pembroke College, are on recreational mathematics.

Called Lo Shu by the Chinese,

what type of square contains all the consecutive numbers,

starting from one and arranged so that all the rows, columns

and corner-to-corner diagonals add up to the same total?

Magic Square.

Correct. The year 1514 appears in a four-by-four magic square

in the woodcut Melancholia I,

denoting the year it was produced by which German artist?

Durer.

Correct. Which founding father of the United States is said

to have invented one of the best-known magic squares,

an eight-by-eight variation with a broken diagonal?

Benjamin Franklin.

Correct. Another starter question.

Which military unit was created by King Louis-Philippe in 1831

for the purpose of suppressing resistance...

Foreign Legion?

The French Foreign Legion is right, yes.

Right, these bonuses are on the Roman Empire, Lancaster.

When told by astrologers that her son would rule the Empire

but kill his mother, Agrippina is said to have replied,

"Let him kill her, provided he becomes Emperor."

Of which Emperor was she the mother?

Nero?

Nero is correct.

Which Empress was described by Tacitus

as "a terrible mother for the state,

"a terrible stepmother for the house of Caesars"?

Erm...

-Livia?

-Livia is correct.

"No other tyrant since mankind began ever inspired such fear."

These words of the historian Procopius refer to Theodora,

the wife of which Byzantine emperor?

Could it be Constantine?

Constantine?

No, it's Justinian I.

Right, we're going to take a picture round, now.

For your picture starter, you'll see a British landmark.

Ten points if you can give me the name of the building

and its architect.

Wembley Stadium, Foster and Partners?

Norman Foster is correct. It is Wembley Stadium, yes.

Right, for your bonuses, you're going to see three photographs

of some of Foster and Partners' designs from around the world.

I want the name of each construction in each case. Firstly, for five.

It's that bridge in France.

Millau Bridge.

It is indeed. The tallest bridge in the world. Secondly.

It's not the Velodrome, is it? No.

We don't know.

That's the McLaren Technology Centre,

the headquarters for McLaren in the UK.

And finally, the redesign of this building.

Oh, that's the Reichstag, isn't it?

Reichstag?

The Reichstag.

The Reichstag.

It is, the German Parliament.

Ten points for this.

Which area of West London gave its name to the film studio, which...

Ealing.

Ealing is correct.

Your bonuses are on financial terms.

In each case, give the word

that's defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as follows.

Firstly, "To speculate or cause to speculate financially

"on borrowed capital,

"expecting profits made to be greater than the interest payable."

Could be a hedge fund, or...

Come on.

Derivatives?

No, it's leverage. Secondly, "A financial arrangement or instrument

"whose value derives from and is dependent upon

"an underlying variable asset

"such as a commodity, currency or security."

Collateralization?

No, that is a derivative.

And finally, "A loan, typically on relatively unfavourable terms,

"made to a borrower who does not qualify for other loans

"because of poor credit history or other circumstances."

Sub-prime?

Sub-prime is correct. Ten points for this.

Originally describing a person deserving of the method of torture

that would see him broken on a wheel,

which short word from the French

denotes a debauched or disreputable man, usually elderly?

Lech?

No. Anyone want to buzz from Lancaster?

It's a roue.

Ten points for this. What surname is shared

by a woman traveller and author of

Through England On A Side Saddle In The Time Of William and Mary,

a polar explorer born 1944,

and the star of The English Patient and The Constant Gardener?

Fiennes.

Fiennes is right, yes.

These bonuses are on university scholarships, Pembroke College.

Which crime writer has launched a series of scholarships

for Sheffield University students

in the name of his military policeman character Jack Reacher?

We don't know.

It's Lee Child.

Benjamin Franklin Chemistry Scholarships are awarded

by which Scottish university?

In 1759, it awarded Franklin an honorary doctorate in law,

and in 2002 unveiled a permanent tribute to him.

St Andrews.

Correct. What's the world's oldest international scholarship programme,

allowing exceptional postgraduate students from various countries

to study at Oxford University?

Rhodes Scholarship.

Correct. Ten points for this. What term denotes a solar eclipse

in which the moon, being at a point in its orbit

relatively distant from the Earth, appears smaller than the sun,

leaving a ring of the solar surface visible around its dark silhouette?

A corona?

No. One of you buzz from Pembroke.

An annular eclipse?

Annular is correct, yes.

Right, these bonuses are on the human brain.

Also known as the grey matter, and rich in synapses, what two-word

term denotes the much-folded outer layer of the cerebral hemispheres?

Cortex?

Cerebral cortex?

Cerebral cortex.

Correct. Which human function is associated with Broca's area

and Wernicke's area of the cerebral cortex?

Speech.

Correct. What term denotes the enlargement of the hindbrain,

anterior to the medulla oblongata?

It co-ordinates and regulates motor activity.

The medulla.

No, it's the cerebellum.

Right, we're going to take a music round. For your music starter,

you'll hear an excerpt from a piece of classical music.

Ten points if you can give me the name of the composer.

SLOW, ETHEREAL MUSIC

Brahms.

No. Pembroke, you may hear a little bit more.

One of you buzz.

I'll tell you.

It's Stravinsky's Song Of The Nightingale,

so music bonuses shortly.

Another ten points at stake for this starter question.

Differing only in that one has an additional final letter,

give both of the words that mean basic structural and functional unit

of an organism, and string instrument, for which Barber...

Cell and cello.

Correct.

You heard Stravinsky's The Song Of The Nightingale

for that music starter.

Your music bonuses are three classical pieces that each

feature a bird in their title.

In each case,

all you have to do is identify the common name of the bird.

Firstly.

LIVELY MUSIC

Does anyone know?

Just go with skylark, or something?

Skylark?

No, it's a magpie. That's the overture from Rossini's Thieving Magpie. Secondly.

SLOW, OMINOUS MUSIC

Right. What is the little bird, yeah?

Erm...

Could it be the sparrow?

No, it couldn't be the sparrow! It's Blackbird, Messiaen.

And finally.

GENTLE STATELY MUSIC

Right. We'll try cuckoo.

Correct!

Saint-Saens' Cuckoo.

Right, another starter question.

Deriving from the Latin for bone, what term denotes the chapel...

An ossuary?

Ossuary is correct, yes.

Right, Lancaster. These bonuses are on place names.

Bordering the remains of the Aral Sea,

Karakalpakstan is the westernmost region of which former Soviet state?

Uzbekistan.

Correct. Its name meaning "mountain country",

what is the southernmost federal subject of the Russian Republic?

It is to the east of Chechnya and has a coastline on the Caspian Sea.

Sorry?

Dagestan.

No, that's not. That's independent now.

Dagestan?

Dagestan is correct.

A little smaller than Germany and including much of the Thar Desert,

what is the largest state of the Republic of India?

Its capital is Jaipur.

Rajasthan.

Correct. Right, ten points for this.

Meanings of what four-letter word include

coarse file with separate teeth and hoarse, grating sound?

Etymologically unrelated, the same four-letter word also begins

the common name of the fruit of the bramble Rubus idaeus?

Rasp.

Rasp is correct, yes.

Pembroke, your bonuses this time are on adjectives

that share the same suffix.

In each case, give the word from the definition.

Firstly, an adjective meaning holding or grasping firmly,

stubborn or persistent, or tending to stick.

Tenacious, possibly.

Tenacious.

Correct. From the Latin for "to take",

an adjective meaning capable of holding a lot, roomy or spacious.

Capacious.

Correct. An adjective that means characterised by, or showing

a tendency to talk great deal.

Loquacious.

Correct.

Ten points for this.

Formed from the union

of the superior, mesenteric and splenic veins,

what three-word term denotes the specific vertebrate blood vessel

which drains blood from the gastrointestinal tract of the liver?

Hepatic portal vein.

Correct.

These bonuses are on chemistry, Pembroke.

From the Latin for bunch, what word denotes an optically inactive

mixture containing equal quantities of right

and left-handed enantiomers of a chiral molecule?

Recaemic.

Racemate?

Recaemic.

A recaemic mixture.

Correct. Racaemic acid is an obsolete term

for an optically inactive form of which organic acid

with the basic formula C4 H6 O6?

Propanoic acid?

Let's have it, please.

Shall we just go with it?

Propanoic acid.

No, it's tartaric acid.

And finally, what is the common three-word name

for potassium hydrogen tartrate, a white, crystalline deposit

that's an ingredient of baking powder?

Bicarbonate of soda?

Oh, yeah, cream of tartar. That would make more sense.

Cream of tartar.

Correct.

Right, we're going to take a picture round.

Your picture starter is a photograph of an actor.

For ten points, I want you to name the actor

and the theatrical role being played.

David Tennant in Macbeth?

No. Lancaster, one of you buzz.

Michael Sheen, and...

Come on! If you buzz, you must answer.

And the...

No, I'm sorry. We can't hang around. We'll be here all night.

It's Michael Sheen and Hamlet, So picture bonuses shortly.

Ten points for this.

Dead Christ and Dance Of Death were works by which German artist

who settled in England in 1532 and is also noted for his portraits,

including those of Sir Thomas More and of Henry VIII and his wives?

Holbein.

Holbein is right, yes.

So, you get the picture bonuses.

Three more depictions of actors who played the role of Hamlet,

all of them born in the 19th century.

In each case, simply name the actor. The first is English.

No clue.

That is Henry Irving, apparently.

The second is American.

Vincent Price.

Not a bad guess. No, it's John Barrymore.

And finally, the third is French.

No idea, sorry.

That's Sarah Bernhardt. Ten points for this.

Appearing in the title of the heir to the Spanish throne,

which autonomous community of Spain is known officially...

Asturias.

Asturias is correct.

These bonuses are on a religious expression, Pembroke College.

In Christian eschatology, the concept of parousia

is usually expressed by what two-word term,

the first word being an ordinal number?

-First presence?

-No, it's the second coming.

Secondly, give the two words that complete this couplet

from W B Yeats' poem The Second Coming.

"The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of..." What?

Contradiction, possibly?

Dread?

It's a rhyming couplet, though, isn't it?

-Let's have it.

-Contradiction.

-No, it's passionate intensity.

Second Coming was an early choice for the title of which horror story,

Stephen King's second published novel?

The Shining.

No, Salem's Lot. Ten points for this.

Originally referring to self-governing areas

of the late Roman Empire, what Latin-derived term

is used in English for any of the 47 administrative districts of Japan?

The equivalent term...

Prefecture.

Prefecture is correct, yes.

Right, your bonuses are on stage directions

in the plays of Shakespeare.

In each case, identify the play in which the direction occurs.

Firstly, "A park with a road leading to the Palace.

"Enter three murderers."

Three murderers in Macbeth.

It could be, I don't know.

Richard III?

No, it's Macbeth. "Enter blackamoors with music; Moth with a speech.

"The King and the rest of the lords

"disguised like Russians and visored."

Is that Midsummer Night's Dream?

Moth is one of the... Midsummer Night's Dream?

No, it's Love's Labours Lost.

And finally, "A noise within, crying, 'Room for the Queen!'

"Enter the Queen, ushered by Dukes of Norfolk, and Suffolk. She kneels.

"The King riseth from his state, takes her up,

"kisses and places her by him."

Could be any of the... history plays.

Richard III, again?

No, it's Henry VIII.

About four minutes to go. Ten points for this. Listen carefully.

Three chemical elements have names that indicate

a region on the surface of the Earth

that is larger than a single country,

but smaller than the whole planet.

For ten points, name any one.

Americium.

Americium is one. Europium and Scandium are the others.

Right, your bonuses this time, Lancaster, are on Prime Ministers.

In each case, name the 20th century Prime Minister

whose cabinet included the following as Home Secretary

and Foreign Secretary respectively.

Firstly, Sir William Joynson-Hicks and Austen Chamberlain.

Well, that would be very early on, so Campbell-Bannerman,

or Asquith, or something?

-Come on.

-Asquith?

No, it's Stanley Baldwin. Secondly, James Chuter Ede and Ernest Bevin.

Attlee?

Correct. And finally, William Whitelaw and Lord Carrington.

Thatcher.

Margaret Thatcher is right, yes.

Two minutes to go, ten points for this.

Which play by Dario Fo was inspired by a bomb explosion in Milan in 1969

and the ensuing death of an innocent suspect who fell from the window...

Accidental Death Of An Anarchist.

Correct.

These bonuses are on a letter in physics.

The temperature scale named indirectly after a river in Glasgow

is abbreviated by what letter?

K? Indirectly?

Let's have it, please.

K.

K is correct.

What is one Kilo Kelvin, or KK, expressed in degrees Celsius?

I want the answer to one-hundredth of a degree, please.

727.

Er, no. Not precise enough. It's 726.85.

Right. And finally, for five points,

stars of spectral type K with surface temperatures

in the range of 4,000 to 5,000 Kelvin appear what colour?

White?

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

-Red.

No, it's orange. Ten points for this.

What type of feedback system operates when a displacement

from a state causes an action which increases the displacement?

Positive.

Correct. Here are your bonuses on film adaptations, Pembroke College.

The Big Bounce, 52 Pick-Up

and Out Of Sight are films based on novels by which American writer?

-Let's have it.

-F Scott Fitzgerald?

No, it's Elmore Leonard Jr.

In 1999, Leonard published Be Cool, the sequel to which novel,

whose film adaptation starred John Travolta

as the loan shark Chili Palmer?

Get Carter.

No, it's Get Shorty.

Under what title did Quentin Tarantino film an adaptation

of Leonard's 1992 novel Rum Punch?

Jackie Brown.

Jackie Brown is correct. Ten points for this.

What three-word term denotes the meteorological event

whose most severe period coincided

with the maunder minimum of sunspot activity between 1645 and 1715?

Little Ice Age?

Little Ice Age is correct.

These bonuses are on a naval commander, Lancaster.

The USS Ranger and the USS Bonhomme Richard were among ships

associated with which naval commander,

often described as the founder of the United States Navy?

He was born in southern Scotland in 1747.

Perry?

No, it's John Paul Jones.

John Paul Jones led the daring

but inconclusive raid on which Cumbrian seaport in 1778?

It's, erm...

Come on, come on, come on!

Whitehaven.

Correct. In 1788, Jones entered the service...

GONG

And at the gong, the University of Lancaster have 140.

Pembroke College, Cambridge have 200.

Well, you were up against a very strong team, Lancaster,

but 140 might be just enough

to bring you back as one of the highest-scoring losing teams,

so I hope we'll see you again. Congratulations, Pembroke.

We enjoyed seeing you work things out on various occasions.

I hope you can join us next time for another first-round match, but until then,

-it's goodbye from Lancaster University.

-Goodbye.

-It's goodbye from Pembroke College.

-Goodbye.

And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.

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