Episode 13 University Challenge

APPLAUSE

University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello, one of Oxford's oldest colleges

plays one of Cambridge's youngest tonight

with a place in the second round for the victors.

The losers might also play again if their score is good enough.

New College is

something of a misnomer as it's one of Oxford's oldest.

It was founded in the Mesozoic era

and was called New to distinguish it from Oriel College as both

of them had dedications to St Mary in their full titles.

Imagine the confusion if they hadn't.

Its architectural style is a typical Oxford combination

of imposing stone quads and wood panelling.

Its most famous buildings being the chapel and the cloisters which will

be familiar to anyone who has seen Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Alumni include the writer John Galsworthy, the politician

Tony Benn and the actors Kate Beckinsale and Hugh Grant.

Playing on the behalf of around 600 students

and with an average age of 20,

let's meet the team from New College.

Hi, I'm Remi Beecroft.

I'm from Letchworth in Hertfordshire

and I'm studying psychology and philosophy.

I'm India Lenon. I'm from London and I'm studying classics.

And their captain.

Hi, I'm Andy Hood from Wasperton in Warwickshire

and I'm studying philosophy, politics and economics.

Hi, I'm Tom Cappleman from Bracknell in Berkshire

and I'm reading mathematics.

APPLAUSE

Homerton College, Cambridge only became a full college

of the University in 2010, but its convoluted history

goes way back to the 1700s when it was

an academy for dissenters in Homerton High Street in London.

In 1850 it became a teacher training college and in 1894

it relocated to Cambridge to avoid the diseases of the East End.

It used to be all-female but by the 1970s it was taking men again.

Alumni include the comedians Nick Hancock and Jan Ravens

and the actress Tamzin Merchant.

It's by far the biggest Cambridge college.

Let's meet the four with an average age of 19

playing on behalf of Homerton.

I'm Jack Hooper.

I'm from Altrincham in Cheshire and I'm studying natural sciences.

Hi, I'm Michael Angland.

I'm from Cork in Ireland and I'm studying Arabic and Spanish.

And their captain.

Hi, my name's Luke Fitzgerald.

I'm from Hadleigh in Suffolk and I'm studying history.

Hello, my name is Drew Miley.

I'm from the city of Durham and I'm reading mathematics.

APPLAUSE

OK, the rules are the same as ever -

10 points for starters, 15 for bonuses.

Fingers on buzzers. Your first starter for ten.

Published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office

and appearing in print daily, weekly and online, the official reports

of the proceedings of the Westminster Parliament

are known by what name?

BUZZER

Hansard.

Hansard is correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on 18th-century history, New College.

After a mutilation suffered by a British sea captain, what

name is often given to the Anglo Spanish war that began in 1739?

Nominate Beecroft.

The War of Jenkins' Ear.

Correct. Now in Panama,

which Spanish seaport captured in 1739 by Admiral Vernon

gives its name to an area of Edinburgh

and to a street and market in West London?

Portobello.

Correct. Later that year, a force under Admiral Vernon

attempted unsuccessfully to take Santiago de Cuba.

At which bay did it disembark?

Bay of Pigs.

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

What three digit number

links the seats on the round table,

according to Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur,

the psalms in the eponymous book of the Old Testament...

BUZZER

150.

150 is correct. And your bonuses this time are on literature.

I want you to identify the following three US writers

from lines taken from their obituary in the New York Times.

First, he captured the essence of a period when flappers and gin

and the beautiful and the damned

were the symbols of the carefree madness of an age.

F Scott Fitzgerald.

Correct.

Which tireless chronicler of smalltown America

who died in 2009

sought the clash of extremes

in everyday dramas of marriage, sex and divorce?

Garrison Keillor.

No, it's John Updike.

After his death in 1961,

the New York Times wrote of which writer's lean and sinewy prose,

his mastery of a kind of laconic, understated dialogue,

his insistent use of repetition, often of a single word or name?

Steinbeck.

No, it's Ernest Hemingway.

10 points for this. The impossibility of

travelling around the Prussian city of Konigsberg on the River Pregel,

crossing each of its seven bridges only once

and returning to the point at which one started was proved in 1736...

BUZZER

Leonhard Euler.

Euler is correct.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on astronomical discovery.

Which Danish nobleman was the author of De Nova Stella

describing the supernova of 1572 and thereby refuting

the Aristotelian concept of the celestial bodies as being immutable?

Tycho Brahe.

Correct. Tycho Brahe's supernova was the inspiration for

the poem Al Aaraaf, first published in 1829.

The longest poem as well as one of the earliest

by which US writer also noted for his short stories?

Whitman.

No, it's Edgar Allan Poe.

Finally, it's been argued by some astronomers that Tycho's supernova

is being referred to by the soldier Bernardo with the words,

"Yon same star, that's westward from the pole,"

in the opening scene of which play by Shakespeare?

-Hamlet.

-Hamlet is right.

10 points for this.

Composition In Red, Yellow And Blue is a work by which

Dutch painter born in 1872, a founder of the De Stijl movement

and in his later years...

BUZZER

Mondrian.

-Mondrian is correct, yes.

-APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, Homerton, are on world capitals, specifically those whose

names would have a value of five points in the board game Scrabble.

That is if proper names were allowed.

The name of which EU capital city has a Scrabble value of five?

Its country's independence was restored in 1991.

THEY WHISPER

-Riga.

-Correct. Capital of a country whose independence was restored

in 2002, which Asian capital has a Scrabble value of five?

THEY WHISPER

Dili.

Correct. On a similar longitude to Dili,

which former Olympic host city has a Scrabble value of five?

-Seoul.

-Seoul is correct. Well done.

-Right.

-APPLAUSE

You're going to see a picture starter question.

You will see a diagram of a knot.

10 points if you can give me its full name.

BUZZER

Sheepshank.

Anyone like to buzz from New College?

BUZZER

Granny.

No, it's a reef knot.

None of you was a Boy Scout, obviously. Right,

10 points for this starter question. Meanings of what hyphenated,

alliterative word include a bi-stable electronic circuit

capable of serving as one bit of memory

and a North American term for a backward somersault?

BUZZER

Backflip.

No, anyone want to buzz from New College?

It's a flip-flop.

Another starter question. Picture bonuses shortly. 10 points for this.

Central to the argument

for demand management in Keynesian economics,

which theoretical concept is based on an argument that

an increase in government spending becomes income for consumers

and relates an initial change

in spending to the total change in activity...

BUZZER

The multiplier effect.

-The multiplier is correct, yes.

-APPLAUSE

Following on from that picture of the reef knot that you saw,

three more knots for you to identify. Firstly.

Sheepshank?

No, that's a bowline. Secondly.

Fisherman's?

It's a double fisherman's, so I can't accept that, I'm afraid.

Finally.

-A figure of eight knot?

-It is. Yes, to stop them off.

Well done. Right, 10 points for this.

At the same distance as Jupiter from the sun

and approximately 60 degrees ahead of it

and 60 degrees behind it in their orbit,

what name from Greek legend is collectively given to

the asteroids Achilles, Nestor, Hektor and Patroclus?

BUZZER

Asterieds.

No. Homerton, one of you buzz?

BUZZER

Titans.

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

A large public square flanked by Islamic academies,

the Registan is a UNESCO World Heritage site

in which central Asian city?

Known as Maracanda when it was captured by Alexander the Great,

it later became Tamerlane's capital and is today...

BUZZER

Samarkand.

-Samarkand is correct.

-APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on sociology.

What two word term denotes

the effect noted by the US psychologist

Edward Thorndike in the 1920s

by which attributes are often generalised? For example,

making the misleading judgement that clever people

are knowledgeable about everything.

THEY WHISPER

-We don't know.

-It's the halo effect.

Named by the US sociologist

Robert K Merton after one of the Gospels,

which effect is loosely summed up

as the rich get richer while the poor get poorer?

THEY WHISPER

The Matthew effect.

Correct. What term is used to indicate the spreading

unintentional effects of or repercussions of

a single simple act?

THEY WHISPER

Law of unintended consequences.

No, it's the ripple effect.

10 points for this. In August 2010,

the Kenyan runner David Rudisha

broke the 13-year-old world record in which event?

BUZZER

800 metres.

Correct. Your bonuses, New College,

are now on neologisms as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary.

Firstly, which neologism is defined by the OED as a radical alteration

in the relationship between the sexes, especially one resulting

from deliberate changes in women's economic or political activity?

(Feminisation?)

Feminisation?

No, it's gender quake.

What hyphenated term means the action of lying flat while being

passed over the heads of members of the audience at

a rock concert, typically

after jumping into the audience from the stage?

-Crowd-surfing.

-Correct.

And what compound word is defined as the making of rhythmical sounds with

the voice and mouth in imitation of the rhythms of hip-hop music?

-Beatboxing.

-Correct.

10 points for this. Also called white mica,

which pale, translucent, potassium-containing mineral

of the mica group shares its name with a native or inhabitant...

BUZZER

-Muscovite.

-Muscovite is correct.

Your bonuses this time, Homerton College, are on mathematics.

All three are regarding a cube of edge length N where N is

a positive integer.

Give the formula in terms of N for the surface area

of a cube of edge length N.

(6 N squared.)

-6 N squared.

-Correct.

What is the smallest value of N for which the volume of the cube

of edge length N is numerically greater than

or equal to its surface area?

(Two? Two?)

-Two.

-No, it's six.

How many edges does the cube of edge length N possess?

(12.)

-12.

-Of course.

Yes, 10 points for this. Born in 1845,

which German mathematician developed the first clear and comprehensive

account of transfinite sets of numbers?

He gives his name to the theory of sets.

BUZZER

Godel?

No, anyone like to buzz from Homerton?

It's Georg Cantor. 10 points for this.

Name the two countries whose representatives gave their names

to the Kellogg-Briand pact of 1928, also known as the treaty

for the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy.

BUZZER

America and France.

-Correct.

-APPLAUSE

Right, your bonuses this time, Homerton, are on name changes.

The city of Berlin in Ontario was renamed in 1916 in honour

of which Irish born field marshal who was killed en route to

Russia in June of that year?

THEY WHISPER

-Kitchener.

-Correct.

After the capital city of Santo Domingo was temporarily

renamed after Rafael Trujillo, which country did he rule from 1930

until his assassination in 1961?

-The Dominican Republic.

-Correct.

During the Soviet era, the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod was

renamed after which writer who had been born there in 1860?

-(Maxim Gorky.)

-(Yeah.)

-Maxim Gorky.

-Correct.

10 points for this starter question. Answer as soon as you buzz.

Give the name of the common chemical element whose symbol,

when written backwards, becomes an indirect article.

BUZZER

Sodium.

-Sodium is correct. Na becomes an.

-APPLAUSE

Your bonuses this time, New College, are on a film director.

His flamboyant style and unorthodox biographies of musical notables

have divided viewers into outraged observers or staunch followers.

Those words refer to which British film director who died in 2011?

THEY WHISPER

-Sorry, we don't know.

-It was Ken Russell.

Described in his own words as the story of the marriage

between a homosexual and a nymphomaniac, Russell's 1970 film

The Music Lovers depicts the life of which 19th-century composer?

-Brahms.

-No, it's Tchaikovsky.

Glenda Jackson won the Academy Award for Best Actress

in which Ken Russell film of 1969

based on a novel by DH Lawrence?

THEY WHISPER

Nominate Beecroft.

-Lady Chatterley's Lover?

-No, it was Women In Love.

Right, time for a music round. For your music starter

you'll hear an excerpt from a film score.

10 points if you can name the film in which this theme first appeared.

BUZZER

Halloween.

-Halloween is correct, yes.

-APPLAUSE

Right, your music bonuses are three more pieces of music

composed for well-known horror films,

in each case the first of a franchise.

Five points for each film you can identify.

Firstly, this film of 1976.

THEY WHISPER

MUSIC DROWNS OUT SPEECH

Final Destination?

No, that was from The Omen. Secondly, this film of 1982.

MUSIC DROWNS OUT SPEECH

Nightmare On Elm Street.

No, that was from Poltergeist.

And finally, this film of 1984.

-Nightmare On Elm Street.

-Yes, it was. Well done.

APPLAUSE

Right, 10 points for this starter question.

Carriacou and Petite Martinique are among the islands of which nation?

The southernmost country of the Windward Islands,

it was the scene of a US military intervention in 1983.

BUZZER

Grenada.

-Grenada is right, yes.

-APPLAUSE

Bonuses this time on fungus.

Firstly, what name, meaning mushroom, is given to a fungus

in the form of a loose mass of branching and interwoven filaments?

THEY WHISPER

-We don't know, I'm afraid.

-It's mycelium or mycelia.

Also called honeydew, what name is given to a white fungus on

the surface of a plant and to a similar growth

found on paper and cloth after exposure to damp?

(Mildew.)

-Mildew.

-Correct.

The term mycorrhiza describes the symbiotic

relationship between a fungus and which part of a plant?

(Roots.)

-Roots.

-Roots is correct.

10 points for this. Listen carefully. In 1901,

the first Nobel prizes were awarded for achievements in five fields.

In which field did the Bank of Sweden launch a sixth Nobel in 1969?

BUZZER

Peace.

No. Anyone want to buzz from New College?

BUZZER

Economics.

-Economics is correct, yes.

-APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, New College, are on the Turner Prize.

Which Indian born British sculptor was the first recipient

of the prize after it adopted its current format in 1991?

(Anish...)

-Anish Kapoor.

-Correct.

Which painter and filmmaker was nominated for the prize in 1986,

particularly for his film Caravaggio?

Sorry, we don't know.

That was Derek Jarman. And finally, Prousch and Passmore

are the surnames of the Turner Prize winners in 1986,

better known by what names?

-Gilbert and George?

-Correct.

10 points for this. Listen carefully. A plank of wood

leans against a wall, touching the wall two metres up

and touching the ground one metre from the base of the wall.

-How long is the plank?

-BUZZER

Root five metres.

It is, yes, it's the square root of five metres.

Right, a set of bonuses this time for you on children's books.

In each case, identify the book from the titles of three of its chapters.

First - The Old Gentleman, The Pride Of Perks and Saviours Of The Train.

THEY WHISPER

-The Railway Children.

-Correct.

Now - The Return Of Ulysses, Dulce Domum

and The Piper At The Gates of Dawn.

THEY WHISPER

-Sorry, we don't know.

-It's The Wind In The Willows.

And finally, The Shadow, The Never Bird and Do You Believe In Fairies?

(Peter Pan.)

-Peter Pan.

-Correct, yes.

Another picture round. For your picture starter,

you're going to see a painting of the streets of an English city.

10 points if you can identify the city.

BUZZER

Bath.

Yes, it is. That's Bath Abbey in the background.

APPLAUSE

Picture bonuses. Three more paintings

of the streets of English cities. Again, five points

for each city you can identify.

Firstly, for five points, this 19th-century work.

Lincoln.

It is. You can see the cathedral in the background.

The second is also a 19th-century work.

(Salisbury, maybe.)

Salisbury.

No, that's Newcastle. Central Station on the left there.

And finally, this late 19th or early 20th-century work.

-York.

-No, it's Chester.

10 points for this. Mentioned in the Analects of Confucius,

which strategy board game

is usually played with black-and-white stones...

BUZZER

Mahjong.

No, you lose five points. ..On a 19 x 19 grid.

It's usually known in English by a two letter name.

BUZZER

-Go.

-Go is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses this time are on rivers.

If the Mississippi and its tributary the Missouri are considered

to be two separate rivers, which is the longest river in the world

to flow through only one sovereign state?

THEY WHISPER

-Yangtze.

-Correct.

Which is the only river that flows from the Alps to the North Sea?

The Rhine.

Correct. What is the longest river in Europe, West of Poland,

that flows through only one country?

THEY WHISPER

The Seine?

No, it's the Loire.

Six minutes to go, 10 points for this.

Naskh, Tulut and Muhaqqaq are among the cursive styles

of the calligraphy of which...

BUZZER

Arabic.

-Arabic is correct, yes.

-APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on graduates of the University of Manchester, Homerton.

Born in 1924, which playwright's works include

The Tiger And The Horse, State Of Revolution and

A Man For All Seasons?

THEY WHISPER

-David Hare.

-No, it's Robert Bolt.

Born in 1930, which novelist's works include The Rage Of The Vulture,

Sugar And Rum and Sacred Hunger?

THEY WHISPER

Julian Barnes.

No, that's Barry Unsworth.

And finally, born in 1917, which novelist's works

include The Napoleon Symphony - A Novel In Four Movements,

The Malayan Trilogy and Inside Mr Enderby?

We don't know.

Anthony Burgess. 10 points for this. Which Liverpool born author

was posthumously awarded the Lost Booker in 2010

for his 1970 novel Troubles?

He previously won the prize in 1973 for The Siege Of Krishnapur.

BUZZER

JG Ballard.

Anyone want to buzz from New College?

It's JG Farrell. 10 points for this. In astronomy,

the abbreviation SMC stands for which satellite galaxy

of the Milky Way, about 60,000 parsecs distant?

BUZZER

Sirius Major?

No, anyone like to buzz from New College?

It's Small Magellanic Cloud. 10 points for this starter question.

Author of novels such as Vivian Grey and The Young Duke,

the first Earl of Beaconsfield was better known...

BUZZER

Benjamin Disraeli.

-He was Benjamin Disraeli, yes.

-APPLAUSE

These bonuses, Homerton, are on royal jubilees.

In which year did Queen Victoria celebrate her diamond jubilee?

THEY WHISPER

-1897.

-Correct.

George V celebrated the 25th year of his accession by a silver jubilee

on May the 6th of which year?

-1945.

-No, it's 1935.

Which King's golden jubilee was celebrated on October the 25th,

1809, the day on which the 50th year of his reign began?

-George III.

-Correct.

Another starter question.

Erewhon, the title of Samuel Butler's satirical novel

of 1872 was chosen as a deliberate anagram of which word?

BUZZER

-Nowhere.

-Nowhere is right.

Your bonuses this time are on Greek mythology.

Which minor nature spirits derive their name from a Greek word

that also means bride?

Let's have it, please.

-Nymph.

-Correct.

Believed to be propitious for sailors, which group of 50

are the daughters of one of the Gods known as the Old Man of the Sea?

Nominate Lenon.

Nereids.

Nereids is correct.

What is the habitat of those nymphs known as hamadryads?

(Something to do with trees. Trees.)

-Trees, forests.

-Trees is right.

10 points for this.

2010 is the year 4343 of the current era

in which Asian calendar,

2333 BC being the year of the founding of

the ancient kingdom of Gojoseon by Dangun?

BUZZER

Japanese calendar?

No, anyone want to buzz from New?

BUZZER

Korea.

Korean calendar is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Right, these bonuses are on astronomy, New College.

12.566 of what unit is equal to the entire celestial sphere?

Come on.

-A billion light years.

-No, it's steradian.

Rounded to the nearest thousand,

what is the total area of the sphere in square degrees?

-Sorry, we don't know.

-That's 41,000.

As viewed from Earth,

it would take 200,000 suns to cover the whole celestial sphere.

What is the angular diameter of the sun to the nearest half a degree?

-Come on.

-1.5?

No, it's half a degree.

Right, answer as soon as you buzz.

In the Fibonacci sequence, which number follows 21?

BUZZER

34.

-34 is correct, yes.

-APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on a European capital. Which European capital

gives its name in part to the settlement that was

captured by Britain in 1664 and renamed New York?

-Amsterdam.

-Correct.

At a similar latitude to Cape Town and Melbourne,

the volcanic Amsterdam Island is inhabited only by scientists.

In which ocean is it and which country has sovereignty?

(Southern Ocean...)

Come on.

-Southern Ocean, Britain.

-No, it's Indian Ocean and France.

First published in 1998,

the Booker Prize-winning novel Amsterdam is by which author?

THEY WHISPER

Eugenides.

No, it's Ian McEwan. 10 points for this. Resembling a cornet

but having a slightly larger bell, which instrument is a standard in

British brass bands? Its name...

BUZZER

Trumpet.

No, you lose five points. Its name being the German for wing horn.

BUZZER

-Trombone.

-No, flugelhorn.

10 points for this. Derived from the ancient kingdom

of Pontus, the adjective Pontic refers to which body of water?

BUZZER

-Black Sea.

-Black Sea is right, yes.

GONG

And at the gong, Homerton College, Cambridge have 145.

New College, Oxford have 230.

APPLAUSE

That was a more tightly fought contest

than the score line suggests. I would bet, Homerton,

that on that score you will come back as one of the four

highest scoring losing teams to fight another day.

New College, terrific performance from you. We shall look forward to

seeing you again in round two of the competition.

I hope you can join us next time for another first round match

but until then it's goodbye from

Homerton College, Cambridge.

ALL: Goodbye.

-It's goodbye from New College, Oxford.

-ALL: Goodbye.

And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.

APPLAUSE

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