Episode 17 University Challenge

APPLAUSE

University Challenge. Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. It's the first match in the second round tonight.

16 teams have made it through to this stage of the contest

and they're playing now for one of the eight places in the quarterfinals.

The team from Pembroke College, Cambridge, scored 200

in their first-round match against Lancaster University.

They knew about annular eclipses and Hans Holbein,

maths is a form of recreation for them,

and they clearly read the Ladybird history books when they were younger.

Let's meet them again.

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.

Let's re-meet their captain.

Hello, I'm Tom Foxall, I'm from Birmingham

and I'm studying classics.

I'm Jemima Hodkinson, I'm from Portsmouth

and I'm studying natural sciences.

APPLAUSE

Now the team from Bath University, who won their first-round match

against Liverpool by 125 points to 110

in a somewhat diffident performance,

with some answers plucked from the further reaches of likelihood.

But they were strong on scientists, plums, the tesla,

and the Aleutian Islands.

Let's see what they can come up with tonight.

Hi, I'm Joe Kendall, I'm from Bristol and I'm studying economics and international development.

Hi, I'm Adam Salvesen, I'm from Oxford,

-and I'm studying biology.

-And this is their captain.

Hello, I'm Matthew Wise, I'm originally from Surrey,

and I'm studying for an MSc in modern applications of mathematics.

Hi, I'm Toby Smith, I'm from Clitheroe in Lancashire

and I'm studying physics.

APPLAUSE

OK, you all know the rules. Fingers on the buzzers,

here's your first starter for 10.

Covering his life from his birth in Oxford during the Second World War

to his theories on black holes and the formation of the universe,

a recorded speech entitled A Brief History Of Mine...

BELL

-Stephen Hawking?

-Stephen Hawking is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

So you get the first set of bonuses, Pembroke College,

they're on countries that lie on the Tropic of Capricorn.

In each case, identify the country from the description.

Firstly, for five points.

A landlocked country, whose dictator, Alfredo Stroessner,

was deposed in 1989.

Uruguay, possibly? Or Paraguay?

-Paraguay.

-Paraguay.

-Paraguay.

-It is Paraguay, yes.

Independent since 1960, which island nation is described as a biodiversity hot spot,

with a large proportion of its species found nowhere else on Earth?

-I think that's Madagascar.

-Yes, yes.

-Madagascar.

-Correct.

Finally, independent since 1990,

which country's coastal region is mainly desert?

It gains access to the Zambezi River via the Caprivi Strip.

-Mozambique?

-Mozam...is that...

I don't think that's...has it got coastline?

-It's got coastline, yes.

-Oh, has it? Mozambique then. Mozambique.

No, it's Namibia. Ten points for this. In recognition

of the role played by drama and poetry in its cultural life, and among other things,

the quality and diversity of its publishing,

which British city was the world's first UNESCO City Of Literature in 2004?

BUZZER

-Bath?

-Er, no.

Pembroke, one of you buzz?

Well, it clearly didn't work as an advertising exercise, it's Edinburgh.

Ten points for this. Marie and Pierre Curie shared

the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics with which French physicist

who discovered penetrating radiation coming from uranium salts?

BUZZER

Was it Becquerel?

Becquerel is correct.

APPLAUSE

So you're off the mark and your bonuses are on drinking in Shakespeare.

Referring to the local habit of imbibing to excess,

which of Shakespeare's title characters warns his visiting friend,

"We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart."

Toby Belch, Aguecheek...Hamlet?

THEY WHISPER

-Hamlet.

-Hamlet?

-It is Hamlet, yes.

Which character in Twelfth Night berates Sir Toby Belch

and Sir Andrew Aguecheek, both of whom are drunk,

for making "an alehouse of my lady's house"?

Twelfth Night...

I can't remember.

No idea. Pass.

-Pass.

-It's Malvolio. And finally,

in the pockets of which of Shakespeare's characters is discovered a paper

on which are listed - a capon at two shillings and tuppence,

sauce at fourpence, and two gallons of sack at five shillings and eightpence?

-Any idea?

-No.

-Oh, Falstaff?

Yes!

Ten points for this. Opening in 1869, on the corner

of the Rue Richter and the Rue Trevise in the 9th arrondissement,

which venue was the first music hall to be opened in Paris

and was immortalised in the last major painting by Edouard Manet?

BUZZER

-Folies Bergere?

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Bath, your bonuses are on evolutionary theory, this time.

Which British scientist was the author of Zoonomia in 1794

which made a claim similar to that later put forward by Lamarck,

that changes in an organism are caused by the direct influence of the environment?

I need both his given name and surname.

No.

No idea.

It's Eramus Darwin.

An apparent flaw in the theory of evolution

by means of natural selection, as proposed by Eramus' grandson Charles Darwin,

was resolved by the rediscovery of which geneticist's work

on the process by which offspring inherit characteristics from their parents?

-Gregor Mendel.

-Gregor Mendel.

Correct. Born in 1825, which scientist defended Darwin's theory of evolution

and is credited with introducing the word "agnosticism"

into the English language?

Is it God Delusion...

No, 1825. Huxley.

-Try Huxley?

-Specifically?

-Oh, later, sorry, no. Thomas!

-Thomas.

TH Huxley's correct, yes.

Ten points for this. Listed in the Domesday Book,

which village in Surrey was the home of the pioneering computer programmer Ada Lovelace

from 1835, and is traditionally believed to have been

the birthplace in the 13th century of the Franciscan friar

associated with the principle, "Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity"?

BELL

-Ockham.

-Ockham is right, yes.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, Pembroke College, are on the terminology of takeover bids.

Firstly, for five points, which arcade game gives its name to a defence

in which a firm which is the subject of a takeover bid,

makes a bid itself for the acquiring firm?

THEY CONFER

Pac-Man then. Pac-Man.

Pac-Man defence is correct.

Which character in Monty Python And The Holy Grail shares a name

with a firm that launches an unwelcome contested takeover bid for another firm?

I'm not sure.

-Any guesses?

-No.

-We don't know.

-It's Black Knight.

Which large hystricomorph rodent gives its name to a form of complex agreement

between a firm and its suppliers, customers and creditors,

thereby making integration difficult for an acquiring firm?

-Weasel?

-Weasel...no, that's "must"... Beaver?

Beaver.

No, it's a porcupine.

Ten points for this. It's a picture round.

For your picture starter, you're going to see a tag line

used as part of the international advertising campaign

for a well-known film. Ten points if you can give me the name of the film.

BELL

-Eight And A Half?

-No, Bath, one of you buzz.

You all look blank.

OK, let's see it in English then.

Er, that was the tag line for Alien.

So, picture bonuses shortly. Ten points, fingers on the buzzer.

Answer as soon as you buzz.

The word "carbon" can be spelt using the symbols for which chemical elements?

BELL

Calcium, rubidium, oxygen, nitrogen.

Correct, yes!

APPLAUSE

OK, so you get the picture bonuses, having taken the lead.

You'll recall the starter was the slogan for Alien, in Italian.

Your picture bonuses are three more film tag lines as they appeared

on one of the film's international release posters.

In each case, I want the film each poster publicised.

Firstly, for five.

You are not alone?

You are not alone, er...

Er, ET...

Er, maybe...

ET?

No. Let's have a look at it in English.

That was Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.

Secondly...

Is it Jaws?

Yeah, "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..."

-Jaws?

-No, it's Jaws 2! Let's see the whole thing.

And finally...

Oh, Star Wars...

"A long, long time..."

-Star Wars.

-Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope is correct, yes.

In Spanish, of course. Ten points for this.

Used in English in discussions of political philosophy,

what five-letter Greek word forms part of the names

of a Persian city, sacked by Alexander The Great in 330 BC,

the location of the US naval academy,

and the hill on which the Parthenon is situated?

BUZZER

Polis?

Polis is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Persepolis, Annapolis, Acropolis and Metropolis.

You get a set of bonuses now on Beatrix Potter.

Firstly, for five.

Which tale by Beatrix Potter takes place mainly on Owl Island

and results in an impertinent rodent losing his tail to the owl?

I don't know.

There's the shrew but I can't remember what it's called.

It's the Tale Of Mickey The Shrew!

The Tale Of The Shrew?

No, that's The Tale Of Squirrel Nutkin.

Secondly, which of Potter's title characters

helps his cousin Peter retrieve the coat and shoes he lost

in Mr McGregor's garden?

-It's Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-tail...

-Which one?

-Flopsy.

-Flopsy?

No, that's Benjamin Bunny.

Finally, which of Beatrix Potter's title characters grows "quite stout"

and "quite rich", after mice help him to complete an embroidered waistcoat?

-Peter Rabbit?

-No, no.

-It's fox, isn't it?

-I don't know, sorry.

-Pass.

-That was The Tailor Of Gloucester. Never has Beatrix Potter

caused so much pain! Visible pain too! Ten points for this.

What adjective links a large autonomous region in Northern China,

islands such as Islay, Jura and Skye, one of the Inns of Court,

and the part of the ear that contains organs of the senses...

BELL

-Inner.

-Inner is correct, yes.

You retake the lead, Pembroke College,

and your bonuses are on American critics.

A theorist of gynocritics, Elaine Showalter is known for her 1985 study

of which so-called "female malady",

the name of which derives from the Greek word for uterus?

-Hysteria.

-Hysteria.

-Correct.

Author of the 1990 work Gender Trouble,

which US feminist philosopher argues that gender is a cultural meaning that is ascribed to human bodies?

Judith Butler.

Called "The Dark Lady Of American Letters" on her death in 2004,

which cultural commentator studied the language of illness in Illness As Metaphor

and Aids And Its Metaphors?

Don't know.

Not sure.

SHE WHISPERS

We don't know.

That was Susan Sontag. 10 points for this. Born 1679,

the German rationalist philosopher Christian Wolff coined what term

to refer to the opinion that everything is composed of, or reducible to,

a single substance or principle, in contrast with the viewpoints

set forth by pluralism or dualism?

BUZZER

Universalism?

No, Pembroke, one of you buzz?

BELL

-Monism?

-Monism is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses, Pembroke College, are on former Soviet republics,

from the opening sentence of the country's introduction in the CIA World Factbook,

hence, of course, the split infinitives.

In each case, identify the country from the description.

Which former Soviet republic, quote, "prides itself on being the first nation

"to formally adopt Christianity in the early 4th century"?

-Armenia.

-Armenia.

-Definitely.

-Armenia.

-Correct. Secondly...

"A central Asian country of incredible natural beauty and proud nomadic traditions,

"most of this country was formally annexed to Russia in 1876."

-I think that is Kazakhstan.

-Are we OK?

-Kazakhstan.

-No, it's Kyrgyzstan.

And finally, "the centre of the first eastern Slavic state,

"which, during the 10th and 11th centuries, was the largest and most powerful state in Europe."

Bulgaria, possibly?

I would say Ukraine, but...

-Ukraine.

-I don't know.

Up to you.

-Bulgaria.

-No, it's Ukraine.

-Sorry!

Time for a music round. Your music starter is a piece of popular music.

Ten points if you can give me the band performing and the name of the track.

LOUD ROCK GUITAR MUSIC

# Cos we need each other

# We believe in one another

# And I know we are going to uncover what's sleepin' in our... #

BUZZER

Oasis, Slide Away?

No. Got any ideas?

OK, I'll tell you. It was Oasis, it was Acquiesce though.

So, music bonuses shortly. Another starter question.

In the following approximations, how many zeros follow the number given?

If the number of stars in the Milky Way is 400,

the number of base pairs in the human genome is three,

and the number of bytes in a gigabyte is one?

BELL

-Nine.

-Nine is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

I'm afraid you're going to have to revisit the music for the bonuses.

That track you heard, Acquiesce, by Oasis, originally appeared

as a B-side to the Oasis single, Some Might Say,

but was later released as a single in its own right.

Your music bonuses are three A-sides that have been matched or eclipsed in popularity by their B-sides.

In each case, listen to the A-side but give me the name of the B-side.

Firstly, for five, what was the B-side of this song?

# If I gave you time to change my mind

# I'd find a way, just to leave the past... #

-Maggie May?

-It was Maggie May, yes.

Rod Stewart. Secondly, what is the B-side of this song

which reached number one when released as a single in its own right?

ELECTRONIC MUSIC

Er...Tour De France!

Kraftwerk.

-Tour De France?

-No, it was The Model, Kraftwerk.

And finally, name either of the two B-sides of this single.

# William, William, it was really nothing... #

The Smiths, er...

# William, William, it was... #

How Soon Is Now?

How Soon Is Now? The other one was

Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths.

10 points for this. Which former Portuguese territory

consisted of two islands and a peninsular projecting into the Pearl River estuary?

Since 1999, it's been one of China's two special...

BELL

-Macau.

-Macau is correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on plant nutrition, Pembroke College.

What three primary macronutrient mineral elements are required by plants? I need all three.

THEY CONFER

-Phosphate?

-No, no, macronutrients.

-Water?

-Shall we just go for it?

CO2.

-Water, air, carbon dioxide.

-Water, air and carbon dioxide.

No, it's nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

Five points for this. What term denotes the overall process

in the soil carried out by the bacteria nitrosomonas and nitrobacter?

It converts ammonium to nitrates, the form in which nitrogen is assimilated by plants.

-Nitrogen fixation.

-Nitrogen fixation.

-Nitrogen fixation.

-No, it's not nitrogen fixation,

it's nitrification. And finally,

what two compounds supply plants with the three non-mineral macronutrient elements,

carbon, hydrogen and oxygen?

-That's photosynthesis, isn't it?

-Was it what...

-Photosynthesis...

-Yeah.

-Photosynthesis.

-No, it's carbon dioxide and water.

10 points for this. Give all three

of the rhyming words that mean a narrow propagating stream of particles or energy,

the gaseous phase of water, and a concept that spreads via the internet.

BELL

-Beam, steam and meme.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, this time, Pembroke College, are on kings and queens.

Widow of the Duke Of Brittany, Joan Of Navarre married which English king

four years after he seized the throne?

The mother of eight children by her first marriage,

she outlived him and his son and successor.

Edward IV...

-Henry III...

-No, Henry III lived for a while.

He lived a long time, didn't he?

-Henry II? I don't know.

-Edward III.

-Edward III.

-Edward III.

-No, it's Henry IV.

Joan, sometimes known as the "Fair Maid Of Kent",

was the mother of Henry's predecessor, Richard II.

Which royal figure, who died in 1376, was his father?

THEY WHISPER

The Black Prince?

-The Black Prince?

-It was the Black Prince. Edward, Prince Of Wales.

Joan Beaufort, daughter of the Earl Of Somerset,

married which Scottish king in 1424?

James the... James the something.

James III?

-James III.

-No, it was James I. 10 points for this.

In 1917,

Sir Arthur Lee and his American wife, Ruth,

turned which Buckinghamshire house into a trust to be used as an official country residence

for successive prime ministers?

BELL

-Chequers.

-Chequers is right.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on bacterial genetics.

What term denotes the process of one-way genetic transfer

between two bacteria cells, joined by a tube-like structure, through which genetic material passes?

-Conjugation.

-Conjugation.

-Conjugation.

-Correct. In transduction,

genetic material is transferred into a host by an infectious vector.

What is the vector of bacterial transduction?

-Plasmid.

-Plasmid?

What?

Bacteriophage?

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

-Bacteriophage.

-Correct.

Plasmids are small self-replicating molecules of DNA

in a bacterium. What genetic information do "R" plasmids carry?

-RNA.

-RNA...

No, no, it's not.

It's the ability to conjugate, I think.

Or just resistance? Antibiotic resistance.

Let's have it, please.

-Resistance.

-Indeed.

Antibiotic resistance. We're going to take a second picture round.

For your picture starter, you'll see the front cover of a novel

in the Gollancz Science Fiction Masterworks series.

Ten points if you can give me its title and its author.

Any helpful wording has, of course, been removed.

BELL

The Invisible Man, HG Wells.

Yes, it is. We'll see the whole thing, there it is. Well done.

Your picture bonuses, three more covers from Gollancz Science Fiction Masterworks series,

all of novels written in the 1960s.

Again, five points if you can give me the title and the author

of each novel, which has been removed in each case.

Firstly, for five.

THEY CONFER

Is it The Necronomicon by HP Lovecraft?

-Let's have it, please.

-The Necronomicon, HP Lovecraft.

No, it's Frank Herbert's Dune, there it is.

Secondly...

Don't know.

-No...

-We don't know.

That's The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K Le Guin.

And finally...

-Metropolis?

-No...

We don't know that either, sorry.

That's Philip K Dick's Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?

A starter question. What building term denotes an arrangement

of sloping boards, laths or slips of glass overlapping each other...

BELL

-Louvre.

-Louvre is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on Italian cheeses, Pembroke College.

Belonging to the Stracchino family of cheeses,

which of the so-called "great blue cheeses" takes its name

from the village near Milan where it was first made?

-Is it Gorgonzola?

-Or Dolcelatte?

-I'd go for Gorgonzola.

-Dolcelatte is just "sweet milk".

-Gorgonzola.

-Correct.

The village of Gorgonzola and the valley of Taleggio,

which produces a soft cheese in the French style,

are both in which region of Italy?

Piedmont, possibly?

I don't know.

-Could be.

-Piedmont.

-No, it's Lombardy.

What is the Italian name for a cheese made of sheep's milk,

Romano being a well-known variety?

-Pecorino.

-Pecorino.

-Pecorino is correct.

Five minutes to go, 10 points for this.

According to Elizabeth Gaskell, Charlotte Bronte claimed

that which of her title characters was based on her sister...

BUZZER

-Jane Eyre?

-I'm afraid you lose five points.

..based on her sister Emily, if only Emily "had been placed in health and prosperity"?

I need an answer, please.

BELL

-Villette.

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

Meanings of what seven-letter word include an anatomical structure

resembling a bird's beak, a type of camera used to produce animated films,

and a platform for public speaking?

BELL

-Rostrum.

-Rostrum is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on fountains.

The Fountain Of The Four Rivers in Rome's Piazza Navona

is the work of which 17th-century sculptor,

whose works also include The Ecstasy Of St Teresa?

THEY WHISPER

-Bernini?

-Bellini?

-Bellini or Bernini?

-Bernini.

-Bernini.

-Bernini is right.

Created by Joseph Paxton, the gravity-fed Emperor Fountain

is a feature of the gardens of which Derbyshire stately home?

-Chatsworth, isn't it?

-I think it's Chatsworth.

-Chatsworth.

-Correct.

Installed in its present position in 1951,

and shooting water to a height of 140m,

the Jet d'Eau fountain is a landmark of which Swiss city?

-Geneva.

-Is that French-speaking?

-Yes.

-Yes.

-Geneva.

-Geneva is correct.

10 points for this starter question. Which country contains

the World Heritage Sites of Sangay National Park, the Galapagos Islands...

BUZZER

-Ecuador.

-Ecuador is correct.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Your bonuses are on underwater exploration.

For what do the five letters of the acronym SCUBA stand?

Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus.

Correct. The first successful scuba set was developed in 1943

by two French oceanographers. Emile Gagnan was one.

Who was his more famous collaborator?

-Yes, try that.

-Jacques Cousteau?

Correct. Named after a Greek nymph, which converted minesweeper

did Cousteau use to explore the continental shelf?

No, don't know.

That was Calypso. 10 points for this.

In physics, by what factor is the voltage increased

in a step-up transformer with ten turns in the secondary coil

and two turns in the primary coil?

BUZZER

25?

Anyone like to buzz from Cambridge?

BELL

-Five.

-Five is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

This set of bonuses are on words that contain three vowels and one consonant.

In each case, give me the word from the definition.

Firstly, a nickname of Richard Nash, a man of fashion,

born 1674, and associated with the city of Bath.

-Beau.

-Correct.

The capital of Samoa.

Don't know.

What's the capital of Samoa?

I think you either know it or don't.

-No. Oahu?

-No, it's Apia.

Finally, an opera by Verdi, set in ancient Egypt.

-Aida...

-Yes.

-Aida.

-Correct.

Another starter question. Included by Linnaeus as a cephalopod

in his Systema Naturae, what mythological beast

is the subject of a poem by Tennyson and an apocalyptic novel of 1953

by John Wyndham?

BELL

-Kraken.

-The Kraken is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses this time are on American fiction, Pembroke College.

Originating in the title of an essay by the 19th-century writer John William De Forest,

what literary concept or aspiration is denoted by the acronym GAN?

-Great American novel.

-Yes.

-The Great American novel.

Correct. Published in 1973, The Great American Novel is the title of a work by which American author?

Philip Roth? Sounds like it's something he might say.

Philip Roth.

Correct. In the New York Times poll of 2006,

which novel by Toni Morrison was voted the single best work

of American fiction published in the previous 25 years?

Beloved or The Bluest Eye? Beloved...

-Beloved.

-Correct.

10 points for this. In geomorphology,

what term, from the Spanish, denotes a flat area of silt or sand,

usually characterised by salt deposits

that lies at the bottom of a desert basin and is dry except after rain?

BELL

Arroyo?

No. One of you buzz from Bath.

Free run at it, come on.

It's a playa. 10 points for this. Answer as soon as you buzz.

What are the two possible answers to the calculation 5 plus the square root of 4?

BUZZER

7 and 3?

7 and 3 is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on mathematics too.

With 16 vertices, the tesseract, or regular octachoron, is an analogue

of the cube in how many dimensions?

GONG

At the gong, Bath University have 75.

Pembroke College, Cambridge, have 255.

You were a bit whipped but you kept going to the end

so I admire you for that.

Pembroke College, another very convincing performance.

We shall look forward to seeing much more of you in the rest of this series.

I hope you can join us next time.

Until then, it's goodbye from Bath University...

-ALL: Goodbye.

-It's goodbye from Pembroke College, Cambridge.

-ALL: Goodbye.

-And it's goodbye from me, goodbye.

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