Episode 20 University Challenge

APPLAUSE

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. There are eight places in the quarterfinals of this contest

and three have already been taken by Pembroke College, Cambridge,

New College, Oxford, and King's College, Cambridge.

Whichever team wins tonight will join them.

St George's is a medical school at the University of London.

In the first round, the team proved that sharing the same specialism needn't be a disadvantage,

as they held the lead until the half-way mark against King's College, Cambridge.

Then they seemed to nod off a bit and allowed their opponents to take the lead

but they wrested it back from them in the final minutes to be 30 points ahead at the gong.

With an average age of 23, let's meet them again.

Hello, I'm Shashank Sivaji, originally from Southend-on-Sea, Essex, and I'm studying medicine.

Hello. I'm Alexander Suebsaeng.

I'm from London and I'm also studying medicine.

And this is their captain.

Hi, I'm Rebecca Smoker from County Kildare and I'm studying medicine.

I'm Sam Mindel, from London, also studying medicine.

APPLAUSE

Lancaster University lost to Pembroke College, Cambridge in their first-round match.

But their score qualified them to compete again in the play-offs

when they beat Lincoln College, Oxford, by 165 points to 120.

They know a lot about the flags of Latin America,

people with missing hands, and things to do with the aardvark,

but completely failed to recognise a series of songs by Elvis Presley,

who, apparently, is the king of rock'n'roll throughout the entire Western hemisphere

except in Lancaster!

Let's meet them again.

Hi. I'm Alan Webster from Blackpool, studying for a Masters in Resource and Environmental Management.

Hi. I'm Ann Kretzschmar, originally from Chesterfield in Derbyshire

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

And this is their captain.

Hello. I'm George Pinkerton from Surrey, studying History, Philosophy and Politics.

Hi. I'm Ian Dickson, from Stirling.

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

APPLAUSE

The rules are the same as ever. Fingers on buzzers. Here's your first starter for 10.

Originally referring to the privileges bestowed by certain Popes on their so-called nephews,

often their illegitimate...

-Nepotism.

-Nepotism is correct, yes.

The first set of bonuses are on infinity, Lancaster.

"To see a world in a grain of sand

"and a heaven in a wild flower,

"hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour."

Which poet wrote those lines in Auguries of Innocence?

Blake?

Alexander Pope?

No, it was William Blake.

"Suffering is permanent, obscure and dark, and shares the nature of infinity."

Which poet wrote those lines in his verse drama The Borderers,

first published 1842?

Walter Scott?

-Walter Scott?

-No, that was Wordsworth.

And finally, in a major scientific work of 1687,

who wrote of God, "He endures from eternity to eternity

"and he's present from infinity to infinity."

1680s.

Leibniz?

No, it was Newton. 10 points for this.

Initially an adjective of abuse derived from a Portuguese phrase meaning "imperfect pearls",

what term denotes the style of art that succeeded Mannerism?

Noted exponents include Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Guido Reni and Francesco Borromini.

-Is it Baroque?

-It is Baroque, yes.

Your first bonuses are on a historical figure, St George's.

Of the Queens Consorts of England since 1066,

who is the only one to have married four times?

Her royal wedding at Hampton Court in 1543 was the third of them.

-Mary Tudor.

-No, it was Catherine Parr.

Catherine Parr's second marriage in 1534 was to which peer,

a member of the same family as Warwick the Kingmaker of the previous century?

-Thomas Seymour.

-No, it was to John Neville, Baron Latimer.

Finally, Catherine Parr's fourth and final marriage in 1547,

the same year that Henry VIII died,

was to Thomas, the brother of which of Henry's other wives?

-Thomas Seymour.

-No, it was Jane Seymour.

Ten points for this. Sometimes referred to as "the mother of all senses",

which sense, said usually to be capable or responding to a stimulus

around the end of the eighth week of gestation,

is the first to develop in the human...

-Hearing.

-No, you lose five points.

..human embryo.

-Sight.

-No, it's touch. Next time, if you buzz, you must answer straightaway, please.

Ten points for this. Which people's mythology

held that the creator God Viracocha...

-The Incas.

-Inca is correct, yes.

Your bonuses are on ISO 4217 international currency abbreviations,

specifically, those that spell words.

For example, the abbreviation of the Cuban peso spells the word "cup".

In each case, give the country and currency whose abbreviation corresponds to the following.

Firstly, to apply with friction or pressure, for example, ointment or sun cream.

-Rub.

-Right. The ruble. Russian.

The Russian ruble is correct, yes.

Secondly, a 1969 film directed by Ken Loach, set in a mining village.

It tells of a troubled young boy and a bird of prey.

OK. We don't know.

It's Kes, of course, the film. Kenyan shilling is what the abbreviation's for.

And finally, a man who behaves dishonourably towards women.

-Cad.

-Canadian dollar.

-Canadian dollar.

-Correct.

Ten points for this starter question.

"The British approach to diplomacy was rather like their approach to sex.

"Romantically remote from the distressing biological crudities."

These words of the historian Correlli Barnett

refer specifically to which decade of the 20th century?

1950s.

No. One of you buzz from Lancaster.

19...20s.

No, it was the 1930s. Ten points for this.

With an inherent energy of 10.2 electron volts and a wavelength of 121.6 nanometres,

which spectral line can be used to trace the position and motion

of distant clouds of hydrogen in the universe?

Balma.

No. I'm afraid you lose five points.

It's often seen as a forest over absorption lines

with wavelengths red-shifted to various degrees.

No? It's the Lyman-alpha line. Ten points for this.

"This is a film about our times.

"The Arab Spring, protest movements, the Tottenham riots. They're all there.

These words of Ralph Fiennes refer to a...

-Coriolanus.

-Correct.

These bonuses are on chemistry. After a Greek letter,

what terms denotes a molecular orbital formed when the S-orbitals overlap

directly between the nuclei?

For example, in a hydrogen molecule.

-Sigma.

-Sigma.

-Correct.

For main group chemical compounds,

what five-letter acronym denotes the method for predicting molecular geometry

which was introduced by Sidgwick and Powell in 1940?

VSEPR.

-VSEPR.

-Yes, Vesper, correct.

In the gas phase, what is the angle to the nearest degree

between the OH bonds in a water molecule?

109.5.

-110.

-110.

No, it's 104. We're going to take a picture round now.

For your picture starter, you'll see a map with a lake highlighted.

Ten points if you can give me its name.

-Lake Baikal.

-It is Lake Baikal, yes.

The deepest lake in the world. Your bonuses are maps showing three more of the deepest lakes.

In each case, I want the name of the lake. Firstly for five.

-Tanganyika.

-It is Lake Tanganyika.

Secondly, either of the two historical figures this lake is named after.

Nominate Webster.

Ritamoreno.

No, it's O'Higgins Lake or San Martin Lake.

And finally.

-Lake Como.

-Spot on. Ten points for this.

First performed in 1824, which piece of music is, in Japan,

traditionally played as part...

-Beethoven's Ninth.

-It is, indeed. Yes.

Bonuses this time on archaic names of animals, Lancaster.

First appearing in 1997 which fictional character

in a series of novels for younger readers

has a surname which is an archaic name for a bumblebee?

-Dumbledore.

-Dumbledore in the Harry Potter novels.

Not to be confused with the term for a small enclosed field under pasture,

which archaic term for a toad is used by the second witch in the opening scene of Macbeth?

-A paddock.

-Paddock or puddock is correct.

When, in Tolkien's The Hobbit,

Bilbo Baggins taunts the giant inhabitants of Mirkwood

with the words, "Attercop, attercop, you cannot trap me",

he's using an old English word for which arthropod?

-Spider.

-Spiders.

-Correct. Ten points for this.

Its name derived from that of an ancient area of Syria.

Which Semitic language was used as a lingua-franca

in the Near East from around the 6th century BC

and is thought by many to have been spoken by Jesus...

-Aramaic.

-Aramaic is correct, yes.

These bonuses, St George's, are on synthetic fibres.

For five. First introduced commercially in 1976,

which fabric is engineered to be a breathable water and windproof material

and, since 1989, has carried as its registered trademark

the words, "Guaranteed to keep you dry"?

-Gore-Tex.

-Gore-Tex.

-Correct.

In 1941, two British scientists, John Whinfield and James Dickson,

were involved in the creation of the first polyester fibre. What name was it given?

-Rayon?

-No, rayon's cellulose.

-It could be nylon.

-Nylon.

-No, it's Terylene.

Finally, what generic name describes a polyurethane based fibre

created in the late 1950s

and able to stretch and then return to its original shape?

It came to replace the rubber used in women's underwear.

-Latex.

-No, Spandex or Elastane.

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

If a siren is moving away from a stationary observer

at half the speed of sound,

by what factor is the siren's frequency decreased due to the Doppler Effect?

Five.

No. St George's, one of you buzz.

One quarter.

No, it's two-thirds. Two over three.

Ten points for this. Thought to have been coined by the scientists Herve This and Nicholas Kurti,

which two-word term, according to the chef Ferran Adria,

describes the movement that studies the chemical physical processes of cuisine?

Gastronomy. Molecular gastronomy.

Molecular gastronomy is correct, yes.

Your bonuses now are on meteor showers, St George's.

The asteroid Phaethon is thought to be a parent body of which meteor shower?

Having a name derived from a constellation of the zodiac,

it reaches its maximum in December.

-Levins?

-No, it's Geminids.

Comet Swift-Tuttle is associated with which meteor shower?

Reaching its maximum around August 12, it's named after the offspring of a Greek hero

and his wife, Andromeda.

-Perseus.

-No, it's Perseids. I can't accept that.

The Orionid and Eta Aquarid meteor showers in October and May

are caused by the passage of Earth through the debris stream of which comet?

-Could be Halley's Comet.

-Halley's.

-Correct.

Right. We're going to take a music round now. We're about half-way through.

You'll hear an excerpt from a piece of popular music.

Ten points if you can give me the name of the artist performing.

# You fill up my senses

# Like a night in a forest

# Like the mountains in spring time... #

Is it Andrea Bocelli?

No. You can hear a little more, Lancaster.

# Like a walk in the rain

# Like a storm in the desert

# Like a sleepy blue ocean... #

-Is it Pavarotti?

-No, it's not. It's Placido Domingo.

So music bonuses shortly. Ten points in the meantime for this starter question.

From a Latin word for a parchment cleaned for re-use,

what term denotes a manuscript from which writing has been partly or completely erased

to make room for another text?

-Palimpsest?

-Palimpsest is correct.

So we follow on from Placido Domingo whom you failed to identify, his rendition of Annie's Song,

with music bonuses.

Three more pieces of popular music performed by artists better known for their classical repertoire.

In each case, I'd like you to identify the singer. Firstly...

# On a clear day

# Rise and look around you

# And you'll see who you are

# On a clear day... #

-Andrea Bocelli.

-No, that was Bryn Terfel.

Who's this?

# I feel pretty

# Oh, so pretty

# I feel pretty and witty and bright

# And I pity

# Any girl who isn't me tonight... #

Lesley Garrow?

It's Lesley Garrett, and it wasn't her, it was Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.

Finally, a clue for the last one - it's not Elvis Presley!

# Yes, there were times

# I'm sure you knew... #

Pavarotti is the last name we've got.

Yes, you're right. Well done!

Ten points for this. Often cited as the UK's most inhabited island,

which island gives its name both to a shipping forecast...

-Rockall.

-No, you lose five points.

..both to a shipping forecast area...

You could have heard some more. It's too late.

-Fair Isle.

-Fair Isle is correct, yes.

This set of bonuses, St George's, are on a territory.

Quote: "A barren rock with nary a house upon it."

These words of Lord Palmerston described which island ceded to Britain in 1842?

QUIET CONFERRING

-Let's have it, please.

-Malta.

No, Hong Kong. Which city on the Yangtze

gives its name to the treaty of 1842

that ended the first Opium War

and resulted in the cession of Hong Kong to Britain?

-Nanking.

-Nanking.

-Nanking.

-Correct. Which former Conservative politician

became the last governor of Hong Kong

after losing his seat in the 1992 general election.

-Chris Patten.

-Correct. Ten points for this starter question.

Which century links the appearance of Julian of Norwich's Revelations of Divine Love,

Boccaccio's Decameron, Dante's Divine Comedy and...

-The 13th.

-No. I'm afraid you lose five points.

..and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales?

-14th century.

-14th century is correct, yes.

These bonuses are on national sports of the Americas. Get any of them, you take the lead.

A decree of 1953 established Pato, P-A-T-O,

also known as horse ball to be the national sport of which South American country?

-Argentina.

-A combination of dance and fighting performed to music,

Capoeira was recognised as which country's national sport in 1974?

-Brazil.

-Correct.

A 1994 National Sports Act recognised which game as Canada's national winter sport?

-Ice hockey.

-Correct. Another starter question.

In 1811, which chemist first proposed the statement

that equal volumes of gases at the same...

-Avogadro.

-Avogadro is correct, yes.

These bonuses are on a shape, St George's.

A pair of point masses under Newtonian gravity

can follow a range of different orbits,

all of them equivalent to cross-sections through what three-dimensional shape?

-Cone.

-Correct. Which scientist made an early practical application of conic sections in 1609

when he derived his first law of planetary motion?

-Kepler.

-Kepler.

-Correct.

In Einstein's General Theory of Relativity,

the region causally connected to a given point in space/time

is known as what?

-Event horizon?

-Event horizon.

-No, it's the light cone. Ten points for this.

Which poet wrote these lines?

"Weave a circle round him thrice

"and close your eyes with..."

-Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

-Correct.

These bonuses, St George's, are on an author.

In 2011, which novelist won the Man Booker prize

having been shortlisted on three previous occasions?

-Anne Honhurst?

-No, Julian Barnes.

In which novel by Barnes does Geoffrey Braithwaite

seek a stuffed bird that once inspired a French novelist?

-Flaubert's Parrot.

-Correct. Finally, Barnes' 2005 historical novel Arthur and George

features which author as the hero in a story based on real events?

Rambo?

I misheard you. I thought you meant Sylvester Stallone for a second!

No, it's Arthur Conan Doyle. Right. A picture round now.

For your starter, you'll see a painting. For ten points,

simply name the artist.

I'm sorry. I don't know.

One of you buzz, St George's.

-Casper David Friedrich.

-Correct.

Friedrich was a German romantic painter noted for his sublime landscapes,

that is, in Edmund Burke's terms, "Landscapes that bring out what is awesome and terrible about nature,

"rather than what is pleasant or beautiful."

For your picture bonuses, three more examples of the romantic sublime in painting.

In each case, I just want you to name the artist.

For five, this French painter.

-(Gericault.)

-Gericault.

Correct.

Secondly, this British painter,

better known for his industrial scenes.

-(Lowry?)

-Lowry?

As in L.S.Lowry? No, not at all!

It's Joseph Wright of Derby. And finally, this British painter.

-Blake?

-No, that's J.M.W.Turner. Ten points for this.

Believing that knowledge evolves from experience of the mind,

which Austrian-born philosopher

formulated the principle of falsifiability and...

-Karl Popper.

-Karl Popper is correct, yes.

These bonuses, Lancaster, are on education.

Introduced in all government-funded primary schools in England in 1998

for what do the letters N.L.S stand?

-National Learning...

-National Literacy Standards.

No, it's National Literacy Strategy.

Secondly, although scrapped in 2006, which internet initiative

was announced by the government in 1997

and abbreviated to N.G.F.L?

-The National Grid for Learning.

-Correct.

And lastly, young people with one or more abilities developed to a level

significantly ahead of their year group

are classed as G&T, representing what?

-Gifted and Talented.

-Well done.

Another starter question.

The Annals Histories, Agricola and Germania...

-Tacitus.

-Tacitus is correct, yes.

St George's, your bonuses are on words from the Greek.

In each case, give the word from the definition.

To make it easier, they all end with the same three letters.

Firstly, a tall jar or jug with two handles and a narrow neck.

-Nemaphor.

-No, it's amphora, which I'm sure is what you were thinking of.

Secondly, an excess or over-abundance of something.

-Plethora.

-Plethora is correct.

And finally, a public open space used for markets or assemblies.

-Agora.

-Correct. Ten points for this.

A turning point of World War II,

which battle is commemorated in the name of a Paris metro station

close to the Gard du Nord?

-Stalingrad.

-Stalingrad is correct.

Your bonuses this time are on 20th-century politicians.

Who was the first UK prime minister to have been born in the 20th century?

He is also the only one to have played first-class cricket.

-Nominate Shashank.

-Sir Alec Douglas-Home.

-Correct.

Who was the first French president to have been born in the 20th century?

-Come on.

-I don't know.

-Pompidou.

Correct. Who was the first US president to have been born in the 20th century?

-Eisenhower.

-No, it was John F. Kennedy.

Ten points for this. Give any of the three near homophones

that mean incense burner, one who decides what is fit to publish...

Censer.

Censer is correct, yes.

These bonuses are on nutrition, Lancaster.

The US bio-chemist Elmer McCollum is generally credited with

the invention of the alphabetical system of naming which group of organic compounds?

-Vitamins.

-Correct.

Which letter of the alphabet is associated with the vitamin

that can be described as anti-rachitic, or preventing the development of rickets?

It's D.

-D.

-D is correct. Which letter of the alphabet is associated with the vitamin

that may be described as anti-scorbutic?

-C.

-Correct. Two and a half minutes to go. Ten points for this.

What given name links the authors of The Magic Mountain,

The Rights of Man and the...

-Thomas.

-Correct, yes.

These bonuses are on hotels and popular cultures, St George's.

Which field sport traces its origins

to a meeting at the George Hotel in Huddersfield in 1895?

-Field hockey?

-No, it's rugby league.

First prepared in the original Raffles Hotel,

which cocktail was invented by the barman Ngiam Tong Boon?

Its ingredients include gin, cherry brandy, Benedictine and Cointreau.

Singapore Sling.

Correct. Agatha Christie was a regular guest at the Pera Palas Hotel in Istanbul

and is said to have written part of which 1934 novel in room 411?

-Murder on the Orient Express.

-Correct. Another starter question.

The six-letter name of which African country is an anagram of a word

describing a clock that shows the time by means of a pointer or dial?

-Angola.

-Angola is correct. Here are your bonuses.

They're on poets' initials.

In each case, identify the poet's two given names. First, T.S.Eliot.

I don't know.

Come on.

-Thomas Selburn?

-No, Thomas Stearns.

W.H.Auden?

-William Harvey?

-Wystan Hugh. Finally, W.B.Yeats.

-William Butler.

-William Butler.

-Correct.

Ten points for this. Shell, carbon, radio, quark and Wolf-Rayet are all varieties of what object?

-Particle.

-No. St George's, one of you buzz.

-Star.

-Star is correct, yes.

These bonuses, St George's, are on mathematics.

In each case, express the number five in the following bases.

Base two.

-Come on.

-Two one.

-Two one.

No, it's one-zero-one. Secondly, base three.

One, three, two. One-two.

-One-two.

-Correct.

Lastly, base five.

-One.

-One.

-No, it's one-zero.

Ten points for this starter question.

What term derives from the Latin for earth

and refers to the low frequency natural electric current

that travels over large areas at or near the Earth's surface?

-Terrestrial.

-No. Anyone want to buzz from St George's?

-Orbital.

-No, it's telluric. The telluric current.

Ten points for this. In 1973, Erasmus University

was founded out of several existing institutions

in which Dutch city?

-Rotterdam.

-Rotterdam is correct. You get a set of bonuses now

on Irish food festivals.

Since 1954, Galway has held an annual festival

celebrating the opening of the season for which...

-GONG

-And at the gong, Lancaster University have 140 points,

St George's Medical School have 230.

You were doing well in the early stages, but you seemed to fade a bit.

We have to say goodbye to you, Lancaster, but thank you for playing.

St George's, that was another terrific performance from you.

We look forward to seeing you in the quarterfinals.

I hope you can join us next time. But until then,

it's goodbye from Lancaster University...

-Bye.

-..and it's goodbye from St George's, London...

-Goodbye!

-..and it's goodbye from me. Goodbye!

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