Episode 4 University Challenge

University Challenge.

Asking the questions - Jeremy Paxman.

Hello.

Scotland plays England tonight in another first-round fixture.

Whichever team wins will take their place in the next round of the competition,

and the losers could get to compete again if their score's high enough.

The University of Strathclyde began life as Anderson's Institution

in 1796 after John Anderson,

a forward-thinking professor of Glasgow University,

who welcomed women to his evening classes

and enlivened his lectures with explosions and fireworks,

to the extent that he earned himself the nickname Jolly Jack Phosphorus.

It was his bequest that founded the institution which

would educate the future missionary and explorer David Livingstone,

and eventually become Glasgow's second university.

It's now the third largest in Scotland

with around 26,000 students.

Tonight's team tell us they aren't the swottiest in the competition

but promise to make up for it by being ambitious and competitive.

With an average age of around 25, let's meet them.

Hi there, my name's Michael Doroszenko.

I am from just outside Kilmarnock in Ayrshire

and I'm studying electrical and mechanical engineering.

Hi, I'm Julia Hyslop.

I'm from Glasgow and I'm studying for a master's in chemistry.

And their captain.

Hi, I'm Martin Nealon. I'm also from Glasgow and I'm studying politics.

Hi, I'm Bruce Wareham.

I'm from Campbeltown, Argyll, and I'm studying for a master's in chemistry.

The University of Durham is the third oldest in England and,

with one of its constituent colleges, University College,

being located in the 11th century Durham Castle, it can offer students

the comforts of the oldest inhabited university building in the world.

Teaching is done generally at university rather than college level,

which is why Durham enters this competition as

a single entity and tonight's team are drawn from two of its colleges.

Viewers who saw our short series for graduates last Christmas

will know that it's alumni include the crime writer Minette Walters

and the actor James Wilby,

as well as the woman who did more than any other to forge the character of British youth,

the Tsarina of Blue Peter, Biddy Baxter.

Teams from Durham have taken the title twice in the past.

Let's see if tonight's four, with an average age of 20,

look likely for a third.

Hi, I'm Philip Ferry.

I'm from Northumberland and I'm studying maths.

Hi, I'm Katie Vokes.

-I'm from Edinburgh and I'm also studying maths.

-And their captain.

Hi, my name's Richard Thomas.

I'm from Hook, near Basingstoke in Hampshire,

and I'm studying politics.

Hi, I'm Dominic Everett Riley.

I'm from Farnham in Surrey, and I'm studying English.

OK, rules are the same as ever.

Ten points for starters which are solo efforts, 15 points for bonuses, which are team efforts,

five-point fines for incorrect interruptions to starter questions.

Fingers on the buzzer. Here's your first starter for ten.

Who was the author of a manuscript over 200 years old

which sold in Sotheby's in 2011 for almost £1 million?

An unfinished novel,

it concerns a young woman who returns to her father's household

after being brought up by a wealthy aunt, and it's titled The Watsons.

-Jane Austen.

-Correct.

So you get the first set of bonuses, Durham. They're on museums.

In 2010, it was announced that the National Football Museum would move to Manchester from Deepdale,

which claims to be the world's oldest professional football venue.

In which city is Deepdale?

-Preston.

-Correct.

A museum in Huntingdon is named after and dedicated to

which historical figure, born in the town in 1599?

-Oliver Cromwell.

-Correct.

In which English city is the International Slavery Museum,

opened in 2007 to mark the bicentenary of the abolition

of the British slave trade?

INAUDIBLE WHISPERS

-Hull?

-No, it's Liverpool. Right, ten points for this starter question.

Part of the Black Mountains, what English name has been given to a mountain

around two miles north west of Abergavenny in Monmouthshire,

a name it shares with a lower peak overlooking Rio de Janeiro in Brazil?

-Sugarloaf Mountain?

-Yes. Did you guess that, because it's right?

-Yes.

Right, these bonuses are on first laws, Durham.

Newton's first law of motion stating that an object that's in motion

won't change its velocity unless a force acts upon it is also known as the law of what?

-Inertia?

-Correct. "Everything is related to everything else

"but near things are more related to each other."

This statement by the American-Swiss academic Waldo Tobler

has been described as the first law of which academic subject?

THEY WHISPER INAUDIBLY

-Philosophy?

-No, it's geography.

"To seek peace, and follow it" but "by all means we can, to defend ourselves"

is the first or fundamental law of nature,

according to which English philosopher in his 1651 work Leviathan?

-Thomas Hobbes.

-Correct. We'll take another starter question now.

"Despite twisting and turning to be even-handed,

"it simply couldn't help itself and, like some faux-reformed alcoholic,

"gorged itself on an entire miniature liqueur selection of Anglo-German cliches."

These words of the author Simon Winder refer to

which film of 2012 based on a book by Michael Morpurgo and directed...

-The War Horse.

-War Horse is correct, yes.

These bonuses, Durham, are on geology.

Which geological era is subdivided into periods that include the Triassic and Jurassic?

-Was it Mesozoic? That's the only one I know.

-I think it might be.

THEY WHISPER INAUDIBLY

I think it's Mesozoic.

-Mesozoic?

-Correct. Also known as the KT event, the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event

at the end of the Mesozoic period eliminated around 80% of animal species.

How many million years ago did it occur?

You can have five million either way.

Big asteroid at 65 million.

-65 million?

-65.5, yes. Well done.

If, in the Mesozoic era,

one set sail from the Laurasian supercontinent across the Tethys Sea,

on which supercontinent would one eventually land?

-I think it might be Gondwana.

-Are you sure?

Well, not Pangea because that was all one continent.

-Nominate Ferry.

-Gondwana.

Gondwana/Gondwanaland is correct, yes.

See if you can get off with this starter question, Strathclyde.

What symbolic figure was addressed by Madame Roland,

the wife of the French Minister of the interior before

her execution in the Place de la Revolution in 1793 when she said...

-Marie Antoinette?

-No. When she said...

You lose five points, I'm afraid.

When she said, "What crimes are committed in thy name?"

-Marie-Anne?

-No, it's Liberty.

Ten points for this.

Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta, discovered in the years

between 1801 and 1807 were the first four of which astronomical...

-Dwarf planets?

-Er, I'm not going to accept that, no.

Were the first four of which astronomical objects to be identified?

The fifth, Astraea, was discovered in 1845.

Was it Neptune?

No, it's asteroids. Minor planet would have been right but dwarf planet's not right.

Another starter question now. From a Latin ablative singular form,

which preposition links the last three letters of the English names

of a landlocked South American republic

and the country between Lithuania and Estonia?

-Via.

-Correct.

Durham, these bonuses are on soya.

Firstly, for five, a thick paste used for sauces and soups,

which Japanese seasoning is made by fermenting rice or barley

and soya beans with salt and the fungus known as koji?

-Wasabi is the only thing I can think of.

-I don't know if that's right.

-Could that be tofu?

-We'll go with tofu.

-What did Dom think?

-Wasabi, but...

-Come on, let's have an answer.

-Tofu.

-No, it's miso.

Including soy sauce and mature cheeses,

what Japanese word is used for the category of taste

corresponding to the savoury flavour of free glutamates in various foods?

-Umami.

-Correct.

What Japanese word literally meaning 'glaze grill' is given to

a dish consisting of fish or meat marinated in soy sauce and grilled?

-Teriyaki?

-I was thinking Teriyaki.

-Teriyaki?

-Correct.

We're going to take our first picture round.

For your picture starter, you're going to see a symbol indicating a currency.

You can have ten points if you can name both the currency

and the country of origin.

Czech crown.

Er, yes, it's the Czech koruna. That's correct, yes.

Well done.

So your picture bonuses are three Asian currency symbols.

Five points for each currency and country you can identify.

Firstly...

They have the baht in Thailand so it could be that but I don't really know.

-It's got to be country and currency, yeah?

-Go for it.

-The Thai baht?

-It is indeed.

-Secondly...

Looks kind of south Indochinese sort of thing.

Is it not potentially Arabic?

-Er, it might be, but which country?

-What were you going to say?

-Cambodian riel perhaps.

-We'll go for that.

-Cambodian riel?

-No, it's the Israeli shekel. And finally...

I think that looks central Asian, like Uzbekistan.

Absolutely no idea.

I really couldn't tell you.

-The Uzbek shekel?

-No, it's the Indian rupee.

Ten points for this starter question.

What final letter links words meaning the SI unit of illuminance,

the sepals of a flower,

silica such as quartz or flint, the corner of a geometric shape, and...

-X.

-X is correct, yes.

Right, these bonuses, Durham, are on US state mottos,

specifically those in languages other than in English and Latin.

Firstly, what is the only US state to have an Italian motto?

Often translated as 'strong deeds, gentle words',

it was the motto of the English peer Cecilius Calvert who named

the original colony after the Catholic queen of Charles I.

Henrietta Maria, so Maryland.

-Maryland?

-Correct.

The northernmost US state after Alaska, which state has

the French 'L'etoile du Nord' or 'Star of the North' as its motto?

-It's either Maine or Vermont.

-I would say Maine.

-Maine.

-No, it's Minnesota.

And, finally, Montana is the only state with a Spanish motto,

'oro y plata' referring to which two metals?

-Gold and silver, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Gold and silver.

-Correct. Another starter question now.

The native language of the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore...

Bengali.

Bengali is correct, yes.

Right, Durham, these bonuses on cocktails.

In each case, name the cocktail from its description.

Said to have been created by a bartender in New York state,

a popular version mixes equal parts of rum, gin, vodka, tequila and triple sec

with sugar syrup and lemon juice,

shaken with ice and topped with cola.

-Long Island iced tea?

-Correct.

From the Tahitian for 'out of this world',

the original version requires the juice of one lime squeezed over

ice, rum, Curacao, almond sugar syrup and rock candy syrup.

I can't even think... I know what it is.

It's not Mahiki, that's a club!

The only thing I can think of that is even close is mojito, but it's not that.

No, it's not mojito.

-No, I don't know.

-No, we don't know.

That's a Mai Tai, apparently.

And, finally, its name probably derived from the Latin for blood,

which Spanish punch is typically made with red or white wine,

sugar, fruit juice and soda water, sometimes laced with brandy?

-Sangria?

-Correct.

Right, ten points for this.

"I found myself constructing a geometry of things that have no geometry."

These are the words of which mathematician who died in 2010?

His works include How Long Is The Coast Of Britain?

and The Fractal Geometry Of Nature.

-Benoit Mandelbrot.

-Correct, it was Mandelbrot.

And your bonuses, Durham, this time,

after that tour de force on alcoholic drink, are on Quakers.

Raised as a Quaker on the farm of his aunt,

which Hollywood actor became the first to be nominated posthumously

for an Academy Award as best actor after his death in 1955?

Finch. THEY WHISPER INAUDIBLY

-Could it be James Dean?

-Sorry?

-Could it be James Dean?

-We'll go for that.

-Yes, that's good.

-James Dean?

-Correct.

A statue to Joseph Pease,

the railway pioneer who became the first Quaker MP,

stands in which town of north-east England where he was born in 1799?

Middlesbrough? Stockton?

I've never heard of him, so it can't be somewhere close to me.

THEY WHISPER INAUDIBLY

Which one should we go for, Stockton or Middlesbrough?

-Middlesbrough?

-No, it's Darlington.

-It's the next stop after Durham on the mainline south, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Born into a Quaker family in Cumberland,

which scientist published his atomic theory in the 1808 work

A New System Of Chemical Philosophy?

-Could it be Dalton?

-It could be, I'm not sure.

-Go with that.

-Dalton.

-Dalton?

-Dalton?

-It is John Dalton, yes.

Right, there's still plenty of time, Strathclyde.

We're going to take a music round now.

Your music starter is a piece of popular music.

Ten points if you can identify the band performing.

# You're the best thing

# You're the best thing

# My simple heart will live and learn... #

Well, none of you know who that was.

That was D:Ream, so music bonuses shortly.

Another starter question in the meantime.

Quote - "I've spent much of my life fighting the Germans and fighting the politicians.

"It is much easier to fight the Germans."

These are the words of which military commander,

in a speech marking the 25th anniversary of the Battle of El Alamein.

Er... Eisenhower?

No, I'm sorry, and if you buzz, you must answer straightaway.

I'll offer it to you, Strathclyde.

-Montgomery.

-Correct, yes.

CHEERING

-You're on a roll now, eh?

-LAUGHTER

Right, so we're going to get the music bonuses.

That was D:Ream you heard in the starter.

Brian Cox was the person who played keyboard in D:Ream.

He's a professor at Manchester University,

he has a PhD in high-energy particle physics.

For your bonuses, you'll hear three other bands who have members with PhDs.

I want you to name the doctor in each band. Firstly, for five...

ROCK MUSIC WITH GUITAR SOLO

-Brian May.

-It is Brian May in Queen and secondly...

# There's a place where everyone can be right

# Even though you remain determined to be opposed

# Admittance requires no qualifications

# It's where everyone has been and where everybody goes

# So please try not to be impatient

# For we all hate standing in line... #

Er, not sure. Bad Religion?

That was You by Bad Religion,

in which band Greg Graffin has a PhD apparently.

And, finally...

# Conkers shining on the ground

# The air is cooler

# And I feel like I just started uni

# Walking backwards to my van

# You're at your window... #

That was Stornoway and in Stornoway, Brian Briggs has a PhD in zoology.

Right, ten points for this.

Spencer Gore in 1877 and Maud Watson in 1884 were respectively

the first winners of the men's and ladies' titles in which sporting championship?

-Wimbledon?

-Correct, yes, the All-England singles tennis championship.

These bonuses, Durham, are on compound words.

In computing, what term indicates software or other devices

that prevent users from outside an organisation doing anything

that might corrupt the system inside?

-Firewall.

-Firewall is what's coming to me.

-Yeah.

-Firewall?

-Firewall is right.

Fireweed, so called because it thrives on burnt land,

is an alternative name for which common plant,

known binomially as epilobium angustifolium,

and distinguished by its straight stems and magenta flowers?

-It could be willowherb.

-Sorry?

-It could be willowherb maybe.

What's the one in the Wild West?

-Tumbleweed. I don't know if that's...

-I don't think...

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

-Nominate Vokes.

Willowherb?

-Specifically?

-Rosebay Willowherb.

Correct.

Fire clay, used for making materials such as firebricks,

can withstand high temperatures without excessive deformation

because of its high content of which oxide produced from bauxite?

Bauxite, so that's aluminium oxide.

-Aluminium oxide?

-Correct.

Right, ten points for this starter question. Listen carefully.

Which British monarch succeeded to the throne in a year that

consists of the lowest two-digit square number

followed by its consecutive square?

1625.

-No, sorry. Sorry.

-Durham, one of you may answer.

-Charles I.

-Charles I succeeded in 1625. Bad luck.

Your bonuses this time are on a historical figure.

Which great-granddaughter of Henry VII was married to Francis II of France?

Mary Queen of Scots?

-Mary Queen of Scots.

-Correct.

The illegitimate son of her father James V,

which half-brother of Mary was among those who deposed her mother

Mary of Guise from her role as Scottish regent in 1559?

I can't think of anything.

-Fife?

-Yeah, may as well go with one of them.

-Duke of Fife?

-No, it was the Earl of Moray.

And, finally, also a great grandchild of Henry VII,

what was the name of Mary's second husband?

The Earl of Bothwell, whom she later married,

was accused of his murder but acquitted.

-Is that Darnley?

-That's Darnley.

-Was he not the third husband?

No, Bothwell was the third one, he said.

-Darnley?

-It was Lord Darnley, Henry Stuart.

Right, we are now going to take our second picture round.

For your picture starter, you're going to see a poster for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Ten points if you can identify the artist who designed it.

-Tracey Emin?

-No. One of you may buzz from Strathclyde if you have a clue.

Damien Hirst? Damien Hirst?

No, that was by Rachel Whiteread.

So, picture bonuses shortly.

Ten points for the starter question in the meantime. Listen up.

Which Dutch jurist and politician wrote the 1625 work De Jure Belli Et Pacis,

often described as the basis of modern international law?

-Spinoza? That's wrong.

-No.

Strathclyde, do one of you want to buzz?

It's Grotius or De Groot. Ten points for this.

Two large islands are divided by international land frontiers

that measure around 360 kilometres.

One is Hispaniola in the Caribbean. What's the other?

It's, uh, Borneo, the one that's got Indonesia and Malaysia.

No, I'm afraid not. Durham?

-Ireland.

-It is Ireland, yes.

So we revert to the picture bonuses.

They are more posters for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games designed by modern British artists.

Five points for each artist you identify. Firstly, for five...

-Bridget Riley, I'm sure.

-Yeah, if you're happy with that.

I'm pretty sure she normally does quite a lot of that stuff.

-What was it?

-Bridget Riley, I'd go.

-Bridget Riley, not O'Reilly, yeah?

Bridget Riley.

-Bridget Riley?

-It is by Bridget Riley, yes. Secondly...

It's Emin or Hirst, it's got to be.

-I know they both did one.

-It looks like an Emin.

-I don't know.

Anyone have an inkling over there?

I'd tend to go Emin over Hirst.

-Tracey Emin?

-No, that's by Chris Ofili. And finally...

-That's got to be Tracey Emin.

-I've not seen that.

I thought I'd seen the Tracey Emin one.

THEY WHISPER INAUDIBLY

-We'll look thick if we say Tracey Emin again.

-No, not really.

-Tracey Emin?

-That is by Tracey Emin, yes.

-LAUGHTER

Right, ten points for this starter question.

Used to describe both weather and beer,

which short adjective is an anagram...

Dry.

No, I'm afraid you lose five points.

..an anagram of the Roman numerals for the number 1551?

-Vivid?

-No, it's mild.

Ten points for this starter question.

Delta, Proton, Kosmos, Energia, Titan, Atlas and Ariane

are all examples of what...

-Rockets?

-Yes, rockets or launch vehicles is correct, yes.

Right, these bonuses, Strathclyde, are on a metal.

Those meteorites that are now classified as siderites

have a chemical composition rich in concentrations of which metallic element?

Any idea?

Iron?

Iron's pretty common but...

I think I need an answer, please.

Iron.

-Iron?

-Iron is correct, yes.

One of New York's first skyscrapers, the Flatiron building,

at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway,

is what shape in horizontal cross-section?

-It's triangular, isn't it?

-Triangular.

-Correct.

Published in 1968, The Iron Man: A Story In Five Nights

is a work for children by which writer who became poet Laureate in 1984?

-Is it Ted Hughes?

-It is, yes.

Right, another starter question.

Mermecophytes are plants that live in association with

a colony of which insect of the family formicidae?

-Ants?

-Ants is correct, yes.

A set of bonuses on anagrams. Give any one of the three seven-letter anagrams

whose meanings are respectively closest, Oriental and serious.

Nearest, Eastern and earnest.

-Do I just give one?

-Yeah.

-Nearest?

-Nearest. Eastern and earnest are the other ones.

Three seven-letter anagrams mean respectively to watch, opposite and wordy.

Give me any one of them.

Observe, obverse and something else.

-And verbose.

-Obverse, then.

-Obverse.

-Obverse, observe and verbose, yes.

Three seven-letter anagrams mean a citadel on top of a hill,

relating to sight and local or of the moment.

-Give any one.

-Capital, optical and something else.

-Yeah.

-Capital?

Capitol, optical, topical, yes.

Three minutes to go, ten points for this.

In which German city was the business of

the financier Mayer Amschel Rothschild originally based?

You may not confer. One of you may buzz.

-Frankfurt?

-Frankfurt is right, yes.

These bonuses, Strathclyde, are on geography.

The cities of Rouen and Le Havre are in which French 'departement'?

The two words of its name denote a major river

and proximity to the sea, both in French and English.

-Cote d'Azur?

-No, that's the wrong end.

I can't think of anything offhand, so go for it.

Cote d'Azur?

No, it's Seine-Maritime.

Associated with Chagall and Matisse, which major city is the 'prefecture' of the Alpe-Maritimes 'departement'?

Strasbourg?

-Strasbourg?

-No, it's Nice.

It's two-word name denoting a river and a body of water,

which 'departement' in Brittany has Nantes as its 'prefecture'?

-Any ideas?

-Any idea?

No.

Pass.

That's Loire-Atlantique. Ten points for this.

First performed in Turin in 1896, which opera is set in the Latin quarter of Paris...

-La Boheme.

-La Boheme is correct, yes.

Strathclyde, these bonuses are on a battle.

Roncesvalles, a pass in the Pyrenees, is traditionally regarded as the site of the defeat

by Basque forces of the army of which king of the Franks in 778?

Charlemagne?

-Charlemagne?

-Go for it.

-Charlemagne?

-Correct.

What is the name of the nephew of Charlemagne who was killed at Roncesvalles

and is immortalised in an 11th century 'chanson' or song?

-Henri?

-No, it's Roland.

The Song Of Roland is a major theme in the 1939 novel

The Confidential Agent by which British author?

-Graham Greene?

-Correct. Ten points for this starter question.

In computing, for what do the letters TLD stand when referring to suffixes...

-Top-level domain.

-Correct.

Your bonuses, Strathclyde, are on the plays of Samuel Beckett.

In each case, give the precise English title from the French title.

Firstly, Fin De Partie.

Come on, come on! You've got a lot of ground to catch up.

Nominate Doroszenko.

-The End Of Leaving?

-No, it's Endgame.

Secondly, La Derniere Bande. That's B-A-N-D-E.

-The Last Band?

-The Last Band?

-No, it's Krapp's Last Tape.

And finally, Oh Les Beaux Jours.

-Come on.

-Beautiful Days, Of The Beautiful Days.

-Of The Beautiful Days?

-No, I'm afraid it's Happy Days.

And at the gong Strathclyde have 70, the University of Durham have 245.

There's not much of a way of sugaring the pill here, Strathclyde.

I'm afraid that is a rather resounding defeat.

But you've been doing well the latter half of the contest,

I wish you'd woken up earlier.

Durham - 245 is a very, very good score. We shall look forward to seeing you in round two for sure.

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

-Until then, it's goodbye from Strathclyde University...

-Goodbye.

-..it's goodbye from Durham University...

-Goodbye.

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

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