Episode 5 University Challenge

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman!

Hello.

Ahead of us, another 30 minutes of intellectual shove-ha'penny

as two teams of students attempt to prove themselves worthy

of a place in the second round.

The losers could also qualify to play again

if their score is good enough.

Queen Mary became a part of the University of London in 1915

but began life in 1887 as the People's Palace,

a philanthropic centre for East Londoners

which combined educational, cultural and leisure opportunities,

until it was decided that leisure was getting in the way

of everything else and had to be stopped.

It's the result of mergers between four colleges,

and now has three faculties,

of which two are devoted to the sciences,

including Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Alumni include the cricketer WG Grace

and the authors Sarah Waters and JG Ballard,

as well as Graham Chapman of Monty Python fame, and the rarely-seen

man of mystery, the voice of University Challenge, Roger Tilling.

Representing around 17,000 students and with an average age of 25,

let's meet the Queen Mary team.

Hi, I'm Patrick Woodburn, I'm originally from Woldingham,

in Surrey, and I'm studying medicine.

Hello, I'm Alistair Haigh, from Harrogate in North Yorkshire,

and I'm studying biology and psychology.

Their captain.

Hello, I'm Luca Cavalli from South London,

and I'm studying a Masters in physics.

Hello, I'm Michael Hammond, I'm from North London,

and I'm studying history.

APPLAUSE

Jesus College, Oxford was founded by Elizabeth I in 1571

and is the only Oxford college to date from her reign.

A driving force behind its establishment

was a wealthy churchman, Hugh Price,

and its original aim was the education of future clergyman.

It's known as the Welsh college,

and up until 1915 it had an almost unbroken succession of principals

who either came from Wales or were of Welsh descent.

One of the college's traditions is the Turl Street Dash,

a fancy dress bike race which Jesus always wins by conveniently

forgetting to invite any other colleges to take part.

Tonight's four represent around 470 fellow students,

and as the oldest of them is only 21, they weren't even born

when their college last won this series in 1986.

Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Matt Hitchings, I'm from London,

and I'm reading for a Masters in Mathematical Modelling.

Hi, I'm Frankie Goodway, I'm from North London,

and I'm reading English.

And their captain.

Hello, I'm Guy Brindley, I'm from Worcestershire,

and I'm reading Classics.

Hi, I'm Johnny Woodward, I'm from Winchester,

and I'm studying Engineering.

APPLAUSE

OK, the rules endure from generation to generation

so I won't bother to remind you of them.

Fingers on the buzzers, here's your first starter for ten.

"The House Of Silk", "A Scandal In Belgravia"

and "A Game Of Shadows" are among...

Sherlock?

I can't accept that, I'm sorry,

and I'll have to take five points off, too.

..are among recent creative endeavours that feature

which enduring fictional detective?

Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock Holmes is correct, yes. Sherlock's the name of the television series.

Right, the first set of bonuses, Queen Mary, are on place names.

In each case, I want the male given name that links the following.

What male given name is found in the name of a sound

in the Gulf of Alaska, a historic town in Virginia,

and a Highland town near Ben Nevis?

William.

Correct. A lake and waterfalls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,

a town in County Durham, and the main port of the Falkland Islands?

-Stanley.

-Correct.

A new town in County Durham, a city in Cambridgeshire

on the River Nene, and a Russian city at the mouth of the Neva?

Pass.

It's Peter, as in Peterlee, St Petersburg, and so on.

Right, ten points for this. "The Lion of the North" is a soubriquet

associated with which 17th-century Swedish monarch...

Gustavus Adolphus.

Correct, yes.

Right, your bonuses, Jesus, are on flowers in Shakespeare.

Firstly, for five points.

In Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Oberon's speech

"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows" also refers to which flower,

a member of the rose family sometimes known as sweet briar?

Damask?

No, it's eglantine.

In the same speech, Shakespeare rhymes "eglantine"

with the name of which flower,

a species of honeysuckle which Oberon describes as luscious?

Columbine?

No, it's woodbine.

The same speech refers to which flower, noted for its colouring

and sometimes known as heartsease, which Oberon describes as nodding?

Primrose?

Foxglove?

No, it's Violet. Ten points for this starter question.

Used of the state of a wire or string stretched between two points,

or the force exerted by it on a support,

what term can also be defined as a strained condition of feeling,

or mutual relations...

Tension.

Tension is correct, yes.

Right, these bonuses are on British islands and their wildlife, Jesus College.

Which archipelago, 44 miles west of Benbecula, is a World Heritage site

and has Britain's largest population of fulmars?

-Saint Kilda?

-Correct.

Which island off the south-west tip of Pembrokeshire

is a site of special scientific interest and, with its sister island, Skomer,

is noted for its colony of Manx Shearwater?

Ramsay?

No, it's Skokholm.

The shore and waters around which island in the Bristol Channel

are England's first statutory marine nature reserve?

Lundy.

Lundy.

Correct. Ten points for this starter question.

Born in 1906, which playwright said of his best known work that

"Its early success was based on a fundamental misunderstanding."

"Critics and public alike insisted on interpreting in allegorical

"or symbolic terms a play which was striving all the time

"to avoid definition"?

Samuel Beckett?

Samuel Beckett is correct. Talking about Waiting For Godot.

Right, your bonuses, Jesus College, are on fluvial geography.

What two-word term describes the lengthening of a river's course

by erosion backwards from its source?

Silting up.

No, it's headward erosion. What term denotes a sudden change of stream direction

at the point where the headwaters of a less vigorous river

are diverted into a more rapidly eroding channel?

-(Splitting.)

-Splitting?

No, that's the elbow of capture.

And finally, name either of the rivers in mid-Wales that are involved in capture.

The elbow of capture lies about 20 kilometres to the east of Aberystwyth.

-(Where does The Severn start?

-No, no.)

(The Wye? I don't know what...)

The Wye.

No, it's the River Rheidol and the River Teifi.

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

For your picture starter, you're going to see a map of Europe.

For ten points, simply tell me what specific status

links all the cities marked on it.

Cities of culture?

Indeed. They're the European Capital of Culture, yes.

Those are all who have held the title since the year 2000.

For picture bonuses, you will see maps showing pairs of cities

that have held the title in particular years.

In each case, simply give me the names of the two cities marked.

Firstly, for five.

Lille and Genoa.

Correct. Secondly...

Amsterdam and Porto?

No, it's Rotterdam and Porto. And finally...

Bergen and Liverpool.

No, it's Liverpool and Stavanger.

Ten points for this. In chemistry, what term describes

the specific reaction in which the same compound or element

is simultaneously oxidised and reduced...

Redox.

I'm afraid you lose five points.

..For example, chlorine reacting with dilute sodium hydroxide

to form sodium chloride and sodium chlorate?

Is any of you going to buzz?

It's disproportionation.

Bad luck, Jesus. I'd asked for the specific reaction.

Ten points for this.

What name is shared by two plants?

One is a form of thistle native to the Mediterranean, its edible parts

being the bracts around the unopened flower.

The other has edible tubers and a name deriving in part

from a corruption of the Italian for sunflower.

Fennel?

No. Jesus College, one of you buzz.

I'll tell you, it's artichoke. Ten points for this.

Which three-letter Latin word can be concatenated with the letters R K

to give one of the smallest known physical objects,

and with the letters...

Qua?

Correct, yes. Q-U-A.

Right, these bonuses are on writers' block.

Following six years of creative paralysis, Amy Rosenthal wrote the play On The Rocks,

in which she alludes to the panic that writer's block induced

in which New Zealand short story writer?

Pass, sorry.

It was Katherine Mansfield. Referring to the writer's block that plagued him,

who wrote to his agent "I feel that this is almost too much for me",

12 years after the publication of his first novel Almayer's Folly?

Hemingway.

No, it was Joseph Conrad.

And finally, which poet's spell of writer's block appeared to have ended

by 2009 with The Cinder Path,

his first new collection for seven years?

It won't be Ted Hughes!

Just any current poet.

Seamus Heaney.

No, it was Andrew Motion.

Ten points for this.

Master of the Jewels in 1532, Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1533,

Principal Secretary and Master of the Rolls in 1534

and Lord Privy Seal in 1536 were all positions obtained

by which of Henry VIII's ministers, who was executed on charges...

Thomas More?

No, you lose five points.

..on charges of heresy and treason in 1540?

Cardinal Wolsey?

No, it was Thomas Cromwell. Ten points for this.

In 2011, the former French Government Minister

Christine Lagarde began a five-year term as managing

director of which United...

The International Monetary Fund.

Correct.

These bonuses, Jesus College, are about British monarchs

and their relations.

Firstly, what relation was William IV to Queen Victoria?

Great-uncle.

No, he was just an uncle.

What relation was Edward I to Henry II?

Grandson?

No, he was great-grandson.

And finally, what relation was Charles II to James II?

Brother.

Correct. Ten points for this.

In the measurement of geological time, what is the first subdivision

of an eon, consisting of periods of several hundred million years?

An example would be the Cenozoic.

Era.

Era is correct, yes.

Right, these bonuses are on mathematics.

What is the dual of a regular dodecahedron - that is,

the solid whose vertices occupy the same space

as the midpoints of the faces of the dodecahedron?

Icosahedron?

Correct, a regular icosahedron, yes. If the side lengths of the aforementioned dodecahedron are 1,

what is the side length of the dual icosahedron?

Root two?

No, it's the golden ratio,

which is the square root of five plus one all divided by two.

And finally, continuing in the same vein, homophonically speaking,

which mathematician, considered the founder of group theory,

was killed in a duel in May 1832?

Galois?

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

For your music starter,

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

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

# The loveliness of Paris

# Seems somehow sad... #

Sammy Davis Jr?

No. You can hear a little more, Jesus.

# ..gay

# The glory that was Rome... #

Frank Sinatra?

No, it's Tony Bennett. So, music bonuses shortly.

Another starter question,

so fingers on the buzzers in the hope of getting those music bonuses.

Ten points for this. In terms of the spelling of their name,

what links the capital of Uzbekistan,

the alternative name of Ayers Rock,

the southernmost continent and the hometown...

They end in A? No, sorry.

I'm sorry, and I didn't finish it.

The hometown of the Beatles, so you lose five points.

Queen Mary, one of you buzz.

They start and end with the same letter.

Correct.

Well, you failed to recognise

I Left My Heart In San Francisco from Tony Bennett.

Your bonuses are three Tony Bennett duets,

all recorded to coincide with the singer's 85th birthday.

In each case,

I simply want you to name the artist with whom Mr Bennett is singing.

Firstly.

# She doesn't like crap games with barons and earls

# Won't go to Harlem in ermines and pearls

# And I definitely won't dish our dirt

# With the rest of those girls

# That's why the lady is a tramp

# I love the free, fresh wind in my hair. #

Joss Stone?

No, Lady Gaga. Secondly.

# Stranger in paradise

# Don't send me in dark despair

# From all that I hunger for

# But open your angel's arms. #

Andrea Bocelli?

Correct.

And, finally.

# My life a wreck, you're making

# You know I'm yours... #

-Amy Winehouse.

-Yes.

Right, fingers on the buzzers. Another starter question.

Ordained as a priest in 1703,

which Venetian composer was a major influence on the development of...

Antonio Vivaldi.

Correct.

You can retake the lead with these bonuses.

They're on the artist Maggi Hambling.

Firstly, for five points.

In 1980, Maggi Hambling became the first artist in residence

at which London institution, during which time

she produced a series of portraits of the actor and comedian Max Wall?

-Royal Academy?

-No, it was the National Gallery.

Secondly, a granite and bronze work of 1998

near London's Charing Cross station

is designed as a seat and bears the title A Conversation With...

which literary figure?

-Oscar Wilde?

-Correct.

Hambling designed the two 12-foot high steel scallop shells

installed on Aldeburgh beach in 2003 to celebrate the life

and work of which composer?

Benjamin Britten.

Correct. Right, level-pegging. ten points for this.

On which island of the eastern Pacific

is the volcanic cone of Rano Raraku,

the place at which the rock for the giant statues known as...

Easter Island.

Correct, yes.

You retake the lead.

Your bonuses, this time,

are on shorter words that can be made using any of the nine letters

of the word "Epeolatry", meaning, of course, the worship of words.

In each case, give the word from the definition.

Firstly, the national gemstone of Australia, a form of hydrated

silica, noted for rich iridescence and the play of changing colours?

Opal.

Correct. Secondly, a game of Basque origin,

in which players hurl a ball against a marked wall

using a basket-like racket strapped to the wrist?

I'm afraid we'll have to pass.

That's pelota.

And finally, mechanical or habitual repetition of something

to be learnt, often without regard to meaning? For example, preparation for a quiz.

-Rote.

-Rote is correct.

Another starter question, now.

Give either of the similar sounding words

that indicate the author of the 17th-century religious work Grace Abounding,

and a painful swelling of the big toe?

Bunion?

Bunion is right, yes.

Your bonuses this time are on geology.

Igneous rocks are classified as acid or basic according to the level

of what compound within them?

Calcium carbonate?

No, it's silica, or silicon dioxide.

Secondly, igneous rocks formed at depth are called plutonic,

while those formed at the surface are called volcanic.

What term denotes those rocks formed in between?

Hermetic?

No, it's hypabyssal.

And finally, which potassium-rich feldspar,

found in igneous rocks, usually occurs as white or pink crystals,

and has a name derived from the Greek for "straight" and "breaking"?

Quartz.

No, it's orthoclase. We're going to take our second picture round now.

For your starter, you'll see an illustration of a scene in a novel.

Ten points if you can identify the illustrator.

Lewis Carroll?

No.

Queen Mary, one of you buzz.

No idea? It's John Tenniel. It was indeed for a book by Lewis Carroll.

Right, so, picture bonuses shortly.

Another starter question in the meantime.

Answer as soon as you buzz.

What is the minimal number of positive cubes needed

to add together to make 23?

Four.

Queen Mary?

Three.

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

Which savoury dish has a name derived from an old French word

for the blade of a sword or knife, or for a thin plate,

possibly referring to its shape?

Crepe?

No. Jesus, one of you want to buzz?

Pizza?

No, it's omelette!

Ten points for this.

In physics, what quantity is given by the double integral

with respect to time of acceleration?

Distance.

Distance travelled is correct, yes. Displacement.

So we revert to the picture bonus questions, then, you lucky chaps.

Having seen one of Tenniel's original illustrations

for Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, your picture bonuses are

three 20th-century works inspired by Carroll's stories of Alice.

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

Dali?

No, that's by Magritte. Secondly.

Hockney?

That's by Sir Peter Blake, But Isn't It Old. And, finally.

Is that Dali, by any chance?

Yes, it is!

Right, ten points for this. In 2010,

which tennis player became the seventh player

to win all four grand slam tournaments...

Rafael Nadal?

Correct.

Your bonuses are on alloys, Jesus.

Phosphor bronze, an alloy used when resistance to wear

and corrosion is important, is made from copper, phosphorus

and which other element?

Tin?

Correct. What is the principal metal in the alloy called gunmetal,

which also contains zinc and tin?

Chromium?

No, it's copper. Muntz metal consists of 60% copper

and 40% zinc in the form of what alloy?

Brass?

Correct. Four and a half minutes to go, ten points for this.

What part of the human body is incised to provide drainage

for an infection in the procedure called myringotomy?

The brain?

Anyone want to buzz from Queen Mary?

The skull.

No, it's the eardrum. Ten points for this. The solar powered spacecraft launched in 2011 on a mission

to Jupiter is named after which goddess?

Juno.

Juno is correct, yes.

Jesus College, these bonuses are on authors.

In each case, name the person who wrote the following.

All three names begin with the same two letters.

Firstly, for five.

Born around 480 BC, the Athenian playwright whose works include

Alcestis, Medea and The Bacchae?

-Euripides.

-Correct. Second, a Bishop of Caesarea,

author of the early fourth-century ecclesiastical history?

Come on, let's have an answer, please.

Eumenedes.

No, it's Eusebius. And finally, a Swiss mathematician,

author of the 1748 treatise Introduction To Analysis Of The Infinite?

Euler.

Correct. Ten points for this. One of the few English words

to contain the letter U twice in succession, what term may be preceded by...

Vacuum?

No, you lose five points.

..may be preceded by dialect, gas-liquid or space-time?

Continuum.

Correct.

Your bonuses now are on chemistry, Queen Mary.

What inorganic substance is detected by Nessler's reagent?

Calcium.

No, it's ammonia. In the Ostwald process,

ammonia is oxidised with air in the presence of a platinum catalyst.

What inorganic acid is the final product of this process?

Sulphuric?

No, it's nitric acid.

What is the oxidation state of nitrogen in an atom of nitric acid?

Plus two.

No, it's plus five. Ten points for this.

The name of which spirit links a collection of poetry by Sylvia Plath,

a biography of Shelley, a satellite...

Ariel?

Ariel is right, yes.

Queen Mary, your bonuses are on US presidents.

In each case, name the president from the description.

Firstly, the governor of Virginia from 1779 to 1781.

-Jefferson.

-Correct.

Secondly, the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913.

Wilson.

Wilson is right.

And finally, the governor of New York state from 1928 to '33.

Truman?

No, it was Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Ten points for this.

A river, Christmas, a moon and a pair of shoes

all share what colour according to Elvis Presley?

Blue.

Blue is right, yes.

Your bonuses, Queen Mary, are on dressmaking terms.

Also used in the roasting of meat, what term can denote large,

temporary stitching used to join a seam?

Spit?

No, it's basting. What term for a wedge-shaped piece of cloth

is also used for a similarly shaped piece of land

and occurs occasionally in place names?

Come on.

-Pass.

-It's gore.

And finally, what time meaning a cut or line diagonal to

the grain of a woven fabric also means a slant or prejudice?

Gradient.

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

The word "cataclysm" is derived from the Greek word

for what type of natural disaster?

Earthquake?

Anyone want to buzz from Queen Mary? Quickly, come on..

Tidal wave.

No, it's a flood or a deluge. Ten points for this. What two-word term

describes an economic system containing both private and state enterprises?

Mixed economy?

Correct. Your bonuses, this time, are on place names.

All three answers begin with the same two letters.

GONG

And, at the gong, Queen Mary, London have 120 points,

Jesus College, Oxford have 150.

Well, I think we're going to be saying goodbye to you, Queen Mary.

You established an early lead,

and if we'd gone on another ten minutes,

who knows what might have happened?

But I think we're going to be saying goodbye to you on 120.

Jesus College, congratulations.

We shall look forward to seeing you in round two.

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

but until then, it's goodbye from Queen Mary, London.

Goodbye.

-It's goodbye from Jesus College, Oxford.

-Goodbye.

And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.

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