Episode 6 University Challenge

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. Oxford plays Cambridge tonight

as two colleges who've earned themselves formidable reputations

on this programme are playing each other for a place

in the second round.

The losers could also qualify to play again

if they're among the four highest-scoring losing teams.

Magdalen College, Oxford, was founded in 1458

by William Waynflete, the Bishop of Winchester.

Oscar Wilde and Alfred, Lord Douglas studied there

as did the future Edward VIII,

albeit briefly and without any distinction.

In May 2010, it could boast of having provided the backbone,

if that's quite the right word, of the coalition government,

as William Hague, Dominic Grieve, Chris Huhne, Jeremy Hunt

and George Osborne all passed through its doors.

Far more significantly,

Magdalen has won the University Challenge championship four times,

more than any other institution.

Tonight's four represent around 600 fellow students.

Their average age is 20. Let's meet them.

Hi. My name is Will. I'm from Kew in London and I'm studying History.

Hi. I'm Rob Mangan. I'm from Nottingham and I study Chemistry.

-And their captain.

-Hello. I'm Henry Watson.

I'm from London and I'm reading Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Hi. I'm Richard Purkiss from Richmond in London

and I'm reading for a Masters in Medieval History.

APPLAUSE

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, was founded during the reign

of Elizabeth I by Lady Frances Sidney,

whose second husband became the Earl of Sussex, hence its name.

Oliver Cromwell was a student there

and his severed head is said to be buried under the chapel.

It too has done well in this contest,

having taken the title twice in the 1970s.

The second of those teams returned on our fortieth anniversary

in 2002 to compete in our Champion of Champions series, which they won.

Playing on behalf of around 500 students

and with an average age of 21, let's meet the Sidney Sussex team.

Hi. I'm Lois Overvoorde.

I'm from Cambridgeshire and I'm reading Chemistry.

Hi. I'm Tom Seddon.

I'm from Horwich, Lancashire and I'm reading Maths.

-And their captain.

-Hi. I'm Nye Redman-White.

I'm from Hampshire and I'm reading Mechanical Engineering.

Hi. I'm Callum Robertson. I'm from St Andrews and I'm reading Archaeology.

APPLAUSE

OK. You all know the rules, so let's get on with it.

Ten points at stake. Fingers on the buzzers. A starter question.

What word of four letters begins the names of an influential woman

at the court of Louis XV, an adversary of Julius Caesar, defeated at...?

Pomp.

Pomp is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Right. The first set of bonuses are on censorship, Magdalen.

Quote: "Without incurring the danger of being hurt with any indelicacy

"of expression, the reader may learn in the fate of Macbeth that even

"a kingdom is dearly purchased if virtue be the price of acquisition."

These are the words of which editor,

referring to his 19th century editions of Shakespeare?

THEY WHISPER

Nominate Mangan.

CP Snow?

CP Snow?! No, he's much, much younger.

No, it's Thomas Bowdler. Gave his name to Bowdlerisation.

Bowdler's Family Shakespeare omits entirely the character of

Doll Tearsheet, a prostitute, from which of Shakespeare's histories?

THEY WHISPER

-Henry V.

-It's Henry IV, Part 2.

And finally, published posthumously in 1826 under the supervision

of his nephew, Bowdler's last work was an expurgated

version of which six-volume history published from 1776?

-Is that the History Of The Roman Empire?

-Gibbon?

-History of The Roman Empire?

-Try that.

Try it.

The History Of The Roman Empire.

No, it was Gibbon's History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire.

It's a very well-known title. I can't accept that.

Ten points for this. The Russian doctor Michael Ostrog,

the schoolmaster and barrister Montague John Druitt,

the artist Walter Sickett and Prince Albert Victor.

People who've been accused as Jack the Ripper.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

Right, your first bonuses, Sidney Sussex, are on Biblical sacrifices.

According to the Book of Genesis, who makes the first blood sacrifice

acceptable to God, yielding up the first born of his flock

and of their fat portions?

THEY WHISPER

-Abel.

-Correct.

Also in Genesis, who built an altar to God on which he sacrificed

burnt offerings taken from every clean animal and every clean bird?

THEY WHISPER

-Noah.

-Correct.

Again in Genesis, which animal was used to take the place of Isaac

after an angel prevented Abraham from carrying out

-the sacrifice of his own son?

-A ram.

-Correct.

Another starter question. Ten points for this.

In bridge building, what term

denotes a projecting support or arm of great length, two of which,

stretching out from adjacent piers, are used to support a girder...?

Cantilever.

-Cantilever is correct, yes.

-APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on physical research facilities.

Firstly, for five points.

Which research facility at Batavia, Illinois, includes

the MiniBooNE and MINERvA experiments

as well as the Tevatron collider?

THEY WHISPER

That's the one that's supposed to be validating CERN's thing... Is it...?

Goodness me.

Just guess!

-Nominate Overvoorde.

-Atlas?

No, it's the Fermilab.

Located near Didcot, which complex is named after two physicists

and includes the Diamond Light Source, the ISIS neutron source

and the Central Laser Facility?

THEY WHISPER

-Pass.

-The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

Finally, for five, what facility straddles the Franco-Swiss border

and has previously hosted the SPS and LEP colliders

and is now the home of the Large Hadron Collider?

-CERN.

-CERN is correct.

Ten points for this.

Which Luxembourg-based internet communications company

was founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis

and provides software that allows communication by voice...?

Skype.

-Skype is correct. Yes.

-APPLAUSE

Right, Magdalen, you're going to enjoy these.

They're bonuses on Tom Morton's book,

Dr Johnson's Dictionary Of Modern Life, which imagines how

Johnson might have defined various examples of modern-day culture.

In each case, give the name from the definition. Firstly, for five.

Almanac, wherein people do catalogue their achievements for public

consumption, thus a strutting compendium of peacockery.

Try Facebook. Facebook.

-Facebook?

-Correct.

Four quaterns of Vikings, most obvious in rhyming couplets,

yet most mysterious as to who is the fit one.

Is it The Inbetweeners?

I dunno, try it.

-The Inbetweeners?

-No, it's ABBA.

And finally, remorseless inquisition of eight scholars,

all mysteriously stacked atop each other

-University Challenge.

-Yeah.

-University Challenge.

-Yes.

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

For your starter, you'll see a set of flags.

Ten points if you can identify the sequence they represent.

Is it World Cup winners?

-In which world?

-Football World Cup winners?

Yes, FIFA World Cup winners is correct.

APPLAUSE

Right, your picture bonuses are three more sets of flags,

representing recent sporting sequences.

In each case, five points

if you can work out the sequence they represent.

Firstly, for five.

Canada, Malaysia...

England, Australia.

-Could it be cricket?

-It's not cricket.

-Is it F1?

-Could be F1.

-Could be where the F1 was.

-Formula 1 locations?

-Yeah.

Um, Formula 1, um...

No, they're hosts of the Commonwealth Games.

Secondly.

-Hosts of the Winter Olympics?

-Winter Olympics?

-Hosts of the Winter Olympics.

-Correct. And finally.

-Erm, Sri Lanka.

-Cricket World Cup.

-Is it going to be Twenty20 or one-day?

-No, I think just cricket.

-Winners of the Cricket World Cup.

-Correct.

Ten points for this starter. Between August 1945 and July 1946,

which European country suffered a record period of hyperinflation,

the general level of prices rising at nearly 20% per day

and on some occasions more than tripling over night?

Germany?

No. Anyone like to buzz from Sidney?

Italy?

No, it was Hungary.

Ten points for this.

Also known as the locust tree or St John's Bread,

which small Mediterranean tree of the legume family

produces long pods which are used as an animal feed

and also as the source of a chocolate substitute?

Carob.

-Carob is correct, yes.

-APPLAUSE

Your bonuses now are on contemporary criticism of the pre-Raphaelites.

Firstly, in 1850 the painting Christ In The House Of His Parents

was denounced by Dickens and by art critics as "blasphemous and ugly".

Which of the pre-Raphaelites painted it?

THEY WHISPER

Nominate Robertson.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

No, it was John Everett Millais.

Described by one critic as depicting rustics of the coarsest breed,

The Hireling Shepherd, in which the eponymous figure neglects his flock

in favour of a rosy-cheeked young woman

is a work by which of the pre-Raphaelites?

THEY WHISPER

Nominate Robertson.

Pass, I dunno. LAUGHTER

Pretty useless nomination, wasn't it? That's by Holman Hunt.

Finally, described by one contemporary critic as

an insult to the public intelligence,

the work entitled The Pretty Baa-Lambs

is the work of which artist associated with the pre-Raphaelites?

THEY WHISPER

Say somebody famous. Say one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

HE LAUGHS

Nominate Robertson.

Err, I don't know. Ruskin?

No, it's Ford Madox Brown.

Ten points for this.

The set of all sets which are not members of themselves

is a paradoxical construct put forward by which British philosopher

to demonstrate the logical inconsistency...?

Russell.

Correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Right, a set of bonuses on tea for you, Magdalen.

Which large-leaf variety of China tea with a smoky flavour has

a two-word English name composed of an invented word

and the Chinese for "small sort".

-Is it Lapsang Souchong?

-Lapsang Souchong?

Lapsang Souchong.

Correct. Often sold in compressed form known as bricks,

puerh tea is particularly associated with which

province of southwest China?

-Tibet, maybe?

-No!

Do you know provinces of China?

Tibet.

No, it's Yunnan.

Meaning "place of the thunderbolt", which town in the mountains

of West Bengal gives its name to a variety of high quality tea?

Try Darjeeling.

-Darjeeling.

-Correct.

Another starter question. Later identified with King Arthur,

which battle of the early 6th century was described...?

Baden Hill.

-Good heavens! Yes, well done.

-APPLAUSE

Right, your bonuses this time are on the common names of diseases.

Firstly, referring to the appearance of the eyes of affected animals,

what name is commonly given to the disease of cattle

also known as infection keratitis, or ophthalmia?

THEY WHISPER

-Pink eye.

-Correct.

Sometimes called the kissing disease, what is the more common

name of infectious mononucleosis, which often affects adolescents?

THEY WHISPER

-Glandular fever.

-Correct.

Finally, infectious parotitis, a disease characterised by the

swelling of the parotive gland, is better known by what short name?

THEY WHISPER

-Erm, elephantitis?

-No, it's mumps.

Ten points for this starter question.

Which year saw the publication of Einstein's

first paper on capillarity, the eleventh United Kingdom census,

the births of Barbara Cartland and Louis Armstrong

and the deaths of President William McKinley and Queen Victoria?

1901.

-Correct.

-APPLAUSE

These set of bonuses are on bays.

The Great Australian Bight, lying between

Cape Pasley, Western Australia, and Cape Carnot, South Australia,

is a bay of which ocean?

-Indian?

-Indian?

Yeah.

-The Indian.

-Correct.

The shipping area German Bight was formerly named after which

bay at the mouth of the Elbe river,

the site of naval battles in 1914 and 1917

and an aerial battle in 1939?

THEY WHISPER

-Jutland?

-No, it's Heligoland Bight.

And finally, the Bight of Bonny was formerly named after

which secessionist West African state

that declared its independence from Nigeria in 1967?

Oh, erm, the one...

Biafria or something.

Biafra? The Bight of Biafra?

-Nominate Purkiss.

-The Bight of Biafra.

Correct!

Right, a music round.

For your music starter, you'll hear a piece of brass band music.

Ten points if you can name the piece.

BRASS BAND MUSIC PLAYS

Once In Royal David's City?

-No.

-LAUGHTER

Magdalen, you can have a bit more if you want.

BRASS BAND MUSIC PLAYS

Is it Man Of Harlech?

I can't accept it.

It's Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer or Cwm Rhondda.

So, after that conspicuous display of ignorance,

we'll go on with another starter question.

"I was just carrying out your orders. You told us

"to connect with the electorate, so I did."

This was supposedly the response of which politician...

John Prescott?

John Prescott, after he thumped the bloke with a mullet. That's right.

Right, your bonuses, Magdalen, are going to be music bonuses.

I'm not terribly optimistic about them.

They're more pieces performed by the Grimethorpe Colliery Brass Band.

In each case, I simply want the opening words of the hymn

most frequently sung to these settings. Firstly...

BRASS BAND MUSIC PLAYS

THEY WHISPER INAUDIBLY

-I have no idea.

-I have no idea.

-Abide With Me?

-Yeah, yeah.

You think so? Abide With Me?

Abide With Me.

Yes, it is! Yes. Secondly...

BRASS BAND MUSIC PLAYS

O Lord and Father of Mankind?

No, it's Dear Lord and Father of Mankind.

It's a well-known hymn, that wasn't precise enough.

Finally...

BRASS BAND MUSIC PLAYS

It's not Jerusalem, is it? It would be a really easy one.

-No, it's not Jerusalem.

-OK, I have no idea, then.

Shall we go with Jerusalem?

"And did those feet in ancient times."

Jerusalem.

LAUGHTER

Are you serious? It's The Lord's My Shepherd.

-I'm only following orders.

-Are you tone deaf over there?

Right, ten points for this.

Chain, double treble, reverse half double

and slip stitch are all terms used in which handicraft?

-Erm...

-Sorry, if you buzz...

-Sewing.

-..you must answer.

And you're going to lose five points.

In which handicraft whose name is a diminutive

of the French word for "hook"?

Is it crochet?

It is crochet, yes.

APPLAUSE

So your bonuses, Magdalen, are on Physics.

What general name is given to scattering processes,

where both kinetic energy and momentum are conserved?

-Elastic?

-Elastic.

Correct. Winner of the Nobel prize in 1904 for the discovery of argon,

which physicist has his name associated

with elastic scattering of photons?

Erm.

-Try Compton, maybe?

-Compton.

No, it's Rayleigh.

And finally, the name of which Indian physicist is given to

inelastic scattering of a photon off a charged particle?

Bose is the only one I know. Try Bose.

Bose.

No, it's Venkataraman.

Ten points for this starter question.

What French term denotes a feature formed by the erosion of ice

in glaciated regions, which takes the form of a bowl-shaped...

Moraine?

No, you lose five points. Of a bowl-shaped, steep-sided hollow

at the head of a mountain valley?

-Cirque.

-Cirque is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses this time are on

the Mediterranean Theatre in World War Two.

Operation Battleaxe, which began in June 1941, was the codename

for an offensive that failed to recapture which North African port?

-Tripoli?

-That's a good guess.

Tripoli.

No, it's Tobruk.

Bertram and Lightfoot were codenames for stages

of which major battle in North Africa in late 1942?

-El Alamein?

-I think so.

Alamein?

Correct. Operation Husky in July and August 1943 took which

Mediterranean island from the Axis?

-Crete.

-Crete.

No, it's Sicily, but you've nonetheless taken the lead again.

Ten points for this starter question.

Similar to Spanish paella, which

Creole dish has a Louisiana French name...

Gumbo.

No, you lose five points.

A Louisiana French name that's derived from the Provencal word

for chicken and rice stew?

One of you buzz, Magdalen.

Jambalaya?

Correct.

You've retaken the lead and your bonuses are on scientists and music.

"Music is the pleasure the human mind experiences from counting

without being aware that it's counting."

This statement is attributed to which German philosopher

and mathematician born 1646?

1646?

-Leibniz?

-Leibniz?

-Go for it.

-Leibniz.

Correct. Which Ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician gives

his name to a description of the tuning for the diatonic scale?

-Pythagoras?

-There's more than one, you can try Pythagoras.

Pythagoras?

Correct, of Samos.

And the operetta Galileo is among the musical works of which

self-taught composer and amateur astronomer?

-Composer, anyone?

-Could be Tom Stoppard maybe, or something?

-No idea.

-Kepler?

Kepler.

No, it's Sir Patrick Moore.

We have a second picture round.

Your picture starter will be a photograph of a car.

Ten points if you can tell me the make of the car.

Is that a Bugatti?

No. Sidney Sussex? One of you buzz.

Lotus?

No, it's a Jaguar.

Picture bonuses in a moment or two,

here's another starter question.

Sharing its name with a major river, which Midwestern state of the USA

gives its name to a compromise of 1820...

Missouri.

Missouri is correct.

So, you get the picture bonuses.

The starter, you'll recall, was a Jaguar XKD.

It was included in a collection of cars owned by the designer

Ralph Lauren, exhibited in 2011

at Les Arts Decoratifs Museum, which is part of the Louvre.

For your bonuses, you'll see three more cars from the exhibition.

I want you to identify the make in each case. Firstly...

I don't know, I've got no idea.

-Rover?

-Austin?

-Austin.

No, that's a Bentley. Secondly...

-Is it a Rolls Royce?

-Shall we try Rolls-Royce?

Rolls-Royce.

No, that's a Bugatti. And finally...

-Ferrari?

-Try it. I've got no idea.

Ferrari.

No, it's a McLaren. One of the rare occasions

on which Jeremy Clarkson would have done well on this programme.

Ten points for this starter question.

Founded around 300 BC by Zeno of Citium,

which school of philosophy is named after

the colonnade in Athens in which its founder used to lecture?

The Stoics?

Stoics is correct, yes!

APPLAUSE

Right, your bonuses, Magdalen, are on words that end in the letter X.

In each case, give the word from the definition.

The study of the rules for arranging words

and phrases into grammatical sentences, firstly.

Syntax.

Correct. An arrangement of five objects,

with four at the corners of a

quadrilateral and a fifth in the centre.

For example, the five on playing cards or dice.

-Convex, maybe?

-Convex.

No, it's quincunx.

And finally, the historical region of England whose symbol is a wyvern?

-Wessex.

-Wessex.

Wessex is right. Five minutes to go, ten points for this.

Used in anatomy for a cavity serving as an entrance to another,

especially that of the nose or inner ear,

what word is used more generally to mean an entrance hall?

A ventricle?

No. Magdalen, one of you buzz.

Atrium.

No, it's the vestibule. Ten points for this.

The German "ritter", the Spanish "caballero" and the French...

Knight.

Knight is correct, yes.

Right, Magdalen, your bonuses this time are on mammalian physiology.

Known chemically as N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine

which hormone has a role

in establishing circadian rhythms?

-Is it melanin?

-Go for it.

-Melanin?

-Try melanin.

Melanin?

No, it's melatonin.

Which endocrine gland secretes melatonin?

-Try pituitary?

-Do you know any other glands?

-I don't know.

Pituitary?

No, it's the pineal gland.

And finally, in the diurnal cycle,

when are blood concentrations of melatonin at their highest?

-At night?

-Nightime?

I think it makes you sleepy, so at night, I guess.

At night.

At night is correct, yes.

Right, ten points for this.

Souletin, Low Navarrese and Biscayan are among dialects

of which language, known to its speakers as Euskara...

Basque.

Basque is correct, yes.

Your bonuses, Sidney Sussex, are on women politicians.

Sheikh Hasina Wajed, the president of the Awami League,

was first elected Prime Minister of which country in 1996?

Bangladesh.

Correct. Tarja Kaarina Halonen

was elected President of which EU member state in 2000?

Finland.

Correct. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was re-elected

President of which South American country in 2011?

Argentina.

Correct. Another starter question. Answer as soon as you buzz.

What is the lowest three figure prime number,

whose three digits are all primes and also add up to a prime.

223?

Correct!

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, Magdalen, are on human skin.

In a homograft, skin is grafted from one person to another, usually as

a temporary healing measure.

What is the name of the procedure in which skin for a graft is

taken from another part of the body of the patient?

-Maybe a heterograft?

-Heterograft?

-Try it.

Heterograft.

No, it's an autograft.

Taken from that of a 17th century Italian physiologist,

what name is given to the innermost layer of the skin's epidermis?

You either know this or you don't. Come on.

-Cuticle?

-No, it's the malpighian layer.

And finally, which glands in the skin open into hair follicles?

Sweat glands?

No, sebaceous glands. Ten points for this.

Which monastic order founded the abbeys of

Strata Florida in Wales, Fountains in North Yorkshire and...

Benedictine?

No. And Clairvaux in France.

Cistercians?

Cistercian is correct, yes.

Your bonuses now are on novels.

In each case, give the full title of the novel from its author

and year of publication.

To make it a little easier, each title contains the word "History".

Firstly, for five points. A novel of 1975 by Malcolm Bradbury.

-No. No.

-Pass.

That's The History Man.

Secondly, a novel of 2000 by Peter Carey.

Pass.

That's The True History Of The Kelly Gang.

And finally, a novel of 1992 by Donna Tartt.

-The Secret History.

-The Secret History?

I think it's The Secret History.

The Secret History.

Correct. Ten points for the starter question.

Which US manufacturer's aircraft include the P-38 Lightning, the C-130 Hercules...

Lockheed Martin?

Lockheed is correct, yes.

Your bonuses are on East Africa.

Asmara is the capital of which country on the Red Sea,

it became independent in 1993

following a UN supervised referendum.

-Eritrea.

-Eritrea?

-Yes.

Eritrea.

Correct. Eritrea came under British military administration in 1941,

having been a colony since 1890 of which other European country?

Italy.

Italy.

Correct. Eritrea shares borders with

the Republic of Djibouti and which two countries?

-Ethiopia and Somalia, maybe?

-Is it Ethiopia and Somalia?

Ethiopia and Somalia.

No, it's Ethiopia and Sudan. Ten points for this.

In biochemistry, which aldopentose has three hydroxyl groups on the

same side in the Fischer projection

and is a subunit of ATP, NAD and RNA.

Ribose.

Ribose is correct, yes.

And that's the gong.

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, has 125,

Magdelen College, Oxford, has 205.

I think we're probably going to have to say goodbye to you,

Sidney Sussex.

I doubt you'll come back on 125. Who knows?

But it was a great game and you were two very good teams.

Magdalen, we shall look forward to seeing you in the next stage

of the competition, for sure.

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

-Until then, it's goodbye from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

-ALL: Goodbye.

-Goodbye from Magdalen College, Oxford.

-ALL: Goodbye.

And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.

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