Episode 15 University Challenge

APPLAUSE

University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. The first round matches are over,

and 14 victorious teams are through to the next stage of the competition.

Four teams of walking wounded remain on the battlefield, however,

because their losing scores were higher than some winning scores in other fixtures,

so they get to play for the last two places in the second round.

As we never tire of pointing out,

teams that have survived by this rule in the past

have gone on to be series champions,

to the two playing tonight and next time are still very much in contention.

The team from Durham University

were ahead for much of the first half of their match against Queen's College Cambridge,

proving themselves knowledgeable on American Treasury Secretaries, regions of Italy

and the vegetarian diet of Frankenstein's monster.

But Queen's dominated the second half and snatched victory from them in the last few minutes.

Still, their score of 170 is the highest of the four teams in these playoffs.

With an average age of 21,

let's meet the Durham team again.

Hello, I'm Alex Richards.

I'm from Breaston in Derbyshire and I'm studying Chemistry.

Hi. I'm Daniel Hulme from Staffordshire

and I'm studying Theoretical Physics.

And their captain. Hi, I'm Matt Mackenzie.

I'm from Gloucestershire and I do History.

Hi. I'm Arthur Burnham.

I'm originally from Hampshire and I'm working towards a PhD in Chemistry.

APPLAUSE

Now, the team from Christ Church, Oxford came away from their first round match with 150 points,

exactly half that of their opponents Trinity College Cambridge

but they can console themselves with the fact

that they were up against the highest-scoring team of all in the first round.

Their strengths included cell biology, musical terminology

and peculiarities of the international date line.

Also with an average age of 21,

let's meet the Christ Church team again.

Hi. My name's George Greenwood.

I'm studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics and I'm from Exeter.

Hi. I'm Andreas Capstack, I'm from Norway and I'm also studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

And their captain. Hi. I'm Euan Macaulay, from Hong Kong, and I'm reading Chemistry.

Hi. I'm Phil Ostrowski.

I'm from Poland and I'm studying Cardiology.

APPLAUSE

The rules are the same as ever.

Remember there's a five-point penalty if you interrupt a starter question incorrectly.

Ten points for this. Fingers on buzzers.

Early in 2013, Michael Ibsen, a cabinet maker in north London,

showed by a DNA match that skeletal remains...

King Richard III. Correct.

Your bonuses are on Pi.

"I'm ashamed to tell you to how many figures I carried these computations,

"having no other business at the time."

Which scientist wrote those words in a letter of 1666

having computed Pi to 15 digits?

Is it Isaac Newton? It is.

What are the first five digits of the binary expansion of Pi?

Do any of you know this? What's binary expansion?

Expressed in binary.

QUIET CONFERRING

So, one zero one?

We need five.

Zero one... No, I can't do it. I can't work it out.

I obviously don't know. Pass.

Pass. Very entertaining conferring, at least!

It's one one zero zero one.

And finally, whose treatise of the third century BC

was entitled The Measurement of the Circle

and includes the first rigorous calculation of Pi?

Archimedes. Archimedes. Is it Archimedes? Yes, it is.

Ten points for this. Having the potential to cause fires and contaminate land and water,

what controversial process involves drilling into shale...

Fracking. Fracking is correct.

So you get a first set of bonuses, Christ Church. They're on a play by Shakespeare.

Milton's Comus and Auden's collection, The Sea and the Mirror,

are among the works inspired by which of Shakespeare's later plays?

The Tempest. Correct. Its characters including Robby the Robot and Dr Edward Morbius,

which 1956 science fiction film is noted for its many similarities to The Tempest?

Science fiction.

It's not Dune, or something?

Your call.

Pass.

It's Forbidden Planet. Finally, described as "A Fantasia after Shakespeare's Drama",

The Tempest is an 1873 work by which Russian composer?

Well, I've got no idea. Let's go for someone like... Tchaikovsky?

No, it's not Tchaikovsky. Rimsky-Korsakov.

No, it was Tchaikovsky!

Ten points for this. "For 20 years, I've stared my level best

"to see if evening, any evening, would suggest a patient etherised upon a table.

"In vain. I simply wasn't able."

Born in Belfast in 1898,

which novelist, academic and Christian apologist

made this comment on Eliot's Prufrock?

Is it C.S.Lewis? Yes, it is.

Bonuses, this time, Durham, on hypotheses.

After a character in Through the Looking Glass,

what name is given to the hypothesis

that evolution will always continue in a given species

in order to catch up with the evolutionary advances made by competing species?

Red Queen hypothesis. Correct.

In economics, what two-word term denotes the hypothesis

that an individual cannot make an abnormally high profit

by trading on a financial market using widely available and generally understood information,

as the market price will itself be influenced by the same information?

Nominate Richards. No.

We don't... Just go. Broken Window?

No, that's an entirely... That's a sociological theory.

No, it's the Efficient Markets hypothesis.

Finally, named after a Greek goddess,

which hypothesis was propounded by James Lovelock

and views the Earth as a self-sustaining living organism?

Gaia. Gaia is right. Ten points for this.

Formed around 15 million years ago, and with a diameter of around 25 kilometres,

the Nordlinger Ries in Germany

is an example of what extra-terrestrially-generated land form?

A crater.

Specifically?

Asteroid crater. Yes, it is an asteroid crater. An impact crater is what it's properly called.

At least you didn't say "hole in the ground"!

Your bonuses are on cell biology. What name is given to undifferentiated animal cells

that are able to proliferate for long periods

and have the potential under certain conditions to differentiate into specialised cells?

Stem cells. Correct.

The potency of stem cells is their ability to differentiate into other types of cell.

What specific term describes those stem cells able to differentiate into all possible cell types?

Totipotent. Totipotent is correct. Finally,

what totipotent cell is formed after fertilisation of an egg?

Zygote. Correct.

We'll take a picture round now.

For your picture starter, you will see the logo of an international organisation

with any helpful wording removed.

For ten points, give me the acronym by which it is known.

It's UNESCO. It is, yes!

Here's the whole thing.

You were astonished it was so easy. See how you go with these.

Bonuses are logos of three more specialised agencies of the United Nations,

with helpful wording removed. I want the full name of the agency.

Firstly for five.

QUIET CONFERRING

United Nations Council for Human Rights?

Nominate Richards. United Nations Council for Human Rights?

No, amazingly, apparently it's the International Monetary Fund.

Let's see the whole thing.

Secondly...

It's the Atomic Energy Agency, isn't it?

Atomic Energy Agency. I'll give you that. It's the International Atomic Energy Agency.

I'll accept that on the basis that we were kind to Christ Church a moment ago.

Let's see the whole thing.

And finally, what's this?

World Health Organization. It is.

There it is. Another starter question.

Fingers on buzzers. The first six books of the Old Testament

are collectively known as the Hexateuch,

comprising the Pentateuch and which other, the sixth book of the Old Testament,

named after Moses' designated successor?

Joshua. Yes.

This set of bonuses, Christ Church, is on weather extremes.

Iquique, where there was no rainfall for 14 years,

and Bahia Felix, which has an average of 325 rainy days a year,

are both settlements in which country?

Are they South American?

Try Chile? Chile, or... I think so.

Chile.

Correct. In which country is Cherrapunji, often described as the wettest place on Earth?

It averages more than 450 inches of rain per year.

The comparable figure for Manchester is only 32 inches.

I think that's India. Yes, try that.

India. Correct. And finally, in which country is Dallol,

where a mean annual temperature of over 34 degrees Celsius has been recorded?

That sounds horrible!

Something that's far from the sea.

Something internal.

Like central... Chad?

OK. Chad. No, it's Ethiopia.

Ten points for this. Standing up to three metres tall,

the flightless elephant bird became extinct around 1,000 years ago

and was native to which large island?

Madagascar. Correct.

That gives you the lead. Your bonuses now are on classical music.

The Canadian pianist Glenn Gould's 1955 recording of which of Bach's works for harpsichord

enjoyed an unusual level of popular success?

The work is named after the virtuoso who's thought first to have performed it?

Somebody's concerto?

Palestrina. Palestrina? No, it's the Goldberg Variations.

Oh, yeah. Premiered in 1899, which orchestral variations

are based on the counter-melody to an unheard theme

which its composer said was a well-known tune he wouldn't identify, hence their title.

Enigma?

Enigma. The Enigma Variations is right.

And finally, the Austrian composer and publisher Anton Diabelli

is best known for a waltz that inspired which German composer to write 33 Variations for Piano

in 1823?

That sounds like Schumann, doesn't it?

Yeah. Guess that.

Schumann. No, it's Beethoven. Oh. Ten points for this starter question.

Haversian canals are found in which tissue of the body?

They contain small vessels responsible for the blood supply to osteocytes.

Bone. Correct.

This set of bonuses on being.

Usually translated in existentialist writings as "being in the world",

which six-letter German word means "to be there", or "being there",

and in the philosophy of Hegel denotes existence.

I don't know.

I'm going to pass. Pass.

It's "Dasein".

Secondly, "The Question Concerning Technology" is a 1954 work

by which German philosopher?

He believed that human beings should be conceived as "Dasein"

using the concept as a replacement for "mind" and "consciousness".

Do you know any philosophers of the 1950s?

Guess Heidegger.

Heidegger. Correct. Which work of 1927

is generally considered to be the most important of Heidegger's writings?

It begins by posing the "Seinsfrage" question, what is the meaning of being?

Being and Time. Nominate Greenwood.

Being and Time. Correct. Being and Time is right. Ten points for this.

Published in 1954,

Confessions of the Confidence Trickster Felix Krull

was the final full-length novel by which Nobel Laureate

who fled Nazi Germany and became a US citizen in 1944?

Grass. Nope.

One of you may buzz from Durham.

Take a punt. Come on.

Kissinger. Kissinger?!

That really wasn't worth saying!

Thomas Mann. Ten points for this.

What five-letter word links the composer of the 1967 minimalist work Piano Phase,

the armed forces of the Weimar Republic

and the waterfall at which Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty fought...

Reich. Reich is correct, yes.

These bonuses, Christ Church, are on a political theorist.

Born in Normandy in 1805,

which political theorist is especially noted for the 1835 work Democracy in America?

QUIET CONFERRING

De Tocqueville. Nominate Capstack.

De Tocqueville. Yes, of course.

"It is from this putrid sewer that the greatest river of human industry springs up

"and carries fertility to the whole world."

Of which English city did de Tocqueville say those words in 1835?

Birmingham. Birmingham.

No, it's Manchester.

According to de Tocqueville, what academic field is "a gallery of pictures

"in which there are few originals and many copies"?

Philosophy. No, it's history.

We're going to take a music round now.

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

Ten points if you can name the artist, please.

# J'irai chercher ton coeur... #

I'm embarrassed to know this, but Celine Dion.

Yes, well, never mind, it's useful, I suppose!

It gets you ten points even if it is embarrassing!

Now, with 66 nominations, Celine Dion is, somewhat inexplicably,

the most nominated artist in the history of the Canadian Music Juno Awards.

For your bonuses, you'll hear three more female Canadian artists,

regularly nominated for Juno awards.

Five points for each artist you can identify.

First, with 30 nominations.

# You'll still the one I run to

# The one that I belong to

# Still the one I want for life #

Shania Twain. It is. You have no shame at all, have you?

Secondly, with 15 nominations...

# My moon, my man, so changeable...#

Leslie Feist. Feist.

Yep. And finally, with 23 nominations...

# You've already won me over

# In spite of me

# And don't be alarmed if I fall... #

Alanis Morissette.

Oh, my godfathers, yes! Ten points for this.

APPLAUSE

Now, from an Old English word for raid or plunder

what six-letter word denotes the lawless bands who operated on the Scottish borders...

Reivers. Reiver is correct, yes.

Is there no limit to your knowledge? We'll find out.

Three bonuses on 17th-century history.

After the Restoration, Sir James Scott, the oldest illegitimate son of Charles II

was created the Duke of Buccleuch and which other dukedom?

It sounds like Monmouth. I like Monmouth. OK.

Monmouth. It was Monmouth, yes.

Monmouth led a rebellion against James II

that was defeated at which engagement of 1685,

the last pitched battle to be fought on English soil?

Oh, golly. That wasn't Culloden, was it? Culloden is in Scotland.

Something hill? Bosworth? No.

No. What do you reckon? Somewhere northern.

Yorkshire. Um. I'm going to say, uh, Northumberland.

No, it's Sedgemoor.

Finally, "The depravity of this man has passed into a proverb."

These words of the historian T.B. Macaulay

refer to which judicial figure involved in the brutal aftermath of the Monmouth rebellion?

Judge...

Who's the butcher guy from Culloden?

I don't know. Judge Jeffries?

If it's not Judge Dredd! General Wade.

You're in the wrong century altogether! No, it's Judge Jeffries. Ten points for this.

And the wrong country!

In physics, according to the Dulong-Petit law,

the molar heat capacity of most solids

is what number multiplied by the universal...

Three divided by two.

No, I'm afraid I can't accept that.

..what number multiplied by the universal gas constant R?

Three. Three is correct, yes.

These bonuses are on pairs of words which are pronounced the same but have different spellings.

In each case, listen to the definitions and give both words and their spellings.

Firstly, "sudden slip into unconsciousness"

and "deceptive movement or action".

That's faint and feint. Yeah.

That's "faint". F-A-I-N-T and F-E-I-N-T.

Correct. Secondly, "lustful rustic deity, part man, part goat",

and "young deer", for example, Bambi.

That's faun and fawn.

That's "faun". F-A-U-N and F-A-W-N. Correct.

Finally, "unusual talent, style or panache"

and "sudden brief burst of flame or light".

Flare? Oh, yeah, that's good.

Flair and flare.

F-L-A-I-R and F-L-A-R-E.

Correct. Another starter question.

Blanc de Bouscat, Argente de Champagne and Fauve de Borgogne

are French varieties of which animal

whose showing organisation in Britain is known as the B.R.C?

Cow.

No. Anyone like to buzz from Durham?

Is it badgers? No, it's rabbits. Ten points for this.

The common name of which insect begins the names of a resort on the Cotes d'Azur,

a major Belgian seaport and the world's fifth largest continent?

Ant... I was going to say Antwerp, but that's wrong, isn't it?

You're right, it is.

Ant.

A-N-T is correct. Antibes, Antwerp and Antarctica. You were half-way there. Bad luck.

15 points for these bonuses, then.

On atomic structure. In atoms, electron shells are sub-divided into sub-shells.

The lowest energy sub-shell is given the symbol lower case "s".

What lower case symbol denotes next lowest?

"p". "p" is correct.

How many unpaired electrons are there in the ground state of an atom of oxygen,

given that the atomic number of oxygen is eight?

Did he say how many unpaired electrons? Unpaired.

Did he say atom or molecule of oxygen?

Atom.

Oh. Well.

Either way, it's two, isn't it?

It's two. Two.

Of course. Chlorine has an atomic number of 17.

How many 3p electrons are there in a chlorine atom?

Five. It's five. Yeah, it's definitely five.

Five. Five. It is definitely five, yes.

And another starter question.

The Battle of Dorylaeum

and the sieges of Tarsus and Jerusalem

were among military actions in which conflict

launched by Pope Urban II in 1095?

First Crusade. Correct. A set of bonuses now on Transport.

In which island group are Westray and Papa Westray

which is connected by what is claimed to be the world's shortest scheduled flight,

lasting around two minutes?

Outer Hebrides. No, it's the Orkneys.

Is it? Oh. Secondly, which... It is!

Secondly which Kentish port is the most easterly town in Britain

that is directly connected to the motorway system?

Deal. I was going to say Harwich.

What did you say? Deal.

Is it Deal? No, it's Folkestone.

What is the most northerly town in Britain to be directly connected to the national rail network?

Berwick? Is it Berwick-on-Tweed?

Did you say Britain or England?

Britain. I said Britain, but I'm not repeating the question. OK.

I think it's Wick. Yeah, Wick. No, it's Thurso.

Right. A picture round, now.

For your picture starter you'll see a photograph of a public figure with a family dog.

For ten points, I want the breed of the dog, please.

Portuguese Water Terrier.

Uh... No.

One of you buzz, Durham?

Portuguese Water Dog.

Correct.

Following on from Barack Obama with Bo,

you'll see three more US presidents accompanied by their respective presidential "first dogs"!

In each case I want the name of the president and the pedigree breed of the dog.

Firstly, this president and the two-word name of the breed.

QUIET CONFERRING

Scots Terrier. And the... What?

And FDR. Oh, and the president, as well.

Franklin D. Roosevelt.

And a Scottish Terrier. Correct.

Secondly, this president and the name of the breed.

Is that a Labrador?

No, it's not.

Staffordshire Bull Terrier?

No, it's not.

I know nothing about dogs!

Come on, let's have it, please.

It is Bill Clinton and a boar hound, apparently.

A boar hound?! I know. I've never heard of it.

Neither have I! It's Bill Clinton and a Labrador Retriever.

A chocolate Labrador Retriever, to be specific.

And finally, this president and another two-word name of the breed.

Harry Truman. I haven't a clue. Is it Truman?

I think so. Harry Truman and a German Shepherd.

No, it's Herbert Hoover and a German Shepherd. Right.

Ten points for this. The bearded profile of Charles Dickens

appears on a two pound coin issued by the Royal Mint in 2012.

Alluding to money, which four words of Mr Micawber

are inscribed on the edge?

"Waste not, want not." Nope.

"Something will turn up." Yes!

Your bonuses are on the Order of Merit.

Which Yorkshire-born artist was appointed to the Order of Merit in January 2012?

David Hockney. Correct.

To date, four architects have been appointed to the Order of Merit.

Edwin Lutyens, Charles Gilbert Scott and Basil Spence are three. Who's the fourth?

Any ideas?

QUIET CONFERRING

Don't know. I've forgotten.

Aston Webb. No, it's Norman Foster.

Finally, who in 1991

became the only opera singer to date to have been appointed to the Order of Merit?

Any ideas? No.

Dame Joan... Is she an opera singer?

Dame Joan Sutherland? Could be. Dame Joan Sutherland.

Sutherland. Dame Joan Sutherland. Correct. Three minutes to go. Ten points for this.

What part of the human body is the location of the adductor longus and sartorius muscles?

The leg. The leg is correct. The upper leg.

These bonuses, Christ Church, are on chemicals named after places.

In each case, give the common name of the following.

Firstly magnesium sulphate hepta-hydrate, named after a town in Surrey.

Does he want Epsom salts, or just Epsom?

Epsom...salts. Epsom salt is correct.

Potassium sodium tartrate tetrahydrate, named after a French sea port on the Bay of Biscay.

No, that's the wrong side of France, isn't it?

Let's crack on with it. Come on.

Pass. It's Rochelle salt.

Finally, calcium sulphate di-hydrate,

named after a European capital.

Plaster of paris. Correct. Ten points for this.

Which two words precede "in white", "in black", and "who went to bed for a year"...

"The woman". Correct.

These bonuses, Durham, are on Africa.

Extending into Niger and southern Libya,

the Tibesti Mountains lie largely within which country?

Algeria. Algeria. Algeria.

Algeria. No, it's Chad. Which capital city lies at the confluence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile?

Khartoum. Correct. What five-letter word denotes the semi-arid transition zone

south of the Sahara Desert, extending from Senegal to Sudan?

The Sahel. Correct. Ten points for this.

Slightly larger than Northern Ireland,

Lake Balkhash forms part of a closed drainage basin in which Asian country?

Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan is right. Your bonuses are on George Orwell's 1984.

Described as "A man of about 60, frail and bowed",

who's the owner of the junk shop where Winston and Julia conduct their assignations?

Mr Charrington. Correct.

What's the name of the youth organisation of the party to which Julia belongs?

Its members wear a scarlet sash.

The Sex League. The Sex League - the Junior Sex League.

No, it's the Junior Anti-Sex League!

And finally, in which ministry does Winston Smith work?

Ministry of Truth. Truth, yeah.

Ministry of Truth. Correct. Ten points for this.

Born 1970, which US writer's works include "You Shall Know Our Velocity",

"What is the What" and...

Dave Eggers. Dave Eggers is correct.

Your bonuses this time are on European Cities of Culture, Christ Church.

In 1990, which city became the first in the UK to be chosen as a European City of Culture?

Is that Liverpool? When was Liverpool?

I think it might be Glasgow. Glasgow's more recent.

Come on!

Edinburgh.

No, it's Glasgow. The original site of the Bauhaus,

which city was a European City of Culture in 1999?

It gives its name to a constitution drawn up there in 1919.

Weimar. Weimar.

Weimar. Correct. A centre of the oil industry, which Norwegian city

was, along with Liverpool, a European Capital of Culture in 2008?

Bergen. Bergen.

No, it's Stavanger. Ten points for this. Answer as soon as your name is called.

What is 20 cubed minus 20 squared?

7,600. Correct.

These bonuses are on world leaders, Christ Church. GONG

And at the gong, Durham have 140,

Christ Church, Oxford have 245.

Well, you were very entertaining, Durham!

140 is a perfectly reasonable score to go out with.

They were on pretty good form tonight, I thought.

Thank you for joining us.

Christ Church, congratulations. 245 is a magnificent score.

We look forward to seeing you in the next stage of the competition.

I hope you can join us next time.

Until then, it's goodbye from Durham University. Bye!

It's goodbye from Christ Church, Oxford. Bye!

And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

This is Malcolm. He owns Iceland.

He's the one that's going to present us with the ten grand WHEN we win it.

You've just got to make it as bearable