Episode 24 University Challenge

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University Challenge. Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. Seven teams have already earned themselves places in the next stage of this contest.

They will be joined by whichever team wins tonight, playing for the last place in the quarterfinals.

The team from Reading University made a strong start

in their first-round match against St John's College, Cambridge

and managed to maintain their lead until the gong, when they were ahead by 180 points to 120.

They knew about Karl Marx, the duck billed platypus

and the opening ceremony of the Olympics,

but they were a little shakier on Italian cinema and Spanish conquistadores.

With an average age of 26, let's meet the Reading team again.

Hi, I'm Michael Dunleavy, I'm originally from Wakefield

in Yorkshire and I'm reading Biomedical Sciences.

Hi, I'm Christopher White, I'm originally from Watford

in Hertfordshire and I'm studying History.

And their captain.

Hi, I'm Peter Burgess, I'm originally from Halifax

and I'm and I'm doing an EngD in Solar Power.

Hi, I'm Luke Tudge,

I'm from West Yorkshire, and I'm studying Psychology.

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The team from the University Of London's School Of Oriental And African Studies

also had a strong first-round match against their opponents, the University Of Southampton.

And once they had taken the lead by the halfway mark, they were able to

hang on to it and end it ahead by 230 to 155.

They were strong on Russian artists, wine festivals and kisses in art,

although atomic theory

and logic were not quite as much to their taste.

With an average age of 34, let's meet the SOAS team again.

Hello, my name's Maeve Weber, I'm from Knebworth in Hertfordshire

and I'm reading for a BA in Ancient Near East studies.

Hello, I'm Luke Vivian-Neal from Lusaka in Zambia,

and I'm in my first year of a BA in Chinese.

And here's their captain.

Hi, I'm Peter McKean, I'm from Wallington in South London

and I'm reading for an MA in African History.

Hi, I'm James Figueroa from Surrey

and I'm reading African Studies and Development Studies.

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Let's not waste time on the rules, fingers on buzzers, here's your first starter for ten.

Created by an act signed into law by Woodrow Wilson in 1913,

which body is the central banking authority

of the United States, acting as...?

The Federal Reserve.

The Federal Reserve system is correct, yes.

Right, the first bonuses, SOAS, are on explorers. For five points,

which polar explorer gave his name to a passport

issued after the First World War to refugees and stateless persons?

Nansen. Correct.

Which explorer gave his name

to the pair of galaxies he observed in 1519?

They are visible with the naked eye in the Southern Hemisphere.

Marco Polo?

THEY CONFER

Magellan? Correct.

And which explorer gave his name to the capital of the state of Ohio?

Columbus. Correct.

Ten points for this.

The 43 metre tall structure Sails Of The South

in the central reservation of the M275

marks the gateway to which English city?

It is also home to the 170 metre tall Spinnaker Tower...

Portsmouth. Portsmouth is right, yes.

Your set of bonuses are on fictional students.

In which novel by George Elliot does Fred Vincy's father pay for him

to get his Bachelors degree at Omnibus College, Oxford

in the hope of him becoming a clergyman?

I think it's Middlemarch.

Middlemarch. Correct.

Which of Tom Wolfe's title characters is a naive freshman

at DuPont University who acts as a catalyst in the lives of her student peers?

THEY CONFER

We'll pass on that.

Charlotte Simmons.

The university student Prentice McHoan and his complex family

are the subject of which novel by Iain Banks?

The Crow Road? Correct. Ten points for this.

Barbershop, drinker, lottery, raven, exception, liar and Socratic

may all precede which word?

Method? I am afraid you lose five points. Used in logic,

decision theory and several branches of mathematics,

it denotes an argument that produces an inconsistency.

Paradox? Paradox is correct.

These bonuses are on mathematics, SOAS.

Which self-taught mathematician discovered by GH Hardy

became the second Indian to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society,

cited for his contributions to the theory of elliptic functions and the theory of numbers?

Pass. It's Ramanujan Srinivasa.

The Hardy-Ramanujan, 1,729, which on a particular occasion was Hardy's taxicab number,

became famous because Ramanujan realised it was the smallest number having what property?

It's uninteresting, it's got no quality at all.

Nominate Figueroa. It has no particular interest?

It may not to you, matey!

But to him it had a lot of interest because it can be represented in two ways

as the sum of two cubes.

Finally, this property of the number 1,729

was discussed by Anthony Hopkins' character

in the 2005 film adaptation of which Pulitzer Prize winning play?

Oh, um, I think it's Proof.

Proof? Yes, well done! It is the one about numbers.

In 1813, which Scottish writer declined the position of Poet Laureate,

having embarked on a career as a novelist?

The following year saw the anonymous publication of his first novel, Waverley.

Scott. Sir Walter Scott is right, yes.

Your bonuses now are on clouds, SOAS.

The British chemist Luke Howard, born 1772, created an early system of cloud classification based

on four fundamental cloud types.

Identify the cloud type in each case, please.

Firstly, for five points,

the fundamental cloud type that forms at low altitudes

by the lifting of ground-level fog during daytime heating.

Cumulus? No, it's stratus.

Secondly, the fundamental cloud type often subclassified into forms

known as fractus, humilis, mediocris and congestus.

Cirrus. No, it's cumulus.

And finally, the fundamental cloud type that forms the characteristic pattern known as mares' tails.

That's cirrus.

Cirrus. It is cirrus, yes.

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

you will see two lists of players involved in a sporting fixture.

For ten points, I want the event,

the teams involved

and the year in which it took place.

Uh, it's the...Manchester United vs Bayern Munich

in the Champions League final.

Do you need the year as well? Yes.

Um... Come on, let's have it. 19...96. Uh, no.

If you buzz you must answer straightaway, please, next time.

Reading, one of you like to buzz, you can have a pop at it.

It's Manchester United and Bayern Munich

in the Champions League final in 1999. Correct.

So, Reading, you get, following on from the starting line-up of the '99

Champions League final, three more starting teams from

major sporting fixtures. In each case I want the event,

the year it took place and the teams listed.

Firstly for five.

(WHISPERED) Rugby World Cup Final in 2011? Yeah. Yes.

I think that's correct.

It's France and New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup Final in 2011.

It is!

Secondly, from the 2012 Olympics,

I want the name of the event and the three medal-winning teams.

THEY CONFER

Men's 4x100 meters, and it's Jamaica, USA and...

Thompson's Trinidad, I think. Trinidad and Tobago?

Correct. And finally...

2012 Euros, which is Spain and...

Yeah, it's the Euro...quarterfinal, is it?

Quarterfinal? Semifinal?

I thought it was the final. Go with that then. What do you think?

I can't remember.

It's Spain and Italy in Euro 2012 and we think it's the final. It is!

Well done.

Ten points for this.

Enforced in England in the 14th century to late Tudor times,

what general form of legislation intended to reinforce social hierarchies

by regulating expenditures?

Sumptuary laws. Correct.

Your bonuses, this time, SOAS, are on buzzwords of 2012, according to the Macmillan Online Dictionary.

Firstly, what term describes the activity

of getting a large group of people to finance a particular project,

especially by using a website where they can make contributions?

Crowdsourcing. Yes, crowdsourcing or crowdfunding is correct.

Secondly, for five points, usually taking place at an organised event,

"swishing" is the activity of swapping

what general type of item with other people?

Isn't it personal contact information or something like that?

Some form of networking? Yeah.

Personal contact information? No, it is personal, it is clothes,

shoes and other fashion items, I'm afraid, so you're wrong there.

Finally, what two-word term denotes a proposal where Scotland

would have economic independence from the rest of the UK

but would still remain a part of it? Devo-max. Devo-max.

Well done. Ten points for this, what word links a hardwood tree grown

in central America, a garnish or sauce including spring vegetables,

a painting by Botticelli and the word for springtime

in Catalan Spanish and Italian.

Primavera? Correct.

These bonuses, SOAS, are on marriage in England.

Hardwick's Marriage Act of 1753 stated that valid marriages

be conducted in the Church Of England by banns or by licence.

Two religious groups were exempted from its provisions. Name either one.

Jews? Yes. That's right. The other ones were Quakers.

Secondly, a marriage act in which decade

allowed non-conformists and Catholics

to marry in their own places of worship? It also set up

registry offices for non-religious ceremonies.

1830s?

Correct, it was 1836.

Legislation in which decade extended the range of places

that could be licensed for the solemnisation of marriage

to any venue that was "seemly and dignified"?

'90s, 1990s? Correct. Ten points for this.

Listen carefully, answer as soon as your name is called.

A segment of wire has resistance R.

If its cross-sectional area is doubled

what is the new value of the wire's resistance?

Is it R by 4? R divided by 4?

Nope.

One of you buzz, SOAS.

R square?

No, it's a half R. R over 2. So, another starter question now.

In 1785, the writer Rudolph Erich Raspe published an account of

which German nobleman, noted for lengthily and exaggerated tales...?

Baron Munchausen. Correct.

These bonuses are on Geography. What three-word term denotes

the large expanse of sea that lies immediately south of the Nullarbor Plain?

It is sometimes defined as extending from Cape Pastly to Cape Carnot,

a distance of more than 1,000 kilometres.

Hudson Bay? No, other end of the world,

it's the Great Australian Bight.

Sharing its name with a country, which bight occupies part

of the gulf of Guinea, formerly known as the slave coast?

THEY CONFER

The Bight of Biafra?

There's another one. The Bight of Benin?

Bight of Biafra. No, it's the Bight of Benin, it was the other one!

Which bight is the modern name of the shipping forecast area formerly known as Heligoland?

German Bight. Correct.

We're going to take a music round.

You will hear a piece of popular music,

Ten points if you can name the performer, please.

# Hold me closer, Tiny Dancer. #

That's Elton John, isn't it?

You can hear a little more, SOAS.

# Count the headlights on the highway

# Lay me down in sheets of linen

# You had a busy day today. #

No idea?

I'll tell you, it's Jamie Cullum. So, music bonus in a moment or two,

fingers on the buzzers, here's another starter question.

"The people who weep before my pictures are having

"the same religious experience I had when I painted them

"and if you, as you say, are moved only by their colour relationships,

"then you miss the point." Which Latvian born...?

Is it Mark Rothko? It is indeed, yes.

OK, you will recall a moment ago we heard Jamie Cullum sing Elton John's song Tiny Dancer,

he chose it as one of his Desert Island Discs.

You are going to hear a chain of choices from three musicians who were also desert island castaways.

Firstly, Elton John chose this song. Five points if you can name the band performing.

# Wake me up, before you go-go

# Don't leave me hangin' on like a yo-yo...# Wham! It is Wham! yes.

Secondly, Wham!'s George Michael chose as one of his Desert Island Discs this song.

Again, give me the name of the band performing.

# Cos we were never being boring

# We had too much time...# Pet Shop Boys.

Correct.

And, finally, as one of his castaway selections, the Pet Shop Boys'

Neil Tennant chose this song, from which artist performing here?

# He don't really love her

# That's what I've heard him say

# He sure wasn't thinking of her

# Today...#

Dusty Springfield? It is Dusty Springfield.

I Don't Want To Hear It Anymore.

Ten points for this.

In Trigonometry, what term describes the ratio of the length of

the hypotenuse to the length of the side adjacent to an acute...?

Cosine. No, you lose five points.

..An acute angle in a right-angled triangle?

Come on.

Cosine? No, it's the... She just said that! Sorry.

It's wrong, it's the secant, ten points for this.

According to tradition, Richeldis de Faverches had a vision in 1061

in which the Virgin Mary showed her the house of the Holy Family

and asked her to build a replica in which Norfolk village, now a major pilgrimage site?

Walsingham. Walsingham is correct, yes.

These bonuses are on Justice, SOAS.

Arguing for a principled reconciliation of liberty and equality,

A Theory Of Justice is a 1971 work by which US philosopher?

Pass. John Rawls. Secondly, which

US philosopher gave a libertarian view of justice in the 1974 work

Anarchy, State And Utopia, arguing for a minimal state

and rejecting Rawls' idea of redistributive taxation?

That sounds more Chomsky-esque.

But he's a linguist. Ron Paul?

Ron Paul? Oh, God, no.

Chomsky?

Chomsky?! No, it's Robert Nozick.

And finally, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

These are the words of which US political activist in a letter of 1963?

Martin Luther King?

Martin Luther King. Correct. Ten points for this.

Verdant Works in Dundee

is a museum devoted to which natural fibre, formerly a mainstay of the city's economy?

It is used to make upholstery, sacking and twine.

Hemp?

No, anyone like to buzz from Reading?

Flax? No, it's jute.

Ten points for this. Which novel comes next in this sequence, given in reverse chronological order?

The Three Hostages, Mr Standfast, Greenmantle and...

39 Steps. Indeed, John Buchan.

Right, these bonuses, SOAS, are on shorter words that can be made

using any of the seven letters of the word RAGTIME.

In each case, give the word from the definition.

Firstly, the second word of a Latin term applied by alumni

to the school or university from which they graduated.

Mater. Correct, Alma mater.

A large quantity of paper, or by a different etymology, to widen a hole with a special tool.

Ream. Correct.

Finally, the US spelling of a unit of mass in the metric system.

Gram. Gram is correct, yes.

OK, we're going to take a second picture round now. For your picture starter

you will see a sculpture. Ten points if you can name the mythological figure

whose name appears in the traditional title of the piece.

Venus? Venus is right, it's the Venus of Willendorf.

That's prehistoric.

Your bonuses are three more artistic interpretations,

usually named after that deity. In each case I want the name of the artwork.

Firstly, this sculpture.

Venus de Milo. Correct.

Secondly, this painting.

Any suggestions?

Venus and the Cherub?

No, that's the Rokeby Venus, the Toilet of Venus.

And finally, this painting.

THEY CONFER

Nominate White. The Birth Of Venus.

It is, by Botticelli, yes. Ten points for this.

What is the perhaps misleading French name of the oldest

of the surviving bridges that span the river Seine...?

The Pont Neuf. The Pont Neuf is correct, yes.

These bonuses, SOAS, are linked by a name. What is the surname

of the Irish poet who chose the title of his 1930 autobiography

"To Return To All That" in response to a book written by his son the previous year?

Graves wrote Goodbye To All That.

Come on.

Yeats? No, it was Graves, you were right first time.

Richard Graves' 1779 novel, Colin Mellor,

was inspired by the life of which contemporary writer?

His works include The School Mistress and Essays On Men And Manners.

THEY CONFER

Come on, let's have it, please. Sheridan?

No, it was inspired by William Shenstone.

Finally, named after an Irish physician, Graves Disease

causes an enlargement of which gland in the human body?

THEY CONFER

Thyroid?

Thyroid is correct, yes.

Ten points for this. 355 over 113, 223 over 71

and 22 over 7 are all rational numerical approximations...

Pi? Of Pi, yes.

Right, Reading, your bonuses this time are on Biochemistry.

What is the generic term for the typically yellow, orange or red tetraterpinoids

that act as accessory pigments in photosynthesis?

Nominate Dunleavy?

Is it keratin? No, it is carotenoids.

There are two classes of carotenoids - carotenes and xanthophylls.

What atom is present in xanthophylls but absent in carotenes?

I haven't a clue.

It's going to be...

I can't... I'll take a punt on magnesium, because, why not?

Magnesium? No, it's oxygen.

Which human vitamin is derived from carotenoids?

A. A is correct.

Ten points for this, listen carefully. Between 1910 and 1999,

only one decade saw a single UK general election. Which decade was it?

1940s? Correct, because of the war.

Your bonuses now are on cricket, SOAS.

Geoff Hobbs in 1923, Len Hutton in 1951, Viv Richards in 1988

are among the small number of batsmen who have achieved what cricketing milestone?

100 centuries.

100 centuries.

Correct. Which batsman was the first to make his hundredth hundred

in the 21st century for Surrey against Yorkshire in 2008?

Mark Ramprakash. Correct.

Which Yorkshire batsman was the first to make his hundredth

hundred in a test match for England against Australia at Headingley in 1977?

That's Geoff Boycott. It is.

Ten points for this, answer as soon as your name is called.

Give the dictionary spelling of the geometrical term "isosceles".

I-S-O-S-E-S-C... No.

I-S-O-C...

No, sorry.

Sorry, it's I-S-O-S-C-E-L-E-S.

Right, another started question.

What collective name is given to Burnt Norton, East Coker, The Dry...

The Four Quartets.

Right, your bonuses are on Asia, SOAS.

In each case, name the country in which the following major geographical features are located,

all three countries are larger than the UK.

Firstly, for five points, Lake Biwa and the Kanto Plain.

Japan.

Correct. The Zagros Mountains and the Dasht-e Kavir Salt Desert.

Iran. Correct. Finally, the Chao Phraya

and the Tanon Tong Chai mountains.

Let's have it, please, chaps.

North Korea?

No, it's Thailand. I'm using the term "chaps" in a non gender-specific way, don't worry.

Right, ten points for this.

In Zoology, what two-word term denotes the air-filled sack

that maintains buoyancy in bony fishes?

Swim bladder? Correct!

Your bonuses, Reading, are on invasions of Britain.

Who was the Roman emperor at the time of the invasion of Britain in AD43?

Caesar Augustus?

No, it was Claudius.

Commemorated in an Anglo-Saxon poem, which down in Essex

was the sight of an invasion by Danish forces in the year 991?

What's on the coast?

Southend? Southend is a bit ridiculous.

Come on, let's have it, please.

Colchester?

No, it's Malden. And, finally, which port in West Wales

was the sight of an aborted French invasion in 1797?

Any ideas?

Haverford West? No, it's Fishguard.

Ten points for this starter question.

The English name of which Swiss city is an anagram of a word meaning

"inflict harm in return for a wrong done."

Geneva and vengeance? Geneva is correct, you didn't need to give me...

Of course, vengeance is not an anagram of it. Sorry.

Avenge is but you didn't need to give me that, I only wanted the name

of the city so you get a set of bonuses on unfinished operas, SOAS.

Which Austrian composer left the orchestration of the third act

of his twelve-tone opera Lulu incomplete when he died in 1935?

GONG

And at the gong, Reading have 90, SOAS have 240.

Well, Reading, thank you for joining us but I'm afraid it's the bus home for you.

SOAS, many congratulations, 240 is a terrific score, we shall look

forward to seeing you in the quarterfinals, congratulations.

I hope you can join us next time for the first of the quarterfinals,

but until then it is goodbye from Reading University.

ALL: Bye

It's goodbye from The School Of Oriental And African Studies. ALL: Goodbye.

And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.

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