Episode 29 University Challenge

University Challenge.

Asking the questions - Jeremy Paxman.

Hello.

By the end of tonight's match we'll know the first of the four teams

who'll be competing in the semifinals.

Both teams playing for that place

already have one quarterfinal victory behind,

so whoever wins tonight will qualify automatically while

the losers will get one final chance to do so.

The team from Trinity College, Cambridge

have had an impressive run so far,

dispatching Christ Church, Oxford in Round 1,

and earning themselves the highest score in the round at the same time.

Peterhouse, Cambridge fell next followed by the reigning champions

Manchester University whom they beat by 285 points

to 205 in their first quarterfinal.

Let's see if they can match that tonight, and meet them again.

Hi, I'm Matthew Ridley.

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

Hi, I'm Philip Drnovsek Zorko from Slovenia

and I'm studying natural sciences.

-And their captain.

-Hello, I'm Ralph Morley.

I'm from Ashford in Kent and I'm studying classics.

Hello. I'm Richard Freeland.

I'm from Cowbridge in Glamorgan and I'm studying mathematics.

APPLAUSE

The team from the London School of Oriental and African Studies

have also three victories behind them,

having toppled the University of Southampton in Round 1,

Reading University in Round 2,

and Cardiff in their first quarterfinal match,

whom they beat by 200 points to 90.

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 Eastern studies.

Hello, my name is Luke Vivian-Neal,

I'm from Lusaka in Zambia and I study Chinese.

And the SOAS captain.

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

and I'm studying for an MA in African history.

I'm James Figueroa from Surrey and I'm reading African studies

and development studies.

APPLAUSE

You all know the rules. Fingers on the buzzers.

Here's your first starter for ten.

Solidarity and Progress, Workers' Struggle and Europe Ecology

are among the English names of parties that fielded candidates...?

Poland.

No, you lose five points.

In which country's 2012 presidential election

all failed to reach the second round, which was won by the...?

France.

Correct.

Trinity, you get the first set of bonuses.

They're on Russian visitors to London.

For five points.

Which Tsar stayed in London for three months in 1698 at

the age of 26 in a house lent to him by John Evelyn

during which time he was tutored by Edmond Halley?

Peter The Great.

Correct. Designed by Berthold Lubetkin,

the housing project Bevin Court on Cruikshank Street in London

was intended at one time to be named after which Soviet leader

who'd briefly occupied a house on the site?

Trotsky.

No, it was Lenin.

Finally, 2001 saw the unveiling of a statue of which former

foundry worker outside the British Council's London headquarters

where crowds had cheered him exactly 50 years earlier?

Khrushchev.

No, Yuri Gagarin, the astronaut. Ten points for this.

The idiosyncratic metre known as Sprung rhythm

is especially associated with which poet?

Received into the Roman Catholic church in 1886,

his works include the Wreck Of The Deutschland and Pied Beauty.

Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Correct.

You bonuses are on writers, SOAS,

who completed only one novel during their lifetime.

In each case name both the novel and its author.

First for five. Written under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas,

which novel describes the breakdown of Esther Greenwood?

It was first published in 1963,

a month before the suicide of its author.

The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath.

Correct.

Described as a Sicilian Gone With The Wind, which novel concerns

an aristocratic family during the unification of Italy?

It was published in 1958, a year after the death of its author.

Nominate Vivian-Neal.

Is it The Leopard by Lampedusa?

It is indeed.

Finally, the events of which novel span the ends of Tsarist Russia

and the early years of the Soviet Union?

First published in Italy in 1957,

its author was acclaimed in Russia as a poet.

Doctor Zhivago and Boris Pasternak.

Correct. Ten points for this.

Listen carefully to the quotation and the question that follows.

"Our character lies for hundreds of millions of years

"bound to three atoms of oxygen and one of calcium."

These words of Primo Levi begin a prose poem

dedicated to which chemical element?

Calcium.

Anyone like to buzz from SOAS?

It's carbon. Too late. Ten points for this.

Developed by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger,

which app allows users of mobile phones to take pictures

that can then be shared on social network sites?

It became a one billion...?

Instagram.

Correct.

Your bonuses are on the US space shuttle programme. For five points.

Each space shuttle mission was officially designated

with the prefix STS. For what do those letters stand?

Space transport system.

Space transportation system,

so technically I'm afraid I can't give it to you.

STS 30 launched in May 1989 carried the Magellan probe that between 1990

and '94 conducted the radar mapping of which planet of the solar system?

Venus.

Correct. STS 135, the final flight of the programme,

was launched in July 2011 when which shuttle undertook a mission to

the International Space Station?

Discovery.

No, that had just finished operating. It was Atlantis.

We're going to take another starter question now.

Taken from Book I entitled

Admonitions Profitable For The Spiritual Life,

the declaration that man proposes but God disposes

comes from which 15th century devotional work by Thomas a Kempis?

The Imitation Of Christ.

Correct.

You get a set of bonuses this time, SOAS, on a London building.

The building and surrounding park at which Middlesex house were

described by Sir John Betjeman as the Grand Architectural Walk?

Standing on the site of the medieval abbey,

the house is named after a peak in Jerusalem.

Syon House.

Correct. Following the Abbey's dissolution,

the estate passed to which duke? The Lord Protector of Edward the XI,

he built Syon House in the Italian renaissance style.

Somerset.

Correct. The Duke of Somerset.

Syon House has been described as the finest surviving evidence of

the innovative use of colour by which 18th century

Scottish architect who remodelled the interior?

Nash.

No, it's Robert Adam. We're going to take a picture round.

For your picture starter you'll see a map marking

the sites of major battles that took place in a series of wars.

For ten points. Give the name by which the wars are generally known.

The Napoleonic Wars.

Correct.

Your bonuses are three more maps.

Marking land and sea battles that took place during a war

in which France was crucially involved.

In each case I want the name of the war

and the French ruler at that time.

Firstly for five.

The Nine Years' War and Louis XIV.

No, it's Louis XIV, the war of the Spanish Succession.

Secondly, this ruler and war.

The Crimean War and Napoleon III.

Correct. Finally.

Louis XVI and the American War Of Independence.

Correct. Well done.

Ten points for this starter question.

After a type of shell,

what eight letter noun denotes a plain curve

consisting of two branches...?

A conchoid.

Correct.

Trinity, your bonuses this time are on photography.

What two-word French term denotes a photograph taken with

the sun taken directly behind the subject making it a silhouette

against the light source?

..soleil.

No, it's contre-jour.

Using a shallow depth of field gives a blurred image

that has come to be described with what five-letter word

originating from Japanese?

Hayge.

Bokeh.

Which technique involves slowing the shutter speed

and following a moving subject as it passes in front of the camera

giving it more focus than the background?

Pass.

It's panning or pan. Ten points for this.

What two word term gave the Russian sociologist Pitirim Sorokin

the title of his 1927 study of the dynamics of inequality and refers to

the extent to which in an individual status can change over

a lifetime or between generations?

Social Mobility.

Correct.

Trinity, your bonuses are on song birds.

In the words of the RSPB website,

in each case give the common name from the description.

Erithacus rubecula sing nearly all year round

and despite their cute appearance,

they're aggressively territorial and are quick to drive away intruders.

They'll sing at night next to street lights.

Robin.

Correct.

Phoenicurus phoenicurus. Identifiable by

their bright orange-red tails, which they often quiver,

they bob in a robin-like manner

but spend little time at ground level.

Chaffinch.

No, it's the red start.

Luscinia megarhynchos, slightly larger than robins

with a plain brown appearance,

the famous song is indeed of high quality with a fast succession of

high, low and rich notes that few other species can match.

Nightingale.

Yes. Ten points for this.

What duration in hours links the Swiss-American artist

Christian Marclay 2010's installation The Clock

and 1993 work by the Scottish artist Douglas Gordon

based on Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

and a 2002 film about the music community in Manchester?

24 Hours.

Correct, yes.

These bonuses are on modern feminist works.

The New Feminism in 1998 and Living Dolls: The Return Of Sexism

in 2009 are among the works of which English author?

Pass.

They are by Natasha Walter.

In her 2005 work Female Chauvinist Pigs,

which US author argues that a so-called "raunch culture"

cannot be viewed as a form of women's liberation.

No, sorry.

Ariel Levy.

Claiming that modern feminism has become

the victim of an unenlightened complacency, which Australian writer

and academic published The Whole Woman in 1999,

her sequel to a seminal text in 1970?

Germaine Greer.

It is, yes.

Seems to be the only feminist you've heard of over there.

We're going to take a music round now.

You're going to go hear a piece of classical music.

For your starter and ten points.

All you have to do is name the Russian composer.

Shostakovich.

Yes, it is. Well done.

That was his Waltz Number 2.

Your bonuses are three pieces of classical music from composers

not often associated with waltzes.

Five points for each composer you can name.

First this Nordic composer.

Grieg.

No, it was Sibelius, his Valse Triste.

Secondly this American composer.

George Gershwin.

It was. Two Waltzes in C.

Finally this French composer.

Saint-Saens.

No, it's Ravel. Ten points for this. Listen carefully.

In radians per second,

what is the angular frequency of a simple pendulum of length 10cm

oscillating under the influence of gravity if

the acceleration due to gravity is 10m per second squared?

One tenth.

Anyone like to buzz from SOAS?

A half.

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

Some of the tallest sand dunes in the world

are found in which coastal desert lined between the...?

Namib.

Correct.

Your bonuses this time are on pairs of words in which the first

and second vowels are transposed.

In each case listen to the definition and spell both words.

The seed of the leguminous plant Lens culinaris cultivated for food.

And horizontal piece of timber or stone over a door or window.

Lentil. L-E-N-T-I-L.

And lintel. L-I-N-T-E-L.

Correct.

Particles of pigment used to produce the image in a photocopy.

And adult male voice above the baritone.

Tenor. T-E-N-O-R.

And toner. T-O-N-E-R.

Correct.

Finally, hard calcareous substance made up of

the continuous skeleton secreted by marine coloenteric polyps.

And hymn or song of joy.

Coral and carol.

C-O-R-A-L. C-A-R-O-L.

Well done. Ten points for this.

The Sad Fortunes Of The Reverend Amos Barton, Mr Gilfil's Love Story

and Janet's Repentance are three stories by George Eliot

that first appeared serially in Blackwood's Magazine.

What was the name of the volume that...?

Middlemarch.

No, I'm afraid you lose five points.

What was the name of the volume that comprised all three tales?

I'll tell you, Scenes of Clerical Life.

Ten points for this.

In meteorology and oceanography, what action gives rise to

the Coriolis Force which contributes...?

The rotation of the earth.

Yes.

These bonuses, Trinity, are on glands.

What collective name is given to those glands in the human body

that secret hormones directly into the blood stream?

Endocrine.

Correct. Located below the larynx, which endocrine gland

secretes hormones vital to metabolism and growth?

Thyroid.

Correct. The adrenal glands are small endocrine glands

located immediately above which organs of the body?

Kidney.

Correct. Ten points for this.

Examples including New Zealand, Tuvalu and Barbados,

what precise two word term...?

Commonwealth Realm.

Well done.

These bonuses are on ancient empires.

The Achaemenid Empire, founded in the early 6th century BC,

had its palaces at Pasargadae, Susa

and Persepolis, sites in which present day Middle Eastern country?

Iran.

Correct. Extending from Asia minor to India,

which empire was named after one of Alexander the Great's generals

who created it from the remains of the Macedonian Empire?

Seleucid.

Correct. Also known as the Arsacid Empire,

which empire ruled Persia from the 3rd century BC?

Parthian.

Correct. Ten points for this.

A commercially prosperous state during the 17th century,

the historical region of Courland is today part of

which EU member state?

Poland.

Anyone like to buzz from Trinity?

Lithuania.

No, Latvia. Ten points for this.

Which artist painted Woman With a Hat,

displayed at the Salon d'Automne in 1905 in the exhibition that launched

the artistic movement that has come to be known as Fauvism?

Matisse.

Correct.

Bonuses this time on indigenous peoples.

Associated with regions such as Araucania,

the Mapuche are an indigenous people principally concentrated

in which South American country?

Paraguay.

No, Chile.

Meaning of earliest times and inhabitant,

Adivasi is an umbrella term for the indigenous peoples

of which large Asian country?

India.

Correct.

Orang Asli is a collective term for

the indigenous peoples of which country?

Indonesia.

No, it's Malaysia.

We're going to take a second picture round now.

For your picture starter you'll see a painting.

All you have to do to get ten points is to give me

the name of the artist.

Van Eyck.

The Arnolfini Marriage, yes.

Picture bonuses. Three more notable paintings of couples.

In each case I want you to name the artist. Firstly.

Gainsborough.

It is. Mr and Mrs Andrews by him. Secondly.

Grant Wood.

American Gothic, yes. And finally.

Ford Madox Brown.

The Last of England, indeed. Ten points for this.

Awarded the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for drama, which play by Doug Wright

follows the true story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf,

an East Berlin transvestite, curator and antiquarian?

Hedwig And The Angry Inch.

No.

Any idea, Trinity College?

I Am My Own Wife. Ten points for this.

Which country has a population of only 400,000,

but has the highest population density of any EU member state?

Malta.

Correct.

These bonuses are on misleading culinary names.

Which Scottish dish consists of buttered toast,

spread with anchovy paste and scrambled egg

but does not contain the game bird that appears in its name?

Pass.

It's Scotch woodcock.

A translation of the German Kaltes Ende,

which two word named denotes a fizzy concoction of

burgundy and champagne?

Cold sweat.

No, it's Cold Duck.

A traditional dish in New Zealand, colonial goose is a boned shoulder

or leg of which meat stuffed with herbs?

Lamb.

There's no other meat in New Zealand, is there?

Ten points for this.

Give the chemical symbol that comes next in this sequence.

N, O, F, Ne and...?

Na.

Correct.

Four minutes to go and there are 50 points at stake for these bonuses.

They're on scales.

Which Scottish university give its name to a scale

published in 1974 designed to assess the depth and duration of coma

and impaired consciousness?

Glasgow.

Correct. The Torino Scale runs from nought to ten and indicates

the degree of potential threat from what form of hazard?

Meteorite.

Meteorite or asteroid or similar impact.

Although for all normal purposes it runs from nought to 12,

which scale was extended to 17 in 1944

to deal with conditions such as tropical cyclones?

Baring scale.

No, it's the Beaufort scale. Ten points for this.

Answer as soon as your name is called.

The English name of which east Mediterranean capital is an anagram

of a common one-word translation of the Latin imperative festina?

Athens.

Correct.

These bonuses are on a medieval chronicler.

History Of The Kings Of Britain is a pseudohistorical work by which

British chronicler appointed Bishop of Saint Asaph in 1152?

Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Correct. Geoffrey of Monmouth described the settlement of Britain

by Brutus, the great grandson of which Trojan hero?

Aeneas.

Correct. Who's described in a later work by Geoffrey of Monmouth

as "a king and prophet,

"to the proud people of the South Welsh, he gave laws,

"and to the chieftains, he prophesied the future"?

King Arthur.

No, it's Merlin. Two and a half minutes to go. Ten points for this.

Answer as soon as you buzz.

Name two of the three largest moons in the solar system?

Ganymede and Titan.

Yeah, the other one's Callisto.

Another set of bonuses for you, Trinity College.

They are on a chemical process.

The chemist Fritz Haber won the Nobel Prize in 1918 for his method

of synthesising which compound gas from hydrogen and nitrogen?

Ammonia.

Correct. Haber's method is often named after him

and which industrial chemist, who translated this into a

large-scale high-pressure process?

Bosch.

Correct. The Haber Process initially used, as a catalyst, either uranium

or which rare dense platinum metal?

Titanium.

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

What three-letter word did Ambrose Bierce define as

"affected with a high degree of intellectual independence"?

But.

No.

Cat.

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

"Then must you speak of one that loved not wisely but too well."

Othello.

Correct.

Your bonuses this time are on poetry in the 1850s.

Sonnets From The Portuguese in 1850

and Aurora Leigh in 1856 are works by which British poet?

Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Correct. The 1855 Song of Hiawatha is a work by which New England poet?

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Correct. First published in 1857,

Les Fleurs du mal is a collection by which French poet?

Baudelaire.

Correct. Ten points for this.

What is northernmost of the sea areas used

in the UK and the Met Office...?

Southeast Iceland.

Correct.

Bonuses this time, SOAS, are linked by a name.

King Harold II, killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066,

was also known by what patronymic?

Godwinson.

Correct. The social reformer William Godwin was married in 1797

to which feminist author?

Come on.

-Pass.

-Mary Wollstonecraft.

Godwin-Austen, the second highest mountain in the world,

is also known by what alphanumeric designation?

K2.

Correct. Another starter question.

The adjective phrenic refers to what part of the human body

that takes...?

The skull.

No, you lose five points.

That takes the form of a thin membranous dome-shaped muscle?

Come on, one of you buzz.

Diaphragm.

Correct.

GONG SOUNDS

And at the gong, SOAS, you have 105.

And Trinity College, Cambridge have 280.

Well, SOAS, you're going to have to come back and play again

if you want to get through to the semifinals.

Many congratulations to you, Trinity,

you go through to the semis.

You're the first team to qualify so far.

280, another very impressive score from you.

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

But until then, it's goodbye from

the School Of Oriental and African Studies.

-ALL:

-Goodbye.

Maintaining the niceties, you know.

And it's goodbye from Trinity College, Cambridge.

-ALL:

-Goodbye.

-And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.