Episode 34 University Challenge

APPLAUSE

Asking the questions... Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. Eight teams made it to this stage of the contest.

Three have already gone home,

another three are through to the semifinals.

They are Trinity College, Cambridge, Somerville College, Oxford,

and Manchester University.

They'll be joined by whichever team wins tonight because both have one

quarterfinal victory already behind them,

but it will be curtains for the losers.

The London School of Oriental and African Studies

beat Southampton University in round one,

Reading in round two, and Cardiff in their first quarterfinal,

but their second saw them

take a hammering at the hands of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Let's see if they can find the form they need tonight.

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

and I am reading for a BA in Ancient Near-East studies.

Hi, I am Luke Vivian-Neal, from Lusaka in Zambia,

and I study Chinese.

And their captain.

Hi, I am Peter McKean, I am from Wallington in South London,

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

Hi, I'm James Figueroa, I'm from Surrey,

and I'm reading African Studies and Development Studies.

APPLAUSE

Now, the team from Queen's University Belfast

beat Aberdeen in round one,

and Downing College, Cambridge in round two.

They fell foul of Southampton University in their first

quarterfinal match but then beat Clare College, Cambridge

to find themselves now playing for the last semifinal place.

Let's meet them again.

Hi, I am Suzanne Cobain, I'm from County Down,

and I am reading History.

Hello, I am Gareth Gamble from Lurgan in County Armagh

and I'm studying Medicine.

And let's meet their captain.

Hello, I am Joseph Greenwood, I'm from Manchester

and I'm studying for a PhD in Irish Theatre.

Hi, I am Alexander Green from Lytham in Lancashire

and I'm studying for a PhD in Plasma Physics.

APPLAUSE

You all know the rules.

Fingers on buzzers, here's your first starter for 10.

The Gorbals Goebbels, "a sort of thin white Mugabe"

and "the PM's all-swearing eye" are nicknames...

Alistair Campbell.

HE LAUGHS

No, I'm afraid you lose five points.

..are nicknames for which fictional spin doctor, played in the film...

Malcolm Tucker.

Malcolm Tucker is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Right, so you get the first set of bonuses

and a writ for libel goes to you, Queen's.

SOAS, here are your bonuses, they are on destroyed artworks.

Commissioned in 1894 by the University of Vienna

but regarded as too controversial to be displayed as originally intended,

Philosophy was a ceiling panel painting by which Austrian artist?

It was destroyed in 1945 by retreating SS forces.

-Klimt?

-Correct.

Diego Rivera's Rockefeller Centre mural, entitled

Man At The Crossroads, was destroyed in 1934 after the Mexican

artist refused to remove the image of which revolutionary?

-Pancho Villa?

-No, it was Lenin.

Which artist's appliqued tent, Everyone I Have Ever Slept With

1963 to 1995, was lost in the Momart warehouse fire of 2004?

-Tracey Emin.

-Correct.

Ten points for this starter question.

Which island is this? Sold to Venice in about 1204,

it was under Turkish rule from the 17th century to the 19th century,

and had 15 years of autonomy before being annexed by Greece in 193...

Crete.

Crete is correct.

APPLAUSE

SOAS, these bonuses are on an astronomer.

In the late 17th century, a table of the positions of Jupiter's

satellites and the discovery of several moons of Saturn

were among the achievements of which Italian-French astronomer?

-Cassini?

-Cassini is right.

Cassini's table of Jupiter's satellites was

used by the Danish astronomer Ole Romer in 1675

to establish that what universal physical constant is finite?

Gravity?

-Gravity.

-No, it is the speed of light.

Cassini was the first of four successive generations of his family

to serve as director of the observatory

of which European capital?

-Paris?

-Sorry?

Let's go with Paris.

-Paris.

-Paris is right. 10 points for this.

When measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii,

an atmospheric concentration rising from around 314 parts per million

in 1959 to 3...

-Carbon dioxide.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Bonuses for you, Queen's, on chancellors of the exchequer.

The gold standard was suspended on the outbreak

of the First World War and briefly re-established in 1928

when which Conservative was chancellor?

-Stanley Baldwin?

-No, it was Winston Churchill.

Christ and Carrots was Churchill's nickname for which

Labour chancellor, a Christian socialist,

noted for his aestheticism?

-Erm, Bevin?

-No, that was Stafford Cripps.

Finally, chancellor from '51 to '55, which Conservative was associated

with the 1944 Education Act which is frequently referred to by his name?

(Rab Butler.)

-Rab Butler.

-Correct.

10 points for this. Written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who...?

South Park.

No, I'm afraid you lose five points.

Written by Trey Parker

and Matt Stone, who described it as an atheist love letter to religion,

which satirical musical premiered in the West End in 2013 and shares

its named with the sacred text

of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?

-The Book Of Mormon.

-Yes.

APPLAUSE

Right, your bonuses are on films of 1973, Queen's.

Name the film from the description.

Firstly, based on a novel by Frederick Forsyth,

the story of an assassination attempt in France

in the early 1960s. Edward Fox plays the title character.

The Day Of The Jackal.

Correct. Directed by James William Guercio,

a cult film about an Arizona Highway Patrol officer

who aspires to become a detective.

It's named, in part, after a model of Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

No. Don't know.

It's Electra Glide In Blue.

Finally, an Academy Award-winning film starring Paul Newman

and Robert Redford as confidence tricksters attempting

to cheat a criminal banker.

-The Sting.

-Correct. We are going to take a picture round.

For your picture starter, you will see the crest of a specific

agency with any helpful wording removed.

10 points if you can name the organisation to which it belongs.

-United States Supreme Court.

-No. Anyone like to buzz from Queen's?

European Court of Justice.

No, it belongs to the Federal Bureau Of Investigation, the FBI.

Picture bonuses shortly,

another 10 points at stake with this starter question.

The Way Of All Flesh by Samuel Butler,

The Man With The Golden Gun by Ian Fleming,

Maurice by E.M. Forster, and Persuasion by Jane Austen

all have what in common

relating to the circumstances of their publication?

Published after the author's death.

Correct. Posthumously, yes.

So you will recall we saw the crest of the FBI.

For your bonuses, three more crests of former or current

international intelligence agencies for you to identify.

Firstly, for five.

Is it MI5?

It's certainly an English one.

Secret Intelligence Service?

We'll say MI5.

No, it's MI6, SIS, the Secret Intelligence Service.

Secondly...

The Stasi?

It's Eastern German.

It's the symbol of East Germany. Stasi?

It is the Stasi.

And finally, this one.

-Mossad.

-Correct.

Ten points for this.

Derived in part from the name of the muse of history in Greek mythology,

what term was coined by the US academic Stanley Reiter

to denote the study of economic history

using statistics and computer analysis?

Cliometrics?

Correct.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses, SOAS, are on animal viruses.

Firstly, denoting one of its most obvious symptoms, what common name

is given to the non-contagious virus spread to ruminants

by Culicoides imicola, a species of midge?

Blue-tongue, or something like that?

Foot-and-mouth, or something like that?

Blue-tongue?

Blue-tongue?

Correct.

Named after the German town where it was first detected in dairy cows

in 2011, which virus causes foetal malformations

and stillbirths in cattle, sheep and goats?

HE WHISPERS

-Creutzfeldt? Does that ring any bells?

-What, sorry?

That's a long time before that, Creutzfeldt.

-Um...

-Don't know.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease?

No, it's the Schmallenberg virus.

And finally, its name indicating the animal it infects, FIV

is an immuno-deficiency virus, primarily transmitted through

bite wounds. For what does the F in FIV stand?

-Feline?

-Yeah, probably feline.

-Feline?

Correct. Ten points for this.

Giving access to the Baltic,

to a state reconstituted after the First World War,

what two-word term denotes the tract of land

that separated Pomerania from East Prussia?

It was used as a pretext for war by Hitler...

-Schleswig-Holstein?

-No.

I'm afraid you're going to get fined five points.

It was used as a pretext for war by Hitler in 1939.

-Polish Corridor?

-It is the Polish Corridor, yes.

Your bonuses, Queen's, are on Prussian generals.

Along with August von Gneisenau, which Prussian general was prominent

in reforming the Prussian Army after defeat by Napoleon in 1806?

He died of wounds in 1813.

THEY CONFER

-Um... Von Kiesling?

-Von what?

-Kiesling?

-Kiesling?

-Yeah.

Er, no, it's Scharnhorst.

A pupil of Scharnhorst at the Berlin War Academy, which Prussian general

is best known for his unfinished treaties on war published in 1832?

No idea.

No, um... Heldenberg.

-Are you just making these names up?

-Yeah.

LAUGHTER

Commendably honest! No, that was Clausewitz.

A disciple of Clausewitz, which general was the architect

of victories over Austria and France between 1866 and 1871?

His nephew was the German chief of staff at the outbreak of World War I.

-Er, nominate Campbell.

-Schleiken?

No, it was von Moltke, von Moltke. Ten points for this.

At the end of the Roman Civil War, the Greek astronomer Sosigenes

devised which long-lasting innovation? In general use in Europe

until the late 16th century, it was superseded in Britain only in...

The Julian calendar?

Correct.

Right. These bonuses, Queen's, are on a play by Shakespeare.

Take, Oh Take Those Lips Away

is a song in which of Shakespeare's plays?

Sometimes described as a problem play,

it's his only work set in Vienna.

-A Winter's Tale?

-In Vienna? No, it's Measure For Measure.

"More than our brother is our chastity."

This line is delivered by which character in Measure For Measure?

Her name means "consecrated to God" or "God's promise".

-Nominate Campbell.

-Grace?

-No, it's Isabella.

What two-word term denotes the type of plot device

used by Shakespeare in Measure For Measure

which results in Angelo believing he slept with Isabella?

Um...yeah, misidentification?

Er, no, it's the bed trick or a bed trick.

We're going to take a music round now.

For your music starter, you'll hear a classical song cycle.

Ten points if you can give me the name of the British composer.

OPERA MUSIC PLAYS

-Elgar.

-Correct, yes, Where Corals Lie.

That's from his Sea Pictures song cycle.

For your bonus questions, you're going to hear three pieces of instrumental classical music,

all associated with the sea.

For each, I simply want the name of the composer.

Firstly, this French composer.

LIVELY MUSIC PLAYS

Saint-Saens?

No, it's Debussy's La Mer.

Secondly, another French composer.

PIANO MUSIC PLAYS

-Ravel?

-It is indeed. Une Barque Sur L'ocean.

And finally, this British composer.

FAST ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

-Vaughan Williams?

-I think it's Benjamin Britten.

Yeah, Benjamin Britten.

Benjamin Britten.

You're correct, yes, it's his The Storm, from Four Sea Interludes.

Ten points for this starter question.

Listen carefully - answer promptly.

In centimetres cubed, what volume of one molar sulphuric acid is

needed to neutralise 20cm cubed of 0.5 molar sodium hydroxide solution?

-Ten.

-No.

-Five centimetres cubed?

-Five is correct, yes.

Right, your bonuses, Queen's, are on the United Nations.

Within the United Nations,

intergovernmental organisations and non-member states can apply

for what status by which they can take part in debates but can't vote?

-Nominate.

-Candidate?

-No, it's observer, permanent observer status.

Two non-member states are currently observers. One is the Holy See.

What became the second in 2012 after a resolution was passed by the General Assembly?

-Palestine?

-Correct.

A permanent observer since 1974 when it had nine member states,

which organisation has voting rights on the UN Food And Agriculture and World Trade Organisations?

-I'll nominate Campbell.

-NAFTA?

-No, it's the European Union.

Ten points for this.

The four-letter name of which British river

appears at the end of the common names of the game bird

Lagopus lagopus, the parasitic insect.

-Ouse, O-U-S-E.

-Correct. Usually pronounced "ooze", but you're right.

It's confusing. Well done.

Your bonuses are on sets of four, SOAS.

The Dutch ornithologist and ethologist Niko Tinbergen

formulated the four questions of causation, development, function

and evolution used in the study of what area of zoology?

-Animal behaviour?

-I think so.

Animal behaviour.

Correct.

Which French thinker began his new seminar on

the four fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis in January 1964?

It could be Sartre.

-Go for Sartre.

-Sartre?

-No, it was Lacan.

And finally, which Ancient Greek philosopher attributed change

to four different kinds of cause -

material, formal, efficient and final?

Aristotle.

Correct. Ten points for this.

Both derived from an old French word meaning "mixture",

which two words mean "fruit preserved and cooked in syrup"

and "decaying biological matter used as fertiliser"?

BELL RINGS

-Compote.

-Looking for two words. Queen's?

-Compote and compost.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, Queen's, are on presidents of the Royal Society -

presidents of the Royal Society from 1915 to 1920.

Which physicist revolutionised the knowledge of

atomic structure by his discovery of the electron?

THEY CONFER

-Nominate.

-JJ Thomson.

-Correct.

Which early-20th century president of the Royal Society

gives his name to the dispersion of electromagnetic

radiation by particles that have a radius less than

approximately one-tenth the wavelength of the radiation?

THEY CONFER

-Rayleigh, I think.

-Rayleigh.

Rayleigh is correct, yes.

And finally, which pioneer of antiseptic surgery was

president of the Royal Society from 1890 to '95.

-Joseph Lister.

-Correct.

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

you'll see a somewhat disobliging depiction of a political figure.

For ten points, I want the name of the figure

and the TV programme in which the depiction featured.

It's Spitting Image and it's Betty Boothroyd.

It is indeed Baroness Boothroyd, as she became...

-APPLAUSE

-..Speaker of the House of Commons.

Following on from that puppet, you'll see

puppets depicting some of the programme's regular

political targets, all of whom are now either lords or knights.

You know how it is in Britain(!)

Firstly for five, these two.

-(That's Lord Kinnock and Roy Hattersley.

-Yeah.)

It's Neil Kinnock and Roy Hattersley.

It is indeed. And who are these two?

Oh, it's David Steel and David Owen.

-David Steel and David Owen.

-Indeed.

And finally, who are these three former cabinet ministers?

(John Major, Heseltine and Hurd.)

It's Heseltine, Major and Hurd.

It is indeed. Yes.

APPLAUSE

And you've taken the lead.

Right, ten points for this.

In Ancient Rome, what festival held in mid-December was observed...

-Saturnalia.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Right, your bonuses, SOAS,

are on names that have a unique last letter within their own category.

For example, Obama and Polk in the category US presidents.

Firstly, four countries have short English names with a unique

last letter. Bangladesh and Iraq are two.

The other two are both EU member states. Name either one.

THEY CONFER

(Denmark?

-(It could be Denmark.

-Yeah. OK.)

-Denmark.

-Correct.

The other one is Luxembourg. Well done.

Three US states have a unique last letter. New York is one.

Which two landlocked, contiguous western states are the others?

THEY WHISPER

Utah?

Contiguous. Utah.

THEY CONTINUE TO WHISPER

New Mexico? No...

-Come on, let's have it, please.

-Um, Utah and, um...

-No, I needed both.

I'm sorry.

It's Wyoming and Utah. Bad luck.

Two world capitals have English names with a unique last letter.

One is Zagreb, which city on the River Dnieper is the other?

-Kiev. It's got to be Kiev. Kiev.

-Kiev is right.

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

The flag of which European country consists of three horizontal bands,

that are the same colours reading downwards as the fly band

of the Italian flag, the central section of the Dutch flag...

Hungary.

Yes!

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on shorter words that can be made using

any of the letters of the word whimsical.

In each case give the word from the definition.

Firstly, the unstressed central vowel.

For example, the first sound of the word "again" -

in the International Phonetic Alphabet,

it is represented by an inverted, lower case letter E.

Oh...

schwa.

-Nominate.

-Schwa.

-Correct.

From the Latin for eyelash,

minute hairlike projections on the surface of some cells,

they are used as a means of locomotion

in some aquatic organisms.

(Cilia.)

-Cilia.

-That's correct. You get the lead.

A computer coding system that assigns numbers to letters,

digits and symbols.

It is a seven-bit binary code

allowing for 128 characters to be represented.

-ASCII.

-Nominate.

-ASCII.

-ASCII is correct. Yes.

Ten points for this.

What common mineral shares its name with

the abbreviation used for the negotiations

begun in the late-1960s between the USA and the USSR...

-Salt.

-Salt is correct. Yes.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on the summation of infinite series.

If a sequence of real numbers has a convergent infinite sum,

what is the limiting value of the sequence?

-THEY CONFER

-Come on.

-One.

-No, it's zero.

In solving the Basel problem, Leonard Euler proved that the sum

of the reciprocals of the positive square numbers is equal to what?

A half?

-A half.

-No, pi squared divided by six.

In base three arithmetic,

what number has ternary expansion 0.2 recurring -

a quantity equal to twice the sum of the reciprocals

of the positive powers of three?

THEY CONFER

-Come on.

-I'll nominate.

-Eight.

-No, it's one.

There's two-and-a-half minutes to go. Ten points for this.

What regnal name links the popes who excommunicated Elizabeth I,

opposed the French Revolution,

decreed the Immaculate Conception and signed the...?

-Pius.

-Pius is right.

These bonuses now are on National Parks in England.

In which National Park are Gaping Gill Cave, Mossdale Caverns

and the limestone ravine known as Gordale Scar?

-The Peak District.

-No, the Yorkshire Dales.

The Lymington and Beaulieu Rivers flow through which National Park?

-The New Forest.

-New Forest.

-Correct.

Dunkery Beacon is the highest point in which National Park?

-Oh, that's, um, the... I think it's the South Downs.

-OK.

-The South Downs.

-No, it's Exmoor. Ten points for this.

In Roman Britain, the hard ridge of craggy rocks

known as the Great Whin Sill

was used to advantage when planning and building...

-Hadrian's Wall.

-Correct.

You take the lead.

Your bonuses are on the King James Bible.

In each case, identify the book of the Old Testament

from verses taken from its opening chapter.

"Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair;

"thou hast doves' eyes".

-The Song of Solomon.

-Correct.

Secondly for five - "Moses my servant is dead;

"now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou,

"and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them,

"even to the children of Israel".

THEY CONFER

(Joshua?)

-Joshua.

-Correct.

"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the council of the ungodly,

"nor standeth in the way of sinners,

"nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful".

THEY CONFER

-That's Psalms.

-Correct.

Ten points for this.

In cosmology, what term denotes the period beginning about three minutes

after the big bang, when protons and neutrons started to form...

-Inflation.

-No.

..bound states with each other? You lose five.

-Coherence.

-No, it's nucleosynthesis.

Ten points for this.

Laid out in the 17th century, which formal gardens in Paris

are all that remain of a former palace...?

Versailles.

No, you lose five points. ..built for Catherine de Medici,

that was destroyed by fire in 1871?

The Jardin du Luxembourg.

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

Catmaran, corundum, pariah, patchouli and veranda

are among English words that derived from which language of South India?

Hindi.

No, anyone to buzz from SOAS?

-GONG BONGS

-And at the gong,

Queen's University, Belfast, have 145, SOAS have 165.

APPLAUSE

Well, you very nearly did it.

You provided us with a lot of entertainment, Queen's.

We'll have to say goodbye to you and thank you very much for playing.

And, SOAS, many congratulations.

Semifinals! Who knows what after that, eh?

Well, we do know what possibly after that.

But good luck anyway and thank you very much.

I hope you can join us next time for the first semifinal match,

but until then it's goodbye from Queen's, Belfast.

ALL: Goodbye.

It's goodbye from the School of Oriental and African Studies.

-ALL: Goodbye.

-And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.

APPLAUSE