Episode 35 University Challenge

APPLAUSE

University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello.

From around 130 teams who applied to take part in this series,

we're down to the best four because tonight sees

the first of the two semifinal matches, the winners of which

will meet on the series final in a couple of weeks' time.

Tonight's fixture is a particularly intriguing one

because the two teams competing have already met earlier in the series.

The team from Trinity College, Cambridge have cut a polite

but ruthless swathe through the field so far.

Their victims being Christchurch, Oxford, Peterhouse, Cambridge,

the London School of African and Oriental studies,

and tonight's opponents, Manchester University.

Hoping that history does indeed repeat itself,

let's meet the Trinity team for the fifth time.

Hi, I'm Matthew Ridley.

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

Hi, I'm Philip Drnovsek Zorko.

-I'm 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

Manchester University has proved itself to be one of the big guns

of this competition in recent years

and tonight's team have already

seen off Brasenose College, Oxford, Queens College, Cambridge,

and the universities of Cardiff and Southampton.

The only fly in the ointment is that quarterfinal defeat I mentioned.

Confident that history doesn't repeat itself,

let's meet the Manchester team for the sixth time.

Hi, my name is Edward Woudhuysen. I'm from London and I'm studying history.

Hi, I'm Joe Day.

I'm from Bideford in Devon and I'm studying physics and astrophysics.

And we'll meet the Manchester captain again.

Hi, I'm Elizabeth Mitchell.

I'm from Birmingham and I'm studying politics, philosophy and economics.

Hello, I'm Jonathan Collings.

I'm from Manchester and I'm studying geography.

APPLAUSE

Well, you all know the rules. The whole world knows the rules!

So fingers on the buzzers, here's your first starter for ten.

Popularised by the historian Arnold Toynbee,

what two-word term refers to the period of rapid economic,

demographic and technological change...?

BUZZER

Trinity, Ridley.

Industrial Revolution. Correct.

APPLAUSE

Right, the first set of bonuses, Trinity College, are on a song.

Of the several recordings of this famous patriotic song, few can match

that by Cilla Black, recorded when Swinging London was at its height.

These words refer to which song, first performed in 1740?

-Is it Rule Britannia?

-OK.

-Rule Britannia.

-Indeed.

The Scottish-born poet James Thomson wrote

the words of Rule Britannia. Which English composer wrote the music?

-It's Thomas Arne. Thomas Arne.

-Correct.

Implying, according to Nigel Rees, a "boastful assertion

"rather than a poetic exhortation",

what five letter main verb is heard in Cilla Black's recording

and at the last night of the Proms,

but does not appear in Thomson's original work?

So let's go through the lyrics.

THEY CONFER INDISTINCTLY

Rules, rules.

-Try it.

-Rules.

-Correct.

Ten points for this.

"Some men think the Earth is round, others think it flat.

"It is a matter capable..."

-BUZZER

-Trinity, Drnovsek Zorko.

-Isaac Asimov.

-No, you lose five points.

"It is a matter capable of question, but if it is flat,

"will the King's command make it round? No, I will not sign."

These are the words of which statesman in a play by Robert Bolt?

-BUZZER

-Manchester, Collings.

-Thomas More.

Sir Thomas More is right. In A Man For All Seasons.

APPLAUSE

Right, these bonuses are on US state governors, Manchester.

An opponent of the Ku Klux Klan, Miriam Ferguson became

the first female governor of which US state in 1925?

She had assured voters that if elected,

she would follow the advice of her husband,

a former governor impeached for financial irregularities in 1917.

THEY CONFER INDISTINCTLY

I think Georgia's probably the most Ku Klux Klan state.

-Go for it.

-Georgia.

-No, it's Texas.

Elected governor of Texas on the Democratic ticket in 1963,

John Connelly later served as Secretary of the Treasury

under which Republican president?

Do you think it was Nixon?

-Could be Ford as well.

-We just need one.

-Go for Nixon.

-Nixon.

Nixon's correct.

The first and third president of the Republic of Texas

and later its governor,

which statesman gives his surname to a major city on the Gulf of Mexico?

-Sam Houston?

-Let's go with that, yeah. Sam Houston.

-Correct.

Ten points for this.

Which vegetable links a short, double-breasted overcoat,

formerly worn by sailors...

-BUZZER

-Manchester, Mitchell.

-Pea.

-Pea is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on synthetic elements of the periodic table,

Manchester. Formerly known as ununquadium and ununhexium,

two superheavy elements numbered 114 and 116,

were officially renamed in May 2012,

each after a physics laboratory involved in their characterisation.

Give me either of the new names.

-Can I nominate?

-I think Flerovium.

But I'm not sure if I can pronounce them. I'm not sure which one to say.

-Nominate Day.

-Um, Libnorium? Livornium?

-Yeah, you've got it.

Livermorium. That's right, yes.

It's the Lawrence Livermore laboratory in California.

The other one is Flerovium, after Flerov in Russia.

In 1937, which element with the atomic number 43

and no stable isotopes was the first to be discovered by synthesis

rather than by its presence in natural materials?

-I think technetium.

-Technetium.

-Technetium is correct.

Unbihexium, an as yet unsynthesised element with the atomic number 126,

may possess some long-lived isotopes

for such a heavy element, thus putting it near the peak

of what hypothetical geographical realm of nuclear physics?

-I don't know. Superheavy elements, maybe?

-Superheavy elements?

No, it's the island of stability.

We're going to take a picture round now.

For your picture starter, you'll see the epigraph

of a 20th century poem.

Ten points if you can give me the title of the poem.

BUZZER

-Manchester, Woudhuysen.

-The Waste Land.

It is The Waste Land, yes.

APPLAUSE

Eliot used lines from the Satyricon of Petroneus

for his epigraph to The Waste Land.

Your bonus is three extracts from poems that include lines in Latin.

I want the name of the poet in each case, please. Firstly for five.

How doth the busy bee...

-Is it Lewis Carroll?

-Do we need the poem? Do we need the poem, sorry?

-I need the poet.

-Lewis Carroll.

-No, it's Emily Dickenson. Secondly...

-Any ideas?

-Dunne, maybe?

-Dunne.

-I don't recognise... Try Dunne.

Dunne?

No, it's Thomas Wyatt. And finally, this.

-God, I know this. Oh, Wilfred Owen.

-Yeah.

-Wilfred Owen?

-Well done.

Ten points for this. In mathematics,

what name is given to the simplest example of a Brunnian link

in which the three interwoven circles are arranged so that

the removal of any one circle leaves the remaining two unlinked?

BUZZER

-Manchester, Day.

-Mandelbrot set?

No. Anyone like to buzz from Trinity?

-BUZZER

-Trinity, Freeland.

-The Borromean rings?

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Trinity, these bonuses are on deities of the ancient near East.

To which Canaanite idol were child sacrifices made

in the ancient near East?

The same figure appears in Milton's Paradise Lost, described as,

"Horrid king, besmeared with blood of human sacrifice

-"and parents' tears."

-Baal?

-Baal.

-No, it's Moloch.

A goddess of war and sexual love,

the Semitic goddess Ishtar is often known by what Greek name, for

example in the title of a painting of 1877 by Dante Gabriel Rossetti?

-Inanna?

-No, it's Astarte.

And finally, also called the Lord of Rain and Dew,

which god of fertility derives its name from the Hebrew word for Lord?

-Its cult among Israelites was attacked by Elijah.

-Baal.

That is Baal, yes. Ten points for this.

After a historical region of western France,

what term is used of the early Plantagenet kings of England?

That is, Henry the...

-BUZZER

-Trinity, Morley.

-Angevin.

Angevin is right, yes.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on British birds with similar names

in the words of the RSPB website.

In each case, give the common name from the description.

Phylloscopus collybita.

Less bright than the similar willow warbler,

and readily distinguished by its song, from where it gets its name.

-It's going to be a warbler.

-Something warbler.

-Yeah, it's going to be...

I can think of a reed warbler. That doesn't indicate its song.

Dartford warbler. No, that's not going to be it.

Warbler couldn't represent its song, so maybe something else.

-Reed warbler?

-No, it's a Chiffchaff.

Secondly, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax

has a red bill and legs unlike any other member of the crow family.

It has a restricted westerly distribution in the British Isles.

-Chough, I think, cos they're found in Cornwall.

-OK.

-Chough?

-Correct.

Fringilla coelebs, The UK's second commonest breeding bird

and is arguably the most colourful of the UK's finches.

You'll usually hear them before you see them

with their loud song and varied calls.

-Goldfinch?

-Chaffinch.

-Chaffinch?

-Correct. Ten points for this.

What two-word name denotes

the largely continuous ridge

of north-south trending mountain summits in western North America?

Running mainly along the crest of the Rocky Mountains...

-BUZZER

-Rocky Mountains?

-I'm afraid you lose five points.

Running mainly along the crest of the Rocky Mountains,

it separates the principal drainage into that flowing eastward

and that flowing westward.

-BUZZER

-Continental Divide?

Or the Great Divide, yes.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on George Bernard Shaw.

Give the two words that complete this observation by Shaw

in The Apple Cart.

"What Englishman will give his mind to politics as long as he can

"afford to keep a..." what?

-Oh, something like a full cellar?

-Yeah, full cellar?

Full cellar?

No, it's a motor car.

What, according to Shaw, in The Devil's Disciple

"Is the only way in which a man can become famous without ability?"

Um... Is it something like...

-It's something like "through politics."

-Something like what?

Or was it the Army? Was it "through the Army?"

Try it.

-"Through the Army"?

-No, it's martyrdom.

And finally, in Man And Superman,

Shaw says that what form of government "substitutes election

"by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few?"

-Democracy?

-Democracy?

Correct. Ten points for this. Listen carefully.

What percentage is the thermal efficiency of a Carnot engine

that operates between two heat reservoirs

of temperature 300 Kelvin and 400 Kelvin respectively?

BUZZER 25%?

Correct.

Next time you buzz, you must answer straightaway though.

Right, your bonuses are on mathematics, Trinity.

The quadratic equation

ax(squared) + bx + c = 0

has a repeated or double root

if the quantity b(squared) - 4ac = 0

What name is given to this quantity?

Discriminant.

-The discriminant?

-Correct.

What is the numerical value of the repeated or double root

of the equation

4x(squared) + 4x + 1?

Um...

-0.5

-0.5?

Correct.

The equation

x(cubed) + 4x(squared) + 5x + 2 = 0

has a double root at x = -1

What's the value of its other root?

-2?

-2, do you think 2?

Hang on, what was it, x(cubed)?

X(cubed) + 5x(squared) and 4x.

It's going to double over to -1...

What was the final coefficient, cos that's a...

2, I think.

-2.

--2.

--2 is right.

Ten points for this.

Peter Porcupine was a pseudonym of which political writer born in 1763?

An advocate of parliamentary reform, he is perhaps best known

for the series of essays entitled Rural Rides.

-BUZZER

-Cobden?

No, Manchester, one of you buzz.

-Cobbett?

-That's correct, yes.

Right, you get a set of bonuses now, Manchester, on sport,

politics and the English language.

Concatenating the two-letter top-level domain codes

of the Fifa World Cup hosts in 1998 and 1990,

gives what short English dialect word?

-France and Italy. France was '98...

-So, "frit", as in making frit.

-Frit.

-Frit is correct.

"The right honourable gentleman is afraid of an election, is he?

"Afraid? Frightened? Frit?" Which political figure made

a memorable lapse into dialect with those words in April 1983?

-Maggie Thatcher?

-Correct.

To which senior Labour politician did Thatcher address this remark?

-He was Chancellor of the Exchequer from '74 to '79.

-Is that Healey?

-I think it's Healey.

-Yes, yeah.

-Healey?

Denis Healey's right, he was Deputy Leader of the party at the time.

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

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

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

CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS

-BUZZER

-Delius?

Delius is right. La Calinda.

APPLAUSE

Now, in 1925 Frederick Delius was a recipient of

The Royal Philharmonic Society's Gold Medal Award

for outstanding musicianship.

For your bonuses you'll hear pieces associated with three more

recipients of this award.

Five points in each case if you can tell me who they are.

Firstly, the musician performing here, he received the award in 1962.

CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS

Can you think of an outstanding violinist other than Menuhin?

THEY CHATTER

-It's not...?

-No, '62.

Let's go for Menuhin.

Menuhin?

It is Yehudi Menuhin, yes.

Secondly, this opera singer, honoured in 2002.

OPERA MUSIC PLAYS

Is it too late for Dame Joan Sutherland?

I think it is her.

-Joan Sutherland?

-Dame Joan Sutherland.

-Sutherland?

-Yeah.

Dame Joan Sutherland?

Indeed it is, yes.

And finally, the composer of this piece, a recipient in 1987.

CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS

Gosh.

MUSIC DROWNS OUT VOICES

No, it's too late, isn't it?

-Britten? We know it's not.

-No, you are quite right, it's not.

-It's Leonard Bernstein.

-Oh!

-That's his overture to Candide.

Right, ten points for this.

Its name beginning with a diagraph of two consecutive letters

of the alphabet -

which large lake in the north of the Netherlands

was created in the 1930s...

-BUZZER

-IJsselmeer.

IJsselmeer is right.

APPLAUSE

Right, these bonuses are on economics.

What two-word term refers to a lack of incentive to guard against risk

when one is protected from its consequences, for example,

by insurance or when the potential burden will be borne by others?

-Moral hazard, isn't it?

-Yes, yeah.

-Moral hazard?

-Correct.

The Economics Of Moral Hazard is a work by which US Nobel Laureate,

also known for the 1971 work Essays In The Theory Of Risk-Bearing?

-No idea, Friedman?

-Yeah, Friedman would be the only...

I mean, that's his time.

-Milton Friedman.

-Friedman?

No, it's Kenneth J Arrow.

And finally, in 2009,

which Bank of England Governor described government bailouts

of the banking system as possibly the biggest moral hazard in history?

-Mervyn King.

-Correct. Ten points for this starter question.

Indicating a state of exuberant elation,

what three-word hyphenated expression is sometimes said

to derive from the act of loosening a tap to allow

liquor to flow freely, but may also refer to pub signs that show

a male domestic fowl atop a cask or barrel?

-BUZZER

-Cock-a-hoop.

Cock-a-hoop is right.

These bonuses are on the historian, Lisa Jardine.

Lisa Jardine's study of which Renaissance figure is subtitled

The Construction Of Charisma In Print?

Born in Rotterdam around 1466, his works include In Praise of Folly.

-Yeah, that's right.

-Erasmus?

-Correct.

Which 16th century Dutch Royal figure

is the subject of a 2005 work by Jardine subtitled

The First Assassination Of A Head Of State With A Handgun?

-It's someone of Orange.

-It's not William, is it?

It's not THAT William, it's not William III, but...

-William I?

-I think he was called William, try William.

-A William of Orange?

-That won't do, it's William the Silent, William I.

The Man Who Measured London is the subtitle of Jardine's

biography of which English scientist?

-Born 1635 he gives his name to a law of elasticity.

-It's Hooke. Hooke?

Hooke is correct.

Another starter question now.

Give the three-word name of the office whose holder -

according to Article 37 of the Articles of the Church of England -

"Hath no jurisdiction in this Realm of England?"

-BUZZER

-The Bishop of Rome.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

Trinity, your bonuses are on mythological subjects

in the collection of the Manchester City Art Gallery.

Firstly, who is the title figure of an 1888 work

by Lord Frederic Leighton?

Enslaved and dressed in black, she waits her turn at the well,

her husband having been killed by Achilles during the Trojan War.

-Andromache, surely?

-Yes.

-Andromache.

-Correct.

In a work by John William Waterhouse,

which companion of Hercules is depicted

being seduced by nymphs while in search of water for the Argonauts?

-Think of Argonauts.

-Well, Jason's one of them.

-Peleus possibly.

-Name...

Because...Peleus?

No, it's Hylas. Hylas And The Nymphs.

In another work by Lord Leighton, who's shown watching in vain

over the Hellespont for her lover Leander?

-Hero. Hero?

-Hero is correct.

We're going to take a picture round now.

For a picture starter, you'll see a painting of a 19th century writer.

Ten points if you can tell me who he is.

Is that Carlyle?

No. Anyone like to buzz from Trinity?

Quickly.

Thomas Hardy?

No, it's Sir Walter Scott, so picture bonuses in a moment or two.

Ten points for this.

In topology, which five-letter word describes the number of holes

that are connected...

-Genus.

-Correct.

Right, you get the picture bonuses, then.

Following on from Landseer's portrait of Sir Walter Scott,

three more paintings of Scottish writers.

In each case, I want the name of the writer. Firstly, this novelist.

-Conan-Doyle?

-Correct.

Secondly, this writer, better known for children's literature.

-JM Barrie?

-JM Barrie?

Correct. Finally, this.

-Robert Burns.

-Robert Burns.

Correct. Ten points for this.

What literary work links the surnames of the author

of The Crucible...

Miller? Arthur Miller? Arthur.

No. You lose five points.

So you get the whole thing, then, Trinity.

The author of The Crucible,

a British explorer killed in Hawaii in 1779,

the collaborator of James Ivory and the US actor who played Superman.

The Canterbury Tales.

Yes, indeed. Yes, Miller, Cook, Merchant and Reeves.

Right, a set of bonuses, this time on biology.

What is the botanical term for the point on the stem of a plant

from which one or more leaves arise?

Oh...

-It's not the radix, is it?

-What?

-Radix?

-Could be.

-Radix?

-No - it's a node.

In human physiology, what is controlled by the area

of specialised muscle fibres known as the sinoatrial node?

It's flow from the atrium from the ventricle in the heart.

Er, flow from the atrium to the ventricle in the heart.

Er, no, it's the heart rate.

After a 19th century pathologist,

what name is given to the nodal gaps in the myelin sheath of some axioms

that facilitate the transmission of nerve impulses?

Ah...the gap...um... It's... Oh...

Nodes of ran-yer.

Nodes of ran-yer.

No, it's the nodes of ran-VIER.

Ten points for this.

The French astronomer Pierre Janssen discovered which element

through the observation of a yellow spectral emission line

during a solar eclipse of 1868?

Helium?

Yes.

Right, your bonuses, Manchester, are on French towns

and cities that lie close to the Prime or Greenwich meridian.

In each case, name the place from the description.

Firstly, the capital of the historical province of Maine.

Its motor racing circuit is home to a well-known endurance race.

-La Maine?

-La Maine.

Correct. The capital of the Calvados department 15 metres

from the English Channel -

much of it was destroyed following the Normandy invasion in 1944?

-Caen?

-Correct.

A pilgrimage centre in the foothills of the Pyrenees, it was

the birthplace in 1844

of the religious figure Bernadette Soubirous.

-Lourdes.

-Lourdes is correct.

Ten points for this.

Four and a half minutes to go.

Identify the poet who wrote these lines.

"I must go down to the sea again."

Masefield.

John Masefield is right.

Right, these bonuses, Trinity,

are on shorter words that may be made using any of the letters from the word "winsome."

In each case, give the word from the description.

Firstly, an alternative spelling of a major division of geologic time

-longer than an era.

-Eon.

-Eon.

Correct. In geometry, the reciprocal of cosecant.

-Sin.

-Sin.

Correct. In physics, a subatomic particle can boast of one quark

and one anti-quark.

-Meson.

-Meson.

Correct. Ten points for this. Listen carefully.

To the nearest whole number, the ten national parks occupy

what percentage of the total land area of England?

You can have 5% either way.

20?

No. Anyone want to buzz from Trinity?

25?

No, it's 9%. Ten points for this.

Frequently crossed by economic and political refugees, the Yalu River

forms a large part of the border between which two Asian countries?

North Korea and China.

Correct.

These bonuses are on kings of Scotland.

In each case, give the century that saw the reigns of the following.

-Firstly, Duncan the First, Macbeth and Malcolm Canmore.

-11th.

Correct.

-Alexander the Second and Third and John de Bailliol.

-13th?

-13th.

-Correct. James the First, Second and Third.

-14th, I think.

-Yeah, OK, go for it.

-14th.

No, it's 15th. Ten points for this.

Born in 1571,

which artist is believed to have depicted his own features

on the severed head of the giant in the Galleria Borghese's painting

of David and Goliath?

Caravaggio.

Caravaggio's correct. You get the lead.

These bonuses are on zoology.

After the feathers of its head crest

which supposedly resemble quill pens,

what is the common name of the long-legged African bird

Saggitarius serpentarius?

Secretary bird.

Correct. What is the common name of the large flightless bird of the genus Casuarius

native to New Guinea and parts of Australia?

-That's called a cassowary.

-Cassowary.

Correct. Cimex lectularius is the binomial of which

elusive parasitic insect that feeds chiefly on human blood?

What parasites do you know?

-Come on.

-I don't know. Mosquito. No. The bed bug.

-Tsetse fly.

-Tsetse fly.

No, it was the bed bug.

Two minutes to go. Ten points for this.

What two letters can denote a software that manages

the hardware and software of a computer,

the national mapping agency of Great Britain...

OS.

OS is correct.

Your bonuses are on prime ministers and their nicknames.

Nicknamed Finality Jack, which Prime Minister followed Orange Peel

and preceded the Rupert Of Debate?

Lord John Russell.

Correct. Nicknamed the Unknown Prime Minister, whose period of office

came between those of the Welsh Wizard and the Ironmonger?

Andrew Bonar Law.

Correct. Finally, who served between prime ministers given the nicknames

Baillie Vass and The Grocer by Private Eye?

That's Harold Wilson. Harold Wilson.

Correct. Ten points for this.

From the Greek meaning beside another plain surface,

what term denotes a geometrical solid with six faces,

each in the form of a parallelogram?

Parallelepiped.

Correct.

You get a set of bonuses,

this time on the US Electoral College, Trinity College.

On rare occasions, members of the Electoral College

may vote for a candidate other than the one to which they're pledged.

What term is applied to such electors?

Faithless elector.

Correct. The Electoral College usually works

on a winner takes all basis.

-Two states are exceptions to this. Name either one.

-Maine and Nebraska.

Nebraska.

Correct. Should none of the presidential candidates win

the required 270 Electoral College votes, the 12th Amendment

becomes operative and the election is decided by which body?

-The House of Representatives.

-The House of Representatives.

Correct. Ten points for this.

A predecessor of the Tripartite Pact of 1940, which 1936 treaty

between Germany and Japan affirmed a joint hostility to communism?

-The Axis Agreement?

-No. Anyone want to buzz in Trinity, quickly?

Treaty of Berlin?

No, it's the Anti-Comintern Pact. Ten points for this.

In addition to Equatorial Guinea,

how many countries of mainland Africa

have Portuguese as an official language?

Three.

Three is correct. These bonuses are on Japanese history.

What two-word term denotes the political revolution in Japan

-that saw power restored to the Emperor?

-Meiji Restoration.

Correct. The Meiji Restoration

brought and end to which hereditary...

GONG

Well, bad luck, Manchester.

You were on storming form for most of the contest

and led much of the way.

We shall have to say goodbye, so take that away with you

and we've enjoyed having you. Thank you very much.

Trinity College, another terrific performance from you.

I didn't think you were going to make it at the halfway point,

but well done. We shall look forward to seeing you in the final.

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

-but until then it's goodbye from Manchester University.

-Bye.

-It's goodbye from Trinity College, Cambridge.

-Goodbye.

And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.