Episode 1 University Challenge

University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

APPLAUSE

Hello, welcome to another season of recreational brain surgery

in which we attempt to discover whether the student cranium is

as untidy as his or her room.

In the next several months we shall discover the cleverest team

of clever clogs in Britain, at which point,

like the amazed rustics listening to a sermon

in Oliver Goldsmith's The Deserted Village, our jaws will drop.

"And still they gazed and still the wonder grew

"that one small head could carry all he knew."

But to business.

The University of Manchester is one of the UK's largest,

with around 40,000 students.

It's seen the birth of the computer revolution, built the world's

largest steerable radio telescope

and witnessed Rutherford's research into splitting the atom.

All noteworthy at the time, no doubt, but now little more

than flummery compared to the university's achievement

in fielding teams which have won this competition four times,

a distinction Manchester shares with Magdalene College, Oxford.

Former students include the writer Anthony Burgess,

the architect Norman Foster, and the actor Benedict Cumberbatch.

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

Hello, my name's Edmund Chapman, I'm originally from Norwich,

and I'm doing a PhD in Literature.

Hello, I'm Matthew Stallard, I'm from Wolverhampton,

and I'm doing a PhD in American Studies.

-Their captain.

-Hi, I'm John Ratcliffe, I'm from Manchester,

and I'm doing Chemical Engineering.

Hi, I'm Charlie Rowlands, I'm from Albrighton in Shropshire,

and I'm studying Genetics and Chinese.

APPLAUSE

Now, the team from Selwyn College, Cambridge

represent an institution that was founded in 1882.

It was named after George Augustus Selwyn,

the first Bishop of New Zealand, with the aim of encouraging habits

of simple living and to develop the Christian character in its students,

traits that are immediately discernible in its alumni,

who include the writer Robert Harris, the politician

Simon Hughes and the actors Tom Hollander and Hugh Laurie.

With an average age of 20, let's meet the Selwyn team.

Hello, I'm Afham Raoof, I'm from Colchester in Essex,

and I'm reading Natural Sciences.

Hi, I'm Hannah Warwicker, I'm from Huddersfield,

and I'm reading Classics.

-And their captain.

-Hi, I'm Joshua Pugh Ginn from Manchester,

and I'm studying for a PhD in Classics.

Hi, I'm Charles Cooper.

I'm from Bedford and I'm reading Natural Sciences.

APPLAUSE

OK, the rules are the same as they've always been

since Isaac Newton first devised them.

Starter questions are worth 10 points. They're solo efforts.

There's a penalty of five points

if you interrupt a starter question incorrectly.

Bonuses are worth 15, they are team efforts.

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

Which year is the subject of the poem by Philip Larkin

that contains the lines, "Never such innocence, never before or since?"

The title is given in Roman numerals as MCMXIV.

BELL RINGS

1914.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

Right, the first set of bonuses

are for you, Manchester, on European history.

Firstly for five points,

which imperial dynasty ruled Spain from 1516 to 1700?

-Habsburgs?

-Habsburgs.

Habsburgs.

Correct. Secondly for five points,

when the last Spanish Habsburg monarch,

Charles II, died in 1700,

he named Philip of Anjou as his heir.

What relation was Philip to Louis XIV of France?

Grandson?

-Grandson?

-Don't know.

Grandson?

Correct. Thirdly for five points, disputes over Philip's accession

resulted in the War of the Spanish Succession.

Which Dutch city gives its name to the series of treaties that

-ended the war?

-Utrecht.

-Utrecht, yeah.

Utrecht.

Correct. 10 points for this starter question, fingers on the buzzers.

A usage dating to the 18th century, what Latin-derived term indicates

a relic of a recognisable organism that was buried by natural

-processes and subsequently...

-BELL RINGS

Fossil.

-Correct.

-APPLAUSE MASKS SPEECH

Right, your bonuses are on islands.

We'll try not to make them so easy.

Er, the first one for five points.

Lying near the meeting point of Austria, Germany and Switzerland,

the historic city of Lindau

is on an island in the eastern part of which lake?

-Geneva?

-Geneva it must be, yeah. Geneva?

No, it's Lake Constance. Secondly,

the ancient port of Trogir lies on an island in the Adriatic

and is linked by a bridge to which coastal area of Croatia that

includes Dubrovnik and Split?

Dalmatia? That's the name?

Dalmatia?

Correct. The island city of Male is the capital of which country

consisting of a chain of about 1,200 coral islands in the Indian Ocean?

Maldives.

Correct, 10 points for this.

Who was the subject of an article in Life Magazine in 1964,

asking whether he was the worst artist in the US?

Tate Modern held a major retrospective of his work in 2013,

including Look, Mickey, and Drowning Girl.

BUZZER

Pollock?

No, anyone like to buzz from Manchester?

BELL RINGS

Jasper Johns.

No. He'd be very insulted, or his descendants would.

It's Roy Lichtenstein. 10 points for this.

First introduced in 1962 by the US physicist Thomas Kuhn in

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,

which two-word term describes a change in basic assumptions

-within a ruling theory...

-BUZZER

Paradigm shift.

-Correct.

-APPLAUSE

Right, Selwyn, your first bonuses are on the solar system.

The letters making up the name of the largest satellite of Uranus

include those of the name of the largest satellite of Saturn.

Name both.

Titan and...

What's Uranus then? Erm...

-Er...?

-Titania?

-Could be.

-Yeah.

-Titania's...

-Yeah.

Let's have it, please.

Er, Titan and Titania.

Correct. Titania, with a mean radius of 789km

and another uranium moon, Oberon, at 761km,

were both discovered in 1787 by which astronomer?

-Think it's Herschel?

-Yeah, Herschel, it seems like.

-Herschel?

-William Herschel?

Correct. And finally, two years later, Herschel discovered two inner

satellites of Saturn with orbital periods of only 1.37 and 0.94 days.

Name either.

Small moons of Saturn. Er, they'll be named after...

-Something classical.

-Yeah, no, erm...

We need to guess this. Erm, Faunus.

No, it's Enceladus and Mimas. Time for a picture round.

For your picture starter

you're going to see a map showing the route of a direct rail journey.

For 10 points, I want you to identify

the two terminal cities highlighted.

BELL RINGS

Moscow and Vladivostok.

-Correct.

-Very good.

-Doing really well.

Shall we just leave(?)

Right, Manchester, the trip on the Rossiya

between Moscow and Vladivostok is one of the largest direct

rail journeys in the world, covering over 9,000km over seven days.

Your picture bonuses show

three more of the world's longest direct rail journeys.

Again, in each case,

I want you to identify the two terminal cities highlighted.

Firstly for five...

THEY CONFER

Perth and Sydney.

Correct. Secondly...

Oh, no.

Matt was going to say Lhasa, cos that's Tibet, isn't it?

-On the left. What's on the right?

-Beijing. That's not Beijing.

-Shanghai?

-Guangzhou.

-What's this?

-That's not Beijing.

-What is it?

-Guangzhou, maybe.

-Guangzhou, and...?

-Guangdong, sorry!

-Guangdong and...?

-Lhasa.

Guangdong and Lhasa.

No, it's Guangzhou and Lhasa. And finally...

-Vancouver, and is that...?

-That's Toronto, so...

Vancouver and Toronto.

Correct.

10 points for this starter question.

In 2005, Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman,

-both aged...

-BUZZER

Reddit.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

Selwyn, these bonuses are on Shakespeare.

In each case identify the play in which the following lines appear.

Firstly, in which play does Guiderius have the lines,

"Fear no more the heat of the sun nor the furious winter's rages.

"Thou thy worldly task hast done. Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages"?

Cymbeline?

Guiderius, it's going to be pretty obscure.

-It's not one we know, so it's likely to be one like that.

-Cymbeline?

Cymbeline is right. In which play does Adam have the lines,

"Therefore my age is as a lusty winter, frosty but kindly"?

King Lear, I think. Is that...?

Er, King Lear?

No, there's no Adam in King Lear, it's As You Like It.

And finally, "For you there's rosemary and rue, these keep.

"Seeming and savour all the winter long."

In which play does Perdita say those words?

Er, Winter's Tale.

Correct. 10 points for this, listen carefully.

To which ancient building is Lord Byron referring

in his narrative poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

in the lines, "Dull is the eye that will not weep

"to see thy walls defaced,

-"thy mouldering shrine..."

-BUZZER

The Parthenon.

-Correct.

-APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on works by Leonardo Da Vinci.

What four-word title is usually given to two similar paintings

by Leonardo Da Vinci, one held in London's National Gallery,

the other in the Louvre?

The title refers to one of the figures depicted

and the nature of the setting.

-Madonna?

-On The Rocks?

-Madonna On The Rocks, yes.

Madonna On The Rocks?

Madonna OF The Rocks, or the Virgin Of The Rocks, yes.

Secondly, both versions of the Virgin Of The Rocks

demonstrate a technique known by what Italian term, defined by

Leonardo as meaning, "with outlines or borders in the manner of smoke"?

-Sfumato.

-Sfumato.

Sfumato is correct.

And finally, both versions depict The Adoration of the Christ Child

by which other Biblical figure said to be six months his senior?

-John the Baptist.

-Er, John the Baptist.

Correct. 10 points for this.

Anser and Branta are the two main genera of which ground-nesting

-birds that are known to mate...?

-BUZZER

Geese.

Geese is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

That gives you the lead, Selwyn.

These bonuses are on social commentary.

Hard Work: Life In Low-Pay Britain

is a 2003 work by which journalist and political commentator?

With David Walker she's co-authored works

including Unjust Rewards: Ending the Greed That Is Bankrupting Britain.

-Someone like Polly Toynbee?

-Toynbee sounds sensible.

-Yeah.

-I don't know.

Polly Toynbee?

Correct. Which journalist's works include the 1998 work Dark Heart,

subtitled The Shocking Truth About Hidden Britain,

and the 2008 Flat Earth News

concerned with standards and practices in global media?

That would be... Not Tom Watson. It's not him.

-Is it Starkey?

-David Starkey? A different Starkey?

A different... No, I'm not sure.

Tom Watson?

No, he's an MP. It's Nick Davies. Finally,

what colloquial and controversial term is the title of

a 2012 work by Owen Jones, subtitled

The Demonization Of The Working Class?

-Chavs.

-Chavs is correct. Ten points for this. Listen carefully.

In 2008, the Japanese physicists Kobayashi and Maskawa

shared the Nobel Prize for the discovery

of the origin of the broken symmetry that predicts the existence

of at least three families of what fundamental particles?

Neutrino.

Anyone want to buzz from Manchester?

You may not confer, one of you may...

Quarks.

Yes, but next time you buzz, you must answer straightaway, OK?

I'm going to give you a set of bonuses in the meantime

and they are on elements

that, according to the British Geological Survey,

have a high relative supply risk based on the location of

current reserves and the political stability of those locations.

In each case, name the element from the description.

Firstly, atomic number 51,

a semi-metal used in industry to harden lead and similar metals.

Its principal ore is stibnite.

-(Yes.) Antimony.

-Correct.

Atomic number 83, a high-density metal used in low-melting alloys,

pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.

THEY WHISPER

83? No, it's...

-Let's have it, please.

-Zinc.

No, it's bismuth.

Atomic number 74, it has the highest melting point of all metals

and has been used for the filaments of light bulbs.

-Tungsten.

-Correct. Ten points for this starter question.

Which orchestral instrument links the first novel

by the contemporary poet Jackie Kay, a polemical work by the Scottish...

-Trumpet.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, Manchester, this time, having taken the lead again,

are on people who portrayed themselves on film.

Which US poet played himself in both the 1970 film Prologue

and the 1972 film Ciao! Manhattan,

starring the Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick?

In 2013, he was portrayed by Daniel Radcliffe

in the film Kill Your Darlings.

-Oh! Allen Ginsberg.

-Yeah.

-Allen Ginsberg.

-Correct.

Secondly, born in Bavaria in 1945,

which prolific German director, actor and writer

appeared as himself in the 1978 portmanteau film

Germany In Autumn?

THEY CONFER QUIETLY

Werner Herzog?

No, it's Fassbinder.

Todd Graff's 2003 film Camp, about a summer camp

for performing arts students, sees which US musical-theatre composer

and lyricist play himself?

-US composer?

-Hmm.

Stephen Sondheim? I don't know.

-Sondheim?

-I've no idea.

Stephen Sondheim.

Correct. We will take a music round now. For your music starter,

you will hear a piece of classical music

by a German composer. Ten points if you can name the peace.

CHEERFUL ORCHESTRAL MUSIC

No, sorry.

-Oh!

-Sorry, guys.

-You can hear little more.

-MUSIC CONTINUES

This is lamentable!

Come on, it's one of the most famous pieces of classical music!

The Rite Of Spring.

No, it's the Sixth Symphony by Beethoven,

so ten points for this starter question.

Music bonuses in a moment or two.

I'd like you to spell out the five letters of the word being described.

With an accent on the final E, it denotes a guitar chord

played with one finger lying across all the strings.

B-A-R-R-E.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

So you get the music bonuses then, Selwyn.

They are on the sort of bits of music

that are played by councils while they get around, finally,

three hours later, to answering your phone call.

Now, if you have ever phoned Salford City Council,

you could have heard Beethoven's Sixth being played.

You are going to hear three more pieces of classical music that,

according to a Press Association Freedom Of Information request,

have been used as hold music for city, borough and county councils.

In each case, I want the title of the piece and the composer.

Firstly, for five, the composer and title of this piece,

used by Harrow Council to assuage complaints about roadworks.

LIVELY ORCHESTRAL MUSIC

-Sorry?

-Arrival Of The Queen Of Sheba.

-The Arrival Of The Queen Of Sheba by Handel.

-That is correct.

Secondly, this piece, used by Warrington Council

while they formulate a response to your bin enquiries.

LILTING BUT GENTLE STRING MUSIC

Erm... Erm...

-I know I've played it!

-Well, that's a start.

Did you get the poster afterwards?

THEY LAUGH

-Any guesses?

-Charles, it's your...

-Composer?

-I really don't know.

-No.

-No, I have no idea.

-Pass.

That's Boccherini's Minuet.

Finally, this piece of music used by Thurrock Council

about your call being important to them.

SMOOTH BUT CHOPPY STRING MUSIC

Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Mozart.

Eine kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart.

Correct, yes, well done.

So level pegging, ten points for this.

Give both answers promptly.

Easily mistyped,

which two nine-letter anagrams mean

an expression of discontent or protest

and ready to yield to the wishes or desires of others?

-Complaint and compliant.

-Well done, yes.

APPLAUSE

You're on fire!

Right, you get a set of bonuses on railway viaducts.

Lying on the route from King's Cross to Hogsmeade

in the Harry Potter films,

which viaduct between Fort William and Mallaig takes its name from

the site at which Charles Edward Stuart raised his standard in 1745?

THEY LAUGH

Not Bannockburn or something, is it?

I've forgotten. I can't remember, sorry. Caithness or something?

Cave Ness.

No, it's Glenfinnan.

Secondly, for five points,

one of the longest viaducts in Britain, the Welland Viaduct,

on the Oakham to Kettering Line, connects which two counties?

-Kettering is...

-Oakham is...Rutland.

-I think it's Rutland.

-Lincolnshire, Kettering?

-Could be.

Rutland and Lincolnshire.

No, it's Rutland and Northamptonshire.

104 feet high and 440 yards in length,

which viaduct was completed in 1875

as part of the Midland Railways Settle to Carlisle Line?

Erm...

The Morecambe Bay Viaduct?

-The Morecambe Bay Viaduct?!

-LAUGHTER

It's the Ribblehead Viaduct. Ten points for this.

What specific tissue in vascular plants is composed mainly

of elongated cells with perforated ends, known as sieve tubes?

Its name derives from the Greek for bark.

Tracheids?

No, anyone like to buzz from Selwyn?

-Phloem.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses could give you the lead, Selwyn,

and they are on electronics.

What specific term denotes an electrical device that

converts alternating current to direct current?

-ADC. No...

-Transformer?

-Oh, rectifier!

-Rectifier.

-Correct.

What is the root mean square value of a sinusoidal voltage

from the output of a half-wave rectifier

in terms of the peak voltage, V?

-Is it 1 over root 2? Peak voltage over...

-Nominate Raoof.

-Peak voltage over the square root of 2.

-Correct.

V over 2. Yes.

From that of a vacuum tube device with similar properties,

what is the name of a semiconductor device often used

in high-voltage rectifiers

and consisting of four layers of alternating p- and n-type material?

-Zener diode?

-OK, I guess it could be. Zener diode?

Zener diode?

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

The names of a canal that links the Baltic and the North Sea,

the longest river of Africa...

Kiel?

I'm afraid you lose five points.

..the longest river of Africa and the capital of Ukraine

may all be made from the letters of the name of which SI base unit?

Kelvin.

-Correct.

-APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on English history, Selwyn.

The Lords Appellant were five noblemen including

Henry Bolingbroke and Thomas Mowbray who brought an accusation of treason

against several favourites of which king?

-Richard II?

-Richard II was... before Bolingbroke took over?

-Yes.

-Richard II.

-Correct.

What adjective is used to describe the resulting parliament in 1388

in which several prominent members of Richard's court

were sentenced to death?

-1388? Have you any idea?

-Short, long, deadly...

-They were later.

THEY LAUGH

-Erm... Er, the Fatal Parliament.

-No, it was the Merciless Parliament.

In an incident of 1398 recalled by Shakespeare,

Richard intervened to prevent a duel between Bolingbroke and Mowbray

and gave them instead what punishment?

(They were both exiled.) Exiled. They were exiled.

Correct. Banishment, yes.

Right, we'll take another picture round now.

For your picture starter, you'll see an early 20th-century postcard

showing a view of an English resort.

Ten points if you can identify the resort.

Blackpool?

Anyone like to buzz from Selwyn?

Southend?

No, it's Brighton. So picture bonuses in a moment or two.

Ten points for this starter question.

Everybody put your fingers on the buzzers.

Ernst Engel is remembered for Engel's Law,

which states that the lower a family's income,

the greater the proportion of it that is spent on what?

Necessities?

No. Manchester?

-Food.

-Food is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

I got one right!

So, you remember the picture starter was a picture of Brighton.

Your picture bonuses, three more postcards

from the heyday of the British seaside resort.

In each case, for five points,

you have to identify the seaside town shown.

Firstly, for five...

-Llandudno, I think?

-Is it?

-It looks very nice.

Llandudno?

No, that's Scarborough. Secondly...

THEY CONFER QUIETLY

Somewhere with boats...

Come along!

It's somewhere on the south coast. I think it's Whitby.

Let's say it anyway. It's not Whitby, but... Whitby.

You're right, it's not Whitby, it's Weymouth. And finally...

THEY CONFER QUIETLY

-(I've no idea.)

-Let's have it, please.

-Blackpool.

-No, that is Eastbourne. Ten points for this.

What short adjective links the nicknames of

the island to the southeast of Maui,

the US state of Montana

and the cities of New Orleans and New York?

Big.

Big is correct, so you get a set of bonuses this time,

on equality. Get them all, you are level pegging.

Basing its title on words from the Book Of Proverbs,

which 1926 work is TE Lawrence's account of his First World War

exploits in the Middle East?

Seven Pillars Of Wisdom, isn't it? That's his book.

-Seven Pillars Of Wisdom.

-Correct.

"The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook."

These are the words of which US philosopher in the 1890 work

The Principles Of Psychology?

THEY WHISPER

-William James.

-Correct.

In a saying from the Dhammapada, who stated,

"Just as a solid rock is not shaken by the storm,

"even so the wise are not affected by praise or blame"?

-Buddha.

-Correct.

Three and a half minutes to go and ten points at stake for this.

In 1812, John Bellingham,

a merchant with a grievance against the government, assassinated...

-Perceval.

-Spencer Perceval,

indeed, on May 11th, 1812.

APPLAUSE

Right, these bonuses, Manchester, you having taken the lead,

are on infections.

Mycosis, candidiasis and tinea pedis

all belong to which general class of infection?

-Fungal.

-Correct.

Impetigo and cellulitis are bacterial infections

affecting which part of the body?

-Skin.

-The skin.

-Correct.

Meaning secret, what term denotes a hidden infection

first recognised by secondary manifestations?

Cryptic is secret,

but I've never heard of that.

-I just can't think of...

-Cryptic infection?

-Let's have it.

-Cryptic infection.

-No, it's occult.

Ten points for this.

In veterinary science, which organ of the cow

includes the abomasum, the omasum and the reticulin?

The udder.

No. Selwyn?

-The stomach.

-The stomach is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses, Selwyn, are on the Winter Olympics.

Which winter sports resort near Mont Blanc in the French Alps

hosted the first Winter Olympics in 1924?

Chamonix?

-Chamonix.

-Correct.

Which resort in the Adirondack Mountains in New York State

hosted the Winter Olympics in both 1932 in 1980?

Oh... Er...

Stowe? No?

I don't know.

Stowe?

No, it's Lake Placid.

And finally, which country

hosted the Winter Olympics in 1972 and 1998?

Who was it in '98?

-No, that was the Summer Games.

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

No, Salt Lake City... It's going to be...

Something European, like...

Em, Turin?

No, it was Japan. Ten points for this.

The short text known as the river fragments

are associated with which ancient philosopher...?

-Heraclitus.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

You take the lead, Selwyn,

and your bonuses are on US presidents and dystopian fiction.

In each case, name the president in office

when the following were first published.

Firstly, Jack London's The Iron Heel.

-Early 1900s?

-Early 1900s.

That's slightly later, isn't it?

We want either Cleveland or... Roosevelt? First Roosevelt?

-Theodore?

-People have heard of him.

-Let's have your answer.

Teddy Roosevelt.

Correct. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, secondly.

-That's more recent.

-That could be more like Nixon?

-Nixon?

-Nixon?

-No, it was Reagan.

Finally, Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games.

-That's really recent. Is it Bush or Obama?

-No, I think is Bush.

George W, yeah.

-George W Bush.

-Correct.

Ten points for this. From the 1880s, the German-born Franz Boas

was a pioneer of which academic field of study in...

Indology, the study of South Asia?

Anyone like to buzz from Selwyn?

You can hear a little more of the question

and I'm afraid we've got to fine you five points, Manchester.

..which academic field of study in the United States?

Its notable students included Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead.

You may not confer.

-Anthropology?

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Right, Selwyn, these bonuses are linked by a colour...

OUT-OF-TIME GONG

At the gong, Manchester University have 160,

Selwyn College Cambridge have 190.

APPLAUSE

Well, you started well, Manchester,

had a couple of unfortunate buzzes, but who knows?

160 may be enough to come back as a high-scoring loser. Who knows?

Thank you very much for joining us.

Selwyn, many congratulations. We shall definitely see you

in round two. We look forward to that very much.

I hope you can join us next time, but until then,

-it is goodbye from Manchester University...

-Bye.

-It's goodbye from Selwyn College, Cambridge.

-Goodbye.

And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.