Episode 19 University Challenge

APPLAUSE

University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. Whichever team wins tonight will join Imperial College London

and Nuffield College, Oxford in the labyrinth

that is the quarterfinal stage of this contest.

Whichever team loses can console themselves with the thought

that they don't have to play in the quarterfinals.

Now the team from Glasgow University lost to Peterhouse, Cambridge

in round one, but won their play-off for the highest scoring losing teams

and improved their score when they met St Peter's College, Oxford.

They were quick on game theory, the Cayman Islands and rotten tomatoes,

and particularly strong on artists of the Bauhaus.

Let's meet the Glasgow team again.

Hi, my name is Andrew Davidson, I'm from Stranraer

and I'm studying medicine.

Hello, my name is Vitali Brejevs, I am from Riga in Latvia

and I am studying mathematics.

And this is their captain.

Hi, I'm Evelyn McMenamin, I'm from North London

and I'm studying geography.

Hi, my name is Ollie Allen, I'm originally from Catford in London

and I study maths.

APPLAUSE

Now their opponents from the University of Newcastle beat

Kent University in their first round match, wining by 160 points to 115.

It wasn't the highest scoring match of the round and they could do with

brushing up on ballet and the months of the year.

But they were impressive on hypothetical tourist signs,

cloud formations and Greek mythology.

With an average age of 28, let's meet the Newcastle team again.

Hello, I'm Alexander Kirkman, I'm from Guildford in Surrey

and I'm studying biomedical sciences.

Hi, my name is Nick Smith, I'm from

Chorley in Lancashire, and I'm studying medicine.

And their captain.

Hello, I'm Tony Richardson, originally from County Durham,

studying for a master's in international politics.

Hi, I'm Kate Bennett, I'm from Chichester

and I'm studying for a master's in film theory and practice.

APPLAUSE

OK, let's crack on with it, then.

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

The name of which British overseas territory is derived from that of

a Moorish general of the 8th century and the Arabic word for mountain.

-Gibraltar?

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

The first set of bonuses are on Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novels.

In each case, name the full-length novel

in which Holmes speaks these words.

The first, serialised from 1901.

"Well, Sir Henry, I'm of one mind with you as to the advisability

"of you going down to Devonshire without delay.

"There's only one provision which I must make,

"you certainly must not go alone."

The Hound Of The Baskervilles.

Correct. Secondly, serialised from 1914.

"You can tell an old master by the sweep of his brush,

"I can tell a Moriarty when I see one.

"This crime is from London, not from America."

The Sign Of Four?

No, that's The Valley Of Fear. And, finally, first appearing in 1890,

"A 7% solution, would you care to try it?"

The Sign Of Four?

Indeed.

APPLAUSE Right, 10 points for this starter question.

Oreads inhabited mountains and grottos,

naiads rivers and lakes, Oceanids the sea...

Muses? No, nymphs! It's nymphs!

Oh, no!

I'm sorry, I have to take your first answer and you've now

-given them the correct answer.

-Sorry!

I'm going to have to fine you five points.

Just be careful next time. I'm sorry about that,

there's no point in my giving it to you, Newcastle,

because she did eventually get there,

cos you knew the right answer all along.

10 points for this starter question.

Born in 1869, the Scottish physicist CTR Wilson

is noted for the invention of what device?

Cloud chamber.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

Forget it and move on.

Set of bonuses for you this time, Glasgow.

They're on native British trees

in the words of the Royal Horticultural Society website.

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

First, Sorbus aucuparia,

an upright, deciduous tree with pinnate leaves,

turning yellow in autumn and flat clusters of white flowers

in late spring, followed by orange-red berries in early autumn.

-(Don't know.

-Any ideas?)

Rowan tree? It's got orange-red berries.

Rowan tree?

Rowan is correct, or the mountain ash.

Secondly, Taxus baccata,

a medium-sized bushy evergreen tree

with narrow, leathery dark green leaves arranged in two rows

on the shoots and insignificant flowers

followed on female plants by fleshy red fruits.

THEY CONFER

-Try a plum tree?

-Plum tree, yeah.

A plum tree?

No, that's the common or English yew.

Finally, Pinus sylvestris, a large evergreen tree

developing a picturesque irregular outline with maturity.

Twisted grey-green needles are born in pairs.

I need the two word name at the top of the RHS list here.

-Some kind of pine, so it's pine...

-Scots pine, maybe?

It's the top of the list, so...

-So, A, something A.

-Something like that, yeah.

Er...

I don't know!

-Scots pine?

-Correct!

APPLAUSE

10 points for this. Joseph Lister and Lord Kelvin were among

the inaugural recipients of which honour, first awarded

at the time of the coronation of Edward VII

and currently limited to 24...

-Order of Merit?

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Newcastle, these bonuses are on the films of John Hughes

in words taken from the website rottentomatoes.com -

in each case, name the film from the synopsis.

Firstly, "Wannabe hipster Gary and his nebbish,

"weak-willed best friend, Wyatt, are a pair of high-school geeks

"who are hapless with members of the opposite sex.

"Using Wyatt's computer they create

"what they believe is the ideal woman."

-Weird Science.

-Weird Science.

-Correct.

-(Get in!)

Secondly, "Trapped in a day-long Saturday detention

"in a prison-like school library are the princess, the jock, the criminal,

"the brain and the basket case."

-The Breakfast Club.

-Correct.

And, finally, "Intending to make one last

"grand duck-out before graduation,

"the title character calls in sick, borrows a Ferrari and embarks

"on a one day bacchanal through the streets of Chicago."

Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

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

For your picture starter you'll see

the plot of probability distribution

assuming the parameters

defined in the legend.

For 10 points, I want you

to identify the distribution.

Er, normal.

No, anyone like to...

Gaussian?

No, it's binomial.

So we'll take the picture bonuses in a moment or two,

10 points at stake for this started question.

What five letter prefix links a substance with zero viscosity,

a person who lives to the age of 110

and the company that manufactured the World War II Spitfire aeroplane?

Super.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

Right, your picture bonuses are three more plots of commonly used

probability distributions.

Each of them is shown for three different sets of defined parameters

given in the legend in conventional notation.

Again, in each case I want you to

identify the distribution represented.

Firstly, for five.

Boltzmann? That's a distribution...

Boltzmann?

No, that's chi-squared distribution.

Secondly.

Alex, any ideas?

(Try that one again?)

We'll try Boltzmann again.

No, that's Pareto distribution.

And, finally...

(I have no idea.)

(Could be anything.)

-(Will we try Boltzmann again?

-I was thinking...)

We're going to have to try Boltzmann again.

Poor bloke. No, that isn't right, either.

No, it's poisson distribution.

Right, 10 points for this.

Which British monarch concluded the Treaty Of Dover with France?

It provided for a joint attack on the Netherlands and, in a secret clause,

for a French army to cross the Channel

to help the monarch in question to re-establish Catholicism?

-James...

-Mary... Mary I.

No. Anyone like to buzz from Glasgow?

Henry VII.

No, it's Charles II.

10 points for this.

Known as Elissa in some sources and thought to have been born in Tyre,

which legendary Phoenician princess is traditionally regarded

as the founder of a major city on the coast of...

-Dido.

-Dido is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Queen of Carthage.

So, Newcastle, your bonuses this time are on chemical bonding.

Named after the two German scientists who formulated it in 1918,

what term denotes the cycle that breaks down the overall process of

the formation of an ionic bond into a series of steps of known energy?

THEY CONFER

-No, we don't have anything.

-It's the Born-Haber cycle. Secondly,

what term denotes the energy released

when gaseous ions are combined to form a crystalline solid?

It's usually measured in kilojoules per mole.

THEY CONFER

Nominate Kirkman.

Latent heat of evaporation?

No, it's lattice energy.

And finally, as a general rule,

when neither of the elements in a compound is a metal,

the compound is likely to be formed by what type of chemical bond?

(Covalent? Is it covalent?)

(Covalent, yeah.)

-Covalent.

-Correct.

10 points for this.

Phascolarctos cinereus has what five letter common name?

It's an arboreal, herbivorous marsupial

whose generic name means pouch bear.

Wombat?

No, that's got six letters. Oh, God.

-Er, Koala.

-Koala is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Newcastle, your bonuses this time are on place names.

In each case, name the location from the description.

All three names begin with the same three letters.

The Caliph Muawiyah established which city as the capital of the

Umayyad Caliphate in 661?

First settled in the second millennium BC,

it's one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

Damascus?

Mesopotamia, maybe?

Damascus, it's a city.

I'd say Egypt.

Damascus. It's a city.

If you want to try Damascus.

-Damascus.

-Correct.

-Sorry!

-The main city of a union territory of India,

an enclave on the coast of Gujarat,

it was ruled by Portugal until the 1960s.

(Do you know?)

(They all begin with the same three letters.)

-(Can you help?

-I'm not sure.

-I can't think of any.)

-Let's have it, please.

-Damaris?

No, it's Daman.

Finally, the English name of the eastern branch of the Nile Delta.

THEY CONFER

No.

It's Damietta. 10 points for this.

One of the coldest low-lying locations in the UK,

which village in Aberdeenshire hosts an annual highland games gathering

traditionally attended by the Royal...

-Braemar?

-Braemar is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

You get a set of bonuses, Glasgow, on Mary, Queen of Scots.

Firstly for five,

which royal residence was the location of Mary's marriages

to her second and third husbands

and the scene of the murder of her secretary, David Rizzio?

-Hmm.

-I never did this in history...

Well, I'm not Scottish, that's my defence.

Holyrood?

-Balmoral...

-Holyrood?

Correct.

Secondly, having been a prisoner there for over 10 months,

in 1568 Mary escaped by boat from which Scottish castle

aided by members of her captor's family?

Stirling, maybe?

-By boat, though.

-Can you get a boat from Stirling?

No, it's on a hill!

-There's Stirling Bridge, there is a river.

-But it's on a hill,

-a stone castle is on a hill, it's definitely not that.

-Eilean Donan?

-Eilean Donan?

-No, it's Loch Leven Castle.

And, finally, almost entirely demolished in the 17th century,

which castle in Northamptonshire

was the scene of Mary's trial and execution?

Castle in Northamptonshire?

No.

-No.

-Northampton Castle?

No, it's Fotheringhay Castle.

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

For your music starter, you're going to hear an excerpt from an opera.

10 points if you can identify the composer and the opera.

OPERA MUSIC PLAYS

The Magic Flute by Mozart?

No, you can hear a little more, Glasgow.

OPERA MUSIC CONTINUES

Mozart and Don Giovanni?

No, it was Mozart, you both got that,

but it was the Marriage of Figaro,

so we'll take the music bonuses in a moment or two.

Another 10 points at stake for this starter question.

From the Greek for "to contract",

what term denotes a medical application that checks bleeding

either by causing blood vessels to narrow

or by speeding the clotting process?

Cauterisation?

No.

Haemostasis?

No, it's styptic.

Ten points for this. Give both answers promptly.

If the US presidents are listed alphabetically by surname,

which surnames would appear first and last?

Adams and Wilson?

Correct!

Right, that music starter that everyone so signally failed to get

was from Marriage of Figaro

as I say, it was, in fact, the marriage of Figaro -

that is the double wedding ceremony at the end of Act III.

Your music bonuses are three more wedding ceremonies in opera,

all by Italian composers.

I'd like the name of the composer in each case please.

Firstly for five?

OPERA MUSIC PLAYS

THEY CONFER

We'll go with Puccini.

Puccini?

No, that's from Verdi's Falstaff.

And, secondly...

OPERA MUSIC PLAYS

-Puccini?

-I don't know.

Puccini?

No, that's by Donizetti from Lucia di Lammermoor.

And finally...

OPERA MUSIC PLAYS

I don't believe this!

We've only got Puccini left!

Well, you're quite right in that case.

It was from Madame Butterfly!

Right, 10 points for this.

Harriet Taylor's essay, The Enfranchisement of Women,

was published in 1851 under what name, that of her husband?

He later...

Harriet Tubman?

No, I'm afraid you lose five points.

He later dedicated On Liberty to her?

Thomas Paine?

Nope, it's John Stuart Mills,

so we'll take another starter question.

Derived ultimately from the Latin for sky,

what word may precede pole,

parallel, sphere, horizon and mechanics

to form terms in astronomy?

Celestial?

Correct.

Here are your bonuses, they're on Japanese culture.

Meaning "treasure every meeting which will never recur",

the Japanese expression, "ichigo ichie",

is associated with which stylised tradition

known as sado or chanoyu?

The tea ceremony?

THEY CONFER

What about calligraphy?

-It might be, I don't know.

-It's a tradition, a traditional ceremony.

Calligraphy?

No, it is the tea ceremony.

Secondly, used to flavour ice cream and traditional confectionery,

what name is given to the powdered variety

of green tea used in the tea ceremony?

Chai?

-That's Indian.

-Let's just guess.

-Chai?

No, it's matcha.

And finally, the tea ceremony is especially associated

with which broad school of East Asian Buddhism,

its monks used tea to prevent drowsiness during meditations?

-Zen?

-Correct.

10 points for this.

Replacing the originally intended title Buonaparte,

what name did Beethoven give to his third symphony

in response to Napoleon's...

Eroica?

Eroica is correct, yes.

Right, these bonuses are on mathematical physics, Glasgow.

Born in 1902, which scientist gives his name to a generalised

distribution function, also known as the delta function,

-that takes the value zero...

-Dirac.

-..at all points except the origin?

-Dirac.

Correct. Born in 1850, which English scientist gives his name to both

a layer in the ionosphere associated with the transmission of radio waves,

and the step function, obtained by integrating the Dirac delta function?

-Um, Green?

-Green?

-No, it's Heaviside.

-Oh!

What is the numerical value of the Heaviside function

for strictly positive values of its argument?

Er, I think it's one.

-One.

-It is. 10 points for this.

Its name referring to a Roman general,

known for his delaying tactics,

which socialist grouping was founded in 1884 by...?

Fabian.

The Fabian Society is correct, yes.

These bonuses, Newcastle, are on a writer.

In 1988, the University of Dusseldorf was renamed

in honour of which lyric poet?

He was born in the city in 1797,

but lived in Paris for much of his adult life.

Goethe?

No, it's Heine.

Poems from Heine's collection Lyrical Intermezzo

were set to music by which Romantic composer

in his song cycle, Dichterliebe, or A Poet's Love?

(Schumann.)

Schumann?

Correct, Robert Schumann, yes.

Which water nymph and enchantress of German folklore

is the subject of a poem by Heine, later set to music by Liszt?

The Valkyrie.

-No, it's Lorelei.

-Lorelei!

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

For your picture starter, you'll see a painting depicting the signing

of a specific historical document.

For 10 points, I want the name of that document, please.

Is it the Declaration of Independence?

No. Anyone like to buzz from Newcastle? You may not confer.

One of you may buzz.

The United States Constitution.

It is indeed, yes.

APPLAUSE

So, for your picture bonuses,

you're going to see portraits of three people

whose work wielded significant influence on the political thought

of the Founding Fathers of the nascent United States.

Five points for each you can identify.

Firstly, this English-born political theorist.

Thomas Payne.

Correct. Secondly, this American Founding Father

and one of the authors of the Federalist Papers.

James Madison.

No, it's Alexander Hamilton,

although Madison was, of course, one of the authors of that.

And, finally, this English philosopher born in the 17th century.

John Locke.

Correct. 10 points for this starter question.

Of the seven SI base units, which has the shortest name

and the longest symbol, differing in length by only one letter?

Kilogram.

Nope. Newcastle, one of you buzz?

It's mole. 10 points for this.

In Norse mythology, what word is broadly equivalent

to the German "Gotterdammerung", both of them referring to the...?

Ragnarok.

Correct.

Right, you get a set of bonuses on chemistry, Glasgow.

After the first element in the series, what term denotes the series

of metallic elements with atomic numbers 90 to 103?

Actinides, I think. I think actinides.

-Nominate Brejevs.

-Actinides.

Correct. What term denotes elements with atomic numbers greater than 92?

-Transuranic.

-Nominate Brejevs.

-Transuranic.

Transuranic is right.

And, finally, named after the American University city where

it was first synthesised, which actinide has the atomic number 97?

Livermorium.

-Nominate Brejevs.

-Livermorium.

No, it's berkelium. 10 points for this.

Named after a German physician born in 1848, which severe

and sometimes fatal form of leptospirosis

can be transmitted by rats?

Weil's disease.

Yes. Right, 15 points for these bonuses.

At an elevation of more than 1,500 metres,

which Swiss town is the highest in Europe?

Davos?

Correct. Which novel by Thomas Mann was inspired in part by his visits

to his wife during her treatment in the sanatorium at Davos in 1912?

-Come on.

-Death In Venice.

-Death In Venice in Davos?

-I know.

No, it was The Magic Mountain.

For what do the letters WEF stand in the context

of the annual meeting in Davos committed to,

"improving the state of the world"?

World Economic Forum.

That is correct.

Four minutes to go, 10 points for this.

China's largest e-commerce business,

which internet corporation was founded in 1999...?

Alibaba?

Correct, yes.

These bonuses are on Homer's Odyssey, Glasgow.

Described in Cooper's translation as, "the bearer of the golden wand",

which God gives Odysseus a plant called moly to help him resist

-the magic of Circe?

-The messenger...

-Hermes.

-Hermes.

Hermes is right.

Hermes later convinces which nymph to release Odysseus from captivity

-on her island of Ogygia?

-Calypso.

Calypso's correct. In Book 24, Hermes conducts to the Underworld

the shades of which group of men slain by Odysseus...?

The suitors.

The suitors is correct. 10 points for this.

Answer as soon as your name is called.

What is the total sum represented by the seven denominations

of euro banknotes?

Is it 198 euros?

Nope.

698 euros.

No, it's 885. 500, 200, onwards down.

Right, 10 points for this starter question, then.

Hever Castle, bestowed on Anne of Cleves by Henry VIII in 1540,

had been the childhood home of which of his other wives?

Catherine of Aragon?

Nope.

Jane Seymour?

No, it was Anne Boleyn. 10 points for this.

Sir Michael Tippett's opera, The Midsummer Marriage

and TS Eliot's poem, The Waste Land both include

a clairvoyant by what name?

Sosostris.

Yes, that's correct, so you get a set of bonuses now, Newcastle, on Norway.

Nidaros Cathedral is built over the burial site of Saint Olav,

the patron saint of Norway,

and is located in which city around 500 kilometres north of Oslo?

Trondheim.

Correct. Which town north of the Arctic Circle

is the terminus of a railway

built to transport iron ore from Sweden?

It was the scene of fierce fighting during the German invasion in 1940.

Narvik.

Correct. The birthplace of the composer Edvard Grieg,

what is Norway's second-largest city?

Bergen.

Bergen is correct.

10 points for this.

What is the two-word English

translation of "Yutu",

the name of China's lunar rover

released onto the moon's surface in December 2013?

Neph... Rabbit?

Yes, I'll accept that. I asked for a translation.

It's normally known as the Jade Rabbit.

You get a set of bonuses this time, Glasgow, on domes.

Built during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian,

which building in Rome has a concrete dome 43 metres in diameter,

the largest in the world at the time of its construction?

Dome... I don't know. Anything.

-Pantheon, I don't know.

-What?

Pantheon. I don't know.

Pantheon?

The Pantheon is correct.

Completed in 1436, the double-shell dome of the Cathedral of

Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence was designed by which architect?

-Brunelleschi, maybe.

-Brunelleschi.

Correct. And finally, on the death of Michelangelo in 1564,

the architects Pirro Ligorio and Giacomo da Vignola

supervised the completion of the dome of which building?

-St Peter's Basilica?

-Yeah.

-St Peter's Basilica.

Correct. 10 points for this.

The union of Bernicia and Deira in the 7th century

resulted in the establishment of which kingdom?

Wessex.

No. Anyone want to buzz from Glasgow?

The Moor kingdom?

No, it's Northumbria. 10 points for this.

"Et in Arcadia ego" and "I have been here before",

are the title and opening words respectively of Book One, Chapter One

of which novel of 1945?

-Homage to Catalonia?

-No, anyone like to buzz from Glasgow?

GONG RINGS And at the gong, Glasgow have 135,

Newcastle have 175.

Well, Glasgow, I'm afraid that means

we're going to have to say goodbye to you.

You will be spared the quarterfinals, though,

but thank you very much for playing and, Newcastle,

you're going to have to endure and enjoy the quarterfinals.

Thank you very much. Well done.

I hope you can join us next time for another second round match

-but until then, it's goodbye from Glasgow University...

-Goodbye!

-..it's goodbye from Newcastle University...

-Bye.

..and it's goodbye from me. Goodbye. APPLAUSE