Episode 21 University Challenge

University Challenge...

..asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. Both teams playing tonight

could be forgiven for thinking that this contest is a bit of a pushover,

as they both had very easy victories in their first-round matches.

Now that they're playing each other, though, things could be different,

and only the winners will progress to the quarterfinals.

The team from Christ's College, Cambridge

beat Kellogg College, Oxford by 205 points to 60,

and demonstrated their familiarity with Occam's razor and Albania,

Aristotle, aqua vitae and St Thomas Aquinas.

With an average age of 19, let's meet the Christ's team again.

Hi. I'm Vivek Midha, I'm from London and I'm studying economics.

Hello. My name's Joe Kitchen, I'm from Much Hadham in Hertfordshire

-and I'm reading history.

-And this is their captain.

Hello. I'm Douglas Morton, I'm from Bearsden, near Glasgow,

and I'm studying law.

Ey-up. I'm Evan Lynch, I'm from Castleford in West Yorkshire,

and I study natural sciences.

APPLAUSE

Now, their opponents from the University of York

had the second-highest score of the first-round matches, 265,

against the 90 earned by an uncharacteristically low-key team

from Manchester University,

who are now on a witness protection programme somewhere.

They knew their way around Indonesia, Genoa, Uzbekistan,

and various island nations,

and were strong on people called Rupert, noteworthy Germans,

and Humphrey Littleton.

With an average age of 22, let's meet the York team again.

Hello. My name's Barto Joly de Lotbiniere, I'm from London,

and I'm studying history.

Hi. I'm Sam Smith, I'm from Guernsey,

-and I study chemistry.

-And this is their captain.

Hello. My name's David Landon Cole,

I'm from Yeovil in Somerset, and I'm studying politics.

Hi. I'm Joseph McLoughlin, I'm from Oldham in Lancashire,

and I'm studying chemistry.

APPLAUSE

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

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

In economics, what six-letter term denotes the means by which

the exchange of goods and services takes place

as a result of buyers and sellers being...

Barter?

No, you lose five points.

..being in contact with one another,

either directly or through mediating institutions or agents?

Market?

Correct.

You get bonuses on paradoxes in economics.

Coined by Professor Richard Easterlin,

the Easterlin Paradox proposes that increased wealth

does not produce a corresponding growth in what state of being?

Happiness? Must be.

-Happiness.

-Happiness or wellbeing, yes.

Which Scottish economist originated the diamond-water paradox,

asking why diamonds are in such high demand

and water in such low demand

when the former's a luxury and the latter's a necessity?

THEY CONFER

-Smith.

-Adam Smith is correct.

Which British economist developed the paradox of thrift

to show that efforts to increase levels of savings

have the opposite effect?

-John Maynard Keynes.

-Correct. Ten points for this.

What acronym denotes a crystalline rock

found on the highlands of the moon, and is derived from

its high concentrations of rare Earth elements potassium and phosphorous?

A homophone of the term denotes the slow defamation

of a solid material.

It's Kreep. Ten points for this.

Named after the Iranian city, the Ramsar convention of 1971...

-Wetlands?

-Wetlands is right, yes.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on American literature, York.

The author of Couples and Memories Of The Ford Administration,

which novelist set much of his later fiction in New England,

where he lived from the 1960s?

Who did Bonfire? Tom Wolfe?

Tom Wolfe?

No, it's John Updike.

Which author claimed to be retiring in 2010

with the publication of his 24th novel Nemesis?

His other works include The Human Stain and The Dying Animal.

Tom Wolfe.

No, it was Philip Roth.

And finally, Hitler's childhood was the subject of the 2007 work

The Castle In The Forest by which author?

He made his debut almost 50 years earlier with The Naked And The Dead.

No, sorry.

-I'm afraid we're really bad on American authors.

-Clearly.

-Pass.

-That's Norman Mailer. Ten points for this.

"Peace is not an absence of war - it's a virtue, a state of mind,

"a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice."

These are the words of which philosopher,

born in 1632 in Amsterdam?

Spinoza?

Spinoza is correct, yes!

APPLAUSE

Right, you're off the mark, then, Christ's.

These bonuses are on astronomy.

Among stars within 12 light years of Earth,

only three are intrinsically more luminous than the sun.

What is the common name of the most luminous? A binary system,

it appears in the constellation Canis Major.

THEY CONFER

-Sirius.

-Correct.

Also a binary system and appearing in Canis Minor,

what is the common name of the second most luminous star

within 12 light years?

The same name denotes a genus of mammals commonly known as raccoons.

THEY CONFER

-Alpha Centauri.

-No, it's Procyon.

Finally, what is the third most luminous star within 12 light years?

A triple system, its usual name coincides with its Bayer designation.

-Alpha Centauri.

-Correct.

Ten points for this. Brought up in a magnificent castle

among the barbarians, tempest, shipwreck, and earthquake,

and a beautiful auto de fe

are among the experiences of which fictional character?

-Candide.

-Candide is correct, yes.

You get a set of bonuses, York, on Mexican film directors.

Firstly, set in Spain in 1944,

which film by Guillermo del Toro

tells of the fantasy world of Ophelia,

the young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer?

Pan's Labyrinth.

Correct. Released in 2000, which director's film Amores Perros

is credited with heralding

the 21st-century prominence of Mexican cinema?

THEY CONFER

We think it's Inarritu.

Correct. Recognised for the film Gravity,

who became the first Mexican to win the Academy Award for Best Director?

It's just come out, hasn't it?

It's Sean Penn's friend, but I can't remember what he's called.

-Amenabar?

-Yeah, that sounds right.

Alejandro Amenabar.

No, it's Alfonso Cuaron.

For your picture starter question, we've taken the first stanza

of a poem as it appears in the poet's collected works.

We've removed everything but the nouns

and arranged them in alphabetical order.

Ten points if you can identify the poem from the nouns.

I need the title and the poet.

Dulce Et Decorum Est and Wilfred Owen?

Correct.

APPLAUSE

So for your picture bonuses, Christ's,

you get three more first stanzas of 20th-century poems

stripped of all but the lexical nouns and arranged alphabetically.

Any nouns that appear in the title of the poem

have also been removed.

Five points each if you can name the poem and the poet.

Firstly...

Would that be Eliot? Or possibly Pound?

Masks Of Anarchy, maybe?

THEY CONFER

I've nothing.

TS Eliot, The Wasteland.

No, it's The Second Coming by Yeats.

And secondly...

Who's into Lincolnshire, poet-wise?

-It's not Larkin, or something? Or possibly Betjeman?

-Could be.

Oh, it could be Larkin, Church Going.

Philip Larkin, Church Going.

No, it's the Whitsun Weddings. You got the right poet, though.

And finally...

Could this...war poem?

Is it Slough, by...?

Betjeman.

Is it just "Slough"?

Er, John Betjeman, Slough.

Correct, yes.

Right, we're going to take another starter question now.

The abbreviation of the name of which trigonometric function

also begins words meaning

the study of the creation and development of the universe...

Cosine.

Cosine is correct, yes!

Your bonuses are on islands, Christ's.

Named after a fourth-century Spanish saint,

which island in the eastern Caribbean

forms a country with the nearby Grenadines?

-St Vincent.

-Correct.

What is the precise four-word name of the country in the Gulf of Guinea

consisting of an island named after St Thomas the Apostle,

a neighbouring island, and several rocky islets?

Sao Tome and Principe.

Correct. What is the more common name

of the Caribbean island of Saint Christopher,

which forms a country with the neighbouring island of Nevis?

-Saint Kitts.

-Correct. Ten points for this.

Whoever gets it takes the lead.

What Biblical name do the following literary characters have in common?

Firstly, Amelia Sedley's rich older brother in Vanity Fair,

secondly, the Earnshaw family's vinegar-faced servant

in Wuthering Heights,

and thirdly, the protagonist in Franz Kafka's The Trial?

Joseph?

Correct.

Right, these bonuses are on East Asia, Christ's.

Doctrine Of The Mean and Mencius

are two of the four books in the central canon

of which East Asian system of morals and political thought?

-Confucianism.

-Correct. Confucianism propounds a hierarchy

of four classes or professions,

with scholar-administrators at the top, followed by farmers.

Which class is at the bottom?

Could it be slaves, or labourers?

Peasants?

Merchants would be above that. Shall we go for peasants?

-Peasants.

-No, it's merchants. Merchant classes.

And finally, in 17th-century Japan, the scholar-administrator class

was identified with a hereditary warrior class

known by what Japanese name?

Samurai.

Correct. Ten points for this starter question.

Unveiled by Edward VIII in 1936, the National Vimy Memorial

at the site of the First World War battle site of Vimy Ridge

commemorates the casualties of which Commonwealth country?

Canada.

Canada is correct, yes.

Right, you get a set of promises on Period 3 elements, York.

That is those in the same row of the periodic table as sodium.

Firstly, with a melting point around 112 degrees Celsius,

which of the Period 3 elements is extracted using the Frasch process?

One of its common allotropes is a cyclic molecule

containing eight atoms.

-Sulphur.

-Correct.

Which Period 3 element is found in the crystalline compound carborundum,

used as an abrasive?

It has the highest melting point of those in Period 3.

THEY CONFER

-Silicon.

-Correct.

Which of the elements of Period 3 has the lowest melting point,

at around minus 189 degrees Celsius?

-Argon?

-Correct.

OK, another starter question now. You've taken the lead.

Ten points for this.

Characteristic of supersonic flow regimes,

what phenomenon involves a sudden change in the pressure and density

of a compressible fluid?

Sonic boom.

No. That was an interruption.

-Shockwave.

-Correct, yes.

So York, these bonuses are on geographical locations

whose names start and end with the same pair of letters,

for example Amsterdam, AM, or Christchurch, CH.

Identify the location in each case.

First, the autonomous region on the north coast of Spain,

the cities of which include Oviedo and Gijon?

Asturias.

-Asturias?

-Correct.

Secondly, the historic county of Scotland,

the towns of which include Paisley and Erskine?

Renfrewshire.

-Renfrewshire.

-Correct.

And finally, the capital city

of the country formerly known as Upper Volta?

Ouagadougou.

Nominate Smith!

-Ouagadougou.

-Indeed!

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

We're going to take a music round.

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

For ten points, all you have to do is name the composer.

CHORAL SINGING

Er, Mahler.

Mahler is correct, it's part of his 8th Symphony...

..sometimes known as the Symphony of a Thousand, of course,

because it requires such a large

orchestral and choral ensemble to perform it.

Your music bonuses are excerpts from three more classical pieces

scored for notably large ensembles.

I simply want you to identify the composer in each case.

Firstly for five, this French composer.

ROUSING ORCHESTRAL MUSIC

-Berlioz.

-It is, from his Requiem.

Secondly, this Austrian composer.

CHORAL SINGING

Schubert?

Schubert?! No, it's Schoenberg.

And finally, this Russian composer.

DRAMATIC ORCHESTRAL MUSIC

Nominate McLoughlin.

-Is it Scriabin?

-No, it's Prokofiev.

Right. Ten points at stake for this starter question.

Answer promptly and completely if you buzz.

Name all the planets that appear on Copernicus's 16th-century

diagram of a sun-centred universe.

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

Right, these bonuses are on painters and how to recognise them

according to the website TheMetaPicture.com -

quote, "If everyone in the painting, including the women,

"looks like Vladimir Putin,"

then it's by which early Netherlandish painter?

His work can be seen on the Ghent altarpiece.

We think it's Van Eyck.

It is, yes. Secondly, "If everything is highly contrasted and sharp,

"sort of blue-ish, and everyone has gaunt, bearded faces,"

then it's by which painter?

For example, in The Disrobing Of Christ

in the Sacristy Of Toledo Cathedral.

-El Greco.

-Correct.

And finally, "If everyone is beautiful, naked and stacked,"

for example, in The Last Judgement,

it's by which Italian Renaissance painter and sculptor?

"Stacked", in this context,

meaning buxom or muscular, depending on the gender.

I really don't know.

-Michelangelo.

-Correct! Good, isn't it?

Right, ten points for this.

Deriving ultimately from a verse in the Book of Isaiah,

which three-word metaphor for God

was used by the Reverend Augustus Montague Toplady

in the first line of a popular 18th-century hymn?

Still, small voice?

No. One of you buzz from Christ's?

Never was a college more inappropriately named!

It's Rock of Ages. Ten points for this.

Listen carefully. In Olympic archery, what total score

would be obtained by three arrows

that respectively strike the inner gold, the inner red,

and the outer white regions?

19.

Correct.

Christ's, these bonuses are on British prime ministers.

In each case, name the politician and the party to which they belonged

at the given time.

Firstly, who was prime minister on the accession of King George V?

George V was 1910,

so I think that would have been...Asquith?

-You need the party.

-Yeah, he's Liberal.

THEY CONFER

Er, Herbert Asquith, Liberal.

Correct. Secondly, who was prime minister

on the accession of King George VI?

THEY CONFER

1930, I think it was Stanley Baldwin.

And he was coalition, wasn't he? Or is he Conservative?

THEY CONFER

Baldwin, Conservative.

Correct. Finally, who was prime minister

on the accession of Queen Elizabeth II?

-Churchill, Conservative.

-Correct.

Ten points for this. Born in Geneva in 1768,

which mathematician gives his name to a so-called diagram

that's a geometrical representation of complex numbers?

-Argand.

-Correct.

Right, Christ's. These bonuses are on an epic poem

composed about 300 BCE by the Sanskrit poet Valmiki.

Which epic poem tells of the title figure's journey

to rescue his wife Sita after her abduction by the demon-king Ravana?

Nominate Midha.

-Ramayana?

-Correct.

Widely worshipped as a subsidiary deity,

which monkey commander leads a monkey army

to help Rama in his quest?

-Hanuman.

-Correct.

Rama is regarded as the seventh avatar or incarnation

of which principal Hindu deity?

-Vishnu.

-Vishnu is correct.

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

For your picture starter question,

you'll see an element of a national flag removed from its usual context.

For ten points, I need the name of the country on whose flag it appears.

Egypt.

Egypt, we'll see the whole thing now.

Well done. So you get a set of bonuses

which consist of three more birds that have been plucked from

their national flags. Five points for each country you can identify.

Firstly...

Zimbabwe.

-Zimbabwe.

-It is Zimbabwe, as we can see now. There we are.

And secondly...

Caribbean, maybe?

Well, it's not Dominica.

Is it going to be somewhere in Polynesia?

I doubt it.

Come on, chaps, let's have an answer, please.

Dominica?

No, it's the quetzal bird of Guatemala. There we are.

And finally...

-Papua New Guinea.

-Well done.

Right. Another starter question now.

In botany, what organelle of a plant cell

is surrounded by the tonoplast?

Er, the choloroplast.

Anyone like to buzz from Christ's?

Golgi apparatus?

No, it's the vacuole. Right, ten points for this.

Slightly larger than Somerset, Gelderland is the largest...?

-The Netherlands.

-Correct.

You get a set of bonuses on zoology now, York.

From the Greek for "soft",

malacology is the study of which phylum of invertebrates?

THEY CONFER

-Slugs?

-No, it's molluscs.

Derived from the Greek for "head feet",

which class of molluscs includes the octopuses and squid?

Oh...

Come on, let's have it, please.

Capiped.

No, it's cephalopods. And finally,

the structure of cephalopod invertebrate eyes are similar.

What precise adjective describes evolution

that results in such similarities?

-Convergent.

-Correct. Ten points for this.

Winter Wind is an etude in A Minor for piano

by which composer born in 1810 in a village near Warsaw?

-Chopin?

-Chopin is correct, yes.

Your bonuses are on fictional figures

discussed in the work Faulks On Fiction

by the novelist Sebastian Faulks.

Which 20th-century author created the character of Jim Dixon

discussed in the Heroes section?

We don't know.

It's Kingsley Amis in Lucky Jim.

Born in 1954, which author created Nick Guest,

who is the title of a chapter in the Lovers section?

THEY CONFER

Lawrence?

No, it's Alan Hollinghurst.

And finally, who created Jean Brodie, who's examined

along with Emma Woodhouse and James Bond in the Snobs section?

-Let's have it, please.

-I'm afraid

-we're about as good with British literature as American.

-Oh, dear!

It's Muriel Spark. Right, ten points for this.

Epoisses is a pungent cheese

named after a village in which French region?

Normandy.

No. You lose five points.

The village lies midway between Auxerre and Dijon.

-Burgundy?

-Correct.

You get a set of bonuses this time

on words that may follow the names of English cities,

for example, in the autocomplete function of a search engine.

In each case, name the city from the options given

when its name, or the first part of its name, is entered.

For example, "Quays", "Red Devils" and "Greater Manchester"

give Salford.

Firstly, "Under Lyme", "New South Wales" and "Falcons".

-Newcastle.

-Newcastle.

Correct. Secondly, "Festival", "Rhinos" and "Carnegie".

-Leeds.

-Leeds?

Correct. And finally, "Newington", "Poges" and "Bishop".

-Stoke.

-Stoke.

Stoke is correct. Four minutes to go, ten points for this.

Following the fire of 1834,

which architect collaborated with Augustus Pugin to design London...?

Haussmann?

No, I'm afraid you lose five points.

..to design London's new Houses of Parliament.

-Barry.

-Sir Charles Barry is right.

You get a set of bonuses on architecture of the 1930s.

In 1935, the Pittsburgh department store owner Edgar J Kaufmann

hired which architect to design a house in Bear Run, Pennsylvania?

Is it Gehry?

-Gehry?

-No, it was Frank Lloyd Wright.

Its design combining medieval Tudor and contemporary minimalist forms

and completed in 1930, Castle Drogo in Devon

is the work of which British architect?

THEY CONFER

-Let's have an answer, please.

-Foster.

-No, it's Lutyens.

Completed in the early 1930s, New York's Chrysler Building

and the Empire State Building

both exemplify what architectural and artistic style?

THEY CONFER

Art Deco.

Correct. Ten points for this.

In chemistry, Epsom salt is a heptahydrated inorganic...

Magnesium.

No, I'm afraid you're going to lose five points.

..inorganic salt. Which three elements are present

in the anhydrous molecule?

Er, magnesium, carbon and oxygen.

No, no, it's sulphur and oxygen.

We're going to take another starter question.

The penultimate novel in Emile Zola's Rougon-Macquart cycle,

which 1892 work is set during the Franco-Prussian War

and the Paris Commune?

Germinal?

No. Anyone like to buzz from York?

It's La Debacle. Ten points for this.

A slogan meaning "all in one rhythm",

a three-banded armadillo and the Brazuca

were all associated with which event of 2014?

-Er, the football World Cup in Brazil.

-Correct.

You get a set of bonuses now on botany, Christ's.

From the Greek meaning "to divide",

what term denotes regions of plant tissues

that contain actively or potentially actively dividing cells?

Come on.

Xylon.

No, it's meristems.

What seven-letter term denotes the lateral meristem

that gives rise to secondary growth?

-Pass.

-It's cambium.

The cambium known as the pericambium or phellogen

produces what type of cell?

THEY CONFER

Come on!

-Stem cell.

-No, it's cork cells.

Ten points for this. Which political figure comes next in this sequence,

given in chronological order?

Dan Quayle, Jack Kemp, Joe Lieberman, John Edwards, Sarah Palin and...?

Joe Biden?

No.

-Paul Ryan?

-Paul Ryan is correct.

Running mates on the losing ticket.

So these bonuses, Christ's, are on medieval taxes.

Levied at the rate of 10% of all goods and revenues,

the Saladin Tithe was imposed in 1188 by which English king

to raise funds for a proposed Crusade?

Richard I.

No, it wasn't, it was Henry II.

Richard I was crowned the following year, I think.

From the Latin for "shield",

what term denotes a tax levied on a knight's fee or allocation of land

and was paid in lieu of military service?

THEY CONFER

Skusen.

-No, it's skutage.

-Ah.

And finally, in 1294, Edward I added a tax

which came to be called the Maltolt,

meaning an unjust or bad tax, on sacks of which commodity?

-Grain.

-No, it was wool. Ten points for this.

The repetitive stress injury medial tibial stress syndrome

is more commonly known by what two-word...?

Tennis elbow?

No, you lose five points, Christ's, I'm afraid.

..what two-word name? One of you buzz, York.

Carpal tunnel?

No, it's shin splints. Ten points for this.

In computer engineering, flash memories

are often referred to as EEPROMS.

Sorry, I've no idea why I buzzed.

Er, OK! One of you buzz from Christ's.

You're going to lose five points, I'm afraid, York.

EEPROMS. For what do the letters EEP stand?

GONG CHIMES

And at the gong, Christ's College, Cambridge have 120,

York University have 225.

APPLAUSE

Well, bad luck, Christ's, but you were up against strong opposition,

so we'll have to say goodbye to you. Thank you very much for playing.

And congratulations, York,

that's another terrific, storming performance from you.

You're a well-balanced team.

Good luck to you, we'll look forward to seeing you in the quarterfinals.

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

-Until then, goodbye from Christ's College, Cambridge...

-Goodbye.

-It's goodbye from York University...

-Goodbye.

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

APPLAUSE