Episode 27 University Challenge

-APPLAUSE

-University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. It'd take the talents of that virtuoso of prolonged torment,

Edgar Allan Poe, to do justice to the challenges

posed by this quarterfinal stage of the contest.

Suffice to say that Peterhouse, Cambridge,

and St John's College, Oxford, have already earned the first

of the two quarterfinal victories they need to go further.

And whichever team wins tonight will match them.

The team from Imperial College, London,

scored a very comfortable win in round one with 285 points

to the 110 of the University of Reading,

but in their second round, their performance was even stronger,

with 305 points against the paltry 75

phoned in by Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

Imperial's accumulated score of 590 points from two matches

is the highest in the contest so far,

but they're no doubt aware that, from now on,

they'll be facing tougher competition and harder questions.

Let's meet them again.

Good evening. My name's Ben Fernando.

I'm from Birmingham and I'm studying physics.

Hi. I'm Ashwin Braude.

I'm from North London and I'm also studying physics.

-And this is their captain.

-Hello. I'm James Bezer.

I'm from Manchester and I do physics as well.

Hi. I'm Onur Teymur. I'm from North London

and I'm working towards a PhD in mathematical statistics.

APPLAUSE

Now, one might assume it'd be an advantage in this contest

to have grown up in the UK or even to have English as a first language,

but the team from Nuffield College, Oxford, have proved otherwise.

They're here having beaten Queen Mary, London,

in the first round by 165 points to 130.

And in round two,

they demolished Warwick University by 160 points to 120.

So, they've arrived here with an accumulated score of 325.

Representing one of Oxford's smallest colleges,

let's meet the Nuffield team again.

Hello. I'm Spencer Smith.

I'm from Holland, Michigan, and I study economics.

Hello. I'm Alexander Sayer Gard-Murray.

I'm from Los Angeles, California, and I study politics.

-And this is their captain.

-Hello. My name is Mathias Ormestad Frendem.

I'm from Oslo, Norway, and I'm studying international relations.

Hi. I'm Daniel Kaliski.

I'm from Cape Town, South Africa, and I'm studying economics.

APPLAUSE

Well, you all know the rules by now, so shall we just get on with it?

Ten points for this. Fingers on the buzzers.

Freedom from bodily pain and ataraxia,

or freedom from disturbances of the mind,

are key concepts in the teachings of which philosopher born...

-Hippocrates.

-No, you lose five points.

..born in Samos in about 341 BC?

He gives his name to a school of philosophy

now popularly associated

with the enjoyment of the good things in life.

-Epicurus.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

So, you get the first set of bonuses, Nuffield.

They are on international conferences in 1944.

Firstly, the surname of which Russian writer

was used as the code name for the Allied conference

between Stalin and Churchill in Moscow in October 1944?

I don't actually know it, but I should.

-What kind of writer was he?

-A Russian writer. Is that right?

-Tolstoy?

-Tolstoy? Turgenev? I mean, War And Peace...

Tolstoy seems like an obvious choice,

but it doesn't really...

-Tolstoy.

-Correct.

Which mansion in Washington DC gives its name

both to a concerto by Igor Stravinsky

and to an international conference of 1944

that laid the foundations for the establishment of the United Nations?

-There was Blair House.

-Blair House.

-Maybe. You think so?

-Yeah.

Unless it's the White House.

-I think it's Blair House.

-Blair House is the other mansion.

-Blair House.

-No, it's Dumbarton Oaks.

Which resort in New Hampshire hosted another conference in 1944

that led to a number of post-war cooperative financial innovations,

including the International Monetary Fund?

-That's Bretton Woods.

-Yeah. Bretton Woods.

-It is Bretton Woods.

APPLAUSE Right, ten points for this.

What common seven-letter name

is given to stocky rodents of the subfamily Cricetinae?

Species include the Siberian, Chinese, Campbell's dwarf

and Syrian or golden, all of which...

-Hamster.

-Hamster is right, yes.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses, Imperial, are on a mathematician.

Which German mathematician is noted for a list published in 1900

of 23 research problems that he believed would be significant

in mathematics in the 20th century?

-Hilbert.

-Correct.

Published in 1931,

which Austrian-born mathematician's incompleteness theorems

exposed the limitations of Hilbert's axiomatic approach to mathematics?

-Godel.

-Correct.

In addition to Goldbach's conjecture,

Hilbert's eighth problem mentions which hypothesis

on the distribution of prime numbers?

Named after a 19th-century German mathematician,

it remains unsolved.

-Oh, Riemann hypothesis.

-Oh, yes.

-Riemann hypothesis.

-Correct.

Ten points for this. APPLAUSE

Which three letters begin the names of a French revolutionary

executed on the orders of Robespierre in 1794...

-M-A-R.

-No, I'm afraid you lose five points.

..the Hebrew prophet who interpreted the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar

and the poet whose first major work was the Vita Nuova,

written from about 1290?

-D-A-N.

-Correct. APPLAUSE

These bonuses, Nuffield,

are on Thucydides' History Of The Peloponnesian War.

Firstly, for five points, in 430 BC,

at the end of the first year of the war,

which Athenian leader delivers a much-quoted funeral oration

reported in detail by Thucydides?

-Pericles.

-Yeah, Pericles.

-Pericles.

-Correct.

Thucydides describes the destruction of the expeditionary force

to which island in 413 BC

as, "The most calamitous of defeats for Athens"?

It's Sicily?

-Sicily.

-Correct.

And finally, in the 1620s,

which Englishman made a translation of Thucydides direct from the Greek?

He's best known for a work of political philosophy

subtitled The Matter, Forme And Power Of A Common Wealth

Ecclesiasticall And Civil.

-Hobbes.

-It's Hobbes.

-Thomas Hobbes.

-Correct.

Ten points for this. APPLAUSE

From the Greek for to lag behind,

what term is used in physics for the delay in response

exhibited by a body in react...

-Inertia.

-No. You lose five points.

..the delay in response exhibited by a body

in reacting to changes in force?

An example is the relation between magnetic flux density

and the applied magnetic field strength.

-Hysteresis.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses, Imperial, are on The Austen Project,

which pairs six contemporary authors

with Jane Austen's six complete novels.

Firstly, which author's reimagined version

of Sense And Sensibility was published in 2013?

Her other novels include The Choir,

The Rector's Wife and A Village Affair.

-Um...

-No idea.

-Um...um...

-Do you know?

Um... Who was, um...?

I haven't... I literally have no idea.

-Is it Margaret Drabble?

-No, that was Joanna Trollope.

Secondly, The Mermaids Singing and The Torment Of Others

are works by which author whose reworking of Northanger Abbey

was published in 2014?

-No idea.

-Um...

-No.

-We don't know.

That was Val McDermid.

And finally, who wrote Emma - A Modern Retelling?

His numerous other works include Unusual Uses For Olive Oil and

The Unbearable Lightness Of Scones.

-Oh.

-HE STUTTERS

It might be someone like David Sedaris.

I think it's some other well-known... Go on.

-Well, I'm not...

-Go on. Go on.

David Sedaris.

No, it's Alexander McCall Smith.

We're going to take a picture around now.

For your picture starter, you will see a map

with a number of cities and towns highlighted,

all of whose full official names contain a shared designation

in reference to a common historical affiliation.

For ten points, I want that shared designation, please.

The Hanseatic League.

Yes. Hanseatic from the Hanseatic League, of course.

APPLAUSE

So, picture bonuses for you, then, Imperial.

If you get them, you'll take the lead.

You saw those cities in Germany that, to this day,

officially style themselves as Hanseatic cities

in reference to the Hanseatic League to which they all belong.

For your bonuses, you'll see three of those cities

highlighted on a map.

I just want you to identify them, please. Firstly...

-Um, that's Kiel.

-Is that Kiel?

-Yeah.

-Kiel.

-No, that's Lubeck. Secondly...

Oh, that's Bremen.

-Bremen.

-Bremen is right. And finally...

-That's Hamburg.

-Hamburg.

Hamburg gives you the lead. Well done.

APPLAUSE

Right, a starter question now.

That of Toronto wears a medallion,

while that of Bern is upward climbing.

Madrid's is pawing at a tree. Berlin's has bright...

-Bears.

-Bears is correct, yes. APPLAUSE

Right, your bonuses are on chemistry this time, Imperial.

What rule of thumb is named after a Russian chemist

and states that when an acid reacts with an alkene,

the hydrogen atom of the acid

bonds with the double-bonded carbon atom of the alkene

that's attached to the greater number of hydrogen atoms?

If Ben doesn't get it, shall we just guess something?

-No, it's not. It's, um...

-HE SIGHS

I don't know.

-HE MUMBLES ANSWER

-I don't think it is, though.

-He said Russian.

-Oh, right, then.

Pietro Aronica.

No. It's Markovnikov's Rule.

-Yeah.

-Secondly, what two-word term denotes the mechanism

by which a hydrogen halide reacts with an alkene

resulting in the breaking of a pi bond

and the formation of two sigma bonds?

Is it anti-hybridisation? What were you going to say?

Formation of pi...

Formation of pi bond.

-Let's have an answer, please.

-Anti-hybridisation.

-Nominate Fernando.

-Anti-hybridisation.

No, it's electrophilic addition.

And finally, the US chemist Morris Kharasch

studied instances that apparently contradicted Markovnikov's Rule.

In these instances, the reaction takes place in the presence

of which group of compounds

characterised by an oxygen-oxygen single bond?

-Um...

-Not ketones, are they?

-No, oxygen-oxygen single bond, so...

Peroxides have an oxygen-oxygen single bond.

Or, um...epoxy has an oxygen-oxygen...

I would go peroxides.

-Nominate him.

-Nominate Fernando.

-Epoxy.

-No, it's peroxides. Right, another starter question now.

What is the common name of Urtica dioica?

Often regarded as a weed, it flourishes on untended land

and its fresh tips may be used to make beer, soup or tea.

-Nettle.

-Nettle is correct.

APPLAUSE You get a set of bonuses

this time on Russia, Imperial.

What six-letter name is given to a Russian administrative region

that is intermediate in size between an okrug and a republic?

Examples include Omsk, Smolensk and Tula.

-Oblast.

-Correct.

Which fishing port shares its name

with the oblast of Northwest Russia that contains the Kola Peninsula?

It's the world's largest city north of the Arctic Circle.

-Is it Murmansk or Archangel?

-I think it might be Murmansk.

-Yeah, Murmansk.

-Murmansk.

-Murmansk is right.

And thirdly, which Russian republic

to the immediate south of the Murmansk Oblast

shares its name with an orchestral suite of 1893 by Sibelius?

-Karelia.

-Nominate Braude.

-Karelia.

-Karelia is correct.

APPLAUSE Ten points for this.

In 1900, which capital city was looted by troops

of an eight-power Allied...?

-Beijing.

-Beijing is right, yes. APPLAUSE

After the Boxer Rebellion.

You get a set of bonuses, this time, Nuffield, on architecture.

"It is generally recognised

"that this city has the finest collection

"of Art Nouveau buildings in Europe."

These words, from a UNESCO World Heritage citation,

refer to which capital on the Baltic Sea?

-So, it's not Prague. Baltic.

-Tallinn?

-Tallinn's probably...

-Riga?

Probably not Stockholm, but maybe Helsinki.

That's a fairly new capital, so that could...

-OK.

-Or do you have...?

I didn't feel that Tallinn had that much Art Nouveau, so...

-Helsinki.

-No, it's Riga.

Secondly, also in the Art Nouveau style,

the major townhouses of the architect Victor Horta

form a UNESCO World Heritage site in which European capital?

-I think it's Prague.

-You're certain?

-Yeah.

-Prague.

-No, it's Brussels.

And finally, embodying developments parallel to Art Nouveau,

the World Heritage site known as the Works of Antoni Gaudi

comprises buildings in or near which city?

-Barcelona.

-Barcelona.

-Barcelona.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE We'll take a music round now.

For your music starter, you'll hear an excerpt from a ballet

that forms part of an opera.

For ten points, I'd like you to tell me

both the name of the opera and its composer.

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

-Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky.

-No.

You can hear a little more, Nuffield.

MUSIC CONTINUES

-The Magic Flute, Mozart.

-Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear.

They were tearing their hair out over at Imperial

having made the wrong intervention.

Anyway, it's La Gioconda by Ponchielli.

So, we're going to take the music bonuses in a moment or two

and ten points for this starter question.

"The earlier sense of development

"from religious sect, party or faction

"to doctrine at variance with the Catholic faith,

"lies outside English."

These words, from the OED,

summarise an aspect of the etymology of which religious term?

Schism.

Anyone like to buzz from Imperial?

It's heresy. Ten points for this.

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself

"and you are the easiest person to fool."

These are the words of which US physicist?

He shared the Nobel Prize...

-Richard Feynman.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

So, you get the music bonuses, Imperial.

Three more examples of dance interludes written for an opera.

In each case, simply identify the composer.

Firstly, for five, this French composer.

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

THEY WHISPER

-Shall I just guess a composer?

-It sounds kind of like Saint-Saens.

THEY WHISPER

Saint-Saens.

No, that's Gounod, Les Nubiennes from Faust.

Secondly, this Russian composer, please.

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

Any ideas?

THEY WHISPER

-Um, Tchaikovsky.

-No, that's Mussorgsky.

That's the Dance Of The Persian Slaves.

And finally, another Russian composer.

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

THEY WHISPER

-Rimsky-Korsakov.

-No, that's by Borodin.

Ten points for this.

The internet entrepreneurs

Severin Hacker and Luis von Ahn

are the co-founders of which free language-learning platform

with more than 60 million reg...

-Rosetta Stone.

-No, you lose five points.

..with more than 60 million registered users?

Its name combines the Latin for the number two and the...

-Duolingo.

-Duolingo is correct, yes. APPLAUSE

So, you get a set of bonuses, this time,

on a group of compounds, Nuffield.

Gonane is the simplest structural form

of which group of organic compounds

based on a skeleton of 17 carbon atoms

in a tetracyclic arrangement?

Other examples are bile acids and the male and female sex hormones.

-Well, testosterone, but I think they've already said that.

-Yeah.

I...I don't know.

Do we have any guesses?

Testosterone is probably one of those,

but can we say that on TV? I don't know.

That's a classic combo. No.

-Um, we're sorry. We don't know.

-Steroids.

And secondly, what single-word noun

denotes the group of steroids that are synthesised from cholesterol

in the adrenal cortex?

Is it...? I think it's anabolic steroids.

-Should I say that just as a guess?

-Anabolic.

-Yeah, better than doing...

-All right. All right.

Anabolic. Anabolic.

-Anabolic.

-No, they're corticosteroids.

And finally, what adjective is applied to steroid compounds

that promote tissue growth by stimulating protein production?

Examples include androgens and synthetic forms

used medicinally for weight gain.

-This could be anabolic steroids.

-Yeah, maybe. Any other?

-No.

-Anabolic.

-It is anabolic, yes. APPLAUSE

Right, ten points for this.

With structures dating

to the eighth century BCE,

the ancient city of Meroe is in which present-day country?

Noted for its burial pyramids, it's located...

-Sudan.

-Sudan is right, yes. APPLAUSE

These bonuses could give you the lead again, Nuffield.

They're on Greek-derived terms.

In each case, give the term from the definition.

All three end with the same uncommon pair of final consonants.

Firstly, a model pattern or typical instance

and hence a generally accepted view.

In traditional grammar, it refers to a table

showing the inflected forms of a noun or verb.

-It's a Greek-derived term?

-It's not a prototype.

-Is it ringing any bells?

-A model example? Um...

-An example.

-Something commonly accepted.

-Archetype?

-Archetype?

-What?

-Archetype?

-Archetype?

-I don't know.

-Well, it's the best we have.

-OK.

-Archetype.

-No, it's paradigm.

Secondly, a short, pointed saying, adage, maxim or aphorism.

Erasmus of Rotterdam produced a notable collection

in the early 16th century.

-Maxim?

-Short, pointed saying.

-Did it have to end with G-M as well?

-Um...

-So, it's got the same unusual ending.

-Yeah, yeah.

-And it has to end with I-G-M?

-Not paradigm.

What's the famous Erasmus book? It's Praise Of Folly.

-Like an adage or something.

-Adage.

Come on. Let's have it, please.

-Sorry, we don't know.

-It's apothem.

And finally, in anatomy,

the structure separating the chest from the abdomen.

-That's diaphragm.

-Diaphragm.

-Diaphragm.

-Correct.

We'll take another picture round.

For your picture starter,

you're going to see a photograph.

Ten points if you can identify

the prominent political figure depicted.

-Wangari Maathai.

-No.

Anyone like to buzz from Imperial?

-Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

The president of Liberia,

Africa's first elected female head of state in government.

For your bonuses, you're going to see three more

recent female heads of government,

each being the first woman to hold that office.

For five points each, I would like their name

and the country in which they were elected.

Firstly...

-Um... Oh, um... Ah.

-It's not Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

-I don't know.

-Is she the Croatian one?

-Ivo Josipovic. She might be, yeah.

-Possibly.

Do you want to say that? Nominate Braude.

-Ivo Josipovic.

-No, it's Michelle Bachelet of Chile.

Secondly, who's this?

-Oh, that's South Korea.

-Yeah, it's Park...

-What is her name? Park?

-Just say Park, yeah.

South Korea and Park.

-I need more than Park.

-Geun-hye.

Park Geun-hye of South Korea is correct, yes.

LAUGHTER And finally...

-Um, that's Helle.

-Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

-Helle Thorning-Schmidt and Denmark.

-That's right. Mrs Kinnock.

APPLAUSE Right, ten points for this.

From the Latin for curl, what six-letter term

denotes clouds composed of ice crystals

that form at a height of...?

-Cirrus.

-Cirrus is correct, yes. APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on dyes, Imperial.

The French chemist Francois-Emmanuel Verguin

synthesised, from aniline,

a dye that was originally called fuchsine

and later given what name after a battle of 1859?

Um, it's not mauve, is it?

-No, mauve was made by a British guy.

-OK.

-1859?

-Um, Prussian.

-Is it? That's a dye?

Well, that could be. Prussian blue.

-Prussian blue.

-No, it's magenta.

Originally produced from a plant native to Southeast Asia

and later synthesised from coal tar,

the vivid vat dye also known as Indian blue has what common name?

-Indigo maybe?

-Indigo.

-Yeah, try that.

-Indigo.

-Correct.

From the name that Lavoisier gave to nitrogen,

what three-letter term denotes the large group of synthetic dyes

that includes tartrazine and Congo red?

-Is it lyes?

-Is it something like...? No, that's...

-Three-letter.

-Is that what he said? Did he say three-letter?

-No.

Lyes are a kind of dye, aren't they?

Yeah, but I think they're a bit older than that. Go on.

Um, nominate Fernando.

-Lye.

-No, it's azo dyes.

-Oh.

-Ten points for this.

Born in the 1570s,

the clergyman William Oughtred invented an early form

of what mathematical instrument

used primarily for multiplication and division?

Popular in classrooms, it was...

-Slide rule.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on North Africa, Imperial.

From that of its oldest known inhabitants,

what name was formally given to the coastal region of North Africa

associated with piracy from the 16th to the early 19th century?

-Barbary Coast.

-Correct, after the Berbers.

In the early 19th century,

which country fought the Barbary Wars

against Morocco, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli

over the right of safe passage to the Mediterranean?

-Not the Ottoman Empire?

-No.

-Italy wasn't unified in those days.

-I don't know, then.

-Something further south maybe?

-I don't know.

-I doubt it.

-Italy.

-No, it was the United States.

And finally, what word is the Arabic for west

and now denotes areas of the former Barbary region?

-Is it Maghreb?

-Yeah.

-Maghreb.

-Maghreb is right. Four minutes to go.

Ten points for this. Listen carefully.

Theta is the only upper-case letter of the Greek alphabet

that, in the Arial typeface, consists of exactly two

entirely non-intersecting lines or curves.

In the same typeface,

which upper-case Greek letter consists of exactly three?

-Xi.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

You get bonuses on a family of curves.

Which French mathematician gives his name to the graph

of a system of parametric equations

which describe complex harmonic motion?

Um...um...um...

-Argand? Argand?

-Argand would be a decent guess.

-Argand.

-No, it's Lissajous.

What conic section is obtained in the case that omega equals one,

A is not equal to B and delta is non-zero?

-That was just a noise.

-Is that an ellipse?

-Probably.

-OK, try it.

-Just...

-Ellipse.

-Ellipse is correct.

In the same case above, what is obtained when delta equals zero?

-A circle, isn't it? Or just...?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Either a circle or a...?

-Circle.

-No, it's a straight line. Ten points for this.

Which Roman goddess personifies Humanitas or benevolence

in the centre of a group scene in one work by Botticelli,

while in another, she is depicted reclining...?

-Venus.

-Venus is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on the Book of Genesis, Imperial.

During the flight from Sodom and Gomorrah in Chapter 19,

of whom is it said,

"She looked back from behind him and she became a pillar of salt"?

Lot's wife.

-Lot's wife.

-Correct.

In Chapter 25, Esau is described as,

"A cunning hunter, a man of the field."

Who's his brother, described as, "A plain man dwelling in tents"?

That'll be Jacob, I think.

-Jacob.

-Correct.

In Chapter 45, to whom does Pharaoh say,

"Ye shall eat the fat of the land"?

Um, Pharaoh? That would be Moses or something.

Moses or one of those people.

Moses.

No, it's to Joseph. Ten points for this.

The Milky Way galaxy has an estimated diameter

of more than 30kpc. For what...?

-Kiloparsec.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, Imperial,

are on currencies of Central America.

In each case, identify the currency

that takes its name from the following

and name the country in which it is used.

Firstly, a leader of the Lenca people killed in 1537

when leading an army against the Spanish conquistadors.

-Oh!

-Currencies? What about...?

-Could it be...?

-Central American.

-Let's have it, please.

Guatemala or something? I have no idea.

-Real and Brazil.

-No, it's lempira in Honduras.

Secondly, a bird sometimes known as the resplendent trogon.

It's distinguished by long tail feathers

that were used as a currency by the Mayas.

Any idea at all?

-What's the currency of Mexico?

-Peso.

-Peso.

-Well, it's not that.

-So, it's not that.

I don't think we know.

-The paradise bird and Guatemala.

-Let's have it, please.

-We've no idea.

-It's the quetzal in Guatemala.

And finally, a Spanish conquistador born in 1475.

He's generally cited as being the first European

to see the eastern shore of the Pacific Ocean.

-Balboa. Balboa and Panama maybe?

-Is Balboa a...?

I have no idea, but Balboa was the first person...

-OK, Balboa and Panama.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE Ten points for this.

What common adjective links the titles of...?

GONG And at the gong,

Nuffield College, Oxford,

have 85, but Imperial have 190.

APPLAUSE

Well, Nuffield, you know, you didn't do so well today,

but you're a terrific team and we're going to see you again.

Imperial, congratulations.

You've won the first of the two quarterfinals

you need to win to go through to the semis.

Another terrific performance from you.

We'll look forward to seeing you next time

in your second quarterfinal.

Until then, it's goodbye

-from Nuffield College, Oxford. ALL:

-Goodbye.

-It's goodbye from Imperial College, London. ALL:

-Goodbye.

And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.

APPLAUSE