Episode 30 University Challenge

APPLAUSE

University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. Last time, Peterhouse, Cambridge became the first team

to go through to the semifinal stage of this contest, having won

the second of the two quarterfinals demanded by our Byzantine rules.

Tonight's teams are both standing on a precipice with one foot

resting on air, each having lost their first quarterfinal match.

So, whichever of them loses tonight will leave the competition,

while the victors will have one final chance to qualify.

St Catharine's College, Cambridge beat

the universities of Southampton and Nottingham in rounds one

and two, but they lost their first quarterfinal by the narrowest

margin, a mere five points, against St John's College, Oxford.

They're here with an accumulated score of 545.

So, let's meet them now for the fourth time.

Hi, I'm Callum Watson, I'm from Stirlingshire and I study maths.

Hi, I'm Ellie Chan, I'm from Brighton

and I'm reading for a PhD in history of art.

And this is their captain.

Hello, I'm Callum Bungey, I'm from London and I'm reading chemistry.

Hi, I'm Alex Cranston, I'm from London

and I'm reading biological natural sciences.

APPLAUSE

Now, in their first round, the University of York had

something of a walkover against Manchester University.

It was a closer affair in round two,

when they defeated Christ's College, Cambridge,

but they came a cropper in their first quarterfinal, albeit in

a tight contest, against Peterhouse, Cambridge.

With an accumulated score of 655 points,

let's meet the York team for the fourth time.

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'm studying 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 study chemistry.

APPLAUSE

OK, you all know the rules, the audience all know the rules,

so let's get on with it.

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

Born in Dumfriesshire in 1812,

Kirkpatrick Macmillan is generally credited

as the inventor of what transportation device?

The bike.

The bicycle is correct, yes.

The first set of bonuses, St Catharine's, are on a Roman emperor.

Born in what is now Lyon in 10BC,

who was declared Emperor as the only surviving male adult member of the

imperial family after his nephew, Caligula, was killed in AD41?

-Claudius.

-Claudius.

Correct. Which province did Claudius add to the Roman Empire in AD46?

It was bounded to the east by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara.

-Thrace?

-Thrace? Yes, cos...

Thrace?

Correct. Which stepson of Claudius became Emperor in AD54?

His mother, Agrippina, was suspected of poisoning Claudius to

ensure her son's succession.

Nero.

Correct. Ten points for this -

what seven-letter word links the plumage of some birds after

the spring moult,

the latent period in the multiplication of a bacterial virus

and the disappearance from view of an astronomical object

as it passes directly behind another object?

Eclipse.

Correct.

Your bonuses are on a scientific award, York, to get you started.

Which US presidential award recognises lifetime

achievement in the science and technology of energy?

It's named after an Italian-born physicist who died in 1854.

-Fermi.

-Yeah, I think it is.

Fermi Prize, Fermi Award, Fermi Medal?

-Just Fermi.

-Fermi.

Fermi is correct.

What surname is shared by the brothers who both received

the Fermi Award, the first in 1957 partly for his invention

and development of the cyclotron,

the second in 1983 for his pioneering work in nuclear medicine?

I have no idea.

Try Johnson? That's a common American name!

Johnson?

No, they're Ernest and John Lawrence.

Finally, which Austrian-born physicist shared

the Fermi Award in 1966 for the discovery of uranium fission?

Element number 109 was named in her honour.

-109...

-Meitner.

-Lise Meitner.

-Sorry?

-Just say Meitner.

Meitner.

Meitner is correct. Ten points for this -

in 1895, the Scottish-born scientist Andrew Lawson was the first

to identify which geological feature,

later found to be more than 800 miles long?

In 1906, it was a factor in the earthquake that hit San Francisco.

San Andreas Fault.

Correct.

These bonuses are on a noble family, York.

What was the family name of the baron who,

along with his brother William,

intervened at a critical stage of the Battle of Bosworth in 1485?

Henry VII made him the Earl of Derby shortly afterwards.

Stanley.

Stanley.

Correct. James Stanley, the seventh Earl of Derby,

was a prominent Royalist in the north-west during the Civil War.

He was imprisoned and executed after which decisive battle of 1651,

fought near the River Severn?

It's not Naseby, is it?

Worcester, maybe, if that's near the Severn.

Worcester.

Correct. Edward Stanley, the 14th Earl of Derby,

succeeded Peel as leader of the Conservative Party and became

Prime Minister for the first time in which decade,

when he succeeded Lord John Russell?

Peel's the 1840s, so before then, so maybe try the 1830s.

-No, 1800s or...

-No, not the first time he's been Prime Minister.

-Try 1830s, maybe.

-Yeah?

Are we happy with that one?

The 1830s.

No, it was the 1850s.

Ten points for this - for what do the letters AH stand

when denoting a subgenre of speculative fiction?

Alternative History.

Correct.

These bonuses are on a sea, York.

The boundary between the United States

and Russia passes through which sea, the northernmost

part of the Pacific Ocean, lying between Alaska and Siberia?

-Bering.

-Bering?

-Yeah.

The Bering.

Correct. The Fox Islands lie in which Alaskan archipelago?

It forms the southern boundary of the Bering Sea,

separating it from the main portion of the Pacific Ocean.

-Aleutian?

-Yeah.

The Aleutians.

Correct. And finally, more than 3,000 kilometres long,

which river flows through the Canadian territory that shares

its name and through Alaska before discharging into the Bering Sea?

The Yukon.

The Yukon River is correct.

Time for a picture round, I think.

Your picture starter is a heraldic ordinary on a field argent.

For ten points, I want you to give me

the blazon of this ordinary, that is, the two-word term that is

the formal heraldic description of its shape and colour.

Saltire azure.

Correct.

For your picture bonuses, three more heraldic ordinaries.

All will be shown on a field argent.

And again, I would like the blazon of each. Firstly for five...

-TO TEAMMATES:

-It's not fess, is it?

-It looks like sable.

-Fess sable.

Fess sable.

Correct. Secondly...

-TO TEAMMATES:

-That's a bend, isn't it?

-Purple.

-Purpure.

-So bend pupure?

-Yeah.

Bend purpure.

Correct! And finally...

-TO TEAMMATES:

-Chevron and...

-Gules.

Chevron gules.

Have you got your own coat of arms, or something?!

-We actually do!

-Well done! Only a question of time, I'm sure.

Right, ten points for this.

Which year saw Britain's first woman doctor,

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, receive her licence to practise,

the publication of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland,

the first ascent of the Matterhorn

and the first assassination of a US President?

1865.

Correct.

A set of bonuses this time on a naturalist for you, York.

The German-born physician Philipp von Siebold is noted for his studies

of the flora and fauna of which Asian country,

where he was stationed at a Dutch trading post from 1823?

-Is it Japan?

-I was going to go for Sri Lanka, possibly. Or Taiwan.

Japan had the Dutch trading post on the island. But I don't know.

Is it as late as that?

-It's up to you.

-What do you...?

-Formosa was lost in the 1700s.

-So Japan?

-Yeah, Japan.

Japan.

Japan is correct.

Siebold's collection of Japanese artefacts

is housed in which Dutch city?

Situated between Amsterdam and the Hague,

it's home to a university founded in 1575.

Leiden.

Leiden.

Correct. Siebold's name appears in several binomials,

for example Acer sieboldianum.

What is the common name of the genus to which this tree belongs?

Acer is, I think, oak.

-But I'm not sure.

-I don't know, so, yeah.

Oak.

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

narrated by a churchman called Wicks Cherrycoke,

which novel of 1997 by Thomas Pynchon is loosely

based on the lives of its two title characters?

Mason Dixon?

Mason & Dixon is right, yes.

These bonuses are on a play, York.

Quote - "Every management in London had turned the play down.

"They said, 'People don't want war plays.

"'How can you put on a play with no leading ladies?'"

Which author encountered such objections before the premiere

in 1928 of his play Journey's End?

Journey's End is, erm...

Did this at GCSE!

Is he American or British?

-British.

-Howard something.

Oh, yeah, erm... My English teacher's going to kill me!

Not Eugene O'Neill or Tennessee Williams?

Anthony Howard.

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

-Somerset Maugham?

Somerset Maugham.

No, it was RC Sherriff.

Secondly, who directed the first production of Journey's End?

On moving to Hollywood, he became a noted director of horror films,

such as Frankenstein and The Invisible Man.

-Bela Lugosi?

-No, he was the actor.

-It's Hammer Films.

-No, it's before Hammer.

-Oh.

-It's way before Hammer.

Boris Karloff's the main actor, but he might have directed as well.

-But I don't know.

-Should we go for Karloff?

Boris Karloff.

Boris Karloff?! No, it was James Whale.

And finally, which 21-year-old actor played the central

role of Captain Stanhope in that first production?

He achieved fame two years later in the premiere

of Noel Coward's Private Lives.

-Who did you think?

-Christopher Lee. He was in a lot of horror films.

What about Marlon Brando?

-No, it was horror films, wasn't it?

-It wasn't horror films.

It was to do with the first one.

Marlon Brando?

Marlon Brando.

No, it was Laurence Olivier.

Right, ten points for this. Answer as soon as your name is called.

As a fraction in its lowest terms,

what is the probability that a randomly selected day of a non-leap

year occurs in one of the winter months

of December, January or February?

18/73.

Correct, yes!

Right, Cat's, these are on the scattering of light, these bonuses.

Firstly, named after a British physicist,

what type of scattering is caused by particles that are much

smaller than the wavelength of the radiation?

It causes the daytime sky to appear blue.

Rayleigh?

Rayleigh scattering?

Correct. Named after a German scientist born in 1869,

what type of scattering explains the phenomenon of the blue moon,

caused by spherical particles of comparable size to

the wavelength of the incident radiation?

Oh, what other scatterings are there?

-Have we got any ideas? Just throw physicists at me.

-Planck.

Planck.

No, that's Mie scattering. And finally,

what type of scattering is caused by particles in a colloid, or fine

suspension, and is named after a 19th-century Irish-born scientist?

Hamilton?

No, it's a Tyndall scattering.

Right, we're about halfway through the contest.

Still plenty of time to go. And time for a music round.

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

that won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

For ten points, I want the name of the film for which it was

written and the name of the composer of the music. Here it is.

LIGHT ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

Moon River, Frank Sinatra?

No. Anyone like to buzz from St Catharine's?

Moon River, Doris Day?

No, the film I wanted... Indeed, the song is Moon River,

but the film I wanted was Breakfast At Tiffany's.

It was composed by Henry Mancini. So music bonuses in a moment or two.

Here's another starter question.

Who was on the English throne at the time of the death of Genghis Khan?

Henry III.

Correct.

Right, we heard Moon River. You got that, but not the film.

You're going to hear three more songs that won

the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

In each case, I want the name of the film for which it won its Oscar

and the name of the composer of the music.

Five points in each case. Firstly...

STRUMMED GUITAR PLAYS

# Raindrops keep fallin' on my head

# And just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed

# Nothin' seems to fit

# Those raindrops are fallin' on my head, they keep fallin'

# So I just did me some talkin' to the sun

# And I said I didn't like the way he got things done... #

Nominate Joly de Lotbiniere.

Erm, the film would be Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid,

and is it Burt Bacharach?

Yes! Well done.

-Well done!

-Well done.

Secondly...

ATMOSPHERIC POP MUSIC PLAYS

# I walked the avenue till my legs felt like stone

# I heard the voices of friends vanished and gone

# At night I could hear the blood in my vein

# Black and whispering as the rain... #

Let's have it, please.

Philadelphia, Bruce Springsteen.

Correct. And finally...

# I'm dreaming

# Of a white Christmas

# Just like the ones I used to know

# Where the treetops glisten... #

Er, we think it's It's A Wonderful Life, and Bing Crosby.

No, bad luck. It was Holiday Inn, was the film,

and the music was composed -

White Christmas, which you obviously got - was composed by Irving Berlin.

Right, ten points for this.

Named after a 19th-century US palaeontologist,

Cope's rule postulates what general trend over evolutionary...

The more evolved something is,

the higher it will appear in the geological column.

No. Five points off for that.

..what general trend over evolutionary time?

An example is seen in the evolution of horses

from Hyracotherium to Equus.

Er, they grow larger?

Correct. Increase in body size, yes.

Right, St Catharine's, your bonuses are on European capitals.

Of the ten countries that joined the EU in 2004, seven have capitals

whose historic centres or similar

are designated as Unesco World Heritage Sites.

Can you name all seven capitals to get 15 points?

Five correct will give you ten points

and four correct five points.

So you'd better confer, and then, captain,

give me your list of seven capitals.

-Warsaw is one.

-Tbilisi.

Riga.

What other countries joined then?

-Budapest?

-The Czech Republic joined then.

I'm not sure if Budapest is a World Heritage Site.

-Hungary joined...

-What about Greece?

-Yeah, so Prague...

Greece was way before that.

So, we have Warsaw, Tallinn and Riga, Prague, er...

-Bucharest?

-I'll put Bucharest in, just in case.

What other countries joined?

-Tallinn, Riga...

-Bratislava.

-Oh, Bratislava, yeah.

Do we lose all the marks if we say one wrong?

-THEY LAUGH

-No, no. Erm, OK...

Tallinn...

Vilnius...

Riga...

Prague...

Warsaw...

Bratislava...

and...

Bucharest.

No. Five of those are right. You're wrong about Bucharest

and you were wrong about the other one I've forgotten now.

The two that you missed off were Budapest, and Valletta in Malta.

So you get ten points for that. Well done.

Let's get on with another starter question.

Fingers on the buzzers.

Which French city is noted for the tombs of the dukes

John the Fearless and Philip the Bold,

both of whom died in the early 15th century?

About 300km south...

Dijon.

Dijon is correct, yes.

Your bonuses are on Christian devotional works.

Firstly for five points,

dating from the first half of the 15th century,

The Imitation Of Christ is a devotional work generally attributed

to which Augustinian monk, born in north-west Germany in around 1380?

Hieronymus Bosch? No, I don't know.

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

-It's not Fra Angelico, is it?

Theodore something, maybe.

Fra Angelico.

Fra Angelico? No! It's Thomas a Kempis.

The Way Of Perfection and The Interior Castle are works by which

16th-century Spanish Carmelite nun and religious reformer?

-Teresa of Avila?

-Yes.

Teresa of Avila.

That's correct. Published in 1827,

The Christian Year is a collection of devotional poems by which

churchman, who was a prominent member of the Oxford Movement?

-John Henry Newman? That's the only...

-When was the year, sorry?

-1820s.

-John Henry Newman?

John Henry Newman.

No, it's John Keble. Ten points for this -

"In his blue gardens, men and girls

"came and went like moths

"among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars."

Gatsby?

Yes, Jay Gatsby.

You get a set of bonuses on antelopes, St Catharine's.

THEY LAUGH

Aepyceros milampas has what common six-letter name?

One of the commonest antelopes of southern Africa,

it's noted for its speed and jumping ability.

Duk-duk? Speaking of six-lettered antelopes...

Duk-duk?

No, it's an impala.

What is the four-letter name of the genus of large antelopes

whose species include the Arabian, scimitar and East African?

Ibex.

No, they're oryx.

Distinguished by its agility and striking markings,

which antelope is the national symbol of South Africa?

-Springbok?

-Yeah.

Yes. Springbok.

Correct. Right, we're going to take another picture round.

For your starter, you'll see a painting.

Ten points if you can identify the artist.

Vincent van Gogh?

No. Anyone like to buzz from York?

You may not confer. One of you may press your buzzer.

Monet?

No, it's by Gustav Klimt. The Large Poplar In A Gathering Storm.

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

Ten points for this starter question. Fingers on the buzzers.

Designed by the US psychologist Aaron Beck and first published

in 1961, the questionnaire known as the BDI seeks to measure

the severity of what disorder?

Depression.

Depression is correct.

So, we go back to the picture round, and you get the picture bonuses.

Following on from the painting by Klimt, the picture bonuses,

three more paintings of stormy weather.

In each case, simply identify the artist whose work you see.

Firstly for five...

-TO TEAM-MATES:

-Is that the Japanese guy?

-Hokusai?

-That's it.

Hokusai.

No, that's by Hiroshige. And secondly...

-TO TEAM-MATES:

-Could be Turner.

-Do you want to go with that?

-Yeah.

I've no idea.

Turner?

No, that's Constable's Weymouth Bay With Approaching Storm.

And finally...

-TO TEAM-MATES:

-Is it Munch?

-I was going to say it looked like Munch.

Munch.

It is Edvard Munch's The Storm.

Ten points for this -

"a beautiful sunset that was mistaken for a dawn" - those words

of Claude Debussy refer to which composer, born in Leipzig in 1813?

His first major success was the opera Rienzi.

Handel.

Nope.

Wagner?

Yes, Richard Wagner is correct.

You get a set of bonuses now on a name.

The English name Sabrina comes from a figure in Celtic legend

said by Geoffrey of Monmouth to have given her name to which

geographical feature, known in Welsh as Hafren?

A lake? A valley? A mountain?

A river?

I've no idea.

Come on, let's have it.

A mountain.

No, it's the River Severn.

Sabrina Fair is a river nymph in Comus,

an early work by which poet, born in 1608?

-Could be Donne.

-Could be.

-Was he a poet?

-I was thinking Pope, maybe.

Pope.

No, it's by Milton.

And finally, Billy Wilder's 1954 film Sabrina featured which

actress in the title role?

She also starred in Roman Holiday and Breakfast At Tiffany's.

Audrey Hepburn.

Audrey Hepburn.

Correct. Three minutes to go. Ten points for this -

in an electric circuit with time-varying current,

what term denotes the ratio of the voltage phaser to the

electrical current phaser?

Resistance?

Anyone like to buzz from St Catharine's?

Impedance?

Correct.

Your bonuses, St Catharine's, are on German literature.

In each case, listen to the two names

and give the unique full decade during which they were both alive.

Firstly, Friedrich Schiller and Jacob Grimm.

1850s?

1850s?

No, it was the 1790s.

Secondly, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Gottfried Keller.

Any idea?

End of Goethe's life...

-Beginning of the 19th century?

-Yeah.

1830s? I don't know!

Yeah. 1830s?

No, it was the 1820s.

And finally, Hermann Hesse and Elfriede Jelinek.

When were either of those alive? Don't recognise those names.

-Hesse was 20th century.

-OK. And Jelinek?

Come on!

When was he writing in the 20th century? When was he writing?

-Just say 1910s.

-1910s.

No, it was the 1950s. Ten points for this -

what is the smallest denomination of coin

that's legal tender for any amount in the United Kingdom?

The coin immediately...

50 pence?

Nope. You lose five points.

The coin immediately below it in value is legal

tender for amounts not exceeding £10.

One of you buzz, York.

20 pence.

No, it's £1. Another starter question now.

For ten points, name two of the three largest islands of Canada.

Baffin Island and Ellesmere Island.

Correct. The other one is Victoria.

So you get a set of bonuses now, St Catharine's,

on the Tropic of Cancer.

The Tropic of Cancer passes through only one

country of the mainland Americas. Which one?

-Mexico.

-Mexico.

Correct. The Tropic of Cancer passes through Taiwan,

the Guangzhou autonomous area,

and two provinces of China. Name either one.

-Yunnan.

-Yunnan.

Correct. The other one's Guangdong.

And finally, in India, the Tropic of Cancer passes close to which

major city, the capital of West Bengal?

-Kolkata.

-Kolkata.

Correct. Ten points for this. Listen carefully.

Take a number and cube it twice.

Which three real numbers return to themselves after this procedure?

Negative 1, 0 and 1.

Correct. You get a set of bonuses... GONG

And at the gong, St Catharine's have 115,

the University of York have 180.

Well, you were on rather a bit of a roll there,

but you just left it terribly late, St Catharine's, so I'm afraid,

having lost two quarterfinals, we shall have to say goodbye to you.

York, you have to play once more, don't you,

to stay in the contest and go through to the semifinals?

-But that's a very convincing win from you today.

-Thank you.

Thank you very much for playing. We shall look forward to seeing you

again, then, at least once.

I hope you can join us next time for another quarterfinal match.

Until then, it's goodbye from St Catharine's College, Cambridge...

-ALL:

-Goodbye.

..and it's goodbye from York University...

-ALL:

-Goodbye.

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

APPLAUSE