Episode 35 University Challenge

University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. 28 teams appeared in the first round of this contest,

16 made it through to round two.

Eight of them endured the taxing quarterfinal stage

and now only the best four remain

as we play the first of the two semifinal matches.

The team from Peterhouse - Cambridge haven't lost a match

in the entire series.

They beat Glasgow University and St George's London

in rounds one and two and

in the quarterfinals, they defeated St John's College - Oxford

and the team they're facing again tonight, the University of York.

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

Hello, I'm Thomas Langley.

I'm from Newcastle upon Tyne and I'm reading history.

Hello, I'm Oscar Powell, I'm from York

and I'm reading geological sciences.

This is their captain.

Hello, I'm Hannah Woods.

I'm originally from Manchester and I'm studying for a PhD in history.

Hello, my name's Julian Sutcliffe, I'm from Reading in Berkshire

and I'm also reading history.

Now, the University of York's team saw off Manchester University

in round one, then Christ's College - Cambridge

in round two. They won't need reminding

that they're winning streak faltered

when they lost to Peterhouse - Cambridge

in the first quarterfinal.

But after that, they dismissed St Catherine's College - Cambridge

and Imperial College London to take their place here tonight.

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

Hello, I'm Barto Joly de Lotbiniere,

I'm from London and I'm studying history.

Hello, I'm Sam Smith, I'm from Guernsey and I'm studying chemistry.

And this is their captain.

Hello, I'm David Landon Cole, I'm from Yeovil in Somerset

and I'm Studying for a PhD in politics.

Hi, I'm Joseph McLoughlin.

I'm from Oldham in Lancashire and I'm studying chemistry.

Let's just get on with a starter question.

Fingers on the buzzers, please.

What five-letter word appears in expressions meaning

a loudly dressed man, a brief item of news,

a data storage device that uses a type of non-volatile memory...?

-Flash.

-Flash is correct.

Right, the first set of bonuses, York,

are on winners of the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film.

In each case, name the film from the description.

Firstly, the 1995 winner directed by Terry Gilliam.

It stars Bruce Willis as a convict sent back in time to seek

information on a virus that's devastated Earth's population.

12 Monkeys?

-12 Monkeys.

-Correct.

Secondly, the 2006 winner directed by Alfonso Cuaron

and based on a novel by PD James set in a dystopic future

in which human procreation has ceased.

-Children Of Man?

-Children Of Man, yes.

-Children Of Man.

-No, I can't accept that.

It's the Children Of Men, not Man.

And finally, I need the precise seven-word title for this.

The 2011 winner directed by Rupert Wyatt portraying the effects

of an experimental drug on Caesar, who is played by Andy Serkis.

The Rise Of The Planet, The Rise Of...

-Of The Apes.

-That's eight.

-Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.

-Yeah, I think it's Rise. Is that? What's the one?

-The Dawn.

-No, I think Dawn was the recent... It could be Dawn.

-2011.

Rise was the second one, because they, like, rose, maybe?

-So, Dawn? So, is it Dawn?

-Yeah.

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes.

-No, it was the other one, it was Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.

-Ah!

Sorry. Another starter question.

From the name of a nomadic people

that founded the Liao dynasty in the 10th century,

what term for northern China...?

-Manchuria.

-No, you lose five points.

What term for northern China was introduced to Europe

during the 13th century?

It was formally used in English as a poetic term for China as a whole.

-Cathay.

-Cathay is correct.

These bonuses, York, are on inheritance and experience.

Firstly for five, the title of a 1925 work

by the US academic John B Watson,

which influential school dominated psychological theory

between the two World Wars?

-Psychoanalytic? I don't, I've literally no idea.

-No.

Haven't a clue.

-I don't think it's...

-No, it's Freud.

I think it's later than psycho.

-It's something like...

-The new school?

-Social.

-Let's have it, please.

-Social, psycho, make a word out of it.

Er, psychosocial analysis.

No, it's behaviourism.

Secondly, born in 1822,

which British polymath had earlier identified nature and nurture

as two separate influences

whose effects could be measured and compared,

who also coined the term eugenics?

-Oh, is that...? Oh, yeah.

-Thompson.

-Huxley might be a good guess.

-What was his first name?

-It's not Wallace, I don't think.

-Just try Huxley.

-Thomas Huxley?

-Thomas Huxley...

-Huxley.

-No, it was Francis Galton.

-Oh.

And finally, in 1859, which biologist,

a relative of Galton, suggested that all human development

is the result of adaptation to the environment?

Darwin? It's not...

Unless it's Lamarck.

I think Charles Darwin was related to somebody who was also...

-Yes, do you want to go for Darwin?

-Let's go Darwin.

-Darwin.

Darwin is correct, yes.

Another starter question now.

Who in 2006 said this -

"The prize was completely irrelevant for me, everybody understood

"that if the proof is correct, then no other recognition is needed"?

Andrew Wiles.

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

The statement refers to the speaker's proof

of the Poincare Conjecture

and his refusal of the Fields Medal for this achievement.

Nashyakov.

No, it was Grigori Perelm.

Ten points for this.

Which city did the German-born British sociologist Ralf Dahrendorf

describe as the most English city in Germany,

far more English than any place in the British Isles?

The birthplace of the composers Brahms and Mendelssohn,

it's situated on the River Elbe

and is the second most populous in Germany after Berlin.

Munich.

No, anyone like to buzz from York?

-Hamburg.

-Hamburg is correct.

Your bonuses, York, are on women from Pembrokeshire.

Firstly, "Her brother's prophecy that one day

"she would be considered a better artist than him has been fulfilled."

These words refer to which painter born in Haverfordwest in 1876?

Poets...

-I have no idea.

-O'Keeffe? No.

-Who?

-Georgia O'Keeffe.

Yeah, try Rosetta, actually. Oh, try it. O'Keefe's not a bad guess.

OK? O'Keeffe.

No, it was Gwen John. Sister of Augustus John.

And secondly, said to have rounded up French troops armed only

with a pitchfork, Jemima Nicholas of Fishguard played a part

in the defeat of the last invasion of mainland Britain.

During which decade did that occur?

-It's 1200s.

-No, it's the 17-somethings.

-Isn't it?

-John was the...

When Henry Tudor invaded?

Well, William of Orange invaded in the 1690s. So, it's well after that.

It's French, was it French? The thing is...

This is James II, then? James II.

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

-King John is 1210.

No, it's not.

-I think it's later, try 1680s.

-1680s.

No, it's the 1790s. 1797, to be precise.

Born in Pembrokeshire in 1966, which novelist's recent works

include The Little Stranger and The Paying Guests?

No. Haven't a clue. No, nothing.

JK Rowling.

No, it's Sarah Waters.

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

For your picture starter,

you're going to see a simplified representation of a phylum

of the Indo-European

language family.

From which one language with

official status as a national level

has been omitted.

Ten points if you can

name the missing language.

Um, sorry, German. Oh!

No. Peterhouse, one of you may buzz.

Walloon?

No, it's Afrikaans.

So, picture bonuses in a moment or two.

Ten points at stake for this starter question.

Having a relatively long half-life of 28 years,

which radioactive isotope produced in nuclear fallout

is chemically similar to calcium and presents a serious health hazard...?

Strontium-90.

Yes.

So, you get the picture bonuses.

You're going to see three more simplified

representations of parts of Indo-European language phyla.

In each case, I want the name of the language omitted.

Firstly, the name of the

official national language

which has been omitted here.

-Greece.

-It's eastern Slavic.

-No, it won't be Greek.

-Bulgarian?

No. Bulgarian and Romanian

are almost the same language.

-Romanian's not...

-Macedonian.

I think Macedonian is the same as

another one, but it's not called the

same because they hate each other.

What's next to Macedonia? Albania?

Albania, maybe.

Shall I try Albanian? Albanian.

-No, it's Bulgarian.

-Oh!

Secondly, the name of

the language omitted here,

which also has official status

at a national level.

It's not Romansh, is it?

Well, that is an official language

of Switzerland, so it could be.

But Gallo-Italian? No, it's

Gallo-Rhaetian. Gallo-Romance...

I have absolutely no idea about

I'm talking about but Flemish?

It won't be Flemish, I don't think.

No, I think it is Romansh.

Go for it, then.

-Romansh.

-Correct.

Finally, the name of the

language omitted here.

-Um, OK. So, probably Welsh.

-Yeah.

No, it won't be...

-Welsh is Brythonic.

-So, right.

I think it could just be

-Irish Gaelic?

-No.

-There's Irish there.

-Is it Cornish?

Cornish is related to Breton,

though. Cornish or Breton?

Brythonic, I think, is Welsh.

Maybe it could be Welsh, actually.

-I'm not sure.

-Welsh or Cornish?

-Welsh?

-I don't know. They don't seem

to have another branch for Breton

and Breton's related to Cornish.

We don't know. Go for Welsh,

it sounds the best.

-Welsh.

-No, it's Manx.

Oh! Oh!

Ten points for this.

Which two consecutive letters of the alphabet are the only

two consonants in words meaning supply with the necessary items,

excite curiosity, a clever or witty remark and not transparent...?

-Q and P.

-Correct.

Right, your bonuses this time, Peterhouse, are on rocket science.

Born in 1857, which Russian scientist gives his name

to the formulation commonly known as the rocket equation?

-Any Russian scientists?

-Lomonosov.

It's not going to be Mendeleev, I presume. Em...

-We don't know.

-Another one.

-What was the thing you said?

-Lomonosov, he's a Russian scientist.

-Go for it, then.

-Lomonosov?

Lomonosov.

No, it's Tsiolkovsky.

And secondly, according to the equation,

a rocket's change in velocity is equal to

the effective exhaust velocity multiplied by the natural logarithm

of the ratio of what?

Gravity, thrust to gravity, maybe?

-Shall I try that?

-Maybe. Sounds reasonable.

Thrust to gravity.

No, it's initial and final mass.

And finally, to accelerate a payload of 1kg up to 1km per second,

if the exhaust velocity is also 1km per second,

what is the smallest mass of propellant that must be

expended in terms of the fundamental constant E?

-What?

-Terms of E?

-AUDIENCE LAUGHS

-1,000 E kilograms.

-This is just...

-A tonne of E, E

-tonne. E tonne?

-E tonnes? Why?

-It's got to be a number and E, isn't it?

-Yeah, so, I mean...

-Shall I just say four?

-Four! Ten, ten.

-Four, ten, what?

-Ten, 10E.

-I'm just saying things!

10E.

This is rocket science.

No, it's E minus 1kg.

Right, ten points for this.

In organic chemistry,

what term denotes the class of cyclic organic compounds...?

Aromatic.

No, you lose five points.

Containing two carbonyl groups either adjacent or separated

by a vinylene group in a six-membered unsaturated ring?

Phenols.

No, they're quinones. Ten points for this.

Around the size of Norfolk,

which island forms the smallest of the provinces of Canada?

Nova Scotia.

No.

Prince Edward Island.

Prince Edward Island is correct.

And I'm afraid that was technically an interruption, Peterhouse.

So I'm going to have to penalise you five points.

Right, your bonuses, York, are on world history in the 1320s.

In 1324, Mansa Musa left his capital on the upper Niger River

with an entourage reputed to number over 60,000 men,

for an unusually lavish pilgrimage to Mecca.

He ruled an empire whose name

-is now that of which present-day African country?

-Mali.

Mali.

Correct.

Which ancient capital was founded in about 1325?

Mexico City was later built on its ruins.

-Can I give it to you?

-Yeah, why not?

-Nominate Smith.

-Tenochtitlan.

-Correct.

Philip VI was crowned at Reims in 1328

and was the first French king of which dynasty?

-Valois.

-Valois.

-Valois.

Correct. We're going to take a music round.

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

For ten points, you just have to give me the name of the composer.

MUSIC PLAYS

Verdi.

No, you can hear a little more, York.

-Mozart.

-It is Mozart, yes.

It's an excerpt from the Abduction From The Harem.

That was Osmin singing there.

It was a part notable for requiring the performer to sing

some of the lowest notes in the standard operatic repertoire.

For your bonuses, you're going to hear

three more examples of bass voices in opera.

For each of them, I want you to give me the name of the composer.

Firstly, this German composer.

MUSIC PLAYS

Try Wagner.

-Not sure.

-Wagner.

No, that's Richard Strauss.

It's from Der Rosenkavalier.

Secondly, this Russian composer, please.

MUSIC PLAYS

King Rene's lament from Iolanta by Tchaikovsky.

I don't know it, but let's just listen to it a little bit.

-It sounds like him, so I'm happy to go with that.

-No, but if you...

I don't know it. So if you think you know it, go with it.

-If you've got the exact answer.

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

Tchaikovsky.

No, that's Mussorgsky. It's Pimen from Boris Godunov.

And finally, this British composer.

MUSIC PLAYS

-Britten.

-Hmm?

-I think it's Britten.

That's Peter Grimes.

-Britten.

-It is Benjamin Britten, yes.

It's from Billy Budd. Right, ten points for this.

What Italian surname is shared by the astronomer who observed

the so-called Martian canals in 1877 and the fashion designer

who in 1947 introduced the colour known as shocking pink?

Schiaparelli.

-Yes, I think it's normally called Sky-parelli but, yes.

-Sorry!

You're right.

Your bonuses are on food and Napoleon I, Peterhouse.

Formally in East Prussia, what town is associated with both

the Treaty of 1807 between Napoleon and Russia

and a pungent cheese now made in Germany, Switzerland and elsewhere?

I don't know. Edam.

-Pungent cheese? Breslav.

-Breslav? Not quite.

I can't remember. They did it on a river, didn't they?

-Is that a cheese.

-No, I don't know.

-Do we know?

-I don't know. We don't know it.

-Breslav?

-Yes.

Breslav.

No, it's Tilsit.

Variants of what surname link the son of a Jacobite emigre

who became one of Napoleon's marshals of the Empire

and Maurice and Richard, the brothers whose innovative techniques

lead to the founding of a prominent fast-food chain?

-McDonald?

-Shall we say that?

-McDonald.

-Correct.

Which victory of Napoleon over the Austrians in 1800

gave its name to a dish of sauteed chicken

usually including tomatoes, garlic and mushrooms.

-Oh, God. OK, puttanesca?

-No, it's not that.

-I think it could be Austerlitz.

-Austerlitz.

-Go for that.

-Chicken Austerlitz, is that a thing?

-I think it might be.

Austerlitz.

Oh, a chicken Austerlitz? No, it's Marengo, chicken Marengo.

Ten points for this.

In his 1963

behavioural study of obedience, which US psychologist

demonstrated that a majority of people

are capable of causing harm to others?

-Milgram.

-Milgram is right, yes.

These bonuses, Peterhouse, are on particle physics.

Bottomonium is a short-lived composite particle

formed from which two fundamental particles of the standard model?

Two quarks.

-I don't understand what particles are.

-But we need specific...

Meson. Oh, meson aren't...

Is there not a particle that's made out of two quarks?

We don't know, let's just get through this.

But we need the specific quark, wouldn't we? Yeah, OK.

Bottom quark and top quark. Go for that.

Er, a bottom and a top quark.

-It's a bottom quark and an anti-bottom quark.

-OK.

Secondly, other unstable compounds can be formed in a similar way

out of bound particle anti-particle pairs.

All but one of these oniums is named after its matter half.

Which is the exception which is named after an antimatter particle?

Oh, so it's anti-something. What would...?

Anti-strain?

Is it going to be the name of a quark with anti-?

No, because the first one wasn't. I don't know. I mean...

Positrons, electrons.

Let's try anti-meson. OK.

-It might exist, it's probably a general category.

-OK, anti-meson.

No! It's positronium.

And finally, for five points,

positronium decays as the positron and electron annihilate one another

to generate two or more gamma rays.

These bear what minimum total energy expressed in kilo electron volts?

-Can we guess?

-Just one.

One.

No, it's 1,022.

Ten points for this.

What seven-letter term denotes

a genetic structure in a cell

that replicates independently of the chromosomes?

Specifically any of the small...

Plasmid.

Plasmid is correct, yes.

You get bonuses on less frequently used railway stations in Britain.

Firstly for five points,

the most remote station on the Heart of Wales line shares what

two-word name with a nearby vantage point and with the English name

of a peak that overlooks the city of Rio de Janeiro?

-Bloody nowhere.

-Sugarloaf.

What's Sugarloaf in Welsh?

-OK.

-Shall we say Sugarloaf?

-I don't know it in Welsh.

Shares its English name, they want the English name.

-Let's have it, please.

-Sugarloaf.

Correct. Described as used almost solely by walkers

and those who enjoy visiting obscure locations,

Altnabreac is a station on which line running from Inverness

to its twin termini of Wick and Thurso?

-Would that straddle the Great Glen?

-Yeah, maybe. Go for it.

Oh, no, is it called the Prince William Line?

-Fort William Line.

-Fort William.

-I don't know.

-Yes.

-Whichever...

-Come on, please.

-Fort William.

-Fort William.

No, it's miles away. It's the Far North Line.

Without access to a public road, Berney Arms station is surrounded by

an RSPB reserve and lies close to the River Yare

in which English county?

-Yeah, um...

-Norfolk.

Don't think it's... Go for it.

-Norfolk.

-Correct.

Right, ten points at stake for this picture starter.

You're going to see a photograph of

an actress in a Shakespearean role.

For ten points, I want you

to identify both the actress

and the role.

Maxine Peake, Hamlet.

Correct.

That was in Sarah Frankcom's 2014 Royal Exchange production.

You're now going to see three more examples

of cross-gender Shakespearean casting on the modern stage.

Again, in each case, I want you to give me both the actor and the role.

Firstly for five, this actress.

-I don't know.

-So, it's going to be Coriolanus.

-Or Macbeth.

-Or Macbeth.

-But do we know the actress?

-No.

-Shall I just pass?

-Yes.

-Pass.

-That's Harriet Walter as Brutus.

Secondly, both these actors and the two characters they're playing.

I've absolutely no...

-Oh, that's...

-Hugh Grant!

What's he called? It's Tom Hollander.

-What was the...?

-I don't know.

They did a play where it was all men, but they were all women?

-I don't know.

-We can't even guess?

-No.

Pass.

That's Adrian Lester and Tom Hollander,

whom you did identify there, playing Rosalind and Celia.

Finally, this actress.

Oh, that's... What's she called? She played...

Fiona something. Fiona Shaw.

-What's she going to be?

-Henry the something.

-Henry V, shall we try? Or Richard II?

-Maybe, I don't know.

-Just say something.

-What shall I try?

-I don't know.

Fiona Shaw, Richard II.

Correct.

Ten points for this.

Noted for the policies of de-Stalinisation,

who was the first who was first...?

Khrushchev.

Correct.

That gives you the lead.

These bonuses are on the Italian humanist Poggio Bracciolini,

who was noted for his rediscovery of classical manuscripts.

At Cluny and other monasteries in around 1415,

Poggio rediscovered several orations by which major Roman author

killed during the Second Triumvirate?

-Cicero.

-Is it Cicero?

-Yes.

-Cicero.

Correct. His work, described by Cicero as rich in brilliant genius,

which Roman poet's De Rerum Natura,

or On The Nature Of Things, was rediscovered by Poggio in 1417?

-Lucretius.

-Lucretius? Lucretius.

Correct. In 1414, Poggio rediscovered and publicised

the treatise on which subject by the Roman author Vitruvius,

the only one of its kind known to have survived since antiquity?

-Anatomy.

-Anatomy? Anatomy.

No, it's architecture.

Ten points for this.

According to the Scottish Wildlife Trust,

Knapdale in Argyll and the Rahoy Hills in Morvern

are places where it is possible to see which rare

and elusive mammal known binomially as felis silvestris?

The Scottish wildcat.

Correct.

These bonuses are on disease, Peterhouse.

Caused by the same bacteria but without resulting in pneumonia,

Pontiac fever is a milder form of which disease?

-I don't know.

-North American, so North American?

-Em, erm...

-Erm, I don't know.

-Pontiac.

-Pontiac pie, is that?

-Yellow fever.

Yellow fever, South American. And that's a virus.

-Don't know, just say something.

-What's the thing, Lyme disease?

-Lyme disease, Lyme disease.

-Lyme disease.

No, it's Legionnaire's disease.

Spread by the aedes aegypti mosquito,

which virus gets its alternate name of breakbone fever

from the severe limb pains that it causes?

Breakbone fever is dengue fever. This was in our first round match.

But do they want the virus? Could be called in the West Nile virus.

Go for dengue fever, because...

I'm not sure West Nile virus is the same thing.

Dengue fever.

Dengue is correct.

Yellow fever is a serious viral infection named after

which of its common symptoms,

caused by the excessive accumulation of bile pigments?

Jaundice.

Correct. Ten points for this.

The star Beta Orionis

has what five-letter common name?

A blue white supergiant about 800 light years distant,

it is the seventh brightest star in the sky.

Sirius.

No.

Anyone want to buzz from York?

Calyx.

No, it's Rigel. Ten points for this.

What first name is shared by the novelist who created

Darius Clayhanger and Anna Tellwright and the composer

who introduced the 12-tone system of musical composition?

Arnold.

Arnold is correct, yes. Arnold Bennett

and Arnold Schoenberg.

Your bonuses are on European heads of state, York.

Milos Zeman succeeded Vaclav Klaus

as president of which country in 2013?

-The Czech Republic.

-Correct.

-Borut Pahor beat the incumbent Danilo Turk to become...

-Slovenia.

-..the president of which country in 2012?

-Slovenia.

Correct. Heinz Fischer succeeded Thomas Klestil

as president of which country in 2004?

-It must be.

-Austria.

-Correct, ten points for this.

The Scottish painter Allan Ramsay is noted for a full-length portrait

of which British monarch, clad in robes of gold and ermine?

His other subjects include Charles Edward Stuart

and the philosopher David Hume.

Charles II.

Anyone like to buzz from Peterhouse?

George II.

No, it was George III. Ten points for this.

Often called the first Western autobiography,

which 13-volume work explores in the author's conversion from...?

St Augustine. It's Confessions.

Yes, I'll accept that, yes.

Well interrupted.

Your bonuses this time are on books published in the 1780s.

Metaphysical Foundations Of Natural Science

and Foundations Of The Metaphysics Of Morals

were works published during the 1780s by which German philosopher?

Kant. I think Kant.

Kant.

Correct. Who wrote the 1787 work

Thoughts On The Education Of Daughters?

Her novel, Mary, a fiction appeared the following year.

Wollstonecraft. Yeah, is it? Mary Wollstonecraft.

Correct. Who was the author of the work of known in English as

Elementary Treatise Of Chemistry?

It was first published in Paris in 1789.

Lavoisier? Lavoisier.

Correct. Ten points for this.

In medicine,

what term denotes an excessive accumulation of fluids

-both water and salt...?

-Oedema.

Oedema is correct. GONG

And at the Gong, York University have 100,

Peterhouse - Cambridge have 145.

Well, bad luck, York.

It was a very close match most of the way

and you can only have played one more game anyway.

So, fine! Go home with your heads held high.

-Thank you very much for joining us.

-Thank you.

Peterhouse, congratulations.

We shall look forward to seeing you in the final. Very well done.

I hope you can join us next time for the last semifinal.

But until then, it's goodbye from York University.

-ALL:

-Goodbye.

It's goodbye from Peterhouse - Cambridge.

-ALL:

-Goodbye.

And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.