Episode 11 University Challenge

Asking the questions - Jeremy Paxman.

Hello.

30 unforgiving minutes lie ahead of two more teams tonight,

as they try to win a place in the second round.

If the losers come away with a score that's among the top four

losing scores, they will get a final chance to qualify too.

Wolfson College, Cambridge,

was founded in 1965 as University College,

but it changed its name in 1973 after

a benefaction from the foundation established by

Sir Isaac Wolfson, the chairman of Great Universal Stores.

Most of its 760 students are postgraduates,

which is reflected in the composition of tonight's team,

and alumni include, for anyone old enough to remember Procol Harum,

the musician and Hammond organist, Matthew Fisher,

and the former president of Zambia, Rupiah Banda.

With an average age of 25, let's meet the Wolfson team.

Hi, my name is Justin Yang.

I'm from Vancouver, Canada,

and I'm studying for a PhD in Public Health and Primary Care.

Hi, I'm Ben Chaudhri, I'm from Cumbria,

and I'm reading Natural Sciences.

And this is their captain.

Hi, I'm Eric Monkman, I'm from Oakville, Canada,

and I'm studying for a Master's in Economics.

Hi, I'm Paul Cosgrove from Cookstown in Northern Ireland,

and I'm studying for an MPhil in Nuclear Energy.

APPLAUSE

Their opponents tonight represent SOAS,

the School of Oriental and African Studies, which was founded

in 1916 as a constituent college of the University of London.

It, too, has an emphasis on postgraduate education,

which accounts for nearly half of its student body.

Among its alumni are the travel writer, Freya Stark,

the singer and activist, Paul Robeson,

and the Nobel Peace Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi.

As a specialist institution,

the team admit that not having a scientist could be a weakness

- time will tell there - and they're no doubt hoping to hear

questions on Malay, Thai, Persian, Arabic and Luxembourgish instead.

Representing around 6,000 students, with an average age of 44,

let's meet the SOAS team.

Hello, I'm David Bostock.

I'm originally from Cheltenham,

and I'm studying for a Master's in Southeast Asian Studies.

Hello, I'm Magda Biran-Taylor.

I'm originally from Harrow in Middlesex,

and I'm also studying for a Master's in Southeast Asian Studies.

And this is their captain.

Hi, I'm Henry Edwards, I'm from London,

and I'm doing an MA in Near And Middle Eastern Studies.

Hi, I'm Odette Chalaby, I'm from London,

and I'm also doing an MA in Near And Middle Eastern Studies.

APPLAUSE

OK, the rules are the same as ever.

Starter questions are worth ten points.

You have to answer those on the buzzer individually.

Bonus questions can be answered collectively by conferring.

They're worth 15 points. Fingers on the buzzers.

Here's your first starter for ten.

Which series of novels began in 1983 with The Colour Of Magic? 2015...

Discworld. Discworld is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

You get a set of bonuses, Wolfson,

on physicists who were also proficient musicians.

In each case, name the musical instrument with which they

were most associated. First, Albert Einstein.

The violin? Yeah. Yeah, the violin.

The violin. Correct. Secondly, Werner Heisenberg.

Uh, piano? Piano, maybe.

Piano? Correct.

And, finally, Richard Feynman was associated with which

specific percussion instrument?

The bongos. Correct. APPLAUSE

Right, ten points for this starter question. Fingers on the buzzers.

The rules governing which mathematical entity were written in

elliptic verse by the seventh century Indian mathematician,

Brahmagupta? He alternately called it "sunya" or "ka,"

the former being a Sanskrit term for void or...

Zero. Zero is correct, yes. APPLAUSE

You get a set of bonuses on brothers in medieval history, Wolfson.

Firstly, for five - often known by a byname,

denoting fleetness of foot,

who claimed the throne of England on the death of Canute in 1035,

in opposition to his own half-brother, Harthacnut?

Harold Harfoot? No idea.

Harfoot? Harold HAREfoot is correct, yes.

Harold died in 1040. Harthacnut, his successor, died two years later.

Which of Harthacnut's half-brothers succeeded him?

He's the subject of Alfred Duggan's novel, The Cunning Of The Dove.

Maybe Sweyn Forkbeard? Yeah, try it.

Sweyn Forkbeard? No, it was Edward The Confessor.

And finally, after Edward's death in 1066, who allied himself with

the king of Norway to fight against his own brother, Harold II?

He was killed at the Battle Of Stamford Bridge.

Harald Hardrada. No, that's the one who was... Nope.

Harald Hardrada. No, it was Tostig. Ten points for this.

The metro system of which European capital has been described as

"the world's longest art exhibition"?

Sculptures, paintings and other artwork...

Moscow?

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

decorate more than 90 of its 100 stations,

which include Alvik, Sankt Eriksplan, and Gamla stan.

Amsterdam? No, it's Stockholm.

Ten points for this starter question.

From the Greek for "hard," what term is applied to conditions in

which parts of the body organ become hard or useless...?

Ossified.

No, you lose five points. ..often as a result of ageing,

thickening, or scarring?

Calcification?

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

Which poet was the author of the lines,

"Whenas in silks, my Julia goes, then, then, (methinks),

"how sweetly flows that liquefaction of her clothes"?

Born in 1591, he spent much of his life as the vicar of Dean Prior

in Devonshire....

John Donne? No.

SOAS, one of you buzz. You may not confer, one of you can buzz.

George Herbert? No, it was Robert Herrick.

We'll take another starter question, but you lost five points

there for an incorrect interruption, of course, Wolfson.

Right, ten points for this.

Royal Nut of Jupiter is a translation of the scientific

name of which deciduous tree?

It yields a fine-grained wood, used for furniture and veneers,

and an edible not consisting of a...

Walnut. Walnut is correct, yes. APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on explosives, SOAS.

Discovered by the British chemical engineer, Edward Charles Howard,

in 1800, and widely used in detonators and blasting caps,

which explosive has the chemical formula C2N2O2HG?

Any ideas? Cordite, I suppose.

Cordite? No, it's Mercury fulminate.

Secondly, what explosive did the Italian chemist,

Ascanio Sobrero, discover in 1846?

Used in dynamite, it's made by reacting propane one, two, three

trial with a mixture of concentrated sulphuric and nitric acids.

Shall me go for cordite for this one as well? Mm.

Cordite? No, it's nitro-glycerine.

And finally, along with his father,

who helped to commercialise nitro-glycerine?

He'd earlier designed the first factory to produce it, an

explosion at which, in 1864, killed his younger brother, Emil Oskar.

Nobel? It was Alfred Nobel, correct. APPLAUSE

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

You're going to see a map with a collection of islands highlighted.

For ten points, I want the two-word designation of those islands.

The Caribbean Islands?

No. Would anyone like to buzz from SOAS with a more precise answer?

Windward Islands. No, it's the Greater Antilles.

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

Here's another starter question. Fingers on the buzzers, please.

In May 2009, the New York resident, L J Rule, became the first person

to hit his funding goal on which website with his project, Drawing...

Kickstarter? Kickstarter is right, yes.

APPLAUSE

So you were asked to identify the Greater Antilles

in the picture starter.

We follow on from that with three islands of the Caribbean on the map.

I simply want you to identify each island indicated,

which may not be the name of the state or states to which

its territory belongs. Firstly...

That's Trinidad and Tobago.

Trinidad and Tobago? No, it's Trinidad is the island.

It's not Trinidad and Tobago.

Of course, that is the state,

but I was looking for the name of the island. Secondly...

That's Barbados, I think. Barbados? Yeah, Barbados.

Barbados? It is Barbados. And, finally...

That's, erm... Hispaniola. Hispaniola.

Hispaniola. It is Hispaniola, yes. Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

APPLAUSE Ten points for this.

Eustace of Boulogne was the eldest surviving son of which English king?

His death made possible the settlement of the civil war

between his father and the Empress Matilda in favour...

Stephen? Stephen of Blois is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

You get a set of bonuses now, Wolfson, on the Battle of the Somme.

Firstly, for five points - the Somme offensive ended on 13 November 1916,

having begun on the first day of which month that year?

Was it the guns of June? August?

June, that was 1914. OK, then maybe May?

May? Go for it. May.

No, it was July.

Coined by the War Minister, Lord Derby,

what name came to be given to the specially constituted

battalions of the British Army made up of men who'd enlisted

together in local recruitment drives?

Many suffered heavy casualties at the Somme.

Pal... Pals battalion?

Pals batallion? Correct.

Designed by Sir Edward Lutchens, the memorial to the missing of

the Somme is named after which village on the battlefield?

Ypres. Could be Ypres. Ypres.

Ypres? No, it's Thiepval.

Ypre's in... Is further north. Ten points for this.

Which legendary hero is both the narrator and the

title character of the poem by Tennyson that ends with the line...

Ulysses? Correct. APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on rice cultivation, SOAS.

Including rice terraces and other co-operative water management

systems, the Subak system is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site

on which island between Java and Lombok?

Bali. Bali? Correct.

Built by the Hani people over the past 1,300 years,

a cultural landscape of rice terraces is

a UNESCO World Heritage Site near the Red River,

in which Chinese province bordering Vietnam and Laos?

Yunnan. Yunnan? Correct.

Built 2,000 years ago, the Ifugao rice terraces form part of

a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the island of Luzon in which country?

Philippines. Correct.

APPLAUSE Ten points for this.

In thermodynamics, when considering a chemical reaction,

what three-word term is the name of the quantity that can be derived

from its enthalpy minus the product of the temperature and the...?

Gibbs free energy? Correct. APPLAUSE

You'll retake the lead if you get these bonuses,

on the author, Miranda Carter.

Firstly, for five points, Miranda Carter won the Orwell Prize

in 2002 for her biography of which art historian,

revealed late in life to have been a Soviet spy?

Anthony Blunt? Anthony Blunt.

Blunt. Anthony Blunt is correct.

Carter's 2009 work, The Three Emperors, is subtitled

Three Cousins, Three Empires And The Road To World War One.

To which three empires does the title refer?

Did he say "empires" or "emperors"? Germany, Russia and Britain.

Germany, Russia and Britain? Correct.

In a 2014 interview, Carter cited which US historian as her

great hero in terms of history writing?

Her works include The Proud Tower and The March Of Folly.

Anyone know? No clue.

Doris Kearns Goodwin?

Doris Kearns Goodwin? No, it's Barbara Tuchman.

Ten points for this.

The loudest sound in recorded history is often cited as

that caused by what event of 27 August 1883?

The fall of the... Berlin Wall.

Nope. SOAS, one of you may buzz.

The eruption of Krakatoa. Correct. APPLAUSE

If you get these bonuses, YOU'LL retake the lead.

Your bonuses are on places named after saints.

In each case, I want the ceremonial county - for example,

North Yorkshire or Merseyside - in which the following are located.

Firstly, for five, in which county is St Bees?

The start of Wainwright's coast-to-coast walk.

Northumberland? Cumbria. Cumbria? Cumber...land?

No, that's not a ceremonial county. Cumbria. Cumbria. Cumbria is right.

Named after a ninth century English saint,

the town of St Neots lies on the river Great Ouse in which county?

Cambridgeshire. Cambridgeshire. Correct.

Noted for Marine Court, an Art Deco building in the shape of an

ocean liner, St Leonard's-On-Sea is in which ceremonial county?

Sussex. Sussex.

Specifically?

West. WEST Sussex. No, it's EAST Sussex. Bad luck.

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

For your music starter,

you'll hear a piece of classical music by a British composer.

Ten points if you can identify the composer.

CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS

Elgar. It is Elgar. APPLAUSE

His cello concerto in E minor.

It's perhaps the best known recording by Jacqueline du Pre.

Your music bonuses are three more of Jacqueline du Pre's recordings.

In each case, I simply want the composer of the piece you hear.

Firstly, for five, this Austrian composer.

CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS

Mozart? No, that's Haydn's Cello Concerto number two in D.

Secondly, this French composer.

CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS

THEY CONFER QUIETLY

Saint-Saens? No, it's Gabriel Faure, his Elegy in C minor.

Finally, this central European composer.

CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS

THEY CONFER QUIETLY

Dvorak? It is Dvorak, yes. His Cello Concerto in B minor.

APPLAUSE Right, ten points for this.

California was admitted to the union in 1850.

Which two states were admitted in 1845? Now...

North and South Dakota. No.

I'm afraid you lose five points.

Now among the most populous in the country,

they both have coastlines on the Gulf of Mexico.

One of you buzz quickly, SOAS.

Alabama and Louisiana? No, it's Florida and Texas,

so here's another starter question.

The "three principles of the people" were part of an ideology

formulated by which revolutionary?

Born in southern China in 18...

Mao Zedong? No, you lose another five points, I'm afraid.

In 1866, he was influential in the overthrow of the

Chinese Imperial Dynasty in 1911.

Sun Yat-sen. Sun Yat-sen is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on the Nobel Prize for Economics.

Firstly, which US social scientist won the 1978 prize for his

research into decision making within organisations?

He also coined the terms "bounded rationality" and "satisficing."

THEY CONFER QUIETLY

I don't know. Don't know. Talcott Parsons.

No, it was Herbert A Simon.

Secondly, co-recipient of the 2002 prize, which Israeli-born

psychologist is noted for the 2011 work, Thinking Fast And Slow?

Nominate Chalaby. Daniel Kahneman. Correct.

The subject of the film A Beautiful Mind, which US mathematician

won the 1994 prize for his landmark work on game theory?

John Nash. John Nash is correct.

APPLAUSE Right, another starter question.

What name is now given to the object discovered on

January 1st 1801 by the Italian astronomer, Giovanni Piazzi?

Ceres. Ceres is correct, yes. APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on scientific units.

In each case, give the unit from the description.

All three begin with the same letter.

Firstly, often known by a three-letter abbreviation,

a unit equivalent to 1,055 joules.

It was previously defined as the amount of heat required to

raise the temperature of one degree of water by one degree Fahrenheit.

Calorie. No, it's three letters...

Calorie? No, it's a BTU, a British thermal unit.

Secondly, a unit of speed of digital communication,

named after a French engineer born 1845.

French engineer. Unit of speed? Becquerel?

No, it's not Becquerel. It's...

Let's have it, please. Becquerel. No, it's a Baud.

Finally, the three-letter name of a unit of sound intensity that

uses a logarithmic scale.

Bel. Decibel, yeah. Bel.

That's correct. Ten points for this. APPLAUSE

The name of which movement in architecture and design is an

abbreviation of the name, in French, of the International Exposition

of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts, held in Paris in 1925?

The International Movement? No, anyone want to buzz from Wolfson?

Art Deco? Art Deco is correct, yes. APPLAUSE

And I'm afraid you lose five points, SOAS, for an incorrect interruption.

Right, a set of bonuses for you now, Wolfson, on languages of China.

Firstly, named after a river, the Northern and Southern Min

forms of Chinese originate in which coastal province?

Southern Min, also known as Hokkien,

has a large number of speakers outside China.

I would say Guangdong. Yeah, OK.

Guangdong? No, it's Fujian.

With more than 36 million speakers,

Xiang is a form of Chinese spoken largely in which inland province,

the birthplace of Mao Zedong? Its capital is Changsha. Hunan.

Hunan? Hunan is correct.

With at least 50 million speakers, Yue has what alternative name

after a historical name of a major city of south China?

Cantonese. Cantonese? Is that really it? Yeah.

Cantonese? Cantonese is correct. APPLAUSE

We're going to take another starter question now.

Which two final letters link words meaning

"a Japanese fried dumpling", "a spectacular theatrical..."

ZA. ZA is correct, yes. APPLAUSE

Your bonuses this time, Wolfson, are on a Victorian poem.

For all three answers, I need the title AND the author.

"The sea is calm tonight.

"The tide is full, the moon lies fair upon the straits.

"On the French coast, the light gleams and is gone." Nominate...

Which poem of 1851 begins with those lines? Nominate Yang.

Dover Beach, by Matthew Arnold. Correct.

In which novel does Daisy Perowne's recitation of Dover Beach

calm a violent intruder?

The novel takes place on a single day in February 2003.

Is it Saturday? Saturday by Ian McEwan.

Nominate Chaudhri. Saturday by Ian McEwan. Correct.

In which dystopian novel does the fireman, Guy Montag,

shock his wife's friends by reading Dover Beach to them?

Fahrenheit 451. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

Nominate Yang. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

That is correct. APPLAUSE

We're going to take another picture round now.

For your picture starter,

you're going to see a photograph of a sportsperson.

Ten points if you can identify her.

Steffi Graf?

Anyone like to buzz from SOAS?

Martina Navratilova. It is indeed, yes.

APPLAUSE

As of the beginning of 2016,

Martina Navratilova is one of only ten tennis players in the

Open Era to have completed a Singles Career Grand Slam

- that is, to have won all four of the sport's major titles.

Your picture bonuses are photographs of three more of this select ten.

Five points for each you can identify. Firstly...

Steffi Graf? Is that Steffi Graf?

Steffi Graf? It is Steffi Graf. And, secondly...

That's, erm... That's Chris Evert-Lloyd.

Chris Evert-Lloyd. Chris Evert is correct, yes. And finally...

That's... Sharapova? Yeah.

Sharapova? That is Maria Sharapova. APPLAUSE

Right, ten points for this. Fingers on the buzzers.

Widely used in medical research, the HeLa cell line was derived

from the cervical cancer cells of which...?

Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta Lacks is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses could put you back in the lead.

They're on books published in 1516.

In 1516, which major figure of the northern Renaissance wrote

The Education Of A Christian Prince

and published an annotated text of the Greek New Testament?

Erasmus? Mm-hm. Erasmus? Yeah, Erasmus.

Erasmus? Correct.

Also in 1516, the Italian poet, Ariosto,

published the first version of which epic poem?

Its title character is a knight in the service of Charlemagne.

Orlando Furioso. Correct.

Its name meaning "no place,"

which work by Sir Thomas More first appeared in 1516 in a Latin version?

Utopia. Correct. APPLAUSE

That gives you the lead, and another starter question now.

Seleucus Nicator founded an empire that spanned Asia

from the Indus to Syria.

He had earlier served as an infantry commander under which royal...?

Er, Ptolemy?

No, I'm afraid you lose five points.

..under which royal figure, born in 356 BC?

You may not confer, one of you may buzz.

Alexander The Great. Alexander The Great is correct.

APPLAUSE

You get a set of bonuses this time on amino acids, SOAS.

Which amino acid has the single letter code "Y"?

Melanin is an end product of its metabolism.

Any ideas at all? No.

Pass. It's tyrosine.

"W" is the code of which amino acid?

The body uses it to manufacture the vitamin, niacin,

and the neurotransmitter, serotonin.

Er... Pass. Shall we pass it? Pass.

That's tryptophan.

And, finally, which amino acid has the single letter code "R"?

It plays an important part in the synthesis of urea.

Ribophen? Mm. Ribophen?

Riboflavin. Riboflavin. No, it's arginine.

Right, ten points for this.

Forsteri and patagonicus are the largest species of the

genus aptenodytes of which flightless birds?

They are known respectively as "king" and "emperor".

Penguin? Penguin is correct. APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on fictional newspapers.

In each case, I need the title and the author of the novel in

which the paper appears.

Firstly, The Pioneer is a newspaper owned by Mr Brooke in which

major novel, first published in 1871?

New Grub Street? No. No. Erm...

1871.

It might be. I don't know. New Grub Street.

No, it's Middlemarch by George Eliot.

In which 1938 novel does William Boot become

a journalist on the Daily Beast?

Scoop. Scoop.

By? Evelyn Waugh. Correct.

The Maycomb Tribune features in which 1960 novel?

1960. Something by Graham Greene? How about Kingsley Amis?

Lucky Jim? Yeah. Come on. Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim.

No, it's To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

There's less than three minutes to go, and ten points for this.

Meaning "based on a system of bishops," what formal name is

given to the churches in Scotland and in the United...?

Presbyterian? No, you lose five points.

..that are part of the Worldwide Anglican Communion,

but independent...

Episcopalian. Episcopalian is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on Sanskrit titles of English language films.

Firstly, which 2002 film stars Jimi Mistry and Heather Graham,

and has a title that means "spiritual teacher" in Sanskrit?

Er, is it...? Guru? Oh, Guru, could be.

Guru? Correct.

Based on Herman Hesse's novel of the same name, which 1972 film...?

Siddhartha. Correct.

Which 2009 film, directed by James Cameron, has a title...?

Avatar. Avatar is correct. APPLAUSE

Ten points for this starter question.

Give the two short rhyming words that mean a ruminant,

whose breeds include Cashmere and Angora, and a small...

Goat. You interrupted incorrectly. I'd already asked for two words.

Sorry. ..and a small weasel, also known as the ermine.

Stoat and goat. Stoat and goat is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Right, these bonuses are on Christmas Day crownings,

Wolfson College.

Who was crowned Emperor of the Romans by the Pope in Rome on

Christmas Day, 800?

Charlemagne? Yes.

Charlemagne. Correct.

On Christmas Day 1100, Baldwin of Boulogne was crowned the first

king of which crusader state in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem?

Jerusalem? It's the crusaders state of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem. Correct.

On 25 December 1130,

Count Roger II was crowned king of which Mediterranean kingdom?

Sicily. It's Sicily.

Sicily. Sicily is right.

APPLAUSE Another starter question.

Ferdowsi is a highly-revered poet...

Persian. Persian or Farsi is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

You get a set of bonuses on Greek mythology.

Which twins are known as the dioscuri?

One of them being the mortal son of Tindarios, the other,

the immortal son of Zeus.

It's Castor and Pollux in Roman... Go for it.

Castor and Pollux? Correct.

Founded according to tradition by the Phoenician prince, Cadmus,

which Greek city was...? Thebes. Thebes. Thebes is correct, yes.

Which God was born on...? GONG SOUNDS

And at the gong, SOAS have 175, and so do Wolfson College, Cambridge.

APPLAUSE

OK, the way we settle this is very simple.

I'm going to ask one starter question.

If you answer it correctly,

you get the points and you win - we don't bother with the bonuses.

If you answer it incorrectly, it goes to the other side.

If you buzz in with an incorrect interruption, of course, you

lose five points, and automatically lose the contest, then.

So, here we go. Everyone ready?

Ten points for this.

The radula is a moveable, rasping structure found in the mouths

of species of which animal phylum?

Mollusc. Molluscs is correct, yes. Well done.

APPLAUSE You win.

Well, SOAS, it's not a bad way to go out, and 175, I would certainly bet

my house on you coming back as one of the highest-scoring

losing teams, so I don't think it's the end of the day for you at all.

Congratulations to you, Wolfson. That was a great performance.

You're on storming form.

I don't know why I bothered reciting the questions, really,

you had the answers so quickly to hand.

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

but until then, it's goodbye from SOAS.

ALL: Goodbye.

It's goodbye from Wolfson College, Cambridge. ALL: Goodbye.

And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.