Episode 15 University Challenge

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. Out of the 28 teams which entered this contest,

12 have already made their exits.

14 have gone straight through to the second round,

in which two places still remain,

and fighting for them are four teams who lost their first round matches,

but did so with scores that were equal to,

or indeed better than, winning scores in some other matches.

In the past, teams who've survived

by this uncharacteristically charitable process

LAUGHTER

have gone on to win the series, so no-one needs reminding

there's everything to play for.

The team from Jesus College, Cambridge, lost

their first round match against Corpus Christi College, Oxford,

but it was a close-run thing.

Having been in the lead at the halfway point,

they were only 25 points adrift at the gong,

and their score of 175 is the joint-highest of the teams

in these playoffs.

With an average age of 20, let's meet the Jesus four again.

Hi. I'm Sam Fairbrother, I'm from Greater Manchester, and I'm

currently studying for my finals in education with drama and English.

Hi, I'm Rosa Price. I'm from London and I'm studying English.

And this is their captain.

Hi, I'm Theo Morris Clarke, I'm from London,

and I'm reading for an MPhil in economics.

Hello, I'm Daniel Petrides, I'm from Petts Wood in Kent, and I'm

reading for an MPhil in political thought and intellectual history.

APPLAUSE

Now, their opponents from Queens' College lost one

Cambridge derby only to find themselves in another tonight.

Their defeat at the hands of Peterhouse

was by a margin of only ten points,

but their total of 150 was enough to bring them back,

and they, too, have an average age of 20.

Let's meet the Queens' team again.

Hi, I'm Sam Booth,

I'm from Greenford in West London, and I'm studying maths.

Hi, I'm Lorenzo Venturini, I'm from Italy,

and I'm reading engineering.

And this is their captain.

Hi, I'm Frank Syvret, I'm from Evesham,

and I'm studying physics.

Hello, my name's Daniel Adamson, I'm from Cambridge,

and I'm reading history.

APPLAUSE

OK, the rules are unchanging in this contest,

so let's just get on with it.

Ten points at stake for this starter question, fingers on the buzzers.

Foe by JM Coetzee

and Friday, Or The Other Island by Michel Tournier,

are retellings of which novel of 1719,

concerning a mariner from York?

Robinson Crusoe.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

You get the first set of bonuses on republics, Queens'.

The short-lived Republic of the Rif, that's R, I, F, was established

in 1921 following an uprising against the Spanish and French

in the territory of which present-day country?

-Haiti?

-Yeah, could be.

-That's what I would have guessed.

Haiti?

No, it's Morocco.

The Septinsular Republic existed from 1800 to 1807

under nominal Russian and Ottoman suzerainty.

It comprised which group of seven Greek islands,

including Corfu and Paxos, and several smaller islets?

-Seven...

-Could be Ionian.

-Yeah. I think...

-Why not?

We haven't got any other guess.

Yeah. I don't know anything about it. OK.

The Ionian islands?

Correct.

Which European country deposed its monarchy in 1910 and declared its

First Republic under the presidency of the writer Teofilo Braga?

-Sounds...

-Maybe Portuguese, or...

-Yeah.

Maybe Portuguese, or is it Spanish?

-Spain... Spain's got a monarchy now.

-Yeah.

-Sounds more Portuguese.

-It could be, yeah.

Portugal.

Portugal is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Ten points for this.

Of the Unesco World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom,

which is the only one to be nominated both for its cultural

and its natural significance?

It consists of a remote archipelago at the extreme west

of the Outer Hebrides.

I'll tell you...

St Kilda?

Oh, well done.

You've just got in before I gave you the answer, that's correct.

So you get a set of bonuses on football clubs that played

in the Premier League in the 2015-2016 season.

In each case, I want the name of the club

from the scientific clue to its nickname.

THEY LAUGH

Firstly, for five points,

which club's nickname is a species of corvid reputed to be intelligent

to the degree that they can recognise themselves in mirrors,

with the binomial Pica pica?

-Newcastle.

-What's the nickname?

-It's the Magpies, aren't they?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Newcastle United.

Correct. Species of the genus Serinus, secondly.

They're small, distinctively coloured finches,

noted for sustained vocal powers.

-Norwich.

-Norwich? OK. Norwich.

Norwich, the Canaries, yes.

Finally, waterfowls of the genus Cygnus.

-That's swans.

-Swans, yeah.

Swansea.

Correct. APPLAUSE

Ten points for this.

In biology, what single word may refer to

part of the alimentary canal of nematodes,

the surgical opening of a tube brought to the abdominal surface,

or the pores on the underside of a leaf?

Stomata?

Stomata is correct, or stoma singular, yes.

APPLAUSE

These are your bonuses on the novels of George RR Martin.

In each case, listen to the word or words described and name the

title in which they occur, whether in the singular or plural.

Firstly, for five, Epiphany, Assumption, And Advent,

and a title character created by Ted Hughes.

Iron?

Wait, what are the names of the books?

Might not be from A Song of Ice and Fire.

-A song... It couldn't be...?

-No. That's the series.

-No.

-No.

-It's not any of the ones in...

-No, it's not.

-No.

-I don't think it is.

-We don't know, sorry.

It's A Feast For Crows.

Secondly, for five points, the final word of Shakespeare's Sonnet 29.

Its penultimate line is,

"For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings".

-OK.

-Do we know any...?

-It has to rhyme with "brings".

Yeah, um...

-Kings?

-Kings.

-Yeah. A Game Of... A Clash Of Kings.

A Clash Of Kings.

Correct.

Bon odori, carioca or sarabande,

and Glaurung, Saphira or Fafnir.

OK, so that's a dance, isn't it?

-So that's...

-OK. A Dance With Dragons?

-Yeah.

-A Dance With Dragons.

-Well done.

APPLAUSE

Ten points for this.

Said to have been founded in the sixth century BC

and substantially rebuilt by Julius Caesar and Trajan,

which area between the Palatine and the Aventine Hills

was the largest entertainment and sports venue in Ancient Rome?

The Circus Maximus.

Correct.

So your first set of bonuses, Jesus, are on chemical elements.

What name is given to the series of 15 consecutive

chemical elements that, along with scandium and yttrium,

are sometimes called the rare-earth metals?

It's got to be the lanthanides or the actinides,

but I'm not 100% sure.

No, I think it's the... OK, if you... No, it's not.

If Uranium's a rare earth metal, which I think it is, then...

Actinides.

No, they're lanthanides.

Secondly, its natural occurrence scarce,

which of the lanthanides wasn't discovered until 1945?

It's used in miniature batteries,

and is named after a Titan in Greek mythology.

-Promethium?

-Promethium.

-Promethium.

-Correct.

Which country was the birthplace in 1797 of the chemist Carl Massander?

He discovered the lanthanides erbium and terbium,

both of which are named after a town in that country.

They're named after, I think, Ytterby, which is in...

France.

No, it's Sweden. Right, we're going to take a picture round now.

For your picture starter, you're going to see a depiction

of an Ancient Egyptian deity.

Ten points if you can identify the deity.

Osiris?

Osiris is correct.

APPLAUSE

Following on from Osiris,

three more depictions of Ancient Egyptian deities.

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

-That's...

-I think that's Horus. No?

Thoth? Thoth, I think?

Thoth.

-Thoth?

-Thoth?

-I think Horus is...

-Thoth? Really?

-Thoth.

-Go for it, then.

Thoth?

Correct. LAUGHTER

Secondly...

Bastet. Bastet.

Nominate Price.

Bastet.

Correct. And, finally...

Is that Horus?

Horus?

Horus is correct. The head of a falcon.

APPLAUSE

Ten points for this.

Premiered by the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1938,

what orchestral piece was played at the funerals

of Albert Einstein and John F Kennedy?

It's an arrangement...

Adagio For Strings?

Correct.

APPLAUSE

You're going to see the bonuses on the Anglo-Saxon queen Aethelflaed,

known as the Lady of the Mercians.

Right.

Firstly, married to Aethelred of Mercia in the 880s,

Aethelflaed was the daughter of which King of Wessex?

-Alfred? The only one I know.

-OK.

Alfred?

Alfred The Great is correct.

Aethelflaed became the effective ruler of Mercia,

and led campaigns against the Danes.

In 917 and 918, she captured two towns in the East Midlands.

Please name either one.

-Coventry?

-Yeah, why not?

Coventry?

No, they were Derby and Leicester.

And finally, a brother of Aethelflaed,

which ruler of Wessex cooperated with her

in the war against the Danes?

After Aethelflaed's death, he took control of Mercia.

I need his name and byname.

-Aethelred the Unready.

-Yeah.

-It's the only one I know.

-OK.

-I don't know.

-OK.

-Go with it.

-OK.

Aethelred the Unready?

No, it's Edward The Elder. Ten points for this.

As seen relative to the fixed stars,

which planet rotates on its axis exactly three times

for every two orbits it makes around the sun?

It transits the sun around 13 times a century,

examples being in 2003, 2006 and 2016.

Venus?

Anyone like to buzz from Jesus?

Neptune?

No, it's Mercury.

Ten points for this.

Quote, "It probably works best as a thought experiment to test

"concepts of social security rather than as a realistic welfare system."

These words refer to a concept known as UBI.

Universal Basic Income.

Correct, or Unconditional Basic Income, yes.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, Jesus, are on English pubs.

Firstly, for five points.

The third highest inn in England,

the Kirkstone Pass Inn,

is on the road linking Ambleside with which lake to the north?

Could it be Windermere? Is Ambleton...?

Windermere?

No, it's Ullswater.

Secondly, the second highest inn is The Cat And Fiddle, situated on

the A537 very close to the boundary of which two English counties?

The Welsh hills are visible on a clear day.

-Worcestershire and Herefordshire?

-OK, yeah.

-What about the Pennines?

-He said you can see the Welsh hills from there.

-Lancashire and Cumbria?

-Really?

-I dunno.

-No, that's too far away.

-Just stick with...

-Worcestershire and Herefordshire.

No, it's Cheshire and Derbyshire.

And finally, the Tan Hill Inn is the highest in England.

On a minor road between Keld and Kirkby Stephen, it lies

close to the boundary of which National Park?

Peak District?

Or the Dales? The Yorkshire Dales?

Peak District.

-No, it's the Yorkshire Dales.

-Oh.

Ten points for this.

Which two letters begin words meaning a unit of weight

equal to one 480th of a Troy ounce,

the SI unit of radiation dose,

a unit of angle equal to...

BE?

No, you lose five points.

..equal to one 400th of a circle,

and a unit of quantity equal to 12 dozen?

GR?

Yes, GR is right, yes.

Grain, gray, gradian and gross.

15 points for these bonuses if you can get them.

They're on SI prefixes.

In each case, I want the numerical factor indicated

by the SI prefix that's an anagram of the word given.

For example, the word "game" is an anagram of the prefix "mega",

so your answer would be ten to the six, or a million.

OK? Right, first, then, tape.

-It's peta. Do we have a clue?

-No.

-OK. Um...

Peta's quite a lot, it's above giga,

it's above tera. Tera's, like...

15? 10 to the 15?

-Yeah, go for it.

-10 to the 15.

Correct.

LAUGHTER

Next, dice.

Dice...

-Dice?

-C, E...D, I?

Maybe. Shall we pick a number?

It'll be really big.

24.

No, it's ten to the minus one.

LAUGHTER

And finally, rate.

ALL: Tera.

Tera. That's... Oh, yeah, cos I think that's...

Tera is about...

10 to the 12.

Correct, yes. APPLAUSE

Ten points for this.

Since the mid-16th century,

periods in the chronology of which country have included

Spanish viceroyalty, independence, confederation with Bolivia,

Guano Era, War of the Pacific, and war with Ecuador?

Portugal.

No, anyone like to buzz from Queens'?

Chile?

No, it's Peru.

Ten points for this.

In earth science, what angle is made with the horizontal

by the direction of the earth's local magnetic field

at the magnetic pole?

90 degrees.

Correct. APPLAUSE

These bonuses will give you the lead,

they are on education.

Derived ultimately from the Ancient Greek

for "child" and "leading", which word is used to refer to

both the theory and practice of education?

Pedagogy?

Correct.

In his 1970 work, Pedagogy Of The Oppressed,

which Brazilian educator criticised overly-formal and prescribed

styles of education, which he termed the "banking concept"?

INAUDIBLE

Nominate Fairbrother.

Paulo Freire.

Freire is correct.

And finally, who developed a practical, child-centred

pedagogical approach and opened her first school,

the Casa De Bambini, in Rome in 1907?

Maria Montessori?

Correct.

APPLAUSE

We're going to take a music round, now.

For your music starter, you're going to hear an excerpt from a musical.

For ten points, I want you to identify the singer.

SLOW STRINGS

# Oh... #

That's Paul Robeson.

It is Paul Robeson.

Ol' Man River from Show Boat.

APPLAUSE

So your bonuses are three more popular songs,

also inspired by life on or around the Mississippi River.

In each case, I want the name of the band or artist performing.

Firstly, this singer.

# The Mississippi delta

# Was shining like a National guitar... #

Paul Simon?

It is Paul Simon, yes.

Secondly, this singer, please.

# In a little tent

# Oh and just like a river

# I've been running... #

Sam Cooke?

It is Sam Cooke, yes.

Finally, this band.

ROCK MUSIC

That's, that's... Led Zeppelin. When The Levee Breaks.

Led Zeppelin.

Yes.

APPLAUSE

Ten points for this starter question.

Which opera was inspired by George Crabbe's 1810 series of...

Peter Grimes.

Peter Grimes is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, Jesus, are on the playwright Arthur Miller.

Firstly, the era of the McCarthy witch-hunts against alleged

communist sympathisers in the US provided the inspiration in part

for which of Miller's plays,

first performed in 1953 and based on events of the 1690s?

Crucible, yeah? The Crucible.

Correct.

Miler's play After The Fall is generally regarded as an

account of his failed relationship with which notable figure?

-Marilyn Monroe.

-Marilyn Monroe.

Marilyn Monroe.

Correct.

Miller wrote the screenplay for which film of 1961, featuring

the final screen appearances of Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable?

Oh.

Final screen appearance of Marilyn Monroe...

INDISTINCT

Was it directed by...?

Try... How To Marry A Millionaire.

-Sorry?

-How To Marry A Millionaire.

-How to what?

-Marry a millionaire.

How To Marry A Millionaire?

No, it's The Misfits.

Ten points for this.

In the hundred of Underditch near Salisbury,

which rotten borough had for many years no resident electors at all,

but still returned two Members Of Parliament up to...

It is Old Sarum?

It is Old Sarum, yes.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on art galleries this time, Jesus College.

The Museum Of Fine Arts in which European capital

has a large collection of works by Pieter Bruegel The Elder,

including his Hunters In The Snow and The Tower Of Babel?

Brussels.

-No, it's Vienna.

-Oh.

Secondly, long attributed to Bruegel,

Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus is in a gallery

in which European capital?

The gallery's name is the title of a poem by WH Auden,

which reflects on the work.

Brussels.

That is Brussels, yes.

Bruegel's The Land Of Cockaigne is in the Alte Pinakothek Gallery

in which German city?

-Munich.

-Yeah. Unless we've got anything better?

Munich.

Munich is correct.

APPLAUSE

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

The rock forming the summit pyramid of Mount Everest

dates to which period of the Palaeozoic era,

between the Cambrian and the Silurian?

The Ordovician.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on a philosopher this time, Queens'.

In 1788, which German philosopher wrote,

"Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing wonder and awe,

"the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me"?

INDISTINCT

Kant.

Correct.

Between 1781 and 1790, Kant published three major works.

The Critique Of Pure Reason, the Critique Of Practical Reason,

and which third critique?

Um...

-I don't know.

-OK.

-I don't know.

-Yeah, I don't know.

The Critique Of Applied Reason.

It was the Critique Of Judgment.

And finally, generally used to mean

the principles of artistic beauty or taste,

what term did Kant apply to the science of perception by the senses?

-Aesthetics?

-Yeah, aesthetics makes sense.

Aesthetics or aesthetic? OK.

Aesthetics.

Aesthetics is correct. APPLAUSE

Ten points for this.

Often hyphenated, what three-word term is often used to denote nacre,

a microstructure that occurs as an inner layer in the shells

of some gastropods and bivalves?

Mother-of-pearl.

Mother-of-pearl is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on novels that employ the device of

the unreliable narrator.

In each case, I need the title of the work and the author.

Firstly, often cited as an example of an unreliable narrator,

Nelly Dean is a character in which novel of 1847?

INDISTINCT

OK, um... Might be Wuthering Heights, actually.

-Wuthering Heights.

-OK.

It's Emily, isn't it?

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

Correct.

Secondly, Benjy, Quentin and Jason Compson are

unreliable narrators in which novel of 1929,

set in the state of Mississippi?

Could be Steinbeck, something like that?

OK.

-Any ideas?

-No idea.

The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck?

No, it's The Sound And The Fury by William Faulkner.

And finally, Patrick Bateman is the unreliable narrator of which novel,

set during the Wall Street boom of the 1980s?

-Is it American Psycho?

-Yeah.

-OK, do you know who it's written by?

-Ellis?

-Bret Ellis?

-Bret Ellison?

-Bret Ellison sounds right.

-Yeah.

American Psycho by Bret Ellison?

No, you were thinking of the right...

But you got his name wrong.

You were thinking of the right person.

It's Bret Easton Ellis, so I can't give you the points, I'm afraid.

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

For your picture starter, you'll see a painting.

For ten points, I want you to identify the artist.

Bruegel?

That is Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

APPLAUSE

So following on from his Kinderspiele, or Children's Games,

your picture bonuses are three more paintings of sport and games.

Again, in each case,

for the five points, I just want the name of the artist.

Firstly, for five points.

I think... OK.

-Yeah, I've got an idea...

-I think it might be Degas, but... OK.

I'll say that.

OK. Toulouse-Lautrec?

No, it was Degas.

The Parade, or Racehorses In Front Of The Tribune.

Secondly...

Maybe... I don't think it's Monet...

-What about Sisley? That looks...

-Yeah.

-OK.

Sisley?

No, it's Pissarro, his Cricket Match At Bedford Park.

And finally...

-That's Rousseau.

-Is it? OK.

Rousseau.

It is Henri Rousseau, The Football Players.

APPLAUSE

Right. Another starter question.

The star and co-creator of the Netflix series Master Of None...

Aziz Ansari.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses now, Queens', are on English towns.

In each case, name the place from the description.

All three end with the same four-letter suffix.

Firstly, a town between Leeds and Huddersfield,

the birthplace of the politicians Betty Boothroyd and Sayeeda Warsi.

-Dewsbury.

-Yeah? OK.

-Dewsbury.

-Correct.

Secondly, a port in Essex at which Elizabeth I addressed troops

about to resist the Spanish Armada.

-Til.

-OK.

-Tilbury.

-Correct.

The county town of Buckinghamshire, finally.

It shares its name with a common breed of large white duck.

-Aylesbury.

-Correct. APPLAUSE

Ten points for this.

Hegel, Wordsworth and Beethoven

were all born in which year?

In April of the same year, Captain Cook landed at Botany Bay...

1750.

No, you lose five points.

..landed at Botany Bay, and five years later,

the American Revolution began.

1771.

No. It was 1770.

Right, ten points for this.

Esther Summerson in Bleak House,

Elizabeth Darcy in Death Comes To Pemberley

and N in Poppy Shakespeare are among the roles of which actress,

born in Yorkshire in 1977?

Keira Knightley?

No. Anyone like to buzz from Queens'?

OK. It's Anna Maxwell Martin.

Ten points for this.

Answer as soon as your name is called.

The number 222 in ternary, or base three,

corresponds to which decimal number?

26?

Correct.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses will give you the lead. They're on genetics.

Upstream of the coding sequence of a gene,

which region of DNA binds RNA polymerase

to initiate transcription?

-Ligase or something?

-Sorry?

-Ligase?

-Ligase, that's...

-Could be.

Do you know anything else that would be a good guess?

-No, I don't think I do.

-OK. I'll say that, then.

Ligase?

No, it's promoter.

What term denotes the binding site of a repressor in bacteria?

It's adjacent to the promoter.

-Any idea?

-No.

I... I just know its binding site... Sorry.

OK. No, we don't know.

It's operator.

And finally, what is the physiological inducer

of the lac operon?

Oh... Physiological, that's...

Beta-galactosidase?

OK. Nominate Venturini.

Beta-galactosidase.

No, it's allolactose.

Right, ten points for this.

The Idea Of A University is an 1852 work

by which religious figure?

Associated with the Oxford Movement, he became a Roman Catholic in...

John Henry Newman?

Correct. APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on a heraldic symbol, Jesus College.

The bottony or trefly,

the moline and the fitchy are heraldic forms of what symbol?

Fleur-de-lis?

Maybe. Fleur-de-lis?

No, it's the cross.

The cross fleury has limbs that extend in the shape of which

heraldic emblem, long associated with the French crown?

-Oh, that...

-Fleur-de-lis.

-The fleur-de-lis.

-Correct.

And finally, a patriarchal cross with two crossbars appears

beneath the crown of St Stephen on the coat of arms of

which country of Eastern Europe?

INDISTINCT

-Is it Czech Republic, because it's St Stephen...?

-Yeah.

The Czech Republic?

-No, it's Hungary.

-Oh.

Ten points for this.

When studying the British landscape,

Hooper's hypothesis may be used to estimate the approximate age

of which natural habitat?

Moorland?

No, anyone like to buzz from Queens'?

Caves.

No, it's hedges or hedgerows.

Ten points for this.

Which of Shakespeare's comedies ends with the words,

"Give me your hands if we be friends and..."

Midsummer Night's Dream.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on similar surnames.

In each case, I need the given name and surname

of the two people described.

Firstly, two authors.

One wrote the 1987 novel, The Bonfire Of The Vanities.

The other wrote the 1922 novel Jacob's Room.

-Virginia Woolf.

-Yeah, and Tom Wolfe.

Tom Wolfe and Virginia Woolf.

Correct.

Secondly, a prominent English composer of church music from

the late 16th century and a former international cricket umpire

who was awarded the OBE in 2012.

-Um, Dickie Bird, probably.

-Dickie Bird and...

-William Byrd.

William Byrd.

William Bird and Dickie Bird.

Correct.

And finally, the author of the 1563 work, Actes And Monuments,

that became known as the Book Of Martyrs,

and the founder of the group known as the Religious Society Of Friends.

The first Quaker.

-Somebody Fox... John Foxe, and...

-Henry?

-Henry?

-OK.

John Foxe and Henry Fox.

No, it was John Foxe and George Fox.

Right, ten points for this.

"Everything great is just as difficult to realise

"as it is rare to find."

Which 17th century philosopher made this the last sentence of his...

GONG

And at the gong, Queens' College, Cambridge have 155,

Jesus College, Cambridge have 195.

APPLAUSE

Well, bad luck, Queens'.

You nearly did it, and 155 is a highly respectable score to

take away, so you leave with your heads held high.

Jesus College,

we shall look forward to seeing you in the next stage of the contest.

Thank you very much for joining us.

I hope you can join us next time for the next

highest-scoring losers match.

But until then, though,

it's goodbye from Queens' College, Cambridge.

Goodbye.

It's goodbye from Jesus College, Cambridge.

Goodbye.

And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.