Episode 33 University Challenge

APPLAUSE

University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. You win some, you lose some

is an aphorism which applies pretty well

to the two teams playing tonight,

each of whom have won their first- and second-round matches

and one of their quarterfinals,

but they've each lost a quarterfinal as well.

That means that whichever of them wins tonight

will join Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and Edinburgh University

in the semifinals,

and we'll be saying goodbye to the losers.

Now, the team from the University of Warwick

beat Liverpool University and the University of East London

in their first two matches.

Having lost to Emmanuel College, Cambridge,

in their first quarterfinal,

they narrowly beat Bristol University in their second

to find themselves here.

Now playing their reserve member,

let's meet the Warwick team again.

Hello, I'm Jamie Keschner-Lycett,

I'm from Mytholmroyd in West Yorkshire,

and I'm studying French and history.

Hiya, I'm Sophie Rudd, I'm from Parts of Lindsey,

and I'm studying computer science and its applications.

And this is their captain.

Hello, I'm Giles Hutchings, I'm from Farnham in Surrey,

and I'm studying maths.

Hello, I'm Thomas Van, I'm from Geneva in Switzerland,

and I'm studying history.

APPLAUSE

The team Wolfson College, Cambridge, arrived here

by beating the School of Oriental and African Studies in round one,

Jesus College, Cambridge, in round two,

and Balliol College, Oxford, in their first quarterfinal.

But they followed that with a narrow defeat

at the hands of Edinburgh University.

Let's meet the Wolfson team again.

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 near Cockermouth in Cumbria,

and I'm studying natural sciences.

And this is their captain.

Hi, my name is Eric Monkman, I'm from Oakville, Canada,

and I'm studying economics.

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

and I'm studying nuclear engineering.

APPLAUSE

OK, fingers on the buzzers,

here's your first starter for ten.

"He had a large, loving mind

"and the strongest sympathy with the poorer classes."

Queen Victoria wrote those words in her diary

soon after the death of which author in...?

Disraeli. No, sorry.

I'm afraid you lose five points.

..of which author in 1870?

Dickens.

It was Charles Dickens, yes.

APPLAUSE

So you get the first set of bonuses, Wolfson College.

They're on railway architecture.

Firstly, from its construction in 1837, which London terminus

was distinguished by a tall Doric entry arch?

The arch was demolished despite public outcry in the 1960s.

Euston.

Euston.

Correct. The counterpart of the Euston Arch

is now the world's oldest surviving example

of monumental railway architecture.

It lies on Curzon Street in which English city?

Birmingham?

Say Liverpool?

-No.

-Go for it.

-Birmingham?

Liverpool.

No, it's Birmingham.

A statue of which public figure

stands inside London's St Pancras station?

From the 1960s he was an outspoken opponent

of the destruction of station architecture.

-John Betjeman.

-OK.

John Betjeman.

Correct.

Ten points for this starter question.

Give the Italian title

of the Renaissance painting

that depicts Zephyrus, Flora, the Three Graces,

Mercury and Venus competing...

Primavera.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on the words

of the early 19th century critic and essayist William Hazlitt.

In each case, identify the Romantic poet he's describing.

First, "He has a fire in his eye,

"a fever in his blood, a maggot in his brain,

"a hectic flutter in his speech,

"which mark out the philosophic fanatic."

Is it Byron, or...?

-Blake?

-Blake?

-Is he 19th century, though?

-But he would've... Blake.

-Maybe Shelley.

-Shelley.

-You tell me what to say and I'll say it.

Shelley.

Shelley.

Correct.

"Remote from the passions and events of the great world,

"he's communicated interest and dignity

"to the primal movements of the heart of man."

-Wordsworth?

-Wordsworth, or Keats.

Wordsworth's remoteness, maybe.

Wordsworth.

Correct. And finally,

"He makes man after his own image,

"woman after his own heart.

"The one is a capricious tyrant, the other a yielding slave."

-Byron?

-Could this be Lord Byron?

-Sure.

-Lord Byron?

Correct. Ten points for this.

Beginning with the same three letters,

which two six-letter terms

are near-synonyms in everyday usage

but in physics denote one quantity with the dimensions of pressure

and one dimensionless number?

For any given substance,

the ratio of the two gives the modulus of elasticity.

Stress and strain.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your first bonuses, Warwick, are on China.

Also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day,

which festival to honour ancestors takes place in early April?

Meaning "pure brightness" in Chinese,

its name coincidentally combines the names

of China's two most-recent imperial dynasties.

OK, so most recent is Qing.

-And Ming.

-So is it that order?

No, Qing is the most recent.

And then Ming.

Is it Mingqing?

Mingqing.

-No, it's Qingming.

-Oh!

-Bad luck.

The Qingming Festival in 1976

saw major demonstration in Tiananmen Square

following the death of which Chinese Premier?

He was also foreign minister from 1949-1958.

OK. Nominate Van.

Zhou Enlai.

Correct. Born in Szechuan in 1904,

which political figure was formally purged

after the 1976 demonstrations?

He was later restored to power

and presided over wide-ranging economic reforms.

I'm pretty sure it's Deng Xiaoping, right?

-Nominate Rudd.

-Deng Xiaoping.

Deng Xiaoping is right, yes.

Ten points for this.

In logic, what three-word English term

is often used to translate the Latin expression petitio principii?

Begging the question.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on physics and astronomy, Wolfson.

All three answers are two-word terms

that include the same short adjective.

Firstly, what two-word term

is used for a hypothetical type of degenerate star

that's cooled until it is no longer visible?

This process is thought to take considerably longer

than the current age of the universe.

That could be brown dwarf?

-Yeah, maybe.

-Brown dwarf.

No, it's a black dwarf.

What apparent phenomenon is seen during planetary transits

as a dark area that briefly seems to link the limb of the sun

to the limb of the transiting planet?

-The...

-Black...

-The...

Um...

It's called a lip or something.

-Black spot?

-No. Black lip...

-Black Jupiter?

-Black...

-I don't know.

-Black lip.

No, it's the black drop effect.

And finally, in physics, what two-word alliterative term

is used for a hypothetical body

that absorbs all the radiation falling on it?

Black body.

Correct.

We're going to take a picture round. For your picture starter

you'll see a well-known quotation from the Bible

in St Jerome's Latin translation.

For ten points, I simply want the sense of the quote in English.

Am I my brother's keeper?

Correct.

APPLAUSE

So, you get, Wolfson,

picture bonuses on more short extracts from the Vulgate.

Again, I want the sense of each quote in English.

Firstly, for five...

-Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.

-Yes. Yep.

Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.

Yes. Secondly...

I come to bring... All who accept the sword...

He who will live by the sword will perish by the sword.

He who lives by the sword shall perish by the sword.

You would have made a wonderful revivalist preacher, yes.

LAUGHTER

Yes, that's the sense of it, perfectly. And finally...

-Nothing new under the sun.

-Yes.

Nothing new under the sun.

Well done. Yes.

Right, ten points for this -

which two consecutive letters of the alphabet

are the only two consonants in words meaning

"a man who behaves dishonourably, especially towards women..."

C and D.

Well done, yes.

APPLAUSE

Right, Warwick, your bonuses this time

are on US Open tennis champions.

Which Russian won the men's singles title in 2000,

beating Pete Sampras in straight sets?

His sister is also a former number one world-ranking tennis player

who won the women's doubles in 2007.

Is that the one that came out of nowhere

-and, like, surprised everybody?

-It could be.

I can't remember his name. Agassi is not Russian, is he?

-No.

-I can't remember. Sorry, pass.

It's Marat Safin.

And secondly, on defeating Serena Williams

in the 2011 women's singles final,

who became the first Australian woman to win a Grand Slam title

since Evonne Goolagong won Wimbledon in 1980?

-Any ideas on Australian tennis players?

-No.

No, sorry, don't know.

That was Sam Stosur.

And finally, which men's doubles pair

has the most team wins in the Open era?

In 2013 they became the first team

to hold all four Grand Slam titles and the Olympic gold medal

at the same time.

-It's not the Murray brothers?

-Perry-Perry or something.

Two brothers called Perry. I could be completely wrong.

I'll go with that if you want. Perry and Perry.

No, it's Bob and Mike Bryan.

Ten points for this.

"Lie heavy on him, Earth, for he laid many a heavy load on thee."

These words are from an epitaph

written for which exponent of the English Baroque style,

the architect of Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace?

Capability Brown.

Nope.

Warwick, one of you buzz.

Inigo Jones.

No, it was Sir John Vanbrugh.

Ten points for this.

The English name of a late 17th century travel account

by the Japanese haiku master Basho,

what title did the Australian author Richard Flanagan...?

The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

You get three bonuses, Warwick, on sea birds.

Balearic, Sooty and Manx

are species of which genus of long-winged oceanic birds

named after their ability to glide with rigid wings

along the troughs of waves?

Nominate Keschner-Lycett.

Shearwater.

Correct.

Antarctic, snow and storm

are among species of which smaller oceanic birds

related to the shearwaters?

Nominate Keschner-Lycett.

Petrel.

Correct. And finally, related to the petrels and shearwaters,

which bird has a six-letter common name

combining Norse words meaning foul and gull,

a reference to the unpleasant smell of its stomach oil?

It's not puffin, is it?

-Could be puffin.

-I can't think of any six-letter ones?

Shall I go with that? Puffin.

No, it's the fulmar. Ten points for this.

The mother of modern dance

is an epithet that's been given to which dancer and choreographer

born in San Francisco in the 18...

Duncan.

Yes, I'll accept that. Isadora Duncan.

These bonuses, Wolfson, are now on Brythonic, or Celtic, kingdoms

of post-Roman Britain.

Firstly, ruling an indeterminate area of present-day Yorkshire,

which Brythonic kingdom was conquered by Northumbria

in the 7th century?

Its name appears in the names of two villages to the east of Leeds.

Merc... Mercia, maybe?

It's not Mercia.

It's...

No.

It's... I don't know.

Pass.

It's Elmet.

And secondly, which 6th century kingdom

is thought to have been centred on the Solway Firth?

The early Welsh poet Taliesin praised its king, Urien,

and a discovery centre named after it

opened in Penrith in 2000.

Rheged.

Nominate Chaudhri.

Rheged.

Rheged is correct.

The modern name Devon derives from the name of which Brythonic kingdom?

Its subjugation by Wessex was completed in the 9th century.

-The Devi, right?

-Yeah.

The Devi.

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

What seven-letter term

did Lord John Russell define as "one man's wit and all men's wisdom"?

A book of the same name...

A proverb.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, this time, Wolfson, are on psychology.

From a 1999 study, which two psychologists at Cornell University

give their names to a cognitive bias or effect

by which incompetent people are unaware of their mistakes

and overstate their abilities as a result?

Dunning-Kruger.

Correct.

In the 1951 work New Hopes for a Changing World,

which British philosopher observed

that those who feel certainty are stupid

and those with any imagination and understanding

are filled with doubt and indecision?

Russell.

Correct.

"The fool doth think he is wise,

"but the wise man knows himself to be a fool."

In which play by Shakespeare

does Touchstone repeat that saying to William?

THEY CONFER

It's not Twelfth Night.

-What's the one in the forest...?

-Midsummer Night's Dream?

No, the other one.

The one that's set in Ardenne?

-Erm...

-As You Like It.

-As You Like It.

As You Like It.

Correct.

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

For your music starter, you'll hear an excerpt from an opera.

For ten points, I want the title of the opera in which it appears.

OPERATIC CHORUS PLAYS

Carmen.

You can hear a little more, Warwick.

Nabucco.

No, it's Il Trovatore.

So, music bonuses in a moment or two.

Fingers on the buzzers, here's a starter question.

Its name deriving from an ancient city on its banks,

which strait was formerly known as the Hellespont...?

The Dardanelles.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

So you recall that a moment ago

none of you recognised Verdi's Anvil Chorus.

Your music bonuses are excerpts from choruses

in three more of Verdi's operas.

For five points, I want the title of the opera

in which the chorus appears.

Firstly, for five...

OPERATIC CHORUS PLAYS

Aida.

Correct.

Secondly...

OPERATIC CHORUS PLAYS

THEY CONFER

Macbeth.

It is Macbeth. The Chorus of the Scottish Exiles.

And finally...

OPERATIC CHORUS PLAYS

Nabucco.

It is indeed, the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves.

Ten points for this.

In the Wentworth scale,

used to classify sediment grain sizes in geology,

what grade comes between granules and cobbles?

Pebbles.

Pebbles is correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on the Nobel Peace Prize, Warwick.

Which organisation was awarded the 2012 Peace Prize?

According to the official citation,

for over six decades it contributed to the advancement

of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights.

It's EU.

EU.

Correct. The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize

was awarded jointly to Al Gore and the IPCC.

For what do the letters CC stand in that abbreviation?

Climate Change.

Correct.

1995 Peace Prize was awarded jointly

to Joseph Rotblat and which series of conferences

set up to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in international politics?

Oh, it's the disarmament one.

-START?

-Is it?

Or were they just START treaties?

It's like the name of a town somewhere.

Nominate Rudd.

The START.

No, Pugwash.

Ten points for this starter question.

"Who wields a poem huger than the grave?"

These are the words of which American poet, born in 1894?

He's generally known by his initials and surname,

which are often...

TS Eliot.

No, you lose five points.

..which are often rendered solely in lower case.

E E Cummings.

Of course.

APPLAUSE

Right, you get bonuses on river gorges in France, Warwick.

Firstly for five, a major tourist attraction,

which gorge lies on the boundary

of the Var and the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department?

Its river empties into the artificial Lac de Sainte-Croix.

I don't know French.

Southern French rivers.

Loire?

Loire Valley.

No, it's the Verdon Gorge.

Noted for a series of gorges

between Florac and Millau,

the River Tarn is a tributary of which river

which it joins near Moissac?

THEY CONFER

Loire.

No, that's the Garonne.

And finally, rising in the Jura Mountains,

the River Doubs flows through gorges for more than 30km

along the boundary of France and which country?

Switzerland. The borders.

OK, Switzerland.

It is Switzerland, yes.

Right, ten points for this.

Shane Smith is the CEO and owner of which magazine

that he co-founded in Montreal in 19...?

VICE.

VICE is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on the Wars of the Roses, Wolfson.

Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York,

was killed at which battle of 1460, fought in Yorkshire?

Towton.

-Towton, yeah.

-Towton.

Towton.

No, it was Wakefield.

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick,

died at which battle of 1471, fought in Hertfordshire?

1471...

The Battle of...?

I don't know.

Pass.

It's Barnet.

The Lancastrian Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales,

was killed at which battle of 1471?

It took place in Gloucestershire

a few weeks after the Battle of Barnet.

Tewkesbury.

Correct.

Ten points for this. What surname links the directors

of the films The Naked Spur and El Cid,

Separate Tables and Marty,

and Collateral and Heat?

Scorsese?

Anyone like to buzz from Wolfson?

Is it Lee?

No, it's Mann.

Ten points for this.

The Rani of Jhansi, Begum Hazrat Mahal of Awadh and...

The Indian mutiny?

Correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Three questions on a Roman emperor for your bonuses, Wolfson College.

Firstly, the appointed successor of the Emperor Nerva,

who exceeded peacefully to the throne in AD 98?

Under him, the Roman Empire reached its greatest extent.

Trajan.

Correct.

Which lawyer and author did Trajan appoint as governor of Bithynia

in about 110?

The letters between the two are a major source of information

on Roman provincial administration.

-I think it's...

-It's Pliny the Younger.

-Is it Pliny the Younger?

Pliny the Younger.

Correct. Trajan's column in Rome is a pictorial narrative

of the emperor's campaigns in which reaches north of the Danube?

It corresponds to much of modern Romania.

Dacia.

Dacia is correct, yes. APPLAUSE

We're going to take another picture around now.

For your picture starter,

you'll see a painting of a historical figure.

Ten points if you can identify the figure.

Napoleon Bonaparte.

It is. APPLAUSE

As depicted by Antoine-Jean Gros.

Your bonuses are three more portraits of Napoleon Bonaparte,

each by a French artist. I want the artist's name in each case.

Firstly, who did this?

-I think that's D... Oh, that's David, maybe.

-David?

-Are we OK with David?

-Yeah.

David?

No, that's by Ingres.

Secondly...

-That one's David.

-That's David?

-That looks like a David to me.

David again?

No, that's Delaroche. And, finally...

-I think that's Delacroix.

-Delacroix.

-Delacroix.

Delacroix.

No, that WAS David. LAUGHTER

Right, ten points for this. Who was the US president at the time

of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident

and the start of the Iran hostage crisis?

Carter?

Jimmy Carter's right, yes. APPLAUSE

Three questions on currency crises for your bonuses.

In 1944, which Mediterranean country experienced an economic crisis,

culminating in the issuing of notes to the value of 100,000 million

of the local currency?

Oh, they said Mediterranean, I think there was a Hungary one but...

-Shall we say Turkey?

-Spain or Italy... Yeah, I don't know.

Turkey?

No, it was Greece.

Secondly, writing in 1979,

which US economist showed that for a currency crisis to happen,

all that is needed is for a government to carry out policies

that are inconsistent with the exchange rate?

I would say that would probably be Friedman, maybe?

You're the economist!

Friedman.

No, it was Krugman.

After a period of hyperinflation,

which southern African government revalued its dollar

by removing 12 zeros from the old notes in 2009?

Zimbabwe.

Correct. Ten points for this. APPLAUSE

In which city are the Evolution Tower,

the Mercury City Tower and the Federation Tower,

on which work began in 2003?

Dubai?

Nope. Wolfson, one of you buzz.

Abu Dhabi.

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

"Rugged, mountainous, volcanic,

"he was himself more a French Revolution than any of his volumes."

These words of Walt Whitman refer to which Scottish historian,

born in 1795?

Carlyle.

Carlyle is correct, yes. APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on physical chemistry, Warwick.

Named after a 19th-century Scottish chemist,

which law states that under identical conditions

the rate at which gases diffuse is inversely proportional

to the square root of their densities?

-Raoult?

-Oh, it might be...

-Was he Scottish?

-Er...

-I think he was.

Raoult?

No, it's Graham. Graham's law.

Which Italian scientist's law states that equal volumes of ideal gases

at equal temperature and pressure contain equal numbers of particles?

-Avogadro?

-Yeah.

-Avogadro.

Correct. After a scientist born in Cumberland in 1766,

which law states that the pressure exerted by a mixture of gases

is equal to the sum of the partial pressures of the component gases?

Henry.

No, that's Dalton. Dalton's law.

Ten points for this. Three and a half minutes to go.

Which estuary is the location of two South American capitals,

named in Spanish after a precious...?

Rio de la Plata.

Correct. Yes, the River Plate. APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on political figures.

All three answers are a number that is a multiple of 13.

Cleopatra, firstly, is generally cited as having been what age

when she died in 30 BC?

-39, 52 or 26?

-39.

39.

Correct. How old was Mahatma Gandhi

when he was assassinated in Delhi in 1948?

-78?

-78.

-Well, he was in...

78.

Correct. At what age was Abraham Lincoln first inaugurated

as President of the United States?

He was like the youngest.

-Right, so...

-Was it 26 or 52?

-39.

-Or 39?

-52?

-That's quite old.

-After that...

52.

52 is correct.

Ten points for this. APPLAUSE

"He brought a major art to a minor vision of life."

These words of the critic Alfred Kazin

refer to which US Nobel laureate born in 1899?

Hemingway.

Ernest Hemingway is right. APPLAUSE

Your bonuses this time, Warwick, are on zoology.

In each case, name the taxonomic rank, for example,

genus of which the following are representative.

Firstly - Nematode, Porifera, Arthropoda and Chordata.

-Is that kingdom or phylum?

-I think it's phylum.

-Phylum.

Phylum is right.

Secondly - Diptera, Crocodilia, Rodentia and Octopoda.

That'll be class or order. It's one of those, I think.

-Order.

-Order.

Order is right.

Finally - Corvidae, Ranidae and Hominidae.

-Genus?

-Genus...

Yeah. Genus.

No, it's family.

Ten points for this. In anatomy,

which bone articulates with the odontoid process?

The jaw?

Anyone like to buzz from Warwick?

The zygomatic bone?

No, it's the atlas.

Ten points for this.

First performed in 1942,

Capriccio was the final opera of which German composer?

His other works include Elektra, Salome and Der Rosen...

Richard Strauss.

Correct. APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on astronomy, Warwick.

Which constellation of the northern sky holds the Veil Nebula,

a section of the Great Rift and the Northern Cross asterism?

I don't know.

Ursa Minor?

No, it's Cygnus.

The Veil Nebula is part of the Cygnus Loop,

an expanding remnant of what type of astronomical event?

-Supernova.

-Supernova.

Correct. Also known as Alpha Cygni,

what five-letter name is given to the brightest star in Cygnus?

Deneb.

Correct. Ten points for this. APPLAUSE

In 1337, Edward the Black Prince

became the first holder of which dukedom traditionally held...?

Duke of Albany.

No, you lose five points.

..traditionally held by the eldest son of the reigning...?

Cornwall.

Cornwall is correct. APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on 20th-century British Prime Ministers, Warwick.

The final four letters of which Prime Minister's surname

spell the French word for oven?

Oven, "four". Is it F-O-U-R?

-So, Balfour.

-Balfour.

Balfour is correct.

Which Prime Minister's surname may be expressed in French

as Artisan Chaumier?

C-H-A-U-M-I-E-R.

-Is it Chamberlain?

-GONG

Chamberlain.

No, it's Thatcher. APPLAUSE

Well, Warwick, at the gong, you were coming back strongly

but you didn't come back quickly enough, I think.

So there's no shame in going out in the quarterfinals,

-none whatsoever.

-Thanks.

It's been a pleasure having you with us. Thanks very much.

Wolfson, many congratulations to you.

Congratulations, you will go through to the semifinal.

I bet you're pleased about that.

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

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

-ALL:

-Bye.

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

-Goodbye.

And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.

APPLAUSE