Episode 8 University Challenge

University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. Oxford plays Cambridge tonight

in the fixture that will undoubtedly put to rest once and for all

the rivalry that's existed between these universities for centuries.

More to the point, it'll secure one of the teams

a place in the second round.

Robinson College, Cambridge was founded in 1977 by the British

philanthropist Sir David Robinson,

who had made much of his money on the gee-gees.

Something of a stranger to this contest,

having only appeared three times since 1994,

tonight's team are proud to tell us that the college boasts the highest

loo to undergraduate ratio in Cambridge,

which no doubt appealed just as much to its alumni,

the TV presenter Konnie Huq,

the former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and the comedian Robert Webb.

Representing around 560 students and with an average age of 20,

let's meet the Robinson team.

Hi, I'm David Verghese,

I'm from Hertfordshire and I'm reading English.

Hi, I'm Catherine Hodge.

I'm from Birmingham and I'm studying theology and religious studies.

And their captain.

Hi, I'm James Pinder.

I'm from Hampshire and I'm reading for a degree in natural sciences.

Hi, I'm George Barton, I come from Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire,

and I'm studying physics.

APPLAUSE

Playing them, the team from Wadham College, Oxford.

It was founded in 1610 by the heiress Dorothy Wadham,

using the provisions of her late husband's will,

making her the first woman outside the Royal Family

and titled aristocracy to found an Oxbridge college.

Distinguished alumni include Sir Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke,

and more recently the former Labour leader Michael Foot,

the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams

and the writer and broadcaster Melvyn Bragg.

Representing around 600 students with an average age of 24,

let's meet the Wadham team.

Hi, I'm Vivian Holmes.

I'm from Cambridge and I'm studying mathematics and philosophy.

Hi, I'm Edward Lucas, originally from Manchester.

I'm studying political theory.

-Their captain.

-Hi, I'm Vivek Ramakrishna from Hyderabad in India.

I'm reading for a DPhil in chemistry.

Hi, I'm Thomas Veness, I'm from Kingston upon Thames

and I'm reading for a DPhil in theoretical physics.

APPLAUSE

You all know the rules, so fingers on the buzzers.

Here's your first starter for ten.

Albums including The Painter by Paul Anka,

The Academy In Peril by John Cale,

Silk Electric by Diana Ross

and The Velvet Underground & Nico all have covers designed...

-Andy Warhol.

-Correct.

Your bonuses, Robinson, are on words.

Firstly for five points, in the OED,

the earliest citation of the verb "twitter" comes from the work

of which literary figure in his translation into Middle English

of The Consolation Of Philosophy by Boethius?

-Chaucer?

-Correct.

Which 17th-century English poet is credited with coinages

including debauchery, fragrant, jubilant, impassive and lovelorn?

Milton?

Milton is correct.

Born in Boston in 1809,

which literary figure is credited with coinages including quotability,

multicolour and tintinnabulation, the latter from his poem The Bells?

-Twain?

-That was the only one that springs to mind.

Could it be Whitman?

-Walt Whitman?

-No, it was Edgar Allen Poe.

Ten points for this. In 1541,

the Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto became the first

documented European to cross which major river?

He died the following year during the same expedition...

The Amazon?

No, you lose five points.

..probably in present-day Arkansas or Louisiana?

You may not confer. One of you may buzz.

The Missouri?

No, it's the Mississippi, bad luck.

Ten points for this. A former military surgeon,

Alphonse Laveran received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1907

for his discovery of the protozoan

that causes which insect-borne disease?

The organism...

-Malaria.

-Malaria is correct.

Your bonuses are on members of the Lunar Society,

a group of thinkers whose meetings in and around Birmingham from 1765

were scheduled to reflect the lunar calendar.

Identify each person from the description.

Firstly, a master potter with interests in the arts,

geology and chemistry,

he invented the pyrometer to measure heat in kilns and developed

Jasperware pottery.

-Pass.

-That was Josiah Wedgwood.

Secondly, a leading entrepreneur of the Industrial Revolution

known for his partnership with James Watt

and the manufacture of steam engines.

-Matthew Boulton.

-Correct.

Finally, a Yorkshire-born polymath noted for his part in the

identification and isolation of a number of gases including oxygen?

-Joseph Priestley.

-Correct.

Ten points for this starter question.

Words meaning the fruit of Cydonia oblonga,

a woodwind instrument,

the protruding portion of an animal's face,

the condition of being warm and enclosed,

an undernourished person

and a popular term for the buttocks

are linked by characters in which play by Shakespeare?

A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Correct, they're the Mechanicals.

You get a set of bonuses, this time on plants.

What seven-letter Greek-derived term denotes an underground horizontal

stem that bears both roots and shoots?

It may play a part in food storage or propagation,

for example in the case of bamboo.

-Tuber, try tuber.

-Seven letters.

I don't know.

-Pass.

-It's rhizome.

Its rhizome widely used as a culinary spice and in beverages,

which plant is known in Hindi as adrak?

Its generic name and common English name both derive via Greek

from a Sanskrit word.

-Ginger.

-Correct.

A member of the ginger family, Curcuma longa has what common name?

Its ground rhizome is a key ingredient of curry powder

and may also be used as a dyestuff and as a test for alkalinity?

-Turmeric.

-Turmeric is right.

Ten points for this.

Listen carefully. Around 1540, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey,

translated books two and four of The Aeneid.

In an attempt to emulate Virgil's prosody,

he made the first documented use of which rhymeless verse form,

later used in Elizabethan drama and narrative poetry?

Blank verse?

Blank verse is correct, yes.

These bonuses are on Britain in 1908.

Firstly for five points, in 1908,

Edith Morley became the first female professor at a British university

or university college when she was appointed to the chair

of English language at which university

which had been founded in 1892?

Manchester? That was founded pretty late.

-Manchester?

-No, it was Reading.

Out of 2008 athletes competing in the 1908 Olympics in London,

37 were female.

Among these, Sybil Newall and Lottie Dod won gold and silver for Britain

in what sport, the only women's event

held within the Olympic Stadium?

Swimming? Inside the Olympic Stadium.

Two-person sport.

They both won gold?

No, one won gold and one won silver.

Could be archery.

-Archery?

-Correct.

In 1908, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was elected mayor of Aldeburgh

in Suffolk, the first female mayor in England.

Earlier in 1865, she'd become the first woman

licensed to practise what profession?

-Medicine?

-Probably.

-Medicine.

-Correct.

We're going to take a picture round now.

For your picture starter, you'll see a map of the United States,

showing the location of the 12 cities

in which Federal Reserve banks are located. For ten points,

I want you to identify the city highlighted in orange.

Savannah?

Anyone like to buzz from Wadham?

You may not confer.

One of you can buzz, quickly.

-Atlanta?

-It is Atlanta, yes.

You get the bonuses, then, also on the same theme.

You'll need to identify three more of the American cities

that are homes of the Federal Reserve banks.

Five points for each you can identify.

Firstly, the city marked at A.

Is that Indiana?

Iowa?

Indiana?

Des Moines? Do you want to say it?

Des Moines?

Des Moines?

No, it's St Louis.

Secondly, the city marked B.

Michigan?

-That is... I think it's Ohio.

-Ohio?

-Come on.

-Pittsburgh?

No, it's Cleveland. Finally, the city at C.

-Where's New York?

-New York's further up.

Is that Pennsylvania?

I think it's Philadelphia.

Philadelphia?

It is Philadelphia, yes.

Ten points for this. Commissioned in 2003 and entitled Empty Suit,

Jaroslav Rona's sculptural depiction of a man riding the shoulders

of a giant is Prague's monument to which literary figure?

The image comes from...

-Kafka?

-Kafka is right, yes.

Your bonuses are on astronomy.

Firstly, the Pistol Nebula lies at about 25,000 light-years from Earth,

near the centre of the galaxy.

It contains the Pistol Star,

a massive body considered to be a candidate LBV.

For what do the letters LBV stand in that context?

Light... Vector? I don't know.

-I've no idea.

-I can't think of a V-word related to stars at all.

Velocity? Vortex.

I've got no clue.

-Light bearing vortex.

-No, it's luminous blue variable.

Secondly, the Bullet Cluster is a collision between

two galaxy clusters about 3.8 billion light-years from Earth.

Its structure has been cited as evidence

for what hypothetical substance?

Dark matter or dark energy?

Dark matter.

-Dark matter.

-Correct.

The name of what mythological weapon is given to the specific

south-pointing asterism

that includes the star-forming nebula M42?

Mythical weapon? Trident?

If we don't have anything else.

Other than Thor's Hammer, I can't think of any other mythical weapons.

-Trident?

-No, it's Orion's Sword.

Ten points at stake for this.

An essential component of the cell walls of plants,

which element appears above aluminium in the periodic table?

Non-metallic...

-Boron.

-Boron is correct, yes.

You've taken the lead.

You get a set of bonuses on African flags.

Which African country's flag bears

a gold 12-pointed sun in the upper left triangle?

The country became independent in 1990,

and the colours of the flag are said to be influenced

by those of the liberation movement SWAPO.

Liberia?

SWAPO's Namibia. SWAPO's south-west Africa.

Namibia then? Namibia's very new.

-Namibia.

-Correct.

Which country's flag is a blue, yellow, green horizontal tricolour

with a yellow sun on the upper fly side?

This flag replaced the former flag in 2001.

Could it be an island nation?

Could be Madagascar.

-Go for that.

-Sierra Leone?

No, it's Rwanda.

Finally, a red half sun appears on the upper band of which country's

tricolour flag?

A flag with a white full sun was in use briefly

from 2010 to 2012.

Niger?

It could be Sudan, because they got South Sudan relatively recently.

Or Niger. I don't know.

South Sudan?

South Sudan.

No, it's Malawi.

Ten points for this. St Hilda of Whitby

and the Northumbrian St Cuthbert both lived and died during...

Henry I.

No, I'm afraid you lose five points.

..during which century of the Christian era?

The same century saw the founding of the Tang dynasty in China

and the death of the Prophet Muhammad.

You may not confer. One of you may buzz.

The eighth century.

No, it's the seventh century, the 600s.

Ten points for this.

In space exploration,

for what does the letter G stand in the abbreviations GSC or CSG,

both denoting a spaceport that benefits

from the slingshot effect caused by the earth's...

Gravitational.

No, you lose five points.

..rapid rotation at the equator?

It's based at Kourou in an overseas department of France.

-Guadalupe?

-No, it's Guyana.

So we take another starter question.

Ten points at stake for this.

Larger hairy, screaming hairy and nine banded

are species of which mammal?

Armadillo.

Armadillo is right, yes.

Your bonuses are on works by Western novelists set in Japan.

Firstly, which 1997 work by Arthur Golden

told us of the transformation of the young girl Chiyo

into the hostess Sayuri?

Memoirs Of A Geisha?

Correct, that gives you the lead.

Secondly, set in the Dutch trading concession in Japan

in the late 18th century, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

is a work of 2010 by which British author?

Go for it.

Will Self?

Will Self! No, it's David Mitchell.

Published only in Japan and with a little English text,

God Hates Japan is a graphic novel by Mike Howatson

and which Canadian author,

also noted for Worst Person Ever and Generation X?

-Alan Moore.

-No! Canadian.

Garry Trudeau?

No, it's Douglas Coupland.

We're going to take a music round now.

For your music starter,

you'll hear part of a well-known orchestral composition.

For ten points, I want you to tell me both the name of the composer

and the title of this specific movement.

MUSIC PLAYS

Holst, and Mars.

Correct, from The Planets.

That was chosen by the BBC for their Ten Pieces initiative,

a large-scale programme of events and resources that aims to introduce

primary age children to classical music via ten key works.

Your music bonuses are three more of those ten.

Let's see how many you can identify.

This time, for five points in each case,

I simply want the name of the composer.

Firstly, for five, this British composer.

MUSIC PLAYS

-Britten?

-It is Benjamin Britten.

It's Storm, from Peter Grimes.

Secondly, this American composer.

MUSIC PLAYS

I think it's Copland.

Aaron Copland, I think.

Copland?

Copland? No, that's John Adams, Short Ride In A Fast Machine.

And finally...

MUSIC PLAYS

-Mozart.

-It is Mozart, yes.

Ten points for this. Shipping Intelligence and Office Business,

Further Adventures of Captain Edward Cuttle, Mariner,

and Paul's Education are chapter titles

in which novel by Charles Dickens?

Tale Of Two Cities?

Anyone like to buzz from Robinson?

Bleak House?

No, it's Dombey And Son.

Ten points for this. Its name derived from an old

Dutch diminutive of the word "fourth,"

what traditional measure of cask beer is the equivalent

of a quarter of a barrel, or 72 pints?

Keg?

No, anyone like to buzz from Wadham?

-Quart.

-It's a firkin.

Ten points for this.

Which English monarch first authorised The Book of Common Prayer

in the Church of England?

James I of England.

No, you lose five points.

He became king at the age of nine on the death of his father

and died less than seven years later in 1553.

Come on, Wadham. One of you buzz.

-Henry V?

-No, it was Edward VI.

Ten points for this.

What three-letter abbreviation links the political union

of Egypt and Syria from 1958-61...

UAR.

Correct.

The United Arab Republic.

You get a set of bonuses on oils now.

Referring to the patient who inspired its development,

what name is given to a mixture of oleic and erucic acids?

It's a controversial but now scientifically validated treatment

for the metabolic disorder known as ALD.

Could be that.

That's poisonous.

-Say that.

-Castor oil?

No, it's Lorenzo's Oil.

Occurring in essential oils,

what term denotes a large and diverse class of organic compounds

of two or more units of hydrocarbons,

with each unit consisting of five carbon atoms

arranged in a specific pattern?

You're the one who knows.

Isoprenoids?

Correct.

By what name is the medieval alchemist's oil of vitriol now known?

-Sulphuric acid.

-Correct.

Ten points for this.

Meaning "holy faith", what name links two cities,

one in north-eastern Argentina,

the other founded by Spanish settlers

in the early 17th century in what is now New Mexico?

Sacrafido?

-Santa Fe.

-Santa Fe is right, yes.

Your bonuses this time

are on technology billionaires born since 1975.

Firstly, having dropped out of San Jose University,

which Ukrainian-born entrepreneur began WhatsApp,

now the world's biggest mobile messaging service?

Alexei something.

-Pass.

-It's Jan Koum.

Secondly, founder of the company DJI,

the Chinese-born Frank Wang is the world's first billionaire

to make his fortune from what type of device?

Virtual reality?

-Yeah, virtual reality.

-Virtual reality.

No, it's drones, unmanned aerial vehicles.

Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp founded which transportation network

company in 2009?

Its short name resembles a German preposition.

-Uber.

-Uber is correct.

We're going to take a second picture round.

You're going to see a still from a film adaptation

of a well-known play.

Ten points if you can identify both the actor you see

and the role she's playing.

Blanche Dubois, Vivien Leigh.

Correct.

Robinson, you get a set of picture bonuses showing three more actors

in the role of Blanche Dubois, this time all in stage productions.

Five points for each actor you can identify.

Firstly for five...

That isn't Winona Ryder, is it?

If it's Winona Ryder, she looks very different.

-I've no idea.

-I have no idea.

-I don't know who it is.

-Might as well say it.

Winona Ryder.

No, it's Rachel Weisz.

Secondly...

I've seen her face before.

But I can't remember where from.

It's not...Vanessa Redgrave.

I don't know who it is, I'm sorry.

Could be one of the family.

Go for Joely Richardson?

Joely Richardson.

No, it's Jessica Lange.

Finally, who's this?

Oh, it's Gillian Anderson.

Yeah.

-Gillian Anderson.

-Correct.

Ten points for this.

Answer promptly. To the nearest factor of ten,

what is the ratio of the mass of the Earth to the mass of the moon?

Two.

No.

Eight?

No, it's 80.

Ten points for this. Ezra Pound, Joseph Brodsky,

Sergey Diaghilev and Igor Stravinsky

are all buried in the cemetery of which European city?

-Venice.

-Venice is correct, yes.

These bonuses are on Unesco World Heritage Sites

in south-eastern Europe.

Firstly, the Durmitor National Park and the natural and cultural

historical region of Kotor are the two World Heritage Sites

in which former Yugoslav Republic?

Slovenia?

Was that the one we were talking about the other day?

Anyway...

Just say Slovenia.

-Slovenia.

-No, it's Montenegro.

The World Heritage Sites at Rila in Bulgaria

and Meteora in northern Greece

centre on what specific institutions?

Orthodox church, I don't know.

Franciscans? I don't know.

Pick one of them.

What George Said. Knights Templar.

-Churches?

-No, that's not specific enough.

They're Orthodox monasteries.

Located in the historical region of Epirus Vetus,

Butrint is an archaeological site in which present-day country?

Could be Macedonia.

Could be Macedonia. Go for Macedonia.

-Macedonia?

-No, it's Albania.

Two-and-a-half minutes to go. Secreted by the pituitary gland,

somatotropin is also known by the abbreviation GH.

For what...

-Growth hormone.

-Correct.

These bonuses are on the muscular system in humans.

The internal and external oblique muscles form part of the wall

of what broad part of the body?

-The abdomen.

-Correct.

The masseter, the temporal and the medial and lateral pterygoid muscles

are primarily employed in what action?

-Chewing, mastication.

-Correct.

The biceps femoris,

semitendinosus and semimembranosus muscles are commonly known

by what collective name?

The pectoral muscles?

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

The Prime Minister of which G20 member state

has an official residence at 24 Sussex Drive?

-Canada.

-Correct.

You get a set of bonuses now on the 1918 general election.

The general election of December 1918 was the first

at which all men over the age of 21 had the right to vote.

How old did women have to be?

30.

It was 30 originally and then 25.

What were you going to say?

Come on.

-30.

-Correct.

Which prominent suffragette stood as the women's party candidate

in Smethwick? She lost to Labour by only 778 votes.

One of them... Is it Christabel?

I feel like it might be Christabel Pankhurst.

It's not Emmeline.

Christabel Pankhurst?

Correct. Constance Markievicz became the first woman to be elected

to Parliament, but did not take her seat because she was

a member of which party?

Sinn Fein.

-Sinn Fein.

-Sinn Fein is correct. Ten points for this.

Littlewit, Grace Wellborn, Morose and Dull Common

are all characters in plays by which dramatist?

-Harold Pinter?

-No.

Anyone like to buzz from Robinson?

Thomas Hardy.

No, it's Ben Jonson. Ten points for this.

With the atomic number 28,

which ferromagnetic element is often alloyed with copper...

-Chromium.

-No, that is an incorrect interruption.

You lose five points.

..in the manufacture of coinage?

-Nickel.

-Nickel is correct,

so you get the points... GONG ..and at the gong,

Wadham College, Oxford have 95 and Robinson College Cambridge have 155.

Bad luck, Wadham. I don't think you'll be coming back.

I don't think that will be one of the highest scoring losing teams.

Congratulations to you, Robinson. Well done, 155.

We look forward to seeing you in round two.

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

but until then, it's goodbye from Wadham College, Oxford.

-Goodbye.

-It's goodbye from Robinson College, Cambridge.

-Goodbye.

-And it's goodbye from me.

Goodbye.