Episode 15 University Challenge

-APPLAUSE

-University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello, 28 teams entered this contest and 12 have already made their exit.

Only two places remain in the second round

and playing for those are four institutions

who lost their first round matches, but did so with scores

that were close to, or even exceeding,

the winning totals in other fixtures.

They all know that teams who've survived

by this apparent act of clemency in the past

have gone on to be series champions.

So, they've got to everything to play for.

Now, the team from the University of Ulster

lost to Edinburgh University in their first round match,

despite being in the lead for the first 10 minutes

and on level pegging for much of the remainder.

They did well in diverse areas such as the music of Howard Goodall,

the Nobel Peace Prize, and mountain peaks.

They also picked up a highly commended

in the Yul Brynner look-alikes stakes and were on 160 at the gong,

losing by a mere five points.

With an average age of a sprightly 50,

let's meet the Ulster team again.

Hello, I'm Cal McDaid from Buncrana in County Donegal

and I'm studying for a Masters in English literature.

Hi, I'm Kate Ritchie from the Waringstown, County Armagh,

and I'm studying fine art.

-And this is their captain.

-Hi, I'm Iain Jack.

I'm originally from Peterhead in Aberdeenshire

and I'm reading for a PhD in pharmacy.

Hi, I'm Matthew Milliken, I'm from Comber in County Down

and I'm studying for a PhD in education.

Their opponents from St Anne's College, Oxford

lost to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge,

despite it being a pretty close match up to the halfway stage,

when they allowed Corpus to run riot with the buzzer.

They still managed to chip in with what they knew about

sustainable development, the Meiji Restoration and electronegativity,

and were on 135 points at the gong.

The team have an average age of 22,

which you don't need a degree in mathematics to work out

is less than half that of their opponents.

Let's meet them again.

Hi, I'm Ramani Chandramohan.

I'm from Canterbury in Kent and I'm reading classics and French.

My name's Cameron, I'm from Fleet in Hampshire and I read chemistry.

Their captain.

Hi, I'm Kanta Dihal, I'm from Eindhoven in the Netherlands,

and I'm reading for a DPhil in literature.

Hi, I'm Andrew,

from Northampton I'm reading for a Masters in earth sciences.

OK, you can doubtless all recite the rules in your sleep,

so fingers on the buzzers. Here's the first starter for ten.

A necklace, a monkey, curly hair, cropped hair

and the portrait of Dr Farill

all feature in self portraits by which...?

-Frida Kahlo.

-Correct.

You get a set of bonuses on Japanese innovations.

Firstly for five points, known by a three-letter abbreviation

and as E621, what food additive was created in 1908

by the Japanese biochemist Kikunae Ikeda?

-Japanese foods, anybody?

-Three letters.

-Soy or something like that.

-Soy?

No, it's monosodium glutamate.

In 1969, Daisuke Inoue was an almost penniless drummer

when he invented the Juke 8,

the prototype for a device now known by what name?

Drum machine?

-Nominate Milliken.

-Drum machine.

No, it's a karaoke machine.

And finally, working on i-mode, the world's first major mobile

internet platform, what did Shigetaka Kurita invent

when he created a set of 176 characters,

each of 12 pixels by 12?

Emojis?

Try that. Emojis.

Emojis is correct, yes.

10 points for this. According to one version

of a 17th-century rhyme,

what thick, woollen fabric came into England all in one year?

Along with hops, heresies and beer.

The fabric is often dyed green and used to cover the tops of snooker...

Baize.

Baize is correct, yes.

These bonuses are on stars, Ulster.

In astronomy, what adjective is used to describe stars

whose brightness, as observed from Earth, appears to change

over relatively short periods of time?

Blinking, or something like that. Yeah.

Blinking.

No, it's variable stars.

Which star system in the constellation Perseus

is an example of an eclipsing binary,

a pair of stars whose apparent brightness varies

as they orbit their mutual centre of gravity?

It shares its name with a computer programming language.

Computer programming language?

-DOS.

-No, it's Algol.

And finally, Polaris is an example of a star in what broad category

of variable stars, named after the constellation

in which the first known example was observed by John Goodricke in 1784?

No idea.

Pole Star.

No, they're Cepheid variables.

10 points for this.

What is the four-letter title

of the US author and academic Charles Seife's non-fiction work

subtitled The Biography Of A Dangerous Idea?

Depending on the precise definition,

the mathematical concept in question is variously held to...

-Zero.

-Zero is right.

These bonuses are on Scottish artists, St Anne's.

Which Glasgow-born artist won the Turner Prize in 2010

for her work Lowlands?

It was the first time the award had been given to a sound installation.

No idea, don't know.

-Kate McDonald?

-No, it was Susan Philipsz.

Secondly, the Scottish National Gallery Of Modern Art

houses a reconstruction of the studio of which Scottish artist

of Italian descent, who donated a substantial collection

to the gallery before his death in 2005?

His larger sculptures include Vulcan and Osaka Steel.

No, I was going to say Rennie Mackintosh,

but I don't think so.

Mackintosh?

No, it's Eduardo Paolozzi.

And finally, Ken Currie's works include Three Oncologists,

on display in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery,

and a 2008 portrait of which theoretical physicist,

Nobel Laureate and Emeritus Professor

of the University of Edinburgh?

-It could be Pauling.

-Sorry?

-Linus Pauling.

-He wasn't there.

Yeah, he's a physicist.

Linus Pauling.

No, it's Peter Higgs of the Higgs boson.

10 points for this.

In physiology, which chemical is released

into the neuromuscular junction when a nerve impulse

reaches the end of a motor neuron?

It's responsible...

A neurotransmitter.

No, you lose five points.

It's responsible for muscle contraction,

blood vessel dilation and slowing down the heart rate.

-Acetylcholine.

-Correct.

These bonuses are on composers, Ulster.

Which composer's works include four pieces for solo piano,

written between 1831-42, to which he gave the title Ballade?

-Debussy?

-It's a bit early for Debussy.

-Erm, is it Chopin?

-Try that.

-Chopin.

-Correct.

His works including the 1901 opera Manru, which composer

and politician represented Poland as Prime Minister

and Minister of Foreign Affairs at the Paris Peace Conference

following the First World War?

-Paderewski.

-Correct.

Born 1933, which Polish composer is particularly noted

for his Third Symphony, known as the Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs?

-Gorecki.

-Correct.

We're going to take a picture round now.

For your picture starter,

you're going to see the floor plan of a historic building in London.

10 points if you can give me the name of the building.

St Pauls?

It is St Pauls Cathedral, yes.

OK, Ulster, your picture bonuses are three more floor plans

of public buildings in London.

Again for five points, in each case, simply give me

the name of the building. Firstly...

The Tate, the new bit? The Tate Modern.

The Tate Modern.

No, that's the National Gallery. Secondly...

That could be the Tate Modern. That's the engine room.

-That's the Tate Modern.

-You think so?

-The Tate Modern.

-Correct.

And finally...

-Any ideas for this one, people?

-That's Buckingham Palace, isn't it?

I don't know.

-Buckingham Palace.

-You sure?

Could be, try it.

Buckingham Palace.

No, that's the British library.

So, 10 points at stake for this.

What seven-letter name links the first British translator

of Virgil's Aeneid, a Scottish botanist after whom...?

Dryden.

No, I'm afraid you lose five points.

A Scottish botanist after whom a coniferous evergreen is named,

and the actors whose screen roles include Spartacus and Gordon Gekko.

-Douglas.

-Correct.

These bonuses are on modern feminism, Ulster.

Founder of the Everyday Sexism Project,

who is the author of the 2016 book Girl Up,

which concerns such issues

as false representation of women in the media?

-Caitlin Moran.

-Try her anyway.

-Caitlin Moran.

-No, it's Laura Bates.

Secondly, the US author Rebecca Solnit is linked

to which neologism, meaning to explain without regard to the fact

that the explainee may know more than the explainer?

Mansplain.

-Mansplain.

-Mansplaining is correct.

In 2015, the Swedish Women's Lobby and the publisher Albert Bonnier

announced their plan to give every 16-year-old in Sweden

a copy of which Nigerian author's book,

We Should All Be Feminists?

Chimamanda...Ngozi...

-Nominate Ritchie.

-No!

-LAUGHTER

Chimamanda Ngozi...Achebe.

-No, it's Adichie.

-Adichie!

I can't give you the points. 10 points for this.

Matthew Arnold in his 1869 work

Culture And Anarchy designated the aristocracy as the Barbarians,

and gave the middle-class what name,

after a non-Semitic people of Ancient Palestine,

who were the enemies of Samson?

-The Philistines.

-Correct.

You get three bonuses on an art critic.

Whom did John McNeill Whistler sue for libel

after an attack on his 1875 painting Nocturne In Black And Gold -

The Falling Rocket, in which he was accused of flinging

a pot of paint in the public's face?

Roger Fry, I think. Roger Fry or...

-Roger Fry, I think.

-Roger Fry.

No, it was John Ruskin.

After reading Ruskin's critique of capitalism

entitled Unto This Last, which Indian lawyer was prompted to set up

an idealistic farming community at Phoenix, near Durban?

-Was it Gandhi?

-Gandhi?

-Gandhi.

-It was Gandhi, yes.

An admirer of Ruskin, which French novelist published translations

of The Bible Of Amiens and Sesame And Lilies

between 1904 and 1906?

French author, early 20th-century.

-Proust, don't know.

-Proust.

-Proust.

-Proust is correct.

10 points for this.

Answer as soon as your name is called.

What number results from subtracting the number of moons

in the inner solar system

from the number of planets in the inner solar system?

-One.

-Correct.

Three from four,

and you get a set of bonuses on the fauna of New Zealand.

Which order of mammals comprises

the only non-marine mammals native to New Zealand?

You can give the scientific or the common English name.

The non-marine mammals...

-Mammals?

-Try monotremes.

Monotremes.

No, it's bats.

Secondly, resembling a large lizard, which is the only surviving reptile

of the Rhynchocephalia, or "beak head" order?

Once widespread on several islands of New Zealand,

it's noted for its low metabolic rate and tolerance of cold.

-Some kind of chameleon, iguana?

-Yeah, don't know.

Any idea? Iguana.

No, it's tuatara.

And finally, once native to New Zealand but now extinct,

large flightless birds of the order Dinornithiformes,

are known by what collective name?

-Kiwis.

-Kiwis.

No, they're moas. 10 points for this.

Now meaning out of control with anger or excitement,

what term is thought to derive from the Old Norse for...?

-Berserk.

-Berserk is right.

These bonuses are on Roman history, Ulster.

Against which city state did Rome fight the three Punic Wars

in the Third and Second Centuries BC?

-I think it was Carthage.

-Carthage.

Correct.

During the second Punic War in 217 BC, Hannibal's Carthaginian Army

won a significant ambush victory over the Romans in a battle

fought on the shores of which lake in Umbria, not far from Perugia?

-A lake in Perugia...

-Como?

-That's a bit further north.

-Maggiore?

No, I didn't think it's right.

-But don't know any others.

-No?

-Go for it.

Maggiore.

No, it's Lake Trasimene.

And finally, which Roman general led the army

that won the decisive battle of the Second Punic War

at Zama in North Africa in 202 BC?

-202 BC...

-Might be Marcus Crassus?

-I don't really know.

-So, generals?

It's too early for Pompey.

-Go ahead.

-Marcus Crassus.

No, it's Scipio.

Plenty of time yet to get going, St Anne's.

We're going to take a music round now.

For your music starter, you're going to hear a piece of popular music.

For 10 points, please give me the name of the composer.

BOSSA NOVA PLAYS

-Quincy Jones.

-Quincy Jones is correct, yes.

It was Quincy Jones's Soul Bossa Nova,

later used by Mike Myers as the opening theme music

for the Austin Powers trilogy.

Your music bonuses are three more pre-existing compositions

later used as the opening title music for a film.

Firstly for five, name this artist and the 1996 film

in which this track appeared in the opening sequence.

ROCK MUSIC PLAYS

Trainspotting, Iggy Pop.

-# Here comes Johnny... #

-Trainspotting, Iggy Pop.

Correct.

Secondly, name this artist and the film released in 2003.

# I was five and he was six

# We rode on horses made of sticks...

I don't know the film. But it's Nancy Sinatra.

# He wore a black and I wore white

-Atonement? I don't know.

-# He would always win the fight

-Don't know the film

-# Bang, bang... #

Nancy Sinatra and Atonement?

No, it was Nancy Sinatra, it's Kill Bill, Volume 1.

And finally, give me the original composer of this work

and the film released in the UK in 1972,

in which an adapted version of this music appeared?

FUNERAL MARCH PLAYS

Some kind of historical drama...

-No idea.

-Gladiator?

-Any idea?

Pass.

That's Henry Purcell, and A Clockwork Orange.

So, 10 points at stake for this, fingers on the buzzers, please.

Lake Manzala, Lake Timsah, the Great Bitter Lake

and the Little Bitter Lake form part of which waterway

constructed between 1859 and 1869?

It's a nationalisation in 1956...

-The Suez Canal.

-Correct.

Three questions for you, Ulster, now, linked by a present participle.

An accusation of witchcraft made against a character

named Jennet Jourdemayne is the focus of the plot

of which play by Christopher Fry set in the 15th century?

-Any Christopher Fry plays?

-No, don't know.

-Sorry, pass.

It's The Lady's Not For Burning.

Secondly, referring to the sound of the French captain

Louis de Casabianca, which seven-word phrase

forms the first line of a poem by Felicia Hemans,

inspired by an incident

that occurred in the Battle of the Nile in 1798?

That's... Nelson lost an arm.

Go ahead.

"Nelson has lost his left arm."

No. LAUGHTER

"The boy stood on the burning deck." 10 points for that.

Who wrote the music to lyrics by Lena Guilbert Ford

for the 1914 song that includes the line "keep the home fires burning"?

-One of the famous ones, is it?

-No.

It's a popular beat combo, you would know!

1914.

Sorry, we've no idea!

That was Ivor Novello. 10 points for this.

In 1889, international prototypes of both the metre and the kilogram

were made of an alloy primarily consisting of what metallic element?

-Platinum.

-Correct.

Your bonuses are on the Nobel laureate Tawakkol Karman.

Tawakkol Karman received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011

for her role in organising pro-democracy protests

-in which country?

-Liberia.

-Liberia.

-No, it's Yemen.

Karman was the second Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace prize.

Who was the first in 2003?

Aung San Suu Kyi.

-Is she a Muslim?

-No.

Could be.

-Aung San Suu Kyi.

-It was Shirin Ebadi.

Karman shared the prize with Leymah Gbowee,

and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,

both of whom have promoted peace in which country?

It's Liberia.

-Liberia.

-Liberia.

Liberia is correct,

10 points for this. According to Hinduism,

the twins Luv and Kush were the sons of which king,

whose homecoming after defeating the Demon King Ravan...?

-Rama.

-Correct.

You get a set of bonuses on the provinces of the Netherlands,

all three answers end in the same four letters.

How convenient to have a Dutch person on the team! LAUGHTER

Which province lies around the deltas

of the Scheldt and Maas rivers?

Its major towns include Middelburg and Vlissingen.

-Zeeland.

-Zeeland is correct.

Lelystad is the capital of...?

-Flevoland.

-LAUGHTER

Correct.

Finally, which province lies to the west of Flevoland?

Its main city is Amsterdam.

-Nordholland.

-Correct.

Right, 10 points for this.

Name any of the three years in which William Jennings Bryan

stood as the Democratic Party candidate

for President of the United States?

He lost twice, to William McKinley and once to William Howard Taft.

1900.

1900 was one of them, yes. 1896 and 1908 were the others.

So, you get a set of bonuses this time, Ulster, on a US philosopher.

Having a reputation as an anti-philosopher's philosopher,

who wrote the 1979 work Philosophy And The Mirror Of Nature?

-Rosvold?

-INDISTINCT SPEECH

-I've no idea.

-Theroux.

-Theroux.

-No, it was Richard Rorty.

Rorty is said to have sought a pragmatist synthesis

of historicism and naturalism,

based on the achievements of Dewey, Darwin

and which German philosopher born in 1770?

-Hegel.

-Hegel is correct.

Rorty is noted for his studies of French philosophers

such as Foucault, Lyotard and which other poststructuralist,

born in Algiers in 1930?

-Camus? Camus!

-Oh, yeah.

-Camus, I'll go Camus.

-Camus.

No, it's Derrida.

We're going to take a second picture round now.

For your picture starter, you'll see a photograph of a scientist.

10 points if you can name him.

Higgs.

No, anyone like to buzz from St Anne's?

Keeling.

No, that is Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

10 points at stake then for this starter question,

picture bonuses when someone gets it.

What eponymous SI-derived unit is equivalent to one joule

per cubic metre, or about 10 to the minus-5 bar?

Kelvin.

-Anyone like to buzz?

-Pascal.

Pascal is correct.

So, you recall a moment ago you saw a picture

which you failed to identify of Tim Berners-Lee.

He became one of the first recipients of the modern incarnation

of the Bodley Medal,

given by the Bodleian Library to people who've made outstanding

contributions to the world of communications and literature.

Your picture bonuses are three more people thus honoured.

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

Hilary Mantel.

Correct. Secondly...

-Steve Wozniak.

-Steve Wozniak?

No, that's Oliver Sacks. And finally...

-Dame Maggie Smith.

-Correct.

10 points for this. In zoology,

the order Siphonaptera

comprises which wingless parasitic insect?

Their name appears as a conceit

in an erotic metaphysical poem by John Donne.

Mayfly.

No, Ulster, one of you buzz.

-Flea.

-The flea is correct, yes.

You get a set of bonuses on physics.

Also known as a light quantum, which elementary particle

may be described as a minute energy packet of electromagnetic radiation?

-Photon...

-Photon.

Correct.

Which German-born scientist's explanation

of the photoelectric effect in 1905

is generally cited as being the origin of the photon concept?

Germans! Come on.

-No idea.

-No. I should, but I don't.

-Haynes.

-No, it was Einstein.

And finally, what fundamental constant may be expressed

as the ratio of the energy of a photon to its frequency?

It is named after a German physicist born in 1858.

Germans, 1850s...

Come on, let's have it, please.

I'm sorry, we don't know.

It's the Planck constant.

There's about two one half minutes to go and 10 points for this.

"Enter a messenger with two heads and a hand"

is a stage direction in which of Shakespeare's tragedies?

It gives its name to a New Jersey band whose 2008 debut album

was The Airing Of Grievances.

Troilus and Cressida.

Good heavens, no!

Coriolanus.

No, it's Titus Andronicus. 10 points for this.

In statistics, what four-letter term refers to

a distribution that is asymmetrical about the mean?

-Skew.

-Skew is correct, yes.

These bonuses are on Hong Kong cinema.

Firstly for five points,

which Hong Kong director has explored the theme of doomed romance

in films such as Chungking Express and In The Mood For Love?

-Pass.

-It's Wong Kar-wai.

Secondly, the first three films in the Once Upon A Time In China series

starred which a martial artist as the folk hero Wong Fei Hung?

-Jackie Chan.

-Jackie Chan.

No, it was Jet Li.

And finally, which Hong Kong film-maker directed the action films

The Killer and Hard Boiled before going to Hollywood,

where he made Face/Off?

Pass.

That's John Woo. 10 points for this.

Beldi, Manzanilla, Nicoise and Kalamata

are among varieties of which fruit?

Olive.

Olive is correct, here are your bonuses.

They're on a disease.

Named after the doctor who developed it,

the Mantoux test is used to indicate the presence of which disease?

-Come on.

-Gangrene.

-Gangrene.

No, its tuberculosis.

So-called because of the resemblance of cultures grown

in controlled conditions to many types of fungi,

the tuberculosis species belongs to which genus of bacteria?

Erm, fungiform.

No, they're mycobacteria.

The BCG Bacillus used as a vaccine against tuberculosis

is named after two French bacteriologists.

-Can you name either?

-Pasteur.

-BCG...

-Nominate Chandramohan.

-Pasteur.

No, it's Calmette and Guerin.

10 points for this.

After 1815, which city state

was the only part of Poland to have political independence?

In 1846...

Danzig.

No, you lose five points.

Anyone like to buzz from Ulster?

I'll give you the rest, in 1846, it was occupied by Austria

and attached to Galicia.

-Krakow?

-Krakow is correct, yes.

GONG

And at the gong, St Anne's College, Oxford have 90,

the University of Ulster have 175.

Well, you started coming back a bit towards the end there,

St Anne's, but you were really comprehensively outplayed.

But thank you very much for joining us.

And Ulster, we shall look forward to seeing you

in the next stage of the competition.

Many congratulations to you. I hope you can join us next time

for the second highest-scoring losers match, but until then,

it's goodbye from St Anne's College, Oxford.

-Goodbye.

-It's goodbye from Ulster University.

-Goodbye.

And it's goodbye from me, goodbye.