Episode 19 University Challenge

APPLAUSE

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello.

Two Cambridge colleges, Emmanuel and St John's,

have already gone through to the quarterfinals of this competition.

Six places remain to be taken,

and one of them will go to tonight's winners.

For the losers though, it's curtains.

The University of Warwick had something of a walkover

in their first-round match against the team from York University,

winning by 240 points to 80.

In a fixture that gave them ample opportunity to shine on

the events of 1817, US presidential elections and Robert Baden Powell.

We'll see if tonight's match can give them some stiffer competition.

With an average age of 24, let's meet the Warwick team again.

Hi, I'm Flora Jackson, I'm originally from York,

and I'm studying English with creative writing.

Hello, I'm Daniel Arribas, I'm from Madrid, and I'm studying maths.

This is their captain.

Hi, I'm Ben Salter, I'm originally from Wiveliscombe in Somerset,

and I'm reading mathematics.

Hello, I'm Charlotte Symons, I'm from the Welsh Borders area,

and I'm studying for an MA in writing.

APPLAUSE

Now, the team from Ulster University lost their first-round match

against the University of Edinburgh, but only by a five-point margin,

and survived as one of the highest-scoring losing teams,

and then beat St Anne's College Oxford in their play-off

by a margin of 175-90.

They were impressive on Polish composers, the Suez Canal

and the erotic conceits of John Donne. Let's meet them again.

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

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

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

and I study fine art.

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, my name's Matthew Milliken, I'm from Comber in County Down,

and I'm doing a PhD in education.

APPLAUSE

The rules, as you know, never change,

so fingers on the buzzers, here's your first starter for ten.

The Story Of The Malakand Field Force and The River War -

An Historical Account Of The Reconquest Of The Soudan,

were early published works by which major figure of the 20th century?

In 1953, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature...

-Winston Churchill.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

The first set of bonuses are on a French region, Ulster.

The composer Joseph Canteloube is most closely associated with

which historical region of France through his collections

of folk songs published between 1923 and 1954?

Its cities include Vichy and Claremont-Ferrand.

-Auvergne.

-Correct.

The Auvergne is named after the Arverni tribe.

Which leader of the Arverni was defeated by Julius Caesar

at Alesia in 52 BC?

-No idea.

-Asterix!

No idea.

Erm...

I'm sorry, we've no idea.

That's Vercingetorix.

And finally, the majority of the Auvergne region lies on which large,

upland plateau, which includes the Dore and Forez mountain ranges?

Isn't the Massif Central in France?

-Nominate Ritchie.

-Massif Central?

Correct.

Right, another starter question -

what eight-letter word is thought

to derive from the Arabic for hashish eater?

-Assassin.

-Assassin is correct.

APPLAUSE

You get a set of bonuses this time, Ulster, on monkeys.

Firstly, for five points -

what is the common name of Nasalis larvatus,

a Borneo monkey that has the largest nose by far of any primate?

Proboscis monkey.

-Proboscis.

-Correct.

Living in the Shimokita Peninsula in Japan,

the northernmost population of nonhuman primates belongs to

which large genus of old-world monkey?

What are the ones that live in Japan?

-Macaque?

-I think you're right.

-Macaque.

-Correct.

Mantled and Venezuelan red are species of which monkeys

in the genus Alouatta?

They have greatly enlarged lower jaws that help make them

one of the noisiest of all primates.

Howler?

-Howler monkeys.

-Correct.

Ten points for this - of the space missions

that have had a close encounter with Jupiter,

only two have gone into orbit around the planet.

Name either?

-Juno.

-Correct. Yes.

APPLAUSE The other one was Galileo.

Well done.

OK, Warwick, your first set of bonuses are on

the first sentences of well-known works of thought.

In each case, identify the work and its author or co-authors.

Firstly, from a work of 1936, "The traditional disputes of philosophers

"are, for the most part, as unwarranted as they are unfruitful."

'36, what would this be?

It sounds like Wittgenstein...

I'll give you Wittgenstein.

-Philosophical Investigations, maybe.

-Or Tractatus...?

No, it's not Tractatus.

Philosophical Investigations?

No, it's Language, Truth And Logic by AJ Ayer.

Secondly, from a work of 1762,

"Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains."

-The Social Contract.

-Who's it by?

-Rousseau.

Correct.

Finally, the co-authors and title of the work of 1848 which begins,

"A spectre is haunting Europe."

-The Communist Manifesto, by Marx and Engels.

-Correct.

Another starter question - the name of which light shoe originates

from the resemblance of the side of its sole to a ship's load line...

-Plimsoll.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on colours listed on Wikipedia.

In each case, name the colour from the description.

All three begin with the same letter.

Firstly, a shade of pale, greyish-green,

often used to refer to Chinese pottery.

It takes its name from a character in a French pastoral novel

of the early 17th century.

Pastoral novel, colours?

Pale green/grey...

Sage? No?

Sage...

Shall I try that?

Chinese pottery, jade?

No, no, that's not it.

Try sage.

Sage.

No, it's celadon.

Secondly, a bright shade of orange red.

It's name is the French for a species of poppy.

C... Cerise.

Cerise.

No, it's coquelicot.

And finally, a shade of mid-blue, named after a wildflower.

In France, this flower plays a similar role to the

poppy as a symbol of remembrance.

Cornflower, is it?

What letter does it begin with?

-Cornflower.

-Coinflower?

-Cornflower.

-Cornflower.

-Cornflower is correct.

We're going to take a picture round now.

For your picture starter,

you'll see the court of arms of a European capital city.

Ten points if you can name the city?

Berlin.

Berlin is right.

APPLAUSE

The phonetic similarity between Berlin and the German word for bear

makes that coat of arms an example of canting arms, where the

images presented make a reference to or pun on the city's name.

Your picture bonuses are three more examples of canting arms

from German state capitals.

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

-What's the word for horse in German?

-Pferd.

So, what city?

Stuttgart, Leipzig...

-Come on.

-Frankfurt, go for Frankfurt.

Frankfurt.

No, it's Stuttgart, it's related to Stute, the German for mare.

Secondly...

-Tor...

-Castle, tower...

Gate?

Potsdam?

Shall I try? Potsdam?

No, it's Magdeburg.

Magde being German for maiden and Burg, of course, meaning castle.

Finally...

-It's a monk. What's the word for monk?

-A monk or friar?

Is that Munich? No?

-What's the word for monk?

-Monch.

-Munich?

-Munich is correct, well done.

Ten points for this - Hongwu was the first emperor

of which Chinese dynasty?

Born a poor peasant, he entered a monastery to avoid starvation

during a famine, and later rose to prominence in a rebel army.

He established his capital at Nanjing

and overthrew the Mongol Yuan Dynasty.

-Ming.

-Ming is correct.

APPLAUSE

Right, your bonuses this time, Warwick, are on the tenth-century

Latin document known as the Annales Cambriae, or Annals Of Wales.

A record of the year AD 570 in the Annals marks the death

of which monk, the author of The Overthrow And Conquest Of Britain?

-SALTER MAKES A MUMBLED SUGGESTION

-No, no.

I've absolutely no idea, so...

-Gildas.

-Gildas?

-He was a monk.

-All right.

-Gildas?

-Correct.

Gildas describes which battle of the early sixth century as having

given the Britons some respite against the invading Anglo-Saxons?

Usually known by a five-letter name, its site is unknown.

Erm...

-Pardon?

-Something Arthurian, probably.

-OK, so not Camlann then...

-Could be, if that's five letters.

It's not five letters. That's, like, seven.

I've got absolutely no idea.

What's a nice five-letter word?

Bulge.

Bulge, yeah, let's go with that.

-Bulge.

-No, it's Badon Hill.

-Oh!

And finally, whom does the Annals mention as a leading figure

at Badon and at the Battle of Camlann, some 20 years later?

-Gildas makes no mention of him.

-That's got to be Arthur.

-Surely Arthur.

-Arthur?

-Arthur is correct.

Ten points for this - this Swiss chemist

and physician Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim

is more commonly known by...

Paracelsus.

Paracelsus is correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on physics. In each case, give the optical term defined.

All three answers are French words or names.

Firstly, what six-letter word denotes a device formed of

two parallel reflectors, which, by the effects of interference,

will allow only a narrow range of wavelengths to pass through?

Oh, it's from a French word, so it's not a polariser.

Mmm.

Polariseur?

Je ne sais pas.

I don't know, no idea.

A polariser.

No, it's an etalon.

Secondly, for five points, a seven-letter term that may

precede grating or spectrograph,

indicating respectively a diffraction grating with

widely spaced lines and a device based on such a grating?

-Do we know?

-I've absolutely no idea.

Just pass?

Pass.

-It's echelle, or echelon.

-OK.

And finally, a type of lens formed of annular steps,

named after its inventor, a French physicist, born 1788?

-Fresnel?

-Correct.

Ten points for this - what is the common name

for the Echinoids of the Echinoidea phylum?

Characterised by tubed feet...

-Starfish?

-No, you lose five points.

..and a mouth structure called Aristotle's lantern?

Their common name comes in part from an old word for a hedgehog.

-Sea urchin.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Right, your bonuses this time are on economics.

Drawing heavily on psychology, which branch of economics forms the

title of a work of 2017 by Michelle Baddeley

and is concerned with understanding human decision-making

more broadly than as a simple, irrational process?

In Principle? I don't know.

-Beyond Thought?

-No, it's Behavioural Economics.

And secondly,

an adviser to the Behavioural Insights Team in Downing Street,

which US academic and theorist the wrote the 2015 book,

Misbehaving - The Making Of Behavioural Economics?

Who's the one that wrote the book...?

I'm thinking of Daniel Kahneman. Try Daniel Kahneman.

-Daniel...?

-Kahneman.

Daniel Kahneman.

No, it's Richard Thaler.

Which 2008 book did Thaler co-author with Cass Sunstein?

It argues that small changes in the choice architecture of society

can lead to significant shifts in behaviour?

Tipping Point.

No, it's Nudge.

Ten points for this - what a word entered the language

in the late 19th century as a translation of the German term

used by Nietzsche in Thus Spoke Zarathustra?

It appears in the title of a 19...

Ubermensch.

No, you lose five points.

..it appears in the title of 1903 stage work by George Bernard Shaw.

Superman.

Superman is correct, which is of course, what you are getting at,

but Ubermensch doesn't appear in the title of the play, of course.

Your bonuses are on astronomy. In each case,

I want the name of one of the 24 stars in the sky with

the greatest apparent magnitude or brightness, Ulster,

after the sun, according to the 20th addition of Norton's Star Atlas.

Which star in the constellation Lyra has the shortest name amongst

these 24 bright stars?

The name has four letters.

-A star with four letters.

-Don't know any.

Pass.

It's Vega.

Which star in Cygnus has the greatest intrinsic luminosity

among the 24 and is at the greatest distance from our solar system?

Try Sirius.

Sirius.

No, it's Deneb.

And finally, there are two red supergiants in the list

with spectral class M.

Name either.

Sirius again.

No, it's Betelgeuse or Antares.

We're going to take a music round now.

For your music starter, you're going to

hear a duet from an opera.

Ten points if you can identify the composer.

GENTLE ARIA

Oh, Offenbach?

Offenbach is correct, of course.

APPLAUSE

That was from his Tales Of Hoffmann, which is

based on three short stories by the romantic author, ETA Hoffmann.

Your music bonuses are three more classical works

inspired by Hoffmann's tales.

I'd like the composer in each case, please.

Firstly, for five, from a ballet...

FLOWING STRINGS

Do we just need the composer? Oh, OK.

Tchaikovsky.

No, that's Delibes, that was the waltz from Coppelia, which is

-based on Hoffmann's The Sandman.

-Whoops!

Secondly, I want the composer of this work, please.

STRIDENT PIANO SOLO

I don't think it is, but I've got nothing better.

Dvorak?

Would it be, though?

Chopin didn't really do programmatic pieces.

There are Dvorak piano pieces.

I could believe Liszt or I could believe...

-Do you want to go Chopin?

-It could be Debussy.

Liszt?

No, that's by Schumann, that was part of his Kreisleriana,

inspired by Hoffmann's character Johannes Kreisler.

And finally...

LIVELY, UNISON STRINGS

Tchaikovsky.

Indeed, that was a bit of the Nutcracker.

Right, ten points for this - answer promptly -

counting antiparticles and different colour charges

and flavours as distinct particles, how many types of quark...

12.

No. And you lose five points.

..exist in the standard model of particle physics?

Four.

No, it's 36.

Another starter question now.

The light brown cane sugar Demerara is named after a

historical region in which present-day South American country?

It was called land of water by indigenous peoples,

and is the only English-speaking country...

Guyana.

Guyana is right.

APPLAUSE

Right, Warwick, your bonuses are on women born in 1917.

In each case, name the person from the description.

Firstly, the chair of the board of the Washington Post

from 1973 to 1991, during which time the paper did much to uncover

the Watergate scandal?

I've no idea.

-You know, Daniel?

-No.

Smith.

That was Katharine Graham.

Secondly, a literary figure born in 1917, her works include

The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter and The Ballad Of The Sad Cafe.

-Carson McCullers.

-Correct.

And finally, an exponent of the scat style of jazz singing,

born in Virginia, with Louis Armstrong

she produced a notable duet version of Porgy And Bess.

-Ella Fitzgerald.

-Correct.

Ten points for this -

by Greenwich Mean Time,

the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere has, in every year

since 2008, fallen on what date?

It'll switch to the preceding day in the calendar in 2044.

28th October.

Anyone like to buzz...?

21st of September.

No, it's the 20th of March.

Right, ten points for this -

a 1960 news report about two Portuguese students

sent to prison for seven years for raising glasses in a toast

to freedom spurred the barrister Peter Benenson

to found which human rights organisation?

-Amnesty International.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

You get a set of bonuses on

the autobiographies of rock stars, Ulster.

Subtitled Volume One,

what was the title of the memoir published by Bob Dylan in 2004?

Don't Look Back?

I mean, that was the film, but it might be the book as well?

Don't Look Back?

No, it's Chronicles.

What three-word title is shared by Bruce Springsteen's

third studio album and his 2016 autobiography?

Born To Run.

-Born To Run.

-Correct.

The Dirt - Confessions Of The World's Most Notorious Rock Band,

recounts 20 years of rather wearisome behaviour

of Tommy Lee, Nikki Sixx and other members of which group?

Motley Crue.

-Motley Crue.

-Correct.

Ten points for this -

what three-letter abbreviation links a common name for Scandium, yttrium

and the lanthanide elements with a phase of sleep characterised by...

-REM.

-Correct.

You get a set of bonuses on place names.

Around 20 miles long,

the Black Isle is a peninsula lying closest to which Scottish city?

-Inverness.

-Correct.

The River Blackwater flows for more than 100 miles

and enters the Atlantic at Youghal in County Cork.

It's often known by name of which historical province

to distinguish it from other rivers of the same name?

WHISPERING

Must be Munster.

-Munster.

-Correct.

And finally, a series of ridges between Abergavenny and Hay-on-Wye,

the Black Mountains lie largely within which National Park?

Brecon Beacons.

-Brecon Beacons.

-Correct.

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

you'll see a painting. Ten points if you can identify the artist.

Rossetti.

No, anyone like to buzz from Warwick?

William Holman Hunt.

No, it's by Raphael.

Right, we're going to take picture bonuses in a moment or two.

Ten points for this starter question -

the alphanumeric designation KV62,

with the letters standing for the Valley of the Kings,

denotes the tomb of which figure of the 14th...?

-Tutankhamen.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

You just saw, a moment ago,

one of Raphael's depictions of St George to slaying the dragon.

For your bonuses, three more paintings of St George,

in each case, I want the name of the artist.

Firstly...

-Chagall.

-OK, you reckon? OK.

Chagall.

No, that's Kandinsky.

Secondly...

It looks medieval.

Or Renaissance, even.

So, Rossetti?

So, Titian?

Titian?

No, that's by Lucas Cranach, Cranach the Elder.

And finally...

That's also not...

Yeah, Rubens, surely?

Oh, you reckon Rubens? I've got one vote for Rubens.

I think it looks a bit Rubens.

Rubens?

It is Peter Paul Rubens, yes.

Ten points for this - on the periodic table,

if boron plus carbon is sodium,

what is nitrogen plus oxygen?

Fluorine?

Anyone like to buzz from Ulster?

-Calcium.

-No, it's phosphorus.

Ten points for this -

Logical Investigations is a major work by which philosopher,

born in Moravia in 1859, he founded the movement known as phenomenology.

-Edmund Husserl.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Right, your bonuses are on microbiology.

What genus of gram-negative bacteria causes cholera?

Do we know?

No. Let's go with...

C elegans.

No, it's Vibrio.

What short, Latin term denotes the hair-like

appendages on bacterial cells by means of which, for example,

Vibrio cholerae is able to colonise the small intestine?

Is it pili?

-Psyllia?

-Isn't it pili?

-I think it's psyllium.

-You reckon?

Pili?

Correct, yes.

And finally, the term Vibrio may also be used generally to

describe a particular shape of bacterium.

What is that shape?

Vibrio, I don't know, like, straight...

Just go with it.

Straight.

-No, they're curved rod.

-Oh, OK.

OK, Four minutes to go, ten points for this -

what four-letter name links the highest mountain of Switzerland

with a civil rights activist, born in Alabama in 1913?

-Rosa.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

You get a set of bonuses on Robert Burns, Warwick.

Born in 1759 in Alloway, Burns' first attempt at poetry is

believed to have been made at the age of 15,

after he'd followed his father into what occupation?

-Carpentry?

-Go for it.

-Carpentry?

No, it was farming.

Secondly, in his 1791 poem, Tam O'Shanter,

based on a folk legend, what nickname is given to the

witch Nannie who chases Tam and rips the tail from his horse?

-Any ideas?

-No idea.

-Charlotte, do you know?

-Any ideas?

If not... Erm...

Mother?

No, it's Cutty-sark.

In 1785, to what animal did Burns dedicate the poem beginning,

-"Wee, sleekit..."

-A mouse.

A mouse is correct.

Ten points for this - the Titan, the resurrection...

-Mahler.

-Mahler is right.

APPLAUSE

If you get these bonuses, you'll take the lead.

They're on China and its neighbours.

In each case, name the country and its capital.

The Araniko Highway runs for more than 100km, from which capital

to the Friendship Bridge at Zhangmu, in the Tibet autonomous region?

Nepal, Kathmandu.

-Nepal, Kathmandu.

-Correct.

Which capital is about 400km north of the Torugart Pass,

which links its country to the China over the Tian Shan Mountains?

-Oh, Tian Shan, erm...

-Tajikistan?

-I'd say Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

-Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek.

-Correct.

And finally, the shortest overland route between Beijing

and Moscow passes through which other national capital?

Kazakhstan, Astana.

Or Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, which do you think?

-I don't know, which one?

-Kazakhstan, Astana.

Kazakhstan and Astana?

No, it was Ulaanbaatar and Mongolia. AUDIENCE GROANS

Ten points for this - answer promptly -

to the nearest degree, at what temperature Celsius

does liquid water achieve its maximum density?

-4.

No...

-Six.

-No, it's four.

Ten points for this - the author of the 2016 book

The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo, which US comedian made her

debut as a screenwriter with the 2015 film, Trainwreck?

Tina Fey?

No, anyone want to buzz from Ulster?

-Amy Schumer?

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

You get the lead and your bonuses are on phobias.

Using a jocular coinage that depends on wordplay rather than Greek

etymology, what would you fear if you suffered from aibohphobia?

That is A-I-B-O-H-P-H-O-B-I-A.

Come on.

Flying, is it? Flying.

No, it's palindromes.

Xanthophobia is a fear of what colour?

-Yellow.

-Yellow.

Correct. What would you fear if you suffered from omphalophobia?

Omphalo is the bellybutton.

Fear of bellybuttons?

Correct, yes!

Ten points for this - in chemistry,

what term denotes the process by which a substance absorbs

moisture from the atmosphere until it dissolves and forms a solution?

-Deliquescence.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on theatre.

First staged in 1958 in a production directed by John Gielgud,

Five Finger Exercise is an early work by which British playwright?

-Five Finger Exercise...

-Come on.

-John Osborne?

-John Osborne.

-No, it's Peter Shaffer.

Which 1964 play by Peter Shaffer portrays the conflict

between the Spanish and the Inca in the early 16th century?

-Empire Of The Sun?

-Let's have it.

-Empire Of The Sun.

-No, it's The Royal Hunt Of The Sun.

GONG

And at the gong, Warwick have 140, but Ulster have 170.

APPLAUSE

Well, you very nearly did it, Warwick, very, very nearly indeed.

You had some terrific interventions,

but we're going to have to say goodbye to you, I'm afraid.

Ulster, congratulations, you storm onto the next stage

of the competition, we shall look forward to seeing you then.

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

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

-Goodbye.

-..it's goodbye from Ulster University...

-Goodbye.

..and it's goodbye from me, goodbye.

APPLAUSE