Episode 22 University Challenge

APPLAUSE

University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. Boris Johnson once thought he'd insulted me

by calling me a swot.

But it's a rather treasured accolade for the two teams

competing in this second round match for a place in the quarterfinals.

Only one of them will go through -

for the losers, it'll be the final good night.

Now, the last time we saw them, the team from Newcastle University

put themselves on -5 with the first question.

But when they remembered that the object of the exercise

is to try to get things right,

they took the lead and managed to keep it throughout the entire match.

At the gong, they were ahead of their opponents,

Sheffield Hallam University, by a margin of 170 to a mere 40.

With an average age of 29, let's meet the Newcastle team again.

Hi, my name is Jack Reynard, I'm from Leeds

and I'm studying medicine.

My name is Molly Nielsen.

I'm from London and I'm studying medicine.

And here's their captain.

Hi, I'm Jonathan from Newcastle upon Tyne, studying for a PGCE.

Hello, my name is Adam Lowery.

I'm from Sunderland and I'm reading chemistry.

APPLAUSE

Playing against them, the team from the University of Southampton,

who prevented Cardiff University from getting much of a look-in

during their first round match, finally seeing them off by 280-40,

making them the second highest-scoring team

at that stage of the competition.

With an average age of 20, let's meet the Southampton team again.

Hi, my name is Juan-Paulo Ledesma, I grew up in Hampshire,

I'm originally from the Philippines and I'm studying medicine.

Hi, my name's Andrew Knighton, I'm from Fareham in Hampshire

and I'm also studying medicine.

And this is their captain.

Hello, I'm Lorna Frankel, I'm from Wiltshire

and I'm studying natural sciences.

Hello, I'm Niall Jones, I'm from Chalfont St Peter in Buckinghamshire

and I study English.

OK, let's just get on with it.

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

What's being described?

Depicting 49 trees, 55 dogs, 41 ships and boats

and 623 human figures...

-The Bayeux Tapestry.

-Correct.

So you get the first set of bonuses, Newcastle.

They're on the importance of tea.

Firstly for five points, "Under certain circumstances,

"there are few hours in life more agreeable

"than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."

These words begin which novel by Henry James?

It's title figure is Isabel Archer.

It's not... That starts with a ghost story, doesn't it?

-You know anything else by Henry James?

-No, sorry.

Turn Of The Screw.

No, it's The Portrait Of A Lady.

Secondly for five points,

"My hour for tea is half past five

"and my buttered toast waits for nobody."

In which novel by Wilkie Collins does Mrs Catherick

write a letter to Walter Hartright that ends with these words?

-Hey?

-I don't know, it's Woman In White.

Women In White, yeah?

-Woman In White.

-Correct.

"The world may go to pot for me, so long as I always get my tea."

This sentiment appears in Notes From Underground,

a novella of 1864 by which Russian author?

-It's Dostoevsky.

-Is it?

-Yeah.

-Dostoevsky.

-Correct.

Ten points for this.

Which chemist gives his name

to the law stating that the pressure

exerted by a mixture of perfect gases

is the sum of the partial pressures that each gas...?

-Dalton.

-Dalton is correct, yes.

Your bonuses are on a metal ore, Newcastle.

Hydrargyrum is a former name for which metallic element

that occurs chiefly in the ore cinnabar?

Mercury.

-Mercury.

-Correct.

Which scarlet or red pigment was originally

made from powdered cinnabar?

It's a name derives ultimately from the Latin for "worm".

-Vermilion.

-Yes.

-Yeah?

-Vermilion.

-Correct.

Named because the inside of her sarcophagus

was covered with cinnabar powder,

the Red Queen was discovered in 1994 in Palenque,

a ruined city of which civilisation?

-Mayans?

-Mayans, yeah.

-Mayans.

-Correct.

Ten points for this.

Known as Ra in ancient Greek and Itil or Atil in Tatar,

which major European river rises in the Valdai Hills near Moscow

and discharges into the Caspian Sea?

-The Volga.

-The Volga is correct.

Your bonuses are on physics, Southampton.

In the theory of wave particle duality,

which French scientist gives his name to the wavelength

associated with a moving particle

that's defined as the Planck constant

divided by its linear momentum?

-Louis de Broglie.

-De Broglie?

-De Broglie.

-Correct.

Called a matter wave by De Broglie, what name is more commonly given

to the approximation of the trajectory of a particle

moving through space like a wave, denoted by the Greek letter psi?

That's a wave function.

-Wave function.

-Correct.

The statement that the probability of finding a particle

in a small region, with volume V as proportional to psi squared

times V is attributed to which German-born scientist?

One of the winners of the 1954 Nobel Prize for Physics.

-Heisenberg?

-Um...

Cos it's so do with... Yeah?

-Heisenberg.

-No, it's Born, Max Born.

Ten points for this.

"At its best, her poetry is strong, personal and unforced,

"with a metrical cadence that is unmistakably her own."

These words refer to which poet who died in London in 1894?

Her works include Remember and In The Bleak Winter.

-Christina Rossetti.

-Correct.

You get a set of bonuses on the Palace of Versailles.

Firstly for five points,

what name was given to an antechamber

used by Louis XIV at Versailles,

referring to the distinctive oval window in one wall?

In French, the term is also used symbolically

for a royal household or court.

-No.

-I don't know.

Royal household, so...

-Was it named after the oval window?

-Yeah.

-Oriel?

I don't know.

-Oriel?

-No, it's a bull's-eye, or Oeil-de-boeuf.

Which leading French landscape gardener was responsible

for the design of the gardens at Versailles in the 1660s?

His other big commissions included the redesign of the Champs-Elysees

and the gardens at Fontainebleau?

Anyone have anything else?

-It's Tuileries, like the name of a garden, or is that...?

-I don't know!

Tuileries, go for it.

Tuileries?

No, it was Andre Le Notre.

Finally for five points, in which ornately-decorated room

was the Treaty of Versailles signed in 1919?

It's flanked by the Salon Of Peace and the Salon Of War.

-Hall Of Mirrors?

-Yeah?

-Hall Of Mirrors.

-Correct.

We'll take a picture round now. For your picture starter,

you'll see the abridged contents page

of a notable work of non-fiction.

Ten points if you can give me the title of the work.

Er, Das Kapital?

No, you can buzz, one of you from Newcastle, if you know.

The Wealth Of Nations.

It is The Wealth Of Nations, yes, by Adam Smith.

So you get the picture bonuses then, Newcastle.

I want you to identify three more notable 18th-century works

from a section of their table of contents.

This time for the points, I'll need both the title of the work

and its author.

Firstly, and note that an appearance of the title has been redacted.

Emile? By Rousseau, Emile?

Shall we go with that?

It could be Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne.

No, it's non-fiction.

-Oh, non-fiction.

-Yeah.

Emile, Rousseau.

No, it's Fielding's Tom Jones. Secondly...

-I'll nominate you.

-No.

-Mary Wollstonecraft?

-Wollstonecraft.

Vindication Of The Rights Of The Woman.

The Second Sex...

-Nominate you?

-Yeah, sure.

-Nominate Reynard.

The Second Sex, by Simone De Beauvoir.

No, it's A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman,

as you heard earlier, by Mary Wollstonecraft.

And finally, for five points, substantially truncated,

title and author again here, please.

Was it Gibbon?

Gibbon, Fall Of The Roman Empire? Yeah? Um...

Yeah, Fall Of The Roman Empire by Gibbon.

I'll accept that,

it's The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire by Gibbon.

Ten points for this.

Answer promptly. If the atomic number of tungsten is 74,

what is the sum of the atomic numbers of the three elements

whose symbols spells the word "pwn", P-W-N.

225.

No, anyone like to buzz from Southampton?

95.

No, it's 96. Ten points for this. AUDIENCE GROAN

In the mid-12th century,

Albert the Bear became the first Margrave of which historic state?

In 1356...

-Brandenburg.

-Correct.

These bonuses are on Scotland, Newcastle.

The population density of England is 413 people per square kilometre,

Wales is 149, Northern Ireland 135.

What is the population density of Scotland?

You can have 10 either way.

-I think it would be less than 100.

-Something like 90 or something?

-I was going to say about 80.

-80?

-85.

-85?

-I don't know.

-What do you think?

-You decide.

80.

No, I can't accept that. It's 68, in fact.

Secondly, which Scottish council area has a population density

of nine per square kilometre?

It includes Britain's northernmost city.

Is that Inverness? Inverness-shire?

-No, Caithness.

-I don't know.

Shall we go with that?

Oh, what's it called?

Let's have it, please.

-Caithness.

-No, it's Highland.

And within Highland, the County of Sutherland

has the lowest population density with the 2.3 per square kilometre.

This is a level similar to that of which US state,

the most sparsely populated after Alaska?

Montana.

-It's...

-After, I think, Montana.

-Wyoming.

-I think it's Wyoming.

-Yeah?

-Wyoming.

-Correct.

Ten points for this. Born in 1906,

the Polish-American physician Albert Sabin

gives his name to an oral vaccine approved for use in the US in 1960,

and used to confer immunity against which...?

-Polio.

-Polio is correct.

You get a set of bonuses then, Southampton, on the Mahabharata.

According to legend, the Sage Vyasa

dictated the Mahabharata to which Hindu god?

A son of Shiva, he is traditionally worshipped

before any major enterprise and is also the patron of intellectuals.

-Ganesh?

-Vishnu. Oh, no...

-So what do you think?

-Vishnu.

-No, he's not a son of Shiva.

-I'm pretty sure Ganesh is a son of Shiva.

-Which one's the monkey?

I don't know. Hanuman's the monkey.

Can I just say?

-Ganesh.

-Correct.

Which revered Hindu text forms an episode in the Mahabharata

and incorporates basic teachings of the Upanishads and Samkhya yoga?

It was the subject of a commentary by Mahatma Gandhi?

Is that the...Bhagavad Gita?

-Oh, yes! Good shout.

-Do you want to...?

-Yeah.

Nominate Knighton?

-Bhagavad Gita.

-Correct, yes.

And the Bhagavad Gita takes the form of a dialogue on the battlefield

between Prince Arjuna and which incarnation of the God Vishnu?

-Rama?

-Rama?

-Rama.

-No, it's Krishna.

Ten points for this. Which work of 1781

presents the concepts of transcendental idealism?

-Critique Of Pure Reason.

-Correct.

Your bonuses are on terms used in astronomy, Newcastle.

What term follows the word "inferior" to denote

the passing of Venus or Mercury between the earth and the sun,

marking the closest points to Earth in their respective orbits?

What do you think?

-I don't know.

-Go for transit.

Transit.

No, it's conjunction.

Secondly, as viewed from Earth, the point between the inferior

and superior conjunctions, at which the angular separation of Venus

or Mercury from the sun is maximised,

is known as the greatest what?

-Elongation?

-I don't know.

-Yeah?

-Elongation.

-Correct.

What term is used to refer to a superior planet, such as Mars,

reaching a location at its widest angle from the sun

in the celestial sphere as viewed from Earth?

Maximum elongation?

Or is it...? Is it...?

-Is not apogee, is it?

-No.

Yeah, so maximum.

Maxim elongation.

No, it's opposition.

We're going to take a music round now.

For your music starter, you'll hear a piece of classical music.

For ten points, tell me the title of the ballet from which it's taken.

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

Swan Lake.

Swan Lake is right.

It's one of the works referenced by Susan Sontag in her 1964 attempt

to define the concept of camp.

Your music bonuses are three more classical works

mentioned in Sontag's Notes On Camp,

as illustrating camp's style and sensibility.

I just want the name of the composer of each.

# Casta Diva... #

No, I wouldn't say...

# Casta Diva... #

Puccini?

# Che inargenti... #

-We'll go Puccini?

-Yeah.

Puccini.

No, that was from Norma by Bellini. Secondly...

SOPRANOS SING DUET

Verdi, maybe?

Any idea?

We'll go with that?

Verdi.

No, that was from Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss. And finally...

# Martella?

# Chi del gitano... #

This is from Il Trovatore, isn't it?

So who's that by? Is that Verdi?

Yeah, I think it is.

-OK, is this one Verdi?

-It is Verdi, yes.

It's the Anvil Chorus from Il Trovatore.

Ten points for this.

Which final two letters link the island birthplace

of Stokely Carmichael and Brian Lara,

the son of Lancelot and Elaine,

the SI unit of electrical capacitance...?

-AD.

-AD is correct, yes.

You get a set of bonuses on compromises in US history.

Firstly for five points,

which US state gave its name to a compromise of 1787,

which determined that all states, regardless of population,

would have the same representation in the upper house

of the federal legislature?

That was...

No, no, it's the Constitution.

The Constitution is Virginia or...

-Yeah, which would make... Virginia?

-I'm not sure.

-Virginia.

-No, it's Connecticut.

Five Bills passed by Congress to defuse a confrontation

between slave and free states following the Mexican-American War

are known collectively as the Compromise of what year?

1850. 1850?

-1850.

-Correct.

Which territory and future state gives its name

to a compromise of 1820 that regulated the westward extension

of slavery across the American continent?

-It's the Missouri Compromise.

-Yes.

-Missouri.

-Missouri is correct.

Ten points to this.

One of the Trois Grande Dames

of Impressionism, which French artist

is noted for her paintings of domestic life, such as...?

Mary Cassatt.

No, you lose five points.

..such as The Cradle.

Though never commercially successful, she outsold Monet,

Renoir and Sisley in her lifetime.

No-one wants to buzz from Southampton?

It's Berthe Morisot.

Ten points for this.

About 70 miles long, which river of northern England has a name

that rhymes with words meaning a band of painted decoration

or sculpture, an involuntary action known as sternutation...?

Tees.

Tees is correct, yes.

Right, this set of bonuses are on the ancient Greek geographer Strabo.

Living in an age without accurate maps,

Strabo attempted to give a visual idea of regions

and territories by likening them to familiar shapes.

Which large peninsula did Strabo liken to an oxhide,

whose neck parts fall over into the neighbouring Celtica?

-Italy.

-What?

-Is that not Italy?

-Celtic?

-Northern Italy was Celtic.

-Italy.

-No, it's the Iberian Peninsula.

Secondly, which peninsula of the Greek world did Strabo

compare to the leaf of a plane tree?

Peloponnese? Must be!

-Peloponnese.

-Correct.

Finally, which large island did he liken to a triangle?

Er, Sicily.

-Sicily.

-Sicily is correct,

Ten points for this. What is the seven-letter

common name of the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius?

The name is thought...

-Antares.

-Antares is right.

Your bonuses are on the names of chemical elements

and words that resemble them in spelling.

In each case, listen to the explanation and give both words.

Firstly, a noble gas

and a jargon or slang used by a particular group or class of people.

Argot and argon?

-Argot and argon?

-Yes.

-Argot and argon.

-Correct.

Secondly, an element of the nitrogen group

and a consequence of divorce, now known as maintenance.

Alimony and antimony.

-Alimony and antimony?

-I don't know.

-Yes!

-Yeah?

-Alimony and antimony.

-Correct.

And, finally, a transition metal that occurs in a natural state

and the meaning of "ori" in the word origami.

-Fold and gold.

-Fold and gold?

-Fold and gold.

-Correct.

Ten points for this.

A chief European rival of Britain in 18th-century India,

which country was left with the enclaves of Chanda Nagar...?

-France.

-France is correct, yes.

Right, your bonuses are on south-east Asian history, Newcastle.

From the late 19th to the mid-20th century,

what name was given to the Federation of Vietnam,

Laos and Cambodia under French control?

Indochina, French Indochina?

What? French Indochina?

French Indochina.

Correct, or the Indochinese Union.

And secondly, what abbreviated two-word name is generally used

for the coalition formed in May 1941 to seek independence

for Vietnam from the French Empire?

Cong. Could be Viet Cong, yes?

-Viet Cong.

-No, it was the Viet Minh.

The Viet Cong were founded later.

The name of which European city is given to the accords

that formally ended the first Indochina War in 1954

and effectively divided Vietnam along the 17th Parallel?

-European city.

-European city?

Paris? London?

-Don't think it's Paris.

-No, London? Berlin?

Berlin.

No, they were the Geneva Accords.

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

For your picture starter, you'll see a promotional still from a film.

Ten points if you can give me the film's title.

-Wallace And Gromit, Curse Of The Were-Rabbit.

-Correct, yes!

That won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2006,

making it the first example of stop-motion animation

to win the award.

Picture bonuses, three more stop-motion films

that have been nominated in the category.

Simply give me the title of each. Firstly...

Oh, that's Coraline!

-Coraline.

-Coraline is correct. Secondly...

-Amma, Ammalisia?

-What?

-It's something like that.

I've seen it on Netflix!

-What's it called?

-Which one is it?

Otherwise, I'm just going to say that. Ammalisia.

No, it's not precise enough. It's Anomalisa.

-Oh, OK!

-And finally...

Oh, Fantastic Mr Fox.

-Fantastic Mr Fox!

-Correct.

Ten points for this.

Work this out before you buzz.

If X equals pi radians,

what is the value of sin X plus cos X plus tan X?

--1.

-Correct.

Your bonuses are on the novelist George Eliot.

In the mid-1850s, Eliot spent time translating

the ethics of which philosopher, who died in 1677?

Her translation remained unpublished until 1981.

Spinoza?

-Spinoza.

-Correct.

What was George Eliot's first full-length novel,

published in 1859?

The title character is a carpenter in love with Hetty Sorrel?

Anything?

Do you know any George Eliot, apart from Middlemarch?

-George Eliot apart from Middlemarch?

-No.

It's not Middlemarch. Shall we just pass?

-Sorry, we don't know.

-It's Adam Bede.

In 1860, Eliot travelled to Italy and later published which novel,

set in Florence in the late 15th century?

Again, I don't know. Pass?

-Sorry, we don't know.

-It's Romola.

Four minutes to go, ten points for this.

Plains, mountain

and Grevy's are three species of which distinctive...?

-Zebra.

-Zebra is correct, your bonuses are on electronics now.

In electronics, for what does the C stand in the abbreviation CMOS?

-Capacitor?

-Cathode, I don't know.

-Let's have it, please.

-Capacitor.

-No, it's complimentary.

What two letters of the alphabet denote the two complimentary types

of transistor in CMOS technology?

They form a current gate for electrical control.

-P and S?

-Yes.

P and S?

No, it's P and N.

And finally, used in computer logic circuits, the acronym FET,

F-E-T, stands for what kind of transistor?

Fixed energy?

No, it's not that, it's something really weird, but I can't remember.

-Let's have it.

-Fixed energy.

No, it's a field effect transistor.

Ten points for this.

In a calendar year, to the nearest whole number, a hebdomadal event

occurs how many times more frequently than one that is annual?

-52.

-Correct.

A set of bonuses for you on the collection

of the Prado Museum in Madrid.

In each case, the artist is a figure of the Northern Renaissance.

Firstly, born 1525,

which Flemish artist's works in the Prado

include The Triumph Of Death and The Wine Of St Martin's Day?

Flemish artist?

-Could be Bruegel.

-Bosch.

-If it's death...

-Bosch.

-No, it's Bruegel.

-Sorry.

The Descent From The Cross is a work by which artist

born in Tournai in about 1400?

-1400.

-Tournai, French.

Belgium, I think. No...

-1400s.

-Van Eyck.

Van Eyck?

No, it's van der Weyden.

And finally, born in Brabant in about 1450,

who painted Extracting The Stone Of Madness,

The Adoration Of The Magi triptych and The Garden Of Earthly Delights?

-That's Bosch.

-That is Bosch,

Ten points for this. In 19th-century literature,

Phineas Finn and Phileas Fogg

were both members of which London gentlemen's club?

Reform Club.

The Reform Club is right. 15 points for these bonuses.

They're on English cities.

In each case, name the city from the present-day

local government entities that its borders.

Firstly, South Tyneside, Gateshead and County Durham?

-Newcastle.

-Newcastle.

-No, it's Sunderland.

-Ah!

Second, Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley and South Staffordshire.

-Birmingham.

-South Staffordshire, though?

-Come on.

-Birmingham.

No, it's Wolverhampton. Finally, Leeds, Kirklees and Calder Vale.

-Bradford.

-Bradford.

Correct, Ten points for this.

Which four-letter word links a leading academic and professional

publishing company, a wise person in history or legend...?

-Sage.

-Sage is right.

Your bonuses are on 19th-century literature, Newcastle.

In each case, give the title of the novel

that refers to the character described.

Firstly, Sir Willoughby Patterne,

the dashing and arrogant title character

of a novel of 1879 by George Meredith?

-I don't know.

-Do you know?

-Come on.

-No, we don't know, sorry.

It's The Egoist.

Prince Myshkin, the generous but unworldly title character

of a novel by Dostoevsky.

-The Idiot.

-Correct.

Finally, a scientist named Griffin,

the subject of a science-fiction work of 1897 by HG Wells.

-The Invisible Man.

-The Invisible Man is correct,

Ten points for this. In analytical biochemistry,

what biopolymers are stained using Coomassie Blue?

-Lipids.

-No.

-Proteins.

-Proteins is correct!

You get a set of bonuses now on islands of the River Thames.

Pharaoh's Island at Shepperton was given to Lord Nelson

following his victory in which battle of 1798?

-Battle Of The Nile?

-I think so.

-Battle Of The Nile.

-Correct. GONG

And at the gong, Southampton have 130, Newcastle have 215.

APPLAUSE

Well, who knows, Southampton?

You had a good run there towards the end,

but it's not enough, I'm afraid. We shall have to say goodbye to you.

Newcastle, many congratulations.

We shall look forward to seeing you in the quarterfinals.

Congratulations.

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

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

-Goodbye.

-It's goodbye from Newcastle University.

-Goodbye.

And it's goodbye from me, goodbye.

APPLAUSE