Episode 26 University Challenge

University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello.

Last time, we saw Newcastle University

win the first of the two quarterfinal victories

our trenchant rules demand before teams can take a place

in the semifinals.

Tonight's teams are planning on doing the same thing.

Only one of them will succeed, of course.

The team from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge,

beat the University of Leicester in round one by 200 points to 105.

Round two was a closer call,

but they still managed to send home Magdalen College, Oxford,

by 200 points to 155.

With an average age of 20,

let's meet the Fitzwilliam team for the third time.

Hi, I'm Theo Tindall.

I'm from Bristol and I'm studying Russian and Arabic.

Hi. I'm Theo Howe.

I'm from Oxfordshire and I'm reading Japanese studies.

This is their captain.

Hello. I'm Hugh Oxlade from South Woodford in north-east London,

and I'm reading history.

Hello. I'm Jack Maloney.

I'm from Harpenden in Hertfordshire and I'm reading medicine.

APPLAUSE

The team from Merton College, Oxford,

brushed off King's College, London,

in round one by 285 points, the highest score in that round,

to their opponents' 110.

Oxford Brookes University gave them a bit more of a fright

in round two with an impressive fightback in the later stages,

but Merton College still came away with 255 points

to their opponents' 175.

With an average age of 23, let's meet the Merton quartet again.

Hello. I'm Edward Thomas.

I'm originally from Oxford, though I now live in Kent,

and I'm reading ancient and modern history.

Hello. I'm Alexander Peplow from Amersham in Buckinghamshire,

and I'm reading for a Masters in medieval studies.

And here is their captain.

I'm Leonie Woodland from Cambridge and I'm reading physics.

I'm Akira Wiberg.

I'm from Sweden and Japan

and I'm reading for a doctorate in molecular and cellular medicine.

Let's get on with it.

Fingers on the buzzers, here's the first starter for 10.

"What the detective story is about is not murder,

"but the restoration of order".

These are the words of which noted exponent of the genre in question?

Her works include...

-Agatha Christie.

-No, you lose 5 points.

..An Unsuitable Job For A Woman, Death Comes To Pemberley...

PD James.

PD James is correct.

Your bonuses, Fitzwilliam, are on 19th-century history.

Firstly, the widespread restructuring

of European political boundaries

was a major objective of which international conference

held between September 1814 and June 1815?

-Vienna? The Congress of Vienna?

-Correct.

Resulting in the formation of an independent state

known as the United Provinces of South America,

the Congress of Tucuman took place in 1816 in which modern-day country?

Is Tucuman in Argentina?

-Argentina?

-Correct.

"Lord Salisbury and myself have brought you back peace,

"but a peace, I hope, with honour".

Who said those words on returning from the Congress of Berlin in 1878?

Disraeli?

-I think it is.

-Disraeli?

-Correct. 10 points for this.

Celebrated by Marco Polo,

who became the first emperor of the Yuan dynasty

to rule the whole of China?

More than 500 years after his death, he inspired a poem.

Kubla Khan?

Kubla Khan is correct, yes.

Your bonuses are on mathematics in poetry.

Firstly, for 5 points,

"Best witchcraft is geometry To the magician's mind -

"His ordinary acts are feats to thinking of mankind".

These are lines by which prolific American poet

who saw less than 10 of her poems published in her lifetime?

-Dickinson?

-Correct.

Emily Dickinson.

"One small, precise, poetic spiralling mixture".

These words begin a short poem by Gregory Pincus

in a form based on an integer sequence

named after which Italian mathematician?

-Fibonacci?

-Correct.

Finally, what mathematical identity does the Nobel laureate

Wislawa Szymborska describe as having

"a pageant of digits that doesn't stop at the page's edge,

"it goes on across the table through the air straight into the sky"?

-Is Pi an identity?

-Yeah.

-Pi?

-Absolutely. 10 points for this.

Answer as soon as your name is called.

In metres, what is the sum of the distances

of the three athletics events

for which the men's world records in early 2017

were 19.19 seconds, 43.03 seconds and 3 minutes, 26 seconds?

2,100.

Correct.

200, 400 and 1,500 metres.

So you get a set of bonuses now on a scientist.

Born in 1769, which French scientist

made major contributions to the fields of palaeontology,

comparative anatomy and natural history?

His works include The Animal Kingdom of 1817.

Lamarck?

No, it's Georges Cuvier.

Cuvier was an advocate of which theory,

stating that the Earth's natural history and fossil record

are affected by a series of cataclysmic events

rather than gradual incremental changes?

Ooh.

INDISTINCT CHATTER

Cataclysm? Antediluvianism?

I've got nothing.

-We don't know.

-It's catastrophism.

Cuvier is credited with coining what term

for an extinct flying or gliding reptile

derived from the Greek for "wing" and "finger"?

-Pterodactyl.

-Correct. 10 points for this.

Name any three of the seven US states

that are both contiguous with each other

and have names of seven letters or fewer.

Utah, Ohio and Iowa?

No. Anyone like to buzz from Merton?

Utah, Nevada and Wyoming?

Correct, yes.

You get a set of bonuses now on the works of Charles Dickens.

In each case, identify the full-length novel

from its opening words.

"Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life

"or whether that station will be held by anybody else,

"these pages must show".

-David Copperfield.

-Correct.

"30 years ago, Marseille lay burning in the sun one day".

Tale Of Two Cities?

No.

Bleak House?

I don't know.

Anything else? Bleak House?

No, it's Little Dorrit. Finally:

"London, Michaelmas term lately over

"and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln's Inn Hall.

"Implacable November weather".

Bleak House has lots of lawyers.

-Go with that.

-Bleak House again?

Bleak House is correct. We're going to take a picture round.

For your picture starter

you'll see a definition of an everyday French word,

taken from a French dictionary.

For 10 points, I want you to tell me the word, in French, of course.

Biere?

Biere is correct, yes.

Your picture bonuses are definitions of three more common French words.

Again, give me the word in French for 5 points.

All contain five letters.

For clarity, I'll need the spelling in each case. Firstly:

That's rouge, isn't it?

R-O-U-G-E.

Correct, rouge. Secondly:

-Avion?

-Yes.

A-V-I-O-N.

Avion is correct, yes. And finally:

-C-H-I-E-N.

-Chien, dog, yes, that's correct.

10 points for this.

Answer with a four-letter abbreviation.

With its headquarters in Paris, which international organisation

was founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade?

Its origins lie...

-OECD.

-Correct.

You get three bonuses on the Absurd Cycle of Albert Camus.

Firstly, for 5 points,

a 1942 essay by Camus has as its title figure

which mythical king of Corinth

who was condemned to repeat for ever the same meaningless task?

-Sisyphus.

-Correct.

Secondly, a precursor of the theatre of the absurd,

which play by Camus

concerns the Roman emperor who was born Gaius Caesar in AD 12?

INDISTINCT CHATTER

Tiberius?

Could be Tiberius.

Tiberius was born later, wasn't he?

-Caligula?

-Correct.

"Mother died today, or maybe it was yesterday".

These are the opening lines of which novel by Camus, published in 1942?

-L'etranger.

-Correct, The Stranger.

10 points for this.

Movements in which early 20th-century orchestral suite

have names that correspond

to the French word for the month of March...

-Holst's Planets.

-Correct, yes.

Your bonuses now are on biochemistry, Merton.

Also called synthetase,

what class of enzymes joins two molecules with covalent bonds?

The name comes from the Latin for "to bind".

-Ligases.

-Ligases.

-Correct.

After two Japanese biologists,

what term denotes the short fragments of DNA

formed on the lagging template strand during DNA replication?

They're joined by DNA ligase.

-Okazaki fragments.

-Nominate Wiberg.

Okazaki fragments.

Correct.

Finally, formed by DNA ligase,

what type of bond joins two DNA strands end to end?

Is that just hydrogen?

No, no...two DNA strands? Oh, yeah. Must be.

-Because it's between the strands.

-Hydrogen bond?

No, it's phosphodiester.

10 points for this.

After the pilot to Menelaus, King of Sparta,

what is the common name of Alpha Carinae,

the second brightest star in the night sky?

-Canopus.

-Canopus is correct.

These bonuses could give you the lead again.

They're on the book of Genesis. In each case,

name the biblical figure whose age at death in the King James Bible

equals the number of years' difference

between the two given events.

Firstly, the Battle of Bosworth Field

and the restoration of the monarchy in Britain.

Well, that's...217?

Jacob?

-Let's try. Jacob?

-No, it's Abraham. It was 1485 and 1660, 175 years.

Secondly, the accession of Hadrian as Roman emperor

on the death of Trajan and the compilation of the Domesday Book.

-That was 900-odd years.

-Methuselah.

-Methuselah?

-Correct.

Finally, the Battle of Hastings

and the resignation of David Cameron as Prime Minister.

That's also a jolly long time.

That's 950 years.

Seth was around for quite a while?

Or Adam himself? We could try Adam, couldn't we?

-Adam?

-No, it's Noah. 950 years old he was when he died, apparently.

10 points for this.

Starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, which 1990 film...

-Awakenings.

-Awakenings is correct.

You get bonuses on the art historian and biographer Frances Spalding.

In 1998, Spalding published her history of which art institution,

which opened its first premises in 1897

on the site of the former Millbank Prison?

Oh, that's...

Tate Britain.

-Tate Britain?

-No, I can't accept that.

It's known as Tate Britain now, but it was the Tate.

Secondly, a 1983 biography by Spalding

concerns which member of the Bloomsbury Group?

Noted for her portraits and book cover designs,

she was the sister of Virginia Woolf.

-Vanessa Bell.

-Vanessa Bell.

-Vanessa Bell is right.

And in 1988, Spalding published a biography of which poet,

perhaps best known for the 1953 poem Not Waving But Drowning?

-Stevie Smith.

-Stevie Smith.

-Correct. 10 points for this.

It's a music question. Your music starter is a song from a musical.

10 points if you can identify the musical.

# Like Romeo and Juliet

# Twas written in the stars before they even met... #

-Matilda?

-It is Matilda. It's Naughty from Matilda.

Tim Minchin's Matilda was the 2013 winner

of the Drama Desk Award for outstanding lyrics.

For your music bonuses,

you're going to hear songs from three more musicals,

similarly rewarded for their lyrics.

5 points for each musical you can identify. Firstly for 5...

# It has no presence

# No passion

# No life

# It's neither pastoral nor lyrical

# You don't suppose that it's satirical... #

I don't know.

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum?

# It's so mechanical... #

-Try it.

-Nominate Peplow.

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum?

No, it's Sunday In The Park With George. Secondly...

# Oh, that hurts!

# I'm not numb!... #

Little Shop Of Horrors.

-Little Shop Of Horrors?

-Correct.

And finally...

-# Hello

-Hi

-# My name is...

-Jesus Christ... #

-Book Of Mormon.

-It is The Book Of Mormon, yes.

10 points for this.

The Earl of Strafford, the artist Fra Lippo Lippi, Andrea del Sarto

and the Swiss physician Paracelsus are among the subjects...

-Robert Browning.

-Correct.

Your bonuses are on granite, Merton College.

Built around large granite columns and begun in 1892,

the Episcopal Cathedral of St John the Divine

is one of the largest churches in the world.

In which North American city is it?

Washington?

Montreal? I don't know.

INDISTINCT CHATTER

-Go for it.

-Washington, DC.

-No, it's in New York.

Secondly, the burial place of Spanish monarchs,

which palace and monastery north-west of Madrid is often cited

as being the largest granite building in the world?

It's not Alhambra, it's the, um...

The other one.

I've been there! Um...

Let's have it, please.

-We don't know.

-It's the Escorial.

Finally, the Marischal College and St Machar's Cathedral

are among noted granite buildings in which Scottish city?

Aberdeen?

-Granite City, yeah.

-Aberdeen.

-Correct. 10 points for this.

Give the two-word name of the town in North Carolina

associated since 1903 with the first sustained powered flight

by a heavier than air aeroplane.

-Kitty Hawk?

-Kitty Hawk is right.

Your bonuses are on Greek mythology now.

In each case, name the figure from the description.

All three answers begin with the same two letters.

Firstly, a titan who rebelled against Zeus

and a mountain range in North Africa which bears his name.

-Atlas.

-Atlas.

Correct. Secondly, one of the three fates.

Her name means "inflexible" because she rendered irreversible

the decisions of her sisters, Clotho and Lachesis.

Atropos, I think. Atropine comes from her name.

-OK. Atropos?

-Atropos is correct.

Along with Hera and Aphrodite, the goddess who asked Paris

to judge the recipient of the apple inscribed "For the fairest"?

-Athena.

-Correct. 10 points for this.

The Spaniard Santiago Ramon y Cajal

and the Italian Camillo Golgi shared the 1906 Nobel Prize

for medicine for their work on which main system of the body?

-The nervous system.

-Correct.

These bonuses are on a sea.

The Strait of Otranto links the Ionian Sea

to which arm of the Mediterranean?

Adriatic to the Ionian...

So it's the Adriatic?

-Yeah, I think so.

-The Adriatic?

-Correct.

Roughly triangular in shape,

which peninsula at the head of the Adriatic

is divided between Croatia, Slovenia and Italy?

Its main town is Pula.

-I can't remember its name.

-We don't know.

Istria.

And after the Second World War,

which port to the north of Istria

became part of the free territory

that was later divided between Italy and Yugoslavia?

Trieste?

Dubrovnik?

No, it's further south.

Trieste is a port in that area.

Trieste?

Trieste is correct. 10 points for this.

The inhabitants of which Central American country are known as ticos,

and use the phrase "pura vida" as a greeting to show appreciation?

The country has one of the highest literacy rates

in the Western Hemisphere and abolished its army...

-Costa Rica?

-Costa Rica is correct.

Your bonuses are on Chinese history

before the start of the common era.

Firstly for 5, give any year during the lifetime of Confucius.

He lived most of his life in the small state of Lu

in present-day Shandong province.

Was that the second, third century?

I'd guess second, but it could easily be third.

Go in the middle, then. 250?

-250?

-That's too early.

He lived between 551 and 479.

Secondly, name any year during the Qin Dynasty.

The first Chinese empire,

this dynasty saw the persecution of Confucian scholars.

That's a really short one just before the Han Dynasty.

-The Tang.

-The Han.

-The Tang is a lot later.

-Sorry, you're right.

It's the short one before the Han.

So it's about 250 BC or something like that.

280 BC is probably safer.

-What do you think?

-280?

-No, that's too early.

It's 221 to 207 BCE.

Finally, give any year during the lifetime of Emperor Wu

of the Western or former Han Dynasty.

One of the longest reigning emperors,

he made Confucianism the state orthodoxy.

So they're 207 to 25 CE,

but I don't know in which...

Pick a number.

100? 180.

150.

I'll accept that, yes. It was 156 to 87 BC. Well done.

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

For your picture starter

you're going to see a photograph of a German composer.

10 points if you can give me their name.

Clara Schumann?

It is Clara Schumann, yes.

She is one of the first 17 women

that are now listed in the Edexcel A-level music syllabus

after the student Jessy McCabe petitioned the exam board in 2015.

For your picture bonuses,

three more composers or artists featured on that syllabus.

5 points for each you can name. Firstly, this British composer.

-No idea.

-Do we know any female...?

-Judith Weir.

-Judith Weir?

-No, that's Ethel Smith.

Secondly, this British film composer.

-Do you know any?

-No.

-We don't know.

That's Rachel Portman. And finally...

-Is that Bjork?

-Could be.

I think it is Bjork. There's a sort of runic tattoo.

-Bjork?

-It is Bjork, yes. 10 points for this.

Which economist questioned the competitive ideal

in industrial organisation

and developed the concept of countervailing power

in his first major work in 1952, American Capitalism?

-Milton Friedman?

-No, you lose 5 points.

Anyone like to buzz from Fitzwilliam? You may not confer.

One of you can buzz.

No? It's JK Galbraith. 10 points for this.

"Demand me nothing. What you know, you know.

"From this time forth, I never will speak word".

These are the final words of which of Shakespeare's...

-Iago.

-Iago is correct, yes.

You get a set of bonuses, Merton College, on the River Severn.

The source of the Severn

is only a short distance from that of which river

on Plynlimon in mid-Wales?

This river flows into the Severn estuary at Chepstow.

It's the Wye.

-Yeah.

-The Wye?

-Correct.

Which decade saw the construction of the Severn Bridge

that originally carried the M4 motorway?

It now carries part of the M48.

'70s or something?

Yeah, or maybe earlier.

-It's relatively recent.

-'70s.

-'70s?

-No, it's the 1960s.

What short name links two rivers,

one joining the Severn at Tewkesbury, the other at Bristol?

-Avon.

-Avon.

Avon is correct. 10 points for this.

Which Austronesian language is the basis of Filipino...

-Tagalog.

-Tagalog is correct. Yes.

Your bonuses are on elements known since antiquity.

In each case, name the element

from its position on the periodic table, Fitzwilliam.

Firstly for 5 points,

which element appears on the periodic table

between gold and thallium and below cadmium?

-Mercury.

-Mercury.

-Correct.

Which element appears between thallium and bismuth?

-Lead.

-Lead.

-Correct.

Finally, which element comes between nickel and zinc and above silver?

-Copper.

-Cobalt.

-No, copper.

-Oh, sorry!

-I'm sorry, you misheard him, but it was copper.

We're going to take another starter question now.

Retty Priddle, Mercy Chant,

Farmer Groby and Dairyman Crick

are minor characters in which novel by Thomas Hardy?

Its subtitle is "A Pure Woman".

-Tess Of The D'Urbervilles.

-Correct.

Your bonus is on Indian prime ministers and their home states.

Which state has been the birthplace

of the highest number of India's prime ministers?

It's the most populous state as well as the fourth largest.

Is that Uttar Pradesh?

-Uttar Pradesh?

-Correct.

Name the home state

of either of India's South Indian prime ministers,

Narasimha Rao and Deve Gowda.

-Tamil Nadu?

-Tamil Nadu?

No, it's Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh.

Bordering Pakistan,

which is the home state of both Morarji Desai and Narendra Modi?

-The Punjab?

-It's either that or Jammu and Kashmir.

The Punjab is more populous, so it's more likely.

-Punjab?

-No, it's Gujarat.

10 points for this. Listen carefully.

When spelled as words,

which three consecutive words between one and ten

share an initial letter

with the regnal names of kings and queens of England since 1066?

-Six, seven, eight.

-Correct.

Your bonuses are on history now, Fitzwilliam.

As the Lord Admiral of England,

who commanded the English naval force

that confronted the Spanish Armada in 1588?

-Howard of Effingham?

-Correct.

Who was the naval treasurer and commander of the Victory

who was third in seniority in the battle

behind Howard and Sir Francis Drake?

He was an early proponent of the slave trade.

-We don't know.

-That was Sir John Hawkins.

Which English sailor commanded the Triumph at this time?

He's perhaps better known for his voyages

in search of the Northwest Passage in the 1570s.

Hudson, maybe?

-Hudson?

-No, it's Frobisher. 10 points for this.

In pharmacology,

what receptor denoted by a Greek letter is blocked by atenolol,

a drug used...

-Beta.

-That's correct, yes.

Your bonuses this time are on Africa.

Meaning "Diverse people unite", which country's motto

appears on its coat of arms in the Khoisan language Xam?

That's got to be southern Africa, so South Africa?

South Africa?

Correct.

Which country's single-word motto "Pula"

is also the name of its national currency?

It means rain and hence hope or prosperity.

-That's Botswana.

-Botswana.

-Correct.

Mottos in what language

appear on the coats of arms of Kenya and Tanzania?

-Swahili.

-Swahili is correct. 10 points for this.

Prominent in the mid-19th century, Peter Asbjornsen

and Jorgen Moe are particularly noted

as collectors of the literary folklore of which country?

-Iceland.

-No.

Anyone like to buzz from Fitzwilliam?

-Norway?

-Norway is correct, yes.

You get three bonuses

on the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

Firstly, the financier Andrew Mellon founded the National Gallery...

GONG

And at the gong,

Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, have 125,

but Merton College, Oxford, have 270.

Well, you had some pretty impressive displays of knowledge there,

Fitzwilliam, but not good enough.

You were up against strong opposition tonight.

You have to win one more quarterfinal to stay in contention

and then another one after that to go through to the semis.

Merton, you have only to win one more match to go

through to the semifinals. Congratulations.

I hope you can join us next time for another quarterfinal match

but until then, it's goodbye from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.

-Goodbye.

-It's goodbye from Merton College, Oxford.

-Goodbye.

And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.