Episode 30 University Challenge

APPLAUSE

University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello, as the quarterfinal stage of this competition continues,

we now know that the first team through to the semifinals

is St John's College, Cambridge.

The institutions playing tonight

both lost their first quarterfinal matches -

so, while the winners will get one last opportunity

to stay in the competition, for the losers,

it's the final curtain.

The team from Bristol University

left Trinity College Cambridge and Trinity College Oxford

reeling in the first two rounds,

winning the first of those matches by 230 points to 95,

and the second by 205 to 100.

Then the shine wore off during their first quarterfinal match

when Newcastle University had the better of them by 225 to 130.

So, tonight is undoubtedly the night

they need to recover their earlier form.

With an accumulated score of 565 from three matches

and with an average age of 22, let's meet the Bristol team again.

Hi, I'm Ollie Bowes.

I'm from Market Harborough in Leicestershire

and I'm studying music.

Hi, I'm Kirsty Biggs.

I'm originally from Southampton and I'm doing a PhD in mathematics.

-This is their captain.

-Hi, I'm Sam Hosegood.

I'm from Bedford and I study chemical physics.

Hi, I'm Dom Hewett.

I'm from Stroud in Gloucestershire and I study English.

APPLAUSE

The team from Ulster University

have had something of a chequered career so far -

losing in round one by a mere five points

against the University of Edinburgh,

then winning their losers playoff against St Anne's College, Oxford,

and their second round match against Warwick University.

Their quarterfinal defeat

was at the hands of St John's College, Cambridge.

So, with an accumulated score of 635 earned over four matches,

at an average age of 50, let's meet the Ulster team again.

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

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

Hi, I'm Kate Ritchie.

I'm from Waringstown, County Armagh, and I'm studying 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 studying for a PhD in education.

APPLAUSE

Well, the rules are boringly unchanging,

so fingers on the buzzers.

Here's your first starter for ten.

Four quarterings, one depicting a harp, one a lion rampant,

and two showing three lions...

-The Royal Standard.

-Correct.

Bristol, the first set of bonuses

are on winners of the Nobel Prize in literature.

In each case, name the writer from the description.

Firstly, born 1923, the first South African winner of the prize.

Her works include July's People and The Conservationists.

-Nadine Gordimer.

-Nadine Gordimer.

Correct.

Secondly, the first black African winner of the prize born in Nigeria,

his works for the stage include Kongi's Harvest,

and Death And The King's Horseman.

-Soyinka.

-Soyinka.

-Soyinka.

-Correct.

And finally, who was the recipient in 2003?

He has also won the Booker prize twice,

first for The Life & Times Of Michael K,

and later for Disgrace.

-It's JM Coetzee.

-All right. JM Coetzee.

JM Coetzee is correct.

Ten points for this.

What first name links the artist

who painted Christ Preaching At The Cookham Regatta,

the Prime Minister at the time of the abdication crisis,

and the director of...

-Stanley.

-Stanley is correct.

Your bonuses are on essential oils.

Firstly, what ten letter name is given to the essential oils

obtained from the lemongrasses, or genus Cymbopogon,

used in insect repellent and soap?

Ten letters? I don't know.

Um...

Citronols.

Er, no - it's citronella.

Oh!

Used in perfumery, what oil is distilled from the flowers

of the Seville orange?

It takes its name from an Italian princess

who's said to have popularised it in France in the later 17th century.

Um...

-BOWES:

-Elizabeta?

Or something like that, but I don't know...

-BIGGS:

-That was probably somebody else.

Bergamot, maybe?

- Is it who you thought...? - No, that's...

Elizabeta?

No, it's neroli.

And finally, Earl Grey tea is flavoured with an oil

derived from which citrus fruit?

Its name resembles and possibly derives from

that of a city north-east of Milan.

Bergamot, isn't it? It's Bergamot.

-Bergamot.

-Correct.

Ten points for this. Take the initial letters

of the names of the eight planets of the solar system.

The name of which of those planets

can be spelled with a combination of some of those letters.

Venus?

Venus is correct, yes.

You get three bonuses

on the 19th century science writer Mary Somerville.

Firstly, the discovery of which planet

stemmed from research inspired by Somerville's conjectures

the difficulties in calculating the position of Uranus,

might point to the existence of such a body?

-Neptune?

-Correct.

Noted for her contributions to her brother's astronomical research,

which German-born British astronomer was elected with Somerville

by the Royal Astronomical Society

as its first female honorary members in 1835?

I can't remember any female...

Can you think of just somebody who might have had a sister?

-No.

-German.

Um... No.

-HEWETT:

-Kepler?

-Oh, who? Maybe.

-Kepler.

-No, it's Caroline Herschel.

-Oh.

Somerville may have been responsible for introducing Charles Babbage

to which of his collaborators

who subsequently created a programme for his prototype computer?

Lovelace?

-Lovelace?

-Ada Lovelace is right.

Right, we are going to the picture round now.

For your picture starter, you will see a map

showing the effects of a rise in sea level of 60 metres,

as a result of which, five capital cities have been submerged.

For ten points, name two of them.

Dhaka and Rangoon.

Er, nope.

-Dhaka and Singapore.

-Nope.

The capital cities in question

are Dhaka, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Hanoi and Colombo.

So, no-one got that,

so, when someone gets a starter question correctly,

they will get the picture bonuses.

Ten points for this. Dark Heart, about poverty in Britain,

and Flat Earth News concerning media falsehood and distortion

are among the works of which author and investigative journalist...?

Jon Ronson?

No. You lose five points.

..who played a key role

in reporting the News of the World phone hacking scandal?

Crick?

No, it was Nick Davies.

Right, ten points for this.

Give the three words differing only in their first letters

that are respectively a generic term for a group of people,

the surname of the 11th president of the United States

and a part of an egg rich in fat and protein.

Folk, Polk, and Yolk.

Correct.

You'll recall that the picture starter

which everyone had such difficulty with showed capital cities

named by the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change as being at risk

of coastal inundation as a result of global warming.

Picture bonuses - three more maps

showing the effects of a 60 metre rise in sea level.

Each has an endangered location, pinpointed in red.

Firstly, name this city.

It has a population of around 5.8 million.

Is that... Is that Singapore?

-BIGGS:

-Is it just a tiny island that's gone, or is it...?

I thought it was Singa...

What do you think?

-Singapore.

-It is Singapore.

Let's see the whole thing.

And secondly, name this city.

It's a population of approximately 1.2 million.

-Is it Bahrain, is it?

-HEWETT:

-No...

Oh, yeah.

Or is it Qatar?

-BIGGS:

-Is that the capital, Bahrain?

-No, Bahrain is Bahrain.

-No, it's not. The capital of Bahrain is...Manama.

-Oh, Manama, yeah, yeah.

-Manama.

-No, it's Basra.

This has a population of approximately 1.2 million -

and there's the whole thing.

Finally, name this city with a population of around 440,000.

Where is that?

-BIGGS:

-That's really close to America, so is that...?

-Oh, it's America!

-Yes!

You can see its coast...!

Is that going to be somewhere in Florida?

-Yeah, it'll be somewhere in Florida.

-So...

-Miami?

-Miami.

Miami.

It is Miami, yes.

After a bit of a flood.

Right, ten points for this.

Answer as soon as your name is called.

Using the atomic numbers of the periodic table,

if boron plus carbon is sodium, what is nitrogen plus oxygen?

-Phosphorus.

-Correct.

You get a set of bonuses on Academy Award-winning films of 1976.

The winner of the award for Best Adapted Screenplay,

which film was a dramatisation of the Washington Post's investigation

into the Watergate scandal?

-All The President's Men.

-All The President's Men.

-Correct.

Beatrice Straight won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

for a performance of less than six minutes

in which satire on television news?

Ideas?

-No.

-No.

-Pass.

-It's Network.

And finally, the Academy Award for Best Costume Design

went to which film by Fellini

with Donald Sutherland in the title role

of an 18th-century historical figure?

Give me an 18th-century historical figure!

- 18th or 19th? - 18th.

-I don't know. I'm sorry.

-No...

George Washington.

-George Washington.

-No, it's Casanova.

Ten points for this.

In 1914, Miss Fowler-Tutt, a Sussex headmistress,

was prominent in objections to the public display

of a version of which sculpture?

Commissioned in 1888, it represents Paolo and Francesca...

Rodin's Kiss.

Rodin's the Kiss is correct, yes.

Your bonuses are on Russia.

In each case, name the city from the description.

All three answers begin with the same letter of the Roman alphabet.

First, a major city on the Volga, about 800km east of Moscow.

Captured in 1552 by Ivan the Terrible,

it is now the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan.

I don't know.

-Nizhny Novgorod?

-Yeah, try that.

Nizhny Novgorod.

No, it's Kazan.

Secondly, the capital of a krai, or a region, in the Russian far east

situated at the point where the trans-Siberian railway

crosses the Amur River.

THEY CONFER

Kaliningrad? Does that still exist, or...?

You were going to say...

-Sorry, no, pass.

-That's Khabarovsk.

And finally, a major city of Siberia,

between Novosibirsk and Irkutsk,

it is on the Yenisey River.

Kursk.

No, it's Krasnoyarsk.

Ten points for this.

Which king prosecuted the seven bishops for seditious libel

when they petitioned against his second Declaration of Indulgence?

Their acquittal is thought to have contributed to his overthrow

later in the same year.

Henry II.

Nope.

-James II.

-James II is correct. Yes.

Your bonuses are on prominent people.

In each case, name the person from the description.

All three names begin with the same three letters.

First, a Chilean literary figure and diplomat

who adopted his name from that of a Czech poet.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1971.

-Pablo Neruda.

-Yeah.

-Neruda.

-Correct, Pablo Neruda is right.

Secondly, a German scientist,

recipient of the 1920 Nobel Prize in chemistry,

he formulated what became known as the third law of thermodynamics?

N-E-R, beginning N-E-R?

-Er...

-No, I...I assumed surnames, but...

N-E-R...

-Nerman.

-No, that is Walther Hermann Nernst.

-Oh!

-And finally, the Roman Emperor who succeeded Domitian in AD 96.

He is the first of the group

traditionally known as the five good emperors.

Nerva.

-Nerva.

-Nerva is correct.

Ten points for this.

What six-letter word links a bright chestnut colour

used especially of horses,

a culinary plant of the genus Rumex with sour tasting leaves

and the surname of Hetty,

a character in George Eliot's Adam Bede?

Maroon.

No, anyone like to buzz from Bristol?

Ginger.

No, it's sorrel. Ten points for this.

"Good and evil both increase at compound interest.

"That is why the little decisions you and I make every day

"are of such infinite importance."

Which literary figure wrote those words in the 1952 work,

Mere Christianity?

-CS Lewis.

-CS Lewis is right.

You get a set of bonuses on components of the human brain.

In each case, give the term from the definition.

Firstly, the layer of grey matter

covering the superior surface of the brain.

It integrates sensory impulses,

directs motor activity and controls higher intellectual functions.

-Cerebrum, do you think?

-Campus...

- Cerebellum? - Cerebellum?

I thought that was... I don't know.

THEY CONFER

Cerebrum?

No, it's the cerebral cortex.

What collective name is given

to the dura mater, arachnoid mater and pia mater membranes?

Hippocampus?

-Hippocampus.

-They are meninges.

What term denotes either of a pair of organs

that form most of the lateral walls of the third ventricle of the brain

and translate neural impulses from receptors to the cerebral cortex?

Hippocampus.

-No, they're thalamus, or thalami.

-Oh.

Right, we're going to take a music round now.

For your music starter, you will hear a piece of music from a film.

For ten points, simply give me the name of its composer.

SWELLING ORCHESTRAL MUSIC

James Cameron.

No. You can hear a little more.

John Williams.

No, that was Alan Menken, apparently -

the score was from the Little Mermaid.

OK, so, music bonuses in a moment or two.

Here's another starter question.

Including several distinctive species,

Diprotodontia is an order within which infraclass of mammals,

its name deriving from the Latin for pouch?

-Marsupials.

-Correct.

We follow on from the Little Mermaid,

which was scored, as were many Disney musicals,

by the composer Alan Menken.

Three Disney songs composed by him.

This time, in each case,

I want the name of the film

and the name of the actor you can hear singing.

Firstly, for five.

# Tale as old as time... #

-That's Angela Lansbury.

-Is it?

Was it Aladdin?

Aladdin, Angela Lansbury.

It was Angela Lansbury, but it was Beauty And The Beast.

Secondly...

# I'd given up hope that someone would come along

# A fella who'd ring the bell for once

# Not the gong

# The kind who wins trophies

# Won't settle for low fees

# At least semi-pro fees

# But no, I get the greenhorn

# I've been out to pasture, pal my ambition gone... #

-Jimmy Durante?

-Jimmy Durante, or...

# Content to spend lazy days... #

-Lady and the Tramp? Is it Jimmy Durante?

-Yeah.

Jimmy Durante, Lady and the Tramp.

No, that was Danny DeVito in Hercules.

And finally...

# Life is your restaurant and I'm your maitre d'

# Come on, whisper what it is you want

# You ain't never had a friend like me

# Yes, sir we pride ourselves on service

# You're the boss the king, the shah

# Say what you wish

# It's yours, true dish

# How about a little more baklava?

# Have some of column A

# Try all of column B

-# I'm in the mood... #

-It sounds like somebody jazzy.

I've no idea. It's an actor, but...

We think it's Ratatouille, but we don't know the actor.

No, it was Robin Williams as the Genie in Aladdin.

Right, ten points for this.

In which federal state

is the University of Marburg, Germany's first...

Er... Saxon... Lower Saxony.

No, you lose five points.

Ulster - you can hear the whole thing, actually.

First Protestant university, founded in 1527 by Philip the Magnanimous,

it's situated between Frankfurt and Castle.

-Hessen.

-Hesse is correct, yes.

You get a set of bonuses on the French Directory.

Which Director was known as the Organiser of Victory

in the Revolutionary Wars?

His son Sadi was a pioneer of thermodynamics

and gave his name to a cycle, an efficiency and a heat engine.

No.

-Pascal, is it?

-Try it.

-Pascal.

-No, it's Carnot.

Serving as a Director for only a few months in 1799,

which political theorist and clergyman

was the author of the pamphlet What Is The Third Estate?

THEY CONFER

Was it Rousseau, or something?

Was he around that time?

No idea.

-Rousseau.

-No, that was Sieyes.

And finally, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs

between 1797 and 1799, and later as Napoleon's chief diplomat?

His career is noted for a capacity for political survival.

Somebody that survives.

THEY CONFER

What was the name?

Stab in the dark.

Try it.

Marshal Ney?

Nominate Ritchie.

Marshal Ney.

Er, no - not at all!

-He wasn't a diplomat in the slightest.

-No.

-No, it was Talleyrand.

-Oh, Talleyrand.

Ten points for this.

In Norse mythology, what name is given

to the figures charged with selecting those casualties of war

who are deemed...

-Valkyries.

-Valkyries is correct, yes.

Your bonuses are on fundamental constants in physics.

In the MKS formulation of Coulomb's law,

what symbol represents Coulomb's constant?

Um...

Is it epsilon 0, maybe?

-Epsilon 0.

-No, it's K, or kappa.

Coulomb's Constant is usually written

as the reciprocal of four pi times what constant?

Oh, that might be...

It's the... I think it's the permittivity of free space.

The permittivity of free space.

Correct. Finally, the permeability of free space

is represented by what symbol?

-Mu 0.

-Correct. Ten points for this.

Born in 1841, the Danish botanist Eugenius Warming

is regarded as the founder of which field of study

within the life sciences?

It concerns the relationships

between living things and their environment.

-Ecology.

-Ecology is correct.

A set of bonuses on the actress Greta Garbo.

Garbo's first spoken words on-screen were, "Give me a whisky,"

in Anna Christie, a 1930 film

based on a play by which future Nobel laureate?

-Pinter?

-No.

-No.

OK, Miller, did he win it?

I don't think so.

Or Tennessee Williams?

THEY CONFER

Any American playwright?

Come on, let's have it, please.

-Miller.

-No, it's Eugene O'Neill.

Secondly, what five words form the first line spoken by Garbo

playing an ageing ballerina in the 1932 film Grand Hotel?

Hello, I'm an ageing ballerina.

-Don't know.

-Pass.

-I want to be alone.

-Oh!

One of Garbo's best-known roles was playing the title character

of which film, based on a novel

first published in Russian from 1875?

-Anna Karenina.

-Anna Karenina.

Correct. We're going to take another picture round now.

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

Ten points if you can give me her name.

-Billie Jean King.

-Correct.

In 2006, the tennis complex at Flushing Meadows

where the US Open is played was named after Billie Jean King.

Picture bonuses - three more tennis players

who've had Grand Slam courts named after them.

Five points for each player you can name.

Firstly for five...

Arthur Ashe.

-Arthur Ashe.

-Correct.

Secondly...

THEY CONFER

Maureen...

-We need to speed up.

-No, no.

Roland Garros.

Er...

Good heavens, he's had a gender change.

No, it's Suzanne Lenglen.

She is the person after whom

the second court at Roland-Garros is named.

And finally...

Rod Laver?

Rod Laver.

It is Rod Laver,

and it's the principle court of the Australian open.

Right, ten points for this.

Flappers and Philosophers is an early collection of short stories

by which US author, born in 1896?

It appeared in the same year as his novel, This Side Of Paradise...

-Fitzgerald.

-Fitzgerald is correct, yes.

Your bonuses are on fictional characters, Bristol.

In each case, give the three-letter surname of the following.

Firstly, in Joseph Heller's Catch-22,

the airman with whom Yossarian shares a tent.

Skilled at crash landing his aircraft,

he later escapes to Sweden.

-Bay.

-Bay.

No, it's Orr. O-R-R.

In AS Byatt's Possession,

a leading poet who embarks on an illicit liaison

with Christabel LaMotte.

No.

-Bay.

-No, it's Randolph Henry Ash.

And finally, in Thomas Hardy's Far From The Madding Crowd,

a shepherd who woos and finally marries Bathsheba Everdene.

-Oak.

-Oh, yeah, Oak.

Gabriel Oak is correct.

Three minutes to go, ten points for this.

In 1991, Khaleda Zia became the first female Prime Minister

of which country?

Her husband Ziaur Rahman

was a former independence fighter assassinated in 1981.

-Bangladesh.

-Correct.

You get a set of bonuses on a composer.

The Espana rhapsody and the operas L'etoile and Gwendoline

are works by which French composer born in 1841?

-Bizet?

-Come on.

-Bizet.

No, it's Chabrier.

What is the English sense of the title of Chabrier's Opera,

Le Roi Malgre Lui, first performed in 1887?

The King...

Himself...

The King himself?

The King himself.

No, it's The King In Spite Of Himself.

Chabrier was the original owner

of the painting A Bar at the Folies-Bergere

by which of his contemporaries?

French painter... Manet?

-Manet.

-Correct.

Ten points for this. Answer promptly.

In astronomy, how many degrees of apparent sky rotation

is three hours of right ascension?

90.

No. Bristol, one of you buzz?

-45.

-45 is correct.

These bonuses are on India, Bristol.

What name is common to the Eastern and Western mountain ranges

that together mark the approximate edges of the Deccan Plateau

in southern India?

-Erm...

-Any idea?

-No.

-Come on.

-The Himalayas.

No! They're the Ghats.

It's the other end of India.

Mount Abu is a feature of the Aravalli Range.

Running for several hundred kilometres south-west of Delhi,

it lies substantially in which state?

Gujarat?

-Gujarat.

-No, it's Rajasthan.

The Siachen Glacier, close to the border between India and Pakistan

is a feature of which mountain system, whose name means black rock?

Black rock...

Is it like Chiang Jiang?

-What's the ones in China?

-This is not in China, so...

Oh... Oh, is not China?

No this... Say the Himalayas.

-Himalayas.

-No, it's the Karakoram.

-Oh!

Ten points for this. Named after a monarch,

which town is situated at the Great Glen Fault

at the north-eastern end of Loch Linnhe?

It's often a starting point of ascents of Ben Nevis.

-Fort William?

-Fort William is correct.

Your bonuses are on chemistry, Bristol.

In each case, give the formula of the named chemical.

For example, tungsten carbide would be WC...

GONG

At the gong, Ulster University have 45,

but Bristol have 205.

Well, I'm afraid, Ulster,

we're going to have to say goodbye to you -

but never mind, thank you, you've been a fun team to have.

Thank you very much for joining us.

Bristol, congratulations, you get to do it again, you lucky things!

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

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

-ALL:

-Goodbye.

It's goodbye from Bristol University...

-Goodbye.

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

APPLAUSE