Episode 31 University Challenge

APPLAUSE

University Challenge.

Asking the questions,

Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. The winners and losers in this quarterfinal stage

of the competition are starting to make themselves known.

After five matches, the team from Ulster University

has said its final goodbye,

but St John's College, Cambridge

have taken the first of the four places in the semifinals,

and whichever team wins tonight will join them there

as both already have one quarterfinal victory behind them.

The losers will return for a last chance to qualify.

Now, the team from Merton College, Oxford

have an unblemished record so far.

They dispatched King's College London in round one

by 285 to 110, and then in round two,

they rained on the parade of Oxford Brookes University,

beating them by a margin of 255 to 175.

Their first quarterfinal victory was at the expense of

Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge,

with 270 points to 125,

so with an accumulated score of an impressive 810

and an average age of 23,

let's meet the Merton team for the fourth time.

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's their captain.

Hello. I'm Leonie Woodland, I'm from Cambridge,

and I'm reading physics.

Hello. I'm Akira Wiberg, I'm from Sweden and Japan,

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

APPLAUSE

The team from Edinburgh University have a similarly spotless career

but they like to cut it pretty fine.

They beat Ulster University in round one

by only a five-point margin,

University College London in round two,

again by a five-point margin,

and Emmanuel College, Cambridge

in their first quarterfinal by a scarcely more comfortable 15 points.

Their accumulated score is 460,

their average age is 22.

Let's meet them again.

Hi. I'm John, I'm from Edinburgh

and I'm studying Russian and history.

Hi. I'm Stanley, I'm from Edinburgh,

and I'm studying for an MSc in speech and language processing.

And this is their captain.

Hi. I'm Innes. I'm from Glasgow, and I'm doing a PhD in chemistry.

Hi. I'm Phillipa. I'm from Oxford and I'm studying biology.

APPLAUSE

OK. No point in wasting time reciting the rules.

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

Who is the only person to have won both an Academy Award

and a Nobel Prize?

-George Bernard Shaw.

-Correct.

Three questions on Britain and Asia for the first set of bonuses.

Firstly, seeking to extend its control

and forestall Russian influence,

Britain launched military expeditions against which country

in 1839, 1878 and 1919?

Afghanistan.

Correct. In 1826 and 1852, Britain annexed portions of which country,

finally subjugating it in a war of 1885?

Upon independence in 1948, it declined to join the Commonwealth.

Could it be Pakistan?

Wasn't that '47?

Um...

-Burma. Burma?

-Burma.

Burma is correct.

By the 1816 Treaty of Sugauli,

which country agreed to receive a British resident

with the status of an ambassador?

As a result, it never became part of British India.

Nepal, maybe?

Is this a country?

Yeah.

China or Nepal?

Nepal, they've got Gurkhas.

-Nepal?

-Yeah.

Nepal.

Nepal is correct. 10 points for this.

In molecular biology, what term denotes those proteins that assist

newly synthesised proteins to fold into their...

Chaperone proteins.

Correct.

Your bonuses this time, Merton, are on Russian literature.

In each case, name the creator of the following characters.

All three authors were born AND died during the 19th century.

Firstly, Arkady Kirsanov, Fyodor Lavretsky

and the sculptor Pavel Shubin.

It's not Gorky.

-Could be Turgenev.

-Could have been.

-Could be. It's not Tolstoy.

-Yeah.

Turgenev.

Correct.

Secondly, the merchant Kalashnikov, Maxim Maximych

and Grigory Alexandrovich Pechorin.

-Gogol?

-Dostoevsky?

Did he live into the 20th century, though?

-Gorky did.

-Say Gogol.

Gogol.

No, it's Lermontov.

And finally, Pavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov and Rodion Raskolnikov.

-That's Dostoevsky.

-Dostoevsky.

Correct. 10 points for this.

Estimated to hold the world's largest reserves of bauxite,

which country, in 1958, became the first independent...

Oh. Australia.

No, I'm afraid you lose five points.

..became the first independent francophone state

in Sub-Saharan Africa?

It shares borders with five other coastal countries,

including Senegal, Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire.

Ghana.

No, Ghana's not francophone.

It's Guinea.

Right, ten points for this.

What name and regnal number link the King of Navarre, known as the Bad,

the holy Roman emperor known as the Bald,

the last Habsburg King of Spain, known as the Bewitched,

and the British King, whose accession in 1660

marked the restoration...

-II.

-Name?

-James.

No, you lose five points.

-Anyone like to buzz...

-Charles II.

Charles II is correct, yes.

A set of bonuses this time for you, Merton College,

on Danish scientists. I need an 11-letter answer here.

In 1897, Bernhard Lauritz Bang

discovered a causative agent of which contagious zoonotic disease,

known in humans as undulant or Malta fever?

Brucellosis.

-Nominate Wiberg.

-Brucellosis.

Correct.

In 1920, August Krogh was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine

for his discovery of the motor regulating mechanism

of which minute blood vessels

that bridge between arterial and venous circulation.

Capillaries, presumably.

Yeah. Probably, bridging.

Capillaries.

Correct.

In the early 20th century, Johannes Schmidt discovered

that European eels migrate to which area of the North Atlantic to spawn?

It takes its name from a genus of free-floating seaweed.

It's the Sargasso Sea.

-Sargasso?

-Yeah.

-The Sargasso Sea.

-Correct.

We're going to take a picture round now.

For your picture starter, you'll see

the flag of a large administrative subdivision of a country.

For ten points, I want you

to name that national subdivision.

Alaska.

Alaska is correct.

Now, if Alaska were an independent nation,

it would displace Iran as the world's 18th-largest country.

Your picture bonuses are the flags of three more sub-national polities,

all of which would be amongst the 20 largest countries in the world,

if independent.

Firstly, for five points,

this sub-national division.

If independent, it would supplant Mexico

as the 14th-largest country in the world.

THEY CONFER

-Nunavut.

-Correct.

Secondly, this sub-national division, if independent,

it would find itself just behind India

as the world's eighth-largest country.

Where could that be?

It might be Russia.

I'm just trying to think of really big places.

I'd be inclined to go for the Sakha Republic.

Shall we just try that?

The Sakha Republic.

Correct.

And finally, this sub-national division that, if independent,

would be the world's 10th-largest state,

being slightly smaller than Kazakhstan.

Oh, that's Western Australia, isn't it?

Yeah.

Western Australia.

Correct. Ten points for this.

From the Urdu for veil or curtain,

what word is used...

Purda.

Purda is correct, yes.

Three questions on British theatre directors for your bonuses,

Merton College. Born in 1925, which theatre director and producer

is noted for his productions of Shakespeare,

the first of which he directed at the age of 20?

He later directed epic works, such as the 1985 Mahabharata.

-Can you remember...?

-Directors?

Um...

Polanski?

-Polanski.

-He's not British.

-No, it's Peter Brook.

Who, in 2013, became the first female artistic director

of the Royal Court Theatre?

She was a founder of the National Theatre of Scotland,

where she commissioned the award-winning play Black Watch.

-Any idea?

-No.

-We don't know.

That was Vicky Featherstone.

And finally, which former director of both the RSC

and the National Theatre

formed his own production company in 1988,

staging The Merchant Of Venice with Dustin Hoffman,

and Coward's Hay Fever with Dame Judi Dench?

-What was the theatre director...? Trevor Nunn.

-Yeah. Go for it.

Trevor Nunn.

No. It was Sir Peter Hall.

Ten points for this.

A special case of interference within thin films,

what optical phenomenon is often used in the quality control

of optical surfaces?

It's observed when light falls on a spherical surface

that's in contact with a flat surface,

and appears as concentric alternating bright and dark rings.

Lens flare.

No. Anyone like to buzz from Merton College?

Newton's rings.

Correct.

You get bonuses on US philosophers, Merton College.

Born in 1839, the US philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce

is generally held to be the founder of which school of philosophy?

It states that an idea can be understood in terms

of its real-life consequences.

Pragmatism.

Pragmatism.

Correct. In the 1903 work Studies In Logical Theory,

which US philosopher put forward a former pragmatism

known as instrumentalism?

Oh... That was Dewey.

Dewey.

Correct.

Pragmatism, A New Name For Some Old Ways Of Thinking

is a 1907 work by which philosopher,

the brother of a major novelist?

-William James.

-I need his given name and surname.

William James.

Correct. Ten points for this.

In 1924, to whom did the publisher Geoffrey Faber write,

"What will impress my directors favourably..."

TS Eliot.

TS Eliot is correct.

These bonuses are on our constellation, Merton College.

The Ancient Greek constellation of Argo Navis

comprises three modern constellations -

Vela, representing the sails,

Puppis the stern,

and which other, representing the keel?

The same word refers to a ridge on the breastbone of a bird.

-I don't know what this is.

-Dorsal maybe?

That's not a constellation.

That's the wrong side.

Sternum.

No, it's Carina.

The white giant Canopus in the constellation Carina

is the second-brightest star in the night sky when viewed from Earth,

and is named after a helmsman of which figure of the Trojan War?

Is that Achilles?

Odysseus?

Helmsman.

Or...

No, Odysseus would make sense because...

Odysseus.

No, it's Menelaus.

What two-word name is commonly given to the feature formed by two

stars in Carina and two stars in Vela that, because of its shape,

is sometimes confused with the constellation Crux?

Is it Lyra?

-That is a constellation.

-OK.

Is it a cross? Is it the Southern Cross?

-No. He just said it is confused with...

-Anything else?

We don't know.

It's the False Cross.

Ten points for this.

In 1946, the letter O vanished, and the letters E-W were changed to a U

in the name of what commercial product,

launched in 1901 by the Falkirk and Glasgow-based Barr family?

Irn-Bru.

Irn-Bru, of course.

Doubtless made you what you are. LAUGHTER

Right, your bonuses are on female authors with male pen names.

The so-called "rustic novels",

La Mare Au Diable, Francois Le Champi

and La Petite Fadette are about love transcending class and convention.

They're among works of which 19th-century French writer?

-A pseudonym.

-I've no idea.

-Just say that. Say the pseudonym.

-What were you saying?

-I've no idea.

-What were you saying?

I don't know what her pseudonym was.

-I can't... I nominate you.

-No!

-I don't know.

-I thought...

-Never mind.

-We don't know. Sorry.

It was George Sand.

Born in 1832, which US author wrote sensationalist stories under

the pseudonym AM Barnard

before finding fame with children's books published under her real name

and based on her own childhood?

Would that be LM Montgomery, Anne Of Green Gables? I don't know.

-Yeah.

-LM Montgomery.

No, it's Louisa May Alcott.

Finally, born Helen Lyndon Goff in 1899,

which Australian-born writer is best known for a series

of children's books about a nanny?

It's not Mary Poppins, is it?

-I've no idea. Who wrote that?

-That's something Travers.

Travers.

Initials, please?

-Oh, no!

-PL.

-PL?

-PL Travers.

-Correct.

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

For your music starter, you'll hear part of an opera.

Ten points if you can identify its composer.

OPERATIC MUSIC PLAYS

Britten.

No. Anyone like to buzz from Merton?

MUSIC RESUMES

Bizet?

No. That was the Witches' Chorus from Verdi's Macbeth.

So ten points for this.

From 1976, the military junta in which country

conducted a violent campaign

of suppression against left-wing opponents...

Is it Chile?

No, I'm afraid you lose five points.

..such as the Montoneros?

Commonly known as the Dirty War, it came to an end following a...

Argentina.

Argentina is correct.

So you failed to identify

the Witches' Chorus from Verdi's Macbeth,

but your music bonuses are three more classical pieces

evoking witches or witchcraft.

Firstly, for five, the original Russian composer of this piece,

here arranged for a full orchestra.

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

Musorgsky.

It is Musorgsky. Secondly, this Spanish composer.

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

THEY CONFER

De Falla.

It is De Falla, yes. It's the Ritual Fire Dance.

And finally, this French composer.

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

THEY CONFER

Berlioz.

Berlioz, part of the Symphonie Fantastique.

OK. Ten points for this.

What is the inverse of the SI derived unit,

whose name is a homophone of the third person singular

of a verb meaning to cause pain?

Capacitance.

No.

Second.

Second is correct, yes.

Well worked out.

Your bonuses are on pairs of place names, Merton College,

in which the final letters of the first name begin the second.

For example, Dewsbury and Bury St Edmunds.

In each case, give both names from the descriptions.

Firstly, the city that gives its name to the 1569 union

of Poland and Lithuania,

and the capital of the US state of Nebraska.

Lublin and Lincoln.

Lublin and Lincoln.

Correct.

Secondly, a large Polish city between Berlin and Warsaw,

and a former capital of China on the Yangtze.

The latter is now the capital of Jiangsu province.

Poznan... Oh, Poznan and Nanking.

Poznan and Nanking.

That's correct. And finally, a major Polish seaport,

and the capital of Macedonia.

Gdansk and Skopje.

Gdansk and Skopje.

Correct. Ten points for this.

The Elements Of Ethics by Hierocles,

the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

and The Discourses Of Epictetus...

Stoicism.

Stoicism is correct.

Your bonuses are on scientific terms.

In each case, name the term from the description.

All three begin with the same four-letter prefix.

Firstly, coined by Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy,

to designate orthodox medical treatment,

what term comes from the Greek for "other than the disease"?

THEY CONFER

No, but its prefix.

Four-letter prefix?

Don't know.

We don't know.

-It's allopathy.

-Oh.

And secondly, what term denotes the regulation of a protein's function,

structure and/or flexibility through the binding of a molecule

at a site other than the active site?

Allo something.

Sorry. My mind's gone blank.

Allocytic?

No.

Just go with it.

Allocytic.

No, it's allosteric regulation.

Finally, what term denotes the phenomenon of biological scaling,

or the study thereof?

It concerns the change in organisms in relations to proportional

changes in size.

Allometry.

Allometry.

Correct.

Right, a picture round now.

For your picture starter, you're going to see an illustration.

For ten points, I want you to identify the artist, please.

Durer.

No.

Dore.

No, it's Arthur Rackham.

So picture bonuses in a moment or two.

Ten points at stake for this starter question. Listen carefully.

To drive from Canada to Mexico, one must pass through at least

three US states - for example, Washington, Oregon and California.

Which state appears in the other four three-state combinations,

this being the result of its characteristic panhandle?

Oklahoma.

No. Anyone want to buzz from Edinburgh?

Texas.

No, it's Idaho. Ten points at stake for this starter question.

In botany, what six-letter term denotes the part of a plant's stamen

that produces and contains pollen?

Anther.

Anther is correct, yes.

All of you failed to identify one of Arthur Rackham's illustrations

of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle.

For your bonuses, you're going to see

three more of those illustrations

and five points in each case if you can identify the character depicted.

Firstly...

Siegfried.

It is Siegfried, yes. Secondly...

Brunnhilde.

It is Brunnhilde.

And finally, how are these characters collectively known?

Are they the...

-It's the German equivalent of that kind of thing.

-Loreleis?

It's one of those mermaid things.

OK.

Loreleis.

-They're the Rhinemaidens.

-OK.

Ten points for this.

120 days separate the dates of birth

of which two British prime ministers,

the 100th anniversaries of which fell in March and July 2016?

The two were in office from 1964 to '76.

Wilson and Heath.

Correct.

These bonuses are on dogs in art.

Born in 1955, which US artist is known for his production

of large stainless-steel balloon animals?

His balloon dog Orange sold for 58 million in 2013.

-Jeff Koons.

-Correct.

Commissioned by Sir Joseph Banks and depicting a dingo,

Portrait Of A Large Dog is by which English artist?

It's one of the first depictions of an Australian animal

in Western art.

No idea.

I've no idea.

Try...Reynolds.

Reynolds.

It was George Stubbs.

And finally, the US artist CM Coolidge

is noted for producing a series of much-reproduced oil paintings,

known collectively by what three-word title,

referring to a leisure activity?

Dogs Playing Poker.

Correct. Four minutes to go. Ten points for this.

Which county follows Kerry, Donegal, Mayo and Galway,

being in ascending order of area,

the five largest counties of the Republic of Ireland?

Mayo.

No. Anyone like to buzz from Merton College?

Kildare.

No, it's Cork.

Ten points for this.

Answer as soon as your name is called.

The number 2001 in ternary,

or base three, corresponds to which...

28.

No. ..to which decimal number? You lose five points.

55.

Correct.

You get a set of bonuses on the Roman historian

Ammianus Marcellinus.

Ammianus's surviving books begin 17 years after

the death of Constantine the Great

and continue until the Battle of Adrianople.

Give any of the three decades that this covers in part or in whole.

Constantine dies in, what, 315?

When did Constantine die?

360s?

-360s.

-360s.

360s.

That will do, yes. The 350s and 370s are the others.

"Experience had taught him that no wild beasts are such

"dangerous enemies to man as Christians are to one another."

Ammianus said this of which emperor,

known as the Apostate?

Julian? Julian.

Correct.

Writing in the late 18th century, which historian described Ammianus

as "an accurate and faithful guy"?

-Gibbon.

-Gibbon.

Gibbon is right. Ten points for this.

The sculptor Edward Hodges Baily and the architect William Railton

are now chiefly remembered for which London landmark,

erected in the early 1840s?

The statue of Eros.

No.

One of you buzz from Edinburgh?

Nelson's Column.

Nelson's Column is correct!

Your bonuses this time, Edinburgh,

are on the scientific names of plants and animals.

The common name of the British bird Aegithalos caudatus

suggests it's a member of the tit family.

"Caudatus" refers to what distinctive part of its body?

What does "cauda" mean?

Cauda is like a bone of some kind of the spine.

In your back.

Its back. Spiny back.

-It's its tail.

-Right.

The plant Hypericum hirsutum, the woodpecker Picoides villosus

and the bat Artibeus hirsutus

all what have what adjective in their common names?

Hairy, hirsutus?

Try it.

Hairy.

Hairy is correct. The sea animals in the genus Hippocampus

and the bat species Rhinolophus hipposideros

both have the name of what mammal name in their common name?

-Horse.

-Horse.

Correct. Ten points for this.

The US physicists Lee, Osheroff and Richardson won the 1996 Nobel Prize

for their discovery of super-fluidity in what isotope?

Helium-3.

Correct.

Your bonuses are on artists. In each case,

name the monarch of England or Great Britain

whose lifetime corresponded most nearly to that of the artist

or artists given.

Firstly, Andrea Mantegna and Sandro Botticelli.

THEY CONFER

I think we'd better have an answer, please.

-Henry VI.

-Henry VI.

No, it's Henry VII. Secondly, Jan Vermeer.

-Come on!

-Charles I.

Charles I.

No, it's Charles II. GONG CRASHES

And at the gong, Edinburgh have got 85

but Merton College, Oxford have 210.

APPLAUSE

Well, it's not a disaster, Edinburgh.

You can come back and have another go at it next time.

We shall look forward to seeing you again.

Merton, many congratulations to you. It's a very impressive performance.

We shall look forward to seeing you in the semifinals.

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

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

-ALL:

-Goodbye.

-..it's goodbye from Merton College, Oxford...

-ALL:

-Goodbye.

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

APPLAUSE