Episode 32 University Challenge

APPLAUSE

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. So far, we've seen St John's College, Cambridge,

and Merton College, Oxford take the first two places

in the semifinals of this competition.

Both teams playing the Cambridge derby tonight

lost their first quarterfinal matches, which means the winners

will earn themselves one last chance to qualify,

while the losers will clamber into their canoe

to paddle across the Slough Of Despond

and we shall see them no more. LAUGHTER

Now, the team from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge,

notched up two solid wins earlier

against Leicester University, with 200 points to 105,

and Magdalen College, Oxford, with 200 points - again - to 155.

The wheel came off, though, during their first quarterfinal match

against Merton College, Oxford,

which left them trailing 270 points to 125 points.

With a timely opportunity to recover their earlier form,

an accumulated score of 525 and an average age of 20,

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

Hi, I'm Theo Tindall, I'm from Backwell near Bristol,

and I'm studying Russian and Arabic.

Hi, I'm Theo Howe, I'm from Forest Hill in Oxfordshire

and I'm reading Japanese studies.

This is their captain.

Hello, I'm Hugh Oxlade, I'm 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

Now, Emmanuel College, Cambridge lost their first quarterfinal match

by 110 points to the 125 of the University of Edinburgh.

But their earlier wins were against Saint Hugh's College, Oxford,

in Round One by 170 to 155,

and Strathclyde University by 170 to 105 in Round Two.

With an accumulated score of 450 and an average age of 19,

let's meet the Emmanuel team again.

Hi, I'm Ed Derby, I'm from Manchester

and I study physics.

Hello, I'm Kitty Chevallier,

I'm from Hampshire and I'm studying Arabic and Hindi.

This is their captain.

Hi, I'm Alex Mistlin, I'm from Islington in north London

and I'm studying politics and international relations.

Hi, I'm James Fraser, I'm from Bristol and I'm reading medicine.

APPLAUSE

OK. Straight into the first starter question.

Fingers on the buzzers, please. Give both answers promptly.

On August 30th 1889, which two authors

did the US publisher Joseph Marshall Stoddart invite

to dinner at the Langham Hotel?

The meeting resulted in the commission of two books

for Lippincott's magazine -

The Sign Of Four and The Picture Of Dorian Gray.

Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on specific works that have been cited

in support of the award of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

In each case, give the author and the decade of the award.

For example, The Forsyte Saga would give John Galsworthy, the 1930s.

Firstly, Buddenbrooks, described by the Nobel committee

as "one of the classic works of contemporary literature."

-Thomas Mann.

-Yeah.

It's Thomas Mann, I think might have been '40s or '50s.

-1940s?

-Or was it earlier than that?

-I think earlier.

-So '40s?

-1940s?

-Not really sure. Go '40s.

-1940s?

Thomas Mann, 1940s?

No, it's Thomas Mann in the 1920s.

Secondly, The History Of Rome, described as "the monumental work

"of the greatest living master of the art of historical writing."

Don't know.

-It's not, like, one of the classic historians?

-So, like, Gibbon?

No, but this is the Nobel Prize, so Taylor or...?

-Taylor, like 1950s?

-Sure.

Taylor, 1950s?

No, it was Theodor Mommsen in the 1900s.

And, finally, cited for its mastery of the art of narrative,

The Old Man And The Sea.

-So it's Hemingway.

-Hemingway, 19... Think it was '50s.

Hemingway, 1950s.

Correct.

APPLAUSE Ten points for this.

In physics, what seven-letter term is used of collisions

in which the total kinetic energy is conserved?

-Elastic.

-Elastic is correct.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on US presidents

and England international footballers.

LAUGHTER

Firstly, what surname links the 28th US President,

inaugurated in the early 20th century,

with England's left back in the 1966 World Cup final?

THEY CONFER QUIETLY

Yeah, it could be, actually. Or it could be...

Taft, possibly?

Wilson's more plausible, isn't it?

-Wilson?

-Wilson is correct.

Woodrow Wilson and Ray Wilson.

Secondly, the second given name of a post-war president,

what is the surname of the England left back

who played in two matches during the 2014 World Cup finals?

So it's Shaw, isn't it?

The second given name, so is that like a middle name or something?

I don't... Shaw, possibly. Or... No.

Baines?

Baines is correct, yes. Lyndon Baines Johnson and Leighton Baines.

And, finally, a more recent president

has what second given name, which is also the surname

of an England right back, who played three times

at the European Championships in 2016?

-Walker.

-Walker is correct.

APPLAUSE Kyle and George Walker Bush.

Ten points for this.

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote his early poem The Book Of The Duchess

in memory of the wife of which royal figure

whose patronage Chaucer enjoyed?

The father of King Henry IV, he's often known by an epithet

denoting the Flemish city of his birth.

John of Gaunt.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on geneticists, Fitzwilliam.

The work of which two US scientists in the Neurospora crassa mould

led to the "one gene, one enzyme" hypothesis?

They shared the 1958 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

-Have you got anything on geneticists at all?

-Absolutely nothing.

LAUGHTER

Let's not waste time, then. We don't know.

It's Beadle and Tatum.

Secondly, which US geneticist publicly derided chromosome theory

for the lack of experimental evidence, and subsequently

discovered sex-linked inheritance in fruit flies?

He won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1933.

You might know. He's big.

-God, no, nothing.

-No, sorry again.

That's Morgan. Thomas Hunt Morgan.

And, finally, which US geneticist pointed out in 1902

that chromosomes obey Mendel's rules?

He thus provided the basis for the chromosome theory of heredity,

independently of the German cytologist Theodor Boveri.

THEY CONFER QUIETLY

I don't know.

No, we don't know that either.

That's Walter Sutton. Right, we're going to take a picture round.

For your picture starter,

you'll see an outline map of Europe

with a number of cities marked.

Ten points if you can give me the final letter

that all their names share.

-Z.

-Z is correct, yes.

Cadiz, Biarritz, Koblenz, Graz and Lodz.

Right, your picture bonuses. Three more maps of Europe.

Again, in each case, simply tell me the final letter

common to the English names of all the cities marked.

Firstly, for five.

So that's Bordeaux.

-X?

-Yeah, Halifax, Bordeaux.

-X?

-X is correct.

Halifax, Bordeaux, Montreux and Chamonix. Secondly...

-Oh, V.

-V, V ,V.

-Kiev.

-V.

-V is correct.

Kiev, Lviv and Kharkiv. And finally...

-Er...W?

-W?

-Yeah, cos Moscow...

-Yeah.

-W?

-W.

Glasgow, Warsaw, and so on.

APPLAUSE Right, ten points for this.

Which three successive letters of the alphabet follow the letters AL,

the first in a word meaning

the height of an aircraft above sea-level,

the second naming a metal...

T-U-V?

T-U-V is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Right, you get a set of bonuses on figures of speech,

with reference to the Monty Python Dead Parrot Sketch.

LAUGHTER Firstly, for five points.

Which expression in the Dead Parrot Sketch

includes an alternative common name of the aster

or composite family of plants?

-Pine?

-Pining for the fjords.

-Oh, pining...?

Pining for the fjords?

-No, it's pushing up the daisies.

-Oh.

LAUGHTER

Secondly, the expression "join the choir invisible"

appears in the title of an 1867 poem by which author?

Her novels include Daniel Deronda and Felix Holt, The Radical.

-George Eliot.

-Correct.

The expression "shuffle off this mortal coil"

appears in Act Three of which of Shakespeare's tragedies?

-Hamlet.

-Correct.

Ten points for this. APPLAUSE

The orthography of which Romance language

includes a dot known as a punt volat, or flown point?

Similar in form to a decimal point,

it occurs between two letter Ls to indicate a specific pronunciation.

The language is the sole official language of Andorra.

-Catalan.

-Catalan is correct.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on Angevin queens of England.

Firstly, in 1191, Berengaria of Navarre married which king?

After their wedding in Cyprus,

she accompanied him to Palestine during the Third Crusade.

Richard Coeur de Lion.

Correct.

Married to King John when she was 12 years old,

which Angevin queen effectively abandoned her children

on her husband's death, to take up her inheritance in France?

-Isabella of Angouleme.

-Correct.

Which Queen of France and later England was the mother-in-law

of both Berengaria of Navarre and Isabella of Angouleme?

Oh, is this going to be Eleanor of Aquitaine?

-Possibly?

-I have no idea.

Eleanor of Aquitaine?

Correct. Ten points for this. APPLAUSE

In medicine, what term denotes an inadequate blood supply

to a part of the body, for example the heart?

An adjectival form of the term appears in the abbreviation TIA.

Ischaemia.

Ischaemia is correct, yes. APPLAUSE

You get a set of bonuses on Icarus,

the son of Daedalus in Greek mythology.

Firstly, portraying the death of Icarus only as an incidental detail,

the 16th-century painting Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus

has generally been attributed to which Flemish artist?

Bruegel the Elder.

-Pieter Bruegel the Elder?

-Correct.

In his 1947 book, Jazz, which French artist portrayed Icarus

as a simple black form against a royal blue background?

-Matisse, isn't it?

-Royal blue and all that.

-Yeah.

-Matisse?

-Matisse is right.

"I'm not the first or last

"To stand on a hillock

"Watching the man she married

"Prove to the world

"He's a total, utter, absolute Grade A pillock."

Which poet wrote those lines reflecting on the myth of Icarus?

-Carol Ann Duffy.

-Correct.

In The World's Wife. APPLAUSE

Right, ten points for this.

Treatise On Instrumentation And Orchestration

was an influential work of 1844 by which French composer?

His works include the comic opera Beatrice And Benedict,

Grande Messe Des Morts,

and the symphony Harold In Italy.

-Berlioz.

-Berlioz is correct.

APPLAUSE

You get a set of bonuses on astrophysics, Emmanuel.

Which German physicist solved

Einstein's equations of general relativity

for a spherically symmetric mass distribution?

In doing so, he predicted the existence of black holes.

No idea.

Schrodinger or something.

It might be Schwarzschild.

Nominate Derby.

Schwarzschild.

Yes, Karl Schwarzschild.

The Schwarzschild radius

measures the size of the event horizon of a nonrotating black hole.

It's given what formula in terms of the gravitational constant, G,

the mass of the hole, M, and the speed of light, c?

No idea.

Do you have any idea?

Anything I can say?

-(G ¸ (M x M)) x c.

-Just say a number!

-Nominate Derby.

-(G ¸ (M x M)) x c.

No, it's (2 x G x M) ¸ (c x c).

And, finally, therefore, how does the density of a black hole change

if its mass increases by a factor of ten?

I'm going to need a precise answer.

It...multiplies by 100.

-Does it increase or decrease the mass?

-Increase.

So it increases by a factor of 100.

It increases by a factor of 100.

No, it falls by a factor of 100. GROANING

Right, ten points for this. Listen carefully.

I need two answers here.

In the mnemonic "Karl Marx gave the proletariat eleven zeppelins, yo,"

if the words "Karl Marx" stand for kilo and mega,

for what do the words "elevens zeppelins" stand?

Zepta and eota?

No. Anyone want to buzz from Emmanuel?

Exa and zepta?

I can't accept that. It's exa and zetta.

Right, ten points for this.

Which novel by Charles Dickens begins with the death

of a wealthy shipping merchant's wife

after giving birth to their second...?

-Is it Dombey And Son?

-It is Dombey And Son, yes.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on literary bad feeling, Fitzwilliam.

The US novelist and essayist Gore Vidal had a long-standing feud

with which fellow author?

In 1971, he head-butted Vidal backstage

during a recording of the Dick Cavett Show.

Think it's Truman Capote.

Truman Capote?

No, it was Norman Mailer, prompting Norman Mailer to say...

Prompting Vidal to say, "Once again, words failed Norman Mailer."

LAUGHTER

Vidal also had a long-standing feud with which author,

born in 1924 in New Orleans, whom Vidal called

"a full-fledged housewife from Kansas with all the prejudices"?

Presumably this is Truman Capote, is it? Is that too late for him?

-'24? Was that Harper?

-But who did you think it was, though?

I was just saying Harper, but Truman Capote, why not?

Let's try Truman Capote again.

That was Truman Capote, yes.

Capote, in turn, condemned the jazz-influenced work

of which US author and poet,

saying of it, "That's not writing, that's typing?"

-Kerouac.

-Jack Kerouac?

Correct.

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

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

Ten points if you can give me the name of the band, please.

'80s MUSIC PLAYS

U2?

U2 is correct.

APPLAUSE

They were named by the music critic Kelefa Sanneh

as a band "often liked by adherents to 'rockism',

"which is defined as the belief that white macho guitar music

"is superior to all other forms of popular music."

Your music bonuses are three guitar solos of a similar ilk.

Firstly, name this band, described in Rolling Stone magazine

as "hammering out one herculean riff after another."

ROCK MUSIC PLAYS

MUSIC DROWNS SPEECH

Is it...AC/DC or...?

AC/DC?

Correct. Secondly, identify this artist.

The music critic Dave Marsh claimed his music

should "shake men's souls

"and make them question the direction of their lives."

NEW ROCK SONG PLAYS

TEAM MEMBER LAUGHS

MUSIC DROWNS SPEECH

Solo artist?

MUSIC DROWNS SPEECH

Geoff Burch?

No, that's Bruce Springsteen. And, finally, who's this?

A Telegraph article claimed that they "weren't the greatest band

"of all time, they were even better than that"!

NEW ROCK SONG PLAYS

MUSIC DROWNS SPEECH

MUSIC DROWNS SPEECH

Oasis?

Good heavens, no! That's Led Zeppelin. LAUGHTER

The immortal Stairway To Heaven. So, ten points for this.

Listen carefully, answer promptly.

If the eight major planets of the solar system

and the first eight elements of the periodic table are both arranged

in ascending order of mass,

which planet is matched with lithium?

Earth.

No. Anyone want to buzz from Emmanuel?

Venus.

Venus is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

So, you retake the lead thereon.

Anthropologists, your bonuses.

Born in Scotland in 1854, which anthropologist was

a prominent scholar of mythology and comparative religion?

-His most notable work is The Golden Bough.

-Fraser!

Nominate Fraser!

Sir James Frazer?

That's correct, yes.

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

Secondly, born in Philadelphia in 1901,

which cultural anthropologist is noted for her work

on adolescents in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific?

Her publications include the much-debated

Coming Of Age In Samoa.

-Um...Margaret Mead?

-Yeah, I'm not sure...

-There's another one that I can't remember.

-Shall we just say it?

Margaret Mead?

Correct. Born in 1908, which French anthropologist

is noted for his development of the theory of structuralism?

-Is this Foucault?

-Probably. Or...

-Could be Derrida.

-Shall we say Foucault?

-Yeah.

-Foucault?

That's Claude Levi-Strauss. Ten points for this.

Which decade saw the publication

of Blaise Pascal's Provincial Letters,

James Harrington's Commonwealth of Oceana

and Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan?

16...40s.

No, you lose five points. The last year of the decade saw

the resignation of Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector of England.

1650s?

Correct.

APPLAUSE

You get a set of bonuses, Fitzwilliam, on the periodic table.

The naming of element 106 caused controversy

because the team that discovered it suggested the name should

reflect that of which chemist, who was still alive at the time?

-Well, it is Seaborgium. Um...

-OK, Seaborg, shall we say?

Wait, did he say it's not... They want the actual...

I think they succeeded, didn't they?

So, let's say...Seaborg.

Correct. Also named after a scientist alive at the time,

what are the names of elements numbers 99 and 100

discovered at the location of the first thermonuclear explosion

in November, 1952?

-That's Einstein and Fermi.

-Do we need to name the elements, though?

Oh, the elements, Einsteinium, Fermium.

Einsteinium and Fermium?

Correct. Give either the name of element 118

or the surname of the living Russian nuclear physicist

of Armenian descent after whom it was named in 2016.

Yeah, so, the element is Oganesson.

Oganesson?

Correct.

APPLAUSE

Ten points for this. The Anvil Chorus

and the Soldiers' Chorus feature in which...?

-Um, Verdi operas, but...

-HE SIGHS

I'm afraid you lose five points.

..feature in which opera first performed in Rome in 1853?

Il trovatore.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

You get a set of bonuses on extinct Indo-European languages,

Emmanuel College.

Lydian, Palaic and Hittite are extinct languages

given a collective name after which peninsula?

It comprises a large part of present-day Turkey.

WHISPERING

Um....

Anatolia? I don't even know of a peninsula...

Shall we say... Anatoly? Anatolic languages?

I'll accept that, yes.

Anatolia is the name I was looking for for the peninsula.

Tocharian A and B are attested by Buddhist texts

from the first millennium of the common era.

They were spoken in the Tarim Basin in which present-day country?

Tarim Basin...

Buddhist, so it's going to be...

-India?

-Could be.

India?

No, they were in China.

Sabine, Oscan and Volscian are extinct languages

of which present-day European country?

-Italy?

-Do you reckon?

-Mm, I don't know, I'm just going with Sabine.

-As in, Rape Of The Sabine Women?

-Well, that's all I'm going with!

Italy?

It is Italy, yes. We're going to take the second picture round now.

For your picture starter, you're going to see a still from a film.

For ten points, I want you to identify the name of the film

and the actor on the right who also directed it.

Unforgiven and Clint Eastwood.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

So, he directed and starred in Unforgiven.

Your bonuses are stills from three more films whose directors

also acted in them.

Each film is preserved in the National Film Registry

of the US Library Of Congress.

Firstly, I want the full four-word title of this film

and its director, seen here on the left.

This Is Spinal Tap and Rob Reiner.

This Is Spinal Tap, Rob Reiner?

Correct. Secondly, again, the title of the film

and the name of the actor and director.

Uh, is that Easy Rider?

-Dennis Hopper?

-Did he direct that?

-Possibly.

-OK.

Easy Rider and Dennis Hopper?

Correct. And, finally, title and actor-director again.

Modern Times and Charlie Chaplin.

Modern Times and Charlie Chaplin?

Correct. Ten points for this.

APPLAUSE

In English grammar, opinion, size, age, shape, colour,

origin and material

is the most usual order of what...?

Adjectives?

Adjectives is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Right, you get a set of bonuses

on the Messner version of the Seven Summits.

That is, the highest mountains on each continent.

In each case, name the peak from its geographical coordinates.

Firstly, 63.07 degrees north,

151 degrees west.

So, it's... Asia? In Asia?

Is that not Everest, then?

Everest?

No, that's Denali, McKinley in North America.

Secondly, 43.35 degrees north,

42.45 degrees east.

Would that be Europe or Asia?

God knows!

-Shall we try...

-Everest, I mean...

-Is this...

-Hmm?

-Is this Europe?

-So, Mont Blanc?

-No, no, no.

-What am I saying?

-Just...Everest?

Everest?

No, it's Elbrus, Europe.

And finally, 78.53 degrees south,

85.62 degrees west.

Is that Aconcagua?

..South America, so Aconcagua?

Aconcagua?

No, that's the Vinson Massif in Antarctica.

There are 3.5 minutes to go and there's ten points for this.

The history of King Richard III was written in the 1510s

by which statesman?

From 1518, he served on Henry VIII's Privy Council,

and later became Lord Chancellor.

Thomas Cromwell?

No, anyone like to buzz from Emmanuel?

Francis Bacon?

No, it was Sir Thomas More.

Ten points for this starter question.

Talas, Jalal, Abad, Osh and Batken

are among the oblast, or administrative regions,

of which central Asian country?

Kyrgyzstan?

Kyrgyzstan is correct.

APPLAUSE

You get three bonuses on helium.

"The helium capital of the world" is an epithet

of which city in the Texas Panhandle?

Its name is the Spanish word for the colour yellow.

-SEVERAL:

-Amarillo.

-Amarillo?

Amarillo is correct.

The United States produces a large proportion of the world's helium,

recovering it from what other specific product?

And I need a two-word answer.

HE GROANS

It's a by-product of

radioactive decay.

Some sort of ore.

Iron ore?

Iron ore?

-No, it's natural gas. ALL:

-Ah!

The helium in natural gas comes from radioactive decay.

What term denotes particles

that are the nucleus of a Helium-4 atom?

Alpha particle.

Alpha particle?

Correct. Ten points for this. APPLAUSE

I need a precise answer here.

In the opening scene of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night,

what seven words precede, "Play on, give me excess of it..."

"If music be the food of love"?

"If music be the food of love" is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on excursions.

Who wrote the 1863 anthology Excursions, a series of essays

that includes A Walk To Wachusett

and Natural History Of Massachusetts?

Mark Twain?

No, it's Henry David Thoreau.

The Steam Excursions is a short story by Charles Dickens

that forms one of the so-called Tales

in which collection known by a three-word name?

Pass.

They're Sketches By Boz.

Which 1974 novel by Beryl Bainbridge describes a series of

darkly comic events that occur during the annual excursion

of a glass manufacturing company?

Pass.

That's The Bottle Factory Outing. Ten points for this.

Curicta is the Latin name for which island off the coast of Croatia,

noted for the discovery of the stone slab known as the Baska Tablet?

It has a three-letter name that contains no vowels.

Tyr?

No, anyone want to buzz from Emmanuel?

-Lys?

-No, its Krk. Ten points for this.

Lan Xang, or kingdom of the million elephants,

was an early polity in which present-day country?

It flourished from the 14th century until the 18th,

and later became part of French Indochina.

Thailand.

No, anyone like to buzz from Fitzwilliam?

Vietnam?

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

Rearranging the letters of the chemical formula for

table salt gives what word, meaning a large...?

Clan.

Clan is correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses now are on perpendicular Gothic architecture.

In each case, name the county in which the following churches

are located. Firstly, Tattersall, Thirlby and Louth.

Uh, Lancashire?

GONG BOOMS

APPLAUSE

At the gong, Emmanuel College, Cambridge have 150.

Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge have 175.

APPLAUSE

Well, that was a great game, and it was very, very close.

And you very nearly took it, Emmanuel.

Who knows what would have happened if we'd gone on another few minutes.

Who can say? But thank you very much for joining us.

We're going to have to say goodbye to you.

Fitzwilliam, congratulations, you get another chance to

stay in the competition, so many congratulations to you.

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

But until then, it's goodbye from Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

-ALL:

-Goodbye.

-And it's goodbye from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.

-ALL:

-Goodbye.

-And it's goodbye from me - goodbye.