Episode 1 University Challenge

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-Christmas University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. For once, students can put their feet up -

do they ever do anything else? -

for this Christmas series of University Challenge,

in which graduates - some of whom were contemporaries of Erasmus -

demonstrate they're as sharp as ever they were

for the glory of the institutions that made them.

How will they fare when asked the kind of things

we expect students to know?

Ten teams have agreed to compete,

and they'll play in five first-round matches,

the first of which is tonight.

The four winning teams with the highest scores

will go through to the semifinals,

and the chance of some real achievement in their lives at last.

First up, a team who were all graduates of the University of York,

one of the so-called "plate glass" institutions founded in the 1960s.

They include one of the world's leading experts in infectious diseases

and a Visiting Professor of Zoology at Oxford University,

a performer who's won both the Funny Woman Award

and the Best Joke Award at the Edinburgh Festival,

one of the UK's leading political commentators,

also known for his charity work on BBC radio and television,

and the final team member is a contributor to numerous

television and radio programmes and author or that invaluable

self-help manual, How To Clone The Perfect Blonde.

Now let's ask them to introduce themselves in the time-hallowed manner of this programme.

Hello, I'm Chris Dye.

I read biology in the 1970s

and I now work at the World Health Organization.

Hello, I'm Zoe Lyons. I did psychology at York University.

I graduated in 1992, and I'm now a stand-up comedian.

-And their captain.

-I'm Steve Richards.

I did history at York, graduated in 1981.

Now a political columnist for The Independent, and broadcaster.

Hello. I'm Richard Hollingham

and I graduated in 1991 with a degree in

applied and environmental biology,

and I'm a science journalist and author.

APPLAUSE

Now, their opponents are all graduates of the University of Manchester.

The first of them is the co-founder and chairman of one

of Britain's leading companies specialising in urban renewal.

He also happens to be the current Chancellor of Manchester.

Next to him, someone who used a degree in astrophysics to good effect,

and has now become one of the UK's most successful card players.

Their captain is the longest-serving art critic in the national press

and the award-winning presenter of numerous television programmes on the arts.

And finally, a former big cheese on programmes like Inside Story

and Panorama, now that walking oxymoron, a professor of journalism.

But let's hear from them in their own words.

Hi. I'm Tom Bloxham, I was studying politics,

modern history at the University of Manchester, I finished in 1986

and now I work for a company called Urban Splash - property developers.

Hello, I'm Liv Boeree.

I studied physics with astrophysics, graduating in 2005,

and now I'm a poker player and TV presenter.

And their captain.

I'm Waldemar Januszczak when I'm in Poland.

In England, I'm "Wal-da-mar Jan-us-ack".

I studied art history in Manchester in the 1970s,

and now I'm an art critic.

Hello. My name's Steve Hewlett. I studied liberal studies in science,

which in English means history and philosophy of science and biology.

Sounds better than it was, I can promise.

I write for the Guardian and present a media show on Radio Four.

APPLAUSE

OK, well, the rules are the same as they are for the students, of course.

Ten points for starter questions, 15 for bonuses.

Starter questions are solo efforts, bonuses are team efforts.

If you interrupt a starter question with an incorrect answer,

you lose five points.

Fingers on the buzzers. Here's your first starter for 10.

"When a man is tired of London,

"he is tired of life, for there is in London all that life can afford."

These are the words of which literary...

-Samuel Johnson.

-Correct. In 1777.

APPLAUSE

So, York, you get the first set of bonuses. They're on world rulers.

I will read a list of rulers who were on the throne or in power

during the first year of a given century.

In each case, all you have to do is to name the century.

Firstly for five, King Cuthred of Kent,

the Tang Chinese Emperor Deh-Dzung, and the Emperor Charlemagne?

THEY CONFER

-Tenth century or something like that?

-Yeah. Tenth century.

No, it was the ninth century. Secondly, for a possible five, Wenceslas II of Bohemia,

Philip IV of France and James the Just of Aragon?

THEY CONFER

-13th, or...?

-13th or 14th?

-Shall we give a guess for 14th?

-Yeah.

-14th.

-Well done.

And finally for five, Boris Godunov of Russia, Pope Clement VIII,

and the Mughal Emperor Akbar?

17th. 17th.

-17th.

-Correct.

-Another starter question now.

-APPLAUSE

The Inn, Enns, Drava, Tisa and Sava are among tributaries of which river,

formed by the confluence of the Breg and the Brigach,

both of which rise in the Black Forest?

-The Rhine?

-Anyone like to buzz from York?

You may NOT confer. One of you may buzz.

But you're not going to. It's the Danube. Ten points for this.

If the full name of W begins with T, with what letter does

the full name of K begin, in terms of chemical symbols?

-P.

-Correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Piece of cake for you, that one, surely. Right, your bonuses this time are on popular magazines, York.

Founded in 1967, which publication featured an interview in 1010 with General Stanley McChrystal,

then commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan,

which was widely interpreted as being critical of President Obama's team?

THEY CONFER

-Wire.

-Wire?

-Something like that.

-Wire?

No, it's the Rolling Stone magazine. Secondly, published since 1952 and describing itself as

a "unique multimedia magazine", which publication's writers have included

Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons, and editors such as Steve Sutherland and Conor McNicholas?

THEY CONFER

-NME.

-Correct.

A former editor of the NME, Nick Logan, founded which publication

in 1978, whose writers included Miranda Sawyer and Neil Tennant?

-Was it The Face?

-I'd guess The Face.

-The Face?

-No, it's Smash Hits.

10 points for this. In which opera by Verdi

is the title character a hunch-backed court jester,

cursed by the Count of Monterone?

-Rigoletto?

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on swords, York.

In Lewis Carroll's Through The Looking Glass,

the beamish boy uses the vorpal sword

to slay which creature?

You don't need to buzz, just tell us.

-Jabberwocky.

-Jabberwocky.

-The Jabberwock is correct.

In an eponymous song, which paladin of Charlemagne wields Durandal,

a sword he attempts to break when he's close to death

to avoid it being captured by the Saracens?

-We don't know.

-It's Roland.

And finally, for a possible 5, in Malory's La Morte d'Arthur,

which knight throws Excalibur to the Lady Of The Lake

on the death of King Arthur?

-Gawain?

-Ga-what?

Gawain?

-Gawain?

-No, it's Sir Bedivere.

Maybe you'll get going with this picture round, Manchester.

Your picture starter is some lines from Shakespeare,

translated into another language.

10 points if you can identify the play they come from

AND the language of the translation.

No talking.

BUZZER

Twelfth Night, Portuguese?

No. I think you've had long enough to look at this, York.

Will any of you have a go? You'll kick yourselves.

It's Hamlet in Esperanto. We'll see the whole thing. There it is.

LAUGHTER

So picture bonuses shortly.

10 points for a starter question in the meantime.

Answer as soon as you buzz.

Give the pronunciation of all three of the common homophones

that mean, "Mark that shows a proposed insertion in a text,"

"Unit of measure for precious stones,"

and "Metaphorical means of persuasion..."

-Carrot.

-Correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Right, so you get the picture bonuses.

Following that Esperanto translation

of Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy,

your picture bonuses are the titles of three

of Shakespeare's plays in Esperanto.

In each case, I want the name of the play in English. Firstly, for 5.

THEY LAUGH

THEY CONFER

Ooh, that's a good idea.

Shall we try it? Merry Wives Of Windsor. We are...

No.

..guessing knowledgeably.

No, I'm afraid you're definitely NOT guessing knowledgeably.

No, I'll show you.

Secondly...

The something of something.

So what's the of?

Merchant Of Venice?

Merchant Of Venice.

The Merchant Of Venice.

No, it's the wrong number of words, isn't it?

And finally...

Oh, this could be The Merchant Of Venice.

It could be, yeah.

-The Merchant Of Venice.

-Yes, it is. Yes.

-Hurrah.

Right, 10 points for this. In Greek mythology,

the maenads or "raving ones" were the female followers of which god?

BUZZ

-Dionysus?

-Yes!

APPLAUSE

You storm away to a set of bonus questions on chickens.

Firstly, for 5 points.

Known for its aggressive males, which breed of domestic fowl

is thought to be named after a province of northwest Java?

It also gives its name to a weight division in professional boxing.

Yeah, it's bantam.

Correct. Originating from a town between Lyon and Geneva,

which French breed became, in 1957,

the first chicken to be protected by an appellation d'origine controlee?

Lyonnaise chicken?

-Valance?

-No, it's a Poulet De Bresse.

And finally, what name links a young chicken reared for eating

and the painter regarded as a leader

of the French Classical tradition in the 17th century?

In which...? The 17th? Erm...

-Poussin.

-Of course!

LAUGHTER

Right, 10 points for this.

"Man owes his entire existence to the state

"and has his being within it alone."

These are the words

of which German philosopher in a work of 1830?

Hegel?

-Hegel is right, yes.

-APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, Manchester, this time are on diagnostic medical tests.

Firstly, the sweat test measures the amount of sodium chloride

in sweat produced under standard conditions.

What genetic disorder is it used to diagnose?

THEY CONFER

GENETIC disorder?

-Let's have it, please.

-Diabetes?

No, it's cystic fibrosis.

The Heaf and Mantoux tests are skin tests routinely used

to screen for which infectious disease?

Tuberculosis.

-Tuberculosis?

-Correct.

The urea breath test is used to detect Helicobacter pilori.

With which condition is the presence of this bacterium associated?

Ugh.

-Diabetes.

-No, it's stomach ulcers.

10 points for this.

Shared by 12 popes between 140 and 1958,

what name is the Latin form of an English word

meaning dutiful, religious or devout?

Benedict?

No. Anyone like to buzz from York?

It's Pius.

10 points for this.

"The wino bar" is an anagram of the title of which 1915 novel?

Set largely in Nottinghamshire,

its characters include Tom Brangwen and Anna Lensky.

You may not confer!

Women In Love? Sorry, I was trying to think quickly.

York? Not quickly enough or accurately enough.

York, come on.

One of you buzz.

No, I'll tell you. You had the right author. It's The Rainbow.

10 points for this.

What adjective links two-word terms meaning,

in chemistry, ethanol that contains one percent of water by weight,

in politics, a majority over all rivals combined,

and, in physics,

the lowest temperature that is theoretically possible?

Absolute zero?

Yes. "Absolute" is the word I was looking for, but I'll accept that.

Right, so you get a set of bonuses on ancient artefacts, York.

Made of marble, the Salamis Tablet,

discovered on the Greek island of that name in 1846,

is an example of which device,

believe to have been used by Babylonians from around 300 BC?

Any idea at all?

-Astronomical?

-Yeah.

-Some kind of astronomical chart, or...?

A sextant.

-A sextant, for navigation.

-Sext...?

-SexTANT.

-A sextant.

-No, it's a counting board, or calculation device.

A series of coloured strings and knots, thought to have been used

mainly for recording data or for counting, the quipu, Q-U-I-P-U, was

the invention of which civilisation which had no written language?

-Come on, let's have a go, please.

-Aztec.

-No, it's the Incas.

Soroban is the ancient calculating device known in English

by which name, probably deriving from the Hebrew word for dust?

-No.

-We don't know.

-It's abacus.

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

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

All you have to do is give me the name of the composer to get ten points.

ORGAN MUSIC PLAYS

Bach.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

That was his Fantasia in G, one of the organ pieces

selected for the Royal Wedding in April 2011.

For your bonuses, three more pieces played in Westminster Abbey

as the guests were arriving for the ceremony.

All this time by British composers.

In each case, simply name the composer.

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

Vaughan Williams.

No, that was Elgar, Serenade For Strings. Secondly...

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

Vaughan Williams?

No, that was by Benjamin Britten, Courtly Dance V. And finally...

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

You'd better know this!

-Vaughan Williams!

-Correct. Yes.

APPLAUSE

Ten points for this. Which city's being described?

Lying on a coral outcrop in the Indian ocean,

it's first known European visitor was Vasco Da Gama in 1498.

It's separated from the mainland by Tudor Creek

and Kilindini harbour and is the second largest city in Kenya.

Zanzibar.

Oh, no. York, one of you buzz.

-Mombasa.

-Mombasa's right.

Ten points for this. Your bonuses now, York. They're on Jane Austen.

In each case, give the full name of the character

and the work in which she appears.

Firstly, which of Austen's heroines do we first meet at the age of ten?

The author writes,

"Though there might not be much in her first appearance to captivate,

"there was at least nothing to disgust her relations."

-No, we don't know.

-That's Fanny Price in Mansfield Park.

Which character does the author describe as

"Sensible and clever, but eager in everything.

"Her sorrows, her joys could have no moderation.

"She was generous, amiable, interesting.

"She was everything but prudent."

Elizabeth in Pride And Prejudice.

No, it's Marianne Dashwood in Sense And Sensibility.

Finally, "handsome, clever and rich with a comfortable home and happy disposition."

Which heroine had lived nearly 21 years in the world

"with very little to distress or vex her?

-We don't know.

-It's Emma Woodhouse in Emma.

Ten points for this starter question.

Which decade saw the publication of George Eliot's Middlemarch

and Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, the first performance of Bizet's Carmen...

1850s.

No, you lose five points. ..and the first impressionist exhibition in Paris.

One of you may buzz from Manchester.

-1870s.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on explosions, Manchester.

Often regarded as the largest in recorded history,

the eruption of Mount Tambora in April 1815 took place on

the island of Sumbawa in which country?

-Indonesia.

-Correct.

Resulting in what was thought to be the loudest man-made

explosion up to that point, the detonation of 19 mines began

which battle of June 1917, a victory for General Plumer's second army?

-Nominate Steve.

-Vimy Ridge?

No, it was Messines. It became known as Plumer of Messines.

In December 1917, which port in Nova Scotia was

devastated by the explosion of the French ship, Mont Blanc,

the largest manmade explosion of the pre-atomic age?

-Saint John?

-No, it's Halifax. Ten points for this starter question.

Listen carefully. Names denoting the current geological era,

the President of France from 1995 to 2007 and the writing system used

in Bulgarian and Russian, all begin and end with which letter of the...

-C.

-C is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Get these bonuses, you'll take the lead. They're on Russian opera.

Which Russian ruler wrote the libretti for several operas

including Fevey, a fairy-tale opera with music by Pashkevich,

first staged in St Petersburg in 1786?

-Catherine The Great.

-Correct.

Noted for a much-performed overture and based on a poem by Pushkin,

which fairy-tale opera by Glinka

was first staged in St Petersburg in 1842?

-Nutcracker?

-No, it was Ruslan and Ludmilla.

Finally, also based on a work by Pushkin, Dargomyzhsky's opera,

The Stone Guest,

orchestrated by Rimsky-Korsakov and first staged in St Petersburg in 1872,

is a version of the story of which legendary figure?

-Ivan The Terrible?

-No, it was Don Juan, Don Giovanni.

We're going to take another picture round.

For your picture starter, you'll see a painting.

Ten points if you can name the artist please?

Rembrandt.

It is Rembrandt van Rijn, his Mother Reading.

Your bonuses are three works in which the artist

has depicted his mother.

All were painted in Europe within 30 years of each other.

Five points for each artist. Firstly for five.

-Van Gogh?

-That is correct. Portrait Of The Artist's Mother. Secondly.

-Is that Vuillard?

-It is Vuillard, yes. And finally.

-Whistler.

-It is Whistler, of course.

-Well done.

APPLAUSE

Another starter question.

In 2010, an unmanned spacecraft from which country was the first

to return a sample of an asteroid to Earth after...

-Japan.

-Japan is correct, yes.

Get these bonuses and you'll be level-egging.

They're on prime ministers and war.

"Roll up that map, it will not be wanted these ten years."

Which Prime Minister said that on hearing of Napoleon's

victory at Austerlitz?

-Come on, let's have it, please.

-Palmerston?

No, it was Pitt the Younger.

"We are within measurable distance of a real Armageddon which would

"dwarf the Ulster and Nationalist Volunteers to their true proportion.

"Happily, there seems to be no reason why we should be anything more than spectators."

Which Prime Minister wrote those words?

-Gladstone?

-No, it's Asquith, in 1914.

And finally, "We hear war called murder. It is not, it is suicide."

Which Prime Minister wrote those words in 1930?

Come on.

-Was it Ramsay MacDonald?

-Yes, of course it was.

Right, 10 points for this.

Which work of 1949 was described by the Irish Times as

"a play in which nothing happens...twice."?

-Waiting For Godot?

-Yes.

Your bonuses will give you the lead. They're on a British novelist.

According to the Collins Dictionary, dystopian modernity and bleak,

man-made landscapes are among the defining features

of an adjective derived from the surname of which

British novelist, born in China in 1930?

Do we know? Anyone?

-No, we don't know.

-JG Ballard. The adjective is Ballardian.

Ballard wrote two works of fictionalised autobiography.

The first was The Empire Of The Sun. What was its sequel?

-We don't know.

-The Kindness Of Women.

Finally for five, "This author is beyond psychiatric help.

"Do not publish."

This was reputedly the response of a reader at Ballard's

publishers to which of his novels, filmed in 1996 by David Cronenberg?

Crash, was it?

-Crash.

-Correct. You take the lead. Ten points for this.

Answer as soon as you buzz.

Peru and Guinea-Bissau are among six sovereign states with English names that end in the letter U.

The other four are in the Pacific. Ten points to name three.

-Palau, Tuvalu and...

-Quickly.

I'm sorry, I can't accept that. You may not confer. One of you may buzz.

Quickly.

You were on the right lines. Bad luck.

Vanuatu and Nauru were the other ones. Another starter question.

Pronounced differently in each case, which sequence of five letters

ends three common words meaning vocalist, digit and red-haired?

-Er, Inger.

-I-N-G-E-R is correct, yes.

Here are you bonuses. That gives you the lead again.

They're on nebulae named after animals.

Barnard 33 is a dark nebula within the larger nebula of Orion.

What's its common name after its resemblance to part of an animal?

-Come on.

-Horsehead?

-Correct.

Another dark nebula, designated Barnard 72,

in the constellation Ophiuchus, has what common name?

-Crab?

-No, it's the Snake.

Finally, a supernova explosion in the constellation of Taurus was

observed on Earth in the year 1054.

It left behind a pulsar rotating 30 times per second

and what surrounding nebula?

-Crab nebula.

-Correct. Useful having an astrophysicist, eh?

Ten points for this.

Thought to be the first of its kind in the world,

the surcharge on foods that are high in saturated fat was

introduced in October 2011 in which EU member state?

-Denmark.

-Correct. Your bonuses this time are on the House of York.

The first Duke of York, Edmund of Langley,

was the fifth son of which English monarch?

-No idea?

-Come on.

-We don't know.

-It's Edward III.

Killed at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460, Richard Plantagenet, the third Duke of York,

had two sons who became King of England. For five points, name both.

-Come on, we can't hang around.

-Henry and William.

No, Edward IV and Richard III.

Finally, the House of York ruled England from 1461 to 1485...

GONG

York have 120, but Manchester have 125.

Well, who knows what might have happened if we'd gone on another five minutes, but...

Actually, thank all of you very much.

It's very sporting to put your heads above the parapet

and risk having them chopped off. York, we shall have to say goodbye to you.

Manchester, if that's one of the four highest winning scores,

we look forward to seeing you in the semifinals. Thank you all very much.

I hope you can join us next time.

-It's goodbye from York University...

-Goodbye.

-..goodbye from Manchester University.

-ALL: Goodbye.

-And goodbye from me. Goodbye.

APPLAUSE

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