0:00:17 > 0:00:19APPLAUSE
0:00:19 > 0:00:24Christmas University Challenge. Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.
0:00:27 > 0:00:28Hello.
0:00:28 > 0:00:3114 teams have helped us survive the holiday season
0:00:31 > 0:00:33by entertaining us with their general knowledge.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36We've asked every conceivable question about reindeer,
0:00:36 > 0:00:38the 12 Days of Christmas and poinsettia,
0:00:38 > 0:00:40and now before we take down the tinsel,
0:00:40 > 0:00:43we've reached the final match. In just under half an hour,
0:00:43 > 0:00:46one of these two teams will have climbed a little belatedly
0:00:46 > 0:00:48to the top of the tree and made our Christmas.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51They get to crack open the bottle of cooking sherry
0:00:51 > 0:00:53and communal mince pie which is their reward
0:00:53 > 0:00:55for risking embarrassment in front of millions.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59Now, the team from New College, Oxford won their first round match
0:00:59 > 0:01:03with a score of 240 and their semi-final with 220.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06They clearly read a lot and not just what they've written themselves.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09The last time we saw them they demonstrated a knowledge
0:01:09 > 0:01:11of sensational novels of the 19th century
0:01:11 > 0:01:15and infectious diseases and they could spell diphthong.
0:01:15 > 0:01:16Let's meet them again.
0:01:16 > 0:01:21I'm Rachel Johnson, I read classics. I'm a journalist and novelist.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25Hello, I'm Patrick Gale. I read English and I'm a novelist.
0:01:25 > 0:01:26And their captain.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28Hello, I'm Kate Mosse, I read English
0:01:28 > 0:01:31and I'm a novelist and playwright.
0:01:31 > 0:01:32Hello, I'm Yan Wong.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36I read Biological Sciences and I'm a researcher and science broadcaster.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39APPLAUSE
0:01:41 > 0:01:45The team from the University of East Anglia greeted both their victories
0:01:45 > 0:01:48with what was either a becoming modesty or else total astonishment.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51On their last outing, they were particularly hot
0:01:51 > 0:01:54on Kate Bush, Franz Kafka and plays about scientists.
0:01:54 > 0:01:55Let's meet them again.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57Hello, I'm John Boyne.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00I graduated in Creative Writing and I'm a novelist.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03Hello, I'm Razia Iqbal. I graduated in American Studies
0:02:03 > 0:02:06and I present the BBC World Service programme Newshour.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08- And their captain. - Hello, I'm David Grossman.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12I studied Politics at UEA and now I'm a political journalist.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15Hi, I'm Charlie Higson. I studied Literature and Film
0:02:15 > 0:02:18and I now mainly write children's books about zombies.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20APPLAUSE
0:02:23 > 0:02:27You must all know the rules by now so let's just get on with it.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29Fingers on buzzers, here's the first starter for 10.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32Which fictional city of London clerk wrote,
0:02:32 > 0:02:36"I am a poor man but I would gladly give 10 shillings to find out
0:02:36 > 0:02:39"who sent me the insulting Christmas card I received this morning."
0:02:39 > 0:02:41These words appear...
0:02:42 > 0:02:46- Pooter, Diary of a Nobody.- Correct. Charles Pooter is right.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48APPLAUSE
0:02:48 > 0:02:52First set of bonuses, New College, are on black pudding.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56Firstly, for five points, in France, which two-word name denotes
0:02:56 > 0:02:58a former black pudding made from pig's blood, fat, cream,
0:02:58 > 0:03:01salt and onions?
0:03:01 > 0:03:02- Boudin noir.- Correct.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05The birthplace of Sir Robert Peel,
0:03:05 > 0:03:07which Lancashire town on the River Irwell
0:03:07 > 0:03:10is especially noted for its black pudding?
0:03:10 > 0:03:12- Do we know that?- No.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20Lake District? Chorley? Never even heard of Chorley.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23- Carlisle.- Carlisle? - We're just going for things...
0:03:23 > 0:03:25Carlisle isn't even in Lancashire, is it?
0:03:25 > 0:03:27- We told her that.- It's Bury.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29In which novel of 1980 set in 1327
0:03:29 > 0:03:32is the making of black puddings interrupted when the body
0:03:32 > 0:03:36of the Monk Venantius is discovered in a cauldron of pig's blood?
0:03:36 > 0:03:38The Name of the Rose.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41- The Name of the Rose. - Correct. 10 points for this.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43Popular at Christmas time,
0:03:43 > 0:03:47which small citrus fruit derives its name from a Moroccan port?
0:03:48 > 0:03:50- Tangerine.- Correct, from Tangier.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53APPLAUSE
0:03:53 > 0:03:58Your first set of bonuses are on Germanic kings, UEA.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02Geiseric was king of which Germanic people from AD 428?
0:04:02 > 0:04:05He moved his people from Spain to North Africa
0:04:05 > 0:04:07and sacked and plundered Rome in 455.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11- Goths or the Vandals? Vandals? - Go for it.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14- Go on.- The Vandals. - Correct.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17Under King Audoin, which people crossed the Alps
0:04:17 > 0:04:21and in 572 established a hegemony centred on the city of Pavia?
0:04:21 > 0:04:24They give their name to a present day region of Northern Italy.
0:04:28 > 0:04:33- Lombard?- Might as well try. Go for it.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35- Lombards.- Correct.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37At the Third Council of Toledo in 589,
0:04:37 > 0:04:42King Reccared renounced his Arian faith and accepted Catholicism.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44Of which Germanic people was he the ruler?
0:04:47 > 0:04:48The Goths.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00- The Goths.- Specifically? - Visigoths.- Correct.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02APPLAUSE
0:05:04 > 0:05:0610 points for this.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09George Herbert, Henry Vaughan and Abraham Cowley
0:05:09 > 0:05:12are among poets often given which collective name...?
0:05:12 > 0:05:15- The Metaphysical poets.- Correct.
0:05:15 > 0:05:17APPLAUSE
0:05:17 > 0:05:20Your bonuses are on royal appointments. In each case,
0:05:20 > 0:05:23give the position that all three of the following have held.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27Firstly, Nicholas Staggins, Walford Davies and Arthur Bliss.
0:05:27 > 0:05:29Master of the Queen's Music.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32- Master of the Queen's Music. - Correct, or King's Music.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35Benjamin West, Anthony Blunt and Desmond Shawe-Taylor.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38- Queen's Pictures. - Keeper of the Queen's pictures.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40Keeper of the Queen's Pictures.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42No, it's Surveyor of the Queen's or King's Pictures.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Thirdly, Nathaniel Bliss, Richard van der Riet Woolley
0:05:45 > 0:05:48and Arnold Wolfendale.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56- Royal Physician?- I don't know. The Royal Physician.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58No, they're Astronomers Royal.
0:05:58 > 0:06:0010 points for this, during the 17th century,
0:06:00 > 0:06:04the Main Plot and the By Plot were both directed against which king?
0:06:04 > 0:06:09The first aimed to replace him with his cousin, Arabella Stuart...
0:06:09 > 0:06:10- James I.- Correct.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13APPLAUSE
0:06:13 > 0:06:16These bonuses are on literary characters as described
0:06:16 > 0:06:18by EM Forster in Aspects of the Novel.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21In each case, identify the character from the description.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25Firstly, "A character physically with hard plump limbs
0:06:25 > 0:06:29"that get into bed and pick pockets. Husbands were her earlier employ.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31"She was trigamous if not quadrigamous
0:06:31 > 0:06:35"and one of her husbands turned out to be her brother."
0:06:35 > 0:06:38- Moll Flanders? Moll Flanders.- Correct.
0:06:38 > 0:06:39"She is that damsel for love
0:06:39 > 0:06:43"of whom all the undergraduates of Oxford except one
0:06:43 > 0:06:44"drown themselves during Eights Week
0:06:44 > 0:06:46"and he threw himself out of a window."
0:06:46 > 0:06:48- Zuleika Dobson.- Correct.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51"Cut out of the same simple material as her dog, but at the end
0:06:51 > 0:06:54"there is a catastrophe. Her two daughters come to grief.
0:06:54 > 0:06:55"Julia elopes,
0:06:55 > 0:06:59"Maria, who is unhappily married, runs off with a lover."
0:06:59 > 0:07:02- Lady Bertram. - Correct, in Mansfield Park.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04We're going to take a picture round.
0:07:04 > 0:07:05For your picture starter,
0:07:05 > 0:07:09you'll see a map with a province of the Roman Empire highlighted.
0:07:09 > 0:07:1110 points if you can name the province.
0:07:16 > 0:07:17Palestine.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20One of you may buzz from New College.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23Is it Judea and Sumeria?
0:07:23 > 0:07:26No, it's not. It's Judaea. Sumeria was another province.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28We're going to take the picture bonuses in a moment or two.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31In the meantime, here is another starter question.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33Listen carefully and answer as soon is your name is called.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36What is the cube root of the number of days
0:07:36 > 0:07:39spanned by the Jewish festival of Hanukkah?
0:07:43 > 0:07:46- Three.- No.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50New College, one of you buzz, you may not confer.
0:07:50 > 0:07:51Five.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54No, it's two. Hanukkah lasts eight days. 10 points for this.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56Which character in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
0:07:56 > 0:08:00shares his name with a fruit? The latter has a tough flesh...
0:08:00 > 0:08:02- Peter Quince.- Correct.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05APPLAUSE
0:08:05 > 0:08:07You get the picture bonuses.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09According to the Bible, Jesus was born in Judea.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12For your picture bonuses, you'll see three other provinces
0:08:12 > 0:08:14of the Roman Empire at the time of Jesus.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17In each case, I want you to identify the province.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19Firstly for five.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23It's red.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27Carthage?
0:08:27 > 0:08:29Was it called Carthage?
0:08:29 > 0:08:31No, it's in North Africa.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34- What did the Romans call it? - It's not Antioch?
0:08:34 > 0:08:38- No, that was Turkey. - Do we have any idea?
0:08:38 > 0:08:41- It is good a bet as any. - Say Carthage.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44- Carthage.- No, it's Africa. Secondly.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47LAUGHTER
0:08:47 > 0:08:51OK, come on, middle of Greece, what's that? Macedonia?
0:08:51 > 0:08:54Thessaly? I'm so bad at this. Is it Thessaly?
0:08:54 > 0:08:58- Magna Graecia. - No, it's Macedonia, and finally.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04That's Spain and Portugal. Iberia.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07- Iberia.- No, that's Lusitania. 10 points for this.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10The Revolutionary Socialist League formed in Germany
0:09:10 > 0:09:12during the First World War by Karl Liebknecht
0:09:12 > 0:09:15and Rosa Luxembourg later became the German Communist Party
0:09:15 > 0:09:19and was named after which Thracian gladiator who led a slave revolt...?
0:09:21 > 0:09:23- Spartacus.- Spartacus is right.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25APPLAUSE
0:09:25 > 0:09:27These bonuses, New College,
0:09:27 > 0:09:29are on railway history in the United States.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33Firstly for five points, in 1872, which US engineer patented
0:09:33 > 0:09:37a failsafe air brake system that had a marked effect on railway safety?
0:09:37 > 0:09:40He was also a pioneer in the use of alternating current.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44Alternating current is...Tesla.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48- Tesla.- Tesla. - No, it's George Westinghouse.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52In 1877, a nationwide railroad strike was suppressed by armed force
0:09:52 > 0:09:53with over 100 deaths.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57Which US president authorised the use of federal troops?
0:09:57 > 0:10:01- 1877?- 1870.- 1870, do we know?
0:10:03 > 0:10:07- Theodore Roosevelt.- Say Roosevelt.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10- Roosevelt.- No, it's Rutherford B Hayes.- Sorry.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13Finally, which major New York station opened officially in 1913
0:10:13 > 0:10:17after investment from the shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt?
0:10:19 > 0:10:23- Grand Central Station.- Grand Central is correct, 10 points for this.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26Spell the six letter name of the building designed
0:10:26 > 0:10:30by Richard Rogers Partnership that opened on St David's Day...
0:10:33 > 0:10:37- L-L-O-Y-D-S.- No, I'm sorry. You lose five points.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40..St David's Day, 2006, to house the Welsh Assembly.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45- That's in Cardiff... - You may not confer!
0:10:49 > 0:10:50I can't spell.
0:10:50 > 0:10:55Right, OK, it's the Senedd. S-E-N-E-D-D.
0:10:55 > 0:10:56Right, 10 points for this.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01Footfalls, Ohio Impromptu and Catastrophe are among stage works
0:11:01 > 0:11:03written during the latter part of the life
0:11:03 > 0:11:05of which Dublin-born playwright?
0:11:08 > 0:11:11- Samuel Beckett.- Correct.
0:11:11 > 0:11:12APPLAUSE
0:11:12 > 0:11:15New College, your bonuses are on words that with the substitution
0:11:15 > 0:11:18of the initial letter become the name of a chemical element.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20In each case, give both words from the description.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Firstly, small platform from which a speaker addresses an audience
0:11:24 > 0:11:28and alkali metal that appears below lithium on the periodic table.
0:11:28 > 0:11:29Rostrum.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36- Below lithium? Beryllium. - Change the first letter.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39- What's something that sounds like... - Nostrum?
0:11:39 > 0:11:43It's not rostrum. Below lithium is...sodium!
0:11:43 > 0:11:45Podium and sodium.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48- Podium and sodium.- Very good.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50Trademark of the tranquiliser diazepam
0:11:50 > 0:11:53and neo-Latin name for potassium
0:11:53 > 0:11:56from which this element's chemical symbol is derived.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00Natrium and Valium.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02Natrium and Valium?
0:12:02 > 0:12:05Valium and kalium. And finally, part of the skull that encloses the brain
0:12:05 > 0:12:09and radioactive element whose isotopes include 235 and 238?
0:12:09 > 0:12:13- Uranium?- Uranium and cranium. - Correct.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17Ten points for this. "From a private gentlewoman he made me a marchioness.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21"From a marchioness a queen and now he hath left no higher degree of honour,
0:12:21 > 0:12:24"he gives my innocency the crown of martyrdom."
0:12:24 > 0:12:28These are the words of which royal figure shortly before her death in 1536?
0:12:28 > 0:12:29BUZZER
0:12:31 > 0:12:34Sorry, no. It's not who I thought it was.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36New College, one of you buzz?
0:12:36 > 0:12:37BUZZER
0:12:37 > 0:12:41- Lady Jane Grey.- No, it's Anne Boleyn. Ten points for this.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45"In which it is proved that notwithstanding their names ending
0:12:45 > 0:12:49"in -os and -is, the heroes of the story we are about to have the honour to relate to our readers
0:12:49 > 0:12:52"have nothing mythological about them."
0:12:52 > 0:12:57These words begin the author's preface to which a French novel of 1844?
0:12:57 > 0:12:58BUZZER
0:12:58 > 0:13:00- The Three Musketeers.- Correct.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03APPLAUSE
0:13:03 > 0:13:06Your bonuses, UEA, are on The World's Wife.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09A series of poems by Carol Ann Duffy in which she writes
0:13:09 > 0:13:12in the imagined voices of the wives of historical characters.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16In each case, identify the historical figure whose wife has the following lines.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19"7th April 1852, went to the zoo.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24"I said to him, something about that chimp over there reminds me of you."
0:13:24 > 0:13:26- Charles Darwin.- Correct.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30"He lived, I saw the horror on his face. I heard his mother's crazy song
0:13:30 > 0:13:34"I breathed his stench; my bridegroom in his rotting shroud."
0:13:39 > 0:13:42- These are real historical figures. - Yeah.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48THEY CONFER
0:13:54 > 0:13:56We don't know.
0:13:56 > 0:14:02It's Lazarus. And finally, "My living, laughing love - I hold him in the casket of my widow's head.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05"As he held me upon that next best bed."
0:14:07 > 0:14:08THEY CONFER
0:14:08 > 0:14:10- Shakespeare?- Yeah.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14- Shakespeare.- Yes, famously. Ten points for this, it's a music round.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17You will hear a piece of classical music -
0:14:17 > 0:14:20just give me the name of the composer, please.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22MUSIC PLAYS
0:14:22 > 0:14:23BUZZER
0:14:23 > 0:14:26Bach, Johann S Bach.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28Correct, it's Christmas Oratorio.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31We follow on from Bach's Christmas Oratorio with three more
0:14:31 > 0:14:35classical pieces pertaining to Christmas, five points for each composer.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37Firstly, this French composer.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39MUSIC PLAYS
0:14:41 > 0:14:42Bizet.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45No, it's Berlioz's L'enfance du Christ.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48Secondly, this Italian composer.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50MUSIC PLAYS
0:14:55 > 0:14:58THEY CONFER
0:15:08 > 0:15:10OK.
0:15:10 > 0:15:11We're going for Corelli.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14No, it's Vivaldi. His Santissimo Natale.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16And finally, this composer.
0:15:16 > 0:15:17MUSIC PLAYS
0:15:20 > 0:15:22- Handel.- It is indeed the Messiah.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24Right, ten points for this.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27Recent winners of which literary award include
0:15:27 > 0:15:30Diana Athill, Francis King and Al Alvarez?
0:15:30 > 0:15:31BUZZER
0:15:31 > 0:15:33Is it the Samuel Johnson Prize?
0:15:33 > 0:15:35No, you're going to lose five points, I'm afraid.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Awarded for lifetime achievement rather than for a single work,
0:15:38 > 0:15:43it's named after its founder, the early 20 century poet and essayist who wrote the words...
0:15:43 > 0:15:45- You may not confer!- I'm sorry!
0:15:45 > 0:15:47..who wrote the words to Land of Hope and Glory
0:15:47 > 0:15:50and whose brother wrote the Mapp and Lucia novels.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57- Hammerstein...- You may not confer!
0:15:57 > 0:15:58BUZZER
0:15:58 > 0:16:00The Benson Award.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02The Benson medal is correct, well done.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05APPLAUSE
0:16:05 > 0:16:07Right, your bonuses are on the human body.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10What name is given to the point between one nerve cell and another
0:16:10 > 0:16:14at which the transmission of an impulse takes place.
0:16:14 > 0:16:15- Synapse.- Correct.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18What term denotes a chemical released by a nerve ending
0:16:18 > 0:16:23on the arrival of an impulse and crosses the synapse to excite or inhibit the post-synaptic cell?
0:16:23 > 0:16:26- Nominate Wong.- Neurotransmitter.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29Correct. The term synapsis is used for the interlocking pairing
0:16:29 > 0:16:32of homologous chromosomes during what form of cell division
0:16:32 > 0:16:34also called reduction division?
0:16:36 > 0:16:38And nominate Wong!
0:16:38 > 0:16:39Um...Meiosis.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41Meiosis is right. Ten points for this.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45Born in the Spanish Basque country in 1770, the naval officer
0:16:45 > 0:16:49and ambassador Don Miguel Ricardo de Alava had the rare distinction
0:16:49 > 0:16:52of being present at which two crucial military events,
0:16:52 > 0:16:56both of which give their names to well-known locations in London.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58BUZZER
0:16:58 > 0:17:00- Trafalgar and Waterloo.- Correct.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04APPLAUSE
0:17:04 > 0:17:07You get bonuses on group pseudonyms, UEA.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09A historical novel about the 16th century reformation,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12Q was written by four Bologna-based anarchists
0:17:12 > 0:17:16who used the name of which former AC Milan and Watford footballer
0:17:16 > 0:17:17as their pseudonym?
0:17:19 > 0:17:21AC Milan and Watford.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23THEY CONFER
0:17:23 > 0:17:24No idea.
0:17:24 > 0:17:26AC Milan and Watford.
0:17:27 > 0:17:28We don't know.
0:17:28 > 0:17:29That's Luther Blissett.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33Which pseudonymous author was created in 1929
0:17:33 > 0:17:35by Frederic Dannay and Manfred B Lee,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38who gave their fictional detective the same name?
0:17:38 > 0:17:41An influential crime fiction magazine,
0:17:41 > 0:17:44first published in 1941, is also named after him.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46- Ellery Queen?- Yeah.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49Ellery Queen? Ellery Queen?
0:17:49 > 0:17:50ALL: Yes.
0:17:50 > 0:17:51Ellery Queen.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53Well done.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56In 1935, the name Nicolas Bourbaki was first used
0:17:56 > 0:17:59by a group of French academics working in which field?
0:18:00 > 0:18:03- French academics. - What year did he say? '35.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06- Something to do with the question. - Something to do with...?
0:18:06 > 0:18:10Well, the question was to do with novels, no? I thought it was.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14- Philosophy.- Philosophy.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16No, it's mathematics. 10 points for this.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18September 2012 marked the centenary of the birth
0:18:18 > 0:18:20of which US avant-garde composer,
0:18:20 > 0:18:23whose works include Imaginary Landscape No. 4?
0:18:24 > 0:18:26- John Cage.- Correct.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29APPLAUSE
0:18:29 > 0:18:33East Anglia, these bonuses are on shorter words that can be made
0:18:33 > 0:18:36using any of the seven letters of the word "prudish".
0:18:36 > 0:18:39In each case, give the word from the definition.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42Firstly, the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet,
0:18:42 > 0:18:44used to represent the golden ratio.
0:18:46 > 0:18:48- Is it pi?- Pi. Pi?- Pi?
0:18:50 > 0:18:51Yeah.
0:18:51 > 0:18:52Pi.
0:18:52 > 0:18:53No, it's phi.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57In phonetics, an unvoiced consonant, for example k, s or t,
0:18:57 > 0:19:01and in mathematics, an irrational number or the root of an integer.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04Root of an integer.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10No idea.
0:19:10 > 0:19:11No.
0:19:13 > 0:19:14Come on, let's have it.
0:19:14 > 0:19:15No, we don't know.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17It's a surd.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19The initials of the political party whose leaders have included
0:19:19 > 0:19:21Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson.
0:19:21 > 0:19:22- DUP.- DUP.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24- DUP.- Correct. 10 points for this.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27Listen carefully and answer as soon as your name is called.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31In an ideal gas consisting of molecules with mass m,
0:19:31 > 0:19:34if the mass if the molecules is increased by a factor of four,
0:19:34 > 0:19:38by what factor is the speed of sound in the gas changed?
0:19:46 > 0:19:47Two.
0:19:47 > 0:19:48No.
0:19:51 > 0:19:52Eight.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54It's halved. 10 points for this.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57The 2012 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition featured
0:19:57 > 0:20:00a display of which former landmass between Scotland, Denmark
0:20:00 > 0:20:02and the Channel Islands?
0:20:02 > 0:20:04Flooded by ice melt thousands of years ago,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07it is named after a large sand bank in the North Sea.
0:20:09 > 0:20:10Dogger. Doggerland.
0:20:10 > 0:20:11Doggerland is correct, yes.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13APPLAUSE
0:20:14 > 0:20:16These bonuses are on physics.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20The physicist Andre Geim of the University of Manchester
0:20:20 > 0:20:23is the only person so far to have won both a Nobel Prize
0:20:23 > 0:20:26and what other award, which he received in 2000
0:20:26 > 0:20:27for an experiment on a frog?
0:20:32 > 0:20:33(Experiment on a frog.)
0:20:35 > 0:20:37Chemistry award?
0:20:37 > 0:20:39THEY CONFER
0:20:41 > 0:20:42Come on.
0:20:42 > 0:20:43Royal Society Award?
0:20:43 > 0:20:45Could be.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47Let's have an answer, please.
0:20:47 > 0:20:48Royal Society Award.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50- No, it's an Ig Nobel Prize.- Ah!
0:20:50 > 0:20:53Geim shared the 2000 Physics Ig Nobel Prize
0:20:53 > 0:20:57for levitating a frog using a superconducting magnet.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00An effect that relied on what physical property
0:21:00 > 0:21:02of the water in the frog?
0:21:02 > 0:21:04The magnetic dipole of the water.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06Yes, diamagnetism.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09The Physics Ig Nobel Prize for 2011 recognised research
0:21:09 > 0:21:11into the side effects of two athletic events,
0:21:11 > 0:21:14one of which often induces dizziness while the other does not,
0:21:14 > 0:21:18despite having an apparently similar action. Name both events.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22Ballet dancing, and...
0:21:22 > 0:21:26- The Ig Nobel, it'll be really silly. - Ig Nobel, yeah.- Really silly.
0:21:27 > 0:21:28Pirouetting.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30- Trampolining?- Trampolining.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32- We don't know, do we?- No.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35We're going to say drinking and trampolining.
0:21:35 > 0:21:36No, it's discus and the hammer.
0:21:36 > 0:21:38Apparently, it's the discus that makes you dizzy.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40We're going to take another picture round now.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43For your picture starter you'll see a painting of the Virgin Mary.
0:21:43 > 0:21:4610 points if you can give me the name of the artist.
0:21:49 > 0:21:51Andrea del Sarto?
0:21:51 > 0:21:55No. University of East Anglia, one of you like to buzz?
0:21:56 > 0:21:57Titian.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59No, it's Bellini.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01And so, picture bonuses in a moment or two.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03Another starter question in the meantime.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Which French novelist links the titles of two books,
0:22:06 > 0:22:08one by the US journalist Jonah Lehrer
0:22:08 > 0:22:10claiming that he was a neuroscientist,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14the other by Alain de Botton telling us how he can change your life?
0:22:16 > 0:22:17- Proust.- Proust is correct, yes.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19APPLAUSE
0:22:21 > 0:22:24So, you recall a moment ago we saw Bellini's Madonna of the Trees.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26You'll see three more depictions of the virgin
0:22:26 > 0:22:28and child for your bonuses. Five points in each case.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32I want the name of the style or movement that each typifies.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35Firstly for five points, what two-word term has applied
0:22:35 > 0:22:39from the 19th century onwards to the style of which this is an example?
0:22:40 > 0:22:43I cant even start to think what that would be.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45Two words. A two-word term for it.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50THEY CONFER
0:22:52 > 0:22:53We don't know, sorry.
0:22:53 > 0:22:54That's International Gothic.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57And secondly, what artistic style is typified by this work?
0:23:01 > 0:23:03Mannerism? I'd say Mannerism.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06- What do you say?- I don't know.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09- Go with Mannerism.- Go with Mannerism.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11- Mannerism.- It is Mannerism, yes.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13And finally, this work is by an artist
0:23:13 > 0:23:15associated with which movement?
0:23:15 > 0:23:17Pre-Raphaelite.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19Yeah. I would say pre-Raphaelite.
0:23:19 > 0:23:20Pre-Raphaelite?
0:23:20 > 0:23:21Pre-Raphaelite.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23It is. That's Burne-Jones. 10 points for this.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26What did the US academic Aaron Levenstein
0:23:26 > 0:23:30compare to a bikini, observing that "what they reveal is suggestive...?"
0:23:32 > 0:23:33Statistics.
0:23:33 > 0:23:34Correct, yes.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39Three questions on languages of the Caucasus for you,
0:23:39 > 0:23:41University of East Anglia.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43Noted for their unusually large number of consonants,
0:23:43 > 0:23:46the North Caucasian language family includes the official
0:23:46 > 0:23:49language of which breakaway republic on the Black Sea?
0:23:51 > 0:23:54Breakaway republics on the Black Sea, what have we got?
0:23:56 > 0:23:59- Azerbaijan. - Are they a breakaway republic?
0:23:59 > 0:24:03- Are they a breakaway republic? - Come on, let's have it, please.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05Azerbaijan.
0:24:05 > 0:24:06No, it's Abkhazia.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09Secondly, the national language of which former Soviet republic
0:24:09 > 0:24:13is the principal member of the South Caucasian family of languages?
0:24:16 > 0:24:18Which former Soviet republic?
0:24:18 > 0:24:20Go on, pick one.
0:24:20 > 0:24:21Kazakhstan.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25Kazakhstan, try Kazakhstan.
0:24:25 > 0:24:26Kazakhstan.
0:24:26 > 0:24:27No, it's Georgia.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29Azerbaijani is closely related to
0:24:29 > 0:24:32the national language of which country,
0:24:32 > 0:24:34with which Azerbaijan shares a short border?
0:24:34 > 0:24:36Turkey. It has to be Turkey.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38Turkey?
0:24:39 > 0:24:40- Turkey.- Correct.
0:24:40 > 0:24:4110 points for this.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45"That like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along",
0:24:45 > 0:24:47also known as iambic hexameter.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51In which meter is this line from Pope's Essay on Criticism written?
0:24:51 > 0:24:54It takes its name from that of a ruler of antiquity.
0:24:56 > 0:24:57It's an alexandrine.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59Correct.
0:24:59 > 0:25:00APPLAUSE
0:25:01 > 0:25:04These bonuses are on classical music, New College.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06Bron in Le Havre of Swiss parentage,
0:25:06 > 0:25:10which French composer's works include the 1923 piece Pacific 231,
0:25:10 > 0:25:13regarded as a musical evocation of a steam locomotive?
0:25:13 > 0:25:15- Nominate.- Nominate Gale.
0:25:15 > 0:25:16Arthur Honegger.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19Correct. A leading exponent of minimalism,
0:25:19 > 0:25:22which US composer integrated fragments of audio recordings
0:25:22 > 0:25:25of rail travel in his 1988 work Different Trains?
0:25:25 > 0:25:27Oh...erm...
0:25:27 > 0:25:28I've got it at home.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30THEY CONFER
0:25:32 > 0:25:35- Is it Cage?- No, no.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37- Is it the one who does the silence?- No, no.
0:25:37 > 0:25:38We've had him already.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40I've got it at home. John Adams.
0:25:40 > 0:25:41John Adams.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43- No, it's Steve Reich.- Oh!- Oh, well.
0:25:43 > 0:25:48Which Austrian composer composed the Excursion Train polka, opus 281?
0:25:48 > 0:25:50- Johann Strauss.- Strauss.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52Johann Strauss.
0:25:52 > 0:25:53Which one?
0:25:53 > 0:25:55The younger.
0:25:55 > 0:25:56The younger.
0:25:56 > 0:25:57Correct!
0:25:57 > 0:26:00APPLAUSE
0:26:00 > 0:26:0410 points for this. "A healthy nation is as unconscious of its nationality
0:26:04 > 0:26:06"as a healthy man of his bones,
0:26:06 > 0:26:08"but if you break a nation's nationality,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11"it will think of nothing else but getting it set again."
0:26:11 > 0:26:15These are the words of which playwright in the 1904 work
0:26:15 > 0:26:17John Bull's Other Island?
0:26:21 > 0:26:22George Bernard Shaw.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24Correct.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26APPLAUSE
0:26:26 > 0:26:28Your bonuses now for 15 points.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31They're on the bell-shaped curve, also known as normal distribution.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33The bell-shaped curve is symmetric
0:26:33 > 0:26:36about a line through which statistical quantity,
0:26:36 > 0:26:39associated with a continuous random variable?
0:26:40 > 0:26:43- Nominate Wong.- The mean. But it's the median as well.
0:26:43 > 0:26:44Which prolific...
0:26:44 > 0:26:48Yes. Both were right, but you only get one lot of points.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Which prolific German mathematician gives his name to a graphical
0:26:51 > 0:26:53blurring technique that involves convolving an image
0:26:53 > 0:26:56with a two-dimensional analogue of the bell-shaped curve?
0:26:56 > 0:26:58Surprisingly, nominate Wong.
0:26:58 > 0:26:59Gauss.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03Gauss is correct. Given a normally-distributed random variable,
0:27:03 > 0:27:06what is the total area under its corresponding bell-shaped curve?
0:27:06 > 0:27:08And again, Wong.
0:27:08 > 0:27:09One.
0:27:09 > 0:27:10One is correct, yes.
0:27:10 > 0:27:1410 points for this. Not to be confused with the river in Kent,
0:27:14 > 0:27:16which atoll in the central Pacific
0:27:16 > 0:27:18gives its name to a battle of June 1942?
0:27:20 > 0:27:21Midway.
0:27:21 > 0:27:22Midway is correct, yes.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25APPLAUSE
0:27:25 > 0:27:29Your bonuses are on geography, East Anglia.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32Three EU member states have a larger population than any country
0:27:32 > 0:27:34with which they share a land border.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36For five points, name two of them.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39- Germany.- Germany.
0:27:39 > 0:27:40Come on.
0:27:40 > 0:27:41Spain.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44- Germany, Spain shares a land border with France.- Portugal?
0:27:44 > 0:27:45Come on.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47GONG
0:27:47 > 0:27:48Oh, come on!
0:27:48 > 0:27:52APPLAUSE
0:27:52 > 0:27:56Well, at the gong, the University of East Anglia have 110.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58New College, Oxford have 205.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01Well, you were a jolly entertaining team to watch, anyway.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04And you went out to very, very strong opposition.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07New College, many congratulations to you.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09That's a terrific performance,
0:28:09 > 0:28:13and clear testimony that synapses don't dull as time goes by.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16I would just like to say one thing to all of you,
0:28:16 > 0:28:17and to every team that took part,
0:28:17 > 0:28:21which was simply that none of you needed to do it,
0:28:21 > 0:28:24and we're grateful to you that you did.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27So a big thank-you to all the teams who've taken part in this series.
0:28:27 > 0:28:28Thank you for watching.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31Next time we resume the students' competition, but for now,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34we leave you with some evidence of what wholesome young things
0:28:34 > 0:28:36tonight's eight once were. Goodnight.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38APPLAUSE
0:29:00 > 0:29:03Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd