Episode 2 University Challenge

Christmas University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. Tonight sees the second match in this seasonal series for grown-ups

which combines the warmth of a Christmas parlour game

with the harmless thrill of the Inquisition!

Last time, the graduates from Emmanuel College Cambridge

put themselves into contention for a place in the semi-finals

but as only four of the top-scoring teams will go to that stage,

nothing has been decided yet.

The team playing for the University of Kent

includes an award-winning stage, screen and radio playwright,

a Kew-trained botanist and TV presenter who advocates that we grow our own medicines,

their captain has been voted into the top ten of the most powerful voices on radio

and their final member is a screenwriter whose credits include

co-authoring the last five Bond films,

among them Skyfall which has become the biggest grossing film of all time at the UK box office.

Let's meet them.

Hello. My name's Rebecca Lenkiewicz.

I studied English and film theory at Kent in the '80s

and now I write plays and films.

Hi. My name is James Wong.

I graduated from Kent in 2006 on a masters degree in ethno-botany

and now work as a broadcaster and a writer.

-And their captain.

-I'm Fi Glover.

I graduated from the University of Kent in 1990 with a degree in Classical History and Philosophy

and I'm now a broadcaster and a writer.

And I'm Robert Wade and I studied Film Theory and English at Kent

in the very early '80s and I'm now a screenwriter.

Their opponents tonight represent the University of Lancaster

and include a writer whose subject matter has embraced infinity and how to build a time machine,

a news broadcaster who's usually seen at the crack of dawn and who's staying up past her bedtime tonight!

Their captain is an actor whose work with directors such as Scorsese, Polanski and Woody Allen

will doubtless be eclipsed when he appears later this year in the unstoppable Game of Thrones,

and they're joined by a notorious luncher, food writer and judge on the Great British Menu.

Let's meet them.

Hello. I'm Brian Clegg. I took a Masters in Operational Research at Lancaster in 1976

and I write popular science books.

I'm Ranvir Singh. I graduated in 1998 from Lancaster studying English and Philosophy.

I'm now a journalist and presenter on Daybreak.

-And their captain.

-I'm Roger Ashton-Griffiths.

I'm an actor and writer. I read Music and I graduated in 1978.

I'm Matthew Fort. I graduated from Lancaster in 1968 with a degree in English

and I eat for a living!

APPLAUSE

Nice work if you can get it!

Now, I'll just remind you quickly of the rules.

Ten points for starter questions. They're answered on the buzzer. They're solo efforts.

And bonuses are worth 15 points and those you can confer on.

If you interrupt a starter question incorrectly, there's a five-point penalty.

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

"Modesty beds in a communal bedroom", "The language of Easter eggs"

and the supposed discovery of roast turkey by 13th-century monks

are among the illustrations of which English cartoonist

born 1872?

His name has become synonymous with complex and implausible mechanical contraptions.

-Heath Robinson.

-Correct. William Heath Robinson.

Lancaster, your first set of bonuses are on Christmas carols.

Born in 1652, the poet laureate Nahum Tate

wrote the words of which carol describing the announcement of the birth of Jesus?

While Shepherds Watched...

While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks at Night.

Yes, known as While Shepherds Watched Their Flock BY Night

but you've got the right carol there, yes.

The 19th-century Irish poet Cecil Francis Alexander

wrote the words of which well-known carol

in support of the article of faith relating to the birth of Jesus?

Virgin birth? Virgin...

Something to do with virginity?

QUIET CONFERRING

-Away In a Manger.

-No, it was Once in Royal David's City.

Finally, which Christmas carol is based on a 19th-century poem by Christina Rossetti

and was set to separate melodies by Harold Darke and Gustav Holst?

-In the Bleak Mid Winter.

-Correct. Ten points for this.

Much reproduced, re-worked and parodied,

which logo was devised by the graphic designer Milton Glazer in 1977

and used three...

I love NY.

Yes, I "heart" NY. Correct.

You get a set of bonuses, Lancaster, this time on performance artists.

Which New York-based performance artist is the inventor of a violin

that uses magnetic tape in place of a horse-hair bow?

She became widely known outside the art world

when her single O Superman became an unexpected pop hit in 1981.

Vanessa Mae?

No, it was Laurie Anderson.

What name has been adopted by the French performance artist

who was born Mireille Porte in 1947?

She's perhaps best known for a project

for which she has undergone a series of cosmetic surgical procedures

to acquire the features of various icons of female beauty.

-We don't know.

-That's Orlan, or Sainte Orlan.

Finally, known as the grandmother of performance art,

which Serbian-born performer's works include The Artist is Present,

a piece lasting 736 hours and 30 minutes,

in which she sat in silence opposite a succession of visitors

to New York's Museum of Modern Art.

-Marina Abramovic.

-Correct.

Ten points for this.

Which prominent figure died when HMS Hampshire struck a mine

en-route to Russia in 1916?

Associated with the policy of concentration camps during the Boer War...

Kitchener.

Kitchener is correct, yes.

These bonuses, Lancaster, are on science in the 1660s.

By observing capillaries, the Italian doctor, Marcello Malpighi

in 1661 confirmed which English physician's theory

of the circulation of the blood?

-Harvey.

-Harvey.

Correct. In 1661, which Irish-born scientist published his major work "The Sceptical Chymist"?

He gives his name to a law stating that the pressure and volume of a gas

are inversely proportional.

-Boyle.

-Boyle is correct.

In 1666 which Dutch scientist became a founder member of the French Academy of Sciences?

He gives his name to a space probe that landed on Titan in 2005.

-Huygens.

-Huygens is correct.

We'll take a picture round now.

For your picture starter,

you'll see part of the track listing

of the first compilation album of a long-running series.

For ten points, simply name the album.

Now That's What I Call...

Yes, it's normally called Now That's What I Call Music.

Personally, I call it gross impertinence, but there we are.

The first "Now" compilation was released 30 years ago in December 1983

and became the Christmas Number One album.

For your bonuses, we've put together three more track lists of songs

that pre-date the Now series

which some of you may remember better.

In each case, I'd like the year in which all the following were chart hits. Firstly...

1969.

That's correct. Secondly...

-1980.

-Correct. Finally...

-'78.

-It is 1978. Well done!

Another starter question. Listen carefully.

In the standard version of the 18th-century Christmas song,

The Twelve Days of Christmas,

what number results if you multiply the number of geese a-laying

by the number of swans a-swimming

and add the number of French hens?

-45.

-Correct.

Seven by six add three.

A set of bonuses, then, Lancaster.

This time they're on Christmas short stories.

Published in the 1884 Christmas Extra edition of the Pall Mall Gazette

and advertised with posters so gruesome they had to be suppressed by the police,

The Body Snatcher is a story by which Scottish author?

-Robert Louis Stevenson.

-Correct.

First published in 1900, At Christmas Time is a notably short story, fewer than 2,000 words,

by which Russian author and playwright?

Chekov? 1900?

QUIET CONFERRING

Gogol.

No, it's by Chekov.

Appearing in a collection of 1914,

the action of which short story takes place over a single evening and night in Dublin

towards the end of the Christmas period, "when snow was general all over Ireland"?

-Ulysses.

-No, it's The Dead in Dubliners.

Ten points for this.

Israel Baline was the birth name of which Russian Jewish immigrant to the United States

who, in 1940, wrote what is often cited as...

-Irving Berlin.

-Correct.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas.

Your bonuses this time are on the journalist and author Suzanne Moore.

Firstly, in the 2010 general election,

Suzanne Moore stood as an independent candidate for Hackney North and Stoke Newington

and came sixth. Which Labour incumbent was re-elected?

-Diane Abbott.

-Correct.

In 2009, Moore resigned from the New Statesman magazine

in protest at the appointment of which political and public figure as guest editor?

-George Galloway.

-No, it was Alastair Campbell.

Finally, of which newspaper did Moore say early in 2013,

"You don't commission someone like Julie Birchill to launch an Exocet missile

"and then say, 'Oh, dear. We only wanted a sparkler.'"

Guardian?

-The Guardian.

-No, it was The Observer.

Ten points for this. "Libraries might as well not exist.

"They've got endless shelves for rubbish and hardly any space for good books."

These are the words of which playwright

who, in 1962, was sentenced to six months imprisonment...

I'm sorry. If you buzz, you really must answer.

You have to lose five points.

..sentenced to six months' imprisonment for theft and malicious damage

to books from Islington library. You may not confer!

-Joe Orton.

-Correct.

You get a set of bonuses now on glacial landforms.

What term describes a tributary valley with a floor at a considerably higher level

than the valley into which it flows?

It's associated with a tributary glacier

flowing into a glacier of larger volume.

Waterfall.

No, it's a hanging valley.

Often grouped together in fields, for example in the Lake District's Eden Valley,

what term denotes the long egg-shaped hummocks

that are formed when deposited till is shaped under a moving glacier or ice sheet?

-We don't know.

-They're drumlins. Finally,

a fine example of an arret separating corries or glacial troughs

Striding Edge is a feature of which Cumbrian mountain?

-Scar Fell.

-No, it's Helvellyn.

We're going to take a music round, now.

For your music starter, you'll hear an excerpt from a popular song.

For ten points, I simply want the name of the American singer.

-# Sleigh bells ring

-Sleigh bells ring... #

Macy Gray.

Yes!

Her version of Winter Wonderland.

You'll hear three more versions of the same song

all by well-known singer-songwriters.

In each case, just name the artist, please.

Firstly, this American singer.

# Sleigh bells ring

# Are you listening?

# In the lane, snow is glistening

# A beautiful sight

# We're happy tonight

# Walking in a winter wonderland

# Gone away is the bluebird

# In his place is a new bird

# He sings a love song

# As we go along

# Walking in a... #

We're going to try Louis Armstrong.

No, it's Bob Dylan!

Secondly, another American singer.

# Sleigh bells ring

# Are you listening?

# In the lane, snow is glistening

# Beautiful sight

# We're happy tonight

# Walking in a winter wonderland. #

-James Taylor.

-Correct. Finally, this British singer.

# Sleigh bells ring

# Are you listening?

# In the lane

# Snow is glistening

# A beautiful... #

-Leona Lewis.

-No, it's Emili Sande.

Ten points for this.

Which letter of the alphabet links an elementary particle

that carries the weak nuclear force,

a 1969 French language film

directed by Costa-Gavras

and a written or graphical representation

of the act of snoring?

Z.

Yes.

Your bonuses are on phase equilibrium, Lancaster.

The phase diagram of a one-component system such as water

has solid, liquid and gas phases.

What is the name of the point at which solid, liquid and gas are all at equilibrium?

-Point something!

-No, it's the triple point.

The gas/liquid co-existence line starts at the triple point.

What specific term denotes the point at which it ends?

Make it up.

-Zero point.

-No, it's the critical point.

Finally, some solids when heated

turn directly into a gas with no intermediate liquid phase.

What is the specific term used to describe this process?

My brain's not working.

-CO2 does it, doesn't it?

-Yes.

-For example.

-Yep.

-What would that be?

-Something to do with gas pressure.

-No, it's just a word.

What's the word?

Nope. Totally blank. Sorry. I do know.

Um, scarlet.

Scarlet?! No, it's sublimation. Ten points for this.

The gallo nero, or black cockerel,

is the distinctive symbol of authenticity

that appears on bottles of wine

from which Italian region situated between Florence and Siena?

-Chianti.

-Correct.

This set of bonuses is on botany, Lancaster.

Viscum album is the Eurasian species of which semi-parasitic evergreen shrub

that occurs mainly on apple trees, poplars and hawthorns?

-Mistletoe.

-Oh, mistletoe?

-Mistletoe.

-Correct.

A popular Yuletide pot plant,

which member of the spurge family was named after an early 19th-century US minister to Mexico

who introduced it to floriculture?

-Poinsettia.

-Correct.

The perennial herbaceous plant Helleboris Niger

is commonly known as Christmas what?

What is a hellebore?

-Let's have an answer, please.

-Christmas lily.

-Christmas lily.

-No, it's Christmas rose.

Ten points for this. Listen carefully.

The atomic numbers of helium, lithium, boron, nitrogen and sodium

are the first five of what mathematical sequence?

-Fibonacci numbers?

-Nope.

Kent, one of you buzz.

Poor Mr Wong, with the whole team staring at you!

I'm a botanist! What do I know about chemistry?

They're primes. Another starter question.

Using the pen name Geoffrey Crayon,

which US author wrote the short story collection known as The Sketch Book?

It includes Christmas Day, The Christmas Dinner and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Garrison Keeler.

Nope.

One of you like to buzz from Lancaster?

-Washington Irving.

-Correct.

Your bonuses are on a polygon, Lancaster.

A star polygon is denoted by curly brackets N over M close brackets.

What name is given to the star polygon curly brackets 5 over 2 close brackets?

-Pentagon.

-No, it's a pentagram.

A pentagram appears on the flags of two African countries.

For five points, name both.

-Botswana?

-I'll take Botswana.

-I don't know any more.

Botswana and...

-I don't know.

-Botswana and Morocco.

No, it's Morocco and Ethiopia.

Finally, a pentagram has several examples of the golden ratio,

approximately equal to 1.618.

Which Greek letter is the symbol for this ratio?

Theta?

Theta.

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

Give both answers as soon as your name is called.

Of the four gospels, which two give an account of the nativity story?

Matthew and Mark.

Anyone like to buzz from Kent?

-Luke and Matthew.

-Correct.

These bonuses, Kent, are on Christmas foods.

A traditional Christmas Eve dish in Portugal,

Bacalhau consists of which fish

found in the North Atlantic and often imported from Norway?

-Cod.

-Correct.

Secondly, Szaloncukor, meaning parlour sugars,

are fondant sweets usually covered in chocolate and foil

and used to decorate Christmas trees particularly in which central European country?

-We're going Czechoslovakia.

-No, it's Hungary.

Finally, to enhance the golden colour of a roast bird at Christmas,

medieval cooks would frequently cover it with butter

and which spice, made from the dried stigmas of crocuses?

-Saffron.

-Saffron.

Correct. OK, time for a second picture round.

For your picture starter you'll see a photograph of a prominent actor.

Ten points if you can name him, please.

-David Morrissey.

-Correct.

He was appearing there in a Doctor Who Christmas Special.

Your bonuses are more photographs of three actors who've appeared in Doctor Who Christmas Specials.

The name of the actor in each case, please.

Firstly for five.

-Russell Tovey.

-Correct. Secondly, the name of the actor on the right.

-No, we've got no idea.

-That's Adam Garcia.

And finally this actor, please.

-Richard E. Grant.

-Yes, it is. Ten points for this starter question.

From the late 1960s, the fungus Ophiostoma novo-ulmi, spread by bark beetles,

caused a devastating epidemic affecting which trees?

Who? Me?

Elms.

Elms is correct, yes.

You had to get that, didn't you?

Right. Your bonuses this time are on a shared surname.

A Financial History of the World

and History's Age of Hatred

are subtitles of works by which historian born in 1964?

QUIET CONFERRING

-Can we have an answer, please?

-What about that chap...

You know... Robert Peston.

We're going to try Robert Peston.

No, it's Niall Ferguson.

Born in County Down in 1884,

Harry Ferguson was an industrialist best known for his innovations

in which broad field of automotive engineering?

-Tractors.

-I'll accept that. Agricultural machinery.

Finally, which club did Sir Alex Ferguson manage from 1978 to '86

during which time they won the European Cup Winners' Cup once

and the Scottish League three times.

Come on.

-Hibernian.

-No, it's Aberdeen.

There's about three minutes to go. Ten points for this.

Uhuru peak is the highest point of which twin-peaked mountain?

5,895 metres in height...

-Kilimanjaro.

-Correct.

These bonuses, Lancaster, are on nutritional diseases.

Pellagra occurs in places where the diet is predominantly of maize

and is caused by a deficiency of what substance, also known as nicotinic acid or Vitamin B3?

Niacin?

-Niacin.

-Correct.

Associated with areas where polished rice is the staple diet,

beri-beri is caused by a long deficiency of what substance

also known as aneurine or Vitamin B1?

-Riboflavin.

-No, it's thiamine.

Deficiency in which vitamin causes the softening of bones in immature mammals known as rickets?

-Vitamin D.

-Correct.

Two minutes to go. Ten points for this.

A slow-witted question setter received an analogue wrist watch for Christmas.

He put it on upside down and it appeared to show a time of 7.45.

What was the real time?

Quarter past...one.

Correct.

Your bonuses this time, Kent, are on UK national trails.

In the form of an extended 135-mile loop,

which national trail is named after a Welsh prince

who rebelled against English rule in the early 15th century?

QUIET CONFERRING

To be honest, we haven't got a clue!

How commendably frank of you!

It's Glyndwr's Way.

177 miles long, which national trail takes its name from the King of Mercia

who seized power after the murder of his cousin, Aethelbald?

-No.

-It's Offa's Dyke along the English/ Welsh border.

And finally, the Roman Emperor who succeeded Trajan gives his name to which national trail

which is 84 miles in length?

Let's have it, please.

-It's the Hadrian's Wall Path.

-That one, yes!

-Ten points for this.

Give the three letters that spell both an English verb meaning to be sickly

and the French word for garlic.

-GONG

-Ail.

At the gong, Kent have 100. Lancaster have 160.

Well, it was a good game.

You seemed to lose spirits very early on, Kent.

I don't know why cos there were some quite good answers.

And some very bad ones!

Lancaster, many congratulations.

160 may well be enough to take you through to the semi-finals.

We'll find out when we hear the results of the other matches.

I hope you can join us next time.

But until then, here's a reminder that tempus fugit

as we see tonight's players as they were in their student days. Good night!