Episode 9 University Challenge

Christmas University Challenge.

Asking the questions - Jeremy Paxman.

Hello.

The season of goodwill may be about to take a battering

as two more teams of graduates fight it out for a place in the final

and the opportunity to take on Emmanuel College, Cambridge,

for no benefit at all beyond the satisfaction of having trounced

various other teams of know-alls.

The team from Lancaster University got off to an impressive start

in their first match against the University of Kent

and managed to dominate the proceedings throughout,

coming away with 160 points to 100.

They knew about White Christmas, the 12 Days Of Christmas

and In The Bleak Midwinter,

and the team remains the same on this occasion.

A writer on science, an early-morning news broadcaster,

an actor and author, and a man who, quite frankly,

lives the life of Riley.

Let's meet them again.

Hello, I'm Brian Clegg.

I took a Masters in operational research in 1976

and I now write science books.

I'm Ranvir Singh.

I graduated in '98, having studied English and philosophy.

I'm now a journalist and presenter working on Daybreak.

And their captain.

Hi, I'm Roger Ashton-Griffiths. I'm an actor and writer.

I studied music and graduated in 1978.

I'm Matthew Fort. I graduated in 1968

with a degree in English, and I eat for a living.

APPLAUSE

The first time we saw their opponents tonight,

the team from Gonville Caius College, Cambridge,

tried to appear omniscient by saying,

"Of course it is" very loudly

every time they were told the correct answer,

having given the wrong one.

Even so, they had the highest first-round score of 255

against a dozy foursome from Christ Church, Oxford,

who scored a mere 65.

Again tonight, they're fielding an innovator in computer technology,

a broadcaster and writer,

a reformed broadcaster,

and a man who knows all there is to know about ceramics.

Let's meet them.

Hello, I'm Quentin Stafford-Fraser.

I studied computer science in the mid to late floppy-disk era

and now I'm a consultant on some of the fun stuff that's happened since.

I'm Helen Castor.

I studied history in the late '80s and early '90s

and now I'm a medieval historian, writer and broadcaster.

And their captain.

I'm Mark Damazer. I studied history in the 1970s

and I'm now Master of St Peter's College, Oxford.

I'm Lars Tharp.

Back in the Stone Age, I read Palaeolithic archaeology

and these days I'm looking at crockery.

APPLAUSE

OK, you all know the rules so let's just get on with it.

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

What two-word term can denote

any of a loosely-defined grouping of elements of higher atomic weight

that are often toxic

and a genre of popular music originating...

Heavy metal. Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on revolutions, Lancaster.

In which single year of the 20th century

did uprisings known as the February Revolution

and the October Revolution take place?

THEY CONFER

1917. Correct, in Russia.

Secondly for 5 points,

after the month in which the event occurred,

what name is collectively given to the conspirators involved

in the uprising in Russia

that followed the death of Alexander I in 1825?

I don't know.

Do you know? No. Shall we guess a month?

Octobrists.

Octobrists.

No, they were later. The Decembrists were the ones in 1825.

Which month is associated with the Argentinian revolution of 1810

and appears in the name of the sun motif

featured on the country's flag?

It's a sun. It suggests summer.

THEY CONFER

November.

No, it's May.

10 points for this starter question.

What beverage is known as garagardo in Basque,

sor in Hungarian,

olut in Finnish,

alus in Latvian,

ol in Swedish, and in most other European languages

by something close to the regularly used English word?

Milk.

No, Gonville Caius?

Tea?

No, it's beer.

10 points for this - "Well, I'm about as tall as a shotgun

"and just as noisy." Which US author said this of himself?

Born in New Orleans in 1924

and standing about 5' 3" tall as an adult,

he's regarded as a pioneer of the genre known as the non-...

Truman Capote. Correct.

APPLAUSE

..the non-fiction novel.

Your bonuses are on the classical world

and Star Trek, Gonville Caius.

Firstly for five, home to an alien race in Star Trek,

which planet shares its name

with the longer lived of the twin brothers

suckled by a wolf in ancient Italian legend?

THEY CONFER

Romulus. Correct.

Home to a race of tall, aggressive humanoids,

which planet in the Star Trek universe

shares its name with the daughter of King Alcinous,

who helps the shipwrecked Odysseus in Homer's epic?

THEY CONFER

Calypso. No, it's Nausicaa.

Finally, which race in Star Trek shares its name

with the Roman god whose statue stands above Sheffield town hall?

Vulcan. Correct.

We're going to take a picture round now.

For your picture starter,

you'll see a map marked with a city and winter resort.

For 10 points, simply name the city indicated.

Odessa.

Anyone like to buzz from Lancaster?

No talking, Fort!

AUDIENCE CHUCKLES

I withdraw my...answer. It's wrong.

It's wrong if you don't answer, obviously! No, no, no, it's wrong.

It's Sochi, so we're going to take picture bonuses

in a moment or two, and 10 points for this.

What double letter links abbreviations

for the crank hub of a bicycle,

the birthplace of the cricketer Sir Garfield Sobers,

and the ruler of Oceania in Nineteen Eighty-Four?

B? Correct.

APPLAUSE

So you get the picture bonuses.

You'll recall the picture starter showed Sochi,

which is the location of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Your bonuses - three more maps marked

with former Winter Olympic venues.

In each case, I want the location and the year

in which the Olympics took place.

Firstly, for 5 points...

THEY CONFER

Um...

If we begin gently with Belgrade...

No, well, you're beginning in the wrong direction. It's Sarajevo 1984.

Secondly...

THEY CONFER

Turin.

Year? 2006.

It was Turin in 2006. Finally...

Is that Lillehammer?

When?

2000... No, it's 1994.

10 points for this.

What term was coined in 1954

in an article describing the mishearing of words

in the Scottish ballad The Bonnie Earl O' Moray

and has come to denote similar misunderstandings..?

Mondegreen. Yes, well done.

APPLAUSE

The mishearing of "laid him on the green" becomes "Lady Mondegreen."

Right, your bonuses are on a British chemist.

Born near Leeds in 1733,

which clergyman was one of the discoverers of oxygen,

which he called "dephlogisticated air"?

THEY CONFER

Davy? No, it's Joseph Priestley.

Secondly for 5 points, in 1767, Priestley invented what product?

Although he didn't profit from it commercially,

it's become a staple of the modern soft-drinks industry.

Carbonated water? Correct.

A noted theologian, Priestley was a proponent

of which religious movement that denies the doctrine of the Trinity?

Unitarian. Correct.

10 points for this starter question.

The first part of a trilogy,

what is the specific title of the novel of 1995

that concludes with a description

of how the protagonist and her companion

"turned away from the world they were born in

"and looked toward the sun and walked into the sky"?

Northern Lights. Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, Lancaster, are on cricketers.

In the words of Geoffrey Boycott,

in each case, identify the bowler he's describing.

Firstly, "The most perfect sideways-on action I've ever seen.

"He swung the ball out at great pace and he bowled a wonderful yorker."

He was the first player to get 300 Test match wickets.

THEY CONFER

Dennis Lillee.

No, it was Fred Trueman.

"He played quite a while ago,

"regarded by many as the greatest bowler of all time.

"He only played 27 tests and got 189 wickets at 16.43."

No rush.

Can't remember.

We can't remember.

It was Sidney Barnes.

And finally, "He revolutionised the game of leg-spinning.

"He had such great accuracy that he hardly ever gave you a bad ball.

"I'd love to have had a bat against him."

Shane Warne.

Shane Warne is right, yes.

10 points for this.

The five-letter name of which tree

begins the names of a prominent sandstone escarpment in Cheshire,

a Hampshire town connected with the British...

Alder. Correct.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses are on Paris architecture.

Firstly, for 5 points,

sharing his surname with a writer of fairy tales,

which architect designed a new National Library of France

along the banks of the Seine?

Comprising four L-shaped glass skyscrapers,

it was completed in 1995.

Well, I don't know.

Saint-Exupery.

The writer?

As a sideline? No.

Dominique Perrault.

"Jean is willing to jump in and take on things and try."

This was Frank Gehry's verdict on which architect

whose Quai Branly museum opened in 2006?

THEY CONFER

No, cos it was a he.

I'll say it anyway. Zaha Hadid.

Certainly not. Never mind, it was Jean Nouvel.

The architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel designed the Place Louis XV,

begun in 1755 and now known by what name?

Place de la Concorde. Well done.

10 points for this.

Initially published anonymously in 1928

in an edition of only 21 copies,

Le Livre Blanc, or The White Paper,

was reprinted with illustrations two years later

by which French artist, writer and film-maker,

effectively identifying him as its author?

Cocteau. Correct. Jean Cocteau.

That puts you on level pegging and your bonuses now

are on the journalist and author Julie Burchill.

Julie Burchill began her writing career at the age of 17

for which weekly publication

who'd advertised for "hip young gunslingers"?

THEY CONFER

New Musical Express? Correct.

Answer through your captain if you can, please.

Winner of an International Emmy Award,

what was the title of the 2005 television series

that was adapted from Burchill's novel of the same name?

It can refer to confectionery consumption

and the consequent hyperactivity.

THEY CONFER

Sugar Rush?

Sugar Rush. Correct.

In the course of a much-publicised spat with which pop singer

did Burchill retort, "Being called self-loathing by you

"is like being called fat by Dawn French, clown"?

It's not going to be Suzi Quatro.

Debbie Harry. No, it's Lily Allen.

Wasn't Gracie Fields either.

For your music starter in the music round,

you're going to hear a piece of classical music.

For 10 points, simply give me the name of the composer.

WALTZ PLAYS

Tchaikovsky. It is, yes.

It's the Waltz Of The Snowflakes from The Nutcracker.

Following on from the Waltz Of The Snowflakes,

here are three more Russian composers for you to identify,

all exploring a winter theme.

All three were alive in the 20th century.

Firstly, the composer of this piece.

MUSIC PLAYS

We'll go for Prokofiev.

It is, it's The Fairy Godmother And Winter Fairy from Cinderella.

Secondly, the composer of this opera, please.

UP-TEMPO WOODWIND MUSIC

Glinka?

No, that's Rimsky-Korsakov's Dance Of The Tumblers

from The Snow Maiden.

And finally, the composer of this film music, please.

DRAMATIC ORCHESTRAL MUSIC

THEY CONFER

Shostakovich. It is, yes. It's The Snowstorm from the film, Odna.

Right, 10 points at stake for this. Fingers on the buzzers.

Listen carefully -

which chemical element has a symbol that forms the last two letters

of the names of the elements with atomic numbers 9, 17, 35,

53 and 85, that is the halogens?

I think we'll crack on here...

Erbium?

No, anyone like to buzz from Lancaster?

Neon. Correct!

APPLAUSE

That gives you level pegging again, and your bonuses

are on attitudes to kingship in Shakespeare's history plays.

"Not all the water in the rough, rude sea

"can wash the balm from an anointed king."

Which king of England makes that statement?

Richard III. No, it's Richard II.

"I think the king is but a man as I am,

"the violet smells to him as it doth to me."

Which king says this of himself to another soldier

when in disguise on the eve of battle?

Henry IV.

It's Henry V.

In a long speech during the Battle of Towton,

which of Shakespeare's kings expresses a desire

to retire and live the life of a shepherd?

Henry VIII. No, it's Henry VI.

10 points for this.

Painted by Pietro Longhi among others,

Clara, who was exhibited around Europe in the mid 18th century,

was a species of which large land mammal?

The same mammal is the subject of a woodcut of 15...

Rhinoceros. Correct.

APPLAUSE

You take the lead again.

Your bonuses are on enzymes, Gonville Caius College.

What term denotes the complex of enzymes

collected from the fourth stomach of an unweaned calf?

They're used in curdling milk in cheese.

Rennet. Correct.

Used in the baking and brewing industries,

which enzyme is present in human saliva

and catalyses the breakdown of starch into sugars?

Yeast.

No, it's amylase.

And finally, what name is given to an enzyme that breaks down protein?

Also used in the baking industry,

it weakens the gluten in the flour used for making biscuits.

THEY CONFER

Yeast. No, it's protease. 10 points for this.

"The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.

"The fact that it is comprehensible is a miracle."

That statement appears in Physics And Reality,

a 1936 work by which scientist?

Einstein? Correct.

APPLAUSE

Get these bonuses, you'll retake the lead, Lancaster.

They're on artificial islands.

Built in the shape of palm trees when viewed from above,

the Palm Islands of Jumeirah and Jebel Ali

lie off the coast of which of the United Arab Emirates?

Dubai. Correct.

Secondly, most of its land area consisting of landfill,

which island in New York Harbour

was the main immigration reception centre

of the United States until 1954?

Ellis. Ellis Island is correct.

An island created in Japan's Edo Period

as a contained centre for European merchants, Dejima,

lies in the bay of which city?

Honshu.

No, it's Nagasaki.

For your picture starters now in the second picture round,

you'll see a late 19th century painting of an English city.

For 10 points, I want you to identify the city.

Liverpool. Correct.

APPLAUSE

You retake the lead, Gonville Caius. Following on from

that uncharacteristically gloomy Liverpool,

your picture bonuses are three more

of John Atkinson Grimshaw's paintings

of the joys of the British winter.

In each case, simply identify the city or town depicted.

All three are in the artist's native Yorkshire.

Firstly, for 5, this city.

Leeds. That is Boar Lane, Leeds. Secondly, this city.

THEY CONFER

Sheffield.

AUDIENCE CHUCKLES

On the sea?!

It's Kingston upon Hull. And finally, this town.

THEY CONFER

Whitby. Whitby's correct, yes.

10 points for this - derived from the merged names

of a god and a goddess of Greek mythology,

what word is used to describe organisms

that display both male and...

Hermaphroditic. Correct.

APPLAUSE

You can get the lead back with these bonuses, if you get them.

They're on the 1920s. In each case,

identify the precise year in which the following took place.

Firstly, the discovery of insulin,

the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty

that established the Irish Free State

and the opening of Marie Stopes's first birth control clinic.

I've got '22 up there for some reason.

'22.

'22 is the year of the Irish formation,

but '21 was the year the treaty was signed.

Secondly, Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch in Munich,

the first Wembley FA Cup final,

and the banning of the sale of alcohol

to those under the age of 18.

'29.

It was 1923. And finally,

the Lateran Treaty between Mussolini and the Vatican,

the start of Ramsay MacDonald's second ministry,

and Black Thursday on Wall Street.

'29. 1929 is correct.

10 points for this.

"Drawing is simply taking a line for a walk." These are the words

of which influential artist, born in Switzerland in 1879?

Klee.

Paul Klee is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

That gives you the lead and your bonuses are on rates of movement.

Radians per second is the SI unit of which vector quantity

defined as the rate at which a body moves about a fixed axis?

THEY CONFER

Circular momentum...

Angular momentum.

Nominate Clegg.

Angular velocity. Correct.

What two-word term indicates the speed needed for an object

to break free from a gravitational field without further propulsion?

Escape velocity. Escape speed's right.

What term is used in physics

for the velocity with which a body moves relative to a fluid

if the resultant force on the body is zero?

Come on.

Drag. No, it's terminal velocity.

10 points for this.

Born in 1613,

Andre Le Notre is principally remembered for his design

for the expansion of which gardens, ordered in the 1660s by Louis XIV?

The Tuileries.

No. Anyone want to buzz from Lancaster?

Versailles. Versailles is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Bad luck, Gonville Caius, he'd actually done the Tuileries earlier.

So you get a set of bonuses,

this time, Lancaster, on English churches.

Theddlethorpe All Saints, Stragglethorpe and Louth

are among noted churches in which English county?

THEY CONFER

Northamptonshire. No, it's Lincolnshire.

Which village north-west of Lincoln

is the site of an Anglo-Saxon minster?

Restored by JL Pearson in the mid 19th century,

it shares its name in part with a market town in the Cotswolds.

Come on.

Beverley. No, it's Stow.

"Here is the finest steeple in England."

These words of Simon Jenkins

describe the Church of St Wulfram in which Lincolnshire town?

It was the birthplace of Margaret Thatcher in 1925.

Grantham. Grantham is right.

Three and a half minutes to go, 10 points for this.

The llama and alpaca of South American

are most closely related to which Old World mammals?

Camels. Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses now are on words that begin with three consecutive vowels.

In each case, spell the word from the definition.

Taken from the French, the collective body of work

of a writer, artist, or performer.

Oeuvre, O-E-U.

V-R-E.

We've got to spell the whole word. V-R-E. Correct, yes.

Secondly, for 5 points,

an adjective meaning "relating to the wind",

used in relation to the mode of operation

of a particular kind of harp.

Aeolian.

A-E-O-L-I-A-N.

Correct. And finally,

the device supposedly used to aid communication during a seance.

A Ouija.

O-U-I-J-A. Correct.

Right, 10 points for this starter.

Capable of containing the Sydney Opera House 20 times over,

the New Century Global Centre opened in June 2013 in which country?

China. Correct.

That puts you on level pegging.

Your bonuses are on international summits, Caius.

The G7, established in 1976,

comprised the G6 of France, the USA, Britain, Germany, Japan and Italy,

along with which other country.

THEY CONFER

1986, um...

Australia.

No, it's Canada.

Secondly, the G8, formed when Russia joined the G7 in 1998,

had five countries appended to it in 2005.

Mexico and South Africa were two. Name two of the other three.

Brazil and India.

Yes, the other one was China.

And finally, in 2009, it was announced that which G group

would take over economic discussions from the G8?

The G20. The G20 is correct.

That gives you the lead. 10 points at stake for this.

The Land Of Smiles, The Man With Three Wives

and The Merry Widow are among operettas...

Franz Lehar. Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, Caius, are on 19th century novels.

A rejection of the conventional Victorian heroine,

which novel of 1891 is subtitled A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented?

THEY CONFER

Let's have it, please.

Therese Raquin by Zola.

No, it's Hardy's Tess Of The D'Urbervilles.

Secondly, A Study Of Provincial Life

is the subtitle of which English novel,

first published in serial form from 1871?

Lark Rise To Candleford? No, it's Middlemarch.

And finally, The Parish Boy's Progress

is the subtitle of which novel by Charles Dickens?

Oliver Twist. Correct.

10 points for this - "Any man's death diminishes me

"because I am involved in mankind."

These are the words of which poet in his 1624 work...

John Donne. Correct.

Your bonuses now are on astronomy... GONG CRASHES

And at the gong Lancaster have 145,

Gonville Caius College, Cambridge have 180.

APPLAUSE

Well, it was a great game. Thank you, Lancaster.

It looked many times as if you might well take it,

but you never quite got the distance, did you?

Gonville Caius, we shall look forward to seeing you in the finals.

Many congratulations.

I hope you can join us next time, but until then,

it's goodbye from Lancaster University...

ALL: Bye.

..it's goodbye from Gonville Caius College, Cambridge...

ALL: Goodbye. ..and it's goodbye from me,

and as is customary on this special series,

we're going to end by seeing them as they were when they were students,

still full to the brim with hope and dreams.

Haven't the years been kind? Good night.

APPLAUSE