UCL v Birmingham University Challenge

APPLAUSE

Christmas University Challenge.

Asking the questions - Jeremy Paxman.

TOY TRAIN HORN TOOTS

Hello. Tonight sees the first match

of our short seasonal contest for alumni of some of

the UK's leading universities and university colleges.

No doubt it seemed like a good idea at the time when 14 teams

agreed to try to uphold the dignity of their institution,

and ten matches from now, one of them will be crowned series champion.

Their prize will be nothing more than the honour of victory,

to be savoured over the last of the mince pies and a glass from

the bottle of medium sherry that last year's winners didn't quite finish.

There are only two rules for taking part.

Players must have graduated from the institution they represent,

and since then, they must have made something of their careers.

As we will see, the second rule is applied pretty loosely.

With 14 teams competing, there will be

seven winners in the first round,

but only the four teams with the highest winning scores

will proceed to the semifinals.

The rest can carry on with their Christmases without this

grizzly ordeal hanging over them.

LAUGHTER

Now, first, the team from University College London.

It's a constituent college of the Federal University of London,

and was established in 1826.

As well as being a graduate,

their first player was former vice-chair of the UCL Council.

A noted scientist,

she has written for such authoritative publications

as the Journal of Molecular Biology

and The News of the World, and also works at Genomics England,

involved in the sequencing of DNA.

With her, another expert in genomics, having presented

a television documentary on that subject and many others.

He has also contributed to that festive tome

The Atheist's Guide to Christmas.

Their captain is one of the nation's sternest grammar disciplinarians

and the author of Eats, Shoots and Leaves.

She's a broadcaster, playwright and columnist.

And with them, another columnist.

He has written for the Guardian for the past decade,

as well as for The Times,

and has presented numerous television programmes,

including one professing his lonely passion for brutalist architecture.

Let's meet the UCL team.

Hello, I'm Vivienne Parry, I graduated in zoology

from London University and I majored in immunology and genetics at UCL.

And now I'm a writer and broadcaster.

I'm Adam Rutherford, and I read genetics at UCL from 1993

until 2002, including my PhD on the development of the eye.

Now I'm a writer and broadcaster.

I present Inside Science for BBC Radio 4.

And this is their captain.

Hello, I'm Lynne Truss, I graduated in English from UCL in 1977

and I am now a writer.

Hello, I'm Tom Dyckhoff, I did

an MA in architectural history at UCL in the mid-1990s.

Now I am a critic, writer and broadcaster

on architecture, cities and design.

APPLAUSE

Playing them, a team from the University of Birmingham,

representing an institution founded in 1900

and occupying a site in Edgbaston.

We could be forgiven for thinking that their first player is

a scientist, given that she shares her surname with her distinguished

great-great-grandfather. Instead, she has chosen the path of the arts.

Her colleague reported for Fox FM, Sky News

and Central Television before joining BBC News 24 in 1999,

since when she has also turned her hand to writing.

Anyone who has ever got drenched because they left home without

their mackintosh will be delighted to see that the Birmingham captain

is a television weather presenter who claims that the forecast

is always right, it's the weather that sometimes goes wrong.

Finally, a gold medallist at the 2012 London Paralympic Games,

who is interrupting her training for the 2016 Rio Paralympics to

give her brain cells a workout.

Let's meet the Birmingham team.

Hello, I'm Emma Darwin, I graduated in drama and theatre arts

from Birmingham in the 1980s and I now write novels and non-fiction.

Hello, I'm Joanna Gosling, I graduated

from Birmingham University with a degree in French in 1993.

I'm now a BBC news presenter and author.

-This is their captain.

-Hi, I'm John Hammond.

I completed a Masters in meteorology from Birmingham in 1989.

I'm now a BBC weather presenter.

Hi, I'm Pamela Relph, I graduated in 2011 with a degree in physics

and now I am an athlete on the GB Rowing Team.

APPLAUSE

OK, I will remind you all of the rules.

There are ten points for starter questions,

which you must answer on the buzzer, on your own, with no conferring.

Each correctly answered starter earns the team a set of

bonus questions worth a possible 15 points.

For these, the team can and should confer,

with the captain giving the answer.

There being 14 teams, there are seven first-round matches,

but only the four winning teams with the high scores will

go through to the next stage, so my advice is - get on with it.

Fingers on the buzzers, here is your first starter for ten.

For many years, the annual Christmas carol concerts at Broadstairs

in Kent where conducted by which political figure born there in...?

Churchill.

No, I'm afraid you lose five points.

You could have heard the rest,

but as you buzzed, you have to give the answer.

-Ted Heath.

-It was Ted Heath. Yes, indeed.

So you get the first set of bonuses, UCL.

They are on the recipe for Nigella Lawson's Ultimate Christmas Pudding

according to her website. I want you to name the ingredients in each case.

Firstly, for five points, made from the grape grown in Andalusia,

a dark variety of sherry used to soak the dried fruits for the pudding.

According to Lawson, it has a hint of liquorice, fig and treacle about it.

-Is that Pedro Ximenez?

-What?

-Is it?

It could be Pedro Ximenez sherry.

Really? Nominate Parry.

We think it's sherry, but could it be Pedro Ximenez sherry?

It IS Pedro Ximenez sherry, yes.

Secondly, a dark brown unrefined sugar extracted from cane sugar

and having the flavour of molasses.

Its name ultimately derives from the Spanish meaning "of poor quality".

-Is that what it means?

-Demerara?

-Oh, that might be.

-Say again.

-Demerara.

It means "of poor quality" in Spanish.

Muscovado sounds like it's from Moscow.

-Muscovado?

-Muscovado.

Correct.

And finally, a hard white fat taken from the region around the loins

and kidneys of animals such as cattle and sheep.

-Suet?

-Suet.

-Suet.

Suet is right.

Ten points at stake for this starter question, fingers on the buzzers.

Which political song was first published

in the 1889 Christmas edition

of Harry Quelch's magazine Justice?

Written by the Irish political activist Jim Connell,

it has historically been associated with the socialist movement.

-Red Flag.

-The Red Flag is correct, yes.

Right, these bonuses are on the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures.

Firstly, for five, who delivered the 1937 lecture series entitled

Rare Animals and the Disappearance of Wildlife?

Like his paternal grandfather,

he is particularly associated with the field of evolutionary biology.

-Could it be Huxley?

-Could be...

-SIGHING:

-Don't know.

Can't think. Grandfather...

-Huxley, could it be Huxley?

-Which Huxley though?

-Come on.

-Erm, Huxley?

A Huxley.

-A Huxley, yes, not specific enough.

-Julian Huxley.

-It's Julian Huxley.

I'm sorry, you were too late.

And secondly, who was the Christmas lecturer in 1964,

delivering a series with the title Animal Behaviour?

His later books include The Human Zoo and The Human Animal.

Desmond Morris.

Correct. Finally, who was the lecturer in 1973

with a series entitled The Language of Animals?

-Tim Bergen.

-Bergen, I don't know him.

-Or it might be Dawkins.

Language of animals, who do you think? '73.

It's too early for Dawkins.

-(Dr Dolittle.)

-Go with Tim.

-Tim...

-Bergen.

Tim Bergen.

No, it's David Attenborough.

Right, ten points for this, fingers on your buzzers.

A ladder with its top rung five metres from its base is

placed on horizontal ground living against a perfectly vertical

Christmas tree growing in a field.

The foot of the ladder is three metres from the tree -

how many metres up the tree does the top rung reach?

Eh, it's four metres.

Of course it is. Yes, it's Pythagoras.

APPLAUSE

Right, UCL, your bonuses are on 20th century political figures

as described in obituaries in The Times.

Firstly, for five.

"Much that he did was memorable, very little that he said."

These words refer to which British Prime Minister who died in 1967?

'67, '67...

THEY MUTTER

Erm...

-I don't know.

-Chamberlain.

-Chamberlain.

-No, it is Clement Attlee.

-Oh, you said that.

"Neither his colleagues nor the Chinese people could

"share his absolute dedication to eternal struggle

"in pursuit of a myth."

These words appear in the 1976 obituary of which national leader?

-Mao?

-Chairman Mao.

Correct.

In a 1999 obituary, who was described as "a person of considerable

"ability and charm in her own right who helped to give a human face

"to the hitherto unattractive Soviet leadership?"

-Astronaut.

-Was it...?

-Gorbachev's wife?

-Is it someone's wife?

-Gorbachev's wife.

-'99...

-Raisa Gorbachev.

-Raisa Gorbachev.

Raisa Gorbachev is correct.

Still plenty of time, Birmingham.

Maybe you will get going with this picture round.

You going to see a map with

a parliamentary constituency highlighted.

For ten points, I want you to tell me

the name of the politician who

lost his seat there in May 2015?

Charles Kennedy.

No, anyone want to buzz from Birmingham?

Ed Balls?

No! It's Danny Alexander!

Rather shaming, in a news presenter, that, isn't it?

LAUGHTER

We are going to take the picture bonuses in a moment or two

when someone gets a starter question right.

Firstly, for 10 points, the former civil servant Millvina Dean,

who died in 2009 at the age of 97,

was known to have declined the offer of ice cubes in her drink

because they reminded her of what traumatic event

which she experienced as a two-month-old...?

-Titanic.

-The sinking of the Titanic is correct, well done.

APPLAUSE

Right, you'll be pleased to hear that you get more

picture questions on general election scalps.

Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the

previous parliament, was the most senior politician in Scotland

to lose his seat in the 2015 general election.

Picture bonuses, constituencies where three more of

the biggest scalps of that election were taken.

Again, in each case I want you to tell me

the name of the politician who lost their seat there, please.

Firstly, for five.

That's Richmond.

THEY CONFER QUIETLY

Don't know.

Well, he was a bit of a brief flash, wasn't he, old Vince Cable?

-Ah!

-Secondly then, who lost their seat here?

That's Liverpool, yes. That's the Wirral.

It will be Labour, probably. Em...

JOHN CLEARS HIS THROAT

Next.

LAUGHTER

That was Esther McVey,

who was an employment minister in the last government.

That was Wirral West. Finally, whose seat was this?

Ed Balls.

It was Ed Balls! Yes, congratulations.

Right, ten points for the starter question.

Which ballet did the US critic Sarah Kaufman described in 2009 as

"a chore", suggesting that each year it casts its long shadow...

Nutcracker.

Correct.

You get a set of bonuses, Birmingham, on sea birds.

The guillemot, razorbill and puffin are among birds

in a family known by what short, common name?

The largest member of the family was hunted to extinction

in the early 19th century.

The albatross is the extinction, I think they are all gulls.

Gull.

No, it's auks.

Great, Arctic, long-tailed

and pomarine are among species of what predatory gull-like bird?

They often feed by harassing other birds

into dropping or disgorging food.

Tern.

No, they're skuas.

Common, Sandwich, roseate and Arctic

are among species of which migratory bird?

The last of these is found from the Arctic to the Antarctic.

Terns?

Tern.

Those ARE terns, yes!

Ten points for this. Its bark used in tannin

and its resin as a source of turpentine,

which three in the pine family is unusual in being

both coniferous and deciduous,

differing in the latter respect from coniferous evergreens

such as the fir, the cedar and the spruce?

Larch.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

You get a set of bonuses on the 20th-century author

and antiquarian Jacquetta Hawkes.

Firstly, for five, in 1929 Jacquetta Hawkes

became the first woman to

read for which new undergraduate degree at Cambridge?

You can give either of the two subjects studied.

-No idea.

-Archaeology?

-Did she?

-I don't know.

-Archaeology.

Yeah, the other one is anthropology,

it was the kind of media studies of its day, I suppose.

Who was Hawkes' second husband,

with whom she collaborated on the play A Dragon's Mouth?

His other works include the 1932 novel The Good Companions

and the 1945 play A Inspector Calls.

JB Priestley.

Correct. In the 1986 work Dawn of the Gods,

Hawkes suggested that which Bronze Age civilisation

may have been a matriarchy despite its name

deriving from that of a legendary king?

Bronze Age...

Bronze Age? Bronze Age?

-Matriarchy...

-After a famous king.

-After a famous king.

No, we don't know.

It's the Minoan. Ten points for this.

Meanings of what four-letter word include a tuft, tress

or ringlet of hair, a hold in wrestling or martial arts...?

Lock.

Lock is correct, yes.

These bonuses are on Nobel prizes awarded in 2015.

In October 2015, Lindahl, Modrich and Sancar

were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

for mechanistic studies of the repair of which complex organic molecule?

-It's DNA.

-Is it? DNA.

Correct.

Secondly, the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was shared,

one recipient being Tu Youyou for her discoveries concerning

a novel therapy against which disease spread by an insect vector?

-It's malaria.

-Is it? Malaria.

Correct.

Takaaki Kajita and Arthur McDonald

won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work

on which subatomic particles? Uncharged and weakly-interacting,

their existence was first postulated by Pauli in 1931.

-Neutrinos.

-Neutrinos?

-Neutrinos.

-Neutrinos.

-Correct! APPLAUSE

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

We're going to hear selections from a recording

of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf.

For 10 points, I want you to identify the narrator you hear speaking twice.

'Early one morning, Peter opened the gate

'and went out into the big green meadow.'

MUSIC: Peter's Theme

'On a branch of a big tree sat a little bird - Peter's friend.

'"All is quiet - all is quiet," chirped the bird, gaily.'

MUSIC: Bird And Peter

Anyone want to buzz?

Roger McGough.

No. Anyone like to buzz from UCL? Quickly.

Was it Toxteth O'Grady?

LAUGHTER

No, it wasn't!

It was David Bowie.

Right, we're going to take the music bonuses in a moment or two,

but someone's got to get a starter question right first.

Which Commonwealth country was the location

of the discovery of fossil remains

identified in September 2015 as a new species of ancient human?

-South Africa.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

So, we go back to the music bonuses - selections from three more recordings

of Peter And The Wolf - again, I want you to identify the narrator in each.

Firstly, for 5, the narrator of this 1989 recording.

'Soon, a duck came waddling around.

'She was glad that Peter had not closed the gate,

'and decided to take a nice swim in the deep pond on the meadow.'

MUSIC: Duck Theme

Christopher Lee.

It is Christopher Lee.

Secondly, the narrator of this 1941 recording.

'"What kind of a bird are you, if you can't fly?" said he.

'To which the duck replied, "What kind of a bird are you,

'"if you can't swim?" and dived into the pond.'

MUSIC: Duck And Bird

Mm...

'They argued and argued, the duck swimming in the pond,

'the little bird hopping back and forth along the bank.'

THEY CONFER

-The American actor...

-Um...

Ohh...

-Come on.

-No, I don't know.

That's Basil Rathbone.

And finally, the narrator of this 1997 recording.

'The cat thought, "While that bird is arguing, I'll just grab her!"

'Stealthily she crept towards her on her velvet paws...'

Yeah, that's Edna Everage.

It is indeed - Barry Humphries, yes.

APPLAUSE Well done.

10 points for this, then.

Who wrote Maurice, or The Fisher's Cot,

a morality tale discovered in 1997 in a Tuscan palazzo?

Her novels include Valperga and The Last Man,

while her journal is a major biographical source

for the romantic poet whom she married in 1816?

Mary Wollstonecraft.

As it's Christmas -

she was christened Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin,

but, yes - Mary Shelley.

APPLAUSE

Right, your bonuses are on names that are often misspelt, Birmingham,

according to David Marsh, the editor of the Guardian style guide,

in his book For Who The Bell Tolls.

I'd like you to spell the answer in each case.

Firstly, along with Cowdenbeath, which town in Fife

appears in the name of the Westminster constituency

represented by Gordon Brown from 2005 to 2015?

Kirkcaldy.

Spell it.

-K-I-R...

-(C...

-(C-A-L...)

-..C-A-L-D-Y.

You missed out the K in the middle.

It's K-I-R-K-C-A-L-D-Y.

And secondly,

what is the correct spelling of the name of the brigantine

found abandoned in mysterious circumstances

east of the Azores in December 1872?

-Mary Celeste.

-Spell it.

M-A-R-I-E...

No, it's M-A-R-Y C-E-L-E-S-T-E.

And finally, founded in 1930 as Constantine College, which university

is named after a river, and has its main campus in Middlesbrough?

THEY WHISPER

Tees?

-Tees-side?

-Teesside...

THEY WHISPER

Is it Tees-side or Tee-side?

THEY WHISPER

-Teesside.

-Spell it.

T-E-E-S-I-D-E.

No, there are two Ss as well. LAUGHTER AND GROANS

Bad luck.

Right, 10 points for this -

The Sceptical Chymist is a work of 1661

by which Irish-born natural philosopher?

A law named after him describes the inverse relationship

between the pressure and volume of a gas.

-Boyle.

-Boyle is correct.

APPLAUSE

Right, your bonuses, UCL,

are on sporting achievements of January 2015.

In January 2015, which US skier broke a 25-year-old record

for the most world cup wins by achieving her 63rd career victory

in a Super-G race in Cortina, Italy?

I can't name ANY US skiers!

No - you don't know any US skiers at all?

-No, no idea.

-No - Tom doesn't know. No, no idea, sorry.

It's Lindsey Vonn.

And secondly, in Johannesburg in January 2015,

which South African batsman hit 100 off 31 balls,

to record the fastest One Day International century?

-(I don't know...)

-You should know this.

-I should!

-You really should know this, Adam.

-I know...

-I mean, honestly.

-Graeme Smith. I don't know.

-Is he South African?

-Yes.

Oh, good. Graeme Smith.

Graeme Smith?!

-I'm taking my lead from Adam.

-No, I don't know.

A captain has to take responsibility.

LAUGHTER

Stop blaming him - he got you these bonuses.

It's AB De Villiers.

And finally, in January 2105, which Real Madrid player

won the Ballon d'Or World Football Award

for the second consecutive year?

What's that? Who's that?

-Real Madrid player. Do you know?

-No.

-Oh, we don't know. Do we know?

-No!

-No, we don't know, sorry.

-You used to be a sports columnist, as well!

-I know - a while ago.

-It's Cristiano Ronaldo.

-Oh, was it?

Right, we're going to take another starter question now.

On what part of the body would a kubanka usually be worn?

Named after the Russian province of Kuban,

they're often handed down from mother to daughter,

and frequently stored on tall, round jars to keep their shape.

-A hat.

-Yes - I was asking which part of the body...

-Sorry.

-..but obviously a hat's worn on the head.

-Yeah.

-Yes.

Well done. APPLAUSE

So, you get a set of bonuses now.

They're on neologisms.

Firstly, for five points,

what three-digit number has come to a person who is empty-headed?

Its origin is the worldwide web error message denoting "not found".

(Is it 104?)

THEY WHISPER

-(Is it 404?)

-(Yes.)

-404.

-Correct, yes.

"He's a real 404."

First appearing in an article in the Independent in 1994,

what term was coined by the writer and journalist Mark Simpson

to denote men who live in an urban environment

and are meticulous about their appearance?

THEY WHISPER

(Metrosexual...)

(Metrosexual?)

(I think so...)

-Metrosexual.

-Correct.

Defined by the online Urban Dictionary as

"visual artefacts produced by those with low self esteem and no friends",

what term is often attributed to the US designer and photographer

Jim Krause in his 2005 book Photo Idea Index?

THEY WHISPER

-Selfie.

-Correct. APPLAUSE

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

In celebration of the fact that 2015 saw a new addition

to the royal family, for your second picture starter,

you're going to see a portrait of a royal baby.

For 10 points, all you have to do is identify the artist.

Velazquez.

It is Velazquez - yes, that was Baltasar Carlos,

the only son of Philip IV. APPLAUSE

Congratulations.

So, you get three more paintings of royal babies

for your bonuses, Birmingham.

Now, this time, all of the children are British -

again, in each case, I want the name of the artist.

Firstly, for 5...

Van Dyck.

That is Van Dyck - the children of Charles I.

Secondly...

(I think...it's...

(Reynolds.)

Joshua Reynolds.

Correct. Yes, that was Princess Sophia Matilda, niece of George III.

Finally...

(I think that's...

(I think that's Holbein.)

Holbein.

Hans Holbein is right - that was Edward VI as a child.

APPLAUSE

Right, 10 points for this - in August 2015, which sporting venue

saw the millionth ball bowled in test cricket in England and Wales?

It was bowled by...

Oval.

No, you lose 5 points.

It was bowled by Ben Stokes as Australia fought to save the Ashes,

having been bowled out for 60 in the first innings.

HE WHISPERS No - no conferring.

One of you can buzz.

-Lords.

-No, it was at Trent Bridge.

-Oh...

Right, another starter question now.

Founded in 1125, which Norwegian city and seaport

is now the centre of Norway's North Sea oil and gas industries?

Bergen.

No.

UCL, one of you buzz.

Is it Trondheim?

No, it's Stavanger. 10 points for this.

Originating in Provence and often served as an hors d'oeuvre,

what dish consists mainly of olive oil, black olives, anchovies...

Tapenade.

Tapenade is right, yes.

APPLAUSE

These bonuses, UCL, are on an optical device.

Foucault, Nicol and Wollaston are types of which optical device

used for refracting light passing through its plane faces?

THEY WHISPER

A prism.

Correct.

Which 19th century Italian engineer gives his name to a device

consisting of two prisms

arranged both to invert and to reverse an image?

It's used in periscopes and binoculars.

Ooh...

Sounds useful, eh? Sounds useful!

It does!

Any idea?

Was it Italian?

-Italian, 19th century...

-Come on.

Um, um... Italian name!

-Um...

-I don't know.

No, we don't know, I'm sorry.

It's Porro, as in a Porro prism.

And finally, Miss Prism is a character in which stage work?

First performed in 1895,

its subtitle is A Trivial Comedy For Serious People.

The Importance Of Being Earnest.

-The Importance Of Being Earnest.

-Correct, of course.

10 points for this. Subtitled The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance,

which film directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu...

GONG SOUNDS

And, at the gong...

APPLAUSE

..Birmingham University have 80, UCL have 155.

Well, you never really got a chance to get going, did you, Birmingham?

But thank you very much for joining us.

UCL, the four highest-scoring winners come back, so, who knows?

You might be one of the four highest scores,

-in which case, we shall look forward to seeing you again.

-Thank you!

Until the next time, when we'll have another first round match,

it's goodbye from Birmingham University...

-ALL:

-Bye-bye.

..it's goodbye from University College London...

-ALL:

-Goodbye!

-..and it's goodbye from me - goodbye.

APPLAUSE

TRAIN WHISTLE