City v Newcastle University Challenge

APPLAUSE

Christmas University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello, the honour of two more of the UK's universities is at stake

tonight with teams of alumni playing for a place

in the semifinals of this festive series.

As always, the teams are made up of former students

who've achieved a level of distinction

or at least a whiff of notoriety in their chosen field.

Now, only the four winning teams with the highest scores

will go through to the semifinals

so with this match and four more still to play,

tonight's winners will have to wait to see if their score is beaten

in later contests before they know whether or not they go through.

City University of London is represented by

a British-Iranian journalist

and author who's reported from over 35 countries during her career.

She's made 20 documentaries for Channel 4's Unreported World

and won an RTS and an Emmy Award

as well as Debut Political Book of the Year

and a Jerwood prize for non-fiction.

With her, a household face from his tenure

as general secretary of the TUC from 2003 to 2012.

Alongside his current job,

he's a member of the Banking Standards Board

and, in 2013, was knighted for his services to employment relations.

Their captain has been broadcasting for over 20 years,

including more than a decade as correspondent

and news anchor for Channel 4.

She also presents Radio 4's Front Row,

Newswatch on BBC television,

and has made documentaries on subjects as diverse

as Arnold Bennett, the wife of Oliver Cromwell

and the impact of David Bowie on British Asian women.

Their fourth member tells us his degree at City

didn't really prepare him to be the racing driver, TV presenter,

writer and all-round action man that he's since become.

He's presented Channel 5's Fifth Gear

and hosted Top Gear in its early days.

Unconfirmed rumours abound that, at one point,

he may also have been The Stig.

A question that's likely to remain unanswered tonight.

Let's ask the City team to introduce themselves in the usual manner.

I'm Ramita Navai,

I got my postgraduate in broadcast journalism

from City University in 2003

and I'm a foreign affairs journalist and author.

I'm Brendan Barber, I graduated in 1973

with a degree in social science and I'm now chairman of Acas,

the Advisory Consideration and Arbitration Service.

And this is their captain.

I'm Samira Ahmed and I took my postgraduate diploma

in newspaper journalism in 1990

and I'm now a journalist and broadcaster.

I'm Tiff Needell, I graduated from City from 1974

with a degree in civil engineering

but turned professional racing driver in 1977

and rose to the lofty heights of the Grand Prix grids

before somehow becoming a Top Gear presenter on television.

APPLAUSE

Now, the University of Newcastle

is represented by a TV presenter who's covered everything

from the World Cup and Premier League football to Formula One

and the world's strongest man.

She recently become the world's first female anchor for live boxing.

She's a vocal advocate for sexual and domestic abuse charities

and an adviser to the government's Ministry of Justice panel.

With her, an influential guitarist, singer and songwriter,

noted for his distinctive stage and musical style

with the band Dr Feelgood and later, Ian Drury's Blockheads.

Fans of Game Of Thrones will be unable to forget his role

as a mute executioner with a basilisk's stare.

Their captain is a marine biologist, broadcaster and writer

and just quite possibly today's foremost champion of the seahorse.

During her career, she's chased the perfect wave,

investigated the minds of sharks and told us why mud matters.

Their fourth member showed considerable enterprise

by using his postgraduate grant to set up a company

which has published some of the UK's best poets,

including Simon Armitage, Jackie Kay and Benjamin Zephaniah.

The university appears to have forgiven him

or at least have turned a blind eye

with the award of an honorary doctorate.

Let's meet the Newcastle team.

Hi, I'm Charlie Webster,

I graduated from Newcastle in 2004 in English language and linguistics.

I am now a TV presenter.

Hello, I'm Wilko Johnson,

I graduated in English in 1970 and I'm a musician.

And this is their captain.

Hello, I am Helen Scales,

I did my masters in tropical coastal management in 2000

and now I'm a marine biologist and a writer.

Hello, I'm Neil Astley,

I graduated in English language and literature in 1978,

when I founded the poetry publisher's Bloodaxe Books

and I'm still its editor and managing director

nearly 40 years later.

APPLAUSE

OK, the rules are the same as ever, starter question is asked.

Solo efforts answered on the buzzer -

they're worth ten points.

And bonuses are worth 15 points - they're team efforts.

So, fingers on the buzzer, here's is your first starter for ten.

Quote, "An extraordinary example of a European intellectual,

"combining unique intelligent of the past

"with a limitless capacity to anticipate the future."

These words of the Italian Matteo Renzi

refer to which author, philosopher and semiotician who died...?

Was it Italo Calvino?

Nope.

You lose five points as well because it was an interruption.

..who died in February 2016?

Umberto Eco.

It Umberto Eco, yes.

APPLAUSE

So you get the first set of bonuses, City,

they're on a Christmas activity.

What activity does Laurie Lee describe in Cider With Rosie as

"a special tithe for the boys."

"Like hay-making, blackberrying, stone-clearing

"and wishing people a happy Easter,

"it was one of our seasonal perks"?

BUZZER

SLIGHT LAUGHTER

-Do you know?

-They're buzzing at us now.

-I know. Do you know?

-No, I don't know but I thought...

-Picking...

-An activity?

-Yeah, it's an activity.

-Shall we say tobogganing?

-What?

Shall we just say tobogganing? Tobogganing.

-No, it's carol singing.

-OK.

Secondly, which novel by Charles Dickens

includes a scene of carol singing organised by Mr Wardle?

In the same scene, Mr Snodgrass kisses Miss Wardle

under the mistletoe.

-Pickwick Papers?

-It's not Great Expectations, is it?

No, it's not. Pickwick Papers. Pickwick Papers.

-Pickwick Papers.

-Correct.

Which book of 1908 features a carol-singing scene

in a chapter entitled Dulce Domum?

The singing in question being performed by a choir of field mice.

Field mice...

SHE WHISPERS

Oh, it's a children's book, isn't it?

-The Wind In The Willows.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Right, ten points

for this starter question, then. Fingers on the buzzers.

What eight-letter word links a 2010 documentary

about the American public education system,

a concept in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche

and a 1903...?

Superman.

Superman is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

You get a set of bonuses on a magazine now, City.

A Century Of Style was the title of an exhibition

which opened in 2016 at the National Portrait Gallery

to celebrate the centenary of which magazine?

(Vogue.) Vogue.

Correct. Which Vogue model and muse to the likes of Jean Cocteau

and Man Ray became the magazine's World War II photographer

and correspondent?

THEY WHISPER

I'm going to guess it's a woman, but I can't guess...

Richard Avedon.

No, it was Lee Miller.

And finally, which English writer was an essayist for Vogue,

covering stories such as the marriage of the future George VI?

His novels include Chrome Yellow and Antic Hay.

Aldous Huxley.

Correct. APPLAUSE

Fingers on the buzzers.

Ten points for this.

Listen to the quotation and answer the question that follows.

"Mary's virgin explanation made Joseph suspect upstairs neighbour."

For what astronomical sequence is this sentence a possible pneumonic?

Is it the order of the planets?

It is indeed.

APPLAUSE

Right, you're off the mark, Newcastle.

You get three questions for your bonuses on baubles.

Firstly, for five points...

"A custard-coffin, a bauble, a silken pie.

"I love thee well in that thou lik'st it not."

These words of Petruchio to Katherine

in The Taming Of The Shrew refer to what item of her clothing?

So, custard.

What do we think? What can it be?

Something that kind of colour, yellowy?

It's obviously not her underwear.

I'd say corset.

A corset?

-Maybe I'm going too far.

-Shall we go with corset? Any ideas?

-No?

-JOHNSON:

-Let's try it.

-Erm...

-WEBSTER:

-Skirt?

-Corset.

-Is it skirt?

-No, it's much more innocent, it's her cap.

-Oh!

"So feast your eyes now

"On mimic star and moon-cold bauble:

"World's may wither unseen

"But the Christmas tree is a tree of fable

"A phoenix in evergreen."

Appointed Poet Laureate in 1968,

who wrote those lines in his poem The Christmas Tree?

-WHISPERING

-John Betjeman?

Is it John Betjeman?

-No, it was Cecil Day Lewis.

-Oh!

And, finally, in which novel of 1897 does the title character

describe a shaving mirror as "a foul bauble of man's vanity"

before flinging it out of a window?

So, I missed, was it '87, I think you said?

Yeah, it was '87.

So, what do we know in '87, anyone?

-ASTLEY:

-Which what of '87?

We need to listen more carefully to the questions.

-WEBSTER:

-Which, which...?

Book, I think.

-No, which character, wasn't it?

-It's not going to come back to us.

I don't think we're going to get it, are we?

A shaving mirror. No, let's pass because we're wasting time.

Pass. Sorry, we...

It's Dracula. Ten points for this.

Around twice as long as Marcel Proust's

A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu,

what document of around 2.6 million words in 12 volumes

was published in the UK on July the 6th, 2016?

Erm...

-No, I'm sorry...

-Iraq Inquiry.

I'll have to accept that.

-No!

-But next time, please answer as soon as you buzz.

-Give us a chance!

-APPLAUSE

We are giving you a chance.

I'll give exactly the same courtesy to you.

So we're going to take a set of bonuses, then, City,

on the 18th-century naturalist Gilbert White.

Firstly, for five points,

Gilbert White is best known for his 1789 compilation of letters

about the natural history and antiquities

of which Hampshire village of which he was curate?

-SHE WHISPERS

-Hampshire?

-Curate of a village in Hampshire.

-You know Hampshire.

Name a village in Hampshire?

Chichester, but not a village, a town.

-That's not in Hampshire.

-No, I don't know.

-Pass.

It's Selborne.

White was the first to distinguish the willow wren

as three separate species.

Namely the wood warbler, the willow warbler and which other?

THEY WHISPER

Field warbler?

No, it's the chiffchaff.

And, finally, White described which segmented animals as

"the great promoters of vegetation,

"which would proceed but lamely without them"?

Earthworms?

-Earthworms.

-Correct. APPLAUSE

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

For your picture starter, you're going to see a flag

that's used to celebrate a week-long festival.

It's secular, it's in the Americas and for ten points,

I want you to name the festival.

Cinco de Mayo?

No.

One of you can buzz from Newcastle if you want to have a go.

-No?

-No.

It's Kwanzaa, although the flag is occasionally seen

with its colours transposed, apparently.

So we'll take the picture bonuses

when someone gets the starter question right.

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

Of which poem did WH Auden say,

"It does for the British and Germans

"what Homer did for the Greeks and Trojans"?

Written by the painter and poet David Jones, it's a response...?

-In Parenthesis.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

So we go back to the picture round.

You get the picture bonuses.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Kwanzaa,

a festival observed from December 26th to January 1st,

celebrating African heritage and culture.

For your picture bonuses,

you're going to see three maps related to the festival.

Firstly, for five points, name this US state.

It's the birthplace of the Kwanzaa founder, Maulana Karenga.

Anyone good on US states?

-ASTLEY:

-I think it's Maryland but I may be wrong.

You think it's Maryland? Anyone have more thoughts?

Cos that's New York, is it, coming down?

Hang on, no. New York's further up.

-New York's there.

-OK, so where do we think?

-WEBSTER:

-Say Maryland.

Is it Maryland?

-It is Maryland, yes. JOHNSON:

-Well done!

Secondly, name the city within Maryland.

It will host a celebration of the 50th anniversary

in the Reginald F Lewis Museum.

I'm no good at cities in Maryland. Anyone?

Any thoughts?

-Anyone?

-WEBSTER:

-No. Pass.

Sorry, no, we don't know.

It's Baltimore.

And, finally, name the language that has official status

in these countries.

The seven principles of Kwanzaa are taken from words

in this language.

So, it's east Africa.

What kind of languages are there in east Africa?

-ASTLEY:

-Is it Xhosa?

Anyone else got any thoughts?

East African languages?

-WEBSTER:

-Just give it a guess.

-Nominate Neil.

-Yeah, Xhosa.

No, it's Swahili.

Xhosa is further south, I think, isn't it?

Right, it's a common language in Kenya and Tanzania and so on.

Right, ten points for this. Listen carefully,

answer as soon as your name is called.

In the words of the well-known Christmas song,

if colly birds to the power of French hens is 64,

what is gold rings to the power of turtledoves?

Five. Oh, sorry, five.

No. Anyone like to buzz from City?

-Erm...

-Come on, you can't do this.

-God, no, I can't.

-125.

-You must ans...

-125!

No, it's 25.

-Oh, dammit.

-It's five squared.

I'm sorry, Newcastle,

you have been deducted five points for what was

a technical interruption and you don't get the points, City,

obviously, for getting the answer wrong.

Ten points for this.

In which novella is the eponymous hero's home

a tiny asteroid designated B61...?

-The Little Prince.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Right, your bonuses are now on

Academy Award-nominated film directors.

Firstly, for five points,

which New Zealander was nominated for best director

for the 1993 film The Piano?

-Jane... Jane Campion.

-Correct.

The 1975 film Seven Beauties led to which Italian

becoming the first woman to receive a nomination for best director?

Her other works include The Seduction Of Mimi

and Love And Anarchy.

THEY WHISPER

No, pass.

It's Lina Wertmuller.

And, finally, who became the first woman to win the Academy Award

for best director for the 2008 film The Hurt Locker?

Kathryn Bigelow.

Correct. Ten points for this. APPLAUSE

The Irving Berlin song White Christmas

made its cinema debut in which 194...?

-Holiday Inn.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, Newcastle,

are on a June 2016 addition to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Firstly, for five points, popularised by Wikipedia

and online quiz websites,

what Greek-derived term means proper name by which a native

or resident of a specific place is known?

For example, Cypriot and Liverpudlian.

So, a name by which you should be known.

I don't know. Greek-based.

-We're looking quite blank.

-No.

-I don't think I know.

No, sorry, we don't know.

It's demonym.

Secondly, "It was the second best demonym I've ever heard,"

states the 2013 citation in the New Yorker.

To which word for an inhabitant of an English city

is the writer referring?

It is thought to derive from a Celtic word meaning

breast-shaped hill.

A Celtic word for a breast-shaped hill?

Yeah, from what...

-WEBSTER:

-And it's still describing a sort of demonym.

-JOHNSON:

-Well, I hesitate to say.

-Gosh, I don't know.

-Still describing something, demonym.

I don't think we know, sorry.

It's Mancunian.

And, finally, Carioca is a demonym for which major city

of the southern hemisphere?

Carioca, southern hemisphere.

Caracas...

-Erm...

-WEBSTER:

-Yeah, it might be.

Do you want to say that? Any ideas?

-ASTLEY:

-Try Caracas.

-Caracas?

No, it's Rio de Janeiro.

We're going to take a music round now.

For your music starter, you're going to hear an excerpt

from the soundtrack of a film of 1996.

Ten points if you can identify the film.

STRING MUSIC PLAYS

Is it Angela's Ashes?

No.

City, anyone like buzz from there?

-No conferring.

-Oh, yeah, no conferring.

-No conferring.

Er...

One of you can buzz. You can't start conferring, you know.

This is all gamesmanship.

Pull yourselves together!

-It's Fargo, it was the theme from Fargo.

-Oh!

So music bonuses in a moment or two,

when someone gets a starter right.

Ten points at stake for this.

The 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi

for his discovery of the mechanisms of what process?

Autophagy.

Correct, yes!

APPLAUSE

So, I don't know whether you'll will be pleased to get

the music bonuses but you have them anyway.

You heard Carter Burwell's score for the Coen Brothers film Fargo,

set in snow-covered Minnesota and North Dakota.

Your bonuses are excerpts from the soundtracks of three more films

in which snow features memorably or acts as a plot device.

Five points for the title of each film you can give me.

First, this from a film of 1990.

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

Is it one of the Disney films?

Is that something like Snow White or...?

No, not in 1990.

It's 1990.

What happened in 1990?

A bit Christmassy and snowy.

-JOHNSON:

-Something to do with Father Christmas?

Is there a Christmas Carol that year or...?

THEY MUMBLE

I don't think we know, do we?

Erm, shall I say Christmas Carol?

-No? WEBSTER:

-I don't think it is, but yeah.

-Snow White?

-JOHNSON:

-That's rubbish.

-Or Snow White?

-WEBSTER:

-No, it's not.

-Let's just guess. Yeah, Christmas Carol.

-Christmas Carol.

No, it's Edward Scissorhands.

Secondly, from the closing sequence of a film of 1980.

# Midnight with the stars and you... #

1980 film? Erm...

# Midnight and a rendezvous... #

Wilko, you look like you know it.

-WEBSTER:

-Pass, just pass.

-No, we don't know.

That was from The Shining. That was Al Bowlly, of course.

-And, finally...

-I've seen that so many times!

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

Did he say what year it was?

No, he didn't say.

He didn't say what year it is. I have no idea.

-ASTLEY:

-He didn't?

-No, he didn't, we don't have a year.

-We just have to guess.

-JOHNSON:

-I've no...

-We're looking really blank.

-WEBSTER:

-Give us the year!

-No clues?

-JOHNSON:

-Go on.

-ASTLEY:

-Was it silent? What's that silent movie film called?

The...

-Oh, the black-and-white one?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-The... Oh, no. I don't know.

-JOHNSON:

-Was it called...?

-We don't know.

-WEBSTER:

-Pass.

-We don't know.

No, sorry, we don't know.

That's becoming a very familiar response, I'm afraid, isn't it?

-Yes, it is.

-Murder On The Orient Express,

Richard Rodney Bennett score. Right, ten points for this.

Introduced by the German physician and writer Georg Groddeck

and later popularised by Freud,

what term denotes the sum total of the primitive instinctual forces

of an individual?

-Id.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Right, you get a set of bonuses, City,

on the physiological effects of attending Christmas parties.

Firstly, alcoholic drinks consumed by the body

are detoxified through oxidation to acetaldehyde

by the hepatic enzyme ADH.

For what do the letters ADH stand?

-ADH.

-ADH.

Alco...

deoxy...

hydration?

Alcohydroxyhy...

You're just making this up, aren't you? No, it's...

-At least I'm having a go!

-..alcohol dehydrogenase.

Yes, it is. It's good to have a go.

Well, five points for this.

The ventromedial nucleus or so-called satiety centre

is one of the controls for the feeling of fullness

after the consumption of food, discouraging overeating.

In which structure at the base of the brain is it located?

SHE WHISPERS

-Hypothalamus?

-Hypothalamus?

-Hypothalamus.

-Correct.

-Nice work.

And, finally, prolonged nocturnal partying

may disrupt the cycle of sleeping and waking

controlled by the suprachiasmatic nucleus,

also in the hypothalamus.

What adjective from the Latin for "about" and "day"

is applied to this cycle?

Diurnal.

No, it's circadian.

Ten points for this. Playing Santa in 1916,

Santa's Helpers in 1922

and Santa On A Train in 1940

were among The Saturday Evening Post Christmas front covers

produced by which prolific US illustrator?

-Norman Rockwell.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

City, your bonuses are on scientists who share their surnames

with Italian footballers.

Give the shared surname in each case.

First, a goalkeeper in the 2006 Fifa World Cup final

and the 18th century French naturalist

noted for his 44 volume Histoire Naturelle.

-Who was the goalkeeper?

-BARBER:

-Is it Buffon?

-NEEDELL:

-Buffon, he's...

-Quick!

No, it's not Buffon. What's the...?

-No?

-No.

Buffon?

-Correct.

-Yes!

Secondly, for five points,

the winner of the Golden Boot at the 1982 World Cup

and a 20th-century Italian physicist noted for his work

on particle physics and the study of cosmic rays.

Golden Boot '82, World Cup?

-Say it, make a guess.

-BARBER:

-Was it Totti?

-NEEDELL:

-I can't even think of him.

-Totti?

-BARBER:

-Totti.

Totti.

-No, it's Rossi.

-Oh.

And finally, a full-back who won the 1996 Champions League

with Juventus and an Italian scientist noted for a theorem

in fluid physics and the invention of the barometer.

Italian left-backs.

I'm not good on left-backs.

-Make a guess at an Italian player?

-No, sorry.

-No, pass.

-It's Torricelli.

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

For your picture starter,

you're going to see a fresco of the Adoration Of The Magi.

For ten points, I want to tell me in which half of which century

it was painted.

So, for example, your answer could be late 16th or early 15th.

Here it is.

Early 14th.

Correct. The early 1300s, yes.

APPLAUSE

So that was Giotto's Adoration Of The Magi dated to around 1305.

Your bonuses are three more works on the same subject and, again,

I want you to tell me in which half of which century each was painted.

Here's the first.

I'd go early 15th on this, what do you reckon?

Early 15th.

No, it's the late 15th, that's Botticelli.

And, secondly...

It's older than the other one...

-No, that's, erm, 17th.

-Is it?

-Yeah.

-I'd say that's early 17th.

-Yeah.

Early 17th.

Correct, that's by Rubens.

And, finally, this watercolour.

Oh...

It could be late 19th or early 20th.

Which should we go for?

-Late 19th.

-Late 19th.

Correct, yes. That's by Burne-Jones. APPLAUSE

So, ten points at stake for this. Answer promptly.

Name two of the three kings of England between 1378 and 1546

who are NOT title characters of plays by Shakespeare.

Erm, Henry VII and...

Edward IV.

Correct, the other one was Edward V.

APPLAUSE

So, you get a set of bonuses, then, City.

They're on Scrabble.

Prior to being placed on the playing board,

what would be the total score of the tiles required

to form each of the following words?

Firstly, "Elf," as in one of Santa's helpers.

BUZZER

Oh, sorry, I don't have the buzz. Sorry!

-BARBER:

-11, one for E...

-OK.

-NEEDELL:

-One is E.

-BARBER:

-Five and five, is it?

-11.

No, it's six.

Second, "Party".

What's P? Is that one or two?

P is a three.

Three, four, five, six...

Seven, eight...

-BARBER:

-How much for Y?

-And then how many for Y?

17?

No, that is 11.

And finally, "Yule," Y-U-L-E.

Y-U-L-E.

One, two, three, four...

What's Y?

Maybe five.

-Because it was...

-No, it's less.

OK. What are you going to you guess?

I'd say 11.

11.

-No, it's seven.

-Oh!

Right, ten points for this. 1869 and '70,

1918 and '19,

1935 and '36

and 1973 and '74.

These are pairs of years that saw the winning

twice in succession of which sporting event,

the respective winners being The Colonel,

Poethlyn, Reynoldstown and Red Rum?

-Grand National.

-Correct.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on George Orwell's 1984, City.

So, for five points, firstly, in Orwell's 1984,

whose image appears during the Two Minutes Hate? He's the author of

The Theory And Practice Of Oligarchical Collectivism.

I need the two-word name, please.

I can't remember.

-BARBER:

-The Theory Of...

-SHE WHISPERS

-So he's the hate figure?

-Yeah, can you remember?

If not, we'll pass. Pass.

It's Emmanuel Goldstein.

Goldstein's work has been... GONG

APPLAUSE

And at the gong Newcastle have 35,

City University have 145.

Well, Newcastle,

we're definitely going to be saying goodbye to you, I'm afraid.

You never got a chance to show us what you're made of, did you?

-We weren't quick enough off the buzzer.

-We didn't, really.

No, you were a bit slow on the buzzer

but also you spent an awful lot of time saying, "We don't know, do we?"

We don't know!

Anyway, thank you very much for playing.

You didn't have to and it was good of you to come. Thank you.

And, City, well, 145 may bring you back

as one of the highest-scoring winning teams.

We don't know... Stop being such a suck-up!

145 may be enough, as I say, to bring you back

as one of the highest-scoring winning teams,

we shall have to wait and see.

But congratulations to you, thank you very much for joining us.

As I say, you, too, didn't have to do it.

I hope you can join us next time for another first-round match

but until then, it's goodbye from Newcastle University.

-Bye.

-Bye!

-It's goodbye from City University, London.

-Goodbye.

-Bye.

And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.

APPLAUSE