Soas v Leeds University Challenge

Christmas University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. Now, in recent months,

we've heard a great deal about

the Scandinavian concept of "hygge",

supposedly a sense of comfortable,

fellow feeling with seasonal warmth.

The next half hour should provide a

welcome antidote to such sentiment,

as the icy blast of competition

fills the studio with two more teams

of alumni, each determined to

beat the other to the semifinals.

From the results we've seen

so far in this series,

we know that if tonight's score is

over 245 as winners,

that team will definitely appear in

the next stage of the competition.

Not much to ask, is it, really?

Soas, or the School Of Oriental

And African Studies,

is a constituent college of the

University of London,

and is in the middle of

celebrating its centenary.

They're fielding a retired diplomat

and former ambassador.

He's headed the FCO's China Hong

Kong Department, and since retiring,

he's been the Chair of

the Japan Society of the UK.

With him, a cultural historian

whose many projects have included

presenting the TV series

The Lost Kingdoms Of Africa.

He's judged the Art Fund's

British Museum Of The Year

and in 2017, he'll be

presenting the programme

Tate Britain Great British Walks

on Sky Arts.

Their captain is

an author and columnist,

as well as being

a familiar face on television,

particularly on Channel 4,

where his Trigger Happy TV

won the Silver Rose Of Montreux

and earned him three

British Comedy Award nominations.

He's also made a brief foray into

the world of politics,

failing to wrest the seat of

Kensington and Chelsea

from Alan Clark in

the 1997 general election,

when he stood for

the Teddy Bear Alliance.

With them, a Nigerian-Finnish writer

and founder of the award-winning

blog MsAfropolitan,

which covers Africa from

a feminist perspective.

Her writing also appears in

the Guardian

and the Guardian Africa,

the Huffington Post,

and on Al Jazeera.

She's been described as one of

Nigeria's most influential women.

Let's meet the Soas team.

Hello, I'm David Warren.

In 1976, I studied Japanese

for a year at Soas as part of

the Foreign Office's language

training programme,

and between 2008 and 2012,

I was British Ambassador to Japan.

Hello, I'm Gus Casely-Hayford.

I finished my PhD in 1992, looking

at Ghanaian political elites.

Captain?

Hello, I'm Dom Joly.

I got a BA in Politics from Soas,

and I'm now a comedian

and a travel writer.

Hi, I'm Minna Salami.

I got an MA from Soas in 2012

and I'm now a writer,

blogger and commentator

on social and cultural issues.

Now, the team from

Leeds University is made up of

a writer who's been nominated

for several awards,

including the Costa Novel Award

and the Orange Prize For Fiction.

She's a critic and cultural

commentator on television

and in the press, and has been

a judge for the Man Booker Prize

and Costa Book Of The Year.

With her, a keyboard player

and vocalist with

a band whose members all met

as students at Leeds,

and who have gone on to win

the Mercury Prize,

an Ivor Novello Award,

and a Grammy nomination.

Alongside their award-winning

albums, their music often

features in television

and feature film productions.

Their captain traces his love of

journalism

to the less-than-salubrious office

of the Leeds University student

newspaper in the late 1980s.

Since then, he's been political

editor of the Observer

and business editor at

the Sunday Telegraph,

before taking on his present role.

Their fourth member began his

award-winning career by

drawing for children's comics before

moving on to Punch, Private Eye,

the New Statesman and

the Spectator among others.

The enduring images he's created

include John Major with his

underpants outside his trousers,

Tony Blair with

Margaret Thatcher's rogue eyeball,

and George W Bush as a chimpanzee.

Let's meet the Leeds team.

I'm Louise Doughty, and I graduated

from Leeds in 1984 with

a degree in English Literature,

and I now write novels for a living.

Hello, I'm Gus Unger-Hamilton.

I graduated from Leeds

in 2010 in English,

and I now play in the band alt-J.

And this is their captain.

Hello, I'm Kamal Ahmed.

I graduated from Leeds University

in Political Studies in 1990,

and I'm now the

economics editor for the BBC.

Hello, I'm Steve Bell.

I studied Fine Art

between 1970 and 1974.

I've been drawing daily cartoons,

more or less, for the Guardian,

since 1981.

OK, the rules are the same

as for the students' series.

10 points for starter questions,

which have to be answered

on the buzzer individually.

Bonuses are worth 15, and you can

confer - they're team efforts.

There's a five-point penalty

if you interrupt

a starter question incorrectly.

So, fingers on the buzzers -

here's your first starter for ten.

Which English monarch is

the subject of

a portrait bought for the

National Collection in July 2016,

following a campaign by

the Art Fund?

Usually known by the name of

a failed invasion fleet,

it was purchased from the

descendants of Sir Francis Drake.

Elizabeth I.

Correct. It was The Armada Portrait.

Soas, the first set of

bonuses fall to you.

They're on people born on

Christmas Day.

Firstly, born on Christmas Day

in 1911, which French-US artist

is noted for her large-scale

sculpture and installation art?

Her nine-metre-high steel spider,

entitled Maman,

was created for the opening of

Tate Modern in 2000.

Yes? Louise Bourgeois.

Correct. Quote...

"As soon as I stepped out of my

mother's womb onto dry land,

"I realised that I'd made a mistake,

that I shouldn't have come.

"But the problem with children is

they're not returnable."

Which author, performer

and raconteur

wrote that of his birth on

Christmas Day, 1908?

(Is it, er...? Is it Quentin Crisp?)

(Quentin Crisp.)

Yes?

(Try Quentin Crisp.)

Quentin Crisp?

Correct.

Oh, well done.

And,

finally, born in India

on Christmas Day, 1936,

which film producer released over 40

feature films with his partner,

the US director James Ivory?

Ismail Merchant.

Correct. Ten points for this...

Fingers on the buzzers.

In the Southern Hemisphere,

what is the two-word Latin name of

the luminous atmospheric phenomenon

also known as "the Southern Lights"?

The aurora Australis.

Correct.

Your bonuses are on shorter words

that can be made by using

any of the ten letters of

the word "poinsettia."

In each case,

give the word from the definition.

Firstly, for five,

originating in the Middle Ages,

it's a type of footwear with

a raised platform used to

increase height or to protect

the wearer's feet from mud.

A step.

No, it's a patten.

P-A-T-T-E-N.

Secondly, a small,

early keyboard instrument belonging

to the harpsichord family.

What other ones are there?

Spinet? Spinet, yeah...

Spinet.

Correct.

And, finally, in Greek mythology,

the personification of dawn,

corresponding to the Roman

goddess Aurora.

Who was dawn in Greek mythology?

No, do you know that one?

No...

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

It's Eos. Ten points for this.

"Sow-dug", "gramfy-coocher"

and "johnny-grump"

are among regional terms for which

common terrestrial crustacean?

Distinguished by their

segmented exoskeleton...

Woodlouse.

Yes.

Your bonuses are

on wind farms, Leeds.

According to its website, the RSPB

objects to what percentage of

wind farm applications because they

threaten bird populations?

You can have 5% either way.

70?

I'd say high.

You think it's that high?

I wouldn't have said that high.

Yeah.

OK.

Er, 60%.

No, they only object,

apparently, to 6%!

While generally supporting the

growth of wind power generation,

the website notes that some

wind farms have been poorly sited,

and cause major bird casualties.

One example they cite is

Altamont Pass.

In which US state is it?

Is it California?

Cos Altamont was, er...

It was, like, a Stones concert.

Right. OK.

Happy to go with it?

OK.

California.

Correct.

RSPB research, finally, concludes

that wind farm construction

can reduce breeding populations of

which upland bird by up to 50%?

The largest European wading bird,

it's distinguished by its long,

down-curved bill.

Cormorant, isn't it?

Curlew, curlew.

Curlew.

Avocets go up, so...

Yeah, curlew.

Curlew.

Correct. Right, we're going to

take a picture round now.

For your picture starter,

you're going to see a table showing

the total number of Olympic medals

won to date by a British athlete.

For ten points, I want you to

identify the athlete.

Steve Redgrave.

Anyone like to buzz from Soas?

You may not confer!

One of you can buzz.

Come on! Stop conferring

or trying to confer!

Ugh! Just can't remember his name.

Right, I'm going to tell you.

I know who it is.

It's Bradley Wiggins.

Oh, I didn't know...

That wasn't who I was thinking.

OK,

so, he got eight Olympic medals.

It made him the most decorated

British Olympian of all time.

So, we're going to get the picture

bonuses in a moment or two,

when someone gets

a starter question correct.

So, ten points at stake for this.

Fingers on the buzzers, please.

In the subtitle of a 2016

reappraisal

by Andrew Crines and Kevin Hickson,

who is described as

"the unprincipled Prime Minister?"

In 1947, he became Britain's

youngest Cabinet minister

of the 20th century...

Harold Wilson.

Correct.

Right, so we go back, then,

to the picture round.

Your picture bonuses show

the medals of three more of

Britain's most decorated Olympic and

Paralympic athletes,

all of whom added to their tallies

in Rio this year.

Five points for each athlete you can

identify. Firstly, for five...

Who got three golds?

What's her name? Erm...

Victoria Pendleton? No.

No, no, no.

Erm...

God, what's she called? No.

No, pass.

It's Jason Kenny.

Ah, so we got it wrong anyway.

He joined Chris Hoy on six

Olympic golds this year,

the highest number of

a British Olympic athlete.

And secondly...

Is that Greg Rutherford?

Is it, yeah?

He's the only one I can think of,

yeah?

Greg Rutherford?

No, that's Katherine Grainger -

her silver this year made her

the joint most decorated British

female Olympian.

And finally...

It can't be an endurance sport,

can it?

No.

Who's the guy that was...

The cyclist, who...

Oh, I'm terrible at cycling.

I've no idea.

Are you good on cycling?

I think we'd better have an answer,

please.

We've no idea.

That's Sarah Storey,

the Paralympian.

Oh.

Right, ten points for this.

"The long-distance lines are down.

"What about the satellite?

Is it snowing in space?"

These are the words of the stranded

weatherman Phil Connors,

played by Bill Murray in which...

Groundhog Day.

It is Groundhog Day, yes.

Your bonuses, Leeds,

are on the 1990s.

In each case, give the year in which

the following events occurred.

Firstly, A S Byatt's Possession

won the Booker Prize,

Iraq invaded Kuwait, and East and

West Germany signed a unification

treaty.

1990?

'90, I think.

'90.

'91?

No, '90.

'90? OK.

1990.

Correct. Secondly, James Kelman's

How Late It Was, How Late

won the Booker Prize,

the Channel Tunnel opened

and Nelson Mandela became president

of South Africa.

'94?

I'm pretty sure it was '94.

1994.

Correct. And finally, Arundhati

Roy's The God Of Small Things

won the Booker Prize,

Diana, Princess of Wales, died

and the UK elected a Labour

government.

1997.

Correct. Ten points for this.

November 2016 saw a disagreement

between an academic at

the University of Toronto and a

European art gallery over

the authenticity of 65 drawings

attributed by the former...

Peter Doig.

No. You lose five points.

..attributed by the former to

which 19th-century artist?

Van Gogh.

Van Gogh is correct, yes.

Your bonuses, Leeds,

are on the films of Ken Loach.

In 1965, the BBC televised

Ken Loach's film version of which

story collection by Nell Dunn,

concerning three young women in

Clapham and Battersea?

Its title refers in part to a major

railway junction in that area.

(Up The Junction.

OK.)

Up The Junction.

Correct. Starring Crissy Rock,

which award-winning 1994 docudrama

by Loach concerns

a woman's struggles with social

services over the custody of

her children? Its title is the first

two words of a nursery rhyme.

(No, it's 1994...)

(First two words of

a nursery rhyme...)

(Ladybird, Ladybird.)

Ladybird, Ladybird.

Correct.

And finally, Loach's 1993 film

Raining Stones features Bruce Jones

as a man trying to buy what specific

item of apparel for his daughter?

Confirmation dress.

Confirmation dress.

Yes, a confirmation or communion

dress is fine. So...

now we're going to take

a music round.

For your music starter, you'll hear

two carols played simultaneously,

both of which have been transposed

into a minor key.

For ten points,

I want you to identify both carols.

O Little Town Of Bethlehem

and Jingle Bells.

Correct. Well done!

Following on from that cacophony,

your music bonuses

are three more pairs of carols

played simultaneously,

all of which have undergone

modal or tonal transposition.

For five points in each case, I want

you to identify both carols heard.

(What's the other one?)

(Shall we try that?

Try that.

We'll try that.)

Erm, We Three Kings and

In The Bleak Midwinter.

Well, We Three Kings was

easy enough, wasn't it?

But apparently the other one

was Silent Night.

Secondly,

identify this pair of carols.

They've been transposed from

a minor modality to a major one.

(Is it Hark! The Herald?)

(Can't hear the other one!)

Haven't got a clue.

Little Town Of Bethlehem and...

That apparently is the Coventry

Carol and O Come, O Come Emanuel.

And finally, name this pair -

both have been transposed

from major to minor.

(Ding dong Merrily On High...)

Joy To The World.

Joy To The World.

And Ding Dong Merrily On High.

Ding Dong Merrily On High

and Joy To The World.

Correct!

Right, ten points for this

starter question.

From the 1720s, Lady Mary Montagu

was an early proponent of

inoculation against which disease?

She'd observed the treatment

in Turkey

as the wife of

the British ambassador.

Polio?

No. Anyone like to buzz from Soas?

Smallpox?

Smallpox is correct.

You get three bonuses on

elements known since antiquity.

Which element firstly occurs chiefly

as the sulphide mineral stibnite?

There is evidence of its use several

thousand years ago as

a primary component in

the eye make-up kohl.

Charcoal, but is that an element?

It's not an element.

No...

Carbon?

I think it's carbon, yes?

Yeah?

Carbon.

No, it's antimony.

Secondly, the word "copper"

is derived from the name of

what location,

the primary source of the mined

element in Roman times?

Cyprus. Cyprus?

Why?

Copper, the name...

Yeah?

Is it derived from

the location Cyprus?

Are you happy with that? Yeah?

Cyprus.

Correct.

Finally, alloyed with copper

to make bronze,

which element has a symbol derived

from its Latin name, stannum?

So, it makes bronze and it's

from...

Stannum, Latin.

The name is stannum.

Let's have it.

(Is it tin?)

Tin?

Tin is correct, yes.

Ten points for this. In 2016,

which novel

by the South Korean author Han Kang

became the first winner...

The Vegetarian.

The Vegetarian is right.

You get three bonuses on the actor

and singer Paul Robeson.

In 1928, Robeson sang Ol' Man River

in the London premiere of

which musical by Jerome Kern

and Oscar Hammerstein?

Showboat.

Not Porgy And Bess?

Porgy And Bess or Showboat?

Ol' Man River is Showboat.

Oh, OK.

Showboat.

Correct. Robeson starred in, but

later disowned, which film of 1935?

Based on the writings of

Edgar Wallace

and concerned with British

colonial interests in Nigeria,

it featured Leslie Banks

as the title character.

Any thoughts?

No, I'm sorry.

Sorry, we don't know.

That's Sanders Of The River.

And finally, in 1930,

Robeson appeared opposite

Peggy Ashcroft as the title

character in a West End run of which

of Shakespeare's tragedies?

Must be Othello.

Othello.

Of course. 10 points for this.

H0 H0 H0 - that's H-zero, H-zero,

H-zero -

is Santa's postcode,

according to the postal service of

which Commonwealth country?

Canada.

Canada is correct, yes.

Right, your bonuses, Leeds,

this time,

are on some of the 16 people listed

in MB Synge's work

Great Englishwomen,

an historical reading book

for schools published in 1907.

In each case, name the person

from the description.

Firstly, a founder and member of

the Royal Academy,

born in Switzerland in 1741.

She is particularly associated with

wall paintings in residences

designed by Robert Adam.

She's an artist, then.

Yeah. Robert Adam...

I don't know who it is.

I really don't know.

Any woman artists?

Woman artists...

from the 18th century?

Angelika Kaufmann?

Give it a whirl.

Angelika Kaufmann.

Correct!

(Well done!)

Secondly, an influential science

writer born in Scotland in 1780.

Interested in a wide range of

scientific disciplines,

a college of Oxford

is named after her.

Not Mary Wollstonecraft, no?

Oxford...

What's her...

Science...

Science.

Oxford college named after her?

1780 born.

1780.

What was your answer?

Mary Wollstonecraft.

Yeah, OK. Mary Wollstonecraft.

No, it's Mary Somerville.

And finally,

a poet who died in Florence in 1861.

Her works include Sonnets From

The Portuguese and Aurora Leigh.

Barrett Browning.

Sorry?

Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Correct. There are five minutes to

go. Here's your starter question -

it's a picture one.

For your picture starter, you're

going to see a still from a film.

Ten points if you can give me

the title of the film.

No-one has an idea?

Well, that still was from Die Hard,

starring Alan Rickman,

who died earlier this year.

So, we'll take the picture

bonuses in a moment or two

and take another starter question

in the meantime.

Fingers on the buzzers. Here we go.

Which second-wave feminist magazine

was launched in the UK

in 1972 by the journalist...

Spare Rib?

Spare Rib is correct, yes.

So, you will be thrilled to hear you

get the picture bonuses.

Die Hard was set on Christmas Eve

and it concerned

a particularly unfortunate

office party.

Your picture bonuses are stills from

another three

less-than-festive films set during

the Christmas period.

Firstly, for five, I need the

specific title of this 1992 film.

OK, which one, though?

Batman Returns? Is it?

I think it's Batman Returns. Yeah?

Batman Returns.

Correct. Secondly,

the title of this 1960 film?

Ooh...

The Apartment?

Yes, it is. Yeah. Yeah?

The Apartment.

Correct.

And finally, this 1984 film?

Oh... Gremlins, yeah? Gremlins.

Correct. Ten points for this.

In November 2016, which US baseball

team won their first championship...

Chicago Cubs?

Yes.

First time in 108 years. Here are

your bonuses. They're on galaxies.

What name is given to the group of

over 50 galaxies that,

in astronomical terms, lie in

relatively close proximity to

the Milky Way? The galaxy Triangulum

also lies in this region.

You trying again?

I'm not any good on galaxies.

No, not on galaxies.

Crab Nebula?

No idea!

Sorry, we don't know.

That's the Local Group.

The Milky Way is the second-largest

galaxy in the Local Group.

What is the largest? It's more than

two million light years from Earth

and has the designation M31.

Do you know ANY galaxies?

I don't know.

No, no.

Sorry, we don't know that either.

That's the Andromeda galaxy.

And finally, which US astronomer

coined the term Local Group

in his 1936 book

The Realm Of The Nebulae?

Er, I don't really know

astronomers. Sagan?

Carl Sagan was a writer but was he

actually an astronomer?

I don't know.

Fred Hoyle?

Fred Hoyle, yeah.

Fred Hoyle.

No, that was Edwin Hubble.

Ten points for this.

Which decade saw the capture of

Beijing by the Manchu Ching Dynasty?

In Japan, the Dutch began trading

from the island of Dejima,

in Nagasaki Bay,

and in England the king was executed

and a Commonwealth proclaimed.

1649.

That's correct, yes.

It's the 1640s - I only wanted the

decade, so I'm accepting that.

Right, your bonuses are on kitchens

and artistic expression, Leeds.

March Past Of The Kitchen Utensils

forms part of The Wasps,

a suite of incidental music

by which composer?

He wrote it in 1909 for a

Trinity College Cambridge production

of a comedy by Aristophanes.

Vaughan Williams.

Correct. "I write this sitting in

the kitchen sink"

is the opening line of which novel

by Dodie Smith,

first published in 1948?

I Captured The Castle.

Correct. And finally,

The Kitchen Maid or Milkmaid

is a painting by which artist

born in Delft in 1632?

Is it Vermeer?

Either Vermeer or De Hooch.

Say Vermeer.

Vermeer? Vermeer.

Vermeer is correct.

Ten points for this.

First published in book form

in 1906,

The Gift Of The Magi is

a seasonal short story...

O Henry.

O Henry is right, yes.

Your bonuses are on cricketing

terminology

from the glossary of ESPN Cricinfo.

In each case,

give the term from the definition.

All three are five-letter words.

First, when the batsman is clearly

lbw, even at full speed.

Clearly lbw at full speed?

I have no idea.

I don't understand

the question.

I

don't understand the question.

Leg before wicket.

Leg before

wicket.

Yes, but that is lbw!

It's plumb.

Oh, PLUMB, right, OK.

At the gong, Soas have 85,

Leeds University have 175.

So, Soas, we definitely have to

say goodbye to you.

Leeds, you might come back as one of

the highest-scoring winning teams.

We don't know. We'll see.

175 is certainly better than some

winning scores we've seen so far.

But in the meantime, I'd like to

thank all of you for taking part.

You didn't have to.

Thank you very much.

I hope you can join us next time for

another first-round match.

But until then, it's goodbye

from the School of Oriental

and African studies...

ALL:

Goodbye.

..it's goodbye from Leeds

University... ALL:

Goodbye.

..and it's goodbye from me -

goodbye.