Durham University v Keble College, Oxford University Challenge

Christmas University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

APPLAUSE

Hello. For the next few nights, students are off the hook.

Instead, this programme finds itself locked in a frankly rather

awkward embrace with the festive spirit, as 14 teams of alumni

compete on behalf of the institutions that nurtured them.

To qualify for a team,

all we ask each player is that they actually went to the place

they're playing for, and since being a student, they've gone on to

make their mark, or at least a faint smudge, in their chosen field.

They are all playing for nothing more than

the glory of their university, plus the chance to look

unutterably smug when they are named series champions.

After that, they can bask in the largesse of

the University Challenge hospitality suite -

an occasion on which the boat is well and truly pushed in.

LAUGHTER

Now, first, playing for the team from Durham University

is one of the most sought-after portrait artists of his generation.

He's been commissioned to paint Margaret Thatcher,

the Queen and Pope Benedict XVI, among many other world leaders.

With him, a sportswoman who, under her maiden name, Atkins,

played on the England cricket team which retained the Ashes

on tour in Australia in 2008,

and on the team which won the World Cup and the World Twenty20 in 2009.

Their captain is a screenwriter and novelist,

as well as being an actor whose credits include Bridget Jones' Baby,

Ridley Scott's The Martian, and the sitcom Miranda.

Of the fourth member, it's been said that that man can play,

and he can sing, and he can write great songs.

He is a founder member of a seminal folk-rock band whose hits include

Meet Me On The Corner, for which he received an Ivor Novello award.

Let's ask them now

to introduce themselves in the time-hallowed fashion.

Hello, my name is Alexander Talbot-Rice,

I graduated from Durham University

in politics, philosophy and history in 1995.

I'm now an honorary professor

at the Repin Academy in St Petersburg.

Hi, I'm Caroline Foster,

I graduated with a sports degree in 2002,

and I now coach cricket at Wellington School in Somerset.

And this is their captain.

Hi, I'm Nick Mohammed,

I graduated in geophysics at Durham in 2003,

and I'm now an actor.

Hi, I'm Rod Clements,

I graduated from Durham in 1969 with a BA in General Arts.

Since then, I've worked as a musician,

mainly with the band Lindisfarne.

APPLAUSE

Now, the team from Keble College, Oxford

includes exactly the sort of chap you'd hope

to bump into in the kitchen at parties,

as he is a board member of the Office of Tax Simplification,

he advises the Government on the economics of public policy,

he is a columnist for the Times and can be heard on the Today programme

offering financial wisdom.

With him, a nominee and recipient of numerous awards,

including the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize,

and the Whitbread Children's Book Award.

His films as a screenwriter include 24 Hour Party People,

and for television, he's written for Coronation Street and Doctor Who.

In 2012, he reached an estimated 900 million viewers worldwide

with his writing for the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.

Their captain began making people laugh

when she was a child by impersonating Margaret Thatcher.

Since then, she's won Best Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards

and made three series of her own comedy show,

as well as numerous other TV and film appearances.

In 2014, she published her first novel

and is currently writing her first play.

Their fourth member's prodigious achievements include

passing two GCSEs in primary school,

computing A-level at the age of 11,

and at 20, she became one of the youngest people to earn

a Masters degree in mathematics and computer science

from Oxford University.

So, let's meet the team from Keble College.

Hi, I'm Paul Johnson,

I read PPE at Keble in the mid-1980s,

and I'm now Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies,

which is an independent economics research organisation.

Hi, I'm Frank Cottrell-Boyce,

I graduated in English in 1985,

and I'm a children's novelist.

And this is their captain.

I'm Katy Brand,

I graduated in 2000 with a degree in theology,

and I'm a writer, actor and comedian.

I'm Anne-Marie Imafidon,

I run a social enterprise called Stemettes,

which encourages girls into technical fields,

and I read maths and computer science, graduating in 2010.

APPLAUSE

Well, the rules are the same as ever.

10 points for starter questions, 15 points for bonuses.

There are seven first-round matches but only the four teams

with the highest scores will go through to the semifinals

so it might be in everyone's interest to crack on

and get through as many questions as possible.

Let's see. Fingers on the buzzers. Here's your first starter for ten.

Which work first published in 1859 was subtitled

The Preservation Of Favoured Races In The Struggle For Life?

The Origin Of Species.

Yes, On The Origin Of Species, yes.

So you get your bonuses.

The first bonuses are on Christmas parties in films.

Five points if you can tell me in which film of 1990 does

Jimmy Conway's Christmas party turn sour

when he realises that his associates have been recklessly

spending their takings from the Lufthansa heist?

THEY CONFER

Pass.

It's Goodfellas.

Secondly, which film of 1997 begins with a scene

based on the 1951 incident known as Bloody Christmas

in which seven Mexican-American prisoners were

assaulted by police officers drunk from the station's Christmas party?

97?

Don't know.

Any ideas?

I don't know.

Shall I just say...

Love Actually.

It's witty but it's wrong.

LA Confidential.

And finally, based on a novel of 1974,

which 2011 film includes an office Christmas party

during which a Santa Claus in a Lenin mask leads

a drunken chorus of the State Anthem Of The Soviet Union?

-Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

-Tinker Tailor...Soldier Spy.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is correct, yes.

Ten points for this.

Often cited as one of the most studied films in history,

the Zapruder film, shot on 8mm, records which major...?

The Kennedy assassination.

Correct.

These bonuses are on scientific exhibitions of 2017.

What natural phenomena are documented

in Katie Paterson's work Totality,

displayed in 2017 in the Birmingham Science Museum Thinktank?

Don't know. Is it gravity? It's not gravitational waves, is it?

Gravitational waves.

No, they're solar eclipses.

Secondly, A Cabinet of Rarities at the Royal College of Physicians

was based on the collection of which 17th-century polymath whose

works include Religio Medici?

-Thomas Browne.

-Thomas Browne.

Correct.

The London Science Museum's exhibition Robots included

the Kodomoroid communication android

so-called because Kodomo needs child in the language of which

country in which the robot was created?

Hungary.

No, it's Japan.

Ten points for this.

Raineth drop and staineth slop and how the wind doth ramm!

Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us An ague hath my ham.

Ogden Nash.

Nope.

I'm going to fine you five points cos that was an interruption, too.

Which US poet wrote that parody

of the Medieval round Sumer Is Icumen In?

It was first published in the 1915 Vorticist magazine Blast.

Ezra Pound.

Yes, you get the points but it was a starter question

so you should have buzzed in, really, but we'll accept that.

OK, you get a set of bonuses, then, Keble, on Glaswegian comedians.

Sir Billy Connolly began his entertainment

career in the 1960s as a folk singer in a band called The Humblebums

alongside which musician?

BUZZER

You don't need to buzz for this. It's a bonus question.

He's struggling with the fundamentals.

Try and keep up.

..a band called The Humblebums alongside which musician,

later a member of Stealers Wheel?

-Gerry Rafferty.

-Gerry Rafferty.

Correct.

OK, you can confer on all of these.

The second part of this set of bonuses on Glaswegian comedians.

Born in Glasgow in 1926, which actor and comedian was the author

of a number of books on the nuances of the Glaswegian dialect,

based on a series of sketches he performed on television

entitled Parliamo Glasgow?

-Could you try Chic Murray? Chic Murray.

-Chic Murray.

No, it was Stanley Baxter.

And finally, of whom did the Glaswegian comedian and author

Frankie Boyle say that, "He talks like the words are being

"fired out of his mouth by a tennis ball launcher and has the general

"manner of an arrogant televangelist suspected of murder by Columbo?"

I don't know.

David Attenborough.

-Or Piers Morgan.

-Yeah, go on.

Piers Morgan?

No. Could be. It's Donald Trump, his friend.

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

For your picture starter, you're going to see the opening

lines of a popular Christmas song translated into Latin.

For ten points, I want the title of the song

and you can give your answer in English.

12 Days Of Christmas.

It is. Well done.

Right, you get picture bonuses.

More excerpts from popular Anglophone Christmas songs

that have loosely translated into Latin.

Again simply give me the title of each song for the points.

Firstly for five...

-What's the translation?

-Day of Christ.

Any ideas? Somnio...

Is it Away In A Manger?

Give it a go.

Away In A Manger?

No, it's I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas.

Haven't any of you got a classical education? Secondly...

Et carbonis oculis.

Something to do with meat and eyes.

Is it Frosty The Snowman?

Frosty The Snowman?

Well done, yes.

And finally...

-Jingle Bells.

-Jingle Bells.

-Jingle Bells.

-Jingle Bells.

Jingle Bells is correct.

You might get something just as testing

and get off the mark in a moment, Durham.

Ten points for this starter question. Listen carefully.

Answer as soon as your name is called.

If the body and head of a snowman are constructed from spherical

balls of snow whose diameters are in the ratio of 2:1,

what is the ratio of their volumes?

1:8.

Correct.

Your bonuses are on scientific terms.

In each case, give the term from the definition.

All three begin with the same two letters.

First, a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths

just longer than that of the visible spectrum.

Infrared or ultraviolet.

Is infrared shorter or longer?

What do we think?

-Think it's ultraviolet.

-Ultraviolet.

No, that's shorter than the visible spectrum. It's infrared.

Secondly a substance that prevents or retards a chemical process.

A low concentration of the substance in question is often sufficient.

THEY CONFER

Inoculation and inhibitor?

-Inhibitor. Are you sure?

-Yeah.

-OK.

Inhibitor.

Correct. Finally the period of time between being exposed to infection

and exhibiting the first symptoms.

Incubation.

Correct. Ten points for this.

Written by Josie Rourke and Hadley Fraser,

the 2017 musical Committee is based on the transcripts

of a Select Committee convened in 2015

to investigate the collapse of which high-profile charity?

Kids Company.

Correct.

Your bonuses are on modern art galleries in the UK.

Firstly, taking its name from a painting by van Eyck,

which contemporary art gallery investor was founded

by Jeremy Rees in 1961? BUZZER

You don't need to buzz. Get your finger off that buzzer right now.

-The Arnolfini.

-The Arnolfini.

Correct.

In 2011 which arts centre on the south bank of the River Tyne

became the first venue outside the Tate Group to host

the Turner Prize competition?

The Sage.

It's the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.

And finally, opened in 2011,

the Turner Contemporary is an art gallery in which seaside town

in Kent, the subject of several of Turner's landscapes?

Is it Margate?

Margate is correct.

Ten points for this.

Derived from the Anglo-Saxon for "be in good health",

what word describes both a spiced ale or mulled wine

drunk during Christmas celebrations and...

Wassail.

Wassail is correct, yes.

Your bonuses are on the social reformer Annie Besant.

After separating from her husband, the Vicar of Sibsey,

Besant became a member of which campaigning society

formed by Charles Bradlaugh in 1866 and known by the initials NSS?

THEY CONFER

The National Socialist Society.

It's the National Secular Society.

Secondly, in 1888, Besant published an expose of the low pay

and dangerous working conditions

endured by the largely female workforce

making what household product?

Health risks included bone cancer from exposure to phosphorus.

-Matches.

-Matches.

Matches is correct.

In 1913, after moving to India, Besant became a member of which

political party associated with the country's independence movement?

The Congress of India.

Congress Party, the Indian National Congress Party is correct, yes.

Right, we're going to take a music around now.

For your music starter you'll hear a record of a jazz standard.

For ten points I want the name of its original composer, who is also

the lead musician playing.

JAZZ SONG PLAYS

Miles Davis.

No. Anyone like to buzz from Keble?

You can hear a little more if you wish.

Benny Goodman.

No, it's Dizzy Gillespie on Groovin' High.

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

when someone gets the starter question right.

Ten points for this. Fingers on the buzzers, please.

Described by Christian Dior as the master of us all,

which Spanish fashion designer was the subject

of a major 2017 retrospective

at the Victoria and Albert Museum which included examples

of his characteristic envelope and sack dresses and cocoon coats?

Balenciaga.

Yes.

Right, you get the music bonuses, then.

2017 marks 100 years since the birth of Dizzy Gillespie,

whom you heard in the music starter.

Your music bonuses are recordings by three more notable jazz musicians

who were all also born in 1917.

Five points for each musician you can identify.

In each case you're looking for the lead performer on the track.

Firstly...

JAZZ SONG PLAYS

THEY CONFER

Erroll Garner.

No, that's Thelonious Monk, Round Midnight. Secondly...

JAZZ SONG PLAYS

THEY CONFER

-Buddy Rich.

-Buddy Rich.

Correct. Caravan.

And finally here I want the name of the singer, please.

JAZZ SONG PLAYS

THEY CONFER

-Julie London.

-No, it's Ella Fitzgerald, Cry Me A River.

Ten points for this.

Derived from Cantonese words meaning golden orange, what is

the common English name of the cold-hardy fruit citrus japonica?

It has a sweet, edible peel and sour flesh and is similar in size

and shape to a large olive.

Kumquat.

Kumquat is correct, yes.

These bonuses, Durham, are on a newspaper editor.

Firstly for five points, which leading proponent of liberal

and radical causes edited the Manchester Guardian

for 57 years from 1872 to 1929?

THEY CONFER

Just can't grasp his name.

Pass.

That's CP Scott. Secondly, when speaking of television,

Scott referred disparagingly to what hybrid etymology?

Other examples of this etymology include dysfunction,

heterosexual and electrocution.

Pass.

It's half Greek and half Latin.

"Nothing good will come of it," he said.

Scott is particularly remembered for what dictum on journalism?

Published in 1921, it's usually expressed as a seven-word sentence.

THEY CONFER

Pass.

LAUGHTER

Took a very long time coming to that conclusion.

No, it's "Comment is free but facts are sacred."

Ten points for this. Which three letters begin words

meaning a multiplicative factor in mathematics,

an autoimmune disorder involving an adverse reaction to gluten,

the French epithet of Richard I

and the American directors of...?

C-O-E.

C-O-E is correct, yes.

Right, your bonuses this time, Keble,

are on the philosopher Derek Parfit, who died in 2017.

What was Parfit's first major work, published in 1984?

It has a three-word title that includes two plural nouns.

THEY CONFER

We're going to guess Persons And Identities.

No, it's Reasons And Persons.

In Reasons And Persons, secondly, Parfit discusses

theories such as the self-interest theory of rationality, or S.

To what idea does he give the abbreviation C?

It's often summarised as "the end justifies the means".

THEY CONFER

Consequentialism.

Correct.

Parfit later combined seemingly conflicting approaches

to ethics into a triple theory.

These were consequentialism, contractualism

and the deontology of which German philosopher, born in 1724?

Is it Kant?

It is Kant, yes. Right, we're going to take a second picture round.

For your picture starter this time you're going to see

a detail of a painting.

For ten points I'd like you to identify the artist, please.

Botticelli.

It is Botticelli. Let's see the whole thing.

His Adoration Of The Magi.

So for your picture bonuses, three more details from notable

paintings of the Nativity, showing only the infant Christ.

Again, in each case, all you have to do is to name the artist.

Firstly for five...

I'm going to nominate Talbot-Rice to answer.

I think that's Goya.

No, it's El Greco. So let's see the whole thing.

It's The Adoration Of The Shepherds. There it is. Secondly...

That is...

-Giotto.

-It's Giotto.

Giotto.

Giotto is correct. There's the whole thing. The Nativity.

And finally...

Rembrandt.

Rembrandt.

It's Rembrandt's Adoration Of The Shepherds.

Well done. Ten points for this.

Kibo and Shira are two of the volcanic cones

of which prominent mountain,

almost 6,000 metres in height and situated just south of the equator?

Kilimanjaro.

Kilimanjaro is right.

Your bonuses are on Rolling Stone Magazine's

list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

In each case, give the song title from the description.

At number nine on the list, a song written by Kurt Cobain

and performed by Nirvana.

It took its name from a brand of deodorant.

Smells Like Teen Spirit. Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Correct. At number five on the list, a song written by Otis Redding

and performed by Aretha Franklin.

It subsequently became identified with the feminist movement.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Respect is correct.

At number one on the list,

a song written and recorded in 1965 by Bob Dylan.

It features the refrain, "How does it feel?"

Like A Rolling Stone.

Like A Rolling Stone.

Like A Rolling Stone is right.

Three minutes to go. Ten points for this.

Founded in memory of Anita Roddick,

which independent political campaigning organisation

takes its name from the angle at which snowflakes

come together to create an avalanche?

38 Degrees?

38 Degrees is correct, yes.

Your bonuses are on mathematical terms.

The answer in each case is the full title of a fictional work.

The title of which 2001 work by John Le Carre

includes an eight-letter word that in a mathematical sense denotes

a fixed and unvarying quantity that is significantly interesting?

THEY CONFER

The Constant Gardener.

Correct.

Another term for Archimedes' Constant

appears in the title of which novel,

the winner of the Booker Prize in 2002?

The Life Of Pi.

Correct.

And finally the name of a general category of number

mentioned in Euclid's second theorem appears in the title of which

1961 novel by Muriel Spark?

The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie.

Well done. Ten points for this.

In August 2017, which men's cricket team won their first ever

Test match against Australia?

Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is correct, yes.

These bonuses are on tennis in 2017.

Which Spanish tennis player became the WTA world number one in

September 2017 having won her first Wimbledon title earlier in the year?

THEY CONFER

Pass.

That was Muguruza.

Secondly, in June 2017, which Latvian tennis player became

the first unseeded woman to win the French Open since 1933,

defeating Simona Halep in the final?

It was her first professional title.

Pass.

That was Ostapenko.

And finally, which tennis player won her 23rd Grand Slam title

in January 2017, overtaking Steffi Graf's record

for the most Grand Slam wins in the Open era?

Serena Williams? Serena Williams.

Correct. Ten points for this.

Maurits Cornelis were the forenames of which Dutch graphic artist

born in 1898 and noted for works depicting meticulous

but impossible...?

Albrecht Durer.

No, I'm afraid you lose five points.

..but impossible shapes and structures?

Escher.

Escher is correct, yes.

GONG

And at the gong, Durham had 35 but Keble College Oxford have 220.

You never really got a chance to get going there, Durham, did you?

And there was a lot of pressure on you,

particularly on some of those arts questions.

But thank you very much for joining us.

You didn't need to do it. Thank you.

Keble, many congratulations.

You may well come back as one of the four highest scores

in this first round. We'll see. 220 is a great score.

Thank you very much for joining us.

I hope you can join us next time but until then when we'll have another

-first-round match, it's goodbye from Durham University...

-Goodbye.

-..it's goodbye from Keble College Oxford...

-Goodbye.

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