Queen Mary College, London v Cardiff University University Challenge

APPLAUSE

Christmas University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. We've reached the penultimate first round match

of our seasonal series.

Two more teams of distinguished graduates have decided

they're ready to take a step up from charades

and will face off tonight for a place in the semifinals.

A score of 160 will definitely see tonight's winners through,

alongside the teams from Keble College Oxford

and University College London.

Now, the first team we're going to meet tonight is

playing on behalf of Queen Mary University,

one of the constituent colleges of the University of London.

First up for them is a former radio astronomer who

went on to become cosmology consultant

for New Scientist magazine.

His science writing has been

shortlisted for the Royal Society book prize

and he can often be found discussing the mysteries of the universe

on Channel 4's Sunday Brunch.

Joining him is the lead singer of Iron Maiden,

one of the most successful rock bands of all time,

with worldwide album sales in excess of 100 million.

He's a qualified airline captain who has personally flown

the band on their recent world tours.

He's also turned his hand to screenwriting,

radio presenting, and competitive fencing.

His recent autobiography can't have been short of material, therefore.

Their captain has had a prolific career as a broadcaster

on both television and radio, presenting programmes

including Working Lunch, The One Show,

and Match Of The Day 2.

He's fronted coverage of the Olympics

and the football World Cup for both the BBC and ITV,

and is currently one of the hosts of Radio 5 Live Daily.

Finally, a television chef and bestselling food writer who's

internationally recognised as an expert in Chinese cuisine.

She's a regular guest on television's Saturday Kitchen

and Food And Drink, and has presented programmes for both

National Geographic and BBC Two, including the documentary series

Exploring China, A Culinary Adventure, alongside Ken Hom.

Let's meet the Queen Mary team.

Hi, I'm Marcus Chown.

I did physics, I'm a writer,

my books include Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You,

We Need To Talk About Kelvin,

and a book about everything called What A Wonderful World, so I'm going

to be highly embarrassed if I can't answer a single question today.

Hi, I'm Bruce Dickinson.

I graduated in 1978 with a Desmond in modern history.

And I ended up being a heavy metal singer, an airline pilot,

I brew beer,

and I'm just about to discover what does this button do at this quiz.

This is their captain.

Hi, I'm Adrian Chiles.

I studied English literature at what was then Queen Mary

and Westfield College.

I was a decidedly unexceptional student,

graduating with I'm afraid yet another Desmond.

I have neither fronted rock band, nor flown a plane, I have

brewed beer, though, but mainly, I'm a broadcaster and writer.

Hello, I'm Ching He Huang,

and I graduated in economics at Queen Mary Westfield in 1999.

I cook and write about Chinese cooking.

I winged my way through university

so I really don't know what I'm doing here.

APPLAUSE

Their opponents represent Cardiff University, and include

a former captain of the Welsh national football team who now

holds a chair at Cardiff in public policy and the governance of Wales.

She keeps her feet in both camps by serving as

director of the Football Association of Wales trust,

and as chair of the Welsh Assembly's expert panel on electoral reform.

With her is a gold medal winning former cyclist.

She has won the women's Tour de France twice

and in 2008 she became the first rider to win the Olympic

and World Championship road races in the same year.

Since joining the BBC in 1993,

their captain has reported from all over the world, covering stories

from the IRA ceasefire

to President Obama's first visit to Cuba.

As UN correspondent,

she travelled with Ban Ki-moon on his first overseas

trip as Secretary-General, and more recently

she reported live from New York

on the night President Trump was elected.

Completing the Cardiff team is a reptile specialist

and BAFTA-nominated broadcaster.

He has worked with Chris Packham and Sir David Attenborough

and he presents several series,

including BBC One's Rhys Jones's Wildlife Patrol,

in which he's tackled wildlife crimes ranging from a seafront snake

wrangler to a case of a deadly scorpion sent in the post.

Let's meet the Cardiff team.

Hello, I'm Laura McAllister. I graduated with a PhD

in 1996 in political science,

and I'm now professor of politics at Cardiff University.

Hello, I'm Nicole Cooke.

I studied a master in business administration, graduating in 2014,

and I'm a strategy consultant.

This is their captain.

Hi, I'm Laura Trevelyan,

I graduated from Cardiff back in 1991.

I can barely remember it, it was so long ago,

with a postgraduate diploma in newspaper journalism.

I'm an anchor and correspondent for the BBC's World News channel

based in New York and the mother of three unruly boys.

Hello, I'm Rhys Jones.

I graduated from Cardiff in 2010 with a PhD in phylogenetics,

and I work now as a lecturer and a TV presenter.

APPLAUSE

OK, the rules never change on this programme,

so let's just get on with it. So, fingers on buzzers.

Here's your first starter for ten.

Of unknown origin, what six-letter word came into vogue

in the 1750s as student slang for a trick, hoax, fraud, or deception?

It appears repeatedly as an interjection conveying

the sentiment stuff and nonsense in Dickens's A Christmas Carol.

Humbug.

Humbug is right, yes.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses are on quotations.

Your answer here is a four-letter word.

In Death In The Afternoon, what did Ernest Hemingway

describe as one of the most civilised things in the world

and one of the natural things of the world that has been

brought to the greatest perfection?

Do we know?

THEY WHISPER

-No, just a quotation. Do we know?

-No.

-We don't know.

-It's wine.

Secondly, the finances of which public figure

are the subject of David Lough's 2015 book No More Champagne?

He describes him as someone who ran up huge personal debts,

gambled heavily, lost large amounts on the stock exchange,

avoided tax with great success, and paid his bills late?

THEY WHISPER

Sean Connery?

Sean Connery?

Sean Connery?

No, it's a financial figure.

Don't know. Do we know?

Shall we guess Donald Trump?

-We don't know.

-That was Winston Churchill.

And, finally, according to a quotation attributed to

Samuel Johnson, clarity is the liquor for boys,

port for men, but he who aspires to be a hero must drink what?

Whisky?

Whisky?

No, it's brandy.

Ten points for this.

Young man, with your devastating good looks

and disastrous lack of talent, you should take any job offered to you.

This advice was given by Noel Coward to which actor who died in 2017?

The actor in question once described his range as left eyebrow

raised, right eyebrow raised.

Erm...

Roger Moore.

Roger Moore is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, Queen Mary, are on shorter words that can be

made using any of the nine letters of the word mistletoe.

In each case, give the word from the definition.

Firstly, similar to courage or resolve, a noun meaning a person's

ability to persevere in challenging and demanding circumstances.

Mistletoe...

I don't know.

I don't know. No idea.

Sorry, we don't know.

That's mettle.

Secondly, from the French for word,

a style of vocal composition dating from the early 13th century,

typically a sacred Latin choral work.

-No.

-No.

That's a motet.

And finally, common in Japanese cuisine,

a protein-rich fermented paste

consisting mainly of soya beans and grains such as barley and rice.

I nominate Ching.

Miso.

Miso is right, yes.

APPLAUSE Ten points for this.

Whether Mr Mutt with his own hands made it or not

has no importance, he chose it.

Thought to be written by the artist himself,

these words are defence of which artwork of 1917 by

Marcel Duchamp, initially presented under the pseudonym R Mutt.

Known by a single word title, it comprises a ready-made

white porcelain urinal laid on its back.

Untitled.

No, you lose five points. One of you buzz?

Is there any more of the question?

Laid on its back.

Urinal.

Pissoir.

No, it's called Fountain!

Oh, right.

Ten points for this.

Sir Peter Mansfield who died in February 2017 shared the 2003

Nobel prize for physiology or medicine for his work

relating to which technique used in medical scanning?

-BELL

-Queen Mary, Chiles.

MRI.

MRI, magnetic resonance imaging is correct, yes.

You get a set of bonuses on Martin Luther King Jr.

In which US state did King

lead the Montgomery Improvement Association

on a 381-day boycott of the Municipal Transit System

which in turn led to the Supreme Court's declaration

that the segregation laws were unconstitutional?

-Alabama.

-Correct.

And, secondly, in which city on August 28th 1963

during a march for jobs and freedom did King deliver

the speech now known by the words, I Have A Dream?

What was the march? There was a film about it recently.

Don't know.

Washington DC.

Correct.

In which city on April 3rd 1968 did King deliver the speech known as,

I've Been To The Mountaintop,

during which he conjectured that he might meet an untimely end?

He was assassinated in that city the following day.

THEY WHISPER

Memphis.

Correct.

We are going to take a picture round now.

For your picture starter, you will see an expression

equivalent to cheers in a European language.

For ten points, all you have to do is to identify the language.

-BELL

-Queen Mary, Dickinson.

Hungarian.

It is, yes.

APPLAUSE

For your picture bonuses, three more toasts in European languages,

and again, in each case,

you just need to identify the language to get the points.

Firstly, for five.

Turkish.

Turkish.

It is Turkish. Yes. Secondly.

Finnish?

Finnish.

It is Finnish, yes.

And, finally.

THEY WHISPER

Is it Maltese?

-No, it's Catalan.

-Ah!

It means health and strength to your purse, apparently.

Or words to that effect.

Right, ten points for this.

According to the 19th century biographer Robert Huish,

which English king's example, "Went further to the demoralisation

"of society than any prince recorded in the pages of history.

"His numerous paramours included the Countess of Jersey

"and Maria Fitzherbert."

-BELL

-Queen Mary Dickinson.

George III.

No, anyone like to buzz from Cardiff?

You don't lose anything by buzzing.

King John?

No, it was George IV.

Ten points for this.

The grandstand at Ayr Racecourse,

the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh,

and the tea pavilion at Kew Gardens were in 1913 among the targets

of arson and bomb attacks by members of which political movement?

-BELL

-Queen Mary, Dickinson.

Provisional IRA.

Nope.

-BUZZER

-Cardiff, Cooke.

Suffragettes?

The Suffragettes is correct, yes.

Your bonuses now are on geochronology, Cardiff.

Which geological epoch spanned the most recent ice ages

and ended around 11,700 years ago?

Its name derives from the Greek for most new.

THEY WHISPER

Neolithic.

Neolithic?

No, it's the Pleistocene.

An interglacial period of the Middle Pleistocene

takes its name from which East Anglian seaside resort?

The town in question is home to the Pavilion Theatre

and is noted for its crabs.

Skegness? Skegness.

Cleethorpes.

It's Cromer.

And, finally, situated on the River Orwell,

which county town of eastern England

gives its name to the most recent interglacial period

of the Pleistocene?

A town on the river.

River Orwell.

Ice age.

We're going to go Skegness.

It's Ipswich.

Ten points for this.

Previously named Let It Rock, Too Fast To Live,

Too Young To Die, and Sex, Seditionaries was an early London

boutique of which British fashion designer who was made a dame...

-BUZZER

-Cardiff, McAllister.

Vivienne Westwood.

Correct.

You get three bonuses on Dame Judi Dench.

Firstly, it is reported that Judi Dench was

so nervous during a singing audition in 1968 that she

sang from the wings, leaving her pianist alone on stage.

Even so, the audition landed her a leading role in the original

London production of which Broadway musical?

-A Broadway musical from the '60s.

-That she was the lead for.

Hairspray? No?

Anyone know?

I didn't know she could sing.

We don't know.

It's Cabaret where she played Sally Bowles.

What is the stage name,

secondly, of the UK grime artist Maxwell Owusu Ansah

who's coined the term Dench as a general form of approbation,

and who's attempted to duet with Dame Judi

on his tracks Celebrate and Pow (Forward)?

I don't know his name.

-Do you know?

-I don't, I'm afraid.

-We don't know.

-It's Lethal Bizzle.

And, finally, in 2016, Judi Dench became the first person to win

an eighth Olivier Award when she won best actress in a supporting

role for her performance as Paulina in which played by Shakespeare?

Oh...

It's the wife of someone, isn't it?

THEY CONFER

Troilus And Cressida.

No, it's The Winter's Tale. We are going to take a music round now.

For your music starter, you will hear a piece of popular music.

For ten points, please name the band playing.

# She drives me crazy... #

-BUZZER

-Cardiff, Trevelyan.

Don't know.

LAUGHTER

Oh, dear.

Well, I can't fine you five points, although you clearly deserve it.

You can hear a little more, Queen Mary, if you like.

MUSIC CONTINUES

# Like no-one else

# She drives me crazy

# And I can't help myself

# I can't get... #

MUSIC FADES OUT

You can't lose anything by having a...

-BELL

-Queen Mary, Chiles.

Communards.

No, it's the Fine Young Cannibals.

Right, ten points for this.

A red dwarf thought to form part of a triple star,

what at a distance of around 4.2 light-years...

-BELL

-Queen Mary, Chown.

Proxima Centauri.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

So, you get the music bonuses, Queen Mary.

Following on from the Fine Young Cannibals

and their front man Roland Gift who grew up in Kingston-upon-Hull,

the 2017 City of Culture.

Your music bonuses are three more of Hull's notable cultural exports.

Five points for each band or artist you can name.

Firstly, for five, this band.

# What a good place to be

# Don't believe it

# Cos they speak a different language and it's never... #

The Housemartins.

Correct. Secondly, this duo.

# And I miss you... #

Everything But The Girl.

Correct. And, finally, this time,

I want the name of the lead guitarist here.

GUITAR INTRO PLAYS

Mick Ronson.

Correct.

APPLAUSE

Right, ten points for this. I need you to spell the answer here.

Spell the surname of the author whose works include

The Birth Of Tragedy From The Spirit Of Music,

Twilight Of The Idols, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

-BELL

-Queen Mary, Dickinson.

It's Nietzsche.

Come on.

Erm, Friedrich...

N-E-I...

No.

LAUGHTER

Anyone like to buzz from Cardiff? You may not confer.

One of you can buzz.

None of you can spell his name?

We don't know who he is!

LAUGHTER

Dear, oh, dear.

Tertiary education, eh? What has become of it?

It was Nietzsche.

N-I-E. Bad luck. You nearly had it, you said N-E-I.

Could've been N-E-EC-H-E-R.

LAUGHTER

When in a hole, stop digging, I think.

Right, ten points for this.

"How's Annie? How's Annie? How's Annie?"

These were the final lines of which cult television

series of the early 1990s, before it was resurrected for a further

18 episodes in 2017 by creators Mark Frost and David Lynch?

-BELL

-Queen Mary, Chiles.

Twin Peaks.

Correct. APPLAUSE

Your bonuses, Queen Mary, are on countries of the Americas.

In each case, give the short English name of the country from its description.

Firstly, an island country to the east to the Windward chain,

slightly larger than the Isle of Wight,

its name comes from the Portuguese for bearded.

THEY WHISPER

Aruba?

No.

It's Barbados. You should answer through your captain, anyway.

Five points for this. A country slightly larger than Wales,

its name may derive from a Mayan word for muddy water

but it's traditionally said to come from the Spanish

pronunciation of the name Wallace,

after a Scottish privateer.

Nominate.

Hispaniola?

No, it's Belize. Hispaniola is an island.

And, finally, a country about four times the size of the UK,

with a population of 31 million.

Its name is a diminutive of the Spanish name

of an Adriatic sea port.

Chile?

No, it's Venezuela.

Another starter question.

What Latin preposition begins expressions meaning proportionally,

temporary, and a lawyer's work done for the public good?

-BUZZER

-Cardiff, Trevelyan.

-Pro.

-Pro is correct, yes.

You get a set of bonuses this time on a Roman empress, Cardiff.

Born in Asia Minor in the mid-3rd century,

Saint Helena was the mother of which Roman emperor,

victor at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312?

No idea.

Cicero?

Cicero?

It's Constantine the Great.

And, secondly, after her death,

Saint Helena was credited

with the discovery of what Christian relic

John Calvin stated that its extant fragments,

if collected, would form a whole ship's cargo?

No idea.

Do you know?

-No.

-We don't know.

The True Cross.

Helena's quest for the True Cross is the subject of the only

historical novel by which literary figure,

a Roman Catholic convert born in London in 1903?

Who is the famous Catholic convert?

I don't know.

Evelyn Waugh?

Is it Evelyn Waugh?

It is Evelyn Waugh, yes.

Ten points for this.

A £2 commemoratives coin issued by the Royal Mint in 2017 marks

the 1,000th anniversary of the coronation of which ruler,

sometimes known as the Great?

-BELL

-Queen Mary, Chiles.

Alfred?

No. Anyone like to buzz from Cardiff?

One of you may buzz.

-BUZZER

-Cardiff, Trevelyan.

Alexander.

No, its Cnut.

Ten points for this. Iron is one of only three elements

that are ferromagnetic at room temperature.

Name either of the other two.

-BELL

-Queen Mary, Dickinson.

Nickel.

Nickel, and the other is cobalt, yes.

APPLAUSE

Right, your bonuses, Queen Mary, this time are on la la lands -

in this case, fictional locations or organisations whose names

either begin or end with the letters L-A.

In each case, give the name from the description.

Firstly, a floating island in Swift's Gulliver's Travels,

its inhabitants are skilled in mathematics and music

but less so in practical matters.

I nominate Marcus.

Laputa.

Laputa is correct.

Secondly, a fictional American Baptist church

on a satirical website, the tag line on its logo reads,

"Where the worthwhile worship, unsaved, unwelcome."

No.

No, sorry.

It's Landover Baptist Church.

And, finally, a Himalayan utopia visited by outsiders

in James Hilton's 1933 novel Lost Horizon.

Sorry.

It's Shangri-La. We're going to take a second picture round.

For your picture starter, you are going to see a still from a film.

Ten points if you can give me the film's title.

-BUZZER

-Cardiff, Jones.

A Nightmare At Christmas.

The Nightmare Before Christmas is correct,

but I've decided I'm going to give that to him, anyway.

In the spirit of Christmas.

I'm going to try to be nice to them.

I'm being nice to you as well of course.

Right, so, conceived by Tim Burton

and directed by Henry Selick,

The Nightmare Before Christmas concerns the king of Halloween's

disastrous attempt to take on the role of Father Christmas.

Your picture bonuses are three more of cinema's bad Santas.

I'll need the title of the film in each case.

Firstly, note that here you are seeing a black-and-white

publicity still for a colour film.

We don't know.

That was The French Connection. Surely you recognise Gene Hackman.

-No, we don't.

-Secondly...

No.

No.

That's Brazil. And, finally...

Do you know?

I do know but I can't think.

-No?

-We don't know.

It's Trading Places. Ten points for this.

"I dedicate this book to my parents, Margaret Thatcher and God."

This is an example of a sentence pattern that purports to

underline the importance of what specific punctuation device,

often named after an English city?

-BELL

-Queen Mary, Chiles.

Semicolon.

LAUGHTER

-BUZZER

-Cardiff, Trevelyan.

Oxford comma.

Oxford comma is correct, yes.

APPLAUSE

Right, your bonuses, Cardiff, are on anatomy.

In each case, give the term from the definition.

All three begin with the same two letters.

Firstly, a bone in the wrist below the base of the thumb,

also known as the great multangular.

It shares its name with a group of stars in the constellation Orion.

Metacarpal?

No, it's trapezium.

Secondly, two boney prominences at the upper

end of the femur are known as the greater and lesser.

Is it something to do with the hip joint?

Come on, let's have it, please.

Do you know? Shall we guess?

Nope. Tibia.

No, it's trochanter.

A valve, finally, with three flaps between the right atrium

and the right ventricle of the heart.

Come on.

GONG

And that is the gong. Cardiff have 60,

Queen Mary University of London have 110 points.

Well, Cardiff, there was

something magisterial about the way you declined to answer

questions but, unfortunately, that's not really the point of the game.

Thank you very much for joining us.

Many congratulations to you, Queen Mary. Thank you for joining us.

I hope you can join us next time for the final first round match,

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

ALL: Goodbye.

It's goodbye from Queen Mary, London.

ALL: Goodbye.

And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.