Semi-Final 1 University Challenge

APPLAUSE

Christmas University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. We've reached the semifinal stage of this year's probe

into the dustier recesses of the minds

of some of the country's leading public figures.

Now, only four teams of graduates remain in the competition

and with the bit firmly between their collective teeth,

they're fighting for a place in this year's final.

The team from Keble College Oxford earned the highest score

of the first round. 220 points to Durham University's 35.

They answered well on mathematical terms, modern art galleries,

and classic pop,

despite one member of their team using his buzzer

in much the same way as a seven-year-old uses the bell

on his new bicycle.

Representing Keble again,

one of the country's foremost exports on the economics

of public policy.

A multi-award winning novelist and screenwriter.

Their captain is a comedian, writer,

and actor on the big and small screen.

And their fourth member is an advocate for women in science

who's one of Oxford's youngest mathematics graduates.

Let's meet them again.

Hello, I'm Paul Johnson. I studied PPE at Keble between 1985 and 1988

and I'm now director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Hi. I'm Frank Cottrell-Boyce.

I left Keble in 1986 having completed my English DPhil

and commenced the first all-Keble marriage.

I'm a children's writer.

And their captain.

I'm Katy Brand, I'm a writer, actor and comedian,

and I graduated with a degree in theology in 2000.

I'm Anne-Marie Imafidon. I read maths and computer science

up until 2010 at Keble and now I run social enterprise Stemettes.

APPLAUSE

Their opponents represent St John's College Cambridge,

who swatted away the alumni of St Edmund Hall Oxford

by a margin of 155-40.

It could have been even higher

if the name of one of England's most famous footballers

hadn't eluded them for what seemed like an eternity.

But they were quicker off the mark on dogs, food, and delirium.

Their line-up remains unchanged and includes an Oscar-winning

screenwriter, novelist, and biographer.

A leading voice of contemporary feminism.

Their captain is an author and professor of creative writing

and, finally, an actor whose career has taken him

from Shakespeare to outer space.

Let's meet the St John's team for a second time.

I'm Frederic Raphael. I was at St John's from 1950 to 1954.

I read classics and moral sciences and I'm a writer.

Hi. I'm Laura Bates.

I graduated in English in 2007 and I'm a writer, activist,

and the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project.

And this is their captain.

My name's Giles Foden.

I was at St John's on a creative writing scholarship

from 1989 to '90 and I'm now a writer.

I'm Jamie Bamber.

I read modern and Medieval languages at St John's

between 1992 and 1996

and ever since then I've been pretending to be other people.

APPLAUSE

OK. The rules are the same as ever, so fingers on the buzzers.

Here's your first starter for ten.

What specific type of object is being described?

In the 2002 film Unfaithful, one is used as a murder weapon.

In the novel The Lovely Bones,

Susie Salmon worries for the creature trapped inside one.

Is it a tent?

-A tent?

-No, sorry.

-No.

It's not. You lose five points.

And one falls from the hand of the dying title character

in the opening sequence of Citizen Kane.

A sledge.

No. It's a snow globe.

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

Set on a plantation in Georgia,

which novel by Colson Whitehead won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize...

-The Underground Railroad.

-Is correct.

So, you're on five points

and you get a set of bonuses now on the creator of Paddington Bear,

the author Michael Bond, who died in 2017.

Bond's works included a mystery series for adults

featuring which restaurant inspector

and his faithful bloodhound Pommes Frites?

His surname is the French for "grapefruit".

-Pamplemousse.

-Pamplemousse.

Pamplemousse is correct. Yes.

Which television series of 1968

was the first collaboration between Bond and the animator Ivor Wood?

According to the BFI, its characters are largely derived

from entries in a 17th century reference work by Nicholas Culpeper.

-The Herbs.

-The Herbs.

Correct.

A Munchausenesque teller of tall tales,

what is the name of the guinea pig heroine

of Bond's second major series of children's books?

Pass.

It's Olga da Polga.

Ten pints for this. Which Middle English alliterative poem

begins in Camelot on New Year's Day where King Arthur...

Gawain And The Green Knight.

Gawain And The Green Knight is correct.

You get three questions on the US author Edith Wharton, Keble.

Wharton likened the writing of the beginning of a novel

to a ride through a spring wood

and the writing of the end to going down the Cresta run.

To which arid expanse of central Asia did she compare the middle?

The Kalahari?

-No, the Gobi?

-Gobi.

-The Gobi?

-The Gobi Desert is correct.

"Not one of them wants to be different."

"They are as scared of it as the smallpox."

Mrs Manson Mingott says this of her family

in which of Wharton's novels, set in upper-class New York City?

-The Age Of Innocence.

-The Age Of Innocence?

Correct.

Wharton's style has been likened to that of which novelist

also born in New York?

The two of them enjoyed a literary friendship from 1900

until his death in 1916.

Henry James.

Henry James.

Correct. Ten points for this.

Noted for the creation of his eponymous family

headed by the formidable Grandma,

which cartoonist born in London in 1916 produced...

Giles.

Giles is correct. Yes.

So your first bonuses, St John's, are on mathematical terms.

In each case, give the word from the definition.

All three answers begin with the same letter.

Firstly, for any integer N,

the product of all positive integers from one to N inclusive.

It's usually denoted by an exclamation mark.

-Shriek?

-Never called it "shriek" at school.

I don't know. Do we go for it?

Nominate Bamber.

I think at school they used to call it "shriek" but I don't...

-It's called factorial. A factorial.

-Factorial, that was it!

-Secondly,...

A fixed point on the concave side of a conic section

used together with a line known as a directrix to define the curve.

Fulcrum?

-Fulcrum?

-It's believable.

-I'm going to go. Focal point?

-Yes, I'll accept that.

It's normally known as a focus.

And, finally, a mathematical object or curve that displays

self similarity across all scales.

Examples include the Sierpinski Triangle and the Koch Snowflake.

Oh...

-Fractal.

-Yes.

-Nominate Bamber.

-A fractal.

Fractal is correct. Yes.

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

For your picture starter,

you'll see a definition in French of a five-letter French word.

For ten points, I want you to give me that word in French.

Glace.

No, anyone like to buzz from Keble?

-Neige.

-Neige is correct, yes. Snow.

So, your picture bonuses are definitions of three more

French words for three different types of weather

again given in French.

For the points, in each case, I'll need the word in question in French

and, for clarity, you'll need to spell your answers, please.

Firstly, a four-letter word here.

-Vent? Vent.

-Vent?

-No E at the end, is there?

-No.

-VENT. V-E-N-T.

-Correct. Wind, yes.

Secondly, a five-letter word.

-Is it storm?

-It's storm. It's a storm.

It's going to be something like "disruption" or...

-I don't know.

-It's gone. It's gone.

Sorry. We only know it in English. So, pass.

-Oh, what do you know in English?

-Well, we think it's storm.

-It is storm but I want it in French.

-Yes.

And you didn't know it. It's orage. ORAGE.

And, finally, another five-letter word.

Is it just rain?

-Pluie.

-How you do spell it?

-P-L-U-I-E.

-Nominate Johnson.

-Pluie. P-L-U-I-E.

Correct. Yes.

Rain. Well done. So, ten points for this starter question.

Which King of England was the subject of a marble bust

by the Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini?

Rather than travel to London to undertake the work,

Bernini used as his source material a triple portrait painted...

Charles I.

Charles I is correct.

Right, your bonuses, Keble, are recent winners

of the sportsperson of the year award

in smaller countries of Europe.

-In each case, I need both the country making the award...

-Yes!

..and the sport for which the following are best known.

All three countries have a population

of less than three million.

Firstly, for five points, Gilles Muller.

-Cycling? France.

-A smaller country. Belgium.

Cycling? Skiing and Liechtenstein. Sorry?

Skiing and Liechtenstein.

Skiing. Liechtenstein.

No, it's tennis and Luxembourg.

Secondly, Petra Majdic and Tina Maze.

Tennis? Or badminton?

-Badminton and what country?

-Slovenia?

Badminton, Slovenia.

No. It is Slovenia but it's skiing this time.

And, finally. Gylfi Tor Sigurdsson.

-Well, he's got to be Icelandic.

-Yeah.

-What would his sport be?

-Iceland, surfing?

-Bobsleigh?

-They're good at being strongmen.

-Yeah, yeah.

Try that. Strongman, Iceland.

It is Iceland but it's football.

Ten points for this starter question.

What five-letter name links

and Italian physicist born in 1745 with the main river of Ghana?

The name of the latter comes from the Portuguese for twist or turn.

-Volta.

-Volta is correct. Yes. Well done.

These bonuses are on Nobel laureates, St John's.

Which literature laureate did the Academy call

the master of the contemporary short story?

Her collections include Too Much Happiness and Dear Life

and are set largely in the Canadian province of Ontario.

Alice Munro?

-Alice Munro.

-Correct.

The Israeli biochemist Ada Yonath shared

the 2009 Nobel Prize in chemistry for research into

which cellular particles, composed of RNA and proteins

and involved in protein synthesis?

I think that's useless to us, that question.

No. Ribosomes.

And, finally, in 2009 Elinor Ostrom became the first woman

to win which of the Nobel prizes?

THEY CONFER INAUDIBLY

Maths? Mathematics.

We're going to try economics.

Well, you tried correctly. Well done.

Ten points for this, what is the initial letter of two-word

Latin expressions meaning all other things being equal...

-No, I'm sorry. If you buzz, you must answer.

-SL?

-No, I'm sorry.

If you buzz, you must answer straight away.

I'm afraid you lose five points.

Expressions meaning all other things being equal, good for whom?

-CP.

-No. I only wanted the C.

"All other things being equal" is ceteris Paribus

but the next question was "let the buyer beware",

which is caveat emptor.

And "seize the day" which is carpe diem. So, I wanted the C.

Ten points for this.

The Spanish words for chess, vegetable oil, and sugar

all derived from which language?

Arabic.

Arabic is correct.

You get a set of bonuses on the mottos of English cities.

Concilio Et Labore, meaning "by wisdom and effort",

is the motto of which English city in the north of England?

Its coat of arms includes seven worker bees.

Go with it. Huddersfield?

No, it's Manchester.

And, secondly, "by virtue and industry"

is the translation of the motto of which city?

Its coat of arms includes a two towered castle

and a sailing ship.

-Bristol.

-Correct.

And, finally, which city in Yorkshire has a motto

meaning "with God's help our labour is successful"?

Its coat of arms includes the figures of Thor and Vulcan.

-York.

-No, it's Sheffield.

Right. We're going to take a music round.

For your music starter, you'll hear a piece of classical music.

For ten points, please name the composer.

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

Aaron Copeland?

No. You can hear a little more, St John's.

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

-Russian?

-Rimsky-Korsakov?

No? You may not confer. One of you can buzz.

You can buzz.

Tchaikovsky.

No, it's part of Brahms's Academic Festival Overture.

So, ten points for this.

In June 2017, astronomers increased which planet's official

moon count by two, bringing its total to 69....

-Saturn?

-No. Anyone want to buzz from St John's?

You may not confer.

-Jupiter.

-Jupiter is correct.

Saturn has 62 moons, I believe.

Right. So, were going to follow on

from Brahms's Academic Festival overture,

which he described as

"a boisterous potpourri of student drinking songs"

with more celebrations of drink.

This time, all from operas.

I'll need the title of the opera, please, for the points. Firstly...

OPERATIC TENOR SINGS

Nominate Bamber.

La Traviata.

Correct. It was the famous Brindisi. Secondly.

OPERATIC TENOR SINGS

THEY CONFER INAUDIBLY

-Rosenkavalier?

-Eh?

-This is Italian opera. So it's definitely Verdi.

I don't know. Tosca? Anybody?

Tosca?

No, that's Hail To The Bubbling Wine from Cavalleria Rusticana.

And, finally...

OPERATIC BARITONE SINGS

THEY CONFER INAUDIBLY

-Do you know?

-No, I don't know.

Let's have an answer.

We don't have an answer.

That's the Champagne Aria from Don Giovanni.

Ten points for this.

The name of which seaside town is attributed

to the arrival of a fifth century Irish saint?

In 1497 the pretender Perkin Warbeck was proclaimed king there

and in 1993 it became the location of a branch of the Tate Gallery.

St... Oh, Margate.

No. Anyone like to buzz from St John's.

St Ives.

St Ives is correct, yes.

Right, your bonuses this time, St John's,

are from literary works of the 11th century.

In each case, name the language

in which the following were originally written.

Firstly, the encyclopaedic work sometimes

known in English as the Prime Tortoise Of The Record Bureau.

-Yeah.

-Chinese?

Correct.

Secondly, the Rubaiyat Of Omar Khayyam.

-Persian or Farsi.

-Correct.

And, finally, The Tale Of Genji.

Er... Japanese?

Correct.

Ten points for this.

Clouds, Fog, Gardens In The Rain, and Footsteps In The Snow

are all works by which French composer, born in 1862.

-Ravel.

-Anyone like to buzz from St John's?

You may not confer.

Chopin.

No, it's Debussy. Ten points for this.

What was the world's first National Park,

established by US Congress in 187...

-Yellowstone.

-Yellowstone is correct.

You get a set of bonuses, this time, on scientific terms.

In each case, give the term from the definition.

All three begin with the same five letters.

Firstly, a large group of organic compounds that may be subdivided

into aromatic, for example, benzene, and aliphatic, for example, alkanes.

Compound? Were they compounds?

Is that a name for a compound?

THEY CONFER INAUDIBLY

I think we better have an answer, please.

Olfactories?

No, they're hydrocarbons.

Secondly, the process by which a molecule is broken down by water.

-Hydration.

-Hydration.

No, it's hydrolysis.

And, finally, a common laboratory liquid,

also known as muriatic acid, its formula is HCl.

-Hydrochloric acid.

-Nominate Bates.

-Hydrochloric acid.

Correct.

We're going to take a second picture round now.

For your picture starter, you'll see a photograph of a poet.

Ten points if you can give me his name, please.

It's TS Eliot.

It is TS Eliot, you're right.

Now, while he was working at Faber, the publishers,

TS Eliot contributed to the Ariel Pamphlets,

a series of illustrated poems on seasonal themes

that the publisher hoped might be used as Christmas cards.

Your picture bonuses are three more writers

who contributed to the series.

Five points for each you can name. Firstly,...

THEY CONFER INAUDIBLY

Pass.

That's Siegfried Sassoon.

Secondly...

Ottoline Morrell?

No, that's Edith Sitwell.

And, finally...

-DH Lawrence.

-DH Lawrence.

That is DH Lawrence, you're right.

Right, ten points for this. Answer as soon as your name is called.

What is the log base five of 625?

25.

No.

-Five.

-No, it's four.

Ten points for this.

Minor characters of which 16th century play

include Pope Adrian VI, Emperor Charles V...?

Dr Faustus.

Dr Faustus is correct.

These bonuses are on works of fiction which imagine

that Nazi Germany had won the Second World War.

The United States of America and the Greater German Reich

are Cold War adversaries in which Robert Harris novel of 1992?

THEY CONFER INAUDIBLY

-Fatherland.

-Fatherland.

Fatherland is right.

Secondly, which 1978 novel by Len Deighton concerns

a murder investigation in German-occupied London?

-SS-GB.

-SS-GB.

Correct. That puts you on level pegging.

And, thirdly, the defeated United States of America

is partitioned between the Japanese Empire and the Greater German Reich

in which Philip K Dick novel of 1962?

-The Man In The High Tower.

-The Man In The High Tower.

The Man In The High Castle is correct, yes. I'll accept that.

Right, four minutes to go. Ten points for this starter question.

Give any year during which Benjamin Disraeli

served as UK Prime Minister.

1873.

No.

-1880.

-1880 is correct, yes.

You could have any date between 1874 and 1880, plus 1868.

Right, you get a set of bonuses

on the ancient city of Persepolis, Keble.

During which King's reign did construction of the city begin?

His army was defeated at the Battle of Marathon in 490BCE.

-Xerxes.

-Xerxes.

No, it's Darius I, Darius The Great.

The ruins of Persepolis are situated not far from

which modern day city in the Zagros Mountains?

It's the birthplace of the Persian poet Hafez.

THEY CONFER INAUDIBLY

-No, that's not right. I don't know.

-Ankara?

-No, it's Shiraz.

Ankara's in Turkey.

Persepolis is the title of a series of autobiographical graphic novels

by which French-Iranian artist and writer?

I can't remember. I don't know.

-Sorry, we've forgotten her name.

-It's Marjane Satrapi.

Right, three minutes to go, ten points for this.

What surname links the authors of A Life Of Contrast,

the American Way Of Death, The Chatsworth Cookery...

Mitford.

Mitford is correct, yes.

Your bonuses are of on members of the nightshade family,

known botanically as Solanaceae.

In each case, name the plant from the description.

Firstly, Solanum melongena,

a vegetable sometimes known as the guinea squash or brinjal.

Oh, aubergine. Aubergine.

Correct.

Secondly, Solanum lycopersicum.

Native to the New World, it's widely cultivated for its edible fruit.

-Is it a melon? Melon.

-I don't know.

Tomato?

Tomato is correct.

Finally, Solanum tuberosum.

Grown for its swollen, fleshy, underground stem.

Potato.

Potato is correct. One minute 45 to go.

Ten points for this.

What single letter of the alphabet links the SI-derived unit

of electrical capacitance, the number 15 in hexadecimal,

and the lightest of the halogen elements?

-H.

-No. Anyone want to buzz from Keble, quickly?

-A.

-No, it's F.

Ten points for this,

in which country was the natural limestone arch

known as the Azure Window,

which collapsed into the Mediterranean Sea in March 2017?

Italy?

Anyone like to buzz from St John's?

Turkey.

No, it was in Malta.

Ten points for this.

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2017,

Autumn is the first book of a planned seasonal...

Ali Smith.

Ali Smith is correct.

Your bonuses this time, Keble, are on words beginning with the letters M-Y-R,

as in "myrrh", one of the gifts of the Magi.

Commanded by Achilles during the Trojan War,

the name of which the name of which ancient people has come to mean

"hired ruffian" or "sycophantic supporter"?

-Myrmidons.

-Myrmidons.

-Correct.

Myristica fragrans is the binomial of which tree

native to the Moluccas Islands of Indonesia?

Its seed is used as a spice to flavour baked foods.

I think we better have an answer here.

-Myrtle?

-No, it's nutmeg.

And, finally, a myrmecophile is plant or invertebrate

that has a symbiotic relationship with which social insects?

-Bees?

-Now, they're ants.

Ten points for this.

The U2 song New Year's Day was inspired by

which European trade union movement?

GONG SOUNDS

And at the gong, St John's College Cambridge have 105.

Keble College Oxford have 160.

Well, St John's, you were in the lead. I don't know what happened.

-But you haven't advanced from that score for a while.

-No.

-Bad luck.

Thank you very much for joining us. You didn't have to do that.

Keble, congratulations to you.

We shall look forward to seeing you in the final of this competition.

Well done. Thank you very much.

APPLAUSE

I hope you can join us next time for the second semifinal

but, until then, it's goodbye from St John's College Cambridge.

-Goodbye.

-And it's goodbye from Keble College Oxford.

-Goodbye.

And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.