Semi-Final 2 University Challenge

APPLAUSE

Christmas University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. Last time,

we saw the team of graduates from Keble College, Oxford, take

the first spot in the final of this year's festive series for grown-ups.

Two more teams of alumni return tonight in the hope

of getting their hands on the second place.

Now, the team from University College London achieved

the second-highest winning score of the first round,

beating Leicester University 175-45.

They were impressively quick off the mark on Jane Austen

and Samuel Barber and they proved they could

find their way around Milton Keynes blindfolded.

So the team returns unchanged and includes a correspondent whose

30-year career has taken him from El Salvador to the Middle East,

a philosopher noted for his books for a general readership,

their captain is a professor and consultant rheumatologist

and has been named one of the most influential

people in medicine in 2017,

and finally, we have a Bafta-winning composer and broadcaster.

Let's meet the University College London team again.

Hello, I'm Jeremy Bowen.

I graduated from UCL in 1982 with a degree in history,

and after that, I joined the BBC, where I still work.

And I'm the Middle East editor.

Hello, I'm Julian Baggini.

I got my PhD in philosophy from UCL in 1996

and now I'm a freelance writer and philosopher.

And this is their captain.

I'm Jane Dacre.

I graduated in medicine from UCL in 1980.

I'm a physician and president of the Royal College of physicians.

Hello, I'm Jessica Curry.

I graduated in 1994 with a degree in English literature and language.

And now I'm a composer and presenter on Classic FM.

APPLAUSE

Their opponents tonight are all graduates

of the University of Reading,

who won their place in the semifinals in the dying

seconds of the first round

when a last-gasp starter took their score to 155.

Their Catholic strengths included the works of Sir Humphrey Davy

and the ditties of George Formby.

Playing again tonight are an evolutionary anthropologist,

with particular expertise in human relationships.

A presenter on BBC's Spring-, Autumn- and Winterwatch.

Their captain is a former journalist

who has turned to politics in the name of women's rights.

And then a plant pathologist and bestselling gardening writer.

Let's meet the Reading team for a second time.

Hello, I'm Anna Machin.

I graduated with a PhD in archaeology from Reading in 2006.

Today, I'm an academic science writer and broadcaster.

Hello, I'm Martin Hughes-Games.

I got a degree in zoology back in 1978

and I'm now a wildlife presenter.

And this is their captain.

Hello, I'm Sophie Walker.

I graduated in 1993 in English and French.

I worked for Reuters for nearly 20 years,

then became a disability rights activist.

And I now lead Britain's newest political party,

the Women's Equality Party.

Hello, I'm Pippa Greenwood

and I got my masters degree in crop protection from Reading

in the 1980s, and I'm now a gardening broadcaster and writer.

APPLAUSE

Well, you all know the rules, I hope.

So fingers on the buzzers. Here is your first starter for ten.

"For the greatness, for the riches and for the excellent seat,

"it far exceeded any of the world, at least

"of so much of the world as is known to the Spanish nation."

These words of Sir Walter Raleigh refer to which legendary

settlement known by a two-word Spanish name?

El Dorado.

Correct.

Three questions for your bonuses, UCL, on short seasonal films.

Firstly, for five points...

In a short film of 1930, what is the two-word name of Laurel

and Hardy's dog, whom the pair attempt to

hide from their landlord on a snowy winter's night?

THEY CONFER

THEY CHUCKLE

They said two words. Two words.

-White Spot?

-No, it was Laughing Gravy,

which was also the title of the film.

Featuring two British performers and having held the world record for

the most frequently repeated TV programme,

what is the English title of the short film

of 1963 which is now a fixture in the Christmas TV schedules

of several European countries?

THEY CONFER

Dinner For One.

-Dinner For One.

-Correct.

Produced by Fred Quimby, released in 1941,

running a little over eight minutes and nominated for an Oscar,

The Night Before Christmas features which two enduring belligerents?

THEY CONFER

-Tom and Jerry?

-Correct. APPLAUSE

Ten points for this.

Which two vowels begin the common names of Avena sativa

and Quercus robur as well as words meaning a kiln for drying hops

and a fertile spot in a desert?

-No, I'm sorry...

-O-A.

O-A is correct, but next time...

As it's Christmas, I'll let you off that hesitation.

But if you buzz in future, you must answer immediately.

O-A is right.

So here are your bonuses.

They're on UNESCO World Heritage Sites

in northern Italy.

First of all, designated a World Heritage Site in 1997,

the world's first botanical university garden was created

in which city in 1545?

The city is also the setting for much of Shakespeare's

The Taming Of The Shrew.

THEY CONFER

Padua.

-Padua.

-Padua is correct. Yes.

In its joint listing with neighbouring Sabbioneta,

which city in Lombardy is described by UNESCO as embodying

the ideals of the Renaissance as fostered by the Gonzaga family?

In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo flees there after killing Tybalt.

THEY CONFER

Mantua?

No, Verona is...

-Mantua.

-Mantua is correct.

Which city's UNESCO listing describes it as an outstanding

example of a military stronghold?

In an early play by Shakespeare, it is the home of Valentine

and Proteus.

THEY CONFER

-Military stronghold.

-Sorry?

-Military stronghold.

THEY CONFER

SHE CHUCKLES

-Is it Florence?

-No, it's Verona.

-Oh!

-Ten points for this.

Which institution operated between the fourth century BC and the sixth

century AD when it was closed on the orders of the Emperor Justinian?

It early leaders or scholarchs included

Xenocrates and Polemo as successors to Plato.

The Academy.

The Academy is correct. Yes.

Plato's Academy.

Your bonuses are on scientific terminology, UCL.

In each case, identify the word from the definition.

The answers all begin with the same three letters.

Firstly, in geology, the movement of the edge of a tectonic plate

into the mantle beneath an adjacent plate.

THEY CONFER

Tectonic?

-Tectonic?

-No, it's subduction.

Secondly, in ecology, an adjective describing

a marine organism that exists near to or just below the shore.

THEY CONFER

-What's the...?

-Sub...

THEY CONFER

-Come along!

-Sub aqua?

No, it's sublittoral.

They all knew in Reading!

Finally, in biochemistry, a reactant that is acted on by an enzyme

or other catalyst?

-Substrate?

-That is correct, yes.

We're going to take a picture round now.

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

on which a city has been marked. Ten points if you can name the city.

Er...

-No. Well, I'll...

-Hesitation.

-What?

-Shanghai.

-Certainly not.

No. OK.

Reading.

Kamchatka?

No, it's Vladivostok.

So we'll take the picture bonuses in a moment or two.

In the meantime, here's another starter question.

The musical motif D, E flat, C, B

is particularly associated with which 20th-century composer?

It's based on a Germanic rendering of his first initial

and the first three letters of his surname, with E flat

and B transposed from the letters S and H respectively.

Delibes?

Nope.

Reading?

-Shostakovich?

-Shostakovich is correct, yes. Well done.

Right, so we go back to the picture bonuses for you, Reading.

Vladivostok you saw in that first map.

It's the principal eastern terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Your picture bonuses are three more stops on that route.

As it's Christmas, we'll give you a helping hand.

You'll see the city names in Cyrillic as well!

-THEY GROAN

-You're too generous!

Five points for each you can work out. Firstly...

THEY CONFER

St Petersburg.

It's nowhere near St Petersburg! No, that's Novosibirsk.

Secondly...

Don't tell me to say St Petersburg again!

-I'm not going to say St Petersburg.

-THEY LAUGH

-MARTIN:

-No, I've no idea, too much in the middle.

Pass.

That's Yekaterinburg. And finally...

-THEY LAUGH

-I don't know!

Do you want to keep your thinking face on a bit longer?

-MARTIN:

-Try St Petersburg again...

-Do we think it's St Petersburg?

-Try St Petersburg, you may as well.

St Petersburg.

Again, that's in completely the wrong place.

No, it's Nizhny Novgorod.

Oh, of course!

Of course it is!

-Of course it's Novgorod.

-So familiar with Cyrillic over there.

Right, ten points for this.

Named after a 19th-century German physiologist,

Schwann cells occur in which system of the human...

The nervous system.

Correct, well done.

Your bonuses, Reading, are on the works of Margaret Atwood.

In each case, give the title of the novel from the description.

Firstly, a novel of 1996, based on the true story of a maid

convicted of the murder of her employers.

A television adaptation by Sarah Polley and Mary Harron

began in September 2017.

Alias Grace.

Correct. Secondly, the winner of the Booker Prize in 2000,

the novel is set in Ontario in the 1930s and '40s,

which tells the story of the sisters Iris and Laura Chase.

Its title is the name of a fictional science-fiction novel

that is central to the plot.

Oryx and Crake?

I don't know.

THEY CONFER

Is it Oryx and Crake?

No, it's The Blind Assassin.

And finally, published in 2003,

the first book in a post-apocalyptic trilogy.

Its title refers to the two close friends of the protagonist, Snowman.

I think it might be that one!

-Shall I give it a go?

-Yeah, give it a go.

We're just going to say the same answers for everything twice!

Is that one Oryx and Crake?

Yes, it is! Ten points for this.

April 2017 marked

the 100th birthday of which architect?

Originally specialising in urban redevelopment,

he later became noted for a series of commissions for museums

and art galleries, including the Pyramid of the Louvre courtyard.

IM Pei.

Correct.

These bonuses will give you the lead.

They are on tears.

What Latin derived name is given to the tear glands which secrete

the watery fluid that is the main constituent of human tears?

Lacrimal ducts.

Lacrimal glands is correct, yes.

Lachrimae, or Seven Tears, is a work of 1604

by which English composer?

At the time, he was a lute player

in the court of Christian IV of Denmark.

A famous lute player...

THEY CONFER

Purcell?

No, John Dowland.

And finally, Lacryma Christi is a wine traditionally produced

from grapes grown on the slopes of which mountain

in the Italian region of Campagna?

-Etna?

-Is it Etna?

Etna.

No, Mount Vesuvius.

Ten points for this.

Born in Bavaria in 1789,

which physicist gives his name to a law stating that the current

through a conductor between two points is directly

proportional to the voltage across the two points?

Hertz?

No, anyone like to buzz from UCL?

You may not confer, one of you can buzz.

Ohm?

Ohm is correct, yes.

Your bonuses are on the fashion designer Rei Kawakubo.

Established in 1969,

what is the name of Kawakubo's principal high-fashion label?

Often known by its initials, CDG,

the French phrase reflects her intention

to offer women the same mobility and comfort as men.

Comme des Garcons.

Comme des Garcons.

Comme des Garcons is correct.

In 1997, Kawakubo provided costume design for the dance piece Scenario

by which US choreographer, who died in 2009?

Um... Mere Cunningham?

No, I don't know, just...

Say that.

Mere Cunningham?

You've got the right surname, yes, it's Merce Cunningham.

And finally, five points for this.

Featuring garments with unflattering padding,

Kawakubo's controversial 1997 collection

Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body is often referred to

by what name, that of a character in French literature?

THEY CONFER

The Hunchback of Notre Dame?

-Go for it!

-Quasimodo.

Correct!

We're going to take a music round now.

For your music starter,

you'll hear part of an opera by a Russian composer.

Ten points if you can identify the composer.

MUSIC PLAYS

Oh, Lord help me! Shostakovich?

Oh, Jeremy, don't look at me like that!

LAUGHTER

I'm sorry, you're wrong.

Right, you can hear a little more, Reading.

MUSIC CONTINUES

It's part of Rimsky-Korsakov's Snow Maiden.

So, music bonuses in a moment or two.

Ten points at stake for this starter question.

Fingers on buzzers, please.

What is the common name of the genus of bats known as Rhinolophus,

after the distinctive shape of its nasal...

Horseshoe bats.

Horseshoe bats is right.

You heard the final aria from The Snow Maiden,

in which the title figure's love for a human melts her heart

and brings spring to the land.

With the nights now starting to get a little lighter,

your music bonuses are three more works about the coming of spring.

Name the composer of each for the points. Firstly...

MUSIC PLAYS

THEY CONFER

It sounds sort of British, doesn't it?

THEY CONFER

Was that Vaughan Williams?

No, it wasn't.

It was Delius - On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring.

Secondly...

MUSIC PLAYS

It sounds like Prokofiev...

Yes, it does...

So...

No, you...

You're the captain! Off you go.

Go on, quick!

Are you nominating, or are you answering?

-Sorry, I'm nominating Martin.

-Prokofiev.

No, that's Mussorgsky - it's The Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks

from Pictures At An Exhibition.

Listen up for the last one, then.

MUSIC PLAYS

THEY CONFER

-Who is it?

-# We don't know the answer... #

-Is it Strauss?

-It sounds like Strauss.

Do you know which one?

-Strauss.

-Which one?

Oh!

One of them.

Well, that's not precise enough.

It's Johann Strauss The Younger.

So I can't give you the points.

Right, ten points at stake for this one, if you get it.

Which six-letter word links a European head of state

elected in May 2017 with a diacritical mark

consisting of a straight horizontal line...

Macron.

Macron is correct. Yes.

You get a set of bonuses on a family of plants, UCL.

The cabbage family is often known by the name of which plant whose

ground seeds yield a pungent condiment?

Species include Sinapis alba.

-Cabbage...

-Got to be mustard.

-Yeah.

-Mustard?

-Mustard is correct. Yes.

Isatis tinctoria has what four-letter common name?

Its leaves yield a blue crystalline compound known as indigotin.

THEY CONFER

Indigo, so...

Cornflower?

Corn?

No, it's woad.

What is the common name of plants of the genus Lunaria, known

for their translucent paper-like seed pods used in flower arranging?

THEY CONFER

..really popular in the '70s.

-Lantern flowers?

-No, it's honesty.

Ten points for this.

Answer as soon as your name is called.

Using standard dictionary spellings,

how many times does the letter A for Alpha occur

in the sentence "Intelligent existence is definitely transitory"?

Two?

No.

-Once.

-One is correct.

In "transitory". Yes.

I don't know what you're laughing for!

Your bonuses are on shared surnames.

In each case, give the surname

shared by the two figures described, Reading.

The British Foreign Secretary, firstly, from 1997 to 2001

and England's leading run scorer in Test cricket.

THEY CONFER

Red beard?

Robin Cook. Robin Cook.

-Cook.

-Cook is correct.

Robin and Alastair. Yes.

And secondly, the British Foreign Secretary from '77 to '79

and a Welsh founder of the co-operative movement?

THEY CONFER

-Shall we try Jones?

-Jones is good, yeah.

Go on.

Just pick one.

Jones? Jones.

-Jones? No, it's Owen. David and Richard Owen.

-Oh!

And finally, the British Foreign Secretary from 2006 to 2007 and the

Irish winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature?

THEY CONFER

-Beckett?

-2006 to 2007?

-Beckett.

-It is. Margaret and Samuel Beckett. Well done.

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

For your picture starter, you will see a painting.

Ten points if you can identify the artist.

No, you all look silent.

I'll tell you, it's by Nicolas Poussin.

Ten points for this starter question

and picture bonuses coming up with whoever gets it right.

In which bone of the human body is the glenoid cavity?

It holds the head of the humerus in a...

-Scapula.

-Scapula or shoulder blade is correct. Yes.

So we go back to the picture round for your bonuses.

UCL, you saw Nicolas Poussin's Winter, or The Flood,

one of a series of paintings representing the four seasons.

Your picture bonuses are three more paintings of winter

taken from series on the same theme.

Again, in each case, simply name the artist.

Firstly, for five points...

Burne-Jones?

THEY CONFER

Aubrey Beardsley, definitely.

-Aubrey Beardsley.

-No, that's Mucha. Secondly...

Lowry?

-Lowry?

-No, that's Pissarro.

And finally...

THEY CONFER

Donkey on a hill...by... I've no idea.

I think we'd better have an answer here, please.

Yeah, sorry.

It's Goya.

Ten points for this.

In which European city are the Casa Calvet, the Casa Batllo

and the Casa Mila, houses built in the first

decade of the 20th century to designs by Antoni Gaudi?

-Barcelona.

-Correct.

You get three questions, UCL, on French institutions.

What single-word name is commonly given to the detective

branch of the French police force initiated in the 19th century

by Francois Vidocq?

THEY CONFER

-Surete?

-Correct.

What name was historically given to the Paris stock

exchange before it merged with those of Brussels

and Amsterdam to form the Euronext exchange in 2000?

-THEY CONFER

-Bourse.

-Bourse.

-Correct.

What is the name of the area located on the left bank of the Seine

that has becomes anonymous with

the Foreign Ministry of the French Government?

Quai d'Orsay.

Quai d'Orsay.

Quai d'Orsay is correct. Three minutes to go, ten points for this.

What number links the following symphonies -

Glass's Plutonian Ode,

Haydn's Morning,

Mahler's Tragic,

and Tchaikovsky's Pathetique?

Seven.

-It's a bad night you, isn't it!

-I've got a cold, Jeremy.

A classical music specialist!

No. Anyone like to buzz from Reading?

-Five?

-No, it's six or sixth.

All right, ten points for this.

A mid-19th century vicar of the Devon Parish of Swimbridge,

known as "the sporting parson",

gives his name to which breed of dog...

-Jack Russell.

-Jack Russell is correct. Well done.

These bonuses are on shorter words

that can be made using any of the 12 letters of the term "winter sports".

In each case, give the word from the definition.

Firstly, a muscle that tightens or stretches a part of the body.

THEY CONFER

-Sinew?

-Try sinew.

-Sinew?

-No, it's a tensor.

Secondly, a small rear gate,

particularly one in a fortification.

Back door?

-I'm not saying that! Don't make me say that.

-No, no, no.

THEY CONFER

Small rear gate...

Shall we have an answer?

Pass.

It's postern,

And finally, a clever quick reply to an insult or criticism.

Riposte?

Riposte.

Riposte is right. One and a half minutes to go,

and there is ten points at stake for this.

What surname is shared by Lucy, Peter, Susan and Edmund,

the protagonists of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe...

-Pevensey.

-Pevensey is correct, yes.

These bonuses are on the author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Viewed on YouTube over 4 million times, what is the

five-word title of Adichie's 2012 talk at TedX Euston?

It also has been published at as a book-length essay of the same name.

We Should All Be Feminists.

Thank you.

In September 2016, the designer Maria Grazia Chiuri included

a T-shirt bearing the words "we should all be feminists" as part

of her first show as creative director of which fashion house?

I think it's Dior.

-Dior.

-Correct.

Which US singer including included excerpts from Adichie's

We Should All Be Feminists on her 2013 song Flawless?

Beyonce? I think it's Beyonce.

Yeah, I do.

-Beyonce.

-Beyonce is correct.

Ten points for this.

Consisting of the aleurone and pericarp, what common name is given

to pieces of grain husk separated from flour after milling?

-Bran?

-Bran is correct, yes.

You take the lead.

GONG And that's the gong.

THEY WHOOP UCL have 125...

I thought at one point you had decided, Reading,

you didn't want to come back any more!

Congratulations to you.

UCL, well, you led for most of that match

and you were pipped at the post.

Thank you very much for joining us. I have to say good night to you.

Reading, we shall look forward to seeing you in the final.

Congratulations to you.

I hope you can join us next time for the final.

But until then, it's goodbye from University College London...

Goodbye.

It's goodbye from Reading University...

-Goodbye!

-And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.