Episode 1 University Challenge

University Challenge has been baffling students

and delighting audiences for the past 52 years.

Bleurgh...

Bu-bu-bu...

Over 43 series, more than a thousand teams have gone

head-to-head in a bid top be crowned the brightest scholars in Britain.

I'm completely swept away by how much they know.

From the dreaming spires of Oxbridge to the rugged redbricks,

this quiz has real prestige

and has coined a few catchphrases along the way.

Here's the first starter for ten.

Now, for the first time in the show's history,

we followed the students' journey from the initial team selection

to the moment they walk out onto the iconic studio floor.

Fingers on the buzzers, here's your first starter for ten.

So, what's in store for these bright young things?

You do sort of see your life flashing before your eyes

in the final of University Challenge.

How clever do they have to be?

These are young people who know amazing things.

Edinburgh, Herbert.

Reticulum fabulosa.

Sounds like something out of Harry Potter.

..and which institutions have what it takes to make the grade

and become the University Challenge class of 2014?

University Challenge Tournament.

Asking the questions - Bamber Gascoigne.

Hello and welcome again to...

University Challenge is as popular with viewers

and students today as it was at its creation in 1962.

Most people don't know most of the answers.

It is nevertheless great fun to hear strange things

that you don't actually know about.

I was never good enough to get onto it,

but I certainly used to watch it.

People increasingly wanted their children to watch it on the -

I think - wrong assumption

that they're going to improve their intelligence.

I don't think the show has changed a great deal since 1962 at all.

The format remains the same - you buzz in, answer a starter

question correctly, so your team can try some bonus questions.

That's really the only rule we've got.

-Here's your starter for ten.

-St Hilda's, Evans.

-Picasso.

-Picasso, ten points St Hilda's.

OK, the rules are constant as the northern star,

so fingers on the buzzers.

If you don't know the rules by now you never will,

so fingers on the buzzers, here's your starter for ten.

Somerville, Beer.

Richard Lionheart.

It is indeed Richard I, yes.

We've got two distinguishing characteristics.

That rule, and the oldest special effect in television,

in which one team appears to be sitting on top of the other.

Every year sees hundreds of universities apply,

hoping to be represented on screen

and become part of the show's illustrious history.

-BELL

-Trinity, Ridley.

-A million.

-One million is correct, yes.

I've heard universities say that winning University Challenge

gave them more positive publicity than

when one of their faculty won a Nobel prize.

I've been told, later on, that, apparently, the year after the win,

the rate of applications to the college went up.

It was even more fun, you know, pressing the buzzer

and answering the questions, and getting it all right

and impressing Jeremy Paxman, than it is to watch.

So it's definitely something I would recommend.

For the first time ever,

we followed the selection process every step of the way.

We'll also take a closer look

at how some institutions pick their teams...

And the captain of our team is James Gheerbrant.

..hear the students' hopes

and fears as they face the tough audition process...

I think, like, university students put themselves

forward as England's best and brightest.

We'll examine the institutions

that have a formidable history with the show...

We're the first ever to have won it three times,

and we actually got to keep the trophy.

..and reveal the final line-up of the 28 teams

that will make up the University Challenge class of 2014.

It's going to be a pretty damn good series.

Hello, last time we saw Somerville College, Oxford,

win the first place...

But before the students even get a sniff of Paxo

there are hurdles to overcome, and the first is selecting

the perfect team to put forward for the auditions.

This process is a minefield,

so first we thought we'd ask the experts how they did it.

Everyone turned up, they asked a set of questions - of course,

in those days there was no confiscating iPads and iPhones

to check the answers with a quick google.

We did some tests in the beer cellar,

but then we just talked together and got a team together.

I picked a bunch of people that I knew

who I thought were good at quizzes.

Mainly from the people who used to waste money

standing at the quiz machine in the college bar.

They did a very light-hearted quiz

with a book that they'd bought from the shop next door for a pound.

I think...

They've never actually admitted this,

so you'd have to actually ask them, but I think the reason

they made me captain is that I was a mate of theirs.

Now they tend to be much more organised about how

they choose their teams,

and you don't know whether they've chosen their team

because they all know each other, or whether because they've had,

as generally happens,

quizzes to choose who'll be the best four to represent the institution.

Any seat of learning can apply to be on the show,

as long is it has university status,

and each institution has its own method

of picking their best line-up.

And on a cold December day at City University in London,

the students are gearing up to pick their team to try out for 2014.

I'm a journalism student,

I'm here not take part in University Challenge, hopefully get selected.

I'm Justin Wong and I'm a law student at City University.

I'm Susie Clarke, I'm a nursing student.

Well, I'm becoming a speech and language therapist.

My name's Aidan McDonald,

I'm the general manager of the students' union.

Sometimes we get onto the televised rounds,

and once we got as far as the quarterfinals.

With no shortage of eager students to choose from,

what is the magic formula for the perfect team?

On team selection, it's important to have people

with different strengths.

I'm OK on English, history, music,

art, geography,

biology, pathology...

I'm probably not too good at maths.

These days in particular,

somebody who's more on the maths and science side.

Let's leave aside the maths questions,

which I don't frankly understand!

Well, every good team needs a historian.

Hopefully I'll be strong in geography, history...

You're a bit nutty not to have at least one scientist on the team.

My speciality, when I go to the pub quiz,

is the science questions - I love the science questions.

And one time we were in the quiz

and we got to a draw with the other team that always wins every week,

and we always come second, and the subject was science,

and he said one person, and I went to be the one person for science.

The question was,

"In which year was insulin first used for medical purposes?"

And that was 1922, but I said 1921.

The other one was a doctor, she said 1923.

Went to the second science head-to-head question.

Oh, my goodness. And it was,

"How many muscles in a cat's ear control its directional movement?"

The answer's 32. I said 16. She said 8.

So it's science. I'm going to win at science.

The perfect University Challenge team is a team that is made up

of people who are massive fans of the show.

I think that helps enormously, because they know how the show works.

I think the people who read widely have a massive advantage -

whether they're the kind of people who take atlases to bed

and read them with a torch under the covers,

or people who actually take the time to read dictionaries from A to Z -

really, the people you'll see on screen are the people who do that,

and have always done that.

I was on the University Challenge team

my first year and my second year.

I've actually applied before, at my last university.

Unfortunately we didn't get to the televised stages.

I think it's a fantastic opportunity

for students to show what they can do,

to really show the breadth of their knowledge.

City University's bespoke selection process asks their hopefuls

to answer six rounds of questions -

four on general knowledge and two on science.

It's the five highest scorers who will be selected

as the University Challenge rules state that each team

must consist of four players and a reserve.

Hydrogen has three isotopes, has three isotopes -

protium, tritium and which other?

I would love to be the team captain, but who knows?

It's stiff competition here,

lots of intellectuals surrounding me here today.

I'm as curious as anyone as to what makes the perfect team,

and what sort of combination they're looking for.

Our captain will be the person who gets the highest score.

Tonight, I think you know, we could have our quarterfinalists,

and maybe even the winners.

Three institutions, the universities of London, Oxford and Cambridge,

enter the competition from their individual colleges,

which provide the students' teaching.

Today, at Churchill College, Cambridge,

student and avid fan of the show Kyle Lam

has taken it upon himself to create his own team.

I'm Kyle Lam and I'm a third-year medical student.

Today we're basically running the trials

for our University Challenge team.

Since I was a little kid, I've always been really keen on quizzing.

Hoping for around 20 people to turn up.

I'm definitely a big fan of the show - I always watch it.

Big fan of Jeremy Paxman! Ha-ha!

Jeremy Paxman, you know - who doesn't like Paxo?

So, I've looked at the questions and I picked up ones I kind of know,

but I've also picked up ones I don't know

so otherwise it'll be really kind of a biased selection of questions.

Hopefully we'll get a good mix of people.

People who like quizzes

are definitely a different species, really.

Yeah, they tend to be very competitive.

I'm Teddy. I do medicine.

I'm Roland and I'm doing natural sciences.

I'm Alice and I'm doing astrophysics.

Hopefully the top scorers will get to be on the team.

Churchill have won University Challenge before.

We're keen to do that again.

Personally, I'd like to be the captain.

Thanks for turning up, everyone.

Good luck. You can start.

Kyle has compiled a written test of 25 questions,

and the top scorers will make it onto his team.

Meanwhile, City University's test is nearly over.

Which city in Northern England was the birthplace or became the home

of the poets Andrew Marvell, Stevie Smith and Philip Larkin?

I didn't do very well on the science round. At all.

I think I got one right. The general knowledge was OK.

Oh, it was so much harder than I thought it would be.

I was surprised by the science round,

cos I'm not actually studying science. I think it was mostly luck.

Or was it superior oblique?

I know that, cos I learnt it in a song about the cranial nerves.

And I always say, I know all the anatomy from the neck up,

and then I put tongue - I know it's not the tongue.

If there's one organ I know about, it's the bloody tongue.

-It was pretty tough.

-Yeah.

-Quite difficult.

There's going to be trouble if only one of us gets through.

It would be the end of our friendship.

We won't speak to each other again.

The quiz papers are marked,

so it's time to reveal the chosen five

who will be representing City University's application.

We're just looking now.

We think we've got a team, we're just about to announce it.

OK, we have an initial winner, which is the winner of the science round.

Could Owen Kennedy please stand up and come up to the front?

The top scorer, and the captain of our team,

is James Gheerbrant.

The next member of the team is Jonathan Williams.

And the fourth member of the team is Kathryn Drumm.

And the reserve member of the team is Ali Nihat.

None of us have met before, but I think that's good -

it obviously means that we're representing

quite a wide range of subjects, I guess.

So hopefully we can galvanise ourselves into a really good team.

Back at Churchill College, Cambridge,

Kyle has marked his papers, and the results are in.

Two students have scored highly, and are offered an immediate place

to represent the Churchill College application.

Quite a few of you got 11, but the top two -

so, in second place was Roland with 12, which is very good.

And also David, in first place, with 17 out of 25,

which is very impressive.

Kyle is now left to deliberate

on who else will make up his dream team.

City have their team in place.

The next stage is to apply to the TV show via an application form.

Each year around 130 teams apply,

but only 28 will be selected for the programme.

We're filling in all our application forms

and answering the big University Challenge test.

"In words such as chrysanthemum and chrysalis,

"the Greek 'chrys' refers to which metal?"

It's great to be representing City University, which is a university

that actually doesn't get on University Challenge all that often.

Here's to, hopefully, further success in the competition.

-Hey!

-Cheers!

One team that does make it onto screen regularly

are reigning University Challenge champions

Trinity College, Cambridge.

Trinity, you're the champions. Well done.

To win the 2014 University Challenge series was amazing.

I felt absolutely was amazing.

I mean, I felt absolutely ecstatic, it was...

It was so good that you couldn't really believe it was happening.

I think it takes a while to sink in, that kind of thing,

because you don't see it coming.

And suddenly it's actually been done,

and that's just always going to be true.

It's a title they're used to,

having won the series three times.

The first, in 1974.

Trinity, Cambridge.

APPLAUSE

And, Trinity, can I now invite you to join me

for the presentation of the award?

And, notably, it was Trinity who won on Jeremy Paxman's first run out

as quizmaster in 1995.

When we were given the trophy,

I think it's all a bit of a blur in my mind.

It's only the day after

that you realise the enormity of what you've done.

Trinity College, Cambridge, was founded in 1546 by Henry VIII.

Its motto of "Virtus Vera Nobilitas"

meaning "virtue is true nobility."

With over a thousand students,

Trinity is the largest of Cambridge's colleges.

But will this year's team make it into the class of 2014?

Here to defend their title and try

and secure a place on this year's show are...

third-year physicist Matthew Willetts...

What makes it really goods television, in my mind,

is the fact that it is so intellectually honest.

..mathematician Michael Dunn Goekjian...

It's a real privilege to get the opportunity to spend time

with such interesting and interested people, my colleagues on the team.

..their captain, chemistry student Hugh Bennett...

I was reserved for the team last year, which was really good fun.

Going through the whole process with them,

and obviously enjoying their success.

..fourth-year classicist Clare Hall...

I think it's going to be quite a different experience,

being on it from watching it.

I don't think I'm ever going to shout impatiently at the TV again.

..and mathematics student Aled Walker.

It tests your cultural awareness -

and your cultural inculcation, in some sense.

And so it's a little more than JUST a quiz show, as it were.

For this year's team,

what is it about Trinity College that makes it so special?

Two things.

So, first, I'm studying mathematics

and Trinity has a reputation in mathematics as being pre-eminent.

The second thing is, when I came to visit

I was just overwhelmed by what a beautiful place this is.

So I came.

That moment when you first step into Trinity,

it's just such an oasis of calm.

Just outside the front are these busy streets.

It just feels wonderful to be able to walk out of my room, you know,

walk down the stairs and be in this huge space.

I set myself a challenge in my second year

to try to learn to juggle five balls.

I specialise in the interface

between something called combinatorics and number theory,

so, combinatorics - well, in some sense, it's clever counting.

Mathematics can sometimes be a bit serious, so...

I do quite a lot of Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.

I usually get up quite early in the morning.

I like to, you know, start off nice and fresh,

and in the morning I usually do a little bit of debate practice.

I just take a random topic, think about it for 15 minutes

and then stand up and give a seven-minute speech saying

why it would be a good idea.

It's a great way to get the brain going after a rather long night.

A lot of my extracurricular stuff is actually academic stuff in disguise.

I learn Icelandic.

I go to history of maths lectures

and generally hang out with mathematicians a lot.

At the moment I'm doing quite a lot on the history of late antiquity.

And then I'm doing a thing on palaeography,

so, learning to read manuscripts -

which is a lot more fun than it sounds.

Living in Trinity is simply wonderful.

And nobody takes it for granted.

ORGAN PLAYS

This chapel is surprisingly secular, in many ways,

in that we've got huge statues of the famous people of the college

out in the antechapel.

-Newton.

-Have to start with Newton.

-Have to start with Newton.

We've also got Tennyson.

Somehow ended up as president of the Cambridge Union,

and, you know, being in that position at quite a young age - I'm 19.

A lot to do while being a student, but...

You know, if I'd wanted an easy life, I'd have gone to Oxford.

People come through it over the years,

a lot of people that I've really looked up to.

Isaac Newton's an obvious one.

This is the north cloister of Neville's Court in Trinity.

And this is where Isaac Newton first determined the speed of sound.

To study in the same place where all of them

came is just really incredible.

Michael, would you like to demonstrate?

CLAPS ECHO

Hearing the echo, you can work out what the speed is very simply.

This is a really nice room, where you can play the piano

when you want to do something a bit different.

When I'm not in lectures and supervisions, I'm in the lab.

I'm working on synthesising a natural product,

and it's a molecule that could have some really strong

anti-cancer properties and applications.

We are all friends, we do all know each other.

Can we please get his phone case on film?

It's a Justin Bieber phone case.

That's nice, it's not like we're some sort of 1990s boy band.

Though, I mean,

perhaps that might be a career that Hugh might consider in the future.

-Well, why not?

-He's just got so many great songs.

Er...

Baby, Baby...

-Wrecking Ball.

-What a lyricist!

Justin Bieber, Wrecking Ball...

Wrecking Ball, I thought that was Miley Cyrus.

I thought they were the same.

Were are friends, and that does make it a lot easier.

So, this is Trinity's chosen team.

But the next stage in the process will be crucial - the audition.

MUSIC: "Baba O'Riley" by The Who

It's January, and the University Challenge production team

set out to meet the students.

Every team that applies is invited to interview.

Much like a university application -

the producers are looking for a combination of academic excellence

and great personality.

And, from over 130 teams, just 28 will be selected.

On the road are assistant producer Clare

and researchers Paddy and Olivia.

Today they're in Cambridge, where they'll see 27 teams

representing a variety of local colleges and institutions.

This is our first day in Cambridge, in the lovely Corpus Christi campus.

It doesn't really get much more Hogwarty than this.

We don't travel light. This is all the stuff we have to bring with us.

This is all the highly sensitive, confidential information

that we have to keep on our person at all times.

Also the super hi tech CD player,

which we use to play our interview quiz.

Our box, which is entirely full of pens.

And this is our paperwork.

I'm not sure that it really amps up our street cred in any way,

but we try and shift it to one side before we meet the students.

It seems that for the nervous students,

the test begins before they enter the room.

Yeah, that's pretty self-explanatory.

We always have to put signposts up

cos these colleges can be a bit labyrinthine.

Although, to be honest, I always think it should be part of the test.

If they can't find the room from three signposts,

then maybe they shouldn't be on the show.

Having found their way first to audition,

Trinity College are here to defend their title.

-I mean, I was thinking that could be a faux pas.

-Yeah...

Would you like to shove it behind this curtain,

so no-one can see our shame?

But before the interviews can begin,

there's one serious matter to attend to...

No-one need ever know.

..the trolley.

Like some sort of Agatha Christie sort of thing.

We're about to interview. I'm feeling caffeinated.

THEY LAUGH

It's only a game, right?

Down the road, it seems that Kyle has finalised his line-up

for the Churchill College team,

and before the interview, they stop off for a pep talk.

Well, I'm feeling pretty confident,

and I think the rest of the team are keen for this as well.

-Yeah.

-Just, like, be yourself, basically.

We're all perfectly normal people, so there'll be no worries there.

Try and answer every question.

Churchill last won in 1970, so all hopes are pinned on these five.

Good luck, everyone.

-Good luck!

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

For two days, all across Cambridge,

students will make their way to Corpus Christi College to audition.

We're the team from Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

We're from Robinson College, Cambridge.

St Catharine's. We consider ourselves the friendliest college in Cambridge.

We figure there's two ways to get on the show.

You can either be good or you can telegenic.

-Well...

-Now, we have one of the two.

Some teams will go the extra mile to impress the producers.

This is my outfit today.

These are my Witch-king of Angmar leggings,

based on Lord Of The Rings...

this is my cool corset...

this is my bag with an Irish script called ogham on it...

and altogether this is the stuff left in my wardrobe

after I didn't do any washing last week.

The students will sit a tough 40-question quiz.

They answer individually, but the score is calculated

as a five-person team - four main players and the reserve.

So, every answer counts.

This is the bottom line -

you have to have a certain baseline of knowledge.

Which is quite high, I have to say.

Good luck, everybody.

RECORDING: What given name links four kings of Scotland,

the US civil rights leader murdered in 1965

and the authors of Under the Volcano and The History Man?

The Sand Reckoner and On Floating Bodies

are works by which mathematician?

Which orchestral instrument links Emma Johnson, Andrew Marriner

and Julian Bliss?

Who was Prime Minister at the time of the Abolition of Slavery Act?

Lok Sabha is the lower house of parliament of which country?

Add the smallest perfect number to the second-smallest prime.

How is this number expressed in binary?

Question 40 - implying the untying of a knot,

which term from French denotes the final unravelling of a plot

and the conclusion of a narrative?

And, on that fitting note, if you'd like to put your pens down,

that's the end of the test.

If you just want to pass them in.

Thanks very much.

As well as scoring highly in the quiz,

the teams also face an interview,

as the producers are looking to cast strong characters

to represent the national student population.

We're looking for teams who have got a certain amount of personality.

It's an entertainment show.

I do have some nice jumpers.

I'm demonstrating that now.

Describe to me what it is.

Yep, it is Scumbag College,

which is a reference to the University Challenge episode

of The Young Ones.

We want our audience to be entertained by the teams,

stand up to Jeremy, who aren't going to bottle it.

They call me the fudge fairy, because I give everyone food.

So I suppose, in the team, I am the bringer of the food.

We want memorable teams.

I specialise in medieval animalium,

because I quite like images of monsters and that kind of thing.

With the chats over, all that's left is to take a team snapshot.

And the production have their own way

of getting the students to smile.

After three, if you could all just say, "Jeremy!"

-One, two, three... ALL:

-Jeremy!

-ALL:

-Jeremy!

Time for the all-important comparing of notes.

It could've gone better.

It could've gone a lot worse, I guess.

After the questions, I think -

I hope we've still got a good chance. Fingers crossed.

The test was hard, but I think that we all made

quite intellectual guesses about it - I hope!

I'm not a betting man, so I'd say 50/50.

I think we've definitely done the college proud.

I felt so bad, I didn't get the chemistry question on the element.

I couldn't remember my periodic table.

Is x = sine, is it parabola?

-The helix.

-Oh...

-Oh, I got that!

One team has certainly made an impression -

though not necessarily for the right reasons.

So, we've just seen the most impressively entertaining team

of the day.

-It was fun.

-There were so many questions, and they were so fast.

Easier general knowledge quizzes.

And I'm just marking their results.

One of them really stood out for me - Catherine, the reserve.

She apparently thinks that On Floating Bodies

was written by Rick Astley.

Who is also an element on the periodic table.

I reckon there's a good 11 Ricks.

Is that the ones you had no idea?

-On the Rickter scale.

-The Rickter scale! Brilliant.

She also thinks that a galaxy, in the maths function,

is called "a penis-like structure."

Which - a helix is the answer, but, you know, close enough.

And then, also, number eight, for the FTP question,

-she wrote - this is my personal favourite -

-"BLEEP

-the police."

With the Cambridge auditions complete,

the students have given their all.

But is it enough to compete with the best?

Over the years, the show has witnessed some legendary teams,

and it's a redbrick university

that has one of the most prestigious pedigrees of all.

The University of Manchester are four-times series champions,

a title they currently share with Magdalen College, Oxford.

Their first success came in 2006,

and since then they've gone on to enter seriously formidable teams.

It was an incredible feeling.

It was just pure euphoria,

something was pumping through my veins

that just - my heart was going, it was...

It was half horrible, half amazing.

At the gong, University College London have 140

and Manchester University are on 190.

I was very proud to represent the university.

I am quite proud to have been sort of adopted by Manchester.

You do feel a little bit jingoistic for Manchester.

There is a sort of a support network of previous teams,

and it's very friendly.

Manchester are the team everybody wants to beat.

Notably winning in 2012, during the show's 50th anniversary year,

the team collected their trophy

from none other than her royal highness the Duchess of Cornwall

at Clarence House.

The University of Manchester was established in 1834,

and is now the largest single-site university in the United Kingdom.

With over 40,000 students to choose from,

Manchester have selected what they hope will be the perfect team

to impress the producers and win a place in this year's final 28.

Here they are enjoying the fine Mancunian weather.

First up is team captain John Radcliffe,

studying chemical engineering.

Some of the other redbrick universities,

we feel a bit of a camaraderie with them,

and maybe a bit more rivalry with some of the Oxbridge colleges.

..Charlie Rowlands, a first-year genetics

and Chinese language student...

There's so much to live up to, you've got a huge legacy to uphold,

as it were.

..Edmund Chapman, currently reading a PhD in literature...

A polite way of putting it would be that I was a precocious child.

You could say I was a little...

smarty-pants, I guess.

..Mhairi Hindle, a third-year chemistry student...

The University of Manchester was put on my radar

because of University Challenge!

..and Matt Stallard, a PhD student reading American studies.

I had a history encyclopaedia, and, like the world atlas,

and I did used to read them in bed.

When other people were probably watching the telly.

We can't do anything in this place

without wearing some safety equipment.

We'll be able to go into the lab...

Safety glasses.

I'm studying chemical engineering.

The labs are more what you'd actually do

in a chemical engineering type role in industry, for example.

So, you're not mixing beakers and things -

it's mainly turning knobs and reading a computer display

and things like that.

I never know quite what to say when people say, "Well, it's fine

"that you're doing a PhD in literature,

"but what are actually doing?"

It's about literature and translation,

so once a book has been written and published,

how is it that it's still being read 150 years later?

I'd only been to Manchester for an Oasis concert -

that's the only time I'd ever been to Manchester before I applied to go.

I wanted to go to a big city,

and I think Manchester was always my number one choice.

Every time you walk into the main library,

the University Challenge trophy underneath the escalator -

it's a constant reminder, I guess.

It's got pride of place here in our library,

and we see it every time we walk in. It's a real kind of inspiration.

I'm a first-year genetics and Chinese student.

It's a dual honours course, which means that

I will be doing a genetics portion and a Chinese portion.

Not genetics in Chinese, which would probably be an overload, I think!

My day-to-day life is mostly trying to...

Like, doing my work, and trying to forget about the existence

of my degree, and do something else.

My main extracurricular thing is debating,

which is not really relaxing, as such, but it's quite fun.

I like chemistry because of all the colours that you get

when you do reactions.

Because it's really boring to make white solids all the time.

The previous Manchester teams are one big happy family,

and spend time together enjoying the show and helping out the newcomers.

We often watch the shows together - us and some of the former years.

The Manchester team are all here

to watch their second quarterfinal being broadcast.

We've got the previous teams here as well - next year's team.

So we just all come here for a couple of pints and watch it.

'..your first starter for ten...'

They're always getting lots of questions right,

and I suddenly realised, you know, these guys do know their stuff.

It's quite interesting to think what it's going to be like

when we'll be the ones on the screen, there, next year.

I'm more nervous now than I was before about being on the show.

Yeah.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

-Here's to us. Good luck, eh?

Cheers.

Each institution has its own approach to the audition process,

and given its successful track record,

it's no surprise that Manchester's involves a rigorous training regime.

I'm Stephen Pearson, I'm the organiser -

commonly referred to as the coach -

of the University of Manchester teams.

For the past 16 years Stephen has been the driving force

behind the Manchester University Challenge squad.

I run the selection process, which involves a written test,

and the test of speed on the buzzer,

and then from people's performance on that, I try to choose what I think is

the best team of four students,

whose breadth of knowledge complements each other.

All I do is hold a University Challenge style

friendly practice session about once every week

against people from past Manchester University teams.

I'm Richard. I was captain last year.

Stephen asked me to come down and help out with these mini matches.

I think there's four generations of University Challenge teams here.

Cos there's this one, then there's Liz's team, me

and David's team, and Mike's team before that.

Manchester are seen by lots of the other teams as the team to beat.

I've been referred to as the Alex Ferguson of the quiz world,

and I suppose in that sense, Manchester University,

perhaps appropriately, is the Manchester United of the quiz world.

Stephen's fab, and he has a passion for quizzing

and getting people into it.

I've been doing this since 1997.

I was the captain of the Manchester team

as a postgraduate student in 1996.

Manchester, Pearson.

-The Grampians.

-The Grampians is correct.

I wanted to carry on getting involved.

Ernest Hemingway's 1929 novel A Farewell To Arms has been

credited with introducing with introducing into the English language

which Italian expression used both as a greeting and a form of goodbye?

Opposition, Gilbert.

-Ciao.

-Ciao is right.

Bang!

I don't think Stephen fully channels Jeremy Paxman.

Puddleglum, who appears in the Narnia story The Silver Chair,

is a member of which race of pessimistic, froglike humanoids?

No? It's marsh-wiggles.

Another starter.

-I can't imagine anyone less like Paxman.

-Yes!

Just, really, to get the team used to competing alongside each other,

and to get to know each other's strengths and weaknesses,

and get to know each other's characters generally.

It's not just knowing about the right answers,

it's perhaps even more the sort of ability to relax in the studio

rather than be intimidated by Jeremy Paxman in particular,

or just by the experience of being in the television studio.

Opposition, Hindle.

Electra.

It was indeed Electra, yes, for ten points.

And the score's standing at 180 to Manchester,

110 to the opposition team.

Can we have, like, a ceremonial baton to pass?

It would be nice to get a fifth victory,

but I'm not going to be too disappointed if it doesn't happen.

So, has all the hard work paid off?

Time for the moment of truth.

The Manchester team are about to sit their audition at the new home

of University Challenge, Salford's MediaCity.

The next voice you hear will be our questions editor, Tom.

Good luck.

RECORDING: Which type of radiation consists of high energy photons

emitted in the decay of an atomic nucleus?

Go back in time 100 million years. In which geological period are you?

One, two, three, Jeremy.

Teams from previous years have said to us,

"Oh, don't worry, it'll be fine.

"It's just to prove you're not a complete idiot."

I think the difficulty's been kind of notched up!

Or we're idiots.

-Or we're idiots.

-Maybe it's that.

It could be that.

Manchester's chance to impress the producers is over,

and just like the teams that have gone before them,

they are keen to qualify and compete with the best.

Competition between institutions is fierce.

Over the year's 52-year history, age-old rivalries have emerged.

On one hand, there are the Oxbridge colleges that some may

consider the home of the elite.

And on the other are the redbricks, the ancient Scottish universities,

the plate-glass institutions of the '60s

and the former polytechnics.

-St John's, Bennett-Spragg.

-Cybil.

Cybil is right, yes.

The common perception is that Oxbridge always win but in reality,

the split over the 52-year history of the show is pretty much even.

It's a televisual David versus Goliath, where the

viewers often find themselves rooting for the perceived underdog.

-Edinburgh, Foster.

-Millican.

Oxbridge colleges do have a reputation for winning it and it was

funny, even now, if it comes up in conversation or someone mentions

it, people assume if you've won University Challenge,

which Oxbridge college were you at?

-Warwick, Christodoulou.

-Zip.

And then I say, "No, actually, I wasn't at Oxford or Cambridge,

"I was at Warwick."

Warwick, Christodoulou.

-Best mate.

-Best mate is right, yes.

One of the wonderful things about Leicester winning was

we were rank outsiders.

Nobody thought that, you know, a little,

newly-founded redbrick university with about 2,000 students were

going to beat Balliol, Oxford in the final,

and were going to pull down the Oxbridge edifice.

And it was just so wonderful and not only the university

but the whole town was proud of us.

My name's Aubrey Lawrence, representing Keele University,

which then was almost entirely unknown.

AUDIENCE CHEERS

In spite of the fact that we were a new university, I think it was the

first time that a Cambridge college had got through to the final as well.

Keele, 255...

DROWNED OUT BY CHEERING

That means Keele are the winners of the whole year.

The team I always sort of look out for facing is

Magdalen College, Oxford.

Manchester, Pearson.

-The phlogiston theory.

-Absolutely correct.

When I was the captain of the Manchester team in 1997,

we faced Magdalen College, Oxford in the semifinal and,

with 20 seconds to go, Jeremy Paxman asked the last starter.

There's only about 20 seconds to go but you might do it.

Just wasn't quite quick enough on the buzzer.

-How would a cheiromantist tell your fortune?

-Magdalen, Andress.

-He'd read your palm.

-By reading your palm is correct.

They went on to win the semifinal by 15 points

and they went on to win the final.

That's always been a rivalry since then for me, personally.

But although some may consider Oxbridge to be

the preserve of the privileged few, in actuality,

the modern-day make-up of its students is ever-changing.

-Kansas.

-Correct.

What is the home state of the Yankee in King Arthur's court

according to the title of Mark Twain's satirical essay?

-Connecticut.

-That is correct.

One of the things, actually, that I was most proud about was

the fact that three out of four of us came from state schools.

-Magdalen, Fitzpatrick.

-Turner.

Turner is right.

The previous year's team, I think

they were all state school-educated

so that's seven out of eight Oxford students,

old institution like Magdalen,

kind of tradition of lots of people from public schools -

we were all, seven out of eight us, state school-educated.

Slide rule.

You always sound so surprised.

-Positrons.

-Correct.

-Churchill.

-Yes, it was. Don't look so surprised, it's right.

I was really, really proud of that

and I think it showed a properly modern face to the university.

And it's Sarah's old college of Magdalen, Oxford that holds

the joint claim of University Challenge's highest achievers

alongside Manchester, having won the series an impressive four times.

GONG SOUNDS

And at the gong, it doesn't matter.

Open have 195, Magdalen have 250.

We've been amazingly successful at this particular type of activity.

One of the things that you

find in common about the students there is that they care a great deal

about their subjects and they care a great deal about just knowing

things and that's really helpful in quizzing, really.

They were also the first institution ever

to win for two consecutive years.

Magdalen, 225, a great score, you have pulled off a quite

unprecedented achievement in the history of University Challenge.

We couldn't believe it. It set up a bit of a tradition for Magdalen.

This is the first time the same institution

has won it two years running.

The college took it quite seriously and were particularly proud of being

able to say that we had done this two years in a row

and I think maybe that's part of the reason they've carried on with

that tradition is because they're so supportive of people taking part.

And the achievements didn't end there.

You're the first institution in the history of this programme

to win the trophy three times.

It was quite exciting

because there was this whole thing about who's going to be

the first to win it three times and, of course, when we won,

we were the first ever to have won it three times

and we actually got to keep the trophy when we lifted it

and I went up to accept it and it was so heavy.

So, the one you see now, if you look at it carefully,

you can see it's much thinner.

It's only like the front of the book,

it doesn't have the pages behind it which made it so heavy.

GONG SOUNDS

And at the gong, York University have 85,

Magdalen College, Oxford have 290.

I also felt that we needed to keep up the strong

tradition of winning that had been established in the college.

It's just a really great feeling.

It must be something like the feeling of bowling out a Test

batting side for 50 runs or something - that's how it felt.

So, have Magdalen found the team that will compound their status

as one of University Challenge's most successful institutions?

Magdalen College was founded in 1458 during the reign of Henry VI,

and named after Mary Magdalene.

It's also home to a gargoyle with an uncanny resemblance to

a certain presenter.

This year's team desperate to secure a place on the show are...

fourth-year classicist, Harry Gillow...

University Challenge is the last great hurrah of the generalist,

the people who know a little bit about everything but not

enough to ever be useful.

..captain and chemistry student, Hugh Binnie...

As part of the University quiz society,

we meet up and do University-style quizzing.

..third-year chemist, Chris Savoury...

It's hard to describe,

I guess, how you feel after answering a particularly hard question.

..Tom MacKenzie,

reading a PhD in classical languages and literature...

The pressure's on us, as a team,

to try and beat Manchester now that Manchester has equalled

Magdalen's number of wins.

..and French and philosophy student, Cameron Quinn.

There would never be anything like this on American television,

it's too...

It expects too much of the viewer,

it expects too much of the contestant.

If they make it onto the series,

is this the team to bring home the trophy for a fifth time?

I came to Magdalen and I remember first of all thinking,

"Wow, this is incredibly beautiful."

It is just the most amazing place to be.

It's particularly fitting that I should have chosen Magdalen

since it was the first Oxford college I ever saw.

I'm originally from southern California, Pasadena specifically,

but we just say Los Angeles cos nobody's heard of Pasadena.

So, this is my room.

The way that I dress

and comport myself has something to do with a really ardent embrace

of this new place where I find myself, to a stereotypical extent.

Nobody actually, really, my age, dresses like this any more.

It's a way of saying I prefer this place to my home.

I'm studying for a PhD in classical languages and literature.

It involves many, many hours in the library, reading lots of books,

thinking about them and then writing about them.

When we're in our fourth year, we especially do a research project.

My particular project is in what's known as geometrical frustration.

I'm definitely very proud of Magdalen,

we've done exceptionally well in the competition so far.

Until I came to study here,

I don't think I really knew that Magdalen had won a record

number of times but I suppose that it does mean that the pressure's on us.

Magdalen's got an amazing history at University Challenge,

and, joint with Manchester,

has won it four times which is more than any other institution.

This is one of the signs from back in the day

and it was presented to Magdalen by Antony Beevor.

This is a constant reminder of the pressure we, as a team,

face to try to live up to this amazing reputation that

Magdalen has in University Challenge.

Now, here we are in Magdalen College's chapel.

CS Lewis was a fellow here for about 20, 30 years, and that's just

fantastic that there's this heritage to the college.

I feel very privileged to be able to have the chance to be

alongside such talented and knowledgeable people as these,

and hopefully I won't let them down too badly.

Well, now's the time to find out.

The auditions are well under way

and the production team have arrived in Oxford where

a variety of colleges and institutions will audition,

all keen to impress and bag a place on the show.

We're from Lincoln College, otherwise known as that

one on Turl Street next to Jesus that nobody knows about.

We're the team from St Hilda's College.

We're from Trinity College, Oxford.

Oxford's colleges have been crowned University Challenge

champions a staggering 15 times

and one of the many team to audition today is Magdalen College.

And the roll call doesn't end there.

-We're the team from Merton College.

-We're from Regent's Park College.

Jesus College, Oxford.

-Lady Margaret Hall.

-Balliol College, Oxford.

We're the Oxford Brookes University Challenge team

so we're not a college but they let us in sometimes.

Until very recently,

St Hilda's College had the record lowest score of all time.

Impressive(!)

Over two days, the Oxford wannabes will be quizzed, interviewed, probed

and photographed, searching for that heady mix of brains and personality.

University students put themselves forward as sort of England's

best and brightest

and this is their chance to put themselves before the public.

In a long tradition of horrible puns, this is my own challenge.

For those of you at home who don't need any clues, congratulations.

For those of you who do need a moment, as you can see,

we have a red E, then we have a bear, also known as teddy bear,

and then spelling out ready, steady, go.

The colleges are prone to some serious rivalry but it

doesn't end there as siblings and school friends are just as feisty.

My older brother who's doing a Master's

at Gonville and Caius, Cambridge,

is also on their University Challenge team.

-I have a message for her in that she's going to go down.

-Ha-ha!

There's no chance for her. No possibility of her winning.

Depending on how things transpire, it could just be the biggest

case of sibling rivalry in a 20-year relationship.

My twin brother appeared on the show last series

but he only got to the first round.

My name is James Burt and I'm from Colchester in Essex

and I'm reading law.

This would be the crowning achievement of my life to date if I

could get through, pass where he got and improve on the family record.

I've got a bet on with my mate back home which I made in year nine,

and he bet me that I couldn't get on University Challenge

in my three years at university.

The students have one common goal - to shine - and show

the producers, and hopefully viewers, just how clever they are.

I'm Paddy and I'll introduce you to the rest of the team now

if you'll follow me.

The team sit the dreaded 40-question audition test.

Pens down if you will.

Then it's time to get to know them a little better.

Did anybody watch Uni Challenge last night?

I was doing a shift in the college bar

and they had it on on the TV that's opposite the bar so I was

watching it, like, "God, I better get some of these questions right."

What would be your game plan if you got on?

There are certain subjects where I'm always there.

If I had a buzzer, I'd be on it.

You know the ones where, in the first four words, like I've got it.

I think it's really important that the broader public sees

people in this institution as normal people.

I mean, I know we're not that normal but at least say approachable.

Are you guys happy with Emma as the captain?

She's done a good job so far?

If you weren't then this is the first I've heard of it.

How do you think you guys are going to be remembered

if you get through to the televised stage?

What do you think will stand out to people?

Probably Harry's accent and my dress sense will be special.

THEY CHUCKLE

The production team can now mark the test papers

and reflect on the teams they've seen today.

There's going to be a lot of arguing, I think,

cos there's just so little between them

and they're all brilliant in very different ways.

-One, two, three. ALL:

-Jeremy.

-One, two, three. ALL:

-Jeremy.

It's going to be a bit heartbreaking to be honest,

cos we've seen some lovely teams that are right on the border

of the kind of score that would get them through.

Competition is fierce to be one of only 28 teams who will make

it onto the show.

Our interview was pretty tough.

We know we've got a few but we'll just have to see how it goes.

Well, I thought it went quite well.

-It seemed all right.

-We were described as cavalier.

The odds are stacked against getting through

because everybody wants to be on University Challenge.

Just like the colleges in Oxford,

every institution fields their strongest team and over the

years, we've enjoyed players whose knowledge and performance has

become legendary and an inspiration to up-and-coming contestants.

-Warwick, Christodoulou.

-Hadley.

I think the first series of University Challenge that

I really watched properly was around 2007.

It was the series that Warwick won when they were captained by Daisy Christodoulou.

-France and the Netherlands.

-Correct.

There were moments where the question would be asked

and the number of thoughts that'd be going through your head and

the number of things that you'd be thinking and you watch it back

and you think, "It was all so quick, how did that all happen?"

-Warwick, Christodoulou.

-Re-use, recycle.

-Correct.

Daisy's individual efforts were just really outstanding

and after that point, I really wanted to see if I could get

anywhere near that level and maybe one day be on the show myself.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Emmanuel College won...

Back in 2009 with Alex Guttenplan as their team captain.

I arrived at Emmanuel College and began my degree right after

they'd just won and I nearly fainted when I first saw him.

What initial three letters link a variety of hops associated

with pilsner beer, the largest island of Estonia,

a small German state on the French border,

the man who became president of Georgia in 2008, and a Swedish...?

-S-A-A.

-Correct.

He was a fantastic contestant.

Captained the team that was the first Cambridge college to win

-since we had.

-Ten points for this.

What single letter links the symbol for the CGS unit of magnetic

flux density, the metric prefix for 10 to the power of 9...?

-G.

-G is correct.

I heard people regarding me

as some kind of legend of University Challenge.

In meteorology, from the Greek for turning,

what name is given to the lowest layer of the atmosphere?

-Troposphere.

-Correct.

Being a team captain, you get more credit than you deserve.

It was a great team, not just one great player that won it.

Gail Trimble, of course, was hugely memorable.

Ten points for this.

"The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold..."

-Destruction of Sennacherib by Byron.

-Yep, I can accept that.

I was only looking for Byron's name but you gave me the whole thing.

It was absolutely astounding when the kind of people who add up

statistics had noticed that I'd done

so well compared to other people in the past.

I found myself being celebrated, I suppose, on websites

and then people sort of calling me the "Human Google"

and all these other nice things just about how good I was at it.

You're quite a sort of modest person and you look at it all

and you say, "Well, I see that I did do really well, didn't I?

"Fair enough."

Some players are legendary

because of their historical link to the show.

Madalane Moore was on Leicester's team of 1963,

the winners of University Challenge's first ever series.

We were all presented with a shorter Oxford dictionary and inside,

there is a...

"Presented to Madalane Hall as a member of the winning team

"in Granada's University Challenge tournament, 1963."

Even though footage of the show no longer exists,

Madalane still has her treasures from the inaugural series.

These are among my most treasured possessions.

I've had them for 52 years now.

Memory lane becomes a very important place as you get older.

A final stop on the University Challenge audition tour is

also the home of the one institution that has single-handedly made

more appearances than any other.

Edinburgh, King.

Edinburgh University has taken part more than 20 times but,

frustratingly, the trophy has always eluded them.

Bad luck, Edinburgh, you got off to a terrific start.

Even Conservative MP Sir Malcolm Rifkind couldn't win in 1967.

Edinburgh University has dominated the old town since 1583.

It has over 30,000 students

and is the sixth oldest university in the English-speaking world.

Keen to make it through the auditions

and earn a place on the show are this year's hopefuls.

First up, there's chemistry PhD student Thomas Suslak...

For me, it is that competitive streak in me.

I play against my dad, I play against my wife.

..team captain Alex Gapood, a PhD student in social anthropology...

It's a game and in any game,

there's that psychological mental aspect,

which is incredibly complex and incredibly messy sometimes.

..third-year chemistry undergraduate, Innis Carson.

Being there in the studio seeing University Challenge being made

and being part of the thing, it's just an honour for me.

..Joe Curran, reading for a PhD in economic and social history...

I do really like the competitive nature of quizzing,

I do feel very satisfied that I know things.

..and Nico Ovenden, reading for a Master's in cultural studies.

Between us, we've got

a great spread of knowledge and I think this year is as good as any.

Could this be the team to finally bring the trophy to Edinburgh?

Here's what makes them tick.

The project I'm actually working on is looking at what I'm calling

imperial memory and imperial amnesia in contemporary England.

I love English people.

I love Darjeeling and I also smoke a tobacco pipe from time to time

and I was doing some reading outside in George Square and it just dawned

on me and the sentence just popped into my head

and the sentence is, I'm very proud of this,

"And yet, as I smoked my tobacco pipe

"while drinking Darjeeling from a famous London tea merchant

"this afternoon,

"something seemed strangely amiss about the pervasive notion

"that empire is a distant thing of the past,

"both temporally and spatially."

I think it fits part of my personality so that

and I just enjoy it.

I'm particularly proud of the project I'm doing this

year as my Master's project which involves platinum

and other rare metals, stuff like that.

I'm finding out things that no-one else has found out before.

This is where it all happens.

You've got your brightly-coloured things,

brightly-coloured chemicals, fancy machinery -

it's always just kind of captured my imagination as a child.

I'm studying a PhD in economic and social history and, specifically,

my topic is philanthropic networks in early 19th-century Dublin.

University Challenge has a little extra edge to

it in that the questions are often, you know, that little bit cleverer,

they combine a few kind of obscure things, I find them very satisfying.

I used to watch University Challenge with my dad as a kid

and I'd just sit there kind of going...

I'm doing a Master's in cultural studies.

It's fishing with dynamite finding culture in this city.

So I'm doing my PhD in neuroinformatics

and neural computation.

Everyone looks at me and says, "What on Earth is that?" I think

this could be the year Edinburgh wins it, I don't mind saying that.

I think we have a lot to prove

and I think as Scottish universities go, we're the team to prove it.

But before they can take home the trophy,

they must first impress the producers.

After almost two weeks travelling all over the country,

we are finishing the tour up here in Scotland in the very

beautiful surroundings of Edinburgh University.

I don't want to be arrogant or cocky but I feel good about this.

-Good luck, everyone.

-Thank you.

-RECORDING:

-Which country gained independence from France...?

I think it was rather challenging. What was it?

-28 spots for over 140 so...

-You've got to be good.

-Yeah.

-Got to be the best.

-Yeah.

-ALL:

-Jeremy.

And that's it -

the University Challenge auditions for 2014 are finally over.

All across the land,

over 130 hopeful teams have racked their brains

and pitted their wits hoping to bag an impressive score,

win over the producers and finally make the grade.

-OK, so after three, one, two, three.

-ALL:

-Jeremy.

-Jeremy.

-ALL:

-Jeremy.

Now all they can do is wait to hear if they're one of the 28 teams

chosen to appear on this year's series.

If they are successful, they'll join an exclusive group of people,

taking their place in the University Challenge hall of fame.

My appearance on University Challenge not only gives me

great satisfaction, it changed my life.

Before I went on University Challenge, I was a nerd.

I became a very outgoing person from having been exactly the opposite

and University Challenge did that for me.

Some of my friends still introduce me at parties as someone who

won University Challenge as if it's the only thing I'll ever do.

When you start a new job, people will Google you

and they'll find out that that's what you did

and they'll want to talk about it,

they want to find out what it was like being on the programme.

When we were presented with the trophy, you know,

you're sort of lifting it up and my mum and dad were in the audience

and I looked up at them,

and they were cheering and that's a really nice moment,

that's not something I'm going to forget in a hurry.

It's a wonderful thing that, I think, you don't

fully appreciate when you win it, just afterwards,

quite how much it's going to sit with you

for the rest of your life as being almost the defining

instance no matter what else you're going to do later.

Coming up next time, it's decision day back at base...

There we go. This is our final 28, guys.

..as the producers select the 28 teams that will appear on the show.

It's going to be a pretty damn good series.

-And a nation of students...

-Hello?

..waits anxiously by the phone.

-Hi, hello.

-I just want to say...

I'm very pleased to be able to tell you...

..and we find out what it's like to come face-to-face

with the formidable Jeremy Paxman.

Well, I seem to remember him

being quite grumpy at the time, definitely quite challenging.

I wouldn't say I was aware of my reputation for good or bad

and, frankly, I'd rather keep it that way.