Episode 2 University Challenge

University Challenge

has been baffling students

and delighting audiences for the past 52 years.

Hello and welcome again...

Over 43 series, more than 1,000 teams have gone

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

Trinity, you're the champions.

For the first time in the programme's history, we followed

the journey of the students from initial team selection...

And the captain of our team is James Gerbrandt.

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

-Fingers on the buzzers.

-Here's the first starter for ten.

Each year, only 28 teams qualify to compete in the televised series

and tonight we'll be finding out which institutions have

what it takes to make the grade...

It's sort of the calm before the storm, I guess.

Obviously, there's quite a lot of nerves there.

..and become the University Challenge class of 2014.

PHONE RINGS

-Oh, here we go.

-Oh, my God! Wah!

Guys!

Last time, we followed over 130 teams on their mission to secure

a coveted place in this year's series of University Challenge.

-They formed their strongest squad...

-ALL: Jeremy!

..honed their quizzing skills

and endured a tough audition hoping to impress the producers,

to bag one of those 28 places in the class of 2014.

Pens down, if you will.

-Tonight, we'll find out which teams have succeeded...

-PHONE RINGS

..and who will have to wait for another year.

Oh, my goodness!

Yes!

High-five time!

We'll lift the lid on how teams train to become match fit...

Buzz! Cheap?

-Mate!

-I don't know! You looked at me like I was supposed to know!

..reveal the face that goes with the voice of University Challenge...

I don't think people realise that

the voice-overs are done live in the studio.

I think they probably reckon it's edited in afterwards.

Trinity, Drnovsek Zorko.

..and we uncover the man behind the myth that is Mr Jeremy Paxman.

Oh, my God - there he is, there he is!

(Do you have any answers?)

Do you know, I have!

But I'm not going to give them to you now!

I hadn't realised just how low and smoky Paxo's voice is.

I was very impressed!

It's so low and hot chocolaty!

After a three-week audition tour, travelling to eight cities

and meeting over 130 teams, it's decision day

for the University Challenge production team.

They have the gruelling task of casting

just 28 institutions to represent the nation's student population.

The producers have a casting system that takes into account

a number of criteria.

We've put all our applications into categories.

We then concentrate on the teams that have scored best.

We give teams a grade - A, B, C, D,

depending on how well they did in their score

and also a combination of that

with how they came across in their interview with us.

So we have a rough threshold below which

we pretty much automatically discount a fair number of teams

and we'll lose a good 60 or so teams because of that.

They've got a good score, but is it good enough?

We've got to lose one of these, haven't we?

With a score like that, it's just a bit too low for us

to consider them, really.

-Now, that's a good score.

-Yeah.

-Agreed? BOTH:

-Yeah.

-There we go.

This is our final 28, guys. This is Series 21.

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

And so the time has come.

Students from over 130 institutions across the nation eagerly await

the production team's decision.

Have they made the grade

and gained a coveted place on University Challenge?

Only time will tell and the nerves

are starting to show.

Don't say anything disparaging!

I'm feeling a bit nervous and apprehensive about things,

but hopefully...we'll do well.

It's sort of the calm before the storm, I guess.

There's quite a lot of nerves there.

Very, very nervous.

I can't take the pressure.

Last year, the interview seemed to go much better than this year

and we didn't get through, so I'm...

quietly confident,

but I don't know really how to gauge it!

Our chances of making it on are pretty high, I think!

My mum, though, is incredibly stressed and tense...

-Oh!

-She phones me up and Skypes me like, every day,

saying, "Have you heard yet? Have you heard?"

A lot of the students have wanted to be in the show for years

and are just so excited

to get on and represent their University on Uni Challenge.

It's an absolute privilege to work on a show

that garners that reaction.

One of the teams awaiting their fate is Trinity College, Cambridge.

Home to over 1,000 students,

Trinity is the largest of the Cambridge colleges.

They have been University Challenge series winners on three occasions

and are the current holders of the trophy.

Trinity, you're the champions, well done.

So the pressure is on this year's team to defend their title.

First up, third-year physicist Matthew Willetts,

mathematician, Michael Dunkirchen,

their captain, chemistry student Hugh Bennett,

fourth-year classicist Claire Hall

and mathematics student Aled Walker.

And so the team gather together to await the all-important phone call.

The nice thing is, on the test that we did, if any individual

member of the team gets the answer right,

it counts as the team getting it right, and there were quite a few

times throughout when I thought, "This is a really good system!"

"I'm not going to get this question, but someone else will. It'll be fine."

Anyone know any good jokes?

NERVOUS LAUGHTER

PHONE RINGS

-Hello?

-'Hello, Hugh?'

-Hi, hello.

Hi, it's Olivia calling from University Challenge.

'All I want to start off by saying is we have seen around 130 teams

'whilst we were away on tour

'and the calibre for this series was especially high,

'it was really above and beyond what we could have thought.'

In this instance, guys, I just want to say...

X Factor pause...

'Congratulations to all of you,

-'because you've made it onto the show, well done!'

-Oh, great!

Fantastic! That's great news.

'I'm glad that you're pleased.'

Yeah! That's brilliant, yeah. Thanks so much.

It's been a pleasure, we're looking forward to it. Thanks.

-Thanks, OK. Bye.

-'All right, Hugh, bye!'

-Bye!

The first 20 seconds were really emotionally manipulative,

like, "The quality of teams was very high...

-"We had a great time talking to you..."

-We were just, like...

"No, no, no, we're out..."

Well, we're thrilled about that, yeah.

So Trinity have achieved their goal and are set to defend their title.

What does all this good news actually mean for the students?

What have they got to look forward to

with their appearance on the show?

-Come ON!

-Sorry!

For many, this experience will be the start of lifelong friendships.

We didn't know each other beforehand,

I don't think we'd have met if it weren't for University Challenge,

but we got on well, we had a great time.

Quite a lot of our families came and watched us, friends and family,

so all our friends and family got to know each other, too.

We're still in touch now, which is really nice.

It was fun. It was really fun

and I really did enjoy to represent my university at something I love.

You just become friends, you know. They're my friends now.

We go out to the pubs in the week

and go and do a pub quiz every now and then, maybe. But... Yeah.

Now, it's time for Sheffield,

Sussex, London School of Economics and Political Science,

the Courtauld Institute of Art

and Pembroke College, Cambridge to learn their fate.

Ohhh! Ooh!

-Hello, there - is that James?

-Hi, yeah.

Hi, Jonathan, it's Clare here, from University Challenge.

We've been making our decisions over the last week or so...

So first of all, I want to start off by saying

'it was an absolute pleasure meeting you.'

'We've seen a huge number of teams

'and the standard's been really high this year.'

It was very difficult for us to get it down to just 28.

In this instance, I just want to say a massive congratulations...

Oh!

That was so mean!

I'm very pleased to be able to tell you that we would like to have

Sussex on the show this series!

-Really?

-Yes, really!

-Oh, wow! OK!

'We'd love to have you'

on the show this series.

Oh, wow - that's great news, thank you very much!

Oh, my goodness!

Oh, wow!

-We're on the show?

-'Yes!'

-No!

We're on! Are you being serious?

-Are you sure you got that right, yes?

-'I'm positive.'

I'm sorry, I'm shocked!

I've watched the show from when I was about five or six,

I've always wanted to participate.

Wow. I wasn't expecting that!

We're on!

-You should have been cooler about it!

-I can't be cool!

"Whatever. Always knew I'd be on."

HIGH-PITCHED: That's exciting!

For third-year medical student Carl Lam, it's been a long journey

since he single-handedly put together

the Churchill College, Cambridge team and now it's time to find out

if all the hard work has paid off.

Shameful!

Pretty nervous,

but it won't be the end of the world if we don't make it.

It WILL be the end of the world if we don't make it!

We HAVE to get through, basically!

Just get in the first round. I don't think we have aspirations to win...

LINE RINGS

-PHONE RINGS

-OK, phone call.

'I'm just ringing with the outcome'

of the application process.

As you know, we saw a huge number of teams this year,

'I think we saw well over 130. Your application'

was strong. We really enjoyed the interview with you

and you did score well on the test, but unfortunately,

'the standard this year in Cambridge was just so high

'that you guys missed the cut, I'm afraid. I'm very sorry.'

Thank you, no problem at all.

-'Thank you. Bye.'

-OK, bye.

That's a tough phone call to make.

Oh, well. Better luck.

We tried our best. Fair enough, the competition was really high.

I don't think our expectations were too high, so...

No, you haven't seen the last of Churchill!

-Back again next year, guys.

-Sounds good.

So, it's disappointing news for Churchill College, Cambridge,

but at the other end of the country,

is the metaphorical sun shining on the University of Manchester?

It's the largest single-site institution in the UK

and their previous teams are joint championship title holders

with Magdalen College, Oxford,

winning the series an incredible four times.

This year's team consists of team captain John Radcliffe

studying chemical engineering.

Charlie Rowlands a first-year genetics

and Chinese language student.

Edmund Chapman, currently reading a PhD in literature.

Mhairi Hindle, third-year chemistry student.

And Matt Stallard, a PhD student reading American studies.

The team has been put together by an ex-contestant turned coach,

Stephen Pearson, who has been prepping

the Manchester University entries for the last 16 years.

It IS Switzerland, yes, for ten points.

Known fondly as the Alex Ferguson of University Challenge,

Stephen's gathered a few of his previous squads as moral support

as this year's team await their fate.

OK, everyone - come on.

We've got previous team members here,

so hopefully they're rooting for us!

They want us to get on and maybe somehow that will affect

the outcome...

But if we don't get on, they'll just find it really funny!

They're happy either way, really, I'm sure!

Being that Manchester have done pretty well on it in the past,

I don't think that personally makes me feel any more confident.

I think it makes me feel more nervous,

because we don't want to screw it up.

We'd just have to walk around campus like this.

There have been teams in the past which have been really good

and haven't made it on, so I'm not counting my chickens until we know.

I'm nervous. I didn't think I would be, but I am.

Obviously, I hope they get on.

But you never know.

LINE RINGS

(Oh, hello.) Hello?

-'Hi, is that John?'

-It is, hi.

'Hi, John. It's Clare here from University Challenge. How are you?'

I'm all right thanks, how are you?

Not too bad, thank you.

'I'm very glad to be able to tell you

'that we would like to have Manchester on the show this year.'

Awesome!

CHEERING

-Thank you very much, Clare. That's good news.

-ALL: Wahey!

-Guys, hug time!

-Aaah!

-It's beautiful!

'They do take it very seriously'

at Manchester and it does show through in the teams.

Every year, they put through very strong teams

and these guys were no exception.

-Thing is, now we have to do the TV show.

-Oh, yeah.

-I'd forgotten about that!

-We actually have to be good, as well!

So, you know, we should learn stuff!

Yeah!

The moment you discover you've achieved a place on University Challenge is a time to celebrate

for every team...

and so it makes for some ear-piercing phone calls.

We haul the receiver away from our ears

because there's generally a lot of screaming and shouting and cheering.

-Yes!

-Yes!

THEY SCREAM/CHEER

Oh, my goodness!

-One of us is dancing!

-Samba-ing!

Sorry, we didn't hear anything you said after the "good news"!

Oh, for goodness' sake!

That was a pretty good reaction, wasn't it?

-We need to practise buzzer stuff though, don't we?

-We do!

Like, "Glover, LSHT".

Starter for ten!

All institutions with university status are welcome to

apply for the show.

For the Open University, where their students work from home

and are therefore spread across the entire UK,

this task of putting together a team is particularly hard.

Each individual application is fielded by Projects Officer for

the Students' Association, Jessica Smith, who applies on their behalf.

We're really hoping this year could be our year

because the Open University won University Challenge in 1999,

but 15 years on, we still haven't had a team through to the

televised rounds, so we're really hoping that this will be the year.

And she's also the one who receives the call to say

whether or not they've made it onto the show.

Here we go...

PHONE RINGS

Hello, Jessica speaking.

We very much enjoyed the interview that we did with them and decided

'that this year, we would like to put a team from the OU forward.'

CHEERING

That's been very well received, I hear!

-Everyone's listening in the office!

-'Lovely to speak to you, Jessica.'

Bye!

-Told you!

-Aaah!

APPLAUSE

How exciting! Wendy!

-We've done it!

-We knew this was our year!

We had the feeling in our bones, didn't we?

It's quite a lot of organisation,

coordinating all those people from across the country.

About 300 students put their names forward to start with

and to get to these five, and for them

to actually be through to the show, I can't quite believe it, really!

Edinburgh University has made more appearances on the show than

almost any other team, but have never bagged the championship title.

Hoping that this will be their year are chemistry PhD student Thomas.

Team captain Alex Gapud, a PhD student in social anthropology.

Third-year chemistry undergraduate Innis Carson.

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

and Nico Ovendon, reading a Masters in cultural studies.

With each university, it's the captain who is told the news

of the team's fate and Edinburgh is no exception.

So, we got an e-mail from the producers saying that

unfortunately, we didn't make the show, which is disappointing,

but I'm trying to take the positives from it.

Part of my resolution and determination is to,

in a couple of years' time, come back and not just win it all,

but actually instil a culture here to Edinburgh where...

we're the new Manchester, we're the new Magdalen College, Oxford

and we're actually there to compete

and to compete seriously as a very serious contender to win it all, every year.

That's something that I hope to leave behind here.

So it's bad news for Edinburgh,

but they're determined to be back next year.

At the end of the day, we did what we could and I don't think we embarrassed ourselves.

Certainly no regrets about going forward.

Didn't work out this time, but maybe in the future it will, so...

I think sooner or later,

the right team will come to just carry Edinburgh to the glory.

Back in the production office, the yeses are coming thick and fast.

PHONE RINGS

-Oh, here we go.

-Oh, my God!

-Guys!

I just wanted to say congratulations, because you've made it onto the show! Well done.

Excellent. Love her.

That's excellent news!

Congratulations, you're going to be on the next series of the show!

-Aah!

-Blimey!

-Yes!

-We're on!

-That's pretty cool!

-It is, yes!

You've made five geeks very, very happy!

High-five time!

Well done, guys!

Oh, my God...

-Thought that was a fail!

-My heart is racing!

One institution desperate to gain a place on this year's series

are Magdalen College, Oxford...

four times University Challenge champions, with a lot to prove.

This year's team hoping to continue the college's illustrious

history are...

third-year chemist Chris Savory.

French and philosophy student, Cameron Quinn.

Captain and chemistry student Hugh Binnie.

Fourth-year classicist Harry Gillow.

And Tom Mackenzie,

reading a PhD in classical languages and literature.

And knowing they have a lot to live up to, the team is starting

to get nervous as they wait to hear the news.

I thought we did quite well at the interview.

But then, I thought we did quite well last year,

-and we didn't get on.

-I thought I did terribly on that test.

I think we're a strong team and that SHOULD be all that counts,

but there are of course extenuating circumstances.

The fact that we're all sort of white and middle-class and male...

A bit boring!

-Currently, I have three signals.

-That should be fine.

-No, four signals out of five.

-Oh, wow - luxury.

I thought my signals were only...

Oh, no, now it's down to three signals out of five. How exciting.

PHONE RINGS

-Hello? Hello.

-'As you know,'

we're getting to around that time where we're telling

'people whether they're on or not and it's incredibly tight, but that just

'makes it all the gladder for me to say that you're on the team this year...'

We're going to be on?

'You're going to be on, congratulations.'

That's fantastic! Good news. Thanks for telling us.

We'll do our best to represent Magdalen well.

Yeeeeeeeeeeah!

Sh! Sh!

-I guess we'd better start practising.

-Yeah.

-Nerve-racking.

UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE THEME PLAYS

So, the 28 teams have received the welcome call to say they've

secured a place on the show.

Now, the hard work really begins and on University Challenge,

that means preparing for the toughest quiz in Britain.

You probably can prepare an awful lot for the show, by practising.

We were all people who were generally interested

in doing quizzes.

We'd done things like pub quizzes

a little bit together.

Oxford has an intercollegiate quiz tournament with some battered

old buzzers that they send around, so we'd done a little bit

of that against teams from elsewhere in Oxford.

The union had a quiz, I think every Sunday night and

I think we went along to that once or twice and didn't do that well!

This year's students are continuing the hard work

of their predecessors, prepping for those killer questions.

Up in Scotland, the University of St Andrews are holding

one of their regular practices in the common room.

In terms of preparation for the show,

the team...we've been practising going through questions,

trying to emulate the studio environment as closely as possible.

OK, so three bonus questions on human capacity.

'We've been trying to have one person ask the rest of us questions'

in a sort of Paxman-esque manner!

Um...

but it's difficult, it really is.

OK, starter for ten, on the buzzers, please.

What is the lowest positive integer to contain the letter C

when it is spelt out as a word in English?

Good God. Er...

The history of St Andrews in the show is an interesting one.

We won it once. Two years ago was the last time the team got through

to the televised rounds and they were knocked out ignominiously

by Bangor, so we want to do better than them this time round.

What name for a bivalve mollusc of the genus pecten,

and for its distinctive shell, also denotes thin slices of meat or fish,

-often dusted with flour and sauteed.

-Scallop.

-Yeah.

It's scallop.

We feel like St Andrews has underperformed considering its

academic standing and I think it's our job this year to right that.

I think if we won and we brought the trophy back to St Andrews for

the first time in 31 years,

they'd probably put on a procession for us!

-I'm not actually lying when I say that!

-I'd like to think so, yes!

I think we'd be wheeled through town on a float!

Over 400 miles south of St Andrews,

the Oxford Brookes team are working to a strict training regime.

Well, we try and practise twice a week

and so we do past questions.

I read Dickens in one night

and Shakespeare in kind of one and a half nights.

I'm reading the summaries,

which is helping me with the ones I don't know as well.

We're trying to cram in as many sessions as we can

over the next couple of weeks.

As a consequence of the belief that it was brought to

Europe by the Crusaders, Syrah,

the red wine grape of the Rhone Valley, shares its English name

with which city in Iran?

-Shiraz.

-Yep.

For so many years,

we've been sitting at home watching it on the telly, where it's all

very easy and you can just make as many guesses as you like and think

you're a bit of a legend whilst you're sitting in your own lounge.

Paxman doesn't scare you from across a TV, does he?

Now we know we're actually going to be there

in front of the lights and camera and having to do it for real,

it's all a bit surreal.

It's the single word that completes this statement.

But what is it about University Challenge's questions

that make them so incredibly hard and unique?

Reifler, Von Sterneck, compensating,

torsion and Foucault...

BELL

-Pendulum.

-Correct.

The questions have some specific characteristics.

There's something that we on the production team

call inherent interest.

We like the question to be interesting in itself,

so even if you don't know the answer, when you hear the answer you think,

"Hm, that's interesting," not, "So what?"

For heaven's sake, there's enough quizzes on television

full of stupid questions.

The questions here are difficult

and they're intentionally difficult,

and so the people who can answer them know a lot.

That's the point of the show.

In March 2006, which newly formed party led by Ehud Olmert...

BUZZER

-Kadima.

-Kadima is right.

My mum said to me when I came off it,

I was saying, "I can't believe I didn't get this or that one right,

and she said, "I don't even understand the questions.

"Don't beat yourself up about not knowing the answer."

No matter how hard the teams may study,

their answers don't always come from textbooks.

10 points for this. The elements

with the atomic numbers 79, 47 and 82

are used to determine the suitability

of a young woman's suitors in which play by...

BELL

-The Merchant Of Venice.

-Indeed - the gold, silver and lead caskets.

The things you know are not just exactly things you've read

or things you've studied but things you've come across on holiday

with friends and family, and so you do sort of see your life flashing before your eyes.

When we went up to Manchester on the train from Cambridge,

we'd been travelling a couple of hours

and somebody looked out the window and said, "Look at that bent church spire!"

Somebody else said, "That must be Chesterfield. It's got a bent church spire."

Somebody else said, "Isn't that a kind of sofa?" "Oh, yes."

Lo and behold, the first match we were in, the starter was about

the connection between a particular kind of sofa and a church with a bent spire,

so the answer was Chesterfield and one of us buzzed in and got it

so, now and then, life intervenes and gives you an answer,

but mostly, it's things that you know already.

Over at the board game cafe, St Anne's College are testing the grey matter

with a lively quiz.

Tonight, we're doing a quiz and the goal is largely to identify

the strengths and weaknesses of the different people on the team,

and also to see what areas we can revise and improve on

for the future.

The first European to explore the area was Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo...

St Anne's has about 750 students in its population,

graduate and undergraduate, and we're going up against universities

like Manchester, who have 40,000 students to draw from.

It's a bit intimidating.

I think expectations are quite low.

Our getting on is seen as a great achievement in itself,

so anything we can do and go further is a bonus.

Working drawings were completed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Architects

in just two weeks.

The Empire State Building.

-Yes.

-Yes!

I mean, so far I've just dreamed of being on University Challenge.

I wasn't aiming too high.

So I'm happy just to be on it.

Winning would be...

Yeah, beyond anything I've ever thought about.

With less than two weeks until studio,

the University of Sheffield team have a more laid-back

approach to practice.

I've been told Gail Trimble had toast every morning

on her way to University Challenge,

so if that works for her, it works for me. ..No, Alfie.

It's our first meeting as a team since the interviews

and we're going to answer some practice questions.

I think we'll probably terrify ourselves.

Give the common names of the following plants and animals,

each of which is a homophone...

Sorry. ..Each of which is a homophone of a name of... Uh!

..Of the name of a letter... These are really difficult to say!

So, how are Sheffield feeling about their chances?

Coming up against the likes of Oxford, Cambridge,

the traditionally very highly regarded universities,

is perhaps a little daunting,

but I'd like to think that Sheffield

have someone who can throw in everyone

and we've got a real good chance.

We've got nothing to lose. If we lose, that's what people expected.

But if we win, that's really good.

Which farm animal was once known in Ireland

-as "the gentleman who pays the rent"?

-Sheep?

-No!

-I don't know. You're looking at me like I'm supposed to know.

Pig!

Which traditional British confectionary item is named after Parma

although it's connection with the city is remote?

-Nominate Greenwood.

-Parma violets.

-Correct.

THEY LAUGH

Oh, yeah. We're going to win!

For the last couple of years

we hadn't qualified for the show at all,

so we've done better than that.

We're improving already.

What we've really got to think about is,

what we're going to do if we get the question right.

-Do a Mexican wave across the team.

-Yeah.

How many sides does a triangle have?

Buzz. Sheffield, Cunliffe. Three.

-Yeah.

-Yeah!

THEY ALL LAUGH

The Sheffield team might be concentrating on their celebrations

but it's not just about answering the questions correctly.

It's also about technique on the buzzer.

-Poetry.

-Poetry is correct.

I think, when you watch it on telly,

you don't fully appreciate the importance of the buzzers, the speed.

Warwick, Christodoulou.

Zip.

You could know the answer to every question

and feasibly end up with no marks, no points,

because if you don't get to the buzzer in time,

you don't get the marks for that and, crucially,

you don't get the opportunity to have a go on the bonuses.

The technique, really, is to press the buzzer

when you know that you know the answer

or think that you know the answer,

before you've actually reeled it back from the memory fully.

It's as though your mind starts saying, "Wait a second.

"I think I might know this." You hear a word or something

so you buzz and then you've got the time where Roger Tilling says,

"Manchester, Mitchell," to go through your brain as fast as you can

and find the answer.

It's a matter of not minding making a fool of yourself,

which I have done on occasions.

-Beyond credibility?

-No.

-LAUGHTER

-Much simpler - bad character.

I'm not sure there's a knack, but there must be, I guess.

I think it's something along the likes of

knowing what point to buzz, yeah,

and I don't have a formula.

It was just kind of an instinct,

because basically your brain will tell you

that you know the answer seconds before it's found it.

"I pressed the fire control

"and ahead of me rockets blazed through the sky."

These words appear in which 1963 painting...

Is it Whaam! ?

Whaam! is correct, yes.

And more often than not, you will find it. But often you won't and you look a charlie.

BUZZER

Floating voter.

No. One of you buzz from Magdalen.

So, the secret of Victory is timing and speed,

but according to those who've achieved success on the show

it's not just speed on the buzzer,

it's also about the way you press it.

The University Challenge buzzers are kind of large and flat

and they only buzz downwards.

BUZZER

Onan.

There's a certain amount of give in the buzzer

and you have to work out where that is

so if you react a little quicker than the opposition,

you're already halfway down on the buzzer.

It's not sounding but you just have that slight advantage.

BUZZER

With just over ten days until studio,

there's plenty of buzzer practice still to do,

and over at Magdalen College, Oxford,

the team are taking it very seriously

as a loss now could prove catastrophic to team morale.

We're having our first intercollegiate quiz match tonight.

We're playing Queen's College and, hopefully, it'll go well.

So the intercollegiate quiz is a tournament that's held

between the various colleges within Oxford.

We usually get a good turnout.

This year we've got 32 teams playing.

People use the quiz as a chance to practise for University Challenge.

It's pretty prestigious in its own right

but, basically, teams want to see this as an opportunity

to get some practice in before they appear on the show.

BEEPING We have buzzers set up, just like University Challenge.

It's basically exactly the same thing

but without Jeremy Paxman and without Roger Tilling.

At Manchester University,

team coach Stephen Pearson is ensuring the team stick to

their strict training regime.

We've got a practice match that Stephen's arranged.

We'll be playing against some of the previous

famous faces from Manchester.

We're playing against previous champions, so they are good,

and when you can beat them, you know you must know your stuff.

BELL

BUZZER

On my team tonight, we've got our normal University Challenge team

so it's me, Cameron, Chris and Harry.

Hopefully, we'll be able to put in a good performance

and get ourselves feeling confident before recording in Salford.

This is the first time we've played together as a full team

so it'll be good to see if our dynamic is positive or negative.

I'm sure it'll be fine,

but just to make sure everything's working smoothly.

Fingers on buzzers. Here's your first starter for 10.

What is the smallest country in Europe

whose English name ends in "land"?

-Manchester, Rowlands.

-Thailand.

-No.

The plan to steal 4 million of Chinese gold in this film

originates in the man who died in a Lamborghini Miura.

-The Italian Job.

-Yeah.

Four countries border both India and China.

One is Burma. Name two... Rowlands?

-Bhutan and Nepal.

-Correct, yes.

In this country, whose highest point is name for a former leader

of the Cheka, is home to the Berezina River?

BUZZER

-Ukraine.

-No.

..South Korea.

BUZZER

Coriolanus.

-Very good.

-Oh, wow.

No conferring.

I've got absolutely no idea.

We've just hit the 26-minute mark there and at end of the match...

Final score is Queen's 60, Magdalen 340.

And the scores are 240 to the Oxford Uni team,

145 to Manchester.

-It was all right.

-The opposition were pretty good.

That's the toughest team we've played against yet.

They were on form.

So Manchester have lost out to the opposition

and will want to take time to reassess their game.

Magdalen have enjoyed an emphatic win

so their confidence remains intact.

I think we were a bit jumpier than we needed to be in that last game.

There were ones we got wrong

where I guess if we'd waited a bit longer

we could have got it right before the other team got in.

There were one or two where I wasn't thinking at all

I probably should have waited before I buzzed.

I need to practise buzzing, full stop.

-I think we're on the right track now.

-Yes.

It's going to be just us and Paxo.

LAUGHTER

-AS ROGER TILLING:

-Reading the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Answering them, Magdalen College, Oxford.

Jeremy might be getting a bit worried at this point.

I love you, Jeremy!

Over the decades,

students have looked to a variety of furry creatures

and strange talismen to bring them luck on the show.

This year is no different.

These two beavers are team mascots.

They are the emblem of St Anne's College,

and many people think it's funny that a beaver is associated with

a former women's college, but in 1913,

it was adopted to represent the industriousness

of the female students who would go out and take tutorials

at other colleges and come back to the hostels where they all lived.

I think they're quite cute.

And what have St Andrews got to offer?

We haven't made a decision on the mascot yet

but we have reached some consensus on a team costume of sorts,

as modelled here by lovely assistant Lewis.

This is our university undergraduate gown

and we're the only university in Europe to still have one

and so we really think this'll set us apart.

-Looks great.

-Yeah, looks fantastic.

There's a system of wearing it.

If you were a first year, you'd wear it up here.

We call this the academic striptease, as the gown lowers.

So you have first year, then second year

it drops back onto the shoulders. Third year you're faced with the dilemma.

If you're in arts you wear it off the left.

If you're in science you wear it off the right.

By your fourth and final year, you have it round your elbows,

and you've fully emerged. That's the idea.

It's very unique and makes St Andrews kind of stand out.

Of course, there's more than one way to make your team stand out.

The stegosaurus I impulse bought in a junk shop.

The shop assistant and I did have a moment of,

"Why is this so overpriced?"

but now I've got it I'm hoping it might make it on as the team mascot.

I'm yet to persuade the others.

And the University of Sheffield team are also still to decide

about their mascot.

Alfie the cat would make a wonderful mascot

but you would never get him to sit still for half an hour.

Why don't you bring that little pink monkey that you sleep with?

-LAUGHTER

-That's true.

-That's not even a joke.

-I can go and get him.

This is Schweetheart, my little monkey.

He's probably my best friend. I sleep with him every night.

I'm not sure how impressed people would be

if he was chosen as our mascot for the TV!

It's the countdown to studio, and with just two days to go,

there's a problem at the University of Manchester.

Yes, that's right. OK. Thank you.

Thanks. Bye-bye.

We've heard today that Mhairi was unfortunately had to withdraw

for the role of being reserve team member

because of a family bereavement

so what I've done, I've gone back to the people

who just narrowly missed out on selection for the team

when I did the original selection process,

and I've chosen one of them to be the reserve team member.

-This is our new reserve. This is James.

-Hi.

And the lucky lad is 3rd-year maths and physics student James Haughton.

When I woke up this morning, I was thinking of my exam results

and the Manchester United game.

I wasn't thinking at all that I'd be part of this now.

But it's a very pleasant surprise.

However late it is in the day, James discovers that every student

who applies to be on University Challenge

has to take a written test and be interviewed by the show's producers.

They also have to prove that they are eligible.

Yeah, so that one's fine.

The producers said they were happy with my score in the test

and that I'd be acceptable to have as a reserve.

So, fingers on buzzers,

and here's your first starter for 10.

It's our last practice today. It's good timing for James

because he just found out this afternoon

and he's been able to come in for the practice.

So we get to know his areas of knowledge and that kind of thing.

Just one question. What's my fee for doing this?!

Get you a pint!

Don't say that. We'll have to buy him a pint.

Finally, the day that all our teams have dreamed off has arrived,

their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to appear on Britain's

longest-running and most-respected quiz show,

University Challenge.

After six months of planning, auditioning, swotting and quizzing,

the teams make their way to Salford's Media City.

This is me, Rosie Thomas,

the captain of the Brasenose University Challenge team.

I'm just about to set off on the train journey up to Manchester

to film University Challenge.

So we're at Leuchars station now, waiting for the train down...

to Manchester via Edinburgh

to meet our destiny.

Just leaving Sheffield.

The beautiful Peak District.

Here's team captain Jonathan Cunliffe.

Ohh-oh-oh.

Are you excited by the tram ride?

We've got two members of the team from last year,

Turner and Ben,

who have come to wish us luck as we head off to the train station.

So...

Good luck.

They've asked me to start filming you guys.

LAUGHTER AND CHATTER

We're the team from Leicester.

We're on our way up to Salford for University Challenge

-and we're all feeling pretty good about it.

-Yay!

THEY ALL LAUGH

So we're on the train and we've finally found Russ,

and Gwen's just doing a last-minute bit of revision.

And Russ has a couple of questions from previous years,

-and Louise is here as well.

-I feel really self conscious...

about how we feel about being on the show.

So perhaps some questions should be asked,

thrown out by the mysterious voice of Alex over there.

-Are you guys having fun back there?

-Never better.

-How are you feeling, John?

-I'm feeling good.

I'm feeling ready to smash it.

-I'm really nervous.

-I'm also pretty nervous.

-Where are we, boys?

-Salford.

What's the song called?

This song is Winner Takes It All by Abba.

# The winner takes it all

# The loser standing small... #

While the Pembroke College, Cambridge team

use their journey to practise their singing,

Trinity College, Cambridge take the opportunity to do some

last-minute cramming.

-C Day-Lewis - is he actually related to Daniel Day-Lewis?

-Ooh, must be.

We're about two hours away from filming the actual show itself

so it's a last-minute chance to learn a few things

that will definitely not come up

-because we revised them at the last minute!

-Yeah.

We found, doing past questions,

that lots of weird questions about dartboards came up,

about words you can make round a dartboard

if you interpret the numbers as letters.

So we've drawn a dartboard

and we're working out what words you can actually make.

Is it 50 for a bull and 25 for...

-What's that?

-I've never played darts in my life.

The one thing that we've never really revised

is the picture rounds

and so I thought somebody should try to just brush up, quickly,

on just being able to have a chance of recognising artists.

Definitely, the main thing is going to be to enjoy this.

It's great fun to be part of University Challenge,

to get ourselves on TV with Jeremy asking us the questions

-and stuff.

-The limelight!

I get these kind of dreams that I'll butt in

when I think I've got the right answer, and then it's wrong

and I get chastised by Paxman, it's really embarrassing.

I don't want it to happen for real.

And that's one dream that Aled doesn't want to come true

as, like most contestants before him,

the thought of facing Jeremy Paxman sends a shiver down the spine.

-If you buzz in, you've got to answer!

-Blah!

-Let's have it, please.

-We don't know.

-You've hopped round every century except the right one. It's William III.

LAUGHTER

This is going to be a long night.

We think University Challenge is a unique programme

so you do need a unique presenter.

Jeremy, to me, fills the role perfectly

and I think for a lot of our students competing,

the chance of coming up against him

-is something to be relished not feared.

-Someone buzz from Cardiff.

-Prince Philip.

-Prince Philip is right.

I don't know why you equivocated so long. No-one else comes to mind.

An Indochina war.

-AN Indochina war(?)

-Sorry, THE Indo-Chinese War.

That's not specific enough. There are lots of wars in Indochina.

Quickly, come on.

No, I wouldn't say I was aware of my reputation...

for good or bad, and, frankly, I'd rather keep it that way.

I seem to remember him being quite grumpy at the time,

definitely quite challenging.

Which band's single, entitled The Reflex, reached number one

in the British Charts in 1984?

-Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

-No, it was Duran Duran.

-Oh, no!

LAUGHTER

Serves you right.

To be berated by Paxman on screen is really a badge of honour,

something to be proud of and a memory to be cherished.

One player who wasn't afraid to interrupt the mighty Paxo at work

and risk a 5-point penalty was Ralph Morley,

captain of reigning champions, Trinity College, Cambridge.

Paxman was midway through a sentence,

we had no idea what he was going to say next, and Ralph buzzed in.

During the 20th century, who held the position of Prime Minister

of the United Kingdom...

Margaret Thatcher.

How did you know I was going to ask for the longest period of time?

Well, what else is it going to be?

When the college watched that moment, uproarious laughter,

because someone had stood up to Paxman. It felt fantastic.

OK, let's see if you get these bonuses right.

They're on French land borders, you smartarses!

LAUGHTER

'I like a bit of spirit.'

I like students, you know.

I love their... I love their enthusiasm.

The best of them, they don't take it too seriously

but want to do well.

I like them.

What is the most populous French department?

Lille...

-Lille.

-No, it's Nord.

Not all so easy, are they?

Not all of them. JEREMY LAUGHS

The students finally descend upon Salford's Media City,

and as one journey ends, another begins.

I think University Challenge being done in the studios will be

a bit intimidating, under the lights, with Paxman there.

This is going to be on television.

See you on the other side.

I think I'm more worried than most at the moment.

I might be over-thinking it a bit now.

It is a terrifying prospect, the entire thing.

Hopefully I'll be able to keep my nerves in check

and everything will go fine.

I've quizzed with these guys many times before

and I know that they're very good

but it's good not to take anything for granted

because the competition will be very strong.

-Well, hello. Good to see you.

-Good to see you.

-If you want to follow me, we're going to go to hospitality.

-Sounds good.

While the teams settle into their dressing rooms,

another University Challenge legend is making his final preparations.

Roger Tilling has been an integral part of the show since 1997.

My seat's up over in the corner, up there.

It's a specially designed piece of scaffolding

and I think it's got to be the best seat in the house.

You can see everything going on in the studio.

Trinity, Drnovsek Zorko.

I don't think people realise that the voice-overs are actually

done live in the studio. I think they probably reckon it's edited in afterwards.

So, for this game we have Magdalen Binnie, Magdalen Quinn,

Magdalen Savory, Magdalen Gillow.

Luckily, one team has a bell, one team has a buzzer,

which helps me home into the right team.

I think it's strategic to have

a long or difficult-to-pronounce surname on your team

because when you think about it,

it gives them at least an extra second to come up with the answer,

so if I was setting up a team, I would have

Drnovsek Zorko, Papaphilippopoulos

Warnakulasuriya and Bhattacharya all on the same team.

I think you'd win.

And although victory is on everyone's minds,

there's another trophy that all teams are desperate to acquire,

and they don't have to win to take it home.

These are the all-important nameplates that will be

in front of the students on the desks.

-I think these are more valuable than the trophy.

-Wow.

-That's so cool.

-And you get to keep it afterwards.

-Do you really?

-We send them out.

-That's amazing.

-Gimme, gimme.

Oh, my God.

-That's great.

-Definitely your name?

-That's my name. Thank you very much.

-We get to keep them, right?

-Yes.

-Awesome.

Before the teams go on, we've got to check they're spelt right.

The last thing you want is for some poor student

to go on TV and we've spelt their name horribly wrong.

My surname's spelled a bit weirdly and pronounced even weirder,

and I'm very precious about it

so if I'm on national TV, I want it to be right.

-Is that right?

-It feels like a sacred object!

Like the relics of a saint!

I think this is probably the proudest I've ever been.

This is the biggest achievement of my life.

Brasenose, Naude.

Can I put it on my back like a footballer?

Can I check that we've spelled your name correctly?

That is my name, right, guys. Yeah, that is right.

Good, excellent.

THEY LAUGH

Wow.

Greatest day of my life.

I'd love it if you could make me look like Gail Trimble.

Seeing the name thing makes me realise

that it's actually happening, we're finally here

and we're doing the filming, yeah.

In a matter of hours. Oops.

As reality hits home for the students,

their big moment draws ever closer

as they find out who they will face in the first round of matches.

Now for the grand reveal. You'll be playing against Selwyn, Cambridge.

-That's where I got turned away from.

-Ah!

-Oh, yeah.

-Revenge match?

-Yeah.

We've been drawn against Manchester, which is a pretty tough draw.

The last time Selwyn were on, they got a grand total of 75.

That was also against Manchester,

so we're hoping that history's not going to repeat itself.

I'm slightly nervous now that we know who we're playing, to be honest.

-I believe they're the academically best college...

-Oh, shut up!

Yeah, we'll be fine, we'll be OK.

We found out we're playing Trinity, Cambridge,

who are one of the big hitters,

but you've got to beat the big teams to win the competition.

We're playing Pembroke, Cambridge in our first-round match.

We've never met them before, don't know how good they are at quizzing,

so it's very much an unknown quantity.

We noticed that the opposition was carrying around a very large bear,

obviously intending to intimidate us, but it hasn't worked.

This is Paddy, our mascot,

and we're hoping that he brings us some good luck today.

We think the opposition have heard about him.

The opposition are going to be scared.

This is our mascot. It's a bell

and it's here because we plan to ring the changes.

BELL TINGS

This is our mascot Michael. He's stood by us through thick and thin.

He's acted as a light in the darkness, he's our driving force.

For Trinity College, Cambridge, there's a big decision to make.

We're trying to decide what mascot to have.

We've got the stegosaurus with us

but it's very big and it doesn't have any particular relevance

for most of the people on the team.

It's just something we had knocking around. It's a lovely model,

I don't deny that, but I'm not sure if it's quite the right thing.

I think size is the major factor.

Comparing what the other teams have got with them -

tiny little mice and one of them has got a hotel buzzer -

so perhaps just the scarf, I think.

There's strong opposition from Matthew

so I think it might have been vetoed, but that's OK.

It can watch from the sidelines.

We've brought out lucky mascots along

-and I think they're excited to be here. What do you think?

-Pretty sure.

It's hard to tell, though. They're just stuffed.

Slightly reluctantly, we've got my cuddly toy monkey Schweetheart,

who...

-Say his name again.

-Schweetheart.

He's going to bring us a lot of love and luck.

Beaver fight - ready?

Ohh!

LAUGHTER

As the final preparations are made in studio,

the nerves are building backstage.

I think we're all reasonably terrified.

I'm trying to distract myself from how nervous I am

by getting overexcited.

I'm very excited but getting a bit nervous now

because it is getting close, as well.

This is the first of many such walks to the University Challenge studio.

These guys have attempted to knock and run on Jeremy Paxman's door.

Thankfully, I don't think he was in there.

We'll just be sitting there with a wry smile on our face

knowing that, hey, no-one knows what's going on beneath the desk.

-But we know.

-That sounded wrong.

Come on, Lewis.

The honour belongs to the man in the arena,

not to those cold, timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

We're going to crush them.

The teams start to make their way to studio,

and they're not the only ones feeling the tension.

Stephen Pearson has been putting together the University of Manchester team

for 16 years and has attended almost every single recording.

Stephen's in the audience watching. We don't want to let him down,

but he knows we're just going to go in play the best game we can.

I'm quite nervous, really.

You never quite know how good the opposition are going to be

but I'm hoping they'll be nice and relaxed

and they'll enjoy it, whatever the result.

As the teams wait to go into studio,

they get some last-minute good-luck messages

as the audience take their seats.

-My dad and my sister are here.

-Hi!

-Eyes on the prize.

Good luck to those who are going on the studio floor, in particular.

Cheers. Ohh!

Good luck! We'll be cheering you on.

Team photo!

Woo!

Do you need your shoes? LAUGHTER

you're not the only guys who can lunge.

LAUGHTER

Oh, lovely knees!

LAUGHTER

I grew them myself.

I once did Newsnight in shorts,

but as you're under the desk it doesn't matter.

That's what we were thinking.

That's short recognition from Mr Paxman.

OK, we're ready for you now, guys, if you want to follow me.

-And so it begins.

-Indeed.

Welcome on the team from the Open University!

The moment has arrived. Time to follow in the footsteps

of some of the brightest brains in Britain

and walk onto the hallowed set for the first time.

Selwyn, Cambridge!

Manchester!

St Anne's, Oxford.

Trinity, Cambridge.

Brasenose, Oxford.

As the teams take their seats, it's a moment to treasure

for the students and for their mascots.

This is a big moment...

What am I going to do with this one?!

There we go. That's fine.

Got to say, you're being outdone on the mascot.

He doesn't sound the same when he's talking.

-He just seems like a normal guy.

-Nau-day?

-It's Naude.

-Nau... Naude?

-Yes, that's it. Thank you.

Perfect.

I'm feeling quite calm now I'm in here.

It's kind of odd to look around and go,

"This is what you see in a little box in your room but here we are."

You realise there's a gyroscope in the middle.

-It's really weird that you can see yourself as well.

-It is.

Some students are awestruck at the sight of the main man.

Oh, my God, there he is.

You don't mind sitting up and trying to look intelligent?

CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS

-Why do you wear them off the shoulder?

-It depends on the year.

Is there anything you guys need to know before we start?

Got any answers(?)

Do you know, I have.

But I'm not going to give them to you now.

HE WHISPERS

I realise you've done this about 600 times.

-No, it's a pleasure to see you...

-Good stuff. >

And, for real, I met Jeremy Paxman. I've made it.

Shook his hand. Not going to wash.

I hadn't realised from watching Uni Challenge

just how low and smoky Paxo's voice is.

I was very impressed, because it was so low and hot chocolate-y.

While some swoon over Jeremy,

other students are eager to test their buzzers.

BELLS RING

BUZZERS BEEP

Good.

BELL

-Don't try your buzzer!

-Sorry.

Eric, one of the buzzers is not working.

I just tested my buzzer and got told off for it

so I'm now going to be reticent to use it until I'm told.

BELL

Many take the studio appearance in their stride,

but for a few of the students, the pressure can prove too much.

And when you've got to go, you've got to go.

Over the past six months,

more than 130 teams have competed for

a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

to join the exclusive club of quizzers

who have appeared on the British institution

that is University Challenge.

I'm feeling quite nervous at this stage.

Hopefully, it'll go well.

My teeth are feeling a bit numb now.

It's nice to be, finally, in the studio.

In the hot seat.

Here we are recording. Stand by.

My heart's racing.

Counting to titles in five...

I'm pretty nervous, to be honest.

Five seconds...

It's all about to happen.

And now just 28 teams remain

and await their turn

to hear Jeremy Paxman deliver that immortal phrase...

You know the rules - the whole world knows the rules -

so fingers on the buzzers here. Here's your first starter for 10.

APPLAUSE