0:00:04 > 0:00:06I always shout the answers out, yes!
0:00:06 > 0:00:08University Challenge tournament.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11Asking the questions, Bamber Gascoigne.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13Mostly we were virgins.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17There were fumblings in the bike sheds, and occasional exposures.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19But otherwise, it was knickers on, I'm afraid.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21I have two types of questions.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24Starter questions and bonus questions.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28I think the rule is quite clear.
0:00:28 > 0:00:29You buzz in, you answer.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31- Pembroke, Macfie.- Canticles.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34And they're off. Ten points to Pembroke.
0:00:34 > 0:00:40- Private Eye, Hislop. - On a scale of one to ten of how competitive we were, about ten.
0:00:43 > 0:00:48I was attracted to the role of Bamber because it really
0:00:48 > 0:00:51- tickled me, the idea of it. - It was a great answer.
0:01:01 > 0:01:051962, and the news was grim.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home.
0:01:07 > 0:01:14In the same year, her old friend President Kennedy was threatening global annihilation.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile
0:01:18 > 0:01:24launched from Cuba against any nation in the western hemisphere as an attack.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28While the world watched in dread as politicians postured over Cuba,
0:01:28 > 0:01:31in Manchester a television institution was born.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33University Challenge.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36Going against the fashion of the time, this show
0:01:36 > 0:01:40would have intellectual bite, a far cry from your average quiz.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44- Bamber Gascoigne!- In time, its contestants would go on to become Britain's brightest and best.
0:01:44 > 0:01:52Politicians, actors, film-makers and writers and, like the best ideas, its beginnings were modest.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56There really were very few quizzes on television.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59Later of course, things like Mastermind arrived.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02- Otherwise, it was game shows. - Twist the lever.
0:02:02 > 0:02:07- Um, women please.- Women, they're always good for a laugh.
0:02:07 > 0:02:12The whole point of watching University Challenge is it wasn't darts, or the Golden Shot.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16It didn't have a man in a big check suit, it had Bamber Gascoigne on it.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18He was clever. And he might have known the answers.
0:02:18 > 0:02:23The producers' biggest gamble was their choice of presenter.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25His name was perfect.
0:02:25 > 0:02:27An anagram of "organised BBC game".
0:02:27 > 0:02:33Hello, and welcome again to the knockout competition on University Challenge. I was I think
0:02:33 > 0:02:3527 when we did the auditions.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38It was '62, I was 27.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40Of course, the students were only 21 or whatever.
0:02:40 > 0:02:45And at that age, six years of difference, I was old man of the hills, so to speak.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47I knew everything and they were just undergraduates.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50That is a full 10 points for that. Now, second piece.
0:02:50 > 0:02:51OPERA MUSIC PLAYS
0:02:57 > 0:02:59- OK, fine. Good.- Carmen, Bizet.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01Very good, Carmen's Bizet.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03Rather, Bizet's Carmen I mean!
0:03:03 > 0:03:05Bamber had a lot of charm.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09And also, he was not patronising.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12Students at that time were very used to being patronised.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15- Very good, ten points to Keele. - He had no airs or graces.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17He wasn't dominating.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19And here is your bonus for 20.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23And he was the kind of guy lads would like to have a drink with and chat with.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27I think that was a key feature of Bamber's personality.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30Three girls and one man against three men and one girl.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32This is the age of equality.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35Apart from he has the name, it's just so great, Bamber Gascoigne.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37How do you get to be called Bamber?
0:03:37 > 0:03:39What strange accident happened at the font?
0:03:39 > 0:03:43The vicar was drunk or something, "I name this child Bamber. Sorry, too late!"
0:03:43 > 0:03:49- And there he was, Bamber. - He seemed the sort of perfect professorial figure.
0:03:49 > 0:03:55And urbane, and obviously incredibly well-read and erudite.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59But kind of wise and gentle as well.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02Kind of an Obi-Wan Kenobi figure.
0:04:02 > 0:04:09# ..He's a soft-spoken guy # All so sweet and shy... #
0:04:09 > 0:04:11# Makes me wonder why... #
0:04:11 > 0:04:13He was gorgeous.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17He had very, very blond hair.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25It could have been assisted, I'm not sure.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27But it was startlingly blond.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31And a very cheeky and friendly expression.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33Hello again and another needle match tonight.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39Seeing Bamber Gascoigne there was like
0:04:39 > 0:04:44seeing the god Apollo seated on a throne.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46And he was just incredibly dishy.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49You sat there going, "Ah, wow."
0:04:49 > 0:04:55# I just can't wait, I just can't wait to be held in his arms... #
0:04:55 > 0:04:58I think he was cool. We thought it because he was.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01He was phenomenally...
0:05:01 > 0:05:03Handsome, isn't the word. He was beautiful.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05He was indeed pretty sexy actually.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09We thought so anyway. I'm not sure if he realised we thought that, but we certainly did.
0:05:09 > 0:05:14Talking of fan mail, the story I often tell because it gives me such pleasure, almost the first letter
0:05:14 > 0:05:17I received for University Challenge was very far from being a fan letter.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21It was the precise opposite and was, I think, the most perfectly
0:05:21 > 0:05:24crafted abusive letter ever to be sent through Her Majesty's mail.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28And it said, "Dear Sir,
0:05:28 > 0:05:32"Professor Lovell calculates in the Sunday Times this morning
0:05:32 > 0:05:38"that there must be at least 1,000 other planets in this universe equally as far developed as our own.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41"But of one thing I'm certain and that is this.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45"That on all these planets there cannot be another single broadcaster
0:05:45 > 0:05:49"with an equally pansy bastard strangulated voice like yours."
0:05:49 > 0:05:52So I thought my career had come to an end within weeks of beginning.
0:05:52 > 0:05:57A bonus of 20 coming. What man has been shared by all these women?
0:05:57 > 0:06:00Fernande Olivier, Olga Koklova...
0:06:00 > 0:06:02- St Hilda's, Evans. - Picasso.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06Picasso, ten points St Hilda's. 30 seconds to play, your bonus of 20.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08We all thought it was a job for three months.
0:06:08 > 0:06:14Had anyone known the first run of it was going to last for 25 years, and we are talking about a job for 25
0:06:14 > 0:06:17years, I think we'd have all been so frightened we could hardly have read the card.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20But Bamber wasn't the only innovation new to a quiz show audience.
0:06:20 > 0:06:26For the first time, the public was confronted by a then alien beast, the student.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31Hello, and tonight in University Challenge we have what is virtually
0:06:31 > 0:06:36a war of the roses because, one of our teams comes from Yorkshire, and the other from Lancashire.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39The captain for Manchester is Tony Boyd.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42Many people regarded students as very much a race apart.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46And very much coming from the upper and middle classes.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49And when some of us appeared on the television we patently weren't.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53- Manchester, Boyd. - Equality of mercy is not strained.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57- Will you complete the sentence? - But falleth as a drop as the gentle rain from heaven.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01'My accent, my northern accent, you could cut with a knife.
0:07:01 > 0:07:07'I think that did impress people that maybe ordinary people could actually go to university.'
0:07:07 > 0:07:10I did watch it as a kid.
0:07:10 > 0:07:16I sort of didn't really understand what a student was, it seemed a very strange thing.
0:07:16 > 0:07:23The only time you ever encountered students on British television was in Brideshead Revisited.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30Come on, Charles.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32Oh, you're not coming?
0:07:32 > 0:07:33Yes, aren't I? Delighted, dear boy.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36Well, that's a surprise. I suppose I'll have to go in the back.
0:07:36 > 0:07:42I suppose you realise this is going to be one of the most stupefyingly boring balls of the season?
0:07:42 > 0:07:45I haven't been to too many balls this season, so that's all right.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47- Mottram will lay on a good Jag. - Nearly lost the bubbly.
0:07:47 > 0:07:53You're not going to drive like this all the way to London, are you? I shall be sick?
0:07:53 > 0:07:56University Challenge was the flipside of that, I suppose.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00There were people with regional accents, it seemed more democratic.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02Bernard Austin from West Ham reading politics.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06Gordon Masterton from Charlestown, Fife, reading concrete structures.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08That idea
0:08:08 > 0:08:11really appealed to me, that you could go somewhere and just
0:08:11 > 0:08:14learn, that you could go to this place where knowledge was sacred.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20The show was an overnight success with 11 million viewers tuning in.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23Making their third appearance after two victories.
0:08:23 > 0:08:29For many, going to university was as likely as stepping foot on the moon.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33In the show's early days, Britain boasted just 30 universities.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36To increase the pool of entries, Oxford and Cambridge colleges were
0:08:36 > 0:08:38invited to enter as separate entities.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41At the time, such favouritism was hardly noticed.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44And, if it was, students didn't complain.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46# ..The stars up above
0:08:47 > 0:08:51# Why must I be a teenager in love? #
0:08:51 > 0:08:57Remember, this was the 1960s, and the Sixties really didn't begin until 1967 anyway.
0:08:57 > 0:09:01So it was just after the war in many ways, and we were well behaved.
0:09:01 > 0:09:07I don't think anybody is as innocent nowadays as a 19-year-old
0:09:07 > 0:09:11boy was then, in 1962.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14# Why must I be a teenager in love? #
0:09:16 > 0:09:21It it just feels like another generation, not just another generation.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24It feels like another universe altogether.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29Peter Jones from St Essex, reading Greats.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32Roger Tomlin of Monmouthshire, reading Greats.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36You said, my name is Julian Fellowes from Chiddingline, East Sussex.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41And it was sort of, rather thrilling that your village was on television.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43It was all a long time ago I'm afraid.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45And it was a more innocent world.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47Mostly we were virgins.
0:09:47 > 0:09:52There were fumblings in the bike sheds and occasional exposures
0:09:52 > 0:09:54but otherwise, it was knickers on, I'm afraid.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Knickers may have been on, but exhibitionism was rife.
0:10:00 > 0:10:05From the start there was a stampede among students looking for the chance to get on TV and show off.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12I was incredibly impressed by the depth of knowledge of these young men, all of whom, when I
0:10:12 > 0:10:16first started watching it when I was 13 or 14, seemed terribly grown up.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18Encyclopaedic in what they knew.
0:10:18 > 0:10:23There was I remember an audition in college for people who thought they might like to
0:10:23 > 0:10:28go on the team, and about 60 of us crammed into this room and failed to answer general knowledge questions.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32A friend of mine said, "Go on, you do it." It was a dare.
0:10:32 > 0:10:38Maybe not "auditions", but "test", for anybody who wanted to be in the University Challenge team.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41There was a general knowledge questionnaire.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44And I obviously came out among the tops.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49Then they had knockout rounds to get down to the team that was going to do the show.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53And being the kind of show-off person that you have to be, to be on
0:10:53 > 0:10:55University Challenge, I thought, I'll have a go.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59Happily, no tape of the show survives. I know that.
0:10:59 > 0:11:07When you look at me, I look like an unsuccessful contender in an Elvis look-alike contest with this
0:11:07 > 0:11:10yeti wig on my head.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15Bamber quickly became renowned for having a brain the size of a small planet.
0:11:15 > 0:11:20It was an image he was happy to encourage by cunning use of the tools of the quiz master's trade.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22Don't be surprised, I promise you it's right.
0:11:22 > 0:11:29He had this extraordinary mixture of quiet knowledge, you knew he knew the answers to the questions.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32I'm damn sure he did for most of them because he set a lot of them.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35What novel, and I must confess I'm improvising because I see
0:11:35 > 0:11:37the second part of the question was, "who wrote it."
0:11:37 > 0:11:39I've given you that, so I'll have to improvise.
0:11:39 > 0:11:46What novel by Kingsley could maybe be associated with the phrase, "Go west, young man."
0:11:46 > 0:11:49- Westwood Ho.- Five points. - You can tell he's got a great brain.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51He looks like he had, under his hair.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54And everything about him was clever.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56But there was a lovely gentleness to it.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59After all, he was the man in charge of the question cards.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02Bonus questions were always on pink cards.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04And the starter questions on blue cards.
0:12:04 > 0:12:09Each one would have a reference on the back saying where the information had come from.
0:12:09 > 0:12:16These were always sent down to Bamber to his home in Richmond where he would make them up into games.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18Very quickly, a devilish question especially set by
0:12:18 > 0:12:21me for you, but I thought you'd get much more neurotic about it.
0:12:21 > 0:12:26My biggest ritual of University Challenge which I could not remotely have dared to do the show without,
0:12:26 > 0:12:32and I used indeed to have nightmares of doing a show without questions that I knew about.
0:12:32 > 0:12:37On the day before, I would clear my desk, put on all the volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica
0:12:37 > 0:12:41and, for the whole day, I would read the questions for tomorrow's show.
0:12:41 > 0:12:48He would then adjust them to his own particular style of delivery by scribbling all over the cards
0:12:48 > 0:12:52in a very spidery handwriting which I found quite difficult to read.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54As a matter of tuning the questions to
0:12:54 > 0:12:56what I thought the show needed, and I did spend a massive of time on it.
0:12:56 > 0:13:04And it also was trying to keep alive the public's completely erroneous impression that I was omniscient,
0:13:04 > 0:13:08which I became rather enamoured of the idea of that which began quite soon.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11I didn't want to let them down by revealing gross ignorance.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15And so, writing relevant pieces of information on my card was crucial.
0:13:15 > 0:13:20We had a question, Which English Romantic poet died young in 1821?
0:13:20 > 0:13:22And I wouldn't have had a clue whether the answer was Keats or
0:13:22 > 0:13:24Shelley, both of whom died young around then.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26So, the answer is Keats.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30When one looks up Shelley, to my absolute delight I remember, Shelley died a year later.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32It was really very close, 1822.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36So you put on your card in brackets, Shelley 1822.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39And you secretly hope they will mention Shelley.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41Because if they mention Keats of course, you can't say, that's quite right.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43And incidentally Shelley died a year later.
0:13:43 > 0:13:50But if they mention Shelley, you say, "Oh bad luck, he died just a year later in 1822!"
0:13:50 > 0:13:53"No, the answer is Keats." So that's what it's all about.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55Bad luck. No, bad luck, very bad luck.
0:13:55 > 0:14:01# Walking back to happiness, hoop-la whoa yeah
0:14:01 > 0:14:04# Said goodbye to loneliness hoop-la whoa yeah... #
0:14:04 > 0:14:10Being asked tough questions by the brain of Britain in front of 11 million people was no light task.
0:14:10 > 0:14:15It was enough to panic the most confident of competitors.
0:14:15 > 0:14:21My abiding memory of my appearance on University Challenge was I got an answer wrong.
0:14:21 > 0:14:28And in my rage and frustration, I let fly with the expletive that begins with F for Freddie.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30And there it is on television.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34And now I believe it's been lost because it's been wiped.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38But it wasn't Ken Tynan who said it first, it was me!
0:14:40 > 0:14:43So, lots of support for Keele and now Queen's.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46Richard Barber from Shepperton, Middlesex, reading Natural Sciences.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49Stephen Fry from Booton in Norfolk, reading English.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52It's like going to the Houses of Parliament for the first time.
0:14:52 > 0:14:58They really do make that noise, "Hear, hear, hear..." That sort of thing.
0:14:58 > 0:15:04- Similarly, it's rather wonderful to be in Granada and see they really do go, "Queen's, Fry."- Queens, Fry.
0:15:04 > 0:15:05Hansel and Gretel.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Correct, ten points to Queen's and a bonus of 15.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11And the starter for ten was a classic catchphrase of its day.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14Let's go straight into the game, here's the first starter for ten.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18A big one coming here, your starter for ten. Bonus of 15 coming. Your starter for 10.
0:15:18 > 0:15:23Thursday is named after the Anglo-Saxon god, Thor. For whom is Wednesday...
0:15:23 > 0:15:26- Woden. - Woden is correct.
0:15:26 > 0:15:31Who was the South African who received the Nobel Peace Prize...
0:15:31 > 0:15:32I know this.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40Well, I've got all sorts of ideas but I can't think what the answer is.
0:15:40 > 0:15:46- You're on your own, no conferring. - Well, there you go.- Is it, um, um...
0:15:46 > 0:15:48HE BURBLES
0:15:48 > 0:15:52- What was the question?- Um...
0:15:53 > 0:15:55- Trout!- What, did I know that answer?
0:15:55 > 0:16:00The interesting thing about a catchphrase is, you never realise you're going to create it.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02"Starter for ten" was the first, obviously.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04- The answer, it was?- Pen?
0:16:04 > 0:16:07No, Mars. "Fingers on the buzzers" is more interesting.
0:16:07 > 0:16:13Early on, I was aware that very often people were not managing to answer the question because some
0:16:13 > 0:16:16people were ready with their fingers on the buzzer and others were sitting
0:16:16 > 0:16:19about smiling and listening. And then were going like that.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23And so I naturally said, to help them all, "Fingers on the buzzers". And that becomes a catchphrase.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26Pressing the buzzer was the easy part.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28Following up with an answer was another matter.
0:16:28 > 0:16:34When you pressed the buzzer, automatically everyone else's buzzers cut out.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37In fact, when you're watching television, it looks as if this
0:16:37 > 0:16:40person from Manchester University knows the answer to this question.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43In fact, probably all of them have pressed the button.
0:16:43 > 0:16:49And you have to get the trick of pressing the button when you think you might know the answer.
0:16:49 > 0:16:55And I pressed the button instantly and of course the camera focused down on me, everybody stares at me,
0:16:55 > 0:16:58some voice screams out, "Simpson, Magdelene."
0:16:58 > 0:17:02And then I was left as it were with nothing between me and eternity.
0:17:02 > 0:17:07And I made a complete fool of myself on one question, when it was,
0:17:07 > 0:17:11"Who is the thousandth descendant of the Emperor...?"
0:17:11 > 0:17:15And it turned out to be the Emperor of Japan was the answer.
0:17:15 > 0:17:21But I had read that weekend in one of the colour sections that, for some reason or other,
0:17:21 > 0:17:27a clown who was popular at the time, Joey the clown, had claimed descent from the Holy Roman Emperor.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32So, I thought this was a trick question.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34And I pressed the button and said Joey the clown.
0:17:34 > 0:17:39And I can remember Bamber Gascoigne looked at me as if I'd gone completely mad.
0:17:39 > 0:17:45He just thought, when can I just get rid of these four people and get some sanity back on to this show?
0:17:45 > 0:17:49I loved the sense of the excitement, and the notion of really being able
0:17:49 > 0:17:57to busk it, and get through on sheer gutsiness and imagination,
0:17:57 > 0:18:03I loved all of that. It may have been black and white, and I may have been wearing a dreadful suit
0:18:03 > 0:18:09and a white shirt and tie, but I felt this was me, this was where I belonged.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11Watching it when I was a teenager, I was aware of two things.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15One is how clever these students were, how much they seemed to know.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18And the other thing was, how old they looked.
0:18:18 > 0:18:19Queen's, Barber.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23# Because you're gorgeous
0:18:23 > 0:18:26# I'd do anything for you... #
0:18:26 > 0:18:33The students may have felt they'd arrived, but the reality of the show was anything but glitz and glamour.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36Picture bonus.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39The set was incredibly makeshift in those days.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42It was like going to a garden shed with cardboard cut-outs.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46You sat behind the panel and what you were sitting at was little more
0:18:46 > 0:18:49than a workbench basically.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52It was very cheap and very thrown together.
0:18:52 > 0:18:57It was the antithesis of the slick glossy
0:18:57 > 0:18:59money-orientated game shows.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02It always felt slightly kind of plywood.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08Makeshift and cheapskate perhaps, but University Challenge did have
0:19:08 > 0:19:12a couple of technical innovations which became the stuff of legend.
0:19:12 > 0:19:18When Challenge went on air, all our viewers were quite convinced
0:19:18 > 0:19:21that the teams were actually sitting one on top of each other.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25Whereas, in fact, they were sitting side by side in the studio.
0:19:25 > 0:19:31And by electronic trickery, we placed one on top of the other.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35I seem to remember one of the teams who'd realised they were on top,
0:19:35 > 0:19:38showering bits of torn-up paper on to the team below
0:19:38 > 0:19:44which of course never arrived on them because it just landed on the floor in front of them.
0:19:44 > 0:19:50And another team, when there was a girls' college which was the uppermost one on the screen,
0:19:50 > 0:19:56these boys all tended to do this from time to time, as if they were trying to look up their skirts!
0:20:00 > 0:20:05Just six years after those buttoned up first shows, times were changing.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08By 1968, the Beatles had swapped rock and roll for meditation.
0:20:08 > 0:20:15# I am the god of hellfire! And I bring you... Fire! #
0:20:15 > 0:20:19And students had swapped books for banners. They were revolting.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23On the march and in-your-face, and that was just their hair.
0:20:23 > 0:20:29Political, vocal, radical, they were out to challenge authority at every turn.
0:20:29 > 0:20:35I think the great change in student behaviour just has to be the international one of 1968.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37Suddenly students felt the world was theirs, they could do anything.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40That authority was intolerable.
0:20:42 > 0:20:47Suddenly, on University Challenge, students coming on
0:20:47 > 0:20:50were interested in
0:20:50 > 0:20:53not behaving well deliberately.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58This is your life, do what you want, you know.
0:20:58 > 0:21:03That philosophy entirely occupied the moral ground.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08And everyone was going off to San Francisco and smoking dope.
0:21:08 > 0:21:13I mean, I wasn't, but there was a cloud of dope hanging over Cambridge.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15You could hardly see the sun.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18# What did you do there? I got high!
0:21:18 > 0:21:22# What did you feel there? Well, I cried! #
0:21:22 > 0:21:28There was a pub in Cambridge where you could get drugs if you wanted to, and there was a chemist's shop
0:21:28 > 0:21:33which was rumoured to sell you things over the counter if you paid enough money for it.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37I never had the money. And I was nervous about the whole idea of it.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40# ..It's all too beautiful
0:21:40 > 0:21:44# I feel inclined to blow my mind... #
0:21:44 > 0:21:49It's often been suggested that one or two students were a little bit
0:21:49 > 0:21:54high when programmes were recorded in our studios.
0:21:54 > 0:21:59We didn't actually provide drink until after the programmes were over.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03# ..Tell you what I'll do What will you do?
0:22:03 > 0:22:05# I'd like to go there now with you... #
0:22:05 > 0:22:09But I used to tell the teams where the nearest pub was.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13And said, "An odd drink is not a bad idea.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17"But a surfeit is a very bad thing."
0:22:17 > 0:22:20What did we do? We went off and had a drink at the local pub.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23When I said, we had a drink, that's probably an understatement.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25We probably had several drinks.
0:22:25 > 0:22:30The effect of this is our nervous disposition totally disappeared.
0:22:30 > 0:22:37# We'll drink a drink, a drink to Lily the Pink, the pink, the pink The saviour of the human race...
0:22:37 > 0:22:40We couldn't care less what happened.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44We were relaxed, we were looking forward to it. Nothing to lose.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46And of course in the context of University Challenge, that
0:22:46 > 0:22:51couldn't have been better because, finger on the button, instead of worrying that you had the right
0:22:51 > 0:22:56answer before you press the button, we were carefree and careless, pressed it and won the match.
0:22:56 > 0:23:02# ..medicinal compound, and now he's learning how to fly... #
0:23:02 > 0:23:06We were advised that having a drink before the show was a good idea.
0:23:06 > 0:23:11And I needed no second invitation. I had a very hard head even at that age so I had several drinks
0:23:11 > 0:23:15in the pub beforehand, mostly barley wine which was a real student drink.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17It packed a huge punch per penny.
0:23:17 > 0:23:23# We'll drink a drink, a drink, to Lily the Pink, the pink, the pink... #
0:23:23 > 0:23:26And the other great thing was you could smoke.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30In those days, everybody smoked, you were obliged to smoke, especially on television.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33It made you looked very intellectual.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38And I puffed my way through a packet of 20 No. 6.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42I must have got through the whole packet in the course of the rehearsal and the programme.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45And my parents were just appalled, watching this at home.
0:23:45 > 0:23:50There was this revolting-looking youth with this terrible shaggy hair.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54I looked like a female impersonator, wearing an ill-fitting wig.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58Clouds of smoke and half cut as well.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01I just don't know how they survived the shame of it.
0:24:01 > 0:24:09There was one occasion when one had had the surfeit, and shortly into the programme, his head fell, thump!
0:24:09 > 0:24:11With an enormous thwack.
0:24:11 > 0:24:18Not to be raised. We had to stop the tape, go in, drag him out, put the reserve in, and start again.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25By the early '70s, 18 new universities had opened,
0:24:25 > 0:24:28but the rules of University Challenge stayed the same.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31Oxbridge colleges were still regarded as separate institutions.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35As for the polys, well this was University Challenge.
0:24:35 > 0:24:41For some revolutionaries this was provocative evidence of the class system at work.
0:24:45 > 0:24:51In Granada's own back yard a group of conspirators began to plot the overthrow of the old regime.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00University Challenge at that stage firstly didn't let any Polytechnics
0:25:00 > 0:25:06or Colleges of Further Education, who were of course our proletarian brothers and sisters in struggle.
0:25:06 > 0:25:11And also, they let all these people from all the different Oxbridge colleges, so that
0:25:11 > 0:25:16Oxford and Cambridge had about 40 teams between them, whereas Manchester University only had one.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19So this was proof that it was an elitist institution,
0:25:19 > 0:25:23a, if you like, a kind or ideological arm of the state
0:25:23 > 0:25:27apparatus, and therefore we were entitled to take action against it.
0:25:30 > 0:25:36We used to have a remarkable rapport with the students, but there was one occasion
0:25:36 > 0:25:40when the University of Manchester caused us a great deal of trouble.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45Bamber Gascoigne of course was a legendary figure, for all that he was the class enemy,
0:25:45 > 0:25:49and before the programme, I found myself standing next to
0:25:49 > 0:25:54him in the gents, so I could attest to the fact that, you know, he was a man just like any other man.
0:25:54 > 0:25:59And yet we were going to have to destroy his programme, his baby.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06And they'd made this plan as some kind of protest
0:26:06 > 0:26:12for the furtherance of the dictatorship of the proletariats at some date yet to be arranged,
0:26:12 > 0:26:16that it would help by saying the name of Trotsky and Marx.
0:26:16 > 0:26:18Karl Marx?
0:26:18 > 0:26:19Che Guevara.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21Trotsky.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24- Trotsky. - It just seems
0:26:24 > 0:26:30faintly irritating because we stopped the show two or three times and said, "Look, don't go on being ridiculous,
0:26:30 > 0:26:33"Why don't you just settle down and behave sensibly?" - Trotsky.
0:26:33 > 0:26:37- Karl Marx.- He said something about Pythagoras, we say Che Guevara.
0:26:37 > 0:26:42He says something about some Mozart opera and we say Trotsky.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44- Trotsky.- Trotsky.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46- Karl Marx.- Trotsky.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50And this went on for some time, but actually we only knew about
0:26:50 > 0:26:54five or six revolutionary leaders so we ran out of that after a while.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57I remember Gascoigne's legendary patience getting a little frayed
0:26:57 > 0:27:00by the end of it and I think he called them childish at some point.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04- The extraordinary thing was that it was shown.- Che Guevara.
0:27:04 > 0:27:05Karl Marx.
0:27:05 > 0:27:10Highly unpopular in this studio and tends to lead to ejections, so let's stop.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14Indeed of course we were aware that if we did continue the show and show it, that actually they would
0:27:14 > 0:27:18look quite ridiculous and it was their problem rather than ours.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22Now of course, that would be headline news.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26It would be the big story on the front of every tabloid newspaper.
0:27:26 > 0:27:33Imagine if this happened on Countdown, though it's highly unlikely. Can you imagine that?
0:27:33 > 0:27:36It's a wonderful picture, isn't it?
0:27:36 > 0:27:39I'll have a...
0:27:39 > 0:27:43consonant on behalf of the people, please, Carol.
0:27:43 > 0:27:48And I will have a vowel that sees every member of the aristocracy
0:27:48 > 0:27:52shot and their blood running in rivers down Park Lane, please Carol.
0:27:52 > 0:27:57In 1979 there was a new presence in Downing Street,
0:27:57 > 0:28:00and with it came an end to universal grants and hallowed privileges.
0:28:00 > 0:28:05# ..Daylight dawns You wake up and you're Mr Clean
0:28:08 > 0:28:13# A piece of toast from the one you love most and you leave... #
0:28:13 > 0:28:17My first year at university Margaret Thatcher came to power and that really
0:28:17 > 0:28:22saw the end of any sense of students being a powerful, influential body, in national opinion.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26And more fundamentally I think that what happened with Thatcher was that
0:28:26 > 0:28:29it suddenly became important to get a good degree, and I think I was the
0:28:29 > 0:28:34last of the student generations for whom it was supremely unimportant to get a good degree.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37Where there is discord, may we be bring harmony.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40Where there is error, may we bring truth.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43Where there is doubt, may be we bring faith.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46And where there's despair, may we bring hope.
0:28:46 > 0:28:53What is the correct order for the six colours after all the reds have been pocketed in snooker?
0:28:53 > 0:28:54Queen's, Fry.
0:28:54 > 0:28:59Yellow, green, brown...
0:28:59 > 0:29:00Blue, pink, black.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03Correct, I wasn't giving anything away while you were saying it...
0:29:03 > 0:29:05It was my first experience of being on television
0:29:05 > 0:29:10and I was supremely nervous, and you don't know whether you're going to get some awful rush of blood to the
0:29:10 > 0:29:13head and buzz too early all the time and keep getting it wrong.
0:29:13 > 0:29:17Or whether you're going to be so inhibited that you're not going to buzz at all, even when you know it.
0:29:17 > 0:29:22The man who partnered George Burns in the film version of The Sunshine Boy?
0:29:22 > 0:29:24Queen's, Fry.
0:29:24 > 0:29:26Um, sorry, hang on, just...
0:29:26 > 0:29:29It is?
0:29:29 > 0:29:32Matthau. Walter Matthau.
0:29:32 > 0:29:34You got there just in time.
0:29:34 > 0:29:39- All right.- And the fact that we got to the final, our team at Queen's, and lost to Oxford of all people.
0:29:39 > 0:29:44It wouldn't matter if we'd been beaten by Keele or Imperial or Manchester or Leeds or Sheffield
0:29:44 > 0:29:48or whatever, that would have been fine, but to be beaten by an Oxford college was just
0:29:48 > 0:29:52the most humiliating thing of all so we had a lot of ground to make up.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56"...smile, if not why then this parting was well made."
0:29:59 > 0:30:03Stephen Fry may have lost that final, but four years later he was back.
0:30:03 > 0:30:10Although this time it was in a sketch on The Young Ones and he was being asked questions by Bambi.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13At least we're going to smash the oiks from Scumbag College on University Challenge.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16We've just got time before my balls drop.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19We didn't mind mocking ourselves as being apparent hoorays, you know.
0:30:19 > 0:30:21I played a character called Lord Snot.
0:30:21 > 0:30:23Well, I've done my revision.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28The Daily Mirror Book of Facts - Did You Know?
0:30:28 > 0:30:30Do you think that's where they get the questions from?
0:30:30 > 0:30:33All the people who got on University Challenge are brainy.
0:30:33 > 0:30:35You know that, don't you? Of course you do, you're brainy.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38So, we never got the chance to go on.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41It seemed perfect for the kind of place where we shouldn't be.
0:30:41 > 0:30:43Oh, you love a lot of fur since we last met.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46And you're walking on two legs now, I see. But still the same old Bambi.
0:30:46 > 0:30:51I loved it. I thought that Griff Rhys Jones was absolutely brilliant apart from his feeble wig.
0:30:51 > 0:30:53Is that true, Bambi?
0:30:53 > 0:30:54Did you do a Disney nasty?
0:30:54 > 0:30:57- So what if I did?- He's an icon.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00And that's because Bamber looks a bit like Bambi.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03He's innocent and fresh and has his chin up and is lovely.
0:31:03 > 0:31:04We all had a crush on him.
0:31:04 > 0:31:10We were deep ingrained, in the veins hetros, but we all really fancied Bamber.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12Well, are you going to let us win?
0:31:12 > 0:31:14No, of course not. The posh kids win. They always do.
0:31:14 > 0:31:18It's the kind of very understandable revenge
0:31:18 > 0:31:22of the breeze block and red brick university against the dominance
0:31:22 > 0:31:29of the hated Oxbridge cadre, both in University Challenge terms and in comedy terms.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32Hello and welcome to another edition of University Challenge.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35This week the teams represent Footlights College Oxbridge.
0:31:35 > 0:31:39Rah, rah, rah! We're going to smash the oiks!
0:31:39 > 0:31:46Our representatives, us ordinary people, and then having the Oxbridge lot on the other side, 'twas war.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49'Twas war. It's the English Civil War.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52Us, representing the crap, right mate?
0:31:52 > 0:31:55And the poshies representing the posh.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58It was wonderful. We're getting thrashed!
0:31:58 > 0:32:01We're getting completely thrashed! Isn't there some way we can cheat?
0:32:01 > 0:32:05The real split screen joke began when The Young Ones did this...
0:32:05 > 0:32:11And started pouring water down on the team below to prevent them answering the questions.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14And that actually was a wonderfully funny joke.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16I'm completely bloody sick of this!
0:32:20 > 0:32:25Comedians, hippies and punks - everyone loved University Challenge.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28But even this show had its day.
0:32:28 > 0:32:34Shuffled round the schedules, modernised and made over, in 1987 it was finally dropped.
0:32:34 > 0:32:40After 978 episodes Bamber Gascoigne uttered his last starter for 10.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43From our new champions, Keeble, and from me until, may we hope,
0:32:43 > 0:32:46another series sometime in the future, that's the end of this one.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48Until another time, perhaps, goodbye.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51I'll go and say goodbye to the teams and congratulate them.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54While the show was away times were changing.
0:32:54 > 0:32:56Everyone was into demos, not just students.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00Margaret Thatcher made a quick exit from No. 10.
0:33:00 > 0:33:06I feel there's a kind of lost generation of people who would have gone on and never got the chance.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10And their mascots remain forever unclaimed.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14Sit-ins turned into raves. Even polytechnics grew into universities.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18After just seven years in retirement the show was about to be reborn.
0:33:18 > 0:33:25When I was asked to again I was very busy with an enormous project, which has kept me going ever since.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28It's a bold concept - a history of the world on the internet.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31Because I did spend so much time reading around the questions,
0:33:31 > 0:33:35I just felt that I couldn't combine it with this new passion of mine.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38And my wife said, "I've had enough of you being recognised all over the place.
0:33:38 > 0:33:42"Why don't you have a peaceful old age and be an ordinary chap again?"
0:33:42 > 0:33:48I knew that Bamber wanted to give it up and I couldn't think who could do it.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52Chancellor, when are interest rates going to come down?
0:33:52 > 0:33:53- "Clark, Conservative".- Eh...
0:33:53 > 0:33:55When economic conditions dictate.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59Yeah! Look, I'm not even doing that show.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02The first time I saw myself on Spitting Image I thought, who's that supposed to be?
0:34:02 > 0:34:05Then I thought, God, it's supposed to be me.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08Oh, why am I doing University Challenge?
0:34:08 > 0:34:11- "Clark, Conservative".- Because you didn't get the job on Question Time.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14That's right Ken, well done.
0:34:14 > 0:34:18When Jeremy got the job I thought, of course.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25Hello, welcome to a new series of University Challenge,
0:34:25 > 0:34:28the legendary search for the UK's brightest student quiz team.
0:34:28 > 0:34:29He couldn't be more different from me.
0:34:29 > 0:34:34He has this image of being the tough guy, really a hard man.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37And I was always a bit of a softie really.
0:34:37 > 0:34:42Bamber was a kindly don eliciting information from his very bright students.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46Paxman is disappointed that today's students just don't know enough.
0:34:46 > 0:34:51- No, if you buzz you must answer. You lose five points.- Sorry.
0:34:51 > 0:34:57- Why did you buzz then?- E=MC2? - Too easy, isn't it? No, you may not confer either!
0:34:57 > 0:35:01- "Television, Kearney".- Eh, rose window?- Did he tell you that?- No. - OK, I'll accept it then.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04He can be occasionally rather contemptuous.
0:35:04 > 0:35:09I want to be as kind to you as I possibly can, New Hall, but it's a terrible score.
0:35:09 > 0:35:15When someone gets a century hopelessly wrong he's the first to be extremely screwy faced about it.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19- No. - It always rather amuses me when he baits the students for not knowing
0:35:19 > 0:35:23the answer to a question, because I always think, at 18, Jeremy, did you know that?
0:35:23 > 0:35:28I can't imagine how clever it was of them to have found
0:35:28 > 0:35:36- the only other Bamber Gascoigne, but a Bamber Gascoigne with attitude. - Yes, I'll accept that. Just about.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38I would like a doctor like Jeremy Paxman.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41I would like a doctor who doesn't flannel.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43And he doesn't.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45Straight to the point. What's the answer? Bang!
0:35:45 > 0:35:50Knowing the answer always helps if you want to win, as does a bit of enthusiasm.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52I like students.
0:35:52 > 0:35:58I like what they know. I'm amazed by what they know and also, sometimes, what they don't know.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02I love their eagerness.
0:36:04 > 0:36:09However, in the 1997 series the students at New Hall, Cambridge
0:36:09 > 0:36:13seemed less than eager to represent their college on the show.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17Someone put a poster up in New Hall to get together a University Challenge team.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20And I think about five people turned up.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23So it wasn't actually all that difficult to get a team together.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25- Yeah.- You had to have four and one reserve.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28I don't think I even actually turned up to the pub quiz.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31I can't really remember that bit. I remember in the bar later.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34Hello, welcome to another first round match of University Challenge,
0:36:34 > 0:36:40and more reassurance that the taxpayers' money isn't being wasted on education, we hope.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43Several million taxpayers were watching.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47Fingers were on buzzers, the nation expected and then...
0:36:47 > 0:36:50"Goodness had nothing to do with it", published in 19...
0:36:50 > 0:36:52- "New Hall, Coleman".- Sorry, forgot.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55Bad luck, you lose five. The term "glorious revolution"
0:36:55 > 0:36:58is used to describe the events which placed which king on the British throne?
0:36:58 > 0:37:01- Charles II?- Charles II? No.
0:37:01 > 0:37:03- We don't know.- You've hopped around every century except the right one.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05It's William III.
0:37:05 > 0:37:12Initially it was like watching some terrible road accident in slow motion.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15Every time they tried to buzz in they got it wrong.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19- "New Hall, Shaw".- Miller. - No.- "New Hall, Shaw".
0:37:19 > 0:37:23- Heaven.- No.- "New Hall, Shaw". - Napkin.- No, you lose five points.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26You saw him staring at you and he's like, come on girls!
0:37:26 > 0:37:29And you're like, oh no, I'm letting him down!
0:37:29 > 0:37:32The one good thing is we don't get the same treatment as the politicians.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35He doesn't carry on asking the question until he gets an answer he likes.
0:37:35 > 0:37:43- That's true.- I felt terribly, terribly sorry for them and started sort of willing them on.
0:37:43 > 0:37:45But you can't fake it.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48The thing has to be like Caesar's wife, it has to be unimpeachable.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51You can't fix it. It has to be the best team winning.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54- "New Hall, Shaw".- Christopher Dean. - Christopher Dean, hooray!
0:37:56 > 0:38:00It takes you up to a magnificent minus five.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04It was difficult, because once you get to that stage you know you're going to lose.
0:38:04 > 0:38:09Do you lose quietly, calmly, or do we have that final, last ditch effort of get every
0:38:09 > 0:38:13piece of knowledge that may still be in your brain and spurt it out?
0:38:13 > 0:38:16Some teams do take it seriously.
0:38:16 > 0:38:18Too seriously, I would say.
0:38:18 > 0:38:24But the majority, the nicest teams, the best teams, are the ones who, they obviously want to do well,
0:38:24 > 0:38:26but who realise, it's only a bloody game.
0:38:26 > 0:38:30Which two-word popular name is affectionately applied to the flag of the USA?
0:38:30 > 0:38:33Stars and stripes.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36- Two-word.- Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam. - Uncle Sam, no, I'm afraid not.
0:38:36 > 0:38:37It's Old Glory.
0:38:37 > 0:38:45By that stage me and certainly Abbey were sat there going, I'm not saying anything more now, that's it.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48Rosie valiantly just carrying on.
0:38:48 > 0:38:50- I think I'm good at lost causes. - Yeah.
0:38:50 > 0:38:55What was the title of the piece by Elgar to which AC Benson set the words of Land of Hope and Glory?
0:38:55 > 0:38:58Pomp and Circumstance March No. 4.
0:38:58 > 0:39:03- Pomp and Circumstance March No. 4. - I'll take it. I think it was No. 1, but Pomp and Circumstance is right.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06It brings you to a majestic zero.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09Getting a big cheer when you get back to nought is...
0:39:09 > 0:39:12isn't a good sign.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14And as the thing went on,
0:39:14 > 0:39:17one began to realise that
0:39:17 > 0:39:20they weren't going to pull anything out of the fire.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22Don't know.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24Don't give up, please.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27They scrambled back to, what was it, 35 or something?
0:39:27 > 0:39:29I mean, I remember it.
0:39:29 > 0:39:35I thought, 35 is the most awful score I've ever seen on this show.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38Don't be deterred from buzzing in, New Hall, it's the best way back.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41It helps if you've got the right answer, but just keep on doing it.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45And then I started thinking, actually in a way
0:39:45 > 0:39:49it's quite distinguished really to have achieved such an abysmal score.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56I suppose what you want from your appearance on University Challenge
0:39:56 > 0:40:03is a nation kind of open mouthed with awe at your extraordinary knowledge and insight and intellect.
0:40:03 > 0:40:08But the reality, I think, is a nation of people going, "I can't believe he didn't know that."
0:40:08 > 0:40:13The nicknames cheesemongers, cherrypickers, Bob's own, the emperor's chambermaids
0:40:13 > 0:40:17and the immortals are or have been used for which group of men?
0:40:17 > 0:40:19- "UMIST, Bright."- Homosexuals?
0:40:19 > 0:40:22No. No, they're regiments in the British Army!
0:40:22 > 0:40:26They'll be very upset with you, UMIST.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30Getting the wrong answer can often prove to be extremely embarrassing.
0:40:30 > 0:40:36Thumer, toucher, long man, lechman and little man are old and middle
0:40:36 > 0:40:41- English names for which parts of the human body?- "King's, Scoffing."
0:40:41 > 0:40:43- Penis.- No.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45- "Keeble, Dobie."- Fingers?
0:40:45 > 0:40:47Fingers is correct, yes.
0:40:49 > 0:40:55How many penises do they teach you we have nowadays?
0:40:55 > 0:40:58In April 2003 the professionals spin-off series
0:40:58 > 0:41:03allowed more mature minds to face their own starter for 10.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06Hello. Worlds collide tonight, commerce
0:41:06 > 0:41:11against the arts, as the voice of British business takes on one of the world's leading opera houses.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14Having gone to university in the early '90s,
0:41:14 > 0:41:17the show wasn't on television so I didn't have the chance.
0:41:17 > 0:41:23So, the professionals series was the perfect opportunity to make amends for that.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27- "Royal Opera House, Cann." - Is it Seneca?
0:41:27 > 0:41:29- It is, yes. - "Royal Opera House, Cann."
0:41:29 > 0:41:31- Kurt Weill.- That's right.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33"Royal Opera House, Cann."
0:41:33 > 0:41:35The Emperor Karl of Austria.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37That is correct, yes.
0:41:37 > 0:41:43We got off to a very good start and we were well ahead for most of the match.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46But towards the end the CBI, who we were playing,
0:41:46 > 0:41:51answered a sequence of questions, plus the bonuses, and they caught up
0:41:51 > 0:41:56so that when the gong sounded at the end of the match, Jeremy announced that it was a dead heat.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00That's the gong. We have an absolute dead heat, 100 points apiece.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03So there would now be a tie break.
0:42:03 > 0:42:09Right, what happens now, it's the first one to answer a starter question correctly.
0:42:09 > 0:42:15But beware, because if you buzz in incorrectly you lose five points and the other team
0:42:15 > 0:42:19automatically wins without even having to answer the question. So here we go, 10 points for this.
0:42:19 > 0:42:23- Grockles is a word used mainly in Devon to refer to... - "Royal Opera House, Cann".
0:42:23 > 0:42:28I had buzzed in absolutely overjoyed that I had got the right answer
0:42:28 > 0:42:32and was going to win the match single handed. Tourists.
0:42:32 > 0:42:33No, I'm afraid you lose five points.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36Oh no!
0:42:36 > 0:42:42My insides just dissolved when I realised that the question
0:42:42 > 0:42:45was changing track and that I'd got the wrong answer.
0:42:45 > 0:42:50Rather than single handedly winning the match, I had single handedly lost it.
0:42:50 > 0:42:52It does refer to tourists.
0:42:52 > 0:42:57But I wanted the equivalent term used in Cornwall,
0:42:57 > 0:43:02which is emits. So, I'm afraid that without the CBI even having to answer it, I'm afraid you've lost.
0:43:02 > 0:43:05Coming from an area of Devon reasonably close to Cornwall,
0:43:05 > 0:43:10we use the Cornish equivalent "emits" almost interchangeably with "grockles".
0:43:10 > 0:43:14So, I could have answered it correctly if I had waited.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17Although it is a bit of fun,
0:43:17 > 0:43:22in the heat of the moment you do take things very seriously.
0:43:22 > 0:43:28- And I was just full of despair in that one moment. - Bad luck, Opera House.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31It was a very, very easy mistake to make.
0:43:31 > 0:43:33But it cost you the contest, I'm afraid.
0:43:33 > 0:43:35Thank you very much for taking part. CBI, well done.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38Did you know the answer to the last question?
0:43:38 > 0:43:42To tell the truth, I pressed, he beat me and I was going to say tourist as well.
0:43:42 > 0:43:45Ah well, honours are shared then.
0:43:45 > 0:43:49The producer, I think, came up to me and said, "Ah, that's great television!"
0:43:49 > 0:43:52And there I was in the pit of misery.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56And that's not wholly what I wanted to hear.
0:43:56 > 0:44:01Some famous faces now got the chance to display their great knowledge.
0:44:01 > 0:44:06Welcome to another first round match in our search for the UK's brainiest institution.
0:44:06 > 0:44:12I got, I think it was a call from the producer saying, "We're going to do a sort of grown up version of
0:44:12 > 0:44:17"University Challenge with professional teams, and would Private Eye like to put a team in?"
0:44:17 > 0:44:20We all had to admit we were really keen to appear.
0:44:20 > 0:44:24It was really like feeling you were inside a television set.
0:44:24 > 0:44:26Unlike any other programme I've been on,
0:44:26 > 0:44:30you were properly on the television if you were on University Challenge.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34Hello, I'm Martha Kearney and I'm the Political Editor of Newsnight.
0:44:34 > 0:44:36It's a programme I enjoy watching.
0:44:36 > 0:44:41It has a certain rapid-fire pace about it,
0:44:41 > 0:44:47unlike most television programmes where one is shouting, "Get on with it", at the screen.
0:44:52 > 0:44:52Sorry.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55It seemed harmless fun.
0:44:55 > 0:44:56So I said yes.
0:44:56 > 0:45:01If anyone said to you it was a jolly day out, I think they're probably lying.
0:45:01 > 0:45:06On a scale of 1 to 10 of how competitive, we were about 10.
0:45:06 > 0:45:11When I saw saw these famous numbskulls in the other team,
0:45:11 > 0:45:17much more famous than any of the arts people,
0:45:17 > 0:45:20of course we felt competitive.
0:45:20 > 0:45:22About halfway through when it looked as though we were
0:45:22 > 0:45:25going to be beaten by Debretts, I thought, "I can't bear it.
0:45:25 > 0:45:27"I just can't bear it."
0:45:30 > 0:45:33- Um, it dissolves things. - Specifically?
0:45:33 > 0:45:35Stuff.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39- Lead.- No, completely wrong.
0:45:39 > 0:45:41Your finger on the buzzer.
0:45:41 > 0:45:43It's an iconic moment.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47You know if you get it wrong, you interrupt
0:45:47 > 0:45:50there's penalty points and you feel the responsibility for the whole team.
0:45:50 > 0:45:53So the first time you do it, your heart is really, really beating.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56Television, Kearney.
0:45:56 > 0:45:58Michael Howard and Britney Spears.
0:45:58 > 0:46:00Correct, yes.
0:46:00 > 0:46:05When we appeared on the show, both Francis and Marcus and I agreed
0:46:05 > 0:46:08it was probably the most nervous we'd been about doing anything
0:46:08 > 0:46:12in our whole media careers, and I've done a fair amount of television,
0:46:12 > 0:46:18but going on University Challenge and looking a complete idiot, which is perfectly possible,
0:46:18 > 0:46:19was a very scary thought.
0:46:19 > 0:46:23I was terrified that I wouldn't get something right about modern politics.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26I remember the very long drive up to Manchester.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29The thing I swotted up on was every single member of the Cabinet.
0:46:29 > 0:46:33The Shadow Cabinet and things I sort of knew but just imagined
0:46:33 > 0:46:36under the lights not knowing who the shadow home secretary was.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39- That would be very humiliating. - Here's another starter question.
0:46:39 > 0:46:46Nicknamed Taximan for his habit of driving an old London cab, which MP was elected President...
0:46:46 > 0:46:48- Television Kearney.- Simon Hughes.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51I should hope so too, yes.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55Pleasure comes when something which is
0:46:55 > 0:47:02obscure, and as the question is rolling out, you really have no idea what the answer is, as it comes
0:47:02 > 0:47:06to the end they've just thrown in some tiny clue.
0:47:06 > 0:47:12A further inspiration to De Cooper town was a visit to the Olympic Games held annually since 1849
0:47:12 > 0:47:16in which Shropshire town situated to the north east of a limestone ridge that bears the same name?
0:47:19 > 0:47:22I think...
0:47:22 > 0:47:23What's that ridge called?
0:47:23 > 0:47:25It's...
0:47:25 > 0:47:28- Wenlock. - Wenlock.
0:47:28 > 0:47:29It is, Much Wenlock is right.
0:47:29 > 0:47:31It's like playing tennis.
0:47:31 > 0:47:35You achieve a return that you didn't think you are capable of.
0:47:35 > 0:47:39Afterwards, you had people coming up going, "I'm very surprised
0:47:39 > 0:47:42"that you didn't know the answer to such and such."
0:47:42 > 0:47:45- Television, Kearney.- The Go-between.
0:47:45 > 0:47:50- No.- You think, "Oh, yes, I am sorry, I should have known that."
0:47:50 > 0:47:54It was fun. I'd willingly do it again.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01From humble beginnings in Manchester to a star
0:48:01 > 0:48:07of the silver screen, University Challenge has now been immortalised in the film Starter For Ten.
0:48:07 > 0:48:14The idea for Starter For Ten came from just sitting on the sofa, watching the show
0:48:14 > 0:48:19and idly speculating about the relationship between the team members.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22When I was given the film script which featured University Challenge
0:48:22 > 0:48:25as the climax of the movie, I thought it would be a fantastic
0:48:25 > 0:48:30opportunity to give University Challenge the Hollywood treatment and have a lot of fun with it.
0:48:30 > 0:48:32I've got an announcement to make.
0:48:32 > 0:48:35What's that then?
0:48:35 > 0:48:39- It's just something that happened last term. - Oh, God, Brian.
0:48:39 > 0:48:42- Mum, don't worry, it's a good thing. - Tell me then.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47I'm going to be on University Challenge.
0:48:49 > 0:48:51What? That thing on the telly?
0:48:51 > 0:48:53Yeah.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56Congratulations, Brian, that's brilliant news.
0:48:56 > 0:48:57Cheers.
0:48:57 > 0:48:59Oh, God, what a relief.
0:48:59 > 0:49:01Why?
0:49:01 > 0:49:05To be honest, Brian, I thought you are going to say you were gay.
0:49:08 > 0:49:13I am James McAvoy and I am Brian Jackson in Starter For Ten.
0:49:13 > 0:49:18He's 18 years-old, even though I'm not, and he has
0:49:18 > 0:49:24just started university and it's the biggest thing in his life because all he ever wanted to do was learn.
0:49:24 > 0:49:31In a weird way, kind of show off the fact he has learnt so much,
0:49:31 > 0:49:37so a game show like University Challenge is the perfect medium.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40- Jackson, Bristol. - Electro-luminescence.
0:49:42 > 0:49:44Candour luminescence.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50Luminescence?
0:49:50 > 0:49:51Phosphorescence?
0:49:53 > 0:49:55Come on.
0:49:55 > 0:49:57- Incandescence. - All correct. Names of...
0:49:59 > 0:50:04I play Patrick Watts, the captain of the Bristol University Challenge team.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07- It's a form or fungal infection. - Is the correct answer.
0:50:07 > 0:50:12And I think, fundamentally what appeals to him about University
0:50:12 > 0:50:19Challenge is the idea of controlled knowledge and being able to show it off in a very identifiable way.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22In order to qualify you'll need to answer 30 questions in 30 minutes
0:50:22 > 0:50:28and the top three scores join me, the captain, in this year's team.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31I have some lively little questions, so I think you're in for a pretty good time.
0:50:31 > 0:50:37But it is against the clock so, people, if you're ready, let's quiz!
0:50:37 > 0:50:43When it came to putting University Challenge on the movie screen, one of
0:50:43 > 0:50:46the biggest challenges was who was going to play Bamber Gascoigne?
0:50:46 > 0:50:52It was a very intriguing idea and then immediately quite daunting because of his iconic status.
0:50:52 > 0:50:54There still may be time to catch up.
0:50:54 > 0:50:56Here's a starter question for ten.
0:50:56 > 0:50:58Everybody has an idea
0:50:58 > 0:51:04of how he speaks and his whole persona based on their childhood memories,
0:51:04 > 0:51:07so it immediately went from being a,
0:51:07 > 0:51:12"Whoopee," idea to, "Oh, God, how am I going to do this?"
0:51:12 > 0:51:14The Oresteia by Aeschylus.
0:51:14 > 0:51:16- Correct. - Euclidian algorithm.
0:51:16 > 0:51:19- The Euclidian algorithm?- Correct.
0:51:19 > 0:51:21Honni soit qui mal y pense?
0:51:21 > 0:51:23Correct answer.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27I remember sitting in the chair in the wig and the glasses and being
0:51:27 > 0:51:30quite frightened by how much I looked like him.
0:51:30 > 0:51:35It just sort of seems to fit once you're in front of that incredibly green,
0:51:35 > 0:51:37grim set.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39Everything seems to slot into place.
0:51:39 > 0:51:46I could taste Sunday dinner again from being on the set, it reminded me of when I used to watch it.
0:51:46 > 0:51:50It was always very important for us to get the actual show right.
0:51:50 > 0:51:55Right from the beginning we consulted with the current production team so that
0:51:55 > 0:51:58they read all our questions and were extremely helpful, so
0:51:58 > 0:52:03they would come back to us and say, "Actually, that's a little bit easy for a starter question."
0:52:03 > 0:52:06Derived from the Greek words for wing and finger, what is the genus...?
0:52:06 > 0:52:09- Jackson, Bristol.- Pterodactyl.
0:52:09 > 0:52:15- Is correct.- Down to details like making sure we had the captain sitting third from the left.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18- Everything had to be right, really. - Correct.
0:52:18 > 0:52:24It's a real eye-opener being on the panel and in front of the cameras as opposed to watching it at home.
0:52:24 > 0:52:28You really get a sense of how pressured you must feel.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31We're stupid actors with the right answers to say or get wrong.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35There's a real studio pressure - bright lights, the audience, the expectation.
0:52:35 > 0:52:43I remember by a bizarre coincidence, just around the back of the set there was a white cat,
0:52:43 > 0:52:46a toy cat.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49I immediately got it and just sat there like that, stroking it, because
0:52:49 > 0:52:53I felt I was like master of all I surveyed.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56It's not a usual subject for a feature film.
0:52:56 > 0:53:00There's no tradition of college movies in the UK.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04I think it's because generally speaking people dislike
0:53:04 > 0:53:10students, especially once you stop being a student you develop a kind of, "Oh, bloody students!" attitude.
0:53:10 > 0:53:13So I never imagined it
0:53:13 > 0:53:18as a feature film. But now I watch it, I'm incredibly proud of it.
0:53:18 > 0:53:20Let's quiz.
0:53:20 > 0:53:26# Looking back on my life you know that all I see are things I could have changed,
0:53:26 > 0:53:29# I should have done... #
0:53:29 > 0:53:34Since 1962, University Challenge has charted the fortunes of the student.
0:53:34 > 0:53:39From grant to debt, from demos to raves, from sociology to media studies,
0:53:39 > 0:53:42all have been united by a starter for ten.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48Students in those days, I know it's looking back through pink
0:53:48 > 0:53:52coloured spectacles, but I think we were more politically engaged.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55It was a brave new world for us.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59For students today, university is taken for granted.
0:53:59 > 0:54:02Of course it wasn't. None of my family had ever been to university.
0:54:02 > 0:54:08My parents had virtually no idea what a university was or what I did there.
0:54:08 > 0:54:11And they're just so sweet these days, just poppety.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15They're not angry about politics, which is maybe a pity, maybe they should be.
0:54:19 > 0:54:23What strikes me is that in the '80s,
0:54:23 > 0:54:26probably the early '90s as well, people were less confident.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29Now, you get someone going on University Challenge,
0:54:29 > 0:54:31they're all sitting like this. "Yeah, yeah, yeah."
0:54:31 > 0:54:36Hi, I'm Adam McCartney from Hook in Hampshire and I'm reading for a Masters in Scriptwriting.
0:54:36 > 0:54:43Whereas in the '85 final, it was very much, "I'm Brian Jackson and I'm
0:54:43 > 0:54:46"from Gloucestershire and I'm reading Engineering."
0:54:48 > 0:54:50Alan Frith from Watford studying History.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53They were mortified to be on television,
0:54:53 > 0:54:55which is brilliant because we live in a different age now.
0:54:55 > 0:55:00In the Bamber Gascoigne years, part of its pleasure and charm
0:55:00 > 0:55:03was a fusty academic image.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06Alexander Fyjis-Walker from Notting Hill reading English.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09Steve Cooter from Brighton in Sussex reading Interdisciplinary Human Studies.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15And now it seems like that
0:55:15 > 0:55:19there's no stigma attached to appearing on University Challenge.
0:55:19 > 0:55:25Weirdly, like footballers, students are suddenly really beautiful. When did that happen?
0:55:26 > 0:55:30Now in its 40s and the show is a strong as ever.
0:55:30 > 0:55:33Today's contestants might be tomorrow's world leaders.
0:55:33 > 0:55:37And through the decades, the format has remained the same.
0:55:37 > 0:55:42Untouched by fashion, a chance for each generation to test itself against the last...
0:55:42 > 0:55:44and the next.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47No, not in my hair.
0:55:47 > 0:55:53It's very simple, it's very fair, everybody's under the same pressure,
0:55:53 > 0:55:56and it's a test of knowledge
0:55:56 > 0:55:58without any violence.
0:56:00 > 0:56:02There was quite a bit of excitement at my hall.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04Lots of people heard about it.
0:56:04 > 0:56:10Since the return of University Challenge, Britain has exploded with a million quiz nights.
0:56:10 > 0:56:14It's become a rather common thing for people to be a member of a quiz team.
0:56:14 > 0:56:18Somehow, University Challenge managed to avoid its questions being trivia questions.
0:56:18 > 0:56:24They somehow come from a place that is more related still to the idea of learning. That's a very good thing.
0:56:24 > 0:56:28Big, big welcome for Oxford!
0:56:33 > 0:56:37Although some of the questions and answers may still be highly specialised and not
0:56:37 > 0:56:43relate to day-to-day living, it's far more important to remember who was president of Uganda
0:56:43 > 0:56:46in the '70s, for example,
0:56:46 > 0:56:50than Jade's bra size or how old is Hugh Grant?
0:56:50 > 0:56:52Welcome for Manchester University!
0:56:55 > 0:56:59It's against the zeitgeist which is always a good idea.
0:56:59 > 0:57:05I think it's still there as an outpost of cleverness that celebrates people knowing things.
0:57:05 > 0:57:10Sometimes as a country, we're quite anti-intellectual.
0:57:10 > 0:57:16I think University Challenge celebrates intelligence in a way that very few programmes do.
0:57:16 > 0:57:22It's an achievement to know so much, to have such an eclectic range of knowledge.
0:57:22 > 0:57:25I think it's probably that that makes it so special.
0:57:25 > 0:57:30If you could manage to get a few amongst all that stuff about electro
0:57:30 > 0:57:34magnets and stuff, you really feel proud of yourself.
0:57:34 > 0:57:40There are very few real groupings of people that have both brilliance and
0:57:40 > 0:57:43an aggressive attitude to each other to compare to university students.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47You know what automatically you're going to get good people.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50You've got all the ingredients of a really good contest.
0:57:50 > 0:57:56The fact that so often it can be very close makes it irresistible.
0:57:58 > 0:58:05It is to show to young people that the sort of people who go to university
0:58:05 > 0:58:07are no different to them.
0:58:07 > 0:58:12It's rather wonderful to see them when they do well and they know amazing things.
0:58:12 > 0:58:14That's the fascination of it.
0:58:14 > 0:58:18- It's about learning. - Counting to titles.
0:58:18 > 0:58:22Going to titles in five, four, three, two, one.
0:58:26 > 0:58:29- Bye!- Goodbye.- Nazdar!
0:58:29 > 0:58:30Goodbye!
0:58:31 > 0:58:33- Bye!- Goodbye.
0:58:33 > 0:58:34Goodbye.
0:58:35 > 0:58:37- Goodbye.- Bye-bye.
0:58:37 > 0:58:40- Goodbye.- Goodbye.- Goodbye.
0:58:40 > 0:58:42Goodbye.
0:58:42 > 0:58:44Bye.
0:58:45 > 0:58:47- Good night.- Goodbye.
0:58:47 > 0:58:50And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.
0:58:50 > 0:58:53Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd 2006