Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
APPLAUSE
University Challenge!
Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.
Hello. A Cambridge derby tonight, as two venerable colleges
compete against each other for a place in the second round.
The winners go through automatically,
the losers could qualify to play again if their score warrants it.
So, the key to success is for both teams to plough through
as many questions as they can.
- In other words, get on with it. - LAUGHTER
Now, King's College Cambridge was founded by Henry VI in 1441,
although the distractions of the Wars of the Roses
and his own deposition
rather halted progress, which resumed under Henry VII and VIII.
Its architecture is world-famous,
boasting perhaps the greatest example of fan vaulting in Christendom,
and its alumni include Sir Robert Walpole,
John Maynard Keynes, Alan Turing, Rupert Brooke,
and EM Forster, who spent the best part of his life there.
Among more recent graduates are the novelist Zadie Smith,
the model and actress Lily Cole, and the comedian David Baddiel.
There's a suggestion from one team member
that for those who can't catch a ball or play the guitar,
appearing on this competition may be a good way
of attracting the attention of the members of the opposite sex.
- Good luck with that one, matey. - LAUGHTER
With an average age of 19,
and representing around 700 students,
let's meet the King's team.
Hello, I'm Kevin, I'm from the US, and I do maths.
Hi, I'm Alessandro Mariani, I'm from Italy, and I'm studying mathematics.
- And this is their captain. - Hello, I'm Jack.
I'm from Nova Scotia, in Canada,
and I study Human, Social and Political Sciences.
Hi, I'm Kamel, I'm from Kingston upon Thames, in London,
and I study history.
APPLAUSE
Now, teams from Sidney Sussex College Cambridge
have been series champions twice in the past, albeit in the 1970s.
The second of those teams returned in 2002
to win our special series
to find the best team of the first 40 years of this competition.
So, tonight's quartet have a little bit to live up to.
The college was founded in 1596 by Lady Frances Sidney,
Countess of Sussex, and aunt of the poet Sir Philip Sidney.
Oliver Cromwell was among its earliest students,
and his head is reputed to have been buried
beneath the college's ante-chapel,
after it had been retrieved from a spike outside Westminster Hall.
Alumni who've avoided that fate -
so far, anyway -
include the TV presenter Carol Vorderman,
the journalist Andrew Rawnsley,
and the politician David Owen.
The team tell us they are here
because it'll be something to put on their CVs -
only if they win, presumably -
and because one of their friends failed to get on Bargain Hunt.
LAUGHTER
Also with an average age of 20,
and representing around 500 students,
let's meet the Sidney Sussex team.
Hi, I'm Nicholas Bennett, I'm from London, and I'm reading mathematics.
Hi, I'm Elly Thompson, I'm from Nottingham, and I study physics.
And this is their captain.
Hi, I'm Thomas Hitchcock, I'm from Ashford, in Kent,
and I'm reading natural sciences.
Hi, I'm Dan Wilson, I'm from Buckinghamshire,
and I'm reading German and Russian.
APPLAUSE
Well, the rules are unchanging. Ten points for starters, 15 for bonuses.
Fingers on buzzers, here's your first starter for ten.
The Roman poet Ovid refers to which mythological beast as,
"semibovemque virum, semivirumque bovem"?
It was imprisoned in a labyrinth, constructed by...
Minotaur.
The Minotaur is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
So, Sidney Sussex, you get the first set of bonuses.
They're on centenaries in 2015.
Firstly, a proponent of the steady-state theory,
which British astronomer, born 1915,
is credited with coining the phrase "Big ***",
although he rejected the theory as unsatisfactory?
I don't know.
Oh, who was it? It's really annoying.
Erm...
- Shall we... It's not Hawking, is it? - No.
It's not, like, Michelson or Morley off of the experiment? No?
- Let's just pass. - It's Sir Fred Hoyle.
In July 1915, the United States began an occupation
of which Caribbean country, when US Marines landed at Port-au-Prince?
The occupation lasted until 1934.
- Haiti. - Correct.
2015 is the centenary of the first British branch
of which organisation, founded in Canada in 1897?
Its home page says, "We make great cookies,
"but we also use them to give you the best experience on our site."
- The Women's Institute. - Correct.
- APPLAUSE - Ten points for this starter question, now.
Which two words link the railway line
that runs from Shrewsbury to Swansea via Knighton,
the football club whose home ground is Tynecastle Stadium,
and a novella, 1902, by Joseph Conrad, set largely...
Hearts.
No, I'm afraid you lose five points.
..set largely in Africa?
Heart of darkness?
No, it's "heart of". I asked for two words.
I'm sorry. Anyway, ten points for this starter question.
"Our current royal family doesn't have the difficulties
"in breeding that pandas do,
"but pandas and royal persons alike are expensive to conserve,
"and ill-adapted to any modern environment."
Which novelist made those comments in 2013,
in a lecture entitled Royal Bodies?
Will Self.
No. Anyone like to buzz from King's?
Martin Amis.
No, it's Hilary Mantel. Ten points for this.
In terms of Internet codes and element symbols,
if Austria is astatine,
and Sweden is selenium,
what's Portugal?
- Platinum. - Correct.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses are on mythical creatures, Sidney Sussex.
Supposedly a horned jack rabbit,
what animal has been proposed by the state of Wyoming
as its official mythical creature?
Nominate Bennett.
- Jackalope. - Correct.
Also known as the goat sucker,
which supposedly vicious animal is associated with reports
of sheep drained of blood in Puerto Rico and Mexico in the 1990s?
Nominate Wilson.
- Chupacabra. - Correct.
Finally, shot in California's Six Rivers National Park,
the 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film
claims to show which mythical biped?
- Bigfoot. - Bigfoot, or the Sasquatch, yes.
- APPLAUSE - Ten points for this.
Denoting accounts of the lives of Christian saints
intended to edify the reader,
what word is now often used in a pejorative sense...
- Hagiography. - Hagiography is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
These bonuses, King's, are on biochemistry.
Which group of lipids are malleable at ambient temperature,
insoluble in water,
and form protective waterproof layers for plants and animals?
An example is carnauba.
Adipose?
Let's do it.
- Adipose. - No, they're waxes.
Secondly, consisting mainly of cetyl palmitate,
which wax occurs in the cavities
of the head of the whale species physeter macrocephalus?
- ***. - Er, no, it's spermaceti wax.
And finally,
a forerunner of which SI base unit was based on the intensity of light
produced by burning spermaceti under defined conditions?
THEY WHISPER
- No, a candle is actually wax. - Candela? - No, it's now...
- I don't know. - Do you want to go? Guess something?
Nominate Lin.
What! I don't know.
LAUGHTER
Do you want to nominate somebody else, or have a go yourself?
- Nominate Mariani. - LAUGHTER
Erm...
- Candela? - Correct!
LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
Right, we're going to take a picture round now.
For your picture starter,
you will see a map of part of the UK
with three major rivers marked,
all of which share a name.
Ten points if you can tell me what that name is.
Ouse.
Yes. Usually said "ooze" not "owse", but you're correct.
APPLAUSE
Right, you get picture bonuses.
Three more sets of British rivers that share a name.
In each case, simply give me the name
that links all the marked rivers.
Firstly, for five points.
THEY WHISPER
- Any idea? No. - It's not...
- Elly, do you know any Scottish rivers? - Erm... No.
Lee, is that not... Maybe?
- Go with that. - OK.
The Lee?
No, that's the Dee,
the Aberdeenshire Dee, and the Welsh Dee.
Secondly...
- That's a strange one. - Yeah, it's dropping down.
- It's coming out in Middlesbrough. - I'm not sure.
- No, Middlesbrough's... - Is it the Lee?
- Yeah, I've got no idea. - Come on. - OK.
Tees?
No, those are all called Derwent.
And finally...
- Is that Avon? - Yeah, could be.
Avon?
Those are all the River Avon, yes!
- APPLAUSE - Ten points for this.
Imagine a simple chain of three meshing gears.
The first gear has 32 teeth,
the second has 64 teeth,
and the third, 128 teeth.
How many times must the first gear be rotated
to turn the third gear twice in the same direction?
- Eight. - Correct.
APPLAUSE
Right. Your bonuses, Sidney Sussex, are on archaeological sites.
In each case, name the African country
in which the following are located.
Firstly, Sufetula, Carthage, and the Colosseum of El Djem.
- That's Tunisia. - Tunisia.
- Tunisia. - Correct.
Secondly, Aksum, Taka, Mariam and Hadar.
- Ethiopia. - Correct.
And finally in which North African country are Abydos, Dahshur,
and Saqqara?
- Something in Egypt? Could be Sudan. - Yeah. - Egypt or Sudan?
Go for Egypt? OK.
- Egypt. - Correct.
- APPLAUSE - Ten points for this.
Which decade saw Richard Whittington become
Lord Mayor of London for the first time,
and Geoffrey Chaucer's appointment as deputy forester
of North Petherton in Somerset?
Other events include the completion of the Wilton diptych,
and the deposition of Richard II by Henry Bolingbroke.
The 1360s.
Anyone like to buzz from Sidney...
The 1390s.
1390s is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
Right, you get a set of bonuses, this time, Sidney Sussex,
on space exploration in 1965.
Firstly, the first manned mission of which NASA space programme
lifted off in 1965?
The programme in question followed Mercury,
and preceded Apollo.
- I don't know. - Does anyone know any space? - I have no idea.
- Mercury, Apollo... Do you think anything vaguely...? - No.
Think of...
- Come on. - Discovery.
No, they were Gemini missions.
In March 1965, which Soviet cosmonaut
made the first spacewalk when he spent 12 minutes
outside the capsule Voshkod Two?
- He was the first in space, though. - It's not... - It's not Gagarin.
No, no. He was just in a little box.
Do we have any other Soviet cosmonauts?
Dan's the Russian(!)
- Shall we just go for that? - You could just say it anyway. - OK.
- Yuri Gagarin. - No, it wasn't.
It was Alexi Leonov.
And finally, in July 1965,
Mariner Four took the first close-up photographs
of the surface of which planet?
Which way, which direction do you reckon?
- Mars, what do you think? - Yeah, go for Mars, probably.
- Mars. - Correct.
- APPLAUSE - Ten points for this. Listen carefully.
In physics, the equation for calculating the impulse of a force
can be derived from Newton's second law of motion.
In what SI derived unit is an impulse expressed?
Erm...
Kilogram times metre divided by second?
- Yes. Kilogram metre per second. - APPLAUSE
So you get a set of bonuses, King's.
They're on an artist.
Firstly, for five points, born in northern France in 1684,
which painter is most associated with the Fete Galante style,
in which well-dressed young people are depicted
in idealised pastoral settings?
I don't know.
THEY WHISPER
- I'd say Meniere. Meniere. - Meniere? - Mm.
- Meniere. - No, it's Watteau.
Secondly, in 1717 Watteau became a full member of the French Academy
with a work portraying the embarkation for which island?
In classical myth,
it's regarded as the birthplace of Aphrodite, or Venus.
- Crete? - Cyprus?
- Cyprus. - No, it's Kythera.
And finally, practised by artists such as Watteau,
singerie is a form of rococo decoration
featuring what animals in human costume, playing human roles?
Erm.
- It's, erm... - Birds?
- Birds. - No, they're monkeys.
"Singes". Right, ten points for this.
Of which event of 1819 did Mary Shelley write,
"It roused in my husband violent emotions of indignation and..."
The eruption of Krakatoa?
No, I'm afraid you lose five points.
"It aroused in my husband violent emotions of indignation
"and compassion. Inspired by these feelings,
"he wrote The Mask Of Anarchy."
None of you know, Sidney Sussex?
French Revolution?
No, it was the Peterloo massacre.
Right, ten points for this.
In 2014, what name was assigned to the previously undetected
flaw that exists in a piece of open source software?
Described as catastrophic by one security expert,
it enables hackers to steal...
- Heartbleed. - Yes.
APPLAUSE
These bonuses, King's Cambridge, are on East Asian history.
Born in 1130, Master Zhou was a key figure in a system of thought known
in the West by what hyphenated name after a long-influential philosophy?
It is described often as a response to the ideas of Taoism and Buddhism.
- Confucianism? - It's not Confucianism.
- It's hyphenated. - Erm...
Don't know.
It was Neo-Confucianism.
Neo-Confucianism was the state ideology of the Joseon dynasty
of Korea, founded soon after the start of the Ming dynasty in China.
In which century was that?
- The 15th? - No, it was the 14th.
Neo-Confucianism flourished under official patronage during
which period of Japanese history, beginning in 1603?
You may give either of its two names,
one after its founder, the other after its de facto capital.
- Edo. - Correct. Or Tokugawa. - APPLAUSE
We're going to take a music round now. For your music starter
you'll hear an excerpt from a 20th-century opera.
For ten points, please identify the composer.
MUSIC: Akhnaten Prelude
Is it John Adams?
Anyone like to buzz from Sidney Sussex?
You can hear a little more.
Britten?
No, that was Philip Glass' Akhnaten.
So we're going to take music bonuses in a moment or two.
In the meantime, fingers on buzzers, here's another starter question.
"The graphic, linear equivalent of the sensation of flight" is how
which artist described paper cuts he created in the mid-20th century...
Miro?
No, I'm afraid you lose five points.
..when ill-health prevented him from painting?
- Matisse? - Matisse is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
So you get the music bonuses.
They're three more excerpts from operas that,
like Philip Glass' Akhnaten that we just heard, are set in Egypt.
Five points each composer you can identify. Firstly...
MUSIC: Julius Caesar In Egypt
I think we might as well go for it. Yep? Mary Of Egypt?
No, I was looking for the composer.
But it's Handel, it's from his Julius Caesar In Egypt. Secondly...
MUSIC: Thais, Act II: Mediation
MUSIC ENDS
Come on.
- OK. Nominate Thompson. - Massenet? - Massenet is correct.
It's from Thais. And finally...
MUSIC: Aida, Act II: Gloria All'egitto
- Verdi? - It is indeed. Of course it is from Aida.
- APPLAUSE - Ten points for this.
"One of the very few contemporary economists eager to revive
"the old-fashioned spirit of political economy."
Those words appear in a review of Capital In The 21st Century...
Thomas Piketty?
Thomas Piketty is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
These bonuses are on Tilda Swinton, Sidney Sussex.
Tilda Swinton played the mother of the title
character in which film of 2011, based on a novel by Lionel Shriver?
We Need To Talk About Kevin.
- We Need To Talk About Kevin. - Correct.
Playing the part of Lena, Swinton's first of many collaborations
with Derek Jarman was a 1986 film about which Italian painter?
His work, Boy With A Basket Of Fruit, was imitated for the poster.
Basket of fruit?
I don't know.
Caravaggio?
- Caravaggio. - Correct.
In Love Is The Devil, Swinton played Muriel Belcher,
the owner of the Colony Room Club in Soho.
The film centred on which painter,
who was a frequent visitor to the club?
It might be Francis Bacon.
Yeah? OK. Francis Bacon?
Correct. Ten points for this.
- APPLAUSE - In 1788, which Italian was appointed
Austrian Imperial Court Composer and Music Director?
He was later fictionalised...
Salieri?
Correct.
APPLAUSE
These bonuses, King's, are on chemical elements.
With the atomic number 45,
which element is one of the rarest non-radioactive metals
and is used as a hardener for platinum and palladium,
for example, in catalytic converters?
- Titanium? - Titanium?
Titanium?
No, it's rhodium.
Chiefly obtained from natural brine deposits,
which element has the atomic number 35?
Its compounds are used as pesticides, flame retardants
and as a sedative.
Phosphorous?
I don't know.
I would say it's phosphorous because pesticides are phosphorous.
- Are you sure? - I think so.
That's the best I've got. Phosphorous?
No, it's bromine.
And finally, which silvery metal has the atomic number 25?
Essential to plant growth,
it's alloyed with steel to impart a hard yet pliant quality.
Potassium? No, it can't...
- Try that. I don't know. - Potassium?
No, it's manganese.
We're going to take a picture round now.
For your picture starter,
you'll see a still from a film.
For ten points, please name the film.
Blade Runner?
Blade Runner is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
That was set in 2019.
It was the prediction of how Los Angeles will
look four years from now, therefore.
Your picture bonuses are three more visions of cities in the future.
In each case, simply identify the film
in which each cityscape appears.
Firstly, for five.
The Minority Report?
No, that's The Fifth Element by Luc Besson -
a vision of New York City in the 23rd century. Secondly.
Idiocracy.
Idiocracy.
Idiocracy?
No, that's Logan's Run.
And finally, you may give me either here the specific film
from which this still is taken,
or the franchise of which it's a part.
Looks like Star Wars to me.
- Looks like Star Wars. - But it's not Star Wars,
- it's cities in the future. - Go for Alien.
Alien franchise?
No, it's The Matrix.
Ten points for this.
Which major city links Mozart's Symphony number 31,
Haydn's symphonies from number 82 to 87,
and an orchestral piece of 1928 by George Gershwin?
Paris?
Paris is right, yes.
APPLAUSE
Sidney Sussex, these bonuses are on events since 2001.
In each case, give the year that saw all of the following.
Firstly, President Akayev flees Kyrgyzstan
after the first Tulip Revolution,
Angela Merkel becomes Germany's first female chancellor,
and Joseph Ratzinger is elected Pope.
2005?
Correct.
Secondly, Kosovo formally declares independence
from Serbia, Fidel Castro resigns as president of Cuba
and the Icelandic government takes control of much of the banking
sector after a financial crisis.
THEY CONFER
2008?
Correct.
The Tunisian government falls after violent protests,
South Sudan becomes independent,
and the News Of The World appears for the last time.
2011?
Correct.
3½ minutes to go, ten points for this.
The centre of an Arab kingdom in Roman times
and lying around 200km south of Amman in Jordan,
which UNESCO World Heritage site...
- Petra? - Petra is correct...
- APPLAUSE - ..known as the Rose City.
Your bonuses are on the monarchies, Sidney Sussex.
In each case, state what relation each of the following women
were to King Edward IV.
Firstly, Cecily Neville.
Erm, sister-in-law, I think?
Sister-in-law?
No, that was his mother.
- LAUGHTER - Secondly, Margaret Tudor.
I have no idea.
Erm, great-aunt, I think.
- THEY LAUGH - Great-aunt?
No, she was granddaughter.
And finally, Elizabeth Woodville.
Wife.
- Are you sure? - Yeah, I'm sure. - Wife?
Wife is right, yes.
APPLAUSE
Right, ten points for this,
what English past participle translates the French word interdit,
the Italian vietato,
and the German...
Forbidden?
Yes, or prohibited, yes.
So, you get a set of bonuses on elasticity, King's.
Which numerical constant describes the elastic
properties of a solid or fluid which is under pressure on all surfaces?
It's often represented by either the letter K
or the letter B.
It can be both.
- I don't know. - Maybe it's...
It's constant. I don't know.
Hooke's?
No, it's bulk modulus.
The reciprocal of the bulk modulus of a substance describes what
property of that substance?
Stiffness?
Stiffness?
No, it's compressibility.
The bulk modulus, Young's modulus
and the shear modulus are all particular expressions of which law,
formulated in 1660 and named after an English scientist?
This is Hooke's Law.
It is Hooke's Law, yes.
- APPLAUSE - You don't need to be so dismissive.
- LAUGHTER - Ten points for this.
Beating the previous record holder,
Delia Smith's How To Cook Book Two,
whose 2013 memoir, My Autobiography, became the UK's fastest selling
non-fiction book on record?
Morrissey?
No.
Alex Ferguson?
Yes.
APPLAUSE
Sidney Sussex, these bonuses are on the United Arab Emirates.
Firstly, ruled by the Qawasim dynasty,
which Emirate takes its name from the Arabic for the Eastern?
It's been a regular venue for cricket,
hosting its first one-day international in 1984.
..would know this.
We don't. Do you have any ideas?
Nominate Wilson.
Dhofar?
No, it's Sharjah.
Secondly, completely surrounded by Sharjah,
which Emirate is the smallest state in the UAE, as well as the poorest?
I don't know.
Astana?
No, it's Ajman.
Which Emirate has the largest city of the Federation and has benefited
greatly from the discovery of the Fateh offshore oilfield in 1966?
- Abu Dhabi. - It's got to be. - Dubai.
GONG BELLOWS
- APPLAUSE - Dubai is correct,
but you were after the gong.
And at the gong, King's College Cambridge have 60,
Sidney Sussex have 195.
You never really got going, King's, did you?
That's how it crumbles sometimes, but thank you for joining us.
Sidney Sussex, congratulations to you.
We shall look forward to seeing you in round two.
I hope you can join us next time for another first-round match.
- But until then, it's goodbye from King's College Cambridge. - Goodbye.
- It's goodbye from Sidney Sussex College Cambridge. - Goodbye.
And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.
APPLAUSE