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'University Challenge.'
'Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.'
Hello, two places remain in the semifinals
so whoever wins tonight will join Peterhouse, Cambridge
and Liverpool University in the penultimate stage of this contest
and I'm afraid the losers will take
the train of broken dreams back home.
Now, the team from York University beat Manchester University
in Round One, Christ College, Cambridge in Round Two and
St Catherine's College, Cambridge in their second quarterfinal.
A victory which allowed them to stay in the competition,
having previously lost to Peterhouse, Cambridge.
Let's meet the York team again.
Hello, my name is Barto Joly de Lotbiniere.
I'm from London and I'm studying history.
Hello, I'm Sam Smith. I'm from Guernsey and I'm studying chemistry.
And their captain.
Hello, I'm David Landon Cole.
I'm from Yeovil in Somerset and I'm studying politics.
Hi, I'm Joseph McLoughlin.
I'm from Oldham in Lancashire and I study chemistry.
APPLAUSE
The team from Imperial College London have a track record
of victories against Reading University,
Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and Nuffield College, Oxford.
But their second quarterfinal was a defeat at the hands of
Liverpool University, which is why we're saying hello to them again.
Here they are.
Good evening, my name's Ben Fernando.
I'm from Birmingham and I'm studying physics.
Hi, I'm Ashwin Braude.
I'm from North London and I'm also studying physics.
And this is their captain.
Hello, I'm James Bezer.
I'm from Manchester and I'm also studying physics.
Hi, I'm Onur Teymur.
I'm from North London and
I'm working towards a PhD in mathematical statistics.
APPLAUSE
OK, you all know the rules so fingers on the buzzers,
here's your first starter for ten.
What regnal name links two holy Roman emperors of the
12th and 13th centuries
and two kings of Prussia in the 17th and 18th?
Frederick.
Correct. APPLAUSE
Your bonuses, York, are on George Orwell.
The bookseller's assistant Gordon Comstock is the protagonist
of which 1936 novel by Orwell?
Its title includes the name of a house plant said to symbolise
middle-class values.
Keep The Aspidistra Flying.
Correct. Based on a journey Orwell made to northern England in 1936,
which work of reportage
was published the following year by the Left Book Club?
The Road To Wigan Pier.
Correct.
Which non-fiction work of 1938 is based on Orwell's experiences
in the Spanish Civil War?
Homage To Catalonia.
Correct. Ten points for this.
Prince Albert, Abigail Adams and Gerard Manley Hopkins
are among those who died of which acute infectious disease?
Often spread by contaminated water, it's particularly associated...
Cholera.
No, I'm afraid you lose five points.
It's particularly associated with the New York cook, Mary Mallon.
Typho... Typhoid.
Typhoid is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
As in, Typhoid Mary.
Right, your bonuses, York, are on astronomy.
In 2006, what two-word designation was given by
the International Astronomical Union to bodies including Pluto and Ceres?
- Yes. - Dwarf planet.
Correct.
In the same year and another dwarf planet was given what name,
after a Greek goddess of strife and discord?
Its discoverer, the US astronomer Mike Brown, is said to have found
the name fitting in the light of the academic commotion
that followed it's discovery.
- Eris. - Correct.
Pluto and Eris are among objects known by the designation TNO,
after their position in relation to one of the outer planets.
For what do the letters TN stand?
- Trans-Neptune. - Yeah.
- Neptunian? - Neptunian. Trans-Neptunian.
Trans-Neptunian.
Correct.
Ten points for this.
In ancient geography, what six-letter place name may precede
Deserta, Petraea and Felix...
Arabia.
Arabia is correct, yes. APPLAUSE
These bonuses, York, are on journeys.
Tracks is a work that tells the story of Robyn Davidson's
1,700 mile trek with four camels and a dog across parts
of which country in 1977?
- It's likely to be somewhere from the Sahara. - Yeah.
- Or Australia? - Ah. - Yeah. Go with that. - Is...
Australia.
Correct.
Adapted for the cinema by Sean Penn, which book by Jon Krakauer
recounts the last two years of the life of Christopher McCandless
who died in 1992 after more than 100 days in the Alaskan wilderness?
- Wild. - Into The Wild. - Into The Wild, yeah. - Into The Wild?
Into The Wild.
Correct.
A Walk In The Woods - Rediscovering America On The Appalachian Trail
is a work by which author born in Iowa in 1952?
- Bill Bryson? - Sure.
Bill Bryson.
Correct. Ten points for this.
In physics, what single letter is the symbol for a number that
characterises the total angular momentum of an atom...
L.
I'm afraid, you lose five points.
..atom, nucleus or particle.
It also follows Alt in a keyboard short cut that forms the name
of a Mercury prize-winning band.
- BARTO SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY - 'Press the button.'
Omega.
No, it's J and I could hear Mr de Lotbiniere say that
that was the right answer but you can't confer at this stage,
and luckily you gave the wrong answer anyway.
So we'll get on with the next one then. Ten points for this.
In England and Wales,
the county officials who are the holders of the oldest secular
royal appointment in the UK have what two-word designation?
Deputy Lieutenant.
No.
Lord Lieutenant.
No. I haven't finished reading the question
but you lose five points, I'm afraid, Imperial.
I can't fine you five points, York,
for a completely pointless interruption.
It's a High Sheriff.
Ten points for this starter question.
The letters spelling the name of which number appear together
at the end of words meaning foolish or obstinate, resembling a lion,
a low story between two others in a building and an alkaloid found...
Nine.
Nine is correct, yes. APPLAUSE
Right, your bonuses are on scientists born on March 14 -
a date now widely celebrated as Pi Day
after the mathematical constant.
In each case, name the person from the description.
Firstly, a medical scientist born in Prussia in 1854,
he's generally credited with the discovery of Salvarsan -
the first effective treatment for syphilis.
INDISTINCT SPEECH
- He was from Prussia. - Oh. - Koch.
No, it's Paul Ehrlich.
Secondly, a pioneer of set theory, born in Warsaw in 1882.
His name precedes the words carpet and triangle
in the names of well-known fractals.
- Sierpinski? - Yeah. - Sierpinski? - Oh, yeah.
- Sierpinski. - Sierpinski.
Correct.
And finally, a physicist born in South Germany in 1879.
He won the Nobel Prize in 1921
for his explanation of the photoelectric effect.
Einstein.
Correct. Right, we're going to take a picture round now.
For your picture starter you'll see
a map of Europe with a city highlighted.
Ten points if you can give me both the name of the city
and the German name by which it was known before 1946.
Um... It's Kaliningrad and Konigsberg.
That is correct.
APPLAUSE
So we follow on from the former Konigsberg with three more cities,
each in a non-German-speaking country but which, like Kaliningrad,
were once part of the German-speaking empire.
In each case, I want the current name of the city
and its historic German name. Firstly...
- Bratislava and Pressburg. - Yes. - Nominate Smith.
Bratislava and Pressburg.
Correct. Secondly...
- Ljubljana and Laibach. - Laibach, yeah.
- Nominate McLoughlin. - Ljubljana and Laibach.
Correct. And finally...
Wroclaw... Wroclaw.
- Nominate McLoughlin. - Wroclaw and Breslau.
Correct.
APPLAUSE
Right, ten points for this.
In the theory of relativity, what term denotes an observed
slowing down of time owing to relative motion?
The same term...
Dilation.
Dilation is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
Imperial, these bonuses are on an US economist.
Firstly for five. In 1970 in his seminal work, The Market For Lemons,
which US economist demonstrated how private or asymmetric information
prevents markets from functioning effectively?
Friedman?
Milton Friedman.
No, it's George Akerlof.
Secondly, showing how economic institutions protect themselves
from the consequences of adverse selection, Akerlof cited
the instance of dealers in what second-hand commodities
offering guarantees to increase consumer confidence?
Car. Cars.
Cars is correct.
Akerlof's theory is a modern version of an idea first suggested
by which 16th-century financier noted for the axiom
that bad money drives out good?
- That's... - 16th century. - ..Gresham. Gresham.
Sir Thomas Gresham is correct. Ten points for this.
A sequel to Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice
called Death Comes To Pemberley,
and a series of crime novels featuring...
PD James.
PD James is right. APPLAUSE
Your bonuses are on acids.
Firstly, what name is given to organic compounds in which
a carbon atom is bonded to an oxygen atom by a double bond and
- a hydroxyl group by a single bond? - Carboxylic acid.
Correct.
What five-letter term denotes the group of open chain
carboxylic acids that includes oleic and linolenic acid?
Its members may be saturated or unsaturated.
- Um...stearic? - Yeah.
Stearic.
- No, they're fatty acids. - Oh.
And finally, which organic compounds are commonly derived from
carboxylic acids and are obtained by
the exchange of the replaceable hydrogen for alkyl radicals?
- They're, they're... - Esters. - Yes, esters.
Esters is correct. Ten points for this.
Which US state is this?
Its capital lies on the site of a locality formally known as
Last Chance Gulch, where gold was discovered in 1864?
The fourth-largest state by area, its neighbours include
North Dakota, Idaho and the Canadian province of...
Montana.
Montana is right.
APPLAUSE
Right, your bonuses are on South America, York.
Under the presidency of Evo Morales, which South American country
changed its official name in 2009,
substituting Plurinational State of for Republic of?
- Bolivia. - Correct.
Which country's formal name includes
the words Oriental or Eastern Republic after its position
on the bank of the river from which it takes its name?
- Uruguay. - Uruguay.
Uruguay is correct.
Which country formally describes itself as a co-operative republic?
It gained independence from the UK in 1966?
- Guyana. - Guyana.
Guyana is right. Ten points for this.
In botany, what five-letter term denotes the *** tissue
lying inside the phloem...
Xylem.
Xylem is correct.
APPLAUSE
You get a set of bonuses on birds, Imperial.
The largest order of birds is the passeriformes or perching birds
and takes its name from the Latin for what small bird
whose British species include the tree and house?
- Sparrow. - Brown martin.
It's called a house sparrow.
- Go with what Ben says. - I'd go sparrow. - Sparrow.
Correct.
The family Fringillidae is most often given what common name?
British birds in this family include
the brambling, the siskin and the linnet.
- You don't know? - Linnet.
- Woodpecker. - Woodpecker.
No, they're finches.
And finally, what four-letter name is given to the family Alaudidae
and follows shore, wood and sky in the name of three British species?
Lark.
Correct. Ten points for this.
The South Caucasian language family includes Mingrelian, Laz...
Georgian.
Georgian is correct, yes. APPLAUSE
Your bonuses are on churches in Herefordshire, York.
Noted for its well-preserved vernacular carvings,
the Church of St Mary and St David at Kilpeck is a fine example
of which style of architecture
prevalent in the 11th and 12th centuries?
- 11th, 12th would be Norman. - Norman. - It's got to be. - Norman.
Norman or Romanesque, yes.
And secondly, for five, the Church of St Michael at Garway
above the River Monnow, was closely associated with which military order
suppressed by Pope Clement V in 1312?
- Yeah. - Yeah? The Knights Templar.
Correct. Completed in 1902,
All Saints' Church at Brockhampton near the River Wye
was designed by WR Lethaby
and is in the style of which aesthetic movement
pioneered by William Morris?
- BOTH: - Arts and Crafts. - The Arts and Crafts movement.
Correct. We're going to take a music round now.
For your music starter, you're going to hear a piece of classical music
by a French composer.
Ten points if you can identify the composer.
CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS
Berlioz.
No. You can hear some more, Imperial.
Poulenc.
No. It's Bizet. So music bonuses in a moment or two.
Ten points at stake. Fingers on the buzzers.
Here's a starter question.
In 1572, Tycho Brahe observed the supernova known as Tycho's star
in which constellation? It's named after the Queen of Ethiopia.
Cassiopeia.
Correct. APPLAUSE
OK, Imperial, that means that you get the music bonuses.
The music starter was from Bizet's Symphony in C.
Though performed with some frequency now,
it was never performed or published in Bizet's lifetime
and he made no acknowledgement of it.
Your music bonuses are three more works
that their composers attempted to destroy or suppress.
In each case, simply identify the composer of the work you hear.
Firstly, this Russian composer.
CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS
INDISTINCT SPEECH
- It won't be... - MUSIC DROWNS OUT SPEECH
- Tchaikovsky. - It is Tchaikovsky, yes.
He destroyed the score, apparently, a few years after its premiere.
It was reconstructed from individual orchestral parts.
Secondly, this central European composer.
CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS
They're either going to be Czech or Hungarian. Right. So...
MUSIC DROWNS OUT SPEECH
Dvorak.
It is Dvorak. He would have destroyed it
but for the intervention of a friend, apparently.
And finally, this Nordic composer.
CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS
INDISTINCT SPEECH
Is that Sibelius?
Sibelius.
It is Sibelius, yes.
APPLAUSE
It's part of the Karelia Suite,
and Sibelius apparently burned parts of that work later in life.
Right, ten points for this.
Castillon on the Lower Dordogne
was the last major engagement of which war?
Soon afterwards England relinquished most of its possessions in France...
Hundred Years' War.
Hundred Years' War is correct.
APPLAUSE
These are bonuses, York, on lines spoken by Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Firstly, in Act I, Scene V,
to whom does Hamlet address the line,
"Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak, I'll go no further"?
- That's the ghost, isn't it? - I have no idea.
The ghost.
Correct.
Secondly, the words of which character in Act I, Scene II
prompt Hamlet's aside, "A little more than kin, and less than kind"?
- Erm, Polonius? - Horatio? Someone like that?
Horatio.
No, that's Claudius, the King of Denmark.
And finally, again in Act I, Scene II,
to whom does Hamlet address the lines,
"What is your affair in Elsinore?
"We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart"?
Is that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern or am I being stupid?
- Sure. Go for it. - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
No, that is Horatio. Ten points for this.
Native to many subtropical regions,
plants of the genus Gossypium yield which fibre?
Its mechanised spinning and weaving was a driver...
- Cotton. - Cotton is correct.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses this time, Imperial, are on geometry.
What term denotes a line that joins the vertex of a triangle
to the midpoint of the opposite side?
- Bisector. - Yeah.
Bisector.
No, it's a median.
The centroid of a triangle
is the point where its three medians intersect.
What are the XY coordinates of the centroid of an isosceles triangle
whose vertices have coordinates 0,0, 1,0 and 0.53?
So that would be...
- 0.5. - So, obviously...
- It's a third of the way... - So 0.5 and .1.
- No, 0.5 and - 1. Yeah, that sounds about right. - Try it.
- 0.5 and - 1. Correct.
And finally, what single-word term denotes the centre of the circle
that passes through the three vertices of a triangle?
The circumcircle is the one that goes around.
So, what are the three...
- Is that what the question was? - It was the centre of the circle.
- Be quick. - Verticircle. - Nominate Fernando.
Verticircle.
No, it's the circumcentre.
Ten points for this.
Expressed as a six-letter Latin word,
a five-letter Greek word or a four-letter English word,
which principle of order, form and meaning
is identified with God in the opening verse of St John's Gospel?
Word.
The Word is correct.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses are on education legislation, Imperial.
In each case, I want the decade
in which the following acts were passed.
Firstly, Fisher's Education Act.
This raised the school leaving age to 14
and abolished any remaining fees for elementary education.
- 18... - It must have been the 19th century. - Yes. Erm...
Probably fairly early on. 1840s or something.
- Well, I don't know.... - I think 1810s, but I don't know why.
- Maybe. - I don't know why. - Go with 1840s.
1840s.
No, it was the 1910s.
Secondly, the Butler Education Act
which raised the school leaving age to 15
and provided for universal free secondary education.
- Well, if it was Rab Butler, then... - I don't know if it is.
OK. It was Rab...
- Say - '50s? I guess so. '50s.
No, that was the 1940s. It was 1944 to be precise.
The Education Reform Act, finally,
that introduced the national curriculum,
grant-maintained schools and city technology colleges.
- '80s? Sure. - That was Thatcher, wasn't it?
- Or...? - Sounds like the '80s.
'80s.
1980s, you mean. Yeah. APPLAUSE
You're going to take a picture round now.
For your picture starter, you'll see a portrait.
For ten points, I want the name of the subject depicted.
Martin Luther.
It is Martin Luther, yes.
APPLAUSE
By Cranach the Elder.
It was Luther, of course, who translated the Bible into German.
For your bonuses, you'll see depictions of
three more translators of the Bible.
Five points in each case if you can give me
the name of the translator depicted
and the language into which they made the translation.
Firstly.
Erm, that's Jerome. Jerome did the Vulgate, so...
- So into Latin? - Into Latin, yeah. - Yeah, sure.
So St Jerome, Latin?
St Jerome into Latin.
That's correct. That was Caravaggio's St Jerome Writing.
Secondly, both of these figures and the language.
It's Cyril and Methodius.
- I think it's Basil and... - Cyril. - ..Cyril.
And they put it into...
- JOLY DE LOTBINIERE: - Well, it's... He's changed his name...
- One of them's got two names. - Was it Methodius? - Methodius.
Cyril and Methodius.
- And would be Old...Old Church Slavonic. - Yes.
- Can I nominate you? - Yeah. - Nominate Smith.
St Cyril and Methodius and Old Church Slavonic.
Correct.
And finally the figure in the centre of this painting and the language.
The guy who translated it to English?
- William Tyndale? - Sure. - What language? - English. - Yeah.
Tyndale, English.
No, it's John Wycliffe and English. Bad luck.
Ten points for this.
The ballet The Wooden Prince,
the pantomime The Miraculous Mandarin
and the opera Duke Bluebeard's Castle
are works by which Hungarian...?
Bartok.
Bartok is right. APPLAUSE
These bonuses, York, are on a French author.
Firstly, which French novelist has been calculated
to have created 2,472 named characters
in his novel sequence La Comedie Humaine?
I've literally no idea.
- Did he give a time? - No, we don't know a time.
- Proust? - Yeah, go Proust, maybe.
Proust.
No, it's Balzac.
Balzac is especially associated with which two-word French term
denoting an irrational obsession that dominates a person's life?
Something tic?
It's not cause celebre, is it? Or is that something else?
My mind's blank.
Cause celebre.
No, it's idee fixe.
And finally, "Balzac observed all the things that he did not."
These words of the French thinker Regis Debray
compare Balzac to which German philosopher born in 1818?
- Karl Marx! - Yes!
Karl Marx.
Correct. APPLAUSE
Ten points for this.
Also called carpincho or water hog,
which semiaquatic mammal of Central and South America...?
Capybara.
Capybara is right.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses are on electronics.
What electronic component was developed by
the US physicists Brattain, Bardeen and Shockley at
- the Bell Telephone Laboratories... - Transistor. - ..in 1947?
- Transistor. - Correct.
With the atomic number 32,
what semiconductor was used in the first 1947 transistor?
Germanium.
Correct. Labelled B, C and E,
what are the three terminals of a bipolar transistor?
Base, current...
Nominate Fernando.
Base, current and element.
No, it's base, collector and emitter.
Ten points for this.
Which two final letters link
a West African republic that borders Guinea and Senegal,
the capital of Dominica and the German name...?
- AU. - Correct.
APPLAUSE
These bonuses are on geology, York.
What unit of geological time forms the first subdivision of an aeon?
Examples include the Mesozoic and the Palaeozoic.
- Is that an era? - Yeah, I think it's an era.
- An era. - Correct.
What unit of geological time
is shorter than a period and longer than an age?
- Is that an epoch? - Yeah, I'd go epoch. - Yeah.
Epoch.
Correct. In which epoch of the Quaternary Period are we now living?
- Erm, Holocene. - I was going to say that. - Is it Holocene?
- I think it might be. - Yeah. Try Holocene.
We think it may be Holocene.
Holocene is correct. There's less than three minutes
to go and ten points for this.
The name of what trade or profession
comes from the Latin name of the chemical element
with the atomic number...?
Plumber.
Plumber is correct, yes. The atomic number 82.
APPLAUSE
Inspired guess, if it was.
Your bonuses are on history and politics.
Knighted in 2002,
which British historian's recent works include
The End - Hitler's Germany 1944 to '45?
Ian Kershaw? Or...? Ian Kershaw or...
Erm...
- Kershaw was... - Come on. Let's have it, please. - Kershaw.
It is Sir Ian Kershaw.
Secondly, a landmark in American social thought,
The End of Ideology -
On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the Fifties
is a work of 1960 by which US sociologist?
- Is it Putnam? - I'm afraid it's all on you.
Putnam.
No, it's Daniel Bell.
Which US political scientist claimed to announce
the triumph of liberal democracy
in his influential 1989 essay The End of History.
- Francis Fukuyama. - Yeah. - OK.
Francis Fukuyama.
Correct. Time for another starter question.
Answer clearly and audibly as soon as your name is called.
What word is spelt by concatenating the silent letters
in the words isosceles, baguette and aplomb?
Cub.
Cub is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
These bonuses are on cell biology, York.
Containing ribosomes,
which two eukaryotic organelles are thought to have evolved
from endosymbiotic bacteria?
- INDISTINCT SPEECH - No, no. - Containing ribosomes...
No, that's going to be the mitochondria and the chloroplast.
Erm... I think, yeah, mitochondria developed from
the endo...whatever it was.
Yeah, but...cos I think they evolved separately
and were sort of taken in over time.
Come on. Let's have it, please.
OK, we think it's the mitochondria and the chloroplast.
Well, you're correct. The Latin for plume,
what term denotes the folds on the inner membrane of mitochondria?
- Oh, is it matrix? - Maybe. - I think it's matrix. - No idea.
Matrix.
No, it's crista or cristae.
What term, finally, denotes the flattened sac-like structures
containing chlorophylls?
They're stacked to form the grana of chloroplasts.
- I've literally no idea. - Chloroplasts... No idea?
This is A-Level biology, and my teacher is shouting at me at home.
- Let's have it, please. - We have no idea.
They're thylakoids. Ten points for this.
Earth's atmosphere at sea level exerts
a force of approximately 1kg weight over what metric unit of...?
- Metres cubed. - No.
Square metre.
It's a square centimetre.
Ten points for this.
Name either of the two men who died in office
as President of France during the 20th century.
Er, Mitterrand.
Anyone like to buzz from York?
Giscard d'Estaing.
No, it was Pompidou and Doumer.
Ten points for this.
What first name links
the US psychologist who wrote Obedience To Authority,
the Prime Minister... GONG SOUNDS
And at the gong, Imperial College London have 135,
but York University have 260.
APPLAUSE
Well, it wasn't your greatest hour, Imperial,
cos you've actually performed much more competently than you did today.
Sadly, we shall have to say goodbye to you.
York, many congratulations.
We look forward to seeing you in the semifinals.
Well done. It's a terrific score.
I hope you can join us next time for the last quarterfinal match.
- But until then, it's goodbye from Imperial College London. - Bye.
- It's goodbye from York University. - Goodbye.
And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.
APPLAUSE