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- APPLAUSE AND CHEERING - University Challenge.
Asking the questions - Jeremy Paxman.
Hello. Tonight it's the start of the 2015/2016 University Challenge.
Around 130 teams from institutions all over the UK
sat our feisty test paper earlier this year
and 28 teams who acquitted themselves creditably will be
competing over the coming months for the right to call themselves
series champions.
Among this year's intake,
the most popular subject being studied is medicine,
the average age of the team members is 24, with the youngest being 18
and the oldest 58.
The University of Glasgow is one of Scotland's four ancient universities
and it was founded by Papal Bull in 1451 at the suggestion of James II.
Teaching began in the city's Cathedral Chapter House, moved to
the High Street and then moved again
to Gilmorehill in the West End
where its main building, designed by George Gilbert Scott
in the Gothic Revival style, is one of the city's
most impressive landmarks.
Alumni include the television pioneer John Logie Baird,
the economist Adam Smith, the writer John Buchan
and the politicians Nicola Sturgeon and Donald Dewar.
If some rather questionable sources are to be believed,
it's also where Doctor Who earned his doctorate.
It's over 30 years since a Scottish university won
the title of series champions.
With an average age of 19,
representing around 23,000 fellow students,
let's meet a team intending to change that.
Hi, my name's Andrew Davidson, I'm from Stranraer
and I'm studying medicine.
Hello, my name is Vitali Brejevs.
I am from Riga in Latvia and I'm studying mathematics.
- And this is their captain. - Hi.
I'm Evelyn McMenamin, I'm from North London and I'm studying geography.
Hi, my name's Ollie Allen, I'm from Edinburgh and I study maths.
APPLAUSE
Now, Peterhouse - Cambridge predates even Glasgow University
and is one of the oldest, smallest and wealthiest
of the University's colleges.
It was founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, the Bishop of Ely,
and its charter was granted by Edward I.
Something of its ethos may perhaps be gleaned from the rumour
that it was the basis for Tom Sharpe's novel Porterhouse Blue,
although an impressive list of alumni includes Lord Kelvin,
who brought electric light to the college, second only to
the Houses of Parliament,
the inventor of the jet engine, Sir Frank Whittle
and Christopher Cockerell, who gave us the hovercraft.
More recently the director Sam Mendes
and the comedian David Mitchell were students there.
With an average age of 20, representing around 370
fellow students, let's meet the Peterhouse team.
Hello, I'm Thomas Langley, I'm from Newcastle upon Tyne
and I'm studying history.
Hello, I'm Oscar Powell, I'm from York
and I'm reading geological sciences.
- And this is their captain. - Hi.
I'm Hannah Woods, I'm from Manchester
and I'm studying for a PhD in history.
Hi, I'm Julian Sutcliffe, I'm from Reading in Berkshire
and I'm reading history.
APPLAUSE
Well, the rules don't change, 10 points for starters, 15 for bonuses.
Fingers on buzzers, here's your first starter for ten.
The term Thomism, T-H-O-M-I-S-M,
denotes the philosophy of which...
- Thomas Aquinas. - Thomas Aquinas is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses are on a novel, Peterhouse.
The first bonuses of the competition.
Sir Leicester Dedlock, Mrs Jellyby, Esther Summerson
and Inspector Bucket are characters in which novel,
first published in monthly parts from 1852 to 53.
- It's Charles Dickens. - It's Dickens but... - Which Dickens?
Bucket... Nicholas Nickleby, maybe?
- Shall we try Nicholas Nickleby? - Why not? - Is it Nicholas Nickleby?
No, it's Bleak House.
Often cited as an example of a long-running and futile lawsuit,
the fictional court case at the heart of Bleak House
is known by what name?
- I knew there was a court case... - I don't know.
- I've got no idea. - We don't know, sorry.
It's Jarndyce and Jarndyce.
And, finally, in chapter 32 of Bleak House, Dickens attributes
the mysterious death of Krook, the illiterate and alcoholic
rag and bottle dealer, to what unusual phenomenon?
Do we have any idea?
THEY CONFER QUIETLY
Like, what's that philosophy guy with the... I don't know.
We don't know, sorry.
It's spontaneous human combustion.
Ten points for this.
What single word term denotes a system created in 2009
by a person or group known as Satoshi Nakamoto,
the same term denotes...
- Bitcoin. - Bitcoin is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses, Glasgow, are on physicists.
Born in 1871, which pioneer of nuclear physics named alpha
and beta radiation and was the first to transmute one element
into another?
Might be Fermi. Might be...
I don't know. It's a bit too early for him.
Do you reckon Fermi?
Who else can it be? I don't know.
Fermi?
No, it was Rutherford.
Secondly, born in Faenza in 1608, which physicist's surname,
when abbreviated,
denotes a unit of pressure equal to a head of one millimetre of mercury?
Um...
Pascal...
- I mean, it might be Pascal, yeah. - Shall we just go Pascal?
- Yeah. - Pascal.
No, it's Torricelli.
Born in Vienna in 1887,
which physicist developed a wave equation to describe the motion
of a quantum mechanical particle?
- Schrodinger. - Schrodinger.
Correct. Ten points for this.
Born near Lake Como in 1745, which scientist's achievements
include both the isolation and discovery of methane
and, in 1801, the demonstration of the first electric battery?
Galvani.
No, anyone like to buzz from Peterhouse?
- Volta. - It is Alessandro Volta, yes.
APPLAUSE
So you get a set of bonuses this time, Peterhouse,
on artists described by the historian Simon Schama
in his 2006 book The Power of Art.
According to Schama, the only two things you need to know about
which artist are that he made the most powerfully physical
Christian art that's ever been painted and that he killed someone?
- Caravaggio? - Yes. - Yes.
- Caravaggio. - Correct.
Born in what is now Latvia, which US artist, wrote Schama,
was acutely aware of the Technicolorisation of American life?
He wanted to rescue the true force of colour.
Rothko?
- Rothko. - Correct.
Whom did Schama describe as a dramatist of light,
the most stupendous Britain has ever produced, inside him
was the urge to create grand histories in oils?
- Turner. - Turner. - Correct. - APPLAUSE
Ten points for this.
Which European city is the setting for both Ben Jonson's play
Volpone and Henry James' novella, The Aspern Papers?
In Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Byron describes it
as the revel of the Earth, the masque of Italy.
Venice.
Venice is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
Bonuses this time, Glasgow, on South America.
In each case, give the word from the definition.
In their standard English spelling,
all three begin with the same two letters.
Firstly, a plant of the amaranth family endemic to the Andes.
It's grown commercially for its small, protein-rich seeds.
- I don't know. - Do you not reckon it's quinoa?
- Quinoa? Oh, it might be. - Quinoa.
Quinoa or "keen-wa" is correct.
An indigenous language family of the Andes,
spoken in different varieties by more than eight million people.
In the language's column to the left of a Wikipedia page,
it appears as Runa Simi.
- Quechua. - Correct.
A device historically used in the Andes to keep records or send
messages, it consisted of cords or threads knotted
and coloured in different ways.
- Oh, quipu. - Quipu.
Quipu or khipu is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
OK, we're going to take a picture round now.
For your picture starter you will see a map of part of the UK
with a long established national trail marked.
For ten points, I simply need the name of that trail.
The Pennine Trail.
It is - the Pennine Way, it's normally called,
but you got the right place.
So, you get a set of bonuses following on from that,
the Pennine Way, which runs for more than 250 miles between Edale
and Derbyshire and Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders.
There are 15 national trails of England and Wales,
your bonuses are three more of them.
Five points for each you can identify. Firstly, this trail.
That's not...
THEY CONFER
I know it's not Bristol but it's Gloucester and somewhere...
Shropshire...
- Do you know? - No.
- The Gloucestershire Way? - The Gloucestershire Way.
Guess that, the Gloucestershire way.
The Gloucestershire Way.
No, that's the Cotswold Way. Secondly, this route, please.
Wales.
What mountains are they?
- Brecon Beacons Way? Is that near there? - Who knows? - I don't know.
Shall we just say the Brecon Beacons? The Brecon Beacons.
Er, no, it's Glyndwr's Way.
Finally, this trail.
- Hadrian's Wall. Hadrian's Wall. - Hadrian's Wall Path is correct.
- APPLAUSE - Right, ten points for this.
What by name is usually given to the Parliament
summoned by Charles I in April 1640 and dissolved by him...
The Short Parliament.
The Short Parliament is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
These bonuses are on astronomy, Peterhouse.
A joint project by the European space agency and NASA,
SOHO was launched in 1995
and has led to the discovery of more comets
than any other object in history,
although that's not its primary function.
For what do the letters S-O-H-O stand?
Erm, actually, I've got no idea.
- I've not heard of it. - Can we guess?
- Solar object something observation. - I mean...
- Solar objects... - Just say something.
Solar objects...
- No, it's the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. - No idea.
Secondly, approximately 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth,
SOHO is in a halo orbit about what point with respect to the Earth?
One of the Lagrange points, probably.
Is five the furthest away?
I hope it's not like the asteroid belt.
- Go for L5. - Will I just say L5?
- No, L5. - L5 Lagrange point.
No, it's the first Lagrangian point.
And, finally, SOHO's instruments make up the first system
capable of the continuous observation of CMEs from the sun.
For what do the letters CME stand?
Coronal mass ejection, I think.
- Coronal mass ejection. - Correct.
- APPLAUSE - Ten points for this.
Which two initial letters link a bishop who translated the Bible
from Greek into Gothic, a bone in the arm...
UL.
UL is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses this time are on regions of China, Peterhouse.
The coastal province of Shandong or Shantung
has given its name to a variety of what type of fabric?
- Silk? - Silk? Shall we... - Yeah, maybe.
Silk.
Correct. The historical Silk Road passed through a corridor
between the Gobi Desert and the Tibetan Plateau.
This corridor is largely located within which present-day
Chinese province with its capital at Lanzhou?
It's where the Uyghurs live.
- Is Sichuan in the west? - Inner Mongolia...
I can't remember, Xinbei?
- Shall we try Sichuan? - Inner Mongolia.
- OK then. - Inner Mongolia?
No, it's Gansu.
West of Gansu, the Silk Road entered the present-day Xinjiang region
and split into two branches
to bypass which desert around the size of Germany?
- Is it pronounced Taklaman? - Who knows?
Taklaman Desert.
It's the Taklimakan Desert.
Ten points for this.
Named after a French physicist,
the Law of Malus says that the transmitted intensity of light
passing through two ideal polarisers varies as what function of the...
Cosine.
No, I'm afraid you lose five points.
Varies as what function of the angle theta
between the respective planes of polarisation?
Sine?
No, it's cos squared theta. Ten points for this.
Juscelino Kubitschek was president of which country from 1956-1961?
He's particularly noted for ordering the construction
of a new capital named after the country itself
and designated a World Heritage Site in 1987?
Brazil?
Correct.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses are on the novels of Graham Greene.
In Our Man In Havana,
the expatriate vacuum cleaner salesman Jim Wormold finds himself
following a new career path when he is recruited into what profession?
- Intelligence? - Yeah. - Intelligence?
- Go for that. - Intelligence.
That's correct. He joins the Secret Service.
Querry, the main character in A Burnt-Out Case,
arrives in a *** colony incognito,
but is revealed to be a prominent practitioner in what field?
I bought it for my dad's birthday present, but never read it.
- Can we guess? - Oh, make something up.
- Physician? Physicist? - Medicine?
Medicine.
No, it's architecture.
In The Power And The Glory,
what is the profession of the central character
who remains nameless throughout the novel?
- Priest. - Correct. - APPLAUSE
We're going to play the music round.
For your music starter, you'll hear a piece of classical music.
10 points, please, if you can give me the name of the composer.
CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS
Purcell?
No. Glasgow, you may hear a little more.
CLASSICAL MUSIC RESUMES
Donizetti?
No, it's Monteverdi - "L'Orfeo".
Right, ten points for this starter question.
Music bonuses shortly.
In computing, what short term
denotes a set of serial or parallel wires that connects independent...
- Is it bus? - It is bus, yes.
APPLAUSE
So you recall a moment ago,
we heard a bit from Monteverdi's L'Orfeo.
You will hear three more excerpts now
from classical pieces of music,
all inspired by the myth of Orpheus.
In each case, I'd like the name of the composer, please.
First, this Russian composer.
CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS
Tchaikovsky... THEY CONFER
- Peter And The Wolf, it's Prokofiev, I think. - It sounds a bit like that.
- It may be Prokofiev. - OK. Prokofiev?
No, that's Stravinsky.
Secondly, this Bavarian born composer, please.
CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS
Wagner?
No, that's Gluck. And, finally, this German born composer.
CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS
THEY CONFER
No, we need the name of the composer.
I'll go with it. Handl?
No! It's Offenbach. Ten points for this.
Set in Central America,
Cabbages And Kings is a fictional work of 1904 by which author?
O Henry.
- O Henry is right, yes. - APPLAUSE
Glasgow, your bonuses are on the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
The Sochi Olympic torch was designed
to resemble a feather of which mythical bird?
It plays a prominent role in Russian cultural history
and is the title of a ballet by Stravinsky.
- HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN - Nominate Brejevs.
- HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN - In English?
- HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN, LAUGHTER - Firebird?
Firebird is correct, yes.
As part of the 2014 torch relay,
the Olympic flame was taken to the summit of which dormant volcano,
the highest point in Europe?
- Elbrus? - Oh...
- Maybe... - Elbrus? - Elbrus. - Correct.
And, finally, during the Games' opening ceremony,
which former Sochi resident
carried the Olympic torch into the Fisht Stadium?
- Who carried it in...? - Like a former athlete or...?
Tretiak, maybe, the Soviet goalkeeper?
I'm going to nominate you again.
- Nominate Brejevs. - Tretiak.
No, it was Maria Sharapova. Ten points for this.
The upper layer of the Earth's crust
is often known by what four-letter name,
a combination of the symbols of the two elements that, after oxygen,
are the most abundant in its composition?
S-I-A-L?
That's correct, sial, yes. Well done.
APPLAUSE
Right, Peterhouse, your bonuses are on English and Scottish monarchs.
Firstly, the son of Duncan I,
who was King of Scots at the time of the Norman Conquest of England?
- It's not Malcolm, is it? - I think it's Malcolm. Yeah, Malcolm the... - First?
- Yeah, I don't know. - Malcolm I?
No, it was Malcolm III, bad luck.
The son of William the Lion, who was King of Scots
when King John granted the Magna Carta?
- Do we know? - I don't know.
- Macbeth? - No, that's 1044 to 1054.
Alexander I? Yeah?
Alexander I?
No, it was Alexander II.
- AUDIENCE GROANS - Later killed at the Battle of Sauchieburn,
who was on the Scottish throne
at the time of the Battle of Bosworth?
It's... I can't remember if James...
- It's either James IV... - Fourth?
> No, third, maybe.
He was killed by...
No, but he wouldn't have got on the throne.
- Buchanan hates him, the one that's third. - Shall I say James III?
- Can we guess James III? - James III.
- That's correct. Ten points for this. - APPLAUSE
"Believe me, nothing except a battle lost
"can be half so melancholy..."
Wellington.
Wellington is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
These bonuses, Peterhouse, are on a European country.
Of which country is the Mittelland Plateau
the least mountainous area and the most populous?
- Switzerland, surely? - Yeah, go for it.
Switzerland.
Correct.
Bellinzona, Locarno and Lugano are the largest cities
in which Italian-speaking canton of southern Switzerland?
Is that the one they gave to the Austrians?
Yeah, I think Tyrol is near Austria.
- Isonzo? - Shall I? - No, it's not that.
Come on, let's have it, please.
- Go for it. - Isonzo.
No, it's Ticino.
Bern is the administrative capital of Switzerland.
Which city in the southwest serves as the judicial centre?
- Geneva? - No, no, it's not southwest.
- THEY CONFER - Go for it. - Geneva.
No, it's Lausanne.
We're going to take a second picture round now.
For your picture starter,
you'll see an illustration.
Ten points if you can name the illustrator, please.
Dore?
It is Dore indeed.
APPLAUSE
That was one of his illustrations for Dante's Inferno.
You're now going to see three more of Dore's illustrations.
Five points for each.
I want the name of the work of literature
for which it was created and the author of that work.
Firstly...
Don Quixote, Cervantes.
Don Quixote and Cervantes.
Correct. Secondly...
Maybe like Jason and the Argonauts or The Iliad?
- Oh, no, it's not. - No, no.
It's definitely something.
There's birds flying, it's from something Greek,
like, Homer and something.
The Odyssey by Homer?
No, it's The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner by Coleridge. And finally...
- Is that an angel? - Yes, clinging to a rock.
Paradise Lost, Milton?
That's correct.
- APPLAUSE - Ten points for this.
Incredulity towards metanarratives
is the philosopher Jean-Francois Lyotard's definition...
Postmodernism.
- Correct. - APPLAUSE
Your bonuses are on infections
classified by the World Health Organization
as neglected tropical diseases.
Firstly, early in 2015, Ghana became the latest country
to be certified free of guinea worm disease.
This is caused by a parasitic organism
belonging to which animal phylum?
- Nematoda. - Nematodes? Nematodes.
Correct. Also known as breakbone fever,
which viral disease is transmitted to humans
by the yellow fever mosquito?
- Dengue fever. - Correct.
African trypanosomiasis, spread by the tsetse fly,
has what two-word name?
- Sleeping sickness. - Correct.
Ten points for this.
In English grammar, what term denotes two non-finite verb forms
used in compound verb forms with an auxiliary verb...
Past participle.
No, you lose five points.
An auxiliary verb expressing tense and voice?
The two forms commonly end in "ing" and "ed".
Gerund?
No, they're participle. You were too specific.
Ten points for this starter question.
Described as a gesamtkunstwerk or total work of art,
the Heidi Weber Museum in Zurich
was the last structure created by which Swiss-French architect?
Le Corbusier?
- Le Corbusier is correct, yes. - APPLAUSE
Your bonuses this time, Peterhouse, are on novels about World War I.
In each case, name the author.
Firstly, for five points, the author of the 1991 novel Regeneration.
Pat Barker.
- Pat Barker. - Correct.
Secondly, the 2003 novel Private Peaceful.
That's Michael Morpurgo.
Michael Morpurgo.
And finally, the 2012 novel The Daughters Of Mars.
Any ideas?
- I don't know. - We don't know.
That's Thomas Kenneally.
There are four minutes to go and ten points for this.
In the July Crisis of 1914,
which was the first country to declare war, doing so on July 28th?
Serbia?
No. Glasgow?
Austria-Hungary.
Austria-Hungary is correct. Yes.
- APPLAUSE - Your bonuses are on Ancient Greece, Glasgow.
The omphalos, a stone said to mark the centre of the world,
was located in the temple of Apollo
at the site of which Oracle
- on the slopes of Mount Parnassus? - Delphi. - Correct.
After the snake killed by Apollo before he created the Oracle,
what name was given to the games held at Delphi
until the fourth century AD?
THEY CONFER
Something like Olympics or Hydrympics?
Hydrympics.
No, they're the Pythian Games.
And finally, what was the name of the Greek earth goddess,
the mother and wife of Uranus?
The Oracle at Delphi is said to have first belonged to her.
- Gaia, Gaia. - Oh, Gaia.
Gaia is right.
Ten points for this. In mathematics,
the Maclaurin series is a Taylor series expansion about what number?
Zero.
Zero is correct, you get to see the bonuses this time, Glasgow,
on European cities with four-letter names.
In each case, identify the city from the description.
Firstly, a city in western Ukraine,
the birthplace of the author Stanislaw Lem
and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch.
- Lviv. - Correct.
The second largest city of the Czech Republic,
the birthplace in 1929 of Milan Kundera.
Brno.
Brno is correct.
And, finally, a city on the Rhine, south of Cologne.
Beethoven was born there in 1770.
- Bonn? - Bonn.
Bonn is correct, ten points for this.
Indicating a unit of computing speed,
for what five words does the abbreviation FLOPS stand?
Floating point operations per second.
Floating point operations per second is correct.
You get a set of bonuses this time, Glasgow, on royal wives.
In each case, identify the King of England
to whom the following were married.
All three kings have the same regnal name.
Firstly, Mary de Bohun and Joan of Navarre
were both married to which King?
Er, Henry III.
No, it's Henry IV.
Catherine, the daughter of Charles VI of France.
- Henry. - I know, I know.
- Come on, come on. - Er, Henry II.
No, it was Henry V.
Finally, Eleanor of Aquitaine.
- It might be Harry. - I think that is Henry II.
- Henry II. - Correct. Ten points for this.
A key source of metabolic energy in human cells,
which nucleotide is known by the initials ATP?
- Adenosine triphosphate. - Correct.
You get a set of bonuses this time, Peterhouse,
on Italian football grounds.
The Stadio delle Alpi was the shared home until 2006 of Torino
and which other Italian side, nicknamed Old Lady?
- Why do I think it's Juventus? - Just say it.
- Juventus. - Correct.
Torino now play at the Stadio Olimpico.
A stadium of the same name in another Italian city
hosted the 1990 World Cup Final.
Which two clubs share it?
It's going to be Milan or Rome.
Shall we go AC and then Inter?
AC Milan and Inter Milan.
No, it's Lazio and Roma.
And finally, sometimes described as a cathedral of football,
which ground is shared by AC Milan and Inter Milan?
I've no idea.
- Just guess. - We don't know.
That's the San Siro.
Right, ten points for this.
Comprising the southeastern two-thirds of the island,
what name is used in English for the Indonesian territory of Borneo?
Kalimantan.
Correct. You get a set of bonuses this time, Glasgow,
on recent winners of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography.
Firstly, published in 2011,
who was the subject of The Last Pre-Raphaelite by Fiona McCarthy?
GONG
APPLAUSE
It was Edward Burne-Jones.
You lose, Glasgow,
but I'd take a pretty substantial bet,
actually, that on 155,
you might well come back
as one of the highest-scoring losing teams.
Many congratulations to you, Peterhouse.
185, terrific score, I look forward to seeing you in Round Two for sure.
Thank you, both, very much for joining us tonight.
I hope you can join us next time for another first round match,
- but until then, though, it's goodbye from Glasgow University. - Goodbye.
- Bye. - It's goodbye from Peterhouse - Cambridge. - Goodbye.
And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye!
APPLAUSE