APPLAUSE
Christmas University Challenge!
Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.
Hello.
With clean-washed hands and faces in a long and eager line,
alumni sit at the table, for this is the hour they shine.
With apologies to the author of Christmas Day In The Workhouse,
we're about to meet two more teams
of recent, not-so-recent and long-distant graduates
prepared to play for the honour of the institution that nurtured them.
With three matches played and four winning teams going through
to the semifinals, we now know that a winning score tonight of
over 150 means a team will definitely return to fight again.
Now, the four from St Catherine's College, Oxford, include the
author of six novels and a memoir - she has recently edited the
ghost stories of Henry James, and is a director of the Hampstead Theatre.
With her, the author of biographies of Harold Pinter and
Peggy Ashcroft, he's also a highly influential figure in the
role he's performed for the past 47 years, for which he's earned an OBE.
Like trying to comprehend the meaning in the entrails of a
chicken, their captain is responsible for turning the
baroque contortions of the Houses of Parliament into
comprehensible and even entertaining reporting.
And their fourth member has won several Emmys,
a Bafta and an RTS Award for his work on numerous blockbuster
productions, including the film Gravity, for which he won an Oscar.
So let's meet the St Catherine's, Oxford, team.
I'm Susie Boyt, I did English at St Catherine's, graduating in the '90s.
I am now a novelist and I write dark books with high spirits.
I'm Michael Billington, I graduated from St Catherine's Society -
as it then was, before it became a college -
in 1961, having read English.
And I've been a theatre critic at the Guardian for some time.
And here's their captain.
I'm Peter Knowles, I graduated in English in 1983,
I'm the control of the TV channel BBC Parliament,
and editor of Today In Parliament on Radio 4.
And I'm Tim Webber, I read physics at St Catherine's,
and graduated in 1987.
I'm now chief creative officer at Framestore and work as a
visual effects supervisor and director for films.
APPLAUSE
Now, playing them is a team representing Peterhouse, Cambridge.
Their first player started his career on the Big Breakfast
and is the long-time writing partner of Sacha Baron Cohen,
working with him on the characters Ali G and Borat.
With him, an archaeologist who was involved in the early days of
Channel 4's Time team, then presented BBC Two's Time Flyers,
and has featured in 11 seasons of Coast.
Their captain was Leader of the Conservative Party and the
Opposition from 2003 to 2005.
He held several Cabinet positions under Margaret Thatcher and
John Major, including that of Home Secretary.
Now an academic, their fourth player is a former head
of the Iran section of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
He is a prolific writer, broadcaster and commentator on that country.
Now, let's meet the team from Peterhouse.
I'm Dan Mazer, I read law at Peterhouse,
and I'm now a screenwriter and director.
I'm Mark Horton, I graduated with a PhD in archaeology in 1984,
and have subsequently worked as an archaeologist,
TV presenter and Professor of Archaeology at Bristol University.
And here's their captain.
I'm Michael Howard, I graduated from Peterhouse in 1963,
with degrees in economics and law, and I'm now in the House of Lords.
I'm Michael Axworthy,
I read history at Peterhouse, graduated in 1985,
and I'm the director of the Centre For Persian And Iranian
Studies at the University of Exeter.
APPLAUSE
Well, the rules are the same as for the student series.
Ten points for starter questions, they are solo efforts.
15 points at stake for bonuses. So, fingers on the buzzers, here's
your first starter for ten.
Described by the writer John O'Farrell as the paramilitary
wing of the London Stock Exchange, which joint-stock company
received its Royal Charter on New Year's Eve 1600?
Trading in cotton, silk, opium and tea,
it was, from the mid-18th century to the rebellion of 1857...
East India company. Correct.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses are on the works of Leonard Bernstein,
who was born in 1918.
Described as a series of related statements in praise of love,
Bernstein's 1954 orchestral piece Serenade was inspired
by the symposium of which Greek philosopher?
Plato.
Plato? Correct.
In 1953, which playwright suggested to Bernstein that they adapt
Voltaire's Candide for the theatre?
Her works include The Children's Hour and The Little Foxes.
Pass.
That was Lillian Hellman.
Finally, for which 1954 movie did Bernstein compose his first
and only score written directly for film?
It was directed by Elia Kazan and starred Marlon Brando.
THEY WHISPER
I think that's On The Waterfront. Yes.
On The Waterfront. Correct. Ten points for this.
"It is the month of December, and yet the whole city is in a sweat!
"Festivity at state expense is given unrestricted licence. I regard
"as correct the remark of the man
"who said, 'Once December was a month; now it's a year.'"
These words of the Roman philosopher Seneca
referred to which ancient festival?
Saturnalia. Saturnalia is correct.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses are on the theme of "You'll", broadly speaking.
You'll Never Walk Alone is a show tune from which 1945 musical
by Rodgers and Hammerstein?
Carousel.
Carousel. Correct.
You'll Never Eat Lunch In This Town Again is a 1991 autobiography
by which US film producer and writer?
Her films include The Sting,
Taxi Driver and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.
I can't remember her name.
No? Don't know.
SHE WHISPERS
No.
It's Julia Phillips.
And finally, You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine was
a 1976 hit for which US vocalist also noted for
Dead End Street and Tobacco Road?
No, thanks.
LAUGHTER That was Lou Rawls. Ten points for this.
"For us boys in the Cotswolds, Christmas always started on a
"star-bright night, never prearranged,
"but intuitively recognised."
Laurie Lee. Laurie Lee is correct.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses this time are on scientific concepts as
defined in Stephen Hawkins' A Brief History Of Time.
In each case, name the concept from the description.
Firstly, a thin tube of space time connecting distant regions of
the universe.
Wormhole? Yes. Wormhole.
Wormhole is correct.
Secondly, for a wave, the number of complete cycles per second.
Frequency. Frequency. Correct.
And finally, the quantity of matter in a body,
its inertia or resistance to acceleration.
Mass. Mass. Mass.
Mass is correct.
APPLAUSE We're going to take a picture round now.
For your picture starter, you'll see the final results for
the 2018 Ryder Cup Sunday singles matches, with two names omitted.
For ten points, I need both the missing names.
No golfers there?
Looks as if you're all going to not get anywhere.
It's Phil Mickelson and Francesco Molinari.
So we'll take the picture bonuses in a moment or two.
In the meantime, here's another starter question.
In Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol,
the Ghost of Christmas Present introduces Scrooge
to two wretched abject children...
Ignorance and Want. I'll accept that, yes.
I only wanted one of them, actually.
They'll do. Hard to please!
Thank you very much. You get the picture bonuses, then.
So, following on from the 2018 Ryder Cup singles results, you're going to
see three more lists of the results of Ryder Cup Sunday singles matches.
This time I want the year that each took place. Firstly...
THEY CONFER
Early... 1999? 1999.
No, it's 1991. Secondly...
Come on, let's have an answer, please.
2000?
2000. It was 2002 at the Belfry. And finally...
THEY CONFER
2005?
2005. It's 2012.
Right, ten points for this.
The Fort and Palace of Tipu Sultan
and the Indian Institute of Sciences are located
in which major city? The capital of Karnataka...
Mysore.
No. I'm afraid you lose five points.
The capital of Karnataka state, it is the location of numerous
hi-tech industries and has been called the Silicon Valley of India.
Mumbai. No.
It's Bangalore. So, ten points at stake for this.
The Mistletoe Murder appears in a 2016 collection of short
stories by which crime writer?
Born in Oxford in 1920, her first novel was published in 1962,
with the title Cover Her Face.
Ruth Rendell?
No. Anyone want to buzz from St Catherine's?
PD James? PD James is correct.
APPLAUSE
Right, your bonuses this time, St Catherine's, are on British Islands.
In each case, identify the island or islands from the description
in Ptolemy's Geography.
Vectis, an island located south of the settlement of
Magnus Portus on the island of Albion.
THEY CONFER
Isle of Wight. Correct.
Located to the East of Hibernia,
the islands called Mona and Monaoeda.
I need you to name both.
Shetland and Orkney.
No, it's Anglesey and the Isle of Man.
And finally, Scetis, near Albion Island and the Orcades
promontory is generally identified as which island?
Um, uh...
Ultima Thule.
No, it's Skye. Ten points for this.
In physics, what six-letter term
indicates the tendency of a force to rotate
the body to which it is supplied?
In archaeology it indicates a neck ornament won by the ancient
Gauls...?
Torque. Torque is correct.
APPLAUSE
St Catherine's, these bonuses are on the 60th anniversary of the
release of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
These three bonuses have answers that contain the letter
combination H-A-L - for example, inhale or apocryphal.
In each case, give the word from the description. Firstly,
which class of molluscs have well-developed heads
surrounded by prehensile tentacles? It includes ammonites,
nautiloids, squid and octopus?
No, sorry. The cephalopods.
The Greek, secondly for navel,
what word was used to name the sacred stone in the Temple of Apollo
at Delphi, which was thought to mark the central point of the Earth?
Omphalos. Correct.
In terms of molecular structure, a chemical that comes between
benzene and anthracene, it's a major ingredient of traditional mothballs.
Naphthalene.
Naphthalene.
Correct. APPLAUSE
Right, time for a music question, I think.
For your music starter you'll hear an excerpt from a symphony.
For ten points, name its composer.
ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS
Beethoven.
It is Beethoven, yes. APPLAUSE
That was part of the Storm section of Beethoven's Pastoral.
For your music bonuses, you're going to hear three more classical
indications of stormy weather. Name the composer, please, in each case.
Firstly, from a work of 1915.
ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS
It's Grieg. Grieg?
Grieg?
Grieg.
No, that's Richard Strauss, Thunder and Tempest from An Alpine Symphony.
Secondly, from an opera originally.
ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS
Peter Grimes.
Benjamin Britten.
Correct. It's from Peter Grimes, as you identified.
And finally.
ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS
Vivaldi.
It is Vivaldi, you're right - the final movement of Summer.
Right, ten points for this.
The 1961 gospel play Black Nativity was an international success
for which literary figure, born in Joplin, Missouri?
His other works include the short poem Harlem that begins,
"What happens to a dream deferred."
Langston Hughes.
Correct.
Right, your bonuses, St Catherine's, are on clubs that played
in the last 16 of the Uefa Champions League in early 2018.
In each case, identify the club.
Firstly, the name of which club comprises the locations
of two international treaties?
The former concluded war between France and Britain in 1763
and the latter was signed with Austria in 1919.
Livorno.
The Treaty of Livorno?
Lausanne?
We don't know the names of the teams, do we?
What was the... Lausanne...
..we think for the... Other Austrian treaties? Livorno?
Was it the Champions League, yes? No. We haven't got it, have we?
We don't know.
It's Paris Saint-Germain, PSG.
Which club is based in a major city close to the scene
of Mozart's opera The Marriage Of Figaro?
Vienna.
Vienna, but where? We're looking for a team, aren't we? Yes.
Vienna football team?
The Marriage Of Figaro would be Seville, wouldn't it?
Seville.
Correct. Sevilla.
And finally, which club is based in the city that was the birthplace
of the politicians Gladstone and Bessie Braddock?
Liverpool. Liverpool.
Liverpool.
Liverpool is correct. Well done.
Ten points for this.
Which two consecutive letters of the alphabet form the initials
of all of the following?
The first president of the American Equal Rights Association,
the director of The Thief Of Paris and Atlantic City
and the highest goal-scorer
in the history of the Argentinian national football team?
LM.
LM is correct. Well done.
Your bonuses are on species reintroduced into the UK
as depicted on a Royal Mail special edition from 2018.
Firstly, what is the common name of Pandion haliaetus?
Also known as the fish hawk,
its British population is found mainly in Scotland.
Osprey.
Correct. What two-word common name
is given to the reptile Lacerta Agilis?
Found in dry and coastal regions,
the male has green sides that brighten during the breeding season.
We'll pass.
That's a sand lizard.
And finally, Castor fiber is the Eurasian species of which rodent,
recently reintroduced to the Forest of Dean?
Beaver.
Beaver is correct. Ten points for this.
What word was originally used for a preparation drawing...
I... No. I didn't mean touch it. No idea. I'm so sorry.
I'm going to have to fine you five points anyway
because you cut everybody else out.
..was originally used for a preparation drawing on paper
for a picture later executed in a different medium,
such as oil or tapestry? The Oxford English...
Cartoon.
Cartoon is correct, yes.
You get a set of bonuses on debut albums of 1978. Oh, gosh!
Firstly, Power In The Darkness was the debut studio album
of which band named after its lead singer, a prominent gay activist?
Pass.
That was the Tom Robinson Band.
Secondly, Another Music In A Different Kitchen
was the debut album of which band from Greater Manchester?
Its name later appeared in the title of a BBC panel game.
Buzzcocks.
Buzzcocks.
Correct. Which London band released the album
Germfree Adolescence in 1978?
Its cover depicted the band members inside test tubes
with the lead singer Poly Styrene in the centre.
No idea. Pass.
That was X-Ray Spex.
Right, we're going to take another picture round now.
For your picture starter, you'll see a painting.
For ten points, please name the artist.
Bruegel.
Bruegel is correct, yes.
That was his The Harvesters.
Your picture bonuses are three more harvest scenes.
Again, I just want you to name the artist in each case. Firstly.
Bosch. I think it's Bosch. Bosch.
Bosch is correct. Secondly.
Is it Gauguin?
Gauguin? No.
Gauguin.
No, it's Millet. And finally.
Van Gogh. Van Gogh.
It is Van Gogh, near Arles.
Right, ten points for this.
Lalande, Lagrange, Laplace, Lavoisier and Legendre
are among the 18 names escribed on the Trocadero face
of which structure, completed in 1889?
Arc de Triomphe.
Anyone like to buzz from Peterhouse?
Eiffel Tower.
Eiffel Tower is correct, yes. Well done.
So you get three bonuses on a Latin word.
Firstly, what seven-letter Latin word means truth, fact or accuracy?
In a set expression, it follows the words "in vino"?
Veritas.
Veritas is correct.
The word Veritas appears on the seal of which US university,
founded in 1636?
Harvard. Harvard.
Correct.
The political party Veritas was founded in 2005
by which public figure and TV host?
Esther Rantzen.
No, it was Robert Kilroy-Silk.
Ten points for this.
What seven-letter name links the UK Prime Minister in 1910
and the US president in 1930?
Herbert.
Correct.
You get a set of bonuses on a temperature scale.
According to Ray Bradbury, what, in degrees Fahrenheit,
is the temperature at which book paper catches fire and burns?
451.
451.
451.
Correct.
In the Fahrenheit temperature scale,
at standard atmospheric pressure, the interval between the freezing
and boiling point of water is divided into how many degrees?
212.
212.
212, I think. 212.
No, that was the boiling point.
It's 32 to 212 - in other words, 180.
And finally, 50 degrees Fahrenheit
corresponds to how many degrees Celsius?
15?
12 or 13.
Try 13. 13.
No, it's ten. Right, ten points for this.
Which novel by Virginia Woolf was inspired in part by Knole House
in Kent and by members of the Sackville family who owned it?
The novel is subtitled A Biography.
Orlando.
Orlando is correct, yes.
Get these bonuses, you'll be on absolutely level pegging.
Three questions on anniversaries that fell in 2018.
2018 marks the 800th anniversary of the Treaty of Worcester.
This acknowledged the territorial acquisitions of Llywelyn the Great
and was signed early in the reign of which English king?
800, so 1218.
Would be what? 1218 would be John. John, I think.
Do we think it's John? John.
No, it was Henry III.
Which Lord Chancellor negotiated the Treaty of London in 1518?
It led to the meeting of Henry VIII and Francis I of France
at the Field of the Cloth of Gold two years later.
Thomas More. Thomas More.
No, it was Thomas Wolsey.
And finally, which treaty of 1918 ended the active participation
of Russia in the First World War?
Brest-Litovsk.
Correct.
Right, ten points for this.
Which semi-opera by Henry Purcell includes a frost scene
featuring a chorus and dance of the Cold People?
Its title character is a legendary ruler who is the subject...
King Arthur.
King Arthur is correct.
These bonuses are on US presidential assassinations.
Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre
in Washington in what year?
1874... Come on.
1880? No, that's too late.
1860...
1865. 1865.
Correct.
Secondly, which president died
80 days after being shot at a railway station in Washington?
He was succeeded by his vice-president Chester A Arthur.
We don't know. That was Garfield.
And finally, the Secret Service assumed official responsibility
for protecting US presidents after whose assassination in 1901?
Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson.
No, it was McKinley. Ten points for this.
A widespread theme of visual art,
the Jatakas are several hundred popular stories
of the former lives of which figure?
I'll tell you. It's the Buddha. Ten points for this.
Who is the only British Prime Minister to date to have won
the Nobel Prize for literature?
Sorry. Pass.
Oh, you don't want to answer.
Churchill.
Winston Churchill is correct. Winston Churchill.
That gives you the lead again and you get a set of bonuses
on books in the Virago Modern Classics series.
In each case, name the author from the titles.
First, the Sadeian Woman, The Passion Of New Eve
and The Magic Toyshop.
Any guesses? No.
Pass.
By Angela Carter.
Secondly, The Lost Traveller, The Sugar House and Frost In May.
No.
GONG That's by Antonia White.
So, St Catherine's, we're going to have to say goodbye to you.
Thank you very much for joining us, though.
Peterhouse, you left it pretty late, but you did it.
I don't know whether that will be
one of the four highest scores of a winning team,
but if it is, we'll look forward to seeing you again and if it's not,
we shall say goodbye to you, and you go home with your heads held high,
although clearly with a need to read some Virago classics.
Thank you both very much.
None of you had to do it but you just did it for fun.
I hope you can join us next time for another first-round match,
but until then it's goodbye from St Catherine's, Oxford.
ALL: Goodbye.
It's goodbye from Peterhouse, Cambridge.
ALL: Goodbye.
And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.
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