APPLAUSE
University Challenge.
Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.
Hello. Tonight's teams will
doubtless forgive us
for noticing that they present
a fractionally more mature
appearance than some of
the unnervingly freshfaced teams
we've seen in the past.
Whether their relative maturity
will pay dividends in the depth
and speed of their recall,
however, remains to be seen.
SOAS, or the School of Oriental
and African studies,
is a constituent college of
the University of London.
Located in Bloomsbury, it was
founded in 1916,
and is regarded as the UK's
leading specialist institution
teaching the languages, cultures
and societies of Asia, Africa
and the Near and Middle East, while
also enjoying a wholly unverified
reputation as a school for spies.
Its alumni include the explorer
and travel write Freya Stark
and the singer and activist
Paul Robeson.
The politicians Enoch Powell,
Aung San Suu Kyi and David Lammy
were students there, as were
the broadcasters Zeinab Badawi,
the writer Jung Chang and
the comedian Dom Joly.
With an average age of 34 and
representing around 6,000 students,
let's meet the SOAS team.
Hi, my name is Mark Thomas,
originally from Newcastle on Tyne,
and I'm studying global cinema.
Hi, my name is Chad Beaman,
I'm from London,
and I'm reading Japanese.
And their captain.
Hi, my name's Harriet Gemmill,
I'm originally from London,
and I'm studying for
a masters in Sinology.
Hi, I'm Tom Pollitt, from Bristol,
and I'm reading for
an LLM in international law.
APPLAUSE
Making its debut
in this competition,
Darwin College was founded in 1964
as the first college
in Cambridge exclusively
for graduates.
It was the result of an initiative
backed by Trinity, St John's
and Gonville and Caius.
It takes its name from the family
of Charles Darwin
and is situated on the River Cam
on land previously owned by them.
Alumni include the primatologist
Dian Fossey
and Sir Ian Wilmut, the leader of
the research group that led to
the cloning of Dolly the sheep.
Representing around 670 graduates
and with an average age
of a sprightly 37,
let's meet the Darwin team.
Hi, I'm Stuart McPherson, I'm from
Bothwell in South Lanarkshire,
and I'm studying for
a PhD in physics.
Hi, I'm Christopher Davis,
I'm from London via California,
and I'm pursuing a PhD
in plant sciences.
And their captain.
Hi, my name is Jason Golfinos,
I'm from New York City,
and I am pursuing an MPhil in
Asian and Middle Eastern studies.
Hello, I'm from Guy Mulley,
originally from Loughton in Essex,
studying for a postgraduate diploma
in law.
APPLAUSE
Right, you all know the rules,
so fingers on the buzzers,
here's your first starter for ten.
What gemstone has two main forms -
a sodium-aluminium silicate
that is usually white or green,
and a darker-coloured
calcium-magnesium-iron silicate
also called nephrite?
In China, it was
traditionally associated...
Jade?
Jade is correct.
APPLAUSE
You get a set of bonuses
on the world in 1997, Darwin.
Which US television series
first aired in August 1997?
It's often been described as
"carnivalesque" in academic studies,
which invoke the cultural theories
of Freud and Bakhtin,
whilst Channel 4 said it was
for people
coming back from the pub
with a curry.
Friends? Possibly, yeah.
Friends.
No, it was South Park.
"Love? What is it?
Most natural painkiller."
These words appear in the final
journal entry of which
US novelist who died in August 1997?
His works include Junkie
and Naked Lunch.
Um... That's William S Burroughs.
William S Burroughs.
Correct.
Give the single word that
completes this remark
by Mel C of the Spice Girls
in August 1997.
"If Oasis are bigger than God, what
does that make us? Bigger than...?"
Jesus? The universe or something?
Sure.
The universe.
No. Buddha.
Stupid thing to say.
Right, ten points for this.
In 2017, which US film-maker became
only the second woman to win
the best director prize at
the Cannes film Festival
when she received the award
for her film The Beguiled?
Kathryn Bigelow.
No, anyone like to buzz from SOAS?
No?
It's Sofia Coppola.
Ten points for this.
Crosby in November 1981
and Glasgow Hillhead in March 1982
were the first seats won
by which...?
SDP.
Indeed.
The Social Democratic Party, yes.
Right, so you get a set of bonuses
on miraculous births
in mythology, SOAS.
Which Greco-Roman goddess of love
and fertility is said to have
been born from sea foam after
the castrated genitals of Uranus
were thrown into the water?
Venus, isn't it?
No... Venus is wrong.
Yeah, Aphrodite was Greek.
Aphrodite.
Correct.
The god of light in ancient Persia,
which mythological figure is
said to have been born from a rock
carrying both a dagger and a torch?
THEY CONFER
Zoroaster.
No, it's Mithra.
Which Aztec god has a name
meaning feathered serpent
and was, according to some versions
of the myth,
born to
the virgin goddess Chimalmatl?
Quetzalcoatl.
Correct.
APPLAUSE
Ten points for this.
What four-letter word can mean
a person or thing that sets another
off to advantage and has its origin
in the thin leaf of metal that
a jeweller would place under
a precious stone
to increase its brilliancy?
It's also a name for
a light sword used in fencing.
Epee.
No. One of you buzz from Darwin.
Foil.
Foil is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
You get a set of bonuses on
th US astronomer Vera Rubin.
In the 1970s, Rubin found that stars
on the fringes of spiral galaxies
orbited at a similar velocity
to those much closer in.
This provided crucial evidence
for what component of the universe?
Dark matter. Dark matter.
Correct.
Rubin's evidence for the existence
of dark matter built on the theories
expounded in the 1930s
by which Swiss astronomer,
the first to use the virial theorem
to suggest its existence?
We don't have anything.
That was Fritz Zwicky.
And finally, Rubin's discovery was
based on spectral data that
revealed stellar motion
through what optical phenomenon
named after a 19th-century
Austrian physicist?
Doppler effect.
Correct.
We're going to take
a picture around now.
For you pictures starter,
you'll see a Latin phrase.
For ten points, give me the sense
of the phrase in English.
The good of the people is
the supreme...
Let the good of the people
be the supreme law.
That's correct. Yes, the welfare
of the people is the supreme law.
APPLAUSE
Following that observation
from Cicero
seen on mottos in coats of arms,
your picture bonuses are
three more Latin legal maxims
from the Oxford Dictionary of Law.
In each case, give the general sense
in English. Firstly...
Um, "I heard the other part"?
I heard the other part.
Yes, that's a translation.
The maxim is
"hear the other side". Secondly...
THEY CONFER
I'm not sure.
"Of whose alone it is,
it is also...to heaven".
You're just thinking aloud. Yes.
But not very cogently. No.
"Whoever owns land it is theirs up
to the heavens". Oh!
And finally...
"Ignorance of the law is
not an excuse". Correct.
Well done. Right, ten points
for this.
Precise observations of
what astronomical event helped
undermine belief in
the Aristotelian conception of
immutable celestial spears?
Orbit of Mars.
Nope.
I'm afraid you lose five points.
Um... I was actually going to
give you some more. Oh...!
I'm going to fine them five points
as well.
But you buzzed in, so you should
answer, really. OK! A supernova.
Correct, yes, that is right, yes.
You didn't need
the rest of the question.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses are on
the economist Robert Solow.
Solow is particularly known for
his growth model which attributes
long-term economic growth to labour,
capital and what other component?
THEY CONFER
Level of technology.
Correct. Yes, technological
innovation, technological change.
Solow's first exposure to empirical
economic research came while
working as a research assistant
to which Russian-born
US Nobel laureate?
He's credited with developing
the input-output method.
I don't know. Um...
Hyman Minsky.
No, it was Leontief.
And finally, a PhD student
under Solow,
who won the 2001 Nobel Prize
in economic sciences for laying
the foundation for the theory of
markets with asymmetric information?
Stiglitz?
Stiglitz.
Stiglitz is correct.
Ten points for this.
The Aphrodite of Knidos, which
Pliny the Elder considered to be
the finest statue in the world,
and Hermes and
the Infant Dionysus,
the only known surviving...
Praxiteles.
Praxiteles is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses are on video games
that have won
the British Academy Games Award
for Best Game.
In each case, give the title of
the game from the description.
Firstly, a 2007 first-person shooter
set in the underwater city
of Rapture, a failed utopia
based on objectivist philosophy.
BioShock.
BioShock is correct.
Secondly, a 2011 first-person puzzle
game set in the dilapidated
Aperture science research facility,
from which the protagonist Chell
can escape only by navigating
its disused test chambers.
It's a sequel to the game of 2007.
Portal 2.
Portal 2 is correct.
Finally, a 2013 third-person
adventure game set in
a post-apocalyptic USA in which
the protagonist Joel must escort
the teenager Ellie.
The Last Of Us.
What do you spend your time doing?!
Yes, well done.
Right, 10 points for this.
What five-letter name links
the third title figure in
David Hockney's portrait of
Mr and Mrs Clark,
Hotspur in Henry IV Part One...?
Harry.
No, and I'm afraid you lose
five points
for an incorrect interruption.
..and a fictional teenager
in novels by Rick Riordan?
Percy.
Percy is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses this time
are on an Asian empire.
The Ghaznavid dynasty ruled large
parts of central Asia
from the late 10th to
the 12th century.
It takes its name from a city
about 350 kilometres north-east
of Kandahar
in which present-day country?
Afghanistan. Correct.
Written for Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni
around the late-10th
and early-11th century,
the Book of Kings by Ferdowsi is
an epic poem in which language?
Persian.
Correct, Farsi, yes.
The Ghaznavids lost much of
their western lands
to which Turkic dynasty
after a major defeat in 1040?
The Seljuqs.
Correct. 10 points for this.
"You've done enough.
Have you no sense of decency, sir?"
Joseph McCarthy.
Indeed, correct.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses are on botany.
In each case, give the term
from the description.
All three begin with
the same Greek prefix.
Firstly, the structure that protects
the developing reproductive parts
of a flower.
It consists of the calyx
and the corolla.
Perianth.
The perianth.
Correct.
Consisting of phellogen,
phloem and phelloderm
the protective tissue that replaces
the epidermis in plants
with second regrowth.
Nominate Davis. Bark.
No, it's the periderm.
Finally, the wall of a fruit
that develops from
the maturing ovary wall.
Pericarp. Nominate Davies again.
Pericarp.
Correct. Right, we're going to
take the music round.
For your music starter,
you'll hear a piece of music
recorded by a noted big-band leader.
For 10 points,
give me the band leader's name.
SWING MUSIC PLAYS
Goodman.
Benny Goodman is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
In 1937, Time magazine labelled
Benny Goodman "the King of Swing".
Your music bonuses are
three more recordings by big-band
leaders from the swing era.
And, again, it is the band leader's
name I need for the points.
Firstly...
SWING MUSIC PLAYS
Duke Ellington.
It is Duke Ellington.
Take The A Train.
Secondly...
SWING MUSIC PLAYS
Fats Waller.
No, that's Count Basie.
And finally...
SWING MUSIC PLAYS
Ah, this is...
THEY CONFER
Glenn Miller?
Glenn Miller.
Yes, it is. In The Mood. Thank you.
SOAS, there's still plenty of
time for you to get going.
10 points for others.
First recorded in 1995, what
10-letter portmanteau word denotes
a person who specifically in order
to further social or political ends
tries to gain unauthorised access
to computer files or networks?
Hacker.
No.
One of you buzz, Darwin. You may
not confer. One of you can buzz.
It is a hacktivist.
Ten points for this.
Which composer at the court
of Louis XIV died after stabbing
himself in the...
Lully.
Lully is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
So, you get bonuses on
the US film director Julie Taymor.
Julie Taymor's films include Fool's
Fire, an adaptation of Hop-Frog,
a short story by which
US literary figure who died in 1847?
Um...
Could be Hawthorne. Again,
could be a lot of people.
It wouldn't be Hawthorne,
actually...
THEY CONFER
O'Henry.
No, it's Edgar Allan Poe.
Secondly, Taymor directed
a 1999 adaptation
of which revenge tragedy
by Shakespeare?
It stars Anthony Hopkins
and Jessica Lange.
Hamlet, right? Tragedy? Just want to
go with Hamlet?
Hamlet.
No, it's Titus Andronicus.
And finally, Salma Hayek played
which Latin American artist
in the title role of
a 2002 biographical film
directed by Taymor?
Frida Kahlo.
Correct.
Ten points for this.
The Sea of Tranquillity
and the Ocean of Storms...
The moon.
No, you lose five points.
..and the Ocean of Storms
were the landing places of which
two consecutive man
space missions?
Apollo 11 and Apollo 12.
Correct.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses are on
achievements in mathematics.
In 2014, Maryam Mirzakhani became
the first woman to be awarded
which leading mathematical medal?
THEY CONFER
Fields medal.
Correct.
Which African-American mathematician
calculated the return trajectory
for John Glenn's space capsule
in 1962?
THEY CONFER
Smith.
No, it was Katherine Johnson.
And finally, born in Tuscany
in 1820, who was the first woman
to be elected to
the Royal Statistical Society?
She is credited with developing
the polar area diagram.
THEY CONFER
Florence Nightingale.
Correct.
Ten points for this.
Relating to a palace presented
by the Emperor Constantine to
the Bishop of Rome,
what adjective is applied to
five ecumenical councils of
the Roman Catholic Church
held there from 1123 to 1517?
Diet of Worms.
No.
One of you buzz.
Lateran.
Lateran is correct.
APPLAUSE
You get some bonuses on the comedy
writing Chris Morris, Darwin.
In 2005, Morris collaborated
with Charlie Brooker
on which television series?
Its title character
describes himself as
a self-facilitating media node.
Is that Alan Partridge? No...
THEY CONFER
Alan Partridge.
No, it's Nathan Barley.
Secondly, what is the title
of Morris'
2010 film debut as a director?
It's a black comedy starring
Riz Ahmed, Kayvan Novak
and Adeel Akhtar is a group
of inept British jihadists?
Four Lions.
Correct.
Heavy electricity and the made-up
drug cake are among topics
covered in which a spoof current
affairs series created and
presented by Morris?
The Brass Eye.
Brass Eye is correct.
Right, ten points for
this starter question.
Named after an 18th-century French
navigator, the La Perouse Strait...?
Sakhalin and Hokkaido.
No, it's an incorrect interruption,
so you lose five points I'm afraid.
..separates Russia
from which country?
The country in question controlled
both sides of the strait
from 1905 until 1945.
Japan.
Correct.
APPLAUSE
Right, these bonuses are on
lesser-known languages of Europe.
In each case, name the branch of
the Indo-European family,
for example Celtic,
to which the following belong.
Firstly, Cimbrian, Swabian
and Ripuarian.
THEY CONFER
Germanic.
Correct.
Secondly, Kashubian, Silesian
and Lower Sorbian.
THEY CONFER
Slavic.
Correct.
And finally,
Friulian, Arpetan and Walloon.
THEY CONFER
Romance. Romance is correct.
Right, we're going to take
another picture round.
For your picture starter,
you will see a still from a film.
Ten points if you can give me
the film's title.
The Princess and the Frog.
Correct.
APPLAUSE
Points are points,
wherever they come from.
Right, so you get the picture
bonuses, you'll be pleased to hear.
The Princess and the Frog
was released in 2009.
It marked a brief return by Disney
to traditional hand-drawn animation.
Your picture bonuses are three
recent hand-drawn films
from other studios.
Five points for each film
you can name.
Firstly, for five, I'd like
the English title of this 2015 film.
WHISPERS: The Tale of
Princess Kaguya.
The Tale of Princess Kaguya.
Correct.
Secondly, I need
a four-word title here.
THEY CONFER
No.
That's the Irish film
Song of the Sea.
And finally, the exact title
of this film of 2017.
THEY CONFER
I think it's Finding Vincent.
He thinks it's Loving Vincent.
I think so.
Loving Vincent.
Correct.
10 points for this.
APPLAUSE
Which biblical figure is the subject
of the tragic drama by John Milton
that includes the lines,
"God, when he gave me
strength to show withall,
"how slight the gift..."
Samson.
Samson is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
From Samson Agonistes.
So you get a set of bonuses
on ancient seaports,
you'll be pleased to hear, SOAS.
The Phoenician alphabet
was developed
at the ancient seaport of Byblos,
now a major archaeological site
in which eastern
Mediterranean country?
Lebanon. Correct.
Which seaport at the mouth
of the River Tiber
was a base for the Roman Navy
during the Punic Wars and
developed into a major commercial
centre for the Roman Empire?
Ostia? Ostia.
Ostia. Correct.
St John is said to be buried
at which seaport
on the west coast of modern Turkey,
also the site of a
notable temple of Artemis?
Ephesus.
Ephesus. Correct.
APPLAUSE
Five and a half minutes to go,
ten points for this.
Which glandular organ of the human
body produces substances
that regulate the level of
glucose in the blood stream?
These include...
Gall bladder.
No, you lose five points,
I'm afraid.
..regulate the level of
glucose in the blood stream.
These include somatostatin,
glucagon and insulin.
The pancreas.
The pancreas is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses are on British birds.
In each case, give the common name
from the description.
All three answers are a single word
of three or four letters.
Firstly, Garrulus glandarius, a
colourful member of the crow family,
usually found in a woodland habitat.
THEY CONFER
I think we better have an answer.
Myna? No, it's a jay.
Fulica atra, a species of rail
slightly smaller than a moorhen.
They are black with a distinctive
white frontal shield and beak.
Nominate Davis.
Coot. Coot is correct.
And finally, Corvus frugilegus,
often seen in flocks in open fields.
A thinner beak and peaked head
distinguishes it
from the carrion crow.
Is it a rook?
Yes, yes, yes. Rook.
A rook. Rook is correct, yes.
Ten points for this.
APPLAUSE
In electronics and,
more colloquially,
in discussions of the
amount of useful information
available on a website,
what ratio is often
abbreviated to S to N?
Signal-to-noise.
Signal-to-noise is right.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses now are on
Charles Dickens. In each case,
name the novel in which the
following sisters are found.
Firstly, Lady Dedlock
and Miss Barbary.
THEY CONFER
Little Dorrit.
No, there's a Mrs Barbary in Little
Dorrit but, no, it's Bleak House.
Isabella and Emily Wardle, secondly.
THEY CONFER
Little Dorrit again.
No, that's in the Pickwick Papers.
And, finally,
Charity and Mercy Pecksniff.
THEY CONFER
Great Expectations?
Oliver Twist.
No, it's Martin Chuzzlewit.
There's about three
and a bit minutes to go,
and another starter question.
Scheelite and wolframite are
major ores of which metallic...?
Tungsten.
Tungsten is correct.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses now
are on astronomy, SOAS.
Alioth, Sargas, Mirach and Alnitak
are among the 227 names
appearing in a catalogue
published by the International
Astronomical Union in 2016.
It defines approved names
for what objects?
THEY CONFER
Come on.
Asteroids.
No, it's stars.
In this catalogue, what is the
IAU-approved name for the star
otherwise designated
as Alpha Centauri A?
THEY CONFER
Proxima Centauri.
No, it's Rigil Kentaurus.
And what name was approved for
Rigil Kentaurus's companion,
currently the closest
star to the sun?
This one's Proxima...
This one's Proxima Centauri.
It is, yes.
APPLAUSE
Ten points for this.
Which Baltic port lies close
to the mouth of the River Oder?
Its German name was memorably
used by Churchill
in his Iron Curtain speech...
Gdansk.
Nope.
..in his Iron Curtain Speech
of 1946.
I'm afraid it was a
technical interruption,
so you're going to lose five points.
Stettin? Stettin is correct.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses are on perpetual
trophies in Test cricket.
In each case, identify the team
that plays England
to win the trophy in question.
Firstly, the Wisden Trophy,
first awarded in 1963.
THEY CONFER
West Indies.
Correct.
Secondly, the Pataudi Trophy
and the Anthony de Mello Trophy.
South Africa, maybe?
South Africa?
No, it's India.
Finally, the
Basil D'Oliveira Trophy.
THEY CONFER
Come on.
We have nothing.
That is the South Africa contest.
Right, ten points for this.
Deoxidising greys and
chemical rays were early names
for which region of the
electromagnetic spectrum...?
X-ray.
Nope. You lose five points.
..situated between
visible light and X-rays?
Ultraviolet.
Ultraviolet is correct.
APPLAUSE
You get a set of bonuses now
on an island.
The Pomare dynasty held power in
which South Pacific island kingdom
for the majority
of the 19th century?
It became a French colony in 1880.
New Caledonia?
French colony...
Come on.
South Pacific... Tahiti?
Let's go with Tahiti.
Tahiti. Correct.
Which Russian composer adapted
Vincent Youmans' song Tea For Two
as an orchestral version called the
Tahiti Trot in 1928?
Who was around the right time?
What do you reckon?
Shostakovich? Shostakovich?
GONG
APPLAUSE
You were doubtless about
to say Shostakovich,
but you were a little too late.
Thank you very much for joining us.
You're a nice team.
Thank you very much.
Darwin, congratulations to you,
we shall look forward to seeing you
in the next stage of the contest.
I hope you can join us for another
first-round match. But until then,
it's goodbye from the School of
Oriental and African Studies.
ALL: Goodbye.
And it's goodbye from
Darwin College Cambridge.
ALL: Goodbye.
And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.
APPLAUSE
