APPLAUSE
University Challenge.
Asking the questions - Jeremy Paxman.
Hello. Two places remain in the semifinal,
so whoever wins tonight will join St Peter's College, Oxford,
and Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, in the penultimate stage
of this contest.
Now, the team from the University of Bristol got here
by beating the Courtauld Institute,
the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
and Oxford Brookes University.
The only blot on their record is a defeat at the hands
of Liverpool University in their first quarterfinal match,
which has put them behind their desks again
seeking their second quarterfinal win.
Let's meet the Bristol team again.
Hello, I'm Lewis Rendell. I'm from Saffron Walden in Essex
and I'm studying mathematics.
Hello, I'm Benjamin Moon, from Marksbury in Bath
in northeast Somerset,
and I'm studying for a PhD in geology,
researching ichthyosaur systematics and taxonomy.
And this is their captain.
Hi, I'm Anastasia Reynolds. I'm originally from Leytonstone
in East London and I'm reading Czech and Russian.
Hi, I'm Miles Coleman. I'm from North London
and I'm studying Spanish and Portuguese.
APPLAUSE
Now, the team from Magdalen College, Oxford,
have already seen off Pembroke College, Cambridge,
and the Open University.
They trounced Trinity College, Cambridge,
in their first quarterfinal.
The last time we saw them though,
despite leading for much of the match,
they were beaten by Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge,
and so they too are here seeking their second quarterfinal win.
Let's meet the Magdalen team again.
Hello, I'm Harry Gillow.
I'm from Stone, in Staffordshire, and I'm reading classics.
Hi, I'm Chris Savory from Burgess Hill, West Sussex.
I'm reading chemistry.
- This is their captain. 
- Hello, my name is Hugh Binnie.
I live near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire,
and I'm also reading chemistry.
Hi, I'm Cameron J Quinn, originally from Los Angeles,
California, and I read philosophy and French.
APPLAUSE
OK, let's just go straight into it. Fingers on the buzzers.
Here's your first starter for ten.
In 2012, which structure replaced the
Itaipu Power Plant in Brazil
and Paraguay as the world's largest hydroelectric dam in terms of...
Three Gorges.
Correct.
Well done.
Right, your first set of bonuses are on border cities, Magdalen College.
Its name meaning 'the crossing' in Spanish, which city in Texas
lies on the Rio Grande opposite Ciudad Juarez in Mexico?
THEY CONFER IN HUSHED VOICES That's the cross...
- El...El Paso. 
- El Paso.
Correct.
The second largest in Pakistan, which city
lies around 20 miles from the border with India due west of Amritsar?
THEY CONFER QUIETLY
Lahore.
Correct. Which African capital lies on the opposite
bank of the River Congo to the city of Brazzaville?
- Kinshasa. 
- Kinshasa.
Correct.
Ten points for this.
In molecular biology,
what enzyme has a role in repairing single strand breaks in duplex
DNA by catalysing the formation of a phosphodiester bond
between the two newly formed ends of the broken strand?
Ligase.
Yes, DNA ligase. Of course, yes.
Right, you get a set of bonuses on British wildlife this time.
In each case, give the common name of the following -
what is the common name of Regulus regulus?
According to the RSPB website,
it vies with the firecrest for the title of the smallest British
bird and has a characteristic yellow and black stripe on its head.
- Goldcrest. 
- Goldcrest.
Correct.
Sorex minutus secondly,
weighing about 4g is the smallest British mammal.
What's its two-word common name?
- Shrew? 
- It's a shrew.
- Pygmy shrew? 
- Yeah. 
- Pygmy shrew.
Correct.
What is the common name of Natrix natrix, Britain's largest reptile?
THEY CONFER QUIETLY
- Adder? 
- I don't know. 
- Grass snake, do you think? 
- Grass snake.
Grass snake.
Correct. Ten points for this.
Vincent van Gogh's
paintings of sunflowers were
produced between 1887 and his death in 1890.
What flowers did he depict in numerous other...
Irises.
Correct.
These bonuses, Magdalen, are on kings of England.
Edward IV and Richard III were both three-time direct
descendants of which king
through the separate lines of his sons
Lionel of Antwerp, John of Gaunt and Edmund of Langley?
THEY WHISPER
- Edward III. 
- Edward III.
Correct. James I of England was a two-time direct descendant of which
English King via a grandson
and a granddaughter of that king's daughter Margaret?
THEY CONFER QUIETLY
- The king's daughter Margaret. 
- Do you think Henry VII?
Henry VII.
Correct. King Stephen and the rival claimant to the throne, Matilda,
were both grandchildren of which king?
THEY CONFER QUIETLY
- No, no, no. Grandchildren. 
- Oh, yeah.
- It's William the Conqueror, yeah. 
- William the Conqueror.
Correct.
Ten points for this.
Poisoned Arrows and Amazon Watershed are investigative travel books
by which environmentalist and political commentator?
He claims that little progress has been made towards
the solutions for global justice that he proposed in his 2003 work
The Age Of Consent: A Manifesto For A New World Order.
Um, George Monbiot.
Yes.
Right, these bonuses, Bristol, are on hope.
Give the sense or the usual translation of the Italian
inscription written about the gates of hell
in Dante's Inferno.
BOTH: Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
Correct. An Italian inscription meaning
'I essay much, I hope little, I ask nothing'
appears at the end of which work by Edward Elgar
first performed in 1899?
Italian...
I don't know, First Symphony?
- First Symphony? 
- Yeah.
- Uh... Sorry? His First Symphony? 
- Yeah. 
- His First Symphony.
No, it was the Enigma Variations.
And finally, 'life's short span forbids us to enter
'on far reaching hopes.'
That's a translation of a line from the odes of which lyric poet
born in Southern Italy in 65 BC.
Horace had odes, didn't he?
I don't know.
No, cos Horace... I don't think Horace was...
- I don't know when he was born. 
- It might be... Oh, man.
Oh, God. He...
Could be Statius.
No, it's too early. Ovid. Try Ovid.
- Yeah. 
- Ovid.
- No, it's Horace. 
- Oh, sorry.
Right, a picture round now.
For your picture starter, you'll see a map of part of the British Isles
marked with four locations whose name share a common prefix.
For ten points, I want the word that connects all these places.
Bath.
BUZZER
- West. 
- No, it's Castle.
Castle Combe, Castleford,
Castle Douglas, and Castlebar.
So picture bonuses shortly,
in the meantime, here's another starter question.
Popularly referred to as the Salzburg Symphonies,
Mozart's K. 136-138 are often known by what a Italian term
denoting a piece of light recreational music?
The term is similar to an English word meaning to turn something
aside from its proper course, for example, a river.
- Divertimenti. 
- Correct.
You'll recall the picture starter showed you a common prefix.
You'll see for your bonuses, three maps marked with
locations whose English names begin with the same three letters.
This time,
five points for each three-letter combination you can name.
Firstly, for five...
INDISTINCT MURMURING
Do we have any idea at all?
- S-H-E. 
- No, it's D-O-N.
Donegal, Doncaster, and Donaghadee. Secondly...
INDISTINCT MURMURING
- No, that's Manchester. 
- Yeah.
- M-A-N. 
- No, it's R-A-M.
Ramsgate, Ramsbottom and Ramsey was the place on the Isle of Man.
Finally...
INDISTINCT MURMURING
- C-A-R. 
- Correct. Yes.
Carnoustie, Carlisle, Carmarthen, and Carlow.
Right, ten points for this.
In physics, the Stefan-Boltzmann law states that the total
energy radiated by a black body per unit surface area per unit time
is proportional to what...?
- Four. 
- Correct.
These bonuses are on number theory.
In number theory, what adjective is applied to two integers
that have the same remainders when divided by a third integer?
- We don't know. 
- Congruent.
Secondly, after a French mathematician,
what three-word name is commonly given to the theorem
that X to the power of P is congruent to X modulo P,
where X is an integer and P is a prime number?
- Fermat's little theorem. 
- Correct.
What is the smallest positive integer X
for which 3X is congruent to 1 modulo 7?
- Five. 
- Correct.
Ten points for this.
Describing an ethical theory in which the good is based
on the pursuit of self interest,
what term is often confused with a longer word...?
- Egoism. 
- Correct.
Right, your bonuses, Magdalen College,
are on Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
The name Harry is given to two prominent characters
in Shakespeare's history plays.
One becomes Henry V, the other is a rebellious noblemen
killed at the Battle of Shrewsbury and known by what epithet?
- Hotspur. 
- Correct.
In a scene that has been interpreted in various ways,
by what process is the character of Hermione able to rejoin
the action of the play in Act 5, Scene 3 of The Winter's Tale?
INDISTINCT MURMURING
- Does she come to life from a statue? 
- She does indeed, yes.
Although Shakespeare failed to give the name Ronald
to any of his characters... God, this is laboured.
..Reynaldo appears in Hamlet as a servant
to which statesmen who asked him to investigate the morals of his son?
- Polonius. 
- Correct. Well done.
Ten points for this.
Listen carefully and give me the spelling of the seven-letter answer.
In microbiology, what is the primary electron donor
and energy source for the nitrifying bacterium Nitrobacter?
Sucrose.
I'm asking for the spelling, that's an incorrect answer.
- S-U-C-R-O-S-E. 
- No.
LAUGHTER
- Worth a shot. 
- It was worth a shot if you didn't know anything.
Nitrite is N-I-T-R-I-T-E.
Right, ten points for this.
In 1863, which sport club based in South London
distanced itself from the other members of The Football Association
in a dispute over whether hacking,
in other words kicking an opponent's shins, should be permitted.
It later played a leading role in the development of Rugby Union.
Harlequins.
No. Anyone like to go from Bristol?
Millwall.
I see where you are going with that but it's wrong.
It's Blackheath. Ten points for this.
Deriving from an idea advanced by Blaise Pascal,
and referring to a lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony,
what two-word term indicates an approach to history that
highlights the role of chance...?
Oh, um, Cleopatran.
No, I'm afraid you lose five points.
..the role of chance happenings in major events?
- Chancism. 
- No, it's Cleopatra's nose.
Ten points for this.
Varieties of what pursuit link an alternative
name for the Jolly Roger to use arrogant or boastful language,
a floating platform used as a landing stage,
the upper bony part of the nose, and a metal rod used to stir a fire?
- Card games. 
- Yes.
Your bonuses are on languages of Russia.
Firstly, with around five million speakers,
the Tatar language belongs to which large language family named
after a collection of ethnic groups rather than a geographical feature?
INDISTINCT MURMURING
Slavic.
No, it's Turkic.
Spoken by around half a million people,
the Buryat language of Siberia is most closely related to the
main language of which country neighbouring Russia?
Siberia...
INDISTINCT SPEECH
I have no idea.
Finnish. Finland.
No, it's Mongolia.
Finally, partially intelligible with Ingush,
which north-central Caucasian language is spoken by around
a million people in the Russian republic whose capital is Grozny?
I would say it's Chechen.
Chechen is the language, is it?
- Chechen. 
- Chechen.
Chechen is correct, yes.
Right, we are going to take a music round now.
For your music starter, you will hear a piece of classical music.
For ten points, all you have to do is to name the composer.
MUSIC PLAYS
Chopin.
Chopin is correct. It was an etude in E Opus 10 Number 3.
So, we follow on from that etude with your bonuses.
Three more studies or etudes, in other words,
pieces written to showcase and hone musical technique.
In each case, I simply want the name of the composer.
Firstly, this Hungarian composer.
MUSIC PLAYS
SPEECH OBSCURED BY MUSIC
Do we know any other Hungarian composers?
I'd go for Liszt.
Liszt.
Just as well that was the one you knew. That's right.
Secondly, this Russian composer.
MUSIC PLAYS
- Rachmaninov? 
- Yes. Rachmaninov.
- How do you feel about Rachmaninov? 
- Not very good.
- OK? 
- Yep. 
- Rachmaninov.
Very good. And finally, this Italian composer.
MUSIC PLAYS
- I think that's Paganini. 
- Paganini?
Paganini.
Correct.
Ten points for this starter question.
Mr Compass, a scholar mathematic, Dr Rut, physician to the house,
Mistress Placentia and her aunt, Lady Loadstone,
the Magnetic Lady of the title, our characters in a comedy
of humours first performed in 1632 and written by which dramatist?
Ben Jonson.
Correct.
Bonuses are on organic chemistry, Bristol.
With the trivial name paraffins, what is the systematic
name for saturated hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n+2?
- Alkanes. 
- Alkanes, yeah.
Alkanes.
Correct. What is the general formula of cyclo-alkanes?
- CnH2n. 
- CnH2n? 
- Yes.
CnH2n.
Correct.
And finally, with one, two, three and four carbon atoms,
what are the first four linear alkanes?
They are all gaseous in normal conditions.
Methane. Ethane.
Propane. Butane.
- Methane, ethane, propane, butane? 
- Yes.
Methane, ethane, propane, butane.
Correct.
Ten points for this.
In environmental science, what term describes the extensive open
tropical and subtropical grassland with scattered trees and shrubs?
Savanna.
Correct.
These bonuses are on literature, Bristol.
In 1998, Jose Saramago became the first writer of which
nationality to win the Nobel Prize for Literature?
He's Brazilian. Oh, wait. Is he Portuguese?
Oh, God, I should know this. I should really know this.
- Brazilian. 
- Brazilian? Brazilian.
- No, he was Portuguese. 
- THEY GROAN
Born in 1888, which Portuguese poet is noted for writing under
an unusually large number of assumed names,
each associated with a different literary style and personality?
Fernando Pessoa.
- I'm going to nominate you, all right? 
- Yes, go.
Nominate Coleman.
Fernando Pessoa.
Correct. Which Portuguese poet of the 16th century
wrote the epic The Lusiads?
Um... Camoes.
- Nominate Coleman. 
- Camoes.
Correct. Ten points for this. Listen carefully.
Answer as soon as your name is called.
Take the number of UK Prime Ministers in office from 1910
to 1920 and multiply it by the number in office from 1980 to 2000.
What number results?
Nine.
No.
12.
No, it's six. Asquith and Lloyd George in the first one.
Multiplied by Thatcher, Major and Blair.
Ten points for this. John Bradley, Rene Gagnon
and Ira Hayes were US servicemen who both
survived the World War II battle and in a memorable photograph,
managed to raise the US...
Okinawa.
No. You lose five points.
..to raise the US flag on which...
Iwo Jima.
Iwo Jima is correct, yes.
Your bonuses are on shorter words that may be made using
any of the ten letters of the word curvaceous.
In each case, give the word from the definition.
From a French word, firstly,
the light greyish-yellow colour of unbleached linen?
- Is it ecru? 
- Ecru. 
- Ecru? 
- Yeah.
Ecru.
Correct. After a variety of Swiss cheese, a geographical term meaning
an unstable pinnacle or tower of ice on the surface of a glacier?
- I don't know. 
- No. 
- No.
Corvet? No.
- Do you want me to say corvet? 
- Yeah, I mean, it's...
Corvet?
No, it's serac. And finally,
the French name of the island whose cities include Bastia and Ajaccio?
- That's Corsica. 
- Corse.
- Corse? 
- Corse.
Corse. Corsica.
- Yes. C-O-R-S-E. 
- That's right, yeah.
Ten points for this.
The settling of Octavian's army on land,
confiscated from the family of which Roman poet,
is thought to have been part of the inspiration
for his verse collection, The Eclogues, first...
Virgil.
Virgil is correct, yes.
These bonuses, Magdalen College, are on Europe in the 1930s and '40s.
The Iron Guard was a name used from 1930 for a fascist
movement in which European country?
- Hungary? I don't know. 
- What do you think?
INDISTINCT MURMURING
I really don't know. I'm just guessing.
If you think you've got a good answer...
They both said Hungary?
Hungary.
No, it was Romania.
In May 1939, which two countries signed the military alliance
known as the Pact of Steel?
Italy and Germany.
Italy and Germany.
Correct. In a 1946 speech, Winston Churchill said that
an 'iron curtain' had descended, from Stettin in the Baltic
to which city on the Adriatic?
Trieste.
Correct. We'll take a second picture round now.
You will see a photograph of a 20th-century American poet.
Ten points if you can name him.
Frost.
It is Robert Frost, yes.
He was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on four occasions.
For your bonuses, three more photographs of Pulitzer
prize winners, all of whom have received the award twice.
Give the name of the winner in each case.
Firstly, this writer who received awards for both non-fiction
and fiction.
INDISTINCT MURMURING
Do you have any suggestions?
- Bronski. 
- Brodsky.
Brodsky.
No, that's Norman Mailer.
Secondly, this writer who won twice for fiction.
Oh, that's... Isn't that Hemingway?
Hemingway?
Hemingway.
No. That's William Faulkner.
Finally, this writer who won twice for drama.
Tennessee Williams.
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Tennessee Williams.
Correct. Another starter question.
In geometry, what is the formula for calculating
the volume of a cone with a base radius R and height H?
1/3 H Pi R-squared.
Correct.
A set of bonuses on fictional colleges.
In which novel of 1911 by Max Beerbohm does the title
character visit her grandfather at Oxford
where he is the warden of the fictional Judas College?
It's a woman.
Are you getting there?
Oh! Zuleika...
Nominate Quinn.
Zuleika Dobson.
Zuleika Dobson's correct. Malapert College, Cambridge,
features in which author's 1987 novel Redback?
He went on to win the Booker Prize in 2010.
Jacobs... No. Jacobson is 2010, yes.
- Jacobson? 
- Yes. 
- Jacobson.
Howard Jacobson's right.
Fernham, an imaginary institution apparently
based on Newnham College, Cambridge,
was created by which author in her 1929 essay A Room Of One's Own?
Woolf.
Correct. Virginia Woolf's right. Ten points for this.
The name of which street
and district in south-west London has six consecutive consonants.
It comprises the area south of Hyde Park and north west of Belgravia.
Knightsbridge.
Correct.
These bonuses are on cells of the immune system.
Crucial to clotting,
what is the common term for a mammalian thrombocyte?
Plasma? Or is it a plasmid?
- Oh, platelet? 
- Platelet.
Platelet.
Correct. The cytoplasm of what cells in the bone marrow
segment to form platelets?
Um...
- White blood cells? 
- Yeah.
- How do you feel about white blood cells, Miles? 
- Very positive.
White blood cells.
No, they're megakaryocytes.
Phagocytic Kupffer cells, capable of ingesting platelets
and other cells, are found in the lining of what organ?
The skin? The liver?
No, no, no.
- Intestines? 
- Possibly. 
- Come on, let's have it, please.
- Kidneys. 
- Kidneys.
No. It's the liver. OK, here is another starter question.
Answer as soon as your name is called.
Giving your answer in Roman numerals,
what is LX multiplied by XI?
DCLX.
Correct.
660. Your bonuses this time are on a dramatic form.
Pantomime developed from which form of travelling street theatre?
It originated in Italy in the 16th century and came to be known
by a term meaning roughly 'comedy of the craft.'
Commedia dell'arte.
Correct. Traditionally a dull-witted servant with a hooked nose
and a wart on his forehead, which commedia character
gave his name to a ballet of 1920 by Stravinsky?
Pulcinella.
- Is it? 
- Yes. Say that.
- Nominate Quinn. 
- Pulcinella.
Correct. Which character was created by Tristano Martinelli as
a witty servant and capricious lover?
His dictionary entry inspired the renaming of the rugby team
Hampstead Football Club in 1870.
Harlequins.
Correct. Ten points for this.
In which European capital city are the Steiner House
and the Scheu House, designed in the early 20th century
by the modernist architect Adolf Loos?
Vienna.
Vienna is correct, yes.
Your bonuses are on waterfalls, Magdalen College.
Which Canadian province
and which US state lie on either side of the Niagara Falls?
INDISTINCT CONVERSATION
Ontario and New York.
Correct. About 30 miles higher than the Niagara Falls,
the Iguacu Falls lie on the border between which two countries?
Ecuador and...
INDISTINCT
Ecuador and Colombia.
No. Argentina and Brazil.
Finally, the Victoria Falls lie on the Zambezi River on the border
between which two countries?
INDISTINCT SPEECH
Is it?
Zambia and... Congo?
Zambia and Congo.
Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
No, it's Zambia and Zimbabwe.
There is about 30 seconds to go and ten points for this.
Sometimes experienced during air travel and caused by changing
air pressure, barotitis affects which organ of the body?
Veins.
No, I'm afraid you lose five points.
Lungs.
No, it's the ear. Ten points for this.
From the late 13th century, Osman, Orhan, Murad and Bayezid were the...
Ottoman Empire.
Correct.
Your bonuses now are on airports.
- In 2006, the international airport of which... 
- GONG
And at the gong, Bristol University have 115.
Magdalen College have 250.
We've enjoyed having you with us, Bristol,
but it's the end of the road for you, I'm afraid.
Many congratulations, Magdalen College.
We look forward to seeing you in the semifinals. Congratulations.
I hope you can join us next time for the last quarterfinal match.
Until then, it's goodbye from Bristol University...
- Goodbye. 
- It's goodbye from Magdalen College, Oxford...
- Goodbye. 
- And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye.
