Christmas University Challenge.
APPLAUSE
Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.
Hello. Tonight, it's the last of the first-round matches
in this seasonal competition
for people whose student days are behind them,
in some cases, really rather far behind them,
but who are still prepared to compete for the honour
of the institution that honed their intellects.
We already know that the University of Bristol, King's College London
and Peterhouse - Cambridge are through to the semifinal stage.
If tonight's winners can score 135 or more,
they'll definitely go through, too.
Now, the first player for the team from Edinburgh University
sustained injuries in a bomb blast,
after which he competed in the inaugural Invictus Games in 2014.
He now reports on those games,
as well as the Commonwealth Games and the London Marathon.
With him, the Justice and Home Affairs spokesperson for the SNP.
Before she went into politics,
she was ranked by the Legal 500 directory
as one of Scotland's leading QCs.
Their captain is an actor, composer,
stand-up comedian and author of science fiction,
who for over 15 years was the resident songwriter on Radio 4's The Now Show.
Their fourth player is a medic who also writes.
He's won the Scottish Book of the Year,
and his work has been translated into 18 languages.
Let's meet the Edinburgh team.
I'm JJ Chalmers, I graduated with a Bachelor of Education
from Edinburgh University in 2009, and I worked as a teacher
before deploying to Afghanistan with the Royal Marines.
And now, somehow, I'm a TV presenter.
Hi, I'm Joanna Cherry.
I graduated in 1988 with an LLB,
and now I'm the Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South West.
This is their captain.
Hello, I'm Mitch Benn.
I scraped a 2:2 in Modern Languages in 1992,
and these days I pretty much make it up as I go along.
Hi, I'm Gavin Francis.
In 1996, I took a first in Neuroscience,
and in 1999, an Honours in Medicine.
APPLAUSE
Now, their opponents, representing the London School of Economics,
include an expert on financial markets and monetary policy,
who has acted as a specialist adviser
to the Commons Treasury committee and central banks around the world.
With him, a prolific and award-winning writer
who's contributed to virtually every heavyweight British journal and newspaper.
She's interviewed 14 Nobel laureates and hundreds of cultural figures,
from Umberto Eco to Oprah Winfrey.
She's been a judge for numerous literary awards,
as well as being a frequent broadcaster on television and radio.
Their captain is a broadcaster and critic
whose writing has been nominated for an Orwell Prize.
He's in an unrivalled position to stimulate cultural debate
in the UK, as the chair of the committee that decides
what artwork goes on Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth.
Their fourth player is the prolific author
of a diverse canon of non-fiction,
including The End Of Innocence, a study of AIDS in Britain,
for which he won the Somerset Maugham Prize.
Let's meet the team from the LSE.
Hello, I'm Jagjit Chadha.
I graduated in Economics and Economic History in 1990,
and I'm currently the director
of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research in Westminster.
Hello. I'm Maya Jaggi.
I have a Masters in International Relations with distinction from LSE,
where I studied in the 1980s in my hometown of London,
after PPE at Oxford.
Since then, I've been a writer, cultural journalist,
presenter and critic, writing about culture from all over the world.
This is their captain.
I'm Ekow Eshun, I graduated with a degree in Government and History,
and I'm a writer and a curator.
Hello, I'm Simon Garfield. I graduated in the early 1980s,
but I spent most of my time at the LSE
working on the student newspaper, which is called The Beaver.
Since then, I've been a journalist and an author.
APPLAUSE
Well, the rules are the same as for the students,
so fingers on the buzzers. Here's your first starter for ten.
What weather condition connects
Ded Moroz, the Russian equivalent of Father Christmas,
the US poet who wrote The Road Not Taken,
and a British broadcaster...?
Frost.
Frost is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses are on the eight finalists of
the ITV2 dating reality show Love Island, you'll be thrilled to hear,
broadcast in the summer of 2018. LAUGHTER
Firstly, which of the eight finalists shares a first name
with Celia Johnson's character in the 1945 film Brief Encounter,
and a surname with the first England bowler to take 500 Test wickets?
I need a given name and surname.
Is it Dolly Anderton?
Dolly...? Dolly Anderton.
Dolly Anderton.
No, it's Laura Anderson.
Close! Bad luck.
I don't know whether it's reassuring or not that you were so...
LAUGHTER ..came so close.
Secondly, Josh Denzel's partner in third place
has a first name closely resembling that of four Kings of Poland.
The third, known as the Great, reigned from 1333 to 1370.
What is that contestant's first name?
THEY CONFER
OK, pass.
It was Kazimir.
And finally, Wes shared fourth place with Megan Barton-Hanson.
His surname is that of which paramour of Lady Emma Hamilton,
who died in battle in October 1805?
Nelson.
Nelson is right, yes.
APPLAUSE
Right, ten points at stake for this.
Fingers on the buzzers.
Broadcasters on which long-running radio programme
share surnames with the author of The Magic Mountain,
Richard Nixon's first Vice President...?
Mann.
No.
..Richard Nixon's first Vice President...
You lose five points, by the way.
..a land agent who was ostracised in 19th-century Ireland,
and a fictional wrongdoer created by Ian Fleming?
Oh... That's...
You have to buzz. One of you has to buzz.
Thomas.
I've got to accept that.
You buzzed in. Your captain, I think, probably knew it, but...
I...I didn't know... I didn't know I had to buzz in. I'm sorry.
Well, you... It's just a button on your desk! Just press it!
LAUGHTER
It's Test Match Special. Yeah, I know!
LAUGHTER
Buzz next time. Yes.
Right, here's another starter question.
What is 96930 in Finland,
XM45HQ in the UK,
and H0H 0H0 in Canada?
The emergency number. Nope.
Anyone want...? You may not confer. One of you can buzz.
It's Father Christmas' postcode.
LAUGHTER
OK, ten points for this.
Zhi Dong in China, Yalda in Iran and Inti Raymi in Peru
are celebrations of the supposed return of the sun
following what astronomical...?
The longest night. Yes, that's correct.
APPLAUSE
You get a set of bonuses on an artist and designer.
Born in 1879, which British artist was given her first major
solo retrospective at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in 2017?
The exhibition included her landscape Studland beach
and portraits of Lytton Strachey and Virginia Woolf.
THEY CONFER
Say Vanessa Bell. Vanessa Bell? Try it.
OK, we'll try Vanessa Bell.
It is Vanessa Bell, well done.
Secondly, together with Duncan Grant and Roger Fry,
Bell was a co-director of which Bloomsbury-based
cooperative for the decorative arts?
Works by its members were shown anonymously,
marked only with a Greek symbol.
What do you reckon?
Greek symbol... Pi or something?
Greek symbol? Pi?
Pi.
No, they were the Omega Workshops.
Bell designed 38 book covers for which publishing house,
founded in 1917 by Virginia and Leonard Woolf?
Is it Bloomsbury?
THEY CONFER
OK. We're going...
Bloomsbury.
No, it was the Hogarth Press.
Right, we're going to take a picture round now.
For your picture starter, you're going to see a map
with the location of a major city marked.
10 points if you can identify the city.
New Orleans.
It is New Orleans. Yes, well done.
APPLAUSE
In 2018, New Orleans celebrated the 300th anniversary
of its founding by the French.
For your bonuses, you're going to see the locations
of three more major US cities that have French origins.
Five pints for each you can identify.
Firstly...
Des Moines?
Des Moines. Yep.
Yep, you... Nominate Francis.
Is it Des Moines?
No, it's St Louis.
Secondly...
Is that Baton? Baton.
Nominate Cherry.
Baton Rouge.
No, that's Mobile, Alabama.
And, finally...
THEY CONFER
Is that Detroit?
Or is it Michigan? OK. Nominate Francis.
Detroit.
It is Detroit, Michigan. Yes. APPLAUSE
Right, 10 points for this.
"It'll be difficult to name a class of landscape
"in which the sky is not the keynote,
"the standard of scale and the chief organ of sentiment."
Those words are attributed to which British artist?
His output in the early 1820s
includes more than 100 studies of the sky.
Turner.
Anyone want to buzz from the LSE?
Constable.
It is Constable, yes! APPLAUSE
Right, your bonuses are on people who share a given name
with one of the three wise men.
Firstly, born in Pomerania in 1774,
which painter's works include Cross in the Mountains,
Chalk Cliffs on Rugen
and Wanderer above the Sea of Fog?
Oh, Caspar Friedrich.
Which way does it go?
Yeah, Caspar William Friedrich.
Caspar William Friedrich, or William Caspar Friedrich.
I'll accept that, yeah.
Caspar David Friedrich. Yes. Yes.
And, secondly, characters named Melchior feature in stage works
of 1891 by Frank Wedekind
and in 1981 by Tom Stoppard.
Give either title.
THEY CONFER
Travesties.
Travesties.
No, it's Spring Awakening
or On The Razzle is the one you were looking for, I think.
Finally, born in Bohemia in 1687,
Balthasar Neumann was a leading architect in what style,
also known as late Baroque?
THEY CONFER
Art Nouveau?
Art Nouveau.
No, it's Rococo.
Right, 10 points for this.
Meaning permission to miss a vote
or debate in the House of Commons to attend to
constituency business, or other research tasks,
what term comes from the practice in croquet of giving a weaker player
a free turn? The same word can also mean a rich shellfish soup.
Bisque.
Correct. APPLAUSE
OK, your bonuses are on birds mentioned
in the 1958 song Rockin' Robin, Later covered by Michael Jackson.
In each case, name the bird from the description.
A single word will suffice in each case.
First, Corvus brachyrhynchos.
The North American counterpart of European species
with the common names carrion and hooded.
Vulture?
Vulture?
Any other guesses? Vulture.
Any other guesses?
Er, vulture.
No, it's a crow. Ah.
Secondly, a songbird whose name derives ultimately
from the Latin for golden.
It appears in the name of a Major League Baseball team
based in Baltimore since 1954.
Orioles.
Orioles.
Correct.
And, finally, Corvus corax.
A large member of the crow family
found across the northern hemisphere.
Is that a raven? Raven.
Raven. Raven. Raven.
Raven is correct.
10 points for this. APPLAUSE
What is the only club to have played in all four of the top tiers
of English football at two different grounds?
The club won the First Division title three times in the 1920s,
played in the Fourth Divis...
Huddersfield.
Well done. Yes.
APPLAUSE
Right, your bonuses are on the Japanese screenwriter
Shinobu Hashimoto who died in 2018, aged 100.
Firstly, which 1950 film did Hashimoto co-write
with Akira Kurosawa?
Based on the short story In A Grove,
it demonstrate the subjective nature of truth.
Oh, Rashomon.
Right. Rashomon. Rashomon.
Rashomon.
Rashomon is correct.
Also a collaboration between Kurosawa and Hashimoto,
Ikiru transplanted which Tolstoy novella to 20th century Japan?
The film concerns a dying civil servant trying to have
a playground built in the slums.
Tolstoy novella, Tolstoy novella.
Which one? Anyone? Any guesses? No.
Any Tolstoy? Any Tolstoy.
Any Tolstoy.
What have we got?
God knows. War and Peace. I don't know.
No, it's The Death of Ivan Ilyich.
And, finally, Hashimoto's screenplays include an adaptation
of Shakespeare's Macbeth, released in UK under what title?
Ran.
Sorry, Ran.
Is that...? Do you think? I think it is.
Ran.
No, it was called Throne of Blood.
Right, we're going to take a music round.
For your music starter, you'll hear part
of the soundtrack of a musical film.
For 10 points, give me the film's title.
# I could have danced... #
My Fair Lady.
My Fair Lady is correct, yes. APPLAUSE
My Fair Lady is among the musicals of the lyricist
and screenwriter Alan Jay Lerner, whose centenary fell in 2018.
Your music bonuses are from three more of Lerner's films,
five points for each film you can identify.
Firstly, this 1969 film.
# I was born under a wand'rin' star... #
Paint Your Wagon.
It was Paint Your Wagon, yes.
Secondly, this 1951 film for which Lerner wrote the screenplay.
# J'ai du rythme
# J'ai de la musique
# J'ai ma cherie
# Who could ask for anything more? #
That's An American In Paris.
It is indeed. And, finally, this 1958 film.
# We met at nine We met at eight
# I was on time No, you were late
# Ah, yes, I remember it well
# We dined with friends We dined alone
# A tenor sang A baritone
# Ah, yes, I remember it well... #
It's not Gigi, is it?
It is Gigi, yes! APPLAUSE
OK, another starter question.
Luss, Balmaha, and Balloch are settlements on what body of water?
Loch Lomond.
Loch Lomond is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
Your bonuses this time, Edinburgh, are on ski resorts.
In each case, identify the location from the description.
All three names begin with the same letter.
Firstly, a resort in the Bavarian Alps,
it's located on the slopes with Germany's highest mountain.
Any idea? No.
Where's, erm...? German... I can't think of a German one.
Shall we just say pass and that way at least we'll have the letter?
Yeah. OK, pass.
It's Zugspitze. OK.
Secondly, a winter sports centre about 100km south of Krakow,
close to the border with Slovakia.
Zakopane. Yeah. Nominate Francis.
Zakopane.
Correct. And, finally, a resort in the Swiss Canton of Valais
at the foot of the Matterhorn.
You got it? Nominate Francis again, please.
Zermatt.
Zermatt is right, yes. There you go.
APPLAUSE
10 points for this starter question.
I need a two-word term here.
Associated with John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
what philosophical theory suggest that the social and moral
obligations of individuals are dependent upon an agreement
among them to form the society in which the live?
Social contract.
The social contract is correct. APPLAUSE
These bonuses are on warriors, LSE.
Boudica was queen of which ancient Celtic tribe
who lived in and around present-day East Anglia?
Oh, what's their name again? What's their name again?
Erm...
Does anyone remember it?
No? No.
Pass.
They were the Iceni.
In Greek mythology, what was the name of the Amazon queen
said to have been killed by Achilles?
Amazon queen, anyone know?
Erm, Hippolyta.
No, that was Penthesilea.
And, finally, born in 1157,
Tomoe Gozen was a warrior in which country?
She distinguished herself at the Battle of Awazu in 1185.
SHE WHISPERS
Er, Japan.
It was Japan, yes. APPLAUSE
10 points for this starter question.
Which city was founded in 762
as the capital of the Abbasid Dynasty?
It became the capital of a modern state after the First World War,
following the break-up of the Ottoman Empire.
Baghdad.
Baghdad is correct, yes.
APPLAUSE
You get three bonuses on a genus of carnivore, Edinburgh.
Nilgiri, American beech and pine are among species
of which weasel-like carnivore?
The native British species is distinguished by
a yellowish patch at the throat.
It's either a mink or a marten.
Marten? Are you going to say marten?
Marten. Pine marten.
Marten.
Marten is correct, yes.
Pine martens may be seen
in the Invereshie and Inshriach National Nature Reserve
on the edge of which national park?
Is that the Cairngorms?
THEY CONFER
Yeah. Cairngorms.
Correct. In 2016, the actions of a beech marten caused a power cut
that which prominent scientific device off-line?
It is often known by a three-letter abbreviation.
It's the Large Hadron Collider, isn't it?
It's the Large Hadron Collider.
Correct, it is. APPLAUSE
We're going to take another picture round now. For your picture starter,
you're going to see a photograph of an art gallery.
10 points if you can name the town in which it's located.
St Ives.
St Ives is correct, yes. APPLAUSE
The Tate St Ives was named the 2018 Art Fund Museum of the Year.
For your picture bonuses, you're going to see three works
that have been on display there this year.
This time, I want you to name the artist in each case.
Firstly...
Barbara Hepworth.
That's correct. Secondly...
Ben Nicholson. Ben... Ben Nicholson.
Ben Nicholson.
Ben Nicholson is right. And, finally...
Mondrian.
Mondrian.
Piet Mondrian is correct, yes. APPLAUSE
Another starter question.
Continuously in print since it was first published in 1963,
which novel for children concerns the friendship
between a young boy called Barney and a Stone Age cave boy who...?
Stig of the Dump.
Stig of the Dump is right, yes. APPLAUSE
Right, this is a set of bonuses on farce.
In the story of a man whose life is disturbed
by the ghost of his first wife Elvira,
what is the name of the eccentric medium
in Noel Coward's 1941 farce Blithe Spirit?
Any guesses?
Anyone? Anyone? No?
Pass.
That was Madame Arcati.
Joe Orton's What the Butler Saw concludes with the holding aloft
of an intimate body part of a statue of which public figure?
Don't know. Pass.
That was Winston Churchill.
And, finally, the farce Nothing On is the play-within-a-play
in which stage work by Michael Frayn, first performed in 1982?
Noises Off. Noises Off.
Noises Off is right. 10 points for this.
APPLAUSE The son of Peleus and Thetis,
which warrior is mentioned by name in the first...?
Achilles.
Achilles is correct. APPLAUSE
You get three bonuses on states in Australia and the US.
Firstly, in terms of its land area,
which Australian state is intermediate in size
between the states of West Virginia and South Carolina?
Victoria. Victoria.
Victoria.
No, it's Tasmania.
The area of which Australian state is closest to that of Idaho?
Queensland? So, we're going to go Queensland? Yeah.
Queensland.
No, it's Victoria.
And, finally, wish Australian state has an area close
to the combined areas of Alaska, Texas and California?
Western Australia.
Correct.
10 points for this. APPLAUSE
What three-letter name links the title of a novel
by the Nobel laureate Mikhail Sholokhov,
and the manager of Leeds United...?
Don.
Don is correct, yes. APPLAUSE
You get three bonuses on Indian religious iconography.
Which avatar of Vishnu may be depicted dancing
on a multi-headed serpent or playing the flute?
THEY CONFER
Krishna.
Krishna is correct.
Which Hindu goddess is depicted with long dishevelled hair,
a protruding blood-smeared tongue, a garland of severed heads
and her consort, Shiva, underfoot?
Is that Kali? Kali. Kali.
Kali is correct.
Often shown in a stylised pose or asana,
which religious figure may appear with elongated ears,
arms that reach to the knees and a bump on the top of the head?
THEY CONFER
Try Ganesh.
Ganesh.
No, it's Buddha. 10 points for this.
Answer in English or Gaelic.
Denoting a narrow passage of water, what short word appears in
the name of the closest railway station to the Isle of Skye?
Kyle.
Kyle is correct. APPLAUSE
You get a set of bonuses now on literary works
that marked their 200th anniversary in 2018.
1818 saw the publication of the concluding part
of which lengthy narrative poem by Byron?
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.
Nominate Francis. Is it Childe Harold's Pilgrimage?
Correct.
The Porteous Riots of 1736 provide the historical backdrop
to which of Sir Walter Scott's Waverley novels of 1818?
1736.
Was it Heart of Midlothian?
Say again? Come on. Was it Heart of Midlothian? Try it.
Nominate Cherry, please. Heart of Midlothian.
Correct.
First published under a pseudonym in 1818,
which short poem attributes to the title figure the words,
"Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair"?
Ozymandias. Ozymandias.
Correct. Ten points for this. APPLAUSE
Which former President of the United States
was the subject of the 2007 documentary Man From Plains?
The recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize,
he was Governor of Georgia from 1971...
Jimmy Carter.
Jimmy Carter is correct. APPLAUSE
These bonuses are on music teachers, LSE.
Which composer was the teacher of
the 19th century German conductor and pianist Hans von Bulow?
Von Bulow married the composer's daughter Cosima.
Erm...
Wagner? Come on.
Erm, Wagner.
No, it was Franz Liszt.
Secondly, during his employment at the Ecole Niedermeyer in Paris,
which composer was the piano teacher of Gabriel Faure?
He later became a long-standing friend.
Debussy.
Debussy.
No, that was Saint-Saens.
And, finally, in a group known as the Second Viennese School,
Alban Berg and Anton Webern
were among the students of which composer?
Shostakovich.
No, it was Arnold Schoenberg. 10 points for this.
In variant spellings, what name links the US Attorney General
who took office in February 2017 and the...
Whitaker.
No! So...
Sorry. So sorry.
So you should be. Yeah.
..who took office in February 2017
and the fictional family whose daughter Violet
is a guest of Willy... GONG
APPLAUSE
So, at the gong, then, Edinburgh University have 120,
but the LSE have 160.
So, we now know the teams in the semifinal stage of this competition.
They will be Bristol University,
King's College London, Peterhouse - Cambridge
and tonight's winners, the London School of Economics.
I hope you can join me next time for the first of the semifinals.
But until then, it's goodbye from Edinburgh University.
Bye-bye. Bye. Bye.
It's goodbye from the London School of Economics. Goodbye. Goodbye.
And it's goodbye from me. Goodbye. APPLAUSE
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