christmas university challenge. asking the questions, jeremy paxman. applause hello. now, in recent months, we've heard a great deal about the scandinavian concept of "hygge", supposedly a sense of comfortable, fellow feeling with seasonal warmth. the next half hour should provide a welcome antidote to such sentiment, as the icy blast of competition fills the studio with two more teams of alumni, each determined to beat the other to the semifinals.
from the results we've seen so far in this series, we know that if tonight's score is over 245 as winners, that team will definitely appear in the next stage of the competition. not much to ask, is it, really? soas, or the school of oriental and african studies, is a constituent college of the university of london, and is in the middle of celebrating its centenary. they're fielding a retired diplomat and former ambassador. he's headed the fco's china hong kong department, and since retiring,
he's been the chair of the japan society of the uk. with him, a cultural historian whose many projects have included presenting the tv series the lost kingdoms of africa. he's judged the art fund's british museum of the year and in 2017, he'll be presenting the programme tate britain great british walks on sky arts. their captain is an author and columnist, as well as being a familiar face on television, particularly on channel 4,
where his trigger happy tv won the silver rose of montreux and earned him three british comedy award nominations. he's also made a brief foray into the world of politics, failing to wrest the seat of kensington and chelsea from alan clark in the 1997 general election, when he stood for the teddy bear alliance. with them, a nigerian-finnish writer and founder of the award-winning blog msafropolitan, which covers africa from a feminist perspective.
her writing also appears in the guardian and the guardian africa, the huffington post, and on al jazeera. she's been described as one of nigeria's most influential women. let's meet the soas team. hello, i'm david warren. in 1976, i studied japanese for a year at soas as part of the foreign office's language training programme, and between 2008 and 2012, i was british ambassador to japan.
hello, i'm gus casely-hayford. i finished my phd in 1992, looking at ghanaian political elites. captain? hello, i'm dom joly. i got a ba in politics from soas, and i'm now a comedian and a travel writer. hi, i'm minna salami. i got an ma from soas in 2012 and i'm now a writer, blogger and commentator on social and cultural issues.
now, the team from leeds university is made up of a writer who's been nominated for several awards, including the costa novel award and the orange prize for fiction. she's a critic and cultural commentator on television and in the press, and has been a judge for the man booker prize and costa book of the year. with her, a keyboard player and vocalist with a band whose members all met as students at leeds, and who have gone on to win the mercury prize,
an ivor novello award, and a grammy nomination. alongside their award-winning albums, their music often features in television and feature film productions. their captain traces his love of journalism to the less-than-salubrious office of the leeds university student newspaper in the late 1980s. since then, he's been political editor of the observer and business editor at the sunday telegraph, before taking on his present role.
their fourth member began his award-winning career by drawing for children's comics before moving on to punch, private eye, the new statesman and the spectator among others. the enduring images he's created include john major with his underpants outside his trousers, tony blair with margaret thatcher's rogue eyeball, and george w bush as a chimpanzee. let's meet the leeds team. i'm louise doughty, and i graduated from leeds in 1984 with
a degree in english literature, and i now write novels for a living. hello, i'm gus unger-hamilton. i graduated from leeds in 2010 in english, and i now play in the band alt-j. and this is their captain. hello, i'm kamal ahmed. i graduated from leeds university in political studies in 1990, and i'm now the economics editor for the bbc.
hello, i'm steve bell. i studied fine art between 1970 and 1974. i've been drawing daily cartoons, more or less, for the guardian, since 1981. ok, the rules are the same as for the students' series. 10 points for starter questions, which have to be answered on the buzzer individually. bonuses are worth 15, and you can confer - they're team efforts. there's a five-point penalty
if you interrupt a starter question incorrectly. so, fingers on the buzzers - here's your first starter for ten. which english monarch is the subject of a portrait bought for the national collection in july 2016, following a campaign by the art fund? usually known by the name of a failed invasion fleet, it was purchased from the descendants of sir francis drake. elizabeth i. correct. it was the armada portrait.
soas, the first set of bonuses fall to you. they're on people born on christmas day. firstly, born on christmas day in 1911, which french-us artist is noted for her large-scale sculpture and installation art? her nine-metre-high steel spider, entitled maman, was created for the opening of tate modern in 2000. yes? louise bourgeois. correct. quote... "as soon as i stepped out of my mother's womb onto dry land,
"i realised that i'd made a mistake, that i shouldn't have come. "but the problem with children is they're not returnable." which author, performer and raconteur wrote that of his birth on christmas day, 1908? (is it, er...? is it quentin crisp?) - (quentin crisp.) - yes? - (try quentin crisp.) quentin crisp? - correct. - oh, well done. - and, finally, born in india on christmas day, 1936,
which film producer released over 40 feature films with his partner, the us director james ivory? they whisper ismail merchant. correct. ten points for this... fingers on the buzzers. in the southern hemisphere, what is the two-word latin name of the luminous atmospheric phenomenon also known as "the southern lights"? the aurora australis.
correct. your bonuses are on shorter words that can be made by using any of the ten letters of the word "poinsettia." in each case, give the word from the definition. firstly, for five, originating in the middle ages, it's a type of footwear with a raised platform used to increase height or to protect the wearer's feet from mud. they confer a step.
no, it's a patten. p-a-t-t-e-n. secondly, a small, early keyboard instrument belonging to the harpsichord family. what other ones are there? spinet? spinet, yeah... spinet. correct. and, finally, in greek mythology, the personification of dawn, corresponding to the roman goddess aurora.
who was dawn in greek mythology? no, do you know that one? no... no, we don't know, i'm afraid. it's eos. ten points for this. "sow-dug", "gramfy-coocher" and "johnny-grump" are among regional terms for which common terrestrial crustacean? distinguished by their segmented exoskeleton... woodlouse.
yes. your bonuses are on wind farms, leeds. according to its website, the rspb objects to what percentage of wind farm applications because they threaten bird populations? you can have 5% either way. - 70? - i'd say high. you think it's that high? i wouldn't have said that high. - yeah. - ok. er, 60%.
no, they only object, apparently, to 6%! while generally supporting the growth of wind power generation, the website notes that some wind farms have been poorly sited, and cause major bird casualties. one example they cite is altamont pass. in which us state is it? is it california? cos altamont was, er... it was, like, a stones concert. - right. ok. - happy to go with it? - ok.
california. rspb research, finally, concludes that wind farm construction can reduce breeding populations of which upland bird by up to 50%? the largest european wading bird, it's distinguished by its long, down-curved bill. - cormorant, isn't it? - curlew, curlew. - curlew. - avocets go up, so... - yeah, curlew. curlew. correct. right, we're going to take a picture round now.
for your picture starter, you're going to see a table showing the total number of olympic medals won to date by a british athlete. for ten points, i want you to identify the athlete. steve redgrave. anyone like to buzz from soas? you may not confer! one of you can buzz. come on! stop conferring
or trying to confer! ugh! just can't remember his name. - right, i'm going to tell you. - i know who it is. - it's bradley wiggins. - oh, i didn't know... bell rings laughter - that wasn't who i was thinking. - ok, so, he got eight olympic medals. it made him the most decorated british olympian of all time. so, we're going to get the picture bonuses in a moment or two,
when someone gets a starter question correct. so, ten points at stake for this. fingers on the buzzers, please. in the subtitle of a 2016 reappraisal by andrew crines and kevin hickson, who is described as "the unprincipled prime minister?" in 1947, he became britain's youngest cabinet minister of the 20th century... harold wilson. correct. applause
right, so we go back, then, to the picture round. your picture bonuses show the medals of three more of britain's most decorated olympic and paralympic athletes, all of whom added to their tallies in rio this year. five points for each athlete you can identify. firstly, for five... - who got three golds? - what's her name? erm... - victoria pendleton? no. - no, no, no. - erm... - dom sighs - god, what's she called? no. no, pass.
- it's jason kenny. - ah, so we got it wrong anyway. he joined chris hoy on six olympic golds this year, the highest number of a british olympic athlete. and secondly... is that greg rutherford? is it, yeah? he's the only one i can think of, yeah? greg rutherford? no, that's katherine grainger - her silver this year made her the joint most decorated british female olympian.
and finally... it can't be an endurance sport, - can it? - no. who's the guy that was... the cyclist, who... oh, i'm terrible at cycling. i've no idea. are you good on cycling? i think we'd better have an answer, please.
we've no idea. - that's sarah storey, the paralympian. - oh. right, ten points for this. "the long-distance lines are down. "what about the satellite? is it snowing in space?" these are the words of the stranded weatherman phil connors, played by bill murray in which... groundhog day. it is groundhog day, yes. applause your bonuses, leeds, are on the 1990s.
in each case, give the year in which the following events occurred. firstly, a s byatt's possession won the booker prize, iraq invaded kuwait, and east and west germany signed a unification treaty. - 1990? - '90, i think. - '90. - '91? - no, '90. - '90? ok. 1990. correct. secondly, james kelman's how late it was, how late won the booker prize, the channel tunnel opened and nelson mandela became president of south africa.
- '94? - i'm pretty sure it was '94. 1994. correct. and finally, arundhati roy's the god of small things won the booker prize, diana, princess of wales, died and the uk elected a labour government. 1997. correct. ten points for this. november 2016 saw a disagreement between an academic at
the university of toronto and a european art gallery over the authenticity of 65 drawings attributed by the former... peter doig. no. you lose five points. ..attributed by the former to which 19th-century artist? van gogh. van gogh is correct, yes. applause your bonuses, leeds, are on the films of ken loach. in 1965, the bbc televised ken loach's film version of which
story collection by nell dunn, concerning three young women in clapham and battersea? its title refers in part to a major railway junction in that area. - (up the junction. - ok.) up the junction. correct. starring crissy rock, which award-winning 1994 docudrama by loach concerns a woman's struggles with social services over the custody of her children? its title is the first two words of a nursery rhyme.
(no, it's 1994...) (first two words of a nursery rhyme...) (ladybird, ladybird.) ladybird, ladybird. and finally, loach's 1993 film raining stones features bruce jones as a man trying to buy what specific item of apparel for his daughter? confirmation dress. yes, a confirmation or communion dress is fine. so... now we're going to take a music round.
for your music starter, you'll hear two carols played simultaneously, both of which have been transposed into a minor key. for ten points, i want you to identify both carols. piano plays o little town of bethlehem and jingle bells. correct. well done! applause following on from that cacophony, your music bonuses are three more pairs of carols played simultaneously, all of which have undergone modal or tonal transposition.
for five points in each case, i want you to identify both carols heard. (what's the other one?) music stops - (shall we try that? - try that. - we'll try that.) erm, we three kings and in the bleak midwinter. well, we three kings was easy enough, wasn't it? but apparently the other one was silent night. secondly, identify this pair of carols. they've been transposed from a minor modality to a major one.
(is it hark! the herald?) - soft chuckling - (can't hear the other one!) - haven't got a clue. - little town of bethlehem and... that apparently is the coventry carol and o come, o come emanuel. and finally, name this pair - both have been transposed from major to minor. (ding dong merrily on high...) piano continues - joy to the world. - joy to the world. - and ding dong merrily on high.
ding dong merrily on high and joy to the world. correct! applause right, ten points for this starter question. from the 1720s, lady mary montagu was an early proponent of inoculation against which disease? she'd observed the treatment in turkey as the wife of the british ambassador. polio? no. anyone like to buzz from soas?
smallpox? smallpox is correct. applause you get three bonuses on elements known since antiquity. which element firstly occurs chiefly as the sulphide mineral stibnite? there is evidence of its use several thousand years ago as a primary component in the eye make-up kohl. - charcoal, but is that an element? - it's not an element. - no... - carbon? - i think it's carbon, yes? yeah? carbon.
no, it's antimony. secondly, the word "copper" is derived from the name of what location, the primary source of the mined element in roman times? - cyprus. cyprus? - why? - copper, the name... - yeah? is it derived from the location cyprus? are you happy with that? yeah? cyprus. finally, alloyed with copper to make bronze, which element has a symbol derived from its latin name, stannum?
so, it makes bronze and it's from... - stannum, latin. - the name is stannum. let's have it. (is it tin?) tin? tin is correct, yes. applause ten points for this. in 2016, which novel by the south korean author han kang became the first winner... the vegetarian.
the vegetarian is right. applause you get three bonuses on the actor and singer paul robeson. in 1928, robeson sang ol' man river in the london premiere of which musical by jerome kern and oscar hammerstein? - showboat. - not porgy and bess? - porgy and bess or showboat? - ol' man river is showboat. - oh, ok. showboat. correct. robeson starred in, but later disowned, which film of 1935? based on the writings of edgar wallace
and concerned with british colonial interests in nigeria, it featured leslie banks as the title character. - any thoughts? - no, i'm sorry. sorry, we don't know. that's sanders of the river. and finally, in 1930, robeson appeared opposite peggy ashcroft as the title character in a west end run of which of shakespeare's tragedies? - must be othello. - othello. of course. 10 points for this.
h0 h0 h0 - that's h-zero, h-zero, h-zero - is santa's postcode, according to the postal service of which commonwealth country? canada. canada is correct, yes. applause drowns speech right, your bonuses, leeds, this time, are on some of the 16 people listed in mb synge's work great englishwomen, an historical reading book for schools published in 1907.
in each case, name the person from the description. firstly, a founder and member of the royal academy, born in switzerland in 1741. she is particularly associated with wall paintings in residences designed by robert adam. - she's an artist, then. - yeah. robert adam... - i don't know who it is. - i really don't know. any woman artists? woman artists... from the 18th century?
angelika kaufmann? give it a whirl. angelika kaufmann. - correct! - (well done!) secondly, an influential science writer born in scotland in 1780. interested in a wide range of scientific disciplines, a college of oxford is named after her. not mary wollstonecraft, no? - oxford... - what's her... - science... - science. - oxford college named after her?
- 1780 born. - 1780. - what was your answer? - mary wollstonecraft. yeah, ok. mary wollstonecraft. no, it's mary somerville. and finally, a poet who died in florence in 1861. her works include sonnets from the portuguese and aurora leigh. - barrett browning. - sorry? - elizabeth barrett browning. elizabeth barrett browning. correct. there are five minutes to go. here's your starter question - it's a picture one.
for your picture starter, you're going to see a still from a film. ten points if you can give me the title of the film. no-one has an idea? well, that still was from die hard, starring alan rickman, who died earlier this year. so, we'll take the picture bonuses in a moment or two and take another starter question in the meantime. fingers on the buzzers. here we go. which second-wave feminist magazine was launched in the uk
in 1972 by the journalist... spare rib? spare rib is correct, yes. applause so, you will be thrilled to hear you get the picture bonuses. die hard was set on christmas eve and it concerned a particularly unfortunate office party. your picture bonuses are stills from another three less-than-festive films set during the christmas period. firstly, for five, i need the specific title of this 1992 film.
ok, which one, though? batman returns? is it? they confer quietly i think it's batman returns. yeah? batman returns. correct. secondly, the title of this 1960 film? - ooh... - the apartment? - yes, it is. yeah. yeah? the apartment. correct. and finally, this 1984 film? oh... gremlins, yeah? gremlins.
correct. ten points for this. applause in november 2016, which us baseball team won their first championship... chicago cubs? yes. applause first time in 108 years. here are your bonuses. they're on galaxies. what name is given to the group of over 50 galaxies that, in astronomical terms, lie in relatively close proximity to the milky way? the galaxy triangulum also lies in this region. he whispers
- they laugh - you trying again? - i'm not any good on galaxies. - no, not on galaxies. - crab nebula? - no idea! that's the local group. the milky way is the second-largest galaxy in the local group. what is the largest? it's more than two million light years from earth and has the designation m31. - do you know any galaxies? - i don't know. no, no.
sorry, we don't know that either. that's the andromeda galaxy. and finally, which us astronomer coined the term local group in his 1936 book the realm of the nebulae? er, i don't really know astronomers. sagan? carl sagan was a writer but was he actually an astronomer? - i don't know. - fred hoyle? - fred hoyle, yeah. fred hoyle. no, that was edwin hubble. ten points for this.
which decade saw the capture of beijing by the manchu ching dynasty? in japan, the dutch began trading from the island of dejima, in nagasaki bay, and in england the king was executed and a commonwealth proclaimed. 1649. that's correct, yes. applause it's the 1640s - i only wanted the decade, so i'm accepting that. right, your bonuses are on kitchens and artistic expression, leeds. march past of the kitchen utensils forms part of the wasps,
a suite of incidental music by which composer? he wrote it in 1909 for a trinity college cambridge production of a comedy by aristophanes. vaughan williams. correct. "i write this sitting in the kitchen sink" is the opening line of which novel by dodie smith, first published in 1948? i captured the castle. correct. and finally, the kitchen maid or milkmaid
is a painting by which artist born in delft in 1632? is it vermeer? either vermeer or de hooch. say vermeer. vermeer? vermeer. vermeer is correct. ten points for this. first published in book form in 1906, the gift of the magi is a seasonal short story... o henry. o henry is right, yes. applause
your bonuses are on cricketing terminology from the glossary of espn cricinfo. in each case, give the term from the definition. all three are five-letter words. first, when the batsman is clearly lbw, even at full speed. clearly lbw at full speed? - i have no idea. - i don't understand the question. - i - don't understand the question. - leg before wicket. - leg before wicket. - yes, but that is lbw!
gong - it's plumb. - oh, plumb, right, ok. at the gong, soas have 85, leeds university have 175. so, soas, we definitely have to say goodbye to you. leeds, you might come back as one of the highest-scoring winning teams. we don't know. we'll see. 175 is certainly better than some winning scores we've seen so far. but in the meantime, i'd like to thank all of you for taking part. you didn't have to. thank you very much. applause i hope you can join us next time for another first-round match.
but until then, it's goodbye from the school of oriental and african studies... - all: - goodbye. - ..it's goodbye from leeds university... all: - goodbye. ..and it's goodbye from me - goodbye.