Christmas University Challenge.

Asking the questions, Jeremy Paxman.

Hello. Two more teams of alumni

are preparing to ding-dong merrily for our entertainment

in this short, sharp seasonal series for grown-ups.

We're playing seven first-round matches

of which tonight's fixture is the third.

But only the four highest-scoring winning teams

will go on to the semifinals.

Now, the first player on the team fielded by Pembroke College,

Cambridge is both a columnist for the London Evening Standard

and a writer whose bestsellers include The Templars

and The Plantagenets. He's also presented

the Netflix series Secrets of Great British Castles.

With him, an athlete who won a gold medal

in the 2003 World Championships

and an Olympic silver the following year

before going to work on conflict issues in Bosnia and Iraq.

Their captain is a very familiar face on television

having presented Channel 4's T4, E4's Tool Academy,

the BBC quiz Impossible and the podcast Science(ish).

Their fourth player is a musician

who at 17 won the BBC's Young Musician of the Year competition.

Since then, she's performed

as a soloist with many of the world's leading orchestras

and collaborated with Yehudi Menuhin and Dame Cleo Laine.

Let's meet the Pembroke College, Cambridge team.

Hi. I'm Dan Jones. I graduated from Pembroke in 2002

having read history, and I'm now a historian and a journalist.

I'm Cath Bishop. I graduated in modern and medieval languages

from Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1993.

After a career as an Olympic rower and a diplomat,

I now work as a leadership consultant.

And their captain. Hi, I'm Rick Edwards,

graduated in natural sciences from Pembroke, Cambridge in 2001

and I'm now a writer and broadcaster.

Hello. I'm Emma Johnson. I read music and English at Pembroke

and I'm a solo clarinettist, composter and arranger.

APPLAUSE

Playing them is the team from King's College, London,

which includes the co-founder of the Institute of Making,

which describes itself as a multidisciplinary research club

for people interested in making anything from soup to cities.

She's a panellist on Radio 4's The Kitchen Cabinet

and has recently presented BBC Four's The Secret Story of Stuff.

With her, a journalist, broadcaster and award-winning science writer

whose works include Geek Nation

and, more recently, Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong.

At the age of 25, their captain

became one of the UK's youngest TV news editors.

Since then, she's presented numerous programmes

including The Westminster Hour and Any Answers? on Radio 4,

and on television, The Daily Politics.

She's also an author.

And finally, an Ivor Novello award-winner

whose scores for television and cinema include Jeeves and Wooster,

The Crying Game, Poldark, and The Full Monty,

for which she won an Oscar.

Let's meet the King's College, London team.

I'm Zoe Laughlin, I did my PhD in materials at King's College, London,

and I'm an artist, designer and materials engineer.

Hi. I'm Angela Saini, I received a Masters in science and security

from King's College, London in 2008,

and now I'm a science journalist.

And their captain. Hello. My name's Anita Anand.

present programmes about politics on Radio 4

and the Reith Lectures, and I write books about history and politics.

graduated from King's College with a BA in English.

Hello. I'm Anne Dudley. I was a postgraduate student at

King's College, studying for a Masters degree in musical analysis,

and now I'm a composer.

APPLAUSE

The rules never change on this show

so I'll just tell you that it's 10 points for starters,

15 points for bonuses,

and if you interrupt a starter question incorrectly

you face a five-point penalty.

Fingers on the buzzers, here's your first starter for 10.

According to a tradition cited in the Encyclopaedia Britannica,

what seasonal item was created in the 19th century

by a Munich housewife who got fed up with being repeatedly asked,

"When will it be Christmas?"

The advent calendar. Correct.

You get a set of bonuses on Christmas-time gift-bearers.

Firstly, portrayed as an old lady riding a broomstick,

the friendly La Befana in Italian folklore

derives her name from which Christian festival

observed on January 6th?

THEY CONFER

Pass.

It's Epiphany.

Secondly, known by similar names in other Nordic countries,

the Swedish julbok is a pre-Christian gift-bringer

in the form of what ruminant?

What's a ruminant? t's like a cow.

Reindeer? Cow? Reindeer?

Try reindeer.

Reindeer. No, it's a goat.

In which country does St Basil the Great,

one of the fathers of the Orthodox Church,

bring gifts at Christmas time?

THEY CONFER

Russia. No, it's Greece.

Right, ten points for this.

What seasonal plant links

the American writer played by Joseph Cotton in The Third Man,

a disembodied head in the TV series Red Dwarf,

and the socialite...

Holly. Correct.

Right, these bonuses, King's, are on photographs.

What popular title is given to the 1985 portrait

of the 12-year-old green-eyed refugee

later identified as Sharbat Gula?

It featured on the cover of National Geographic magazine.

t's the National Geographic girl n Afghanistan.

s it called Girl of Afghanistan? s that what it's called?

- Isn't it...? - Afghan Girl?

Er...shall we?

The Afghan Girl. Correct.

Give the word that completes the title of a 1951 photograph

by Ruth Orkin.

It shows a young woman, Ninalee Craig,

walking down a street and being noticed by a crowd of men.

American Girl in...

Paris?

American Girl in Paris? Yeah.

Paris. No, it's Italy.

And finally, the art dealer Robert Fraser,

often known as Groovy Bob,

appears handcuffed to which public figure

in a photograph that became the basis for

Richard Hamilton's work entitled Swingeing London 67?

THEY CONFER

Pass. He was handcuffed to Mick Jagger. Ten points for this.

Listen carefully. Each cracker on a Christmas dinner table

contains a coloured paper crown

taken from a choice of six colours.

How many crackers must be pulled

to be certain of obtaining at least two crowns the same colour?

Seven? Correct.

APPLAUSE

Right. Your first set of bonuses, Pembroke College,

are on trees listed on the website

of the British Christmas Tree Growers Association.

In each case, give the two-word name of the variety

from the description.

Firstly, "The traditional Christmas tree found in many of our homes.

"It is a Scandinavian variety

"with pointed mid-green needles standing on tiny pegs

"and long cylindrical brown cones which hang down."

THEY CONFER

Norwegian spruce? Correct.

"Introduced into Britain in 1830,

"it is a native of Washington and Oregon,

"where it grows to a great height.

"It has long, upswept blueish-grey needles

"at right angles to the twig."

THEY CONFER

Redwood pine?

No, it's the red fir, or noble fir.

Nearly, but not quite.

And finally, "a native of once-extensive Caledonian forests,

"it is our only native timber-producing conifer

"and has twisted blue-green needles found in pairs."

Scots pine? Correct.

We're going to take a picture round now.

For your picture starter, you're going to see

the tune of a Christmas carol in the key of C major

as it would be on a piano roll for a player piano.

The notes are to be read from left to right

with notes in a higher vertical position

being of higher pitch.

For ten points I want you to give me

the opening line of the carol represented.

"Joy to the world."

Joy to the world is correct!

For your bonuses, you're now going to see three more piano rolls

representing well-known festive tunes in the key of C major.

Firstly, I want the opening line of the carol

usually sung to this tune.

THEY CONFER

s it Hark The Herald Angels Sing? I don't think so.

THEY SING

In The Bleak Midwinter?

THEY SING

Oh, go for Hark the Herald.

"Hark the herald angels sing."

No, it's "Once n royal David's city".

Secondly, the usual three-word name of this carol.

ANNE SINGS

The First Noel.

The First Noel. Correct.

And finally, the title of this Christmas song.

Note that here, you're seeing the chorus.

THEY CONFER

Oh, it's Jingle Bells.

Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells is correct.

Ten points for this.

Which two rhyming words end the first and second lines

of Clement C Moore's 1822 poem A Visit From St Nicholas?

It begins, "Twas the night before Christmas."

Mouse and house.

Correct.

Right, you get three bonuses on the work of Ursula K Le Guin

who died in January 2018.

Which 1969 novel by Ursula Le Guin

concerns the frigid planet Gethin

and the race of androgynous people

who may become either male or female?

THEY CONFER

The Wizards of Earthsea?

No, it's The Left Hand of Darkness.

Secondly, which minor figure from Virgil's Aeneid

is the title character of a critically admired novel of 2008?

She's a daughter of Latinus and becomes the wife of Aeneas.

THEY CONFER

Dido? No, it's Lavinia.

And finally, featuring a wizard called Ged,

which fictional world is the setting

for Le Guin's popular series for young adults?

Earthsea. Correct.

Right, ten points for this.

Which 20th-century artist is the subject of a poem by Margaret Atwood

that includes the lines

"Here in the souvenir arcade you're everywhere:

"the printed cotton bags, the pierced tin boxes,

"the red T-shirts..."

Picasso.

No, you lose five points.

"..the pierced tin boxes, the red T-shirts, the beaded crosses,

"your coiled braids, your level stare..."

Anyone want to buzz from Pembroke?

Dali?

No, it's Frida Kahlo.

Ten points for this.

Meanings of what four-letter word include

a body segment of an annelid,

the structure of benzene, a device for identifying...

Ring.

Ring is correct.

Your bonuses are on transuranic elements.

In each case, identify the element from its anagram.

Firstly, "alumni crew"

is an anagram of the name of which transuranic element,

named after the US physicist who invented the cyclotron?

I can't spell, so this is no good.

THEY CONFER

We should guess this.

Don't spend too long on it. Keep going.

Er, pass, sorry.

That's Lawrencium.

"Punier comic" is an anagram of which transuranic element

named after a Polish astronomer?

THEY CONFER

Er, Copernicus.

No, it's copernicium.

And finally, "not meringue" is an anagram of which element

named after the inventor of X-rays?

THEY CONFER

Argentinium.

No, it's roentgenium.

Right, ten points for this.

What seasonal name in English