University Challenge viewers glued to their screens as Oxford beat UCL by just FIVE points
University Challenge viewers are glued to their screens as St Hilda’s College Oxford beats UCL by just 5 points in their first-round match – so how many questions can YOU answer?
- BBC2 quiz show University Challenge saw St Hilda’s College Oxford take on UCL
- St Hilda’s scraped a win, beating their opponents by just five points
- Viewers were disappointed with result which saw UCL score 135 to Oxford’s 140
University Challenge viewers were glued to their screens after a nail-biting episode that saw St Hilda’s College Oxford beat University College London by just five points.
The teams were neck and neck all the way through last night’s episode, with UCL just 10 points behind going into the final minutes of the match.
Despite making a late bid to win, St Hilda’s ultimately beat their opponents by 140 points to 135.
While viewers were quick to praise the intelligence of both teams, they were admittedly disappointed to see UCL not going through to the next round.
The teams were neck and neck all the way through last night’s episode, with UCL just 10 points behind going into the final minutes of the match. Despite making a late bid to win, St Hilda’s ultimately beat their opponents by 140 points to 135. Above, the final score
University Challenge viewers were glued to their screens after a nail-biting episode that saw St Hilda’s College Oxford beat University College London by just five points. Pictured, the teams’ scores in the opening minutes of the episode. The match ended 140-135 to St Hilda’s
How many Starter For Ten questions can YOU answer?
Each of these questions are worth 10 points and must be answered by a single player without any consultation. The team who wins a Starter For Ten is then given three bonus questions, each worth five points.
1. What common surname links the US authors of the following the Rosy Crusixion trilogy published from 1949 and the 2011 novel the Song of Achilles?
2. What five-letter word can refer in biology to taxonomic groups such as carnovora?
3. Occupying an area of almost half the size of Wales and also known as Cocibolca, what is the largest lake of central American. Its common name being the name of the country in which it is located?
4. For your picture starter, you will see the title of a major work of English literature in its standard German translation. What is its English title?
5. What word can denote both a tumour or cyst filled with viscous fluid and any of various nodular groups of nerve cell bodies in the peripheral nervous system…
6. Published in 1934, what novel is divided into three parts entitled The Facts, The Evidence and Hercule Poirot Sits Back and Thinks. The last chapter of the final part is titled Poirot Propounds Two Solutions
7. Relating to religion, what term does a reference work describe as difficult to define because it was appropriated in the mid-1560s as a term of abuse and was rarely used by the subject of the description. It appears alongside the word Revolution in the titles of works by S.R. Gardener and Christopher Hill
8. Which philosopher whose works are today commonly numbered with a system called Bekker pagination wrote the treatise On The Soul and had his ideas repopularised in Europe during the 13th century by St Thomas Aquinas
9. Named after the Russian mathematician who was the first to study the sequences systematically, in which statistical process is the probability of an event in a sequence of random events always influenced… (question interrupted to answer)
10. What word is spelt by the first three letters of longer words meaning a rounded vault forming a roof or ceiling, containing copper in chemical combination, greed or desire, and the God of Love often referred to as the son of Venus.
11. The witch described in Robert Burns’ poem Tam ‘o Shanter appears on the bow of the Cutty Sark in an example of what type of nautical adornment? The same word also indicates a person who holds a prominent position but has no real authority.
12. In 1820, an experiment showing the deflection of a needle when moved towards a wire carrying a current and illustrating the principle of electromagnetism was published by which Danish scientist?
13. Name the state in Australia that contains none of the following cities Gold Coast, Hobart, Bunbury, Adelaide, Bendigo, Perth, Ballarat, Melbourne and Brisbane.
14. What two letters begin French words meaning pregnant, boredom, ink… (question interrupted to answer).
15. For your picture starter you are going to see a still from a television series first seen in 2020. For 10 points name the eponymous main character pictured in the still.
16. Which English metropolitan county was the birthplace of the Prime Ministers H.H. Asquith and Harold Wilson, and the sculptors Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth?
17. I need the name of a planet. The molecular formula for Iodine Monoxide is also the name of a moon orbiting which planet of the solar system?
18. In ballet what term denotes both the dancer’s leap or jump and the point attained in such a leap. More generally it means a particular height or altitude above a given level.
19. Common around the British coast and named in part after a shellfish, which large wading bird has black and white feathers and a large reddish… (question interrupted to answer).
20. What is the original of the three modern vernacular novels known by the English titles Dream of the Red Chamber, Journey To The West (question interrupted to answer).
‘Two very strong teams would be a shame if we didn’t see UCL again’, wrote one viewer.
‘I hope UCL can come back, if only for the potential of Traeger’s jumpers #UniversityChallenge’, said another.
A third wrote: ‘Wow that was close! Bad luck UCL, hopefully we’ll see you again #UniversityChallenge.’
‘Nonetheless, very strong game from both teams. I fully expect UCL to be back in the playoffs with a good chance of progressing. They’re too good to leave now. #UniversityChallenge’, said another viewer.
A victory in the first round match means St Hilda’s automatically win a place in the second round.
Viewers were quick to praise the intelligence of both teams, but they were admittedly disappointed to see UCL not going through to the next round
UCL could also return for the second round if they are one of the four highest-scoring losing teams, although the remainder of the first-round ties will have to be played before this is confirmed.
The winning St Hilda’s team was captained by Katrina Dionsio, from London, who is studying Classics, alongside Philosophy Linguistics student Luca Chilvers from Colchester in Essex, Akshay Pal from Bolton, who is studying Engineering and Chris Bennett, from Surrey, who is reading Theology and Science.
Elsewhere on the UCL team was Hugo Fleming, from Surrey, who is studying for his PhD in Neuroscience, team captain Koshiro Kiso who is studying for a PhD in Cell Biology and Humaira Maka, from London, who is studying medicine and Max Traeger, who studies History and Politics of the Americas.
UCL could also return for the second round if they are one of the four highest-scoring losing teams, although the remainder of the first-round ties will have to be played before this is confirmed. Pictured, the teams at the end of the episode
Several had a soft spot for Traeger, who delighted fans by wearing a bright red and orange wooly jumper.
The student described himself on his the UCL student union page ahead of the show as an ‘avid podcast listener, poetry reader, Wikipedia scroller and practised lockdown zoom pub quizzer.
‘I have watched University Challenge since I was a child beside my parents. Years of watching the show have left me excited to take part, and I am proud to represent UCL as part of such a talented team’.
