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00:27Hello and welcome to the
00:29grand final of the 2025-26 series of University Challenge. Over 36 matches, we have whittled
00:3528 remarkably knowledgeable student quiz teams down to just two. Between them, they've scored
00:40more than 1,800 points and answered nearly 280 questions correctly. And in just under
00:46half an hour's time, one of them will be lifting the University Challenge trophy.
00:50The team from Edinburgh are coming into this match undefeated, having beaten Newcastle,
00:55Trinity College, Cambridge, Merton College, Oxford and Darwin College, Cambridge. They
00:58have also played tonight's opponents once before and won. They booked their place in
01:02this final with some excellent buzzes in their last match on Greek myth, Portuguese literature
01:06and Spanish architecture, backed up with a strong performance on bonus sets about citrus fruit
01:11and classical music. Hoping to become the second team from their university to lift our trophy
01:16and with an average score of 165, let's meet the Edinburgh team for the final time.
01:22Hi, I'm Partha Vishwar. I'm from Portland, Oregon in the US and I'm studying for a Masters in
01:27Sustainable Lands and Cities. Hi, I'm Johnny Richards. I'm from Los Angeles, California and
01:32I'm doing a PhD on Ancient DNA. And their captain. Hi, I'm Alice Leonard. I'm from Portsmouth and
01:37I'm studying for a Masters in Environment, Culture and Society. Hi, I'm Rehan Amjad. I'm from Dublin
01:42and Glasgow and I'm studying for a PhD in Computer Science.
01:50The team from Manchester have faced New College, Oxford, LSE, UCL, Sheffield and Imperial on
01:56their way to this point and defeated them all. And in fact, the only match they've lost in
01:59this competition was their first quarterfinal against Edinburgh. They are, however, coming
02:03into this game on very good form. In their semi-final against Imperial, all four team members
02:08contributed some very fast buzzes, helping them to an impressive final score of 250. Manchester
02:14are seeking what would be a record equaling fifth series title for the university and their
02:19average score is also 165. Let's meet them once again. Hi, I'm Ray Power. I'm from Bangkok,
02:26Thailand and I'm studying Film Studies and English Literature. Hi, I'm Kirsty Dixon. I'm from
02:31Morley Green in Chasha and I'm studying Medicine. And their captain. Hi, I'm Kai Madrick.
02:36I'm from Foy in Cornwall and I'm studying for a PhD in AI and astrophysics. Hi, I'm Rob
02:41Faulkner. I'm from Norwich and I'm studying physics with astrophysics.
02:48Well, it's fantastic to see you guys, especially given you're looking so smart. So let's get
02:52on with it. Best of luck. Here we go. Fingers on buzzers. Here's your first starter for ten.
02:58To whom are these words of Mary Wollstonecraft addressed? Having read with great pleasure a pamphlet
03:04which you have lately published, I dedicate this volume to you to induce you to reconsider
03:08the subject and maturely weigh what I have advanced respecting the rights of women and
03:13national education. They are taken from the dedication of her Vindication of the Rights
03:17of Women, written in response to this French statesman and diplomat's assertion that women's
03:22education should be limited to the domestic sphere.
03:27Manchester, Manchewick. Rousseau. No.
03:30Edinburgh Richards. Condorcet. No, it's Talley Run. Let's start the question. I need the names
03:35of two countries here. The largest time zone difference across a single land border.
03:41Manchester, Manchewick. China and Afghanistan. Well done. Your bonuses are on the works of Alexander
03:46Pushkin. Quote, how will it end? It isn't hard to guess. The crowd will shed a few more tears
03:51and wail. He'll summon up a few more frowns. And in the end, he'll graciously consent with
03:55humbly lowered eyes to take the crown. Referring to its title character, those lines are from
04:00the opening scene of which of Pushkin's plays?
04:03Er, did Pushkin do Boris Godenov? Because, like, crown and stuff like that.
04:05Yeah, yeah. OK. Boris Godenov? Yes. Which narrative poem begins with a prologue that describes,
04:10quote, a green oak by the bay where a learned cat circles on a golden chain, telling stories of
04:16things wrought in legendary days, one of which the narrator says this poem will relate?
04:21Er, anything? I don't know, sorry. Any idea? No, pass. That's Ruslan and Lyudmila.
04:27The title character of which work is described in its opening stanzas as, in Nabokov's translation,
04:32a young scapegrace, a boisterous but charming child, now at large, haircut after the latest fashion,
04:38dressed like a London dandy? Eugene Onegin. Yes. Let's start the question.
04:44Which physicist's works include a short 1924 paper titled,
04:48Planck's Law and the Hypothesis of Light Quanta? After this paper was initially rejected for publication,
04:54he sent it with a covering letter to Einstein, who translated it into German and published it
04:59under this physicist's name.
05:01Edinburgh, Mchan. Bose. It is Bose, yes. Well done.
05:04Three questions for you, Edinburgh, on football clubs founded by Britons abroad.
05:09OK. Which football club in Serie A is the oldest in Italy and was founded in the city's
05:13British consulate as a cricket and athletics club, a fact demonstrated by the club's full name?
05:18They have been champions of Italy on nine occasions, although the last time was in 1924.
05:23Genoa. Yes. Also founded to play cricket by workers of a British railway company,
05:28the club, now known as Peñarol, after the neighbourhood in which it is located,
05:32is based in what country? Uruguay.
05:34The club has been national champions 52 times to date and was the first winner of the Copa Libertadores.
05:39Yeah. Uruguay. Yes.
05:41Which Spanish club was founded mainly by Scottish expats on Burns Night 1890,
05:45with its foundation document published in the Dundee Courier?
05:49The club hosted Spain's first official football match, defeating the team from nearby Huelva 2-0.
05:54Saltovigo.
05:56Saltovigo.
05:57Saltovigo.
05:58Saltovigo.
05:58No, that's Sevilla.
05:59Yeah.
05:59Let's start the question.
06:00What is the common English translation of the German word Saklichkeit,
06:05in the name of an art movement coined by Gustav Hartlaub
06:07for a 1925 exhibition subtitled German Painting Since Expressionism?
06:12In an essay published the same year, Hartlaub claimed that, quote,
06:15Much of the visionary fantasy of the old is preserved even in the verism of today,
06:21in reference to the work of members of the movement such as Lottie Lagerstein,
06:24George Gross and Otto Dix.
06:27Manchester Matrix.
06:29Realism.
06:29No.
06:31Edinburgh Leonard.
06:32Modernism.
06:33No, it's objectivity.
06:34The movement's called New Objectivity or Neue Saklichkeit.
06:38Let's start the question.
06:40What type of animal is EO in a 2022 film by Jerzy Skolimovsky,
06:44which follows the animal's travels across Europe
06:46after he is separated from his loving owner?
06:49Edinburgh Richards.
06:50Donkey.
06:50It is a donkey, yes.
06:52Your bonuses are on parasitic plants.
06:54Give the common name of each from the description.
06:57First, Rafflesia arnoldii,
06:59a parasitic leafless plant native to Indonesia
07:02that produces the largest individual flowers in the world.
07:05It feeds on tetrastigma vines
07:07and its common name refers to the unpleasant odour it emits
07:10to attract the carrion insects that pollinate it.
07:13Yeah.
07:14Corpse.
07:15Corpse flower.
07:15Yes.
07:17Next, Rhynanthus minor,
07:19a semi-parasitic plant common in wildflower meadows
07:21and grasslands in the UK.
07:23It takes its name from the colour of its flowers
07:24and the distinctive sound of its seeds moving in their calyxes.
07:28It's like yellow rattle or golden rattle.
07:29Yeah.
07:31Yellow rattle.
07:32Yes, well done.
07:34Finally, viscum album,
07:36a semi-parasitic plant found in Europe
07:38and appearing in clusters on tree branches,
07:40especially on apple, hawthorn and poplar trees,
07:42that also contains the poisonous viscotoxin.
07:45In Greek mythology, Aeneas carries this plant
07:47to protect him on his journey to the underworld.
07:49I think it's mistletoe.
07:50Mistletoe?
07:50Sure.
07:51Mistletoe.
07:51Yes, it is.
07:52Well done.
07:52Picture round now.
07:54And for your picture starter,
07:55you're going to see a national flag.
07:57For ten points,
07:58I simply need the name of the country it represents.
08:03Turkmenistan.
08:04Well done.
08:05Well done.
08:06For your picture starter,
08:07you saw the flag of Turkmenistan,
08:09which the North American Vexillological Association's
08:12influential 2001 pamphlet,
08:14Good Flag, Bad Flag,
08:15criticises for its complicated patterns.
08:18For your picture bonuses,
08:19three more flags critiqued in Good Flag, Bad Flag.
08:22Five points for each you can identify.
08:24First,
08:25this Canadian province,
08:26whose flag is criticised for having too small a bison?
08:33It's probably a Priory province,
08:34so like Alberta.
08:35I kind of like Alberta, actually.
08:36Alberta?
08:37No, it's Manitoba.
08:38Secondly,
08:38this is the flag of the former rulers of which city,
08:41now a national capital?
08:42The flag's overwhelming complexity
08:44defeats its purpose,
08:46according to the pamphlet.
08:46I'm afraid,
08:47I have no clue.
08:48I have no idea.
08:50I've got a 190 Chancellor,
08:52so...
08:54Damascus?
08:54No, it's Tunis.
08:56And finally,
08:56this Native American nation and reservation,
08:59whose flag is said to overwhelm the viewer
09:00with its over 20 graphic elements.
09:03Oh, my goodness.
09:04Oh, oh,
09:05is that an oil thing?
09:06So, like,
09:07this could be the Osage?
09:08Yeah.
09:08Because, like, it kills the climate.
09:10Osage?
09:10No, bad.
09:11It's a Navajo nation.
09:12Last other question.
09:14Most numerous in Iraq,
09:16Iran and India,
09:17the Christian grouping known as Church of the East
09:20or Assyrian Christians
09:21are also known by what name?
09:24The Cyril Malabar Church.
09:25I'm afraid you'll lose five points.
09:27After a 5th century bishop of Constantinople
09:29condemned by the Council of Ephesus in 431
09:31for his theological views,
09:33their missionaries were briefly influential
09:35at the court of Tang Dynasty China.
09:38Manchester Merchwick.
09:39Nestorian.
09:39It is the Nestorians.
09:40Yes, right there.
09:42Your bonuses, Manchester,
09:43are on director Paul Schrader's diagram
09:45of notable non-narrative filmmakers
09:47that he created for his 1972 book,
09:50Transcendental Style in Film.
09:52Which director lends his name to a ring on the diagram,
09:55beyond which Schrader claims that a director, quote,
09:58is no longer making cinema for a paying audience,
10:00he's making it for institutions?
10:02This director's film, Solaris,
10:03was released the same year as Schrader's book.
10:06Tarkovsky?
10:07Yes.
10:08Are you sure?
10:08OK, Tarkovsky.
10:09Correct.
10:10Amongst the directors placed in the art gallery section
10:12of the diagram,
10:13is which American experimental filmmaker
10:15whose works include Mothlight and Dog Star Man?
10:20Uh...
10:20Uh...
10:21I've not seen this.
10:23Do you have a guess?
10:26Um...
10:27Is that OK if not?
10:28No, sorry.
10:29Sam Moore.
10:30Stan Brakhage.
10:31Which Belgian director does Schrader
10:33locate midway between the diagram centre
10:35and the section labelled The Surveillance Cam.
10:37Her 1975 film, Jeanne Diehlmann,
10:40was named the greatest film of all time by a 2022 BFI poll.
10:43Dominic Power.
10:44Chantel Ackerman.
10:45Yes, it is. Well done.
10:46Let's start the question.
10:47What adjective is used specifically
10:49to describe all of the following?
10:51In quantum mechanics,
10:52a state within a system that has equal energy
10:55with one or more other states?
10:57Manchester Metroid degenerate.
10:58It is degenerate. Well done.
10:59Your bonus is there and three questions on places
11:01and characters from Greek mythology
11:03that share a name element.
11:05Hippomenes, also known as Melanion,
11:07beat which fleet-footed hunter in a race
11:10by distracting her with golden apples provided by Aphrodite?
11:13It could be Atalanta or Electra.
11:17No, not Electra.
11:18Atalanta, I feel.
11:19That's way off of what I was saying.
11:20What were you going to say?
11:21I have no idea, actually.
11:22Are you sure? Yeah.
11:23Atalanta?
11:24Yes.
11:24Which queen, the second wife of Theseus,
11:26was cursed by Aphrodite to fall in love with her stepson, Hippolytus?
11:29He rejected her, setting in motion a chain of events
11:32leading to both of their deaths.
11:34So, a shared element?
11:35Yeah.
11:36Like, so, something ending in nta?
11:38Yeah.
11:40Um...
11:40I don't think of anyone else.
11:42Hippolytus, like...
11:43I have a friend. I'm going to just pass. Pass.
11:45Sphedra.
11:46Finally, the hippocrene on Mount Helicon
11:48was a spring sacred to which mythological grouping?
11:51Oh, it could be the Muses.
11:53But the shared element, is that OK?
11:55Well, the hippo is the shared element.
11:55Oh, fine.
11:56So, Muses?
11:57The Muses.
11:57Yes, it is. Well done.
11:59Let's start with the question.
12:00Of which poet, born in 1875, did William Gass write,
12:05Roses climbed his life as if he were their trellis?
12:07A number of his works concern them,
12:09including the German-language poems
12:10The Centre of the Rose and The Bowl of Roses,
12:13a set of French-language poems published posthumously
12:16his self-composed epitaph carved on his grave in valet
12:19and one of his sonnets to Orpheus?
12:21Manchester, Manchwick.
12:22Reina Maria Roca.
12:23It is indeed, yes.
12:24Your bonuses are on the Second Crusade of 1147 to 1149.
12:29The Second Crusade was called in response
12:31to which crusader states captured by Zangi,
12:34governor of Mosul and Aleppo, ruled by Jocelyn II.
12:37It was the most northerly of those founded during the First Crusade.
12:40OK. I think Edessa for this.
12:43Yeah? Edessa.
12:44Yes.
12:45Pope Eugenius III commissioned which Cistercian abbot,
12:48later a saint, to preach the Crusade,
12:50which he notably did at Veselae,
12:52before King Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
12:55This sounds like Bernard of Clever.
12:56Bernard of Clever.
12:57Yes.
12:58Following a council held near Acre,
13:00the Crusaders made the doomed decision to attack which city
13:03instead of Edessa.
13:05Previously allied with Jerusalem against Aleppo,
13:07the city received support from their former enemies,
13:09the siege was abandoned,
13:11and the Crusade disintegrated soon after.
13:13What else is around there? Antiochus?
13:15Yeah.
13:16I don't know.
13:17Antioch?
13:17No, it's Damascus.
13:18Let's start the question.
13:19Music round now.
13:20And for your music starter,
13:21you're going to hear an extract from an opera.
13:23For ten points, I need you to name its composer.
13:49Edinburgh Richards.
13:50Meyerbeer?
13:50No, you can hear a bit more Manchester, but not that much,
13:53and you certainly can't confer.
13:57Manchester Faulkner.
13:58Mussorgsky.
13:59No, it's Wagner.
14:00We'll take your music bonuses when we get the next starter right.
14:02What single word term is used in anthropology and archaeology
14:06for the ancestral culture of the Inuit people
14:09and is taken from the name of a settlement in Greenland
14:11where the first archaeological remains of the culture were discovered?
14:15The settlement itself was named after the land
14:17believed by Greco-Roman geographers
14:19to be the northernmost in the world.
14:23Yes, it is. Well done.
14:25For your music starter,
14:26you heard the finale to Wagner's The Valkyrie
14:28in which the god Wotan summons a ring of fire.
14:31For your bonuses, then, Edinburgh,
14:32three more representations of fire in classical music.
14:35In each case, I need you to name the composer of the piece you hear.
14:39First, this composer.
14:51What is the fire?
14:53We should...
14:54Things. If we don't know, let's keep moving.
14:56We'll take a guess.
14:58Is that Russia?
15:00Could...
15:01Charles Stravinsky?
15:02Stravinsky.
15:03No, it's Sean Sibelius.
15:04That's the origin of fire.
15:05Secondly, this Russian composer.
15:10It's Scriabin, is it?
15:12Is it Scriabin?
15:13Go with it, go with it.
15:14You've got nothing else, yeah?
15:16Nominee Amjad.
15:17Scriabin?
15:17Yes, Prometheus, The Poem of Fire.
15:19Lastly.
15:23What other fire things have we got?
15:25Like with firebird cow?
15:27I don't know if I was...
15:27This is not the firebird cow.
15:28This is for me.
15:30Rimsky-Korsakov.
15:32Or French.
15:33Don't like that.
15:34Rimsky-Korsakov.
15:35No, that's Manuel De Fire with Ritual Fire Dance.
15:38Let's start a question.
15:39In 2018, which video game won the inaugural BAFTA Games Award for Game Beyond Entertainment,
15:44which recognises games that, quote, raise awareness, engage with real-world problems, or make the world
15:49a better place?
15:50This game, a sequel to which was released in 2024, centres on a Celtic warrior
15:55who embarks on a journey to hell to retrieve the soul of her dead lover
15:58and was widely praised for its realistic depiction of psychosis.
16:05No, I'll tell you, it's Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice.
16:07Let's start the question.
16:08On New Year's Day 1966, in what country was the government of President David Dacot
16:13overthrown in an overnight coup d'etat led by his cousin, Colonel Jean Bedell Bocassa?
16:19Manchester-Mancherwick, C-A-R.
16:21It is.
16:21Yes, you accept that.
16:23Your bonuses, then, Manchester, are three questions on a hypothesis.
16:27First, advanced by Georg Cantor in 1878, what name is given to the hypothesis
16:31that posits that there is no set whose cardinality is an intermediate value
16:36between the cardinality of the integers and that of the real numbers?
16:40Er, this is too mathsy for me.
16:42I can tell you.
16:43The counting hypothesis.
16:45No, it's the continuum hypothesis.
16:46Oh, right.
16:47In order to prove the continuum hypothesis's independence
16:50from Zermelo-Frankel's set theory, mathematician Paul Cohen
16:53developed what technique in which expanded theoretical universes
16:57are created that satisfy certain properties?
17:01Well, that kind of sounds like many worlds, but this isn't quantum.
17:04Yeah.
17:06I don't know.
17:07I've never read this.
17:09No.
17:09Many worlds.
17:10No, it's forcing.
17:11Kurt Gödel proved the compatibility of the continuum hypothesis
17:14with Zermelo-Frankel's set theory and did the same for which axiom,
17:18first formulated by Ernst Zermelo himself in 1904?
17:21Have they already said the act as a rule of choice?
17:24No.
17:24OK.
17:25Axiom of choice.
17:26It is the axiom of choice.
17:27Well done.
17:28Let's start the question.
17:29What historic county was, along with Shetland and Orkney,
17:33the only entirely insular county in Scotland?
17:35That is, it had no territory on mainland Britain.
17:38Located in the Firth of Clyde, it consisted of the Cumbrays,
17:42the larger island of Arran, and the county's namesake island,
17:45which is now part of a...
17:47Manchester Dixon.
17:48Argyle and Bute.
17:49No.
17:49I'm afraid you'll lose five points.
17:51Formed by its merger with the neighbouring historic county of Argyle.
17:56Bute.
17:56It is Bute, yes.
17:58Bad luck, Kirsty.
17:59Argyle and Bute is the name of the modern council area,
18:01but as the question said, we're after the historic county,
18:04which is Bute or Buteshire.
18:06Your bonuses, Edinburgh, are on sociological terms,
18:09all three of which begin with the same letter.
18:11Give each from the definition.
18:13First, a term popularised by Emile Durkheim,
18:15to indicate a breakdown in social conditions and norms.
18:18He employed it particularly in relation to his study of suicide.
18:22It's not anarchy, is it?
18:23No.
18:24No, it's...
18:26Despair?
18:27We should just go with an answer.
18:30Disintegration?
18:31Disintegration.
18:32Anomi.
18:32Secondly, an Arabic term for a kind of social solidarity
18:35or cohesion dependent on group unity.
18:38In his Muqaddimah, Ibn Khaldun states that its presence
18:41was an important factor in the formation of large states.
18:44Have we got anything?
18:45No.
18:45We should pass.
18:47Pass.
18:47Asabia.
18:48Finally, status indicators such as lineage or disability
18:51over which individuals have little to no control.
18:53It is often contrasted with achieved status.
18:57Oh.
18:57Like a name?
18:58I don't know.
18:59It has a name.
18:59Is it ascribed?
19:00Ascribed.
19:01Ascribed status?
19:02Yeah.
19:04What six-letter word could be found at the end of all of the following?
19:08The name of an avant-garde hip-hop group behind the 2017 album Red Burns.
19:13The title of a 1972 Miles Davis album featuring the tracks Black Satin
19:17and One and One inspired by composer Karl Heinz Stockhausen.
19:21And the title of a 2003 Mercury Prize winning album whose lead single I Love You marked the
19:27UK chart debut of its artist Dizzy Rascal.
19:31Manchester Dixon.
19:33Knights?
19:33No.
19:34Anyone from Edinburgh you may not confer?
19:36Edinburgh M-chat.
19:37Corner?
19:37It is corner.
19:38Well done.
19:39Your bonuses, Edinburgh, are on Zimbabwe.
19:42In 1965, in order to preserve white minority rule in southern Rhodesia, the unilateral declaration
19:47of independence from Britain was made by the Rhodesian front government, led by whom?
19:52Oh.
19:52Anything.
19:53I don't know.
19:54Pass.
19:54Ian Smith.
19:55Following conflict between the unrecognised state and a coalition of African liberation
19:59parties, the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement saw Britain temporarily retake control of the
20:05country in preparation for free elections.
20:08Which party, led by Robert Mugabe, would win those elections in 1980?
20:12I don't know.
20:12The Zimbabwe Liberation Front or something like that.
20:15Yeah, I don't know.
20:16The Liberation Party.
20:17Yeah.
20:18The Zimbabwe Liberation Party.
20:20No, Mugabe led the ZANU PF.
20:21Beginning in 1983, Gukuru Hundi was a violent military crackdown on supporters of the Zapu
20:26Party, who had largely drawn from what ethnic group related to the Zulu and the second largest
20:31in Zimbabwe?
20:32They are found mainly in the west of the country, centred around Bulawayo, but also in South
20:36Africa and Botswana.
20:37Shona.
20:39Shona.
20:39Shona.
20:39Shona.
20:40It's Shona.
20:40What did you say, Johnny?
20:41Shona.
20:42I think it's Shona if it's Botswana.
20:44Shona.
20:45No, the Shona are the largest ethnic group in Zimbabwe.
20:47It's the Ndebele.
20:48Now start the question.
20:49It's a picture round now.
20:50For your picture starter, you're going to see a still from a short film.
20:54For ten points, name the film maker in the picture.
20:59Manchester Magic.
21:00Werner Herzog.
21:00That is Werner Herzog, yes.
21:02That is Werner Herzog in the 1980 film Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, made as a response
21:07to the success of the Errol Morris film Gates of Heaven.
21:10For your picture bonuses then, Manchester, you're going to see stills from three more films,
21:14all documentaries directed by Werner Herzog.
21:17From here, I'll need the title of each film for the points.
21:20First, this film from 1997.
21:23Oh, gosh.
21:25Do you have anything, Ray?
21:26No, I should know.
21:27I'm really sorry.
21:28It doesn't matter.
21:28Pass.
21:29It's Little Dieter Needs to Fly.
21:30Next, this film from 2007.
21:34What's the one you did in Antarctica called?
21:36Oh, my gosh.
21:37Oh, my gosh.
21:37It's the one we talked about, the depressed penguin.
21:40Yeah, we spoke about this tremendous amount.
21:43Come on.
21:45Pass.
21:46Encounters at the End of the World.
21:47Finally, this film from 2005.
21:50That's Grizzly Man.
21:50Yes.
21:50Grizzly Man.
21:51Yes.
21:51Let's start the question.
21:53The Arabic term, Dibs Roumane, and the Farsi term, Rob E Anna,
21:57both refer to a thick, sweet-sour, dark, purplish-red syrup.
22:02Pomegranate.
22:03It is indeed.
22:03Your bonuses are on the German chemist Ida Nodak.
22:07In addition to being the first scientist to propose the idea later known
22:10as nuclear fission, Nodak also discovered which element,
22:13alongside Otto Berg and her husband, Walter.
22:16It was the last naturally occurring element to be discovered
22:18having a stable isotope.
22:20Um, quick.
22:21Stable isotope.
22:22So, bismuth.
22:23Bismuth.
22:24That's rhenium.
22:25Though the Nodaks and Berg initially isolated only a very small
22:27amount of rhenium, production soon expanded due to rhenium's
22:30regular presence in an ore of what metal?
22:33Um, mercury?
22:34I don't know.
22:35Mercury.
22:35Melimdinum.
22:36When the Nodaks and Berg discovered rhenium,
22:38they also identified an unnamed element 43,
22:40which is now known by what name,
22:42taken from the fact that Emilio Segre and Carlo Perrier...
22:45Numerichua.
22:45Technerium, technetium.
22:47Yes, it is.
22:47Well done.
22:47Let's start with a question.
22:49What specific type of isomerism is displayed by the chemical
22:52Carvone, which smells like either spearmint or caraway seeds,
22:56depending on whether the R or S isomer is predominant?
22:59This type of isomerism is defined as two molecules
23:02that are non-superimposable...
23:04Manchester Dixon.
23:07Stereo isomerism.
23:08No, I'm afraid you lose five points.
23:09Non-superimposable mirror images of one another.
23:13Edelbro Richards.
23:14Chirality.
23:15No, it's enantiomers or optical isomers that I needed to hear.
23:19Kirsty, again, bad luck, but stereoisomer is just too general.
23:22Let's start the question.
23:24Poems entitled Pharaoh, The Panther, The Ruin and The Seafarer,
23:29as well as over 90 riddles written in...
23:31Manchester Manchwick.
23:32The Exeter Book.
23:33Yes, that's correct.
23:33Well done.
23:34Your bonuses are on the two UNESCO World Heritage properties
23:37dedicated to the Silk Road.
23:39The easternmost site of the two properties is in which city,
23:42the oldest of the ancient capitals of China?
23:44It lies approximately 320 kilometres east of Xi'an.
23:48Kaifeng, maybe?
23:50Yeah, sure.
23:51Kaifeng?
23:52No, it's Luoyang.
23:53The westernmost site of the two properties
23:55is a ruined minaret located in Turkmenistan,
23:58approximately 28 kilometres north of the ruins
24:00of which ancient oasis city,
24:02once a capital of Horasan,
24:04and itself a UNESCO World Heritage site?
24:06I think this is Merv.
24:07Sure.
24:08Merv?
24:09Yes.
24:09The name of one of the properties references
24:11the route along which mountain range
24:13that forms the northern boundary of the Tarim Basin?
24:16Its name means Celestial Mountains.
24:20Altai?
24:21It's around there, I suppose.
24:25Altai?
24:25No, it's Tian Shan.
24:27Let's start a question.
24:28I need the name of a political figure here.
24:31Nationalism, populism, republicanism, reformism,
24:33statism, and secularism are the so-called Six Arrows.
24:38The staff of Kamal Atztuk.
24:40Well done.
24:40It is indeed.
24:41Your bonuses are on subjects of paintings by
24:43Jean-Michel Basquiat.
24:45Basquiat's 1982 work The Guilt of Gold Teeth depicts a
24:48black-clad figure with a tall black hat and a skull face,
24:51usually understood to be a representation of which figure
24:54in Haitian voodoo?
24:55The master of the dead.
24:56Oh.
24:57Oh.
24:58Oh.
24:58I can...
24:58Is that Papa Legba?
25:00Is from Haitian voodoo?
25:02Definitely.
25:03What's that's name?
25:03Papa Legba?
25:04No, that's Baron Samedi.
25:06A 1983 work by Basquiat is titled Toussaint Louverture
25:09versus Which Italian Preacher and Religious Reformer?
25:12A powerful figure in Florence in the late 1400s,
25:15his sermons railing against impiety, corruption, and luxury
25:18led to public bonfires of the vanities in that city.
25:20That's the bonfire of the vanities guy.
25:22His name is Savonarola?
25:27Yeah.
25:28What?
25:28Savonarola?
25:29Yes.
25:29The 1981 work Bird on Money pays tribute to which jazz saxophonist
25:33born in Kansas City in 1920.
25:36Uh...
25:36Saxophonist.
25:37Oh, is it not just going to be, like, um...
25:39Bird? Bird?
25:40Yeah.
25:41Charlie Parker.
25:41Charlie Parker.
25:42Charlie Parker.
25:42Yes, well done.
25:43Let's start with the question.
25:44Found in the Swiss canton of Valais,
25:47what is the highest mountain in the Alps to be located
25:49entirely within the borders of a single country?
25:52Its three-letter name is also the German word for cathedral.
25:58Edinburgh Richardson.
25:59Yes.
26:00Your bonuses are on international borders.
26:02For each bonus, you'll hear a list of countries,
26:04all of which have land borders with the same number of countries.
26:07In each case, I want that number.
26:09First, Benin, Thailand, Lithuania, Guatemala.
26:13Three?
26:14Did you say three?
26:15Three?
26:16Three.
26:16Four.
26:17Secondly, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Slovakia, Bolivia.
26:20We're now at the Garden of Edinburgh at 105 with Manchester at 145.
26:25APPLAUSE
26:29Oh, Edinburgh.
26:30It's so nice to see you guys applaud each other
26:32because I know it must hurt like hell.
26:34I mean, you saved your first and only defeat for the final,
26:37which is kind of a classy way to go, really.
26:40If you'd have said when you were applying for this, you know,
26:42six or eight months ago that you were going to get to the final,
26:44I think you'd have said that sounds pretty cool, right?
26:46It's insane.
26:47We never expected to get this far.
26:48Have you enjoyed the experience?
26:49Have you found it?
26:50Yeah, I mean, it's great.
26:51Wonderful.
26:51We've loved getting to know you.
26:53Manchester, you're a university challenge.
26:54Are you going to cry, Kai?
26:55My goodness, you can if you like.
26:57I'm in disbelief.
26:58You're a university challenge champions.
26:59How does it feel?
27:00I didn't think I'd make the team.
27:05I'm pleased with every single member of the team.
27:07I really am.
27:08Well, it's time now to present the trophy
27:10to this year's winning team from Manchester.
27:16For the presentation of the trophy,
27:18we've come here to the incredible Clapham Grand,
27:21which opened in 1900 as a palace of varieties.
27:25Appropriately enough for our trophy presenter,
27:27whose long and very distinguished career is nothing if not varied.
27:31In the theatre, she's collaborated with directors
27:33including Mark Rylance, Tony Richardson,
27:36and frequently Sir Peter Hall.
27:37And she's toured the world with her one-woman show
27:40on Dickens' women.
27:41She won a BAFTA for the Age of Innocence,
27:43directed by Martin Scorsese.
27:45And in 2002, she received an OBE for her services to drama.
27:49But we're proud to say that her first screen appearance
27:52was as a contestant on University Challenge.
27:55Back in 1963, when Bamba Gascoigne was asked
27:59if he could tell which of the students appearing on the series
28:01would go on to achieve great things,
28:03he said no, he could never tell, except once.
28:06The only student he was certain would go on to great things
28:10was Miriam Margulies.
28:12So, to present the trophy to this year's series champions,
28:15please welcome Miriam Margulies.
28:20Come on in, Miriam.
28:23Miriam, how are you?
28:24Well done. Well done.
28:26Yeah, they were fantastic too.
28:27They were.
28:28They were absolutely fantastic.
28:30Liz, I mentioned a TV appearance six and a bit decades ago.
28:33Do you remember coming on University Challenge?
28:36Oh, yes, I do. Of course I do.
28:38What was it like?
28:38I rather blotted my copy book.
28:41You've got a habit of doing that.
28:42What did you do?
28:43Yeah, I know.
28:44What did you do?
28:45I got a question wrong and I said the F word.
28:50Yeah.
28:51Do you ever watch the show these days?
28:52I do. Yes, I do.
28:54And the standard, as you've seen from the final,
28:56the standard is still incredibly high, isn't it?
28:59Terrifying.
29:01You're a genius, of course.
29:04I mean, really, you were up against it, weren't you, with that?
29:07Yeah, but these guys put in a phenomenal performance.
29:10I know.
29:10But we do have winners and it's your solemn and wonderful duty
29:14to give this to the winning captain from Manchester, Kai Madgwick.
29:18What a pleasure to give this to you, but to all of you.
29:23You were brilliant, especially you.
29:29So, well done.
29:30I can't shake hands with you because I'm frightened I'll drop it.
29:33Thank you so much.
29:35Look at your nails.
29:38Bravo!
29:40Bravo.
29:43Well, it only remains for me to congratulate once more
29:46both teams on a fantastic final match.
29:48Many thanks to Miriam Margulies for presenting this year's trophy
29:51and thank you for watching.
29:52University Challenge returns in a few months.
29:54We very much hope that you will join us then.
29:57Good night.
29:58Come on over, guys.
29:59Thank you very much.
30:00Thank you very much.
30:03Good night.
30:19Thank you very much.
30:21I'm a compliment.
30:23I'm happy to see you.
30:24Thank you very much.
30:26I can see you this soon, thank you very much.
30:26Thank you very much.
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