University Challenge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| University Challenge | |
|---|---|
| Format | Game Show |
| Starring | Bamber Gascoigne (ITV) Jeremy Paxman (BBC Two) Angus Deayton (Comic Relief specials) |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Granada Television |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV (21 September, 1962 - 31 December, 1987) BBC Two (21 September, 1994 - present) |
| Picture format | 4:3 (1962 - 2000) 16:9 (2001 - present) |
| Original run | 21 September 1962 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | College Bowl |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
University Challenge is a long-running British television quiz show, licensed and produced by Granada Television. It was first shown on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31st December, 1987, then on BBC Two from 21 September 1994 to the present day.
The format is based on the American show College Bowl, which ran on NBC radio from 1953 to 1957, and on NBC TV from 1959 to 1970. College Bowl is credited in the end title.
Contents |
[edit] History
At its inception in 1962 University Challenge was hosted by Bamber Gascoigne. Whenever audience figures began to fall (for example, due to its less-than auspicious broadcast slots such as Sunday afternoons, weekday afternoons and, in some regions, late at night), changes were made to the long-standing format of the programme: initial games were staged over two legs, the second leg involving contestants selecting questions from specific categories (e.g., sport, literature, science).
This added complexity did little to halt declining viewer figures, and, after ITV regions started to drop the programme altogether (the final season was not screened at all by LWT) it was taken off the air in 1987. It was eventually revived in 1994 by the BBC (although still produced by Granada Television), using the original format with minor differences and presented by Jeremy Paxman.
During the show's hiatus, a special edition of the show was made, not by Granada but in fact by BBC Television, as part of a themed evening of programmes dedicated to Granada Television. It was presented by Bamber Gascoigne, and remains his final appearance as presenter to date. The teams included one made up of students from Keble College, who had fielded the winning team from the final 1987 season, and a Graduates team, made up of celebrity alumni who had previously starred on the programme as students, including journalist John Simpson and actor Stephen Fry. This show was preceded by a short documentary about the show's history, which revealed that before each recording, Gascoigne used to insist on eating an Eccles cake, which would have been placed on his desk by the production team.
The original announcer was Jim Pope, who stayed with the programme from 1963 until his death in 2001. Since then, the announcer has been Roger Tilling. The memorable theme tune is called "College Boy" and was composed by Derek New. The original version from the Bamber Gascoigne era is no longer used, and has been replaced by a version recorded by The Balanescu Quartet.
[edit] Format
The current tournament format used for a series is that of a direct knockout tournament starting with 28 teams. The 14 first round winners progress directly to the last 16. Two matches, involving the four highest scoring losing teams from the first round whose losing scores often exceeded winning scores in other first round matches, fill the remaining places in the last 16.
Teams consist of four members and represent either a single university or a college of the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Wales or London.
"Starter" questions are answered individually "on the buzzer" without conferring and are worth 10 points. "Your starter for 10" became the programme's most famous catchphrase and inspired David Nicholls' 2003 novel Starter for Ten and the 2006 film based on it starring James McAvoy. The team answering a starter correctly gets a set of three "bonus" questions worth a potential 15 points over which they can confer. Sets of bonus questions are thematically linked, although they rarely share a connection with the preceding starter question. Generally there are three separate bonus questions worth 5 points each, but occasionally a bonus will require the enumeration of a given list with 5, 10 or 15 points given for correctly giving a certain number of items from the list (e.g., "there are six fundamental SI units. Give 4 for 5 points, 5 for 10 points or all 6 for 15 points"). An incorrect interruption of a starter results in a 5-point penalty.
In the course of a game there are two "picture rounds" (occurring roughly one quarter and three quarters of the way through) and one "music round" (at the halfway point), where the subsequent bonuses are connected thematically to the starter; if a picture or music starter is not correctly answered, the accompanying bonus questions are held back until a normal starter is correctly answered.
The pace of questioning gradually increases through the show, becoming almost frantic in the last minute or so before the "gong" which signals the end of the game. In the event of a tied score at the sound of the gong, a "sudden death" question is asked, the first team to answer correctly being deemed the winner; this is repeated until one or other of the teams answer correctly, or a team loses by giving an incorrect interruption. The ending of the programme is signified with Jeremy Paxman saying "It's goodbye from (name of losing team, who wave and say goodbye), it's goodbye from (winning team, likewise), and it's goodbye from me: goodbye!"
While the starter questions are being read out, the teams are shown on screen one above the other by means of a split-screen effect. When a player buzzes in, the shot zooms in to that player, accompanied by a voice-over identifying the player by team and surname, for example "Nottingham, Smith". The voiceovers are performed live in the studio by Roger Tilling and become noticeably more energetic towards the end of the programme.
[edit] Controversy
The fact that the Oxford and Cambridge universities can enter each of their colleges as a separate team despite not being universities in the conventional sense was the ostensible inspiration for an unusual 1975 protest. A team from the University of Manchester (which included David Aaronovitch) who were appearing on the show answered every question "Che Guevara", "Marx", "Trotsky" or "Lenin", possibly in the hope of making the resulting show unbroadcastable. It did, however, get broadcast, although only portions of the episode still exist in the archives of Granada TV.
The show has, since its revival in 1994, featured a number of very high-standard teams with postgraduate and mature students, who might be thought of as having the advantage of a greater breadth of general knowledge.[1] The Open University (OU) won the 1999 series with a team whose age averaged 46, which included three of the four team members who were former Brain of Britain and Mastermind finalists or otherwise professional quiz show contestants, and who had only joined the OU specifically in order to appear on the show. In the quarter-final they beat a slightly younger team from part-time and mature student specialist Birkbeck, University of London, by only one question. Host Jeremy Paxman openly criticised the OU team as not being in the spirit of the competition.[2] The 2003 final was contested between two teams of mature students, with Birkbeck, University of London defeating Cranfield University.
[edit] Famous contestants
- David Aaronovitch – University of Manchester, 1975
- Sebastian Faulks – Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 1972
- Julian Fellowes – Magdalene College, Cambridge, 1969
- Stephen Fry – Queens' College, Cambridge, 1980
- Clive James – Pembroke College, Cambridge
- David Lidington – Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, 1978
- Miriam Margolyes – Newnham College, Cambridge, 1963
- David Mellor – Christ's College, Cambridge
- Charles Moore – Trinity College, Cambridge
- Malcolm Rifkind – University of Edinburgh, 1967
- John Simpson – Magdalene College, Cambridge, 1964
- David Starkey – Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge
- June Tabor – St Hugh's College, Oxford, 1968
[edit] Spin-off shows
The producers of the programme have taken the more recent inclusion of mature students to its logical conclusion by making two series without any student participants: University Challenge Reunited (2002) brought former teams back together, while University Challenge: The Professionals (from 2003) matched occupational groups such as civil servants, architects and doctors against each other. In 2003, the former was won by the 1979 team from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, the latter by a team from the Inland Revenue. The 2004 Professionals series was won by the British Library, and the 2005 series by the Privy Council Office. In 2006, Professionals was won by staff of the Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford.
Sixth Form Challenge, hosted by Chris Kelly, appeared briefly between 1965 and 1967. An untelevised equivalent, Schools' Challenge continues to run at junior-high and senior-high school level.
University Challenge ran in New Zealand for 14 seasons, from 1976 until 1989, with international series held between the previous years' British and New Zealand champions in both 1986 and 1987.
University Challenge, hosted by Dr. Magnus Clarke, ran in Australia on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's channel from 1987 until 1989.
University Challenge India started in summer 2003, with the season culminating in the finals of March 2004 where Sardar Patel College of Engineering (SPCE), Bombay, beat Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad. The 2004–2005 season finale saw a team of undergraduate engineering students from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (NSIT), Delhi, beat a team of management students from the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode. The Indian winners of the 2003–2004 season went on to beat the finalists from the UK show, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. UC India is produced by BBC World India, and Synergy Communications, co-owned by Siddhartha Basu, who also hosts the show.
The show has seen numerous specials, including those for specific professions and celebrity editions, such as Universe Challenge, where the cast of Red Dwarf challenged a team of their "ultimate fans" to celebrate Red Dwarf's 10th anniversary on the air. The cast was Chris Barrie (captain), Danny John-Jules, Robert Llewellyn, Chloë Annett and Craig Charles. The cast, who at times seemed amazed at the fans' knowledge, lost.
[edit] Winners
In addition to the various colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, the only Universities to have won University Challenge more than once have been Durham, Sussex, London and the Open University.
[edit] Original series
| Year | University/College |
|---|---|
| 1963 | Leicester |
| 1965 | New College, Oxford |
| 1966 | Oriel College, Oxford |
| 1967 | Sussex |
| 1968 | Keele |
| 1969 | Sussex |
| 1970 | Churchill College, Cambridge |
| 1971 | Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge |
| 1972 | University College, Oxford |
| 1973 | Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge |
| 1974 | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| 1975 | Keble College, Oxford |
| 1976 | University College, Oxford |
| 1977 | Durham |
| 1978 | Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge |
| 1979 | University of Bradford |
| 1980 | Merton College, Oxford |
| 1981 | Queen's University of Belfast |
| 1982 | St. Andrews |
| 1983 | Dundee |
| 1984 | The Open University |
| 1985 | Jesus College, Oxford |
| 1986 | Keble College, Oxford |
Information in this table was obtained from University Challenge Series Champions. Sean Blanchflower. Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
[edit] New series
Some of the information in this table was obtained from University Challenge Series Champions. Sean Blanchflower. Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
[edit] Lowest scores
The lowest score during a regular series was by New Hall, Cambridge, which totalled just 35 in 1997.[3] However, the score would have been lower if all fines for incorrect interruptions had been applied.[4] The University of Bradford also scored 35 in 2004,[3] as did the Royal Naval College in the 2003 Professionals series. The all-time low for the Paxman era was achieved in the 2003 Professionals series, when the Members of Parliament team scored only 25, though this should be seen in the context of the Professionals series' shorter playing time (about 20 minutes for a match instead of about 25 for the student series).
In 2006, Robinson College, Cambridge scored 40 points. Other teams to score only 40 have included University of St Andrews (2001 and 2004); Keele University (2002) and Queen's University Belfast (2005).[3]
[edit] Specials
| Year | Special Event | Winners | Runners Up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | International best of three series | Great Britain (Jesus College, Oxford, 1985) | New Zealand (University of Auckland, 1985) |
| 1987 | International best of three series | Great Britain (Keble College, Oxford, 1986) | New Zealand (University of Otago, 1986) |
| 1993 | Celebrity match | Celebrity Past Contestants (John Simpson, Charles Moore, Stephen Fry, Alastair Little) | Keble College, Oxford, 1987 |
| 1997 | College Bowl Challenge | University of Michigan | Imperial College London, 1996 |
| 1998 | College Bowl Challenge | USA | UK |
| 1998 | Mastermind Challenge | Magdalen College, Oxford, 1997 | Imperial College London, 1996 |
| 1998 | Universe Challenge | Red Dwarf Fans: (Darryl Ball, Kaley Nichols, Steve Rogers [Chairman of the Official Red Dwarf Fan Club], Pip Swallow, Sharon Burnett [Co-author of The Red Dwarf Quiz Book]) | Red Dwarf Cast: (Robert Llewellyn, Danny John-Jules, Chris Barrie, Chloë Annett, Craig Charles) |
| 1999 | Journalists Special | Tabloids | Broadsheets |
| 1999 | Challenge | Magdalen College, Oxford, 1998 | Leicester, 1963 |
| 2002 | University Challenge: Reunited | Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, 1979 | Keele, 1968 |
| 2003 | University Challenge: The Professionals | The Inland Revenue | Royal Meteorological Society |
| 2003 | Comic Relief match | The Townies: (Jeremy Beadle, Danny Baker, Johnny Vaughan, Gina Yashere) | The Gownies: (David Baddiel, Frank Skinner, Stephen Fry, Clive Anderson) |
| 2004 | International "Grand Final": UK vs India | Sardar Patel College of Engineering (SPCE), Mumbai: (Nirad Inamdar, Bharat Jayakumar, Nishad Manerikar, Shrijit Plappally) | Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge: (Laura Ashe, Darren Khodaverdi, Lameen Souag, Edward Wallace) |
| 2004 | University Challenge: The Professionals | British Library | Oxford University Press |
| 2004 | Christmas Special 1 | Television (Monty Don, Martha Kearney, Andrew Neil, Clare Balding) | Radio (Henry Blofeld, Jenni Murray, Ned Sherrin, Roger Bolton) |
| Christmas Special 2 | Critics (Waldemar Januszczak, Russell Davies, Brian Sewell, Andrew Graham-Dixon) | Theatre | |
| Christmas Specials: Final | Critics | Television | |
| 2005 | Comic Relief 2005 Match | The South (Sarah Alexander, Hugh Grant, Stephen Fry, Omid Djalili) | The North (Colin Murray, John Thomson, Armando Iannucci, Neil Morrissey) |
| 2005 | University Challenge: The Professionals | Privy Council Office | Romantic Novelists' Association |
| 2006 | University Challenge: The Professionals | Bodleian Library | Royal Statistical Society |
| 2008 | University Challenge: The Professionals | Ministry Of Justice | National Physical Laboratory |
Some information from this table was obtained from the web pages listed in Special Series. Sean Blanchflower. Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
[edit] In popular culture
- David Nicholls' novel Starter for Ten (2003) was based around one student's part in a University Challenge team whilst at the University of Bristol (based on Nicholls' own alma mater). The title was, of course, taken from the programme's catchphrase. The novel was adapted into a film of the same name, released in 2006 (on 10 November in the UK). Mark Gatiss played Bamber Gascoigne.
- In 1984, an episode of The Young Ones, entitled "Bambi", centred around a spoof of University Challenge with a match between the fictitious teams of Scumbag College and Footlights College, Oxbridge. The Scumbag College team, in the episode's University Challenge studio were physically above the other team. The Footlights team included Stephen Fry who particpated in the real competition in 1980.
- The song "My Perfect Cousin" by The Undertones contains the couplet "He thinks that I'm a cabbage/'Cos I hate University Challenge." It appears on the album Hypnotised.
- A quiz themed around BBC science fiction situation comedy Red Dwarf, broadcast in 1998, was entitled Universe Challenge. It opened as if it were a regular episode, but with Chris Barrie imitating Jeremy Paxman. Bamber comes from behind with a blaster gun and blows him out of the chair, so he can host. This was Bamber Gascoigne's last appearance as host.
- In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, University Challenge was placed 34th.
- Not the Nine O'Clock News featured a spoof of University Challenge, pitting contestants from Parkhurst Prison and Wormwood Scrubs against each other. After convict Stephenson, played by Mel Smith, answered the first question, a policeman popped up from behind the counter to take notes, next to Griff Rhys Jones, imitating Bamber Gascoigne.[citation needed]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Martin, Nicole. "University Challenge 'needs upper age limit' [print version: Your starter for 10: how old are these students?]", The Daily Telegraph, 2007-12-17 [print version: 2007-12-14], p. 14.
- ^ "Paxman Slams 'Quiz Professionals'", BBC News, 1999-06-05.
- ^ a b c University Challenge – lowest scores. Sean Blanchflower. Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
- ^ On the TV programme The 100 Most Embarrassing TV Moments Ever, the New Hall performance was repeated and a member of the team said that they stopped losing points.
