University Challenge

University Challenge is a long-running British television quiz show. The format is based on quiz bowl or College Bowl and is licensed and produced by Granada Television.

At its inception in 1962 it was hosted by Bamber Gascoigne. When audience figures began to fall, changes to the long-standing format of the programme only made things worse and it was taken off the air in 1987. It was eventually revived in 1994 by the BBC (although still produced by Granada), using the original format (with minor differences) and presented by Jeremy Paxman.

Teams consist of four members and represent a single university or Oxford, Cambridge, Wales or London college. "Starter" questions are answered individually "on the buzzer", and are worth 10 points. The team answering a starter correctly gets a set of "bonus" questions worth a potential fifteen points, over which they can confer. An incorrect interruption of a starter results in a five point penalty. In the course of a game there are two "picture rounds" and one "music round"; 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.

Since the revival of the programme, an increasing number of teams have featured mature students, who are thought to have the advantage of a greater breadth of general knowledge. The Open University won the 1999 series with a team whose age averaged 46, and included one member (Lance Haward) who had only applied to study for his distance-learning degree in order to appear on the show. The 2003 final was contested between two teams of mature students, with Birkbeck College, London, defeating Cranfield University. The producers of the programme have taken this development 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 (2003 and 2004) matched occupational groups such as civil servants, architects and doctors against each other. The former was won by the 1979 team from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, the latter in 2003 by a team from the UK tax office (the Inland Revenue).

University Challenge India started in Summer 2003, culminating in a match in March 2004 between the Indian winners, Sardar Patel College of Engineering (SPCE), Mumbai, and 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.

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.

Winners

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	Bradford
1980	Merton College, Oxford
1981	Queen's University, Belfast
1982	St. Andrews
1983	Dundee
1984	The Open University
1985	Jesus College, Oxford
1986	Keble College, Oxford

New Series

Year	Winners	Runners-up
1995	Trinity College, Cambridge	New College, Oxford
1996	Imperial College, London	London School of Economics
1997	Magdalen College, Oxford	The Open University
1998	Magdalen College, Oxford	Birkbeck College, London
1999	The Open University	Oriel College, Oxford
2000	Durham	Oriel College, Oxford
2001	Imperial College, London	St John's College, Oxford
2002	Somerville College, Oxford	Imperial College, London
2003	Birkbeck College, London	Cranfield University
2004	Magdalen College, Oxford	Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge

Specials

Year	Special Event	Winners	Runners Up
1993	Celebrity match	Celebrity Past Contestants (John Simpson, Charles Moore, Stephen Fry, Alastair Little)	Keble College, Oxford, 1987
1997	College Bowl Challenge	Michigan	Imperial College, 1996
1998	College Bowl Challenge	USA	UK
1998	Mastermind Challenge	Magdalen College, Oxford, 1997	Imperial College, London, 1996
1998	Red Dwarf Universe Challenge	Fans	Actors
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, David Baddiel, Frank Skinner, Stephen Fry, Clive Anderson)
2004	International "Grand Final": UK vs India	Sardar Patel College of Engineering (SPCE), Mumbai	Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge: (Laura Ashe, Darren Khodaverdi, Lameen Souag, Edward Wallace)

External Links

University Challenge India: