Warwick team triumph in University Challenge final

Students from Warwick have returned to campus triumphant after winning this year's series of University Challenge.

The team, made up of Richard Pollard, George Braid, Owain Burrell and Andrew Rout, defeated Cambridge's Magdalene College with 195 points to 140 in the BBC Two show which aired on Monday.

They navigated the entire series without a single defeat.

The University of Warwick team's captain Mr Rout said it was "great" to win, "even if somewhat unexpected".

"It was surprising to get to the final let alone win the tournament," the maths PhD student, originally from Kent, said.

"Hopefully we will inspire other people try out for the Warwick University Challenge team in future years or to get involved."

The team secured the first starter for 10 in the quiz, hosted by Jeremy Paxman, identifying 'hell' as the four-letter word used by Percy Shelley to describe London, T.S. Eliot to describe oneself and Jean-Paul Sartre's definition of other people.

The University of Warwick last lifted the series trophy in 2007 and vice-chancellor Prof Stuart Croft said he was "absolutely delighted" to congratulate the team on their "superb victory".

"To have won the series without losing a single match is an incredible achievement, especially against such excellent competition," he said.

The series was recorded during Covid-19 restrictions and George Braid, a Physics PhD student from Brighton, said it was "a a shame that the pandemic stopped us seeing much of the other teams, or indeed each other, outside of the games, but the studios ran everything very smoothly under the circumstances".

"Even in the circumstances, limiting as they have been, the whole process has been very rewarding," history and politics student Richard Pollard, from Cheshire, added.

The team were presented with their trophy by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage.

Q: Which legendary figure gives his name to both the channel that separates New Britain from New Ireland in the Bismarck Archipelago and the channel that separates Great Britain from Ireland between Pembrokeshire and County Wexford?

A: St George

Q: If a fresh breeze blowing at 10 metres-per-second exerts a force of 1,000 Newtons on a wall, what force is exerted on the same wall by a storm wind of 30 metres-per-second?

A: 9,000 Newtons

Q: In a mechanism for converting rotary into linear motion, for example in vehicle steering systems or mountain railways, what term denotes a small cog or gear wheel that engages with a toothed bar known as a rack?

A: Pinion

Q: Consider the square root of two written to four significant figures. If these four numbers are taken as a year of the second millennium, which king is on the English throne?

A: Henry V

Q: What multiple of 10 results when one multiplies the number of piano concertos by Beethoven and Rachmaninoff?

A: 20

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