University Challenge team hopeful of victory

The members of the University of Warwick University Challenge Team 2011 have now been announced. Team Captain Tom Hayes, Martin Rixham, Sumukh Kaul, Celia Nicholls and James Wheatley as reserve beat 120 other applicants to become the new hopefuls determined to win once more.

Applicants this year had to score more than 21 out of 40 questions in the first round to make it to the second. Scores in round two ranged from four to 31 out of 40. This year the team will be flexing their knowledge skills with the support of the Quiz Society and the weekly RAG pub quiz. Externally the team is attending quizzes up and down the country, including an international competition held in Oxford. A Facebook group, ‘Warwick University Challenge Team Appreciation Society,’ is drumming up support for the series, which will begin filming in late February of next year.

“It’s a real honor to be representing the University in such a widely-watched TV program in only my first year” said first-year PPE student Sumukh Kaul. “I’m quite nervous, but really excited to learn new things and hopefully do the University proud. We won in 2007 and we feel that this year we have a chance of getting quite far in the competition again.”

“Last year was something of a disappointment, given that we didn’t make the show,” commented reserve James Wheatley. “However this year is another chance. I think our team is better than last year – we have people with excellent general knowledge. Support from all quarters has been fantastic, and I’m really looking forward to the selections already.”

Warwick Students’ Union Societies Officer Andy White said, “I think that the balance of the team is very strong across pretty much all subjects. University Challenge is an excellent platform for student development and provides an opportunity for all students here to get behind the team.”

> “I remember how great the vibe round campus was when we won.” – Andy White

A Warwick University team won University Challenge for the first time ever in 2007, a success the team is eagerly looking to accomplish again. Last year’s team managed to beat Christ’s College, Cambridge, with 200 points to 170 in the first round, but were knocked out by Jesus College, Oxford, in the second.

University Challenge has been on TV screens since 1962, and was revived in 1994 in its current format with Jeremy Paxman as presenter on BBC Two. At the time of writing, it had amassed 34 series and 1,432 episodes. Tensions and controversies have arisen over the years over Oxbridge being allowed to submit more than one team due to the collegiate system of the Universities. One protest team in 1975 from the University of Manchester refused to answer questions with any answer other than ‘Che Guevara,’ ‘Marx,’ ‘Trotsky’ or ‘Lenin.’

“I remember how great the vibe round campus was when we won,” added Andy White. “Lets hope we can get that again.”