More than you ever wanted to know about the UK's longest-running quiz show
50th series
The student series is currently showing on BBC Two on Mondays at 20:30, with the show now celebrating its 50th series.
Children in Need
You can rewatch the Children in Need special on iPlayer.
Student champions
The 2019-20 student series was won by Imperial College, London, the third time that the institution has won the series. Runners-up Corpus Christi College, Cambridge reached the final for the first time in the show's history, going one better than the 1982 team that lost in the semi-finals.
Christmas champions
Leeds University won the annual light-hearted Christmas University Challenge series by defeating a strong Wadham College, Oxford team in the final. The series featured at least three contestants (Henry Gee, Jackie Hunter, Roger Mosey) who appeared on UC as students back when Bamber Gascoigne was at the helm, and the first show also contained two (Allison Pearson and Richard Coles) who have also been on Only Connect specials.
Record low
Episode five of the 2019-20 series was record-breaking for all the wrong reasons. With St John's, Oxford beating Wolfson, Cambridge by 115 points to 40, it smashed the (Paxman-era) record for the lowest number of points in a game by 55 points. The previous low was 210 points, achieved in both the 2005 and 2018 series. It also tied the record for the lowest winning score.
Record breaker
The 2018-19 series took Jeremy Paxman past Bamber Gascoigne's total of 970 shows as presenter (or 971 if the 1992 Granadaland special is added). The game between Clare, Cambridge and St Edmund Hall, Oxford on 10 December 2018 was the 971st that he has chaired, consisting of (up to then) 802 regular student shows, 61 Professionals, 81 Christmas, 18 Reunited, and 9 Specials.
Help needed
Can you help track down more fixtures and results from the Bamber Gascoigne series? Click on a row in the table below:
| Series | Start | End | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21/09/1962 | 26/11/1963 | Leicester |
| 2 | 03/12/1963 | 26/05/1965 | New, Oxford |
| 3 | 25/08/1965 | 08/06/1966 | Oriel, Oxford |
| 4 | 07/09/1966 | 03/06/1967 | Sussex |
| 5 | 27/09/1967 | 24/07/1968 | Keele |
| 6 | 02/08/1968 | 13/07/1969 | Sussex |
| 7 | 20/07/1969 | 30/08/1970 | Churchill, Cambridge |
| 8 | 25/10/1970 | 01/08/1971 | Sidney Sussex, Cambridge |
| 9 | 17/10/1971 | 23/07/1972 | University, Oxford |
| 10 | 25/10/1972 | 05/09/1973 | Fitzwilliam, Cambridge |
| 11 | 31/10/1973 | 02/10/1974 | Trinity, Cambridge |
| 12 | 18/11/1974 | 31/10/1975 | Keble, Oxford |
| 13 | 07/11/1975 | 10/12/1976? | University, Oxford |
| 14 | 17/12/1976? | 31/10/1977 | Durham |
| 15 | 07/11/1977 | 20/11/1978 | Sidney Sussex, Cambridge |
| 16 | 27/11/1978 | 11/02/1980 | Bradford |
| 17 | 18/02/1980 | 08/12/1980 | Merton, Oxford |
| 18 | 15/12/1980 | 07/12/1981 | Queen's, Belfast |
| 19 | 14/12/1981 | 23/01/1983 | St Andrews |
| 20 | 30/01/1983 | 18/12/1983 | Dundee |
| 21 | 20/01/1984 | 21/12/1984 | Open |
| 22 | 07/04/1986 | 30/05/1986 | Jesus, Oxford |
| 23 | 13/07/1987 | 04/09/1987 | Keble, Oxford |
Do email me (if this fails then try smb1001 at gmail) if you can fill in any of the many gaps, although it is inevitable that many of the fixtures and results are now lost as Granada only has a handful of recordings from the series before 1980.
Retrospectives
I've recently added a page of links to articles by institutions reminiscing on their appearances over the years. If you're compiling one then start by taking a look at the series appearance tables (1962-87, and 1994-).
Team photos
Someone was kind enough to send me a picture of Durham's 1977 winning team. Only two series champions left without pictures!
