University Challenge — Highest Scores

When we got 390 in the final in 1995 Bamber Gascoigne commented that it was one of the highest scores he could remember since the show began in 1962. This was then overtaken by Open's 415, beating their previous 395. Similarly, when Manchester won by 320 points, Jeremy Paxman declared it was the biggest winning margin in the show's history, a claim backed up in the ensuing newspaper articles.

However, neither of these claims are true. In the first round of 1987, the final series before the show was cut by Granada, University College, Oxford beat Reading by 520 to 35. Bamber said that he thought that they had broken the previous record (held by a Leeds team from the 1970s) when they passed 440.

In 1977-8 Sidney Sussex, Cambridge beat Leeds by 400-170 and were told that this was the first time that 400 had been reached. Later, in the 1984 series Birkbeck, London notched up 430 in beating Exeter College, Oxford, which Bamber referred to as the second highest score of all time. Moreover, in the same series Magdalen College, Oxford scored 405 during their quarter final match. Bamber commented that this was only the fifth time that the 400 barrier had been broken in the show's 22 year history.

The following year Open beat St Andrew's in the final with a score of 425, and Bamber stated that they were only 5 points off the record score.

Note that during the Bamber Gascoigne era, bonuses were often worth up to 40 points rather than the usual 15, meaning that higher scores were possible. Also, unlike under Paxman, during Bamber's series incorrect interruptions resulted in the opposing team being awarded five points instead of the offender's team losing five.

I've also discounted the 1986 and 1987 'pass-the-baton' games in which a different format was used and the scores for the day started at the final scores from the previous day. Thus the day after their record 520 score, University College, Oxford increased this to 930 by the end of their 'pass-the-baton' game, certainly the highest score that a University Challenge scoreboard has had to display.

So in addition to the table below, I may conjecture the following all-time high scoring table:

Highest scores of all-time
Pos'n	Team	Opponents	Round	Year	Score
1	University, Oxford	Reading	1	87	520
2	Leeds	?	?	70s	440
3	Birkbeck, London	Exeter, Oxford	1	84	430
4	Open	St Andrews	F	84	425
5?	Leeds	University, Swansea	1	83	415
5?	Open	Charing Cross	SF	97	415
7?	Peterhouse, Cambridge	St Anne's, Oxford	1	64	410
8	St John's, Cambridge	?	1?	78?	>405?
9	University, Oxford	Open	SF	87	405
10	Magdalen, Oxford	UWIST	QF	84	405
11	Sidney Sussex, Cambridge	Leeds	1	78	400

Thanks to John Authers and Roger Mortimore of the 1987 University College team, members of Sidney Sussex, 1978, Philip Beagon of the 1984 Magdalen team, Stephen Pearson, captain of Manchester's 1996 team, Norman Hammond of Peterhouse, 1965, and Peter Cartwright for this info.

At the moment, I can also conjecture that the highest losing score, and the highest aggregate score were both scored in the same match in 1987. In the semi-final match University College, Oxford beat the Open University by 405-335 giving a total score of 740!

Highest Scores, 1994-2024
1	Open	Charing Cross Hospital	SF	97	415
2	Open	Swansea	1st	97	395
3	Trinity, Cambridge	New, Oxford	Final	95	390
4	Magdalen, Oxford	Cardiff	QF	98	375
5	Durham	Strathclyde	1st	19	360
6	Manchester	Birkbeck, London	1st	97	360
7	Durham	King's Medical School, London	2nd	00	360
8	Durham	Glasgow	2nd	99	355
9	Corpus Christi, Oxford	Exeter	QF	09	350
10	Open	Lancaster	1st	99	350
11	Manchester	Lincoln, Oxford	SF	09	345
12	Corpus Christi, Oxford	Lancaster	QF	05	345
13	St John's, Cambridge	King's, Cambridge	2nd	09	345
14	Magdalen, Oxford	Durham	1st	11	340
15	Durham	Aberystwyth	QF	00	340
16	Magdalen, Oxford	Queen's, Belfast	QF	97	335
17	Trinity, Cambridge	St Andrews	QF	95	335
18	Lincoln, Oxford	Queens', Cambridge	QF	09	335
19	Oriel, Oxford	Leicester	QF	99	335
20	Southampton	Bangor	2nd	14	335
21	Nottingham	New Hall, Cambridge	1st	98	335
22	University, Oxford	Heriot-Watt	2nd	96	335
23	Edinburgh	Jesus, Oxford	1st	11	335
24	University, Oxford	Magdalene, Cambridge	1st	01	335
25	Magdalen, Oxford	Christ's, Cambridge	QF	11	330
26	Manchester	Newcastle	QF	12	330
27	Corpus Christi, Oxford	Durham	1st	09	330
28	University, London	Emmanuel, Cambridge	2nd	03	330
29	Imperial, London	Exeter	QF	96	325
30	Durham	Trinity, Cambridge	QF	99	325