University Challenge results, 1970-71
These are the results of the eighth series of University Challenge which ran weekly on ITV, starting in the week of 25 October 1970 and ending on 1 August 1971, running for 41 shows. In Anglia the series was shown on Sunday afternoons at 14:30 or 14:15 with a scheduled running time of 30 minutes.
Once again the first round had a 'winner-stays-on' format, with a team qualifying for the quarter-finals if they won three in a row, and the quarter-finals and semi-finals were single-game knockouts, with the final 'best-of-three'.
The Christmas special show pitted the "all-female" Somerville College, Oxford team against the 1970 champions, Churchill College, Cambridge.
For the whole of the Bamber era TV schedules differed between the different ITV regions, and the show was often broadcast at different times and on different days in different parts of the country, and sometimes the regions were even a week or two out of sync with each other. Where the date differed, I try to use the date the show was broadcast in the Anglia region in the tables.
There are many gaps that I've been unable to find, so please do contact me if you can assist.
| First round | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25/10/1970 | Salford | St Hilda's, Oxford | ||
| 01/11/1970 | St Hilda's, Oxford | Royal Holloway, London | ||
| 08/11/1970 | St Hilda's, Oxford | |||
| 15/11/1970 | Downing, Cambridge | UWIST | ||
| 22/11/1970 | Downing, Cambridge | St Andrews | ||
| 29/11/1970 | St Andrews | Trinity, Oxford | ||
| 06/12/1970 | Trinity, Oxford | Aberdeen | ||
| 13/12/1970 | Trinity, Oxford | Edinburgh | ||
| 20/12/1970 | ||||
| 27/12/1970 | ||||
| 10/01/1971 | UWIST | (Pembroke) | ||
| 17/01/1971 | UWIST | Magdalen, Oxford | ||
| 24/01/1971 | Magdalen, Oxford | |||
| 31/01/1971 | Magdalen, Oxford | Leicester | ||
| 07/02/1971 | Leicester | Lincoln, Oxford | ||
| 14/02/1971 | Lincoln, Oxford | (University College) | ||
| 21/02/1971 | Lincoln, Oxford | Queen Mary, London | ||
| 28/02/1971 | Nottingham | University, London | ||
| 14/03/1971 | Nottingham | St Peter's, Oxford | ||
| 21/03/1971 | Nottingham | Surrey | ||
| 28/03/1971 | ||||
| 04/04/1971 | Keele | Clare, Cambridge | ||
| 11/04/1971 | Keele | St Catharine's, Cambridge | ||
| 18/04/1971 | ||||
| 25/04/1971 | ||||
| 02/05/1971 | Balliol, Oxford | |||
| 09/05/1971 | Balliol, Oxford | Stirling | ||
| 16/05/1971 | Balliol, Oxford | Sidney Sussex, Cambridge | ||
| 23/05/1971 | Sidney Sussex, Cambridge | University, Dublin | ||
| 30/05/1971 | Sidney Sussex, Cambridge | Birkbeck, London | ||
| 06/06/1971 | ||||
| 13/06/1971 | ||||
| 20/06/1971 | ||||
| Quarter-finals | ||||
| 27/06/1971 | ||||
| 04/07/1971 | ||||
| Semi-finals | ||||
| 11/07/1971 | ||||
| 18/07/1971 | ||||
| Finals | ||||
| 25/07/1971 | Sidney Sussex, Cambridge | Trinity, Oxford | ||
| 01/08/1971 | Sidney Sussex, Cambridge | Trinity, Oxford | ||
| Specials | ||||
| 21/12/1970 | Somerville, Oxford | Churchill, Cambridge | ||
The series champions from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge were Chris Allen (History), James Drummond Young (Law), Andrew Sanders (English), and John Stephens (History of Ideas). Their prize was a set of prints by William Hogarth entitled "The Idle and Industrious Apprentice", that were placed in the college bar.
Sidney Sussex's first-round games were against Balliol (who had already won two games); University, Dublin; and Birkbeck, London. With six teams progressing to the quarter-finals, Sidney Sussex got a bye to the semi-finals where they comfortably beat St Hilda's, Oxford. Along the way, Trinity, Oxford beat Aberdeen, Edinburgh, St Andrews, and (in the semi-finals) Lincoln, Oxford.
Winning teams advancing to the next round are in bold.