History Series / UniversityChallenge

Each round is a contest between two teams of four students. Each team represents a different university, except in the cases of the universities of [[UsefulNotes/{{Oxbridge}} Oxford, Cambridge]], London and Wales, which can enter multiple constituent colleges. The way in which questions are asked, though modified quite a bit during the ITV days, has now been settled as this: The host asks a starter question worth 10 points, for which the contestants buzz in (they [[CatchPhrase may not confer]]). A correct answer gets the team the points and three bonus questions on a specific subject, worth five points apiece (for bonus questions the teams confer and the captain gives the answer). An incorrect answer to a starter gets the question passed over to the other team, and an incorrect ''interruption'' to a starter loses the team five points and gets the question passed over. Aside from picture rounds (twice an episode) and music rounds (OnceAnEpisode), that's pretty much it. For the picture and music rounds, the bonus questions will be similar to the starter question, but otherwise each bonus round is on a random topic entirely unrelated to the starter question it follows.

* 2020: Imperial College, London[[note]]a team which included Brandon Blackwell, who would later become one of the Chasers on the US version of ''Series/TheChase''.[[/note]]

* 2022: Imperial College, London

* AsideGlance: Lee from Imperial College London (2023/24) did one of these in the contestant introductions when Amol Rajan said his team had "cruised through the first rounds". If it was intentional, it was done very well.

* AsideGlance: Lee from Imperial College London did one of these in the contestant introductions when Amol Rajan said his team had "cruised through the first rounds". If it was intentional, it was done very well.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** Anarchic comedy show ''Series/TheYoungOnes'' parodied this to the extent of it being a savage TakeThat against the popular perception that TV producers and executives who went to Oxbridge will of course favour their own old colleges. When Scumbag University comes up against "Footlights College, Oxbridge", quizmaster [[Series/AlasSmithAndJones Gryff Rhys Jones]] greets the Footlights team by name, and suggests a round of sherries, once they've trounced those utter oiks.

* SigningOffCatchphrase: (Paxman era only) "It's goodbye from (losing team), it's goodbye from (winning team), and it's goodbye from me. Goodbye!"

British quiz show centering on teams of university students competing against one another. It's been [[LongRunner running for so long]] and is so popular that it's become pretty much a part of the cultural landscape. In other words, it's a British institution about British institutions--which is somewhat ironic, as it originated as a TransAtlanticEquivalent of the American ''College Bowl'' (airing the national championships of the College Bowl Quiz Bowl league). It ran from 1962-87 on Creator/{{ITV}} under the stewardship of Bamber Gascoigne, and was [[{{Revival}} revived]] on Creator/TheBBC in 1994, hosted by famously acerbic news broadcaster Jeremy Paxman. After nearly 30 years, Paxman stood down as host at the end of the 2022-23 series; he will be succeeded by another BBC news presenter, Amol Rajan.

* {{Bookends}}: The first episode of the 2022-23 series featured a match between Durham and Bristol, which Durham won on a tie-break. Both teams would subsequently reach the final, which Durham won.

British quiz show centering on teams of university students competing against one another. It's been [[LongRunner running for so long]] and is so popular that it's become pretty much a part of the cultural landscape. In other words, it's a British institution about British institutions--which is somewhat ironic, as it originated as a TransAtlanticEquivalent of the American ''College Bowl'' (airing the national championships of the College Bowl Quiz Bowl league). It ran from 1962-87 on Creator/{{ITV}} under the stewardship of Bamber Gascoigne, and was [[{{Revival}} revived]] on Creator/TheBBC in 1994, hosted by famously acerbic news broadcaster Jeremy Paxman. After nearly 30 years, Paxman will step down as host at the end of the currently ongoing 2022-23 series; he will be succeeded by another BBC news presenter, Amol Rajan.

* PetTheDog: During the 1998 grand final, there was an ''extremely'' difficult question about differential equations which the team had to admit they didn't understand. Jeremy Paxman politely told them not to worry, as he didn't understand either and he doubted anyone in the studio did.

* AnimationAgeGhetto: Jeremy Paxman doesn't seem to hold a high opinion of animated (or at least Creator/{{Disney}}) films. In the picture round of one episode, when the team that's losing correctly identify a still as being from ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', he snarks that the team has to get points from wherever they can. In another episode's music round, a team identify "Part of your World" as being from ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid'', leading him to remark that it's an embarrassing thing to admit knowing.[[invoked]]

* MarketBasedTitle: The format is a fairly straight import of the US ''College Bowl'', but both of those words have particular meanings in the US that they don't have in the UK.

* CharacterTics: Gail Trimble was noted for smiling and flicking her hair every time she got a starter right (which was a lot), another contestant would take a drink of water every time he buzzed-in correctly, and the unfortunate [[http://lystellion.livejournal.com/84288.html Jacob Funnell]] got told off by Paxman for adopting a pose resembling Rodin's ''The Thinker'' whenever he was conferring.

* 1963 Leicester University
* 1965 New College, Oxford
* 1966 Oriel College, Oxford
* 1967 Sussex University
* 1968 Keele University
* 1969 Sussex University
* 1970 Churchill College, Cambridge
* 1971 Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
* 1972 University College, Oxford
* 1973 Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge
* 1974 Trinity College, Cambridge
* 1975 Keble College, Oxford
* 1976 University College, Oxford
* 1977 Durham University
* 1978 Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
* 1979 Bradford University
* 1980 Merton College, Oxford
* 1981 Queens University, Belfast
* 1982 St Andrews University
* 1983 Dundee University
* 1984 Open University
* 1986 Jesus College, Oxford
* 1987 Keble College, Oxford

* 1995 Trinity College, Cambridge[[note]]a team which included Kwasi Kwarteng, who would later become a UK Cabinet minister and the first Black person to be Chancellor of the Exchequer.[[/note]]
* 1996 Imperial College, London
* 1997 Magdalen College, Oxford
* 1998 Magdalen College, Oxford
* 1999 Open University
* 2000 Durham University
* 2001 Imperial College, London
* 2002 Somerville College, Oxford
* 2003 Birkbeck College, London
* 2004 Magdalen College, Oxford
* 2005 Corpus Christi, Oxford
* 2006 Manchester University
* 2007 Warwick University
* 2008 Christ Church, Oxford
* 2009 Manchester University [[note]] They actually lost the final but the winners, Corpus Christi, Oxford, were subsequently disqualified after it emerged that one of their team had been ineligible because he had graduated before the filming of the quarter-final, semi-final and final matches.[[/note]]
* 2010 Emmanuel College, Cambridge
* 2011 Magdalen College, Oxford
* 2012 Manchester University
* 2013 Manchester University
* 2014 Trinity College, Cambridge
* 2015 Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge
* 2016 Peterhouse, Cambridge
* 2017 Balliol College, Oxford
* 2018 St John's College, Oxford
* 2019 Edinburgh University
* 2020 Imperial College, London[[note]]a team which included Brandon Blackwell, who would later become one of the Chasers on the US version of ''Series/TheChase''.[[/note]]
* 2021 Warwick University
* 2022 Imperial College, London

* 1995 Trinity College, Cambridge

* 2020 Imperial College, London

British quiz show centering on teams of university students competing against one another. It's been [[LongRunner running for so long]] and is so popular that it's become pretty much a part of the cultural landscape. In other words, it's a British institution about British institutions--which is somewhat ironic, as it originated as a TransAtlanticEquivalent of the American ''College Bowl'' (airing the national championships of the College Bowl Quiz Bowl league). It ran from 1962-87 on Creator/{{ITV}} under the stewardship of Bamber Gascoigne, and was [[{{Revival}} revived]] on Creator/TheBBC in 1994, hosted by famously acerbic news broadcaster Jeremy Paxman. After nearly 30 years, Paxman will step down as host at the end of the forthcoming 2022-23 series; he will be succeeded by another BBC news presenter, Amol Rajan.

* TheMeanBrit: Yes, it's a British show, but Jeremy Paxman's famous grumpiness and snark in the direction of the contestants and sometimes the questions ''has'' to be mentioned on this page, and he's usually too excitable to really count as a DeadpanSnarker.

British quiz show centering on teams of university students competing against one another. It's been [[LongRunner running for so long]] and is so popular that it's become pretty much a part of the cultural landscape. In other words, it's a British institution about British institutions--which is somewhat ironic, as it originated as a TransAtlanticEquivalent of the American ''College Bowl'' (airing the national championships of the College Bowl Quiz Bowl league). It ran from 1962-87 on Creator/{{ITV}} under the stewardship of Bamber Gascoigne, and was [[{{Revival}} revived]] on Creator/TheBBC in 1994, hosted by famously acerbic news broadcaster Jeremy Paxman.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Gabriel Trueblood of St. Peter's College, Oxford in 2014 and Bobby Seagull of Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 2016.

** Anarchic comedy show ''Series/TheYoungOnes'' parodied this to the extent of it being a savage TakeThat against the popular perception that TV producers and executives who went to Oxbridge will of course favour their own old colleges. When Scumbag University comes up against "Footlights College, Oxbridge", quizmaster Creator/GriffRhysJones greets the Footlights team by name, and suggests a round of sherries, once they've trounced those utter oiks.