Nearly one hundred students tried to prove their intelligence this week in an attempt to make the University Challenge team.

Students reported queuing outside the Old Bar for upwards of an hour and a half for the opportunity to face surly quiz master Jeremy Paxman.

Students were grilled at three stations by the Exec, who challenged their knowledge of literature, science and mathematics.

Union Affairs Officer Bradley Escorcio told LS that the turn-out for the trials was “amazing”, praising the event for attracting so many students to the Union.

Escorcio added: “We’ve not gone for University Challenge levels of difficulty. This is just to whittle down the numbers, we’ll have a final next week in the Union which will be even harder!”

However, not everyone enjoyed the event. Third year, Philosophy student, Nick Gandy told LS: “I was incredibly disappointed with the Union’s handling of the trials. The questions relied a lot on luck and the format of the questions were in styles I’ve never seen on University Challenge, like riddles. I was really unimpressed at having to queue for two hours.”

Some students found themselves discouraged by the amount of interest in the event. One postgrad Interpretation and Translation student said: “The last time we had [trials] was two years ago, when I was an undergraduate. The interest then was big, but not as big as it is now.”

24 lucky students made it through to the live finals, which will take place next week, out of which four contestants will be chosen.

Sean Hayes

Photo: Sean Hayes