This year marks the 60th anniversary of University Challenge – Britain’s longest running quiz show – and host and Cambridge alumnus Jeremy Paxman will be stepping down after spending 28 years posing tough questions to countless students. Sidney’s team triumphed in the ‘University Challenge Reunited’ show in 2002 to mark the show’s 40th anniversary, and here we revisit the momentous win.

University Challenge celebrated its 40th anniversary in September 2002 and marked the occasion by inviting back thirty previous University Challenge finalists to compete in a ‘Reunited’ show to see which team would come out on top. This included two previously triumphant Sidney teams; one winning in 1971 and the other in 1979.

Sidney’s 1971 team won a set of Hogarth engravings which were presented on the College site by Granada Television by former host Bamber Gascoigne.

Sidney’s 1971 team included Christopher Allen (History, 1969), James Drummond Young (Law, 1968), Andrew Sanders (English, 1969) and John Stephens (1966, History), pictured here alongside an unidentified reserve and Bamber Gascoigne.

Sidney’s 1971 team included Christopher Allen (History, 1969), James Drummond Young (Law, 1968), Andrew Sanders (English, 1969) and John Stephens (1966, History), pictured here alongside an unidentified reserve and Bamber Gascoigne. Photo credit: Cambridge Evening News, 1971

Sidney’s winning team from 1979 consisted of John Gilmore (History), John Adams (Medicine), David Lidington (History) and Nicholas Graham (English).

The four highest scoring teams from the first round would take the four spots in the semi-finals, and Sidney’s 1979 team just made the cut as the fourth highest scoring team with 275 points ahead of Jesus College, Oxford 1986 with 260 points.

The team went on to win the semi-final in emphatic style and the group went on to be crowned the Champion of Champions; look at their fantastic scores below.

2002 University Challenge Reunited results
First round:  
Sidney, 1979: 275 points Trinity College, Oxford, 1972: 185 points
Second round:  
Sidney, 1979: 390 points Somerville College, Oxford, 2002: 90 points
Final:  
Sidney, 1979: 375 points Keele University, 1968: 185 points
Sidney’s winning 1979 team appearing in the ‘Reunited’ show. Pictured here is John Gilmore (History, 1974), John Adams (Medicine, 1975), David Lidington (History, 1975) and Nicholas Graham (English, 1976)

Sidney’s winning 1979 team appearing in the ‘Reunited’ show. Pictured here is John Gilmore (History, 1974), John Adams (Medicine, 1975), David Lidington (History, 1975) and Nicholas Graham (English, 1976)The group kept their winning streak going when they went on to beat a Sidney Fellows’ team, comprising Derek Beales, Paul Dawson, Michael Wadsworth and Christopher Parish.

David Lidington, a prominent member of Theresa May’s government, captained the team and will feature in a BBC documentary tonight to mark 60 years of University Challenge. The documentary will follow the start of the new series and tell the stories behind some of the series most memorable contestants.

Alumnus and published author Nicholas Graham is on hand to recount his memories from the show, including how it felt to be asked to return for the ‘Reunited’ edition.

“When Granada got in touch with us in March 2002 about doing the ‘Reunited’ series, my first thought was that it was complete madness. We were all older, with more grey hairs, fewer brain cells and slower reactions – it couldn’t possibly end in anything other than humiliation. At least that was how I felt in my early 40s looking back and comparing my 20-something self. Luckily, my team-mates disagreed, and on the basis that we were all still alive, of sound mind and not in jail, we decided to compete. I remain profoundly grateful that we did so – although looking at our 2002 shows now, I’m struck by how young we looked in our early 40s, how few grey hairs we had, how prompt the reactions were and how well the brain cells must have been behaving – at least compared to my 60-something self.

“There are three or four things that still stick in the mind about the recordings. Firstly, my bovine silence during the introductory ‘the way they were’ team interview. Secondly, our appearing to be half asleep during the first half of our initial match – starters eluded our buzzers with tantalising ease before we eventually all woke up and decided that humiliation really had to be avoided at all costs. Thirdly, the semi-final and final, when we had all remembered how to play the game, were a torrent of intensely recalled and instantly discarded facts that (I cannot speak for John, David & John) I was scarcely aware that I knew, and that gave one of the greatest adrenaline highs of my life.

“When it was all over, something went technical in the studio and we had to wait in our seats for about 45 minutes for Stephen Fry to make his entrance and present us with our trophies. We sat, wishing we could ameliorate the subsiding adrenaline levels with alcohol from the green room (no chance). We filled the time with conversation and Paxo quipped that we would now be making as many late-life comebacks as the Rolling Stones. I’m sorry to disappoint you, Jeremy – our 60-something selves, however few grey hairs, however many brain cells, however well-paced our reactions, really have hung up our buzzers for good.”

Sidney’s team with their prizes after winning the ‘Reunited show’ alongside Stephen Fry and host Jeremy Paxman

Sidney’s team with their prizes after winning the ‘Reunited show’ alongside Stephen Fry and host Jeremy Paxman

Nicholas’ debut novel ‘The Judas Case’ – a fast-paced historical detective fiction set against the background of the gospels – has just been published in paperback and eBook.


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