UCLan team through to University Challenge

Students will get a starter for ten on BBC2

A team from the University of Central Lancashire has made it through to the televised stages of University Challenge.

Beating over 200 universities in the preliminary stages means that the team from UCLan will now get a starter for ten from Jeremy Paxman in one of the heats during the summer.

The UCLan team who will be competing in University Challenge. From left-right: Lisa Atkinson, David Martin, Jonathan Cooper, Mo McElroy and Mark Swallow.

The team is made up of five members, four who are the main team and one reserve. They are David Martin, first year social work, Jonathan Cooper, PhD environmental studies, Mo McElroy, second year homeopathic medicine, Lisa Atkinson, first year combined honours Arabic and Islamic studies and Mark Swallow, first year film and media studies.

David Martin, team captain, said: “All of us are ecstatic just to have made it this far and will not feel at all destroyed should we go out in the first round, given the calibre of opposition we are set to be up against.

“The team have set themselves an ambitious task: to memorise all recorded human knowledge prior to being set before the redoubtable Mr Paxman.

“Should the near-zero possibility of winning the series become a reality, we trust that the university will show its gratitude for the high-esteem newly bestowed upon it, and duly reward its loyal and beautiful subjects with honorary degrees...and a bronze statue...perhaps below a modest plaque?"

The series has been dominated by red brick universities but the UCLan team are quietly confident they could cause an upset. Only 32 teams compete in the televised rounds for the honour of being the brainiest students in the UK.

Jonathan Cooper said on reaching the televised stages: "I am delighted to have been given this opportunity to represent UCLan on University Challenge. We have been practising hard since being selected and I hope the team will make a good showing for our university."

Former Union Education officer, Sarah Delli-Colli, was thrilled the team had made it through.

She said: “I am so proud of our team, they have done absolutely fantastically. I can honestly say, they are five of the most intelligent people I have met and they truly deserve this.

“I hope they can go all the way as they have been practising so hard. What makes this really amazing is that these are five people who had never met each other before the team was put together, and to see them gel like they have and become friends as well as team mates has been inspiring.

“I cannot wait to see them on TV and I wish them all the luck in the world. Let's show those red brick universities what we're made of!”

The team was selected by the Students’ Union after a number of trials that saw students answering sample questions.

UCLan first appeared in the televised rounds in 2007 but went out to the University of Sheffield in the first round.

08 June 2009