University Challenge 1962

Overview

University Challenge is a British television quiz programme that first aired in 1962. The show features teams of students from universities across the United Kingdom who compete by answering questions on a wide variety of academic subjects. The series originally aired on ITV, where it ran for 913 episodes between 21 September 1962 and 31 December 1987. During this initial run, the programme was presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. One early installment, representing the fifth show of the first series, featured a competition between the London School of Economics and Cardiff University; this episode was recorded in Manchester on 17 October 1962 and broadcast in most ITV regions two days later. In later iterations of the programme, Jeremy Paxman has served as the questioner, presiding over matches such as the contest between the University of Bristol and Durham University. The show continues to function as a competitive academic forum, testing the knowledge of student participants as they advance through the rounds of the series.