Manchester returns to University Challenge tonight

04 Feb 2013

The University of Manchester appears in the current series of University Challenge on BBC2 at 8pm tonight (February 4).

The University has been series champion three times in the last seven years, and they are the reigning champions from 2012.

The class of 2013 has already made it through to the quarter-finals this year with victories over Lincoln College, Oxford and Magdalen College, Oxford, and now faces Imperial College, London in Monday’s TV showdown.

The team comprises undergraduates Richard Gilbert, the team captain (BA in Linguistics), Adam Barr (MSc in Physics with Astrophysics) David Brice (BA in Economics), and graduate student Debbie Brown (PhD in Pain Epidemiology).

They have a tough act to follow - last year, The University of Manchester quartet beat Pembroke College, Cambridge by 180-135 in a dramatic final, watched by three million viewers.

Manchester’s team is coached by Stephen Pearson, a University librarian who has enjoyed considerable success with University Challenge, having captained the team himself in 1996.

Manchester has dominated the competition under Stephen’s tutelage, lifting the trophy in 2006, 2009 and 2012 as well as finishing runners-up in 2007. The last seven Manchester teams to appear on the show have all reached at least the semi final stage.

More than 120 universities enter the show every year, with the top 28 appearing on TV, and it remains the UK’s longest-running quiz.