Rising to the challenge
Imperial has affirmed its place as the most successful team in the history of TV’s toughest quiz.
Words: Lucy Jolin / Photography: BBC
Starter for ten, no conferring: which is the most successful team in University Challenge history? Imperial, of course, following an incredible fifth triumph, this time against University College London. Congratulations to the winning team – captain Suraiya Haddad (Medicine 2023), Sourajit Debnath (Earth Science and Engineering 2023), Adam Jones (Computing, Fourth Year), Justin Lee (Chemistry, Third Year) and reserve Mattia Elkouby (Chemistry, Third Year).
“Imperial’s diverse international community is used to finding the answers to really tough questions, whether that’s in the lab or on University Challenge,” says Provost Professor Ian Walmsley. And tough questions this year ranged from classical sculpture and European history to Korean mythology and mathematics.
Imperial’s diverse international community is used to finding the answers to really tough questions."
So how do students from a university orientated towards maths and science answer questions on the arts and humanities? “For me, it’s easy to pick up a book, but it’s not so easy for an English Lit student to write a computer program,” says Justin Lee.
Quizzing is, of course, a serious business – but in between memorising BAFTA-winning video games and finding out why so many members of the Swedish monarchy are called Henry, the team also had to keep up with their university work. “All of us were balancing our degrees with our exams – in my case, my finals,” says Haddad.
Now, they’re looking forward to getting behind next year’s team. “The level of support we have received from the Imperial community and beyond has been amazing,” says Haddad. “Thank you to everyone who has been cheering us on!”