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The Journal
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Journal
Dublin's winning University Challenge captain on revising everything and the reaction back home
FOR THE FIRST time ever, Christ's College Cambridge won the long-running BBC quiz show University Challenge last night – and did so captained by a Dubliner. Oscar Despard, a PHD student in Cambridge, said he had the idea of one day appearing on the show for some time, but was still surprised when he led his team to victory. In last night's closely contested final, Christ's College won the competition over the University of Warwick 175 – 170. 'We got the first question, and thought maybe this will be smooth enough,' Despard told The Journal . 'But then they just steamed ahead, kept beating us to questions where we thought we knew the answer, and we were trying to butt in. But they were just quicker than us for the first maybe ten minutes. 'I think that kind of reversed towards the end. I think they also knew the questions that we were getting right towards the end, but were just a few seconds too late.' Despard's team won a narrow victory in the show's final yesterday evening. BBC BBC The 22-year-old filmed the final a number of months ago and kept the results under wraps for the duration of the show's time on air, not even telling his parents. Advertisement Yesterday, his family and friends at home gathered in Despard's old sailing club in Dún Laoghaire to watch the final and see Despard take the trophy for Cambridge, presented by actor Ian McKellan. In Cambridge, Despard and his team watched the final in the one of the university's lecture theatres, where there was a big reception planned afterwards. 'There was a bigger audience, I must say, than I that I could have expected last night in the college to watch it.' The reaction from home has been immense. President Michael D Higgins issued his congratulations, saying today, 'Congratulations to Oscar Despard on captaining his team from Christ's College, Cambridge, to victory in the final of University Challenge.' 'My mother's got even more [messages] than I had from all her colleagues at work and her friends,' Despard said. 'I've been surprised at the amount of attention it's gotten – it's all very positive though.' Despard's mother is Professor Niamh Moran of RCSI, while his father runs the popular Bretzel Bakery in Portobello. Through marriage, he is also related to activist and novelist Charlotte Despard . Ian McKellan presenting the trophy to Oscar Despard on the programme yesterday. BBC BBC The quiz show has been running since 1962. It is known for its incredibly difficult questions that span across history, literature, geography, politics, music, sport, drama, film, art, and many more topics. Related Reads Dublin student Oscar Despard leads team to victory in final of BBC's University Challenge Quiz: Could you make it to the University Challenge final? Christ's College were caught out when a question on Premier League popped up in another episode, but they made great efforts to revise for the programme. 'We try to kind of cover as much as we can,' Despard said. 'Part of it is in selecting the team, we try to select a group of people who all have complimentary knowledge, so that you try to cover as much as possible.' Despard's team was made up of three others: Brendan Bethlehem (Linguistics), Linus Luu (Maths), and Anniko Firman (Classics). The team made a spreadsheet with topics and items to revise, divvying out various areas to study in depth. The questions can span so widely that the team had someone revising video games, he said. 'I mean, to be honest, revision helps a little bit, but also most of the time, you'll get things that are the things you happen to know and have collected over years, gathering random facts.' Once a student has appeared on University Challenge, even if only for one episode, they are then excluded from participating again. Despard said that he may have some role in encouraging his university's team next year. In the meantime, he is continuing his studies for his PHD in molecular biology, and enjoys taking part in quizzes off-screen. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Examiner
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Dublin student 'stunned' after leading team to victory on BBC's University Challenge
A Dublin student has led a Cambridge team to victory in one of the UK's most prestigious and contested televised quiz competitions. Oscar Despard captained a team from Christ's College Cambridge to victory in the final of the long-running BBC student quiz show University Challenge on Monday night. The team trailed behind the University of Warwick for most of the final but took the lead in the final minutes, winning by just five points. The final score was 175 to Christ's Cambridge and 170 to Warwick. Competing in the BBC series had been a childhood dream for Despard - made even better when the winning trophy was presented to the 22-year-old from Portobello and his team-mates Linus Luu (maths), Brendan Bethlehem (linguistics), and Anniko Firman (classics) by the actor Ian McKellen. Speaking to Oliver Callan on RTÉ Radio 1, Despard said he kept the outcome 'very quiet' and that people were surprised by their win. He said his father, William, who runs a bakery in Portobello, and his mother, Niamh Moran, a professor at the Royal College of Surgeons, were very proud of him. Despard said there was a big turnout for a special event hosted by the college, where the quiz show was screened for the crowd in attendance, including the master and fellows of the college. Back home in south Dublin, another screening took place at his former sailing club in Dún Laoghaire. He said his sister, who lives in England, was also watching on the night. He said that despite the show being recorded some months back, he felt anxious all over again while watching it back for the first time, describing the last few minutes of the show as 'too close for comfort'. 'It's a show I have been watching for a long time, as has all the rest of the team, so we were all quite somewhat stunned but also happy to have won, especially under the circumstances,' he told Callan. At the age of just 14, Oscar did a project for the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition on how gluten degrades during long fermentation in sourdough bread, and he later went on to win the Individual Prize at the exhibition in 2020. The 22-year-old, who is studying for a PhD in molecular biology, attended Sandford Park School in Ranelagh and was one of just two Leaving Cert students in Ireland in 2021 to achieve nine H1s.
RTÉ News
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
President congratulates Irish University Challenge winner
President Michael D Higgins has congratulated Oscar Despard on captaining his team from Christ's College, Cambridge, to victory in the final of University Challenge. Speaking on the Oliver Callan show, the Dublin student said he was "somewhat stunned but very happy" when his team won the competition. Mr Despard, who was captain of Christ's College Cambridge team, said the win was too close for comfort but fun to watch last night. He explained that the show had been recorded a few months ago. However, he said he still got worried halfway through the viewing of the programme last night. The college put on a special viewing and drinks reception even though they did not know if the team had won or not. Mr Despard watched University Challenge in the main lecture theatre along with a "large turnout" of students, the Master and the Fellows. "It seems stupid to say, but you get anxious all over again," he said. Mr Despard said he kept details of his involvement "very quiet" and he received an influx of texts last night. However, he said he thinks his mother got even more texts than he did. He said his mother organised an event to watch the show at his old sailing club in Dún Laoghaire. He added that his father said he was very proud, and his sister had been supportive throughout.
Irish Independent
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Dubliner Oscar Despard leads team to victory in University Challenge final
The 22-year-old from Portobello led Christ's College Cambridge to the final of the competition, where they achieved 175 points to beat the team from Warwick University by just five points. His team were presented with their trophy by award-winning actor Ian McKellen, who congratulated the Dubliner and his team on their win. Mr Despard, who is studying molecular biology at Cambridge and has begun a PhD focusing on proteostasis – how cells maintain a balance of making and breaking down proteins – using cryo-electron tomography, has said taking part in the programme was a childhood dream. Speaking to the Irish Independent last week, Mr Despard said: 'I watched the show a lot growing up, with my mother in particular. So when I ended up at the University of Cambridge, it was a natural thing to try because I thought it would be quite interesting. 'I went about setting up a quiz society at Christ's College to administer the college's participation. We ran a two-round selection process, starting with an online quiz that people could complete in their own time. 'Then we invited the 10 best scorers to take part in an in-person round on the buzzer.' Mr Despard earned nine H1s in his Leaving Cert from Sandford Park School in Ranelagh, and was awarded the best individual prize at the BT Young Scientist exhibition in 2020. His mother, Professor Niamh Moran, is a scientist at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He said his family were 'very excited' to see him compete as he revealed that his team shared a spreadsheet of more than 200 knowledge areas to revise ahead of the notoriously difficult quiz. 'I got to read all of Shakespeare, which I probably wouldn't have done otherwise,' he said. 'And we did a surprising amount of video game revision – they've broadened the question topics in recent years.'
The Journal
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Journal
Dublin student Oscar Despard to lead his team in final of BBC's University Challenge tonight
DUBLIN STUDENT OSCAR Despard will be competing in the final of the prestigious BBC quiz show University Challenge tonight. The 22-year-old Dubliner is captain of the Christ's College team from Cambridge University. He will be leading his team against the University of Warwick. University Challenge is a long-running quiz show in which teams comprising students from universities in the UK battle it out, answering questions about esoteric topics. Advertisement In the recent semi-final, Despard's team competed against the University of Bristol for a place in the final; Bristol's team was also captained by a Dubliner, 28-year-old Kevin Flanagan. Belfast's Queen's University made it as far as the quarter-finals. Despard, who is studying for his PhD in molecular biology, is joined by teammates Brendan Bethlehem, Linus Luu, and Anniko Firman. He told The Irish Times that the four put together a big spreadsheet covering around 200 topics that were likely to come up in the programme and then divided the categories between themselves. Humanitarian aid organisation Concern wished Despard and his team luck on X this afternoon. In 2019, he captained his school's team in the finals of the Concern Debates. Related Reads Quiz: Could you make it to the University Challenge final? The student attended Sandford Park School in Ranelagh, Dublin, where he was one of just two students in the country to achieve 9 H1s in his Leaving Cert in 2021. The grand final airs tonight on BBC2 at 8:30pm. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
