Durham City buzzed with excitement and pride as Durham’s University Challenge team stormed to victory for the first time in more than 20 years, making them one of the most successful institutions in the contest’s history.

The North East team, made up of captain Alex Radcliffe, Harry Scully, Bea Bennett, and Chloe Margaux, were victorious against a quartet of competitors from Bristol University.

Winning 155 points against Bristol’s 120, the team brought the trophy home to Durham for the first time since 2000, when Colin Telfer, Nick Ledger, John Stewart and Nick Allan won 325 points against Oriel College, Oxford’s 135.

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This popular intervarsity quizzing show series will be the last for the quintessential host Jeremy Paxman, who hosted his final episode on Monday (May 29). He is set to be replaced by journalist Amol Rajan.

Durham, a city that comes part and parcel with its university, swelled with support for the team (and reserve Tom Haines-Matos), with students flooding university-run bars to watch the final last night.

When it was revealed the team from Durham had won, cheers could be heard on the Bailey. 

The victors were presented with their trophy by Jung Chang, a best-selling author and academic, whose autobiography Wild Swans sold more than 10 million copies.

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She congratulated the team, saying: “I want to congratulate them for their brilliant brains, and I do hope that they would use their brains to make our world a better place.”

Durham’s long-awaited final round was played against Bristol University’s Tess Richardson, Sam Kehler, Jacob McLaughlin, and Alejandro Ortega, whom they had already narrowly beaten in the competition’s first round.

Durham’s mascot is the late Badger the cathedral cat, who was the real-life pet of the Dean of Durham up until his death in April of 2021. The small toy ginger tabby accompanied the team in all their rounds.