University Challenge University Challenge University Challenge is a British quiz programme which first aired in 1962. "University Challenge" aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC revived the programme on 21 September 1994 with Jeremy Paxman as the quizmaster. The current title holders are St John's College, Cambridge, who won the 47th series in 2018. The show is produced by Granada Television (re-branded as ITV Studios in 2009), under licence from Richard Reid Productions and the College Bowl Company. It was recorded at Granada Studios in Manchester from its
University Challenge far fewer students – numbering in the hundreds rather than thousands – than most universities. This was one ostensible inspiration for a 1975 protest, in which a team from the Victoria University of Manchester (which included David Aaronovitch) came second to Downing College, Cambridge, when they started a round by answering every question "Che Guevara", "Marx", "Trotsky" or "Lenin", in the hope of making the resulting show unbroadcastable. It did, however, get broadcast, although only portions of the episode still exist in the archives of Granada TV. Granada banned the University of Manchester for several years. University Challenge was eventually