University Challenge 2008–09 Gail Trimble answered a record fifteen starters correctly, leading to much interest on internet forums and in the popular press. James Archer of King's College, Cambridge was questioned by police after wearing an RAF surplus jacket on the show—in combination with a dyed red mohican haircut—had prompted several complaints from viewers. Archer had obtained the jacket legally, and no further action was taken. The final, between Corpus Christi College and Manchester, was broadcast on 23 February 2009. Before the final, press coverage focused on the Corpus Christi captain, Gail Trimble, who had gained an exceptionally high proportion of her team's
University Challenge specialist Birkbeck, University of London. Birkbeck won the competition in 2003, also with a substantially mature team. Host Jeremy Paxman said that the OU team was not in the spirit of the competition. The team publicly replied by challenging him to specify in what way this was "contrary to the spirit of the quiz – or of the university". In 2009, Sam Kay, part of the team from Corpus Christi College, Oxford, was accused of not being a student when the show was filmed. Kay, who had completed a chemistry degree the previous summer, had been planning to go on