Yahoo News University Challenge: Celebrities who appeared on the BBC quiz show
From Stephen Fry to Sebastian Faulks, several people have appeared on the quiz before becoming famous
University Challenge has seen countless students take a seat at the famous team tables in order to use their knowledge to gain their institution the prestige of being named champions of the BBC quiz show
The programme, which returned with new host Amol Rajan on Monday 17 July, sees student teams go head-to-head in various rounds, and it has been on the air for decades.
Read more: University Challenge: Amol Rajan ‘excited’ to take over from Jeremy Paxman (The Independent, 2-min read)
BBC's iconic quiz show first began airing in 1962 with Bamber Gascoigne as host, he led the show as quizmaster during its initial run until 1987. Jeremy Paxman later hosted the rebooted version of the show from 1995 until his retirement earlier this year.
With the programme airing for so many years it has quite a long history, but it has also had a number of contestants who have gone on to become hugely famous.
Here are the stars who appeared on University Challenge before they became household names.
The stars to have appeared on University Challenge
The University Challenge hall of fame is awash with students who went on to become stars in their own right, including actors, writers, politicians, and more.
Amongst the actors to have appeared on the programme is Stephen Fry, who appeared on the quiz show in 1980 representing Queens' College, Cambridge. Fry's team came runners-up to Merton College, Oxford, when he appeared on the show.
Miriam Margolyes also took part in University Challenge in 1963 for Newnham College, Cambridge, while Clive James appeared on the BBC programme in 1968 representing Pembroke College, Cambridge.
Other notable actors to have competed on University challenge include John Sessions in 1973, June Tabor in 1968, and The Wizard of New Zealand in 1963. The Chase stars Mark Labbett and Jenny Ryan appeared on the show in 1997 and 2003, respectively.
Several notable authors have also appeared on the show including Birdsong writer Sebastian Faulks in 1972, representing Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes in 1969 for Magdalene College, Cambridge.
A number of politicians have also been on University Challenge over the years, this includes Conservative MPs like Kwasi Kwarteng, Tim Boswell, and Malcolm Rifkind, as well as Mary Robinson who appeared on the show in 1966 and went on to become the president of Ireland, the first women ever to do so.
As well as the normal edition of the show, University Challenge has had celebrity editions of the programme which sees stars represent their alumni.
Read more: Jeremy Paxman ‘looking forward to watching University Challenge at home’ (Evening Standard, 3-min read)
Most of the celebrity specials have aired over Christmas and some have also been made in aid of Comic Relief, in 2022 the team that won Christmas University Challenge was Elizabeth Kiss, Andrew Copson, Martin Edwards, and Martin O’Neill who represented Balliol, Oxford.
University Challenge airs Mondays at 8.30pm on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.
Watch: Jeremy Paxman signs off from University Challenge for the final time
