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University Challenge 2016 final: Peterhouse Cambridge crowned winners over St John’s Oxford

Powell's facial expressions and Woods' 'killer eyebrows' steal the show

Aftab Ali
Student Editor
Tuesday 19 April 2016 09:17 BST
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The Cambridge team, pictured, after being announced the winners
The Cambridge team, pictured, after being announced the winners (BBC)

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Peterhouse college at Cambridge has won its third University Challenge final in a row after thrashing opponents St John’s Oxford in a heated and entertaining show.

Cambridge walked away victorious with 215 points to just 30 with Oxford Professor Marcus du Sautoy presenting the winning team with the trophy.

The mathematician described the show as “phenomenal” as he handed the trophy over, and joked: “I’m really impressed by how many maths questions there were. They’re probably cursing the fact it’s a mathematician giving the trophy away.”

Peterhouse contestants, Colin Powell and captain Hannah Woods, kept the mood among social media users light-hearted, with Mr Powell’s now-famous facial expressions being among the most memorable moments from the night.

Ms Wood’s naturally-arching left eyebrow only fuelled the cult following she amassed after appearing on the quiz show last year, and has since gained two spoof Twitter accounts in dedication of her ‘killer stare’.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Ms Woods described how she has been dealing with her newfound fame since first featuring on the show.

She told the site her college pigeon hole has seen a Valentine’s Day card, a bottle of gin - and even a marriage proposal come in from a fan.

A PR guru also told the Standard that, with the right team behind her, Ms Woods could go on to make “millions” and easily pay off her university education in the process.

Since the quiz show began in 1963, the number of Cambridge wins now sits at ten, five behind their Oxbridge rivals.

Ms Woods was the only woman to feature on Monday night’s final and was also lauded for being the first woman in three years to have featured in the winning team since Manchester’s win in 2013.

Commenting on the result, host Jeremy Paxman told St John’s they could “do much better than that” to reflect how they’ve performed in previous matches.

However, speaking to the Peterhouse team, he said: “That was a storming performance, another storming performance from you.”

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