Edinburgh takes historic University Challenge victory

Edinburgh’s oldest university has triumphed in the popular TV quiz show Credit: Jane Barlow/PA

Edinburgh has become the first Scottish institution to win University Challenge in more than 35 years.

The University of Edinburgh overcame St Edmund Hall, Oxford by 155 points to 140 in the final of the TV quiz show broadcast on Monday.

The four-strong team of Matt Booth, Marco Malusa, Max Fitz-James and Robbie Campbell Hewson lifted the trophy to give Edinburgh its first win since the series began in 1962.

Novelist and former University Challenge contestant Sebastian Faulks presented the winning team with their prize.

The last Scottish university to win the grand final of the BBC show was Dundee in 1983.

Professor Peter Mathieson, principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, said: “I would like to send my personal congratulations to the University of Edinburgh team for this fantastic achievement.

“The standards set in University Challenge are incredibly high. It’s a huge tribute to the students involved to have beaten off very tough competition from some of the sharpest minds in UK universities and won the final.

“University Challenge is a real television institution and everyone associated with the university should be justifiably proud of what the team has achieved.”