Fast-thinking St John's students will go head-to-head with University College, Oxford, in TV’s toughest quiz on Monday 27 July.
St John’s latest University Challenge squad honed their general knowledge skills in the regular quizzes in the College Bar ahead of the filming of the iconic TV show, in which they face quick-fire questions from presenter Amol Rajan.
Team captain Liam Plimmer, a PhD English student, Callum Thomas, PhD student in Zoology, first-year Mathematics undergraduate Aurelia Walker, and PhD Mathematics student Jonathan Watts recorded the episode earlier this year.
The St John’s quartet, who are all fans of University Challenge, travelled to Salford’s MediaCityUK to compete in the third episode of the latest series.
Their reserve player is final-year medical student Yusuf Adia and their mascot a toy eagle named Evie – named for the College of St John the Evangelist, which St John’s has formally been called since its foundation in 1511.
Liam first tried out for a University Challenge team as an undergraduate at Downing College. Selected in reserve, he narrowly missed being a TV contestant, he was also in a team that never made it to the TV studio matches.
Now, in the final year of his PhD at St John’s, he decided to enter the trial tests held by the College’s JCR undergraduate society last autumn and hit the jackpot. “I applied many times and this was my last chance so I’m pleased it finally worked out,” said Liam. “I’m coming to the end of my time at St John’s so it felt really good to represent the College, which has funded my PhD, and give something back.”
Fresher Aurelia, 18, won a silver medal for the UK in the 2025 European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad in Kosovo, and when she began watching University Challenge at school she got ‘absolutely hooked’.
“I decided as soon as I got to St John’s that I would try out for the University Challenge team and give it my best shot. I love my College and I didn’t expect to be picked to represent it in my first year, but the whole experience has been awesome,” she said.
The football player met Jonathan and with reserve teammate Yusuf, the trio began competing against each another in the weekly quizzes in the College Bar.
Callum and Aurelia were both in the Cambridge University Quiz Society, after he also discovered a love for the hobby.
“I did a few pub quizzes here and when I lived in Australia and I thought University Challenge is a such a British thing that it would be really cool to do it,” he said.
The group practised quizzing together online in preparation for the TV show, as Liam was away from Cambridge. Keeping their cool was also key. “Although it was quite stressful in the moment in front of the TV cameras, not worrying too much about it was important for us,” said Liam.
“We have a good spread of strengths across different people, and we got to know who would be best to answer which questions,” added Callum. “Our broad age range was helpful too.”
University Challenge first aired in 1962 and St John’s has a history of fielding strong teams, most notably taking the championship title in 2018 against Merton College, Oxford.
PhD Pharmacology student Milena Malcharek was a semi-finalist on BBC Two’s Mastermind earlier this year, having appeared as part of the 2020-2021 St John’s University Challenge team.
The 2026 team’s first-round match against University College, Oxford, will air on Monday 27 July on BBC2, 8.30pm.
The episode will be broadcast in St John’s College Bar and several of the players will be in attendance to watch their TV debut.
Understandably, the result is a closely guarded secret, so the team wouldn't answer the question we most wanted answered: how well did you do? Aurelia quickly buzzes in with a swift: “No spoilers allowed.”
Viewers will also be able to watch the episode post-broadcast
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