Law Faculty DPhil Student in finals of University Challenge

Congratulations to Zachary Vermeer who represented the Faculty in this year’s finals of the long-running quiz show University Challenge, screened last week. Zachary, a DPhil student in International Law was part of the Somerville College team which defeated a series of opponents including Cambridge Colleges - Pembroke and Clare, as well as York, Southampton, and SOAS, to vie with Trinity College, Cambridge for the title. Unfortunately, although the game was close until the final minutes, the Somerville team didn’t quite make it over the final hurdle. Zachary did well to stand up to Jeremy Paxman's interrogation, showing an impressive knowledge of a wide range of topics, from Kipling's poetry and the works of Marcus Aurelius to epistemology and religion in the 4th century AD. Zachary, who is from Sydney, is not the first Oxford lawyer to compete in the UC final in recent years - another postgraduate student, David Townsend, was a member of the running-up St John's team in 2010.