Host Paxman gives wrong answer on University Challenge

The BBC has apologised after giving the wrong answer to a question on BBC Two quiz show University Challenge.

A team from Cambridge University's Clare College were asked to name the Czech composer of an excerpt of music.

They wrongly guessed Smetana, but host Jeremy Paxman told them the correct answer was Dvorak.

Music experts later pointed out the clip was actually a Gregorian plainchant - a form of medieval church music - and not the work of Dvorak.

Helen Garrison, a senior producer for the BBC Singers and Radio 3, tweeted: "Appalled at the ignorance of question on #universitychallenge".

Despite the error, Clare College still went on to beat Christ Church, Oxford in a tie-break and claim a place in the University Challenge quarter-finals.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "On this week's programme we played an excerpt from Dvorak's Requiem.

"We used several music sources which indicated that the entire piece was under Dvorak's name.

"However we were wrong in this instance and the excerpt we played from this requiem was not composed by Dvorak himself.

"We apologise to both teams and viewers and are grateful to those who pointed this out.

"Fortunately this error has not changed the outcome of the programme."