ARCH griller Jeremy Paxman put a team from Sussex through the mill after they placed one of the founding fathers of the US in the House of Commons.

It was a case of England against Northern Ireland as the University of Sussex faced off against Queen's University in Belfast in the BBC quiz contest University Challenge.

The Sussex quartet not only lost the show 195 to 125 but also had the unenviable task of fielding questions from the host Jeremy Paxman.

One wrong answer, by no means easy, saw Paxman spit with incredulity, "What? No!"

The question was: "'To tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men.' These are the words of which author and political figure speaking in the House of Commons in 1774?"

Sussex answered "Benjamin Franklin," the American revolutionary. The correct answer was Edmund Burke.

Earlier Paxman said Sussex was only a handful of institutions to have twice won University Challenge, but pointed out that The Beatles were still together the last time this happened. He said a third win was a "little bit overdue".

Sussex, with an average age of 26 and representing their fellow 12,000 students, were level early on after this question: "From the Latin for deceive, what term is used in logic to denote any erroneous reasoning that has the appearance of soundness?" Sussex correctly answered "Fallacy."

But then the gap started to open up after Sussex fluffed a question about the solar system.

And Queen's went further ahead when they correctly guessed a musical excerpt by Fleetwood Mac, eventually opening the gap to 140/40 after their bonus questions.

Sussex clawed the score back to 140/110 at one point after a history question about Polaroid photography and bonus questions about musicals and art.

With four and a half minutes to go Paxman said: "It could go either way, still," but at the end remarked: "I bet you'll be kicking yourselves, Sussex, for one of two of your interventions there but that's how it goes."

A University of Sussex spokeswoman said: “We’re very proud that the Sussex team qualified for this year’s televised rounds of University Challenge.

"Although, sadly, they won’t be going through to the next round, their final score may put them among the highest losers.

"It’s a tough competition, and they put in an admirable performance.”