Episode 71 Eggheads

These people are amongst the greatest quiz players in Britain.

Together, they make up the Eggheads,

arguably the most formidable quiz team in the country.

The question is - can they be beaten?

Welcome to Eggheads,

the show where a team of five quiz Challengers

pit their wits against

possibly the greatest quiz team in Britain.

They are the Eggheads.

Taking on our awesome quiz champions today are...

Now, this team of friends are all members

of the Barnsley Tennis Club,

where they take part in an annual quiz,

usually won by team captain Jonathan.

Let's meet them.

Hello, I'm Jonathan and I'm a judge.

Hi, I'm Chris.

I'm a chartered surveyor and property consultant.

Hi, I'm Sarah and I'm a film student.

Hi, I'm John. I'm a primary school head teacher.

Hi, I'm Steve and I'm currently unemployed.

So, Jonathan, team, welcome. Good to see you.

And are you raring to go as well?

-We are, yes, Jeremy.

-Yes?

So, tell us about the tennis club and how you all meet.

Well, the quiz is only once a year, so when I say I regularly win it,

regularity doesn't mean every week.

-You've won it twice?

-Won it twice, yeah, yeah.

-I always share my prize with the others.

-Right.

-Yeah.

-And you play tennis as well, I'm assuming.

-Yeah.

We're social tennis players,

which means we're not very good at tennis, so we do quizzes instead.

OK. And do you quiz on the same team or quiz against each other?

-Each other.

-Yeah.

-So, good luck to you.

Every day, there is £1,000 worth of cash

up for grabs for our Challengers.

However, if they fail to defeat the Eggheads,

the prize money rolls over to our next show.

So, No Racket Required, the Challengers won the last game,

which at least proves it can be done

and it means £1,000 is here for you to win today.

-So, would you like to try? ALL:

-Yes.

The first head-to-head battle is on the subject of Film & TV.

-Who would like this?

-Am I going for this?

-Sarah.

-Yeah?

-I think Sarah's the nominated person.

-Yes.

OK, Sarah. Against which Egghead, Sarah?

-What do we think?

-I don't know. Um...

-I think Judith.

-Judith?

-Judith.

-Girl on girl?

-Judith. Girls against girls, yes.

-OK.

Right. So, Sarah from No Racket Required

versus Judith from the Eggheads.

And to ensure there's no conferring,

please take your positions in our famous Question Room.

So, Sarah, Film & TV against Judith.

-Would you like to go first or second?

-First, please.

Good luck.

"I do wish we could chat longer

"but I'm having an old friend for dinner,"

is a famous line from which film?

I think that's The Silence Of The Lambs.

Yes, it is. I think it must be Anthony Hopkins saying it.

Silence Of The Lambs.

Judith.

On a film set, a clapper loader is a member of the crew

who works primarily with which piece of equipment?

Well, I don't think it's the catering truck.

I imagine it's a camera.

-Cos of the clapper board, yeah.

-Yeah.

-Camera's right.

-Good.

Sarah.

Who directed the 2015 science fiction drama film

The Martian?

The Martian. This is the one with Matt Damon, isn't it?

I don't think it's Christopher Nolan.

Ooh...

I can picture it on the side of a bus.

Um...

I'm going to say Ridley Scott.

Challengers, is she right?

-I think so.

-Yeah, you're right. Well done.

Ridley Scott. Judith.

In which 1985 film

does Crispin Glover play a youthful version

of the central character's father?

I suppose one ought to do it on the date.

But I'm not sure when any of those films...

..were made. I'm...I'm not sure. Um...

I really don't know. Um...

Back To The Future.

That is correct.

OK, so, your third question.

Can be crucial, Sarah.

In which sitcom is Clem Fandango

played by Shazad Latif, a regular character?

I actually know this cos I love this.

I love this sitcom.

I'm pretty sure it's Toast Of London.

It is. Well done.

Three out of three for you. Judith.

Which actor appeared in the second series

of the drama serial Peaky Blinders as Alfie Solomons?

I think it's Cillian Murphy.

-I say Killian, you say Sillian.

-I have no idea how to pronounce it.

-I think it's Killian, but it doesn't matter cos it's wrong.

-Oh.

-Tom Hardy...

-Oh.

-..is the answer.

So, well done, Sarah. You're in the final round.

Hey! How about that?

So, the first Challenger who goes into battle has survived.

Judith has been knocked out. Please come back and we'll play on.

So, good start for No Racket Required.

Have not lost any brains from the final round.

The Eggheads have lost the one.

And we play on. It's Science for you now.

Who would like Science?

-I think that's going to be me.

-Steve?

-Yeah.

Against who, Steve?

-I think I'll go for Pat.

-Pat.

So, Steve from No Racket Required versus Pat,

known as the Silent Destroyer, from the Eggheads.

To ensure there's no conferring,

please go to the Question Room and we'll start the Science round.

OK, Steve. On Science, would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please.

And here is your question.

Panthera leo is the scientific name for which creature?

Well, Panthera would be to do with the large cats.

And the only large cat there is a lion, so it's the lion.

Yes, indeed, lion it is. Well done, Steve.

Pat, over to you.

For what does the letter B stand in BSE,

the condition that affects cattle

and came to prominence in the UK in the 1980s?

Well, it affected cattle, and it's...

..bovine spongiform encephalopathy,

so it's bovine.

Encephalopathy, yeah. Bovine is right.

OK, back to you, Steve.

What name is given to the thin, bone-like tissue

that forms the outer surface layer

of the roots of human teeth and assists in tooth support?

Steve, is this...

Well, cementum is what holds it in place.

And the pulp, dentine...

I think the pulp... If you get down into the pulp,

that's when you've got a major problem -

you're going to get an abscess and a lot of pain.

So, I'll say the dentine.

-No, it's cementum, actually.

-Oh.

Yeah. But when you say what holds it in place, I was thinking,

-that's almost what we're describing.

-Ah, right.

Cementum is the answer.

Pat, your question,

to take the lead.

Haemoglobin is an example of what type of substance?

I think...

..haemoglobin is a protein

that enables the transport of oxygen in the blood, so it's protein.

Protein is right.

So, Pat has the lead, Steve.

See if you can get this right

and have a chance of going to Sudden Death.

What is the female reproductive part

of a flower known as?

HE SIGHS

I'm going to rule out tepal straightaway.

Is it the stamen or the pistil?

I'm going to say stamen.

Pistil is the answer, Steve, sorry,

which means you've been knocked out by Pat there.

So, there we are.

The current British quiz champion, Pat,

what can we say, goes through to the final.

And if you come back to us, we'll play on.

So, as it stands, No Racket Required

have lost a brain from the final round.

The Eggheads have also lost one, though.

And we play on with Arts & Books.

-Who would like this?

-I think Chris.

-You said if this came up...

-You'd go for it.

-It's the least favourite subject, but I'll go for it.

-OK.

-Chris. Chris against who?

-We think Chris, do we?

-I was thinking Chris.

-I think so.

-Yes.

-Chris against Chris.

-Yeah, good idea.

-Two Chrises.

-Yeah.

-All right with you?

-Why not?

-Good.

Chris from No Racket Required versus Chris from the Eggheads.

This is going to be easy to do(!)

Me to work out which Chris is which.

To ensure there's no conferring, please go to the special room.

So, I guess you could be Chris R,

and then Chris H is Chris Hughes, the Egghead. How about that, Chris?

-That'll do, yeah.

-All right. And let's start Arts & Books.

Would you like to go first or second, Chris?

I'll go first, Jeremy.

And here is your first question.

According to Kenneth Graham's The Wind In The Willows,

"There's nothing - absolutely nothing -

"half so much worth doing as messing about in" what?

Well, I know it's not lorries and I know it's not planes.

I think the answer is boats.

Boats is correct.

Chris H.

Which character in the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist

has a dog named Bullseye?

I was once offered this part in Oliver, in a play.

Couldn't take it.

My shift work commitment. It's Bill Sykes.

It is Bill Sykes.

Chris R, back to you.

Which character is committed to a mental asylum

at the end of Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire?

Well, I'm afraid I don't know the answer, and as we said,

it's not my favourite subject anyway,

so it's going to have to be a guess.

I think I will guess Stanley Kowalski.

It's not Stanley. Eggheads?

-Blanche DuBois.

-Kevin says Blanche DuBois. Yes.

And for what reason? She just loses it?

Yeah, effectively. At the end, yes.

Caused by?

-Marlon Brando yelling at her.

-Yes.

-Caused by Stanley, basically.

-Yeah.

So, Stanley, i.e. Marlon Brando, is mean to her throughout.

-And it's Blanche DuBois.

-OK.

Chris H.

Which British author living in France

at the outbreak of World War II was interned first in Belgium

and then in Tost in Silesia?

He was a very naive character, really, in some ways.

He wrote some propaganda pieces for the Nazis

not realising what he was doing, really. It was PG Wodehouse.

Yeah, that's right. There was a bit of TV drama on that recently.

-Yeah.

-PG Wodehouse is right.

So, Chris, back to you.

In Stephen King's 1979 novel The Dead Zone,

the central character Johnny Smith

has an encounter with which real-life US president?

Again, it's one I'm not familiar with,

so I'm going to have to guess.

I will say Richard Nixon.

Now, I know this from the film

and I don't remember Carter being referred to in the film.

-No.

-Amazing film.

-Mm.

-Yeah, it was a very good film.

-But he's pivotal to the book.

-Mm.

Yeah. I suppose a bit too touchy at the time.

Jimmy Carter is the answer, Chris, sorry.

So, Chris Hughes, known as The Locomotive,

you are through to the final round.

Chris R, sorry, no way back from there.

You've been beaten by our Egghead. Come back and rejoin your teams.

So, as it stands, No Racket Required

have lost two brains from the final round.

The Eggheads have just lost the one.

And the next subject, and the last before the final, is History.

-And who would like this, Jonathan?

-Well,

that's going to be me, Jeremy.

-That is your thing, isn't it?

-Yes.

-Definitely.

-Against which Egghead?

-Kevin.

-Yeah, OK, Kevin.

-Two captains.

So, Jonathan from No Racket Required versus Kevin from the Eggheads.

Actually, it was a History question that saw them

all go down in the last game.

To ensure there's no conferring, please go to our Question Room.

-Well, good luck against Kevin.

-Thank you.

Would you like to go first or second?

I think I'll go first, Jeremy, please.

Jonathan, which of these kings of England

ascended to the throne at the age of ten?

Well, Henry VIII was, I think, 19

when he ascended to the throne.

And George VI...

..ascended to the throne when his brother abdicated.

So, I think the answer is Richard II.

Richard II is correct.

Brilliant. Good start. Kevin.

What was the name of the possibly apocryphal figure

whose actions inspired the machinery-destroying antics

of the Luddites?

Well, yes, nothing to do with me, guv.

Nothing to do with Kevin.

Um, it was Ned Ludd.

Ned Ludd is right.

Jonathan.

In 1979, with the backing of the invading Soviet Union,

Babrak Karmal became president of which country?

The answer to that, Jeremy, is Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is correct.

Kevin, in which

European country did the military

seize control in 1967,

a rule that finally ended in 1974?

It became known as the...

well, the rule or the period of the colonels.

It was senior army officers, but the colonels.

And it was Greece.

Greece is quite right.

You're both playing well.

Jonathan. Which diplomat

served as Foreign Minister of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945?

The answer to that, Jeremy, I'm pretty certain is von Ribbentrop.

It is indeed von Ribbentrop. That's right.

So, Kevin, to stay in.

The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League,

an organisation for young people in the Soviet Union,

was commonly known by what shorter name?

Well, Politburo was obviously the top policymaking body

of the Communist Party, basically, in the government.

Orgburo just sounds rather bureaucratic.

But the youth organisation was known as Komsomol.

Yes, Komsomol is correct.

Oh, it would've been so much easier if he'd got that wrong,

Jonathan.

But we go to Sudden Death,

and it gets a bit harder cos I don't give you alternatives.

-All right.

-Here's your question.

Which Mediterranean city was known as Massalia to the ancient Greeks

and Massilia to the Romans?

Mediterranean city...

I don't know is the answer to that. Um...

I'm trying to think of a likely candidate

as a Mediterranean city.

-I'm going to say Nicosia.

-OK.

-You'll be so cross with yourself.

-Mm.

Massalia to the Greeks, Massilia to the Romans.

-To the French, Marseille.

-Oh. Yeah.

-The one that sounds like it.

-Mm.

So, Kevin has the chance to take the round on Sudden Death.

Kevin.

Harald Fairhair has been described as the first king of which country?

Well, no beating about the bush. It's Norway.

-Do you know when he was born?

-I don't know.

Somewhere around about 965 or something like that. I don't know.

Yeah, born about 860, died about 940.

Oh, so, I've gone to the wrong end of his life, OK.

But the answer is Norway, so you've got it on Sudden Death.

Well done, Kevin. Sorry, Jonathan.

I know that's annoying cos

that's almost the most guessable one, so...

-But you played well there.

-Thank you.

-You've been knocked out.

We'll see what happens in the final now.

And here we are, ready for the final round.

This is what we have been playing towards,

and, as always, it's General Knowledge.

But, I'm afraid, those of you who lost your head-to-heads

won't be allowed to take part in this round.

So, Jonathan, Chris and Steve from No Racket Required

and also Judith from the Eggheads,

would you please now leave the studio?

-John and Sarah, the big moment is here.

-It is.

-Yep.

John, let me ask you about your parents

cos I know the Eggs will be fascinated.

-Who were they?

-My dad has the same name as me, John Gregson,

and he made about 50 films in the '50s and '60s,

things like The Titfield Thunderbolt, Genevieve,

-Longest Day...

-Yeah.

-..Sea Of Sand.

And of course, The Titfield Thunderbolt.

Yeah, The Titfield Thunderbolt.

The Titfield Thunderbolt is one of your favourites, Chris.

Well, it's the greatest Ealing comedy of them all.

-Yeah, Chris was talking about it just the other day.

-Is that right?

Yeah, seriously. Amazing.

-Was he in The Longest Day as well?

-Along with everybody else, too.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, yeah.

And he was also Gideon of Scotland Yard.

-Gideon's Way, yeah.

-Yeah.

-Commander Gideon.

-What an amazing career.

-Yeah.

So, all that's left for me is to write his life story,

-which is what I'm going to do shortly.

-Right, OK.

-Yeah.

-Well, thank you for telling us.

They'll all start truffling around for new facts.

And there'll be questions coming out of that

-and everything else, I'm sure.

-Yeah.

-So, good luck to you.

You're playing to win £1,000.

Pat, Barry, Chris and Kevin,

you're playing for something that money can't really buy,

which is the Eggheads' reputation.

As usual, I will ask each team three questions in turn.

This time, the questions are all General Knowledge.

You are allowed to confer.

So, No Racket Required, our tennis players, the question is,

are your two brains able to outserve these four here?

-Well, we'll try.

-Good stuff. Would you like to go first or second?

-Shall we go first?

-First?

-Yeah, go first.

Your first question.

According to the expression,

what can you not make without breaking eggs?

What can you not make without breaking eggs?

Um...

Never heard that expression before. Have you heard it?

It, like, rings a bell, but I don't think it's meringues.

I'd say...

-I think omelettes, you know.

-Omelettes.

-Yeah, it's got to be.

We'll go for omelettes.

Omelettes is the right answer.

You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.

Eggheads.

What is one said to indulge in

when occupied by complacent self-absorption?

-Navel-gazing.

-Navel-gazing, I'd agree.

I think some of us could contemplate our naval for hours.

But the answer is navel-gazing.

Navel-gazing is right.

Your question, Challengers.

The Neolithic site Newgrange is located in which country?

Neolithic. Newgrange.

It doesn't sound original French, does it?

Newgrange...

-I was drawn to Norway, but I don't know.

-Were you?

I really don't know. I don't think France.

There's a lot of old stuff in France, isn't there?

-I'll leave this to you, I think.

-Thank you(!)

-Um...

-SHE LAUGHS

-There's a lot of old stuff in Ireland.

-Ireland?

We'll go for Ireland.

Let's see, are they right?

-EGGHEADS:

-Yes.

-Eggheads!

-The Eggheads confirm it is Ireland.

-Yeah, OK.

Well done. Two out of two.

Eggheads.

What part of a house derives its name from the reception room

in a religious establishment

where the incumbents could see and speak to their friends?

Parlour.

-Well, parlour...

-Is where you go to speak.

..from the Latin to speak, isn't it? Or the French, parler, to speak.

It doesn't meet either of the others, does it?

-Yeah, I mean, parler.

-I think parlour.

I can't see it...

-No, it can't be alcove or scullery.

-No.

-No. So, we're all happy with that?

-Yep.

Well, we're going to go for parlour

because that has links to the French parler, to speak,

and probably the Latin even preceding the French.

Parlour is the right answer.

Over to you now.

-Try and get this one right.

-Thank you.

-Here's your question.

From 1941 to 1945,

Rab Butler served as minister for which area of government?

The name really rings a bell, but I don't...know.

-I can't see it being war.

-Rab Butler.

-I've got a, like, inkling it could be education.

-You know what?

I was actually... Yeah.

But it is a guess, but...

-Education?

-Yeah.

We'll go for education, Jeremy.

Education is the right answer.

So, the third question to you, Eggheads. If you get this wrong,

the Challengers will have won for the second game running.

Who dies at the very end of the opera La Traviata?

-Violetta.

-Violetta?

-Violetta.

Well, this is right up my street.

This is one of my favourite operas

with absolutely lush and moving music,

and it's the lady of the camellias,

Violetta, who dies at the end.

Violetta is correct.

Three out of three for you both.

We go to Sudden Death.

Yay(!)

Your colleagues are sweating backstage.

Not as much as us.

-It gets a bit harder. I don't give you alternatives.

-OK.

The name of which Central American country

literally translates as the Saviour?

Oh, that's El Salvador, isn't it?

-El Salvador means, in Spanish....

-Yeah.

-El Salvador.

-El Salvador is right.

-Yeah.

Eggheads.

What is the capital of Liechtenstein?

-Vaduz.

-Vaduz, yeah.

-All happy with that?

-Yeah.

Yeah, we're all happy with that.

This is one of the must-know capitals

out of the hundreds in the world. It's Vaduz.

Vaduz is correct.

Sudden Death.

You're playing well. Four in a row so far.

Which word from the German for behind and land

means a region remote from urban areas

and is also used to imply that a person has depth of character?

So, German...

There's a thing, in German, called the hinterland, isn't there?

-Have you heard of that?

-No.

It's like the land behind the main bit, so...

And it means depth of character?

Let me read it again.

Which word from the German for behind and land

means a region remote from urban areas

and is also used to imply that a person has depth of character?

-So, you thought hinterland?

-Hinterland's the first thing

-that came into my head, but whether it's right...

-Yeah.

-You don't know the German for behind?

-No. No. It's a pity.

-Um...

-That's the only thing that's come in to my mind.

-No.

-They probably know it behind us.

-Yeah.

We're just going to have to go with... Yeah.

It's a bit of a guess, Jeremy, but we'll go for hinterland.

-Oh, it's exactly right.

-Is it?

Hinter means behind. Hinterland, yeah.

Eggheads.

RICS stands for the Royal Institution of what?

-Chartered surveyors?

-Chartered surveyors.

Is there anything else it could be? Just have a thought?

-Wouldn't be a Royal Industry...

-Or Royal Institution. No.

RICS is normally...

-Chartered surveyors.

-OK, so, we're happy with that.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

OK, we believe RICS stands for

the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Yes, it does. Chartered Surveyors.

Back to you.

In Greek mythology,

the sea monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis

were located on either side of which stretch of water?

-Greek mythology.

-Mm. Stretch of water.

-Barry will know this one too.

-SHE LAUGHS

So, Greek - ancient Greece - stretch of water.

-I don't know.

-No?

-Not at all, no.

Trying to think of, like, off the Mediterranean.

-It's Jason and the Argonauts, isn't it?

-Is it?

-That one?

-I don't know. Sea monsters...

I don't know.

Think of any seas in Greece? Stretch of water?

Yeah.

Inside of what...?

Say...

I don't know.

-I couldn't even guess.

-No?

We're struggling here, Jeremy. Something like the Ionian Sea?

-Something like that?

-Yeah, something.

-Something like...Greek-ish.

-That we made up.

I think you've reached the depth of our knowledge.

-We'll try the Ionian Sea.

-Ionian Sea.

Eggheads, do you know?

The Straits of Messina.

-The Straits of Messina. The Sicilian strait.

-Yeah.

-It's the strait between Sicily and mainland Italy.

-OK.

OK, Eggheads.

Get this right and the contest is over.

Dr Angelicus is another name for which 13th-century saint?

-Thomas Aquinas.

-Thomas Aquinas.

-Yeah, we're all happy with him?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Who else could it be? Roger Bacon?

-He was Dr Mirabilis.

-No, he was Dr Mirabilis

and Aquinas' teacher, Albertus Magnus,

he had a different title.

-I'm sure it was Aquinas.

-I think... I'm sure it's Thomas Aquinas.

-OK.

Lots of people around that time were called doctors of the church,

but we think Dr Angelicus was Thomas Aquinas.

The correct answer...

is Thomas Aquinas.

We say congratulations, Eggheads. You have won.

-Well, you battled along there. My goodness.

-Yeah. Yeah.

-Well done to you both.

-They're pretty formidable.

-They are. And four of them as well, which, you know, isn't easy.

-No.

Commiserations, No Racket Required.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them,

well, most of the time.

And just starting now to reign over quiz land once again.

It does mean you don't go home with the £1,000,

so the amount rolls over to our next show.

Eggheads, back on track. Who will beat you?

Join us next time to see if a new team of Challengers

have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

£2,000 says they don't. Till then, goodbye.