Episode 66 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.

Here they are, the Eggheads.

Challenging the might of our quiz Goliaths are the Washing Powders.

This team from Lancashire take their name from the fact

that their team consists of biological

and nonbiological family members, so let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Matt, and I'm a branch manager of a plumbers' merchant.

Hi, I'm Kerry, and I'm a photographer.

Hi, I'm Charlene, and I'm a pharmacy technician.

Hello, my name's Gavin, and I'm a training instructor.

Hi, I'm Paul, and I'm a company director.

-So, Matt and team, welcome.

-Hi.

-Thanks for coming in.

So, biological and nonbiological. I love the name.

Just explain the connections, then.

-So, Kerry's my fiancee.

-Uh-huh.

Gavin and Charlene are her siblings.

-And Paul is their stepfather.

-OK.

-Clitheroe is also the connection here, isn't it?

-Yes.

Tell us about Clitheroe, Lancashire. What sort of a place?

Yeah, it's nice.

It's a small market town.

Famous, I suppose, for the castle and the Pendle witches, perhaps.

The Pendle witches?

Do the Pendle witches ever come up in quizzes, Eggheads?

-You might have heard of them.

-The Lancashire witches.

-Are they the Lancashire witches?

-Yeah, I suppose so. Yeah.

But they're more connected with Pendle Hill.

But you didn't call yourselves the Pendle Witches?

-No, maybe we should have done!

-Good luck, team.

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

up for grabs for our challengers.

However, as you know, if they fail to defeat the Eggheads,

the prize money rolls over to the next show.

Now, Washing Powders, biological and nonbiological,

the Eggheads have won the last three,

so they're starting to move here

and they're starting to feel confident,

and you need to stop them, and there's £4,000 if you can.

-Would you like to try and win it?

-Absolutely.

-Good stuff.

The first head-to-head battle is on the subject of sport.

You can have Judith, Steve, Kevin, Pat or Dave.

-Am I taking him on?

-First up.

-Yeah.

-Who do you want me to take on?

-I'd say Judith.

-That's perfect for this round.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

I'm going to take that, Jeremy.

And I would like to take on Judith, if possible.

OK, our company director, Paul, from the Washing Powders,

taking on our free spirit...

-Thank you.

-..from the Eggheads, young Judith.

To ensure there's no conferring,

please take your positions in our famous Question Room.

So, of the many sports, Paul, I gather golf is your favourite.

It certainly is, Jeremy.

-Yes, I used to play professionally, actually.

-Wow!

So you made a living playing golf?

That sounds like almost the best job imaginable.

I'm not 100% sure I made a living out of it,

hence I'm not doing it any more!

But I'll continue to play and enjoy it, definitely.

And I gather, at one point your handicap was one, which is amazing.

It still is one at the moment.

Judith, when somebody says their handicap is one,

-do you understand that?

-Well, it's very low.

You're playing off a very low handicap, which is a good thing.

-It's a sign they're very good.

-Yeah.

-More than that, I do not know.

No. I don't, really, either.

What's the highest handicap, cos mine would be about 70?

I think you start around 36, something like that for a man.

That's me, yep.

OK, sport, Paul. Would you like to go first or second?

I'd love to go first, please, Jeremy.

And here we go with your first question.

On a tennis court, the mid-court area formed by the junction

of the service line and the centre service line

is known by which letter of the alphabet?

Well, seeing as they're straight lines,

I'll discount W.

F doesn't look like something that you see on a tennis court.

So I'm going to go with T.

Yeah, it's the T. I think there's a T in squash as well, isn't there?

-Yes.

-OK, Judith, your question.

Which of these is an offence in rugby union?

Why would travelling be an offence, whatever that is?

I don't think it's a good idea to collapse the maul,

so I'm going to say collapsing the maul.

Collapsing the maul is an offence.

Travelling is an offence in basketball, Judith.

That means moving with the ball, which you can't do.

And rocket handball is a thing you do in Aussie rules football,

but it's not an offence.

Oh, I see. So the only one in rugby is collapsing the maul?

-Collapsing the maul is the right answer.

-Yeah.

Paul, your question. What is the name of the hacking group

that created headlines in September 2016

by releasing details of the use of drugs in international sport?

I remember the story, but I don't remember the name.

Just because Jazzy Badgers is so out there,

I've got to eliminate that.

I think I will go straight down the middle, if you don't know,

Party Pigs.

It's Fancy Bears.

-Oh!

-Fancy Bears.

OK, Judith, you can take the lead here.

Aaron Ramsey and which other Wales footballer

was included in UEFA's Team of the Tournament

at the 2016 European Championships?

And he was Welsh? Williams is a good old Welsh name, isn't it?

I'm going to say Ashley Williams.

-Joe Allen.

-Oh.

So, level after two questions.

That's quite a good one for you, Paul.

Get this right, put some pressure on Judith.

In 2016, Danny Houghton became the first player

from which rugby league club to win the annual Man Of Steel award?

Well, I think in 2016 Wigan won the championship,

so I'm going to go with Wigan.

I'm afraid it's Hull FC.

First player from Hull FC to win the Man Of Steel.

Judith, you can take the round with this.

At which sport did Jack Beresford compete for Britain

at five Olympic Games between 1920 and 1936,

winning three gold and two silver medals?

OK, which of those sports can you go on for a long time?

I think rowers, funnily enough, have quite a long sporting life.

I'm going to say rowing.

Rowing is the right answer, Judith. Well done.

You've won again on sport.

It's maybe not habit yet, but it's certainly happening a lot.

I thought I'd won more sports rounds than anybody else put together.

Let me just check on the numbers,

cos it's worth us reminding ourselves of that fact.

But sorry, Paul.

She can be effective on sport, to say the least.

-The question didn't fall right.

-Judith, you're in the final.

Paul, you're out, but it's early days. Please return to your teams.

We'll play on.

Judith, well done.

Sport, winning again,

and just looking at your figures - quite remarkable.

You've won 129 sporting rounds,

which is more than any other Egghead.

In second place is Kevin with 86.

You've beaten a politician at politics,

a rocket scientist at science,

and you've now beaten a former professional sportsman at sport.

-Golly.

-Sorry, Paul, you became part of our statistics.

-You've made me feel a lot better, Jeremy. Thank you.

-Sorry.

You are in good company.

As it stands, the Washing Powders

have lost one brain from the final round.

The Eggheads, thanks to Judith, have not lost one yet.

Try and get one out now on arts & books.

Who would like this?

Are you OK to do it, Kerry?

-Go for it.

-Who shall I take?

Charlene, is it? Or Kerry?

-Kerry.

-Kerry, OK. And anyone but Judith.

You choose who you think looks as if they've misplaced their e-reader.

I don't know. I'll take...

-Pat or Dave?

-I'll take Dave, please.

-Yep.

He may have a bit of a lost look today. I don't know.

Kerry from the Washing Powders

to play Dave, Tremendous Knowledge Dave, from the Eggheads.

Please go, both of you, to our Question Room.

Kerry, all the best for you on art & books against Dave.

-Would you like to go first or second?

-I'll go second, please.

OK, your question.

Dave, which term is used to describe the arrangement of elements

within a work of art?

I'll go composition, please.

Composition is the right answer.

Kerry, which of these works of art

has been credited as the work of Alexandros of Antioch?

I don't think it's Venus de Milo.

I'll go for Girl With A Pearl Earring, please.

Girl With A Pearl Earring is the wrong answer.

Venus de Milo is the answer we're looking for.

OK, Dave.

You're in the lead.

The sculpture by David Shrigley

unveiled on Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth in 2016

is of a giant hand making which gesture?

I don't know this.

It passed me by, but of those,

I would have thought V for victory on the fourth plinth, myself,

so I'm going to go V for victory, please.

-It's thumbs up.

-OK.

-So...

that's a bit handy, Kerry.

If you get this one right, you draw level.

In two memorable 17th-century paintings by Artemisia Gentileschi,

what is the name of the woman seen to be 'Slaying Holofernes'?

And by the way, in the question,

the words 'Slaying Holofernes' are in inverted commas,

as if they are the title of something.

I'll go with...

Judith, please.

Judith is the right answer. Well done.

All right. So, the score is level. One each.

Tremendous Knowledge Dave, your third question.

Jeanette Winterson's 2015 novel The Gap Of Time

is a reimagining of which of Shakespeare's plays?

Again, this has passed me by. I'm having a...

a few moments here.

No, I can't get a handle on this at all.

I'm going to go Romeo And Juliet.

-It's The Winter's Tale.

-Right, OK.

You've got a line in sight of goal here, Kerry.

Just this one question will get you in the final.

Which Booker Prize-winning novel was written by Graham Swift?

I'll go for...

The Finkler Question, please.

-Last Orders is the answer, Kerry.

-Mm-hm.

So not to worry, you're not out,

but the scores are level and we go to Sudden Death.

-Are you ready for this?

-Yeah.

Sudden Death, I don't give you alternatives. Dave, your question.

The Parisian mansion known as the Hotel Biron

on the Rue de Varenne

houses a museum dedicated to the work of which famous sculptor?

The only one I can think of is Auguste...

Auguste Rodin.

Auguste Rodin is correct.

OK, Kerry, to stay in,

which book by Robert M Pirsig starts with the line,

"I can see by my watch

"without taking my hand from the left grip of the cycle

"that it is 8.30 in the morning"?

I have no idea.

I have no idea, so I'm just going to say...

The Great Race? I don't know.

-It's not The Great Race. Do you know this, Dave?

-Robert M Pirsig?

-I've not heard of it at all.

-I think it's a famous one-off book.

-Any Eggheads know this?

-Steve.

Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance.

-It's called Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance.

-Oh, right.

Kerry, sorry, you've been knocked out by Dave.

Dave, well done.

On Sudden Death you've taken the round and you will be in the final.

Kerry and Dave, come back, rejoin your teams,

we'll see what the next round brings.

As it stands, the Washing Powders

have lost two brains from the final round.

The Eggheads have not lost any,

so it's time to put them through the tumble dryer, OK?

The next subject is history.

Matt and team, who wants this?

-It's the subject we didn't want.

-I know.

-You didn't want this?

-No, it was one of the bad ones.

-Who's the top quizzer?

-I think it might be better if you do it.

-Yeah.

Just cos of what potentially could come next in the subjects.

-Yeah.

-Is that all right?

I'm not that good on history, but I'm going to attempt it.

Go for it. Why not? Why not?

Who would you like to take on, Charlene?

Probably Steve, please.

OK, Charlene from the Washing Powders

against probably Steve from the Eggheads.

Definitely Steve.

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

-Good luck against Steve.

-Thank you.

-One of our newest Eggheads.

Would you like to go first or second, Charlene?

I'll go first, please.

And here we go.

Napoleon Bonaparte had how many marriages?

I don't think he was married that many times.

I'm not too sure, but I'll just say two.

Two is the right answer.

Steve...

King Edward the Confessor

was part of a dynasty imposed by which group of settlers in Britain?

-Edward the Confessor, you say?

-Edward the Confessor.

I think that must be the Danes.

You said that with such conviction, but it's not the answer I've got.

Eggheads, you want to tell him or shall I?

-Anglo-Saxon.

-He was an Anglo-Saxon.

-Anglo-Saxons.

-Oh.

-So this is...

I won't say brilliant, Charlene, but it's looking certainly better

than it might have been a few minutes ago.

-Don't jinx it.

-No, I'm not going to jinx it.

Which king, Charlene, is known to have made

first use of three lions or leopards

as his arms on the Great Seal of England?

I've got a feeling it might be George II.

I'm not 100%,

but I'll go for George II.

I'm sorry, it is Richard I.

Steve, to get you on the scoresheet, level you up.

Which of these towns was one of the five

that originally made up the so-called Cinque Ports?

And Cinque is C-I-N-Q-U-E.

Right, well, hopefully I've woken up after that first question,

and I'm pretty sure that's Hastings.

Hastings is the right answer.

Back on track. So, level.

Here we are, Charlene, this could be crucial, could be your moment.

Which of these monarchs was over 6'6" in height?

Again, sorry, I've got no idea.

So, I'm just going to have to guess.

-Louis XIV of France.

-Louis XIV of France.

This is a difficult question. Steve, do you know this?

I think by virtue of being called "the Great",

it was Peter the Great of Russia.

It is Peter the Great of Russia. We're not out yet, Charlene.

Fingers crossed here. Steve might slip up.

Third question to you, Steve.

In medieval Europe, the Church specifically allowed

the tails of which creatures to be consumed during Lent.

Right.

I've never heard that before. Um...

I don't know how much nourishment you get from a squirrel's tail.

Nearly all fur.

Maybe the pig. I know they eat all of the pig.

But beaver is quite a substantial thing, if you could actually eat it.

Purely because you get a better meal out of a beaver's tail,

I'll say beaver.

Apparently, beaver's tails look like fish

and you're allowed to eat fish during Lent, not red meat.

-Yeah.

-Beavers is the right answer, Steve. You've won.

Charlene, sorry.

You started really well there, but ended up

being knocked out by our Egghead, so you won't be in the final round.

And if you come back to us,

we'll play the very last round before the final.

So, as it stands, the Washing Powders have lost three brains

from the final round.

No panic yet.

-Possibly in a few minutes.

-Yeah!

-I don't know.

Honestly, people have won from this position, so keep encouraged.

The Eggheads are still sitting there, all five of them.

Let's see what happens in our last round before the final. It's music.

So, Washing Powders,

it's going to be Gavin or the skipper?

-It's going to be the skipper.

-OK, Matt.

Matt on music, against which Egghead?

You can have Pat or Kevin, the big beasts.

I'll take on Pat, please.

So, Matt from the Washing Powders takes on Pat from the Eggheads.

To ensure there's no conferring, please, for the last time,

go to the Question Room.

Good luck, Matt, on music. Would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please.

Here we go, let's try and get the skipper into the final round.

In 1985, I Got You Babe was a UK number one for UB40,

featuring which female singer?

In 1985?

I somehow can't place Kylie in that song.

So I'll rule her out.

I don't remember it being Annie Lennox,

so I'll say Chrissie Hynde.

Yeah, it was Chrissie Hynde, well done.

Pat, your question.

The singers called Laine, Avalon and Vaughan,

who all had solo UK hits in the 1950s,

shared which first name?

Frankie Laine, Frankie Avalon.

It's Frankie.

Frankie is the right answer, well done.

Matt,

Oom-Pah-Pah is the title of a song from which well-known musical?

Oom-Pah-Pah?!

I do remember the song,

but I can't say that I've seen Oklahoma!

or Hello, Dolly!

The only one I've seen is Oliver! so I'll plump for that.

That's quite a good way of eliminating,

and the answer's right, it is.

Good play.

OK, Pat is ahead.

Which singer called herself The Elusive Chanteuse

in the title of her 2014 album?

That doesn't really describe Madonna,

unless she's reinvented herself yet again.

I think I'd have heard of it if it had been Lady Gaga.

I'll have to go for Mariah Carey.

I haven't heard of this.

Mariah Carey is right. Well done.

So, you're level. We go back to you, Matt.

Which composer was director of the State Opera House in Vienna

between 1897 and 1907, but completed no operas himself?

Mm. Unfortunately, this isn't a strong point of my music.

I'll say Richard Strauss.

Let's see, anyone on your team know?

-Is it Gustav?

-We both guessed at Strauss, didn't we?

-But we don't know.

-A bit of Strauss, Charlene saying Gustav.

Gustav Mahler is the right answer. So you've got two out of three.

Let's see if it's enough to take you through to Sudden Death.

If Pat gets this right, he's in the final round.

Pat, Philip Selway has found fame as the drummer with which band?

My first instinct is it might be Radiohead.

I don't think it's Oasis.

Yes, I think of those three, I think I prefer Radiohead.

Yeah, you got it absolutely right.

Philip Selway did find fame with Radiohead, you're quite right, Pat.

And you are in the final round. Sorry, Matt.

I bet you like Radiohead as well.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they've done some very good stuff.

You may not want to hear them for a while.

Pat has knocked you out.

Come back to us, gentlemen, we will play the final round.

OK, this is what we have been playing towards.

It is time for our final round

and, as always, we do 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, all from this side, I'm afraid.

Matt, Kerry, Charlene, and Paul from the Washing Powders,

would you please now leave the studio?

Well, Gavin, good luck. I know this is not quite the strategy

-that the Washing Powders had put together.

-Not quite.

You are alone playing to win the Washing Powders £4,000,

and you can do it, no question.

Dave, Pat, Kevin, Steve, Judith,

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

which is the Eggheads' reputation.

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

This time, they're all general knowledge,

and you are allowed to confer.

I'm sorry that doesn't help you.

Gavin, the question is, can you,

with your one brain, defeat these five?

-I'll give it my best go.

-I'm glad you say that.

All your team-mates looking on, wishing you all the best.

And would you like to go first or second?

I'd like to go first. Yes, please.

Here we go. If the letters BO stand for buyout,

for what does the letter L stand in the financial abbreviation LBO?

LBO.

So, legal buyout wouldn't seem to follow the trend there.

Loaned would go along with the financial,

but I'm kind of leaning towards leveraged.

So I'm going to take that as my answer, please.

Leveraged is completely right, well done.

OK.

Eggheads, all five of you.

In the 1980s, which actor received an Oscar nomination

in three consecutive years,

winning for his role in Kiss Of The Spider Woman?

-William Hurt.

-Yeah.

-William Hurt.

-Yeah.

That was William Hurt.

William Hurt is correct. Gavin, your question.

What is the term for the rotation of an aeroplane

along its vertical axis

so that its longitudinal axis deviates from the flight line?

I've got quite a few friends that are engineers who build planes,

so I'm sure they'll know the answer.

I'm going to rule out yelp. I don't think that fits the...

It's just between yip and yaw.

I'm going to go with yaw, as a guess.

Yaw is correct.

-Oh!

-Two out of two. Your team-mates are loving this.

Next question for the Eggheads.

The French shoe designer Christian Louboutin was born in which decade?

It's definitely not '80s.

Judith, what time period do you think he's been around for

in terms of the...?

Well, I think he became sort of well-known in sort of '80s, '90s,

and I think that creative people often become quite famous early on.

Yeah. So it could be the '60s.

So I'd bet on the '60s, born in the '60s.

-Right, OK.

-I've seen a documentary about him. Charming man.

Is it the chap that was born on an island? A European island?

-He zooms around Paris on the back of a moped.

-Nowadays?

-From shore to shore. He's quite a jolly fellow.

-What's he look like?

-Um...

-I mean, how old does he look?

-He looks older than...

-He's not white-haired and wobbly?

-Well...

I'm trying to think how much white there is in his stubble.

He's a tricky one.

Yeah. He's a hard guy to...age. It's tricky.

I have a faint memory of what he looks like and it's not obvious.

He doesn't have a head of silver hair or anything.

-What are you thinking, Steve?

-What's his hair like? Dark?

-I'm half-tempted by

-'40s. OK.

-Are you?

-And Judith, '60s.

-Go with the majority.

-Well, I feel slightly uncertain, I have to say.

-Go for the 1960s, shall we?

-OK.

We don't think it's as late as the 1980s.

We think he's older than that.

So, it's a 50-50, really,

but we're going to go with the 1960s.

Right, and one of you said 1940s, or maybe two.

Steve was going 1940s.

-Apparently he was born on an island.

-Yeah, yeah.

No, he was born in Paris, actually.

-Oh! Right.

-His breakthrough year was 1991.

-You went the right way.

-Well done, well done.

-1960s is right.

-I must be thinking of somebody else.

-I love the...

Somebody asking somebody else, "What's his hair like?"

It was desperate strokes there. Goodness me.

I thought you had it there, I really thought you had them.

But they took care, because it means a lot to them, this.

So, 1960s and still level, no wrong answers yet, final round.

£4,000 we're playing for.

And here is your...what could be a crucial question, Gavin.

The Girl With Enamel Eyes is the subtitle of which ballet?

I'm immediately drawn to The Sleeping Beauty.

I feel like it fits.

I don't know the answer.

It's not really something I know too much about.

Swan Lake I'm going to rule out, not for any logical reason.

Coppelia, I don't really know what that's about.

I generally know the story between Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty.

I'm going to go with Sleeping Beauty

cos that's the one I was drawn to initially.

And it's hard when you're not conferring. The answer is Coppelia.

-Is it a doll, then?

-Yeah.

-Is that the point of Coppelia?

-Yeah.

She's not human. She is a doll who's been made of various parts.

OK, so that was the girl, those were the enamel eyes.

Let's see what happens now.

Eggheads, if you get this right, you've won the contest.

The shoebilled stork, also known as the whalehead,

which has a large, remarkably shoe-shaped bill,

is native to which continent?

-Africa leaps out.

-The Sudan.

-Upper Nile.

-Yeah.

-My instinct...

-OK, that's fine with me.

-Happy with Africa?

-Yeah, for definite.

-We were thinking that before. OK?

-OK, yeah.

We'll be a bit quicker on this one.

We think that's Africa.

What is the answer here?

You said Africa. If you are right, the contest is over.

You've said it with some certainty, which is often a sign.

And, yes, the answer is Africa.

We say congratulations, Eggheads, you have won.

You played a tight game there

-right until the third question, Gavin.

-Yes.

-Right till that wretched Coppelia.

-I'll have to watch some more ballet.

And you quizzed well.

Even with the shoe question,

you got there with a bit of... maybe not certainty,

with assurance, let's say.

So, commiserations, Washing Powders. Gavin, I hope you enjoyed coming.

-Absolutely.

-Thanks, everyone backstage. Great to see you.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them,

and you reign supreme over Quizland.

It does mean that the challengers don't go home with the £4,000,

so we'll take that money and we will roll it over to our next show,

add it to the prize. Eggheads, well done.

I wonder if you can be beaten, actually, in this form,

when there are five of you. Pretty stunning.

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

have the brains to take them down. It's going to be £5,000 to win.

Until then, goodbye.