Episode 7 Celebrity 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 a special celebrity edition of Eggheads,

the show where a team of five quiz challengers

pit their wits against possibly the greatest quiz team in Britain.

And you might recognise them as they've won some of the country's toughest quiz shows.

They are the Eggheads.

And tackling our awesome quiz Titans today are the Vinyl Countdown.

It's often said that some people have a face for radio, but this team

of former Radio One DJs certainly bucks that trend.

What a shame the same can't be said for the Eggheads!

Let's meet the team.

Hello, I'm Tony Blackburn. I was the first voice on Radio One and I'm 36 years old.

Mike Read, Radio One, 1978 to 1991.

David Jensen, known as "The Kid".

Radio One '76 to '84.

Hello, I'm David Hamilton. I was one of the very early DJs on Radio One when we used to play cylinders.

Hello, I'm Ed "Stewpot" Stewart and, like Tony Blackburn, I was one of the originals on Radio One

and my most favourite programme was Junior Choice.

Welcome to you, Vinyl Countdown.

I must say, we are so excited to have you in the studio here.

The Eggheads have been talking about little else because it's a kind of staple, isn't it, of a radio show?

-You must all have done so many quizzes.

-Yes.

You must all have asked so many questions of so many members of the public at one time.

I'm sure some of you are still doing it.

Do you ever remember any of the answers?

No, we've lost so many times it's unbelievable!

But it's always enjoyable, always enjoyable.

When people know that you ask the questions on some shows, like on Pop Quiz, they expect you

to know all the answers as well because you ask the questions.

Mike, when you mention Pop Quiz there, you did know.

That was the point, you did, by and large, know the answers as well.

-Did you write a lot of the questions?

-A lot of them, yeah.

We'll chat with you all as you play your rounds.

Now, every day there's £1,000 worth of cash up for grabs for our challengers' chosen charity.

However, if they fail to defeat the Eggheads the prize money rolls over to the next show.

So, Vinyl Countdown, the Eggheads have won the last six games

and that means £7,000 says YOU can't beat the Eggheads.

And the first battle will be on the subject of Arts and Books.

Arts and Books.

Now who fancies this?

I think probably Mike on this one.

-Mike is very artistic.

-I love the way Mike is saying nothing!

-Is that all right?

I'm happy to go for it. I feel I may fail, but I don't know who's weak?

I think their side are probably all pretty strong in this area.

-I think Barry.

-Barry.

-Barry.

-OK.

-All right, happy with that, Mike?

-Moderately.

That'll do then. Let's get you into the Question Room.

It's going to be Mike and Barry

playing our opening round, Arts and Books.

Could you go to the Question Room just to make sure you can't confer?

Let's play the round. Arts and Books. You get to choose, Mike.

Do you want to go first or second?

-I'll go first please, Dermot.

-OK, good luck.

Up against our Barry there, and the first question is yours.

What type of creature is Cujo in the Stephen King novel of the same name?

Cat, horse or dog? Cujo.

Well, I hold my hand up and say I don't know the book.

That's not my area of reading at all.

Maybe, if we're looking sort of sci fi, mystic, we might be looking more

at something like a cat than a dog.

Dog's aren't terribly mystic.

Maybe I might strike the dog, I think, initially.

I'm going to go the non-equine route.

I'm going to go for the feline route. I'm going for cat.

OK, cat. Cujo.

It's actually a dog, Mike,

after all that! OK, Barry, first question.

Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans

are a favourite confection for characters in which series of books?

I've often wished I could try these beans,

but they occur in all the Harry Potter novels.

Yeah, they do. Mike nodding, he knew that. Harry Potter is correct.

I've read them all, read them all.

Right, well, let's hope you have read this,

your second question.

The fictional detective Dave Robicheaux

is a creation of which crime novelist?

I thought I was well read! I've never heard of him.

But I have heard people in the past say,

"I'm going to go right down the middle",

and for me this seems a brilliant option this time

as my last answer was on the right.

I can think of no better reason for going for the wonderfully

talented and creator of Dave Robicheaux, James Lee Burke.

How did you know that? That is the right answer.

OK, Barry, second question. Rayonism was a style of abstract art

that was developed in which country in the early 20th century?

I've seen some Rayonist pictures

and I'm just trying to remember who painted them.

I think the Rayonist artists were Russian, so that's my answer, Russia.

There Rayonists were indeed Russian, that's right.

So, Barry, you have two, Mike has one and you need to get this, Mike.

In which year was Gunter Grass

awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature?

Had it been 1999 I think I might have heard more about it

and remembered more about it.

And fading into the past

probably equally a little bit more about 1989, so I'm

favouring the Neanderthal period of 1979.

I feel that he was up there doing his business at the

same time that Elvis Costello was at number two with Oliver's Army.

It is... Barry, do you know?

It's much more recent than that.

I'm tossing up... I think it was '99.

It's the latest one, it's 1999.

He's been writing a long time,

but 1999 for the Nobel Prize for Literature,

which means, Mike, the round is over. Barry has taken it.

It means he'll be in the final round and you won't be.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

OK, then. Well, after that round,

the Vinyl Countdown the one brain down. The Eggheads are all there.

It's only the first round, anyway.

So, let's play our second round and this one is Music.

Well, now, do you have a dilemma because you've played Mike?

-He can't play again.

-Yes, it's a bit tricky for us now, isn't it?

-Well, we all like music, don't we?

-Do you do music?

-I'll have a go.

-Yeah, go on.

I'll have a go. Yeah. Now who shall I pick?

Who shall I pick for Music? I think Chris.

-Chris.

-OK.

-Chris.

OK, David and Chris, into the Question Room, please.

David, first of all, may ask where did the "Diddy" come from,

if you know what I mean,

because I've seen you walking round the studio, you're not!

Well, I did a series with Ken Dodd many moons ago

called Doddy's Music Box

and when we were rehearsing before the show,

in front of all the cameramen and the make up artists

and stage hands and so on, he called me Diddy.

And he took me to one side afterwards and he said,

"Do you mind me calling you that

"because if you do I won't do it anymore?"

He said, "But if you don't mind, I think it'll stick".

And I've actually been stuck with it now for 40 years!

Fantastic stuff. Let's play the round, then.

Music, of course. And, David, do you want to go first or second?

Well, I think, keeping up Mike's tradition, I think I'll go first.

OK, first question then is this.

Duncan James and Simon Webbe found fame as members of which group?

Well, it wasn't Take That,

it wasn't Westlife, so I think it's got to be Blue.

It does. That's right, it is Blue.

Chris, your first question.

The singer Morrissey was born in the suburbs of which city?

NORFOLK ACCENT: No, he's not from Norwich, that I can say for sure.

I don't think he's Glaswegian.

I think he's part of the general gloom scene

that started out in Manchester

in the late '70s and early '80s, so I'll have to go with Manchester.

I think, to be fair, with reference to Morrissey,

that's a pretty decent description, the gloom scene!

Yeah, it's right. Manchester, suburbs of Manchester.

Your second question, David.

What is the name of the Parisian opera house

that was inaugurated in 1989?

I'm not sure that they would have called it Opera Bastille.

Montmatre, I'm not sure whether it's in that area,

so I'm going to have a shot in the dark here

and say Opera Eiffel.

OK, Opera Eiffel, yeah.

It's not. No, David, that's incorrect.

-It is... Do you know, Chris?

-It's not the Opera Montmatre, is it?

No, therefore... I can tell you now!

It's the Bastille, because looking at that date,

it's a very significant date for the French, 1989, wasn't it?

-200th anniversary of the revolution.

-200 years, yeah.

OK, well, nothing there for David.

See how Chris does with his second one.

Now, I laugh, Vinyl Countdown,

because when I read the question I will explain all.

Overload was the 2000 debut single of which all girl British band?

It's been a bit of a fallow area for him

over the years on Eggheads, girl bands!

I think Mis-Teeq and the Sugababes are American,

so it's got to be Girls Aloud.

Good, good! Straight to form there!

Yeah, it's Sugababes.

It's always the Sugababes!

You see, that's what you've developed, isn't it?

You see, this time it was the Sugababes.

That's a classic Chris music question.

OK, well, that's good for you, David.

It stays all square and a question here

might suit you better, I suspect.

Tom Jones achieved his first UK number one single

in 1965 with which song?

Well, Dermot, thank you for that! It is more my era and I always remember

Jimmy Tarbuck saying about Tom Jones,

he's the only man who wears his trousers out from the inside!

And the song was It's Not Unusual.

There you are. Yes, it's completely correct.

It's Not Unusual, so you're now in the lead.

Potential turnaround here. You've got to get this.

Who wrote the songs What Is This Thing Called Love and You Do Something To Me?

Not Gershwin.

And they're not show tunes, so I don't think it'd be Richard Rogers.

-It's got to be Cole Porter.

-It does! That is the right answer, Chris.

You've taken us into sudden death.

And that means no choices, David,

you've just got to give me a straight answer. Here we go.

Which Gilbert and Sullivan operetta is set in the Tower of London?

It's awful, but I can think of any others, so

I'll have to say the Mikado, but I'm sure that's not the right answer.

OK, Mikado, and it's not, I'll confirm that.

-And I think you know, Ed, don't you?

-Yeomen Of The Guard.

Yeah, the other guys know, it's The Yeomen Of The Guard.

-Oh, of course!

-The Yeomen Of The Guard.

I say, without the list there...

If you had a pick of one from three

you would have easily picked that out, of course.

Yes.

But much harder in sudden death.

Let's see what Chris does. Another opera one.

In which Puccini opera does the ship the Abraham Lincoln appear?

That must be Lieutenant Pinkerton's ship in Madam Butterfly.

It is correct.

Yes, it is Madam Butterfly and, yes, Lieutenant Pinkerton.

It means, bad luck, David,

I thought you'd do it. You're not in the final round.

Chris, you will be there.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

OK, well, as it stands now, Vinyl Countdown,

you've lost two brains from the final round.

The Eggheads are all still there.

Let's try and knock one out with this next category, Food and Drink.

Now, Mike and David, Diddy David,

have played, so we've got Tony, David "The Kid" or Ed to play.

-Go on, you do it.

-What?

-Are you going to do it?

-Food and drink. All right.

-Ed's going to do it.

OK, Ed. Now, pick an Egghead.

So, who do we have? We have Barry and Chris this end.

So, going up there it's Pat, Judith or Kevin?

Kevin. You and I, Kev.

Let's have then Ed and Kevin into the Question Room, please.

So, Ed, do you want to go first to second?

Oh, I'll go first, yeah, yeah.

All right, good luck, Ed. Here you go.

In dinner party customs, after a meal a decanter of

which drink is traditionally passed around the table from right to left

until all the guests are served?

Well, in my house it would never be whisky because I don't like whisky.

I love champagne, but that's the start of the meal.

And, of course, it's port, which I also like,

but it's not very good for you if you've got the gout.

No, so stay off the port.

-That's right.

-OK, it's the right answer, yes. Port is correct.

OK, Kevin. Popsicle is an American term

for the type of confection known in the UK by what name?

That's a bit of frozen flavoured water ice

on a stick, so it's an ice lolly.

It is, yes. An ice lolly is correct and straight back to Ed.

What nickname was given to the refreshing drink switchel

due to its popularity with US farm hands?

Switchel, never heard of it. I wouldn't have an idea,

so I'll just go for corncutter's cordial.

Switchel, corncutter's cordial.

It's not. Do you know, Kevin, of the other two?

I'd have gone for haymaker's punch.

Funnily enough, in boxing there is a punch called a haymaker, as well.

Yeah. Well, yeah. But that is the answer, haymaker's punch.

Switchel, anyway, is haymaker's punch.

OK, well, Kevin, your second question,

what does gluh mean in the name of the beverage gluhwein?

Because it's a winter drink, it's the sort of thing you get at

traditional German Christmas markets,

presumably it's meant to make you glow against the cold.

So I'll say glow.

And bring on the glee.

It is glow, that's right.

The gluh in gluhwein.

So it's glow wine.

All right, well, you need to get this, Ed.

What name is going to a mixture of finely diced vegetables, often

cooked in butter and used to flavour soups and sauces?

You know, you watch this programme at home, as I do an awful lot,

and you think, "Oh, I know that."

But it's never like that when you actually come to do it,

I can reassure anybody who's thought of taking part in this quiz.

It seems easy from a distance.

I think it's brunello.

It's not.

-No!

-Chris, you thought it was?

You know, me and Isambard Kingdom Brunel, but no.

-I think it's brunoise, actually.

-It is brunoise.

Finely diced vegetables, cooked in butter and used to flavour soups.

It's always a tricky round, this, as Kevin quite often finds out.

But this time he's through.

You're in the final round, Kevin. You won't be there, Edward.

Could you both please come back and join your teams.

As it stands, The Vinyl Countdown

have lost three brains from the final round,

and all those Eggheads are still there.

Our next subject is Sport, and you or David to play it.

Tony or David.

I know nothing about sport at all.

Got to be David. He does a world sports programme, he's the man.

-He's the king of sport.

-I'll do it, I'll volunteer.

OK, and who would you like to play from the Eggheads?

Let me remind you, Pat and Judith.

Judith is pointing at Pat,

-which means that I'm going to go for Judith.

-That backfired, Judith.

It's my fave(!)

Yeah, she's bluffing.

We'll have The Kid and The Dame into the question room, please.

Do you want to go first or second, then, Dave?

Well, in the Radio One time-honoured tradition of going first,

I will follow and go first.

All right, good luck. Let's get you through.

Tim Foster, Steve Redgrave, James Cracknell

and which other rower won the men's coxless four gold medal

at the 2000 Olympics?

I'm not so familiar with Andy Holmes or Greg Searle.

But I know that Matthew Pinsent won a gold,

and I would imagine he's probably the missing name in that line-up.

Sir Matthew, yes, it's the right answer. Well done.

Judith. Jump shots and finger rolls

are shooting techniques in which ball sport?

Well, it couldn't be football, then, because

football's to do with feet on the whole, isn't it?

Unless it's Diego Maradona.

It's got to be basketball.

It can't be polo, either.

Jump shots and finger rolls are shooting techniques in basketball,

yes, of course. You got that.

So, David,

as a result of a takeover in November 2009,

the Brawn GP Formula One team

adopted what name for the 2010 season?

I don't think it was Toyota, who had an association with Williams then.

Renault were up and running in their own right as a team.

So I think the right answer to this is Mercedes.

It is. That is correct.

You have two.

All right.

Judith, which team defeated England 1-0

in a major shock of the 1950 football World Cup?

Oh, I think I know this.

I think it's USA.

It's the right answer, yes, the USA.

It was England's first appearance in the World Cup finals, wasn't it?

Indeed. And the Haitian born player scored the winning goal.

A chap called Gaetjens.

OK, right, third question, David,

and if you get this, it might put

you into the final round depending on how Judith answers her third one.

Which of his opponents' faces did Muhammad Ali

say should be donated to the US Bureau of Wildlife?

This is a tough question because he used very colourful language

against all his opponents.

I'm just guessing, because you're saying Muhammad Ali

and not Cassius Clay, it's Joe Frazier.

Well done, that's right. Yes, you have a full set there,

three out of three, and Judith must get this to continue.

Judith, which cycling term refers to an assistant who feeds,

clothes and massages riders during a big race?

Well, a commissaire

is someone who opens doors in a hotel, isn't it?

A domestique is a maid,

but a soigneur is someone who cares.

So, I mean, if it follows the literal translation of the French,

I should think it's soigneur.

Your knowledge of French helping you there, it's the right answer.

Into sudden death, and David,

which tennis player defeated the German Gottfried von Cramm

in the final of the Wimbledon men's singles championship

in 1935 and 1936?

I really have no idea.

I'm just going to pick... it's probably before his time

but I can't think of another name, I just wouldn't know. Fred Perry.

Is correct!

You're doing really well with these.

Fred Perry, who won it in '35 and '36.

OK, Judith, in which sport did Britain's Ray Stevens

and Nicola Fairbrother win individual silver medals

at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games?

I've absolutely no idea.

We seem to swim quite well in England some of the time, so swimming.

Swimming?

You're sinking. It's judo.

Which means it's been a long time coming,

but Tony won't be on his Sweeney Todd in the final.

David will be there. David, you're playing in the final round.

Would you both please come back and join your teams.

So, then, this is what we've been playing towards.

It's time for the final round, which as always is General Knowledge.

Those of you who lost your head to heads won't be able to take part.

So Mike, David and Ed from Vinyl Countdown,

and Judith from the Eggheads, would you all please leave the studio now.

So then, Tony and David, you're playing to win the Vinyl Countdown

£7,000 for your chosen charity.

Chris, Barry, Pat and Kevin, you're playing for something which money

cannot buy, it is the Eggheads' reputation.

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

The questions are all General Knowledge.

Of course, you are allowed to confer,

which is why that victory by David was so important.

Tony's not there on his own.

The question is,

are your two brains better than the Eggheads' four?

Tell me, Vinyl Countdown, do you want to go first or second?

I think we'd like to go first.

Here we go. First question. Good luck, Tony and David.

The adjective lithic means relating to or composed of what?

I've never heard that word before.

-I've got to be honest, I haven't either.

-What are the choices again?

Stone, water or wood.

It's got to be a complete guess, I think, hasn't it?

-You going for stone?

-I would go for stone.

-That's a guess.

-All right, I definitely don't think it's water.

I don't think it's...

Yeah, I think we'll go for stone?

We'll go for stone, yeah.

It's the right answer. Well done, correct, yes, stone.

Get the Eggheads on it.

I'm thinking monolithic, neolithic, palaeolithic...

Lithos is the Greek for stone.

Lithos, there we are. Greek for stone.

We did know that. We were just getting you going there.

We knew it all the way along.

You speak fluent ancient Greek.

Eggheads, your first question, what was the name of the pantomime artist

born in 1778

who invented the figure of the classic clown as we know it today?

That was Grimaldi.

It's the right answer, Eggheads, yes.

Second question now for Tony and David.

For what does the letter S stand

in the name of the international organisation UNESCO?

I don't think it's society.

-Or special.

-Or special, no.

I think we're going to go for scientific.

UNESCO. It's correct. Yes, well done, correct,

you got two out of two.

UNESCO stands for, then, United Nations...

Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation?

Yep. That's all of it there.

And your second question, Eggheads, the first Bank of England bank notes

to bear the face of the monarch featured a portrait of which queen?

That's Elizabeth II.

Elizabeth II, that late?

It's the right answer, Eggheads.

OK, there we are. 2-2.

Could be one good answer away from winning this money.

Here you go.

Because of their difference in size, which married 20th century artists

were known as the elephant and the dove?

That's a tricky one, isn't it?

This is a question we hoped we wouldn't get.

I don't think it's Jackson Pollock.

I don't think it's even...

I think the elephant and the dove may be an English

translation of something else. So how would you feel about that?

Yeah. We think it's... shall we go for that one?

-Diego and Frida.

-Yep.

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo...

It's the right answer.

Well done. You're three out of three.

Now, if the Eggheads don't get this, you've won the money.

Your question, Eggheads, a constituency based in which town

was dubbed Guinness on Sea by the media

due to it being represented by MPs connected to the Guinness family

for the majority of the 20th century?

Was Paul Channon part of the Guinness family?

Certainly Essex, round that way.

Never heard anything like that in relation to Hastings.

So, Southend sounds good to me.

We believe that's Southend.

-Southend.

-Paul Channon represented Southend,

and he was a member of the Guinness family.

Got to get this, Eggheads, and you have.

It's correct. Into sudden death.

No mean achievement in itself, but I know you want to go the whole

way and win the money, so a sudden death question,

first Sudden Death question to you, Tony and David.

The Royal Marines are a part of which

of the UK's three armed forces?

It sounds like the Navy. I think it's the Navy.

But it might be a trick question.

-OK, going Navy?

-Yes.

-Confirm that, yep?

Yes.

It's correct. The Royal Navy.

-Consternation.

-I thought it was going to be a trick!

No trick questions here.

OK, you've got it in the bag.

Now the Eggheads need to get this.

Eggheads, what is the only US state to end with the letter G?

That should be Wyoming.

Yeah, it's the right answer, Eggheads.

Kind of thing those quizzers know.

Wyoming. OK, you've got your answer another question at least.

-Well done!

-Here you go.

Which film director responsible for directing Home Alone,

Mrs Doubtfire and two of the Harry Potter films

shares his full name with a famous explorer?

I know this.

-Home Alone.

-Ron Howard?

-Yes, yes.

-You think it is?

Yes, it is. Ron Howard.

-Is that your answer?

-Yeah.

-Ron Howard...is incorrect.

I don't think famous explorer. Do you know, Eggheads?

Chris Columbus.

Christopher Columbus, obviously his full name.

OK, Eggheads, it's not over yet.

The Eggheads need to get this if they are to win.

For what do the letters P and E stand

in the basic financial measurement known as the PE ratio?

For what do the letters P and E stand

in the basic financial measurement known as the PE ratio?

That's price, earnings.

PE is price, earnings ratio?

It's the right answer, Eggheads. You've won.

You were going so well. That was really fabulous.

Those head to heads could have gone either way.

But we have to draw things to a close, so thank you all,

thank you to Tony, thank you to The Kid there,

Ed Stewpot, Diddy David and Mike "No Nickname" Reid.

We'll have to get you one. Thank you very much indeed, guys,

for being such good sports and good quizzers.

But the Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them,

and their winning streak continues.

I'm afraid you won't be going home with the £7,000

for your chosen charity.

That of course means the money rolls over to the next show.

Eggheads, congratulations. Who will beat you?

Do join us next time to see if a team

of Sports Personality Of The Year award winners

have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

£8,000 says they don't. Until then, goodbye.

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