Episode 8 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,

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

You might recognise them. They've won some of the toughest quiz shows. They are the Eggheads.

Tackling our awesome quiz geniuses today are All Good Sports.

They have all been recipients of accolades awarded at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards.

There's talk of doing a similar event for the Eggheads... if only one had a personality.

Only joking, Eggheads! Only joking. Let's meet the team.

Hello. My name is Roger Uttley. I'm a former England rugby player

and I won the Sports Personality team award on three occasions.

I'm Iwan Thomas, former athlete. I was runner-up in 1998 at the Sports Personality of the Year.

I am Geoff Thomas, former international footballer, winner of the Helen Rollason award in 2005.

I'm David Broome, a former show jumper, and I won the Sports Personality in 1960

and with my colleagues we won the team competition in 1978.

My name's John Conteh, a former world boxing champion, and I was runner-up for the Sports Personality in 1974.

OK, welcome to you, All Good Sports. You are very good at sports. What have we got?

Boxing, show jumping, football, athletics and rugby. Fantastic stuff.

-Did you get them together, Roger? You're captain.

-I drew the short straw,

but I'm very pleased to be leading such a talented bunch of people.

Have you put them through their paces quiz-wise?

Yeah, we have had a go at it in the green room earlier on

and ran through a few questions. I'm not sure how challenged we were.

But we feel quietly confident.

You were a teacher for a long time. When you sat with the other teachers, did it rub off?

Hopefully, a little bit did! But there's no guarantee here.

Having looked on the television, it looks quite easy and I can actually answer some questions.

It's slightly different being here.

It's putting them all together. Let's play the game and see if you can do it.

Every day there's £1,000 up for grabs for our challengers' charity,

but if they fail to win the prize money rolls over.

The Eggheads have won the last seven games. You can do the maths.

£8,000 says you can't beat them.

Let's play our first head-to-head. It's Science.

You get to choose

which one of you wants to play.

-Is that you, JC?

-They told me boxing was a science!

-Yes, it is!

-I did a sports science degree, but I can't remember it.

-It's between you two.

-You're joking!

< You can do it. Do what?

Where's the gloves?

-Which Egghead would you like to take on?

-I'd like to take...

CJ.

-Do you want gloves, CJ? Do a couple of rounds?

-I'd rather not! I've more chance with the questions.

-We'd like him to do a couple of rounds!

-OK.

Let's have John and CJ into the question room, please, to make sure you can't confer.

Let's play the round. Science.

-You get to choose. Do you want first or second, John?

-First, please.

OK, first question to you, John. Windows 1.0, the first version of the computer operating system,

was officially released on 20th November of which year?

Er, 1985.

Correct! You don't mess around, do you?

If one punch will do, why use two? OK, you got it.

CJ's first question.

Gerontology is the study of what process?

Gerontology studies what process?

That's the study of ageing.

It is indeed. One each.

Back to you, John.

Sn is the chemical symbol for which element?

Sn is the chemical symbol for which element?

-Sn?

-Sn. Capital S, small n.

-Yeah, tin.

-It is!

That's the right answer. May I ask, John? Is that a guess or...?

I fought a fella called Tin in 1974...

His first name was Steve, so... It all adds up.

-That's the way I make it up.

-Well done! Two out of two.

Absolutely lightning pace.

CJ, what name is given to the flap of loose skin that hangs down from the neck of certain cattle?

I've never heard of a plastron or a paxwax, but I've heard of dewlap.

-So that's my answer.

-Dewlap is the right answer!

We're rattling through these.

A third one each.

John, in the ABO system, what is the blood group of a patient who can get blood of any type?

ABO sounds like a boxing organisation.

We're one letter short, though, so I'll go for AB.

AB - it's the correct answer! Fantastic!

Three out of three on Science!

OK, CJ, if you don't get this, you're out of the game.

Which scientist, supported by the entrepreneur George Westinghouse, won the "War of the Currents"

against Thomas Edison in the last years of the 19th century?

Well, Tesla and Edison are famous for their rivalry.

They were competing against each other.

Well...

I might get knocked out, but I'm going to go for Tesla.

It's the right answer, CJ.

It's all square.

That means we go to sudden death.

You've done way too well with three choices, so we're giving you none.

Just give me the answer directly. This is your question.

Which eminent 17th-century scientist used prisms to become the first to prove that white light consists

of a range of different colours?

-It wasn't Stephenson, was it?

-Is that your answer?

-Edward Stephenson.

-It's not correct.

-No?

-Bad luck. CJ, do you know, if you had been put in?

-I'd go for Newton.

-Isaac Newton. Isaac Newton with not just gravity, then.

Prisms, too.

CJ, by what shortened name is a modulator demodulator more usually known in computing?

Sorry, John, but that's a modem.

That is the knockout quiz blow. It's the right answer. Modem, yes.

CJ's in the final. John, bad luck.

Fantastic performance. Both please come back and join your teams.

A sucker punch from CJ knocking John out of the round.

One member of All Good Sports gone, no Eggheads yet.

Our second round is Sport. Who'd like to play this?

Four of you can play. Not John.

Any of you other four.

-Iwan will take it on.

-Iwan?

-Yeah.

-And who would you like to play?

-Not CJ. Any of the other four.

-Yeah, Judith, please.

-It didn't work!

-She tried to double bluff me and said she'd brushed up on sport,

-but I could read it.

-You've heard it before.

Let's have Iwan and Judith into the question room, please.

-Let's play the round, then. Iwan, do you want to go first or second?

-I'll go first, please.

Good luck. In which year did Bryan Robson last play football for England?

Definitely not 2001.

The obvious answer for me would be '81, but I feel he played on a bit longer than that, but '91...

I can't remember him being at the 1990 World Cup. I'm going to go '81.

-Geoff, is it '81?

-No, sadly, it's '91.

It's '91, Iwan. Did you play in any teams with him, Geoff?

Yes, I did, actually. It was my job to fill his boots.

He was such a great player.

He was a colossus for England.

His last game was 1991, not '81, so Judith...

An early chance. Your first question.

In what time did the Cuban athlete Dayron Robles win the men's 110m hurdles at the 2008 Olympics?

There's Iwan shaking his head.

Well, he must do a metre... Uh, let's think.

I think 12.93.

-12.93 seconds?

-Seconds.

-OK.

Sorry, Iwan. It's the right answer as Iwan knows.

That would be meat and drink to him. How would you be with Bryan Robson?

Actually, I would have said that. Not knowing, really.

Very interesting. You're in the lead and Iwan needs to get on the board.

Which rugby union team was relegated from the Guinness Premiership in 2010?

-Er, it's Worcester.

-Worcester. Is it, Roger?

-Yes.

-Yes, it is! Well done, Iwan.

Now you are on the board.

You must hope Judith slips up on one of the next two questions.

Which world champion British boxer suffered the first defeat of his professional career in 2010

against Mikkel Kessler?

Well, it's not Ricky Hatton.

-I think it's Amir Khan.

-Amir Khan.

OK. John?

-It's Carl Froch.

-Carl Froch.

The way these questions have gone, you'd have got all four easily

if it wasn't on your own in the question room.

Iwan's picking up pace. Were you a slow starter, Iwan? Or did you get your nose in front?

The only false start I ever got was in a world championship final.

I like to get out there early. I messed up on that first question. I'm not happy with myself.

Get this and you're back. In 1930, which English cricketer scored the first test match triple century?

I wanted to say Jack Hobbs, but was he a wicketkeeper?

Cricket's not my thing.

That was the first name that came to me, so I'll go with Jack Hobbs.

Jack Hobbs, a triple century. Was it, Eggheads?

-Andy Sandham.

-Andy Sandham. The first test match triple century.

Once again, Iwan,

you're in fingers crossed territory, hoping Judith gets this wrong.

The Sacramento Kings are a major team in which US sport?

Oh, dear.

I don't know. I'll just say baseball and pray.

-What do you think, Iwan? Do you think you're out?

-Yeah.

-No, you're still in!

Like baseball with a K. Basketball. The Sacramento Kings.

So, you live on.

One each out of those three. Let's see if these questions suit you more. We go to sudden death.

No more choices for you to look at.

In 2010, which jockey broke the record for the most career victories at the Cheltenham Festival?

Em, JP McCoy.

-OK. I think it's AP McCoy.

-AP, sorry, yeah.

-If it was right, I'd have accepted that, but it's not.

-Don't say Frankie Dettori.

-No, no. David?

-I'd guess Ruby Walsh, but...

-Ruby Walsh, yeah. Got his 26th victory in 2010

at the Cheltenham Festival.

Not AP McCoy. Another chance, then, for Judith.

Which British racing driver won the Monaco Grand Prix a total of five times during the 1960s?

Graham Hill?

It's the right answer, Judith!

It's the way the questions fell

for you there. And the way they fell for Iwan. All the questions he knew went your way

and those that came his way were off his radar. Iwan, you're not in the final round.

Both please rejoin your teams.

As it stands, the Eggheads are all there and the challengers have lost two brains.

Two more head-to-heads to go.

The first one of these two is Geography. Who'd like to play this?

Geography.

Iwan and John can't play.

-The boys thought I should try that.

-As a well-travelled man.

-Absolutely. So I'll have a go.

-OK, Roger. Choose an Egghead to play.

Judith and CJ have played, so it's Kevin, Barry or Pat.

-I'm going to try Pat, I think.

-And why not? Yes.

Roger and Pat, into the question room, please.

OK, so Roger, talking about BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

You were in those team awards for the great rugby performances.

-'74 was that brutal Lions tour in South Africa.

-Yeah, we had a lot of fun out there for three months

as amateur players and it was a great period of my life. 24, three months.

Didn't have to do any work. Like being a professional sportsman. It was my only experience of that.

This round is Geography, not Sport. Do you want to go first or second?

The team decided we were going to go first. I don't know why, but I will.

Team orders putting you in first.

What is the largest island in Wales?

I don't have any idea at all about the size of Skomer or of Bardsey.

I've heard of Bardsey before, heard of Skomer.

Anglesey...

The top of the A40.

-I'm inclined to go for Anglesey.

-Anglesey?

It's the right answer. Well done.

Pat, just out of interest,

where then are Bardsey and Skomer?

Bardsey is just off the Llyn peninsula in north-west Wales.

And Skomer is in the Bristol Channel.

I see. And Anglesey is in the north-west.

-Anglesey is north-west as well.

-Your first question. Gainsborough,

Louth and Market Rasen are all in which English county?

I've always thought of Market Rasen as a racetrack in Lincolnshire.

It's nowhere near Cornwall or Kent.

And Louth as well.

-It's Lincolnshire.

-Yep. All in the same county.

It's the right answer.

All right, Roger,

your second question.

In 2000, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh became new states in which Asian country?

I would think with all the political upheaval in Afghanistan

and the reorganisation taking place,

my inclination is to go with that.

And that's my answer, Dermot.

All right, Afghanistan.

In 2000 they became new states in... Pat, is it Afghanistan?

-I'd go for India.

-It is India.

It is India, not Afghanistan.

Pat, you don't get a tick. This is your second question.

By which name is Lake Tiberius also known?

It's, um... It lies north of the Dead Sea.

It's the Sea of Galilee.

Yes, it is. The Sea of Galilee.

You need this, Roger.

Bedford-Stuyvesant is a neighbourhood in which New York borough?

I don't think it's Brooklyn.

I think it's...

Staten island.

-Staten Island?

-Yeah.

It's not, Roger.

-No, it is, Pat?

-I'd guess Manhattan.

No! Pity it wasn't yours. We don't need to go on.

We now know it's Brooklyn.

Bedford-Stuyvesant is in Brooklyn,

so Roger won't be in the final round. Please rejoin your teams.

All Good Sports have lost three brains from the final round. The Eggheads are all still standing.

We've got to topple one now in our last head-to-head. This one is Music.

It's Geoff or David.

-Music.

-I've got to take it, I suppose.

With two teenage daughters. That's why it's embarrassing!

-And, Geoff, the remaining Eggheads players are Kevin or Barry.

-What do you reckon?

-Try and go for their strength?

-Yeah.

-I'll go for Kevin.

All right, Kevin. Kev. Geoff and Kev into the question room, please.

We must talk, Geoff, about your great, brave battle against cancer and the charity work you do now.

You're just raising enormous sums of money for research.

-You did a massive bike ride a while back.

-Well, in 2005 I'd just gone into remission.

It's a case of paying people back, the doctors, nurses.

I was inspired by Lance Armstrong's story. Sadly, in many ways.

We came up with the silly idea of doing the Tour de France. In 2005,

we stayed two days ahead of Lance Armstrong. He won for the seventh time, I think, that year.

We came back and found out we'd raised over £200,000 for Leukaemia Research and from that point

I've learnt so much about the illness and it set me on the journey that I'm in the middle of today.

We want you to share your knowledge about music.

-You mentioned the teenagers. They'll laugh if you get the more contemporary stuff wrong.

-I'm sure.

It's a very broad category. There's lots of stuff from the '70s and '80s,

there's opera, classical. Would you like to go first or second?

I'll stick with the team. It's done so well so far(!) First.

Good luck, Geoff.

Who released the 2009 album Reality Killed The Videostar?

I can't really remember Robbie Williams bringing out an album,

although probably everybody's shouting at me now, like my girls.

Em...

Ronan Keating... George Michael, it doesn't sound like one of his titles.

Because my first choice was to say it's definitely not him, I'm going to go for Robbie Williams.

Well done, Geoff. It's the right answer.

Reverse psychology on yourself. Robbie Williams is correct.

Reality Killed The Videostar.

That first tick on the board.

Kevin, which female vocalist had a UK number one single in 1964 with Anyone Who Had A Heart?

I can't remember if it was her first one, but Cilla Black.

Cilla Black is the right answer.

Back to you, then, Geoff.

Which of the movements in Holst's The Planets is subtitled The Bringer of Jollity?

For no other reason, I'm just going to go, I think...

Mars.

-OK, Mars.

-A total guess.

Probably a bit of insurance on this with your girls. I suspect they're not too clear on this one.

It's not Mars. It is, Kevin...?

-Jupiter.

-Jupiter. The Bringer of Jollity.

OK, Kevin,

what is the title of Stevie Wonder's song from Songs In The Key of Life that was sampled by Coolio

in his 1995 UK number one single Gangsta's Paradise?

I simply don't know this one, so it's going to be a one in three guess, I'm afraid.

-Freedom Paradise.

-Freedom Paradise is incorrect. It is, CJ and Eggheads...?

-I don't know.

-Pastime Paradise.

-It's Pastime Paradise. OK.

Well, there we are.

-All square.

-Very exciting. We're very excited over here.

A chance if you get this, Geoff. Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and which other artist

had a famous impromptu jam session at Sun Studios, Memphis, in 1956?

They became known as the Million Dollar Quartet.

Is it Walking The Line, the film? I might be totally wrong, but I think it's Johnny Cash.

Johnny Cash, it's the right answer. Well done.

You have the lead.

Kevin goes out if he doesn't get this. The words of which American writer were arranged for baritone,

chorus and orchestra in Delius's work Sea Drift?

He used the poetry of Walt Whitman.

Yes, he did. Sure ground for Kevin after the last one, Coolio.

So it's all square.

We go to sudden death.

"Riding out on a horse in a star-spangled rodeo,"

is a line from which 1975 UK Top Ten hit for Glen Campbell?

I don't know any of his songs.

Stars and Stripes. Just chucking something out there.

OK, Stars and Stripes. It's not.

I'll give it to the guys here who are humming it. It is...?

-Rhinestone Cowboy.

-Rhinestone Cowboy, Geoff.

-Ohh...

-You can hear it now.

-Yes.

Rhinestone Cowboy there.

That gives Kevin a chance to take the round. Composer Carl Orff,

famous for Carmina Burana, was born in which country?

-He was born in Germany.

-It's the right answer, Kevin, which means you've taken the round.

We got to sudden death again.

Bad luck, Geoff. Both please come back and join your teams.

So this is what we've been playing towards. Time now for the final round, which is General Knowledge.

But I'm afraid those of you who lost can't take part.

I'm looking one way here. Roger, Iwan, Geoff and John, would you leave the studio, please?

So David, you're playing to win All Good Sports £8,000 for charity.

Barry, Pat, Judith, Kevin and CJ are playing for what money cannot buy - the Eggheads' reputation.

I'll ask each team three questions in turn. They're all General Knowledge. You can confer.

-David, is your one brain better than the Eggheads' five? Would you like to go first or second?

-First.

All general knowledge questions. Here's the first of them.

What was the name of the oldest son in the US TV series The Waltons?

What was the name of the oldest son in the US TV series The Waltons?

Not remembering the programme,

I think being the first son... I think I'd call him Jason.

OK. Jason. The oldest son.

Much parodied when they all say good night.

-Good night...

-John-Boy.

John-Boy. Jim-Bob was the youngest, wasn't he? Was Jason a Walton?

-Jason was the second one.

-Listen to you lot! How many were there?

-Seven.

-Too many!

-Can you name them all? Go on.

John-Boy, Jason, Mary-Ellen,

Erin, er, Ben, Jim-Bob and Elizabeth.

And John-Boy was the eldest son.

OK, Eggheads.

That wasn't your question, thank goodness.

What type of weapon is an ICBM?

What type of weapon is an ICBM?

ICBM stands for inter-continental ballistic missile. So a missile.

OK, well done, Eggheads. Not ballistic blunderbuss? No.

Missile gives you the lead. David, in which field is Henry Holland from Manchester a well-known designer?

In which field is Henry Holland from Manchester a well-known designer?

I wish he made guns.

With a brother, Holland and Holland, but it won't be that.

Er, I'll go for furniture, but it's a pure guess.

OK. Henry Holland. Furniture?

He's a fashion designer.

Fashion. Well, Eggheads, you can win if you get this.

Sufism is a mystical movement within which religion?

-Islam.

-Sufism is a mystical movement within which religion?

Sufis are sometimes known as the whirling dervishes

-and they're a mystical sect of Islam.

-Islam is the correct answer.

You've won.

David, it's always going to be tough against all the Eggheads.

They are on cracking form.

We were having fun about the Waltons, but it's the things they know, the range of knowledge.

Thank you to you, David, for having a go

and to those four great guys behind you. We've had so much fun today.

We really appreciate you coming in to play the Eggheads. It wasn't to be, but we had a ball.

Thank you very much.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally. You won't be going home with £8,000 for your chosen charity.

The money rolls over. Eggheads, congratulations. Who will beat you on this form?

Join us next time to see if a new team of female broadcasters captained by Edwina Currie

can defeat the Eggheads. £9,000 says they don't. Don't miss it. Goodbye.

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd - 2010

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