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.

That's the show where a team of five quiz challengers

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

They are the Eggheads.

And tackling our awesome quiz Titans today are the That's Lifers.

Now, this quintet

sees a reunion of some of the team who worked

on that well-loved BBC programme That's Life.

Lead, as always, by the indomitable Esther Rantzen.

As famous for its consumer rights campaigns as it was for

its funny shaped vegetables, That's Life was, for many years,

a staple of British television and, I suppose,

in that particular respect it's a bit like Eggheads.

So, I'll leave it up to you to decide which funny shaped vegetables

our quizzing Goliaths resemble.

Let's meet the team.

I'm Esther Rantzen and for 21 years I produced and presented

a programme called That's Life, with these.

Hello, I'm Robin Baxter, I directed That's Life

and I have worked with Esther for about 20 years now.

Hello, I'm Gavin Campbell, I was a reporter and presenter

on That's Life for 12 years.

Hi, I'm Bill Buckley and I was one of the presenters

of That's Life between 1982 and '85.

Hello, my name is Adrian Mills, I was a presenter

on That's Life from 1985 to 1994,

with a couple of years off for good behaviour in between.

Welcome to That's Lifers. Honour, privilege,

great to have you all here.

Esther, great to see you.

I mean, I say it quite a lot on this but it really was an institution,

That's Life, wasn't it?

Hard to believe after all these years it's gone.

And some people thought we should have stayed institutionalised.

It's lovely, it's great to be with the team again. It's really such fun.

It's great to see some of the faces here.

Listen, we are going to play the game

and chat about some of those memories as we continue to quiz.

Because 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

that prize money rolls over to the next show.

So, That's Lifers, the Eggheads have won the last seven games,

seen of seven celebrity teams,

so far, and that means £8,000 says you can't take them.

We'll play our first head-to-head challenge.

I'll tell you it's Film and Television.

You should all be itching to play this one.

You choose a player and then choose an Egghead, Film and Television.

-Adrian, Bill?

-I think Adrian is probably going to be the best.

-Adrian.

-0K, it looks like I've drawn the short straw, so early.

0K, going in to bat first.

Choose an Egghead, as you know, can be anyone you like at this stage.

Opening round.

Judith.

0K, let's have Adrian and Judith into the Question Room.

Adrian, that's to make sure you can't confer with your teammates.

Off you go, please.

You get the choice as the challenger, Adrian,

do you want to go first or second?

I'd like to go first, please.

OK, Adrian, try this for size. Louis Spence shot to fame

when he was seen on which television programme?

Well, we all know Hell's Kitchen is the man that uses a certain word

on many occasions, I seem to remember.

Biggest Loser, I can't even think what Biggest Loser is,

I don't think I've ever seen it.

But I do know, because it goes back to those acting days

and having to learn a bit of dance, I'm pretty sure

it's Pineapple Dance Studios.

-Have you ever danced there?

-No, and certainly not with Louis.

Certainly not with Louis. And he is there, yes,

Louis Spence at the Pineapple Dance Studios. Well identified.

One for you. And, Judith, your first question.

What is the name of the car

voiced by Owen Wilson in the animation Cars, and its sequel?

I have absolutely no idea.

The whole of that question doesn't mean a single thing to me.

Lightning McQueen.

It's the right answer, Judith. How did you land it there?

I don't know.

CJ is going, "Yes." Bad luck, Adrian, it's all square.

A good start from you and a lucky one from Judith.

Second questions, each.

Adrian, on film, who has fought with Mothra, Megalon and King Ghidorah?

Predator, funnily enough, I think I watched on the TV the other evening.

That was set in the jungle somewhere.

I don't remember any of those characters appearing.

I have a sneaky suspicion, I might be completely and utterly wrong,

going back to my childhood, is it Flash Gordon?

Flash Gordon, it's not, it's not.

It is,

-Eggheads?

-Godzilla.

-It's Godzilla, Godzilla's opponents.

Nothing there for Adrian. Judith's second question.

Which actor played Detective Jackson Brodie in the 2011 TV adaptation

of the novel Case Histories?

I think that was one I didn't want to watch

because I was going to be frightened by,

and didn't want violence and stuff.

Dominic West.

-Dominic West for Detective Jackson Brodie, no.

-No?

No, no.

-Any of the other Eggheads know this?

-Jason Isaacs.

It's Jason Isaacs in that role, Jackson Brodie.

So, no damage done, Adrian.

It's all square, everything to play for.

That place in the final round, playing for the £8,000.

Third question. What is the name of the character

played by Robert De Niro in the film, Goodfellas?

I honestly haven't a clue. I can't even be selective.

It is one of three, I've just got to plump for someone.

I don't know, I really can't even eliminate. James Conway.

-Just a guess?

-It has to be, I have no idea, I'm afraid.

-Oh, Adrian.

-No.

-It's the right answer.

-Get out of it.

It's the right answer, James Conway,

played by Robert De Niro in Goodfellas, which means

you need to get this, Judith.

Who wrote the television series A Very Peculiar Practice?

Oh, I don't know that either.

Erm... Andrew Davies.

I suppose it is only fair you've had a bit of a guess and got it.

Yes, that is correct, after Adrian's guess at James Conway.

It's all square after three, so we ratchet up the pressure

and remove the choices you've been looking at so far, Adrian,

going into the sudden death phase of the round

to sort out a winner which means, obviously,

you've just got to conjure up an answer from your own head.

This is your question. In 1974,

Sophia Loren and Richard Burton starred in TV remake

of which classic 1945 film?

Brief Encounter.

-Is the right answer! What?

-Uh-oh.

Where did you get that from, Adrian?

Do you know, I just thought, "1945, think of any film,"

it's the only one I could think of.

Think of the classic. Well, that was a classic answer.

I'd give you a place in the final round now

if I didn't, under the rules, have to offer Judith the question.

This to tie it up and take us on for more questions, Judith.

In which 1980 film does Bob Hoskins

play the doomed gangster Harold Shand?

I think it's a one word answer.

I can't, I just can't think.

Mona Lisa.

It's not the right answer.

I'm going to give Adrian a chance to exhibit more knowledge.

-Doesn't matter, you're through.

-Is it Long Good Friday?

It is The Long Good Friday, what a quizzer.

The Long Good Friday, but Mona Lisa very close there, Judith,

but not good enough to stop Adrian.

Really rolling along there, getting all his questions

and your questions right, in the end.

You're in the final round, Adrian, a real asset to the team

in the fight for the money.

Would you both please come back and join your teams.

A storming start for the That's Lifers,

swept one of the Eggheads away.

As it stands, one brain missing from the Eggheads side,

all of That's Lifers there.

Lots of quizzing to go though and our second head-to-head today is Politics.

Who'd like to play this? Politics, it can't be Adrian.

-Gavin, are you happy with politics?

-I'll have a go.

-Good luck, Gavin.

-Go on then.

-All right.

It's going to be you, Gavin, remember it can't be Judith

but any of the two Eggheads either side of her.

-Pat.

-Pat?

-Yeah.

Let's have you both into the Question Room, please.

0K, Gavin, you get to choose, do you want to go first or second?

I'll get it over with, I'll go first, please, Dermot?

0K, first question, Gavin, and best of luck with it.

Which former MP, who lost his seat in 1997,

spent several years as a presenter of the radio football phone-in 606?

Well, it wasn't Michael Portillo

because he spends a lot of time in the evening talking about politics.

So, it wasn't him.

Sebastian Coe, don't think so, he's been too busy doing other things.

I think it was David Mellor.

It's David Mellor, it's the right answer, well done.

You're off the mark successfully.

Pat, Up Yours Delors was a famous headline from 1990

in which newspaper?

I can imagine all these three publications

taking a dislike to old Jacques

but I think The Sun has the track record

of the punchy, very, very dogmatic headline.

So, I am going to gamble on The Sun.

The Sun, for Up Yours Delors.

Yes, it's up there with Gotcha and Freddie Starr's hamster eating.

It is the right answer, yes. The Sun.

OK, back to you, Gavin, second question.

Which official usually administers the oath of office

at the US president's inauguration, is it?

Gosh, golly, er.

I don't think it's the Vice President.

I'm going to go with the Attorney General.

It's not.

It is, I suppose the other one you were thinking of,

the Chief Justice. It is the Chief Justice of the United States.

And, Pat, a chance for the lead, then. In 1997 Theresa May became MP for which constituency?

I'm not sure and I don't think I've got any sort of strategy

for manufacturing an answer either.

I think Maidenhead rings a distant bell. So, I will go for Maidenhead.

It is the right answer, Maidenhead is correct, Pat.

You've got it. So, Gavin, under the cosh here, you need to get this.

UNIFIL was established by the United Nations

as a peacekeeping operation in which part of the world?

Again, this is a pure guess.

I'm going to guess Lebanon.

Good guess, I bet it was more than a guess.

It's the right answer, well done, Gavin. Kept your hopes alive.

Sure there was a scrap of knowledge somewhere whispering in your ear.

So, you've got to hope Pat doesn't get this.

Pat, before Tony Blair, who was the last British Prime Minister

to become a father while in office?

I have a suspicion it's John Russell.

Robert Peel is the Corn Laws, I don't think he's famous for

fathering a child while Prime Minister. I think it's John Russell.

John Russell, it is the right answer, Pat.

You are through to the final round.

Bad luck, Gavin,

came back there, but Pat's like a juggernaut

when it comes to these quizzes.

Great white shark smelling blood, you couldn't stop him

once you got one question wrong.

Unfortunately, it means you will not be helping out

the other That's Lifers in the final round, playing for the money.

So, would you both please come back and join your teams.

That's evened it up, both teams have lost one brain from the final round.

We have reached the halfway point in terms of the head-to-heads,

four head-to-heads, of course, in total.

So, our third one is Sport.

Who'd like to play this?

Who've we got to? We've got Robin, Bill or Esther.

I think we all nominate, Robin.

Please, yes.

0K, Robin, and pick your Egghead.

I want to take on CJ and hope there aren't any questions on chess.

Yes. I know you contend that it is a sport.

Oh, I don't, no. Chess is a game.

Well, this is a game too.

Let's have, Robin, and, CJ, into the Question Room, please.

Robin, let's play the round.

It's Sport, do you want to go first or second?

I think I should go first.

Go first and finish first, that's what we want to see.

First question then, Robin.

Which cricketer hosted the 1970s TV show The Indoor League and became

well known for signing off with the phrase, "Ahl si'thee". Is it?

Well, I don't think it was Jim Laker.

I've never seen the famous spinner host a TV show.

Mike Brearley was far too intellectual

to use a term like that.

So, I'm going to go for the greatest Yorkshireman, Fred Trueman.

Fiery Fred, for it is he. It is the right answer, of course.

First question for you, CJ.

Stuart Storey and Paul Dickenson

are two of the BBC's main commentators on which sport?

-Athletics.

-Ooh, you knew that one.

-I knew that one.

Because you know it's not tennis?

Maybe watched a bit of athletics, too. Your next question, Robin.

Who was Lewis Hamilton's teammate in his first season in Formula One?

This is difficult.

I know my son, Bertie, will be screaming the answer at the TV set.

He'll know this. I don't think it was Nick or Giancarlo.

I'm going to go for Alonso.

Fernando Alonso, right to do so.

You have two points.

CJ, oh no.

Which tennis player was the losing finalist

in the men's singles at the French Open in 2009 and 2010?

In 2009 he lost to Federer, in 2010 he lost to Nadal

and it's Robin Soderling.

Yes, fell very nicely for you, tennis fan there, CJ.

One of the few sports he does follow and he got that question.

OK, but it's all square, everything to play for.

Robin, Robert Maxwell proposed a merger between Oxford United

and which other football club,

under the name of the Thames Valley Royals, is it?

Well, I don't think it was Wycombe Wanderers.

So, it leaves Swindon or Reading.

As it had the Royals in the title

I am going to go for Reading for a bit of alliteration. Reading.

It's the right answer. Well done, you have three.

CJ. Look at CJ's face. He's thinking,

"I've done really well here to get two and one of them was tennis."

CJ, the Ernest-Wallon Stadium is in which French city?

Absolutely no idea.

This is nothing more than an absolute blind guess, Perpignan.

It's not, other Eggheads, do you know, just out of interest,

and what is the stadium for, rugby or something like that?

-Toulouse.

-Montpelier?

-Toulouse.

-Rugby.

-Judith, now you are making it up.

-No, I'm not.

Because south-west France.

-Yes, I know, but do you genuinely know that?

-No, of course, I don't.

Toulouse, though, is the answer we were looking for.

That's of no import,

what is important is that Robin is through to the final round.

Would you both please come back and join your teams.

Well, the That's Lifers have shaded these exchanges so far.

The Eggheads have now lost two brains from the final round.

The That's Lifers only one down.

What will be the balance in the final round?

This last head-to-head will decide it, it's Food & Drink.

Esther or Bill? Food & Drink.

Thank goodness because Bill is a food critic and a foodie

-and a gourmet.

-And has had a drink.

I need to drink, I have so much to lose now.

-There's nothing he doesn't know.

-When you said thank goodness

I thought it was because you were going to say, "I love Food & Drink."

-I love listening to Bill talking about Food & Drink.

-Oh, I see, OK.

Bill, it seems like it's going to be you

and who would you like to play from the Eggheads.

We've got Kevin or Barry waiting for you.

I would like to play Kevin, please.

I've just got a feeling that could be the right way to go, Dermot.

Bill, and, Kevin, I will steer into the Question Room, please.

Bill, Esther was right wasn't she about the interest in food,

first of all?

You're in The Guild Of Food Writers, aren't you?

Yes, this is going to be so hideously embarrassing

if I don't do well because Gavin doesn't have to know about politics,

Robin doesn't have to know about sport but I am, actually,

supposed to know a bit about food and yes, I am a member of the Guild.

I am a judge at the World Cheese Awards, believe it or not.

The Eggheads always joke, we have a lot of questions, they think,

about cheese.

Well, I am crossing my fingers for that one then.

I review restaurants and I write about food quite a bit these days.

So, I'm really on the line here.

Well, you are playing a man who you have identified isn't, let's say,

that interested in the subject. He gets to play it fairly often.

Let's see if you can knock him out.

Would you like to go first or second?

Everyone else has gone first, haven't they?

So, I think I will also go first.

I was going to say everyone else has gone first and two got through.

So, quite a success rate.

Let's see if you can get into the final round as well, Bill.

Best of luck. First question.

Which term is used to describe a drink which is served with ice?

Well, I hope that no drink would be on the turn

although I did once add a cream liqueur

to some other non-creamy spirit and it did indeed go on the turn.

I think we can rule that one out pretty safely.

You want a drink while you're watching other people on the box

instead of the actual drink being on the box.

It's got to be on the rocks, hasn't it?

It is, yes, on the rocks, of course. Right answer.

Kevin, what name is given

to the flower, milk and egg mixture

which forms the basis of pancakes and Yorkshire puddings?

Well, the one that I've heard of would be a roux.

OK.

Oh, I see I've fallen into the trap there, haven't I?

A mixture of flour and water, yeah, I automatically think of roux.

But in this case Yorkshire pud's batter. Sorry.

-It's too late.

-I know, I know.

-Look at Bill. It's too late, as you know.

Played so many hundreds of these rounds, it lit up.

You cannot withdraw it at that point.

Now you'd like to tell us it's...

It's batter, yes, should have thought about it.

The millions around their television screens howling at it.

Kevin Ashman caught out again on Food and Drink.

But not out yet.

Great start, Bill, but chickens hatched

and eggs and all that kind of stuff.

-How very culinary.

-Exactly.

-Chance for a big lead here.

-OK.

What was the name of the campaign launched in 1939,

encouraging people to grow their own vegetables?

Luckily, I went to a wonderful exhibition

at the Imperial War Museum, not long ago,

with the incredible Marguerite Patten,

who was the figurehead behind all this.

I'm pretty sure it was Dig For victory.

Dig For Victory, is the right answer, of course, well done, Bill.

I went to the exhibition and they were actually, did you have some of

those biscuits made out of potatoes?

-Yes.

-They were quite tasty, weren't they?

I've thought most of the foods were really nice

and some great advertising material, as well, from those days.

To be a good advertising creator is not a modern craft,

they could do it back then too.

A lot of ideas we should've kept going. Dig For Victory.

Right answer. Well, you're heading towards victory.

You might have clinched it if Kevin gets this wrong

and on current form, a great possibility.

Queen Victoria's favourite tipple is said to have been

a single malt whisky mixed with which other drink?

Could be any of them. Madeira.

Madeira, oh deara, you're out.

-It's claret.

-Yes.

-First thought, there you go.

-Crikey.

Maybe you need one of them after that, Kevin.

That was lamentable.

Terrible performance.

-The first one was.

-I think you accept that.

-It was.

-The first one was, not the second.

-In fairness, no, the second one had to be a guess.

-Tough.

-It's great news for That's Lifers.

-Great news for Bill, personally.

Honour maintained, increased.

You are through to the final round.

Would you both please come back and join your teams.

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

It is time now for the final round which, as always,

is General Knowledge.

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

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

So, just Gavin from the That's Lifers,

and Judith, Kevin and CJ from the Eggheads,

would you all leave the studio, please?

So, then Esther, Robin, Bill, and, Adrian,

you are playing to win the That's lifers £8,000.

Barry, and, Pat, you're playing for something

which money cannot buy, it is your very reputation.

I will ask each team three questions in turn.

This time the questions are General Knowledge and the big difference is

you are allowed to confer.

So Esther, Robin, Bill and Adrian, the question is

are your four brains better than the Eggheads two?

And, That's Lifers, your choice, do you want to go first or second?

We want to go first, don't we?

We've done well so far, we want to go first, please.

Let's see how you do. First question.

The Advertising Standards Authority works

to ensure the adverts are legal, decent, honest and what else?

The Advertising Standards Authority works to

ensure that adverts are legal, decent, honest and what else?

We think truthful.

It's well up your street, isn't it? That's Lifers.

It's the right answer, yes.

Eggheads, in a comedy sketch of the 1950s, featuring Peter Sellers,

which area of London was described as the gateway to the south?

I worked there for three or four years and it's Balham.

The gateway to the south.

I am reliably informed it's Balham, the gateway to the south.

Did they like that in Balham, Pat? Is that how you remember it?

People weren't talking about it very much, no.

Balham is the right answer. Peter Sellers, gateway to the south.

All square after one each.

Second questions then. This to the That's Lifers.

In the years running up to

England's adoption of the Gregorian calendar,

New Year's Day fell in which month?

It was the Julian calendar, was it not? But that isn't the question.

We know it's around there, but which of those three?

How many days did they take off?

-Oh, yes, how many days did they take off?

-They lost.

-I think it's earlier, rather than later.

-I think we can leave May.

-Do we feel like going for March?

-I do, instinctively,

-but I don't know why.

-Go for it.

-We're going for March.

-March.

-On the basis of what, that it is closer to January?

-Yes.

-It's the right answer.

-ALL: Yes.

-Well, they have the lead.

Eggheads, in 2011, Prince William was given which Scottish title?

Strathearn rings some sort of distant bell.

He became Cambridge, didn't he? Duke of Cambridge.

That was my first guess as well.

I think Prince Charles is Baron Moncrieff.

That's one of his titles. I've read that recently.

All right, we are not 100% on this

but we think it's the Earl of Strathearn.

The Earl of Strathearn, along with a string of titles

awarded to Prince William on his marriage in 2011.

It is the Earl of Strathearn. It's correct, Eggheads. All square.

Now we reach the questions that could lead to the money.

If you get this you could win, That's Lifers.

In 2011, David Danton was named

the first fashion artist-in-residence of which hotel?

0K, well the Savoy had a massive refurbishment.

He would have got concrete dust in his hair

and it would've been a problem.

But they're relaunching.

They might have wanted to get lots of publicity and lots of extra...

OK, let's put the Savoy there.

-The Langham, a lovely hotel...

-But it's not in that league.

The amount of money spent on the refurbishment of the Savoy

the publicity the Savoy has generated, my instinct would be,

because it has been in the news,

they would have an artist-in-residence.

Not that they don't need one.

Can we have a little vote, How many for Claridges?

Me. How many for Savoy?

-We'll go for the Savoy.

-The Savoy.

For the David Danton fashion artist-in-residence.

-Claridges.

-Oh.

Never listen to a man, never, never, never.

Especially about fashion.

How could I, for one...

How did you let them, Esther?

For one second in my mind

I turned into a little woman in front of your very eyes.

-Why did you let them vote?

-Oh, how could I do that?

Listen, it's not over because the Eggheads, to win in Eggheads

you have to beat the other team.

It's all square, but they do face another question.

So, Eggheads, for the game,

domestic chickens are descended from which wild birds?

Domestic chickens are descended from which wild birds?

I'm absolutely certain on this, I think it's jungle fowl.

The guineafowl exists as the guineafowl today,

the peafowl is the peacock.

I think it's jungle fowl..

I live in a part of Leeds called Roundhay.

There is a wonderful natural park there

full of all sorts of strange and interesting creatures.

One of the exhibits is full of jungle fowl

which says is where the domestic chicken came from.

So, the answer is absolutely jungle fowl.

Oh, goodness me.

It is the right answer, Eggheads, you've won.

What an extraordinary game.

What an extraordinary game.

I think we won't be discussing jungle fowl on the way home,

I think we'll be back to the last question you faced there.

Claridges or the Savoy. Listen, bad luck.

What great quizzers you turned out to be.

Look at the balance in the final round.

You only lost one head-to-head and that was pretty narrow

with Gavin just being edged out there by Pat.

-Thank you so much the playing.

-He probably knew Claridges as well.

He probably did, probably got a suite there.

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 £8,000, only just.

That means the money rolls over to the next show.

Eggheads, congratulations, who will be beat you?

Join us next time to see if a team of children's television presenters

have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

£9,000 says they don't. Until then, goodbye.

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