Episode 4 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.

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.

They are the Eggheads.

Tackling our awesome quiz geniuses today

are Full House.

As presenters of some of the most popular

house and home programmes,

I'm hoping this team can help me with something.

I'm always puzzled by how estate agents

can make something run-down sound so wonderfully appealing.

For example, "In need of smartening up but with rustic charm.

"Characterful features, scope for improvement.

"Far-reaching views, well preserved. In need of some updating..."

Sorry, that's the producer's notes about the Eggheads. Like it?

Before I get in trouble, let's meet the team!

Hello, I'm Alistair Appleton.

I present Escape To The Country for the BBC.

Before that, I worked on Cash In The Attic and House Doctor,

so I've been in the TV property business for about 12 years.

My name's Ed Hall and I had the pleasure of presenting

the BBC's flagship property programme To Buy Or Not To Buy

for four of the best years of my life.

Hi, I'm Laura Hamilton.

I'm currently presenting A Place In The Sun: Winter Sun

and A Place In The Sun: Home Or Away?

I'm also filming a brand-new property show with Amanda Lamb, which will be out next year.

But today I'm ready to take on the Eggheads.

Hello, I'm Angus Purden.

I'm a television presenter and a student of the Open University.

You'll know me best from Room For Improvement

and Cash In The Attic.

Hi, I'm Simon O'Brien. I presented To Buy Or Not To Buy for many years.

I'm currently working on Channel 4, making The Renovation Game.

Full House, very good to meet you and thank you very much indeed

for agreeing to take on the Eggheads today.

What's your feeling? We'll go to you, Captain Appleton.

What's your feeling about your chances against the Eggheads today?

I'm slightly alarmed now I'm captain. The weight of...

It has a certain ring about it.

Captain Appleton? Yeah. I think we are in with a good chance.

The combined brilliance and intelligence of this team.

No pressure(!)

What we don't want to see is all of you in the booth

at the end of the show - or four of you, anyway.

I want to see some hard work during the head-to-heads.

I'll tell you what has been going on so far.

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 our next show. Full House, the Eggheads have won the last three games.

That means, of course, £4,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads today.

Let's start and chat as we go.

Our first head-to-head battle, a chance to knock an Egghead out,

is going to be on the subject of Arts & Books.

Pick a champion to take on

one of the Eggheads.

-Dermot, I'm going to take that one.

-OK, Alistair, kicking off.

Any Egghead you like, that's the advantage.

Choose someone you think might have a slight weakness on this subject.

-Dave's a bit tight-lipped, isn't he?

-Yeah, I'm going to go for Dave.

-Dave?

-Bring it on, Dave.

Let's see what happens in the first head-to-head.

Arts & Books, we've got Alistair going into battle against Dave.

Into the Question Room, please, to make sure you can't confer.

Arts & Books. You get to choose.

Do you want to go first or second, Alistair?

I think I'd like to go first.

First question.

A note at the bottom of the page that explains something appearing

in the main body of a text is known as a what?

As I've just handed in an academic essay,

I know that it is, in fact, a footnote.

You've got it, footnote is correct. Dave,

in the traditional fairytale Jack And The Beanstalk,

Jack receives some magic beans in exchange for a what?

It was a cow.

It is a cow. That's correct. Back to Alistair, number two.

In the 1981 Hannibal Lecter novel Red Dragon, by Thomas Harris,

the serial killer Francis Dolarhyde is known by what name?

I don't know. I'm drawn to the Tooth Fairy.

So first guess, best guess. Tooth fairy.

First guess, best guess? It can be.

It is. It's the right answer. Well played. Well done

with Buffalo Bill and the Tooth Fairy.

Dave, the collection of the Walker Gallery in Liverpool

contains a portrait by William Hogarth

of the actor David Garrick in which Shakespearean role?

I don't know.

But I'll hazard a guess and, just on the appearance of the character,

I'll go Richard III. But absolutely no certainty it's that answer.

OK, no certainty, but thinking what would be plausible and logical.

It is the right answer. Well done, Dave. You have two.

This is a very good round.

These questions for each of you,

third questions could be the decisive ones.

Alistair, which English author moved to a remote cottage called Barnhill

on the Scottish island of Jura in 1946?

Now, I think I know this because 1984 is the book by George Orwell.

He chose 84 because it was 48 backwards.

I know that's when it came out and I think he died then.

So I'm going to go for George Orwell.

I remember he caught tuberculosis up there.

Wow, he should be on the Eggheads! Brilliant answer.

It's right as well. Obviously it's right, if it's brilliant!

Well done, Alastair.

Extra information as well, thank you very much. OK, Dave.

You know what you've got to do if you're going to stay in it.

The playwright Willy Russell's debut novel The Wrong Boy

is made up of the main character's letters to which singer?

I've got an instinct.

Somebody you'd write letters to in that instance would be Morrissey.

That's got to be my answer. I've just got an instinct.

I don't know the answer, but Morrissey sounds plausible

as someone who would be written letters to.

Back-to-back questions with a Liverpool link, there.

And had to hazard a guess at both of them.

And landed them both, it's correct. Morrissey.

Well, first round

and straight into Sudden Death after some very good quizzing by you both.

Alistair, we're going to make it harder,

just to sort out a winner, and take away the choices.

Can you tell me this? In which Charles Dickens novel is John Harman

potentially left a fortune by his refuse-collector father?

I'm going to have to guess, because I don't know.

I'm going to make a guess and say Our Mutual Friend?

It's the right answer!

Oh, wow! I'm channelling!

OK, well,

it hasn't achieved anything yet!

Dave, what is the title of the 1945 novel by Nancy Mitford

that was followed four years later by a companion volume

entitled Love In A Cold Climate?

I don't know. Love In A Cold Climate was coming into my mind.

Let's have a think. Love In A Cold Climate...

I'll go U For Unity, but I think it's another Mitford who wrote that.

No, it's not U For Unity. It's incorrect, Dave.

-It is The Pursuit Of Love.

-I would never have got anywhere near.

Crikey, fantastic performance.

You're in the final round, Alistair.

Please come back and join your teams.

What a storming performance in a very tricky round by Alistair.

It's put a real spring in the step of all team members on Full House.

It means the Eggheads are already missing one brain

from the final round.

Let's move straight on to our next subject. This one's History.

You can't play, Alistair. I'm sure you'd probably like to, after that.

Which one of the other four is going to take it on?

It wouldn't be my subject, but if no-one else wants it,

someone's got to play, haven't they?

-Definitely not mine.

-Simon?

-I'll step up.

-What a courageous man.

Simon, stay with us. You need to choose your Egghead.

Dave is the only one you can't have. Any of the other four.

They all look terrifying.

I'm guessing the least terrifying looks like Daphne to me.

-Least terrifying?

-That's because she's the best-looking!

-You get a bye!

-I like you.

-You like him?

Let's find out if she's terrifying,

in that Question Room she could change.

Let's have Simon and Daphne heading there, please.

Simon, good to have you here. Let's talk housing in a roundabout way.

Those of us of a certain age will remember you as a cheeky kid.

Damon Grant in Brookside? Had you acted before you got that part?

No, the reason I started in this whole industry

was to get a day off school.

They came to our local school and said,

"Anyone who wants to go for an interview for this,

and audition for this new soap they're starting,

you can go with the school's grace and it's on Tuesday afternoon."

Tuesday afternoon was double maths.

My hand shot up quicker than you could imagine.

Unbelievably, I got the part and just started from there.

It's History, I know not perhaps your favourite subject,

but taking one for the team, you say. Do you want to go first or second?

Um, I'll jump straight in. I'll go first.

All right, straight in and first question.

Which of these nicknames for policemen

came from the name of a statesman who served two terms

as Prime Minister in the 19th-century?

Yeah, OK. I'm happy with this one, I think.

Um, bobbies,

it's from Robert Peel, I think.

So bobbies.

Bobbies. We got two nicknames from him,

because we got peelers, as well.

It's the right answer. Well done.

Daphne, in 1898,

Britain leased part of which place from China for 99 years?

Right. Hong Kong.

-Hong Kong?

-Mm-hm.

-OK.

That explains why it was handed back in 1997?

-Yes.

-It's the right answer.

Well done. Hong Kong.

OK, back to you, Simon, second question, good start.

The Seabed Treaty of 1971

forbade the placing of what on the seabed in international waters?

OK, '71. I don't know.

I'm not thinking rubbish dumps.

Although... Maybe.

No, do you know what, I've changed my mind completely.

Nuclear weapons, submarine bases,

that wouldn't be allowed anyway, I don't think.

Oh, I don't know, you know.

It's just a pure guess and I will go against my instincts

and say rubbish dumps.

OK, they're all plausible.

Forbade the placing of what on the seabed, this treaty of 1971?

It is, of course, the height of the Cold War.

Nuclear weapons is the answer.

All right, Daphne.

See how you do with your second one.

Which British monarch celebrated his Silver Jubilee in 1935?

1935 was George V.

Yeah, it is. No disputing it. The date tells you.

Those Eggheads learn their dates. George V is correct.

It means, Simon, you need this.

Who was who was the first Prime Minister to occupy Chequers

after its owner Viscount Lee of Fareham made provision

for it to become a retreat?

OK.

I don't know why, um...

But just instinctively I'm drawn to

David Lloyd George, so I'll stick with that.

OK. And you've got the right answer. David Lloyd George.

And, Daphne, the 1879 Treaty of Gandamak effectively

gave Britain control over which country's foreign policy?

Could you spell it?

G-A-N-D-A-M-A-K.

(Ah.)

Egypt.

-Incorrect, Daphne.

-Afghanistan?

-It is Afghanistan, yes.

I was tossing them up.

OK, let's get on with it, because it's all square

and we go to Sudden Death again. These are such exciting rounds.

Simon, the final words of which 1848 publication

are generally translated into English as

"workers of the world unite?"

Oh, no! I think it's Karl Marx. Is it?

Is that too early?

-I don't know. Rise Of The Masses.

-Do you know, Daphne?

-Communist Manifesto.

-There you heard it. The Communist Manifesto.

Let's see how Daphne does. It is not over, Simon.

The military religious order

the Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon,

founded in 1118, is more commonly known by what name?

The Knights Templar.

You stuck the sword in there. It's the right answer.

The Knights Templar, which means you won the round.

Bad luck, Simon, you got to Sudden Death.

You did really well, but look at Daphne, landing the guesses

and generously being applauded by Full House.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

It's all square, both teams have lost one brain

from the final round and a lot more quizzing to do.

We move on to our third head-to-head and this is Film & Television,

which I suspect a few of you might like to have a go at.

Three of you left in the middle. It's Ed, Laura or Angus.

I don't mind taking this, but it's up to you.

-If you want me to wait till the next one.

-Would you mind, in case it's Politics?

OK, Film & Television, our girl's going.

-I'm going to give it my best shot.

-OK, Laura, pick an Egghead.

And we've had Dave and Daphne in the Question Room,

so you have a choice between Barry, Chris and Kevin.

-I want to see Chris smile. I'm going to choose Chris.

-OK.

Trying to make Chris smile. He might smile being asked into the Question Room by you.

That's going to make a difference to him. Let's have call Laura and Chris heading there, please.

-Laura, do you want go first or second?

-I'm going to go first.

OK. Off you go. Good luck.

What is the profession of Denzel Washington's character

in the 1993 film Philadelphia?

I'm guessing here completely that it's a lawyer.

Guessing? Is she right?

-ALL: Yeah.

-Endorsed by the Eggheads, it's correct. Well done. Good start.

Important to get that first one on the board.

The easiest one!

And, Chris, who was the main female host

of the television series The Voice UK when it first aired in 2012?

I don't think it was Holly Willoughby, not quite her thing.

I don't think it was Christine Bleakley, either.

I think it's Davina McCall.

Davina McCall. It's incorrect.

-It is Holly Willoughby.

-Is it?!

-Yes.

Holly Willoughby. Well, a flying start.

Go 2-0 up if you get this, Laura,

so concentrate and best of luck with it.

Who stars as CIA officer Carrie Mathison

in the US TV series Homeland?

I am a fan of Homeland and I do know the answer. It's Claire Danes.

Claire Danes is correct, well done.

You have two, Chris has none and goes back

with his tail between his legs if he doesn't get this.

Which comedian co-wrote and starred in the 2012 comedy film The Dictator?

That is Sacha Baron Cohen.

It is Sacha Baron Cohen, of course, as the dictator.

But, you're dictating the pace here, Laura.

If you get this, you have a place in the final round.

Bitzer is the name of a dog in which children's programme?

Oh, dear. I should know this. Um...

I don't think it's Peppa Pig,

because I used to work on a children's channel

that showed Peppa Pig. I think,

and this is a complete guess, it's Rastamouse.

OK, Bitzer in Rastamouse for a place in the final round.

-No.

-Oh!

Please don't say it's Peppa Pig!

It's not Peppa Pig, it's Shaun The Sheep.

Chris, the singer Vonda Shepard appeared as a stage performer

in most episodes of which television series?

She used to play piano in the bar they used to go to after work

in Ally McBeal.

Oh, they're dangerous when wounded. Ally McBeal is the right answer.

Chris, he's back and coming at you.

Still work to do, Laura.

In Sudden Death, as well.

Humphrey Bogart won his only Best Actor Oscar for his performance

-in which film?

-Sorry, guys, I have absolutely no idea.

I don't even know any films that he's in,

so I don't even think I could hazard a guess.

No. I mean... I don't even think he's in it.

-Singing In The Rain?

-Humphrey Bogart.

He would have been good, I think, yeah.

-He liked to wear a raincoat, that's for sure.

-No, sorry.

It's not Singing In The Rain. Chris will tell us.

It's the African Queen with Katharine Hepburn.

OK, a chance for Chris.

In which 1958 film does James Stewart play

the agoraphobic policeman John "Scottie" Ferguson?

Ah, it's not Rear Window, because he's just shut in with a broken leg.

So it's got to be the other one. Vertigo.

-Vertigo?

-Mm.

-Is the right answer, Chris.

Well done. Bad luck, Laura.

-I tried.

-Laura, you really did try.

-I gave him a run for his money.

-You certainly did.

You got within...whatever the phrase is in quizzing.

Very close to knocking him out, he's a very lucky Egghead,

but you are in the final round, Chris, and you're not, Laura.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

As it stands, Full House have lost two brains from the final round.

The Eggheads have lost one.

It could be all square in the final round after our last head-to-head.

This one is Music and you have Ed or Angus to play it. Music.

I'll take that if you don't want to take it and you could...

I was hoping for Politics!

What about Barry with that shirt?

What's wrong with this shirt?!

It makes me think of curtains.

Do you want to pick who I go against?

-Maybe that's what we should do.

-Er, OK, Music.

I don't know what it is, but I'm fascinated by the shirt. I'd go with Barry.

OK. I'm going to go with Barry on Music.

All right. Let's just confirm that it will be you, Ed.

Ed taking on Barry, into the Question Room, please.

And they're taking on Mr Curtains, Barry,

as he's been dubbed by Angus.

Would you like to go first or second?

Um, I am going to say I'll go first.

Ed, which singer has had UK Top 40 singles with Olivia Newton-John,

Phil Everly and the cast of the TV sitcom The Young Ones?

Um, the answer is Cliff Richard for that one, I think.

Yeah, it is. Sir Cliff is the right answer. Well done.

And, Barry, calypso is a style of music

that's most associated with which island?

I love calypso music

and the island it's associated with is obviously Trinidad.

Yes, obviously. Correct.

And Ed, what is the surname of the American musician

and Black Eyed Peas member known as Will.i.am?

Will.i.am.

Will I Adams? Maybe. OK.

So I'm going with the logic that Will.i.am's surname

is Adams, based on the fact that it has an "am" in it.

OK.

Adams. I guess that must be the reason. It's the right answer.

Well done. Well sorted out.

OK. Your second question, Barry.

The song Here I Go Again was a UK Top 10 single in 1987

for which rock group?

Goodness. Don't know the song. Probably will if I hear it.

So this is a guess,

but I'll go straight down the middle for Bon Jovi.

Bon Jovi. Dave, what do you think?

-I think it is Whitesnake.

-If it was in the final round,

there'd be a bit of at argument. It's Whitesnake.

Not Bon Jovi. Well, great news, Ed. Fantastic.

I'm over the moon. Who'd have thought he wouldn't have known the answer Whitesnake?

Exactly. Well, you are in the same position as Laura.

If you get it, you book a place in the final round.

If you don't, you give the Egghead a chance to come back at you. So seal it with this, please.

Which hymn with words by Henry Francis Lyte

is most commonly sung to a tune called "Eventide"?

OK. I'm going... HE SNIGGERS

I don't even want to say why I'm choosing this one.

"Eventide" sounds like "abide".

LAUGHTER

So I'm going to go with Abide With Me.

Well, it's the scanning as well.

You have picked the right answer,

as Barry knows. Abide With Me.

Eventide. It's going to be all square in the final round

and what a final round that really could be.

Please come back and join your teams.

So this is what we've been playing towards.

It is time, of course, for the final round,

which, as always, is General Knowledge.

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

won't be allowed to take part in this round so, Laura and Simon, sorry,

from Full House, and Dave and Barry, I'm not sorry, from the Eggheads!

Would you both please leave the studio?

So Alistair, Ed and Angus, you're playing to win £4,000.

Kevin, Daphne and Chris,

you're playing for something which money can't buy -

the Eggheads' reputation.

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

This time, the questions are General Knowledge

and you are allowed to confer.

Full House, the question is, are your three brains better than

the Eggheads' three? And Full House, your choice again.

Would you like to go first or second?

Er, I think we'll continue in a similar vein. We'll go first.

You've been doing really well up to this point.

Let's keep that performance going, as Angus is saying.

First question - in the classic arcade game Pac-Man,

what name is usually given

to the characters that chase Pac-Man around a maze?

In the classic arcade game Pac-Man, what name is usually given

to the characters that chase Pac-Man around a maze?

We all agree - ghosts.

Ghosts, say all three of you,

is the right answer and a good start.

OK, Eggheads, your first question.

Podopaediatrics is the study of what?

Podopaediatrics.

-P-O-D-O? If it's not feet, it should be.

-Yes.

-Yes.

-OK?

-Yes.

We'll go for children's feet.

P-O-D-O. Podiatrists. The right answer. Well done, Eggheads.

And back to Full House. Second question.

The cost of a first-class stamp for a standard letter

within the UK rose to what price at the end of April 2012?

I could ask if it's a big letter or a small letter,

-because there are different prices.

-Ooh, yes, go on, ask him.

But then you have to have it weighed.

I remember going to the post office and getting a book of 12

and being shocked.

-60p.

-That's what I'm thinking.

-OK.

60p is the right answer. Well done. OK.

Well, Eggheads, who became famous as the presenting partner,

both on TV and radio, of Adam Buxton?

It's not Karl Pilkington. INAUDIBLE DISCUSSION

Richard Osman is Pointless.

-So it's Joe Cornish.

-Joe Cornish has now gone into...

I think it's a man who's now gone into film direction.

Directed a film called Attack The Block not too long ago.

It's Joe Cornish.

That's one half of Adam and Joe? Is the right answer.

Well done, Eggheads.

OK, listen, this question on its own could win you £4,000.

You never know. Let's get it.

What is the name of Canadian football's equivalent

of American football's Super Bowl?

The Green Cup doesn't sound quite so odd as the Brown Cup.

I thought it was the Green Cup, but...

Why would it be called any of these?

The logic would be, um, football is played on a green surface

with a brown football.

-Are we going along what it sounds like?!

-Listen, here's logic.

I've got green eyes. Why don't we go for the Green Cup?

Most cups are silvery-grey,

so that's all three still in the running.

What do you think off the top of your head?

I thought Green, but that's just a total guess.

-Canada. They have...

-My instinct is Green.

-Yours is Green.

I'm veering towards Brown, but that's based on nothing.

-I say we go with you.

-OK, we're going to go for the Green Cup.

OK, the Green Cup. Daphne, is it the Green Cup?

No, it's the Grey Cup.

So, the Grey Cup.

Why? They were thinking colours, but is it named after someone?

No, it's named after a chap called Grey.

Who I think was the Governor General at the time.

You didn't get it. The Eggheads knew,

but it wasn't their question, so if they are to win,

they need to get this. Staunton is a standardised design for what?

-Chess pieces?

-Yep.

That's a standard design for chess pieces, chess sets.

Chess sets, chess pieces. It is the right answer, Eggheads.

You have won.

So sorry, guys. You came so close. You've done so well.

Just looking at the performance in the head-to-heads,

if it weren't for Shaun The Sheep and undersea nuclear silos,

those two would been sitting beside you

and there would be only one Egghead.

-We'd have still... I don't know.

-Even so, you might still have lost.

You never know. But you did really, really well.

Simon might have known that.

Simon, did you know the Grey Cup?

-He did!

-FULL HOUSE: Oh!

Why didn't he know nuclear stuff on the seabed...?!

You could discuss this on the way home.

But thank you very much indeed for playing the Eggheads.

It's been a lot of fun having you here, wouldn't you agree, Eggheads?

A round of applause for you.

But those Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them

and they still reign supreme over quiz land.

I'm afraid you haven't won the £4,000, which means

the money rolls on to the next show.

So, Eggheads, congratulations. Who will beat you?

Join us next time to see if a team of our triumphant Olympic watersports medallists

have the brains to defeat our Eggheads.

£5,000 says they don't. Don't miss it. Until then, goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd