Episode 10 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 taking on the might of the Eggheads today

are 24 Carat Women.

Now, what a pleasure it is

to host this dream team of musical, stage and screen actors.

I'd even go so far as to describe them as national treasures.

Which is quite funny, really,

as I was only thinking the other day

that we have some national treasures on the Eggheads team as well.

Plus a couple of well-preserved mummies

and some old dinosaurs.

Now, before I get the evil eye, let's meet the team.

Hello. I'm Diane Keen.

You may have seen me in Doctors

or, a few years ago, The Cuckoo Waltz, which was a comedy,

and I will try not to make a joke out of this.

Hello. My name is Shirley Anne Field.

I've just toured the country

in a wonderful play with my friend here, Anita, in The Cemetery Club,

being paid for being outrageous.

Now I'm here and hopefully,

I'm going to show another side to me - intelligence. We hope!

Hi. I'm Anita Harris...I think!

I've spent many happy hours with the Carry On team

and you might remember a song

# I could spend my life just loving you... #

I hope we'll all be singing together later.

Hi. I'm Patti Boulaye.

You may remember me 100 years ago from New Faces

and the UK and international tour of Carmen Jones. Wish me luck!

Hi. I'm Anna Karen. I specialise in playing stupid women.

And I'm here tonight to prove

that I was never just acting.

Welcome to you, 24 Carat Women. I was just thinking,

you've all had such varied and wonderful careers -

you're almost ideally balanced to play the Eggheads today.

You've got knowledge from all over the place.

No pressure, then(!)

No pressure at all!

Have you ever done any form of quizzing?

ALL: No.

Not even a crossword, me!

Well, you never know when you'll get paid for your next job,

which is always a quiz.

OK, well, let's put you through your first formal quiz.

I hope you can win the money today,

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,

the prize money rolls over to the next show.

So, 24 Carat Women,

the challengers won the last show, proving it can be done.

So that means £1,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads today.

And our first one in an attempt to knock an Egghead out - Science.

Oh!

Who'd like to play?

I haven't got a clue. Not a clue!

ALL LAUGH

Who's it going to be? Somebody put their hand up.

Oh...OK!

Thank you, Patti!

-Oh, you brave soul!

-And you choose an Egghead now to play.

-Oh, boy!

-Anyone you like.

I'll go for Barry.

Patti and Barry, into the Question Room

to make sure you can't confer, please.

Patti, is it true? I heard you went for a day out in central London,

thought you were queuing up for a major tourist attraction

and ended up in a musical! Is that true?

Oh, yes!

I thought I was queuing up for Madame Tussauds.

I was just here on holidays.

And it ended up being an audition for Hair.

So, what - you just joined the queue?

Yeah, I joined the queue and I...

When I knew it was an audition -

because the queue was for about two hours -

I thought, I've never been inside a theatre,

so I'll go in and see a theatre for the first time in my life.

And, yeah, I ended up in showbusiness!

-DERMOT LAUGHS

-What a way to do it!

For my sins!

OK, well, now you've ended up on Eggheads,

doing Science! How random is your life?!

Would you like to go first or second?

Wouldn't make any difference! I'll go first.

Here's your first question on Science.

People with which blood group are known as universal donors,

because they can donate to people with any blood group?

I know it's not B.

Ooh la la!

OK. I think...

I don't think it's AB.

Um...

I think I'll go for O blood.

OK. O.

You said "Ooh la la!" as well - that's got a lot of Os in it.

-It's the right answer.

-Oh!

-Well done.

-My goodness!

See - you know more about it than you think! All right.

Well, that's a very solid start, of course.

Barry, which piece of scientific equipment

is a tube used to convey liquid from one level to a lower level?

I must tell you, Dermot,

the rumours of me siphoning petrol out of cars are all false.

But the answer is siphon.

It is the right answer, yes. Siphoning.

OK, well, that was a great start, Patti.

Hope you can get this.

Colobus monkeys are native to which continent?

I know... I don't think it's Europe.

Um...

I know it's not Africa, because we have mangabey monkeys.

I'm going to go for South America.

It's not South America. It is actually Africa.

Oh, you're kidding!

One of the monkeys there.

So they killed off the mangabey monkeys, did they?

Maybe!

Let's see how Barry does with his second one.

Barry, in surgery,

what name is given to the absence of disease-causing organisms?

Well, the prefix "a" generally means without.

Anosmia I think is without smell.

I'm not quite sure what autograft is, but I think

the absence of disease-causing organisms is asepsis.

It is. So that gives you a lead.

Patti, let's get you back on track

with this, I hope.

Who was awarded a Nobel Prize for Chemistry

for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements

and the chemistry of radioactive substances?

Linus Pauling...

Oh! OK.

This is purely a guess. Forgive me, ladies.

I'm going to go for Ernest Rutherford.

OK. Ernest Rutherford. Pure guess.

-It's the right answer!

-PATTI SQUEALS

Yes, yes, yes!

Woo!

YES!

PATTI LAUGHS

I don't believe this!

-Is my teacher watching?

-Well, we do!

You're doing fantastically.

There is that gap in your record

in that middle one, so it's giving Barry a chance here

to win the round.

How is Saccharomyces cerevisiae better known?

It's not noble rot.

It sounds very yeasty to me,

so I hope I'll rise to the right answer and go for baker's yeast.

OK, baker's yeast.

You have - blast you! - got the right answer.

Yes, baker's yeast.

-We were turning Patti into a scientist there!

-I know!

She joined this queue outside the studio...

She's ended up on this quiz.

And found herself against the Eggheads!

And pretty near won it.

Patti, bad luck, but come back to the studio and keep entertaining us.

You won't be in the final round, though.

As it stands, 24 Carat Women have lost one brain from the final round.

The Eggheads are all there, but we've got a lot more rounds to play.

This next one is Film & Television.

This should be more to your liking.

Who wants to play Film & TV?

Anybody want this?

Shall I fall on my sword?

I can do it.

ALL TALK AT ONCE

-You go first.

-Go on, then, yeah.

OK, right, we'll have you, Diane. And choose your Egghead.

Just remember you can't play any of them twice, so Barry's ineligible.

I'll have Pat.

OK. Diane and Pat, off to the Question Room, please.

Diane, you mentioned Doctors. I was a great fan.

I used to do breakfast television,

so the afternoons, I would settle down

and watch you in Doctors.

But tell me about The Cuckoo Waltz as well.

Great fond memories of that.

And huge audiences, that we wouldn't see the likes of in these days.

Yeah, I think 12, 15 million.

Yeah, it was just such fun to do.

It was a crazy, off-the-wall show,

with mad characters. It was lovely. Geoff Lancashire wrote it.

Sarah Lancashire's dad before he died.

So, yeah, I knew Sarah when she was a tiny little girl.

All right.

Would you like to go first or second?

Oh, I'd like to go first, get it over with.

First question on Film & TV.

On Stranger Tides is the subtitle of a 2011 film in which series?

Well, I know it's not Lethal Weapon.

And I know it wasn't Shrek,

because I just watched all of those.

It was Pirates Of The Caribbean.

Yes, absolutely, by a process of elimination.

I'm sure you would have known it anyway. It's the right answer.

Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

And Pat, then.

Who received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination

for his role in the original 1977 Star Wars film?

Well, I think Dave Prowse was inside...

..Chewbacca. I could be wrong.

Mark Hamill played...

Luke Skywalker.

And Alec Guinness was Obi-Wan Kenobi.

I think it was Alec Guinness.

I think he remained slightly bemused to the end of his days

that a role which didn't feature high in his own ratings

almost defined him.

-Alec Guinness.

-Alec Guinness...

is the right answer.

But I'm thinking of deducting a point

because of that Dave Prowse thing you said.

-He wasn't Chewbacca?

-He wasn't inside Chewbacca.

-Darth Vader?

-Darth Vader.

-Oh, dear.

That's a negative. New rule.

LAUGHTER

Unfortunately, I have to give you the point there.

It stays all square.

And Diane, second question.

The poster for which 1994 film

features Tom Hanks sitting on a bench?

-AMERICAN ACCENT:

-"My momma says life is like a box of chocolates.

"You never know what you're going to get."

It was Forrest Gump.

HE LAUGHS

That's a brilliant accent! Brilliant answer too.

I can confirm that's the right answer.

OK, Pat, I want you to give your answer in Deep Southern drawl,

whatever the question is, to match Diane.

I'm enjoying imposing these new rules on Pat.

And if it doesn't pass muster, we'll deduct another point.

You'll end up in serious negative territory.

Here's your question. Which historical character

was played on film by Stewart Granger in 1954

and on television by James Purefoy in 2006?

Of the three, I prefer Charles II.

I'm just trying to recall the films and the TV programmes.

Robert the Bruce...hmm.

I don't think it's Beau Brummell.

But Robert the Bruce could certainly have attracted a couple of films.

Could be either.

I'll go for Charles II, but it could be either.

OK. Well, um...

It's Beau Brummell, Pat.

-I wasn't anywhere near him!

-No, you were never going to get it

once you'd ruled that out. It's Beau Brummell, yeah.

Well!

This is great news.

It means, Diane, you are on the cusp of a place in the final round.

You might get in there anyway with what you've scored already,

but that would depend on Pat getting his next one wrong.

This is your direct passport. If you get this right, you're there.

What type of creature was the Blue Peter pet, Joey?

That's a tricky one.

I didn't watch a lot of Blue Peter.

Um...

It sounds like it could be a parrot.

But maybe that's a bit obvious.

Tortoise...

I'm just going to stab in the dark here

and I'm going to say it was...

..a tortoise.

It WAS a parrot!

No!

Started with Pirates Of The Caribbean.

Thought we'd end it there with a parrot!

This to draw level, Pat.

The 1957 Merrie Melodies cartoon

What's Opera, Doc? sees Elmer Fudd chasing Bugs Bunny

through a parody of which composer's works?

A parody of which composer's works...

That suggests... That leads me to ignore Mozart,

because I think both Wagner and Verdi are sort of slightly more...

distinctive, in some ways.

I'll go for Wagner, just hoping that they were really going over the top.

OK, Wagner for What's Opera, Doc?

It is the right answer.

I would have gone for Mozart.

Oh, dear. Well, you're still very much in it, Diane.

But a bit of a change here. We go to Sudden Death

after three questions if it's all square

and remove the options.

So I've just got to hear an answer from you.

Sybil Williams, Susan Hunt and Sally Hay

were three of the four wives of which actor who died in 1984?

-Richard Burton?

-Yes.

Well done!

We left the obvious one out there,

because you would easily have identified him

if we'd told you the fourth wife,

who was several...well, twice married to him, Elizabeth Taylor.

Elizabeth Taylor, yeah.

You got that through the other three.

And Pat, who directed the films Sideways and The Descendants?

Oh...

He's an up-and-coming American director...

Clooney in The Descendants.

Let's see. Is he Alexander something?

Linum, something like that.

It's not coming. Alexander Wrightman.

Alexander Wrightman.

But it's not the right answer.

It is... Other Eggheads, do we know?

Alexander Payne.

P-A-Y-N-E. Alexander Payne.

Which means, Diane, you are playing in the final round today.

THEY CHEER

Would you both please come back and join your teams.

Great performance. As it stands, 24 Carat Women and the Eggheads

have both lost one brain from the final round.

So we move on to Round 3 and this subject is Geography.

So, Shirley Anne, Anita

or Anna - who wants to play?

Geography.

OK, I'll go, because I can't be worse at this

than General Knowledge.

You need to choose an Egghead to play.

Now, we've had Pat and Barry, so you've got Judith

or Chris and Daphne, closer to me.

I think I'll choose Chris.

It's going to be Anna and Chris

heading for the Question Room, please.

Anna, great to have you here.

It was interesting talking to Diane

about the huge audiences programmes used to get.

Of course, On The Buses!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you playing Olive there...

Heavily made-up to look so dowdy.

When you were off-duty, so to speak, were you able

to more or less walk down the street unmolested?

Er...not if I had my make-up off.

LAUGHTER

If I took the trouble, I might get away with it.

All right, let's focus on this Geography round.

Would you like to go first or second?

I'd like to go first, please.

Best of luck. Here you go.

What name is given to an extensive cluster of towns that together

form one huge development?

Well...I think conjugation's something to do with verbs.

I'm going to go for conurbation,

because it says something about "urban" there.

Oh...I could be barking up the wrong tree.

OK - conurbation?

-It's the right answer. Well done!

-Yeah!

Chris, what is directly separated from the mainland of Malaysia

by the Johor Strait?

Yes, it's always been clearly understood

these jungles are strictly impenetrable.

It's the island of Singapore, Dermot.

This, presumably - your little riff before you gave me the answer -

-is a reference to...

-The guns pointing out to sea in 1942.

The Fall of Singapore.

It is the right answer.

Anna, the historic centre of which Belgian city

was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site

in the year 2000?

Well...I haven't a clue.

But I'm going to go for the one I know best,

and I'm going to say Bruges.

-OK. Bruges.

-Bruges.

Lovely chocolates.

It's the right answer as well!

I'm so excited!

Lovely buildings.

Chris. The Myrtoan Sea is a body of water

bordering which country?

Well, Chile's just got about 2,000 miles of coast on the Pacific,

so it's not Chile.

Never heard of it in connection with Greece, so I'll have to go Japan.

OK, the Myrtoan Sea.

-No, it's Greece.

-Is it?

-Yes, it is. OK.

Well, this is looking better at the moment,

Anna, and once again, you have your fate in your own hands.

A correct answer here, you're in the final round.

Bursa - B-U-R-S-A -

situated on the lower slopes of Mount Uludag,

is a major city in which country?

I haven't a clue.

Lucky you can have a guess, then!

I'm going to go for my lucky number two - Turkey.

DERMOT CHUCKLES

It's the right answer!

NO!

It's all over. You're into the final round, Anna.

Please come back and join your teams.

Well, well, well, 24 Carat Women!

I know you didn't think you'd be in this position after three rounds.

The Eggheads have lost two brains. You've only lost one.

Will the Eggheads lose again in our next subject?

It's Sport.

Ah, right, OK!

It's Shirley Anne or Anita.

-Sorry!

-Shall I, darling?

-You'll be good.

-OK, Anita, and choose an Egghead.

And it's Judith or Daphne.

Both of the lovely ladies over there!

Aaah!

Well...Judith.

Let's have Anita and Judith into the Question Room, please.

Let's play the Sport round.

Would you like to go first or second?

Definitely first, please!

Anita, first question on Sport.

In which sport has the Paralympian David Weir won gold medals?

Wow!

The name wants me to say swimming,

but that doesn't help anybody.

I think it was cycling.

Eggheads, what do you think?

It was athletics. He won various track events

and I think he's won several London marathons

in the racing wheelchair.

Yeah. OK, it's athletics.

See how Judith does with her first one.

Judith, Serena Williams was born how many months after her sister Venus?

Well, 49 is four years.

I don't think she's four years younger.

Um...I don't know.

Something is inclining me towards 15 months.

It is 15, yes. You've got it.

It's the right answer, so very close in age.

OK.

Anita, the Formula 1 driver Pedro de la Rosa

was born in which country?

I need my big brother here.

Philip, help me!

Is he a Formula 1 fan?

Yes, he is indeed.

Hope I don't let the girls down, but I think I'm going for Spain.

OK. It's the right answer.

-You are off the mark.

-Lovely!

Much better. And Judith,

who was the captain of the 2012 European Ryder Cup team?

That was Jose Maria Ol...Ol...

I can't say it!

Olazabal!

Jose Maria Olazabal is the right answer.

Yes. You have two,

meaning Anita needs this, then.

Which greyhound racing stadium in East London,

famous for the large neon sign on its frontage,

closed in 2008 after 75 years?

Oh, boy! I really don't know this.

It is a real guess. I'm sorry.

-I think it might be Walthamstow.

-OK, Walthamstow.

-COCKNEY ACCENT:

-Goin' up the 'Stow.

-It is the right answer! Walthamstow.

-How wonderful!

Well done.

It's all square,

but Judith has the chance to win the round with this question.

Judith, the Yorkshire Oaks is a horse race run at which course?

Oh, that's interesting. Well, they're all in Yorkshire.

It just seems too obvious to say York.

But I think I'm going to say York.

York.

It's Knavesmire, Barry, isn't it, the course there? Is it there?

I think it's Doncaster.

Judith knows more about it than you! It's the right answer.

OK, well, that just puts you through

to the final round.

Bad luck with that first one, Anita, or we'd be going to Sudden Death.

But Judith will be in the final round, and no place for you.

Please come back and join your teams.

This is what we've been playing towards.

It's time for the final round,

which, as always, is General Knowledge.

But those who lost those head-to-heads

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

So Anita and Patti from 24 Carat Women

and Chris and Pat from the Eggheads,

would you leave the studio, please?

Just want a quick chat with you, Shirley Anne.

We had a question about Richard Burton.

I know you've acted with so many of the greats -

did you ever work with him?

No. I met Richard Burton and had lunch with him

when I was modelling something for Revlon

and he paid for acting lessons for me,

because he said, "You're too short to be a model".

So that's how I became...

That's how I knew him.

But I did meet him and I did like him very much.

That's a lovely connection. Great memories.

Let's play the quiz, though. Diane, Shirley Anne and Anna,

you're playing to win 24 Carat Women £1,000.

Daphne, Barry and Judith,

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

the Eggheads' reputation,

just in case you didn't know.

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

That stays the same. The differences are it's General Knowledge

and you are allowed to confer in this final round.

So, 24 Carat Women, the question is, are your three brains

better than the Eggheads' three?

Diane, Shirley Anne and Anna, would you like to go first or second?

First.

Best of luck with these.

First question then for you.

The main headquarters of General Motors

are in which US city?

The main headquarters of General Motors

are in which US city?

Detroit.

Detroit, yes. The original Motown.

Detroit is the right answer.

OK, Eggheads, what is the name of the dance group,

founded in Brighton in 1991,

whose act incorporates household objects, such pots and pans?

-Stomp.

-Stomp?

They use dustbin lids and that sort of thing.

I am reliably informed by Barry that it's Stomp.

Stomp is the right answer.

And so, back to 24 Carat Women.

Which Dragons' Den panellist's first business

was an ice cream van in Stockton-on-Tees?

I really don't know.

Peter Jones?

Well, I think it's Duncan Bannatyne.

OK.

Go for it.

Duncan Bannatyne.

OK, Duncan Bannatyne with his...

Interesting, given what he's achieved now,

imagining him serving up the 99s!

But he did. It's the right answer.

Well done, darling!

Well done. You have two.

And Eggheads, in pre-decimal currency,

how many farthings were there in a half-crown?

-120.

-Yes.

A half-crown was two and sixpence, which is 30 pence.

-Four farthings to a penny, it's 120.

-Yes.

We're all old enough to remember! It's 120.

120 is the right answer.

We heard Barry doing the maths there for us.

OK. Well, this is getting very exciting.

If you get this right

and the Eggheads don't get theirs, you've beaten them.

Right. I can hardly wait!

Who wrote the music

for the jazz standard Don't Get Around Much Anymore?

-Duke Ellington?

-I think it is too.

-I'm not sure.

Between him and Count Basie.

What do you think?

-What does your gut feeling tell you?

-Yeah, what's your gut feeling?

-Count Basie.

-OK.

-OK.

We think it could be Count Basie.

OK, Count Basie for Don't Get Around Much Anymore.

It's not the right answer! Eggheads, do you know?

Is it Nat King Cole?

No, it's Duke Ellington.

Interesting you didn't know,

but it wasn't your question.

If you don't know this, we play on. If you do, you win the game.

Eggheads, in the Longfellow poem

The Song Of Hiawatha,

what relation was Nokomis to Hiawatha?

Grandmother.

-There's Minnehaha...

-His wife.

-I don't think he had a sister.

-No.

Grandmother, Dermot.

Grandmother, you think, for Nokomis,

her relationship to Hiawatha.

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

Well, I think... What I want to say, what the Eggheads want to say,

is congratulations and commiserations.

You really worked, 24 Carat Women. I think you came in the studio

-thinking it might be quite difficult against the Eggheads.

-We did!

It always is, but look how you performed.

Even-stevens in the final round - three of you against three of them.

And may I say, let's not forget Patti and Anita's performance.

Came within a whisker, the two of you,

of winning through, and some really difficult rounds.

It could have been so very different.

But what stays the same is the wonderful time we have had today,

just chatting and doing a bit of quizzing as well.

-Us too.

-We'd have you back any time.

-Thank you, Dermot.

-Thank you very much.

But commiserations, 24 Carat Women.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them

and they reign supreme over Quizland once again.

I'm afraid you haven't won that £1,000, so that money

will be heading straight to Children In Need

to add to this year's appeal.

Eggheads, congratulations.

And join us next time to see if a new team of challengers

have the brains to defeat the Eggheads. Until then, goodbye.