Episode 3 Celebrity Eggheads

These people are amongst the greatest quiz players in Britain.

Together they make up the Eggheads,

arguably the most formidable quiz team in the country.

The question is can they be beaten?

Welcome to a special celebrity edition of Eggheads,

The show where a team of five quiz challengers pit their wits against

possibly the greatest quiz team in Britain.

They are the Eggheads.

-How are you feeling today?

-Very feisty.

I reckon they are looking a little bit worried today.

Helping to create headlines against our quiz Goliaths are

the Ron Burgundys.

This team of familiar faces from

the world of news presenting can often be

found asking difficult questions,

but they have assured me they are also very good at answering them.

In fact, one of the team is so fond of quizzing that he has returned for

another bash at the Eggheads.

So, let's meet them.

Hello, I'm Charlie Stayt, Presenter of BBC Breakfast.

Hello, I'm Babita Sharma,

presenter for BBC World News and

you'll have seen me on Supermarket Secrets.

Hello, I'm Martine Croxall.

I'm a presenter with the BBC News Channel and host of The Papers.

I'm Sally Magnusson. I'm a presenter on BBC Reporting Scotland,

I spent most of my childhood watching my father host Mastermind,

and I wish to goodness I had paid more attention.

Hello, I'm Clive Myrie.

I am a BBC News presenter and I am a correspondent.

-So, Charlie and team, hello. ALL:

-Hello.

Great to see you. Lovely to have news people in,

I can see you've already slightly intimidated them.

So... The disc shook a little bit over here, honestly.

And, Charlie, you are coming back for more.

It's been a while. I had to recover for quite a long time,

it's been a long time since I was last here, but...

What happened last time? I honestly can't remember.

Well, I think I've blurred it out.

I've deliberately got rid of all memory of it.

There was a point when I went head-to-head with Kevin.

-Right.

-And at the time, I didn't know that was a very bad idea.

-But it turned out to be.

-It is quite a nice screen grab.

In the booth with Kevin, because he is probably, he's not here today,

the most knowledgeable person in the English-speaking world.

-I think.

-Yeah.

-It's quite extraordinary.

-So am I to assume that that maybe didn't go quite as planned, that round?

-It didn't go well.

-It didn't go well.

-Is there anything you are looking

for today, Charlie, to answer, or any strong areas?

No, I would echo the thing you said a moment ago.

I would echo the thought that probably, I speak for all of us here,

which is that we are so much more

-happy asking questions than answering them.

-Absolutely.

-Yep.

-That's so true.

-It's horrible.

Yeah. Babita, do you feel the same about that?

Absolutely. We are feeling pretty nervous, I'd say.

We are well out of our comfort zone.

We really are out of our comfort zone. Any tips, Jeremy, for us?

Well, just don't snatch at it. That would be the main thing.

Occasionally we've just had people go for the first thing and sometimes

get it wrong, but I don't know.

What is your famous tip, Judith?

You've got a brilliant one. Always choose the Pacific...?

Oh, yes, islands live in the Pacific.

If it's food, it's bound to be cheese.

If you don't know about the animal, it's an antelope.

Right, OK. Well, there...

-Very good.

-Yes.

So we've learned a few workarounds here.

-But that could make...

-She could be bluffing.

Well, this lot are very dodgy, it has to be said.

They are scary even in daylight.

Good luck, challengers.

-Thank you.

-Good luck, news people.

Every day there is £1,000 worth of cash for grabs for our challengers'

chosen charity. If they fail to defeat the Eggheads,

the prize-money rolls over to the next show.

So, Ron Burgundys, the Eggheads have won the last two celebrity games,

so the first two celebrity teams came unstuck.

It does mean that there's £3,000 if you beat them today.

-Would you like to try?

-Yes!

Brilliant. Said with a real determination.

The first head-to-head battle is on the subject of Music.

And you can choose either Judith or Beth, perhaps Steve or Lisa.

-Who would like music?

-Who's taking music?

Somebody said they wanted...

Who do we dump that subject on?

-I don't mind.

-I think it was you.

-Yeah. Is it going to be me?

-I don't mind.

You're being very magnanimous.

-Let's try it.

-Babita, OK.

I thought that maybe the planning had come unstuck at an early stage

-there.

-Planning?

-Planning?

You had a conversation... ALL TALK AT ONCE

You had a conversation but you couldn't remember it.

OK. All right, Babita, which Egghead?

-OK.

-OK, Steve.

Yeah. All right. So, Babita from the Ron Burgundys versus Steve

from the Eggheads on Music, and to ensure there is no conferring,

please go to our famous question room.

OK. So, your choice, Babita.

We go to music. Would you like to go first or second?

Second.

Steve, your first question is this.

The band Black Sabbath is best known for playing what type of music?

Black Sabbath...

Ah. Yeah, I'm just try to picture them doing jazz.

It's heavy metal, Jeremy.

It is indeed. Name a song.

Black Sabbath? Paranoid.

Paranoid. Babita, your first question.

What type of musical instrument is the mandolin?

Is the mandolin...?

-Stringed.

-Stringed is right.

Well done.

So far the news team have not got a question wrong.

-Can we stop now?

-We can stop now, thank you.

We'll see you tomorrow.

OK, Steve, your question. Which of these singers was born first?

Hmm. It's obviously not Michael Buble.

Um...

Well, Tony Bennett is still around.

I know he's old.

But because Frank Sinatra is not,

I'm tempted to say Frank Sinatra,

so that'll be my answer.

You see how they work? He's just

deciding which one of them is not alive any more. That...

That is the brilliant logic.

Frank Sinatra is the right answer.

OK, Babita, your second question.

"I walked across an empty land,

"I knew the pathway like the back of my hand."

Are the opening lyrics to which song?

Is this...

I think I know the answer.

Please be right.

Somewhere Only We Know, by Keane.

Somewhere Only We Know by Keane is correct.

-Yes!

-Yes!

Goodness knows how Karma Police starts, but it's not that.

Steve, you've got the third question now.

Justin Bieber's 2015 UK hit single Love Yourself

was co-written with Benny Blanco and which other singer?

Well, I could conceivably go wrong on this, because I don't know,

but I do know that Ed Sheeran has

written some stuff with Justin Bieber,

and he tends to write for a lot of people.

So on the basis of that, we'll say it's Ed Sheeran.

Ed Sheeran is correct.

Well done. Great song.

Great songwriter. OK, Babita.

Bit of pressure now. Because you let him go first.

Get this right, we go to Sudden Death.

Get it wrong...

And you will be in the sin bin.

Here's your question. Which composer famously wrote a ballet to be

performed by elephants and another about a game of poker?

Which composer?

I'm going to go for a complete guess.

And go for...

Igor Stravinsky.

-Eggheads?

-Well, Stravinsky wrote ballets...

-Yes.

-Not sure the other two did.

No-one is completely certain.

But you are right, Babita.

-Yes!

-Well done. It is Igor Stravinsky.

Playing well, newshounds.

All right, we go to Sudden Death.

It gets a bit harder, as you know.

I don't give you alternative answers.

Your question, Sudden Death.

Which work by George Gershwin is set in Catfish Row in South Carolina?

-Porgy and Bess.

-Porgy and Bess is right.

Babita, Marilyn Monroe and Shoes Upon The Table are songs from which

long-running musical

first professionally performed in Liverpool in 1983?

I can name a lot of musicals, but they don't seem to fit,

and all the ones that are coming to mind are, like, Phantom of the Opera,

Miss Saigon, and none of those...

Mary Poppins, I'm thinking Marilyn Monroe, Shoes On The Table,

and it's got to be...

Oh...

What's wrong with me? Why can I not think?

-Some Like It Hot.

-OK.

It's not that. Let me see whether the challengers know.

-Challengers?

-We have an answer, yeah.

-Do you want to tell me?

-I think Liverpool is the key.

-Yeah.

-Willy Russell. Liverpool.

-Go on.

-Blood Brothers.

-Blood Brothers...

-Aw!

-..is the answer.

I just went to see that.

-Did you?

-Yes!

-No!

Retrospectively, Jeremy, come on now!

-No, seriously...

-I did!

-Oh, no.

-Aawww...

Sorry, Babita.

Steve has won through. Steve has knocked you out.

Steve will be in the final.

Please return to us, both of you, and we'll play the next round.

So the Ron Burgundys have lost a brain from the final round.

The Eggheads have not lost any yet.

But I know they feel it coming.

The next subject is Science.

Who would like this?

-Oh, no! No-one wants this.

-Come on.

There must be a scientist there.

-Charlie?

-Well, look, the agreement we had, which is I think a really

bad agreement, but I sort of put

forward the idea that any subject that no-one else wanted...

It was going to come to me.

-OK. All right.

-And science was one of them.

-Yeah.

-And you are team captain.

-It was one of the 10.

-Anyone who knows me will know this is very,

very bad. But there you go.

Charlie from the Ron Burgundys versus who?

I'm going to go for Judith,

purely on the basis that she's been kind of giving me a weird look.

And I don't know what it's about,

but I think we just need to get it sorted out.

-It's just very...

-Well, let's go and sort it out.

She's psyching you out, man. Psyching you out.

That is what she does. She pretends to be a bit absent, and then bang!

She's on it.

So, Charlie from the Ron Burgundys plays the legendary Judith.

-Can I call you that?

-Oh, do, Jeremy.

From the Eggheads. Please go to the question room now.

Charlie, I should ask about the team name, the Ron Burgundys.

What do you think of the name, Jeremy?

It made me laugh. And even as I said it at the start,

I noticed all your team laughed as well,

so you were enjoying your own joke.

Well, you see, the thing is, I think the theory was that people,

I think in the news business, as you probably know, Jeremy,

they can take themselves quite seriously sometimes.

So it was our nod to the fact that, you know, it's not that serious.

For those who don't know,

Ron Burgundy was this fictional character in a film,

played by Will Ferrell, and the film was Anchorman, and it is very funny, Charlie.

It's a very funny film,

and the wonderful thing about Will Ferrell, of course,

was in that performance as Anchorman,

masses of confidence but he was absolutely hopeless,

which was the joy of the whole thing, really.

Science, Charlie. Do you want to go first or second?

I'll go first.

Here is your first question. Good luck, Charlie.

A geologist would typically be an expert in which of these subject areas?

I will go for rocks.

A geologist is an expert in rocks. You're right.

Judith, by what name are meteors commonly known?

Meteors. That's shooting stars, aren't they?

Yes, they are shooting stars.

Well done.

Back to you, Charlie. In which century was the astronomer Edwin Hubble born?

OK, so I'm thinking... Immediately I'm thinking,

probably like a lot of people, the Hubble telescope.

I'm thinking early but not that early,

so I'm going to plump for the 17th.

Let's see. If Kevin was here, he'd

give us the birth and the death year. Can anyone do that?

-No.

-Can you do that?

No, I can only... He's from the 19th-century,

but I can't give the exact years.

OK. 19th-century, Charlie.

Bit later than we thought.

Judith, your question.

The scientist Louis Pasteur is best known for his work in which field?

Pasteurising.

Um... I suppose that is Microbiology.

Germs. He's good at germs, wasn't he?

Microbiology is quite right.

Yes, germs... Yes, exactly.

Microbiology is right.

I know you knew that, Charlie.

Well, do you know, you...

I don't know if you are saying that seriously, Jeremy.

But I think I did know that answer.

No, but I knew you knew it. I just thought you are having that thought

-of, "Oh, I wish I had that one."

-Yeah, I was actually.

But it's very sporting of you not to say it.

-Yeah.

-OK. What name is given to the Northern boreal forest regions of

Eurasia and North America that are thought to occupy about 17%

of the land area of the world?

And boreal we're spelling B-O-R-E-A-L, just so you know.

So, as I look at those three words, Jeremy,

the truth is I can only recall ever seeing one of them ever before.

Which is Tundra.

And I can't think of any... I can't think of any language issues or...

..or clues elsewhere.

So I'm going to have to go with Tundra.

Any Eggheads know this?

It's Taiga.

Taiga. Why is it taiga?

It's just the enormous birch forest,

-conifers that stretch halfway around the world.

-OK.

-The steppes are

treeless and the tundra is sort of grass and ice, so...

So Pat says steppes are treeless and the tundra is grass and ice,

and it is Taiga, Charlie, is the correct answer.

Oh, Judith, that means you are through.

There's no way back for Charlie here.

So you are in the final round, Judith.

-Oh!

-Sorry, team captain, you've been knocked out.

Please return and rejoin your team-mates.

So, as it stands, the Ron Burgundys have lost a second brain from the

final round, and it is the captain as well.

The Eggheads are all still sitting there,

looking a little bit too confident.

Time to take them down a peg or two.

The next subject is Politics.

Oh, now, it's going to be a fight now, isn't it?

-Clive? It's got your name on it.

-OK.

OK, Clive. This is yours.

Against whom?

And you can have Pat, Beth or Lisa?

I'm feeling Beth.

-Yeah.

-Um, Beth?

If that's at all possible?

Yes, sure. Clive from the Ron Burgundys is taking on Beth from the

Eggheads on Politics. Let's see if the tide turns now.

Please go to the question room.

Good luck. Up against Beth, again one of our new Eggheads,

and Clive you can go first or second.

I'm going to go first.

Right, here we go with your first question, Clive.

Good luck. What term is used in an election to describe ballot papers

that have been filled in incorrectly?

Well, if you are burning ballots, that is arson,

that's pretty serious.

I don't think it is ripped ballots.

I'm going to go for spoiled ballots.

Spoiled ballots is quite right.

Well done. Beth, your question.

Which of these countries has been ruled by a

Communist government for over 50 years?

Um... Communist... I'm hoping that's Cuba.

It is indeed Cuba.

OK, Clive, you've been to Cuba, Clive?

I have. I have.

-Lovely country.

-Since Castro or...

-during?

-No, no, no, this was during Castro.

This was 1998, 1999.

Here is your question. Which of these countries, Clive,

is not a member of the European Union?

Well, France is certainly part of the European Union.

It is one of the founding members.

Italy certainly is a member,

so I will pluck for Russia.

Yes. I'm glad you got that right.

Although...

we put the UK in there, it might have been a difficult one.

That would have been tough.

Beth, your second. In which year did

Screaming Lord Sutch first stand for

Parliament as a candidate for the Monster Raving Loony Party?

I'm not sure he would have been old enough...

possibly for '53. 2003, no,

he was around before then. I'll go for 1983.

Yes, absolutely. 1983.

Two each.

And back to you, Clive. Get this one right, this is...

This may be important.

What was the occupation of Theresa May's father?

Now, Theresa May...

I'm not feeling Anglican minister.

A financial consultant or chemist?

I'm going to go for chemist.

I'm going to check with your colleagues.

-Martine?

-No, Anglican minister.

The middle one.

It's Anglican minister, Clive.

Oh! The thing I wasn't feeling.

Argh!

Beth, your question, you can take the round with this.

What medical condition prevented Donald Trump from serving in the US Army in the Vietnam War?

I thought this was something to do with his feet.

And therefore the only thing that could probably...

heel spurs so...

I think it's bone spurs.

You are in the final, there. Well done. Bone spurs it is. Three out of

three. Clive, sorry, they are playing well today.

-No worries. Well done, Beth.

-I must apologise.

Have you even got a question wrong yet, Eggheads?

No, that's Kirsty for the next one, isn't it?

-I don't know if you have.

-That's a jinx.

Oh, sorry, I'm always blamed for jinxing them.

But, Clive, you've been beaten by our Egghead, I'm afraid,

and knocked out. It's looking tricky but not impossible for our

brilliant Ron Burgundys. Rejoin your teams, one more round to play.

As it stands, the Ron Burgundys have lost three brains from the final round.

The Eggheads are still sitting there,

they're just sort of having a routine day.

As far as they are concerned, you've got to take them down.

Surprise them. It's Sport now.

Oh, no!

This is a disaster.

Don't worry.

The two people who really shouldn't be answering sport.

-We know nothing about sport.

-You'll have to toss a coin for this.

How much less about sport do I know than you?

That is the question.

-I'm really bad on sport.

-Shall I have a go?

-OK.

-Yeah. Go on.

-Take one for the team.

-Go one.

-Go on, Martine.

Listen, so we're going for Lisa or Pat now.

Who doesn't watch sport very much?

I think I'm going to pick Lisa, Jeremy.

Martine from the Ron Burgundys versus our own Lisa from the Eggheads.

Are you ready for this, Lisa?

That was Martine's first right answer, because the gulf between

what Pat knows about sport and what I know about

-sport is this big.

-OK.

Good.

So she says.

You've still got to face Pat in the final.

Please go to the question room.

Martine, how did this happen?

I don't know. This is the worst thing that could have happened.

Sport, Martine, do you want to go first or second?

First, please.

Here we go. Good luck.

Who officially succeeded Sam Allardyce

as England football manager in November 2016?

I know it's not David Platt.

I don't think it's Stuart Pearce.

It's a kind of a semi-guess.

Gareth Southgate.

Yes, you've got it right. Well done. Gareth Southgate.

Lisa. In tennis,

what is called when a serve clips the top of the net

but still lands correctly in the court? Lisa, is it...?

That's a let.

That is a let.

Back to you, Martine.

In which year did Phil "The Power" Taylor

become a world darts champion for the first time

by taking the BDO title?

He's a name that I'd been aware of only more recently,

not that I'm a regular darts follower.

I'm going to go for 2010.

Lisa, do you know?

I probably would have gone 1990.

Yeah, 1990 is the answer.

That far back.

I-I beg his pardon.

There we go. 1990. That's actually a really interesting question,

I would never have gone back that far.

OK, Lisa, to take the lead, your second question.

Which of these sportsmen announced

his shock retirement from competition in December 2016?

I think Novak Djokovic has definitely got unfinished business

on the tennis court,

and Ronnie's still playing -

it was Nico Rosberg, after he won the world title.

Nico Rosberg is quite right.

OK, so,

third question to you, Martine.

The world champion boxer Ricky Burns was born in which country?

Ricky Burns.

Oh, dear.

I'm just going to go with his surname. Burns.

I'm going to say Scotland.

Scotland. Does your team know?

I think it's Northern Ireland.

You think it's Northern Ireland. Lisa?

-I actually don't know.

-Ah!

-Ooh!

-OK, well, we'll go to the Oracle.

-Pat?

-Well, I, initially, was very bullish on Scotland,

but I'm now wondering about Northern Ireland.

I thought I saw Sally shake her head, there.

-Is it...?

-It is Scotland.

-Is it?

-Ooh!

Well, just as well I wasn't chosen for that. Well done.

I'm not out of the woods yet, though, am I?

No, not out of the woods, but let's see.

If Lisa gets this right, you will be knocked out, but she may not.

Lisa, in 2016,

the Australian Wayne Bennett became the coach of the England team

in which sport?

Oh, Lisa, you know this. Come on.

It's the fact I think I know it

that would make me think it was probably rugby league, but...

I don't pay that much attention to the other two.

I think I'll try rugby league.

The answer is rugby league.

Well done, Lisa. You've taken the round again.

I'm sorry - they're playing so well, news people.

What can I say? I'm actually... I'm very sorry about this.

They are playing out of their socks here, these Eggheads.

Lisa's in the final.

Trouble for the Ron Burgundys.

Return to us, please, and we'll see what happens next.

So, all very exciting in this celebrity edition,

and this is what we've been playing towards.

It is final round time.

As always, General Knowledge -

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

are not allowed to take part in this round.

So, all from the Challengers' side, Charlie, Babita,

Martine and Clive from the Ron Burgundys,

would you please now leave the studio?

Sally, what can I say?

What can I say?!

You are playing to win £3,000, Sally.

Lisa, Steve, Pat, Beth and Judith,

you're playing for something that money can't buy,

which is the Eggheads' precious reputation.

As usual, I will ask each team three questions in turn -

this time they are all General Knowledge,

and you are allowed to confer.

So, Sally, the question is,

is your one brain able to take down these five in a famous victory?

Would you like to go first or second?

Oh...second.

And here is your first question, Eggheads.

Here we go. Final round.

In 2009,

a pilot named Chesley Sullenberger made an emergency landing

of a passenger plane into which American River?

-Hudson.

-It's the Hudson.

-Hudson.

-Yeah.

-You happy with that? Yeah.

He had just taken off from a New York airport

and he had to put the plane down in the Hudson.

Hudson is quite right.

Film about it, isn't there?

-Yes. Sully.

-I've flown it, too.

-You've flown...

-I went on a simulator at Farnborough,

and one of the treats was,

he said, "Do you want to do Sully's flight?"

So I flew the plane, and crashed, like a...

In very dramatic fashion.

I hear they tried to fly it again with a simulator

-when they were doing the investigation...

-Yeah.

..and lots of people couldn't do it.

-Yeah, you can't... It's very difficult.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Hudson is correct, Eggheads.

Here we go, Sally.

What do entomophagous creatures eat?

Entomophagous is E-N-T-O-M-O-P-H-A-G-O-U-S.

Entomophagous.

Well, I'm thinking that an entomologist would study insects.

Is that right? So...

I'll go for insects.

Insects is the right answer.

Superb.

-How about that?

-One!

Sally Magnusson playing the Eggheads.

Here we are. What about this?

Eggheads, your question. Which magazine, first published in 1841,

was originally subtitled The London Charivari?

-Punch?

-Punch.

-It was Punch.

-I think it's Punch.

-Yeah.

-Wisden's always been cricket.

-Yeah, that's Punch.

-Yes.

-The London Charivari.

We think that's Punch.

Punch is the right answer.

That's a shame, cos I thought there was just a chance

-that they wouldn't know that.

-Yeah, and there was a chance I did, too.

-Oh, you knew that?

-Yeah.

-Oh, Sally, OK.

Your question. Who plays the role of Aurora Lane

in the 2016 science fiction film Passengers?

Oh, I don't know. I don't know the film.

I'm going to try for Amy Adams.

I have no idea, though.

Shall I check with your colleagues?

-Colleagues?

-We think Jennifer Lawrence.

-Yeah.

-It is Jennifer Lawrence.

I'm really sorry. The only...

I was going to say, visualise the film poster,

because I think she's in... Isn't that right, Clive? She's...

-there's quite a big picture of Jennifer...

-Yeah.

-..in it -

but what can I say, Sally?

-It is a tough old question, that.

-Mm.

Eggheads, you have a chance to take the contest,

because Sally let you go first.

Let's hope, here, Sally.

Which man has scored more tries for the Wales rugby union team

than any other player?

-Shane Williams?

-Well, he certainly was the record-holder for some time.

-Who is it?

-He's just retired, hasn't he, not long back?

-Yeah.

-Who, Gareth Thomas?

-No, Shane Williams.

-Shane Williams...

-Was the record-holder.

-I'm sure it's him.

-So who could have overtaken him?

I don't think it's Gareth Thomas.

Last year, I think he packed up.

I'd have said Shane Williams.

He absolutely, definitely has held the record.

-Yeah. He were when he retired.

-Yeah.

So, unless he's been passed...

Unless Sam Warburton has put on a tremendous burst of speed.

-Gareth Thomas had finished before...

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Are we happy with Shane Williams?

-Yeah.

-Yes.

-Happy with that?

-Yes.

-That's Shane Williams.

If it's right,

the Eggheads have beaten the Ron Burgundys.

Have you got a question wrong in this whole game, Eggheads?

In the whole contest?

You know the stats.

Shane Williams is the right answer. We say congratulations, Eggheads.

You have won.

Well, honestly, it's not often -

you correct me if I'm wrong here, Eggs -

that they get not a single answer wrong.

I know. I should have gone first. Why did I go second?

Did you know the rugby question there?

-I would have gone for Shane Williams.

-Would you?

-Yeah.

Eggheads, well done.

-He said, through gritted teeth.

-We can see that!

Commiserations, Ron Burgundys.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them.

They reign supreme over quiz land.

It means that the £3,000 doesn't go to the news team here,

so we're going to roll the money over -

and, at some point, a celebrity team will win it for their charity.

Eggheads, congratulations. Playing well today -

rare to have you not slip up on a single question, I must say.

Join us next time to see if a new team of Challengers

have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

There'll be £4,000 to play for.

Until then, goodbye.