Episode 123 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 Eggheads, the show where a team of five quiz Challengers

attempt to beat possibly the greatest quiz team in Britain.

Their quiz pedigree is very well-known, as they've won some of the country's toughest quiz shows.

They are the Eggheads. And tackling the Eggheads today

are the Crotchety Ladies from Kent.

Now, this team all sing in the Rainham Ladies Choir,

which has been active for 50 years.

They put on large performances each year for charity, and have so far raised £50,000. Let's meet them.

Hello. I'm Pam.

I'm 62 and I'm a part-time lecturer.

Hi. I'm Sheila. I'm 72 and I'm a youth football administrator.

Hi. I'm Angela. I'm 60 and I'm a retired bank official.

Hi. I'm Wendy.

I'm 55 and a civil servant.

Hi. I'm Brenda.

I'm 57 and I'm a secretary.

-Pam and the ladies.

-Hello.

Welcome.

-Thank you.

-And tell us about the choir -

where and how and who you sing for.

We meet together in Rainham.

And we've got about 30 to 40 members.

And we've been going for about 50 years.

Sheila is probably one of our oldest members, having been there for over 40 years.

And I'm the newest member. I've been there for two years.

And we sing at lots of different festivals and concerts.

The group have sung once at the Albert Hall and we're going to sing again at the Albert Hall this year.

I gather you've got something special for us?

Yes.

Go ahead.

# Come on, babe, why don't we paint the town?

# And all that jazz

# I'm going to rouge my knees and roll my stockings down

# And all that jazz

# Start the car I know a whoopie spot

# Where the ice is cold but the piano's hot

# It's just a noisy hall where there's a nightly brawl

# And all

# That

# Jazz. #

Great.

You're not Crotchety Ladies at all, are you? That was fantastic.

Good luck in the game today.

-Thank you.

-The contest, I should say.

Every day, there's a £1,000 of cash up for grabs for our Challengers.

However, if they fail to defeat the Eggheads, the prize money rolls over to the next show.

So, Crotchety Ladies, the Eggheads have won just the last game,

which means £2,000 says you can't beat them.

First head-to-head battle is on the subject of Arts & Books.

I'm thinking you'll like this.

-Well, yes.

-Who wants to take it?

It's either Wendy or me.

Wendy, d'you fancy it?

-I'll give it a go.

-Yes? OK.

Wendy against which Egghead?

I think Chris would be a good option.

-OK, go for it.

-Wendy against Chris then, please.

Hallelujah!

You're not Sport.

So, Wendy from the Crotchety Ladies relieving Chris of the worry about having to do Sport

after three slightly tragic ones in a row. Please go to the Question Room.

I will ask each of you three questions on Arts & Books in turn.

Whoever answers the most correctly is the winner.

It's that simple. Wendy, your choice.

Would you like the first or second set of questions?

I think I'll go second, please.

Here we go, Chris. Which fictional character in American literature

lives with his Aunt Polly, and has a sweetheart called Becky Thatcher?

It's...well, it's not Nattie Bumppo, because he's a sort of frontiersman,

Last Of The Mohicans.

That's actually the real name of Hawkeye, now I come to think of it.

But the person who had a girlfriend called Becky whatever her name is,

was Tom Sawyer.

Tom Sawyer is right. Yes.

Wendy, your question.

In which decade of the 20th century was the Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 first published?

Right.

When I first applied to be a civil servant, that was in the '70s.

And I remember them asking me about the fact that Adrian Mole

had been set as a book in exams recently.

So I think it's the '70s.

How strange. Because the answer is the '80s.

Oh!

So you must have had a false memory, there.

-Must have been. Must have been.

-Or was it Molesworth or something?

-I don't know what it was.

-Molesworth, who was that?

Do you remember that?

-Ronald Searle, yeah.

-Yes.

-Down With Skool.

-Down With Skool!

The Curse Of St Custard's, Revolt Of The Prunes etc.

-Maybe that's who it was.

-Maybe.

Chris, your question. Which artist had a son called Titus,

born in 1641, who was the subject of many portraits?

Ah. Now, he's come up before, hasn't he?

He had a son called Titus and he was Rembrandt.

Rembrandt is the right answer, Chris.

Wendy, Feste is the name of the clown

in which of Shakespeare's plays?

Spelt F-E-S-T-E.

Feste?

None of those Shakespeare plays are ones that I know particularly well.

Does King Lear have a clown?

It's one of the tragedies.

I'll eliminate that one.

I have an idea that As You Like It is not set in England,

it sounds like a foreign name.

I'll go for As You Like It.

It's not As You Like It.

-Twelfth Night.

-Goodness.

King Lear has a fool, doesn't he?

Yes.

-Not a clown.

-The clown in As You Like It is Touchstone.

There we are. We've got the complete set.

So, sorry, it was Twelfth Night.

And that means no way back for you in this round.

Chris has won through. He will be in the final. And, Wendy, you won't.

Please, both of you, rejoin us here in the studio.

So, the Challengers have lost one brain from the final round.

The Eggheads have lost no brains yet. Next subject is Politics.

Looks like me, doesn't it?

-You've got the short straw, Pam.

-You're political? OK.

-OK. Right.

-Anyone but Chris.

-I think Judith, actually.

-Yes, maybe.

-OK. Yes, Politics it is.

-OK.

Pam from the Crotchety Ladies versus Judith from the Eggheads.

Please go to the Question Rooms.

Pam, I think you'd have liked that last question on Shakespeare?

Oh, yes.

-Because you teach it?

-I do. I do.

Who do you teach it to?

To students at the Open University.

-So you're on Politics now?

-Yes.

-Not quite as strong, I sense.

-Mmm-hmm.

Three questions, multiple choice.

-You can choose the first or second set, Pam.

-I'll go first.

Here we go, good luck.

What term is often used for the Vice President of the United States?

Gosh.

Well, I actually don't know this at all.

Half-Pres doesn't sound right.

Veep, I can't even imagine what that might mean at all.

Standby-Joe, for some reason, makes some sort of sense. So, I think,

I think that I'm going to stick with Standby-Joe. Go with that one.

OK. That's the wrong answer.

The reason it's Veep,

-is because it's what happens when you just go "VP".

-Ah.

So, the answer is Veep.

I know you've realised that now.

Judith, to you. The former Liberal Democrat MP whose given names were

Jeremy John Durham, was always known by what other first name?

Oh yes. It's Paddy Ashdown, isn't it?

So, it's Paddy Ashdown. Paddy.

Paddy is right, well done.

Pam. The Matrix-Churchill affair, which broke in November 1992,

arose from the prosecution of three businessmen

for illegal arms trading with which country?

If it was 1992, I don't think it would be Cuba.

I'm thinking as well it's possibly not North Korea.

So I think I'm going to choose Iraq.

Iraq is right.

Well done.

Judith. From 1985 to 1995,

Jacques Delors was President of what?

He was President of the European Commission.

He was indeed.

The European Commission is right.

So, you really need this one now, Pam.

Because you got the first one wrong.

Your question.

The political figure Boris Johnson was born in which city?

Well, I know he has origins I think,

certainly not English.

So I don't think it's New York.

I'm actually thinking Munich.

But I keep wanting to go back to Istanbul as well.

No, I think I'm going to stick with Munich.

It wasn't Munich. It was New York.

Difficult to guess that one, with no background knowledge.

I must say, I didn't know that.

So, sorry, Pam. Judith, your spirits are...

-..soaring.

-Yet again soaring.

Again! You've had some good rounds lately.

Judith, you'll be in the final.

Pam, you were beaten by our Egghead, so you won't be. Please, come back to us.

The plot thickens. Pam and Wendy have gone.

The Challengers have lost those two brains from the final round.

The Eggheads are still intact. The next subject is Sport.

Who from the Challengers wants to play on this?

You had better go Sport then, Sheila.

I got the short straw.

-Sheila, please.

-Sheila against who?

We don't want Daphne, Daphne is good at sport.

Yes. I think they all are.

-Do we know what Barry's like on sport?

-He's good at everything.

-Yes, he is rather.

-We'll have Barry.

-Barry, I think.

Sheila from the Crotchety Ladies versus Barry from the Eggheads on Sport. Please, leave us now.

Sheila, I understand you're a youth football administrator?

-Yes.

-So, you're busy with that?

I guess... Are you spotting the young stars?

It's not my job to spot the young stars.

I just do the administration and computer work.

I was imagining you with binoculars there, trying to see the next David Beckham. Good luck in this round.

Three questions on Sport. So now we know your sporting background.

-And, Sheila, you can choose the first or second set.

-I'll go first, please.

Here we go, good luck. The first Summer Olympic Games

in the southern hemisphere were staged in which city, Sheila?

Summer Games.

In the southern hemisphere.

I would think Melbourne.

Melbourne...

is correct.

Barry, is your T-shirt a sign

of a desperate bid to join Rainham Ladies Choir?

-I'd love to join a choir. I love singing.

-Would you take him?

There's a problem, there, isn't there?

We don't have many men, to be honest, in a Ladies' Choir.

He'd cause trouble, I think.

Here's your question.

Who was the first English cricketer to do the double of 100 wickets and 1,000 runs in a season?

Oh, gosh. Well, it certainly would be before Ian Botham.

I don't think Jack Hobbs was a bowler, so I shall say WG Grace.

WG Grace is your answer.

And it's correct.

Sheila. A reported 199,854 spectators,

the largest-ever attendance at a football match, was for a game in 1950 between which two teams?

I'll say Uruguay and Brazil.

How did you get to that?

Well, I don't think the others have such a large capacity.

You're absolutely right, Sheila. Well done.

Barry. On the back foot!

In which sport is a team's main attacking player known as a hole set or a two-metre man?

Well, water polo comes to mind.

Because the pool is shallow by the goals and deeper further out.

And a two-metre man sounds to be about the depth of the pool.

So, I'll go for water polo.

Water polo is quite right.

Well done.

Over to you, Sheila.

Which jockey won the Grand National in 1992 and 1998?

I really don't know this.

I don't know an awful lot about horse racing.

I'm going to say Jimmy Frost.

It's wrong I'm afraid.

Carl Llewellyn is the answer we were looking for.

Barry.

Rugby Union's governing body, the International Rugby Board, has its headquarters in which city?

Rugby union?

I don't know this.

But, the All Blacks are such a famous rugby union side,

that I think maybe they've got the headquarters in New Zealand.

So I shall plump for Wellington.

Actually, it's Dublin.

Dublin is the answer.

So, Sheila, you're back in it.

We've had multiple-choice questions.

We go to Sudden Death now.

Not as painful as it sounds!

But if you get one wrong and he gets one right, you'll be out of the final round. Not multiple-choice.

The identical twins, Diane and Rosalind Rowe,

were world doubles champions in 1951 and 1954 in which sport?

Table tennis.

Brilliant.

Hey, fantastic.

What was special about them, out of interest, do you know?

-They were twins(!)

-As well as that. One was left-handed...

-..one was right handed.

-That's right.

So, they had either the whole table covered or none of it.

Barry. If you don't get this right, they'll be cheering.

And I will probably join in!

But I might be able to join the choir.

That's true. Good thinking.

Which boxer, who later beat Marcel Cerdan to become the world middleweight champion,

was the first man to inflict defeat on Sugar Ray Robinson?

Oh, gosh. The only thing I know about Marcel Cerdan was that he had a famous affair with Edith Piaf.

But who beat him?

The first man to defeat Sugar Ray Robinson.

We're talking the '50s now.

Sugar Ray Robinson. I think he was a welterweight.

Would it have been somebody like Brian,

like Randolph Turpin, maybe?

I'll try Randolph Turpin.

Randolph Turpin

is the wrong answer. It was Jake LaMotta. Well done, Sheila.

-We might even let him join the choir.

-You'll be in the choir.

Sheila, take a bow. Well done.

You'll be in the final round.

Barry, you won't. Do, both of you, come back to us.

Things are turning around, thanks to Sheila.

The Challengers have lost two brains The Eggheads have lost one.

The last subject is Film & Television.

-That's mine, I think.

-Brenda.

-Against which Egghead?

-Well, as Daphne is my favourite, I'll have Daphne, please.

Brenda from the Crotchety Ladies versus Daphne from the Eggheads.

To ensure there's no conferring, please take your positions in the Question Room now.

Is the choir a big part of your life?

Yes. I've been a member for 22 years. And I'm the Social Secretary.

I do a lot of organising and running around but I love it.

All right, Brenda. Good luck in this round.

Three questions on Film & Television in turn.

And would you like the first or second set of questions?

I'll have the first set, please.

Here we go. The final round of which TV game show, first broadcast in 1971, featured the contestants

remembering prizes that passed by them on a conveyor belt?

I know it's not Mr and Mrs.

And I don't think it's Family Fortunes.

I think it's The Generation Game.

It is The Generation Game.

Well done.

With Bruce, wasn't it, really?

Yes. There were others, too. But mainly him.

Larry Grayson had a go at it.

-Jim Davidson.

-Jim Davidson.

Daphne, your question.

A Day At The Races, and A Night At The Opera, were films starring which comedy act?

They were films from the Marx Brothers.

The Marx Brothers is absolutely right, Daphne, well done.

Brenda. In which 1985 film, directed by Sidney Pollack, did Robert Redford play Denys Finch Hatton?

He definitely wasn't in A Bridge Too Far.

I've not seen Legal Eagles, but he was definitely in Out Of Africa,

so I'll go for Out Of Africa.

Out Of Africa is correct.

The great Sydney Pollack. Daphne, your question.

In the 1980s TV comedy series The Young Ones,

what is the name of the character played by Christopher Ryan?

I never saw it.

I think he might be called Mike.

Mike it is.

Brenda, if you get this right,

you're within a few inches of the final round.

Which of his former Not The Nine O'Clock News colleagues

directed Rowan Atkinson in the 1997 film Bean?

I don't really know this one.

I don't think it's Pamela Stephenson.

I'm drawn towards Mel Smith, but I don't know if it's right.

You are being correctly drawn.

Mel Smith is right.

So, you're in the lead and just this crunch question now for Daphne.

Who played Jerry Lee Lewis in the 1989 film Great Balls Of Fire?

I, um...

That little light bulb has gone off, and I think it's Dennis Quaid.

Dennis Quaid is the...

rrrrr-rrrrright answer.

You rotten thing!

So, you're level after multiple choice.

It goes to Sudden Death. You can't escape, Daphne, I'm afraid.

The studio doors are locked.

And that means, I won't give you alternatives, you have to give me the answer.

OK, Brenda? George Costanza and Elaine Benes are characters in which long-running US sitcom?

I don't know many US sitcoms.

The only one I can think of is Cheers.

I'll go for Cheers.

-Daphne, not Cheers, what is it?

-I think it's Seinfeld.

It is Seinfeld.

Is George the really tall, crazy one with the sideburns?

-A bit like Chris!

-That was Kramer, wasn't it?

That was Kramer, yes. Is George the short, bald, worried one?

-We don't know.

-I think he is actually, yes.

-We're not sure.

-It's so long since I've seen Seinfeld.

Brenda, sorry, Cheers is wrong.

Seinfeld is the answer.

So, Daphne, you have a chance now.

Who played the role of Bob Ferris in the TV sitcom The Likely Lads?

Oh, gosh, which one was he?

Right. James Bolam.

-No.

-The other one? The other one.

-Who was?

-Rodney Bewes.

-Rodney Bewes.

Still alive, Brenda, well done.

Which Neil Simon stage play was turned into an Oscar-nominated 1968

comedy film starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau?

There's a couple of films they've been in together.

I've got three whizzing round my head and I can't choose which one.

Grumpy Old Men, I'm going to go for.

-The Odd Couple is the answer

-That's it.

-Sorry.

-That's OK.

Over to you, Daphne, you can take the round with this.

Who played the role of Beverley

in the 1977 TV play Abigail's Party?

Um.

Alison Steadman?

Alison Steadman in a brilliant performance.

You're absolutely right, Daphne.

Your round. Close though, well done, Brenda.

You were beaten by our Egghead, though, so you won't be in the final round. And Daphne will.

Please, both of you, come back to us.

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

It's time for our final round which, as always, is General Knowledge.

Those of you who lost your head-to-heads

won't be allowed to take part in this round. So Pam, Wendy and Brenda

from the Crotchety Ladies, and Barry from the Eggheads, would you please leave the studio.

So, the two of you are playing to win the Crotchety Ladies £2,000.

Daphne, Chris, Judith and Kevin, you're playing for something that money can't buy -

the Eggheads' reputation. As usual, I will ask each team three questions in turn.

This time the questions are all General Knowledge. You are allowed to confer.

So, Crotchety Ladies, the question is, are your two brains better than the Eggheads' four?

And would you like the first or second set of questions?

-I think first, do you?

-Yes.

-We'll go first, please.

Sheila, Angela. Best of luck to you.

In the catering industry, what colour plaster is traditionally used

to dress any cuts or other skin injuries suffered in the kitchen?

I know it's a bright colour, so that they can see it.

It's got to be a bright colour.

If it was skin-coloured or white they may not see it.

Yes. What do you think? Red?

-Red would show up, wouldn't it?

-Yes, go for red?

You happy with that?

-Yep.

-I'll say red.

It's blue.

Sorry. Eggheads.

There aren't that many blue foods. If it comes off in the salad, you can see it.

My reasoning was right, but the answer wrong.

Eggheads, the French phrase "rien ne va plus"

is traditionally called out on frequent occasions during which game?

-Roulette.

-It's roulette.

What does it mean?

No more, basically.

Don't throw any more balls on.

No more bets.

Roulette is correct.

Well done, Eggheads. OK, Crotchety Ladies.

The fight back starts now.

In the Chinese calendar,

January 26th 2009 was the beginning of a year named after which animal?

-I do know this one.

-Yes, I do, too.

-It's the ox.

-Yes. We're both agreed. It's the ox.

-How are you so sure about that?

-Heard it on the radio.

OK. And you're living in the Chinese year in some strange way?

-No.

-You were just so certain, it was amazing. Ox is correct.

Now we need them to get one wrong.

Eggheads, which machine gun, designed in the 1930s, has a name

inspired by both a Czechoslovakian city and a suburb of London?

That's the Bren gun.

It's Brno, which is the, well, Moravia, Czech Republic.

And Enfield. So it's Bren.

Bren is correct. Brno is the city, is it? Where it was designed?

And Enfield where it was manufactured?

The Bren gun is right.

Now, you need to get this one right because otherwise they'll have won.

We're rooting for you.

In which year was the first commercial oilfield discovered in Saudi Arabia?

Have you got any ideas?

No, I haven't. Saudi Arabia.

I wouldn't have thought it was as early as 1838, would you?

No. Shall we go for the middle one?

-No hunches at all?

-No.

-No, nor me.

-We'll go for the middle one, then, shall we?

-1888.

Yes, 1888, please.

It wasn't. It was 1938.

So, even later than you thought.

And that means that there's no way back in this round.

Commiserations, Challengers.

The Eggheads have won.

They have done what comes naturally to them.

They still reign supreme over quizland.

I'm afraid you won't be going home with the £2,000.

-It's been lovely having you.

-Thank you.

We don't get many teams who sing to us!

Well, congratulations to the Eggheads.

Who will beat you, I wonder?

Join us next time to see if a new team of Challengers have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

£3,000 says they don't.

Till then, goodbye.

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