Episode 143 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 pedigree is 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 Blitz Dames.

This team are all members of the Birmingham Blitz Dames,

a roller derby team who compete as part of

the West Midlands All Female Flat Track Roller Derby League. Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Bea. I'm 38 and I'm a cognitive hypnotherapist.

Hi, I'm Eirin. I'm 25 and I'm a PhD student.

Hi, I'm Simone. I'm 26 and I'm a photographer.

Hi, I'm Michelle. I'm 32 and I'm a film lecturer.

Hi, I'm Caitlin. I'm 31 and I'm a curator and artist.

-So, welcome Blitz Dames. Welcome, Bea.

-Thank you.

And the All Female Flat Track Roller Derby League.

How do we... What should be in our mind's eye with that?

Well, roller derby is a full contact skating sport for women

and so I guess what should come to mind is

women on skates, kind of bashing each other around a little bit.

-Is there a ball involved anywhere?

-No balls, no, no.

-So you just bash each other for the hell of it?

-A good way to put it

I think is like British bulldog, but on roller skates, going around in a circle.

So it's a race and, basically, you have to stop the other people

-from scoring points from passing you.

-We had a team of female roller bladers, skaters, a while back.

-The London Roller Girls, wasn't it?

-That's right, yes.

They reduced the Eggheads to one and then sadly lost, but it was an interesting game.

-And they were very lively.

-Yes.

So you have something to live up to!

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

however if they fail to defeat the Eggheads, the prize money rolls over.

So, The Blitz Dames, the Eggheads have won the last 21 games, yeah.

£22,000 says you can't beat them.

The first head to head battle is on the subject of food and drink.

Who wants this?

What do you reckon ladies? Bea? Food and drink?

Food and drink?

-Yeah?

-No.

-I'll take that one.

-Bea, against who?

-Is it Kevin who has been having...

-Kevin?

-Oh, he knows his number's up!

Yeah, well done. Good choice, actually.

Bea from The Blitz Dames against Kevin from the Eggheads

who always gets Food And Drink.

To ensure there's no conferring please take your positions in the question room.

Three multiple choice questions for you on food and drink

and, Bea, would you like the first or second set?

I'll go first, please.

Here we go. Good luck.

Which Italian dish consisting of large rolls of pasta,

typically filled with meat or a vegetable mixture and served in a cheese sauce

has a name from the Italian for large tubes?

Well, I think the fusilli is a mushroom kind of thing,

fettuccini are the long noodles, so I'll go with the cannelloni, please.

Cannelloni is the right answer, well done.

-Would you have known that, Kevin?

-Yeah, I did know that one.

Here's one for you. A cheese made in a flat circular shape

is commonly referred to as a what?

Well, the only one of those I've ever heard applied to cheese is

wheel, so I'll go for wheel.

Wheel is the correct answer.

Back to you, Bea.

What is traditionally added to French onion soup before serving?

That would be a sick combination if it was the sliced apple!

I'll go with the toast and cheese, please.

Yeah, and it's very, very nice. Toast and cheese is correct.

Kevin, the Franschhoek Valley is a wine producing region in which country?

I need a spelling on that one, I think.

F R A N S C H H O E K.

Franschhoek.

I've never heard of that.

It's a Germanic sounding word, but it looks more Dutch to me,

so I know what I'm going for here.

It doesn't sound Romanian.

I've never heard of that in relation to Germany.

Franschhoek? No, no.

It seems more Dutch so I'm going for South Africa.

South Africa is correct.

Third question for you, Bea.

Keep the pressure on. What type of food is the Swedish dish matjessill?

I've never had it before.

I don't think it's the potatoes or the salmon,

I'm going to go for the pickled herring on a guess.

Pickled herring is the right answer.

Well, done, Bea, three out of three.

Good guess, if that's what it was.

Kevin, to stay in it on food and drink, not your strongest.

What type of seafood is usually used

to make a form of sushi known as a California roll?

I don't... I don't know why, I don't imagine its prawn, so I'm...

I'm between the other two.

Sushi is Japanese,

but there's obviously an American influence on this

which means it could be either squid or crab.

I'll go for crab.

Yeah, it is actually crab. Kevin, you're right.

Well, so we go to sudden death.

And not multiple choice.

It's a bit harder, you have to give me the answer. No alternatives given to you.

Bea, here's your question. The ugli fruit is a cross between

a tangerine and which other fruit?

Ugly is spelt U G L I.

The ugli fruit.

Now, I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the way bees

can cross pollinate and I'm thinking it's a lemon,

so I'll...

I'll go with that.

No, the answer is grapefruit.

OK.

Kevin, your chance to take the round.

The whole European crop of which fruit belonging to

the genus Ribes was wiped out in 1905 by a mildew disease

accidentally introduced from America?

I'm sure I've heard this at some point, but I can't remember which one it was,

which is... It just...

Because obviously there are various fruits belonging to that genus.

Which one to go for?

Gooseberry.

I thought you were going to end up with gooseberry. I don't know why, I just did.

It's the right answer. Well done, Kevin.

What led you to gooseberry there?

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I have read that,

but it was a long, long time ago, so...

Kevin, you're in the final, Bea, I'm afraid you're not.

You've been knocked out by our Egghead. Don't be dispirited,

your team can still win and it is £22,000 we're playing for.

Both of you please come back and rejoin your team mates.

As it stands the challengers have lost one brain from the final,

the Eggheads have not lost any.

Our next subject as film and TV, so anyone but Bea. Who wants this?

That will be me, Jeremy.

Against which Egghead?

-Anyone but Kevin.

-What do you think?

-Daphne.

-We'll go with Daphne.

OK, Simone from The Blitz Dames versus Daphne from the Eggheads.

To ensure there's no conferring, please take your positions.

Simone, we're trying to work out how you're in the booth

and Michelle, who's a film lecturer, is left back in the studio.

That's because I'm a total TV addict, you see, so hopefully,

a lot of TV questions will come up.

-Three questions. You can choose the first or second set, Simone.

-I'll go second, please.

Over to you, Daphne. Which television channel's opening night was plunged into chaos

when a fire at Battersea Power Station blacked out power to the studios?

Oh! I've not heard of it.

Channel 4.

-I think CJ knows this, or somebody does.

-BBC 2, isn't it?

BBC 2 it was.

I told you I didn't know it.

-Year, CJ?

-'65?

-'64.

-'64?

Wasn't there an incident where the next night...

When they came back the next night the presenter, as a prop,

had a candle or a candelabra next to him and said,

"As I was saying before we were..." Yeah.

So, BBC 2, Daphne.

Simone, which Top Gear star is the presenter of

the TV game show Total Wipeout?

Well, I've actually seen this so I know that to be, as they call him,

The Hamster, Richard Hammond.

Yeah, Richard Hammond is the right answer, well done.

You're in the lead, now.

Daphne, in the '70s and early '80s, Sue Lawley and Frank Bough

were two of the main presenters on which TV news programme?

Oh, dear! I'm absolutely hopeless at this!

I don't think it was News At Ten.

Nationwide.

-Of course, Nationwide!

-Oh, good!

Simone, in the 2008 film The Wrestler,

what's the nickname of Mickey Rourke's character?

Well, I actually...

I really wanted to see this and I haven't got round to it yet.

By the looks of Mickey Rourke, he's a bit big and beefy,

I'm going to have to go with

The Ram. A total guess.

The Ram is your guess. Michelle, let me ask you, is she right?

-Yes, she is.

-She is right.

Well done, you've had it confirmed by a film lecturer!

You're in the lead, Simone.

If Daphne gets this wrong, you're in the final.

Which she probably will!

Well, you and your guessing, Daphne, it's amazing.

In which Hitchcock film does Cary Grant play a government agent

who recruits Ingrid Bergman to infiltrate Claude Rains' circle of German scientists?

Notorious?

Where did you get that from?

I thought Cary Grant was in that.

Yes, you're right. The right answer, Notorious is correct.

Sorry, Simone, she's not going to make it that easy.

If you get this right you've got all three and you're in the final.

In what type of establishment does

SpongeBob SquarePants work in the TV cartoon series?

Well, I love SpongeBob SquarePants and that is a fast food restaurant.

It is a fast food restaurant, brilliant work!

You made light work of our Egghead, there.

-Daphne, you're not in the final. Well, done, Simone.

-Thank you.

You will be playing for the money.

Please both of you come back and rejoin your teams.

As it stands the challengers have lost one brain from the final,

the Eggheads have lost one brain too.

The next round is geography. Who would like this?

Are you going to take the bullet?

-Me, Jeremy. I'm going to take it.

-Michelle against which one?

-We're just going to, at random, choose Brian.

-Barry.

-Barry, do you mean?

-Barry.

-Brian!

We love you, Barry, sorry!

So, Michelle from The Blitz Dames,

obviously really sharp today, versus...

Hang on, I nearly said Brian, then!

Barry from the Eggheads. To ensure there's no conferring

please take your positions in the question room.

-So, Michelle the film lecturer on geography.

-Yeah.

I must ask you about your roller derby position. Where do you play?

I'm usually blocker two, blocker three, so I'm in the middle of the pack,

basically trying to knock over anyone who's trying to overtake me and score points.

So you just mustn't let anyone past?

-Yeah, shoulders, hips, knock them down.

-But you can't trip them.

No. No tripping, no elbowing, no punching.

I wouldn't say that it doesn't happen, but if the ref don't see it, it never happened!

OK, well, good luck in this round. Three questions on geography in turn.

-Michelle, you can choose the first or second set.

-OK, I think I'll go first.

Which body of water is sometimes humorously referred to by Britons and Americans as The Pond?

Well, this is actually one I know, thank goodness.

In between us and the States is the Atlantic.

The Atlantic is correct.

-Yeah.

-Barry, your question.

What name is given to a deep narrow gorge with steep sides?

A berm, routine or scree?

That would be a ravine.

A ravine is the right answer, Barry, well done.

Michelle, here's your second question.

Because of the colour of many of its buildings,

the Moroccan city of Marrakesh is also known as what?

Oh, gosh, I really don't know.

I have a feeling inside Moroccan buildings

there's always all that beautiful blue tiling,

but I think the outside of the buildings...

Right, I'm going to take a guess and say the White City.

Let me ask the Eggheads this. Who's been there?

-It's the Red City.

-I would say red.

-The Red City is the answer.

Sorry, Michelle, you got that wrong.

It gives Barry a bit of a chance here.

Barry, your question.

Mounts Bay is part of the coastline of which English county?

I'm not at all sure on this one, so I shall go for the county

that has the longest coastline and say Cornwall.

-Did he get it right?

-Yes. St Michael's Mount.

Barry, well done, it is Cornwall.

-St Michael's Mount is the one out to sea.

-Exactly.

-Yeah.

You need to get this one right, Michelle,

-or Barry goes into the final and he'll come over all triumphalist on us.

-No!

Start whooping and cheering.

Ashgabat is the capital of which country, Michelle?

It sounds like it could come from any of those countries.

I have to say it's going to be a complete guess.

-I'm going to go for Turkmenistan.

-Turkmenistan.

And the Eggheads are laughing now with glee or with amazement?

-No, good guess.

-She's right.

-Good guess.

-Admiration. Good guess.

Turkmenistan is correct.

Barry, if you get this right, you're in the final.

The Black Forest is part of which of the 16 states that make up

the Federal Republic of Germany?

Well, it's certainly not Berlin.

The Black Forest is in the south so I'm just trying to remember

which of those states is in the south.

I think Bremen is in the north, so I shall go for Baden-Wurttemberg.

Baden-Wurttemberg is the correct answer, Barry.

Well done. You have taken the round with that answer,

so, Michelle, you've been beaten by our Egghead.

That means you won't be joining the challengers,

-but here is one consolation, it wasn't films.

-Yes.

-So the students will not be on at you.

Oh, I'm sure they will.

Barry, you'll be joining your team in the final.

Please both of you come back to us now.

So, challengers have now lost two brains,

Eggheads have lost one brain. Our last subject is sport.

-No? I thought you're all sporty.

-We're a sports team, yeah, but...

-Not the same.

-We're also women!

Yeah. This is going to be bad.

So, who would you like to take on and who wants to play?

Well, unfortunately, we're probably going to lose another brain, folks.

-Well, do your best.

-I'm going to have to do sport.

-OK, against who?

Oh, who's bad at sport? Judith?

Yeah, Judith?

Yeah, we've seen Judith get a few wrong on sport, so I think we'll go for Judith.

-I need all the help I can get.

-Judith, it's happening again.

-Oh, dear.

Sport is returning, what's going on? It's Eirin from The Blitz Dames

versus Judith on sport.

Please go to the question room now.

So, apart from the roller derbies, what do you do, Eirin?

Sport-wise, not a lot. I used to play on the university cricket team,

but then I had a little accident.

-Really?

-So, yeah, I retired.

-What happened?

-I totally busted my knee and had to have surgery on it.

-It was kind of...

-Playing cricket?

-Playing cricket, yeah. Bowling.

You can choose the first or second set.

I think I'll go first, get it over and done with!

Here's your first question, good luck.

Which tennis player sensationally retired from competition in 1983 at the age of 26?

Oh, gosh.

I know John McEnroe was playing in the early '80s.

I don't think he had a particularly long career

and was known for being a bit stroppy.

I know Bjorn Borg was frightfully good.

Jimmy Connors I don't even know about. Oh, dear.

I'm going to go for John McEnroe because I think he had

a temper and he might have said, I'm not going to do it any more, no.

Oh, your team are dismayed.

Bjorn Borg is the answer.

Judith, your question,

your sports question, your favourite subject.

In February 2009, who became the first National Hunt jockey to win 3,000 races?

Oh, I remember this going on and he kept losing a race here and there

and not making the 3,000.

I... I think it's Tony McCoy.

Well done, Tony McCoy's the right answer.

So, Judith is in the lead on sport.

Your question, Eirin

In 1993, which football team

became the first champions of the Premier League?

Oh, I believe this was back in the time

when I was still collecting football stickers, um...

I know Blackburn won it around about then, but I think

they won it in 1994, because that's the year I started secondary school

and we were all swapping stickers then.

That's what you do at an all-girls school - swap football stickers.

So, probably Manchester United because they're just far too good,

so, yeah, I think Manchester United.

-Manchester United is the correct answer.

-Wow!

You got there. Brilliantly logical steps,

through your own sticker collection!

Judith, which Indian cricketer is nicknamed The Wall,

cos he's so difficult to remove when batting?

Search me.

Um, I can't link it to anything.

I think I'm going to say Ganguly.

-Ganguly is your answer.

-Yeah.

-To take the lead. Actually, no.

-No?

-Rahul Dravid.

-Oh.

Back to you, Eirin.

The boxer James DeGale won a gold medal

in which weight division at the 2008 Olympics?

Well, I'm afraid I didn't watch much of the 2008 Olympics, because I was

holed up in some dingy laboratory somewhere, so let me have a think.

I usually do enjoy to watch a bit of boxing,

so I'm upset I don't know this straight off. James DeGale.

I'll plump for middleweight, it's my favourite weight to watch,

so I'm just going to go with it.

Middleweight is your answer, and that's your favourite weight, is it?

It's my favourite weight, cos they're not too big

and just lumbering around going, "Oh, oh!" and are not too small,

so they've got power behind them, you know?

The lightweights are fun, but it's scrappy.

The middleweights - that's where it gets interesting.

Well, that's lovely. And it's a good thing, too.

Middleweight is the right answer.

Every explanation from Eirin has been interesting today.

-SHE LAUGHS

-I'm a scientist, I'm logical.

-Yeah, it's all logical.

Judith, your question. Which French rugby union club

did New Zealand fly-half Dan Carter join on a six month contract in 2008?

-If you get this wrong...

-I know.

I think it might be Stade Francais.

-Stade Francais.

-Yeah.

-Why do you think that?

-Just, I don't know. Some...

I'm just twanging a nerve somewhere.

-You're not going down the right?

-No, not this time.

It would've been good if you had, Perpignan is the right answer.

Perpignan.

So, Eirin, well done.

You will help your team in the final round.

You took on an Egghead and emerged triumphant. Great news for the Blitz Dames.

Judith, I'm sorry, you won't be in the final. I won't remind you again.

Please come back, rejoin your teams.

This is what we've played towards, our final round, which, as always, is general knowledge.

But those of you who lost your head to heads

won't be allowed to take part in this round. So, Bea and Michelle from The Blitz Dames

and Judith and Daphne from the Eggheads, would you please leave the studio?

So, Eirin, Simone and Caitlin, what do we say?

ALL SHOUT: Blitz Dames!

And you're playing to win those Blitz Dames £22,000.

Barry, Kevin and CJ... No.

-No.

-Never mind.

-No way!

-No chance. Playing for something money can't buy - the Eggheads' reputation.

I'll ask each team three questions in turn, all on general knowledge.

You are allowed to confer. So, Blitz Dames, the question is

are your three brains better than the Eggheads' three?

And would you like to go first or second?

-Ladies first.

-Ladies first, we say.

Your first question. Who played the role of the Child Catcher

in the 1968 film version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

-Child Catcher.

-He was a ballet dancer or something.

-Was he?

-I think so.

-I've never actually watched it.

-I don't think it's Robert Helpmann.

-Do you think it's a...

-You said it was...

-I'm sure it's someone who was actually a dancer,

-so someone who sounds a bit exotic.

-Anton...

Anton sounds kind of French, Russian.

-Not the last... Yeah. So we'll go for the first one?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

We're going to go for Anton Walbrook.

It was not Anton Walbrook, it was Robert Helpmann.

OK, Eggheads, your first question.

Here we go. The armies of which people would historically attack in a buffalo's head formation

with the large horns of troops outflanking and encircling their enemies?

-It was the Impies or the Zulus.

-I think you would know this.

We think it's Zulus, Jeremy.

The buffalo head formation is Zulu, you think.

You're right, it is Zulu. They're in the lead.

You must stop them. £22,000 on the table.

Don't let it get snatched away by the bad Eggheads.

What is a central hall in a modern building

that rises through several stories and is topped with a glazed roof?

OK, I did Latin at school.

-Yes. Me, too.

-And I believe it is an atrium.

I believe it's atrium.

I didn't do Latin, so I'll go with what they say.

-We know this one.

-So, yes, we're going to go with atrium, Jeremy.

-You've got the right answer, atrium it is.

-Go Latin!

Well done on Latin. We need more Latin.

Eggheads, to take the lead again, Cobra and Downward Facing Dog

are two common positions in which discipline?

-It surely can't be ballet.

-It's not ballet.

-It's not ballet.

Cobra and Downward Facing Dog.

I've done judo and I've never heard it. I done a bit of yoga.

Downward Facing Dog sounds like something you hold,

you just hold a position.

-OK.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

Not entirely sure, but it seems the most likely would be yoga.

If you get this right, you're in the lead again.

Yoga is the right answer.

Always encouraging when they're uncertain.

But in the end, they knew. So your third question.

You need this or it's over.

What name was given to the American P-51 long range fighter aircraft

that came into service in the middle years of World War II?

-Well...

-It's a tough one. For the Blitz Dames, we should know this.

Well, if it's a plane, I doubt it would be Mustang,

-so maybe...

-Really?

-Because it's already named after a car.

-No, well, the car came after the plane, probably.

-Yeah, good point.

-Well, yeah.

-Liberator. It was WWII.

-In the middle of the WWII...

-Would they have been liberating?

-They liberated us.

-Yeah.

-Shooting Star.

-That's a bit naff, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-The Americans like tough names.

"We're the liberators!"

So, are we going to go for Liberator or Mustang, girls?

-What do we reckon? Dames? Give me your...

-I'm feeling Liberator.

-You're feeling Liberator.

-WWII, dark times.

What are you feeling, Simone?

-Yeah, we'll go Liberator.

-Don't just go with it because I said it.

-OK.

We're going to go with Liberator.

The name given to

the long-range fighter aircraft the Americans brought in in World War II

-was the Mustang.

-Aw!

-No way!

Congratulations, Eggheads, you've won.

It's always evenly balanced at the end. Commiserations.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally, building up an impressive winning streak now.

I'm afraid you won't be going home with the £22,000,

which means that money rolls over to the next show.

Eggheads, congratulations. Who will beat you? Join us next time to see

if a new team of challengers have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

£23,000 says they don't.

Till then, goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

E-mail: [email protected]