Episode 42 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

pit their wits against possibly the greatest quiz team in Britain.

You might recognise them

as they are Goliaths in the world of TV quiz shows. They are the Eggheads.

And taking on the might of our quiz Goliaths today

are Beauties and the Beast.

The team works for a builders and agricultural merchant in Suffolk.

Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Julie.

I'm 36 and I'm an accounts clerk.

Hi, I'm Karen. I'm 42 years old and I'm an accounts manager.

Hello, I'm Donny.

I'm 59 and I'm an accounts clerk.

Hi, I'm Kerry. I'm 37 and I'm a purchase ledger controller.

Hi, I'm Vicky. I'm 38 and I'm a receptionist.

Welcome to you, Beauties and the Beast.

I'm not going to ask you to identify yourselves.

You work together. I understand the team name.

You work together. Do you quiz together?

Yeah, locally. Yeah, local village halls, pubs, yeah.

We just started last year, so not done too good, but...

THEY LAUGH

Not done too good, in the sense of "not won anything" then?

Yeah. But you never know. It's the luck of the questions.

Accumulating knowledge along the way?

-Yeah.

-The other thing I've learnt from the Eggheads is it's kind of quizzing technique.

How to work a question. How to look at little clues that might be there,

dates, anything that gives you an edge.

You've concentrated on all that cos it all comes into play on Eggheads.

We did our homework.

You've looked at the potential weaknesses of the opponents.

Well, let's put that plan into action then now, shall we?

Let me tell you what's been happening up to this point.

Every day, there's £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.

Beauties and the Beast, the Eggheads have won the last ten games,

which means £11,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads.

And our first head-to-head battle today

is going to be Film and Television.

Now who likes their films, who enjoys television

and who'd like to play the round?

-I think that will be me.

-Vicky.

-Vicky, yeah.

Vicky? OK. And any Egghead you like.

-Erm...

-Judith?

-Judith.

Whatever you decide.

-The decision is yours.

-You're captain!

-You're very willing, Vicky. You'll play anyone.

-Yeah, Judith.

-Judith?

-Yeah.

-OK. Let's have Vicky and Judith into the Question Room then, please,

to make sure you can't confer with your team-mates.

Vicky, do you wanna go first or second?

Can I go first, please?

OK, going first.

First question on Film and Television.

Which EastEnders character

famously handed his wife divorce papers in the 1986 Christmas Day episode?

Well, I'm pretty sure on this one. Erm...

I think it was Den Watts.

-Dirty Den?

-Mmm.

-It was indeed, yes.

Good start. One to you, Vicky.

Judith, what is the title of the 2008 film in which Robert De Niro

and Al Pacino star as police detectives named Turk and Rooster?

I've got a huge gap,

cos I realise I haven't looked up the current films.

I mean, the 2008 films.

Erm... Oh dear.

Justified Homicide, Righteous Kill, Honorable Murder?

I think Righteous Kill, the words sound a bit better than the others,

so I'll try that.

Righteous Kill? You think like a Hollywood executive.

That's the right answer.

Well done. OK, well, there we are.

Good start for Judith.

Back to you, Vicky. Who played the title role in the 1964 Hitchcock film Marnie?

To be honest, I really haven't got a clue at this.

So it's going to be a total guess. Erm...

For some reason Sylvia Sidney's jumping out at me, but...

So I'm going to go for Sylvia Sidney.

Sylvia Sidney playing Marnie in the film, 1964.

No, it's not.

Sorry, Vicky. Judith, do you know?

It's Tippi Hedren.

-Tippi Hedren.

-Yes.

-Tippi Hedren acted in other Hitchcock films.

-The Birds.

-The Birds.

-The Birds, yeah.

OK, well, nothing there for Vicky.

Let's see how Judith does with her second question.

Who plays TV executive Jack Donaghy in the award-winning US sitcom 30 Rock?

I haven't the faintest idea.

Erm... Oh, dear me!

Oh, dear me! I'm wanting Daphne's luck technique.

I mean, it's a bit of, sort of inner meditation and all that, so...

Daphne's inspirational guessing.

Close my eyes and go for Alec Baldwin.

You've transferred it, Daphne. It's the right answer.

Thank you, Daphne.

OK, Alec Baldwin there. So means you've got to get this, Vicky.

What nationality is the film maker Walter Salles?

Er... Don't think it's French.

So Spanish or Brazilian.

Spanish. I'll go for Spanish.

OK, Walter Salles.

Any films we'd have heard of?

Probably Motorcycle Diaries.

Oh, Motorcycle Diaries.

-Che Guevara.

-Yeah.

Walter Salles is Brazilian.

Brazilian. Bad luck.

This round has been a story of guessing.

And yours just haven't landed.

It's a one in three chance for you both and Judith's did.

That was the difference.

That means you won't be in the final round. Judith, you will be there.

Would you please rejoin your teams?

Bad luck there, Vicky. You can still play a role though

in an advisory capacity with Beauties and the Beast.

But you've lost one brain from the final round, Beauties and the Beast.

The Eggheads haven't lost any.

Our next subject is sport. I know you're all pretty sporting.

We have one person

who knows about sport. That's Donny.

-Yeah, I'm Sport. Yes.

-Donny?

-One of the Beauties. Who is the beast?

-I'm the beast.

He had to ask!

Donny, who would you like to play from the Eggheads?

-It can't be Judith.

-Who do you think?

-Chris is quite...

-Chris, please.

Chris. OK. Well, two beauties into the question room.

Let's have Donny and Chris.

So, Donny, do you want to go first or second?

I would like to go first, please.

Best of luck, Donny. Here's your question.

What does a snooker referee call when a player committing a foul

is judged not to have played the shot to the best of his ability?

Well, I think it's deemed as if the player tried a deliberate miss.

So I will go for miss.

OK, and miss, that certainly wasn't. It's the right answer.

First question for you, Chris.

Which athletics event is known as the metric mile?

Well, a mile is 1760 yards

and the closest to that is 1500m. 1500m.

That is correct. Well done.

Back to you, Donny.

Sparky was the nickname of which former Manchester United player?

I believe that to be Mark Hughes.

Sparky Marky. Yes, it's the right answer.

OK, Chris. In which sport

might a player be selected as the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year?

Well, Sir Henry Cotton was a golfer way back when, so it must be golf.

Certainly must be.

Hole in one. Well, done, Chris.

Two to you. OK, third question each.

Donny, how many metres

do competitors stand from the target during Olympic archery competitions?

Well, this is a question I'm afraid I don't know.

So I've got to take a guess at it.

And, erm, I will go for the middle one, 80.

OK, 80 metres from the target in Olympic archery.

And Donny having a guess and missed the target.

Donny, it's 70m.

OK, well, a chance for Chris to win the round then.

Chris, who became the first man ever to run a marathon in under two hours and four minutes

at the Berlin Marathon in 2008?

The greatest marathon runners in the world come from Africa,

Ethiopia in particular,

cos they can train at altitude all the time.

-I think it's Haile Gebrselassie.

-Haile Gebrselassie.

Under two hours and four minutes and it was done by...

Haile Gebrselassie is the right answer, Chris.

Well, three out of three.

Just the one in it, Donny, means you won't play in the final round.

Chris, you'll be there. Would you both please rejoin your teams?

Well, Beauties and the Beast,

you've lost two brains from the final round.

All Eggheads are there. With two head-to-heads, it could be all square in the final round.

And this category is Arts and Books.

-Who'd like to play this?

-Want me to go?

Do you want to go?

-Go on. Go and get them.

-OK, stay with us, Kerry.

-Sorry.

Kerry, you need to choose an opponent.

-Oh.

-Or it might be a bit easy.

-Yes.

And the choices are Daphne, CJ or Kevin, the three in the middle.

-Who would you like to go for?

-I'll go against CJ

as he's smiling so nicely over there.

It wasn't genuine.

The fixed grin of fear. OK, Kerry and CJ, into the Question Room, please.

So, Kerry, would you like to go first or second?

I will go first, please.

OK, Arts and Books.

Let's see what we've got. This is your first question, Kerry.

What is the title of Christopher Fry's 1949 play famously adapted

by Margaret Thatcher in a 1980 speech?

Right. Well, I haven't got a clue on this one,

so it's going to be a complete guess.

-I am going to go for The Lady's Not For Burning.

-OK.

You're familiar with how Margaret Thatcher adapted that phrase?

-No.

-OK. I'm interested because it's the right answer.

Oh, good grief!

And, Eggheads, the phrase Margaret Thatcher used was?

"You turn if you want to, the lady's not for turning."

"The lady's not for turning," she adapted.

But Lady's Not For Burning, got there by Kerry.

And CJ's first question coming up.

In the Harry Potter books, trains for Hogwarts

leave from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters at which London station?

I haven't read any of the books,

but I have forced myself to sit through the films,

simply because questions about these tedious stories come up all time.

If anything else, it's teaching kids across the country to read,

but where's our next generation of waiters gonna come from?

But in that case, I think it's King's Cross, Dermot.

CJ, you must be adding to your legions of fans out there.

Yes, both of them are very pleased with me.

Yes. Apologies to Harry Potter lovers out there,

but, yeah, CJ has got it right, of course.

King's Cross is correct.

OK, good start, Kerry.

Second one for you now.

Who wrote the 1970s travel book The Great Railway Bazaar?

Again, this is going to be a complete guess.

Erm...

I'm going to go for Paul Theroux.

OK.

I don't know why, but...

It's tough when you're forced to guess.

-Not so tough when you get the right answer though!

-No!

Paul Theroux.

So, CJ, to catch up.

In which field of the arts is the annual Carnegie Medal awarded?

Uh-oh!

Uh-oh!

This has gone right out of my head and I know this.

So I'm going to hopefully give it a couple of moments

to see if it pops back in.

This is just so ridiculously simple and it's just completely gone.

Oh, dear! Literature.

The Carnegie Medal for...

-Is it, Eggheads?

-Yes. Children's literature.

-Children's literature.

-Specifically illustration.

-Yeah.

-Further narrows it down.

Illustration of children's books.

Illustration of children's literature.

It's the right answer. Fair's fair, Kerry.

You had a guess at your second. He's guessed his successfully.

Let's hope you know this one and really put the pressure on him.

The Analysis Of Beauty, which puts forward the idea

that beauty is achieved through a serpentine line, is a 1753 treatise by which artist?

Again, this is going to be a complete guess.

And I am going to go for Thomas Gainsborough.

OK, Gainsborough, The Analysis Of Beauty.

Have you guessed it again?

You haven't, Kerry.

-Oh!

-No, it's not Gainsborough. CJ, is it Reynolds or Hogarth?

Dunno. I would have gone for Hogarth.

Yeah, it's Hogarth. The Analysis Of Beauty.

William Hogarth. OK.

Chance for CJ. Here's your question.

Who wrote the Elizabethan play The Spanish Tragedy?

This one I'm not sure about. Erm...

Now Daphne is probably going to be squealing at me here.

I am going to go for what I thought of

-before the options came up.

-Yep.

Which is Christopher Marlowe.

OK. Marlowe.

As I read the question out before the options come out,

-you try and put something in your head?

-Yeah.

If it's there, you would get confirmation.

I can confirm that that is the wrong answer!

-Other Eggheads?

-Thomas Kyd.

Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy.

A let-off for you, Kerry. All square, two-two.

Sudden Death for the first time.

Now this means we remove those choices.

So if you have to guess, which I hope you don't, it's going to be a lot harder.

I've just got to hear any answer coming from you.

"Many years later,

"as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia

"was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice,"

is the opening line to which 1967 novel?

Oh, I really don't know.

I'm gonna struggle on this one.

I'm going to go for Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

I know it's wrong, but that's the only one I can think of.

OK, Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

Not the right answer. But worth having a guess.

Do you know, CJ?

-I don't, no.

-That's interesting.

CJ wouldn't have known it if you'd put him in first

which you could have done. Other Eggheads?

-It's 100 Years Of Solitude.

-Kevin's got it there.

-Marquez. Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 100 Years Of Solitude.

-Have you heard of it, Kerry?

-No!

-100 Years Of Solitude.

Aureliano Buendia. OK, well, CJ, My Last Duchess is a sinister poem

by which 19th-century writer?

Byron. Sorry, George Gordon Byron.

-I don't need a full name for an incorrect answer.

-Fine.

It's OK.

-Other Eggheads?

-Robert Browning.

Robert Browning. Robert Browning, My Last Duchess.

OK, on we go. You're still in it, Kerry.

So you can get this.

Which ballet dancer was arrested in 1959 when her husband was accused

of attempting to overthrow the government of Panama?

Which ballet dancer was arrested in 1959 when her husband was accused

of attempting to overthrow the government of Panama?

I can't think of any ballet dancers.

I haven't got a clue, Dermot. I'll have to pass on that one.

I really don't know. I can't think of any.

-Mmm. Mind going a blank.

-Mm-hm.

The old curse of the Question Room. Erm, CJ, do you know?

Is it Margot Fonteyn?

Margot Fonteyn.

CJ, will you go through to the final round?

If you get this, you will. Which art critic

known for his well-spoken voice has described the Turner Prize as "an annual farce

"as inevitable in November as is the pantomime at Christmas"?

I hope that is that immensely irritating Brian Sewell.

Brian Sewell is the correct answer, CJ!

You've won.

Kerry, bad luck. Means you won't be playing in the final round.

Sorry to say that. Would you both please rejoin your teams?

Beauties and the Beast, you've lost three brains from the final round.

The Eggheads haven't lost any,

so you get your last chance now to knock one of them out on this subject, Politics.

Julie or Karen, who wants to play it?

-What do you think?

-Are you good at politics?

-I'd go for politics.

-Politics.

-It's me, I'm afraid.

-OK.

And you've got an easy round against Kevin or Daphne then.

Ha-ha! Who would you like to play?

-Daphne, please.

-Daphne? OK.

Let's have Karen and Daphne in the Question Room, please.

Karen, would you like to go first or second?

I think I'd like to go first, please.

Best of luck, Karen. Politics, and this is your question.

At what time of day

does Prime Minister's Questions usually take place?

I'm not sure, but I don't believe it would be 9am.

I'm gonna go for midday.

-OK, midday.

-Midday.

-You wouldn't see it very often.

You'd be at work, wouldn't you?

I would, you see.

-Because it is at midday!

-Excellent.

-Well worked out.

Daphne, who announced her intention

to resign as Transport Minister during the 2008 Labour Party conference?

Well, she claimed she wanted to spend more time with her family.

It was Ruth Kelly.

-Ruth Kelly?

-Mm-hm.

Resigned as Transport Minister at the Labour Party conference in 2008.

Yes, that's correct.

Karen, William Lyon Mackenzie King served three times as prime minister

of which country in the first half of the 20th century?

I'm... With the name of William, this is a complete guess,

but it doesn't come across as an Australian name.

Erm, I'm really guessing here. William? South Africa.

OK, William Lyon Mackenzie King served three times

-as prime minister of Canada.

-Ah!

-Not Australia.

On the right track, but landed the wrong one of the other two.

Daphne, second question. Faith Of My Fathers,

which was made into a 2005 TV film, is a memoir by which US politician?

Oh, dear! Erm... Oh-ho!

Don't know. Erm, 2005?

Well, I'm hoping that's too early

for Barack Obama. Erm...

Faith Of My Fathers?

Oh, dear.

Pure guess. John McCain.

-Is the right answer, Daphne.

-Oh!

OK, means you've got to get this, Karen.

The term "ochlocracy,"

O-C-H-L-O-C-R-A-C-Y.

The term "ochlocracy" means rule by what?

Well, this is going to be a slight guess.

I don't think it's the mob.

Erm, I'm not sure...

It is purely on how you're saying it, ochu...

It's "ochlocracy".

O-C-H-L-O-C-R-A-C-Y. "Ochlocracy".

Yeah, I just think if you "occupy" somewhere,

maybe it's the army, but that IS my guess.

OK, the army. "Ochlocracy" means rule by the army.

Would you have gone for that, Daphne?

-No, it's the mob.

-It's the mob.

It means, Karen, I'm afraid

you won't be playing in the final round and Daphne,

with another successful guess, has booked a place for herself.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

This is what we've been playing towards.

It's time for the final round which is General Knowledge.

But I'm afraid those of you who lost your head-to-heads can't take part.

So, Karen, Donny, Kerry and Vicky,

from Beauties and the Beasts, would you please leave the studio?

So, Julie, you're playing to win Beauties and the Beast £11,000.

Judith, Kevin, CJ, Daphne and Chris, you're playing for something

which money can't buy - the Eggheads' reputation.

I'll ask each team three questions in turn.

The questions are all general knowledge and you're allowed to confer.

Julie, the question is, is your one brain better than the Eggheads' five?

And, Julie, you get to choose,

as always, do you want to go first or second?

I'd like to go second, please.

General Knowledge and best of luck, Julie.

-Thank you.

-Here you go, Eggheads.

The island of Murano, north of Venice,

is most associated with which industry?

-Everybody happy with glass?

-Glass.

-That is Murano, with an M?

-Yeah. The island of Murano,

north of Venice, is most associated with which industry?

M-U-R-A-N-O.

It's glassblowing.

-Glass industry.

-Glassblowing is correct, Eggheads. Yes.

Glad you avoided that question?

-Yeah.

-That's a good thing. Don't want you kicking yourself,

thinking, "I knew that!"

Right, so right decision then.

Here's your question. On which part of the body are barrettes normally worn?

On which part of the body are barrettes normally worn?

B-A-R-R-E-T-T-E-S. Barrettes.

Barrettes? Never heard of it, if I'm honest.

Erm, I don't think it's head.

It's either feet or hands.

I will try... Mmm...

Feet. I'll go for feet.

Barrettes worn on the feet.

-Is the wrong answer, Julie.

-Oh!

-They're not worn on the feet.

Do you know, Eggheads?

-Head.

-It's a big thing...

-They're slides you put in your hair.

-Oh, like hair clips?

-Yes. Big slides.

-Big ones?

-Yes.

-Yeah.

OK, barrettes there.

Julie, not heard of those.

But let's see how you do with your second one, Eggheads.

Mansour Bahrami, born in Iran in 1956, is known for his trick shots

and flamboyant performances in the seniors' events of which sport?

That's tennis.

-He's got a big moustache.

-Yes. That's right, yes, yeah.

I saw him play at the Royal Albert Hall partnering Henri Leconte

and that was... A few laughs in that match.

Yeah, Mansour Bahrami. It's tennis.

That's correct, Eggheads.

Julie, best of luck with this one. You've got to get this one

and I know how hard it is without anyone to consult with there.

What type of transport is a traditional gulet in Turkey?

G-U-L-E-T. Have you ever been to Turkey, Julie?

No. I wish I had.

-Erm...

-Gulet.

Don't think it's a train. I could be wrong. I was wrong before, but...

I'm...

Turkey, boats, holidays.

Boats. Just a pure guess, boats?

OK, boat, pure guess. Well, it's not a pure guess there,

holidays, boats. It's the right answer.

-Oh!

-Well, done, Julie. Congratulations.

Now that's a relief. You've got one on the board.

-We hope the Eggheads don't get this.

-Yeah.

And the game's back on.

But, as you know, because of that slip-up on the first one,

you put them in first, they do win the game

if they get this. But here's hoping.

Who plays Sebastian Flyte in the 2008 film Brideshead Revisited?

Who plays Sebastian Flyte in the 2008 film Brideshead Revisited?

-Plays, erm...

-Yeah, he plays Charles Ryder.

Well, Matthew Goode plays the sort of lead role, Charles Ryder

but Sebastian Flyte is played by Ben Whishaw.

Ben Whishaw?

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

-How would you have been with that, Julie?

-I wouldn't have known.

-No?

My main subject's music, so I was hoping it was going to come up later.

And it didn't come up today. Yeah.

The plan fell apart there, Beauties and the Beast.

And thanks very much for coming along here.

It's been a real pleasure having you.

The Eggheads did what comes naturally.

Their winning streak continues.

I'm afraid you won't be going home with the £11,000,

which means the 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.

£12,000 says they don't. Until then, goodbye.

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