Episode 44 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 awesome might of our quiz Goliaths are Alma Mater.

The team used to quiz together at the Cocked Hat in Coventry,

and the team's name is in honour of the landlady, Alma,

who used to run the pub. Let's meet them.

Hello, I'm Nigel, I'm 54 and I'm a tachograph analyst.

I'm Jane, I'm 51 and I'm a chemist worker.

Hi, I'm Darren, I'm 26 and a post office clerk.

Hello, I'm Bob, I'm 59 and I'm self-employed builder.

Hi, I'm Dean, I'm 45 and a self-employed plumber.

Welcome to you. This team name normally refers to

people who've been to the same university together.

How does it translate in Latin?

-Nourishing mother.

-Nurturing...nourishing mother.

-Nurturing, nourishing mother.

-That's Alma to you. Why isn't she here?

She's running a pub.

-Is it a good pub?

-Yes, of course.

-And what's the quiz like?

-The quiz is very good.

There's probably about eight or nine regular teams that get

in there, and we seem to sort of share the winnings round every...

-month or so.

-I see, so it's pretty evenly balanced?

-It is, yes.

Best of luck, Alma Mater. Let me tell you what's been going on.

Every day there's £1,000 up for grabs for our challengers.

However, if they fail to defeat the Eggheads, the prize money

rolls over to the next show.

So Alma Mater, the Eggheads have won the last 12 games,

which means £13,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads.

The first head-to-head battle is on Science. Who'd like to play this?

It could be any one of you, it's the first round.

-I'm happy to.

-If you're happy to do it.

-If you're happy, Nigel.

-I'll do science.

-All right, Nigel, it's you.

Who do you want to play from the Eggheads team?

Who are you going to take on?

I think I'd like to try somebody new to me, anyway, Barry.

Barry. OK. Let's have Nigel and Barry into the question room,

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

OK, Nigel. I'm sure you know the way it works.

To remind you, you'll get three multiple choice questions to start.

If it's all square after that we move to sudden death.

And you get to choose, as the challenger, do you want to start

or let the Egghead begin?

I'd like to go first, please.

OK, best of luck, Nigel. Off we go. It's Science.

Which is the smallest and most common bat in the UK?

OK.

The Greater Horseshoe bat suggests that there's a Lesser Horseshoe bat,

so it's either out of the Long-eared or the Pipistrelle.

And the Pipistrelle to me sounds the smallest,

so I'll go with the Pipistrelle.

Smallest and most common bat in the UK is the Pipistrelle, well done.

And a good start there by Nigel for Alma Mater.

Barry, in which year did Yang Liwei

become the first Chinese astronaut in outer space?

1963 is much too early,

so it's 19... Is it '83? 83...

And 2003.

Let me think. The Chinese have had a space programme for a few years, but

I don't think they've had one for 24 years. That seems a long time.

However, they recently put a space station up, which tends to suggest

they may have had one for longer.

So I'm puzzling on this one.

They have been putting up satellites since the '80s, but I don't think

they've been putting anybody into

space since 2003, so that's my answer.

OK, the latest one there, 2003. It's the right answer, Barry.

You worked it out.

OK, Nigel, second question.

In the human body, what is measured in millimetres of mercury?

Body mass index is...

I believe body mass index is to do with your weight against your height.

Blood pressure is...

I don't believe it's that.

Again, I'm going to go with the one on the right,

which is insulin levels.

OK, insulin levels measured in millimetres of mercury.

That's the wrong answer, Nigel.

It is blood pressure. In millimetres of mercury.

So, Barry, a chance for the lead.

The prehistoric creature known a pliosaur lived in what environment?

I seem to recall there was a very famous fossil collector,

who was a 12-year-old girl called Mary Anning

who discovered the full fossil of a pliosaur back in the 1870s,

which started the modern craze for fossil collecting in the UK.

And the creature she found certainly lived in the sea.

In the sea is correct, a pliosaur found in the sea.

OK, well, Nigel, you need to get this then.

It's the way the question's fall!

The British scientist Mary Anning,

born in 1799 is best known for her work collecting what?

Unbelievable!

They are random, these questions. We don't know what's coming up.

Somehow I can't believe that she would have been famous collecting

spiders, or carnivorous plants, cos there's not very many of them.

So I would say it's got to be fossils.

It most certainly has. That's the right answer.

Well done, Nigel.

Well, be careful what you give away, Eggheads!

Knowledge is a valuable commodity.

But, Nigel has slipped up on one and gives you a chance to win it, Barry.

On the microscopic level,

the stone opal is composed of many tiny spheres of what?

It's certainly not graphite, because graphite is an allotrope of carbon,

it's another form of carbon, as indeed is diamond.

And I don't think it's limestone because it is calcium carbonate,

and I can't imagine opal being that, you can't polish limestone.

So I would imagine that opal is formed from silica.

OK, well I'm sure you understand the logic there, Barry.

You lost me halfway through that explanation.

It's the right answer, yes.

Silica is correct, which means bad luck then, Nigel,

that one in the middle cost you a place in the final round.

Would you both please come back and join your teams.

OK, as it stands, Alma Mater lost one brain from the final round.

The Eggheads are all still there.

Next head-to-head, this one is going to be Sport.

Who'd like to play this?

-I take it is going to be me, then?

-I think it's you, Darren.

OK.

-It's going to be me.

-OK, Darren.

-Who would you like to play from the Eggheads?

-Er, Judith, please.

-Judith.

-Make my day.

Said with such sincerity, eh?

Let's have Darren and Judith in the question room.

Darren, would you like to go first or second?

First, please.

Here you go.

In which year was the Rugby Union player Jonny Wilkinson born?

Well, he's not younger than me, so it's not 85.

70...makes him... 70 is too early, so I believe it's 1979.

79, you've worked it out, is the right answer, yes. Well done.

Judith, what is the name of the area that hosted the aquatic

events at the Beijing Olympics?

I think it was the Water Cube.

-The Cube?

-Yes.

Is the right answer.

-Yes, Judith.

-Phew.

-Indeed. One each.

Darren, what is the usual term given to the mother of a racehorse?

Horse racing is the one subject I don't like.

I mean, I watched the Grand National last night.

Mother of a racehorse.

Out of all of those,

I'll go straight down the middle and go for nurse.

-No, it's not. Judith, you'll know.

-It's a dam.

-It's a dam.

The usual name for the mother of a racehorse.

Here's your question, Judith, a chance for the lead.

What nationality is footballer

Javier Mascherano who signed for Liverpool in 2007?

Could be any of those.

-That's why they're there.

-Yeah, that's why they're there.

Set to test one.

Hmm. Javier...

Mascherano.

Well, that... That sounds vaguely Brazilian.

I think it could be a Portuguese pronunciation.

So I'm going to throw caution to the wind and say Brazilian.

OK. Throwing caution to the wind.

The correct answer to the winds - he is Argentinian.

So nothing there. Let off, Darren, all square.

This could win the round for you.

Jason Crump and Nicki Pedersen have been world champions in which sport?

It's another sport I follow.

We have our own team, and it's Speedway.

-Speedway?

-Yes.

-Great stuff, it's the right answer.

As you well know.

That really suited you there. OK.

Judith has to get this.

The Ordina Open, held in the Netherlands, is in which sport?

Well, I'm inclined to think it's either tennis or golf,

because they have Opens.

But beyond that, I've no idea!

I think it might be tennis.

Crashing of heads. Eggheads crashed?

No, all aloft, CJ grinning there.

-It's the right answer, tennis.

-Phew.

So, it goes to sudden death.

And we remove the choices now, Darren, so it's a lot harder.

Which American cyclist suffered a collapsed lung when he was

accidentally shot by his brother-in-law in a hunting accident

in 1987, but went on to win the Tour de France two years later?

Unfortunately cycling isn't a sport I watch neither,

and the only American cyclist I can think of is Lance Armstrong,

and it's probably not, but I'll go with Lance Armstrong.

OK, certainly American, certainly a cyclist, but no, the date's wrong.

It's not Lance Armstrong.

-Do you know, Judith?

-No.

-Could have been your question. Other Eggheads?

-Greg LeMond.

Greg LeMond who won the Tour de France before Lance Armstrong.

Judith, then, a chance. Which injury-prone British decathlete

who won medals at the 1999 and 2001 World Championships

announced his retirement in 2008?

I'm trying to think of one who might have been in Beijing this year.

-I simply don't know.

-Pass?

-Yep.

Any ideas, Darren?

-It's Dean Macey.

-Dean Macey. Good man.

But that's only out of interest.

We don't pass questions over for points in Eggheads.

But you do know your sports.

Here's your question though, Darren.

In December 2007, despite a poor World Cup showing by the team,

who was reappointed as head coach of the All Blacks Rugby Union team?

I know the guy's name, I just can't think of what it is.

I don't believe he's from New Zealand.

I can't think of what his name is.

No, I don't know. I can't think of his name.

I can only think of the English...

Clive Woodward and stuff, and I know it's not him.

-But I can't think of his name, so I don't know.

-OK. A pass from Darren.

It is Graham Henry.

Coached Wales for a while as well, didn't he?

Judith, a chance. Who was the first team to win the football World Cup

outside their own continent?

Outside their own continent,

So it's either Uruguay, Brazil or one of those.

In Europe. Or vice versa.

I think it might have been Brazil.

-Is that your answer?

-Yep.

Brazil.

Is correct.

No! Wow!

-Do you know where?

-There's a God in heaven.

-In Italy.

-No. Other Eggheads?

-Sweden?

Sweden, 1958.

It's the right answer, Judith.

You are through into the final round. Bad luck, Darren.

I don't know how that happened.

-Yeah.

-You were going well, then the wheels came off the bus.

Would you both please come back and join your teams.

So, Alma Mater you've lost two brains from the final round.

The Eggheads are all there. We've got two more head-to-heads,

so no alarm bells need to bring yet.

Our next subject today is Geography. Who'd like to play this?

Jane, Bob or Dean?

-Do you want to try?

-I'll try.

OK. It's Dean. And which Egghead would you like to play?

-It can't be Judith or Barry, so it is Chris, Daphne or CJ.

-Try CJ?

I'll play against Chris, please.

OK, Chris. OK. Dean and Chris then, heading for the question room.

Dean, do you want to go first or second?

Erm, I'll go first, please.

Good luck, Dean. Here you are.

The Grand Union Canal flows from London to which city?

It doesn't... I'm convinced it doesn't go through Leeds.

I would say it travels to Birmingham.

It, er, goes to Birmingham is the right answer, well done.

Chris, first question - the town of Minehead and the village of

Blue Anchor are holiday destinations on the coast of which county?

They're both on the West Somerset Railway, in Somerset.

That's the right answer. Well done.

OK, Dean,

Potsdam is the capital of which state of Germany?

Right...

Brandenburg...

I'm not sure of,

cos I only associate that with the Brandenburg Gate.

Erm, now,

either Hesse or Saxony...

I'm going to err on the side of Hesse.

OK. Potsdam is the capital of...

It's not correct, it's Brandenburg.

A chance for Chris to take the lead.

The French city of Grenoble is situated on which river?

Well, the Seine flows out through Paris into the Channel at Rouen,

so it's not there.

It's up in the Alps, and I think the Garonne is down in the south-west,

flows out through Bordeaux. So it's the Isere.

Oh, he's worked it out, he knows his French geography,

it's the right answer, Chris. Well done.

OK, Dean, you've got to get this -

what is the name of the range of five major mountains that run

north to south for 50 miles along the 126th meridian

in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica?

I don't think it's the Focus Group.

Erm...

Executive Committee...

erm, I'm not convinced of.

Now, would it be the Board Of Management?

I am going to go for...

the Board Of Management.

OK. Five major mountains,

on the 126th meridian in Antarctica

are known as the...

Executive Committee.

So, there you can see it,

Chris has already got two, he doesn't face another question.

You're through to the final round, Chris, and sorry to say,

you won't be there, Dean.

Would you both please rejoin your teams?

Now, Alma Mater, you've lost three brains now from the final round,

the Eggheads are all still there.

So your last chance to knock one of them out, on this subject of Music.

Jane or Bob to play.

We did say it's gonna be Jane. So...

-I think it's me!

-All right, Jane.

I think it is! Bob doesn't fancy it.

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

You can play Daphne or CJ...

-Who do you want me to play?

-How could you separate them?

Daphne? Daphne, then, please.

Daphne, OK, let's have Jane and Daphne into the question room.

So, Jane, would you like to go first to second?

I'll go first, please.

Jane, this is the first one for you.

Which female singer had a UK number one single in 1968

with Those Were The Days?

Erm, I don't think it's Cher,

I've never heard of Sandy Denny, I think it's Mary Hopkin.

Mary Hopkin...

is the right answer, Jane.

OK, Daphne, "glory to the newborn king" is the second line from

which popular Christmas carol?

Well, I won't let the rest of them walk out and start singing it,

but it is Hark the Herald Angels Sing.

I mean, I went to Sunday school!

Ah! Well, you didn't need to go to Sunday school to know that!

It's the right answer.

Jane, Guy Garvey is the lead singer of which Mercury award-winning band?

Erm, neither of these are my type of music. Erm...

I don't know who the lead singer of any of those are,

so it will be a total guess.

-I think I'll go with...Klaxons.

-OK.

Guy Garvey is the lead singer of Mercury award-winning...

Elbow. Bad luck, Jane,

a guess there, as you said.

Let's see how Daphne does.

Released in 1973,

Ring Ring is an album from the early part of which group's career?

I think that was the title of the song they did the year

before Waterloo, at the Eurovision, so I'm going for Abba.

-Abba?

-Yes.

-Ring, Ring?

-Yes.

-There's a little bell ring ringing in your ear.

-Yes. I just...

Yes, it rang loudly.

Abba is correct, you knew that.

You're in the lead. Jane has got to get this.

The composers Hayden and Schubert were the most famous

members of which choir, formed in 1498 and still performing today?

Right, erm...

I think I will go with...

Salzburg, but it is a guess.

OK, Salzburg Cathedral Choir.

Haydn and Schubert,

members of this choir.

Daphne, is she right?

I would have gone for the Vienna Boys Choir, as the dates are right.

OK, it is the Vienna Boys Choir.

I'm sorry, Jane, not the Salzburg Cathedral Choir.

Daphne, you will be performing again in the final round and

Jane, I'm sorry, there won't be a seat for you at the desk.

Would you both please rejoin your teams?

So this is what we've been playing towards, it's time

for the final round, which, as always, is General Knowledge.

Those who lost your head-to-heads won't be able to take part.

So, Nigel, Jane, Darren and Dean, would you please leave the studio?

So, Bob, you're playing to win Alma Mater £13,000.

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

money can't buy, the Eggheads' reputation.

I'll ask each team three questions.

The questions are General Knowledge and you are allowed to confer.

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

Bob, would you like to go first or second?

I think I'll perhaps change the order and I'll go second.

OK, Bob, and just before we start, as a builder, how often do you get

asked the question, "Can you fix it?"

Sometimes. More often than not.

I would suspect so.

OK, let's see if you can fix your way through this round

and win the money for the team. Eggheads been put in first by Bob.

So, Eggheads, Cubby Broccoli

is most notable as a producer of which series of films?

He started, and then when he died, his daughter Barbara took over,

and it's the James Bond films.

Correct. Right, Bob. Here you go.

Vaulting is ornamental work normally seen on what part of a building?

Er, it's not on a floor,

and although it may connect to a wall, it's mainly seen on a ceiling.

Now, that could not have fallen more kindly.

Correct. OK...

Eggheads, who is the author of the novels Enigma and Pompeii?

-And Fatherland, I think.

-Indeed.

-Robert Harris.

-Correct.

OK, second question for you, Bob - what name is given to the inlet of

the Bosphorus that divides Istanbul and forms a natural harbour?

I don't think it's Steel Horn.

Erm, I have a faint feeling that I've heard of it as the Golden Horn.

I'm not convinced.

I think I will discount Silver Horn and go for Golden Horn.

OK, you're sure it's not Steel, tossing it up between the two and

getting the right answer, Golden Horn. Two to you.

OK, Eggheads - what is the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu?

Tamil Nadu's on the west coast.

-It's Chennai.

-Used to be Madras.

-Yeah.

It's the south...

South, yeah, Bangalore is sort of up north, up towards Calcutta...

We think that's Chennai, Dermot.

Formerly Madras.

It is, Eggheads. Three to you.

OK, Bob, you've got to get this -

what is the surname of the British singer usually known only as Adele?

Oh, music, up-to-date music, that is a problem.

-Um...

-You need Jane, don't you?

Yes.

Or Dean, or Darren!

-Erm...

-Well, it's just you Bob...

I don't think it's Appleby.

Adele Adkins. Adele Adamson...

Adele Adamson.

Adele Adkins.

No, I think I've got to take a chance on this one,

I'm going down the middle, Adele Adkins.

Down the middle...

It's the right answer, Bob.

Well done.

Ooh! Tricky moment.

But is that the turning point in Alma Mater's favour?

OK, Eggheads, we go to sudden death.

In the nursery rhyme,

who sat among the cinders warming her pretty little toes?

Little Polly Flinders sat among the cinders. Polly.

-Polly Flinders.

-Flinders?

-Flinders, as in...

Little Polly Flinders.

Is the right answer, Eggheads.

OK, well, done it once, Bob, can you save the game again?

Without choices this time.

What is the name of the Italian royal family exiled from Italy

after the Second World War?

Mmm.

No.

The only name that comes to mind,

but I don't know whether they're the royal family, is Garibaldi.

But I just don't believe that can be the royal family.

Erm...

I've probably heard it, but, er...

I'll say Garibaldi, but I don't think it's right.

OK, Garibaldi, the name of the Italian royal family exiled

from Italy after the Second World War...

It's not Garibaldi, Bob. Do you know, Eggheads?

-House of Savoy.

-Savoy there from the Eggheads, so they knew that as well.

It means, Eggheads, you've won.

Bad luck, Bob, I thought you might do it after you got Adele Adkins,

that was a real toughie for someone who didn't know much about music.

Thanks very much for playing with us today, send our best to everyone

at the Cocked Hat, especially Alma.

The Eggheads' winning streak continues.

I'm afraid you won't be going home with the £13,000,

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.

£14,000 says they don't. Until then, goodbye.

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