Episode 48 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 because they're Goliaths in the world of TV quiz shows. They are the Eggheads.

And taking on the awesome might of our quiz Goliaths

are Flinders Friends.

They work for University College London

museums and collections and are based at

the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology. Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Carolyn, I'm 48 and I'm the museum manager.

Hi, I'm Richard, I'm 31 and I'm the operations manager.

Hi, I'm Subhadra, I'm 27 and I'm the project assistant.

Hi, I'm Celine, I'm 34 and I'm the museum education officer.

Hello, I'm Jan, I'm 57 and I run the Friends of the Petrie Museum.

Just tell me, who is Flinders and why are you his or her friends?

Well, Flinders refers to William Matthew Flinders Petrie.

Hence the name, we work in a Museum where finds from over 30 sites that

he excavated in Egypt and other finds too are there,

-over 80,000 objects on display, so.

-Crikey.

OK, let me tell you how the game is going to work today, Flinders Friends and best of luck to you.

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 to the next show.

So, Flinders Friends, the Eggheads have won the last 16 games.

Which means £17,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads.

And, let's play these head-to-heads, then. The first one is Music.

Who'd like to play this one? Music.

-Well.

-What do you think?

I'm looking in Subhadra's direction.

I think we're all looking in Subhadra's.

OK, I'll break the ice, that's fine.

They're all looking at you, Subhadra. Which Egghead would you like to look at?

Which one would you like to take into the Question Room?

I think maybe Chris.

My inclination is Chris as well.

-OK.

-Are we going to go for Chris? Yes, I think so.

-Yeah.

Could I ask Subhadra and Chris to take their positions in the Question Room, please.

Subhadra, have you had a lifelong interest in Egyptology?

Archaeology is my training and my background.

So when the job opened at what happened to be

an Egyptian archaeology museum there was no choice, I had to jump at it.

-Have you been to Egypt, though?

-I have a couple of times, yeah.

But those were school trips, I expect it's changed a lot since.

OK. Subhadra, would you like to go first or second?

I'd like to go first, please.

Here you go.

The video for which hit song by Queen memorably featured

members of the band dressed up in drag?

I'm very used to hearing their songs,

videos are a little bit beyond my ken.

So. It could be any of them, given the nature of the music.

I'll go with I Want To Break Free.

It's the right answer.

Well done, Subhadra.

Tricky one there if you haven't seen it.

Chris, what's the name of the instrument sometimes known as the

double bassoon which is pitched an octave lower than a normal bassoon?

Contrabassoon is against the bassoon.

Mezzobassoon's a middle bassoon.

Fortebassoon's a strong bassoon.

Presumably it gives the counterpoint to the bassoon melody

-so it would be a contrabassoon.

-Contrabassoon.

Is correct, good start for Chris.

Back to Subhadra.

In 2008, the X-Factor finalists had a UK number one hit single with which song?

Again I'm not a huge reality TV fan.

Without You.

It's Hero.

Hero.

So a chance for Chris to take the lead.

Chris, in 1984, King Of Pain became the last

UK Top 20 single for which group before they split up soon after?

I don't think Dire Straits

ever split up for good, I don't think The Police ever did.

So I'll say New Order.

The Police. The Police,

so let off for Subhadra, stays all square, everything to play for.

What source material was the inspiration behind Czech composer Leos Janacek's opera

The Cunning Little Vixen first performed in 1924?

Well, obviously my knowledge and repertoire

of Czech opera composers is quite wide so...

But I'm afraid this one's slipped through.

So, I am going to have to guess at it and at the moment...

..the best guess looks like

-a Greek fable.

-Do you know, Chris?

-Must be a nursery rhyme.

-No, comic strip.

-Comic strip.

So, comic strip - Janacek's Cunning Little Vixen.

Chance for Chris then to win the round.

Chris, who composed scores for several films including the 1939

adaptation of John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men, and the 1949 film The Heiress for which he won an Oscar?

Several films would suggest he's not primarily a film composer.

I would hazard a guess at Aaron Copland.

Is the right answer, Chris.

A very tough round for you both, but Chris just nicked it there.

Bad luck Subhadra. Means you won't be playing in the final round.

Would you both please come back and join your teams.

Flinders Friends have lost one a brain from the final round,

the Eggheads have not lost any,

we've only played a round let's play our second one and this one is Sport.

Who would like to play Sport?

Well, what do you think, guys?

Don't want to be stereotypical about gender, Rich.

But you're up.

OK. By process of elimination it looks like it's going to be me.

OK, and you have a large choice of Eggheads there,

only one of them gone there, that's Chris, any of the other four.

-I'm going to go for CJ.

-Richard and CJ, Question Room, please.

Richard, would you like to go first or second?

I'd like to go first, please.

OK, Richard here's your question.

Which major sporting event took place at Valhalla in Kentucky in September 2008?

Off the top of my head, I don't immediately know the answer

so it's going to have to be some sort of process of elimination.

Valhalla sounds to me like a golf course.

So I'm going to go for the Ryder Cup.

Yes, Ryder Cup is correct.

CJ, Shaun Edwards,

born in 1966, represented Great Britain 36 times in which sport?

We can eliminate tennis.

OK, I'm getting confused now whether it's rugby union or rugby league

which have the individual countries and which one has...

So I'm going to go, hopefully, for rugby league.

Rugby league, is the right answer.

Worked it out in the end, CJ. Richard, second question.

Which former captain of the England cricket team was named the Gnome?

The Gnome? That's not a particularly kind nickname.

It's not exactly flattering, is it?

Cricket is not one of my strong points.

I know what Mike Atherton and Graham Gooch look like.

And I don't think either of them is particularly gnome-like.

So I'm going to guess Keith Fletcher.

Is the right answer, you worked that out, Richard, very well indeed.

The Gnome.

CJ, at the end of every football World Cup final since 1994 the Yashin Award has been given

to the tournament's best player in which position?

I thought there was an award that went to a goalkeeper.

That's the only thing I've got to go on, I think there's something

that goes to a goalkeeper, so I will try goalkeeper.

Goalkeeper, it's correct, CJ, well worked out. OK, two each.

Richard, what name is given to the detailed description of a course in rallying read out by the co-driver

to the driver en route that allows them to prepare for corners, jumps and other features?

Motorsport, also not a particularly strong point for me.

So you've been through what?

Cricket, golf and now on motorsports.

Yeah, no football questions. I'm a little disappointed with that.

I'm going to plump for pace notes.

Pace notes. It's the right answer.

You bring a lot of logic to bear on these and you've done very well

with sports, which you don't particularly follow or enjoy. Three out of three.

CJ, which Irish jockey jointly holds the record of four wins

in the Prix De L'Arc De Triomphe?

I haven't got the foggiest clue.

I'm assuming those three are jockeys, then, eh?

HE LAUGHS I don't know.

-It's Kieren Fallon.

-It's Pat Eddery.

Which means,

Richard, you're cantering into the final round.

Well done, you're playing for the £17,000 today, would you both please come back and join your teams.

Both teams now lost one brain from the final round.

We'll play our third head-to-head today - Arts & Books.

Who'd like to play this?

It's Carolyn, Celine or Jan.

-Well, it's either me or Carolyn, I think from past experience.

-Books I'm not...

I'm a bit specialised on.

-OK, I'll take it if you want me to. Yeah?

-You fancy it, Celine? OK.

-Yes it's going to be me.

-Who'd you like to play from the Eggheads?

-There are Daphne, Judith and Kevin remaining there.

-Try Daphne.

OK, I'd like Daphne, please.

OK, Celine would like Daphne, wouldn't we all?

Both please take your positions in the Question Room.

Celine, do you want to go first of second in this Arts & Books category?

I'd like to go first, please.

Here's your first question, then.

In Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol what is the name

of Scrooge's deceased business partner who visits him on Christmas Eve?

I have read a few Dickens's novels.

I haven't read this one, but I've seen a few good films of it.

I think it's Jacob Marley.

It's the right answer, well done.

Well, Daphne. First question for you.

"But when the blast of war blows in our ears, then imitate the action of

"the tiger, stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood," are lines from which Shakespeare play?

Would that be the one that takes place on St Crispin's Day, Dermot?

Henry V.

Years ago I appeared on

a celebrity version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

And the question I got wrong.

No, you didn't get it wrong,

your phone-a-friend got it wrong.

My phone-a-friend didn't say anything.

And I'm going to get you afterwards.

Oh, good.

Thanks for reminding me.

That's payback, isn't it? For all the teasing I do to you.

Henry V, "When the blast of war etc blows in our ears," that's correct.

So, one each. Celine, second question.

In a theatre company, which role typically involves liaising with playwrights and editing texts?

Well, about 20 years ago I did a theatre studies GCSE

when they first came out.

So this is something I feel I should know.

I think it's dramaturge.

It is, that's the right answer. Well remembered, Celine.

Dug that up from somewhere, ha-ha, excuse the pun.

Daphne, in October 2008 an unfinished portrait by Lucian Freud

of which artist was sold at auction for £5.4 million?

Ah. Something in the back of my mind is telling me

that he didn't get on with Francis Bacon,

so hopefully it's Francis Bacon.

It's the right answer, Daphne. Well remembered.

So, all square.

Third question, it's Celine.

A Nice Cup Of Tea -

published in the Evening Standard in January 1946,

was a serious essay on the craft of making a cup of tea by which writer?

Um, I'm just trying to think about

which of those writers was writing

newspaper articles at that stage of their career.

We have a George Orwell archive as part of our collections.

And I know he did do varying kinds of journalism,

not sure if he wrote about tea or not, though.

I think it was George Orwell.

George Orwell got paid for A Nice Cup Of Tea. It's the right answer.

Back in 1946. So it means you've got to get this, Daphne,

Celine's got three out of three.

"We should be careful of each other, we should be kind.

"While there is still time."

These are the last lines of whose poem, The Mower, detailing

the poet's accidental killing of a hedgehog in his garden?

Oh dear! I haven't heard of this.

I'm hoping...

it's Ted Hughes?

-It's Philip Larkin.

-Oh!

Great news for Flinders Friends. Celine - you're in the final round!

Playing for £17,000.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

As it stands, the Eggheads have lost two brains from the final round, you've only lost one.

The chance to inflict more pain on the Eggheads now, another head-to-head.

And this one, I don't know, might suit you. Science.

You've got two remaining players. Carolyn and Jan.

-Any of you good at science?

-I'm hopeless at science!

So I can't go.

-One of you is going to be in the last round, so which one...?

-I thought we'd...

-Jan was going to be.

-Yeah, yeah.

OK. I'm going to sacrifice myself!

Carolyn! Oh ye of little faith!

You've still got to choose an opponent.

And it's Kevin or Judith.

They are the two remaining Eggheads.

-OK, Judith, please.

-OK, Judith it is then.

Carolyn and Judith, could I ask you to make your way to the Question Room?

Carolyn, would you like to go first or second?

Well, I think I'd better get it over with! I'll go first, please!

OK, good luck, Carolyn. Science it is. Here is the question.

All telephone services in the US were stopped for one minute

on the occasion of the burial of which inventor?

Goodness me! Well,

the logic is sort of saying, "Oh, come on, you know

"the telephone is Alexander Graham Bell."

But there's something that's connecting

America and Thomas Edison for me.

-Thomas Edison.

-Going with heart against head!

Head was right.

Alexander Graham Bell!

OK, well, you kind of knew that, Carolyn,

but I think you almost talked yourself out of it.

Judith, what is the name of the element with the atomic number 83

and the Atomic symbol BI, that has the lowest thermal conductivity

of all metals except mercury?

Well, I think bicarbonate isn't an element.

I think it might be bismuth.

I just hope!

OK, bismuth is correct, Judith! Yes. A lead for you, then.

Carolyn, the large-eyed, nocturnal forest primate the loris

is native to the south and south-east of which continent?

Right, well!

I think that I'm going to go for South America.

Asia!

Nothing there. A chance for Judith to wrap

it up early on if she gets this.

In the structure of a black hole in space, what name is given to the centre point of infinite density

at which time and space are infinitely distorted by gravity?

I don't think it's an event horizon.

I've never heard of Lagrange Point.

I have a feeling it's a singularity.

It is the right answer!

You're playing well, Judith, it must be said.

Two out of two and it means, Carolyn,

no place for you in the final round.

Judith, you'll be there. Would you both please come back and join your teams?

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

Those of you lost your head to heads,

won't be allowed to take part in this round.

So Carolyn and Subhadra from Flinders Friends

and CJ and Daphne from the Eggheads, would you all please leave the studio now?

So Richard, Celine, and Jan, you're playing to win Flinders Friends £17,000.

Judith, Ken and Chris, you're playing for something which money can't buy -

the Eggheads' reputation.

As usual, I'll ask each team three questions in turn.

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

-And Richard, Celine and Jan, would you like to go first or second?

-We're going to go first.

So, here you go and best of luck.

The umlaut, sometimes written above certain vowels in the German language, is represented by what?

German GCSE tells me that an umlaut is two dots.

German for academic purposes,

-drummed into my brain by UCL, says its two dots.

-Celine?

Just a gut feeling says it's two dots!

Three different methodologies, we've come up with two dots!

It's the right answer! The umlaut. Correct. Solid start.

Eggheads, who was the star of the radio show ITMA

or It's That Man Again, that ran from 1939 to 1949?

-It was Tommy Handley.

-Tommy Handley is the right answer, yes. One each.

Flinders Friends, second question.

Julian Bream is a celebrated player of which instrument?

I have no idea who Julian Bream is.

You had some of his CDs.

-I did.

-It's guitar?

Can we please go with guitarist?

It's the right answer. Guitar is correct.

Julian Bream, guitarist.

OK, Eggheads,

in 1993, the ancient position of Keeper of the Queen's Swans was split into two.

The Warden of the Swans and which other?

-Do they get marked?

-Well, that's the thing.

Unmarked swans belong to the Queen,

and depending on what nicks they've got in the bill,

they belong to one or other London livery companies.

So it won't be marker, then.

Yeah, catcher is a fairly low sort of, low down in the pecking order.

I don't think they'd be a counter of the swans,

cos they count them anyway.

If the Queen's ones are unmarked,

then it wouldn't be a marker, would it?

No, but the ones that belonged to the livery companies are marked.

So it was the Queen's...

organisation split into two.

I'd still go with marker.

I can see where you're coming from.

Cos the other two just don't seem to...

No, catcher and counter just don't seem to make it.

We'll have to go for Marker of the Swans.

It's Marker of the Swans, as Chris thought from the off!

It's the right answer. Marker of the Swans.

So, Flinders Friends, this is a question

to put the pressure back on them.

To the nearest 100 miles,

how far does the Australian mainland extend from east to west?

Or from west to east, either way.

Have you been to Australia before?

I would say 2,500 is too small.

From looking at a map.

Is 4,500 too much?

-I don't know. This one's for you.

-Are we gonna discount 2,500?

-Yes. I think so, yes.

-OK.

-I'm happy to go with 3,500 if you think that's...

-Yeah?

We clearly don't know the answer!

I've worked that out! What do you think?

We think that it's 3,500.

OK, going down the middle. 3,500 miles to the nearest hundred miles.

It's 2,500. Not as far as you thought.

Well, it does mean the Eggheads face a third question,

but with the chance to win the game. Eggheads, Monkey Bread is the name given to the fruit of which tree?

I think it's the baobab.

-Right.

-Banyan's that thing that grows downwards, isn't it?

I thought that was a baobab.

That's the upside down tree, yeah.

I don't think it's that. Banyan.

A mangrove palm,

-they'd have to be in the swamps, wouldn't they?

-Yeah, exactly.

We're going to go for banyan, I think. OK, everybody?

-Yeah, I would bet on it.

-OK.

Not certain, as again you may have guessed there,

but we'll go for banyan.

Banyan Tree, Monkey Bread, the source of Monkey Bread...

..is the incorrect answer, Eggheads!

-It is baobab.

-Oh, no!

Those two monkeys behind you knew it!

-They always know after the event!

-Knocked out.

Oh!

They always know after the event.

I don't need to turn you, but if you got Australia, you would have the money right now.

You don't see that very often.

We go to Sudden Death. Could be one answer away from £17,000.

Right, Flinders Friends, Milford Track, often described as

-the finest walk in the world, is situated in which country? Milford Track.

-I'm so glad you know.

-I don't know.

-I've been to Milford Sound on a boat, it's absolutely beautiful.

And that's at the end of Milford Track, which is in New Zealand.

New Zealand is correct! Celine's been there.

Eggheads, to save the game,

which English actor missed out on the part of Al Capone in

the 1987 film, the Untouchables,

when Robert De Niro became available, but was reportedly still paid 200,000?

-OK?

-Yeah.

Bob Hoskins.

Is the right answer, Eggheads! Bob Hoskins.

Bob Hoskins is an absolute dead ringer for Al Capone. Robert De Niro isn't.

Another question, then.

Flinders friends, in Greek mythology, Achilles

lent his armour to which warrior, who was then killed by Hector?

I'll just think for a moment, cos I was reading this only this year.

-The Aeneid, we're talking about, so it's the Iliad.

-No, hang on...

So it's the Iliad that starts with the wrath of Achilles, because...

-Yes, he kills Hector because...

-It's not Patroclus.

-I don't think so.

I'm not saying it's definitely it. That's a P name I can think of.

-It's very annoying, cos I know it.

-I know, so do I!

Huge funeral pyre...

I really, definitely don't. Gotta go for something.

-I think we're going to say Patroclus.

-Patroclus...

Patroclus is correct.

-Carolyn there!

-She will be so proud of us!

Yes, she was, I can see behind you!

Right, so the Eggheads must get this again.

During the last 10 years, Prince Charles has made several visits to which

semi-autonomous republic located on a mountainous Greek peninsula?

The monasteries of Mount Athos.

It's Mount Athos. The monasteries at Mount Athos.

Is the right answer! Mount Athos is correct.

Flinders Friends,

very close to going out on that last one, but dug it out from somewhere. Here you are.

In which modern-day country was the Baha'i faith founded in the 19th century?

I'm fairly sure like lots of faiths, that was founded in India.

-Yeah, that makes sense.

-Can we just confer?

Sanjel, who worked for us, is Baha'i.

There is a Baha'i faith museum, but the founder's house is actually in Israel.

If the founders of the faith have a museum in a house in Israel...

The modern-day name for that state is Israel.

It's the modern-day name for that part of the world

-OK. We're going to go for that?

-Yeah.

We're going to go for Israel.

Israel. You were thinking India?

It's all "I"s, and neither of yours were correct. It's Iran!

Iran. Well, Iran was the answer we were looking for.

Only the second one out of so many questions

that Flinders Friends have got wrong.

Let's see how the Eggheads do, it isn't over. FBI agent Joseph Pistone was given which alias when he

became one of the first undercover agents to successfully infiltrate the American Mafia?

-I only know one.

-What's that?

Donnie Brasco.

-Yeah. That's probably it.

-Yeah. Donnie Brasco.

Donnie Brasco. It's correct, Eggheads. You've won!

A remarkable performance, don't you agree, Eggheads, from Flinders Friends? So, so close.

You don't need underlining, you're never going to look at a map the same way ever again!

Especially when you look at that part of the world.

Thank you very much for playing Eggheads today.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them, that winning streak continues, only just.

I'm afraid you won't be going home with the £17,000.

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.

£18,000 says they don't.

Until then, goodbye.

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