Episode 7 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.

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've won some of the country's toughest quiz shows.

They are the Eggheads.

And taking on our quiz champions today

are Culture '08 from Liverpool.

They've quizzed together regularly at their local pub, the Acorn,

where Ken and son Mark set the questions. Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Ken. I'm 76 and I'm a retired insurance salesman.

Hello, I'm Mark. I'm 52 and I'm a student.

Hello, I'm Hilary. I'm 72 and I'm retired.

Hello, I'm Peter. I'm 77 and I'm a retired insurance underwriter.

Hi, I'm Andy. I'm 52 and I'm a retired teacher.

Well, welcome to you, Culture '08. So we've worked out Ken and Mark -

-father and son. There's another family relationship in the team, isn't there?

-There is.

Hilary and Peter, sitting next to each other, are brother and sister.

-I can tell. Andy, no blood relations, then, here?

-No, just a friend.

-Yeah.

-Close friend, though.

-Keen quizzer?

-Very keen, yes.

And named the team after '08, of course. Liverpool, City of Culture.

That went very well. There was so much going on.

Yeah, it did. Apparently, there's been a tremendous influx of visitors, I understand.

-And a giant spider.

-What was the giant spider all about?

-The mechanical giant spider.

-Oh, yes, I saw that.

-Back in early September.

-Right, yeah.

May be a question about that. OK. Let's play the game.

Good to see you here, Culture '08. Every day there's £1,000 of cash up for grabs for our challengers.

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

So, Culture '08, the Eggheads have won the last four games,

which means £5,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads.

And the task in front of you involves this first category. It is Film & Television.

Who would like to play this? Any one of you can play.

-Stick to the plan?

-Stick to what we said, yes.

-Stick to the plan.

-Me?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Me.

I'm throwing myself on the grenade.

-I'm going for it.

-To save the others.

Who do you want to play, then, Ken?

-Any suggestions, team?

-I would suggest Chris.

-OK.

-General agreement, I think.

-Chris. OK.

Let's have Ken and Chris into the question room, to make sure there's no conferring.

So, Ken, continuing the Liverpool theme, your family know one of its most famous sons, don't you?

Yeah. Yes, we do.

Paul McCartney.

-Known him for... Since he was a schoolboy, actually.

-Really?

Keen on the music even then, as a young lad?

-Oh, fantastic. He was composing tunes and that sort of thing, songs, even then.

-OK, Ken.

In this round, Film & Television, what do you want to do?

-Do you want to start, or let Chris begin?

-Yes, I'll start, please.

Good luck, Ken. First question.

Under The Sea and Kiss The Girl are songs from which animated film?

Well, I've no idea, because I haven't seen any of them.

I suppose, with Kiss The Girl in it,

The Little Mermaid is a likely contender. Er...

-I really don't know. I'll go for The Little Mermaid.

-The Little Mermaid.

Kiss The Girl, I see.

That's the right answer. The Little Mermaid.

Well done.

Well worked out there, Ken.

Little clue there, the girl in the title of Kiss The Girl. OK, first question to you, Chris.

Knots Landing was a spin-off from which long-running TV show?

That was a spin-off, not that I ever watched it,

from Dynasty, I think. It was the Colbys in Denver.

-So I think it was Dynasty, yeah.

-OK.

Shall we say it the American way, DIE-nasty?

-DIE-nasty.

-DIE-nasty and Falcon Crest.

But, CJ, you have a... You're shaking your head?

The spin-off from Dynasty which involved the Colbys was The Colbys.

Ah, that was The Colbys, the spin-off from Dynasty.

The spin-off from Dallas was Knots Landing.

Wasn't that where one of the brothers who fell out with JR went?

No, it was a hidden son who appeared for a while

and then disappeared again.

-Gary.

-That was the one, yes.

-Gary. See? Look at that.

-Who was Lucy's father.

-Oh, yes, he was,

-wasn't he?

-DERMOT LAUGHS

Got one on the Eggheads there! There we are.

OK, it's one-nil to you, Ken. Well done.

Second question.

Superintendent Mullett is a character

in the TV series featuring which detective?

It's Frost.

Frost it is. Well done.

Two to you. OK, Chris,

you've got to get this. Who starred as Donna

in the 2008 film version of the musical Mamma Mia!?

Well, it's not Barbra Streisand, because she's not in it.

And I don't know the character's name, as such.

But as far as I can make out, the female lead is Meryl Streep.

If Donna's the female lead, it is Meryl Streep.

Meryl Streep. You're right, Chris.

But you got your first one wrong.

Ken, you win the round if you get this. Who plays Lindsay Carter in the TV series Honest?

Honest. Whoa!

I think I would discount Amanda Redman.

Doesn't sound... I've never seen it. Never seen Honest. But, er...

..doesn't sound like her type of part.

So I'd go for one of the other two.

Lindsay Carter. Honest.

Er...

Well, they're both cockneys, aren't they?

-I'll go for Pauline Quirke.

-Pauline Quirke.

Is she Lindsay Carter?

She's not.

It is Amanda Redman.

Gives Chris a chance to level it up.

Chris, who directed the 2008 film Gone Baby Gone, based on the book by Dennis Lehane?

Hmm...

Well, Ben Affleck writes.

I don't think Robert Downey Jnr's directed anything.

It's between Matt Damon

and Ben Affleck, and on balance, I'd go for Matt Damon.

OK, Matt Damon.

Not Robert Downey Jnr, you think.

You were right about that. But, Chris - there is a but -

-it's Ben Affleck.

-Ben Affleck, yeah.

Eggheads' heads went down there.

-Ben Affleck's brother plays the lead role - Casey Affleck.

-Ah!

Gone Baby Gone, directed by Ben Affleck.

You know what I'm going to say, Chris.

You're gone, baby, gone.

Well done, Ken. You're through to the final round.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

Well, a super start by Culture '08 there,

and in particular, Ken zapping Chris out of the final round.

One Egghead, at least, will be missing.

Let's play our next subject, then. This one's Music.

Who'd like to play this? It can't be Ken.

I'm sure you'd probably do well at this as well, Ken,

-but you're safe for the final round.

-Passes from father to son - to me.

Down the line to Mark. Who would you like to play from the Eggheads?

-We'll take Barry, please.

-Are you an Egghead winner?

OK, give Barry a go at Music. Let's have Mark and Barry into the question room, please.

So, Mark, you've got to decide. Do you want to go first or second?

Er...I'll go second, please, Dermot.

Your wish is my command, Mark.

Barry, which band had a UK number one hit single in 1977 with Knowing Me, Knowing You?

I shall resist the temptation to sing it.

-But it was definitely Abba.

-Or say, "Ah-ha!"

I didn't say that.

It is the right answer. Abba, Knowing Me, Knowing You.

So swiftly over to Mark.

Marti Pellow became famous as the lead singer of which group?

I actually asked this question in a quiz that I set

about three weeks ago.

-It's Wet, Wet, Wet, Dermot.

-Certainly is. Wet, Wet, Wet.

And there's a-ha there. I wonder... They were Norwegians, weren't they?

-Morten Harket, Paul Furuholmen and Magne Waaktaar.

-Very good!

A-ha. Right, second question each. Both starting very securely, there.

Barry, for what do the initials BB stand in the name of the guitarist BB King?

Well, Big Brother's a nice idea.

But I can't see that, somehow. And he may have been born in Boston,

-but as he was a blues star, I would say Blues Boy.

-It is Blues Boy.

That's right, Barry. OK.

Second one for you, Mark.

In which year did Johnny Logan win the Eurovision Song Contest with What's Another Year?

Er...I would reckon he's too young

to have been '60 or '70, so I'll plump for 1980.

1980. And it's the right answer. Well done, Mark. Well done.

-He's written some.

-He won twice.

-He also wrote a winning song.

-He was interviewed about it,

and the interviewer made the mistake of saying, "You've won twice,"

and he was quite shirty about it.

He said, "No, three, actually."

-Because he'd won one as a writer, as well.

-I see.

Barry, third question. You're both going well. Two-all.

Barry, which American composer's Third Symphony,

for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1947, is known as The Camp Meeting?

Interesting question. I don't really know the answer to this one.

I wasn't aware of Aaron Copland writing any symphonies.

I know Leonard Bernstein has, and I'm pretty certain Charles Ives has.

I thought I knew most of the Bernstein symphonies,

-and I've not heard of that one, so I shall go for Charles Ives.

-OK.

Happy Eggheads, agreeing with you. Charles Ives is correct.

The Camp Meeting.

So you've got to get this, Mark.

Which opera, first performed in 1892, ends with the line, "La commedia e finita"?

Which opera, first performed in 1982,

ends with the line, "La commedia e finita"?

"La commedia e finita."

The comedy, the comedy drama is finished, is ended.

Um...my instinct says Pagliacci.

So I'm going to go with Pagliacci.

OK. Instinct to Pagliacci. Barry nods. It's the right answer.

Well done. He knows you're going to sudden death.

Sudden death, Mark, means, I'm sure you well know,

but just to underline it, we don't offer you any more choices, in terms of the answers.

So Barry first. Bag It Up was a solo UK number one hit single in 2000 for which of the Spice Girls?

At least I know the names of the Spice Girls, so that helps.

And I know Victoria Beckham hasn't had a number one,

so that's helping even more - that leaves four of them.

-Well, I shall go for the Spice Girl who really can sing and say Melanie C.

-OK. Mel C.

No, it's not.

Not Mel C. It's Geri Halliwell.

Ginger Spice. Geri Halliwell.

So a chance to win it for you, Mark,

and father and son would then be through to the final round. Here's your question.

"Bouche fermee" is a musical term for what activity?

Well, bouche fermee means mouth closed.

Er...

So I will say

that it means humming.

Bouche fermee is humming. It's the right answer, yes.

"Closed-mouth singing", quite literally,

as you identified there. Well, it is father and son

through to the final round and playing for the money today.

Barry, you're not going to be there.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

Well, Mark, are you glad you went second, then, in that round?

-Did you fancy Barry's questions?

-I certainly didn't fancy the Spice Girls one.

I wouldn't have got that, no.

So that probably was the decider. I'm sure Barry knew yours as well. Well, well done. As I say,

the Tynans in the final round and so at least three of you there.

Let's see if we can get a fourth through in this round - Arts & Books.

Who'd like to play this?

I think it was decided that I was...

-You're going to do Arts & Books?

-Peter, yes.

-The literary man.

-Yes. The literary brain.

-Who are you going to take on?

-Right.

-Barry and Chris have played, down the end.

So, working towards me, Daphne, CJ or Kevin.

-I think I should take on CJ.

-CJ? OK. I think we're having CJ.

-CJ.

-CJ, please, Dermot.

-It's not History - yes!

Or Geography.

OK, let's have Peter and CJ into the question room, then, please.

Well, Peter, going well so far for Culture '08.

Let's hope you can keep it up. And do you want to go first or second?

I think I'll go first, please, Dermot.

OK, then. Good luck, Peter.

In which year was the painter David Hockney born?

Well, it certainly wasn't 1917.

'37 would make him...

..43.

I think I'll go for down the middle.

-1937, Dermot.

-'37.

You think he's over 70. And you're right.

Yes, David Hockney, born in 1937.

OK, CJ.

In the novel by Elizabeth Gaskell, what is Cranford?

Do you know, I didn't actually watch this when it was on.

I just thought it was the name of the village.

I may be shooting myself in the foot,

but village just seems so obvious, I have to go for village.

Yeah, Cranford, the village. Yes, it's right. Of course.

-Easing you in.

-Supposed to be based

-on Knutsford in Cheshire.

-I see. So it's all square. Peter...

"We are such stuff

"As dreams are made on; and our little life

"Is rounded with a sleep," are lines from which Shakespeare play?

Well, I was never a great Shakespeare lover, but I do...

One of the subjects we had when I was doing my School Certificate

was The Tempest.

And that sounds the sort of speech that Prospero might have made.

Certainly not Henry V or Hamlet. I'll plump for The Tempest.

The Tempest is correct. Well done, Peter.

Right, CJ.

What term is used for the treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting?

This is what we like to call a classic quiz question,

because I've never even heard of this term elsewhere,

-but it's chiaroscuro.

-It is. Very well said.

Like the Italian accent.

Correct answer. So, two each. All square. Peter,

the death by drowning of Steenie Mucklebackit is an important moment

in which book by Walter Scott?

Well, this is something I do not know.

I've never read any of Walter Scott's novels.

-I think I'll go for Guy Mannering.

-Guy Mannering. Eggheads? Others?

-Waverley?

-No.

Not Guy Mannering, not Waverley. It is therefore...

-The Antiquary.

-The Antiquary for Steenie Mucklebackit.

OK, gives CJ a chance

to pinch the round with this. When Sigmund Freud

met Virginia Woolf in 1939, he famously presented her with which flower?

I don't know. Simply because of its connotations, I'll say narcissus.

It's the right answer. Well done, CJ. Narcissus is correct.

Which means the first member of Culture '08

falls by the wayside. I'm sorry to say it's you, Peter.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

Culture '08 have lost their first brain from the final round.

The Eggheads have lost two.

And our last subject before the final round is Sport.

Who'd like to play this - Hilary or Andy?

-Oh, Peter!

-That was mine, wasn't it?

-Oh, bad luck.

You've already played. So, Hilary or Andy?

-You go, Andy.

-Think it's going to be Andy.

I'm really out on Sport.

Well, I'm not really very good.

-But...

-What do you think, Ken?

-Ken, you're the leader.

-It's a question of who stays on for the end, isn't it?

-Well, I'll nominate you.

-Thank you.

-We're going to nominate Andy.

-I've been nominated.

-Team captain, then, I see, pulling rank. Andy, who do you want to play?

-Maybe he'll let you decide who you play. Daphne or Kevin?

-Daphne, please.

-Shucks!

-You're just going, "Doesn't make any difference, does it?"

OK. Let's have Andy and Daphne in the question room to play Sport.

Right, let's play this Sport round. Andy, rather reluctantly in there.

-Do you want to go first or second?

-I'd like to go first, please.

OK. Good luck, Andy.

Which Suffolk town is home to the National Horseracing Museum?

Well, on my travels, I have actually been around Cambridgeshire,

and there's loads of racehorses round there.

So I think the answer is Newmarket.

Yes, Newmarket is correct.

Good start. Daphne,

in which year was the Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton born?

I'm probably going to get this wrong.

No, he's not 28. 1985.

A very young man.

He is, yes, that is the right answer. 1985. Lewis Hamilton,

born in that year. Andy, second question.

Which Portuguese football player was signed by Chelsea in July 2008?

Cristiano Ronaldo, I think, is associated with Manchester United.

Is that right? So I will discount him.

Deco - not a name I'm familiar with.

I'll have to plump for Nuno Gomes.

OK. Nuno Gomes. Does he play for Chelsea?

No.

-It's not Nuno Gomes. Do you know it, Daphne?

-It's Deco.

-Yeah, Deco.

-Do you know, I would have got that right?!

A football question!

This is your second question, Daphne.

In 1993, Javier Sotomayor achieved a world record in which athletics event?

-High jump.

-You like that. You're not bad at athletics.

-I like athletics.

-Track and field. It's the right answer. High jump.

Which means, Andy, you've got to get this.

In which sport do you have a high house and a low house?

No, never heard of them. Um...

A high house would sound sensible for pigeons, I suppose.

I'm wondering why longbow archery is there.

Um...

I will try longbow archery.

I suppose they're all plausible if you don't know them.

You mentioned clay pigeon shooting.

That would have been the right answer.

I turn to Daphne, but no need to put a question to you.

It does mean, Andy, you won't be playing in the final round.

Daphne, you're going to be there. 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, 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...

Peter and Andy from Culture '08 and Chris and Barry from the Eggheads,

would you all leave the studio now, please?

So, Ken, Mark and Hilary, you're playing to win Culture '08 £5,000.

Kevin, CJ and Daphne,

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.

You are, of course, allowed to confer.

So, Culture '08, the question is, are your three brains better than the Eggheads' three?

Ken, Mark and Hilary, would you like to go first or second?

-Shall we go first?

-First?

-Fine. Go first.

-Yes, yes.

-First, please, Dermot, we'll try.

First set of questions

for Culture '08, and good luck to you.

What name is given to a group of eggs fertilised at the same time,

laid in a single session and, in birds, incubated together?

-Shall we go with that?

-Well, yeah, it seems to be what we all decided.

-We're going for clutch, Dermot.

-A clutch of eggs.

Yes, it is. Of course, yes. Clutch is correct.

Clutch of Eggheads.

OK, first question for you, Eggheads.

In Girl Guiding, Brownie packs are traditionally divided up into groups known as what?

-You know it.

-Sixes?

-Yes.

-Sixes, yes.

-Right.

-I was never in the Brownies, so...

-Doesn't show.

-I'm reliably informed it's sixes.

-Were you in the Brownies or Guides?

I was a patrol leader in the Guides.

-Ah!

-Yes.

-Did they have a quizzing badge then?

-No! We didn't have quizzes in those days.

-No.

Too busy running from sabre-toothed tigers.

OK. Brownie packs,

and of course other packs in the Scout movement, divided into sixes.

Yes. It's correct.

OK, another question for each team. Culture '08.

Vasovagal syncope is the medical term for what condition?

Vasovagal syncope.

-Do want me to spell...

-Can you spell that, please?

-Yeah, you bet.

Two words - vasovagal... V-A-S-O-V-A-G-A-L.

So you have vasovagal. Then syncope.

S-Y-N-C-O-P-E.

I don't think it's snoring.

I've heard what snoring is and I'm sure it's not that.

I don't know what it is.

-Vasovagal?

-Yes.

-Are we going for blushing?

-Yeah.

-It pushes me towards blushing, yeah. Do you think?

-Go for blushing.

-Shall we go for blushing?

-Mmm.

-Going to try blushing, Dermot.

-It's not blushing.

-Fainting?

-DAPHNE:

-Fainting.

-Fainting?

-Yeah.

What are the roots to it? Can we take vasovagal syncope apart?

You stop breathing, don't you?

-Vaso refers to veins.

-I see. So...blushing...

-It's cutting off the blood supply which causes it.

-But blushing -

you can see that fitting as well.

Certainly not snoring. But it wasn't blushing. It's fainting.

So, Eggheads, a chance for the lead.

The world's smallest flightless bird,

found only on Inaccessible Island in the Atlantic, is what type of bird?

-It's a rail.

-It's got to be a rail.

-Yeah.

-Kakapo's New Zealand.

-Kakapo's a parrot.

-Rheas are far too big.

-A rhea is a big, ostrich-type thing.

-Huge.

-Enormous.

It's got to be a rail.

By process of elimination, we believe it must be a rail,

kakapo being a parrot-type bird from New Zealand and rheas being

rather large birds in South America which are like ostriches or emus.

-So it must a rail.

-OK. That's what you think. Rail is correct.

Inaccessible Island, home of the rail.

So...means you've got to get this, guys.

Culture '08...Hans Scharoun's Philharmonie building,

completed in 1963, is home to the Philharmonic Orchestra of which city?

-Berlin, Vienna or Basle.

-Hans Scharoun.

-Any idea?

-No idea at all.

-Hans Scharoun.

-How would you spell the Scharoun?

S-C-H-A-R-O-U-N.

-They're all German-type names.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Austrian or German.

I don't know why I think it, but I think Berlin.

-Philharmonie.

-But they've all... Vienna's got a Philharmonic.

-Yeah.

No, no, no. I'm thinking

from the point of view of it being a new hall for the orchestra.

-Berlin will have been pasted during the war.

-Mmm.

Whereas Vienna and Basle...

-or BASEL, as they call it now...

-May not have needed one.

-Shall we go for Berlin?

-We'll go for Mark's Berlin, yes.

-Go for broke with Berlin.

-With great confidence.

Course, you've got a Philharmonic, haven't you, in Liverpool?

-We have, indeed.

-It's Berlin. It's the right answer.

It's correct, yeah. Well worked out there.

Yes. Hans Scharoun.

-It's a very modernist building.

-I see, OK.

Well, Eggheads, you, though, can win it, because of vasovagal syncope,

if you get this - if not, we go to sudden death. So it's not over yet, Culture '08.

Eggheads, from which country did Thor Heyerdahl set off on his memorable Kon-Tiki voyage of 1947?

-Set off from Peru on one of them. But was that Kon-Tiki?

-Not Egypt.

-Egypt was Ra.

-Yes.

-Makes sense.

-I'm trying to remember which way round he did the voyage.

-Because he voyaged from...

-Which one was Tigris? Ra was Egypt.

-Where was Tigris?

-Well, that was Mesopotamia - Euphrates.

-Right.

It's Peru, then, because he went to Tahiti.

-He's got to prove that settlers could have gone there.

-Yes.

I don't recognise Tahiti. I always associate Peru with...

It wasn't really Tahiti. It was more Tuamotu.

-I think it's Peru.

-Anyway, no, that's fine. OK, Peru.

-Peru is what you're saying.

-It's right.

-And it is the right answer.

Yes, it's correct. Congratulations, Eggheads, you've won.

Well, that's almost a draw, really, I think.

If you played that again, the outcome could be very different indeed.

Great quizzing from the Tynan father and son. From Andy and Peter, too, but it wasn't to be for them.

But one question in it.

Thank you very much for coming along today

and giving the Eggheads a run for their money,

and telling us all about Liverpool and the year of culture.

But the Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them. They still reign supreme over Quiz Land.

I'm afraid you won't be going home with the £5,000.

The money rolls over to our 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.

£6,000 says they don't. Until then, goodbye.

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