Episode 92 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 quiz pedigree is well-known as they've won some of the country's

toughest quiz shows. They are the Eggheads.

And taking on the awesome might

of the Eggheads, today, are Insight Radio, from Glasgow.

They are all staff and volunteers who work for the radio station

for the Royal National Institute for the Blind. Let's meet them.

Hi. I'm Wilson. I'm 62 and I'm a volunteer broadcaster.

Hi. I'm Grace. I'm 55 and I am a volunteer broadcaster.

Hello. I'm Richard. I'm 67 and I'm a volunteer broadcaster.

Hello. I'm Fiona.

-I'm 59 and I'm also a broadcast volunteer.

-Hi. I'm Alan.

I'm 37 and I'm a broadcast producer.

-Wilson and team, hello.

-Hello, Jeremy. Good to meet you.

And you. And great to meet a fellow radio person.

Tell us about the station.

It's called Insight Radio.

We were founded by the RNIB, Royal National Institute of the Blind.

And we've been running now for about five years.

We, basically, serve blind

and partially-sighted people though we've got other listeners as well.

We provide quite a mix of news, music, features, as I say,

particularly of interest to people who are blind or partially-sighted.

-And you measure your audiences? You've got a sense of how needed you are?

-Well, we do and...

our audience has grown over, as I say, something like five years,

and one measure of that is that 2007 we won a Sony silver award

-at which they recognised our work.

-Fantastic. Well done. And good luck against the Eggheads here.

Hope you do really well. 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.

Now, Insight Radio, the challengers won the last game

which means £1,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads.

First head to head battle is on the subject of politics.

Who wants to play politics?

I think you should go with it, Richard. You're the man for politics.

Even geography might come up, you think...

You see, we don't know what's coming up in the other categories so I think

-we must go with the categories that appear, so you go with it, Richard.

-All right.

-We'll choose Richard.

-Now, the tricky bit.

-It's very difficult but we've decided to play against CJ.

-OK.

Richard, from Insight Radio, against CJ, from the Eggheads. To ensure

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

-So, Richard, you work on the radio station.

-I do, indeed.

And you're doing, I understand, the afternoon show.

Yes. I do the afternoon show on a Wednesday with Alan and I operate

from three o'clock till six o'clock in the evening.

That's fine. It doesn't coincide with my programme.

-Indeed, it doesn't.

-So recommend everyone listens to it.

I'm asking you three multiple choice questions, each of you, and whoever

gets the most right goes through

to the final round and Richard, you can choose the first or second set.

I think I'd like to go first.

Richard, Fiorello LaGuardia

served three consecutive four-year terms between 1933 and 1945 as Mayor

of which US city?

Well, I think that I know this one.

The answer is New York.

New York is correct. Well done, Richard...

because I guess the airport...

LaGuardia Airport. Yeah.

OK, CJ, your question. For what does the letter T

stand in the abbreviation STV, the voting system introduced in Scotland

in 2007 for local elections?

One of those questions where I had no idea until the options came up.

But having seen the options, I think

it stands for Single Transferable Vote, so I'll try transferable.

It does. You're right. Well done. One point to you.

Back to you, Richard. How many police forces are there

currently in England and Wales?

Well, I'm not sure about this question at all.

So I will have a stab and say 34.

That's wrong, I'm afraid. 43 is the correct answer.

CJ, your chance to take the lead.

Which American politician once said

"I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix?"

I simply can't imagine it was Schwarzenegger.

I can only imagine it was Dan Quayle so let's try him.

I've not heard the quote before, either. I thought I'd heard all of

his gaffs. Dan Quayle is correct. Richard, back to you.

The House of Lords has an absolute veto on any bill introduced

in the Commons that proposes to do what?

Well, declare war... not sure about that.

Extend the life of the Parliament... I wouldn't have thought so.

I'll go for abolish the monarchy.

Actually, not. It's extend the life of Parliament.

That is obviously the one thing that they don't want the politicians

to do cos they could stay in power forever.

So, Richard, commiserations.

You've lost there. CJ will have won the round anyway.

You were beaten by our Egghead. As a result, you won't be in the final.

CJ, you will. Do both of you come back, rejoin your teams.

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

The Eggheads have not lost any brains.

And the next subject is music.

Music. So who's going to do this one?

-That was Alan.

-Alan. I think we decided before the show.

-Yes.

-It was democratic that you have been volunteered, Alan.

-OK.

-So we'll go with Alan.

Which Egghead? You've got Barry, Chris, Daphne or Judith.

We would like to ask Judith to join the music round.

Judith, feeling musical?

-You are quite musical.

-No. I'm not at all musical.

I told you the other day, I prefer

listening to the spoken word rather than to music.

Yeah but you have a musical sense of...

-Do I? Well, that's kind of you.

-Maybe not.

It's Alan, from Insight Radio then, against Judith, from the Eggheads.

So there's no conferring, please take your positions.

So, Alan, you're a radio man, too.

Yes. I am.

And producing, presenting, what are you doing on the station?

I present a show six days a week and I do some co-production, as well.

Oh, my goodness. You are busy.

-Very much so. Yeah.

-Well, good luck in taking on Judith here.

Three questions on music.

And Alan, you can choose the first or second set.

I think I'll go with ladies first.

Judith, which singer had a UK top-ten hit single, With Games Without Frontiers, and Sledgehammer?

I think that was...

-Paul Young.

-Paul Young.

-Yes.

-It was Peter Gabriel... actually. Not Paul Young.

-Oh, right.

Peter Gabriel was in Genesis and then went solo and all that.

Sorry, Judith.

Here's your question, Alan. In the 1980s, Johnny Marr,

Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce were all members of which group?

If memory serves me correct, I'm sure Johnny Marr was a guitarist.

And I'm positive I was listening to this band on the way down here on the train. I think it's The Smiths.

The Smiths is absolutely correct, Alan. Well done.

Missing out just Morrissey, there.

Judith, your question.

Which group released the album...

"The Circus" in December 2008?

Now, this is something I've read.

Can I remember it?

I know Girls Aloud have got

a hit of some kind and Take That. So which is it?

Would Girls Aloud do something called The Circus?

I think it's wrong. Take That.

No. Take That is right. Well done.

Hooray. At last.

Over to you, Alan. Here is your question.

How many white keys are there on a standard grand piano?

Not very good at playing instruments,

like the guitar, as my neighbours will probably testify.

I think I'm going

to go with 44.

44 is your answer, straight down the middle.

I'll try your teammates. Is he right?

I think it might be 52.

It could be. There's a lot of white notes on the piano.

One way of thinking of it! I'm afraid it's more, Alan, than 44.

It is 52.

So, back to you, Judith.

What is the commonly used French term for a cradle song or lullaby?

Well, aubade, that sounds like something to do with the dawn

and barcarolle sounds something to do with boats.

And berceuse is the cradle.

Berceuse.

-Is that your answer?

-Yeah.

-You're right. Well done.

Got it.

Alan, you get this right, we go to sudden death.

If you don't, you won't be in the final. Here we go.

The surrealist Elisabeth Lutyens once dismissed British pastoral

composers such as Vaughan Williams with which derogatory phrase?

Pastoral.

I would... Cowpat, I don't think.

That doesn't sound right. Wriggling, I suppose, is quite insulting.

Perhaps C is quite a bit of a put-down.

I think I'll go with C then as my final answer.

-You're going with Mad Wriggling.

-Yeah.

I don't know the background to this at all but she apparently dismissed

it as the The Cowpat School.

Could have been any answer as far as I'm concerned. Anyone know the background to this?

Wasn't it Benjamin Britten who described Vaughan Williams' music

as "cow looking over a gate" music?

Alan, I'm sorry. You've been beaten by our Egghead there so you won't be in the final round.

Judith, you will be, you won on music.

I know, that's a first.

Please, both of you, come back to the studio.

As it stands, the challengers have lost two brains from the

final round. The Eggheads have lost no brains so far. Still time.

And you can still win.

The next subject is food and drink.

Which of you wants this?

Food and drink...

Fiona, I think. I'm afraid you're going to be volunteered.

Am I the one that has to go? Right.

We all enjoy food and drink but it's just the questions on it, if you don't mind taking them on, Fiona.

I'll see what I can do.

Fiona against...

-We'd like to go up against Chris.

-There's definitely a plan here.

Fiona, from Insight Radio, versus Chris, from the Eggheads,

please go to the question room now.

So I will ask each of you three questions on food and drink in turn.

And Fiona, would you like the first or second set?

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

Very good. Here we go with food and drink. Good luck. What colour

is the shell of a European lobster before it is cooked?

A European lobster.

I don't think it's dark blue.

Let me think. Pale yellow.

Well, I think...

it's probably not right but I'll have to try...

pale yellow.

Pale yellow is wrong. Eggheads...

Dark blue.

Dark blue.

There we are. Fiona, I'll move to Chris.

Which constituent makes up nearly 90% of the white of a chicken's egg?

Well, it's not fat cos that's all in the yolk.

And I don't think there's that much protein in the white of an egg.

So it's probably water.

I've had some very watery eggs in my time so it's water.

Water is correct.

Fiona, back to you.

Which diet, popularised by George Ohsawa after World War Two

aims to balance the yin and yang elements in food?

Well, the name itself would make you think it was rice diet.

I'm pretty sure it's not the Cambridge Diet.

But the balancing makes me think it might be macrobiotics.

So I have to choose between those two.

It was after the Second World War.

No. Maybe I should go back to the rice diet and hope for the best.

Rice diet. You're clenching your teeth as you say that.

I am. Absolutely. And my fingers.

-It was macrobiotics.

-Oh, no.

-I'm so sorry.

I was willing you towards that. Sorry. Rice diet is wrong.

Macrobiotics is right. Chris, your question.

If you get this right, I do believe you have won the round.

What type of food is a gurnard?

G-U-R-N-A-R-D. What type of food is a gurnard, Chris?

It's an extremely ugly, rather bony but quite tasty sea fish.

Is he right? Anyone?

He's right. It is sea fish.

So, congratulations, Chris.

Fiona, I'm afraid you were beaten by our Egghead.

As a result, you won't be able to help your team in the final round.

Do, both of you, come back to us now.

As it stands, the challengers have lost three brains.

That's going to make it harder. The Eggheads have lost

no brains at all, so far.

But we still have another round before the final round.

It's arts and books.

Which of you wants this one?

-Grace?

-Me. Yes.

-Could be Wilson? No?

-No. I'm being held back from any of the rounds.

-The secret weapon.

-Well, it's now out in the open.

What am I saying?

I've blown the whole strategy. OK. Grace against who?

Barry, please.

Right. It's Grace, from Insight Radio, versus Barry, from the Eggheads and to ensure there's

no conferring, please take your positions in the question room.

So, Grace, I'm going to guess that you're at the radio station as well.

I am, indeed. Yes. I do two shows.

I do the early morning on Thursday, the first edition news show

and then I do on a Monday lunchtime, I do the daily lunch.

-It's more of a magazine show.

-So we have something in common then.

We do, indeed.

-An allotment in your spare time.

-Yes. I absolutely love it.

Just got it last year. Had my name down on the waiting list.

So I'm a complete novice but great fun. Absolutely terrific.

Great fun. Great exercise.

Meet lots of good, nice people and I can eat my own vegetables.

Yeah. Wonderful. OK.

Three questions. Arts and books.

Grace, you can choose first or second.

I think I'll go first please, Jeremy.

So, what name is given to the method of painting with opaque watercolours

that have been ground in water and mixed with gum and white pigment?

I'm really not sure.

I was hoping for a book question...

but tempera seems to be...

jumping out at me but it's a shot in the dark. Tempera.

Tempera's jumping out at me as well.

-It's wrong though. It is gouache.

-Right.

-What is tempera, Eggs?

-Eggs.

-What, it's eggs?

-Using eggs as the binding agent for the paint powder.

It was what was used before oil painting came along.

-So it was the right territory, Grace.

-Yeah.

Barry, your question.

In the 1820s, the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai

produced a famous series of prints known as the 36 views of which site?

Hokusai is one of my all-time favourite artists.

He was a member of the Ukiyo-e, the School of the Floating World,

which attempted to catch impressions of the world around him and his most

famous series was the 36 views of Mount Fuji.

I love it when you guys do the background as well.

Mount Fuji is right. Grace, the popular historical novel

by Captain Marryat, set during the English Civil War,

about a group of royalist children forced to go into hiding,

is called The Children Of The... what?

I think it's Children Of The New Forest.

Absolutely right. Well done.

Well done, Grace. New Forest is correct.

Barry, your question.

What was the name of the American poet born in 1894 who was known

for experimental typography,

especially the ubiquitous use of lower case letters?

Well, Ezra Pound is much later than that.

And Emily Dickinson is earlier, although she only had three poems

ever published in her lifetime.

But the poet renowned for his typography and I wish

I could say this in lower case...

is EE Cummings.

EE Cummings is right. Anyone know any EE Cummings?

Not the poems. I mean, you see his name.

His name was never written like that.

It's all lower case letters without full stops.

What was the Woody Allen film where EE Cummings was quoted?

The Sleeper.

Hannah And Her Sisters.

No-one, not even the rain, has such small hands.

-That's very baffling.

-It is baffling.

Beautiful things can be baffling.

Well, Grace, no easy way to say it.

If you get this one wrong, you won't be in the final and I think Wilson

would like you to be in the final.

I'll try.

Otherwise he's going to be slightly lonely. So here we go.

In the detective stories by Dorothy L Sayers, what is the name of Lord Peter Wimsey's manservant?

I don't think it's Hudson.

Burrell or Bunter.

I'll go for Burrell.

Your answer is Burrell.

Yes.

But it's Bunter.

-Oh.

-Sorry.

He passed us all by. Bunter the butler.

Well, Grace, bad luck.

And well done, Barry.

Grace, unfortunately, you've been undone by our Egghead

and you won't be able to join your team in the final round. Barry, you will be there. Please, both of you,

come back and rejoin your teammates.

This is what we've been playing towards.

Time for our final round which, as always, is general knowledge.

I'm afraid those of you who lost your head to heads won't be

allowed to take part in this round, so that's Grace, Richard, Fiona and Alan, from Insight Radio.

Please leave the studio.

Wilson, you are playing to win Insight Radio £1,000.

CJ, Daphne, Chris, Barry and Judith, you are playing for something which money can't buy -

the Eggheads' reputation. It needed rebuilding in the last match.

They were down to one and they lost,

so this is all about them trying to feel good about themselves.

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

This time, the questions are all general knowledge.

You can confer...with yourself.

Insight Radio, the question is is your one brain

better than the Eggheads' five? Do you want to go first or second?

Jeremy, I'll go second.

Your question, Eggheads. In the UK, for what does the letter D stand

in the name of the veterinary charity, the PDSA?

Dispensary. It's the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals.

I just assumed it stood for dog.

-Oh.

-Dispensary's correct.

Back to you, Wilson. In the UK property market, fashionable, urban

apartments that are marketed as New York style, are usually called what?

Well, I've just seen a wonderful film which was set in a garret

and I can't imagine anybody marketing a house as a garret.

Attics, I don't think many people

have attics and basically, that's what they're called.

So I'm going to go for B, lofts.

And you're totally right. Well done. Lofts is right.

Eggheads, in German, the letter V is normally pronounced like

which letter in English?

That would be F.

-F for... Freddy.

-F...

for Freddy is right.

Wilson, back to you.

In ancient architecture, what name was given to a temple dedicated to all the Gods?

Well, I think pyramid, I associate that specifically with Ancient Egypt.

And Parthenon is really the Greek word for beautiful.

So I think the temple of all the Gods in Greek would be the Pantheon.

Pantheon, it is, Wilson. Yes.

Two points each.

Eggheads, Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw, was first staged

in 1913, not in London, but in which city?

Chichester is a city.

-I can't imagine it would be Cairo.

-There might have been a reason.

For an out of town triumph, we'll bring it into the West End.

The only thing I ever know that was first staged in Cairo

was Aida.

Why Vienna?

What date? And why Vienna?

It's not English-speaking.

No. It wasn't written...

Yes. It wouldn't be Cairo. I reckon

he tried it out in the provinces which would be Chichester...

-which is a city.

-A double bluff.

And it was Chichester, wouldn't you

put two other Colchester, or Caernarvon or something.

-That could be the double bluff.

-The double bluff. Yeah.

Well, as you can tell, we're completely flummoxed.

But we think the logical answer must be Chichester.

-So that's what we'll go for.

-OK.

If you're right, then you take the lead.

You're wrong, Eggheads.

You are wrong. All five of you.

Chichester. No.

-Vienna.

-You wouldn't have even got it right if you'd had two choices.

Vienna, so what a turn of events.

You all coasted through to the final,

not losing a single life.

And here's Wilson now with the chance to take the money

if you get this answer right.

In printing, what name is given to a short line of text at the end of a

paragraph that appears awkwardly at the top of the next page?

Well, I don't pretend to know the technicalities of printing.

I enjoy reading books but I have to say that maybe all

the books I've read have been properly typographically set.

This is very difficult. It actually could be any of these.

Spinster...

on its own.

Maiden...possibly.

Not yet on its own.

Well, they're all female and they all suggest something on its own.

I'm going to guess widow.

Now, you say you don't know about printing.

Some will know the answer from this because they use a computer.

They go in and they format some word processing

document and they're asked about the last line of a paragraph and

they're asked to check the box next to which is the word "widow".

Widow is absolutely right. Congratulations, challengers.

You've won.

Well, well, well.

Only the fourth time in Eggheads' history that a single player has defeated the lot of them.

Only the fourth time that you've lost two in a row, because this the

whole point of this was they were going to get their spirit back together after the crushing defeat.

-What's gone wrong? Well done, Wilson. Brilliant play.

-Thank you.

Great attempt by the team behind to disguise the plan as well...

and make us think you weren't going to win. Congratulations.

You're officially cleverer than the Eggheads.

You proved they can be beaten.

Join us next time. See what they're up to next time.

See if a new team of challengers can make it three in a row.

They'll need counselling if that happens.

Until then, goodbye.

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