Episode 56 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 have won some of the country's toughest quiz shows.

They are the Eggheads. And, taking on the might of our quiz champions

today are David vs Goliaths.

The team all met through the Pilsdon Community,

a charitable Christian organisation

which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year.

-Let's meet them.

-Hi. I'm Jonathan.

I'm 47, a vicar and leader of the Pilsdon Community.

Hello. I'm Adam.

I'm 43 years old and I'm a priest.

Hello. I'm Rob, I'm 49 and a I'm community member.

Hello. I'm Bob, I'm 55 years old and a retired potato merchant.

Hello. I'm Trevor, I'm 66 and I'm a painter.

Welcome to you. I can see the team name and the analogy.

-You hope to be David, bringing down these quiz Goliaths.

-We do.

Do you quiz at all in the community?

Have you practised before coming here?

We have one quiz...

-At Christmas.

-I thought you were going to say one a week.

So, once a year!

Trevor organisers that and often asks the same questions.

Some of the same questions - which we often get wrong.

Because you've forgotten!

Well, let's see how you do. Best of luck, David vs Goliaths.

Let me tell you what's been happening.

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 the Eggheads have won the last three games,

which means £4,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads.

The first head-to-head battle is on the subject of...

Any one of you can play this. It's the opening round.

Who would you like to pick?

Do you watch a lot of film and television?

-No.

-Right!

Maybe a tricky subject.

Will you take it on?

Adam.

-Which Egghead are we going to...?

-Yes, choose an Egghead.

You have the advantage of starting and picking any Egghead you like.

-Go for Kevin.

-OK.

-We'll go for Kevin.

Let's have Adam and Kevin in the question room

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

You get to decide, Adam, whether you go first or second. What's it to be?

I'd like to go first, please.

Good luck. This is your first question.

What term is used in film editing for a transition effect

in which one image fades out to be replaced by another?

I don't know the answer to this.

-So let's try dissolve.

-Dissolve.

Is the right answer. Well done.

Well,

if you don't get another one right, that will do with a cheer like that.

OK. Good start.

Kevin, in the TV sitcom The Office, which character expressed pride in

his service in the Territorial Army?

That's a good start, because I didn't watch The Office.

-I haven't got a clue.

-There's a gap in your knowledge.

I'm afraid it is. I've got an idea - I may be getting them mixed up -

that Gareth was the one played by Mackenzie Crook.

He was the sort of office boy or something.

I don't really know anything about Tim. Was that the Martin...?

On the basis of the one I know absolutely nothing about,

-I'll say Keith.

-Keith.

As you were floundering around,

you did kind of get there with who was playing the characters.

Yes, Martin Freeman Tim and Mackenzie Crook Gareth.

-But it was Gareth who was in the TA.

-OK.

Not Keith. What a great start!

Adam, you're in the lead. If you can hold on to it

for a couple more questions, you're going into the final round.

Second question - what was the name of the family who owned

the house at 165 Eton Place in the 1970s TV drama series Upstairs, Downstairs?

I'm afraid I've drawn a blank on this one.

My early memories of it are of Gordon Jackson being the butler.

I'm going to have to draw on a bit of divine assistance here.

I will say...

..Bellamy.

That's rung a bell. It's the right answer. Bellamy.

-Maybe just...

-You may as well just give up now, Kevin!

Well, the great deity is on your side.

If you get this wrong, Kevin, you'll have lost your third

Film And Television round in a row.

Which British television show is based on a French format called

Des Chiffres Et Des Lettres?

Or numbers and letters - that's a bit of a clue.

That was the original of Countdown.

Pity you could translate that. It is the right answer.

OK, well, may just have staved off defeat.

Adam, this could put you through to the final round.

Errol Flynn and which British actor shared

a Californian bachelor pad that they nicknamed Cirrhosis-by-the-Sea?

Oh. Stewart Granger was a sort of swashbuckling...

And Errol Flynn was that sort of thing.

I'm going to go for Stewart Granger.

-So they were buckling their swashes together?

-Something like that.

Stewart Granger and Errol Flynn, no, it's not.

It's David Niven. He and Errol Flynn shared that

interestingly named pad.

OK, a chance for Kevin to take us into Sudden Death.

Kevin, in the 1956 film The Green Man,

Alastair Sim played a watchmaker with which other part-time job?

If I've got the right film,

I think he doubled up, as you do, as an assassin.

Deadpan delivery as always, it's the right answer.

Yes, assassin. Alastair Sim in The Green Man.

So, it's all square.

Two each after three questions means we go to Sudden Death, Adam.

We're going to remove those choices

you've worked pretty well up to this point. This is yours, Adam.

Which 1981 Wolfgang Petersen film is set aboard a German submarine

during the Second World War?

I know the answer to this.

Just trying to think of one or two war film titles.

Um... I don't, I don't...

I don't know. I'm going to hazard a guess at um...

Ice Station Zebra?

OK. Ice Station Zebra.

I see, there's a submarine in that, isn't that, surfaces...

..at the pole. But, it's not Ice Station Zebra.

Do you know, Kevin, it could have been your question

if Adam had put you in. Wolfgang Peterson?

-It was called Das Boot.

-Yes, or The Boat in English.

So not there from Adam and a chance for Kevin.

It could be a bit of a revival after his start there with The Office.

Kevin, the 1999 film Any Given Sunday directed by Oliver Stone

is set in the world of which professional sport?

They generally play the games on Sunday, it's American football.

It is the right answer, Kevin, you did turn it round.

After an awful start, you've ended up the victor.

American football there, Any Given Sunday.

It means you'll be playing in the final round and bad luck,

Adam, nearly made it, but not quite.

Would you both come back and join your teams.

Well, as it stands David vs Goliaths have lost

one brain, the Eggheads are all still there.

Let's play another round.

This one's History, would that suit you better?

Adam can't play, but any of the other four.

-Are you all right for history?

-Yeah.

Jonathan, OK, and which Egghead,

-can't be Kevin, of course, any of the other four.

-CJ.

-Do you think?

-Yes.

All right, go on, then.

-CJ.

-OK, it's going to be Jonathan and CJ

heading for the question room to play History.

So, Jonathan, tell me a bit about the community,

are you as self-sufficient as you can possibly be?

We are, we've got three lovely Jersey cows,

so we're self-sufficient in milk.

A lot of our meat, a lot of our own vegetables.

One of the things is, we're trying to get self-sufficient in energy

by converting from oil and gas to burning wood.

We hope to become almost carbon neutral.

It must be hard work on the farm raising all those cattle

and looking after the food.

I can see why Adam didn't get to see much telly.

Yes, we work long days, but it's a great life.

Yes, it's a lovely place, Pilsdon.

OK, well, I hope you get to read

a few history books while you're there.

That's the category you're playing. Do you want to go first or second?

Well, when we play cricket we always bat first.

We think that's the confident thing to try and do.

We've only ever won one of our last 50 cricket games

and I hope this quiz is better.

Here's the first ball, Jonathan.

Which term refers to British history between the years 1901 and 1910?

That's Edwardian.

I'm quite sure about that, yes.

Yes, it's the right answer, well done.

CJ, the ancient pyramidal temple

called ziggurats were built in which region of the world?

Not Muscovy because that's...

..sort of where Moscow is, western Russia.

Manchuria is China and I don't associate them with that area.

I do associate them around the area of Mesopotamia.

It's the right answer, well done.

One to you CJ and Jonathan.

Which English city was seized by the followers

of Robert Ketts rebellion in 1549?

I think that was the Pilgrimage of Grace,

I think it was called.

A great number of people were executed after that.

I'm guessing it was somewhere in the north.

So, I'm thinking Chester.

OK, Chester.

It's the east, it's Norwich.

Norwich for Robert Kett and the rebellion there.

So a chance for CJ to take the lead.

CJ, Queen Victoria's eldest child,

also called Victoria, went on to hold which title?

It's interesting, I've not heard this.

There were obviously very clear links between Victoria

and the German nobility.

I think all of Victoria's older children all spoke German

as their first language, I think, because Victoria only spoke

German with her children.

It could be a Russian tsarina, I suppose,

but simply because of all the familiar and linguistic links,

I'll have to go for German empress.

German empress for Victoria, daughter of Queen Victoria,

it's the right answer, yes, well done.

So you have the lead and you need to get this, Jonathan.

The French prince who landed in England and claimed

the English throne in 1216 later became which King of France?

I don't it's Charles X.

I think that's too early.

I don't think it's Henry IV.

I'm going for Louis VIII.

You've got it, well done, Louis VIII.

Still in it, hoping for a mistake from CJ then.

CJ, which Byzantine empress, the daughter of Constantine VIII

shared the throne with her sister, Theodora in the 11th Century?

11th Century, um... Is that right for Lydia?

There's something mind nagging me about Zoe,

but I can't place her and I know there was a ruler called Lydia.

-I'll try Lydia.

-Lydia.

Lydia and Theodora.

-Other Eggheads, is it?

-I think it's Zoe.

It's Zoe. Zoe not Lydia, so there we are, the mistake

you wanted, Jonathan has occurred.

It's still all square.

Two-all and again we go to Sudden Death.

Against which nation's fleet did Admiral Howe

win a naval victory in 1794?

It became known as the Glorious First of June.

1794...

The French were defeated in 1805.

I'm going to guess at the Dutch.

OK, the Dutch...

It is the more obvious French.

It is France. Admiral Howe against the French there

on the Glorious First of June, 1794.

And a chance for CJ then to win the round if he gets this.

CJ, in which decade of the 20th century did Mao Zedong

launch the five-year economic plan, known as The Great Leap Forward?

Which one is it going to be? I think, is it the '50s?

I think the Cultural Revolution was '66.

Again, not sure and I should know this straightaway,

but I'll say the 1950s.

1950s...

It's 1958, it's the right answer.

You are through to the final round.

Bad luck, Jonathan. It seemed to slip away from you,

I thought Adam would make it through and I thought the same for you

but the Eggheads have come back.

This Egghead has come back and booked his place

in the final round at your expense.

Would you both please come back and rejoin your teams.

Well, two attempts knocking Eggheads out and getting very close,

but not quite. It means you've lost two brains from the final round.

The Eggheads are all still there.

Our next subject comes up, this is Sport.

We know about the successful cricket team. Who'd like to play?

Who'd like to open on this one?

Rob, Bob or Trevor?

It'll have to be Rob.

-I suppose I'll have to.

-The answer's Rob.

Well, who do you think might not be much good on the Egghead's team?

CJ and Kevin have played. So going up there,

it's Daphne, Chris or Barry?

-Who are we thinking? Barry? OK.

-Let's try Barry.

-OK. Are you happy with that, Rob?

-Yes.

Let's have Rob and Barry into the question room, please.

-Rob, do you want to go first or second?

-I'll go first.

OK, good luck, Rob and your first question is football.

Who managed the England football team in the 1996 European Championship finals?

It certainly wasn't Sven-Goran Eriksson because he's more recent.

And I don't think it was Steve McClaren.

Again, he was too recent.

So, I think it must be Terry Venables.

El-Tel himself. Right answer, well done.

And, Barry, how long in feet is a netball court?

I'm going to get in trouble for not knowing this.

My wife used to teach netball many years ago.

Did she? Did you go and watch?

I watched a couple of matches and then found

it was too cold to watch any more!

I'm going to go for the shorter answer. 100 feet.

100. You've got it, well done.

No trouble at home. Yet.

-Give it time.

-1-all.

Rob, which racecourse is located at Sunbury on Thames?

Well, this is a subject which I know very little about.

I've only been to one race course in my life.

And I can't even remember the name of that one.

So, it'll have to be a guess.

I think I'll just have to go for Fontwell Park.

OK, Fontwell Park in Sunbury-on-Thames?

You'd be badly lost if you went to Sunbury-on-Thames

looking for Fontwell Park.

It's Kempton, Kempton Park. Not Fontwell Park.

A chance for the lead, Barry.

Which rugby union team won its first ever Heineken Cup

after defeating Leicester in the 2009 final?

I'm sure Harlequins have won that in the past.

I don't believe Edinburgh has won it, so I'll go for Leinster.

Leinster, it's the right answer.

Yes, Leinster. They beat Leicester at

the Heineken Cup final in 2009 which means you need to get this, Rob.

In which year did David Gower last play Test match cricket for England?

Well, cricket is one of the sports that

I take some interest in, certainly.

So, I think I'll go for '89.

'89. David Gower last played Test match cricket for England in...

1992.

'92, Rob.

So, it means Barry is through to the final,

he's already got two, a score you can't achieve.

Barry, you're playing in the final round.

Would you both please come back and join your teams.

You guys know it took a while for David

to topple Goliath. So, still time.

As it stands, you've lost three brains from the final round.

The Eggheads haven't lost any.

Last chance to knock an Egghead out is on this subject, it's Geography.

And two players eligible. Bob or Trevor.

-What do you think, Trevor?

-You.

-I think you.

-Yes, Bob, I think.

-Bob.

-Yes, he'll be fine.

OK, Bob and the remaining Eggheads are Chris and Daphne.

-Daphne, probably.

-Chris is probably a bit

handy at Geography, I don't know.

-Yes.

-Daphne is as well.

Daphne probably is as well, but we'll go for...

Go for Daphne? OK, Bob and Daphne, into the question room, please.

Bob it's Geography and I believe

you've had some pretty trepid adventures on your bike?

Yes, two years ago, I cycled from England up to North Cape

in north Norway, going via Switzerland.

And it was a four-month trip doing 6,000 miles.

-It was really good.

-Fantastic story.

I hope some of these Nordic adventures come up in these questions

in the Geography round. Which set would you like?

The first set or second?

I'll carry on going first please.

OK, Good luck, Bob.

Which estuary is formed by the confluence

of the rivers Trent and Ouse?

I think flowing out through York out towards the sea,

the river Ouse goes out into the Humber estuary.

-Humber?

-Yes.

Right answer, yes, Humber.

The Trent and the Ouse.

And to balance it up,

another watery question for Daphne.

Avonmouth is a port of which English city?

20-odd miles away from me. Bristol.

-Ah.

-Yes.

-Not too hard then?

-No.

Is the right answer, yes. Bristol.

And second question, Bob,

where was the official international customs airport

for London opened in 1920?

I know that Croydon has a...

..connection with aviation.

So I think I'm going to take that as a likely option. I'll say Croydon.

Croydon. Well done, right answer.

The surface of the Dead Sea

averages roughly how many metres below sea level?

I have no idea, Dermot. 40.

40 metres below sea level?

-Yes. Wrong.

-It is wrong.

-400.

-Oh, right. OK!

That's the surface of the Dead Sea, averages roughly 400 metres.

I didn't know that.

That far below level. There we are, 400 it is.

So, well, great news, Bob.

That slip up, this gets you through to the final round and you'll be

keeping Trevor company. If you don't get through he's on his own.

This is your question.

The City of Helena, with a population of roughly 25,000,

is the capital of which US state?

I don't think it's Wisconsin.

I'm not sure that it's Rhode Island.

On the basis that it ends in an "A"

and Montana ends in an "A", I'll go for Montana.

Well there's logic for you! Do you know what?

It's the right answer!

Daphne knew, Daphne knew her fate was sealed.

OK. Well, last question there in those head-to-heads,

Bob, has got you through. No place for you, Daphne.

Would you both please come back and join your teams.

This is what we've been playing for.

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

But those of you who lost those head-to-heads won't be

allowed to take part in this round.

So, Jonathan, Adam and Rob from David vs Goliaths

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

Bob and Trevor, you're playing to win David vs Goliath £4,000.

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

money can't buy, the Eggheads' reputation.

I'll ask each team three questions, but this time

the questions are all general knowledge and you are allowed to confer.

So, David vs Goliaths, the question is

are your two brains better than the Eggheads'?

And Bob and Trevor, would you like to go first or second?

We'll go first, please.

OK, good luck.

Anything may come up, try this one.

Your first question. In law, which two word Latin name is given

to a writ directed to someone who has custody of a person requiring

that the detained person be brought before the court issuing the writ?

It's to do with a body.

It's Corpus, isn't it? Habeas Corpus.

I think it is.

-We think it's Habeas Corpus.

-OK.

It's the right answer, well done.

Eggheads, club masters, Wayfarers and aviators

are all styles of which type of fashion accessory?

Sunglasses? Well, I wouldn't know,

but our fashion correspondent's here

and assures me they're sunglasses.

That will be Kevin.

OK, it is sunglasses. Right answer, Eggheads.

Second question,

in April 2008, the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero

announced that, for the first time, there was a majority of what in his Cabinet?

It could be any of those, really, couldn't it? But...

Basically, the Catalan thing was

already dealt with elsewhere, wasn't it?

-I think it was the women. The number of women.

-The number of women?

We'll go for the number of women.

The female representation in his Cabinet

reached a majority in April 2008, you think?

You're right, well done.

Eggheads, the famous American street called Wilshire Boulevard,

named after a 19th century publisher and developer,

starts in the centre of which city?

Hold on a second, spell Wiltshire, please.

-W-I-L-S-H-I-R-E.

-That's the Beverly Wilshire Hotel,

-which is...

-It's not Miami and Chicago doesn't have boulevards,

it has avenues so it's Los Angeles.

Los Angeles, is the right answer.

Well done, Eggheads.

Two each. Back to David vs Goliaths.

In the Soviet Union, what was the name

of the Communist League Of Youth?

The only one I'm familiar with is Izvestiya.

But I'm not sure whether it's in connection with...

-The NKVD's the secret mob, isn't it?

-Right.

So I would tend towards the one with a K.

-The Komsomol.

-We'll go for Konsomol.

-OK.

Yes, Konsomol is correct, well done.

Eggheads, you must get this.

In Medieval society what was a palmer?

-Spell it, please.

-P-A-L-M-E-R.

Palmer.

-Pilgrim?

-Are we agreed?

-Yes.

They used to wear a little bit of palm leaf

as a badge to prove that they'd been

-where they were supposed to and they're pilgrims.

-Pilgrim...

is correct, well done.

Right, Sudden Death then. All square.

Both sides going really well. 3-all after three questions each.

So, David vs Goliaths, who created the dashing literary

hero, Young Lochinvar in the epic poem, Marmion?

Tennyson?

-I wouldn't have thought so.

-Tennyson?

-Longfellow?

-Byron?

-No.

-Tennyson?

-Would you like to go for it?

I would, yes.

Right, we'll say...

Tennyson.

Tennyson. OK.

It's not. No, not Tennyson.

Alfred Lord Tennyson. Do you know, Eggheads, if it was your question?

-Sir Walter Scott.

-Sir Walter Scott.

So...

A chance for the Eggheads.

First slip up in the final round.

It continues if the Eggheads don't get this.

Eggheads, which American actor married the actress

Victoria Tennant in 1986?

Steve Martin?

It's Steve Martin, yes.

The name that first came to my mind.

-Yes, Steve Martin.

-Yes, right.

It's Steve Martin, Dermot.

Steve Martin is correct, Eggheads. You've won.

Well, David vs Goliaths, it finishes the other way.

Thank you very much indeed for playing

and playing so well today. It's good to see you

and best of luck with the community in Pilsdon for the future.

-Thank you.

-The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them

and they still reign supreme over quiz land.

You won't be going home the £4,000 which means the money

rolls over to the next show.

Eggheads, congratulations, who will beat you?

Join us again to see if a new team have the brains

to defeat the Eggheads.

£5,000 says they don't.

Until then, goodbye.

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