Episode 120 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 pedigree is well-known, as they've won the country's toughest quiz shows.

They are the Eggheads.

And challenging our resident quiz champions today are the Badgers.

This friends and family team all live on the Badgers estate

in Buckingham, and they know one another through their children

attending the same school and football club.

Let's meet them.

Hello, I'm Alan, I'm 51, I'm an accountant.

Hi, I'm Kip, I'm 22, and I'm a biomedical scientist.

Hi, I'm Heather, I'm 49, and I'm an optometrist.

Hello, I'm Mary, I'm 44, and I work in retail.

Hi, I'm Marilyn, I'm 56, and I'm a compliance manager.

So, Alan and team, welcome.

-Thank you.

-And the Badgers estate so-called because...?

I think it's just the rural nature of the development when it was built.

-Right, you're an accountant.

-I am.

-You all do different things, I know,

but your children are what you have in common?

Yes. Obviously, Heather and I had the same children.

They went to the same school

and attended a football club which was Moretonville Juniors.

Do you quiz together?

-We attend local quizzes.

-OK. Good luck here.

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 again.

So, the Badgers, the Eggheads have won the last 22 games,

which means £23,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads.

You're an accountant, you know how much that is!

Including VAT.

First head-to-head battle is on the subject of Arts and Books.

-Who would like this, challengers?

-So who's going for it?

-Was that you or Marilyn?

-Mum?

-Marilyn?

-I don't mind.

-Do you want to have a go?

-You or I?

-I don't mind.

-And which Egghead are we going to go for?

So who's doing it? Heather? Marilyn? I am.

Marilyn, you've been volunteered against...?

-Who do you want to go for?

-I'll go for Chris.

OK, Marilyn from the Badgers against Chris from the Eggheads.

And to ensure there's no conferring,

would you please take your positions in the Question Room?

So Marilyn, you work in a supermarket?

That's right.

Doing what kind of thing?

I'm a compliance manager.

It's my role to make sure the store trades legally.

And you have, I understand, triplets?

Yes, they're all boys and they're 21 years old, all at university,

costing me just a little amount of money.

Triplets at 21!

What a... Describe the last 21 years in one word.

Long! JEREMY LAUGHS

On the subject of triplets, we've got three multiple choice questions

and you can choose the first or the second set of questions.

I think I'm going to let Chris go first.

Here we go, Arts and Books, Chris, your first question.

Which 19th-century novel is subtitled

The Autobiography of a Horse?

That is Black Beauty, Jeremy.

Black Beauty is the right answer.

Marilyn, here's your question.

The Booker Prize-winning author Peter Carey was born

in which country?

I'm not 100% sure on that one.

I don't think he's Canadian and he doesn't sound very Irish to me,

so I'm going to go for Australia.

Well done, Australia is correct.

Chris, "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is

"to have a thankless child,"

is a line from which Shakespeare play?

Said about one of his daughters by King Lear.

King Lear is the right answer. Or two of his daughters?

-Mm, yeah, cos it's only Cordelia. That's the last one, isn't it?

-Yeah.

OK, Marilyn, which was the first of James Patterson's novels

to feature Alex Cross?

OK.

Can I have Chris' previous question, please, because I have never read

any Patterson novels, so this is going to be an absolute guess.

And we'll go for the 4th of July.

Let's see if the Eggheads know. Eggheads?

Along Came A Spider.

Along Came A Spider is the answer. Who's read Patterson? Anyone here?

You have? Did you like him?

It's sort of like, you don't have to think too much when you read it.

So that's why you do them, then?

Yeah, it's sort of like candy floss for the brain.

-And Alex Cross is a detective?

-Yes.

-Chris, your question.

The mural known as the Aldobrandini Wedding

was painted in which period?

If you get this right, you've got the round.

Well, I don't think it's Roman.

And I think Renaissance art tended to focus on religious subjects.

It sounds a bit Rubenesque to me, which would make it Rococo.

It's not Rococo. It is Roman, funnily enough.

What does it depict?

-Anyone describe the scene?

-No.

-Couple of people?

-I don't know.

Someone drinking.

Marilyn, to draw level.

Who wrote A Time of Gifts,

a famous piece of travel writing published in 1977?

1977.

I don't know any works of Patrick Leigh Fermor.

I don't associate Gavin Maxwell with travel writing,

so I think I'm going to have to go for Lawrence Durrell,

but I don't know.

See if Chris knows this one. Chris, is she right?

I think she may be, Jeremy, yeah.

No, you're wrong. Patrick Leigh Fermor is the answer, Marilyn.

So, Chris has taken the round with his two correct answers.

Can you please, both of you, come back here and rejoin your teams?

So as it stands the challengers have lost a brain from the final round,

the Eggheads have not lost a brain so far.

The next subject is Geography.

-Who would like Geography?

-You'd be Music.

-Probably.

-Got to be you, Alan.

-OK.

Alan? OK.

-It'll be me, Jeremy.

-Alan on Geography against which Egghead?

I'd like to take Daphne, please.

Did you sigh then, Daphne?

-No!

-You looked a little bit weary.

Well, I wasn't expecting it.

Most people pick CJ.

So Alan from the Badgers against Daphne from the Eggheads

on Geography, please do go to the Question Rooms now.

Here we go. Three questions for you,

multiple choice, the subject is Geography,

-and Alan, you can choose the first or the second set of questions.

-I'd like to go first, please, Jeremy.

Here we go. The town of Bakewell, home of the Bakewell pudding,

is located in which national park?

Well, Bakewell is in Derbyshire, so it must be in the Peak District.

Peak District is correct.

Daphne, which two colours feature on the flag of Albania?

It's...

Um, it's a black eagle on a red background.

Black and red.

Black and red is correct, Daphne. Nice one!

Back to you, Alan.

For what does the word ciudad usually stand for in Spanish

or South American place names?

I'll spell it for you - C-I-U-D-A-D. Ciudad.

I don't know this one, so it's going to be a complete guess,

and I'm going to guess...

city.

Yeah, sounds a bit like city, or it's got that sort of a sound to it.

Ciudad, city, correct.

Daphne, how many countries border the Black Sea?

Anything that starts off "How many," my heart sinks.

The Black Sea.

-Six.

-Six is correct.

-Can you name them?

-No!

-Any Egghead name them?

Come on, give it a go!

Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova.

-No.

-Eh?

Oh, no, there's Ukraine, Georgia.

Georgia, one more. Biggest one.

-Russia.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

How's that, Daphne?

-They can name them!

-Yeah!

-Six is right.

-But I can guess it!

You got the answer, well done. Third question, Alan.

Which lake in central Switzerland has the German name

Vierwaldstattersee, or Lake of the Four Forested Cantons?

I don't know. Lake Geneva is in the west of Switzerland.

It must be one of the other two.

Again, 50/50, Lake Lucerne.

Lake Lucerne is correct.

Daphne, he's almost as good as you at the old guesswork!

Your question.

Which city on the edge of the Volga River Delta,

about 60 miles from the Caspian Sea,

has long been associated with the production of caviar?

No, I don't know, Jeremy.

I would guess at Astrakhan.

How do you do that? How do you do that?

Astrakhan is correct.

I just begin to think it's not a guess, it is your...

the subconscious of Daphne,

with an amazing, just, little twinkle there.

OK, we go to Sudden Death, Alan, because you're equal.

So it gets a bit harder. I don't give you alternatives.

Which Central American nation's name,

when translated into English, means "rich coast?"

That would be Costa Rica.

Costa Rica is correct.

Daphne, the Great Sandy Desert is the second largest desert

in which country?

Australia.

Australia is correct. There is a Great Sandy in the USA,

but it's not the second largest, by the way,

for anyone looking at that askance.

Next question.

Of which landlocked African country is N'Djamena the capital?

I believe that's Chad, Jeremy.

Very well done, it is Chad.

N'Djamena.

OK. Daphne, the Lincoln Tunnel links New Jersey

to which New York borough?

-If you get this wrong you're out.

-I know.

-Queens.

-No, Daphne. Manhattan.

So, well done, Alan, you're in the final round!

You've knocked out one of our Eggheads

who won't be in the final, and you will be.

Please, both of you, come back here and rejoin your team-mates.

So as it stands the challengers have lost one brain from the final round,

but they won't be a walkover. The Eggheads have lost one brain as well.

The next subject is Film and TV.

-Which of you would like this?

-That'd be Mary.

-Yes.

-Mary, OK. Against?

-Barry, I think.

-OK.

Barry? Right, Mary from the Badgers against Barry,

right down the end of our Eggheads. To ensure there's no conferring,

would you please go to the Question Room now?

All right, Mary, good luck in this round.

Three questions on Film or TV, and Mary, you can choose the first or second set of questions.

I think I'll go first.

Here we go. The American-born director Richard Lester

made two films in the 1960s featuring which British band?

Well, only because they're the only band that I'm aware of that did films

in the '60s, I think I'm going to have to plump for The Beatles.

And you're absolutely right. The Beatles is the right answer.

Barry, your question.

In the 2003 film Lost in Translation,

the characters played by Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson

meet in which city?

They meet in Tokyo,

and the interesting thing is that one of the best scenes in that film

is at Shibuya crossing,

which is where all those zebra crossings converge

with hundreds of thousands of people every day.

When my son worked in Japan,

he had a flat just 100 yards away from that crossing.

What's it called again?

-Shibuya crossing.

-Shibuya crossing. Tokyo's correct, Barry.

There's one in Oxford Circus now.

At Oxford Circus, instead of the, you know,

the normal right-angle crossings,

they've got a diagonal one across the middle.

That's true, yes.

In the first year it was used by 19 million people.

-Wow!

-Isn't that incredible?

OK. Back to you, Mary.

Which comic actor starred alongside Doris Day and Rock Hudson

in the films Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back

and Send Me No Flowers?

Ooh, that's a little bit before my time, I think.

I vaguely remember watching some films of hers on the telly,

but I'm going to have to guess...

..and go for Tony Curtis.

See if your team know here. Anyone know?

-Tony Randall.

-Tony Randall it is.

Tony Randall.

So Barry, you have a chance to take the lead now. Here we go.

The US TV series Glee

is set in a high school named after which US President?

That's the William McKinley High School.

It is, indeed, William McKinley.

Have you seen this programme?

I've seen it once.

I do sing along with some of the songs, though.

It's a sensation. I haven't seen it. Anyone?

-CJ?

-I've never seen it, no.

It is quite entertaining, if you like that sort of thing.

Ah! Chris reveals himself, suddenly, as a fan of Glee.

So it's two points to Barry,

and Mary, one point to you. You do need this one now, OK?

In which year was the short-lived Albion Market first broadcast?

Right, I do vaguely remember this.

It definitely wasn't 1990.

I'm thinking 1980 is a tad too early.

Or is it?

I think I'm going to go for 1985. That was my first gut instinct.

You play well! 1985 is the right answer.

So you're still in it. You just need to quietly and discreetly

send up a little prayer now!

That's interesting, cos that's the year that EastEnders started.

-Was it radio or TV?

-Well, it'll be Market TV.

-It'll be Market TV?

-TV.

-Barry, get this right and you're in the final.

The 1958 film The Moonraker, starring George Baker,

is set during which conflict?

I believe The Moonraker is set during the English Civil War.

English Civil War is the correct answer, Barry.

You've taken the round. Mary, you played really well.

You couldn't quite dislodge him, so Barry will be

in the final and you won't.

Please, both of you, come back and rejoin us here.

So the challengers have now lost two brains from the final round,

the Eggheads have lost one brain.

The last subject before the final is Music.

-Which of you wants this?

-That would be me.

-Kip, OK.

CJ or Kevin?

-Well, who do you fancy?

-CJ or Kevin?

-You pick.

-Then I can blame you if it goes wrong!

-Try Kevin.

Let's try Kevin if that's all right?

Kip from the Badgers against Kevin, on Music, from the Eggheads.

Please take your positions now.

Kip, I hardly know where to start.

You're a biomedical scientist, you're involved in the Guides,

you campaign against airbrushing and you attend sci-fi conventions.

Yes.

Where do we start? Music, I suppose.

-And you're answering questions on Music.

-Hopefully!

What do you hope to do in the next few years?

I work, well, specialise in immunology,

so I'm hoping to get a job in an immunology lab,

mainly doing cellular work,

working with lymphocytes, other white blood cells, immunodeficiencies.

-Would you have done Science if it had come up?

-Possibly!

Good luck in Music, three questions. What sort of music do you like?

-Rock music, ska music, jazz music.

-OK, you're up against Kevin

and you can choose the first or the second set

of multiple choice questions.

I'll go second, please.

So Kevin, we meet again! Here we go.

What was the title of the single

released in November 2010 by Take That,

their first single with Robbie Williams back in the band?

I believe that's called The Flood.

The Flood is absolutely right.

Kip, your question.

Cliff Richard's Number One UK single The Millennium Prayer consisted

of words from the Lord's Prayer set to the tune of which song?

That's Auld Lang Syne.

It is, indeed, Auld Lang Syne. Well done.

OK, second questions now.

Kevin, polka music is traditionally composed in what time?

I'm not very good on time signatures, I'm afraid.

I don't think it's 4/4.

I think I'll try 2/4.

2/4 is your answer. Barry, you know this?

Well, polka music is fast, so I would have said it's 4/4.

No, you'd be wrong actually. 2/4 is correct.

-Kevin's got it right.

-Wow!

What got you there, Kevin?

Well, memory I hope. I mean, I was trying to...

I knew I'd read it somewhere, what the time signature was,

and I was just hoping that was ringing a bell more than 3/4,

so it was, obviously.

What does polka... How does the beat sound ?

JEREMY MIMICS JAWS THEME

No, that's Jaws, isn't it?

Kip, your question.

The Wanderer and Runaround Sue were hit singles in the UK

in the '60s for which American singer?

I have absolutely no idea,

so I'll go straight down the middle with Buddy Holly.

No, it's not, it's actually Dion.

OK.

Kevin, your third question.

Which singer lends her name to the prestigious

annual singing competition, first held in 1956, that takes place

before a public audience at the Wigmore Hall in London every April?

Yeah, I believe it was probably not that long after she died.

It wouldn't be long after she died, so it's Kathleen Ferrier.

Kathleen Ferrier is the right answer.

It is that singer. Well done, you got three out of three. Sorry, Kip.

One is enough to let him in.

He will be in the final, and you won't be.

And if you both come back to us, we will play the final round.

Well, it was never going to be easy, was it?

Kip, you were up against him.

-Yeah!

-On Music.

We needed Science, maybe?

-It would've been better!

-OK, but you've done well.

You've beaten them in two rounds.

How's the team spirit, Alan?

-Well, we'll give it a go.

-Well, let's see how you do.

This is what we've played towards.

Time for the final round, General Knowledge.

I'm afraid those of you who lost your head-to-heads

can't take part in this round.

So Kip, Mary and Marilyn from the Badgers,

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

Alan and Heather, you're playing to win the Badgers £23,000.

Eggheads, you're playing for something that money can't buy -

the Eggheads' reputation.

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

This time, the questions are all general knowledge

and you are allowed to confer. So, the Badgers, the question is,

are you two brains better than the Eggheads' four?

-And would you like to go first or second?

-First?

We'll go first, please, Jeremy.

Alan and Heather, good luck to you. Here we go, final round, £23,000.

In the Ancient Greek and Roman Empires,

an odeon was a hall built for what?

-It's not physical exercise.

-Odeon.

There's cinemas named after Odeon, isn't there?

-I think it's entertainment.

-It's got to be entertainment.

-Shall we go for entertainment?

-Yeah. Entertainment.

Entertainment is the right answer, well done.

Eggheads, your first question.

The dance known as the rumba is particularly associated

with which island?

EGGHEADS: Cuba.

We think that one's Cuba, Jeremy.

Cuba is correct.

Back to you, Badgers.

Stephane Henchoz earned 72 caps

playing for which national football team?

Stephane Henchoz.

Henchoz. Stephane sounds Germanic, doesn't it?

So it would be...

I doubt if it's Russia.

Something's telling me it's Switzerland

because of the cosmopolitan nature of the country.

-What do you think?

-Happy to go along with Switzerland if you want to.

It's a guess, but go for it.

I don't know.

We'll go for Switzerland.

Switzerland is correct. Well done.

Your team are relieved behind you!

Eggheads, your question.

The Bouvier des Flandres is a breed of which creature?

-Does anybody actually...

-No.

-Anybody actually know this?

Because one of those popped into my head before it came up.

Well, I like chicken, but anyway.

-Which one popped in your head?

-Dog.

-Oh.

What do I know about a dog of Flanders?

Right, are there any of them we can definitively eliminate,

or think we can eliminate?

-Well, yeah, chicken.

-Chicken seems unreasonable, doesn't seem right.

Cows are all Friesians.

There are a lot of weird, bizarre chickens, though.

-Yeah, but it's for show, though.

-Yeah.

-Go with the only person who's got a glimmer of something.

-Mm-hmm.

-That's you, Kevin.

-Which may be wrong.

It's more than we've got.

It popped into my head before, so I don't know.

If it popped into your head before the options came up,

that's good enough.

-If nobody's got any good reason to go for anything else, no?

-No.

Nothing at all. OK.

It is, without a shadow of a doubt, dog.

Your answer is dog. You said "chicken," though, CJ.

I don't know what you mean!

Chicken would have been wrong. Dog is right.

Dog is correct.

Oh, you so nearly had them there!

On an animal, appropriately, as well, you Badgers.

So, as you know from watching Eggheads,

the third question is a very important question.

Get this right,

you put them under pressure, and if they get theirs wrong, you've won all the money.

But you've got to get this right first.

Which publisher claims it is the oldest printer and publisher

in the world, having operated continuously since 1584?

Do you know?

I'd be inclined to say not Pergamon, unless...

-Do you have any idea, or is it just a guess?

-No.

That's just...

Um...

I suppose I would guess Cambridge University.

Cambridge University's been around a long time.

We know it was around then, so yeah, shall we go with that?

-Yeah, let's do it.

-OK.

We'll go with Cambridge University Press.

Gosh, you're very swift and decisive, you two. You're right.

It's Cambridge University Press.

They're already celebrating as if you won, backstage. So let's see.

This is interesting. You've played very well.

I'm surprised you only got two in the final, cos you played a very good game.

Three questions right, couldn't ask for more than that.

£23,000 on the table.

It's a big jackpot. If the Eggheads get this wrong, you win it.

You've won the lot! You don't have to do anything more.

Eggheads, which word can be slang for both a skeleton key

and a prison warder?

Twirl.

"Some dodgy twirl. Some bent screw." I'd go for twirl.

I've heard it in that context but I had no idea what it was.

Yeah, it's a dodgy twirl.

We think that might be twirl, Jeremy.

Twirl is the right answer, Eggheads.

So you've got three too, and we go to Sudden Death.

-It was never going to be easy, was it?

-No.

£23,000, gets a bit harder now. I don't give you alternatives.

BIH is the international vehicle registration code for which country?

-Do you know?

-No.

Um, things like Guernsey. What do they start with?

GB, so it's not them. No.

BI.

I wonder if it's British...

Honduras?

No, that's Belize now.

BI.

We could try Belize, which was British Honduras.

Might have changed, they might have kept the registration.

-Yeah, It's possible.

-Yeah.

-Shall we go Belize?

-Belize.

Your answer is Belize.

Eggheads, do you know this?

Bosnia and Herzegovina.

-Ah!

-Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is.

In Bosnian, that's Bosna e Herzegovina.

E being I.

Eggheads, if you get this right, you've won the contest.

In which British city is St Fagan's Castle, a 16th-century manor house

which now features an open-air museum within its grounds?

-You've been there.

-I've been there, yeah. It's Cardiff.

It's F-A-G-A-N, is it?

-F-A-G-A-N.

-Yeah, that's Cardiff.

If you have this right you've taken the contest,

and I won't say taken the money. You don't get it!

No, if only!

But the money will stand for the next contest.

The correct answer is Cardiff.

Congratulations Eggheads, you have won.

Commiserations to you challengers.

-They play well.

-They do.

Good game. The challengers have lost, the Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them,

and their winning streak continues.

I'm afraid that does mean you don't go home with the £23,000,

so the money rolls over to our next show.

Eggheads, congratulations.

Who will beat you, I wonder?

Join us next time to see if a new team of challengers have the brains

to defeat the Eggheads.

£24,000 says they don't.

Until then, goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd