Episode 144 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 where a team of five quiz challengers

attempt to beat possibly the greatest quiz team in Britain.

They have won some of the country's toughest quiz shows. They are the Eggheads.

And challenging our resident quiz champions today

are The Merchants of Banter. This friends and family team

share three simple passions - five-a-side football, pub quizzes and propping up the bar.

They won't say which they are best at. Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Kenny, I'm 25 and an Economic and Social History graduate.

Hi, I'm Eddie, I'm 28 and I'm an engineering project manager.

Hi, I'm Stephen, I'm 29 and I'm an electrical engineer.

Hi, I'm Paul, I'm 27 and I'm a trainee solicitor.

Hi, I'm Stephen, I'm 31 and I'm a solicitor.

Kenny and team, great to see you. You're round the country now, but you all were together as students?

Sure. We all went to various universities in Glasgow

and kept a social life around that.

Can you explain the team name, Merchants of Banter?

Yeah, most weekends, we like to congregate in a pub or two around Glasgow and have a laugh.

-Have some banter. There's a Shakespeare connection with Merchant Of Venice?

-Not so much.

Less Shakespeare, more banter, definitely.

It's probably got them worried, which is an advantage to it.

Do you have quiz areas you're good at, any weaknesses?

-Arts & Books is probably a weakness, but I don't know if we should say that.

-If it comes up, it comes up.

Every day, there is £1,000 up for grabs for our challengers.

If they fail to defeat the Eggheads, the prize money rolls over.

Merchants of Banter, the Eggheads have won the last two games

which means £3,000 says you can't beat them today.

-Would you like to try?

-Definitely.

The first head-to-head battle is on Arts & Books.

I didn't know!

-How did that happen?

-It's a hammer blow.

It was already decided. Who would like this?

I believe because my old flatmate was an English teacher that I'm going to take this one on.

-Stephen, OK, down the end. And which Egghead would you like, Stephen, on Arts & Books?

-I will choose Pat.

Stephen from The Merchants of Banter and Pat who, in the last game, claimed history was a blur to him,

then got all the questions right. Arts & Books is a blur?

Books, we've all read one.

He keeps his light under a bushel, old Pat.

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

-Stephen, you're a solicitor.

-Yes.

-How did you get volunteered for Arts & Books?

I had an old flatmate who was an English teacher

and the thinking seems to be that something will have rubbed off on me from living with him for three years.

-It's that tenuous? You once met someone who read a book?

-Basically.

-Good luck in this round.

-Thank you.

-Three multiple choice questions.

If you lose the round, you're not in the final and the winner goes through to the final round.

-You can choose the first or second set of questions.

-I will go second.

OK, over to you, Pat.

The Frans Hals Museum, which moved to its current location in 1913, is in which country?

Frans Hals is a distinguished Flemish or Dutch painter.

Mostly known or, in fact, almost completely known for his portrait

of a young man, The Laughing Cavalier.

And I think his museum is in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands is the right answer. He didn't do the wedding?

-Arnolfini and all that?

-That's Jan van Eyck.

-Van Eyck?

Only an art buff could come up with many more Frans Hals paintings.

Stephen, your question.

Which fictional detective was in The Adventure Of The Speckled Band?

The theory seems to be paying off so far. I think I know this one.

I think it is Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock Holmes is the right answer. Well done. Pat, back to you.

What was the pen name of the French writer, Marie-Henri Beyle, who was born in 1783?

This chap, I think, wrote

The Charterhouse Of Parma and The Red And The Black.

I think it's Stendhal.

Yes, indeed. It's a bloke or a woman or what?

-A man.

-Marie-Henri Beyle is a man?

It's a man. And there's a thing called Stendhal Syndrome.

He went to Venice and I think he was overwhelmed by the beauty of it.

People who are overwhelmed by beauty, it's called Stendhal Syndrome.

Stendhal Syndrome? I haven't ever suffered that.

Certainly not in this studio!

Stephen, an installation by Louise Bourgeois,

exhibited in the Tate Modern Turbine Hall in 2000,

consisted of three steel towers individually named what?

I really don't have too much of an idea on this one.

Art, as I've said, is not a strong point for me.

But I Came, I Saw, I Conquered rings a bell somewhere in my head,

so I will go for that.

It's a famous phrase, but the bell isn't from the Turbine Hall.

What is it, Eggheads? Do you know?

I'd go for the middle one.

You're wrong. I Do, I Undo, I Redo, it is. Three steel towers.

That didn't come up in conversation with your flatmate?

-No, unfortunately not.

-Pat's in the lead. If he gets this one right, he's taken the round.

Which TV reviewer wrote the books Dawn Of The Dumb and The Hell Of It All?

After "which TV reviewer", I was hoping it would be Clive James,

but he's nowhere to be seen,

so I'll have to make do with these three gentlemen.

Charlie Brooker in recent times has been very prominent

as a fairly caustic TV reviewer and surveyor.

Garry Bushell, I think, is part newspaper, perhaps part TV.

I don't know much about Jim Shelley.

Charlie Brooker takes a fairly caustic view of rubbish telly

and how you waste your life watching it,

so I'll go for Charlie Brooker, but it's a guess.

Charlie Brooker is the right answer, Pat. Stephen, he's taken the round.

You won't be in the final. Please come back and we'll play on.

The challengers have lost one brain from the final round. The Eggheads have lost no brains.

The next subject for you is Science. Who would like this?

That'll be myself.

OK, Eddie. Against which Egghead?

I'll go against Judith, please.

-Are you sure you won't get Stendhal Syndrome?

-You never know.

-You could be overwhelmed by beauty there.

-Thank you.

Eddie from The Merchants of Banter against Judith from the Eggheads.

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

Science now, three questions.

-Eddie, you can choose the first or second set.

-I'll go first, please.

Here we go, Eddie. Good luck. What is the chemical symbol of arsenic?

I'm not 100% sure on this one,

but my first instinct would be to go with "As".

-I'll go with "As".

-"As" is the right answer, Eddie. Well done.

Judith, your question.

Which muscles enable some people to wiggle their ears?

I think intercostal is between ribs.

And deltoid is a sort of beefy muscle somewhere else.

I think it must be auricular.

Auricular is the right answer.

-Is the deltoid the chest or the back?

-Shoulders.

-Where?

-Shoulders.

-The shoulders, the deltoids.

-Yes.

OK, your question, Eddie.

What nickname is given to the HQ of the internet company Google?

OK, I think it's based in Silicon Valley.

None of the three of them I'm familiar with.

I'll go with Googlelab.

Googlelab is wrong, Eddie. Sorry. It's Googleplex we were looking for.

Which is a number, Barry, isn't it?

A googolplex is ten to a googol and a googol is 10 to the 100.

-10 to the power of 100.

-That's 10 with 100 zeroes after it.

-If you put 10 to that power, that's a googolplex.

-My dad loved maths and always talked about googolplexes.

Isn't that amazing? Judith, what type of creature is an indri?

-Can you spell it, please?

-I-N-D-R-I.

What type of creature, Judith, is an indri?

I've been watching... No, sorry, that's something else.

I-N-D-R-I, indri. What could it be?

It doesn't sound toad-like.

An indri. I don't know.

I think it might be a lemur.

I think it might well be a lemur. Lemur is correct.

Eddie, you've got to get this right.

The spice cinnamon is obtained from a tree that belongs to which family?

OK, biology ones and the living world are not what I was looking for.

More physics I was after.

I'm going to go with beech.

Your answer is beech.

Judith, do you know?

I was trying to think of the Latin names for all those things.

Dogwood is famous for bark.

No, it's not dogwood. It's laurel.

Eddie, you've been overwhelmed by beauty. Judith has taken the round.

She will be in the final. Eddie, you won't be.

Come back to the studio and we will see if the challengers can turn it around.

So the challengers have lost two brains from the final round and the Eggheads have lost no brains.

The next subject is Sport.

-Is this looking better?

-Yeah.

-Who wants this?

-I'm going to go for this one.

-Paul.

-Paul.

-Against which Egghead? It can't be Pat or Judith.

-I think we agreed on Chris.

-Yeah.

We're going to take Chris on.

Paul from The Merchants of Banter... Sport again, Chris!

No mas! Por favor, no mas!

-Against Chris from the Eggheads who's not happy.

-Lo siento.

To ensure there's no conferring, please go to the question room now.

-Paul, tell us what you're up to in life.

-I'm a trainee solicitor at the moment. I work with Stephen.

We both work at a firm in Glasgow.

About nine months into that I am now.

You're sporting as well, are you?

Yes, I've played football since I was about nine.

I like golf. I like a bet on the horses as well.

Those are my three main sports.

-You like a bet on the horses?

-Yeah.

-Is that a science or an addiction?

It's somewhere in between. It's been passed down through the generations of my family.

My grandfather, particularly, liked a wee flutter.

I'll ask each of you three questions on Sport. I hope the odds are good. Do you want to go first or second?

I'll go against my father's advice and go first, please.

Here is your question, Paul.

What is the name of the form of motor sport in which the cars have to be slowed down by a parachute?

I'm reasonably confident on this one, I think.

I don't think it's pull racing. I'm pretty sure it's not tug racing.

I'm reasonably confident it's drag racing.

Drag racing is the right answer. Chris, on to you.

Chris Tomlinson and Larry Achike represented England at which sport?

They don't ring any bells as cricketers.

Tomlinson, Tomlinson, Tomlinson...

They sound like a pair of athletes to me, so I'll say athletics.

Why do they sound like athletics?

Achike, in particular, because it sounds like an African name

and Africa tends to produce very good athletes,

so there we go.

-Quod erat demonstrandum.

-The logic's good. Athletics, it is.

One point each. Back to you, Paul.

In 2008, Simon Grayson became manager of which football club?

I'm pretty sure he was never the manager of Palace.

Norwich is ringing a bell as well.

I have a feeling he had a short spell at Norwich, then moved to Leeds.

But my first instinct was Leeds United, so I think I'll go with that.

-Leeds United is the right answer.

-Yes!

-Well done.

You had all the information and you thought we were tricking you.

Chris, which country won the Davis Cup for the first time in 2010?

The Davis Cup, that's, um...tennis.

Well, Slovakia is part of the old Czechoslovakia

and Czechoslovakia produced quite a few good tennis players,

Martina Navratilova being the prime example,

so given the tennis history in that neck of the woods, I'll say Slovakia.

Slovakia is your answer.

If CJ were here, he would say Serbia is the correct answer.

I assume, as he knows his tennis.

Paul, you're in the lead now.

Henley Regatta first added the word Royal to its name

when which member of the Royal Family became its patron?

Henley Regatta...

I've never heard of the Duke of Clarence.

Not that he doesn't exist or she... Not that HE doesn't exist.

So I think I'll rule out the Duke of Clarence.

I think I'm going to plump for Queen Victoria.

-Let me see if the Eggheads know. Who would you say?

-Prince Albert.

Prince Albert is the right answer, so Chris can draw level now.

If he does, we go to Sudden Death.

Who was the trainer of the three-times Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning horse Best Mate?

Well, a horse in my book has two uses -

pulling carts and feeding Frenchmen, so I don't know.

I've got to make an intelligent guess.

None of the names are ringing any bells,

so I'll go down the middle - Jane Chapple-Hyam.

-Paul, do you know the answer?

-Yes, it's Henrietta Knight.

-That's right.

You've been knocked out, Chris. Paul, you've taken out an Egghead

and you will be in the final round.

Please, both of you, rejoin your team-mates.

The challengers have lost two brains from the final round. The Eggheads have lost one brain now.

The last subject is Film & Television.

Is that good?

-Yeah.

-Who's our expert on Film and TV?

-Got to be Kenny or Stephen.

-Stephen?

-Yeah, I'll go.

-Against which Egghead, Stephen?

I'll take Kevin.

So, Stephen from Merchants of Banter is going to try and knock out Kevin from the Eggheads.

To ensure there's no conferring, please take your positions.

I'll ask each of you three questions on Film & Television in turn.

-Stephen, you can choose the first or second set.

-I'll go first, please.

What was the name of Del Boy's local pub in Only Fools And Horses?

I'm not entirely sure,

but my gut instinct seems to lead me towards The Coach And Horses.

So...

Yeah, I'll go with that - Coach And Horses.

There's pain on the table next to me.

-Do you know, guys?

-Nag's Head.

Nag's Head. Difficult one to guess if you don't know it.

Kevin, which historical character was played on film by Vivien Leigh in 1945

and Elizabeth Taylor in 1963?

The Elizabeth Taylor one was the big Cleopatra mega-epic

that was done in 1963.

I think Vivien Leigh was in Caesar And Cleopatra in '45.

So it's Cleopatra.

Cleopatra is the right answer.

OK, back to you, Stephen.

Bill Cutting, the character played by Daniel Day-Lewis

in the 2002 film Gangs Of New York, had what nickname?

I'm pretty certain it's The Butcher.

He's the kind of British guy.

British flags and stuff. I'm pretty sure it's that. I'll go with that.

Butcher is your answer and it's correct, Stephen.

Let's see if Kevin keeps the lead.

Kevin, what was the subject of the long-running TV series Going For A Song?

Yeah, it was a kind of...

These days, it would be seen as a predecessor of Antiques Roadshow,

but it wasn't quite like that.

It had a panel game element to it. It was antiques, anyway.

Arthur Negus and a bird singing in a cage and all that sort of thing.

Antiques is the right answer. OK, over to you, Stephen.

You need to get this one right or you have been knocked out.

Which Australian-born actress played Brenda Chenowith in the TV drama series Six Feet Under?

I think Portia de Rossi is American. I'm pretty sure.

She was in Arrested Development.

I know Toni Collette is Australian. I'm pretty sure she is.

I don't know about Rachel Griffiths.

I have to go with a guess here.

I've not watched Six Feet Under before.

I'll go with Rachel Griffiths.

LAUGHTER

I thought you were going for Toni Collette there.

-Your team members know Six Feet Under?

-Yeah.

-You're right, Stephen.

Well done. It's Rachel Griffiths.

I watched it all, but I couldn't have answered that question.

Kevin, here's your question. If you get this right, you're in the final.

"Fair and balanced" is a slogan used by which American TV channel?

"Fair and balanced..."

Is it ironic?

That's the point.

So would...

Bloomberg deals in financial news, the markets, all that kind of thing.

I don't really see why they would use that slogan.

It's got to... I'll have to go for the irony here.

I'll say it's Fox News.

You are right. Fox News is the right answer.

Stephen, you've been knocked out

because of that first question on the blooming Nag's Head!

That's so annoying. Kevin, you're in the final. Stephen, you're not.

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

This is what we have been playing towards - the final round which, as always, is General Knowledge.

But I'm afraid those of you who lost your head-to-heads can't take part,

so Eddie and the two Stephens from The Merchants of Banter and Chris from the Eggheads,

would you please now leave the studio?

Kenny and Paul, you're playing to win The Merchants of Banter £3,000.

Barry, Pat, Judith and Kevin, you're playing for something money can't buy - the Eggheads' reputation.

I will ask each team three questions in turn, all General Knowledge, and you are allowed to confer.

Merchants of Banter, the question is, are your two brains better than the Eggheads' four?

-Would you like to go first or second?

-We'll go first.

Here we go. Good luck to you. Tawny is a type of which drink?

What's your first instinct?

I know what my instinct is. I'm pretty sure I know the answer.

-We've both worked in bars.

-Yeah. We've both drunk in bars.

-Yeah.

And if we win, we'll be drinking in bars tonight!

-It's not whisky or brandy. It's port.

-That was my first reaction.

A type of port, please.

Port is the right answer. Good bit of teamwork there.

You only were in bars professionally. You were never there for leisure purposes at all(!)

OK, Eggheads, your question.

Telugu is a language primarily spoken in which country?

-India.

-That's India.

-T-E-L-U-G-U?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, India.

-It's actually got about 65 million speakers.

-Yeah.

Telugu has about 65 million speakers and it's spoken primarily in India.

India is the correct answer, Eggheads.

So, your second question, Merchants of Banter.

Who became the first Emperor of a united Germany in 1871?

Right, I would say... I don't know, actually.

Wilhelm jumps out at me as a Dutch name.

I thought Karl at first.

-You're thinking Karl?

-That's what I thought when the answers came up.

-Will we go for Karl?

-I don't have a clue, though.

To be honest.

I don't know why, but Wilhelm is popping out at me.

-And we're totally neglecting Heinrich I.

-I know.

Which could be a mistake.

-We're going to tie ourselves in knots here.

-We're going round in circles.

-Karl?

-Will we go for Karl?

-Yeah.

-Karl I.

Karl I. You said Wilhelm was popping out at you?

-Yeah.

-Let's see what the Eggheads say.

-Wilhelm.

-Wilhelm.

Wilhelm is the right answer, guys.

Kaiser Wilhelm II was the famous one?

-The First World War, yeah.

-He was deposed by Hitler?

He wasn't deposed by Hitler.

He abdicated at the end of the First World War.

-He was the grandson of this one.

-OK.

So the famous Kaiser Wilhelm is not this one?

No, this one was quite an elderly man when he became German Emperor.

So the Eggheads can take the lead.

A bequest by the actor Robert Baddeley means that a cake is provided for cast members

at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, on what day of the year?

-I think there's a Shakespeare connection.

-Twelfth Night.

-Yes, but there are two Shakespeare connections there.

-Yeah.

-I would think it's Twelfth Night.

-I read this...

-There's a tradition of cakes on Twelfth Night.

-That's true.

-In France and whatnot.

-It is a traditional time for cakes as well.

-And that's the most direct Shakespeare connection there.

-Yeah.

OK, A Midsummer Night's Dream, midsummer, but...

Isn't the line, "Shall we have cakes and ale," from Twelfth Night?

-Yes, that's true. Yeah.

-Ah!

-All the indicators would lead...

-That's three indicators.

-Are we all agreed?

-Yeah.

-Yes.

There's a line in Twelfth Night,

"Shall we have no more cakes and ale?"

On that basis, we think it's Twelfth Night.

It's traditional to eat cakes on Twelfth Night.

Twelfth Night is right. What night of the year is it?

-Epiphany.

-January the 6th, is it?

-When you take the decorations down?

-It's the night of January 5th/6th.

-So, 12 days after Christmas?

-Mm-hm.

Merchants of Banter, a bit of Shakespeare there and your name is based on Shakespeare.

But we can't disguise the position that you're in.

You need to get this one right, otherwise the contest is over.

Llaima is an active volcano in which country?

Spelt L-L-A-I-M-A.

L-L...?

L-L-A-I-M-A.

It's pronounced "Yaima".

That's a Spanish pronunciation, the double-L pronounced as a Y,

-but they're all Spanish-speaking countries, so that doesn't help.

-No.

What's your gut feeling?

-Chile is my gut feeling.

-That was mine too.

We'll go for Chile, please.

Well done. You got it right. It is Chile. Good play. Well done.

You've done as much as they could expect of you backstage.

Let's see if the Eggheads slip up. If you get this right, the contest is over.

In Arthurian legend, which knight is usually said to have returned Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake?

-Bedivere?

-Yeah, Bedivere.

It was without a shadow of doubt Sir Bedivere.

Is that from years studying these fables

or is it Monty Python or what? What brings you to Bedivere?

I think we all enjoy the Arthurian legends

and we've all read them extensively.

Classic quizzers' territory. The answer is Bedivere.

Congratulations, Eggheads. You have won.

You played well there. You played well and bad luck.

-They took you right at the end, the final bend.

-A bit disappointing.

-Yeah.

-Well done.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them and they reign supreme over quizland.

You won't be going home with the £3,000, so 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.

£4,000 says they don't. Until then, goodbye.

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