Episode 79 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!

Taking on their might today are the Woodkirk Wonders.

They teach at Woodkirk High Specialist Science School

in West Yorkshire. Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Dan. I'm 29 and I'm a physics teacher.

Hi, my name's Adam. I'm 44 and I'm a chemistry teacher.

Hello, I'm Virginia. I'm 57 and I'm a biology teacher.

Hi, I'm Mike. I'm 40 and I teach physics.

Hi, I'm Alan. I'm 31 and I am a physics teacher.

Welcome to you, Woodkirk Wonders.

OK, specialists in science.

We only have one science round, and that's if it comes up.

Presumably, you're good at other things apart from the sciences?

We've not bad general knowledge, our own areas of expertise,

-and have been swotting up a bit, as well.

-Good idea.

How does a specialist school work? You could push people in science,

but presumably, you must teach the National Curriculum?

We have the whole curriculum to teach,

but we specialise in science, technology and maths.

We give our students as much of a basis in those skills as we can,

not just in science and maths, but the whole curriculum.

We do history of medicine in history lessons, things like that.

OK, I can see how that works.

Let me tell you how THIS game works.

Every day, there's £1,000 cash up for grabs for our challengers.

If they don't win,

the prize money rolls over to the next show.

The Eggheads won the last six games,

which means £7,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads.

Let's see what comes up first, then. Our first head-to-head is Music.

Who'd like to play this?

What do we think? Do we want to keep somebody back for Sport?

-Yes.

-That's me, isn't it?

-Are you going to go for Music?

-I'm going to go for Music.

We'll go for Adam with Music.

Adam, choose your Egghead.

Barry.

-Don't want to get up against him in Science, do we?

-So...

Right. I sacrifice. It's going to be Barry.

OK. Right. Trying to get you out,

in case Science comes up.

Tactics at work here.

It's going to be Adam and Barry playing this Music round.

Into the Question Room both of you, please.

So, Adam, what about musical tastes, then?

Or is this a bit of a sacrificial lamb attempt here?

Well, I'm hoping '70s prog rock comes up.

Apart from that, I could struggle.

You and Barry, as well!

We could have a round just on that.

Would you like to go first or second?

I'll bat first, please.

OK, Adam. First question is this.

With which musical instrument is blues singer

Bo Diddley most associated?

I do have some Bo Diddley records. And it is guitar.

It is, yes. Guitar is correct.

Barry, which Bob Marley song did Eric Clapton cover

on his 1974 album 461 Ocean Boulevard?

Somehow I can't see Eric Clapton singing No Woman, No Cry.

Or Redemption Song. I think it was I Shot The Sheriff.

Yes, it was I Shot The Sheriff.

OK. Second question for both of you.

This is yours, Adam.

Suedehead, released in 1988, was the first solo single

to enter the UK charts for which male vocalist?

I'm sure it's not Paul Weller, cos I have most of his records.

I seem to remember it's Morrissey.

I'll go with Morrissey.

It is Morrissey, yes.

Well done. Two to you.

Barry, which Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera is subtitled

The Lass That Loved A Sailor?

It's not The Mikado, but which is it?

Pirates or HMS Pinafore?

I think that's HMS Pinafore.

-Is it, Chris?

-It is.

-D'you know it?

I know bits of it. I'm not going to launch into a rendition.

THEY LAUGH

Look at CJ's face. You've spared CJ.

It IS HMS Pinafore.

Two-all. Third question for Adam.

The "musical offering" dedicated to King Frederick II of Prussia,

and said to be based on a theme by him,

is a series of pieces by which composer?

I don't think it's Beethoven or Mozart.

So probably one of those two.

Bach wrote so much.

I'm going to plump with Bach.

Johann Sebastian Bach is the right answer.

All right, Barry.

What shape is the soundbox

of the musical instrument known as the hammered dulcimer?

I've seen dulcimers. Let me try and remember.

I don't think it's a circle.

Is it a trapezium or a hexagon?

I think it's a trapezium.

To stay in it.

You got it. Trapezium is correct.

Two good quizzers on this subject.

Adam, we go to Sudden Death,

and remove the choices you've seen up to this point.

Here's your question.

Who sang with David Bowie on the 1985 UK number one single

Dancing In The Street?

I think it was on Live Aid several times,

and it's Mick Jagger.

It was indeed. Mick Jagger and David Bowie, there.

Dancing In The Street.

Will you be doing that in the studio if Barry gets this wrong?

Barry, which American musician, along with his band,

had a UK number two single with Abracadabra

in 1982,

and a UK number one eight years later

with The Joker?

Just trying to remember the name.

I'm not sure if I've got the name right, now.

I think it's something like Steve Harley,

but let me have a think.

Ooh! Come on, Barry!

I'll try Steve Marley.

Steve Marley?

Very close, and not Steve Harley, either.

It's Steve Miller.

Ah!

Which you clearly knew,

but it wouldn't come.

The Steve Miller Band, of course.

Abracadabra and The Joker.

You ARE dancing in that Question Room.

You've danced your way into the final round.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

Barry well and truly neutralised, there.

A very powerful performance from Adam.

It means the Eggheads miss one brain.

Our next subject today is Geography.

Who'd like to play this one? Can't be Adam.

What are we going to do?

-How about Mike?

-We could take Mike, yeah?

Yeah, cool.

So, we'll go for Mike with Geography, please.

OK. Mike, there. Which Egghead would you like to play?

Try and take out Daphne on this one?

Daphne's far too strong.

Pat's the unknown quantity,

-so shall we see what Pat's like?

-OK, cool.

We'll try Pat on this one, please.

Shying away from Daphne - "too strong".

If only they knew the horrible truth.

THEY LAUGH

But it's Pat they've chosen.

Mike and Pat, then, playing Geography.

Into the Question Room, please, both of you.

Mike, let's see if we can get you into the final round, like Adam.

Do you want to go first or second?

I'll go first, please.

Good luck. Here's your first question.

The M27 motorway ends at which city on the south coast of England?

I have no idea, as I don't go down south very often.

So, it's a total guess.

Erm, I think I'll go for Brighton.

Because I think Portsmouth

would be a higher number.

I think that would be M3, or something.

OK. Brighton.

Portsmouth IS a higher number than Brighton,

but it's Portsmouth, the M27.

The M23, that leads to Brighton, doesn't end there.

Bad luck. Don't go down south much, as you say, so didn't know that one.

Now, Pat. The city of Berlin is located approximately 40 miles

from the western border of which country?

It lies well to the east of France,

and it's 200 miles at least from the French border.

It lies quite a long way north

or northwest of Austria.

Poland sounds right. I'd say Poland.

Poland is the right answer, yes.

Well done.

Right, Mike. You need to get on the board here.

Travelling south along the Greenwich Meridian,

what's the next country one would pass through after France?

I think it's definitely not Spain.

So, Algeria or Morocco?

Morocco's in West Africa,

so I'll go for Algeria.

Algeria? It IS Spain.

Would Algeria be next?

-Yes.

-Spain on the way there, though.

So, Pat,

St Aubin is a port in which of the Channel Islands?

I think I'll be reduced to a guess.

Sounds like it could be any of them. St Helier's on Jersey,

St Peter Port's on Guernsey, but they're irrelevant.

Seeing as Jersey's much the biggest island,

I'll assume it's got room for a few more little towns.

I'll go for Jersey.

Jersey. "Percentages", this is called, isn't it?

Very lame.

If you go for the bigger island, more choice.

I don't think honouring this with the term "technique" is appropriate.

What about, "guess-nique"?

Yes, something like that.

It's the right answer, Pat.

St Aubin is on Jersey,

which means we close the round down right there.

Mike, are you Leeds way?

Yes, Leeds, yeah.

Don't go down to Brighton or down to Greenwich.

Bad luck, Mike. It's the way those questions fell.

You won't play in the final round.

Would you both come back and join your teams?

The Eggheads' storming back there means both teams have lost one brain

from the final round.

Our next subject today

is Arts & Books.

The three players left available to play

are Dan, Virginia or Alan.

I said I'd do Arts & Books.

Virginia put herself forward for that, so...

Who'd you like to play?

It can be CJ, Daphne or Chris.

Chris might be the least literary one.

-SHE LAUGHS

-That's a terrible thing to say.

Literary, not literate!

Yes, I'll have a go at Chris.

The "least literary", maybe.

Lots of books about trains and locomotives?

Yeah, but they're not literature as such...

If you're ever looking for a cure for insomnia, get out there!

Let's play the round.

It's Virginia and Chris heading for the Question Room, please.

OK, Virginia.

Would you like to go first or second?

I'd like to go first, please.

Best of luck. Here's your first question.

What word describes the postman

in the title of an award-winning 1986 children's book

by Janet and Allan Ahlberg?

Unfortunately, several of my colleagues have young children,

so would have been much better placed to know this one.

Postmen should be jolly. I'll go with jolly.

They should be. And that should be in the title.

It's the right answer, yes.

Jolly Postman. OK.

Chris, in art,

what name is given to a surface that's been prepared for painting?

Grouting's what you stick round tiles.

Not grass, no. That's too stupid.

It's a ground for painting on. Ground.

Ground? It's the right answer.

OK, Virginia. Second question.

Lost In Yonkers is a 1991 play by which writer?

Again, we're plumbing the depths of my lack of knowledge.

I've heard Neil Simon associated with New York,

so I'll go with Neil Simon.

THEY LAUGH

Having these little scraps of information is serving you well.

It's the right answer. Neil Simon, Lost In Yonkers. In '91.

Chris, which English writer began his career as an illustrator

and established himself with a book of drawings of Paris

published in 1832?

Rossetti was in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

He was a painter-type artist. It wasn't him.

Lewis Carroll's illustrations were originally done by John Tenniel,

but Edward Lear did his own illustrations.

I think that's how he started. The answer must be Edward Lear.

That's the right answer.

Well done. It's all square at two-all.

Virginia, third question.

Which historical figure, dressed in white and blindfolded,

is about to be executed in a painting by Paul Delaroche

that's in the National Gallery collection?

My friend's been trying to educate me

and take me round the galleries,

but unfortunately she's not taken me to see this one.

I'll go with Anne Boleyn.

Your sure touch has eluded you this time.

It is, Chris?

She's dressed in white. That signifies she's a virgin,

which neither Anne Boleyn nor Mary were,

so it must be Lady Jane Grey.

It IS Lady Jane Grey. The Paul Delaroche painting.

A chance for Chris.

Whose writing did Samuel Beckett once memorably describe as,

"Not writing, but plumbing"?

This is a pun, isn't it?

Not plumbing, as in pipes and stuff,

plumbing as in "plumbing the depths".

Not Jack Kerouac, a bit too lyrical. I don't think it's Hubert Selby Jr.

But "plumbing the depths" sounds like Burroughs.

Naked Lunch, and so forth. So, I'll say William S Burroughs.

Well worked out, Chris. It IS the right answer.

You're through to the final round.

Bad luck, Virginia. Just didn't get Lady Jane Grey.

You won't be in that final round.

Would you both come back and join your teams?

Three rounds down, three players down.

Two from the Woodkirk Wonders, and one of the Eggheads.

Our last head-to-head before that final round turns up.

And it's Science!

So, Alan or Dan can play it.

As we're all science teachers,

we did think this would be the biggest potential banana skin,

so I said as team captain, I'd take it on.

As a teacher, you don't want to lose it, do you?

-So, who should I take...?

-Do you want to play, CJ or Daphne?

Which one d'you reckon?

I'd like to take on CJ.

All right. Dan and CJ, into the Question Room, please.

OK, Dan, you've taken on the Science round.

-You're a physics teacher, aren't you?

-That's right.

How are you with all the other areas?

I specialise in physics,

but we do teach general science to the lower school,

bits of chemistry and biology.

I'm looking to see if I can do a qualification myself in biology

over the next year. That'd hopefully stand me in good stead.

Right. Well, let's play the round.

Would you like to go first or second?

I'll go second, please.

Right, putting CJ in first.

What term is used to refer to the divisions

on the underside of a mushroom that contain the spore-bearing cells?

I don't know, Dermot.

I loathe and despise mushrooms.

Limits you as a vegetarian?

Well, I'm a vegetarian,

but the only things I don't eat are meat, vegetables and fruit.

Not tails. Gills LOOKS good.

I'll try gills.

It IS the right answer.

Gills, on the underside of mushrooms.

Dan, your first question, then.

In terms of radio waves,

for what does the letter V in the abbreviation VHF stand?

Radio waves split up into different bands. You've got UHF and LF,

and I think the VHF is "very high frequency".

It is "very". "Very high frequency".

Very good answer.

CJ, the Italian-born scientist Giovanni Cassini

gave his name to a set of laws he formulated in 1693

to describe the motion of what?

I haven't heard this,

but Cassini is most associated with the planet of Saturn.

There's the Cassini division in Saturn's rings,

and the Cassini probe went to investigate Saturn,

so let's assume he didn't do much else apart from astronomy.

Let's try the moon.

The moon is the right answer

for Cassini and his set of laws.

OK, Dan, second question for you.

Constructed inside a mountain

on Spitsbergen, an island in Norway's Svalbard archipelago

in the Arctic Ocean, is a secure facility, designed to preserve

a wide range of which of the Earth's resources?

I don't think it'd be rare metals,

cos there's lots of other places you could put them

other than under a mountain.

I think I recall

that it's a store of seeds for the future.

So, plant seeds.

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

Two each. Back to CJ.

In the periodic table,

which chemical element sits between uranium and plutonium?

I think they're in order. Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.

They're the same on the periodic table.

I think Einsteinium is the next one in the sequence,

and Californium is a little later.

I think it's Neptunium.

It is, yes. Neptunium.

You've got to get this, Dan.

In which part of the human body are membrane-covered openings

known as "the round window" and "the oval window"?

Sounds like something off Play School.

I can't think it'd be the small intestine.

I can't think there'd be a window in there.

"Round window" and "Oval window".

I think I'll go for ear, please, Dermot.

-Virginia, you're the biology teacher. Is he right?

-Yes.

Correct. Ear.

Tricky moment, there. We go to Sudden Death.

CJ, the Danish physicist Niels Bohr,

who made important contributions to the understanding

of atomic structure, was born in which century?

Well, he won the Nobel Prize in 1922, so I'll have to assume

he was born in the 19th century.

Yes. Correct, CJ.

Again, Dan, you need to get this.

Which word was coined by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel

to describe the study of the relationship of organisms

and their environment?

Well...

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the environment,

we could call it an "ecosystem",

so I'll go for ecology.

Well done. Ecology is correct.

Another biology question.

Doing well with those.

CJ, "pentose" is the name for

any of the class of simple sugars

whose molecules contain five atoms of which element?

It'll probably be one of the main four.

I have no idea. I'll try nitrogen.

-No. Barry?

-Carbon.

-It's carbon.

An opening then, Dan.

You don't get too many chances off these Eggheads.

What name refers to the largest of the four compartments

that make up a cow's stomach,

in which up to 50 gallons

of partially-digested food can be stored?

I know that cows chew the cud.

It's the only way they can break down the cellulose

to get the energy out of it.

That's why they have to have four stomachs, or four compartments.

I'm not 100% sure of my cow anatomy,

but I know they're ruminants.

I'm going to go with the rumen.

The rumen is correct. Yes.

Well done, Dan. A great round there.

Great quizzing from CJ there.

Really stood up to you, but you're through on your favourite subject,

playing in the final round today. No place for CJ.

Would you both come back and join your teams?

This is what we've been playing towards.

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

Those who lost your head-to-heads

won't be allowed to take part in this round.

Virginia and Mike from the Woodkirk Wonders,

and CJ and Barry from the Eggheads, would you leave the studio, please?

So Dan, Adam and Alan,

you're playing to win the Woodkirk Wonders £7,000.

Daphne, Chris and Pat,

you're playing for something money can't buy.

And that is the Eggheads' reputation. Yes, Daphne.

I'll ask each team three questions in turn.

This time the questions are all general knowledge,

and you are allowed to confer. Dan, Adam and Alan, the question is,

are your three brains better than the Eggheads' three?

Woodkirk Wonders, would you like to go first or second?

-What would you like?

-First, please.

First set of questions going to the Woodkirk Wonders.

The cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester, played by Jane Lynch,

is a character in which US TV series?

That's your favourite show, isn't it?

Being a bit of a "gleek" myself,

I'd have to say it's Glee.

-Is that what they call them now?

-Yes.

That's a good word. It's the right answer. Yes, Glee.

OK, Eggheads. Birkbeck College, the Royal Veterinary College,

and The School of Pharmacy are all part of which UK university?

That's London.

The right answer, yes. London.

Back to the Woodkirk Wonders.

In printing, what is a literal?

Any ideas?

THEY CONFER

Could a font be a literal?

There's some magical font names about...

Is that the name of a font, though?

Can we think about it logically?

Would a literal be a misprint,

because it could be "literally" printing out what was put in?

Or could it be a footnote?

Is it likely to be a footnote?

It doesn't make sense for me.

What d'you think, Adam?

I'm leaning towards misprint.

We'll go for a misprint, Dermot.

A literal

is a misprint. It's correct.

Next question for the Eggheads.

After centuries as a site of pilgrimage,

the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral

was finally destroyed and its assets confiscated

on the orders of which ruler?

Well, I think it's Henry VIII, because that's what he did.

Dissolution of the monasteries.

Cromwell didn't confiscate as such.

They defaced things and smashed things.

Henry wanted the money, so it's him.

That's Henry VIII.

Henry VIII and the shrine of Thomas Becket.

Part of the dissolution of the monasteries?

-That's right.

-Yes, it's Henry VIII.

All square.

Will this decide the fate of the game?

A third question for the Woodkirk Wonders, then one for the Eggheads.

Who was the first politician

to hold all four of the Great Offices of State?

Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary

and Foreign Secretary.

I have no idea.

Harold Wilson wasn't Chancellor...

Whose party was in power the longest before they...

Who was in the longest? Because...

Well, Healey was Chancellor for such a long time...

I'd have thought for both Callaghan AND Wilson.

We've already said Wilson, we don't think it is.

Callaghan it probably won't be. Will it be Edward Heath?

He was Father of the House for a long time,

the longest-serving MP for a long time...

So he was an MP for a long time...

If the other two had long-serving Chancellors,

if we talk about percentages...

I think we've talked ourselves into Edward Heath.

OK, Edward Heath. Prime Minister, Chancellor, Home Secretary

and Foreign Secretary at one time or another.

The answer's not Heath. It's...

-James Callaghan.

-Jim Callaghan,

held the four Great Offices of State.

So, a chance for the Eggheads to win the game.

Eggheads, whose travels around Europe with his jazz band

are the subject of the late 1990s documentary film Wild Man Blues?

Woody Allen's a clarinet player and jazz enthusiast,

so he's a good candidate.

I don't know much about Mike Figgis.

I know David Lynch's passion is painting.

He's an artist.

I don't know anything about Mike Figgis.

He's a film director, but I don't know what he does for a hobby.

I'd go with Woody Allen.

He plays clarinet in a regular location in New York.

He's done it for decades.

He definitely is a jazz enthusiast.

Well, we have really no idea,

but we'll go for Woody Allen.

Woody Allen. You said he's a clarinettist...

-Plays jazz...

-Plays a bit of jazz.

So it would fit. And it IS the right answer, Eggheads. You've won.

Bad luck, Woodkirk Wonders. The tightest of squeaks, there.

Good final round, there.

Just one question in it. That James Callaghan question against you.

Some HEROIC head-to-heads there.

Adam and Dan stand testament to that.

Virginia, a very good-head-to-head.

Mike just foxed by southern geography. Quite right, too.

But thank you very much indeed for playing the Eggheads today.

A very tight game. The Eggheads just triumphed.

Those Eggheads' winning streak continues.

I'm afraid you won't be going home with the £7,000.

That means 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.

£8,000 says THEY don't. Until then, goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

E-mail [email protected]