Episode 81 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 UK's

toughest quiz shows. They are the Eggheads.

And challenging the awesome might of our quiz champions today

are the Hyperactive Group. This line-up has been brought together

by team captain Nicola and features her dad Roy, an ardent quizzer

who tests his knowledge at local pub quizzes

at least four times a week. Let's meet them.

Hello, I'm Nicola, I'm 52

and I'm a managing director of two software companies.

Hello, I'm John, I'm 42 and I'm a commercial director.

Hi, I'm Peter, I'm 51 and I'm a data research manager.

Hello, I'm Deborah, I'm 38 years old

and I'm enterprise manager for a university.

Hello, I'm Roy, I'm 76 years of age

and I'm a retired managing director.

-Nicola and team, welcome.

-Thank you very much, Jeremy.

-Roughly what kind of business is it that you're in?

-We're in IT.

We have two web presences

where we actually sell and deliver our products on the web,

but we also offer software technologies, as well,

-that are delivered offline.

-Right, OK.

That sounds amazing and baffling. You're not part of it, Roy?

-No, no, no, I'm past it.

-THEY LAUGH

-But you are the key quizzer here.

-Not really.

-Four times a week?

-They're all good quizzers here.

-Let's see how you get on.

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

If they fail to defeat the Eggheads, that rolls over to the next show.

So, the Eggheads have won the last eight games,

which means £9,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads.

-Are you ready to try?

-ALL: Yes.

-You do look ready, I must say.

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

Challengers, who takes this?

We've worked out our strategy and we have someone elected on geography.

-Dearest father?

-Yes.

-Right. My father is doing geography.

And there was an election. Very organised. Against which Egghead?

-Daddy, do you want to take Judith?

-Be gentle with me, Judith.

Well, vice versa.

-And he's a four-times-a week man.

-I know!

Roy from the Hyperactive Group versus Judith from the Eggheads.

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

I'll ask each of you three multiple choice questions

on geography in turn. Whoever gets the most questions right

goes through to the final round. Roy, the first or second set?

Well, I think it's usual. I think I will go first, please.

Here we go. Good luck

Baghdad is the capital of which country?

Well, due to the war,

I do not think it's Syria or Israel,

so I will say Iraq.

Iraq is correct. Would've been embarrassing to get that wrong.

Judith, what is the official monetary unit of Canada?

Well, I think that is probably the Canadian Dollar.

Canadian Dollar is correct. One-all. Back to you, Roy.

Your second multiple choice question. Here we go.

Terra Nova Bay on the coastline of Victoria Land

is a feature of which continent?

Well, I've never heard of it before,

but I will say I think it's Antarctica.

Is that a stab in the dark or something a bit more precise?

Er, bit of a stab in the dark.

Antarctica is correct. Well done.

-THEY CLAP

-Judith, your question.

The international airport at Skopje

is named after which historical figure?

I'm trying to think where Skopje is,

but I don't think it's in Russia, which would be Peter the Great.

Erm... It might be Alexander the Great on his way eastwards.

I have a feeling it's sort of... Skopje.

Isn't it in one of the ex-Yugoslavian states?

Why would it be Charlemagne? I think it's Alexander the Great.

Your answer is Alexander the Great. Eggheads, anyone know?

-Yes.

-Macedonia.

-What was the logic here?

Alexander the Great was born in Pella, not that far from Skopje.

-And it's Macedonia, is it?

-Yeah.

-Well done, Judith.

-You got the point.

-Hurray. Thank you.

Two each. Here we go, Roy. What is the name of the river

on which the Somerset town of Taunton stands?

Again, I do not know this, but I would say...

I'm not going for Tone, I'm not going for Tun,

I think I will go for Tann.

You're going for the River Tann, but I think your team has a reason

-for knowing this. Nicola, you're looking excited.

-Yes, I am.

-We think it's the River Tun.

-How strange.

It's not Tun, it's not Tann, sorry, Roy, it's Tone.

The River Tone.

Judith, your third question. If you get this, you're in the final round.

Which European lake is colloquially known as the Swabian Sea.

Well, I know Lake Constance has...

Swabia... All geography has deserted me.

I think Swabia is in Germany.

I think so. That's what I'm assuming.

And I know that Lake Constance is a border of Germany,

so I'm going to say Lake Constance.

-Lake Constance is your answer.

-Yes.

It's correct. Well done, Judith. You've taken that round.

-Sorry, Roy, you've been knocked out.

-Thank you.

That means Judith will be in the final and Roy, you won't.

Please come back and rejoin your teams.

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

the Eggheads have lost no brains so far.

The next subject is Sport.

-Is that all right for you?

-Lovely.

-Who wants it?

-That would be me.

-It's the lovely John.

Can you choose an unsporting Egghead? So much choice.

-Do you think Chris?

-Yeah.

I was going to hold you for me, Chris,

but John has decided to pick you.

OK, so the Hyperactive John against Chris from the Eggheads on Sport.

Please take your positions in the question room.

All right, three questions, then, and the subject is Sport.

Whoever gets the most right is in the final.

John, do you want to go first or second?

I think I'll give the Egghead the honour, so I'll go second.

-Chris, first on sport. That's going to put you in a good mood.

-Yeah.

Here we go. Your first question. In Formula 1,

what term is often used to refer to the lap the cars make

prior to the start of a race

before they reform on the grid in their correct order?

Ah.

Well, it wouldn't be an outbrake lap, would it?

Either spelt that way or the other way. Erm...

Why would it be an intermediate lap?

At the end of it, they form up on the grid,

so it's the formation lap.

Formation lap is right. One to you.

John, according to the official rules of tennis,

the centre of the net should be at what height?

I came across that question just recently

and it's three feet.

Three feet is the right answer.

-One each.

-THEY CLAP

At the 2008 Paralympic Games,

Oscar Pistorius won gold medals in the 100 metres,

200 metres and 400 metres for which country?

Ah, he's the chap who lost his legs, isn't he?

He runs with those sort of springy things. Erm...

With a name like Oscar Pistorius,

he should be South African, so I'll say South Africa.

South Africa is the right answer.

Over to you, John. Your second question to keep up.

How many times had Geoff Hurst played for England

before the 1966 World Cup Final against West Germany?

Of course, he did so well in the World Cup,

and I recall, I think he was fairly young at the time,

so I'll plump for seven.

-You're right again. Well done.

-Whey!

Two points each! Let's see how you do on your third question, Chris.

Which Rugby Union player who won 55 caps for Wales

retired from the sport in 1981

and continued his career as an orthopaedic surgeon?

Well, I don't know, Jeremy, but I've never heard of Jeff Squire.

I think JPR Williams retired before '81.

So it's got to be Mervyn Davies.

Er, who's the right answer, Eggheads?

-ALL: JPR Williams.

-It is, JPR!

-Yeah!

Yeah. I've got a vague memory of long sideburns.

-That was him?

-Mm. In the 70s.

-John, here we go.

Get this one right, you're in the final. They're willing you on!

A very enthusiastic team behind you.

Carozza and Petite Etoile

were the first two horses on which Lester Piggott won which classic?

Er, racing's not my strong point.

I think this is going to be a, erm, pluck it from the dark.

Something's telling me to go the Derby,

but something else is telling me St Leger.

I think I'm going to...

..steer away from the obvious choice and go St Leger.

OK. You should've steered a bit further away, cos it was the Oaks.

-The Oaks is the answer.

-Oh, right.

So, after three questions each, the scores are level.

We will now go to sudden death and to make it that bit harder,

these questions are not multiple choice. Chris, here we go.

A-Force is the nickname of which British boxer, born in 1971?

I want to say Ainsley Harriott, but he's a chef. Erm...

THEY LAUGH

Oh.

No, it just won't come, Jeremy. Sorry, pass.

Ainsley Harriott's got most of the letters. Audley Harrison.

-Audley Harrison, that's who I was trying to think of.

-We could tell.

John, get this right, you're in the final. No multiple choice.

Which British athlete won a silver medal in the javelin

at both the 1996 and 2000 Olympic games?

Er, I'm... As soon as you said javelin, there was one person

leapt to mind. I think I'd be willing

to take a punt at this and say Steve Backley.

-Is that your answer?

-Yes.

-That is correct.

-You're in the final!

-Whoo!

-How about that?

OK, so well done to you, John, you took on an Egghead and you won.

Please both of you come back here and rejoin us.

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

the Eggheads have also lost one brain, Chris.

The next subject is Arts and Books.

Of the three remaining, who would like this?

-Right...

-Deborah, Peter or Nicola?

-Peter, I think we'll give you Arts and Books.

-Right.

-OK?

-And which Egghead?

-Barry?

-Barry. Barry?

-Barry.

I hear the word Barry coming through. Barry from the Eggheads

against Peter from the Hyperactive Group. To ensure no conferring,

please take your positions now.

Peter, do you want the first or second set of questions?

I'll take the first set, please.

Here we go. In a theatre, Peter,

what name is traditionally given to the highest seats in the auditorium

that are generally the furthest away from the stage and the cheapest?

Well, Jeremy, 25-years-plus ago, I was at college

and in several amateur performances

to do with Gilbert and Sullivan

and that is certainly the Gods.

It is the Gods, well done. Barry, your question.

Here we go, Barry. In the Harry Potter books,

what relation are Vernon and Petunia Dursley to Harry Potter?

They're his rather obnoxious uncle and aunt.

Uncle and aunt is spot on.

Your second question, Peter.

What is the title of the controversial 1995 self-help book

by Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider

subtitled "Time-tested secrets for capturing the heart of Mr Right"?

I haven't actually heard of the book nor the authors.

I'm going to plump for, as a complete guess, The Game.

Your team are behind you on The Game.

It's wrong, though. There was a book called The Game, I remember,

and it was the same kind of territory, but this is The Rules.

Over to you, Barry. The cheap popular books

that consisted of traditional stories and ballads,

histories or moral and religious tales

sold by peddlers in the 17th and 18th centuries were known as what?

I don't know the derivation of the name,

but I believe these were chapbooks.

-Eggheads, is he right?

-Yes.

-Chapman was an old word for a peddler.

So chapbooks it is. Well done, Barry, chapbooks is right.

Third question, Peter. If you get this wrong, you're not in the final.

Blindness and Seeing are the English titles of novels

by which Nobel laureate author who died in 2010?

Again, I am shooting in the dark, I'm afraid.

Erm...

I can't even recall it from the news.

I'm going to take a rather wild punt...

..at Octavio Paz.

Octavio Paz is the wrong answer.

Jose Saramago is correct.

-From which country?

-Portugal.

-He's Portuguese.

-Portugal.

So, Peter, I'm sorry, you're not in the final.

Barry has taken that round. Do please rejoin us here.

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

The Eggheads have lost one brain. The last subject is Music.

-Who would like this?

-Deborah has very kindly volunteered

to leave me free for the final round.

-To my shame and to my husband's shame.

-I'm sorry.

So, Deborah, who are we going to pick

for you to pit your wits against?

Er, Kevin? Kevin.

-Kevin.

-Deborah...

-Be gentle on her, she's six months pregnant.

Deborah from Hyperactive against Kevin from the Eggheads.

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

Kevin versus Deborah. Three questions, multiple choice.

The subject is Music

-and you can choose to go first or second.

-I'll go first, please.

Here we go. Good luck. What item is mentioned

in the first line of the Christmas carol known as Deck The Halls?

Erm, I do believe, and I'm trying not to sing it

in case I offend people in the studio,

-but I do believe it's bows of holly.

-That's correct.

All right, your question, Kevin. Johnny Kidd and the Pirates

had a UK number one single in 1960 with which song?

They might have done the other two, but the song was Shakin' All Over.

And you won't sing that, will you?

-No, strangely enough.

-Shakin' All Over is right.

So one apiece. Deborah, back to you.

What was the title of the first UK number one single for Culture Club?

Ah, pop music is really not my forte at all.

I recognise Do You Want To Hurt Me and I recognise Karma Chameleon.

I think it might be Karma Chameleon, but I'm not sure.

But I'll got with Karma Chameleon.

I'm embarrassed to say I know the answer. It's not Karma Chameleon.

There was a very famous Top Of The Pops appearance

where no-one could believe it was bloke.

Do You Really Want To Hurt Me, the song.

Kevin, over to you to take the lead if you can.

Won't Go Quietly was a UK hit single in 2010

for the rapper Elliot John Gleave under what pseudonym?

I must admit, this is one that's completely passed me by.

None of that means anything at all. So, erm...

I think the most likely there seems...

This isn't my final answer. The most likely seems to me Example.

Why would anybody call themselves Paragraph? Well, mind you...

Definition? It could be Definition, actually.

But I have to stick with Example, because I don't have a clue. Example.

Example is your answer. I have to ask Chris, cos you hate rap so much,

-there's a chance you might know it.

-Er, I'll go with Kevin.

Paragraph, no.

Definition, too intelligent for a rap singer. It's got to be Example.

-OK. Pat.

-There is a bit of a clue. His initials.

-E...G.

-Yeah.

-Example.

-Ah, example.

Example is the right answer.

Well, Deborah, you nearly had the break of the green there,

because he was struggling. As Kevin often does, he came back.

Third question. You've got to get it right.

What term was often used to describe

the mixing of rave, acid house and indie subcultures

that coalesced in Manchester in the early 90s

as typified by bands like the Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses?

I'm terribly embarrassed now because I live and work in Manchester

and can't answer this at all.

And it should be of my era. Erm...

Something is drawing me towards Baggy, and I think I'll go with it.

Well done, Baggy is right. Deborah, that's good.

We were worried for a second there. Kevin, if you get this right

you are in the final with three out of three.

Oberto Conte di San Bonifacio,

premiered in 1839, is an opera by which composer?

Vivaldi was long dead by then.

Rossini had effectively...

1839. Oh, no, it's... It's Verdi.

It's an early opera by Verdi, in his 20s.

You did sound very certain at the end there.

-Yeah.

-Do you think there's any hope here, team?

-He's got it.

He's good, isn't he? Kevin, Verdi is the right answer.

You are through to the final. Deborah, you've been knocked out

by a rather brilliant Egghead, it has to be said. Bad luck to you.

Both come back and rejoin us here.

So this is what we've been playing towards.

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

Those of you who lost your head-to-heads

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

So, Peter, Deborah and Roy from the Hyperactive Group,

and Chris from the Eggheads, would you also please leave the studio?

-So, Nicola, this is the moment now.

-It is, Jeremy.

-And you've saved yourself for this round.

-I have, yes.

-I very much wanted to be in the final.

-OK.

Well, you're playing with John to win the Hyperactive Group £9,000.

Barry, Pat, Judith and Kevin,

you're playing for something money can't buy, the Eggheads' reputation.

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

This time the questions are general knowledge and you can confer.

Nicola and John, are your two brains better than the Eggheads' four?

-We shall try.

-All the best to you.

-Do you want to go first or second?

-I feel we'd be better going first.

-Is that all right?

-That's fine by me.

-We'll go first, please, Jeremy.

Who played the title role in the 2003 film The Life Of David Gale?

-I'm leaning towards Adam Sandler.

-Er, are you? Are you?

-It's not, er...

It's not a strong conviction.

Harvey Keitel, no. I think he tends to play more rough and tumble,

you know, cops and robbers, detective-type roles.

I'd have though it might have been more Kevin Spacey, actually.

-Possibly.

-With him doing the beautiful one,

and the difficult American Beauty father.

Yes. I just don't know this Adam Sandler, John.

Well, let's go for Kevin Spacey. I think you've convinced me.

-Have I?

-Yeah.

-Oh.

Persuasive, I know. On my head be it, then.

-Are you happy with that?

-I think so.

We're going to take Kevin Spacey, Jeremy.

It's really interesting listening to you. Often somebody has

the faintest glimmer and then everybody gets driven by that.

And here you were wise to put that aside. It is Kevin Spacey.

-Well done!

-Whey! THEY CLAP

Well done! Very good committee work. Yeah.

Eggheads, your question.

In the standard original London version of the board game Monopoly,

how much does to cost to purchase the property Oxford Street?

-What is it, the green one, isn't it?

-It is the green one.

There's Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street.

The cheapest green is £300.

Is it 300, 300, 320 or something?

Where are they? They're on the right hand side, aren't they?

-At the bottom? Down the bottom?

-Yes.

So, next to Park Lane and Mayfair?

-The next most expensive?

-The second best set.

-The most expensive red is Trafalgar Square.

-Red, yellow, green, purple.

-Yep.

-I can't help. I can't help. I just don't know.

I think Piccadilly is the last of the yellows, 260 or 280.

And then I think we go over the corner.

-And then 300. So we think it's an ordinary green?

-Yes.

-In which case I think we go for £300.

-Fair enough.

With some trepidation, and a lot of analysis, we're going for £300.

£300. You spent a long time talking about which colour it was.

Monopoly players will know you have to get the colour before the cost.

-Well, no, you can visualise where it is on the board.

-Right. OK.

A fight broke out over what colour it was, and that's not the question.

-Do you know the answer, out of interest?

-Yes.

-Tell us.

-It is £300.

-£300 is right, Eggheads, well done.

There was some stray, false information

which you must have wanted to carry the day, but it didn't.

OK, your question. In medieval romance,

which son of the knight Percival, or Parsifal,

consented to marry Elsa of Brabant

on condition that she did not ask who he was?

Well, I thought Pyramus is when Pyramus spoke through to Thisbe

through the... In Midsummer Night's Dream.

Am I going round...

-The only name that rings any bells is Tristan.

-Tristan and Grisalde?

-Chrisolde? Lohengrin doesn't sound... It sounds more Germanic.

-Mm. Mm.

No. John, any more deliberation?

-I don't think it's going to make us change our minds.

-I'm not so sure.

Right, Jeremy, we are going to take Tristan as our final answer.

Tristan is your answer. Let's check with our Eggheads.

ALL: It's Lohengrin.

-We were going down the wrong ride.

-Do you know what, you nearly got there.

I just felt the next stage was going to take you there.

Bad luck. Eggheads,

which building in Moscow was built at the end of the 19th century

as the headquarters of an insurance company?

-The Kremlin is older.

-The Kremlin is much older.

And Basil's is Ivan the Terrible, isn't it?

Yeah, it's got to be Lubyanka.

We think that's the Lubyanka Prison.

Lubyanka is the right answer. OK. This question is now important.

You have to get it right. If you get it wrong I don't go back to them,

because they will have won, which you don't want to happen.

Here is your question, Hyperactive Group.

The glands of Zeis, Z-E-I-S, are sebaceous glands

whose task it is to lubricate what on the human body?

-Erm...

-I can't see there being any glands to lubricate a moustache.

Mm. You don't think for the actual growing of the hair follicle?

-But wouldn't that be any hair on the body?

-Absolutely.

The eyelashes, well, your eye gets lubricated, doesn't it?

Do your eyelashes get lubricated? I can't believe they get lubricated.

-Your eye gets lubricated.

-In the tear duct, yes.

If you think back to optometry, and anything from O-level biology,

was it... Did it have much, when it was coming to do with eyelashes?

I mean, is that another name for the tear ducts, which lubricate the eye?

I can't remember the glands of Zeis being mentioned.

I only did it up to O. I didn't take it any further.

I can kind of believe nostril hairs.

-Nostril hairs.

-Keeping nasal passages lubricated.

Right, we should have had those second set of questions,

that's all I'm saying. I made a wrong decision.

Right, Jeremy, we will plump for nostril hairs.

Nostril hairs is your answer.

It's a fascinating question

because it's not really obvious why any of those would need lubrication.

The eyelashes do. The eyelashes have the glands of Zeis.

Anyone want to give us a gland of Zeis fact?

-Not really.

-You see, it stumped them.

-So we say congratulations to the Eggheads, you've won.

-Well done!

They've done what comes naturally to them

and their winning streak continues. They reign supreme over quizland.

It does mean the £9,000 doesn't go home with you.

It will carry over to the next show. Well done, Eggheads.

Who will ever beat you? It's been great to meet you, guys.

-Thanks for coming in.

-It's been great to meet you all.

-Good stuff.

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

to defeat the Eggheads. £10,000 says they don't. Till then, goodbye.

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