Episode 95 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 taking on the awesome might of our quiz Goliaths today

are Relatively Friendly from Leicester.

This team is a real family affair

which features mum, dad, son and aunt.

That just leaves family friend Ann to complete the quintet. Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm John, I'm 59 and I'm an engineer.

Hi, I'm Carol, I'm 58 and I'm a retired administrator.

Hello, I'm James, I'm 34. I'm an operations director.

Hi, I'm Chris, I'm 63 and I'm a retired PA.

Hi, I'm Ann, I'm 72 and I'm a retired lecturer in Business Studies.

-John, team, welcome.

-Thank you.

-Good to see you. The family plus Ann, basically?

-Correct.

And how did you meet your wife?

I met Carol at a bowling alley.

I'd gone with a friend and she was being pestered by some Italians.

And she looked at me appealingly and I got rid of the Italians and we've been together ever since.

-That's how many years?

-40 years we've been married, so probably 44 years.

Excellent. This will be a notable moment in the story of your relationship

if you can do over the Eggheads here.

Good luck. Hope you have a great game.

£1,000 of cash up for grabs for our challengers every day.

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

Relatively Friendly, the Eggheads have won the last three games,

which means £4,000 says you can't beat them today.

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

Which one of you would like this?

-That'll be me, I think.

-I think it's you.

-Chris.

-Chris, OK.

-Who do you want to take on?

-Barry, I think.

-Very decisive.

Chris, from Relatively Friendly against Barry from the Eggheads.

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

-So, Chris, just to make sure I understand the relationships, you're John's sister?

-That's right.

And you've just celebrated your ruby wedding?

We have, yes. We went on a Mediterranean cruise for that.

-How long have you been married, Barry?

-35 this year.

Is that paper or tin or what for 35?

-Coral.

-Coral.

-I think a visit to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is called for.

-Yeah, exactly, or the bookmakers maybe.

-I'd not thought of that one.

I'll ask each of you three questions in turn. They're on Film & TV.

-Whoever answers the most questions correctly wins. Would you like the first or second set?

-First, please.

Here we go. Good luck. Which anniversary did Coronation Street celebrate in 2010?

Well, I'm a very big Coro fan and I think it was the 50th.

Spot-on, Chris. Well done. The 50th is right.

Barry, in 2007, the entrepreneur James Caan joined the panel of which TV show?

I've watched all the shows. I'm a big fan of all of them.

But James Caan was definitely in Dragons' Den.

Dragons' Den is correct.

Chris, who played the leading role of a worker involved in manufacturing underwear

in the 1941 film comedy, Turned Out Nice Again?

Right, um...

I think I do know who it is

because I think that was his catchphrase - George Formby.

It is indeed George Formby. Very good.

Barry, in the 1986 Brat Pack film Pretty In Pink, who played the role of Andie Walsh?

It wouldn't have been Demi Moore.

Pretty In Pink... I think it was Molly Ringwald.

You're right. It was Molly Ringwald.

So, level-pegging.

Who played the explorer Ernest Shackleton in the 2002 TV drama Shackleton?

Right, I can't remember seeing this one at all.

I'm not 100% sure, but I'll try Kenneth Branagh.

Nice one. You've got it right.

A difficult one as well.

Barry, your question to stay in it.

The Golden Leopard has been awarded at which international film festival since 1968?

Oh, that's a tough one.

I don't think it's Moscow.

I can't think of a connection

between a leopard and any of these three places.

I think I'm going to go for Locarno.

Locarno is right again.

You couldn't shake him off, Chris, I'm afraid. We go to Sudden Death.

I don't give you alternative answers now. You have to give me one.

In March 1969, Mickey Deans became the fifth and final husband of which Hollywood film star?

It's a guess,

but Elizabeth Taylor?

No, it was Judy Garland who died in June 1969, so he didn't have very long with her.

Barry, who played the role of the chauffeur Jim London in the 1980s sitcom Home James?

I've never seen this,

but Paul Nicholas is coming to mind, so I shall try him.

-No, Jim Davidson.

-Oh!

Chris, back to you.

In a comedy drama written by Caroline Aherne and Jeff Pope

and first broadcast in December 2009,

who played The Fattest Man In Britain?

I don't think I'm going to think of his name.

Um...

I think he was in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet as well.

No, I can't think of his name.

-The answer is... Any Eggheads know?

-Timothy Spall.

-Was he in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet?

-Yeah.

Barry, who played the criminal kingpin Mr Bridger in the 1969 film, The Italian Job?

This was a performance full of style and panache and it could only have been by Noel Coward.

Noel Coward is right, Barry. You have taken that round.

Sorry, Chris, you won't be in the final. Barry will.

Please come back and rejoin your team-mates.

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

The next subject is Geography.

Who's been the best travelled?

-Who's going to do Geography?

-Shall we keep James for Sport?

-Yes.

-Who's Geography then?

-You or me, really?

-Yeah.

-Or Ann?

-That was you, wasn't it?

-Was it me?

-I think I'll go.

-You can do it. You've travelled all over the world.

-Carol?

-All those cruises!

-Which Egghead?

-I don't know.

I'd tend to go for Chris.

-Chris, please.

-OK, Carol from Relatively Friendly against Chris from the Eggheads.

He's been everywhere on a train. A train line has to lead to it.

-I think they're all good on Geography.

-They are. Carol and Chris, take your positions now.

Carol, you love to travel.

-Yes, that's right.

-You go around by caravan mainly?

Caravan for 80% of the time,

-then we usually manage to get a long-haul break somewhere different in the world.

-Tremendous.

-Chris, where do you go when you go abroad?

-I've not been out of the UK since '98 and that was only Dublin.

When I was making my joke about the train lines, I was actually right?

-Yeah.

-Let's see how you do in Geography.

Three questions and you can choose, Carol, the first or second set.

I'll go first, please.

Good luck. What term is often used in the United States for a ring road?

I've been to America a few times, but I've never come across this at all.

Logic is steering me to "belt"

because it goes round your waist in a circle,

so I think I'll go with "beltway".

I'm glad you did. "Beltway" is the answer. Well done.

Which airport is located closest to the 2012 London Olympic Stadium?

It's in the old London Docks about three miles from Stratford

and it's London City.

Well done. London City it is.

Carol, the highest mountain in England, Scafell Pike, measures how many metres in height?

Right, I have actually climbed this.

John and I did the Three Peaks Challenge, but did it in three years,

so we did Ben Nevis one year, then Scafell Pike and then Snowdon.

And I think it's 3,000-something feet,

so it's got to be 978 metres, I think.

Very good. 978 it is.

Excellent. Chris, your question.

The River Loire flows through France into which body of water?

-Did you say the Loire?

-The River Loire.

-It flows into the Bay of Biscay at St Nazaire.

-Correct, Bay of Biscay.

Two each. If you get this one right, Carol, put some pressure on Chris,

see if he falls into the sea.

Bujumbura is the capital of which African country?

Hmm... This is one of my weaknesses, African capitals.

I'm drawn towards Burundi, but I don't know why.

Hmm.

No, I'm going to say Togo.

-Eggheads?

-Burundi.

-It is Burundi. I'm afraid you got that wrong.

Chris, your question to take the round.

The Scottish island of Iona lies approximately one mile from the western tip of which larger island?

Hmm...

Iona, that's...

It's not Lewis because that's the Outer Hebrides.

The Isle of Arran is in the Firth of Clyde, so it's not that either.

-It must be Mull.

-If you have got this right, you are in the final round.

Mull is the answer. Chris, well done. Sorry, Carol.

Got beaten there. Both of you come back and rejoin your teams.

The challengers have lost two brains from the final round whilst the Eggheads have lost no brains.

The next subject for you is Politics.

Who wants this?

-We know who that is.

-Ann's going to do that.

-OK.

-Aren't I the lucky one?

-Yes, that's fine.

-Who would you like to play?

-Not Chris, not Barry.

-Do you want to go for Pat?

-How do you feel about Pat?

-Yes.

-Yeah?

-Yeah. Pat then.

-OK, Ann from Relatively Friendly against Pat from the Eggheads.

Please take your positions in the question room.

So, Pat, you've had a good couple of years.

-You won the Mastermind...?

-Mastermind Champion of Champions.

-So the champion of the whole lot?

-Yes, that's me.

-Ann, you've picked the very best here.

-Yes, perhaps so, but there may be a question that causes a problem.

He's slipped up before. All the best in this round.

-The first or second set of questions?

-I'd like to go first.

Here is your first question, Ann.

In the initials CPS for the government department responsible for prosecuting cases,

investigated by the police in England and Wales, what does C stand for?

I'm afraid it's going to be a guess and I will go for Crown.

Crown is the right answer. Crown Prosecution Service, yes.

Pat, what name has been given to the grassroots conservative movement

that emerged in the United States in 2009?

I think their origins are in the Chicago area

and their name reflects the famous Boston Tea Party,

so I think it's the Tea Party.

Tea Party is correct.

Ann, the Pulitzer Prize-winning book entitled A Thousand Days by Arthur M Schlesinger Junior

concerns the time in office of which US President?

I seem to be making guesses in each round,

but I'd go for John F Kennedy.

Very good again. John F Kennedy it was. Nicely done.

Pat,

in 1983 Simon Hughes was elected the MP of a constituency in which city?

Simon Hughes. I think he's a leading LibDem.

Em...I don't think he's Liverpool or Leeds. I think he's from a constituency within London.

London is the right answer.

Ann, back to you.

Third question. Prior to Mervyn King in 2010,

how many Governors of the Bank of England had addressed the TUC's annual congress?

Well, I have no idea.

I would go for one.

Very good. One is right again!

Pat, get this wrong and you're out.

Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as the new President of which country in May, 2010?

I think he got the call when the previous, the incumbent

experienced extreme ill health and, I think, died.

He's from southern Nigeria. So it's Nigeria.

Nigeria is the right answer. Three questions, all of them right.

So we go to sudden death. Here we go.

In an infamous 1995 interview, Jeremy Paxman repeatedly asked the Home Secretary Michael Howard

if he'd threatened to overrule which Director of the Prison Service?

-No, I don't know.

-Derek Lewis is the answer.

Over to you, Pat.

Mik was the Westminster nickname of which left-wing Labour MP who served on and off

from 1945 to 1987?

Mik spelt M-I-K.

That's a long period of service.

42 years, with some gaps.

It's such a strange spelling. It's tempting to think it's something to do with his initials.

Michael Foot? Michael Foot, I suppose... Maybe Michael Foot.

Is he old enough to have been in Parliament just after WWII?

Any other Michaels?

I'm making heavy weather of this.

I think I'll have to go with Michael Foot.

It's not Michael Foot. It's Ian Mikardo, which is M-I-K-A-R-D-O.

Ann, back to you.

The Sejm is the lower house of which country's parliament, Ann?

The Sejm. S-EJ-M.

It doesn't seem like a language that I would know.

I'll go for...

Romania.

Roughly the right area, but it's Poland.

OK, Pat, get this right

and you're in the final. In 2010, which columnist for The Spectator

became the first blogger censured by the Press Complaints Commission?

I'm stumped.

Em...I really don't know.

I'll just have to have a guess.

What could he have got himself into trouble for?

World's his oyster, really. Maybe he was indiscreet or breached Official Secrets...

I don't know. Paul Foot.

Not Paul Foot. Rod Liddle it is,

who wrote that the overwhelming majority of London's violent crime is by young Afro-Caribbean men.

That was why he got censured. OK, you're still equal.

Ann, Nancy Pelosi, who became the House of Representatives Speaker in 2007,

started her congressional career when she took office in 1987

as the representative of a constituency in which US state?

-I will go for California.

-California is correct.

Pat, to stay in it.

Despite its name, the Conservative Parliamentary Committee known as the 1922 Committee

was, in fact, set up in which year?

I think it's got something to do with Harold Macmillan and his Wind of Change speech in Cape Town.

So somewhere in the early '60s. He was certainly in power when Kennedy was in power, '62, '63.

I think he outstayed Kennedy after the assassination, so '64.

Could it have been all the way up to '66? I really don't know.

On the basis that it was inspired by Macmillan's rallying call,

I'll have to go for 1964.

You're quite a long way off. It's 1923 - only a year out.

It refers to the year they were all elected. That's why it's 1922.

So, Ann, well done!

You have taken the round!

So definitely at least two Relatively Friendlies in the final.

Pat, you've been knocked out. Please both of you come back here.

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

The last subject is Music.

Which of you would like Music?

- You're going to do this? - I'll have a go.

-James?

-I'll go for it.

-Against which Egghead?

- Judith, without a doubt. - Judith, please.

James against Judith on Music. Please go to the question rooms now.

So Judith and James, here we go. We're doing Music.

Three questions. James, you can choose the first or second set.

I'd like to go second, please.

OK. First question to Judith.

Which song, often associated with Andy Williams, ends with, "to reach the unreachable star"?

I think this is one I do know! I think it's The Impossible Dream.

It is The Impossible Dream. Well done. James, your question.

In which decade did Frank Sinatra die?

Right, OK. Em...

I was born in 1976.

So I'm thinking... This will be a guess.

He wasn't around in the 1980s. I think it was the 1970s.

-No, quite a way out. The 1990s was the answer. Any year?

-'98.

-'98.

It was the end of that decade. Relatively recently.

Judith, your question. The opera Simon Boccanegra, set in 14th-century Genoa,

is the work of which composer?

It's Verdi.

-No hesitation whatsoever.

-Beethoven only wrote one opera, Fidelio.

And Britten is a 20th century person, so Verdi.

Brilliant. You're right. So the situation is, James,

-you need this question or there is no way back.

-Indeed.

McFly's first single, Five Colours In Her Hair, reached number one in the UK in which year?

Right...

I normally associate music with what I was doing at the time.

And I think that was around

in...2001.

2001 is your answer. It's actually 2004.

-So more recent than that.

-Yeah.

-Sorry, James.

Judith will be in the final.

Please come back, both of you, and rejoin your teammates.

This is what we've been playing towards. It is the final round, General Knowledge.

But those of you who lost

won't be allowed to take part, so Carol, James and Chris from Relatively Friendly

and Pat from the Eggheads, please now leave the studio.

So here we are, John and Ann, playing to win Relatively Friendly £4,000.

Chris, Barry, Judith and Kevin, you're playing for the Eggheads' very precious reputation.

As usual, I will ask each team three questions. They're all General Knowledge and you can confer.

So are your two brains better than the Eggheads' four?

-Would you like to go first or second?

-First?

-I think first.

-Yeah, we'll go first.

Very good luck to you. Which Premiership football club is associated with a song that begins,

"Blue is the colour, football is the game, we're all together and winning is our aim"?

It's the wrong colour for West Ham.

-So it could be Chelsea.

-I actually don't think Everton...

-James will kill me, as an Everton fan, if we're wrong.

-We need him.

-But I think it's Chelsea.

-I'm quite happy, cos I don't know.

We'll go with Chelsea.

James is relieved. Chelsea's right.

Eggheads,

what's the technique in which photos taken at regular intervals

are played back in rapid succession, making time appear much faster?

OK, time lapse?

-It's time lapse, Jeremy.

-Right answer.

Pelmanism, a system that was popular in the early 20th century, was developed in order to train what?

Pelmanism. Is it impel?

-I don't know. It's memory, I think.

-You think it's memory?

Yes, looking at the three choices, I'd guess at memory.

I think we'll go memory.

-Is it something to do with that game Pairs, Eggheads?

-Yes.

Pelmanism is a game.

Pelmanism is memory. You're right.

-Well done.

-We had Pairs at our house, the cards you turn over.

Someone said, "Ah, Pelmanism!"

Yes, it is that. It's a game called Pelmanism.

Here's your question.

Marc Bohan -

M-A-R-C B-O-H-A-N -

head fashion designer at Christian Dior between 1960 and 1989, was born in which country?

Unless it's a trick, it's France.

I really don't know.

- Italian would be Marco. - B-O-H-A-N, was it?

I've heard the name.

There are examples of ones whose names appear to be one thing...

- Well, exactly. - So B-O-H-A-N?

- And M-A-R-C, Marc. - Yeah, yeah.

So, yeah, I think we have to.

We're not sure, but we have to go for France on the basis of the name.

France is the right answer.

OK, your third question. Sometimes they just fall over.

What type of African animals belong to the genus Loxodonta?

-No idea.

-I think it could be giraffe.

For some reason. I don't know why. It might be LO for long neck!

I've got no reason for the others, so I'm happy with that.

It's a bit of a guess.

I don't know if I saw it on a sign at a zoo, but we'll go with giraffe.

Giraffes is your answer. Eggheads?

-Elephants.

-How can we deduce that from the name?

-Loxo.

-Loxodonta. Donta, teeth. Tusks.

So they have a chance now. Eggheads,

what was the original name of the American-born loyalist, inventor and physicist

who co-founded the Royal Institution and was made Count Rumford by the Elector of Bavaria?

- Benjamin Thompson. - It's Benjamin Thompson.

It's always worrying when you say the name before the options come up.

Benjamin Thompson is correct.

Congratulations, Eggheads. You've won.

How did you know that so swiftly, all of you?

He was just...because of his involvement in both politics,

having to flee the States because he was a loyalist,

and then he became famous all over Europe.

-This does happen quite a lot.

-Yes, we know.

They sit there looking half asleep, then bang!

-Thank you so much for playing.

-No, it's been super.

-And you're an honorary member of the family, Ann.

-Yes, they'll allow me to come and visit occasionally.

Commiserations to you. The Eggheads have done what comes naturally.

They still reign supreme. You're not going home with the £4,000.

The money rolls over to our next show. Eggheads, congratulations. Who will beat you?

Join us next time to see if a new team have the brains to defeat them. £5,000 says they don't.

Until then, goodbye.

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd - 2012

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