Episode 12 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

pit their wits against possibly the greatest quiz team in Britain.

They are the Eggheads.

And taking on the awesome might of our quiz Goliaths today

are the Royal Harmonics.

This team are all members of the same a cappella group, based in Windsor.

Let's meet them.

Hello, I'm Peter, I'm 69, and a retired security consultant.

Hello, I'm Ewen. I'm 43, and I'm a payroll manager.

Hello, I'm Tony, I'm 66, and I'm a chartered surveyor.

Hi, I'm Ed, I'm 67. I help run a B&B, and I do man and van.

Hello, I'm Windsor, I'm 65, I'm a self-employed sales agent in the wool and haberdashery industry.

Welcome to you, Royal Harmonics. How long have you all been together?

Variously, we've joined the club at various times.

And one or two of the members are founder members.

-And the club is actually about ten years old.

-I see.

Do you sing in competitions? Do you sing for fun, how does it work?

We do all of that. Competitions, fun, charity work,

and paid employment, hopefully, at things like corporate dos, entertainment.

I don't know how limbered up the vocal chords are. I know the brains are, for this Eggheads game.

You couldn't give us a tune, could you?

Well, we could try, yes.

Take it away.

THEY SING

-# Hello.

-Hello.

-Hello.

# Well, hello...

# We are the Royal Harmonics! #

Well done! Thank you very much indeed. Lovely stuff.

We'll get the Eggheads to introduce themselves like that on shows!

Let me tell you what's been going on so far before your arrival on Eggheads.

Every day, there's £1,000 worth of cash up for grabs for our challenges, as you know.

However, if they fail to defeat the Eggheads, the prize money rolls over to the next show.

So, Royal Harmonics, the Eggheads have won the last 22 games.

-That means £23,000...

-My goodness!

-..says you can't beat the Eggheads today.

Let's see what comes up first. It's Politics for the first head-to-head.

Who'd like to play this? And which Egghead would you like to take on?

INAUDIBLE DISCUSSION

Politics. Who's going for Politics?

Tony, do you want to go for that?

Yeah, all right. OK.

-Tony's got the short straw.

-All right, Tony.

And which Egghead would you like to have as well?

INAUDIBLE DISCUSSION

-CJ, please.

-OK, let's have Tony and CJ into the Question Room, please.

Good luck with this, Tony. Do you want to go first or second?

I think I'll go first, please.

OK, Tony, first question for you.

The political movement in Thailand,

officially called the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship,

is known for wearing which items of clothing?

Oh, heavens. I don't think I know this. Um.

I don't think it's brown stockings.

Black hats seems a bit unlikely, too. I think I'll go for red shirts.

Red shirts on likelihood.

A few years back, caused major disruption and confrontation

in Bangkok. The right answer.

THEY CHEER

We got one right!

And CJ, prior to becoming Speaker of the Commons,

John Bercow had been elected as an MP for which party?

I think this was one of the things that confused me when it happened.

Because his wife Sally is very left wing,

but officially I think he was a Conservative.

Yes, Conservative MP but, funnily enough, in terms of his election,

it was Labour votes which got him in because he had become unpopular

with the Conservative Party and they opposed it.

All very complicated, but you're right, Conservative MP originally.

So, one each, all square.

Tony, what is the name of the cat introduced to 10 Downing Street

in February 2011, following a problem with vermin?

I can't remember. There was a cat called Humphrey, but it's not there.

Larry, Curly or Moe. Cat..?

HE MUMBLES

-It's just a complete guess, I'll go for Larry.

-Larry, OK.

We've got the Three Stooges there, in the possible answers?

Larry's right one of those Stooges, Larry the cat.

THEY CHEER

Tony referring to Humphrey. A string of famous Downing Street cats.

I like that, the question, "Following a problem with vermin."

I did wonder about that, yes.

In a political question there.

OK, CJ. The Tunisian revolution of 2010 and 2011

has been commonly named by the Western media after which flower?

Ah.

Not hibiscus.

Jasmine Revolution is the one that's really jumping out at me,

because that sounds right.

Erm, so I'll go for jasmine.

And the answer is jasmine, yes. It's the right choice there.

OK, it's 2-2.

Tony, the father of the Chancellor George Osborne, became well known

for having a company that is engaged in which business?

Oh dear, once again, I don't know. Erm...

I don't recall anything about wallpaper or magazine publishing.

-So I'm going to go for stockbroking.

-Stockbroking, well, yeah.

It's not the right answer, though.

Eggheads, do you know?

-Wallpaper.

-Posh wallpaper?

-That's why George is so good at papering over the cracks!

-Oh!

Yes, you're here all week, Barry!

OK, yes. As Judith says, wallpaper makers.

So, CJ, the Communist guerrilla leader, Chin Peng,

carried out a long insurgency campaign in which country?

I haven't heard of him.

Erm...

More than either of the other two, to me, it sounds more Vietnamese.

Erm...

-Blind guess, I'll try Vietnam.

-Vietnam?

It was blind and wrong, it's Malaysia.

Let off for Tony. We go straight to Sudden Death.

That means, I know you know this,

but just to remind everyone, make it clear.

We remove all the choices, so the answer just has to come from you.

Which SDP candidate made political history

by winning the Crosby by-election in 1981?

I can't remember any of the four.

It's maddening. Ahh...

Shirley Williams?

Is the right answer!

THEY CHEER

Yes, one of the "Gang of Four", Shirley Williams,

later became Baroness Williams of Crosby,

the first SDP candidate to be elected.

That's why it was such a seismic move.

And your question, CJ, to stay in it this time.

Which Liberal is the only person to hold the titles of

Father of the House and Prime Minister simultaneously?

HE SIGHS HEAVILY

-I don't know, I'll guess at David Lloyd George?

-David Lloyd George?

It is double barrelled, but it ain't Lloyd George.

-Campbell-Bannerman?

-It is Campbell-Bannerman, Judith.

Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the Father of the House,

which of course is the longest serving member of House,

and Prime Minister simultaneously.

We'll stop discussing him and discuss Tony's performance.

Pulling Shelly Williams out of somewhere!

And booking a place in the final round.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

A great start for the Royal Harmonics.

All of them still there after the opening exchanges,

one Egghead gone.

And our next round today is on the subject of Music.

Well, I know you're all qualified to play this.

But remember, it's a very broad category.

A lot of contemporary stuff.

Ed is dying to go for Music.

Ed will volunteer, yes. Music.

He's the least musical of us!

-It's going to be Ed.

-And Judith?

-Judith?

-Judith's quite good at Music.

-Is she good at Music?

-Yes. She's good at everything.

-Is she? I'll still take her on.

OK then. OK. I think it's Judith.

All right, it's going to be Ed and Judith then

contesting the Music category.

Would you both please go to the Question Room?

Ed, do you want to go first or second?

I'd like to go first, please, Dermot.

All right, here you go, Ed.

Where is the Brit School at which Katie Melua, Leona Lewis and Adele were all students?

Oh dear. I'm hoping it's London.

I'm hoping it's not Solihull or Bootle.

So I'm going for Croydon.

It is Croydon. Well worked out, Ed.

Judith, your first question.

The band Beady Eye were formed in 2009

by former members of which group?

I really don't know, but I think Coldplay still exists.

Maybe it's Oasis. I don't think they exist.

Oasis?

Yes, that's the correct answer.

Well worked out, Judith. Ed.

The composer Emmanuel Chabrier lived and worked in which century?

I don't know, I don't even know what he composed.

So, when in doubt, go for the middle one.

I have to say the 17th, as a guess.

OK. It's not the right answer, though.

-Judith, any idea?

-19th?

-19th is correct.

But nothing there for Ed.

A chance for Judith to take the lead.

In which role did the 20th century classical musician Otto Klemperer

establish his reputation?

Well, he definitely wasn't an opera tenor.

Um, I think he was a conductor.

He was, that is correct.

Alarm bells for Ed then, you've got to get this.

Which American R&B singer had success in 1960

with two duets with Dinah Washington,

Baby, You Got What It Takes, and A Rockin' Good Way?

I liked that duet, and then it came out later. It was Brook Benton.

Yes, very good. Brook Benton then.

Judith, a chance still to take the round.

Morrissey chose a song by which band

as his favourite piece of music when he appeared on the radio programme, Desert Island Discs?

Um. I didn't hear that Desert Island Discs, I don't think,

I love Desert Island Discs.

-I think it was Small Faces.

-Small Faces, no.

Other Eggheads, down to two there.

New York Dolls. You're still in it, Ed.

Sat that one out.

And we're into Sudden Death.

Which singer had her first UK number one single in 1961 with You Don't Know?

Thank goodness. Helen Shapiro.

It is.

And, notable for the fact of her youth, do you how old she was?

She was produced by Norrie Paramor's son, who lives up the road from me.

-And he produced more hit records than George Martin.

-Did he?

That could be an Eggheads question. She was 14, Helen Shapiro.

OK, you've got to get this, Judith.

Which group had a UK number one single in August 2010 with All-Time Low?

Well, this is my all-time low. I have no idea. Brain turned to mush. Pass.

OK, pass, and out. It is The Wanted.

Which means, Ed, you're in the final round. Another one of you through.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

The Eggheads drawing up plans to man the barricades,

after the last two head-to-heads.

Two of their brains missing. All the Royal Harmonics there.

Third head-to-head today is Food & Drink.

Who'd like to play this one then? Peter, Ewen or Windsor?

-I think it'll be myself.

-Ewen. Which one of those Eggheads would you like to pick?

Judith and CJ had been knocked out, so you've got Kevin, Barry or Pat.

They're all pretty good.

-Erm, I think...

-What about Pat? What do you think?

I think Barry, he seems a friendly chap.

THEY LAUGH

He is a friendly chap, although very dangerous when quizzing.

Let's have Ewen and Barry into the Question Room, please.

Ewen, let's crack on with the quizzing.

It's been such heavy pounding in the last two rounds.

Let's see what this one produces. Would you like to go first and second?

I think I'll go first, we seem to have done all right on that.

Yes, so winning twice is doing all right then?

-THEY LAUGH

-It's doing really well.

This is your first question, Ewen, good luck. What is the main process used to produce Parma ham?

I'm certainly sure they don't pickle it in vinegar.

I believe it's air dried.

It is, it's the right answer, air drying.

Barry, what's the main ingredient of the traditional drink called posset?

I don't think it's iced tea or rose water,

I think it's a milk-based drink.

Milk-based. Yes, that's the correct answer.

OK, we've got your next question here.

Ewen, what type of fruit is a mirabelle?

I've come across this recently.

I don't think it's a banana.

I'm fairly sure it's not a kiwi, I think it's a plum.

It is! Well done, Ewen.

Barry,

in South African cuisine, bunny chow

consists of a hollowed out loaf of bread traditionally filled with what?

I can't imagine you'd put deep-fried oysters

in a hollowed out loaf of bread.

You might conceivably put curry in.

But melted cheese seems to be a much more sensible suggestion,

so I'll go for that.

Melted cheese in the middle of a loaf of bread. It's curry!

Oh! Sounds nice, doesn't it?

That's fantastic news potentially, Ewen.

Correct answer here, and you book a place in the final round.

The cheese called raclette is traditionally made from the milk of which animals?

I did have some of this recently.

HE LAUGHS

And there, the hope stops!

You didn't enquire as to what milk it was made from?

Hm, sadly not. I'm fairly sure it wasn't goats.

There is a fairly permeable flavour to goats' cheese.

Erm. I think it was sheep.

OK, going for sheep, for a place in the final round.

No, it's not yet. It's cows.

Cows, for raclette.

Barry, the French wine appellation called Gigondas is in the region of which major river?

-Could you spell that, please?

-Yes. G-I-G-O-N-D-A-S.

Gigondas.

Doesn't really help me, I'm afraid.

Gigondas.

Or, "Gig-on-dass", if you're going down the offie your way!

HE LAUGHS

Loire, Garonne or Rhone.

I honestly don't know. It will be a guess.

Er...

I think I'll take the least likely of those three,

-I'll go for the Garonne.

-Garonne?

Garonne. And "gerroff"!

You're out!

That's three of us out!

It is the Rhone.

Gigondas from the Rhone.

Which means it didn't matter about that slip-up on the third question there.

Ewen, you are through to the final round as well.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

They sing in harmony, they quiz in harmony!

They have knocked three Eggheads out of the final round.

As we approach our last head-to-head, this is Arts & Books.

You've got Peter or Windsor available.

You're not going to pull rank, are you?

THEY LAUGH

Are you sending him, or am I going?

-What if I refused to go?

-Oh, mutiny!

THEY LAUGH

-We've just been talking about the harmony amongst the team.

-Forget that!

HE LAUGHS

It's going to be Windsor. Only because...

You've been told. Stay with us, Windsor,

and choose from the pushovers, Pat or Kevin?

I don't know.

-Pat.

-Pat?

-Pat?

Pat, it's going to be then.

Let's have Windsor and Pat in the Question Room.

-Windsor, do you want to go first or second?

-I'll go second this time.

I'll change the habit. Because I read a book once!

HE LAUGHS

Pat's just finished a book. It's when you lost your red crayon, didn't you?

To finish colouring it in.

Pat, the 2005 book, Wall and Peace,

Wall and Peace, contains a compilation of works by which modern artist?

They're all high-profile current successful artists.

Banksy's heavily linked with wall paintings, graffiti,

that sort of thing.

I don't think I've any reason to go anywhere else,

so I'll say Banksy.

Yeah, you're right, Banksy, with Wall and Peace.

And your first question then, Windsor.

The 20 metre high sculpture of a female head called Dream,

is located beside which UK motorway?

I think that is the fairly new one.

I have a feeling it's the M25.

OK, the M25, for Dream.

You've been dreaming if you've seen it there,

-because it's on the M62.

-Is it?

Pat, the chance for a big lead.

Which French artist did John Constable acclaim

as the most perfect landscape painter the world ever saw?

Of those three,

I think it's Claude Lorrain.

I think Hockney has recently done a painting

inspired by a key Lorrain landscape.

It's all distant vistas and lovely trees.

I think I'll go for Claude Lorrain.

Claude Lorrain is correct, Pat.

2-0. Well, Windsor,

if you want to be avoid being "clawed" by the Eggheads,

you've got me a correct answer here.

The novelist Jonathan Franzen was born in 1959 in which country?

This is going to be a guess.

I have a feeling. It sounds,

silly as I was the last time,

I've got a feeling it's probably South Africa.

-This is not South Africa, no, it is the United States of America.

-Is it?

USA. Which means we close the round down right now.

Pat is through to the final round.

You haven't made it four out of four, but three out of four ain't bad.

You're not playing in the final round, Windsor.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

So, this is what we've been playing towards.

It's time for the final round,

which, as always, is General Knowledge.

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

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

So, Windsor from the Royal Harmonics,

and Barry, Judith and CJ from the Eggheads,

would you all leave the studio now, please?

So, Peter, Ewen, Tony and Ed,

you're playing to win the Royal Harmonics £23,000.

Pat and Kevin, you are playing for something which money can't buy.

As you well know, it is the Eggheads' reputation.

I ask each team three questions in turn initially.

This time, the questions are all General Knowledge,

you are allowed to confer.

So, Peter, Ewen, Tony and Ed, the question is,

are you four brains better than the Eggheads' two?

Royal Harmonics, first or second?

We'll go first please, Dermot.

Right. Let battle commence. First question.

The design of the BAFTA Award traditionally takes which shape?

-I think...

-What do you think?

-I think it's a mask.

-I believe it's the mask.

I think it's a mask.

-It's a mask on a stand.

-Yes.

Mask. We think it's mask.

It's the right answer, yes. The mask is correct.

So, Eggheads.

Pat and Kevin. How many world quiz championships do you have between you?

We've got the reigning world quiz champion

and the former world quiz champion.

-Just so you know!

-Between us?

-Seven between us.

-Seven world quiz championships in total.

And only two of them.

Let me put this question to you, because this is an interesting one.

In 2011, magician Paul Daniels was reportedly hit in the head

by a pizza thrown at him by which puppet?

Did you see this?

No, no.

Right, OK. Because I certainly didn't.

My first thought is pizza, food,

Miss Piggy, perhaps?

If that's not stereotyping her in an unfair way.

Basil is a cheeky chap. And Sooty, also.

So, any of those three could chuck a pizza.

I can't believe we're discussing this anyway!

As I say, seven world quiz championships,

and they've got Sooty, Basil Brush or Miss Piggy?

-Basil has been out and about, he has done an ad in recent times.

-OK.

That's my very faint feeling.

Does Basil Brush tend to use his hands?

Well, they're just little things, aren't they?

If he really put his mind to it, maybe he could chuck a pizza.

-Shall we go for it?

-It's a guess. It's just a guess.

We're guessing, whatever happens. So, we'll, shall we?

We'll go for Basil Brush.

Basil Brush.

We worked out the fact you were guessing.

Maybe you mentioned it there.

Does Basil actually have hands?

It's Sooty. Naughty Sooty.

Naughty Sooty indeed.

Imagine you not knowing that? You world quiz champions, hey?

Hey! Well, that's great news for you, Royal Harmonics.

You just need to give me two more correct answers and you've won the money.

That is guaranteed, after that exchange.

So.

Which Scottish football club played in the final of the English FA Cup on two occasions?

-Well.

-Queen's Park?

-As a sportsman, I'm out.

-Hm.

What have we got, any ideas?

-Queen's Park play at Hampden Park.

-Yes, they do.

Heart of Midlothian obviously plays in Edinburgh.

Hamilton Accies play in Hamilton!

I quite like the idea of Queen's Park.

Come on, you Scottish guys.

It's just at Hampden Park, that's all I know.

-Are we going for something?

-Yeah. OK.

-I would say Queen's Park.

-Queen's Park?

-We don't really know, but...

We don't really know, although we've got two Scots with us.

But Queen's Park.

Queen's Park, we're going for.

OK, you don't really know, so a bit of a guess.

Gone down the middle, and Queen's Park, Hampden Park.

I'm not sure Hampden was around when this happened.

-But it is Queen's Park. It's the right answer.

-Good guess!

And out of interest,

1884 and 1885.

But I'm not going to dwell too long on the whys and wherefores of that,

because we now have to dwell on the imminence of defeat for the Eggheads.

If you don't get this, the money's gone.

Who played the roles of Fred Graham and Petruchio

in the 1953 film, Kiss Me Kate?

It's surely got to be Howard Keel?

Because Fred Graham is a kind of matinee idol character.

Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew

is a kind of braggadocio type of character as well.

-I don't have any strong views at all, I'm afraid.

-I don't know.

I don't remember that film at all.

I'm happy with that.

Er. No memory of that film version of Kiss Me Kate at all, 1953.

But it seems by far the likeliest is Howard Keel.

Barry's worried? No, Barry's relieved.

Howard Keel is the right answer.

Well, as I said after that Sooty slip-up by the Eggheads,

you're guaranteed £23,000 with a correct answer here.

Who gave the Prince of Wales a dog with a collar inscribed,

"I am his highness dog at Kew. Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?"

If we were talking about Kew, it could be recently.

I wouldn't have thought...

-The language.

-Was that Stephen Fry?

-Stephen Fry's out, yes.

Disraeli was obviously a politician.

What was the question? Who gave the Prime Minister the dog?

-Prince...

-Oh, Prince of Wales.

-It could have been Edwards VII.

-Edward VIII?

-Edward VII.

-He was Prince of Wales.

For years and years and years. So it could have been Disraeli.

Or it could have been Pope as well.

I don't know. What are you going for?

It's a bit poetic, isn't it?

-Which would be Pope.

-More Pope than Disraeli.

-We don't know.

-OK.

We don't know, but we're going to go for Mr Pope.

Alexander Pope. Er...

It's the right answer, you've won!

THEY CHEER

Whoo!

-Thank you, Alexander Pope.

-Exactly.

From the highbrow nature of Pope, let's get back to that little glove puppet, Sooty.

THEY LAUGH

Which really turned it all around for you.

Just interested in the silent three,

the three you took out so comprehensively in the head-to-heads.

Any of you know, heard of that story?

It was all over the popular press.

It was all over the press, it was front page on some of them.

It's one of those silly stories.

But you guys missed it. Any of you lot in the Question Room there?

-Yes. Both CJ and I knew it.

-Yes.

Naughty, naughty Sooty.

Well, he's cost you your reputation. These world quiz champions didn't know it.

So, how does that feel?

Did you think, before you came, you know how good the Eggheads are.

-What were your expectations?

-We were worried that we would look...

-Foolish!

-It's not like some of the victories that teams have here,

where, we've seen teams, they lose all their head-to-heads,

and somebody in the final round has three guesses, the Eggheads get an unlucky one, they take the money.

You put it to them, you've knocked three of them out in the head-to-heads.

You really destroyed them in the head-to-heads and took them apart in the final round as well.

So, a comprehensive victory there for the Royal Harmonics

who, no doubt, will be chortling and singing their way home.

THEY LAUGH

Thanks very much indeed for playing the Eggheads today.

Maybe they won't be thanking you.

But you've just won that £23,000.

You are officially cleverer than the Eggheads.

And boy, how you proved it!

Do join us next time on Eggheads

to see if a new team of challengers will be just as successful.

Until then, goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd