Episode 132 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 might of our quiz Goliaths today

are The Communicators from Essex.

Now, this team share the common thread of sign language,

Either using it in their day-to-day lives to communicate with hearing-impaired children,

or through teaching others to sign.

Let's meet them.

Hello. My name's Ceiri, I'm 55 and I'm a communicator.

Hi. I'm Chris.

I'm 55 and I'm a technical advisor.

Hi. My name's Julie. I'm 42 and I'm a communicator.

Hello. My name is Jane.

I'm 50 and I'm a teacher for the deaf.

Hi. My name is Lisa.

I'm 32 and I'm also a teacher for the deaf.

So, Ceiri and team, welcome. Lovely to see you. And watching you do your signing there,

I've always wondered, were you spelling it, or does each word have a particular sign?

Each word has its own sign, but you can finger-spell words as well.

So "teacher", for example, which some of you are.

-Teacher.

-Teacher.

-Two syllables. Teach-er.

And you have to say it as you sign it?

Yes, it's best, cos lots of deaf people read your lips at the same time.

-OK.

-So, yes, it's advisable to say the word as you're saying it.

Interesting, this, Eggheads, isn't it? Judith, you had a question.

I wondered if it worked in combination with lip-reading as well.

But then I suddenly thought, actually, what about children who've always been deaf

and can't lip-read because they can't hear the sound?

They learn the signs, but also, if you lip-pattern as well,

they'll pick up what you're saying and they'll learn to lip-read.

-My son lip-reads fantastically well.

-Yes.

And he can actually... He went deaf at five days old

and he can lip-read me from the side, so I have to be quite careful what I say about him.

-Wow.

-He understands what I'm saying about him.

-How extraordinary.

-Isn't it?

-What's the word for Shakespeare? You did it earlier.

-Shakespeare. It's Shakespeare's ruff around...

-So that's... What about that? That's Shakespeare.

-I think that's lovely.

-Yeah. And Egghead?

Erm, egg, head.

OK. You want to do that, Eggs?

Egg, head.

Good luck in this contest.

Every day there is £1,000 in cash up for grabs for our Challengers.

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

Communicators, the Eggheads have won the last 11 games.

-They're doing well.

-Wow.

So £12,000 says you can't beat them today. Good luck.

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

Who would like this? Which Communicator?

Erm, do you want to take the risk with me?

Well, do you want to do it?

I'm absolutely happy to do it, yeah.

-Cos we might be able to do Arts & Food and that.

-Possibly.

-Yeah.

-OK.

-I'm more than happy.

OK. Lisa. Against which Egghead, Lisa?

-Oooh...

-Any one of them.

I had a lovely chat earlier on with Daphne, so I think I'll go against Daphne.

OK. So it is Lisa from The Communicators

against Daphne from the Eggheads.

To ensure there's no conferring, please take your positions in the Question Room?

I'll ask you three multiple-choice questions on Film & TV in turn.

Whoever answers the most questions correctly wins.

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

-I'd like to go first, please, Jeremy.

Here we go. Good luck. What is the term for a short informational film

made for commercial purposes? Is it...

I would imagine it would be the infomercial.

I'm so glad you got that right

cos I was worried about my pronunciation of the other two

totally made-up words. Well done.

Infomercial is right. Daphne.

What was the name of the TV channel that was replaced in 2002

by BBC4? Is it...

Gosh. BBC Knowledge?

BBC Knowledge is right.

Lisa,

in what year was The Chuckle Brothers TV show ChuckleVision first broadcast?

Right, ChuckleVision.

I can remember it, and I think I was a teenager at the time.

Erm...

I'm going to go between 1997 and 1987.

I'm just trying to think how early it would be.

Right. I'm going to go with '97.

-No. It's '87.

-'87.

-Yeah.

-You were heading in the right direction,

but you didn't get there. 1987.

Daphne has a chance to take the lead.

Who voices The Pirate Captain in the 2012 Aardman animated film

The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists?

I don't know why,

but I'm going to go for Hugh Grant?

Just a bit of a Daphne guess, is it?

Something in the back of my mind.

-Is it right?

-Let's see. Eggheads, do you know?

ALL: Yes, that's Hugh Grant.

They all agree. It's right. Well done, Daphne. You take the lead.

OK, Lisa.

-Yes.

-You need to get this one right.

Which actress received her 11th Oscar nomination for her role

in the 1998 film One True Thing?

Oh, wow.

I mean, obviously, Meryl Streep's known for Oscar nominations

and actually gaining Oscars.

Erm, 11th.

So's Diane Keaton as well.

I'm really not sure about this one.

I'm going to go with Meryl Streep

purely because she has won so many.

11. Meryl Streep. Yeah.

Good logic. It is Meryl Streep, Lisa. Well done.

So it still gives Daphne a chance to take the round with

this question. Which film sees Clint Eastwood's character instruct the inhabitants of the town

of Largo to paint the place red

and rename it Hell?

Well, I don't think it's The Beguiled.

That's about the Civil War.

Don't know. Joe Kidd.

No. Do you know this one, Lisa?

I was going to go with High Plains Drifter.

That is the right answer. Daphne, sorry.

So we're on sudden death now. Gets a bit harder.

You've fought her to a standstill, Lisa. Well done.

-It's harder because I don't give you alternatives, OK.

-Yeah.

Which Englishman directed the films Walkabout, Don't Look Now,

and The Man Who Fell To Earth?

Right, OK. Englishman.

Right. We've got Mike Leigh.

Who directed Slumdog Millionaire?

I can't think.

Erm...

Again, another guess. Mike Leigh.

The answer is Nicolas Roeg.

So over to you, Daphne.

Which British actor played the title role in the 1973 film

Hitler: The Last Ten Days?

Alec Guinness?

Alec Guinness is the right answer.

-Well done. Not at the front of your brain, that, but definitely in there.

-Yeah.

Well done, Daphne. You've taken the round.

Lisa, you've been knocked out by our Egghead.

But please, both of you, come back and we will play on.

The Challengers have lost a brain from the final round.

The Eggheads have not lost a brain yet.

Let's see what happens now. It's History.

-You had a plan on this, did you?

-Yes.

-That will be Julie.

-That's me.

Julie, OK. Against which Egghead on History? Can't be Daphne.

-No.

-Pat. Go Pat.

-Why?

Erm... SHE LAUGHS

-What's your reasoning behind this?

-Because I'm having Judith.

-So it's purely selfish.

-You want Judith?

Only because if Sport comes up.

I see. I see.

That's...that's going to put her in a great mood.

I'm not sure.

-All right. I'll go Pat.

-Yeah? It's up to you.

-I'll go Pat. It's up to me.

-I'll go Pat.

-OK.

-What do you think?

-Yeah. Go.

-Yes.

-All right, Julie.

-Pat.

Julie from The Communicators versus Pat from the Eggheads on History.

To ensure there's no conferring, please go to the Question Room.

So, Julie, you're a communicator with deaf children in Essex?

Yes, I am. With senior school children.

And history? Any particular zone of history you like?

Social. I don't like political history

but, apart from that, everything else I have an interest in.

OK. I'll ask each of you three questions on History.

Whoever answers the most questions correctly wins.

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

-I'll choose the first set, please.

Here we go.

Good luck to you and The Communicators.

In 1803, Robert Emmet lead an abortive rebellion against British rule in which country?

OK. I don't believe my limited knowledge...

It's connected with political history...

I don't believe that Britain were in Greece

at that time.

They were in Ireland. They'd been in and out of Ireland for a long time.

And we have a strong connection with Malta.

I don't recollect Emmet coming up connected with Ireland.

So I'm...

I'm going to pick Malta.

Malta is your answer.

-But it's Ireland.

-Ugh.

-It's Ireland.

-Oh, well.

Pat. Here's your first question.

1911 saw the world's first scheduled what

between Hendon and Windsor?

A scheduled service.

I'm assuming it's the world's first scheduled something.

And that it took place between Hendon and Windsor.

Erm. Train journey, 1911.

Trains had been big news for a long, long time.

Can't be train journey.

A horse race.

Why would you have a scheduled horse race over 25, 30 miles?

Strange as it is, cos I can't see why you would be flying an airplane

to Windsor with bags of mail,

I suppose it must be airmail service.

Airmail service is correct.

Logic took you there.

Julie, your question.

In which body of water did the German battleship the Bismarck meet its end in May 1941?

SHE LAUGHS

Right.

Obviously I said political history wasn't my strength.

I am going to discount the Indian Ocean,

just because of where it is.

And also the Atlantic Ocean.

I think that's too far over.

I'm going to go for the Mediterranean Sea.

Political history and the war is not my strength.

It's not that either. It's the Atlantic Ocean.

-The Atlantic Ocean.

-Sorry, guys.

That's OK. You're not out yet. But if Pat gets this one right,

you will be. Pat.

In 1925, the con artist Victor Lustig

managed to sell what to a French businessman?

There've been a few of these con artists,

extraordinarily brazen con artists who...

..sold giant buildings,

sometimes selling them several times.

I think this man successfully sold the Eiffel Tower.

The correct answer is Eiffel tower. Well done. You've taken the round.

Sorry, Julie. No way back for you from there.

-Never mind.

-Plenty of time for your team, though.

Please return and join your team-mates and we'll play on.

So, as it stands, the Challengers have lost two brains now.

The Eggheads have still not lost a brain.

You need to take one of those Eggheads out.

-The next subject is Arts & Books.

-CHALLENGERS LAUGH

Wait. This has gone wrong now, has it?

It has. Yes.

-That was going to be Lisa?

-Yes, it was.

-Yeah.

-Jane?

-No.

Must I take it?

-You don't have to.

-It's one of us three, isn't it?

-It would be my weakest subject, I'm afraid.

-I'll give it a go.

-Absolutely.

-I'll have a go.

-Jane.

-Are you sure?

-You can't be any worse than me, Jane.

-Now, who would you like to take on?

Well, I know I'm not allowed to take Judith.

Sorry, Judith. Ceiri has bagsed you.

Erm...

I'll take Tremendous Knowledge Dave.

OK. So it is Jane versus Tremendous Knowledge Dave from the Eggheads

on Arts & Books.

Please go to the Question Room now.

-Jane, good luck here.

-Thank you.

-Against Tremendous Knowledge Dave.

-You've got three questions. Would you like the first or second set?

-First, please.

Here we go.

What name is given to a recurring fragment, theme or pattern

that appears in a work of art? Is it...

I would go with epigram.

It's motif.

Fragment, theme or pattern that appears in a work of art is motif.

Jane, sorry. We go to on Dave. Tremendous Knowledge.

The title character of which book finds a cake labelled, "Eat me"

and, on eating it, finds herself growing to an enormous size? Is it...

I think that's Alice's Adventures In Wonderland.

You're right, Dave.

OK, Jane.

Here is your next question.

Psmith is a recurring character in novels

by which writer? And, by the way, Psmith is spelt strangely here.

It's spelt P-S-M-I-T-H. Is it...

I have not read any of those authors.

But I'm going to go with Helen Fielding.

Let's see if your team know this one.

-Think it might be Douglas Adams.

-Yeah, I'd agree.

Yeah, I would've guessed Adams.

But it's not Fielding or Adams.

-It's PG Wodehouse?

-PG Wodehouse

is the answer.

So that means, Dave, if you get this right,

you're in the final round. In what part of the world

is Graham Greene's novel The Honorary Consul set?

Right.

It's not a novel that I'm aware of,

but I would go with Graham Greene's books, though.

Erm...

I'm going to go with Latin America.

Latin America is correct.

-Dave, you've taken the round.

-Thank you.

-Sorry, Jane.

-Sorry, Jane.

-That's OK.

-It didn't fall for you there.

Please come back. Rejoin your team-mates and we'll play on.

So, as it stands, the Challengers have lost three,

the Eggheads have not lost any.

Last round before the final round,

and the subject is Sport.

CHALLENGERS LAUGH

Something is going your way, now.

I was hoping it wasn't going to come up, to be honest.

-I think that's going to be me.

-Ceiri.

And, obviously, I think I've got to take Judith.

She's had some warning of this, it has to be said.

So, Ceiri from The Communicators

versus Judith, our Sports specialist, from the Eggheads.

Please go to the Question Room.

OK, Ceiri, this is the moment.

Good luck, here. Good luck to you, Judith.

-I know you've been looking forward to this round.

-I will need it.

I'm going to ask each of you three questions on Sport.

Ceiri, would you like the first or second set?

Please may I go first?

Here we go.

Ceiri, good luck. Harness racing is a form of which sport?

Well, orienteering, you are wearing a harness.

But you don't race.

Rowing, you're not really wearing a harness.

Although your feet are stuck in the boat.

Er, I think it's actually horse racing.

Horse racing is quite right. Well done.

Well done.

OK, Judith, your question.

The tennis competition The ATP World Tour Masters Series 1000

is so called because the winner of each tournament stands to win 1,000 what?

Well, I'm sure it's not air miles.

I don't know. Dollars is not enough.

I think it's got to be ranking points.

Ranking points is the right answer.

Ceiri, which British motor racing circuit lies on the border between

Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire?

It's not Brands Hatch, because that's in Kent,

and I've actually driven round that.

I know Silverstone is in a place that I actually didn't think it was,

and that could've been there.

Which sounds a bit illogical,

so I'm actually going to go for Silverstone.

Well done, that's good.

Sometimes illogic brings you to the answer.

OK, Judith.

The Bellerive Oval in Tasmania is a regular venue for which sport? Is it...

I wonder if they say that... It's got "oval" in the title,

whether they're, sort of, harking back to The Oval cricket.

I think I'm going to go to cricket

and hope they're harking back to The Oval at Kennington.

Yeah, bang on. Cricket is right. Well done.

You've both got two out of two.

She can't be shaken off easily, Ceiri.

See if you can get three out of three.

Which football team won their first FIFA women's world cup title

in 2011? Was it...

Japan aren't that well-known for playing football.

Although they might be for women's football.

France win a lot of football, so I'm going to discount that one.

Again, illogical.

I don't like Norway. Well...

the choice.

I'm going to go for Japan.

You're good at this, aren't you? Japan is right.

You got three out of three. Well done.

I had a faint glimmer of Japan.

Anyone remember that Japan win?

-They won on penalties.

-They won on penalties?

-Yes.

-In 2011.

Judith. This to stay in.

Which golfer was a founder of the Augusta National Club

and the Masters tournament played there? Was it...

Do you know, I think I do know this one.

It's Bobby Jones.

-Wow.

-Wow.

How did you do that?

I've been reading about golf lately.

That's a good reason. Bobby Jones is right. Well done.

3-3 after three questions.

Couldn't have gone any better, but it means we go to sudden death.

I don't give you alternatives, Ceiri.

Tyson Fury has been a British and Commonwealth champion

in which sport?

Well, it actually sounds like a made-up name.

It may not be.

Boxers often have made-up names, so I'm going to say boxing.

-Boxing is the right answer.

-Oh!

-Now, let's see.

If Judith gets this right, we play on,

if you get it wrong, Judith, you're knocked out.

The ITTF is a governing body for which sport?

Well, F could be fencing, I suppose.

International...

I'm trying to think of other sports beginning with F.

Erm, I'm going to say fencing.

-The F stands for Federation.

-Oh.

-And the I stands for International.

-The TT is table tennis.

-Oh.

-Judith, I'm sorry. You've been knocked out at Sport.

-I'm not entirely surprised.

-Ceiri, well done. You're in the final round.

-Thank you.

How about that?

So The Communicators will have two in that final found. Well done, Ceiri.

Please come back to us, and we'll play the Final.

So this is what we have been playing towards.

It is time for the final round which, as always, is General Knowledge.

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

won't take part in this round. So that's Julie, Jane and Lisa from The Communicators.

And Judith from the Eggheads.

Would you please now leave the studio?

-Ceiri and Chris, good luck.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-I know you're an item, so no falling out.

You're playing to win The Communicators £12,000.

Pat, Kevin, Dave and Daphne,

you're playing for something that money can't buy,

the Eggheads' reputation.

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

This time the questions are all General Knowledge

and you are allowed to confer.

So, Ceiri and Chris, the question is,

are your two brains able to take apart the Eggheads' four?

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

-Do you want to go first or second?

Think we'll carry on with the first, thank you very much.

Here we go.

In the American domestic movie rating system,

for what does the NC of the rating NC-17 stand?

My immediate guess was no classification.

But given there's a 17 rating on the end of it...

Wouldn't be no commercials, because they always have commercials.

No classification.

Why have 17 if it was no classification?

That's what I'm thinking.

-So, I'm tending...

-But why would you have 17 if it was no children?

No children under 17?

-My gut feeling was no classification.

-No classification.

Having talked it through,

I'm talking myself more towards no children.

Go on then. Go for that one, then.

-What, classification or children?

-Oh, no.

No children or classification?

Let's go with the initial gut instinct, then.

-Which would... OK?

-Which was that one?

-No classification was my gut instinct.

-Oh. That was mine, but...

Why would it have 17 after it?

I don't think any of them make a whole lot of sense to me.

but my gut feeling is no classification.

I'm getting stronger thoughts that way.

Pff. OK.

-Go on, then.

-So it's on my head, is it?

-Yeah.

It's on my head. We'll go with no classification, Jeremy.

-I wish you hadn't.

-Oh!

You'd logicked it round brilliantly to no children,

and then, just at the death,

you suddenly brought no classification back in.

It's not no classification.

No children.

NC is no children.

OK, Eggheads.

In which county is Hurst Castle, one of the locations in which Charles I was imprisoned

prior to his trial and execution? Is it...

-It's Hampshire.

-Yeah.

-It's Hampshire.

-Yeah.

-It's not so very far away from where I live.

In fact, it's one of the places where my grandfather used to be stationed

when he was in the army.

It's in Hampshire.

Hampshire is the correct answer.

Over to you.

What word, from the Spanish for painted,

is the term for a mottled or spotted horse? Is it...

Well, I did Spanish GCSE and A level.

Erm...and I still don't know.

-I like horses as well.

-Mm-hmm.

Paloosa. It's not paloosa.

Pinto is painting. Pinto.

-No, don't rush me.

-No, I'm not rushing you, no.

If it is the Spanish word for painting.

It is, but I recognise palomino.

Palomino. I think it's Palomino.

But I don't see why that's not painting, though.

Well, the clue was in the question

that it was the Spanish word for painting.

Pinto. Oh, I don't know.

-I've got to make a decision, have I?

-Yeah.

-Well, I'm going to go with your knowledge of Spanish.

-Oh!

And I am going to go with pinto.

Pinto is correct.

-JEREMY LAUGHS

-Phew!

-Sorry.

I don't know where palomino came from. What is palomino, anyway?

Anyone know? It's just a made-up word...

-No, no, no, it's a gold colour.

-It's a proper...

It's a golden colour of horse. There we are.

So it's a horse-related colour. But, yeah, bang on. Well done.

You got there. So you are equal with the Eggheads now,

but they have a question on you.

Eggheads. The scalene muscles are a group of three pairs of muscles in which part of the human body?

-Ever heard of it?

-No.

-I mean, if this is at all related to scalene...

-Triangles.

-Triangles.

-Then forearm would be...

-Well, I don't know.

-What would you do...

-It suggests they're an unequal length.

-Yeah.

-Oh.

-What do you think about neck and...

-Yeah.

Forming a triangular structure or something like that?

I suppose you could have muscles with a triangular structure in any part.

-But it probably makes stomach more unlikely.

-I would have thought.

-I suppose you could see how that could work in...

-Mm-hmm.

-It may be nothing to do with triangles.

-Scalene suggests

-straight lines, and the stomach is kidney-bean shaped.

-Yeah.

So it's not that tempting.

-Hmm.

-I haven't...

-Well, the neck is symmetrical.

-Three.

-Yeah.

-Whereas the forearm isn't.

-Yeah.

-"Pairs" might be linked to the fact that it's symmetrical.

-On each side you've got...

-I'm just thinking, because it says "forearm"

singular, so if it was forearm, that implies three pairs of muscles...

-Yeah.

-..in each of the forearms.

-Slightly less likely.

-It's... I don't know.

-I don't know.

-Neck sounds the most likely.

-Sounding best to me.

-Yeah.

-Yeah. I'll go with that.

-What do you think?

-What?

-We think neck sounds the most likely.

-OK.

-But we don't know.

-No.

Right, we don't know it, Jeremy, but we...

Three pairs of mu...

It just sounds as though it's more likely to be neck.

So we'll try neck.

-Neck is correct.

-Well done.

-Well done.

Neck is correct.

Right, so you need to get this one right.

Otherwise the contest is over.

The German musician Klaus Wunderlich

is most famous for playing which instrument?

Klaus Wunderlich.

I can spell that for you if you want.

I think it's all right, thank you.

It won't make a lot of difference, to be honest.

-Klaus Wunderlich. Have you ever heard of him?

-I haven't heard of him.

And, beyond classical music,

the only other thing that I know...

-I'm assuming the name is of German origin.

-He said German.

-Yeah.

I, the only thing that I'm aware of is electronic music

coming out of Germany.

-Organs are electronic, aren't they?

-It could be. Yeah. Erm...

But the intuition's no stronger than that.

I don't know. I really can't choose between them.

We've had one down the right, and had one down the left.

-Going down the middle is probably...

-Go down the middle.

-OK.

-Go on.

So we'll go for electric guitar

as a shot down the middle.

Let's see if the Eggheads know the answer.

-Eggheads?

-Organ.

-Organ.

Organ. Organ is the right answer.

Electric guitar is the wrong answer. I'm sorry.

Sorry, everyone.

The Eggheads have won.

It's like watching Sherlock Holmes on the case there.

Just the logic and talking it through was brilliant.

Didn't get to the right answer, though.

No, but lots of teams just take a stab at it.

But you really got there through that amazingly painstaking process.

Sorry it wasn't enough to beat them.

We say commiserations to you. The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them.

This winning streak of yours continues.

That means The Communicators are not going home with £12,000,

so our money rolls over to the next show.

Eggheads, very well done.

Who will beat you, I wonder?

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

have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

£13,000 says they don't.

Till then, goodbye.

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