Episode 136 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 Team Scotia, from Glasgow.

This team of friends all play for the same five-a-side football club

which they describe as "the worst football team ever".

Let's hope they quiz a lot better than they play football, then. Let's meet them.

Hello, my name's Fraser. I'm 25 and I'm a hotel manager.

Hi, I'm Scott, I'm 25, and I'm an acoustic consultant.

My name's Ally, I'm 26 and I'm an area sales rep.

Hi, my name's Darren, I'm 27 and I'm unemployed.

Hi, my name's Chris, I'm 27 and I'm a PR consultant.

So, Fraser and team, welcome.

Hi, Jeremy.

So, you have played football together, you quiz together.

Tell us about how you all met.

We all, most of us were friends from school and through football as well.

And we kind of socialised together as well.

So, we're just a group of friends.

So, what kind of quizzing do you do?

Just pub quizzes. We just do it for fun. Nothing too serious.

It's just, I suppose it's more of a social thing.

OK, well, good luck here. Every day, there is £1,000 worth of cash up for grabs for our Challengers.

However, if they fail to defeat the Eggheads,

the prize money rolls over to the next show.

So, Team Scotia, the Eggheads have won the last 15 games, which means

£16,000 says you can't beat them today. Do you want to start?

Let's go for it.

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

So, who would like this?

THEY CONFER INAUDIBLY

I think Darren.

I'll take it, but I think...

You know a bit more than me.

Darren watches a lot of TV, so...

Yeah, we think Darren.

Darren, OK, against which Egghead? You can have any of them.

What one do you think?

Hmmm. Go with Chris.

Go Chris?

Think so. We'll have Chris.

Right, I'll take Chris.

Darren from Team Scotia against Chris. Film & TV, Chris?

Yeah, I'll go for it.

OK, against Chris from the Eggheads, and to ensure there's no conferring,

would you please take your positions in the Question Room?

Good luck to you in this round. I'll ask each of you three

multiple-choice questions on Film & TV in turn.

Whoever answers the most questions correctly is the winner

and, Darren, your choice. Would you like the first or second set?

I'll go first, please.

Here is your first question.

Ron Dixon, Tinhead and Emily Shandwick were characters

who appeared in which long-running TV series?

Erm, I've not really watched a lot of Crossroads or Holby City.

I've seen some Brookside, so, I'll just go for Brookside.

Brookside is correct. Well done.

THEY APPLAUD

Chris, your question.

The 2007 animated film, Ratatouille, concerns a rat

trying to make it as a chef in a restaurant in which city?

Hmmm. That was Paris, Jeremy.

Paris is quite right. 1-1. Back to Darren.

Who played the role of Mr Orange in the 1992 Quentin Tarantino film, Reservoir Dogs?

I've not seen that film. Erm, I'll go for Tim Roth.

Bang on! You're playing this well. Tim Roth is right.

Chris, your question.

Michael Aspel, Angela Rippon

and Terry Wogan have all hosted which TV show?

Hmmm, interesting point. It's not Watchdog.

And I think Juke Box Jury was way back before the days of Terry Wogan.

So, I think they've all hosted Come Dancing.

I think you are completely right. Come Dancing is the answer. Well done.

Darren, for three in a row.

What is the historical setting for the 2001 film

known in English as The Devil's Backbone?

Erm...

Once again I've not seen this. Er...

I'll go with the Spanish Civil War.

Eggheads, is he right?

Correct. It's a Guillermo Del Toro film.

The Devil's Backbone is indeed about the Spanish Civil War.

Darren, excellent work. Three out of three. Well played.

Chris, if you get this wrong, you're out.

Tony Walton, the Emmy, Oscar and Tony award-winning designer,

was the first husband of which actress?

Ah, well, Julie Andrews was married to Blake Edwards for years and years and years.

I don't know if Jayne Mansfield was ever married.

She was killed in a car crash. So, it's got to be Joan Collins.

No, it doesn't. But Daphne obviously knows the answer, here.

-Julie Andrews.

-Julie Andrews is the right answer.

So, Chris, I'm afraid you're a goner.

-Darren, you made short work of him!

-Aye!

-Well done.

THEY APPLAUD

You will be in the final and Chris won't.

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

Good start, Fraser. Good start, Darren.

So, the Challengers have lost no brains.

The Eggheads have lost Chris.

And we move on to our next subject, which is History.

-Who would like History?

-I think we've got the man for that one.

You doing it, Chris? You're good at history.

Either myself or you. What do you reckon?

Probably wouldn't be my number one choice, but...

It wouldn't be, it wouldn't be.

I think we'll go for Scott. I think we'll go for Scott.

Scott, OK, against which Egghead? Can't be Chris, Scott.

Who would you like?

Who looks unhistorical?

Maybe Daphne? Go with Daphne, I think.

I think we'll go with Daphne, please, Jeremy.

OK, so it is going to be Scott from Team Scotia against Daphne from the Eggheads.

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

Scott, you do something called acoustic consultancy. What's that?

That's right. I'm mainly involved in the environmental side of acoustics

so, for any new housing developments that are next to a noise source,

I would need to measure the noise and offer protection in the form

of mitigation or glazing just to ensure that the noise levels within

bedrooms and gardens are in line with World Health Organisation levels.

I see. So, like, if you're near a main road or a railway or something like that.

-Yeah, definitely.

-Or an airport.

-Airports as well, yes.

What's the loudest thing you've ever had a house next to?

Some houses next to the M8 motorway,

probably about 20-30 metres back, so, as you can imagine,

there was quite a lot of mitigation

had to be put in place to protect the gardens there.

OK, three questions on History. Are you up for this now, Scott?

-I hope so.

-Good luck to you, good luck to Daphne. Would you like to go first or second?

I think I'll go second, please.

Here we go, Daphne. What title was taken by the future Queen Elizabeth

the Queen Mother, on her marriage in 1923?

She was the Duchess of York.

She was indeed the Duchess of York.

Well done. Back to you, Scott.

Who, in a 1951 farewell address to Congress,

closed his long military career with the words,

"Old soldiers never die, they just fade away"?

Erm, I believe that was Douglas MacArthur.

It was indeed Douglas MacArthur.

APPLAUSE

Your team has not got a question wrong yet.

Daphne, Grigory Potemkin was a favourite of which royal figure?

He was the lover of Catherine the Great.

Catherine the Great is correct.

I like the way we use the word "favourite", here. As a euphemism!

Catherine the Great is the right answer. OK. Scott, your question.

Which explorer was given the title Admiral of the Ocean Sea

by Ferdinand and Isabella?

That was Christopher Columbus.

Spot-on! Is history your hobby?

No, no. Not particularly.

-You're just one of these people who know everything.

-Sometimes!

Well, it's working well. Don't want to jinx it. Well done.

Christopher Columbus is right. Good stuff, Scott.

Daphne, your third question.

Because Rome was occupied at the time, Pope Pius VII was crowned

in Venice in 1800 with a papal tiara made from what material?

Ha-ha! Gosh! Um, a papal tiara?

Oh!

I have never heard of those.

Try and think about it logically.

Erm...

I mean, it would take quite a long time to carve an ivory one.

I don't know.

Wood.

-No. Papier mache.

-How ridiculous!

This is interesting. Scott, if you get this one right,

you've knocked out another Egghead,

and you've done it in a way that's been almost effortless.

Which religious artefact is said to have been recovered

and returned to Jerusalem by the Byzantine emperor, Heraclius?

Hmmm. This one, I'm not too sure about. Em...

I don't think it would be the Holy Lance.

I'm leaning towards the Crown of Thorns.

Yep, I'll go with Crown of Thorns, please, Jeremy.

-Eggheads, do you know?

-The True Cross.

-What is the True Cross?

Presumably the cross on which Christ was crucified.

I think St Helena was supposed to have found it

and brought it to Constantinople. And maybe that came back.

It was chopped up to bits.

I mean, hundreds of people had bits of the True Cross.

The answer is True Cross.

Scott. Your incredible forward progress in the game has been halted

slightly here. You both got two out of three, here. I go back to Daphne.

We go to Sudden Death.

Gets a bit harder now. I don't give you alternatives, OK?

In 1915, the name Little Willie was given to the first completed prototype

of which type of military equipment?

-1915?

-1915, 1-9-1-5.

That was a tank.

Indeed it was, made by the agricultural firm William Foster & Co, of Lincoln.

Little Willie was a tank.

Scott, OK, you're on the defensive now.

Get this one right, you're still in.

Whose tomb, interred in Westminster Abbey in 1920,

features the words, "They buried him among the kings"?

I believe that is the Grave of the Unknown Soldier.

That's the right answer. Unknown Soldier. Unknown Warrior.

Quite right. Well done.

Daphne.

From 1912-1919,

and again from 1923-1941,

Geoffrey Dawson was the influential editor of which national newspaper?

Mm. The Times?

The Times is the right answer.

Scott, which US city, founded in 1682,

served as the capital of the United States between 1790-1800?

Er, Philadelphia?

-Philadelphia is quite right.

-Well played, Scott.

Playing very, very well, Scott. Brilliant.

Daphne, which London prison,

built near St Bride's Church, was a former palace of Henry VIII?

Bridewell?

Bridewell is the right answer, Daphne.

Honestly, some really good play here.

Over to you, now, Scott. You need this, to stay in.

Of whose nose was it said, "Had it been shorter,

"the whole face of the world would have been changed"?

Hmmm.

I don't know this. So, I'm going to have to guess this.

Go for Napoleon Bonaparte?

It's not Napoleon, it's Cleopatra.

Cleopatra's nose. Ah, what a shame to see you go.

You played such a great round there, Scott.

And you really pushed our Egghead, Daphne.

-You're through to the final, but he did well, didn't he?

-Well, yes.

Absolutely brilliant.

So, both of you come back to us, please, and we play on.

We've got quite a contest, here, haven't we? The Challengers have lost one brain.

The Eggheads have also lost one brain from the final round, and we play on.

The next subject is Arts & Books. Who would like this?

They don't get any easier.

Actually, Ally, I think...

THEY ALL TALK AT ONCE

It would be Ally...

It's Chris or Ally in the middle, or you, Fraser.

I think, er, we'll throw Ally in.

It's going to be Ally, is it?

OK, Ally. Against which Egghead?

Who do you take on? Judith, Pat or Barry?

-Might as well pick Barry, get him out of the way.

-Yeah, OK.

We'll go for Barry.

Righty-ho, so it is Ally from Team Scotia

versus Barry from the Eggheads. Please go to the Question Room now.

I will ask each of you three questions on Arts & Books in turn.

Ally, you can choose the first or the second set.

I know you probably want to choose the third set,

but I've got to ask you first or second?

I prefer the third set, but we'll go first.

OK, see if you can carry on the stonking performance by your team.

Anne Shirley, the heroine of Anne of Green Gables is famous for having what colour hair?

Erm...

I'll go for red.

Straight down the middle.

Red is quite right. Well done.

Barry, according to the Art newspaper,

what was the world's most visited art museum in 2011?

Hmm.

The obvious answer is the one that I'm going for, the Louvre.

The Louvre is correct.

Why would that, given the choice of those three,

why would that be your preference?

Because it has the most spectacular exhibits.

The most famous ones as well.

-Has it got the Mona Lisa in there?

-It has indeed. Winged Victory of Samothrace, and many others.

Amazing, those French museums. OK, over to you Ally.

The Viaduct and Tanker Entering the Tyne,

stolen paintings recovered in 2011, are by which British artist?

Again, not too sure with the answer here, starting with that first one.

I'll go with David Hockney.

No, it's LS Lowry, I'm afraid to say.

Barry, which science-fiction author

wrote the Helliconia trilogy?

Anne McCaffrey wrote a lot of science fiction books

about dragons, so I don't think it was her.

Ray Bradbury was The Illustrated Man and many other fine works,

but I think Helliconia was Brian Aldiss.

Brian Aldiss is the right answer, you take the lead.

You need to get this one right, Ally.

The artist Frans Hals

lived and worked for most of his life in which city?

Once again, I'm not too sure with this one.

But I'm going to go with Haarlem.

Harlem is the right answer.

Well done.

OK, Barry, if you get this one right you are in the final round.

Which activity and interest of Sylvia Plath's

is the subject of several poems in her collection, Ariel?

Oh, I've never read Ariel, perhaps I should have done now.

I somehow can't see Sylvia Plath as a salmon fisher.

Cake decorating or beekeeping?

I'm tempted, just for the hell of it, to say beekeeping.

You're right, It is beekeeping.

Can't remember the poem's references, but it's beekeeping.

Well done, Barry, you've taken the round.

Sorry, Ally, you were beaten by our Egghead so can't help your team in the final round.

Please both of you come back and rejoin your teammates.

So, as it stands the Challengers have lost two brains

and the Eggheads have lost one brain.

They're coming back here slowly, you've got to stop them.

The last subject before the final is Geography. Who would like this?

INDISTINCT MUTTERING

Chris may be useful in the final round so I think I'll take this one.

Fraser, OK. Which Egghead, Fraser?

You can have Pat or Judith, so left-hand side.

I think I'll take Judith.

OK, so it's going to be Fraser from Team Scotia against Judith.

-How's that, Judith?

-That's OK.

On Geography. That's lucky, you haven't got a choice, you have to do it.

Exactly, you shouldn't ask me.

Just checking you're in a good mood, and to ensure there's no conferring,

please take your positions in the Question Room.

So I'll ask each of you three questions on Geography,

and Fraser, you can choose the first or the second set.

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

Here we go, let's hope you can get your place in the final.

The largest city in Alabama shares its name with which British city?

I'm not entirely sure about this one.

I've been to America but it was only to Florida.

I don't know too much about the rest of the country,

but I'm going to go for Birmingham.

Birmingham is absolutely right, well done.

Judith, what type of bird features

on the flag of the British Antarctic Territory?

Well, I should think it's a penguin, since they live there.

Penguin is correct.

Fraser, the pound used

in Egypt and Lebanon,

is divided into 100 what?

OK, I don't think it's dirhams,

I was in Dubai and that's what they use in the UAE, as far as I know.

I'm going to go the riyals.

You were halfway there ruling out dirhams,

but it's actually piastres.

100 of them make a pound.

Didn't know that.

Judith, to take the lead, Mrs Macquarie's Chair, a sandstone rock

cut into the shape of a bench for the wife of a governor,

is a feature of which southern hemisphere city?

As she's called Mrs Macquarie,

you assume the governor is British, and therefore it's probably Sydney.

Sydney is right. Good logic.

Fraser, you need to get this one right.

Which small lake in Antarctica shares its name with a larger lake in Africa?

Good question, erm...

This one's going to be a bit of a guess.

I think I'm going to go for Lake Chad.

Lake Chad is right. Well done.

So it's 2-2.

Judith, you need to get this one

to get your place in the final,

or we go to Sudden Death.

What type of geographical feature is Khan Tengri in Central Asia?

Is it K-H-A-N?

K-H-A-N and then T-E-N-G-R-I.

Khan, Khan usually means a Muslim word for chief or something.

I think it might be...

If I'm thinking right and it's a word for chief, a mountain

is a kind of chief geographical feature, I would have thought.

So, I'm going to say mountain.

You got there again, the ruthless application of logic.

Mountain is right. So Judith, you have knocked Fraser out.

Sorry, Fraser, you won't be in the final round.

Both of you please come back and we will play that final.

So, this is what we've been playing towards, it's the final round.

Which as always, is General Knowledge.

But I'm afraid those who lost your head-to-head won't be allowed to take part in this round.

So Fraser, Scott and Ally from Team Scotia,

and Chris from the Eggheads, would you please now leave the studio.

So Darren and Chris, you're playing to win Team Scotia £16,000.

Daphne, Barry, Pat and Judith, you are playing the something that money can't buy,

the Eggheads' reputation.

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

The questions are all General Knowledge. You are allowed to confer.

So Darren and Chris, the question is are your two brains better than the Eggheads' four?

And would you like to go first or second?

-Go first?

-Aye.

We'll stick with going first.

Good luck, here we go.

Alex James, the bass player with Blur went into farming

and became an award-winning producer of what?

-I think, cheese.

-We're both thinking cheese, right away.

-Yeah, we'll go for cheese.

-Cheese is the right answer, well done. Good.

OK, Eggheads, what type of vehicle

is the ship in the title

of the Shirley Temple song, On the Good Ship Lollipop?

Oh.

Good question.

On the good ship lollipop, it's a short trip to the candy shop.

lollipops and balloons are both round.

I would say a balloon.

A balloon is round like a lollipop, isn't it?

-Yes.

-I imagine it'd be a submarine.

Submarine seems pretty unlikely.

Could it be an aeroplane?

Why would it be a ship? Balloons are sometimes called ships, aren't they?

It just seems a rather odd answer. A balloon was central to the film.

I can't remember the film.

I think the film was called Bright Eyes, that she sang it in, but that's all I know.

-I don't know. I think balloon.

-I think balloon.

All right.

We don't know, Jeremy, but there's a certain feeling for balloon.

Balloon? I thought you would know this - not that I know it,

I just thought it's the sort of thing everybody knows.

Barry, I don't know if you sang the Shirley Temple song,

you sang a song that had the same words.

On the Good Ship Lollipop, yes.

-It's a plane.

-Oh, my God!

You got it wrong.

Well, we didn't know it.

OK, guys, all you have to do is get

the next two questions right and you've got £16,000.

You don't have to do any more than that.

Here's your second question, take your time.

What is England's oldest university?

I think...

Don't know, I think maybe rule Durham out straight away.

Just go with whatever you think, I don't know what that would be.

-My gut feeling is Oxford. What do you think?

-Go with that then.

I think we'll go for Oxford, final answer.

Let's see if these guys know, are they right?

-Cambridge.

-Oxford.

-Is it?

-It is Oxford.

Dissension in the ranks. You're right, Oxford is correct.

You're one answer away from £16,000.

Let's see whether they can make up some ground here.

A new western concourse, designed by John McAslan & Partners,

was unveiled in March 2012 at which London station?

Eggheads, if you get this wrong, the contest is over.

It's King's Cross.

Yes, there's a superduper development at King's Cross.

Yes, they've been doing that for some time.

I don't think it's Waterloo.

I don't think they've done anything at Waterloo for a while.

Liverpool Street again, hasn't been changed for quite some time.

There's a spectacular roof.

I'm inclined to go with King's Cross.

I think it's King's Cross.

Yes, I think so, I just want to think about Waterloo.

Could we have the question again please, Jeremy?

A new western concourse, designed by John McAslan & Partners,

was unveiled in March 2012 at which London station?

I think it stretches from the platforms toward St Pancras which would be west.

-It would be.

-I think that's King's Cross, Jeremy.

King's Cross is your answer. It's the correct answer.

You are still alive, Eggheads.

Two to the Challengers and one to the Eggheads.

If you get this one right, you've got £16,000.

If you get it wrong, they've got a chance to level it up and who knows what happens then.

So take your time, guys.

In which event did Eric Liddell win a bronze medal

at the 1924 summer Olympic Games?

Liddell is L-I-D-D-E-L-L.

Have you got any clues?

If I'm not mistaken it's the basis for Chariots of Fire,

the film, possibly, based on the true story.

It's definitely not long jump. Unless you've got any preference?

110 metres or 200 metres?

I think go for the one you're feeling more.

I think 200 metres is saying something to me.

200 metres is our final answer.

You don't hang about, you two, do you?

Are they right?

I thought it was the 110 metres hurdles?

I think they are right.

You've got the right answer, well done. 200 metres it is.

We say congratulations, Challengers, you have won.

Amazing playing. Something about your team, guys.

The confidence in the final round.

I felt bad for Scott who played an incredible History round.

Most times that would get you through, the round Scott played, wouldn't it?

So, I thought when you lost him it was going to be tough,

but my goodness you played a brilliant game.

What do five young guys do with £16,000?

I think my fiance will have that earmarked for the next year's wedding already.

I'm so pleased. Really great team to have in.

So, you've won £16,000, you are officially cleverer than the Eggheads.

I asked if your two brains could beat their four and yes, you can. Two of you can beat four of them.

You've proved as well they can actually be beaten.

Join us next time on Eggheads to see if a new team of challengers will be

just as successful as Team Scotia here.

Been brilliant to see you, well done again and goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd