Episode 3 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 our awesome quiz champions today are Average @ Best

from Yorkshire. This team are friends and colleagues,

quiz regularly at local pubs, and claim as individuals, they're pretty average,

but when they come together, they're at their best.

-Let's meet them.

-Hi, I'm Oli, I'm 27 and I'm a technical analyst.

Hi, I'm Laura, I'm 25 and I'm a sales advisor.

Hi, I'm Chris, I'm 28, I'm a customer-service representative.

Hi, I'm Kunal, I'm 28 and I'm a technical analyst.

Hi, I'm Brett, I'm 32 and I'm a technical analyst.

Welcome to you, Average @ Best. I was thinking

when I saw the team name you were just putting yourselves down, but of course, now I understand -

average individually, but collectively the best.

Are you really the best, Oli?

Well... THEY LAUGH

We try our best, we can go that far!

Collectively, we do work very well.

We'll see how we get on, obviously, against the best. We try.

Let's play the game.

Every day, there's £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, Average @ Best, the Eggheads have won the last 13 games.

That means £14,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads.

So, then, our first head-to-head battle is going to be

on the subject of Food & Drink.

Which one of you has been marked out to play this, Food & Drink?

Kunal, that's you, yeah?

-Kunal!

-Kunal.

-OK, Kunal, and who would you like to play?

You can choose any Egghead you like, of course.

I would like to request Pat to play with me.

OK, let's have Kunal and Pat to play together.

Into the Question Room, please, just to make sure you can't confer.

-Kunal, would you like to go first or second?

-I'll go second.

Puts Pat in first, and Pat, your first question, then, is this.

Which spirit is mixed with coffee liqueur

to make a Black Russian cocktail?

Of the three, vodka is the strongly Russian drink,

-so I'll go with vodka.

-Yeah, it's an obvious link,

and the right answer as well.

Vodka is correct, Pat, you're off the mark.

In France, what type of foodstuff is cervelas?

It doesn't really strike the mind if it might be sausage.

I'll go with soup.

Judith, you know one or two things about France.

-Have you heard of cervelas?

-I think it's sausage.

You're right. It's sausage, Kunal. The one you ruled out.

OK, a tough one there, Kunal.

Pat's in the lead, and a chance to extend that lead.

Pat, what name is given to the thin cake made from flour or oatmeal

that's traditionally cut into quarters

and has a name meaning a fourth part?

Bridie is a Scottish meat pasty.

Oggy...

I think I've seen farls, I think they're soda breads,

and I think they're sold in quarters, so I'll go for farl.

It is the correct answer.

It's from your part of the world, isn't it, Pat?

Soda bread, yeah, is popular in Ireland.

OK, well, you're right, as I said,

the soda farl means a fourth part, a farl.

OK, well, it means you've got to get this, Kunal.

What name is given to rhubarb that's forced in special sheds

to be less fibrous, lighter in colour, sweeter and more delicate?

If you talk of delicacies,

I would think the word caviar comes to mind first.

But if you say it's supposed to be sweeter, I would say...

I would make a correlation with a spirit.

I would go with Champagne rhubarb.

OK, working that question there, listening very carefully to it

and getting the right answer. Champagne rhubarb is correct.

OK, Kunal, you've kept yourself in it, well done there,

but Pat still has the upper hand,

and can win the round if he gets this correct.

What type of South African dish is koeksister?

The generic name for the air-dried meats is biltong,

so I don't know if dried wildebeest would have

a special name of its own.

So I'll abandon that.

Deep-fried doughnut. Could be that - koeksister, deep-fried doughnut.

No, I'm afraid that I'm reduced, I think, to a guess.

I'm not sure I can extract anything from the word itself.

I'll go for custard tart, but it's just a guess.

OK, custard tart. That's wrong. Deep-fried doughnut, koeksister.

So, Kunal, this could be quite a comeback if you get this.

Metheglin is a spiced version of which alcoholic drink?

I associate...

Right off the bat, I would associate sherry with cooking,

although I can't really make the correlation.

I would want to go with...

I think I would definitely go with mead.

OK, gone for mead.

A spiced version of mead is known as a metheglin,

it's the right answer, you're back in it.

What a revival. OK, taking this to Sudden Death.

Kunal, we're taking away those options you've been looking at.

Just need to hear the answer when I ask you the question,

but you're not hearing your question yet, because this goes to Pat.

Pat, which standard item of kitchen implement has types

called balloon, French and ball?

I think there's such a thing as a balloon whisk.

I can't really make sense of the other two elements,

but I'll go with whisk.

OK, and whisk is the right answer.

That's how they do it. OK, Kunal, you've got to match it now.

To stay in the game,

how many stigmas are produced by

each crocus flower used to make saffron?

Well, saffron is a pentameric flower, which means it has five petals.

And with each petal is attached one stigma, so I would say five.

The number of stigmas that are produced by each crocus flower...

is three. Three.

Bad luck. You sounded so certain there.

You would have convinced me if I hadn't got the answer in front of me.

It's the wrong answer, Kunal, bad luck,

but well played to get back in it and get into Sudden Death,

but it means you won't be in the final round.

Pat will be there for the Eggheads.

Would you both, please, come back and join your teams?

Well, then, Kunal, you battled manfully

with our Food & Drink round, but not to be in the end.

Pat's knocked you out, which means one brain is missing

from Average @ Best.

All the Eggheads are still there. Next round.

This one might suit you a little better, I suspect,

Average @ Best. It's Music.

-Who'd like to play that?

-Are we happy, Brett?

I think that'll be me, then!

OK, stay with us, Brett, because you have to choose an Egghead.

Remember, anyone apart from Pat.

I think Chris. I think Chris is your best choice.

OK, yeah. I'd like to play Chris, please.

Look how delighted he is about it(!)

The joy breaking out all over his face(!)

Brett, you're such a kind man(!)

To make sure you can't confer,

could you both please go to the Question Room?

Well, Brett, I know you love music. Are you in a band at the moment?

I am, yeah. I'm playing drums at the moment for a band.

-We're called By Proxy.

-What kind of music do you play?

We actually describe it as dirty blues.

Ah, sounds good! Chris, that sounds all right, doesn't it?

-Sounds all right to me, yeah!

-OK!

Let's play the round, then,

and Brett, you get to choose, as the challenger.

First or second?

I'd like to go first, please.

Let's have your first question, then. What name did Gary Daly

and Eddie Lundon give to the group that they formed in 1979?

Right, I'd have to think...

Soft Cell is obviously most famous for Marc Almond.

China Crisis, I've not heard of, so just from elimination,

I'm going to go for Bronski Beat.

OK, Bronski Beat for Gary Daly and Eddie Lundon...

It's not Soft Cell, but it is China Crisis.

Before your time,

and means Chris has got a chance to go into the lead on Music.

You never know with Chris.

What is the title of the 2011 UK number-one single by Jessie J

featuring BoB?

Why would it be Price List? Why would it be Price Tag?

So, we'll go with Price Cut.

OK, Price Cut for Jessie J.

I'll give this one to you, Brett,

because it's the wrong answer, Chris.

-Do you know, Brett?

-Price Tag.

Price Tag, yeah, course. The one you ruled out.

It's OK, no harm done for either of you.

It's as if we're just having two questions each, really.

Your second question, then, Brett.

In which genre of music did Reba McEntire become

one of the top-selling female performers?

Well, I don't think she'd suit rap or heavy metal.

I'm pretty sure that's country.

I'll confirm that for you, it is the right answer. Yes, country.

You are on the board. Off the mark.

Chris, the jazz standard Blue Rondo A La Turk,

first recorded in 1959, was written by which musician?

Oscar Peterson played the piano.

Miles Davis played the trumpet.

They both tend to improvise, rather than write.

But to set down a variation on the theme of Rondo A La Turk,

I would say it must have been Dave Brubeck.

Mr Brubeck. They're shaking with delight on the Eggheads team,

it's the right answer, yes. It's all square.

OK, Brett, third question.

Which instrument did Cozy Powell play in bands such as Rainbow,

Whitesnake and Black Sabbath?

I can't really talk too much about this, because it is obvious,

having done it, and you've asked a drummer, as well - it is the drums.

A bit of an inspiration, or not really your sort of music?

If I'm honest, not really. More John Bonham for me.

OK, right, we asked a drummer that, you're right.

You have the lead, and a potential place in the final round.

Chris, which opera by the US composer William Bolcom

and based on a play by Arthur Miller was first performed in 1999?

Given that it's more Greek tragedy than mere tragedy,

like Death Of A Salesman, I'd say A View From The Bridge.

A View From The Bridge. Yeah, that's the right answer.

Yeah, A View From The Bridge.

Well worked out, Chris. So, it's all square, and Sudden Death arrives.

Yet again. All too soon. OK, Brett, you know what you've got to do.

Can you tell me this?

Tangled Up In Blue is an acclaimed song by which American singer-songwriter?

I don't know. It sounds...

Maybe it's just the colour,

but it sounds something blues-ish, so, erm...

I don't know, maybe Stevie Ray Vaughan, I don't know.

I'm not sure, to be honest.

OK, Stevie Ray Vaughan is not the right answer. Chris, do you know?

-I know the title, but don't know who wrote it.

-My goodness me.

Other Eggheads?

-Bob Dylan?

-Bob Dylan.

Bob Dylan, Tangled Up In Blue.

OK, well, Chris, you take the round if you get it right here.

Whose first UK top-ten single was A Boy Named Sue in 1969?

Whose first UK top-ten single was

A Boy Named Sue in 1969?

That must be Johnny Cash, cos it was a Johnny Cash number.

The answer is Johnny Cash, it's the right answer, Chris.

Means you've won the round.

Bad luck, Brett. Went blank for you there, didn't it, in Sudden Death?

Means you won't be playing in the final round.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

Average @ Best have lost two brains from the final round, the Eggheads haven't lost any.

Our third head-to-head today is History.

Who wants to play this?

-I'll take it, but I'm rubbish!

-We'll go with that, then!

That's a good idea(!) I'd get straight in there if I could!

So, take on one of the rubbish ones from the Eggheads!

Chris and Pat have played, of course, so you have Barry, Judith or Daphne.

Who do you think? I think Judith.

-I agree.

-I'll let Judith beat me!

-Judith.

-Judith, OK.

So, Chris full of confidence there, "I'll let Judith beat me," he says.

OK, let's have you both into the Question Room, please.

So, Chris, you get to choose - do you want to go first or second?

I think I'm going to go second.

Judith, your first question.

Where did Napoleon Bonaparte command an army in battle

for the final time?

I think that must be Waterloo.

Pretty obvious, isn't it, taken from the phrasing,

meeting your Waterloo. It's the right answer, yes.

So, OK, Chris, you're settled in there now,

and I'm sure you're going to get this. In the 17th century,

John Bunyan was imprisoned for more than ten years for unlicensed what?

It's going to have to be a little bit of a guess there.

Which one do I like the best?

I'm going to go for dancing.

Wrong answer. It's not unlicensed dancing.

It is preaching.

OK, well, nothing there for Chris. Judith, your second question.

In the 18th century, Robert Bakewell of Leicestershire became famous

for the advances he made in which field?

Well, 18th century was the beginning of the Industrial Revolution,

so it could be coal mining.

There's mines in Leicestershire, isn't there?

I think I'm going to guess at coal mining. Cos I really don't know.

Mines in Leicestershire - also some pretty nice, fat cattle.

Oh, livestock?

-Livestock breeding.

-Oh, right.

OK, livestock breeding was the answer we were looking for.

So, Chris, chance to get back in it.

Where was the controversy between the Celtic and Roman Churches

over the date of Easter settled in the year 664?

We're from Yorkshire, so I'm tending to go towards Whitby,

just cos it's close to us.

Yeah, I'll go for Whitby.

Whitby? And it's the right answer.

Hey! Hot diggity dog, you're back in!

All square. Another question apiece, and this is yours, Judith.

What was the name of the rebel emperor who seized power

in Roman Britain and northern Gaul in about AD 290?

I have no idea.

I really don't know. I'm just tending towards Cassivellaunus. I don't know.

-Cassivellaunus?

-Mmm.

Not he. No, it's the wrong answer.

Other Eggheads, do we know, of those two?

-Prasutagus.

-Prasutagus, no, not him.

No, so anyone else got any idea?! I'll throw it over to you, then!

Yes, you're right, it's Carausius!

See, they're better than you!

Which means, Chris, you win it, you get into the final round

if you give me a correct answer here. In 946,

which Anglo-Saxon king is believed to have been killed

by an outlaw called Leof in Pucklechurch in Gloucestershire?

It's going to have to be another guess.

Which one I hopefully get lucky and pick the right one?

I quite like the name of Edgar The Peaceful, but it seems a bit harsh.

I might go with him anyway. I'm going to go with Edgar The Peaceful.

OK. It's not the right answer.

Judith, of the other two?

-Athelstan?

-No. This is good, isn't it(!)

Edmund I. It's all square still.

Well, we go to Sudden Death.

As you know, Chris, it means we have

no more choices for you now to guess at, should you need to do so.

Judith, the independent state of Belgium was established

in which century?

I think it might have been the 19th century.

It's the right answer, correct.

OK, she's got that, which means you need to get this, Chris.

President Sadi Carnot, who was assassinated by an anarchist

called Sante Geronimo Caserio in 1894, was the leader

of which country's government?

I'm going to go for an Asian country. I'll go for...

I'll say something stupid here.

I'll go for Saudi Arabia.

OK, Saudi Arabia?

Leader of France.

-Nowhere near!

-Not Saudi. Bad luck, didn't know it.

It means, Chris, you won't be in the final round.

Judith, you made it. You'll play for the Eggheads.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

Well, as it stands,

Average @ Best have lost three brains from the final round.

The Eggheads haven't lost any.

Our last head-to-head is Arts & Books,

and Oli or Laura, it falls on one of you to play it.

-I think that's you, Laura, don't you?

-Yeah, that's me.

Good on you, Laura.

And the remaining Eggheads you can play are Daphne or Barry.

Would you like to play Daphne?

-Daphne.

-Yeah.

I think I'll play Daphne, please.

All right. Laura and Daphne, then, playing Arts & Books.

Into the Question Room, please.

Laura, would you like the first set of questions or the second set?

I would like the first set, please.

Good luck, Laura, here it comes.

Which fictional character famously swears

she will never be hungry again?

Erm... I think that Moll Flanders struggled a lot

with being poor and having no money and things like that,

so I will go with Moll Flanders.

It's not, but poverty, yes, certainly there.

It is Scarlett O'Hara.

OK, Daphne, your first question.

Whose painting entitled Eight Elvises reportedly changed hands

in a private sale for more than 100 million in 2009?

Sounds like Andy Warhol.

Andy Warhol, Eight Elvises, yeah, it is Andy Warhol.

So, gives you the lead.

OK, Laura, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin was the original name

of which leading French writer?

That does not sound familiar to me at all,

so it will have to be a guess.

I think I'll go with Moliere.

Good for you, it's the right answer. Yes, total guess, or...?

Total guess.

OK, doesn't matter. Daphne, your second question.

The Dutch-born artist Kees van Dongen is best known

for which type of work?

I've not heard of him.

Erm...

Abstract sculpture.

OK, abstract sculpture. No, it's not. Other Eggheads?

Portrait painting.

Portrait painting.

-Oh, right.

-Thank you, Eggheads.

It's wrong. That's great news for you, Laura.

You are right back in it,

and a chance for a place in the final round if you give me a correct answer here.

Whose 30 metre-tall sculpture Quantum Cloud,

depicting a human figure within a lattice cloud of metal sections,

was installed beside the Millennium Dome in 1999?

Again, not too sure at all.

Antony Gormley sounds familiar to me for some reason,

from something that's come up recently,

so I think I will go with that one.

-Antony Gormley.

-Antony Gormley, and it's the right answer.

Well, I never!

Now you're in the lead.

Well, Daphne, which artist's painting

of his friends Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz was

one of very few double portraits he ever completed?

Oh!

Oh, dear! I don't know.

I'm going to guess at Modigliani.

Modigliani, a guess there. It is the right answer.

So, we go to Sudden Death.

Laura, I'm afraid you're going to have no choices to look at.

Try this for size.

What was the second novel to be published

in the bestselling Harry Potter series of books?

I'm stuck between two.

Erm, I think I'm going to go with...

..The Chamber Of Secrets.

It's Chamber Of Secrets, it's the right answer, well done.

Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets.

So, potentially, in the final round.

Daphne, if you get this wrong, you're out of the game.

An early work Banksy was made

when he climbed into the penguin enclosure at London Zoo

and painted in six foot-high letters, "We're bored of" what?

No idea!

We are bored of...life.

They're penguins, he's a witty guy.

-We are bored of fish.

-Oh!

We're not bored of you, Daphne,

but we're not going to be hearing any more from you

in this game of Eggheads.

Laura, well, well, well, well! Did you ever think you'd do that?

-Especially after your first question?

-Absolutely not!

-You've defied the odds, taken out Daphne,

one of her strong subjects, as well.

You're in the final round, Oli's not going to be on his own.

Would you both, please, come back and join your teams?

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

It's time for the final round,

which, as always, is General Knowledge.

But those of you that lost your head-to-heads

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

so Chris, Kunal and Brett from Average @ Best

and Daphne from the Eggheads, leave the studio now. Be gone, Daphne!

So, then, Oli and Laura,

you're playing to win Average @ Best £14,000.

Chris, Barry, Pat and Judith,

you're playing to win something money cannot buy, no amount of it.

It is your very own reputation.

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

This time, the questions are all General Knowledge,

and you are allowed to confer in this final round, of course.

So, Average @ Best, the question is, are your two brains better than the Eggheads' four?

Average @ Best, would you like to go first or second?

First, yeah? First, please, Dermot.

OK, well, serious stuff, there's £14,000 at stake,

and your first question, General Knowledge. Here it comes.

In which year did the Philippines cease to be

a Commonwealth of the United States of America?

I've genuinely no honest idea, but what do you think?

From the USA, how long ago?

-I wouldn't have thought it was 17.

-No.

I think that's too far.

I think it's 18. I think we should go 18. What do you think?

I'm happy to go with you if you think 1846! No pressure!

We'll say 1846, Dermot.

OK, 1846. 1746, we're ruling out. Of course, long before

the foundation of the United States of America,

so good shout on that.

But it's 1946. Yeah, Oli!

You knew where it was going there. 1946.

So, Eggheads, can you take the lead?

The type of computer files that are marked with

the filename extension .exe are referred to by which term?

These are executable files.

Executable is the right answer, Eggheads, yes.

It means there's work to be done here, Average @ Best.

Oli and Laura, turn your mind to this one.

The French actress Catherine Deneuve became the muse

for which fashion designer

after working with him on the 1967 film Belle De Jour?

Again, genuinely, I am struggling.

That's more your field, if anything, than mine.

-Do you have any inkling?

-I'm trying to think, from the '60s,

what would be more likely from that sort of time.

YSL, would you say he...?

That is the one that I was thinking of, but I couldn't say why.

It's going to be a punt anyway, so what do you think?

Yeah, Yves Saint Laurent.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

We'll go Yves Saint Laurent.

Yves Saint Laurent, again on Laura's instinct.

It took her through a very tough round against Daphne.

You've done it again!

You've taken over from Daphne for this guessing business.

Yves Saint Laurent is the right answer.

Well, there we go, you're all square,

but it might not stay that way if the Eggheads get this,

their second question. To what was Albert Einstein referring

when he described it as "an infantile disease,

"it is the measles of mankind"?

I think it's religion.

I would have thought nationalism.

I would have fancied nationalism.

He wasn't anti-religious as such.

And he certainly wasn't anti-capitalist.

-Are we all happy with that?

-It's a guess for me, it's just a guess.

We don't truly know,

but the consensus of opinion is that it's probably nationalism.

Nationalism, you think.

It is the right answer, Eggheads. Yeah, nationalism.

Well, that means you've got to get this, then,

Oli and Laura, good luck.

In 2005, a memorial to the horse Persian Punch was unveiled

at which racecourse?

-What do you think?

-Honestly,

I couldn't even hazard a guess.

I'm ruling out Ascot in my head.

I've no idea, I can't back that up in any way, but that's what I'm doing.

So, we'll see how that goes!

What would you think between those two?

Newmarket.

-Do you think Newmarket?

-That's what I would have said.

Sadly again, Dermot, it's yet another guess, and it's going to be...

-Are you sure?

-Yeah.

-We're going to go for Newmarket.

-Newmarket.

It's the right answer as well!

Newmarket, it's correct.

You kept your hopes alive, but the Eggheads have a chance here.

Eggheads, to win the game, which one of the Big Four venomous snakes

of South Asia has the scientific name Naja naja?

It's the Indian cobra.

I think it's the Indian cobra as well.

In Indian mythology, Nagas are snakes.

Yeah, but that's snakes.

And they're always shown by cobras?

They're shown by cobras,

and they're called Nagas.

-Indian cobra.

-I think that makes sense.

-OK, we're all agreed?

-Yep.

Right, we believe

it's the Indian cobra.

Indian cobra.

Are you going to deliver that poisonous bite

to Average @ Best? Yes, you are.

It's the right answer, Eggheads, you've won.

Well, in spite of some remarkable and informed guessing,

there was something, I think, going on there that led you so unerringly

in so many cases, especially you, Laura, to the right answer,

but not to be against the combined might of those four Eggheads,

just too much for you in that final round. But nice to see you, Average @ Best, thank you very much.

Indeed for playing the Eggheads today

and giving them a run for that money.

But the Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them,

and their winning streak goes on.

I'm afraid you won't be going home with that £14,000,

and that means, of course, the money rolls over to the next show.

Eggheads, congratulations, who will beat you?

Join us next time to see

if a new team of challengers have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

£15,000 says they don't. Until then, goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd