Episode 30 Eggheads

These people are amongst the greatest quiz players in Britain.

Together they make up the Eggheads, arguably the most formidable quiz team in the country.

The question is: can they be beaten?

Welcome to Eggheads, where five quiz challengers pit their wits

against possibly the greatest quiz team in Britain. They are the Eggheads.

Taking on our awesome quiz champions are The Wonderyears.

This team are enjoying their senior years and their love of music.

They're all part of a rock chorus who perform regularly at local clubs. Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm John. I'm 64 years old and I'm a senior university library assistant.

Hi, I'm Alan, I'm 65 and a retired aircraft engineer.

Hello. I'm Joan, I'm 79 and I'm a retired accounts assistant.

Hello. I'm Bob, I'm 63 and I'm a retired police officer.

Hello. I'm Judith, I'm 64 and I'm a semi-retired English teacher.

Welcome to you, Wonderyears. So you're all in...a band?

We call ourselves a senior rock chorus.

The chorus is 24-strong. The band is four live musicians, including myself.

We perform a whole range of rock, pop music of the last 40, 50 years.

-Wow.

-Everything from, what shall we say, ABBA to The Clash to The Beatles

-to The Rolling Stones. And so on. We've entertained a lot of people over four years.

-I bet you have.

I'm just thinking that describes a lot of our music category on the popular side of things.

A lot of those questions come up.

I'm sure you're hoping for that category.

Let's play the game, Wonderyears. Every day there's £1,000 up for grabs for our challengers,

but if they fail to win, the money rolls over to the next show.

The Eggheads have won the last seven games,

so £8,000 says you can't beat them.

Let's see. Our first head to head battle is on the subject of Music.

Straight up there. Who wants to play this?

I think I feel myself about to be nominated!

-So it had better be myself.

-About to be nominated. John, you can choose any Egghead you like

-because it's the opening round.

-I think... I hear a voice in my ear but I think anyway

-that I will nominate Daphne, please.

-Nominate Daphne, OK.

-Why have you chosen Daphne?

-Oh, well, I am aware of her vast knowledge of the subject,

-so it's a challenge to take on.

-And quite a scalp if you can get rid of her.

John and Daphne, into the Question Room, please, so you can't confer.

OK, John, you're kicking off. Do you want to go first or second in this Music round?

I will go first, please.

OK, John.

Best of luck, here we go. "Allons enfants de la Patrie," is the first line of which French song?

Er, well, I think I'm fairly familiar with the first two and I...

I don't think it's those. I feel I really should be standing to sing it if I was in France

because it is La Marseillaise.

Yes, indeed. The national anthem. Well identified there by John.

Daphne, Deeply Dippy was a UK number one single for which pop act in 1992?

I don't think it was Whigfield.

Or Vanilla Ice.

I'm sure it's Right Said Fred.

-And you're right, yes.

-Rather bizarrely, their only number one.

Everyone thinks I'm Too Sexy got to number one, but it didn't.

It was the biggest-selling single, but Deeply Dippy was number one.

OK, thank you, CJ.

Second question, John. The video to which Robbie Williams song features him as an ice skating trainer

who has to stand in at the last minute at the world championships?

Oh. Well, I...

I'm not really familiar with Robbie Williams videos.

I'm trying to...picture him

as an ice skater. It feels like it ought to be Let Me Entertain You. I'm not absolutely sure of that,

but Let Me Entertain You.

-Let Me Entertain You. CJ shaking his head. That's when he dresses up as KISS.

-Yeah.

-Which is it, CJ?

-She's The One.

-It's She's The One.

-OK.

So let's see how Daphne does

with number two. Who wrote the lyrics for Heathcliff,

the musical thought up by Cliff Richard based on Wuthering Heights?

Oh.

Em...I'm not sure.

I think...

-I think I'll go for Richard Stilgoe.

-Richard Stilgoe.

OK, all top lyricists.

-It's not. It is...

-Tim Rice?

-Tim Rice, yes.

-It didn't do very well, did it?

-It sunk without a trace.

- I had dinner with Tim Rice and he never even mentioned it! - Name dropper!

Well, there we are. A let off, John.

Try this. Which Mozart opera is based on a work by the French playwright Beaumarchais?

Em, not that familiar with Mozart's operas.

Probably not...not Don Giovanni.

I think I'll go for... The Magic Flute.

OK, The Magic Flute. A Mozart opera based on a work by Beaumarchais.

It's not The Magic Flute.

-Marriage of Figaro.

-It is.

Your question, Daphne, to win:

which group released the 1970s albums Tarkus and Brain Salad Surgery?

Oh...!

Em...

I've heard of Brain Salad Surgery.

But I can't remember who it's by.

Yes.

No?

You beat me to it!

I did think I would very cleverly say that because it's not.

No, it's not Yes.

It is Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

OK, low scoring in those first three questions.

Staying at one-one.

Both failing with two questions each, so we go to Sudden Death.

We're going to remove the choices. Makes it a lot harder for you.

What was the stage name of the popular Irish singer Joseph McLaughlin

who left Britain in the 1950s for tax reasons?

Em...

I'd like to say it was before my time. It probably wasn't quite.

I can't think of an Irish singer that would have come into that category, I'm afraid.

-I'll have to pass.

-OK, pass on that.

-Do you know, Daphne?

-Was that Josef Locke?

-Josef Locke.

-Why am I getting his?!

Yes, not your question. But another chance, Daphne.

Which British composer, born in Bradford in 1862,

spent some time working on an orange plantation in Florida?

At last, proper music.

-Frederick Delius.

-Is the right answer, Daphne!

John, it means you're not in the final round. Would you both please come back and join your teams?

Well, a great round, that.

"Yes. No."

As it stands, the Wonderyears have lost one brain from the final round.

Let's play a second one. And this is Sport.

Who'd like to play this?

-You go, Bob.

-I'll do that.

-OK.

Bob, any Egghead apart from Daphne.

-Chris, please.

-OK, Chris on Sport. Chris and Bob, please, into the Question Room.

-OK, Bob, first or second?

-I'll go first, please.

Best of luck. First question.

Sabreur - S-A-B-R-E-U-R.

Sabreur is the term for a person who takes part in a form of which sport?

Em...

I don't really know. I've not heard the term.

Sounds a bit like a sabre,

so I'd got for fencing on this case.

Fencing, sabre. And that would be the link. That's the right answer.

Chris,

tennis' Davis Cup began in 1900 as a competition between teams from Britain and which country?

In 1900, tsarist Russia didn't play tennis.

I don't think we were that good friends with France at the time, pre-Entente Cordiale, so the USA.

Doing that through history and politics! It is the USA. It's the right answer.

OK.

Bob, your second question. In snooker, what name is given to the agreed abandoning

and restarting of a frame due to no hope of the game progressing?

There's only one term I've heard of here, so it'll have to be that.

I haven't heard of re-ball or re-break, so my answer is re-rack.

-Do you play a bit of snooker?

-No.

-OK< but you watch it presumably.

-Not so much now. A long time ago.

-Well, you got the right answer.

OK. Well, Chris,

behind and second question for you. For which team did Vitaly Petrov drive

at the start of the 2011 Formula 1 season?

He sounds Russian. Ferrari's Italian, Renault's French,

-so it had to be Sauber.

-No, it didn't. It's Renault.

The magic not working there. Renault for Vitaly Petrov

and a place in the final round for you, Bob, if you get this.

Which race is the first to be run on the opening day of Royal Ascot?

Now this is a good question for me.

I can say without doubt it's the Queen Anne Stakes.

-I take it you like a flutter?

-Investment I call it.

-Investment sometimes with negative return.

-Er, yes.

Well, it is the Queen Anne Stakes. You know your horse racing.

Well done, Bob.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

The Wonderyears going up the gears and knocking an Egghead out.

Both teams have lost one brain. Our third subject today is Science.

Who'd like to play this?

-Alan, Joan or Judith?

-Shall I play?

-Joan is our nominated scientist, I think.

-OK, Joan.

And you can play Pat, Barry or...

CJ! How could I forget about you, CJ?

-Pat, Barry or CJ?

-I'll have CJ, please.

-OK, let's have Joan and CJ playing this Science round.

-Hello!

Would you both please go to the Question Room?

Joan, the subject is Science. Would you like to go first or second?

I'd like to go first, please.

OK, good luck, Joan. Let's see if you can emulate Bob.

What divides a mammal's thorax from its abdomen?

I think the oesophagus is the throat and the mandible the mouth.

I think I'll go for diaphragm.

Diaphragm? That's right, Joan. One to you. CJ,

what is the common name of the insect Pieris brassicae?

Do you need that spelled out? OK.

Well, brassica are cabbages, so presumably cabbage white butterfly.

Yes, it is. Once you knew that, it's pretty simple. But you had to know that.

OK, Joan, what name is given to the first hour after a traumatic injury

when emergency treatment is likely to be most effective?

I wouldn't think it was Looking-glass Hour. That doesn't seem to... I'll dismiss that one.

Unitary...

But I think I'm going to go for Golden Hour.

The Golden Hour, that's it. Yes, the Golden Hour, identified by Joan.

CJ, scientist Frank Fenner became nationally famous in which country in the 1940s and '50s

when he developed and injected himself with a myxoma virus in order to prove

it was not harmful to humans?

I don't know. I haven't heard of him.

OK.

'40s and '50s, Australia and Canada were really too busy with the World War and recovering from it.

-Perhaps? I don't know. I'll try South Africa.

-South Africa.

Working the dates there. Might have been better working on myxoma.

-It meant nothing to me, I'm afraid.

-Myxomatosis, rabbits,

country plagued by rabbits? The thousand-mile fence?

Dingo-proof. It wouldn't keep rabbits out.

Plagued by rabbits - Australia. This was myxomatosis.

-Used in Australia first.

-There were concerns it might spread to humans. Fenner proved otherwise.

OK, there we are. A great chance for you, Joan. A correct answer here puts you in the final round.

The term lata foliate refers to what aspect of a plant?

Well, foliate is the leaves bit of it.

I don't think that's striped and I don't think it would be thorny.

I think I'll go for broad leaves.

OK, broad leaves.

-Is she right, Eggheads?

-She is.

-CJ nodding as well.

He knows his fate. It's the right answer. Broad leaves.

And, yes, skipping your way

into the final round there, Joan. Bad luck, CJ. Both please come back and join your teams.

Well, it just gets better and better. You've knocked two Eggheads out of the final round.

One member of Wonderyears has gone as we approach our last subject before the final. Arts and Books.

Who'd like to play?

This is one we didn't want!

-OK, Dermot, I'll do it!

-Well, Judith,

-you can choose from Pat or Barry.

-Oh, wow.

-Any ideas?

-No, they're both brilliant.

-Both brilliant, are they? Oh...

-Take Pat out.

-Take Pat out?! You said he was brilliant!

You and Pat will be all right.

-OK, then, Pat.

-OK. Let's have Judith and Pat into the Question Room, please.

-So it's Arts and Books. Judith, do you want first or second?

-I'll go first, please, Dermot.

Good luck, Judith. Which famous American writer died in October, 1849,

in mysterious circumstances after being found delirious in Baltimore?

Em, I'm not really familiar with American writers,

but I'll take a stab in the dark.

Edgar Allan Poe.

A stab in the dark is the kind of thing he wrote about. It's right!

OK, Pat,

in the 1990s, which former American President wrote the children's book The Little Baby Snoogle-fleejer?

Gosh!

Jimmy Carter is the only American President to write a novel. It was about the War of Independence.

In the 1990s.

Richard Nixon, when he went into retirement, was in deep retirement.

He wasn't seen very much. Ronald Reagan...Jimmy Carter.

I don't know.

I think on the basis that Jimmy Carter put out a full-strength novel,

maybe he also turned his hand to a children's novel.

OK, Jimmy Carter. I'm just thinking of Richard Nixon writing a cuddly children's book.

It was Jimmy Carter. The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer.

Great title. OK, Judith, good start for you. Let's build on it.

What is the title of the poem by John Keats that begins, "A thing of beauty is a joy forever"?

I haven't heard of Endymion.

La Belle Dame Sans Merci. "A thing of beauty..."

-I'm going to go for Ode On A Grecian Urn.

-OK.

-A stab in the dark.

-"A thing of beauty is a joy forever."

-It's not. Do you know, Pat?

-It's Endymion.

-It is Endymion.

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever." A chance for the Eggheads.

Which Parisian museum, Pat, houses Edouard Manet's famous 1860s painting Olympia?

I don't know.

I know the painting.

I'll assume it's in one of the better-known museums,

so eliminate Musee de l'Orangerie. It's Orsay versus Louvre.

I really don't know.

-I'll go for the Louvre.

-The Louvre for Olympia.

It's the other one, the Orsay. Musee d'Orsay.

So, a let off, Judith.

No damage done. Third question. Don Pedro and Don John are characters in which Shakespeare play?

Don Pedro... I know the plays,

but I haven't heard of the characters.

-All's Well That Ends Well.

-All's Well That Ends Well,

which is what we hope happens from your point of view, but...

it is Much Ado About Nothing with the two Dons, Pedro and John, as characters in it.

A chance for Pat to take the round.

In poetry, what metrical foot consists of two short syllables followed by one long one?

It's tempting to go for anapest, simply because it appears to be two short syllables and a long one.

An-a-pest. That would be a delicious coincidence.

I think... Well, it might be a spondee. I'll go for spondee.

Spondee.

It's anapest.

-Oh, dear!

-Is it?!

-Should have gone with the coincidence.

You did the analysis. Well, it stays all square.

And we go, as you will be familiar with, Judith, to Sudden Death.

Love, etc, Arthur & George and The Sense of An Ending are works by which writer?

Mm, I haven't heard of any of them. Arthur & George rings some kind of bell, but...

No, I'm going to have to pass, Dermot.

-OK, well, Pat?

-Julian Barnes?

Julian Barnes it is. Won the Man Booker with The Sense Of An Ending, but you didn't get that.

It means a chance again for Pat.

Which female British novelist who died in 2010

once appeared in an early episode of Coronation Street as an anti-nuclear friend of Ken Barlow?

Well, thinking back to British female novelists who have died in that sort of timeframe,

the first one to come to mind is Beryl Bainbridge. I think she died somewhere around that time.

-I think I'll go with Beryl Bainbridge.

-Beryl Bainbridge,

on the date of her death, not remembering the episode.

It is the right answer, Pat!

Appearing in Coronation Street. Quite a radical in those days, Ken.

-Old Ken Barlow.

-Yeah.

-I see.

In his own sort of...way.

I didn't know what you'd say!

OK, that means Pat is in the final round. You evened it up.

No place for Judith. Both please come back and join your teams.

So this is what we've been playing towards. It's time for the final round, General Knowledge.

But those of you who lost

won't be allowed to take part, so John and Judith and CJ and Chris, would you leave the studio, please?

Alan, Joan and Bob, you're playing to win the Wonderyears £8,000.

Daphne, Barry and Pat, you are playing for something money can't buy - the Eggheads' reputation.

I'll ask each team three questions. They're all general knowledge and you're allowed to confer.

Alan, Joan and Bob, the question is this: are your three brains better than the Eggheads' three?

-Do you want to go first or second?

-What shall we do? First?

-First.

-We'll go first, please.

OK, then, first question to you, Wonderyears. The comic strip created by American Bud Fisher

which dates back to 1907 and is often regarded as the first successful daily comic strip

is called Mutt and who?

-Mutt and Jeff.

-I haven't heard of them.

Haven't you?! Jeff, yes.

Are you sure? We'll try for Jeff.

Mutt and Jeff. It passed into rhyming slang, didn't it?

It means a little bit deaf. Mutt and Jeff is correct.

You first question, Eggheads.

The radio DJ and TV presenter Neil Fox was known for many years by what moniker?

-That's Doctor Fox, isn't it?

-Doctor.

-I've seen him on some TV shows.

-OK.

-We're all happy with Doctor Fox.

-Doctor Fox is correct, yes.

Back to Wonderyears.

In the early 20th century, German schoolteacher Richard Schirrmann

opened what type of institution, the first of its kind in Altena Castle, Westphalia?

-I don't know, but I would go for youth hostel.

-That'd be my guess.

-I don't know.

-It could be a driving school.

-No, not in the early 20th...

-When was it?

-Early 20th century.

It's too early for driving, wasn't it? I would go for...

-Youth hostel?

-I think, yes.

As you see, we're hovering around, but we'll go for youth hostel.

Youth hostel is the right answer! In Altena Castle, Westphalia.

So, Eggheads,

the Festa del Redentore,

first held in 1577 to celebrate the end of a terrible plague, is held in which Italian city?

My first thought is Venice. Are there paintings

which refer to this? No?

Maybe not. There's paintings for the Doge's ceremony. Redentore...

I don't know from the name, but I seem to recall reading about Popes in Rome

who had all special sorts of things taken to prevent getting the plague.

You know they have the jubilee that's every so many years.

And the very first one was started by a Pope

at the end of a plague.

-So...

-I don't know.

-I don't know. I think we're discounting Florence.

-Yeah.

-I don't think it's Florence.

But I have recollections of plagues more frequently hitting Rome

because it was a bigger city and more likely to get plague.

-Venice?

-Big sea port, so...

Yes, you've got that argument.

-I really don't know. A faint echo of Venice, but I don't know.

-We're really struggling on this one,

but Daphne and I both have two separate inklings about Rome.

On that basis, we'll go for Rome.

-But Pat inkled about Venice, which is the answer.

-Sorry, Pat!

-Well...

-Venice, not Rome. Well, if you get this

you beat the Eggheads and you win £8,000.

What is the name of the character played by James Dean in the 1956 film Giant?

-I've no idea.

-Do you know?

-Do you know?

-No. We'll have to look...

-No.

-I have no idea.

-Do the names mean anything?

-James Dean...

-1950s.

-James Dean. I was wondering about Jett.

-Jimmy Dean, Cal, Jett...

-If I was to guess, I'd probably guess for Cal.

-Would you?

-A guess.

-What do you think, Bob?

-What would you go for?

-I haven't got a clue.

I haven't got a clue. I'd say Jett Rink, but I don't know. It's not from knowledge.

-What are we doing?

-Go with Jett Rink. I'll go with Joan.

-Lady's luck.

-Lady's luck. You've been good so far.

-I don't know.

It's not from knowledge. Just a guess.

We're struggling a bit, but... Joan's got an inkling for Jett,

-so we're going for Jett.

-I don't know where it came from.

-OK.

Jett Rink. You were conjuring between Cal Trask and Jett Rink.

-Yeah.

-Well, the answer is...

Jett Rink! You've won!

That's astounding!

How does that feel? Well done.

-I can't believe it.

-£8,000.

-More luck than judgment!

You want to see what's going on in the Question Room!

Wild celebrations there. You can sing yourselves a victory song.

-How about We Are The Champions?

-We used to sing that!

Sing it all the way home! £8,000. You have beaten the Eggheads.

-Fantastic performance there. It didn't seem to be going too well early on, did it?

-No.

Nip and tuck, but you've taken the money. And you are officially cleverer than the Eggheads.

You've proved they can be beaten. Do join us next time to see if a new team will be as successful.

Until then, goodbye!

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