Episode 32 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.

Challenging our resident quiz champions today

are the Wormdale Wonders.

This team at all associated with Sittingbourne Golf Club,

which sits proudly atop Wormdale Hill.

Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Ian, I'm 70, and a retired local government officer.

Hi, I'm Roy, I'm 61 and I'm an accountant.

Hi, I'm Alan, I'm 58 years old, and I work in corporate cash management.

Hi, I'm Pete, I'm 43 and I'm a reporting and analysis consultant.

Hello, and Gary, I'm 54, and I'm a bar manager.

Well, welcome to you, Wormdale Wonders.

Is it a bit windy on that course, at the top of a hill?

Yes, it is, Dermot, it's on top of the North Downs, but it's...

You can tell a Sittingbourne golfer, he walks like this.

And you do some quizzing there, I understand?

Yes, we have two quizzes a year for the captain's charity,

and it's very well attended and popular.

-And very hard?

-No, we make it quite easy.

OK, well you might be a step up in class

in terms of the difficulty today against the Eggheads.

Everyday there's £1,000 up for grabs for our challengers, however,

if they fail to defeat the Eggheads

the prize money rolls over to the next show.

So, Wormdale Wonders, the Eggheads won the last game,

that therefore that means £2,000 says you can't beat them.

And let's see what comes up first.

Our first head to head, a chance to knock an Egghead out,

this is Music to kick us off.

Who'd like to play in this round?

I think that's Pete who'll do that, yes?

Yeah, me.

All right, Pete, and you can choose any Egghead you wish.

It depends whether it's modern or not, doesn't it?

Who do you want?

Who do you reckon?

I'd say Judith.

-Judith? Yeah, Judith, please.

-OK, Judith, please.

For the first round it's going to be Judith and Pete,

and to make sure you can't confer,

I'm going to send you all to the Question Room.

All right, Pete kicking is off, do you want to go first or second?

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

Good luck, Pete.

First question former Spice Girl Melanie C

had a solo UK number one in 2000 with which song?

Um, not 100% sure,

but when you asked the question, I Turn To You was coming to mind.

So, glad to see that come up first, so, yeah, I Turn To You.

OK, you had that in your mind and up it came,

and it is the right answer, well done.

Judith, the Ramones have been described as one of the first bands

of which genre of music?

Oh, dear, it's either hip hop or punk, now which is it?

Oh, I don't know!

Oh, hip hop.

-Punk.

-Punk! Oh, no! I always get it wrong!

-Oh, dear.

-I don't have luck.

OK, well, it might come later,

but, Pete, can you go 2-0 up?

The American singer-songwriter Peter Gene Hernandez, born in 1985,

became famous under what name?

No idea.

All been in the charts recently, um...

But, I can't tell you why, but I'm drawn towards Bruno Mars.

Bruno Mars, for Peter Gene Hernandez,

is the right answer.

It's going to be tough for Judith to come back from this, then.

Judith, what is the title of the 2010 UK number one single

released by British R&B artist Taio Cruz?

Well, needless to say, I haven't the faintest idea.

I just don't know.

Well, you can have a guess, of course.

I'm going to have a guess, any minute now,

I'm just hoping that something might come up.

What about Dynamite?

I love the way you don't dress up the guessing with some kind of

fake logic or little scrap of information.

I don't know, have a guess, and it's the right answer.

Oh, well occasionally it works.

It did work, the luck came back to you.

But, it may be about to desert you

because, Pete, if you get this right,

as you know, you're in the final round.

Which British composer's oratorios Judith,

Job and King Saul were all first performed between 1888 and 1894?

Not my genre of music, um...

But, the only one I can say I've heard of it of those three

is Frederick Delius, so, straight down the middle.

OK, straight down the middle like your shots down the fairway.

Occasionally.

But not this time.

Veered off a bit to the left you would have got it -

it's Hubert Parry.

So, I said Judith would have to work hard to get in it.

This draws you back level if you get it, Judith.

Which opera tenor controversially walked off stage

at La Scala, Milan, after being booed in the middle of a performance

of Aida in 2006?

I wonder. I sort of vaguely remember reading about that.

I don't know anything about Jonas Kaufmann, that's the trouble.

Can't believe they would have booed Placido Domingo.

I'm just going to go for Roberto Alagna,

and hope that that might be the one.

A bit of a guess, it's the right answer, though, Judith.

Well done, you are right back in it.

And what happened, why were the crowd

booing Roberto Alagna, Eggheads? Do you know, Judith?

Well, no, but they famously boo a lot in La Scala.

The Italians are very, well, "Eurgh!"

They boo, not like the English, who sit there and take it.

Yes, of course, no stereotyping there at all.

But why did they go "Eurgh!" at this performance, do we know?

Think he was just off form.

Didn't live up to their expectations.

OK, just that, and he walked off.

Right, well, we've still got to see who's going to be ordered off

in this round.

It's all square, and we go to Sudden Death, Pete,

when we remove those choices.

So, you've just got to give me the answer.

Which Elvis Presley hit includes the lines, "You can burn my house,

"steal my car, drink my liquor, from an old fruit jar?"

Hound Dog is going through my mind,

I can't tell you if that's the correct title of it, but Hound Dog?

Hound Dog - it's not.

No, just think how precious your golfing shoes are to you.

-Blue Suede Shoes.

-Blue Suede Shoes, of course.

Don't you go steppin' on those.

Real chance for Judith, what a comeback this would be.

Often used in relation to dance music,

for what does the musical abbreviation BPM stand?

Is it ballet music? I mean, is it sort of classical dance?

Oh, golly, I don't know.

I haven't the faintest idea what ballet dancers do.

I don't know, I simply don't know.

-I have to give up.

-Nothing offered there.

OK, do you know, Pete, out of interest, BPM in dance?

-Beats per minute?

-Beats per minute.

-Oh!

Well, you survive, Pete.

Another question.

Who composed the music for the film and stage musical 42nd Street?

A guess again - George Gershwin.

No, it's Harry Warren.

Judith, which conductor

who gave the BBC's 2006 Reith Lectures

became General Music Director of the Berlin State Opera in 1992?

Simon Rattle?

No, Daniel Barenboim.

Pete,

which British jazz singer was born Clementina Dinah Campbell in 1927?

Um, Cleo Laine?

Yes! Cleo Laine is there.

Judith,

in 2001, the actress Nicole Kidman appeared twice

in the UK top 40 singles chart,

once duetting with Robbie Williams, and once with which actor?

I don't know, Tom Cruise.

Tom Cruise is incorrect, other Eggheads, do you know?

I imagine it's Ewan McGregor.

Ewan McGregor, after they starred together in the film Moulin Rouge.

Come What May, being the song.

I tell you what's eventually come about

is you're in the final round, Pete.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

Well, first blood in the end to the Wormdale Wonders.

The Eggheads have lost one brain from the final round.

Our second subject today is Science.

Who'd like to play this?

This head to head is Science.

-Who fancies that?

-Not me!

Roy, have a go? OK, Roy's willing to have a go,

so, nominate Roy.

Good man, Roy, and take on any Egghead apart from Judith.

-Who do you reckon, Chris?

-We will try Chris, this time.

Try Chris, see if you can get rid of him, as well.

OK, Roy and Chris,

can I ask you both please to go to the question room?

Well, Roy, as you know, you get to choose.

Would you like to tee off or let Chris begin?

I'd like to go second, please.

Chris, your question, then. What type of bird is an avocet?

It's that thing with the upturned bill, isn't it? It's a wader.

It is, that's correct, so Chris got that.

OK, Roy, your first question, then.

Which term refers to aquatic mammals,

such as whales and dolphins, that bear live young?

Well, pretty sure it's not plankton.

But the other two I'm not too sure of at all,

so it's going to be a bit of a guess.

So I'm going for the first one on the left.

Anthozoan.

OK, just to confirm that, anthozoan.

It's not the right answer.

-It's not anthozoan, it is, Chris?

-Cetacean.

Nothing there, chance for 2-0 for Chris, if he gets this.

The Newton meter is the SI unit of measurement for what?

Well, it's not inductance, that's electromagnetism,

it's not luminance, that's light,

so it's torque, twisting force.

A man who loves nothing better than wielding a spanner.

HE LAUGHS

It is the right answer, yes, torque.

So, fell nicely for Chris, there, this first set of questions.

And not falling so nicely, so far, for you, Roy.

Let's hope it gets better with this one.

Where in the solar system is the region known as the Kuiper Belt?

Well, I've heard of it, but I'm not exactly sure,

but I'm going to go for between Mars and Jupiter.

Between Mars and Jupiter.

It's not. Do you know, Chris?

Well, between Mars and Jupiter is the asteroid belt.

The Kuiper Belt's beyond Neptune's orbit, where comets originate from.

It is, turns out, of all the four questions asked,

you knew them all, so I think even Roy would accept

you've bested him today.

Roy, you're not going to be in the final round, Chris, you will be.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

Well, all square after two rounds,

both teams lost one brain from the final round.

And our next head to head today is Politics.

Who'd like to play this?

Three of you left

available for this - Ian, Alan or Gary?

I think Alan'll go for that one. Who are you going to take on?

-Um, who do you reckon?

-They are all good, aren't they?

-Een-meen-miny-mo, Barry?

-Barry, go for Barry.

For no particular reason, Barry.

Picking from Kevin, Pat or Barry and going for Barry.

It's going to be Alan and Barry playing this Politics round,

Can I ask you both, please, to go to the Question Room?

Well, Alan, let's see how you do. Do you want to go first or second?

As it worked for Pete, I'll go first.

And your first question, then, Alan.

Which term refers to a senior member of the Civil Service?

Um, it's definitely not tangerine.

I believe it's mandarin.

Yes, it is! Yes, a mandarin.

OK, your question, Barry.

Which supermodel testified at the 2010 trial of Charles Taylor,

the former leader of Liberia,

and admitted that she had received several rough diamonds?

Well, I think all three ladies might have known a few rough diamonds

in their time, but the lady at the trial was Naomi Campbell.

Naomi Campbell is correct.

Good start from Barry, as well.

So, Alan, what name is given to the lower of the two houses

of the Australian Parliament?

Not too sure on this one.

Don't think it is House of Assembly,

I think it might be House of Deputies.

House of Deputies in the Australian Parliament.

It's not. Of course, all perfectly plausible.

It's House of Representatives,

the lower house of the Australian Parliament.

So, Barry, a chance.

Which Prime Minister was a friend of Lord Kagan

and famously wore the Gannex raincoats

produced by Kagan's company?

A Yorkshire question for a lad who's lived all his life in Yorkshire.

It could only be Harold Wilson.

Harold Wilson is correct.

That means you've got to get this, Alan.

How long is one term of office for a UN Secretary General?

Um, seven years seems quite long.

I think I'll go for the five years.

Is right, yes, five years for a UN Secretary General.

Still in it, but Barry has the whip hand, will he go through with this?

Barry, in which country did Serzh Sargsyan

succeed Robert Kocharyan as President in 2008?

Well, the clue is actually in the name,

because all names of Armenians tend to end in "ian".

And as both those names ended in "ian", I must go for Armenia.

Very Egghead-like to know that little scrap of knowledge,

making it even easier for you.

I suspect you probably would have got it without that knowledge.

It's the right answer, Armenia is correct.

So, unfortunately, the last correct answer, Alan,

not enough to save you, you won't be in the final round.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

Pete's victory beginning to fade a bit for the Wormdale Wonders

as both Roy and Alan's challenges have bit the dust.

It means the Wormdale Wonders at the moment will be missing

at least two brains from the final round, the Eggheads are missing one.

And our last subject before that final round is Sport.

Well, I'm sure you might enjoy this, but only two of you can play,

and that is Ian or Gary.

I'll do that, Dermot.

All right, Ian, and who would you like to play from the Eggheads,

Kevin or Pat?

Let's try Pat, please.

All right, Ian and Pat, playing Sports...

Well, no, answering questions about sport.

Can I ask you both, please, to go to the Question Room?

You know how it all works, Ian, do you want to go first or second?

I'll go first, please, Dermot.

OK, great stuff, and good luck to you, Ian. Here's your question.

Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson

joined which Premiership football club in 2011?

I'm not sure, it'll have to be a guess, I'm afraid.

I'll guess Everton.

DERMOT LAUGHS

I only laugh because of who...

That's not the right answer, it is Liverpool,

the other side of that Mersey divide.

Liverpool, not Everton, and a chance for Pat to take the lead.

The Pittsburgh Penguins play which US sport?

I don't think it's basketball, certainly not at the very top level.

So, it's ice hockey versus baseball.

Are the baseball boys The Pirates,

and the ice hockey guys The Penguins?

Certainly penguin and ice hockey - there's a sort of rationale there.

I think The Pirates are a baseball team, so I'll go for ice hockey.

Yeah, ice hockey, it's correct.

And you have a lead.

So, Ian, your second question.

In 2011, Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins

made British cycling history by both finishing in podium places

at which of the Grand Tours?

Again, not my sport, but being it's a major sport,

I'll say the Tour de France.

OK, the Tour de France for podium finishes.

No, it's not, do you know, Pat?

-It's the Vuelta.

-Yes, it is.

Do you know what happened to Bradley Wiggins in the Tour that year?

He came flying off his bike and snapped his collarbone.

Yes, in the first week.

So, Vuelta a Espana for Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins.

And you take the round if you get this, Pat.

The Circuit de la Sarthe is at which motor racing venue?

My first thought is Le Mans, which is an immense circuit

mostly made up of public roads,

but I think it may actually break down into...

Or perhaps the entire thing is referred to

as the circuit de la Sarthe.

I don't think it's Spa.

And I don't think it's Monaco, there's not much room for anything

except the road track in Monaco, so I'm going for the Le Mans.

Le Mans is the right answer, Pat.

Well done, which means the chequered flag

comes down on this round with Pat in the lead.

No place for you in the final round, Ian.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

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

it's time for the final round,

which, as always, is General Knowledge.

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

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

So, Ian, Roy and Alan from the Wormdale Wonders

and Judith from the Eggheads, would you leave the studio, please?

So, Pete and Gary, you're playing to win the Wormdale Wonders £2,000.

Chris, Barry, Pat and Kevin, you are playing for something

which money cannot buy - the Eggheads' reputation.

As usual, I ask each team three questions in turn,

and just to underline it, the questions are all

General Knowledge, and you are allowed to confer.

So, Pete and Gary, the question is,

are your two brains better than the Eggheads' four?

So, Pete and Gary, would you like to go first or second?

We'll go first, please.

OK, good luck, Wormdale Wonders. First question for you is this -

dog fighting between aircraft first developed during which war?

I don't think it is the Crimean.

-World War I?

-World War I.

I think so, yes. World War I.

Quite a feat if it was during the Crimean War.

It certainly would be.

Some technological developments we'd not been aware of.

It is the right answer, World War I.

And, Eggheads, in the 1960s,

who famously asked

certain members of the audience of the Royal Variety Performance

to rattle their jewellery?

Everybody happy with John Lennon? That was John Lennon.

It was John Lennon. Correct.

Back to the Wonders.

In architecture, what name is given to a beam across a wide opening

that may be used to sustain a superstructure?

-How are you on your architecture?

-Not good.

-Right, OK.

-How about you?

-No, no idea.

-Anything jumping out?

-No.

It could be any one of them.

Any inspiration? Any idea?

Bartizan?

Yeah, as good as any.

We'll go for Bartizan.

-OK, Bartizan, just having a complete guess.

-Yeah.

OK, you were hacking out from the rough, I suppose, in golfing terms.

It's Breastsummer, the one in the middle, not Bartizan.

The other two are architectural...?

They are architectural features.

A bartizan is a kind of small gateway.

Stylobate means with columns and pillars ranged around.

OK, some comfort to you that the Eggheads

clearly did know that.

Well, see how the Eggheads do.

Which fictional character was the subject of a front-page

obituary in the New York Times in August 1975?

-Poirot, wasn't it?

-The Curtain was published.

Poirot dies.

Yes, we think that's Hercule Poirot.

Hercule Poirot.

Is the right answer, Eggheads, you have a lead.

So, you need to get this, then, Wormdale Wonders.

Douglas Trumbull was nominated three times

in the 1970s and '80s for Oscars in which category?

The name rings a bell, but couldn't tell you what for.

I've never heard of him.

-I don't think it's adapted screenplays.

-Yeah?

-No, unless you...

-No, I have absolutely no idea.

Visual effects or sound editing.

-Visual effects?

-Yes.

Shall we go for that one?

Visual effects, please.

Need to get this to keep your hopes alive -

it's correct, yes, visual effects.

Any of the films, Eggheads, do me know?

Particularly known for science-fiction films,

things like Silent Running, I think,

and others which were big in the early '70s.

OK, well, chance for the Eggheads still to take the game.

Which city is home to the sculpture by Lorado Taft,

entitled Fountain Of Time, that commemorates the first 100 years

of peace between the United States and Great Britain

after the 1814 Treaty of Ghent?

-I don't know this one.

-What did that treaty settle?

Well, there was the war of 1812.

I don't know this.

Chicago and Boston are both Irish cities, aren't they?

So I don't think they'd be too well disposed...

Washington just seems too obvious.

My only thinking on this - I don't know it - my only thinking would be

that it was in 1814, I think,

that the British troops burned the White House.

And I just wonder, because that was such a symbolic act,

I just wonder if it means they would place a statue in Washington

to commemorate 100 years of peace since then.

That makes sense, yeah.

I don't see any reason why it would be...

Chicago hadn't really developed by then.

By 1814 it hadn't, it was Fort Dearborn.

-So...

-It does make a great deal of sense.

The only thing I can get a handle on is Washington out of those.

I don't know it, though, I've not heard of it.

-Well, go with Washington.

-Washington just seems so obvious.

Shall we go with that?

We've not heard of it,

but on the basis that one of the climactic acts

of the war of 1812, which the Treaty of Ghent ended,

was the burning of the White House, by British troops,

if they were celebrating 100 years of peace since then

it would make a symbolic place to put it,

so on that basis we'll go for Washington.

OK, Washington,

after the burning of the White House by the British.

It is not. It's Chicago.

So, you're still in it, great news.

You could almost feel the knife being plunged

between the shoulder blades, there.

Well, it's not, and everything to play for. It's Sudden Death.

Pete and Gary, what is the three digit emergency number

used across the EU in the same way as 999 is used in the UK

and 911 in the United States?

112 is jumping out at me. What about you?

I think you're right, yeah.

-Shall we go for it?

-Yeah.

112.

112.

Is the right answer, yes, well done.

Got to be memorable, these numbers, one and one equals two.

And Eggheads, then. Well, a turnaround there,

last time you were answering a question to try and win the game,

this is to try and stay in it.

The airline founded in 1927

and operating under the name of Varig

is based in which South American country?

Brazil?

That's Brazil.

Varig, Brazil, is correct, Eggheads.

Back to the Wormdale Wonders.

Which English scholar,

whose works include Toxophilus and The Scholemaster,

was Latin Secretary to both Mary I and Elizabeth I?

Over to you, Gary, history. Bacon?

That's just what I was thinking.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-What's his first name, Francis, wasn't it?

-Think so.

Francis Bacon?

No, that's incorrect. Do you know, Eggheads?

Roger Ascham?

Robert Askham.

-No, it's Roger.

-Sorry, sorry.

Barry's right, it's Roger Ascham.

OK, well, it didn't matter the Eggheads knew that,

because they've not won until they've given me

a correct answer on their question.

Which English film director was Oscar-nominated for the film

Leaving Las Vegas?

That's got Nicolas Cage in, hasn't it?

Nicholas Cage and Elizabeth Shue.

Yes, I know it was a Mike, I'm just trying to remember.

-Mike Newell, Mike Figgis?

-Yeah.

It's either Mike Newell or Mike Figgis

-Wasn't Mike Leigh.

-No.

Leaving Las Vegas...

Did Figgis pop into your mind?

Figgis popped into my head, but I wouldn't be dogmatic about it.

OK, that's fair enough.

It's possible, no more than that.

-Mike Figgis.

-Mike Figgis.

Tossing up between Mike Figgis and Mike Newell.

You had Mike in your head, that bit is correct.

So, also, is Figgis.

It means, Eggheads, you've won.

Bad luck, Wormdale Wonders, well played in the final round,

taking them into Sudden Death after it went slightly against you

in those head to heads.

Great victory there, though, by Pete.

Thank you very much, indeed, for playing the Eggheads today,

best of luck with your handicaps.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them

and still reign supreme over Quizland.

I'm afraid you won't be going home with the £2,000,

and that means the money rolls over to the next show.

Eggheads, congratulations.

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

have the brains to defeat the Eggheads -

£3,000 says they don't.

Until then, goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd