Episode 50 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 hoping to beat the might of the Eggheads today are the Pursuers.

This team of colleagues work for the same legal practice based in Glasgow.

Let's meet them.

Hello, I'm Euan, I'm 53 and I'm a solicitor.

Hello, my name is Elizabeth, I'm 56 and I'm a solicitor.

Hello, my name's Donald.

I'm 60 years old and I'm chairman of our legal firm.

Hello, my name's Sheila. I'm 62 and I'm a legal secretary.

Hi, my name is Gillian. I'm 38 years old. I'm a paralegal.

Welcome to you, Pursuers. So the team name

because of what you do and what you want to do to the Eggheads, I guess?

Yes.

If I'd thought of the name, I'd be mightily impressed, but, in fact,

it was a colleague who came up with the name.

It's a simple play on words.

A pursuer is a party who brings a civil-court action in Scotland.

And, yes, we are pursuing an aim.

My colleagues reassure me that we may be pursuing CJ.

-Oh, I think he might like that!

-LAUGHTER >

It's been a while since I was chased!

Best of luck, Pursuers. Every day, there's £1,000 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, Pursuers, the Eggheads have won the last two games.

That means £3,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads today.

Our first head-to-head battle is on sport.

Who wants to play and who will you take on?

I think that's you, Donald.

ALL AGREE I think it's down to me.

And, in terms of Eggheads,

I've got an inclination that CJ may give you a good battle.

I'm always happy to take on CJ,

especially as it'll be the first time in my life that I do so.

LAUGHTER

It may be the last!

OK. It's Donald against CJ.

Into the question room, please.

Donald, the first of our Pursuers in the question room.

You get to choose whether you go first or second in this round. What's it to be?

I think I would like to go second.

The first question from the first set of questions goes to CJ

and this is it.

The Britain and Ireland team play the continental Europe team

for the Seve Trophy in which sport?

-Just to check, Seve, S-E-V-E?

-Yeah.

That's named after Sevillano Ballesteros, who is golf.

It is the late lamented Seve Ballesteros. Golf is correct.

Good start, CJ. And, Donald, hoping for an equally good one from you.

Which bridge is crossed by participants in the Great North Run?

Well, the Forth is not really in the north of anywhere.

And the Humber is halfway down England,

so I'm going to go for the Tyne Bridge.

Tyne Bridge. If they crossed the others, they would have gone too far.

It's the right answer, of course. The Tyne Bridge.

APPLAUSE

CJ, second question.

What nickname was given to the Australian cricket team

which toured England in 1948?

Don't know.

How you surprise us all(!)

The Australians are famous for calling a spade a spade, aren't they?

Even though it's a nickname probably given to them,

they probably liked it, so I'll simply try The Invincibles.

It's the right answer. Yes.

OK, you have two out of two.

Let's see if Donald can keep up with this second question for you.

Which football club which went into administration in 2006,

won promotion to the Football League in 2011?

-I'm beginning to wish I'd asked for the first set of questions.

-Oh, no.

Because I don't know the answer to this.

So I'm going to select the answer which sounds

most like it would be a team playing in the Football League now.

I'm going to go for Crawley Town.

Crawley Town.

It is the right answer. Yes. Crawley Town.

Well done, 2-2.

CJ, the basketball team from which country

retrained its EuroBasket title in 2011?

This could be any of them.

I'm not aware of Germany having much prominence in basketball.

Spain and Russia, both have.

This is essentially a blind guess. I'll just try Spain.

OK, Spain. It's the right answer.

Got it, well done.

You have three and, maybe, a place in the final round.

It depends what Donald does with this one.

At which British racecourse is the Ribblesdale Stakes run?

Well, this is another one that's going to have to be a guess.

I'm thinking that Ribblesdale might relate to the River Ribble.

Which, if my geography is any good at all, which it isn't, really,

takes us away from the south of England.

But my problem is that I'm not sure I know

which of these three racecourse locations actually is.

And so it's going to have to be a guess.

I think I will eliminate Newmarket.

I can almost sense my colleagues out there in the team wondering

if I'm already eliminating the very right answer, but never mind,

I'm going to elect Sandown Park.

OK, Sandown Park.

In the south, like Ascot and Newmarket, kind of to the east.

It is Ascot, the Ribblesdale Stakes.

So not Sandown Park, I'm afraid.

Which means, CJ's just nipped in there.

Pursued, but got away.

Which means, CJ, you'll be in the final round.

Would you both please come back and join your teams.

Well, as it stands, after one round the Pursuers have lost one brain.

The Eggheads are all there, so we move on to our second subject.

This is Arts & Books. Who'd like to play this?

It can't be you, Donald

but any of your colleagues.

One of the ladies.

I think I'd like to do that one.

OK. Sheila. Choose an Egghead.

Remember, it can't be CJ, but any of the other four.

Chris?

I think Chris. I'd like to play Chris.

OK. Let's have Sheila and Chris into the question room, please.

OK, Sheila. You get to choose. Do you want to go first or second?

I think I'll go first, please.

OK, tactical change by the Pursuers.

Kicking off this time. Sheila, your first question.

The scientist known as Uncle Quentin features in which series of books?

Well, I'll rule out Harry Potter.

Now, Famous Five, it's a long time

since I've read any of the Famous Five books.

Twilight, this is a new one.

I think it sounds like an Enid Blyton.

I'm going for the Famous Five.

The Famous Five and Uncle Quentin is the right answer, yes.

Chris, George Meikle Kemp,

who was the designer of a monument to which author

on Princes Street in Edinburgh. Is it..?

That's got to be that Gothic spire thing on Princes Street

that's a monument to Walter Scott.

It is, indeed. Yes, Walter Scott.

Both of you is starting very assuredly.

Second question, Sheila.

The Hengwrt manuscript.

The Hengwrt manuscript is a copy of which early literary work?

Hm. Well, I don't know this one.

Well, I don't think it's the Canterbury Tales.

Although, it might be.

The Iliad...

I'm going to go with Beowulf.

I'm not sure, but I'm going with that one.

Beowulf and the Hengwrt manuscript.

It's not. People may be surprised.

You'd have thought with that strange spelling. It's the Canterbury Tales.

-Oh.

-So, a chance for Chris.

The 15th-century painter, Fra Lippo Lippi

was the subject of a poem by which writer?

Browning and Tennyson tended to be more Romantic poets, didn't they?

Coleridge was more into the metaphysical side of things.

Fra Filippo Lippi was a monk, I believe.

Well, he would be - Brother - so I'll go with Coleridge.

-Coleridge?

-Hm.

Consternation, certainly from Barry and Daphne,

when you dismissed Browning. It is Browning.

So no damage done. Sheila, all square.

And third question coming your way now.

Dead Souls is a novel by which Russian writer?

Dead Souls. Sounds very cheery(!)

Hm. (Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov.)

Well, I'm afraid this is going to be a guess.

Lermantov.

-Lermantov.

-That's your answer, OK. Lermantov.

-You almost whispered it there, Sheila.

-Sorry.

-No, don't worry.

But you should worry, it's not the right answer.

It is Gogol.

A chance for Chris to win the round.

Joshua Reynolds' 1769 painting of Colonel Acland and Lord Sydney

has what subtitle suggested by their activity in the painting?

I can't call to mind a Reynolds painting

of anybody with bows and arrows,

so I don't think it's The Archers.

The Riders, there'd have been horses involved

and the great painter of horses was George Stubbs.

So I'll say The Skaters.

OK, The Skaters.

Colonel Acland and Lord Sydney skating. OK.

-No, it was painted in Ambridge actually(!)

-Uh-huh?

-It's The Archers!

-LAUGHTER

It's The Archers!

So quite a lot of incorrect answers there.

But the point being, Sheila, that it's stayed all square.

You've still got every change to get through to the final round.

We go to sudden death after three questions, if it's all square

and remove the options you've been looking at.

So you've just got to give me an answer here.

How is Emma Harte known in the title

of the first novel in the series by Barbara Taylor Bradford?

A Woman Of Substance.

Indeed! That is correct.

A Woman Of Substance, which you may prove to be

if Chris doesn't get this.

Chris, "The primroses were over,"

is the first line of which 1970s British novel?

-HE SIGHS

-Dear, oh, dear, oh, dear. 1970s British novel.

I'm going to have to pass on that, Dermot. Not a clue.

-Not a clue?

-No.

-Not a guess?

-Not a guess.

1970s British novel and he's passing.

So you are a woman of substance, you are in the final round.

We'd better enlighten everyone

to the origin of "the primroses were over".

Other Eggheads, any ideas? 1970s British novel.

Primroses, countryside.

Watership Down?

-Barry?

-Watership Down?

-Barry there with Watership Down.

It's the right answer for Barry, but it doesn't count.

Sheila, you're in the final round. Congratulations.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

Well, the Pursuers levelled it up.

Both teams have lost one brain from the final round.

Third subject coming up today is Geography.

So who of the remaining three players would like to take it from Euan, Elizabeth or Gillian?

-I think I will fall on the sword on this one.

-OK.

-And...

-Remember, CJ and Chris have played, so one of the other three.

Daphne smiles so pleasantly, it's hard to resist!

LAUGHTER But, er,

I shall do

and I shall select Barry.

Barry, you weren't smiling enough! It's going to be Euan and Barry

playing this from the question room, please.

Right, Euan, let's see if you can lead the charge

for the Pursuers and take the lead for your team.

-Do you want to go first or second?

-I'll go second, thanks.

OK, switching the tactics around here.

This time putting the Egghead in,

as Donald tried in the first round and this is your question, Barry.

Which canal was originally named the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal?

I have sailed down this canal and very impressive it is, too.

-It is the Kiel Canal.

-You've sailed down it.

-What, in your dinghy(?)

-No, in a cruise liner.

Oh, very nice.

The Kiel Canal is the right answer. Euan, your first question.

Which part of Australia is nicknamed the Sunshine State?

Right, it's one of these questions

that, unfortunately, the answer

doesn't immediately strike me.

Obviously, it's good to get off to a flying start.

On the basis that I won't take for ever on this one,

I will plump for Queensland.

OK. Queensland is correct. Well done.

Barry, second question.

Johor, J-O-H-O-R,

a state containing the southernmost point of mainland Asia

is in which country?

I believe the Johor Strait is the strait that sits

between Malaysia and Singapore.

So Johor must be in Malaysia.

Is the right answer. Well done, Barry. Knows that part of the world.

All right, Euan's second question.

The Strait of Belle Isle,

separates which island from the Canadian mainland?

The helpful aspect is that I've heard of Belle Isle.

The unhelpful aspect is that I'm not quite sure of its precise location.

I would have said in the region of Canada.

We've given you that much!

Yes. Victoria Island, that seems over on the West Coast.

And I will decide

-on Newfoundland.

-OK.

Very cautious, but correct. Yes.

-Thank you.

-OK.

Barry, oh dear, I'm sure Euan would have liked this.

Portree is the largest town on which island in Scotland?

I believe Portree is the largest town on Skye.

I don't think Euan would have taken long to tell us that, either. It's the right answer.

Well, Euan,

the Turkish lira is divided into 100 what?

Right, this isn't a hard question,

this is a particularly hard question!

Definitely into guessing territory.

In terms of bani,

that doesn't really sound...

It sounds to me

more Indonesian or whatever, but not Turkey.

Then, of course, the middle one sounds,

literally sounds, Eastern European.

As a total guess,

I will go for the first option, kurus.

100 kurus making a lira in Turkey.

Right answer, well done.

Steady, methodical and you've got three out of three.

So we go to sudden death again, and a question for Barry now.

The word "Damascene" refers to which Middle Eastern city?

Damascene is often used to refer to silk

and it's silk that comes from Damascus.

Damascus is the right answer. Also a Damascene conversion.

-As happened to...

-St Paul.

OK, Damascus, well identified.

Euan, which Asian country is sometimes referred to

by its inhabitants as the Little Red Dot?

I'm thinking flags here and, er,

certainly the country that immediately springs to my mind

and which I will actually not delay further on,

I'll say Japan.

OK, Japan. OK. Right. Little Red Dot.

The Land of the Rising Sun and all that.

No, I think "little" is important in this. Little Asian country. Barry?

-I'm not sure, to be honest.

-Oh, dear.

-The other Eggheads?

-We're saying little Asian country?

-Little Red Dot.

I thought India, from the bindi.

Funnily enough, I look at the questions before I ask them.

I got this one.

Singapore.

Oh, OK.

-Why?

-Because it's small!

DERMOT LAUGHS

It means, Euan, you've just missed out on a place in the final round.

Barry's got it. Would you please come back and join your teams.

Well, tipped back the Eggheads' way.

The Pursuers have lost two brains, the Eggheads have lost one.

Our last head-to-head coming up now before the final round. It's Film & Television.

Gillian there, biting her lip!

-Gillian, Elizabeth. Who wants to play?

-Will I play it?

-It's Gillian who's volunteering for this.

-I'll volunteer.

-Whether I'm any good, we'll see.

-We will find out in a moment.

Gillian, who would you like to play from the Eggheads, Kevin or Daphne?

-What do you think?

-Eeny-meeny miny-mo.

Go for Daphne. She looks nice.

I'll play Daphne.

Finally, the smile has worked, Daphne, you've got to play.

Let's have Daphne and Gillian. Into the question room, please.

Gillian, the Pursuers confusing me with this

switching between starting or going second, what do you want to do?

I'll take the first set of questions, please.

Gillian, first question.

Sylvester McCoy first played the starring role

in Doctor Who in which year?

Do you know, I don't know the answer to this one, and I did like David Tennant

and I did love the old Doctor Who with Tom Baker.

I'm going to take a guess, and it is a guess, of 1977.

'77.

It's not. Eggheads?

-It's '87 to '89.

-'87 to '89,

-so you know Doctor Who dates.

-Yeah.

-I think I'd stopped watching it then.

-Wasn't Tom Baker doing it in '77?

-Yes, it would have been.

-That would have been Tom Baker then

and '97, it had been axed.

Well 1987, Sylvester McCoy.

Daphne, which 1933 film features the line,

"You're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star"?

I think it was said to Dorothy Brock

in 42nd Street.

42nd Street. Yes. Hard to see it in King Kong.

You're going out a gorilla and you're coming back

shot.

But, you got it. 42nd Street. Well done.

Right, Gillian, let's steady the ship with this.

The Compassionate Society

and The Moral Dimension were episodes of which TV comedy?

These are questions from when I was quite young, so I'm finding these a bit tough. Um...

I don't think it was Hi-De-Hi!

I'm thinking...

I swing towards Yes, Minister because of "society",

but I don't know why and swinging to Citizen Smith.

Hm. A complete guess.

Absolutely no idea. I will say...

..Citizen Smith?

I'm probably going to regret that one!

I wish I could tell you you weren't, but you are. Yes, Minister.

-I was going to go for that.

-I know you were.

The Compassionate Society and The Moral Dimension.

OK, Daphne, you take the round if you give a correct answer here.

Who was the original presenter of the TV show Saturday Kitchen?

Don't know.

I don't watch cookery programmes.

Um, I've really no idea.

Um...Gregg Wallace.

-Is that a guess, total guess?

-Total guess.

And it's the right answer, yes.

-I'm so sorry.

-You should be. Bad luck, Gillian.

I mean we're not going see much more of you.

A lovely laugh, great contestant. But just, oh...

-Bad questions!

-Bad questions, that's it!

-It wasn't my knowledge!

-That's what we'll do,

blame the questions.

OK, Gillian and Daphne, come back, please

and, Daphne, you're in the final round.

So this is what we've been playing towards.

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 able

to take part in this round, so Euan, Donald and Gillian from the Pursuers

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

Elizabeth and Sheila, you are playing to win the Pursuers' £3,000.

Kevin, CJ, Daphne and Barry,

you're playing for something which money cannot buy -

the Eggheads' reputation.

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

This time, the questions are all general knowledge,

just to remind you, and you are allowed to confer.

So, Elizabeth and Sheila, the question is,

are your two brains better than the Eggheads' four?

Elizabeth and Sheila, would you like to go first or second?

We'd like to go first, please.

OK, going first.

Shall we spook the Eggheads a bit before we start,

because on £3,000, and the Eggheads haven't been doing very well lately.

The last three times we hit £3,000, you lost.

OK, that's hopefully spooked them!

Now, let's get started.

General Knowledge. First question.

In the lyrics to a well-known song,

who is described as "Russia's greatest love machine"?

You don't want us to sing it, do you? No.

DERMOT CHUCKLES

You can tell me the band after, if you give me the right answer.

That's Rasputin.

-Rasputin.

-Rasputin?

Is the right answer.

Now you can sing it.

I think I'll pass!

-Who's it by?

-Boney M.

Boney M. Ra-ra Rasputin.

Eggheads, first question.

Abanazar is a character from which traditional pantomime?

Do you know, I think it might be Aladdin.

Yes. I know I'm supposed to be the spokesman here,

but, on this occasion, I've got to defer because I've seen him do it.

So the answer?

After you, Kevin, please.

-It's just possibly Aladdin(?)

-It's possibly(!).

-It's Aladdin.

-To which I have to respond, "Oh, no, it isn't!"

-Oh, yes, it is!

It is the right answer. CJ having played the part.

Pursuers, your second one.

Which Thomas announced the annulment of Henry VIII's marriages

to Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn?

Cranmer, was he not an Archbishop?

And Cromwell worked in the government.

I think it was Thomas More.

-Do you think so?

-What do you think?

-Wait, we'll think aloud.

-Thomas More was so against,

er, the marriages ending.

So you don't think it's him?

But, Cranmer, I think, was a bishop.

I'm not sure.

I think you should make the decision,

because you're spokesman and you're better at history than I am.

Hopefully, I won't get this wrong. I think it's Thomas More.

OK, Thomas More for announcing the annulments of Henry VIII's marriages

to Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn.

The answer is incorrect.

-Not Thomas More.

-Eggheads?

Cranmer.

It was a religious decision and he was the Archbishop of Canterbury.

As Kevin is explaining, it was, as you were talking about,

it was a religious decision. You kind of did the analysis

and went the wrong way. So it was Thomas Cranmer as the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Let's see what damage is done. Obviously, got one wrong there.

Maybe the Eggheads will match it with their second question.

For what did the initials "JP" stand

in the name of the American financier JP Morgan?

He was John Pierpoint Morgan.

Is the correct answer, Eggheads.

John Pierpoint Morgan.

So you need to get this to stay in the game, as you well know.

How is the title of Honore de Balzac's novel La Rabouilleuse

usually translated into English?

R-A-B-O-U-I-L-L-E-U-S-E.

What's your instinct?

My instinct goes with the Lily of the Valley.

-But...

-It's not...

I would rule out The Black Sheep.

Can you spell it again, Dermot, please?

It's R-A-B-O-U-I-L-L-E-U-S-E.

Rabouilleuse.

E-U-S-E.

-That does sound female, doesn't it?

-Yep.

So maybe it is The Girl With The Golden Eyes.

What do you think?

I made the mistake last time!

I don't know why.

Any of the titles.

INDISTINCT DISCUSSION

I'm not 100% at all.

But I think we'll go with that.

We are going to go with The Girl With The Golden Eyes.

OK, The Girl With The Golden Eyes for Balzac's novel La Rabouilleuse, in French.

In English, it's usually translated as

The Black Sheep.

BOTH: Oh, no!

Which means, Eggheads, you've won.

Bad luck. I want to ask the Eggheads. How did they get that?

I was thinking, along with Pursuers, "euse", thinking something female.

How do we get The Black Sheep out of that?

-What is a rabouilleuse?

-We're not too sure on the linguistic side.

-It's probably a colloquial term, but The Black Sheep is one of his stories of family conflict.

-I see.

You would have done it a different way. We knew that was his book, so...

OK, you have broken the cycle, Eggheads.

You've broken through the £3,000 barrier.

Bad luck, Pursuers, because some very good quizzing going on.

One or two questions going wrong for you in those head-to-heads.

It wasn't to be on the day. Thank you very much the coming in and being such good sports

taking on the Eggheads.

Those Eggheads have done what comes naturally

and they still reign supreme over quiz land.

I'm afraid you won't be going home with the £3,000.

That means the money rolls over to the next show.

Eggheads, congratulations, who will beat you?

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

have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

£4,000 says they don't. Until then, goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd