Episode 52 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 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 Aunt Sally from Gloucestershire.

They have won many local charity quizzes, including the Chipping Sodbury Festival. Let's meet them.

I'm Clive. I'm 64 and I'm a retired schoolteacher.

Hello. I'm Keith, I'm 68 and a retired IT specialist.

Hello. I'm Jen, I'm 62 and I'm a retired primary school teacher.

Hello. I'm Pete, I'm 58 and a retired bank manager.

Hi, I'm Keith, I'm 61 and I'm a retired chemical engineer.

Welcome to you, Aunt Sally. From Chipping Sodbury to the Eggheads! Just the tiniest step up in class.

-Absolutely!

-Now the team name. Will you allow the Eggheads to throw things?

Not really. Sally was the lady who started the team 25 years ago.

-OK. And not with you now?

-No, because 20 years ago she decided to emigrate to Vancouver Island.

-She now lives on Vancouver Island.

-Was it something you lot said?

-I think it was!

-Do you stay in touch with Sally?

-Certainly. She's with us in spirit today.

-She knows exactly what's going on and is certainly supporting us.

-Well, best of luck.

Every day there's £1,000 of cash up for grabs for our challengers.

But if they fail to defeat the Eggheads, the prize money rolls over to the next show.

The Eggheads have won the last four games. That means £5,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads.

Let's see what our first round is. It's Arts and Books.

Choose a player and an Egghead.

-Arts and Books.

-We discussed this at some length.

- I don't mind being the sacrificial lamb. - Don't you?

- We're all sacrificial lambs on it! - We've got some specialisms.

-You're happy with that, are you?

-I'll take it.

Well done. Very nobly done!

OK, Clive. Very nobly done there.

-Choose an Egghead. Any one.

-JEN: Oh, who do you choose?

I'd like to take on Pat, champion of champions.

OK, it's going to be Clive and Pat playing Arts and Books.

Could I ask you to go to the Question Room to make sure you can't confer with your teammates?

-Clive, first or second?

-First, please, Dermot.

And off we go. Best of luck, Clive. Snuff, published in October 2011,

is the 39th entry in a series of books by which author?

Snuff? Now that's an interesting series.

I'm familiar with Patricia Cornwell. Rick Riordan not so.

And I know Terry Pratchett's been in the news lately because he's suffering from the early stages

of Alzheimer's. But I think he's the man. Terry Pratchett is my answer.

He is indeed. Right answer. Good start, Clive.

Pat,

Bacchus and Ariadne is an early-16th-century painting by which artist?

Early 16th. That's the 1500s. The early 1500s.

It doesn't sound like ideal subject matter for El Greco.

Rembrandt certainly painted some classical material,

although he is more famous for his self-portraits.

It seems to be right up Titian's street, though.

He painted all sorts of mythological and classical figures. So of those three...

-I think I'll have to go for Titian.

-Which is correct.

It's one apiece. Back to Clive.

The Narrative of John Smith, which was finally published in September, 2011,

was the first novel by which author?

Yes, em... I seem to remember a Dickens one having to be completed.

I'm sure from the early stages he was all right. Walter Scott...

I can't think of anything lately issued by him. I'm going to go

for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Arthur Conan Doyle is the right answer! The Narrative of John Smith.

OK, well,

Pat, your second question. Yasmina Reza's play Art was originally written in which language?

I think it's a play in which some sort of a near-blank canvas features.

I have a faint suspicion that she's based in Paris.

That's all I've got to go on, really.

But in the absence of any other ideas, I'll have to assume French.

Paris will do if it leads you to the right answer. It is French.

OK, third question apiece.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh is a character in which Jane Austen novel?

Jane Austen is, I don't feel, a very masculine area.

I can't think I've ever read any of these three,

so why not have a sensible guess.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

Pride and Prejudice, Dermot.

When you said a sensible guess, I thought you were setting it up for Sense and Sensibility!

But you got the right answer.

So Pat needs to get this then. In May, 2010, a novel by which author

was awarded the Lost Man Booker Prize, a one-off award for books published in 1970

which were not considered at the time?

I think Coetzee and Carey have both won two Bookers.

I think the novel was Troubles and I think it was by an author who drowned off the coast of Ireland

and that was JG Farrell.

OK, JG Farrell with Troubles. The late JG Farrell.

It's the right answer. Well done, Pat.

This is a very good opening round. So good we make it more difficult.

To sort out a winner, we remove the choices and it becomes sudden death.

Who wrote the 1894 novel The Prisoner of Zenda?

Yes, I read that I think in the third form at grammar school.

Just waiting for some inspiration, Dermot.

I'm going to go for Jack London.

OK, Jack London with The Prisoner of Zenda. It's not.

Your memory playing tricks there. You read it a little while ago.

-Pat, do you know?

-I think it's Anthony Hope.

-It is!

Anthony Hope.

It doesn't matter.

We don't pass the questions. Pat has to get this one right to win.

Who wrote the sonnet known as Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3rd, 1802?

I think that might be the sonnet that opens with, "Earth has nothing so fair..."

and it might be Wordsworth. I'll go for William Wordsworth.

William Wordsworth. "Earth has not anything to show more fair," to be precise, Pat!

It's by William Wordsworth, Pat. You are through.

Clive, bad luck. You were very good at that subject,

but caught out with The Prisoner of Zenda. Both please come back and join your teams.

A mighty clash there, but Aunt Sally lost out.

Clive will miss the final round. All the Eggheads still there.

Our second Head To Head is Geography.

Who wants to play this? Not Clive.

Do you want to go for Geography?

Whoever wants it. We've Keith here.

- Keith was the main person we discussed in our meeting. - That's fine.

-Keith's got a lot of travelling experience.

-I'm quite happy, yes.

Now which of the Eggheads would you like to take on?

- CJ isn't here, is he? - No, he's not!

-I'd like...

-Up to you.

-Chris.

I'd like to take on Chris, please.

OK, a bit of deliberation there. Keith deciding to take on Chris. I heard you were missing CJ.

His geography is so bad, he probably got lost on the way to the studio.

OK, well, it's going to be Keith M and Chris contesting this one. Into the Question Room, please.

Well, Keith, a well-travelled man as I heard your colleagues saying.

-How would you like to start? First or second?

-First, please.

OK, then. Your wish will be granted. First question coming your way.

At their closest point, the Canary Islands are located approximately 100km off which continent?

Right. The Canary Islands.

I feel they're a way away from Asia.

And they're a little bit closer to Africa than South America.

-I'm going to go for Africa.

-A little bit closer!

-Just the odd...

-A few thousand miles!

-It's the right answer.

Well done. Africa. Much closer to that continent.

Chris, San Jose, one of the USA's most populous cities, is located in which state?

Well, it's not Florida.

And there probably is a San Jose somewhere in Texas, as the Spanish gave religious names to places,

but the big San Jose is in California.

California is correct, yes.

Straight back to you, Keith.

What is the official monetary unit of Kuwait?

Ah!

Rial...Dinar...Shekel.

I'm not really sure here, Dermot, but I'll have a guess.

I somehow don't think it's the Shekel.

And I think I'm going to plump for the Kuwaiti Rial.

OK, the Rial in Kuwait.

It's not the Shekel, or the Rial. It's the Dinar. I knew you were tossing up between those two.

You turned it into a 50/50.

Let's see what Chris does.

Mupe Bay and St Oswald's Bay are part of which area on the south coast of England?

Well, Bognor Regis and Eastbourne are both on pretty straight pieces of coast.

Bognor Regis tends down towards Selsey Bill and Eastbourne is along the flat coast by Pevensey.

So there is a Lulworth Cove in Dorset, so it must be Lulworth.

OK. Going for Dorset and Lulworth. It's the right answer. Yes, Chris.

Good knowledge there.

You need to get this, Keith. The city of Ballarat,

the site of the 1854 armed rebellion known as the Eureka Stockade, is in which Australian state?

Not one I know the answer to immediately, Dermot, I'm afraid.

This is going to have to be a guess.

Ballarat.

I...

I think I'm going to guess at Victoria.

It is the right answer! Well done! Victoria.

So, still in it,

but Chris has an opportunity here to win the round. What is the approximate population of Poland?

Now Poland's quite large.

They did lose a hell of a lot of their population in World War Two.

It's not eight million. I don't think it's recovered to 68 million,

so I'll go down the middle for 38 million.

For a place in the final round.

You've booked it. It is the right answer.

The approximate population.

We have to bid farewell to Keith.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

Not a lot of luck so far for Aunt Sally. The Eggheads are all there, two of your team have gone.

But we have two more Head To Heads to play, so a lot can happen in the next couple of rounds.

Next is Film and Television.

Who'd like to play this?

Jen, Pete or the other Keith?

Do you fancy it? Your knowledge of film is quite extensive.

-You going to try, Pete?

-Yeah?

-- You know more than I will.

-Yeah.

-- Which Egghead do you fancy?

- Are you after a scalp of any sort? Or are you...? - Who have you got left?

Barry, Judith or Daphne remain.

-Shall I got for Judith?

-Yes, go on.

-Of course.

-Judith, please.

OK, Judith. Going for a scalp again as Clive was saying there.

Pete trying to get Judith's scalp. Into the Question Room, please.

-Well, Pete, choose for me. First or second for you?

-I'll go first, please, Dermot.

First question on Film and TV for Pete. Kara Tointon played the role of Dawn Swann in which TV soap?

I think she was the lady who was in Strictly Come Dancing as well.

I don't think it's Emmerdale.

I don't think it's Coronation Street. I think - I've only seen it a couple of times -

-she's in EastEnders. So that's my answer.

-It's the right answer. EastEnders.

Kara Tointon there.

Judith, in which decade was the TV sitcom Open All Hours first broadcast?

That was the one with Ronnie Barker and David Jason, wasn't it?

And it's ages ago.

So, um...

If it's the one I'm thinking of, David Jason was very young. He was a kind of boy in it,

-so it must be the '70s.

-'70s?

-Yeah.

David Jason's thanking you for saying that! A boy, a young man. 1970s is correct, well done.

Open All Hours.

Second questions each. Pete, which actor played Phil in the Hangover films

and Sack Lodge in Wedding Crashers?

I think I've seen that one. There's only one name that I recognise there.

And that's Owen Wilson. So I'll say Owen Wilson.

In the Hangover films and The Wedding Crashers. No, it's not! Judith,

-you're a big fan of the Hangover films.

-I haven't seen them.

-I don't know. Bradley Cooper.

-It is!

Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn weren't in the Hangover films.

A chance for the lead. How many years fell between the initial release of Titanic and Avatar?

I think Avatar was released in 2009 or 2010, one of those.

So 12 years from that would be...'97.

Or nine would be... Oh, dear. I can't do maths any more.

Help!

I don't know.

-12 years ago.

-12 years?

-12 years between them.

-OK. That's what we want to know.

2009 for Avatar, as you were thinking,

and it was...

1997 for Titanic, which is the right answer!

-Gosh! Maths worked a bit.

-It did. Well done.

Judith has the lead, then.

You have to get this, Pete. Who directed the films The Fighter, Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees?

That's a very difficult question.

I'm not 100% sure.

I'm afraid it'll have to be a guess.

And I will say...

David O Russell.

-David O Russell. Is that just a complete guess?

-Absolutely.

Good on you! You've got it. You deserve it.

The onus now on Judith. If she gets this, she wins the round. If not, we go into sudden death.

Judith, Teri Hatcher plays the role of Paris Carver in which James Bond film?

This is exactly my point about James Bond. They've all, more or less, got the same kind of title.

It usually has the word "die" in it. Die Another Day, Tomorrow Never Dies...

I can't remember which is which!

I think The World Is Not Enough.

OK, The World Is Not Enough. When you were saying that,

I was thinking you're absolutely right. They get all confused in your head.

-Exactly.

-She was with Pierce Brosnan, wasn't she?

It is Tomorrow Never Dies. Not The World Is Not Enough.

So it stays all square,

which is great news for you, Pete. We go to sudden death,

which is perhaps not the greatest news if you have to guess.

Harry Tasker, Julius Benedict and Captain Ivan Danko

are the names of film characters played by which actor?

I have absolutely no idea.

Um...

I have no idea. I'll have to make it a pass. I'm sorry.

-No guess?

-No, no idea.

-No idea?

-No idea.

-Do you want to guess, Judith?

-No idea.

-Other Eggheads?

-We have an inkling it's Sean Connery.

-No, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

OK, Judith, another chance for you.

Which English singer was replaced as a judge on the 2011 US version of The X Factor

by Nicole Scherzinger?

I thought that was Cheryl Cole.

Yeah, that's my answer.

Cheryl Cole...is correct!

It means you are through,

depriving Pete of a place. Both please come back and join your teams.

Well, still not going well. Three brains gone now, no Eggheads.

So let's get rid of one. Last chance.

Our last Head To Head and this one is Sport.

Jen or Keith?

I think, Jen, you'd be better with general knowledge, so I'll take it.

All right. So long as it's Welsh rugby, you'll be all right!

OK, well, choose from the remaining Eggheads, who are... I'm forgetting!

Barry and Daphne.

I think Daphne, yes.

All right, Daphne. It's going to be Keith J from Aunt Sally against Daphne

from the Eggheads. Would you both please go to the Question Room?

-Well, Keith, hoping for rugby, are you?

-Yes, I really only follow rugby and golf.

Anything else will leave me cold.

-Well, let's hope you find them! Would you like first or second?

-I'll go first, please.

Here's your first question, then. Hilario, Ramires and Juan Mata

represented which Premier League football team during the 2011-12 season?

Oh, not rugby or golf, then.

-Not as such, no.

-I don't really follow football,

but I have a feeling that I heard the name Ramires associated with Liverpool,

-so Liverpool is my answer.

-OK, Liverpool.

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

-No! Chelsea?

-It's Chelsea.

But it was a 50/50 for you there.

Oh, dear, Keith.

In which year did Gavin Henson first play test match rugby union for Wales?

I can't even think how old he is.

I'll guess at 2001.

20001 for Gavin Henson's first appearance in the Wales international side. It is right!

Keith having to bite his lip there! He wanted rugby,

wanted Welsh rugby and there's one going to Daphne.

-Sorry, Keith!

-OK, Keith, try this for size.

Which role is most associated with the Sri Lankan cricketer Lasith Malinga?

There's nothing jumping out at me at the moment.

Opening batsman...wicketkeeper...

I think us wicketkeepers tend to be less in the public eye

and I really haven't heard the name.

-I'll go for wicketkeeper.

-Wicketkeeper.

It's not.

-Daphne?

-Opening batsman?

-No! Other Eggheads, what do you think(?)

-I think he'll be a fast bowler!

-He's got an extraordinary action.

He's the Slinger.

-Malinga the Slinger.

-His arm's almost horizontal to the ground.

The authorities have had a very close look at whether it's legal.

-Not Muralitharan?

-Very unusual.

-Spinning. This is fast bowling. Just whispering to Judith.

-Oh, is he a slow bowler?

Yeah, OK. Well, we were looking for fast bowler there.

Not wicketkeeper or opening batsman.

Which means, well,

a chance for Daphne to knock you for six here, Keith.

Frank Sedgman, Lew Hoad and Ashley Cooper, who all won the Men's Singles at Wimbledon in the 1950s,

represented which country?

I loved cricket then.

Oh, sorry! I loved tennis.

Sorry!

-And I used to watch Wimbledon and they were Australian.

-Yeah.

You also loved cricket as well!

Sedgman, Hoad and Cooper - all Australians. Daphne is through.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

So this is what we've been playing towards - the final round, which is General Knowledge.

But those of you who lost

will not be allowed to take part, so Clive, the two Keiths and Pete from Aunt Sally,

please leave the studio now.

So, Jen, you're playing to win Aunt Sally £5,000.

Daphne, Chris, Barry, Pat and Judith are playing for something money cannot buy -

the Eggheads' reputation.

I ask each team three questions. They're all general knowledge.

You are allowed to confer. So, Jen, is your one brain better than the Eggheads' five?

-Jen, do you want to go first or second?

-First, please.

Good luck to you, Jen. Let's see if you can do it for Aunt Sally.

The coyote is a mammal native to which part of the world?

I'm pretty sure it's not Europe.

And I'm tossing up between the other two.

-I'm coming down on the Americas.

-The Americas.

Yes, of course, it's right. Great start. Eggheads,

King William IV was a member of which Royal house?

Hanover.

Yes, we're all agreed. He was in the Royal house of Hanover.

Hanoverian is the right answer. OK, Eggheads. Back to Jen.

What is the approximate height in metres of the Leaning Tower of Pisa?

Right.

I don't think it's as tall as 256 because...

that would be about 1,000 feet. Well, not as much, but rather a lot.

I don't think it's as low as 56.

-I actually think - I hope it is - 156.

-OK.

156. Have you seen it in the flesh? Or in stone?

I haven't. I've only seen pictures, so it's difficult to guess.

Yeah, OK. 156 metres high for the Leaning Tower of Pisa. What do you think, Eggheads?

-It's lower.

-56, I think.

If it was 156, it would have fallen over. It is 56.

Didn't I read somewhere,

-not too long ago, that...

-Big Ben.

-..Big Ben is starting a similar pattern?

Big Ben, yeah.

-But it would take hundreds of years...

-Hundreds of years.

-They'll prop it up, I'm sure.

-Well, 56 then and not 156 for the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Let's see what the Eggheads do. "I heard that you're settled down, that you found a girl

"and you're married now," are the opening lyrics to which Adele song?

-Someone Like You, Barry.

-I think it's Someone Like You.

- That's the latest hit. - Yes, I think it is.

All happy with Someone Like You?

That wonderful emotional song Someone Like You.

Someone Like You by Adele. It's the right answer!

Very up on your Adele hits.

Some might not have expected that, but you're full of surprises.

Jen, you need to get this. In Greek mythology, Artemis turned Actaeon into what type of creature

after he had seen her bathing?

Now I like Greek mythology, but I'm not aware of this story, which is a shame.

I should think possibly it must be to do with water.

I may be completely wrong.

And I'm not sure she'd be bathing in the sea, so actually I'm going to guess a swan.

OK, a swan. Is that right?

No, it's a stag, which was then set upon by his own hounds.

-Oh.

-And killed.

-Not very nice.

-Torn to pieces by his own hounds.

-That's what happens!

-Right...

-Maybe in your world.

-Let that be a lesson to you.

Which means it's not a swan, it is a stag.

Which means, Eggheads, you've won!

Well, bad luck, Jen. It's tough on your own there.

We hope you enjoyed yourself and I think Aunt Sally will be proud of you when she sees this show.

All of you did tremendously well, in spite of how it turned out. Some very good Head To Heads there.

But the Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them.

You won't be going home with £5,000. So the money rolls over to the next show.

Eggheads, congratulations. Who will beat you?

Join us next time to see if a new team can defeat the Eggheads. £6,000 says they don't.

Until then, goodbye.

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