Episode 58 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.

Taking on the awesome might of our quiz Goliaths today

are the Corn Mill Crew.

This team of old school and university friends

are regular quizzers at the Corn Mill Pub in Nottingham.

Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm James, I'm 28

and a resource planner for an optician's.

Hi, I'm Greg, I'm 26

and I'm an IT support coordinator.

Hi, I'm Mark, I'm 28. I'm a client accountant.

Hi, I'm Phil, I'm 27 and I'm an administrator.

Hi, I'm Andy, I'm 26

and I'm a transport consultant.

Welcome to you, Corn Mill Crew. How competitive

is that quiz at the Corn Mill?

Reasonably competitive. Three teams who tend to win it,

and we're one of them

And you are one of them. OK. How often have you won it?

We've lost count. We tend to win about once a month.

Once a month, OK, let's hope that this is going to happen

this time against the Eggheads.

Every day there's 1,000 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, Corn Mill Crew, the Eggheads have won the last four games,

that means £5,000

says you can't beat the Eggheads.

Our first head-to-head today is Arts & Books.

-Phil.

-I think we've decided that it's me. Under slight duress.

All right, Phil, you have the advantage,

-taking on the first round, of having any Egghead you want.

-Going to go CJ?

Er, CJ, I think.

All right, it's going to be Phil and CJ playing Arts & Books.

Into the Question Room, please.

That's so you can't confer with your team-mates.

Phil, do you want the first set of questions, or second?

I'll go first.

Off you go. Good luck.

An injury to which sportsman

inspired Carol Ann Duffy to write her poem Achilles?

I wouldn't think

it would be Colin Montgomerie.

I don't remember Andy Murray

hurting his Achilles.

David Beckham, I think.

Yes, it is he.

David Beckham. Good start.

CJ, your first question.

What are the main colours used in Picasso's painting, Guernica?

When I went to see this painting, I stood in front of it

for about two hours.

I was utterly entranced

because, obviously, I knew all the history about it.

But it's still just

an amazing piece to behold.

And it's just black, white and grey.

Black, white and grey. Where can you see it?

It's in the Sofia Gallery in Madrid.

Well, some travel tips for you

from CJ, along with the correct answer.

Having seen it, you'd expect him to get it right.

Phil, The Lacemaker, usually kept in the Louvre in Paris,

but seen in Britain for the first time in 2011,

is a work by which artist?

I have not heard of the painting

and I've not been to the Louvre,

so I wouldn't have seen it. Um...

I am going to go Rubens.

Because I've heard of Rubens a fair bit.

OK. Rubens. No. It's not.

Do you know, CJ?

I would have gone for Vermeer.

Yeah, Vermeer.

The Lacemaker.

A chance for the lead for CJ.

Which film critic is the author of It's Only A Movie

and The Good, The Bad And The Multiplex?

I have heard of The Good, The Bad And The Multiplex.

And Mark Kermode does write an awful lot of books.

-I'll go for Mark Kermode

-It is the right answer. Well done.

You have that lead and, Phil, you need to get this.

The Duchess Of Padua is an early work by which playwright?

Um...

Again, I'm not really sure.

Um, I've heard of each

of the answers,

er, but not the play, so...

I'll go Oscar Wilde.

Oscar Wilde.

Got it. Well done.

Landed it, Phil. Oscar Wilde, Duchess Of Padua.

So CJ has to face another question.

If he gets it right, he's through.

Which island is the principal setting

for Victoria Hislop's award-winning novel The Island?

I haven't heard of the authoress

and I haven't heard of the island.

Or the book. So we're doing well.

You can guess.

I think it probably will be.

I'm assuming these are all...

Well, I'm assuming they're all fictional islands.

I haven't heard of any of them.

Spinalonga sounds very made up.

I don't even know why I'm thinking.

This is going to be an absolute blind guess.

Um, Kavallos.

Kavallos.

Which sounds the most plausible.

-If it was a real island.

-It's not.

It is Spinalonga.

After that. we go to Sudden Death, because it's all square.

Sudden Death, just to remind you, means no more options

for you to look at. Here you go.

Which artist, who died in 2008, made his seminal 1995 work Bed

by hanging his bed linen vertically on the wall

and daubing paint on it?

That's, um, that doesn't sound familiar to me.

Um...

Antony Gormley. I don't think he's dead,

and that's not his type of work!

HE LAUGHS

Always better to have a guess than pass.

It's not the right answer. Robert Rauschenberg.

According to legend, he had no canvas

and decided to use his bed linen instead.

Right.

CJ, Chips With Everything is a 1962 play by which writer,

often included as one of the angry young men?

My first thought was Arnold Wesker, but...

Is he one? He's American.

Um, I don't know but...

I wasn't aware he was, um,

called one of the angry young men, but I would guess at Arnold Wesker.

Arnold Wesker.

Is the right answer, CJ.

Which means, CJ, you're in the final round.

Bad luck, Phil, you won't be there.

Would you please come back and join your teams?

As it stands,

the Corn Mill Crew have lost one brain from the final round.

The Eggheads all there.

Second head-to-head coming up. Maybe this will suit you better. Sport.

Who'd like to play this?

THEY SPEAK AT ONCE

We'll have Mark doing this round.

All right, Mark.

Which hard-core quizzer from the Eggheads would you like to play?

-We'll have Chris.

-Chris. He certainly is hard core!

Mark and Chris, then, into the Question Room.

OK, Mark, let's see you blaze a trail into the final round.

Do you want to go first or second?

I'll go first, please, Dermot.

Good luck. Your first question.

The footballer Andres Iniesta was born in which country?

I know he plays for Spain, because he's a Barcelona player.

So I'd assume he's from Spain, so I'll go for Spain.

Yeah, it could be tricky.

Could have been born over the border.

But you got it, Spain. Plays for Spain, born in Spain.

Chris, your first question.

Juan Ignacio Chela became famous as a top player of which sport?

He sounds like he might be

Argentinian aristocracy

and they play polo.

That's what I'll have to go with. Polo.

Right.

Not sure, he may enjoy a game of polo in his downtime!

But he's a tennis player.

Is he? Oh, one of them. Oh.

Oh, dear. Right, yes.

Speak to CJ about that when you come back.

That's a great start for you, Mark.

Go to 2-0 if you get this.

In 2011, which co-owner of the News Jersey Nets basketball team

announced the team's forthcoming change of name to the Brooklyn Nets?

I'm not sure of this one. I'd rule out Eminem.

I don't think he'd be involved in a basketball team.

I'll go for Jay-Z.

Jay-Z?

Makes it 2-0. It's the right answer.

And, Chris, you need this.

Which country did John Smit captain at the 2011 Rugby Union World Cup?

If he's New Zealand or Scotland, it would be John Smith.

If it's John Smit, South Africa.

Is the right answer. Yes.

You're still in it. But, fate not in your own hands, it's in Mark's.

If you get this, he's out.

Mark, who did Barry McGuigan defeat at Loftus Road in 1985

to become WBA featherweight champion of the world?

Um, I'm not sure on this one.

I'll just maybe go for gut instinct.

Edwin Rosario.

Going for that?

-Yeah.

-OK, Edwin Rosario.

Was he defeated by Barry McGuigan in that historic fight?

No. It wasn't him.

Do you know, Chris?

Eusebio Pedroza, wasn't it?

It was Pedroza. So you would have known that.

You need to know this to stay in it.

The Braid Taylor Memorial medal is one of the awards at which event?

Don't think they give out medals at Royal Ascot.

They tend to award cups and things large amounts of cash.

Not heard of it in connection with Wimbledon.

It might be one of the minor awards at the Open Championship.

I presume that's the Open Golf Championship, so Open Championship.

It's the right answer, Chris.

The old logic working there.

It's got you back into it.

It's all square and in we go to Sudden Death.

A missed chance by Mark to knock you out.

So no more options for you to look at.

Here you go.

Mark, which snooker player reached the World Championship final

in 2011 at the age of 21?

I watched that match. I think he played against John Higgins.

And it was Judd Trump.

It was, yes, Judd Trump.

Well done.

And, again, difficulties for Chris.

Which Scottish driver won the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1998

and again in 2008?

David Coulthard is technically Scottish, isn't he?

David Coulthard is my answer.

-I don't suppose it's right, but there you go.

-OK.

Yes, David Coulthard.

No. It's not. Anyone know?

Is it Allan McNish?

Allan McNish from Pat.

But we didn't hear it from Chris's lips.

It means the round has gone to Mark.

Well done, with Judd Trump taking you through.

You're in the final round. Would you come back and join your teams?

That's looking better for the Corn Mill Crew.

Both teams have lost one brain from the final round.

And we go on to our next subject.

This one is Science.

Three of you remain. James, Greg or Andy?

-It's me, yeah, I'll go for it, yeah.

-It's Andy.

And who would you like to play from the Eggheads? Daphne, Barry or Pat?

THEY SPEAK AMONG THEMSELVES

-Pat?

-Yeah, we'll go Pat.

You look at me like I wouldn't allow it!

He's available. He has to be.

It's Andy and Pat playing Science. Into the Question Room, please.

Andy, you know how it works by now. Do you want go first or second?

I'll go first, please.

Science, first question.

What name is given to the period between exposure

to an infectious disease and the appearance of the first symptoms?

Well, I'm not 100% sure,

but, my wife's training to be a nurse at the moment.

I'm sure I've heard her say "incubation".

So I'll go incubation period.

Incubation period is correct, of course. Well done.

What term is used to refer to a smaller tremor

which follows a major earthquake?

As if the survivors of a major earthquake haven't suffered enough,

they can be visited by aftershocks.

Yes, and when many of the structures have been weakened

and it's still very dangerous. Is the right answer. Aftershock.

Andy,

the dwarf planet Eris was originally given what informal name,

inspired by a television character?

The only television character I can think out of those

is Xena, so I'll go Xena.

Xena, it's the right one. Well done.

And, Pat,

what type of creature is the titi, native to South America?

I've not heard of titi, I'm afraid.

Lots of different types of New World monkeys.

Titi.

I think I'm going to have to go with monkey.

Monkey.

You've gone the right way. Yes, is correct.

It's all square.

Good quizzing, guys. Keep it up, Andy.

Which metric unit equal to one cubic metre

is used to measure volumes of stacked timber?

I think this is going to be a shot in the dark.

I'll go for a stere.

Steered in the right direction!

It's correct. Well done.

Three out of three.

Pat, get this wrong, you lose the round.

The scientist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

won a Nobel Prize in connection with his work on which vitamin?

Guess time, I'm afraid.

I'm going to a do a Judith

and down the right. Vitamin E.

No, it's vitamin C.

Another triumph for the Corn Mill Crew!

It's getting better and better. Pat out. You're in, Andy.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

OK, as it stands, the Corn Mill Crew have lost one brain,

the Eggheads have lost two.

Will it be three after our last head-to-head before the final round?

Film & Television.

Who'd like to play this?

It's James or Greg?

-I'll take this, please.

-Greg.

-OK, Greg and which Egghead?

I see you're eager to get started. You tell me which Egghead.

Can we have Daphne, please?

You're so eager. Is it a lifetime's ambition to play Daphne?

It was a question the other day that she got wrong.

I thought that was quite all right,

so pinned her down for that, I think!

OK, right. Let's see if she gets any wrong in this round this time.

It's going to be Greg and Daphne. Into the Question Room, please.

Let's get on with the task.

As you know, it's a tough ask to knock Daphne out.

But you think she's vulnerable.

Greg, do you want to go first or second?

Can I go first, please, Dermot?

Film & Television.

"I've started so I'll finish"

is a phrase associated with which TV quiz?

Not something I watch all the time, but I've seen it before.

I think it's this, anyway. I think it's Mastermind, isn't it?

Is it, Chris(?)

Yeah, said by the late, great Magnus Magnusson. Yeah.

Of course, Mastermind. So well done.

Mastermind identified by Greg.

Daphne, which sitcom character owned a company called

Pear Tree Productions?

It's not Basil Fawlty.

And David Brent...

Oh, so it must be Alan Partridge.

-SHE CHUCKLES

-Got there in the end!

-I never watch it.

-Great name.

Well, you can work it out.

-It is the right answer.

-Oh! Partridge in a pear...

Yes, thank you, Daphne, yes, spell that out for us!

OK, all square.

Greg, in which country was the actress Naomi Watts born?

I'm not sure. Something's pointing me at Zimbabwe.

Just for the fact that I think...

She is English,

so I'll go for England.

Exactly. No trick questions. It's the right answer.

Flirting with Zimbabwe.

But got the right answer in the end.

Daphne, The Body Farm, which started in 2011

starring Tara Fitzgerald, is a spin-off from which TV series?

Um...

Waking The Dead.

Yes, indeed. Waking The Dead.

So two apiece.

Back to Greg.

Who directed the Ealing comedies

The Man In A White Suit and The Ladykillers?

Do not have a clue.

Er, it's going to be

just a punt at something.

Um...

Let's go down the middle. Henry Cornelius.

Henry Cornelius for Man In The White Suit and The Ladykillers.

No, it's not. Do you know, Daphne?

-Alexander Mackendrick.

-It is.

Alexander Mackendrick directed those wonderful films.

Well, an opportunity opening up for Daphne.

The 1955 film known in English as Smiles Of A Summer Night

was made in which language?

I think it was an Ingmar Bergman film, so it would be Swedish.

Swedish is correct, Daphne.

You are through to the final round.

No wrong vulnerabilities exposed there, Greg, unfortunately for you.

You're not in the right final round.

Would you please come back and join your teams?

This is what we've been playing towards.

It is time for the final round, which 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.

Greg and Phil from the Corn Mill Crew

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

James, Mark and Andrew,

you're playing to win the Corn Mill Crew £5,000.

CJ, Daphne and Barry, you are playing for something

which money can't buy, the Eggheads' reputation.

As usual, I ask each team three questions.

This time, the questions are all general knowledge

and you are allowed to confer.

James, Mark and Andrew, the question is

are your three brains better than the Eggheads' three?

And Corn Mill Crew, would you like to go first or second?

We'll go first.

Corn Mill Crew kicking off. The final round.

Your first question is this.

Which US state has a capital named after the third US president?

THEY TALK AMONG THEMSELVES

Texas is...is it Austin?

Austin.

Who was the third president?

I think it was Jefferson.

Jefferson.

Is there a Jefferson in Missouri?.

-Missouri?

-Yeah.

We're going to go for Missouri.

Missouri.

Is the right answer.

That's a tricky question and you got the capital, as well.

Jefferson, Missouri. Well done.

Austin, Texas. Capital of California?

It's amazing with these American states,

-it's never the biggest city, it's always smaller.

-Sacramento.

Sacramento in California. Well done, working that out.

Well negotiated first question, successful for the Corn Mill Crew.

Eggheads, which English musician co-created

and wrote the score for the ballet Ocean's Kingdom,

which had its premiere in New York in 2011?

Everyone happy with Paul McCartney?

Yeah.

Nice straightforward one

to start with - it was Paul McCartney.

They're not straightforward if you don't know them!

Yes, it is Paul McCartney.

You have one, as well.

Corn Mill Crew, second question.

The Basel Accords are a set of agreements which provide

recommendations on the regulation of which industry?

Basel's Switzerland, isn't it?

Have they got...?

-I've got no idea.

-They do a lot of banking in Switzerland.

-I was thinking banking.

-But why haven't I heard it on the news?

I don't think it's journalism. >

You don't? You think petroleum?

Shall we do it?

Petroleum?

I'll go with you.

It's a guess.

It is a guess, but we'll go for petroleum.

Petroleum, a guess.

And it's banking. Swiss and banks.

That's where they deliberate on the future

and regulation of the banking industry, in Basel.

And a chance for the Eggheads to take the lead.

Eggheads, Splott is an area in which city?

I don't live too far from it!

-Happy with Cardiff?

-I think we like Cardiff.

Yes. CJ lives quite close to Splott, so it's in Cardiff.

Lucky, Eggheads. Cardiff is the correct answer.

It's the way they fall. You need this, Corn Mill Crew.

In mythology, who was the aged King of Pylos,

who fought in the Trojan War?

Nestor sticks out, but I don't know the other two.

But that's the one that I recognise.

Why is it sticking out?

It's the only one I recognise.

I'd be guessing if I said Antenor.

Yours is better.

-I think we'll go for Nestor.

-OK.

We don't really know, but we'll go for Nestor.

The aged King of Pylos, who fought in the Trojan War is Nestor.

It's the right answer.

Eggheads, concentrate on this.

You have a chance to win the game if you get this.

In what year was the dog licence abolished

in England, Scotland and Wales?

-Any of you dog owners?

-No.

-So guess time, then.

I think it was just after I got married. I got married in '76.

I think it might be '77. I'm not 100% certain.

-That's s a fair way away.

-That's the most we've got to go on.

I have a suspicion it was just after I got married,

so that would put it in 1977. So that's our answer.

1977.

Your memory deceives you.

-Oh! Sorry.

-It's 1987. A lot later.

Ten years later. 1987 the dog licence abolished.

So, well, that's very interesting, then.

They've missed a chance to put you out.

Are they going to regret that? We'll go to Sudden Death.

Corn Mill Crew, it could all hang on one correct answer.

Of which country was Gyanendra the king

until the monarchy was abolished in 2008?

Do you know of a monarchy that was abolished?

A few years ago, they were having problems in Nepal.

That's a decent educated guess.

I'm not aware of any countries that have ditched their royals.

-Go for that?

-Shall we go for it?

We're going to go for Nepal.

Nepal.

Gyanendra, the King of Nepal until 2008, is correct.

Well. Well, well, well. Eggheads, this is a turn around.

Burdigala is an historical name for which French city?

-Bordeaux.

-That's the obvious one, isn't it?

-The historical name often has some resemblance to the modern.

-Yeah.

Which other ones begin with "B"?

-Bayonne, Biarritz.

-Boulogne. No.

I think Bordeaux.

It's a very old...

The name is similar and it's the percentage guess, if nothing else.

I'm happy to go with Bordeaux.

-I think we have to.

-Yeah.

We've never heard this one before, but on the similarity of the name

to the modern French city of Bordeaux,

we're going to go for Bordeaux.

Don't want your record ruined again.

It's Bordeaux. It is correct.

Eggheads skating on very thin ice.

All of a sudden, after the chance to win the game, we go on.

So, Corn Mill Crew, which ship sunk in 1941,

who's wreck was found in 2011, contained the largest haul

of precious metal ever discovered at sea?

-Nothing is coming to mind.

-Any guesses?

-Any ship names? Mean anything to you?

-Yes,

-but they would be ridiculous guesses.

-Go one, be ridiculous.

Mary Rose, but I don't know if...

Just the name of the ship.

Maybe think of a ship in history.

I don't know. Give me lady's name.

-Victoria.

-The Victoria.

The Victoria.

Sunk in 1941, found in 2011.

It had £150 million worth, it's estimated,

of silver plate on board, but it's not the Victoria.

It is the Gairsoppa.

The SS Gairsoppa.

Sunk in the war. 1941.

So, Eggheads, a chance.

Designed by Marc Chagall,

a stained-glass window in the UN headquarters in New York

is partly a tribute to which Secretary-General?

-I would guess Dag Hammarskjold.

-That was my first thought.

He died in a plane crash.

If you think of the early ones, Trygve Lie was the earliest.

I can't imagine it would be.

-He's not really is important.

-He's not as important as Dag.

Chagall, when did he die? '81, '82?

So Hammerskjold's in the right area in terms of dates.

He also designed the windows for the Hadassah Hospital

in Jerusalem, which is fantastic.

-I would think Dag Hammarskjold.

-Yeah.

-We're happy with that?

-Yeah.

Again, we're not 100% certain.

But the earlier Secretary-General of the UN,

who died in a plane crash in 1961,

who was very well known, was Dag Hammarskjold.

So we'll go for Dag Hammarskjold.

Dag Hammarskjold is the right answer, Eggheads. You've won.

Both had opportunities in that game, as you well know.

If you'd landed your Basel Accords,

Swiss banking, you would have been banking the money now

because the Eggheads got their third one wrong.

We went into Sudden Death

and they've just taken you by the skin of their teeth.

Look at them. How relieved are those Eggheads?

And, indeed, matched them in terms of the head-to-heads.

So almost a score draw,

but the Eggheads taking a deep into extra time.

Thank you very much for taking on the Eggheads today,

but the 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 £5,000.

That means 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.

£6,000 says they don't. Until then, goodbye.

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