Episode 77 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 - the Eggheads.

Taking on the awesome might of our quiz Goliaths today are Dynamo.

They are all members of the same veterans' football team

and admit they maybe aren't as dynamic as they used to be. Let's meet them.

Hello, I'm Paul, I'm 61 and a marine scientist.

Hi, I'm Mike, I'm 57 and I'm a charities management consultant.

Hi, I'm Dave, I'm 48 and I'm a teacher.

Hi, I'm Spencer, I'm 47 and a freelance writer.

Hi, I'm Rob, I'm 49 and a graphic designer.

-Paul and team, welcome. Good to see you. Football brought you together.

-That's right.

-What positions are you in?

-Most of us are defenders now. Age has a relation to that.

-The older you get, the further back you go.

-The flat back five!

More or less, yes!

It's quite good to be in a defensive formation with this lot here.

-Got any football players? No?

-Not for a long, long time.

-Are we surprised by that?

-It's probably not a huge asset!

You're quite creative - a graphic designer, a writer, a teacher.

-So the juices are flowing here.

-That's right. We have lots of different backgrounds.

-We come from various disciplines.

-And a bit of quizzing, too?

Yeah, we do a little bit. Not professionals.

OK, well, let's see how you do dynamically here.

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.

So, Dynamo, the Eggheads have won the last 11 games,

-which means £12,000 says you can't beat them. Want to try?

-Yes!

The first Head to Head battle is History.

Who would like this?

-Everybody's looking at me!

-Spencer with the shirt.

Spencer on History.

-Which Egghead, Spencer?

-Who would you recommend?

-We don't know Dave.

-Dave?

-Dave.

-Dave, please, yes. Go for Dave.

-Rightio.

So Spencer from Dynamo versus Dave, the unknown,

although we're getting to know him better. Tremendous Knowledge Dave.

To make sure there's no conferring, please take your positions in the Question Room.

-Spencer, you grew up in an interesting house.

-Oh, I did, yes.

I grew up in the house where Ian Fleming wrote several of his books.

Moonraker and I think maybe parts of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as well.

-In Kent, right down on the seashore.

-Right. And is that a house with a plaque on the front?

No, it hasn't, actually. Interesting point. It doesn't at all. It's quite anonymous, relatively small.

I think he used it as a summer house. It's quite isolated, but a nice piece of history to it.

Great. We're playing History here. Three multiple choice questions on history.

Whoever gets the most right goes through. Spencer, first or second?

I think I'll go first, please.

Here is your question. Which famous ship was built in Hull in 1784

and burned by her crew six years later?

Well, it's not going to be the Titanic. I think that's lying at the bottom of the ocean.

Not HMS Victory because that's sitting in Portsmouth, very regally.

So HMS Bounty, Jeremy.

HMS Bounty is quite right.

Dave, how many rounds have you done on history?

Two so far.

-50% record.

-One lost, one won.

-Yeah.

-Here's your question.

In 1886, which US President dedicated the Statue of Liberty when it was unveiled?

Didn't know this straight away,

but George Washington was the late part of the 18th century,

up to the start of the 19th century, and Lyndon B Johnson, of course, replaced John F Kennedy.

So I think it's the President who was elected twice.

He had two non-consecutive terms as President - Grover Cleveland.

Great stuff. Quite right, yeah. Interesting. Back to you, Spencer.

What was the name of the series of small fortified keeps built along the England/Scotland border

as refuge and defence towers?

The towers I'm familiar with are Martello towers on the south coast.

So I'm going to... struggle to eliminate any of those three.

I think I will take Pelham towers, please, Jeremy.

-Let's just see if your team-mates know. Yes or no?

-We didn't know,

-but the Eggheads are shaking their heads!

-Oh, the Eggheads! What is it?

-Peel towers.

-Peel towers is the answer, not Pelham.

Dave, to take the lead.

What name was given to a series of charity schools, the first of which was Christ's Hospital in 1552?

I know the Christ's Hospital school in Horsham in Sussex,

but it's still not helping me with the question.

Just on what looks right to me, and is probably wrong,

em...I'm going to eliminate Greensleeve and Redcap schools and go for Bluecoat schools.

Well done. Completely right. Bluecoat schools it is.

Over to you, Spencer.

Numa Pompilius, the King of Rome, is credited with adding which two months to the Roman calendar?

Em...

So Roman...

Adding two months to the calendar...

Well, I'm thinking of Augustus.

I think I'll take July and August, please, Jeremy.

It's January and February, Spencer, not July and August.

You've been knocked out by Dave. Dave will be in the final.

Spencer won't. Please both come back and rejoin your teams.

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

The Eggheads have lost no brains. The next subject is Arts and Books.

Which challenger would like this?

-I think it's me.

-Not our favourite. It's none of our favourite categories.

-I think I'm the fall guy for this one, Jeremy.

-Against who?

Chris?

-I'd choose Chris.

-Yeah, I'll take that advice.

The advice is Chris, so Chris.

-Mike from Dynamo versus Chris.

-Here we go again(!)

It's something about... Right now he's attracting Arts and Books.

To ensure there's no conferring, please take your positions in the Question Room.

-So what do you do with the football club, Mike?

-I'm the chair, one of the original founder members.

These days I do a lot of running around behind lots of old boys who act like young kids.

-Do you have younger players than we see today?

-Yes, we do. You've got the experienced bunch.

The veterans. OK, well, good luck. You'll detect Chris's annoyance.

-But the haven't gone badly, Chris.

-They've gone all right. I surprise myself with what I know sometimes.

I'll ask each of you three questions and whoever answers the most correctly is the winner.

-Mike, first or second set?

-I'd like to go first, please.

Here is your question. Henrik Vanger is a character in a book by which writer?

Henrik Vanger.

I'm pretty certain it's not JK Rowling.

I've read most of Stieg Larsson's books and Dan Brown's books.

And I'm pretty certain - and there's a clue in the name - that it's a Stieg Larsson character.

-Stieg Larsson is quite right. It's the first one. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

-I don't know.

I read them all after each other, so they melded into one another.

-Addictive, aren't they?

-Very much.

OK, Chris,

which businessman and inventor was the subject of a best-selling 2011 biography by Walter Isaacson?

I don't think it was the late Steve Jobs.

I think Richard Branson wrote his own autobiography, so Alan Sugar.

That's the wrong answer. He did, sadly, die.

-It was Steve Jobs.

-Steve Jobs, oh.

-Yeah. Great man.

Mike, you're in the lead. Suzanne Valadon was a model for the Dance At Bougival by which artist?

I can't remember if Renoir did a lot of ballet paintings.

I went to an exhibition not so long ago. Sadly, I can't remember.

But I'll go for Renoir.

You're going for Renoir? It's correct. Well done. Got it.

Back to you, Chris.

Get this wrong and you're out. Who wrote, "A terrible beauty is born," in his poem Easter, 1916?

Well, Thomas Hardy, he was more a novelist than a poet. He wrote about Wessex.

Siegfried Sassoon was a WWI poet, but the Easter Rising was in Ireland

-and WB Yeats was Irish, so it's WB Yeats.

-It is indeed.

WB Yeats, the very great.

It still means, Mike,

get this right to take the round. Thomas Cole was the founder of which 19th-century American art movement

known for its landscapes?

I-I don't know, but by a process of elimination

there clearly is a Hudson River.

I'm not sure there's a Bronx River.

Or an East River. So on that basis I'm going to go for the Hudson River School, Jeremy.

The Hudson River School. Do the other rivers exist?

The East River, certainly.

But you're absolutely right. Well done!

Chris, he got three in a row.

Brilliant. Just instinctive guesswork, if you don't mind me saying so.

-Another word is luck, Jeremy!

-Whatever. It worked for you. You're in the final and Chris is out.

Please both of you come back to the studio.

So the challengers have lost one brain and so have the Eggheads.

The next subject is Sport.

This must be good for you!

-Well...

-Should be a major strength.

-As long as it's football.

-Rob.

-Rob? OK.

-I'll give it a go.

-Against which Egghead? Not Dave, not Chris.

- Well, what do you reckon? - It's Judith or Daphne.

- That's a bit sexist. - But it is either of those. Judith, I think.

-I'd like to take on Judith, please.

-OK, Rob from Dynamo versus Judith from the Eggheads

on her favourite subject.

To ensure there's no conferring, please take your positions.

-Tell us what you do outside football, Rob.

-Well, loosely, I'm a graphic designer.

My partners and I run a large format graphic company where we do lots of large prints

for retail shops and sometimes TV studios.

-You did a Tori Amos album cover?

-Many years ago, yes.

The significance of that was that she came in while we were doing it,

so we got to meet her and she actually went into a separate room while we were doing it

because she was on Top of the Pops that particular night

-and she practised, so I could listen to her while I retouched her onscreen!

-What fun!

OK, let's see how you do on Sport against Judith, who is so excited to be in this category yet again.

-Of course(!)

-You promised us you read the back pages.

-Religiously!

-Let's see what comes up now.

-I'll ask each of you three questions on sport in turn. Rob, first or second?

-I'll go first, please.

Here we go. Good luck to you. What was the highest official cost of a ticket at the 2012 Olympics?

Well, I'm going to rule out £20.12 straight away.

20,000 sounds a lot.

It could well be, it could well be,

but I'm going to go down the middle and go for £2,012, please.

And 2,012 is the right answer. Well done. Well done.

Judith, which country won rugby league's Four Nations tournament in 2011?

Rugby league... I, um...

I don't... Four Nations.

-France.

-Is the wrong answer. It was Australia.

Went down the right.

Rob, your question to take the lead.

Which of the golf majors was won by Keegan Bradley in 2011?

Yes, I do remember it.

OK, it definitely wasn't the US Masters.

It wasn't the US Open either. I'll go for the US PGA, please.

You've got it right. Well done. You've taken the lead.

Judith, you need to get this right.

How many times did John Parrott reach the final of the World Snooker Championship?

I don't know!

-John Parrott?

-John Parrott.

He's a name to conjure with, so let's say three.

Three is the wrong answer.

I'm assuming that was a guess?

-Yes.

-It wasn't that you watched it twice, then once on repeat?

-No.

-Two is the answer, Judith. Sorry to have to break that to you.

You are out of Sport, although it was quite painless. Well done, Rob.

You've beaten our Egghead on Sport, so you'll be in the final.

Both of you, please come back and rejoin your team-mates.

-How about this, Paul? You're winning.

-I know.

-You're a goal up.

-And a little surprised.

-Well, Judith, what can we say about that Sport round?

-They're sportsmen. They're going to win that.

-They're footballers.

-But there are other sports you like.

-They're interested in sport, so perhaps they watch other things too.

-So you chose the right Egghead there.

-I think so.

-And you're ahead.

The challengers have lost one brain, the Eggheads have lost two.

It's getting exciting as we approach the final round.

Our last subject before that is Film & Television.

Which of you would like this?

-That's me, is it?

-It's you.

-Dave?

-Dave, yeah.

-Which Egghead? Kevin or Daphne?

Look at Daphne grinning there!

Kevin?

-I'll take Kevin?

-He's going to be strong in the final.

-What are you thinking?

-I'm just thinking of taking on Kevin.

-You might get the breaks.

-You might be lucky.

-Tactical move. I'm going to be the sacrificial lamb and take on the formidable Kevin.

Dave from Dynamo versus Kevin from the Eggheads.

To ensure no conferring, please take your positions in the question room.

-OK, Dave, so it's Film & TV.

-Yeah.

-I gather you love your music?

-I do, yeah.

I share a favourite band with you, I gather, Jeremy - The Smiths.

I love them. Sorry that Music didn't come up because Kevin has had a few slip-ups on Music.

-Just recently, yes.

-Recently, very unusually, so, it didn't come up for you.

-And you bought yourself a record player?

-Yeah.

I've been making my kids suffer listening to all my old vinyl.

-So you kept the vinyl?

-I've got lots of vinyl. That's why I bought the turntable.

I've just done the same thing. I've had to buy new vinyl. Somebody offered me some Beatles albums.

-But it's a great thing, isn't it?

-I've got a few I could sell you if you like.

So, Smiths albums. Have you got a turntable in your house or has it been cleared out?

It hasn't been cleared out yet. I think there might still be one somewhere, actually.

There's something about putting the arm down because it plays the tracks in order and you don't shuffle them.

-Yeah. There's still a place for it.

-Wonderful, yeah.

So, three questions on Film & TV.

-Dave, you can choose the first or second set.

-I'll follow my team-mates and go first, thanks.

Here we go and good luck to you.

With which quiz show is the phrase "Can I have a P, please" associated?

I wasted a lot of time watching this in my youth as a sixth former,

presented by the famous Bob Holness.

-But it's Blockbusters.

-Blockbusters is the correct answer.

Which I think has been brought back recently. Kevin, your question.

Which 1968 film first featured Herbie the Volkswagen?

Well, that was the first of a series of films featuring Herbie.

It was The Love Bug.

The Love Bug is the right answer. Well done. I watched it recently.

-Not as funny as I remembered.

-They rarely are.

-Yeah, it really went on.

OK, Dave, your question.

Zach Galligan played Billy Peltzer in which film of the 1980s?

I don't know the answer. The character name sounds familiar.

I'm going to rule out Back To The Future

because Michael J Fox was the central character.

I think I'm going to rule out Gremlins

and I'm hoping that he was one of the bad boys in The Breakfast Club.

I understand totally why you've done that, but it's Gremlins actually.

Who was the character? What did he do?

He was the young male lead.

He didn't have a great career other than that,

but he was the juvenile lead, if you like, in Gremlins.

-He got attacked by the Gremlins or he kept them as pets?

-Well, both.

He's the one who had the pet, the Mogwai,

which then developed into the Gremlins.

How you know all of this, Kevin, I've got no idea!

Your question to take the lead.

In the TV series The Fast Show, who played the characters Dave Angel, Billy Bleach and Competitive Dad?

I didn't watch The Fast Show, I'm afraid.

The only name I can associate there is Charlie Higson. I'll go for that.

-Anybody know?

-Simon Day?

-Simon Day, yes, you're right.

-Simon Day is the answer.

-I just didn't watch it.

OK, that's helpful, Dave.

Who played Frank Gallagher in the US version of the TV drama Shameless?

Oh, dear. I would have liked Kevin's question, but never mind.

I really don't know. The American TV version of Shameless...

A total shot in the dark I'm going to go John C Reilly.

No, it's not John C Reilly.

-It is... Kevin, do you know?

-I think it might be William H Macy.

William H Macy is the answer. Kevin, last question.

If you get this right, you are through to the final round.

The 1993 film known in English as Farewell My Concubine was made in which language?

Well, it's a Chinese film, so Mandarin.

Mandarin is correct. Well done. You got through to the final.

You got a question wrong there, but you got through to the final.

Dave, sorry, you've been knocked out by our Egghead. Come back to us and we'll play the final round.

This is what we've been playing towards, the final round, which, as always, is General Knowledge.

I'm afraid those of you who lost your head-to-heads can't take part,

so Dave and Spencer from Dynamo and Judith and Chris from the Eggheads, please now leave the studio.

Well, Paul, Mike and Rob, you are playing to win Dynamo £12,000.

Kevin, Dave and Daphne, you are playing for something money can't buy - your reputation.

I will ask each team three questions. They're all General Knowledge and you can confer.

Dynamo, are your three brains better than the Eggheads' three?

-Would you like to have the first or second question?

-We'll go first.

Here we go. First set of questions to you and good luck.

In architecture, what name is given to a series of columns or arches

which form a covered walkway in front of a building?

-Right...

-It's not plinth.

-I'd say portico.

-A pedestal is what the pillar is on.

-Yeah.

As is a plinth.

-I'm sure a portico, as in gate, is a walk-through.

-I think so, yeah.

Portico, Jeremy.

Portico is the right answer. Well done. Over to you, Eggheads.

Which UK zoo took delivery of the giant pandas Tian Tian and Yang Guang in 2011?

-It's Edinburgh.

-It's Edinburgh, isn't it? Happy with that?

-Yes.

-That was Edinburgh.

-Edinburgh Zoo is quite right. Well done.

Back to you.

Alija Izetbegovic was President of which country?

-Do you know?

-I don't know.

Croatia and Slovenia are just better known countries, aren't they?

We might have known his name. I recognise the name, but...

I'm drawn to Bosnia-Herzegovina. I'm not absolutely sure why.

-I imagine they're all "ic", aren't they?

-I suspect so.

I'm drawn there as well.

-Go for it.

-I don't think it's Croatia.

Slovenia or Bosnia-Herzegovina.

-Are we going for Bosnia?

-Yeah.

-OK.

OK, we're going to go for Bosnia-Herzegovina, please, Jeremy.

You've got it right. Well done. Bosnia is the right answer.

Over to you, Eggheads.

Until 1962, who was the drummer with the band Rory Storm & The Hurricanes?

-It's Ringo out of those.

-Yeah.

It was in Hamburg. That's where they met.

-Definitely Ringo Starr. Yeah?

-Yes.

That was Ringo Starr before he became famous with The Beatles.

Ringo Starr. Did he replace somebody else?

-Yeah, Pete Best.

-Pete Best.

-When he went to The Beatles, yeah.

Ringo Starr was the drummer with Rory Storm & The Hurricanes.

He made a good career choice there. OK, if you get this third one right,

it puts quite a bit of pressure on them because if they get it wrong, you have the money.

What is the name of the Oxfordshire house which hosted an opera festival from 1989 to 2010?

I have absolutely no idea.

Which ones have you heard of? I've heard of Rycote House.

I think that's the only one I've heard of.

Garsington Manor, Friar Park...

If it's a house, it could be a house,

but Friar Park doesn't sound like a house.

For some reason, Garsington Manor has a...

-In Oxfordshire...

-I like the sound of it.

-Do you? Oh, OK.

But no, I mean, other than the fact that...

I vaguely remember lots of names with Rycote in Oxfordshire.

It is the only one with House in the title which is clutching at straws.

-Shall we go for Rycote House?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Rycote House is our answer, please.

You've gone for Rycote House.

It's Garsington. It's Garsington Manor.

I was certain you were going for that, then just swerved at the end.

We didn't really know. We were hovering there.

OK, Eggheads, your third question.

If you get this right, the contest is over. If you get it wrong, we go to Sudden Death.

William Lamb, who served two terms as British Prime Minister

in the 19th century, was also known by which title?

-It's Melbourne.

-Melbourne.

-Yeah.

-It's Melbourne.

-It's Melbourne.

The husband of Caroline who had an affair with Byron

and he was the 2nd Viscount Melbourne.

Your answer is the 2nd Viscount Melbourne.

-If you got it right, the contest is over. Do you think it's right?

-Yes.

They do look a bit certain.

It is 2nd Viscount Melbourne. Congratulations. You have won.

-Just in at the end there.

-Yeah.

-But had you got yours right, we could have gone to Sudden Death.

Thanks for playing. You played really well. You were level going into the final. That's unusual.

I know. It's good. We're happy.

A flat back five have got into a midfield position.

OK, commiserations, challengers. The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them

and their winning streak continues. You won't be going home with the £12,000, so the money rolls over.

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.

£13,000 says they don't. Till then, goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd