Episode 8 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 each 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...

Now, this family team confessed to being a very competitive bunch.

No biting, gouging or hair-pulling for the next half an hour, please.

Let's meet them.

Hello, I'm Peter, I'm 49, and I'm a retired police officer.

Hi, I'm Paula, I'm 46, and I'm a taxi driver.

Hi, I'm Frank, I'm 52, and I'm also a taxi driver.

Hello, I'm Liz, I'm 62, and I'm a retired literary agent.

Hello, I'm Julie, I'm 56, and I'm a medical secretary.

Well, welcome to you, Mersey Magic.

Let's untangle the family links here for the audience.

Peter, you're Paula's brother, and down the end there we've got

Liz and Julie who are sisters, and you are cousins.

-You four are cousins, and Frank, you're married to Paula.

-That's right.

-Ha-ha! Got it there.

Now, let's play the quiz, then. Best of luck, Mersey Magic.

Every day there's £1,000 worth 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, Mersey Magic, the Eggheads have won the last 18 games.

That means £19,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads.

-No pressure, then.

-No pressure at all!

Let's play the first round, then.

First try to knock an Egghead out on the subject of Arts & Books.

Who would like to take this one on? Arts & Books.

THEY CONFER We'll send Liz in for this one.

OK, Liz, and you can choose any of those wonderful Eggheads.

-I choose Chris.

-Chris? I said the wonderful Eggheads.

OK, let's have Liz and Chris into the Question Room

just to make sure you can't confer.

Right, Liz, do you want to go first or second?

I'll go first, please.

Best of luck, Liz. Here's your first question, then.

The Dastard's Guide To Fame And Fortune is the subtitle of Shepherd Mead's 1952 book

How To Succeed In Business Without Really...what?

I think it's Trying.

How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying is correct, yes.

And, first question, Chris.

In a 2011 production at the National Theatre,

Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch

alternated the lead roles in which play adapted by Nick Dear from a classic novel?

Well, I don't think they could adapt Brave New World into a stage play.

It's Huxley's dystopian future.

Dombey and Son, being Dickens, would be a sprawling, great thing.

I don't think it was that either.

But I can quite see Benedict Cumberbatch, in particular,

as Frankenstein. So, it'll be Frankenstein.

Frankenstein. Other Eggheads?

-It is.

-It is the right answer.

Yes, rotated between Jonny Lee Miller, the lead role,

and Benedict Cumberbatch.

OK, 1-1, and back to Liz.

In which of Shakespeare's plays is the title character

poisoned by a monk?

I don't really know, but I'll guess...

King John.

Good guess! It's the right answer, yes.

Chris, which occupation is mentioned in the title

of the Christopher Marlowe poem that begins with the line,

"Come live with me and be my love?"

Ah, that's a pastoral sort of thing, isn't it? So, it'll be a shepherd.

Ah, very good, Chris! Yes, some excellent quizzing here. All square.

Liz, the large bronze sculpture entitled Nuclear Energy

unveiled in 1967 in the grounds of the University of Chicago

to mark the 25th anniversary of the first nuclear chain reaction there,

is a work by which British artist?

-I think it's Henry Moore, by the year.

-OK.

Nice short answer to a very long question.

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

Well, Chris, work to do!

Alvin Langdon Coburn was a pioneer in which artistic field?

(Coburn.)

-Ooh.

-Alvin Langdon Coburn.

Well, he sounds like an American.

Eh...

I've not heard of him in connection with architecture.

And pottery, there's been no real innovation

since the times of Josiah Wedgwood and co, so since he sounds American

and since it's a relatively new art form, I'll go with photography.

And you've worked it out. It's the right answer, Chris. All square.

So, we go to Sudden Death, Liz, and that means we take away those

choices that you've been working so well with up to now.

OK, here you go.

In the late 1940s, which prolific modern artist moved to Valaurie

in the south of France where he produced numerous works in ceramics?

Dali. Salvador Dali.

It's not Salvador Dali. It is... Eggheads?

-Picasso.

-Picasso, Pablo Picasso.

OK, well, a chance for you, Chris.

Which decade of the 20th century did WH Auden described as a "low, dishonest decade."

It must have been the '30s.

-What are you looking at me like that for, Daphne?

-No.

-Waiting for you to agree.

-It is the right answer, yes.

It is correct, Chris.

Well, Liz, bad luck there, but not to be on the day.

It means you won't be helping your teammates in Mersey Magic

in the final round.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

Well, Liz came so close there, and that means then that you're

going to be missing from the final round.

The Eggheads, of course, all still there after one round.

Second-round coming up now is Science.

Who would like to play this one?

-Julie? Julie will do it.

-Julie, OK.

This is a well oiled plan swinging into operation!

-Choose a Egghead, anyone apart from Chris.

-Leave Daphne alone.

I think I'll play Daphne, please.

I have someone there saying, "Leave Daphne alone,"

and Julie said, "No, no, no!

"We'll play Daphne."

-Leave you alone!

-I knew that was coming.

Well, Daphne is playing this against Julie.

Into the Question Room, both of you, please.

Well, Julie, how do you want to play this?

Do you want to start let Daphne take the first set of questions?

I think I'll go first, please.

Off we go, then.

Science is the category, and this is your question, Julie.

The American engineer Simon Lake gave the name Argonaut to

his attempt in the 1890s to create a prototype of what type of vehicle?

Erm...

Well, on the basis that it's a seagoing vehicle

and so was the Argo, I would say submarine.

And you'd be right to. Yes, correct. Submarine.

Daphne, swallowed by some animals to aid digestion, what are gastroliths?

-They are stones.

-Oh, and how do they help?

I haven't actually done it myself, so I don't know!

It's the right answer, yes, gastroliths.

Stones swallowed by some animals to aid digestion.

OK, and your second question, Julie.

Cordefan, Massai and Rothschild are subspecies of what mammal?

I think it's a giraffe.

It is, that's the right answer.

OK, second question, Daphne.

What is the more common term for the plants known

collectively as potamogeton?

Well, pota... I suppose it's something to do with rivers.

Rivers, hogweed, bulrushes...

SHE MUMBLES

..live in swamps. Oh, dear! What an awful question! Erm...

Mangrove.

Mangrove. Awful question. Julie's thinking, "Good!"

-Yeah, the whatever it didn't really narrow it down, did it?

-No.

All involved there and you got the wrong answer. It is...

Other Eggheads, do you know?

-Pondweed?

-Bulrushes?

-Pondweed.

So, two goes and you wouldn't have got it! Pondweed. Right.

Well, Julie, you're straight into the final round if you give me

a correct answer here.

The Solvay process is used to produce large quantities

of which compound?

S-O-L-V-A-Y. The Solvay process.

I have to guess this cos I really don't know.

And I'm going to say copper sulphate.

Copper sulphate for the Solvay process

and a place in the final round.

Well, no! It's the wrong answer. It is sodium carbonate.

Well, can you solve this one, Daphne?

In mathematics, what name is given to the decimal part of a logarithm?

Mantissa.

Is, I'm pained to say, correct. It's the right answer, yes.

OK. Well, a chance there for Julie,

but into Sudden Death like her sister, Liz.

And this is your first Sudden Death question, Julie.

In computing and the analysis of computer performance,

what is the term for a trillion or ten to the power of 12,

floating-point operations per second?

Is a tetrabyte?

-Tetrabyte?

-Yeah.

No. Daphne, any idea?

Is it something like a permaFLOP?

Oooh, you're close. It's not that.

Barry, we'll single you out here. You're trying to hide there.

Normally, when we get these kinds of questions, you're, "Me, me, me."

-I wasn't sure. The flop bit's right.

-The flop bit is right. It's only

-out of interest because it wasn't identified by Julie.

-PetraFLOP?

It's not. It's a teraFLOP. A teraFLOP or a TFLOP.

OK. Your question is this, Daphne.

A gyrus is a fold or ridge in which organ of the human body?

A gyrus. G-Y-R-U-S.

Hmmm.

The brain?

No?

Yes. The brain is correct.

Yes. Your gyrus is working very well there, Daphne, as always.

One point, Julie. Very close to getting through there

on the Solvay process.

A chance there, didn't happen for you,

means you won't be in the final round.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

Just so unlucky. Getting so close,

both Liz and Julie, the sisters there.

But not in the final round.

It means Mersey Magic have lost two brains from the final round.

The Eggheads are all still there. Round three

in the head-to-heads. This one is Music.

So who'd like to play this? It's Peter, Paula or Frank? Music.

-You do it.

-Me? Are you sure?

-Yeah.

-That would be me, Dermot.

OK, Frank. Who would you like to play?

Chris and Daphne have already played so it's Barry, CJ or Kevin.

-Barry.

-Yeah, do Barry.

-Go Barry.

-Barry, please.

-OK.

Barry, let's have Frank and Barry into the Question Room now then.

Well, let's hope the magic works for you, Frank.

-Do you want to go first or second?

-I'll go first, please.

Music it is then. Frank's first question.

"They told him don't you ever come around here,

"Don't want to see your face, you'd better disappear"

are the first lines of which Michael Jackson hit?

It's definitely not Thriller or Bad

and it's definitely Beat It.

It's the right answer, Beat It. Yep, correct.

Barry, who had a UK top-ten hit in 1976

with a version of The Who's Pinball Wizard?

Well, I can't imagine Elvis Presley or Engelbert Humperdinck

singing a version of Pinball Wizard

so I'll go for Elton John.

Right round your era, wasn't it?

Were you able to see out of the hair at that stage?

-Something like that.

-It's correct. Yes, Elton John.

One-all. And Frank...

which Rogers and Hammerstein musical

features the song, Hello, Young Lovers?

I don't think it's Carousel.

The King and I...

I think I'll go with South Pacific.

South Pacific for Hello, Young Lovers...

I don't think the others agree

and they're right to not agree, to disagree with you.

It is the King and I. It's the King and I.

But a chance for the lead for Barry then.

Neil Peart, Alex Lifeson

and Geddy Lee are long-standing members of which Canadian rock band

formed in 1968?

I don't know the answer to this one

and the only one of those groups that I'm afraid to say I've heard of

is Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

So on no other basis than that, I shall go for

Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

It's not the right answer though. It's Rush.

Members of Rush. OK, well, no damage done then, Frank,

apart from the fact you would have had the lead.

But here's your third question. On which instrument

would one normally execute a pataflafla?

Pataflafla?!

Yeah! P-A-T-A-F-L-A-F-L-A, all one word.

It's going to be definitely a guess

and I would guess drum.

Guess at drum. It's the right answer, Frank.

It means you've got to get this, Barry.

Which classical composer spent the final years of his life

composing a series of short works

which he collectively entitled Sins Of Old Age?

Well, Schubert and Chopin both died relatively young,

so the only one that it's likely to be is Rossini.

I know Rossini didn't really compose very much after the age of 39.

I think he spent most of his remaining years eating fine food,

but I've got a sneaking suspicion that this was Rossini.

Eating fine food and composing Sins Of Old Age is the right answer.

Yes, well worked out, Barry.

And once again, three rounds out of three so far.

We go to Sudden Death, Frank.

Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel

is one of the people credited with the invention

of which aid to musical tempo?

So clearly that surname is W-I-N-K-E-L.

Would that be the metronome?

It would be. That's the right answer, yes.

Barry, founded in 1950 and featuring such acts

as Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon,

Chess Records was based in which US city?

Muddy Waters suggests the blues,

so we're looking at possibly Memphis, Nashville or New Orleans.

It must be one of those three but which one?

Try New Orleans.

-Didn't matter what you went for, all wrong.

-Oh!

-It's Chicago.

-Gosh. Way off.

Chicago. Which means, well, Frank, you're through to the final round.

Even you'd accept you were pretty lucky there.

You were facing the quiz version of the hangman's noose there...

-Definitely.

-..and the last-minute reprieve came in...

Pataflafla flew in.

..just as you were standing on the trapdoor. You are in the final round.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

The clouds are beginning to part for Mersey Magic.

They have now ejected an Egghead in the form of Barry.

It means the Eggheads have lost one brain,

Mersey Magic have lost two

as we approach our last head-to-head.

This subject is Politics. And it's Peter or Paula to play. Politics.

INAUDIBLE MUMBLING

-Go on. I'll play, Dermot.

-OK. And you've got CJ or Kevin to face.

-I'll take CJ on, please.

-OK.

CJ and Peter, could I ask you both please to go to the Question Room?

Well, Peter, do you want to go first or second in this Politics round?

I'll go first please, Dermot.

Good luck, Peter. First question.

What term did the US politician Sarah Palin famously coin

to describe both herself

and the female Republican politicians she approves of?

Well, I'm not really sure of this one, Dermot. But I can't...

see that they'd call themselves Mama Grizzlies...

..so I'm going to go for...

-..Super Cougars.

-Super Cougars.

No, it's not Super Cougars.

CJ's a big fan of Sarah Palin, I know, and her politics. So he knows.

Unfortunately, I do. It is Mama Grizzlies.

Mama Grizzlies along with Hockey Moms as well. That's another one.

CJ, which Liberal Democrat MP

became Chief Secretary to the Treasury in May, 2010?

I think that's Danny Alexander.

Danny Alexander is correct.

Yes, made Chief Secretary on the early resignation,

-very early on in the government, of... Can you tell me?

-David Laws.

David Laws. OK.

And Peter, second question.

"Who governs Britain?"

was the slogan used by which party

in the general election of February, 1974?

Well, I'm not really sure of this one either, Dermot.

But I'm going to go for Labour.

Labour, who governs Britain? February, 1974.

It's not the right answer.

CJ?

No, I don't know this one either.

It is the Conservatives.

It was Ted Heath beset by industrial problems.

Is it the unions or is it the government?

With the lights going out and minors' strikes and things.

It was the Conservatives who ended up with a minority

Labour administration in February and a second election in 1974

which Howard Wilson actually got a small majority.

OK. Well, nothing there for Peter so a chance then

for CJ to take the round.

What is the present name of the organisation

set up in 1978 as Helsinki Watch?

Well, I'm a member of Human Rights Watch so...

I don't know it but I will go for Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch of which you are a member

is the right answer, CJ.

You're in the final round. So for the first time in the game,

no Sudden Death means, Peter, you won't be playing with Mersey Magic.

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 Peter, Liz and Julie from Mersey Magic and Barry from the Eggheads,

would you leave the studio now, please?

So, Paula and Frank, you're playing to win Mersey Magic £19,000.

Kevin, CJ, Daphne and Chris, you're playing for something

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

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

The questions are all General Knowledge and you are allowed to confer.

So, Paula and Frank, the question is,

are your two brains better than the Eggheads' four brains?

Paula and Frank, do you want to go first or second?

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

The first question then and best of luck with it.

Who received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for the 1992 film

The Crying Game?

It definitely wasn't Stephen Fry.

Stephen Rea or Stephen Baldwin?

-Stephen Rea.

-Stephen Rea?

-Go with Stephen Rea.

We think, we're not too sure, but we think it's Stephen Rea.

Stephen Rae in The Crying Game.

Yes, you're right. Well remembered.

Eggheads, mass production of the Volkswagen Beetle

began in which year?

It was pre-war, wasn't it?

-KdF-Wagen as it was originally.

-Yeah, yeah.

It was the people's car under the Third Reich

so it was pre-Second World War, 1935.

So you can do that on the dates? A Hitler project.

It's the wrong answer, Eggheads. It's 1945.

It's a real chance for you, Mersey Magic.

What is the name of the farm in Somerset that is the venue

for the Glastonbury Festival?

I think Wincroft Farm is...

Wincroft...

-It's not Worthy Farm, is it?

-No.

Shall we go for Wincroft?

Yeah, OK.

We're not too sure again unfortunately.

Um, we don't think it's Welham Farm and it's between the other two.

-Shall we go for Wincroft?

-Wincroft.

-We'd like to go for Wincroft Farm, please.

-OK, Wincroft Farm

for the Glastonbury Festival.

It is...

Worthy Farm.

So, chance for the Eggheads to get back in but they're still 1-0 down.

Eggheads, the heart of which Scottish national hero

is alleged to be buried at Melrose Abbey?

That's Robert the Bruce.

Robert the Bruce...

is the correct answer.

Barry's jumping around there. He's loving that.

You're back in it but it's all square.

Mersey Magic, third question.

What was the name of the greyhound that in 1973 became the first dog

since Mick the Miller in 1930 to win the English Greyhound Derby

in two consecutive years?

You've not heard of... You've got no inkling at all?

I haven't heard... Erm, no...

I don't know. Beef Cutlet sounds like...

Yeah, I thought that.

Patricia's Hope? Erm...

I don't know.

-For some reason, I don't think Sonic Flight.

-Between the first two.

Shall we go for the Beef Cutlet?

Again, Dermot, it is a guess cos we don't know.

-We'd like to go for Beef Cutlet, please.

-OK, Beef Cutlet.

It's Patricia's Hope, though.

And what a turnaround, potentially,

for the Eggheads. If they get this, they've won the game.

During the Cold War, the Spadeadam facility

in Cumbria was used as a testing site for what?

Any thoughts, Chris?

It's marked on the Ordinance survey map as a danger area.

Yeah, I don't...

I don't think it's listening devices.

It's... I definitely...

Poison gas would be...

-It is an artillery range so...

-All I know is up there somewhere

there's that place with the big, concrete dishes

that they were using and a huge...

-Can we have an answer, please?

-My vote would be listening devices

-but I don't know. It's just a guess.

-I would say listening devices.

You think rocket engines?

-I think rocket engines, yeah.

-What do you think?

-We're split on this.

Well, if you think rocket engines, if it's two-two, we'll go with you.

Spadeadam...

Rocket engines...

OK, we'll go for listening devices.

-We're going to go for listening devices.

-Listening devices, OK.

In spite of you thinking rocket engines.

It is...

..rocket engines.

Sorry, Chris.

Well, well, well. I think you've got a charmed existence, Frank.

-Something like that.

-We go to Sudden Death.

Still in it. Could be one question leads to the money.

You know what happens in Sudden Death, I'll just remind you.

No more choices until we find out who wins this game.

Published in 1960, Sing As We Go

is the autobiography of which British singer?

THEY WHISPER

-Do you want to go with that?

-Yeah.

We're not 100% sure but we're going to plump for Gracie Fields.

Gracie Fields is the right answer. Hey, hey, hey!

Don't hope yet. Let's see what the Eggheads do with this.

Which sex symbol and film actress was born

in 1956 with the name Mary Kathleen Collins?

That's Bo Derek.

Bo Derek is correct, Eggheads.

Thought you might struggle with that

but they know those kind of things.

OK, Mersey Magic.

What term was introduced by the mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot

in 1975 to describe an irregular shape

produced by successive subdivisions of a similar figure?

Irregular shape? Erm...

I really don't know.

Irregular shape, something...

-Don't know.

-I'm afraid we don't know. I'm sorry.

-Nothing there? Not even a guess.

-No.

-Just not there.

-Mathematics not your strong suit?

-Or irregular shapes.

All right, passing on that one. Do you know, Eggheads, out of interest?

-Fractal.

-Fractal. OK.

But a chance again for the Eggheads.

The leading US university called Johns Hopkins

is based in which city?

It's in Baltimore.

Johns Hopkins...

is in Baltimore. Eggheads, you have won.

Well, I never.

I think I've realised why we got the Volkswagen Beetle question wrong

because it started... It was developed in the mid-30s

and people's money was taken

but they never took delivery of any cars.

They only started to be produced and delivered

after the war had finished.

Presumably most of the industrial output aimed at war production.

OK, right, well, that led to a very interesting game, anyway.

We got deep into Sudden Death

but just caught out by Benoit Mandelbrot.

I think no shame in that! Thank you very much indeed for playing today.

Frank, if you ever want to do the lottery,

would you come round cos you're very lucky?

-I'll give you a few numbers.

-Give me a few numbers, you never know.

Thank you very much, Mersey Magic. Great to see you all.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally and their winning streak continues.

I'm afraid, you won't be going home with the £19,000.

That means the money rolls over to the next show.

Eggheads, congratulations. Who will beat you?

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

have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

£20,000 says they don't. Until then, goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd