Episode 97 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 taking on the might of our quiz Goliaths today

are Saints and Sinner.

This team all work for the same firm of solicitors based in St Helens,

so let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Matt, I'm 29 and I've been a solicitor for almost four years.

Hi, I'm Jenna, I'm 25 and I've been a qualified solicitor since August 2010.

Hello, I'm Andrew, I'm 48, I've been a solicitor for nearly 18 years,

although I did take a two-year break to run a hotel in France.

Hi, I'm Mark, I'm 29 and I've been a solicitor since qualifying in 2009.

Hi, I'm Dave, I'm 30

and I've been a qualified solicitor with the firm for nearly five years.

-So, Matt, welcome.

-Hello.

And Saints and Sinner - tell us why you've chosen that title.

Well, our firm of solicitors is a big supporter,

and most of the team are big supporters,

of St Helens rugby league team

but Dave on the end is the black sheep and he supports Wigan, who are our bitter rivals.

-Which is also a rugby league team.

-It is.

-So you're the sinner?

-I am indeed.

-OK.

And you're keen to point out that although you are solicitors, you're interesting people.

-We like to think so, yes.

-You want that to be officially noted here.

We want to burst that particular bubble and that myth.

So what do you all do when you're not being solicitors?

I think there's a fair few of us who like to go to see gigs.

Myself, I'm a massive Bruce Springsteen fan.

I think Jenna and Mark are also big fans of Muse and have been to see them live.

And, Andrew, you mentioned your hotel, so there's that as well.

What about Dave? As the Sinner, you're just a solicitor, I guess.

Yeah, just a sinner - boring and dull, me.

OK, 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, Saints and Sinner, the Eggheads have actually won the last seven games,

which means £8,000 says you can't beat them today.

Nice handy amount of money.

The first head to head battle is on the subject of geography.

Who would like this?

-Mm, that's our captain, I think.

-That's you, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-OK.

-Matt, it's you, is it?

-It is, yes.

OK. You've obviously got some kind of strategy going on here.

You can choose any Egghead you like,

including our newest Egghead, Tremendous Knowledge Dave.

-Try Tremendous Knowledge Dave.

-Yes.

-Do you think?

-Try Dave.

-Yeah.

-OK. Are we all agreed on that?

-Yeah.

-OK.

We'll take on Tremendous Knowledge Dave.

So it is Matt from Saints and Sinner versus Dave from the Eggheads

and to ensure there's no conferring, please take your positions in our question room.

Three multiple choice questions coming now for you both on geography

and, Matt, you get the choice of the first or the second set.

Second, please.

So we start with Tremendous Knowledge Dave.

Rio de Janeiro is located in which part of Brazil?

I don't actually know.

Erm...

I'm going to go southeast but I haven't got a clue, to be honest.

-Southeast is correct.

-That was a lucky guess.

-Lucky you.

-Good guess.

-How did you do that? I guess you think it's on the coast.

I did think it was on the coast but I couldn't...

I just can't get a topographical map of Brazil in my head.

Sometimes it's like that.

Matt, your question. What is the official language of Senegal?

I'm in the same boat as Dave, really.

I'm not too sure on this one.

I don't think it's English.

I'm guessing that as there's a few French footballers who originated from Senegal,

I think I'm going to go for French.

Football is a good way of working it out. French is correct.

Well done.

Dave, your question. What is Switzerland's largest city?

Right. Erm, I'm going to rule out Basel.

Erm... Something in the back of my mind is saying Zurich.

I've got to go with that particular instinct

because Geneva's there and I think it's a credible answer

but something is saying Zurich to me, ahead of Geneva.

Let's see if your colleagues know. Eggheads?

-Yeah, that's right.

-Yeah.

-Is he right?

-Yeah.

Zurich is the right answer, Dave.

OK, Matt, your question.

What is the name of the easternmost province of Canada?

Mm. I don't know why I've been picked this category, to be honest.

Er, it's definitely not Nova Scotia because...

Sorry, did you say easternmost?

What is the name of the easternmost province of Canada?

Erm, in that case I think it is Nova Scotia.

It's not Nova Scotia. It's Newfoundland and Labrador.

But I thought Nova Scotia was the first bit of Canada you come to.

-No, Newfoundland.

-It's on the east coast

but Newfoundland is an island off the east coast.

So it's even east of the east.

I think aeroplanes always used to refuel in Gander.

-Isn't that Gander in Newfoundland?

-And then they hop on to Nova Scotia?

In the days when they couldn't quite make it in one go.

Interesting. OK.

Well, Dave, if you get this one right, you're in the final.

The fortified historic town of Harar Jugol and the ruins of the ancient city of Aksum

are UNESCO World Heritage Sites in which country?

I've not heard of this at all, so it's going to have to be a guess

and just because of the fact that they're historical sites,

I would go for Morocco over the other two,

but it's a total guess. Morocco.

-It's actually Ethiopia.

-Fair enough.

-So you got it wrong.

So you've got a chance, Matt, to catch up but you do need to get this one right.

The 264 metre high Triumph Palace is a feature of which city?

Oh. Er... I can't think that there'd be...

I'm not too familiar with it in Moscow,

so I'm kind of torn between Frankfurt or Madrid

but I'm not sure whether there'd be a palace in Frankfurt,

so, again, I'm going to go for a complete guess

but I'm going to go for Madrid.

-It's not. It is actually Moscow.

-Oh.

I suppose the only way of working it out - it's easy for me because I can see the answer -

is triumph is one of those sort of Soviet words, I guess.

Well, the Stalinist architecture is vast in scale.

-Mm.

-So it must be that.

-So if it was large, it would be Russian, that's your rule?

-Yeah.

Matt, I'm sorry, you've been knocked out.

You're out on geography.

Dave, there we are, you turned it around.

-Just about.

-On a difficult subject.

-Scratchy form, though.

-I've got to improve.

-It's early days in this contest.

Please, both of you, come back and we'll play on.

So as it stands the challengers have lost one brain from the final round,

the Eggheads have lost no brains so far.

The next subject is arts and books. Who would like this?

-I think we're saying it would be Jenna for that.

-Are we?

-Jenna?

-No, I think we should send Andy.

-No, I think we should send...

-Are you sending me?

-Yeah.

-I think you might have to take this one.

-OK.

-Are you being press-ganged there?

-A little bit.

-OK.

So a Saint against an Egg. Which one?

-Shall we go for Pat?

-Yeah, I think we'll go for Pat.

-OK. Pat, please.

OK, Jenna from Saints and Sinner versus Pat from the Eggheads

and to ensure there's no conferring, please take your positions in the question room.

Good luck to you. Three questions on arts and books in turn

-and, Jenna, you can choose the first or second set.

-First, please.

Here we go. At the end of which West End play

are audiences traditionally asked not to reveal the ending to others?

I'm not sure, to be honest,

but for some reason I'm thinking The Birthday Party

but I don't really know why.

I'm going to go with The Birthday Party.

That's a Harold Pinter play.

It's actually The Mousetrap, which is Agatha Christie, so it's a whodunit, is the answer.

Bad luck. Pat, over to you.

In which year was the William Shakespeare play Hamlet first published?

I think in the early 1600s

Shakespeare hit an extraordinary peak of productivity.

It must be 1603. I'll just think about the dates for a moment.

He was almost contemporaneous with Elizabeth I.

Er... 1605 is the Gunpowder Plot and James I,

so 1603.

1603 is absolutely right. Well done. That's when Hamlet was written.

OK, over to you, Jenna.

The Sigma Protocol, the Chancellor Manuscript

and the Matarese Circle are novels by which author?

Erm, it's no novel that I've... I've not read any of those.

Erm... I'm going to adopt a down the right-hand side approach

and go for Frederick Forsyth.

It's not. It's actually Robert Ludlum.

Pat, on to you.

Liberty Leading The People,

in which a bare-breasted female figure hoists the French Tricolour in the air

is an iconic painting by which French artist?

Gauguin is a bit later, I think,

and specialised in fairly yellow-coloured pictures of natives.

Henri Rousseau,

hasn't he got the tiger and the lion in his jungle pictures?

But this is a very, very famous image.

It was on the cover of a Coldplay album. It's by Eugene Delacroix.

The answer is Eugene Delacroix. A Coldplay album, was it?

It's the sleeve on one of Coldplay's CDs.

Viva La Vida, perhaps.

You've got it right, anyway,

and it also means you're in the final, Pat,

because there's no way back, Jenna. I'm sorry.

So you've been knocked out. Pat is going through.

Please come back and rejoin your team-mates.

So, anyway, the challengers have lost two brains

and the Eggheads have not lost a brain yet.

So we need... This is the moment, now.

We drive the full force of the law at this, OK?

The next subject is music.

-Oh!

-Mark, I reckon you'd be best for this one.

-Well, it can't be me or Jenna again, so...

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Are you happy with that?

-Yeah.

-Mark, OK.

-You need an Egghead.

-Who do reckon? Kevin's not so good on music.

-I don't think he is.

-You don't think?

-Yeah.

-OK, we'll go for that one.

-I'll say Kevin.

-So Mark from Saints and Sinner versus Kevin on music.

And you're maybe stumbling on something here

-because he has had a rough - is it fair to say a rough patch on music?

-Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

It's become his new Food And Drink.

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

I'll ask each of you three questions on music in turn.

Mark, you can choose the first or second set.

I'll take the first, please, Jeremy.

What name is given to the art of producing drum beats and other percussion sounds

with one's mouth?

I definitely don't think it's grooveriding.

I've never heard of backscratching in a music context,

so I'm going to go for beatboxing.

Well done. That's right. Beatboxing.

Can anyone do that here? Anyone demonstrate that?

-No.

-Daphne?

-We'd have a team in the past who were beatboxers.

-Have you?

-Yes.

-And they did a sort of "boom, hrick, boom, hrick"?

-Yes, it was brilliant.

OK, Kevin. Let's see if we can just get you going on music, here.

That Don't Impress Me Much was a UK top five hit single for which singer in 1999?

-That was Shania Twain.

-Shania Twain is correct.

Back to you, Mark.

The original soundtrack to which musical

was number one on the UK album chart for 70 consecutive weeks

from 1958 to 1960?

OK, well, I'm not sure on that one. Erm...

I've seen Guys And Dolls but I couldn't tell you an era.

I'm going to go... I think the West Side Story film was in the '50s,

so I'm going to go for West Side Story.

Daphne will know this. She loves her musicals.

Yes, it's South Pacific. Wonderful.

Are you doing that on the dates or the success of it or what?

No. I had it.

-You were one of the people who put it top of the charts.

-Yes.

-1958, that far back?

-Yes. I was 19.

-No, I don't believe it.

South Pacific is the right answer, Mark.

Now, Kevin's chance to pull ahead.

The jazz musician Stanley Turrentine was best-known for his expertise on which instrument?

Not a name I've ever come across, I'm afraid.

So this really will be a one-in-three guess.

I don't think I've ever heard the name.

Let's try... This is a left-field approach, in a way.

The most - apart from piano, I suppose -

the most famous jazz players tend to be on trumpet or saxophone,

so on that basis, I'm inclined to go for double bass

because I haven't heard of him.

So... But that may be what I'm meant to think.

I'll try double bass, anyway.

Yeah, I'm loving the logic. It's lead you astray.

-Yeah.

-Saxophone is the answer.

-Don't know him.

Saxophone, Mr Turrentine. So you've got a chance here.

What a shame you didn't get the second one right because then you'd be ahead of Kevin.

The Police song Every Breath You Take

featured on which 1983 album?

Obviously I know the song.

I'm not sure what album it was on, unfortunately.

Looking at those three answers,

I think the only album I've heard of is Synchronicity,

Erm... I haven't heard of Outlandos d'Amour or Zenyatta Mondatta,

so I'm going to go, on that basis, for Synchronicity.

Synchronicity is your answer.

They are all Police albums, actually,

but you've got it right, anyway - Synchronicity's correct.

This is good play by you, Mark.

So you're ahead of Kevin. Let's see whether he bails out.

Which actor first played the title role

in 1972 West End production of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar?

I think Michael Crawford was involved with Jesus Christ Superstar,

as far as I can remember.

Er...

I'm trying to think if David Essex actually was.

I know Paul Nicholas was,

so I'm inclined to go for Paul Nicholas.

Paul Nicholas is your answer and it is quite right,

so you are locked at two points each after the multiple choice section.

-Mark, we're going to Sudden Death, OK?

-OK.

It gets a bit harder. I'm not going to give you alternatives.

Which band had a UK hit single in 1997 with North Country Boy?

I think it's Primal Scream.

-It's the Charlatans.

-Charlatans.

Kevin, your question for the round.

"Oh, a storm is threatening my very life today"

are the opening lines to which Rolling Stones song?

Doesn't ring any bells at all.

Erm...

No, I don't know that one. Paint It Black.

-If you hear the song... Anyone know?

-Gimme Shelter.

Gimme Shelter, challengers. Absolutely.

-# Oh, a storm is threatening... # Is that right?

-Yeah, yeah.

-That's the one, yeah.

-Can you do it, not me?

-No.

So we're still level on Sudden Death and we're struggling here.

Your question, Mark.

Which Wagner opera set in Authurian times

is based on an epic poem by Wolfram von Eschenbach?

Operas aren't my strong point.

The only Wagner I know is the Ride Of The Valkyries, so I'll go for that.

No, it's Parsifal, his final opera.

Kevin, get this right to be in the final.

The Alabama Song covered by, amongst others, The Doors

comes from the opera The Rise And Fall Of The City Of... where?

Mahagonny.

Wow! You're straight there with it. Do you know who wrote it?

-Kurt Weill.

-And?

-And Brecht.

-Brecht as well.

-Yeah.

The Rise And Fall Of The City Of Mahagonny is quite right.

Well won, Kevin. You are in the final round.

Sorry, Mark. You had a few chances there to knock him out

but he just came past you at the end.

Never mind. Please, both of you, come back and rejoin your teams.

As it stands, the challengers have lost three brains,

the Eggheads have not lost a brain so far. Let's see if you can turn it around.

The last subject is sport.

-That's you, Dave.

-That's me.

So this is Dave? OK. This is the Sinner. Against which Egghead?

-Daphne or Judith.

-Daphne or Judith.

-Yeah, you can have a go at Daphne.

-Shall we go with Daphne?

-Yeah.

-Daphne, please.

-All right. So Dave from Saints and Sinner versus Daphne from the Eggheads on sport.

-Oh, my...

-Hey, Judith, you can smile!

I can! Bad luck, Daphne.

Please go to the question room now.

OK, Dave, let's see if the Sinner can save the Saints.

-We'll see.

-That would be justice, wouldn't it?

-It would, really.

Let's see how we go. Three questions on sport in turn.

-I'm guessing it's your thing, Dave?

-Yeah, it's what I've been brought to do,

so a bit of pressure, now.

So you can choose the first or second set of questions?

I'd like to go first, please.

Here we go. Good luck.

Which footballer made a shock return to the Manchester United team in January 2012, aged 37?

Right, it's not Gary Neville. He's now on Sky doing the punditry.

I don't think it's Roy Keane. I'm fairly sure that that's Paul Scholes.

It is indeed Paul Scholes.

OK, Daphne, your question.

The centre Gordon D'Arcy has represented which team

in rugby union's Six Nations tournament?

Oh, dear. I do not know.

My grandson will probably be shouting the answer at me.

-Gordon D'Arcy.

-Gordon D'Arcy.

Mm.

Oh... Scotland.

-Ireland is the answer.

-Oh!

-Dave, what about that?

-Good start.

-Good start.

Gordon Greenidge usually performed which role

for the West Indian cricket team?

Gordon Greenidge. I don't think that he was a fast bowler

because I think I know the names of them,

the famous ones that came through, and he wasn't one of them.

So I'm torn between batsman or wicketkeeper.

I've never heard of him referred to as a batsman, either.

You tend to think sort of Viv Richards and people like that,

so I'll go with wicketkeeper but it's really a bit of a guess.

No, it's opening batsman, actually.

Opening batsman.

Daphne, what time did the Brazilian swimmer Cesar Cielo set

when he broke the 50m freestyle world record in 2009?

I really don't know.

Erm... I knew he was Brazilian, I've heard of him, but erm...

Wow. 20 seconds. That's quick.

But, hey, it's a world record. 20.9.

-20.91 is the right answer.

-Sorry!

-It is fast, isn't it?

-Yes.

-Faster than I can run.

And me.

All right, so what have we got now? One each.

Dave, I would suggest you get this one right

-because she is fearsome on the third question.

-I'll try.

Japan's Sawao Kato won eight Olympic gold medals in which sport?

OK. Erm...

I don't know an awful lot about fencing,

so he may very well be a fencer.

Japan and skiing...

There's a lot of Japanese that used to do the jumping

but I don't know about skiing.

I'm going to go for a gymnast.

I think he won his medals in gymnastics.

Gymnastics is the right answer, Dave. Well done.

You kept the pressure on her.

So, Daphne, if you get this one right we go to Sudden Death.

Jan Kodes, who won three Grand Slam titles in the early '70s,

represented which country at tennis?

He was a Czech.

Czechoslovakia is the right answer.

So you're level after three questions.

Dave, we go to Sudden Death, now,

-which is a bit harder because I don't give you alternatives.

-OK.

How many times did the golfer Nick Faldo win the US Masters in the 20th century?

Oh, erm, there was the famous one where he came back and he beat Greg Norman.

Had he won it before that? I think he had.

I'm just trying to think...

I'm pretty sure he's won two, I just don't know whether he's won a third.

I'm going to say...

three.

Love the way you really grappled with that. You're right.

-Three it is!

-TEAM APPLAUDS

So, Daphne, you're poised on the edge of oblivion, here.

Here's your question. Sudden Death.

The Birchfield Harriers athletics club is based in which city?

Oh, gosh.

I've got two in my mind.

Erm... Like Kevin, I'll probably choose the wrong one.

Manchester.

-The answer is Birmingham.

-That was the other one!

You've been knocked out and, Dave, you will be in the final round.

You're turning it around a bit. Well done.

Do both of you come back to us and we will play the final.

That's a bit better. This is what we've been playing towards.

It's time for the final round, which, as always, is general knowledge,

but those of you who lost your head-to-heads can't take part.

So, Matt, Jenna and Mark from Saints and Sinner

and Daphne from the Eggheads will you please leave the studio?

OK, good luck, Andrew and Dave, you're playing to win Saints and Sinner £8,000.

Pat, Judith, Kevin and Dave,

you're playing for something that money can't buy,

which is the Eggheads' very valuable reputation.

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

The questions are all general knowledge.

You can confer with each other.

So, Saints and Sinner, or should I say Saint and Sinner,

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

And would you like to go first or second?

-I think first.

-We'll go first, please.

Good luck to you.

Who hosted the Golden Globes awards ceremony for the third time in 2012?

-In 2012?

-In 2012.

-I think it was Ricky Gervais.

-I think it was Ricky Gervais as well.

-Yes.

We'll go for Ricky Gervais, please.

Ricky Gervais is the right answer.

OK, Eggheads, the puma is a large cat native to which part of the world?

-The Americas.

-The Americas, yeah.

That is the Americas.

The Americas is the right answer.

I realise with you guys that where animals are native to is a big part of quizzing.

-It seems to come up a lot.

-It does, doesn't it?

Pumas... What was the one we had a couple of days ago, the monkey?

-Gibbons.

-The marmoset.

-It was the unpronounceable monkey.

-Marmosets?

-No, it was the one in Madagascar.

-Douroucoulu?

-Yeah, the douroucouli.

-Yes.

-Douroucouli.

OK. So they live on a different planet, really.

Here's your second question. Keep the pressure on them.

In which year did the USSR launch Salyut 1,

the world's first space station?

'66 strikes me as early for a space station, rather than a rocket.

Whereas '76 I think is too late.

-I think '66 is too early.

-Yeah.

I can remember watching them going to the moon in the infants',

so when would that be? '68-ish, 60...

-I think it's 1976.

-OK. I bow to your greater knowledge.

We're not sure on this but we're going to go for 1976.

'76 is your answer. Eggheads, do you know?

-'71.

-'71 it is, the space station.

It is quite soon after the first man on the moon, isn't it?

-Only two years, yeah.

-Two years.

So almost the same level of expertise was needed?

Yeah but the Americans were still concentrating on the Apollo programme at that stage

and they put their own space station, Skylab, up a couple of years later.

The Russians got there first.

OK, Eggheads, your question to take the lead.

Dominic Mohan became the editor of which newspaper in 2009?

The Sun. He's the one who's come in after the scandals.

-Yeah, yeah.

-He hasn't been taking the flak for that, so it is the Sun.

It's not the Mirror. And Paul Dacre's the Daily Mail, so...

-I know it's not the Mail.

-It's the Sun.

-It's definitely the Sun.

It's the Sun.

It is the Sun, you're quite right.

He featured a bit in the Leveson Inquiry.

OK, so they've taken the lead now, so you must get this question right

or the contest is over, guys.

If you get it right, there's always a chance they slip up

and then we're on Sudden Death and anything can happen.

Which former chairman of the Conservative Party

became the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

in 2010?

I'm telling you now I don't know.

Do you know what any of those three do?

No, is the answer to that one.

-I'm purely guessing but something's...

-What are you guessing?

..drawing me towards Cheryl Gillan but I have no idea why.

-Well, go with that guess because...

-OK.

-..I'm just...

-I have absolutely no idea.

-Yeah, I don't know but that's what I'd go for.

-OK?

-Yeah.

We haven't really got a clue, quite frankly,

but we're getting drawn towards Cheryl Gillan.

I could see you getting drawn.

I think she may be Welsh secretary.

The answer is Caroline Spelman.

OK.

-Which leaves you no way back, challengers.

-No way back.

So we say congratulations, Eggheads. You have won!

-So it's tough against four.

-It's tough, anyway, right down the line.

It is, yeah.

It really is. I mean, all the other subjects before that the other team members got out on,

if I'd have taken them, I wouldn't have been here, you know -

it's been tough but it's been good fun. Thank you. Really good fun.

-They're modest people but they do know quite a lot.

-Oh, yeah.

Commiserations to you. The Eggheads have done what comes naturally

and their winning streak continues.

I'm afraid you won't be going home with the £8,000,

which means that the money now rolls over to our next show.

Eggheads, congratulations. Who will beat you?

I can't imagine it happening at this stage.

Join us next time to see if a new team of challengers have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

-I've jinxed you now.

-Yeah!

-Thanks a lot.

£9,000 says they don't. Till then, goodbye.

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