Episode 115 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 awesome might of our quiz Goliaths

today are the Pelicans.

Now, this team are all students at Corpus Christi College in Oxford

and they regularly take part in the weekly quiz held in the college bar.

Let's meet them.

Hi. I'm Jamie. I'm 19 and I'm a medical student.

Hi. I'm Aled. I'm 20 and I'm a law student.

-Hi. I'm Melissa.

-I'm 19 and I'm and English and classics student.

Hi. I'm Saul. I'm 19 and I'm a chemistry student.

Hi. I'm Beth. I'm 19 and I'm a classics student.

-So, Jamie and team, welcome.

-Hi.

-Good to see you.

Jamie, why the Pelicans?

Well, we all met really early on in university.

We all go to the same college

and the pelican is kind of our college mascot.

So, we thought it would be an apt name today.

That's an unofficial mascot, or it's actually in the crest, is it?

Yeah, it's on the crest. But we've also kind of taken it under our wing.

-Something special for us.

-The college authorities

are watching, thinking, "They've got to win today!"

Yeah, we're nervous about what they're going to think about our performance.

-So you quiz together, which is handy.

-Yeah, regular pub quizzers.

That's not in the college, that's outside, is it?

Mostly, it's in the college.

We have a bar and they have a weekly pub quiz that we go to.

-And do you win?

-Sometimes.

Usually, we pick up some form of prize, whether it's first or...last.

And you've gone through your subjects - medical, law,

English, classics, chemistry, so you've got a lot covered.

-Anything missing?

-Sport. Food & Drink, maybe.

There probably is a sport undergraduate degree, but we haven't got one of those.

-Unfortunately not today, no.

-History?

-Maybe.

I can attempt it.

I can see this is a bright team, so good luck against the Eggheads here.

Look at them, slavering at the opportunity to take you on.

Every day, there is £1,000 worth of cash up for grabs for our Challengers.

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

So, Pelicans, I can tell you that the Eggheads have won just

the last game, which means £2,000 says you can't beat them today.

-Would you like to give it a go?

-Yeah, we'll try.

OK, the first head-to-head battle is on the subject of Food & Drink.

-That was the one we don't have. There's no course in that.

-No.

We all do eat food and drink. We do that. Who shall we go for?

You can use my get out of jail free card, if you want.

Beth is going to sacrifice herself.

OK, the classics student on Food & Drink.

OK, against which Egghead? Can be any one of them.

Whoever looks hungriest!

Um... Can I take Pat, please?

OK, so Beth from the Pelicans versus Pat on Food & Drink from the Eggheads.

-Up for this, Pat?

-Yes. Hell, yes!

-LAUGHTER

You didn't play a role in the last game, except at the end.

All right, to ensure there's no conferring,

would you please both take your positions in the question room?

-So, Beth, how come you're doing Food & Drink?

-Um...

I'm sort of the one without a speciality,

so the one topic that came up that nobody wanted to do,

I was just thrown to the lions on, so Food & Drink it is!

Good luck. You can choose the first or second set of questions.

I'd like to go first, please.

In France, what is produced by a vigneron?

V-I-G-N-E-R-O-N. A vigneron.

Um... Right.

French is not my strong point. Um...

I think... I don't think it's ice cream. Um...

Cos, like, the French for wine is "vin". It hasn't got a G in it.

So...I think... It's going to sound stupid.

I think I'll go for smoked meat.

Yeah.

Let's ask Judith cos Judith lives in France.

I live next-door to a vigneron, in the middle of a vineyard.

And how is the smoked meat from that?

-I think that's something to do with charcuterie.

-Yeah.

There's no smoked meat in the vigneron that you're next-door to.

Not my vigneron, no.

Wine is the correct answer. Sorry, Beth.

Pat, which item of food is tested for freshness by a process

called candling?

I think... I'm not sure of the details... I think you candle eggs.

Um... An attempt to sort of half look through the shell to see

if you can see light behind.

I think, whatever the method is, I think it's to do with eggs.

Eggs is the right answer.

-What is candling? Anyone?

-Hold an egg up in front of a candle flame.

If it's really fresh, it'll be slightly translucent.

Is that right?

JUDITH: You can also float an egg. If it floats, it's old.

-Right. Where does the candle come into that?

-It doesn't.

-You try and push it under water with a candle?

-It's the other method.

OK. Beth, your question.

Haupia is a traditional coconut dessert from which US state?

Um... Once again, I don't know.

Um...

I don't think it's Alaska.

Um...

But it might be.

I think I'll go with...

..Hawaii cos it's sort of the more tropical one.

-I could be wrong.

-Good logic. You've got it right, well done.

Hawaii, it is.

OK, Pat, the wedding cake for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge,

made by Fiona Cairns, had how many tiers?

I must have read something about this, but it doesn't spring to mind.

Well, one tier would be very, very modest

for a big event like that.

Fifteen sounds positively pagoda-like.

You'd need structural engineers.

I think eight is a lot of tiers in a cake. I'll go for eight.

Eight is the right answer.

So he's still in the lead, Beth,

you need to get this one right. OK?

Arborio rice takes its name from a town in which Italian region?

I'm such a pathetic excuse for a quiz show contestant today!

Erm... I don't know

at all.

I'll go for Piedmont.

Is she right, Eggheads?

It's not an easy question. Arborio rice. Is she right?

I'd go for Veneto myself cos, you know, rice paddies

in the low-lying sort of estuarine areas around Venice.

So I'd say Veneto.

Chris would be wrong. Beth is right.

Piedmont it is. Well done.

There we go. OK.

Pat, if you get this one right you are in the final.

Jiggs dinner is a regional dish in which part of the world?

-I'll have to ask you to spell it, please.

-Sorry, Jiggs is J-I-G-G-S.

Complete guess, I think. Jiggs dinner...

I'll guess Australia. It's a complete stab.

Ah. No, you're wrong.

It's Canada. Cooked your chances of going straight to the final, Pat.

We go to Sudden Death. The scores are level after three questions.

Beth, it's a bit harder, I don't give you alternatives, OK?

Here we go.

Which beverage is traditionally made and served in Turkey

using an open metal pot called a cezve?

Erm... I don't have the faintest clue.

Oh, my family went to Turkey this summer but I didn't go with them.

That probably would have been quite useful now!

I don't know. Erm, I'll say... a Greek spirit or something.

Ouzo is literally the closest thing I can think of

and it's ages away, but I'll go with ouzo.

It's not ouzo, it's coffee.

-Oh! OK.

-Open metal pot.

Yeah, Turkish coffee.

OK. Pat, for the round -

what type of fruit is a Tydeman's Late Orange?

Apple is tempting because there are just

so many varieties of apple,

and occasionally you get,

like the Cox's Orange Pippin, apples described as being orange.

I think I'll have to go with apple.

Apple is right. It is apple.

Orange could have taken you in other directions, but it didn't.

So Pat, you're in the final round.

Beth, you were beaten by our Egghead, and will not be able to help your team in the final round.

Please come back and rejoin your teams.

As it stands The Pelicans have lost one brain from the final round,

the Eggheads have not lost a brain, but early days.

The next subject is Film & Television.

Who would like this?

You did go very quiet then.

Erm...yeah, that's one we haven't really thought about.

Jamie, did you want to...

-Jamie.

-Me?

-Jamie?

-I will take it on, please.

-OK.

-Who shall I go against?

Erm...

Choices.

I will take Judith on, please.

All right, Film & Television.

-You'll be happy about that?

-Erm...we'll wait and see.

OK, Jamie from The Pelicans versus Judith from the Eggheads,

please go to the question room now.

So, Jamie, we had Beth, a classicist, on Food & Drink,

-and now you're a medical student doing film.

-Yeah.

-The plan's working.

-It's A plan, but... We'll see if it works.

-But do you watch, TV or do you watch movies or what you do?

-Mainly TV.

Not so big on the movies, so hopefully we can afford that.

So we are Film & Television,

and Jamie, all the best to you. First or second set of questions?

I'll go... I'll go second, please.

Judith, who starred as Oscar Diggs in the 2013 film

Oz: The Great And Powerful?

I really don't know.

Bradley Cooper.

Is she right, Jamie?

Erm, I think that's the one which is kind of like

an Alice In Wonderland-esque

remake of Wizard Of Oz, which is James Franco.

-Yeah, James Franco it is. There we go.

-Should have gone first.

-Oh, no, it's been very useful making you go first.

-We'll see.

Jamie, which classic 1970s series starring Gordon Jackson and Jean Marsh was updated in 2010

with Keeley Hawes and Ed Stoppard in the cast?

Erm... Yeah, with the actors' names

I'm pretty sure that's Upstairs, Downstairs.

It very much is, well done. OK, so you're in the lead now.

Let's treasure this moment.

Judith, which 1987 film won nine Oscars

despite having no nominations in any of the acting categories?

Erm... Let me think.

I would have thought Amadeus would have had some acting nominations.

I'm trying to sort of go for a film that was all technical,

because the Oscars must have been sort of for camerawork and so on.

The Last Emperor's probably very decorative.

But it was foreign, wasn't it?

I'm going to say Platoon.

-Any Eggheads know?

-BARRY: Last Emperor, I think.

-Last Emperor is the answer.

-Oh. How annoying.

-It is, yeah.

For you, I mean!

-So, all you have to do, Jamie, is get this right.

-Yeah, that's all..

Who played April Dancer,

the main character in the 1960s series The Girl From UNCLE?

Erm...some of those names ring a bell, but not the series at all.

So, erm...

complete guess, I'm going to go for Stefanie Powers.

The Eggheads are all laughing cos you got it completely right.

So two out of two. Judith got zero out of two

so Judith, you won't be in the final round. I'm so sorry.

Jamie, you will be. Great news for your team.

Please, both of you, come back to us.

So, The Pelicans have lost one brain from the final round

but the Eggheads have lost a brain too.

The next subject for you is Music.

-Now...

-Melissa?

Melissa. OK.

I'll take Barry.

Melissa from The Pelicans versus Barry from the Eggheads on Music.

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

Melissa, Music. First or second set of questions?

Can I go first, please?

Here we go, then. In March 2009, a large glittery shoe

was placed outside the Palace Theatre in London to promote which musical?

OK, well, Spamalot is based on the Monty Python sketches

so...pretty sure there are no glittery shoes in that.

Again, The Lion King - slight absence of clothes in those

because they're all animals, so

I think Priscilla is about drag queens, so that would probably

fit the best, so I'll go with Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert.

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is absolutely right, well done.

Barry, who released the 2009 album Tongue n' Cheek,

which featured the UK number one singles Holiday and Bonkers?

Goodness me... Don't think it was Noel Gallagher.

I really don't know the answer to this one,

but 2009 sounds around the time Matt Cardle was going, so Matt Cardle.

-Melissa, is he right?

-No, it's Dizzee Rascal.

Dizzee Rascal! OK.

Melissa, your question.

You're in the lead, you don't even need this to take the lead.

Get this right, you put him under serious pressure and Barry can crack.

Which singer arrived at the 2011 Grammy Awards

concealed in a giant egg?

It was Lady Gaga.

Lady Gaga is quite right. Flying there.

Barry, to stay in -

who started presenting a weekly jazz show on Radio 2 in April 2010?

Well, the only name of those three

that I associate with jazz is Jamie Cullum, so I'm hoping it was him.

It is indeed. Works down the corridor from me.

Situation is, Melissa,

if you get this right you've knocked him out.

"See the mice in their million hordes,

"from Ibiza to the Norfolk broads"

is a line from which David Bowie song?

OK, I don't think it's Changes.

Erm...

I'm going to go for Life On Mars?

-Let's see if your team-mates know. She right?

-Yes, she is, yeah.

Anyone sing it here? Go on.

# See the mice in their million hordes

# From Ibiza to the Norfolk broads... #

Sorry, I added a bit of a like, drum and bass beat to the end there.

-I'm sorry, Jeremy.

-But you got it completely. Life on Mars? is right.

So Melissa, well done, you've knocked Barry out.

Barry, you won't be in the final round,

Melissa will be. Good news for our challenging team of Pelicans.

Please come back to us and we'll play on.

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

the Eggheads have now lost two.

So this is going a bit better, isn't it?

The next subject is History.

The one we were worried about.

-Right, yeah. I will take that.

-Aled? OK.

-Let's do it.

Which Egghead would you like? It can be

at my end here, Chris or Daphne?

-Can I have Daphne, please, Jeremy?

-You certainly can.

-Thank you very much, that's very kind.

Aled from The Pelicans versus Daphne from the Eggheads.

Smiling sweetly but don't be deceived. She's known as the smiling assassin.

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

-Aled, History - are we ready for this?

-About, yeah.

I'm liking the jumper.

Thank you. I thought I'd add a bit of a festive tone to proceedings.

It's a big student thing, in January everyone comes back

from Christmas with their Christmas jumper.

Exactly. And they're quite thick, so you can turn the heating down

and save money then, so you can spend more on...other stuff.

Yes, I know what the other stuff is, don't worry.

-You were a student once too, Jeremy.

-Exactly so.

-So, would you like to go first or second?

-Can I go first, please?

First, and here we go.

Who founded the order of the Missionaries of Charity?

OK. So, Marie Curie obviously a bit of a scientist.

She might have done a bit of charity in her spare time, but I'm not sure.

Again, I'd move away from Sylvia Pankhurst.

I'm going to go for Mother Teresa

due to, you know, everyone knows about her charitable works.

-Mother Teresa is quite right. Well done.

-Thank you.

OK.

Daphne, in the United States in the 1960s,

Joseph Valachi became the first member of which secretive organisation

to publicly describe its workings?

Well, he sounds like he ought to be in the Mafia. So Mafia.

Mafia is correct.

-Because of the Italian name, I guess.

-Yes. Yes.

Aled, in which country did Henry Ford

build the now abandoned jungle city of Fordlandia

in an attempt to create one of the largest rubber plantations on the planet?

OK, so rubber... I'm going to move away from Thailand and Mozambique,

and I'm going to go for Brazil.

Good thought. Brazil is right. Well done.

Playing well, isn't he, Daphne?

-Yes!

-His team are playing well, they're in the lead at the moment.

See if you can hang on in there.

Daphne, what relation was Louis XVIII,

restored to the throne of France in 1814,

to Louis XVI, executed in 1793?

Crumbs!

Erm...

I ought to know this, but I don't.

Erm...

Brother?

Brother is correct.

OK, Aled, I'm sorry Daphne's playing well,

but Daphne always plays well. That's the truth of it.

Ferocious Miss Marple you're up against.

In 1870, what was the destination of the maiden voyage of the Cutty Sark?

OK. So... 1870, America did exist then, so it could be San Francisco.

I'm thinking the Cutty Sark had something to do with tea.

I'm not sure whether that's correct.

So I'm going to go for

the British colony of Singapore.

Anyone help us here?

-CHRIS: Shanghai.

-Shanghai is the answer.

-Not tea?

-No, to load tea.

-Yeah. It was tea but it was Shanghai.

-It was tea.

-Sorry, Aled.

-No worries.

OK, your question, Daphne.

If you get this you're in the final round.

Which 12th-century saint was known for the Prophecy of the Popes

in which he supposedly had a vision describing the next 112 Popes?

I don't know. Erm...

Saying...

Cosmas.

-No.

-Malachy?

-I can't give you a second go at it.

-No.

-Malachy is the right answer, yeah.

-I knew it wasn't Bernard.

But that doesn't help.

So, Daphne, we are level after three questions, so Aled,

we go to Sudden Death which means I don't give you alternative answers.

-Are you ready?

-Yes.

At the Cairo conference of November 1943,

Churchill, Roosevelt

and Chiang Kai-shek agreed that which country should be

stripped of all the territories it had seized since 1914?

Erm... OK, so seizing territories around that area,

I'm going to go for Japan.

-Japan is quite right.

-Thank you.

Chris will know about this. Which territories in particular?

Well, Korea.

The puppet state of Manchukuo which they set up in Manchuria,

and... Well, they'd taken over half of China by then.

Yeah, they generally wanted putting back to stops.

Thank you. Daphne, your question.

To stay in.

In 1200,

Isabella of Angouleme married which King of England?

She married...

..King John.

King John is correct.

Which means we play on.

At which battle was William Wallace's force

defeated by Edward I in 1298?

OK. Scottish history. I'm Welsh, so I'm regional

so there might be a bit of Celtic memory. Erm...

The only battle I can think of is Bannockburn?

It's not, it's the Battle of Falkirk.

Near Stirling.

OK.

Daphne, for the round.

Which famous ruler, who died in 1227,

chose his third son Ogedei to succeed him after his death?

Genghis Khan?

Genghis Khan is quite right,

so Daphne, you've taken the round.

Aled, sorry. If you come back to us, we'll play on.

So, this is what we have been playing towards, it is

time for the final round, which as always is General Knowledge.

Those of you who lost your head-to-heads won't be allowed

to take part in this round.

So Aled and Beth from The Pelicans and Barry

and Judith from the Eggheads, would you please now leave the studio.

-Jamie, Melissa and Saul, you played very well.

-Thanks.

Jamie, the plan held together.

Well, we kind of deviated, but it's worked out OK.

You didn't get subjects that were along the lines of what

you're studying, so you were at a disadvantage slightly.

-Maybe they'll come up now.

-That is true. Very positive thinking.

So you're playing to win The Pelicans £2,000.

Daphne, Chris and Pat, you're playing for something that money can't buy -

the Eggheads' reputation.

I will ask each team three questions in turn, this time the

questions are all General Knowledge, and you ARE allowed to confer.

So Pelicans, the question is, are your three brains better than

the Eggheads' three?

And would you like to go first or second?

I think we'll go first.

Here we go, Pelicans. The first Red Nose Day in support of the charity Comic Relief

took place in which decade?

It was the '80s. Cos it's just celebrated 25 years or something.

OK. We'll go for the '80s.

'80s is quite right, well done.

Eggheads -

what type of building is featured

on the Walt Disney Pictures logo?

-Castle.

-Yeah, it's a castle.

Depends what you mean by the logo, but the thing

that comes up on the end credits is the castle from Sleeping Beauty.

It's a castle, Jeremy.

Castle is the right answer.

When was the last time you watched one of them, Chris?

I don't know, donkey's years ago. But I've got this mental image -

I think it IS the castle from Sleeping Beauty,

but I think they use it as a logo.

And I guess it's also the kingdom in Disney World, Disneyland

-and all that.

-Yeah.

-OK, so one each.

They may not get easier.

Which actor wrote the Hollywood memoir With Nails?

Any idea?

-Were any of them in Withnail And I?

-I don't know.

Kenneth Branagh's very Shakespeare-y, I doubt

-he'd call his autobiography...

-I was thinking maybe Ian McShane.

Richard E Grant... He was in Spice World(!)

-My inclination would say Ian McShane.

-I'd go for Ian McShane.

We'll go for Ian McShane. We don't really know.

Ian McShane is your answer.

-Did somebody say With Nails as in Withnail...?

-Yeah.

Did that take you to any of them?

-No.

-We don't know who was in it.

-OK.

Cos that was probably '80s, wasn't it?

Before our time.

That was Richard E Grant,

and obviously his memoir title is based on the film,

so Richard E Grant was the answer. Sorry, guys.

Eggheads, to take the lead.

Which US state is nicknamed the Pine Tree State?

-Maine.

-Maine...

Yeah, Florida's...

-It's not any of the others.

-It's not Utah, that's the Mormon State.

It must be Maine.

Yeah, that's Maine, Jeremy.

Maine is the right answer. So they're ahead.

So you need to get this one right.

Let's get The Pelicans focused on this question. Good luck.

Waikiki Beach is on which island of Hawaii?

-Anyone been to Hawaii?

-Oh, I know this...

It's not the first one. I think it's one of the other two.

I think...

Maui's quite big.

I think it's Maui.

The last two have been down the centre...

-Let's go Maui.

-Maui?

We are going to go for Maui, I think.

Do you know?

-It's near Honolulu, on Oahu.

-Honolulu.

Is Oahu the biggest one?

No, second biggest island.

-OK.

-Most populated.

-I'm afraid they're right.

Oahu is the right answer, so we say congratulations,

Eggheads, you have won.

-That was painful.

-Yeah.

Cos you fought more strongly than some of the teams we've seen

recently, and to get three on three is not easy. Is it?

You've done great, and it's great to see all the team here as well.

Commiserations to The Pelicans, the Eggheads have done what

comes naturally to them, and they still reign supreme over quiz land.

It does mean you won't be going home with the £2,000,

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 of Challengers have the brains to defeat the Eggheads -

£3,000 says they don't. Till then, goodbye.