Episode 134 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...

Now, this team of friends all quiz together

at the Malt Cross Pub in Nottingham. Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Tom. I'm 25 and I'm an assistant buying manager.

Hi, I'm James, I'm 25, and I'm an assistant store manager.

Hi, I'm Claire, I'm 24, and I'm a brand assistant.

Hi, I'm Justin, I'm 28 and I'm a branch manager.

Hi, I'm Henry, I'm 27 and I'm a real estate associate.

So, Neither Big Nor Clever, Tom and team, welcome.

-Hello.

-How you doing?

-And you quiz together in a pub?

That's great, Tom.

Yeah, we all quiz on a Monday night at the Malt Cross in Nottingham

and we figured, we don't do too badly at the quiz,

why don't we try ourselves out against some

more formidable opposition and see how we do?

But the name suggests there's not a lot of confidence going into this.

-What's going on?

-We change our name every week,

so the name was...I tried to represent what we are as quickly as

I could, off the top of my head in about 15 seconds,

and I came up with,

"We're not really that big and we're not really that clever."

OK. Every day, there is £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, team, Neither Big Nor Clever, the Eggheads have won the last

three games, which means £4,000 says you can't beat them today.

-Are you ready to try?

-We are ready to try.

The first head-to-head battle is on the subject of Geography.

Who wants this?

Shall I step up and take Geography...

-Captain's innings!

-..with my honorary Geography degree?

-THEY LAUGH

-Tom against which Egghead?

-What do you think?

-I'd...I'd...

-Shall we take on Barry?

-Barry, Barry.

OK, we'll take on Barry.

OK, Tom from Neither Big Nor Clever versus Barry.

Please go to our question room now.

So, Tom, do you want to go first or second?

Uh, I'll go first.

Here is your first question.

The Imperial Palace which contains within its grounds

the main imperial residence of the Emperor of Japan

is located in the Chiyoda area of which city?

Well, I have...

got absolutely no idea off the top of my head,

so let's have a think about this.

Nagoya, I've never even heard of Nagoya. Osaka, I've heard of.

I think Osaka's down to the south.

The Imperial Palace, you'd imagine,

is probably going to be in the capital, so I will go with Tokyo.

Is he right, Barry?

Yes, I've been there and it's absolutely in Tokyo.

Tokyo is correct, Tom. Well done.

APPLAUSE

Barry, what colour is the middle stripe on the French national flag?

Well, those are the three colours of the French national flag.

And I believe the middle stripe is the one in the middle, white.

The middle stripe is indeed the one in the middle. That's brilliant(!)

White is the right answer.

BARRY LAUGHS

Tom, which island on the south coast of England

lies between Langstone Harbour and Chichester Harbour?

Um, being from the North,

the south of England is not my area of expertise, um,

so, again, this one is going to have to be based on

a little bit of guesswork.

Canvey Island, I think, is to...

the east of London, it's like north-east of London.

Hayling Island, I've never heard of, again.

Based on the fact that the question says the South Coast,

I'm going to go with Lundy.

Lundy, OK.

-It's wrong, though. It's Hayling Island.

-Ah.

OK, Barry, to take the lead, in which country in the

British Isles is the Berwyn range, an area of moor-covered uplands?

I've never heard of this, so that's interesting.

Moor-covered upland?

Hmm.

To me, that sounds like Northumberland,

so I shall go for England.

-No, it's not England, it's Wales.

-Ooh!

OK, Tom, that's good.

Barry has tripped. Let's see if he stumbles and falls.

Which German Land or state is the largest by area?

Oh, dear! Um...

OK, this is the third question, it's going to be the third guess,

but we'll try and use a bit of logic.

Um, so, I don't really know where any of these places are.

Bavaria is, obviously, the most famous one. Um...

Ooh, but is it the biggest?

I'm going to go with Bavaria.

Yes, you've got it right, well done.

-You're in the lead again.

-APPLAUSE

So, Barry, you need to get this one right.

Oyala is a city in which African country?

Well, I know a few cities in Nigeria and Oyala isn't one of them,

so I'm going to discount that.

I only know one city in Togo and it's not Oyala.

So, I'm going to go for Equatorial Guinea.

Equatorial Guinea is the right answer.

HE LAUGHS

So, you're equal after three questions.

-Tom, we go to Sudden Death.

-Yeah.

-It gets a bit harder.

-Mm-hm.

I don't give you alternatives.

What is the major river flowing through the city of Hereford?

Ooh, I've got...this is really annoying, because I did Geography

at A-level, and I did a Geography field trip to that exact river.

I'm trying to think back to my Geography A-level,

but, unfortunately, that information seems to have disappeared.

So, I'm going to take a guess, I'm going to go with the Severn.

No, it's Hereford on Wye.

Wye is the river.

Barry, for the round, which

island country lies in the Caribbean between Martinique and St Vincent?

Oh, gosh!

I have been to the Caribbean on two occasions and...

I've absolutely loved it, but there's so many islands there.

Between Martinique and St Vincent...

Hmm.

-I think it might be St Lucia.

-St Lucia is the right answer, Barry.

Well done. You're in the final round.

Sorry, Tom, knocked out by our Egghead.

You fought well, though. Please come back and rejoin your teams.

So, as it stands, Neither Big Nor Clever

have lost one brain from the final round.

The Eggheads have not lost one so far. The next subject is Music.

Who wants Music?

Music is an interesting one.

Who do we want to take this?

Justin sounds like he's quite keen on doing it.

-Justin, do you want to step up and take music?

-Shall I?

-Justin?

-Yeah, I think I'll do that.

OK, the music man against which Egghead? Can't be Barry.

Hmm. Justin, do you want to take on Dave?

-I think I might take on Dave.

-Yeah, we'll take Dave on Music.

OK, and he's very keen on the music, you love, you love, Dave.

Yeah, the music I love, I love,

-but the music I hate, I really hate.

-THEY LAUGH

-And that usually comes up!

-Yeah.

So, Justin from Neither Big Nor Clever versus

Tremendous Knowledge Dave.

Please go to the question room now.

-I gather you play the guitar, Justin?

-I do a little bit, yes.

And is that the acoustic or the electric, or...?

I can play both, yeah. I'm sure my friends would say not very well,

but, you know, I like to think

I'm a bit of a Jimi Hendrix! THEY LAUGH

All right, Music, Justin. Would you like to go first or second?

Eh, I'll go first, please.

Here we go, Justin, good luck.

All American Prophet and Baptise Me are songs from which musical?

I don't know. I think I'll... I'll go with my first instinct

and say Jesus Christ Superstar, but...

-You don't sound very certain.

-No.

The answer ended with a "but..."

It was the clue.

-The Book Of Mormon is the right answer.

-Ah!

Tremendous Knowledge Dave, your question. In the Wheatus

2001 UK hit single Teenage Dirtbag,

the dirtbag in question likes to listen to which band?

Don't know.

I know of the song.

It's more likely, because of the band's concern,

and the nature of the song, that Iron Maiden

and Black Sabbath...are not going to be the right answer.

I'm going to go for Alice Cooper, which is a band.

Even though Alice Cooper is the name of Vincent Furnier, but...

no conviction at all, but Alice Cooper, out of that

particular song, I should have listened to the lyrics more.

-It's not Alice Cooper, it's Iron Maiden.

-Right, OK.

So, two wrong answers so far. You're back in it.

Justin, Groove Is In The Heart was a UK Number 2 single

for which group in 1990?

I just remember the video to this from my youth.

It's an easy one, Deee-Lite.

Deee-Lite is correct, with three Es.

Well done, Justin. OK, Dave.

Whose first UK hit single was Ma, He's Making Eyes At Me, in 1974?

Well, it's not Linda Ronstadt, because the artist was Scottish.

Um, it's not Lulu. It's Lena Zavaroni.

Lena Zavaroni is the right answer.

So, over to you, Justin.

The musician Merle Haggard is most associated with

which country music genre?

HE SCOFFS

I have no idea at all!

Um, really not my bag.

This is going to be purely a guess,

because I've heard of Nashville Sound.

I've not heard of Bakersfield or Lubbock,

so, I'll just go for Nashville Sound.

-OK...

-I think it's Bakersfield.

Yeah, Bakersfield Sound is the answer.

Dave, your question for the round.

The award-winning jazz musician Jason Rebello is particularly

associated with which instrument?

Right, well, he's award-winning. Um...

I don't like double bass in terms of that with awards, piano...

it could feasibly be, I've not heard of this man.

I need to brush up on my jazz. I'm going to go saxophone.

-No, it's piano.

-All right, OK.

So, equal after three questions, we go to Sudden Death again.

Justin, your question.

Which member of Pink Floyd had a UK number 1 album in 2006

entitled On An Island?

David Gilmour.

David Gilmour's correct.

APPLAUSE

There's a good question for a guitarist.

OK, Dave, in 1984, which singer

best known as an operatic soprano, sang the role of Maria on an

album recording of West Side Story conducted by Leonard Bernstein?

In trouble here!

-If you get this wrong, you're out.

-I know!

Now, should I go with...

Montserrat Caballe would be...

..reasonable, but the part of Maria in that particular one, it would

be a younger...I would have thought it would be a younger one.

It could be Montserrat Caballe, it could be Jessye Norman.

SHE MOUTHS

I don't like the Montserrat Caballe answer.

I'm going to go Jessye Norman. I know I'm wrong.

You will know this, Daphne.

Well, I thought it was Kiri Te Kanawa.

-Kiri Te Kanawa is the right answer.

-All right.

It was, so you've been knocked out. You're not in the final round.

Justin, well done.

You've won through on music.

Congratulations, you'll be in the final round.

Dave, you've been knocked out. Please come back and rejoin your teams.

So, as it stands, Neither Big Nor Clever have lost a brain from

the final round, but they have now taken out an Egghead brain,

so, well done, Tom and the team.

The next subject for you is Film & Television.

Who would like this?

-Film & TV...

-It is not me.

-Who would fancy it?

-Oh, God!

Claire, do you want to step up for Film & TV?

-OK.

-Claire, OK. Would you like to choose an Egghead?

-It can't be Dave or Barry.

-I was thinking Daphne or Chris.

-Thoughts, team? Chris?

-Chris.

-Go for it.

-Chris.

We'll have Chris, please.

So, it's Claire from Neither Big Nor Clever versus

Chris from the Eggheads. You've done this recently, Chris.

-Indeed, I did, yes, quite successfully.

-Oh! OK.

-Oh, dear.

He's larging it up now.

To ensure there's no conferring, please go to the question room.

OK, so, good luck in this round, both of you and, Claire,

you can say whether you want to go first or second.

Um, I'll carry on with what the team have been doing, and go first.

Good luck to you, Claire. Here we go.

In The Muppet Show, what nationality was the chef who had

bushy eyebrows and a large moustache?

Um, not entirely sure, so...

that's a blow.

Uh, but if I had to guess, I'd guess

Spanish.

Although I'm not sure why.

OK, let's ask the boys here.

ALL: Swedish.

Swedish chef.

OK, Chris, your question.

Who's presented both The Hotel Inspector on Channel 5

and The Fixer on BBC Two?

Uh, well, Jo Frost is Super Nanny.

Uh, Mary Portas is the sort of shopping supremo,

so it's Alex Polizzi.

Alex Polizzi is quite right. Well done.

Back to you, Claire.

Who played super-spy Nick Fury

in the films Iron Man 2 and Avengers Assemble?

That I do know, and that's definitely Samuel L Jackson.

Brilliantly done, it really is. Samuel L Jackson.

Well done, you have a point.

Chris, to take the lead.

Which television star co-founded the production company

So Television in 2000?

Hmm.

Production company.

Uh, I don't think it would be Nick Knowles.

I don't think it would be Graham Norton, but, uh...

the most entrepreneurial of those three is Jonathan Ross,

so that's going to be my answer.

Jonathan Ross is your answer,

but it is wrong!

Graham Norton is the answer.

OK, your question.

Which Academy Award nominated actress is

the mother of the American film star Laura Dern?

Um, I have absolutely no idea, so that's good.

Uh, but for a guess, I'll guess

Louise Fletcher.

Eggheads, do you know?

-ALL:

-Diane Ladd.

Diane Ladd.

So, Chris has a chance to take the round.

In which film does Richard Gere play a character called Jesse Lujack?

Well, The Cotton Club is sort of a '20s gangster thing, isn't it?

I forget what his part was in that.

Uh, "Shall We Dance?" I always thought was Fred Astaire

and Ginger Rogers rather than Richard Gere.

Uh, is it an American remake of A Bout De Souffle?

In which case, it'd be Breathless.

Breathless is the correct answer, Chris.

Well done, you've taken the round.

Sorry, Claire. Both of you, please rejoin your teams.

So, as it stands,

Neither Big Nor Clever have lost two brains from the final round.

The Eggheads have lost one, though,

and we have another round before the final, and it is History.

Who is the History person?

I think... Henry, do you want to step up and take History?

Well, I'm not going to fight against the majority opinion!

So, Henry at the end,

and which Egghead would you like to take on, Henry?

Well, which Egghead wants to take me on?

-Um...

-Shall we, um...?

Well, my dad said, "If you're going to do something,

"you might as well do it right."

So, I'm going to take on the big dog, and I'm going to say Kevin.

Oh, right, so, Henry from Neither Big Nor Clever versus

Kevin from the Eggheads. Please go to the question room now.

OK, History, Henry,

and would you like to go first or second against Kevin?

I'm not going to break the somewhat winning habit we have,

so I'll go first.

OK, here we go. Good luck.

Henry, which of these events happened in 44 BC?

OK, Pompeii was AD.

A small amount, like 79 AD, I think. Hadrian's Wall was...

..AD as well and, so, I guess it's Julius Caesar and his death.

Julius Caesar is correct!

APPLAUSE

Kevin, the Scottish Enlightenment,

which was marked by a rapid development in scientific

and intellectual achievements, took place during which century?

During that time, Edinburgh became one of the sort of

intellectual capitals of Europe,

and it was the 18th.

18th is quite right.

Henry, during World War II,

Operation Steinbock was a German bombing campaign of which country?

I'm almost certain it wasn't England.

Uh, France...

they never really undertook a bombing campaign,

they just blitzkrieged their way through.

HE SIGHS

So, with fingers crossed, I'm going to say Russia.

Well, interestingly, it's not Russia, it's England.

Kevin, over to you.

The military corps known as the Yeomen of the Guard

was established during the reign of which monarch?

The Yeomen of the Guard...

I don't think it's as late as William III.

And, of course, Henry VII succeeded Richard III.

I'm thinking this is Henry VII, so Henry VII.

Henry VII is the right answer.

So, Kevin goes into the lead, and you've got

to get this one right, Henry, OK?

In which decade was the Witchcraft Act of 1735 effectively

repealed in Britain?

OK, Jeremy, well, I've got to tell you I'm not

intimately acquainted with that particular piece of legislation.

THEY LAUGH Uh...

So, I'm going to say the '50s is the wishy-washy answer,

so we're going to discount that, and it's either going to be

the sensible '20s or the '80s,

having taken a while to get their act together.

I'm going to say the 1980s.

I follow your logic completely.

Unfortunately, it was the wishy-washy answer.

1950s.

So, bad luck, Henry.

I'm afraid Kevin has taken you on the bend, there.

And he will be in the final round,

and you won't, and if you both come back to us

and rejoin your teams, we will play the final round.

So, this is what we've been playing towards.

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

I'm afraid those of you who

lost your head to heads won't be allowed to take part in this

round, so Tom, Claire and Henry from Neither Big Nor Clever, and

also Dave from the Eggheads, would you please now leave the studio?

OK, James and Justin,

you're playing to win Neither Big Nor Clever £4,000.

Kevin, Daphne, Chris and Barry,

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

the Eggheads' reputation.

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

This time the questions are all general knowledge,

you are allowed to confer.

So, James and Justin, the question is,

are you with your two brains able to put the boots into these four?

-We're not sure!

-Would you like to go first or second?

Uh, I think we won't break the habit of a lifetime

and so I think we'll go first.

Here we go with your first question. The influential car designer

Louis Chevrolet was born in which country in 1878?

-Do you know this?

-I don't, but we can try and work it out...

with his name, so Louis Chevrolet sounds almost kind of French to me.

French?

-I'd probably say Switzerland.

-Would you?

I was going to go for Austria!

-Um...

-It should just be you.

-I don't know.

-I wouldn't say it's Italy, there's too much coming out

of Italy, isn't there? Or, came out of Italy.

I'm going with the guess with the names, I'm going

to guess Switzerland.

-Cool, I'm happy with that.

-Right.

-Cool.

I'm going to go for Switzerland.

OK, I listened carefully there.

There was logic going on, for sure, and Switzerland on the basis

that there's a bit more French there than there is in Austria?

-Is that right?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-You weren't picking up on that, Justin.

-No, no.

You just wanted to go with the most German one.

-Did you?

-Yeah.

-You nearly took him off track.

The answer is Switzerland.

-Oh!

-Fantastic.

-Well done. Very, very nearly...

made a painful error.

OK, Eggheads, the disease known as the Schmallenberg virus,

which affects livestock, is named after a town in which country

where it was first identified?

Hmm.

-Oh, dear.

-Hmm.

That's a good question, isn't it?

I've got a feeling at the back of my mind it was Luxembourg, but...

Oh, no, I don't think so.

-I think it was Germany.

-It's not a Belgian name at all.

-No.

-Given that it's the first question, I think Germany is...

-Yeah.

Well, I've learnt at my cost to ignore you, Daphne.

-Well!

-So, I'm going to subscribe to your point of view.

Yeah, it just sounds much more...

Schmallenberg sounds much more German than, certainly, Belgian.

It could be Luxembourg,

but I can't call to mind a Schmallenberg in Luxembourg.

No. OK.

We're actually not quite sure, but we're going to go for Germany.

-Oh, right. So, you went all round the houses.

-Yes!

-Germany is the right answer.

-Well done, Daphne.

You so nearly had them there!

I was so excited for you!

OK, your question. The Green Bay Packers American football team

is based in which US State?

-I know that for definite.

-On you go, sir.

-For definite!

Green Bay is definitely in Wisconsin.

Green Bay, Wisconsin,

the right answer, well done.

OK.

Eggheads...

in politics, the phrase "pink-tied" is sometimes used to describe

the belief that left-wing ideology is becoming more

prevalent in which part of the world?

-It's not Western Europe, is it?

-Well...

-North Africa.

Is it tied, T-I-E-D?

-Yeah.

-So, tied as in...yeah.

Well, I mean, the logic, I suppose, is Latin America, isn't it?

Because you've got the likes of Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador,

they've all gone left-wing.

And Western Europe is a mixture.

So, I think...I've not actually heard the phrase,

but, um, it makes...

-It's the only one that makes any sense, isn't it?

-Yes, OK.

Um, we are going to go for Latin America.

Latin America is right.

Well done.

Back to the Challengers, your third question.

Get this right, get the pressure on them, who knows?

Who wrote the novel The Last Temptation Of Christ...

first published in the 1950s?

Do you have any idea?

I think it's the middle one. I really don't know why!

I know Primo Levi wrote If This Is A Man,

and I don't think he wrote

-The Last Temptation Of Christ.

-No.

Yes, I knew this one, I think.

I can't pronounce that! Um...

-We can rule out Primo Levi.

-Rule out Primo Levi.

Em...

I don't think it's Hermann Hesse.

-Shall we go for the middle one?

-Go for the middle one.

We're going to go for Nikos Kazantzakis.

Nikos Kazantzakis is the right answer.

-Nice play.

-Well done, mate.

-Nice play, so three to you.

You've done very well. You couldn't have done any better at this stage.

Eggheads, if you get this wrong...

you've been crushed.

Which media tycoon married the English-born journalist

Barbara Amiel in 1992?

-Conrad Black.

-Conrad Black.

Oh, good. We're all agreed, Conrad Black.

Daphne, the answer is indeed Conrad Black. Well done.

So, three points each. After three questions,

we go to Sudden Death,

and it's a bit harder now cos I don't give you alternatives.

Here we go.

The 2004 documentary Some Kind Of Monster

charted the internal power struggles

of which rock band attempting to record an album?

-Metallica.

-It definitely is.

-Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Some Kind Of Monster is Metallica.

Are they a band you like, Justin?

-They are indeed, yes!

-I've got many of their albums.

It's a very famous documentary. I've seen it, actually,

cos it's a very intimate portrait of Metallica. Well done.

OK, Eggheads.

Lacsa is the national airline of which country?

Spelt L-ACSA.

Oh, dear.

Get this wrong, it's over.

-L-A-S-C-A.

-No, it's L-A-C-S-A, wasn't it?

Lacsa, L-A-C-S-A.

-Oh, well.

-Countries that begin with L. Liberia...

So... Pardon?

HE MUMBLES

So, it's not Lithuania or...Latvian? No.

Um...

Latvia.

No...

I wonder if it...

-Latvia, Lithuania...

-Does anybody know of a Czech airline?

No.

-No. Slovenia...

-Cos, I'm just thinking of the CS.

-Let's try Czechoslovakia.

-Yeah.

-Czech Republic.

-I mean, yeah, Czech Republic, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Well, I think you've won, cos we don't have a clue!

We're going to try the Czech Republic.

You think Lacsa is the national airline of the Czech Republic.

-Well, we don't know!

-It's pick a country time!

Lacsa is the national airline

of Costa Rica. You've got it wrong.

We say congratulations, Challengers! You have won!

Beating the Eggheads and £4,000. How about that?

It doesn't get any better, really! It doesn't get any better.

Well played in the final round.

Congratulations to Neither Big Nor Clever. You've just won £4,000.

You are officially cleverer than the Eggheads.

You've proved that they can be beaten.

Join us next time on Eggheads to see

if a new team of Challengers will be just as successful.

Flying in on Lacsa, maybe? Until then, goodbye.