Episode 52 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 challenging our resident quiz champions

today are the Diggers Writers.

Now, this team are all part of the same writing group,

based in Edinburgh.

Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm John. I'm 54 and I'm a reminiscence worker.

Hi, I'm Louise. I'm 31 and I'm a library assistant.

Hi, I'm Paul. I'm 54 and I'm a business skills trainer.

Hello, I'm Nancy. I'm 59 and I'm a community education worker.

Hi, I'm Mike. I'm 63 and I'm a part-time tutor.

Welcome to you, Diggers Writers.

Now, Diggers is the nickname of the pub you meet in, right?

Yes, Dermot. The pub's actually called The Athletic Arms,

but everybody knows it as The Diggers,

because it's situated between two graveyards.

And the grave diggers used to go there for a pint after it.

Course, that was many years ago - Mike told me that.

THEY LAUGH

Thirsty work, of course, the old grave digging.

But writing, you're a member of a writers' group

and you meet unofficially there?

Or do you meet officially there and critique each others' work

and things like that?

Yeah, we meet on a regular basis, every week,

and share and discuss our work.

And we do wee performances in the back room in The Diggers,

do wee readings and some music.

Can that be, rather, toe-curling?

You've written something...

Only Mike's stuff!

As long as you've got enough drink in you, you don't care.

But you sit there and somebody else criticises it.

Yeah, but you've got to be willing to accept that.

It's better...

I'd rather have honest criticism of the work,

that's the only way you're going to get better.

Well, you're going to get that here in the quiz as well -

I'm just going to tell you "right" or "wrong".

Every day there's £1,000 worth of cash

up of grabs for our Challengers, however, if they fail to

defeat the Eggheads, the prize money rolls over to the next show.

Digger Writers, the Eggheads have won the last two games,

which means £3,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads today.

First head-to-head battle, then. Let's kick off with Music.

Who wants to take this one on?

That would be Paul.

Don't go yet, Paul, you choose an Egghead.

-We'll go Barry.

-I'd like to play Barry, please.

-Barry, Dermot.

OK, well, ballads will be written and songs will be sung,

should you beat Barry.

Only if you're unlucky!

Let's have Paul and Barry into the question room for the opening round.

Paul, do you want to go first or second?

I think I'd like to go first, please, Dermot.

Best of luck, Paul.

First question, then.

In 2012, whose greatest hits album was revealed to be the UK's

best-selling compact disc ever, with over four million sold?

Well, I've never heard this statistic, but...

I can't believe it would be David Gray.

And...

Madness have done very, very well,

but I think the obvious candidate to me would be Abba.

So, I'm going to go with Abba.

The obvious and correct one. Yes, Abba. Well done.

Barry, what form of vocal performance became

a hallmark of the country singer Slim Whitman?

And when you make your choice, we want it in the style you choose.

I'm just trying to think of Slim Whitman as a rapper.

Scat singing is really jazz, sort of singing -

Ella Fitzgerald is the most famous exponent of that.

But I think the answer to this is Yodell-odel-ing!

I'm going to take you down The Diggers...

You asked for that one.

..get that one deconstructed by the audience.

Deconstructed? You'll be thrown out the back door.

Yes, yodelling, of course, it is.

What was that famous song?

I Remember You.

I Remember You-ooh-oh...

CHRIS: That was Frank Ifield.

That was Frank Ifield? He yodelled too?

Well, what did Slim Whitman yodel, then?

Indian Love Car, or something...

He had the song which is used in the film Mars Attacks,

to destroy the Martians.

It was a Slim Whitman track.

See what happens, when you throw something out to the Eggheads.

It just gets knocked around, it's completely free association.

Well, it's all square as we get back to this quiz,

and we get back to Paul for your second question.

Which of these composers was taught by Joseph Haydn?

It certainly wasn't Shostakovich,

erm...

which leaves Liszt and Beethoven.

Erm...

Haydn, I think, would probably...

I'm fairly confident that Beethoven might be too late.

I'm going to go for Liszt.

OK, Liszt taught by Haydn.

No. It was Beethoven.

Yes. That was an idiotic answer.

-Was it?

-Yes.

On the dates?

Yeah. HE LAUGHS

OK. You've just remembered it, have you?

-Yeah.

-Oh, crikey.

Well, I'm afraid you're stuck with the outcome.

Barry, your second question.

What was the name of the group founded by Norman Cook

and Ashley Slater,

that had a UK top ten single in 1995 with Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out?

It definitely wasn't The Housemartins.

Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out. I think that was Beats International.

Wasn't The Housemartins, but it was Freak Power.

All right. Well, no harm done with that slip-up there, Paul.

See if you can get one on the board here.

The American musician Charlie Christian was a key

figure of raising the profile of which instrument in jazz?

OK. Erm...

I've got no idea.

Jazz is one area that I'm very weak on.

I would not have though the Hammond organ would need much profile

raising in jazz, since it's used a lot.

Vibraphone or electric guitar?

Actually, I'm going to reverse my logic,

and because the Hammond organ does appear quite a bit in jazz,

I think I'll go for Hammond organ.

It's not the right answer. You were on the right track originally.

Seems to have happened again to you.

Um, it's the electric guitar.

You know that, Eggheads?

Electric guitar,

which means that Barry has a chance to win the round here.

Barry, Music Of Changes,

composed in 1951 is a piano piece by which composer?

Hmm.

I don't think Benjamin Britten wrote much for the piano,

he tended to write operas, so I shall discount him.

Samuel Barber, of course,

was well-known for his Adagio For Strings.

John Cage wrote a lot of piano pieces.

He used what he called a "prepared piano" which was a piano with

various paraphernalia attached to the strings inside the machine.

1951. Well, the date is right for John Cage,

but it might also be right for Samuel Barber.

I'm going to go for John Cage because I know

he did compose music for piano.

Well, Barry, you've given that question a thorough examination.

And your diagnosis is John Cage.

It's correct. You're through to the final round.

Bad luck there, Paul.

Just messed up the second question, that was the crucial one for you.

Bad luck for that.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

The Eggheads have written the opening chapter to this quiz

so far, one member of the Diggers Writers, at least, will be

missing from the final round.

And our next subject today is Geography.

Who fancies this?

-That would be Mike.

-That would be me, I think.

OK. Again, stay with us, Mike, pick your Egghead.

Would it be Daphne? Michael, would it?

What do you think? What's your choice, you're the captain?

I think that you would like to pick Daphne.

THEY LAUGH

Mike's just being bashful, Daphne.

Well, Daphne's my mother's favourite.

If she beats me, you know, you're going

to make an old woman very unhappy.

Daphne, yeah.

OK. Mike and Daphne, into the question room, please.

Mike, are you more poetry and lyrics and that kind of thing?

Yeah, I do poetry and I do songs as well.

OK, and perform them yourself?

Uh-huh. Play guitar and make up the songs and...

-OK.

-..busk.

Busk. So not just in The Diggers?

I'm wondering if you've travelled a bit.

Yeah, I've done stuff in Germany and Holland and New York.

-Fantastic.

-Places like that.

Travelled to Edinburgh originally from Ireland.

That's right.

Got a bit of travelling in there, then, for the Geography round.

-Do you want to go first or second?

-I think I'll go first.

Good luck.

What term is used to refer to a high point of land that juts

out into the sea or other expanse of water?

I've never heard or prebendary.

Peremptory is something...

It must be promontory.

Yeah, a promontory is the right answer.

Daphne, Blackburn forms part of a unitary authority situated

within which county?

My husband was once offered a job in Blackburn, so it's Lancashire.

-He didn't take it.

-Well, thank you for that.

He didn't need to have been offered a job there for you to know

that Blackburn is in Lancashire, I'm sure.

It's the right answer.

Mike, in Venice,

the Rialto Bridge connects the area of San Polo to which other?

Er...

To be honest, I don't recognise the middle one...or the one on the left.

But I know there's a St Marks in Venice,

so I'll have to go for San Marco, I think.

Just as well that's the one you recognised. That's the right answer.

Thank God for that.

Two to you, and Daphne's attempt to level it up.

Smog produced by a volcano is sometimes known by what term,

particularly in Hawaii?

Oh!

Oh, could be any of them.

None of them sound particularly Hawaiian, so...

I'm just hoping it's a portmanteau word and it's vog.

-Vog?

-Mm-hm.

-Volcanic vog kind of feeling?

-Yes.

Vulfur-sulphur.

The acid and vacid.

Yeah, I see.

-Erm...

-No?

It is the right answer, yes, you worked it out.

Right, it's all square again and back to you, Mike.

Which European capital stands at the mouth of the River Daugava,

also known as the Western Dvina?

Tirana's, I think, Albania.

And it sounds like one of the ones that goes into the Baltic.

Er...

Given that...

-You say it's at the mouth?

-Yes.

Which European capital stands at the mouth of the River Daugava?

Warsaw's inland, so I guess it's...

My guess would be Riga.

Good guess, it's the right answer.

Well worked out, Mike.

Fantastic stuff. OK. Daphne, under pressure.

Daphne, on the Paris rail network,

Champ de Mar Station, on the southern bank of the Seine,

is one of the recommended stops to which attraction?

Well...

The Eiffel Tower's on the Champ de Mar,

so I assume it's the Eiffel Tower.

It is the right answer. Have you been up it?

-No.

-OK.

-Never been to Paris.

-Really?

-No.

-So you just know that from reading about it?

-Yes.

-OK.

-Sorry.

Sounded like you'd been there.

Well, it's all square

and we go to Sudden Death for the first time in this game.

And that means, Mike, we remove the options,

you're both playing way too well here.

We're loving the way you're playing,

but we're going to make it harder.

So no options.

The US state of Montana borders which other country?

Montana sits...

It's up with The Rockies and the Blackfoot Indians and all those,

so it must be Canada.

Indeed. Canada, of course. Well done.

Daphne, Queen Street and Central are the two main city centre

railway stations in which Welsh city?

Cardiff.

Is correct.

OK.

Mike, Fisherman's Bastion is a tourist attraction in which

European city?

Fisherman's Bastion.

Erm...

I haven't heard of it.

So...

Think of a fish town, I suppose.

Um...

I'll go Oslo.

Oslo.

OK. Fisherman's Bastion.

See your thinking there, but, no, and it's quite far out.

Do you know, Daphne?

Stockholm?

No, that's way out.

Way out in geographical terms.

Any of the Eggheads know this?

I think you could guess all day if you don't know it.

-CHRIS:

-Cadiz?

-No, not Cadiz.

It's Budapest.

So, there's something we didn't know - none of us - before.

OK.

Chance for Daphne here, then.

Chimborazo is a stratovolcano in which South American country?

C-H-I-M-B-O-R-A-Z-O.

Ecuador.

Well, you've had two volcanic questions

and you have erupted in to the final round!

It's the right answer.

Ecuador.

That's a classic Daphne guess there -

usually have a few options to look at.

Which means, you're in the final round, Daphne, and no

place for Mike in spite of being very good quizzer as we saw there.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

Well, the Eggheads driving the narrative at the moment.

We need the Diggers Writers to take control of the plot.

As it stands, Diggers Writers have

lost two brains from the final round,

the Eggheads haven't lost any.

And our third subject today is Film & Television.

-Yes.

-Straightaway Louise jumps in there.

And which Egghead would you like to play?

Barry and Daphne have played, so it can be Chris, Pat or Judith.

I'd like to go for Judith, please, Dermot.

Righty-ho. Let's have Louise and Judith

into the question room, please.

Louise, I know you like your films, which is

why you're doing the category.

What sort, though?

Um, I guess my favourites are old, sort of, black and white movies -

all the old Hollywood ones.

But I also have a fondness for horror films as well.

OK. Well, let's hope you find some in these questions.

Would you like to go first or second?

First, please.

OK, Louise, first question is about film.

King Louie,

voiced by singer Louis Prima is a character in which Disney animation?

Yeah, I remember the song, I think it's The King Of The Swingers,

it's The Jungle Book.

Jungle Book. Yes, well done. Good start.

Judith, which TV game show required the contestants,

usually joined in with by the studio audience,

to shout "higher" or "lower"?

I thought that was that bull's-eye one.

Um...I don't know.

I didn't watch... I'm afraid I...

Most Saturday night ones I didn't watch...

When did they have a thing they had to aim?

I don't know. Family Fortunes.

Family Fortunes. I'm going to say "lower"!

Go across the board a long way - Play Your Cards Right.

Play Your Cards Right. Brucie!

OK. But that's a great start, Louise, from your point of view.

And let's see...

Well, another film question - see how you do.

What is the nickname of John Malkovich's character

Cyrus Grissom in the 1997 film Con Air?

I remember the film. I remember John Malkovich - he stole the show.

And he was Cyrus The Virus.

Very good. Yeah, you got the rhyme, of course, as well.

Well, these have fallen very nicely for you.

And, er...

You might not have to answer another question - let's see.

Judith, what is the first name of The Countess of Grantham,

played by Elizabeth McGovern in the TV series Downton Abbey?

She's called Cora.

Right up your street there, wasn't it?

I love Downton Abbey.

Well, exactly.

You didn't watch Play Your Cards Right.

If you didn't watch Downton Abbey, well, I'd be shocked.

OK. But, Louise,

a place in the final round still awaits if you get this.

What did Wolfie Smith, played by Robert Lindsay,

shout during the opening titles of the sitcom Citizen Smith?

Um... I didn't really watch this very much -

I think I've seen a few repeats on the television.

But I think his catch phrase is quite famous.

I think it's "Power to the People".

That was well before your time, but you've seen the repeats, you think.

Chris...

Power to the People!

It's the right answer.

OK. You're into the final round.

A very, very good performance there, Louise.

It means no place for Judith.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

Plenty of twists in this tale of Eggheads.

The Diggers Writers have now knocked an Egghead out,

but two of their members have gone.

And our last subject, before the final round, is Politics.

So, two of you remain who can play this - it's John or Nancy.

I think that's going to be me, Dermot.

I'm going to take on Politics.

And choose an Egghead, who can be Chris or Pat.

Erm, what do you think, folks?

What do you think? Chris? Yeah.

We'll go Chris, please.

All right, then.

John and Chris heading for the question room.

So, John, does your interest in politics

and current affairs inform any of your writing?

No, I wouldn't actually say that.

Well, social realism I write, so I suppose it is influenced in that way.

Yeah. I think I got a bit of the short straw with the Politics,

that was my initial hesitation there.

Oh, I see. OK.

Now, do you want to go first or second?

I'll go first, please, Dermot.

OK, best of luck. Here you go.

In his speech to the Labour Party Conference in 2012,

what phrase did Ed Miliband use repeatedly to

outline his vision of Britain under a Labour government?

I think I know it.

It's not One Man or One Love, I'm pretty sure it's One Nation.

One Nation. Yes, it's the right answer.

Chris, for what does the CW stand in the name of

the UK trade union the CWU?

They're the Post Office people, they're communication workers.

They are.

John, former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown was

a member of which elite military unit?

I knew he'd been in the forces, Paddy Ashdown, but I don't know the one.

I'm trying to think.

Erm, I'll just have to plump for one.

Erm, I'll go...

Special...

Oh, wait, I'll have a wee think.

I don't think the wee think's helping me much!

I think I'll just go for, I don't know, Special Boat Service.

That's marvellous.

The wee think didn't help, so you'll just have a good old guess!

And you've got it right!

Hey!

Lovely! All right.

Chris, under whose prime ministership was

the Northern Rock bank nationalised?

Er, that was some years ago now.

Er...

has to be Gordon Brown.

Yeah, one of the early casualties of the credit crunch,

it's Gordon Brown. That's right. Well done.

And back to you, John.

What is the name of the upper house of Russia's parliament?

Right. The upper house.

Well, nothing's leaping out at me there,

so, again, I think I'm going to have to have a wee guess.

Erm...

I would... I tend to go for the middle.

The National Assembly Of Provinces, I sort of fancy that one.

OK. The National Assembly Of Provinces.

I hasn't worked this time, your guessing.

-It is... Do you know, Chris?

-Well, it's the Russian Federation

so presumably it's the Federation Council.

It is the Federation Council.

Doesn't count for you, though, but just interesting.

And this is your question, Chris.

The Parliamentary properties known as Norman Shaw Buildings,

were previously the home of what?

Ah, we remember Raymond Francis as Superintendant Lockhart.

It was New Scotland Yard.

For those of us that don't remember Raymond Francis as

Chief Superintendant Lockhart, is that a TV programme?

-Well, yeah. It's No Hiding Place.

-Oh, OK.

A squad car comes screeching out the old Norman Shaw Building

-on The Embankment on the opening credit sequence.

-OK.

And it is New Scotland Yard, it is the right answer

and you've claimed a place in the final round at John's expense.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

And so 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 won't

be allowed to take part in this round.

John, Paul and Mike from Diggers Writers

and Judith from the Eggheads, would you leave the studio, please?

So, Louise and Nancy, you're playing to win the Diggers Writers £3,000.

Daphne, Chris, Barry and Pat, you're playing for something which

money can't buy - 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.

Louise and Nancy, the question is,

are your two brains better than the Eggheads four?

Fingers crossed!

We'll find out very soon.

Would you like to first or second?

We'll go second for a change, Dermot.

Right, putting the Eggheads in, then.

Eggheads, what term is used to refer to a boat with one main hull

and two smaller outer hulls?

THEY MUMBLE

That's a trimaran.

Trimaran.

It's the right answer, Eggheads. Yes.

Louise and Nancy, your first question, then.

Which British golfer won the European Order Of Merit

for seven consecutive years during the 1990s?

I think we were dreading it being a sports question...

There we go. Erm...

Colin Montgomerie.

-He won quite a lot in the '90s, didn't he?

-Right.

I'm thinking Nick Faldo, possibly, as well.

I'm ruling out Sandy Lyle.

-No offence.

-Why is that?

Em, I'm just not so aware of his name coming up so often.

-OK.

-I think it's either Colin Montgomerie or Nick Faldo.

Shall we go for Nick Faldo?

If you're OK with that.

-OK. Yeah?

-Yes.

We'll go for Nick Faldo.

Going for Nick Faldo, Order Of Merit, seven consecutive years...

-It was Colin Montgomerie.

-Oh, sorry, Louise.

The other one you were considering. Well, you weren't to know.

How would you have been on trimaran?

I suspect you would have worked that out.

-Yep.

-THEY LAUGH

Right. Well, listen, it's fairly early.

Eggheads, in a zoo, a herpetarium is most typically used to

house which types of creatures?

THEY TALK OVER EACH OTHER

Yes, that's reptiles and amphibians.

OK. It is the right answer.

What's the linguistic hook there?

A herpetarium. H-E-R-P-E-T...

Is it Greek, or something?

Herpes is Greek or Latin for snake, I think.

OK.

Herpetiles are creeping things.

I think.

Your linguistic facilities, of course.

-Should have taken the first questions.

-Oh, dear. OK.

Listen, get this and you're still in it.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by pressure on which

nerve in the human body?

-Is that the eye?

-It's something...

It's something to do with the eyes, I think.

So it's not the sciatic nerve, cos I think that's spinal.

-Um...

-Peroneal vision is...

Are you thinking of peripheral, or...?

Oh, I'm thinking of peripheral vision. Oh, no!

Maybe that's a red herring.

Peroneal. Pero...

What's...?

Peroneal, is that to do with the stomach, am I thinking now?

Median's in the brain, isn't it, so...

I think it's probably that one.

Right. OK.

Is it median nerve?

-Is that's what you're going for?

-Yep.

-Median nerve.

Crucial question for you, of course, you need to get it...

And you have! It's correct. Well done.

And you need to survive this

from the Eggheads, then, their third question.

Eggheads, the Nobel prize-winning author Mario Vargas Llosa

was born in which country?

-He's Peruvian, I think.

-He Peruvian, definitely.

Yeah. Marquez is from Colombia, and Llosa is from Peru.

Has to be Peru.

He's from Peru.

Peru...

is the right answer, Eggheads.

You've won.

Well, what can I say, Diggers Writers?

That's just the cruellest blow,

being put out by a question about a writer.

I mean, you'd have gobbled that one up.

I mean, it's just down to the way the questions fall, as Kevin,

who's not with us, always says.

Those three Eggheads' questions,

I don't think they would have troubled you at all.

But you got the other set, it started with the dreaded sport question.

Really got you off on the wrong track.

But thank you very much for playing the Eggheads today.

And best of luck down at The Diggers.

I think the Eggheads and me would love to join...

-You're all invited.

-We'd love to come down for a pint or two,

and a critique of the intros that I use every now and again.

I'm not sure they'd really pass muster there.

But the Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them

and they still reign supreme over quizland.

I'm afraid, you won't be going home with the £3,000.

That means the money rolls over to the next show.

Eggheads, congratulations.

Who will beat you?

And join us next time to see

if a new team of Challengers have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

£4,000 says they don't.

Until then, goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd