Episode 21 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 the Rising, from Alloa.

This team are all associated with the same

Bruce Springsteen tribute band.

Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Steven, I'm 48, and I have my own decorating company.

Hi, I'm Douglas, I'm 47, and a sales director.

Hi, I'm Irene, I'm 44, and I lecture in psychology.

Hi, I'm Harry, I'm 51, and I'm a ground worker.

Hi, I'm Mike, I'm 56, and an operations manager.

Welcome to you, the Rising. So, a Bruce Springsteen tribute band.

I'm just trying to work out which one is Bruce.

It's got to be you, Harry.

Wrong.

-No, not quite. I take it it's you, Steven.

-It is, yes.

-OK.

And, I mean, all fans of Bruce Springsteen?

Or does it just kind of work out?

I suppose you've got to be a fan as well, haven't you?

Yes, we all are fans and we are, some of us, related.

-We've all played in bands and known each other a long time.

-Mm-hmm.

I bet you get a lot of bookings, though.

He's enormously popular, isn't he? And I hear you're very good.

Well, thank you very much.

Can I be your agent?

Yes, please.

Yes, we get bookings. There's a lot of Springsteen fans out there.

He's very much in vogue.

-Absolutely. Should we play the game, then?

-Yes.

Hoping that music round, I'm sure if it comes up, let's see.

Now, 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,

of course, rolls over to the next show.

So, the Rising, the Challengers actually won the last game

proving it can be done,

but it means £1,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads today.

Our first head-to-head battle will be... Let's have a look...

on the subject of Music. Yes, we kick off with Music.

So I suppose it's between the five of you

-to sort out who's going to play.

-I'll take Music.

OK, great, Irene. Who would you like to play from the Eggheads?

Any one of them.

What do we think? What do we think?

-Douglas, you're the strategist.

-CJ?

-OK, I'll go for CJ.

-All right.

Irene and CJ to start the game.

Into the Question Room, please,

both of you, to make sure you can't confer.

OK, Irene, I won't ask you about your musical taste.

Well, I mean, beyond Springsteen, what do you like?

I like quite a lot of music, actually. Current music.

I like Pink and Amy Winehouse.

I also cover a bit of Amy Winehouse in another band

that we play in as well, so it's not all Springsteen.

And you've got a lot going on

because you're also a psychology lecturer.

I do, yes. I lecture in psychology and some sociology as well.

OK, right, well, bring your psychology to bear on CJ.

Try to psych him out...

..by telling us, first of all,

whether you'd like to go first or second.

I think I'll go first, please.

OK, Irene, trying to put the pressure on the Egghead.

Right, first question. Which musical term refers to singing

without any instrumental accompaniment?

Yep, I can see that the answer is A cappella.

-Do you do any of that?

-It has been known.

We won't ask you now. It's the right answer, of course. Well done, Irene.

Good start.

CJ, brothers Martin and Gary Kemp

found fame as members of which pop group?

I believe they were two of the five in Spandau Ballet.

Spandau Ballet, yes, of course. One all.

Irene, Murder On The Dance Floor was a UK number two single

in 2001 for which female singer?

Well, I have sung the song on more than one occasion

and I'm pretty sure it's Sophie Ellis Bextor.

Sophie Ellis Bextor is correct, yes.

CJ, in the lyrics of the patriotic song Land Of Hope And Glory,

which of these follows the first "land of hope and glory"?

Mother of the free.

-Not "bringer of the glee"?

-It's a lovely idea, but no.

Yeah, "mother of the free" is correct, CJ.

You're both going really, really well.

It's two-all and we've reached the third question already.

Irene, the composer, Joseph Haydn, died in which city in 1809?

Haydn...

I'm really not very sure on this one at all.

I don't think it's Paris.

I'm going to go down the middle and say Zurich.

OK, Zurich for Joseph Haydn...

his demise.

It's the first one wrong.

It's not that. CJ, the other two?

I don't know, but I would have gone for Vienna.

It was Vienna we were looking for.

A glimmer of hope, then, for CJ.

He will take the round with a correct answer here.

CJ, in 2007, I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

became a UK number one single for The Proclaimers,

featuring Brian Potter and which other comedy character?

Now, was this the...

..either Comic Relief or Children In Need version?

If so, I don't actually know who Smithy is, I'm afraid.

It's not David Brent. I seem to recall...

Oh, of course, yes, cos Potter's in a wheelchair, isn't he?

And so is Pipkin.

I seem to remember Matt Lucas as Andy Pipkin anyway.

It would make sense that the two Proclaimers were walking

and the two were in wheelchairs, so I'll go for Andy Pipkin.

Andy Pipkin. That's their... the Little Britain sketch, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-I want that one.

Andy Pipkin in wheelchairs, Brian Potter as Peter Kay, isn't it?

It's Phoenix Nights.

OK, you've got it, CJ. You worked it out.

Andy Pipkin is correct,

which means you have taken the round and back luck for Irene.

It was going really well there and then ran into the Haydn question.

Bad luck means you won't be in the Final Round.

Would you both, please, come back and join your teams?

Well, first blow for the Eggheads because, as it stands,

the Rising have lost Irene from the Final Round.

The Eggheads are, of course, all still there.

Let's see if you can change that, then, the Rising.

Film & Television next for you. Who wants to play this? Film & TV.

THEY MUMBLE

I'll go, boss.

OK, Steven, and choose an Egghead, just can't be CJ.

Any of the four, though.

OK. I'll involve the help of my strategist.

-He's going to tell me what...

-Oh, these guys are all very good.

-At least for film and television.

-These guys are all very good.

-Maybe Dave doesn't know much television.

-Dave?

-Dave.

-Yeah, we'll go for Dave.

-Dave.

All right, Steven and Dave playing Film & TV.

In to the Question Room, both of you, please.

All right, then, Steven.

-So, you're Irene's big brother, aren't you?

-That's correct, yes.

What was it like when you were growing up?

Were you always listening to music, singing, things like that?

Yeah, a lot of music in our house.

Irene did most of the singing, I have to say.

What, do you play instruments as well?

I play a bit of guitar, yes.

OK, I can see what kind of brother and sister...

-Donny and Marie or someone like that.

-Oh, dear. Surely not.

The Carpenters.

All right, let's move swiftly on.

-I think so.

-Film & Television.

Would you like to go first or second?

I will go first.

All right, first question, Steven. Good luck with it.

Which of these usually followed

Anne Robinson's contestant dismissal,

"You are the weakest link"?

I will say it is goodbye.

Yeah, course it is. You are the weakest link, goodbye!

And, Dave, who plays Harry Dunne

opposite Jim Carrey as Lloyd Christmas

in the 1994 film, Dumb & Dumber?

I think they announced in 2013 there's going to be a remake.

That's Golden Globe winning actor...

no, Emmy-winning actor, I should say, Jeff Daniels.

OK, yeah, you got it.

Jeff Daniels is correct.

OK, Steven, second question. Good start.

Which actor from The Fast Show played Ron Weasley's father, Arthur,

in the Harry Potter films?

Oh, my son will be mad that I don't know this.

I'll go with Paul Whitehouse.

Paul Whitehouse, you think, playing Arthur Weasley.

No, it's not Paul Whitehouse. Do you know, Dave? Only two...

Mark Williams.

Mark Williams is what we were looking for,

so nothing for you there, Steven.

So, Dave, how will you do with your second question?

George Irving played a character called Anton Meyer

between 1999 and 2002 in which television drama?

He was a rather brutal hospital registrar, I think.

Um...

Didn't have much time for any nonsense,

and it was in Holby City.

Yeah, once you said hospital registrar

that led you to that, which you knew.

OK, you have that lead, then, Dave. That is correct.

So it's two on two and a must-get question then, Steven.

Which actress who won an Oscar for her supporting role

in Rosemary's Baby also received three nominations

for her scripts co-written with Garson Kanin?

I'm going to go with Ruth Gordon.

Any particular reason why, Steven?

-No reason whatsoever.

-OK.

-I cannot lie.

-Well, it is the right answer, you'll be pleased to hear.

Fabulous stuff.

Well done, Steven, keeps you in it, but still at the mercy of Dave.

Who was the first husband of Marilyn Monroe?

There's only one of those that I know was her husband,

and I think she married maybe four times,

but there's only one that I've heard.

It might be that somebody else married her before him,

but I've got to go with James Dougherty.

And it is the right answer, Dave.

He's very good on this category.

And it means - bad luck, Steven, you've

followed your sister. Very close again,

just the one in it, but you won't be in the Final Round.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

Well, as it stands now, The Rising have lost two brains

from the Final Round, the Eggheads haven't lost any yet.

But we've still got two more head-to-heads

before that Final Round, so it could be all square there.

And what do you want to do, then,

with our next round, which is Science?

Who wants to play this from The Rising?

-OK.

-Mike, good luck.

-All right, we've got you, Mike.

And who would you like to play from the Eggheads?

Dave and CJ have played, so it is Barry, Kevin or Pat.

-Barry worries me.

-He worries ME.

For different reasons.

Any of the other Eggheads...

-I know Pat is a bit deadly as well, so I'm going to go for Kevin.

-OK.

Who's not deadly at all. He's a pussy cat.

OK, let's have Mike and Kevin into the Question Room, please.

OK, Mike, so what do you do in the band? What do you play?

I play keyboards in the band, so, like Roy Bittan

in the E Street Band, I'm known as The Professor.

Ah, The Prof. And are you a professor of science?

-What is your knowledge of this subject?

-No. We'll soon find out.

OK, we will. Do you want to go first or second, Mike?

That's going to depend. I'll go first.

All right, good luck, Mike. First question.

Which term is used to describe swollen,

lumpy or twisted veins that mostly occur in the legs?

That's an easy one.

Fortunately, I haven't suffered from this yet, but it is varicose veins.

Varicose veins. Yep, that's right, good start.

Kevin, which space mission sent the dog Laika into space in 1957?

Yes, and the poor little thing didn't last very long. It was Sputnik 2.

It is Sputnik 2. What happened to it?

Well, they think...

It had been in space long and she just overheated and, um...

That was it, just expired.

-They had made no provision for getting her back anyway.

-Oh.

So, in fact, one of the feeding tubes that she had was,

at the right moment, supposed to give her

a sort of lethal cyanide or whatever. But it wasn't necessary

because she died fairly soon after it got into space.

My goodness me, I didn't know all that. I just knew the dog.

All right. Well, you got it,

and that's the rather sad demise of Laika explained as well.

OK, it's all square. Mike, second question.

In the animal kingdom,

which of these has a spine-covered upper body?

It's not platypus.

It's a seagoing animal, if you'd call it that.

I'm not very sure what a bandicoot is.

I think it's...

Echidna.

Yes, it is. That's correct.

Well done, Mike.

OK, your second question, Kevin.

In which of these years was Haley's Comet visible to the naked

eye from Earth?

Uh... That was 1910,

which was the... Mark Twain was actually born in about...

Well, he was born 1835,

round about the time that it was previously visible.

And he always said that he came in with the comet

and he'd go out with the comet, and sure enough...

-No.

-Yeah.

-Died in 1910?

-Mm, yeah.

Look at that. Look at what we get from the Eggheads.

What richness, what layers.

Not just the dates, but a story with it.

OK, 1910, and the correct answer, may I confirm.

Kevin knew that anyway.

It is the correct answer. Two all. Well, Mike,

you're matching him and you're setting the pace here.

Keep it up. Third question.

The Imperial measurement known as a hundredweight

is equal to how many stones?

Yeah, it's... Is it 112 pounds?

Something like that. I think it is eight. Eight stones.

OK, you're going for eight. Interesting, isn't it?

This is one that some of our younger contestants might have struggled

with a little bit more, but, Mike, presumably,

you learned these Imperial measurements at school.

And you have remembered it. Yeah, eight.

Eight stones in a hundredweight.

Had to convert that from pounds, which you knew.

OK, well, Kevin, here's your question.

Cerophagy is the term for the practice employed by some

creatures of eating what?

Cerophagy. It is C-E-R-O-P-H-A-G-Y.

So, the phagy bit means the eating, and it was C-E-R-O...

-Yeah.

-..before that? Well, that's...

That would lead me to wax.

Yeah, you got it, that's correct.

It is all square, then, and it means, Mike,

you're going really well here, taking Kevin into Sudden Death.

The first time in this game. And that means we remove the options.

I've just got to hear an answer from you,

I can't offer you anything to have a guess at, should you need to.

So, here is your question.

Which constellation that lies between Pisces

and Capricornus has a Latin name meaning water carrier?

I was going to say Sagittarius, but I think that is the archer

or something like that. Um...

-No, it just won't come to me. I can't get it.

-OK.

This is the difficulty of Sudden Death.

I'm sure you would get this out of a list.

But it is Sudden Death, we've had to make it harder.

Um, Kevin.

-It's Aquarius.

-Aquarius.

Which, as I say,

you would have got that out of a list, I'm almost certain.

Water carrier, Aquarius.

But it is just so much harder, especially under the pressure

of these competition conditions, to conjure anything up.

Bad luck, Mike.

Kevin needs to get this if he's to win the round.

Kevin, in the measurement of the intensity of sound,

ten decibels equals which unit?

Unless I am missing a trick here... I mean, deci means a tenth part,

so ten decibels make one bel.

So, it's a bel.

You've just been displaying impeccable logic and explanation.

Right, it is a bel, B-E-L, from decibel.

It means we have to say goodbye to Mike, who played a really

good round there, but just didn't quite make it,

against Kevin... Even for how good Kevin is,

sparkling form at the moment.

So, well done, Mike, to get him into Sudden Death.

But it means you won't be in the Final Round.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

Well, there is an imbalance to the score sheet at the moment,

which I don't really feel reflects the quality of the playing

we're seeing from the Rising.

But three head-to-heads, and three of them have been knocked out,

but only just for all of them.

The Eggheads, of course, haven't lost any players yet.

Let's hope that changes now. You deserve it.

And our last head-to-head before the Final Round is History.

You've only got two eligible players, of course,

so Douglas or Harry? History.

-Go for it, Harry.

-I'll go for it.

-OK, Harry. Good luck.

-I'll go for that.

-OK, Harry.

And who would you like to play from the Eggheads?

We've got Barry or Pat left.

Barry, we've near enough the same name.

Harry and Barry. Nicely rhyming, OK.

And for once, Barry's shirt has been outshone by a contestant.

-OK, it's...

-Never mind my shirt, look how far down the list CJ is.

Yeah, I know. OK. Barry and Harry, into the Question Room, please.

So, Harry, what do you do with The Rising?

I am their driver, roadie.

-I just carry all the gear about.

-Yeah. General factotum.

-That's it.

OK. And what about your interest in history?

Do you read around the subject,

do you watch documentaries about it and things like that?

Uh... Quick answer, no.

LAUGHTER

OK. Well, let's see what you have managed to glean on your travels.

-Do you want to go first or second?

-I'll go first.

Good luck, Harry. Here's your first question.

King Henry V of England led his forces into which

battle on the 25th of October, 1415?

Chamonix.

OK, Chamonix.

No, it's not.

It is... Barry?

It was on St Crispin's Day and it was Agincourt.

Agincourt.

And your question, Barry.

Horatio Nelson lost the sight in his right eye after wounds

sustained in the 1794 siege of where?

I believe Nelson lost his right arm at the Battle of Tenerife.

And he lost his right eye at the Battle of Calvi.

Right eye, the Battle-Siege of Calvi.

That is correct, Barry.

So, one-nil to Barry. OK, Harry.

In which year was the sixpence demonetised in the UK?

1970.

OK, 1970, you think.

Down the middle again. Uh...

It's not.

-Do you know, Barry?

-1980.

We know decimalisation in 1971.

This was LSD, so to speak - pounds, shillings and pence.

So, what was it equal to and why did they keep it in circulation, Barry?

-It's 2.5 new pence.

-2.5p.

-And I suppose, just a nice size.

-I think it was just the continuation,

so there was a gradual change from the old currency

to the new and it didn't startle too many people.

And that was the thing, wasn't it? The shilling and the 5p,

obviously matches, they were the same size, weren't they?

So they were able to circulate together.

So it was as late as 1980 that the sixpence was demonetised,

as Barry is telling us, equal to 2.5 pence.

OK. Well,

a chance to win the round here, then, Barry.

That wasn't your question, of course.

Elizabeth I was buried with which other monarch in a tomb with a

Latin inscription meaning, "Partners both in throne and grave."

Right, let me think about this.

It couldn't have been Mary I, because Mary I...

Actually, Mary I was before Elizabeth I.

So, let me think.

I think she would have been buried with her father, who was Henry VIII.

So I'm going for Henry VIII.

OK, Henry VIII. So what have we got there?

-Father, half-brother and half-sister?

-Yes.

She didn't get on well with her sister,

so I can't imagine she'd be buried...

-she'd want to be buried with her sister.

-OK.

She didn't really have a choice, did she?

Or maybe she did, but maybe it wasn't followed.

Or maybe it was. But it is not Henry VIII, no. Other Eggheads?

-Was she buried next to Mary?

-Mary.

-It was?!

-Yep.

Wow, goodness me, I am surprised at that.

OK, you are still in it, Harry. And... But you need to get this.

-No problem.

-What name was given to...? Good.

What name was given to the female members of the medieval

lay religious communities believed to be named after the priest

Lambert le Begue?

It would need to be Lambies.

OK, Lambies.

-Do you think it is that, Barry?

-No, I think it's the Beg...Beguin...

-Beguines.

-And it is the Beguines.

Which means the round is over.

Barry has got a mighty one to your zero.

Which means you won't be in the Final Round.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

Well, this is what we've been playing towards, it is

time for the Final Round, which, as always, is General Knowledge.

But I'm afraid those of you who lost your head-to-heads

won't be allowed to take part.

So, Steven, Irene, Harry and Mike from The Rising,

would you leave the studio, please?

So, Douglas, all on your own there.

But at least you don't have Harry yattering on.

Can you ever shut him up? He's just there, "Yap, yap, yap."

Yeah, he's a noisy lad, isn't he? And very talkative.

On those long drives up to those gigs, I mean,

he must just talk and talk and talk.

-Yeah, we kind of switch off at that time.

-OK. But I mean...

As I said earlier, some of those head-to-heads were very unlucky,

but it has left you all on your own.

And so, Douglas, you're playing to win The Rising £1,000.

Pat, Dave, Kevin, CJ and Barry,

you are playing for something which money can't buy, something

that needs a bit of polishing, I think - your reputation.

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

This time the questions are all General Knowledge

and you are allowed to confer.

So, Douglas, the question is,

is your one brain better than the Eggheads' five?

And as always, Douglas, as the Challenger,

you get to choose - do you want to start or let the Eggheads begin?

Can I go first, please, Dermot?

And the very best of luck to you, Douglas.

General Knowledge, first question.

Which British city is the base of the BBC's Natural History Unit?

Which British city is the base of the BBC's Natural History Unit?

I'm not aware of it. Um...

Thinking of natural history and, you know, that sort of thing,

I would say possibly York has more natural history connected to it.

-I'll go for York.

-OK, York for the BBC's Natural History Unit.

They've got specialisms dotted all around the United Kingdom.

And for many, many years, many decades,

the Natural History Unit has been and is based...

in Bristol.

Bristol, Douglas. Sorry about that.

I mean, I think it's always been there, ever since I was a kid.

I remember Johnny Morris coming out of Bristol.

Yeah, strong connection to Bristol Zoo.

Oh, I see. OK, of course.

All right, Eggheads, your first question.

Which of these creatures does not represent

a year in the Chinese calendar?

Which of these creatures does not represent

a year in the Chinese calendar?

-The year of the butterfly.

-The butterfly.

The butterfly, I would have thought.

That's butterfly, Dermot.

-Not a Chinese year.

-No.

OK, butterfly. That is correct, Eggheads.

All right, let's see if we can get you

off the mark, Douglas.

The video footage shot in 1967 and known as the Patterson-Gimlin

film purportedly shows which creature?

Which creature do you think was captured...

purportedly captured on video footage?

I'm going to discard mermaid.

And, between the other two...

I'm hoping it's the Loch Ness monster.

OK, hoping for the Loch Ness monster.

Well, there's a lot of purported footage around and,

of course, rather grainy photographs.

The answer is...

Bigfoot, though. Bigfoot.

I wonder the Eggheads know anything more about it.

There was a bit of moving footage, apparently, of Bigfoot.

What does it show?

I'm only familiar with the various Loch Ness stuff.

You've probably seen it.

It shows a lot of trees with some smaller cut-down trees

in the foreground. And this creature walking from left to right,

just slightly away from the camera.

So you can't see any detail, it's very blurry.

And after a few years, it was revealed as a hoax anyway.

But it doesn't last very long.

I think I have seen that, cos it ends on a close-up,

and suddenly you see Chris!

OK, well, Eggheads, you've got a chance here to close it down.

The US Marine Corps base in Virginia that houses the FBI Academy

is named after its location where?

The US Marine Corps base in Virginia that houses the FBI Academy

is named after its location where?

-Quantico.

-Quantico?

-Yep.

-Yep.

That's Quantico.

Quantico.

It is the correct answer. Eggheads, you've won.

Bad luck, Douglas. It was always going to be tough on your own.

You get a couple of questions you don't know much about,

you have a guess and, you know, you've got no-one to talk to.

You never know what you could talk about. If you can get

in a word edgeways over Harry, you can talk about it on the way back.

Listen, best of luck, The Rising,

with everything you do in the future,

with all the music and all the joy I know you bring to all your fans.

And you brought us a lot of joy and entertainment here today.

Thank you very much for taking them on.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them,

and they reign supreme over Quizland once again.

I'm afraid you won't be going home with the £1,000.

That means the money rolls over to the next show.

So, join us next time to see if a new team of challengers

have the brains to defeat the Eggheads. £2,000 says they don't.

Until then, from all of us here, goodbye.