Episode 46 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 our quiz champions today

are The Suspicious Minds.

I don't think it takes a genius to work out what brings this lot

together. All I will say is, Elvis has...

ENTERED the building.

Let's meet them.

My name's Mark, I'm 38 years old

and I'm a professional Elvis tribute artist.

Hi, my name's Neil. I'm 52 and I'm a full-time entertainer.

Hi, I'm Martyn, AKA Elvis Shmelvis.

I'm 51 years old and I'm a professional Elvis tribute artist.

Hello, my name is Paul. I'm 46, I'm a professional musician and artist.

Hi, I'm Joel.

I'm 31 years old and I'm an Elvis tribute artist and singer.

Well, welcome to you, Suspicious Minds.

Very good to see you. As I said, no need to ask who you are

or why you came with that team name.

But first, can you kick us off, can you give us a bit of a song,

something to remember the King by?

Of course we can. Ready boys?

# When no-one else can understand me

# When everything I do is wrong

# You give me hope and consolation

# You give me strength to carry on

# And you're always there to lend a hand

# In everything I do

-ALL:

-# That's the wonder

# The wonder of you-ou-ou-ou! #

APPLAUSE

AS ELVIS: Thank you very much. DERMOT LAUGHS

Good on the "thank you very much". So how did you all meet?

Well, we're all, as you can see, Elvis tribute artists,

and occasionally a newspaper or somebody will get

a group of Elvis tribute artists together,

maybe to celebrate his 70th birthday or something like that.

And we have kind of met at those kind of things.

-Lots of Elvis conventions and things?

-There's Elvis conventions.

And the other thing is, occasionally you'll get a booking for a gig that you yourself can't do,

so it's good to have some friends that are of a good level,

that you can pass the gig onto.

Absolutely. How many of you are there, do you think, in the UK?

-Dozens, hundreds?

-How many? Hundreds.

-Thousands.

-Well worldwide, 35,000 apparently.

-What?! My goodness me.

UK, probably a couple of thousand I should think.

Judith, you must be delighted.

-Elvis is your all-time favourite, isn't he?

-He is. Absolutely.

My favourite Elvis, I have to say, is pre-army.

OK, pre-army. So, very, very young.

-Yes.

-With the swivelling hips.

With the swivelling hips, exactly.

And you can only film him from the hips up.

OK, right, shall we play the game?

I'm sure you're hoping for a music round.

Let's see what comes up first.

Because every day there's £1,000 worth of cash

up for grabs for all our challengers,

however, if they fail to defeat the Eggheads,

the prize money rolls over to the next show.

So, Suspicious Minds, the Eggheads have won the last game

and it means £2,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads today.

And our first head-to-head, not music, it's Geography.

Who'd like to play this one?

-Geography, gents.

-We've talked about it before.

-Our travelling GI is the man for the job.

-Looks like it's down to me.

Of course, travelling GI.

Who would you like to play from the Eggheads?

What do you say, Mark?

-Shall we say Judith?

-I think Judith might be worth a go, yeah.

-OK.

-Well...

-Let's play Judith.

-You'll make her day.

You're the closest she'll get to her ideal Elvis.

Let's have Neil and Judith into the Question Room

to play the opening round. It's Geography.

Neil, it's appropriate we've got you starting

for The Suspicious Minds, because in your Elvis GI mode,

of course, we record this in Glasgow

and that's the only part of the UK

-that Elvis ever got to, even momentarily, isn't it?

-That's right.

He momentarily landed at Prestwick Airport en route to

Germany in 1958, I believe.

And there's a little memorial there at the terminal

if anyone's ever passing through Prestwick Airport.

Did he ever get any further, was that it? It was just a stopover?

Yeah, they refuelled the plane

and carried on, I think.

And that was it. OK, let's play the round.

It's Geography. Would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please.

Best of luck, Neil. First question -

in which part of the UK might you travel the Malt Whisky Trail?

Well, I don't think whisky is made much in England or Wales,

so I'm going to go for Scotland.

Yes, Scotland is the right answer.

Back to what we were discussing,

Elvis should have gone on that, he should have stayed longer.

OK, Judith, your first question,

which of these African countries is located furthest north?

I think that must be Morocco.

Up there on the Mediterranean.

It's the right answer, yes, Morocco.

So, Neil, back to you for a second question.

Where is the funicular railway known as the Peak Tram,

designed by a Scottish engineer and known for its spectacular views?

I've been on a funicular railway in Hong Kong.

I know San Francisco is a very hilly city.

But I don't remember seeing a funicular railway there.

And I've not been to Naples... I'm going to go for Hong Kong.

Hong Kong.

You've got it, well done, Neil.

-And did you go there as Elvis or as a civilian?

-That was Elvis.

All right, question two for you, Judith.

Beyoglu is a popular tourist district in which of these cities?

It's spelt a bit differently from how it sounds,

it's B-E-Y-O-GL-U. Beyoglu.

I think that, it doesn't sound Greek.

I think it sounds Turkish, so I'm going to say Istanbul.

It's the right answer.

Two apiece, and Neil, third question.

How many miles separate the Caribbean

and Pacific coast's of Panama at its narrowest point?

Well, I know it's not very far.

I'm going to rule out 71 miles,

cos I don't think it's that far. There's a lake in the middle...

..that joins the canal together.

I'm going to say...

-..51 miles, Dermot.

-OK, 51 miles.

It's not 51, it is shorter. It is 31.

The other one you were totting up on there. So, a chance for Judith.

Judith, in which US National Park would you find the peak

known as Zabriskie Point?

Oh, goodness! I don't know.

I'm going to say Joshua Tree for some reason.

Zabriskie Point is in...

-Death Valley.

-Oh.

Bad luck. It's all square, but it's good for you, Neil.

It means that we play on in the Sudden Death phase now.

I'm going to remove those options, it's a lot harder,

but we need to sort out a winner and here is your question.

What is Australia's most populated city after Sydney?

I've got two in my mind.

I'm thinking it's either Perth or Melbourne.

But then there's also Brisbane and Adelaide as well.

I'm going to say Melbourne. Melbourne's my answer.

It's the right answer, well done.

Judith,

Lytham St Anne's is a resort in which English county?

I think it's Lancashire.

It is, yes. Lancashire.

-It's got a golf course.

-It certainly does.

And, Neil,

the Vinales Valley,

known for its crops, including tobacco, is on which island?

I will spell said valley, V-I-N-A-L-E-S.

I'll take the clue from tobacco there.

I've really got no idea, but, er...

The only thing in my mind is Cuba.

You've got it! Yeah, tobacco and island,

put it together and got Cuba. Well done.

Judith,

in which city is the Palazzo Fortuny,

once the studio of the designer Mariano Fortuny, F-O-R-T-U-N-Y?

I think that's in Venice.

It is in Venice. You are both on good form.

OK, Neil, another question.

The Eastern European region of Galicia

is divided between Poland and which other country?

I guess I've got to choose from, it's either Germany or...

Russia.

Galicia, I think, is in Eastern Poland, so it's going to be Russia.

It's not. There was another country to think of.

It is Ukraine.

OK, well, a chance for Judith, then.

Flamengo and Botafogo are stations on the Metro system of which

South American city?

-Can you do Botafogo?

-Botafogo.

B-O-T-A-F-O-G-O.

Botafogo. F-O-G-O...

I don't know which American cities have metros.

But, um...

What about Rio...de Janiero?

Is the right answer.

Yes, Rio de Janeiro with those metro stops.

Which means we've put a stop to your fine challenge, Neil.

I'm afraid you won't be in the final round. Judith's there.

Would you both come back and join your teams.

Well, after first exchanges, the Eggheads finally won.

It means that one of the Suspicious Minds will be

missing at least from the final round.

Let's play round two, Film & Television.

Who wants to play this from Suspicious Minds?

I'm up for this if anyone else wants a go,

but I'm quite happy to take it on.

It's on you.

-Yeah. Cool, I will go for this.

-OK, Mark.

And who would you like to play from the Eggheads, any of the men.

I'd like the man with the sideburns, please.

I'd like to take on our Chris. DERMOT LAUGHS

They're not sideburns. I can't be bothered shaving in the morning.

I thought you looked at Pat,

but Pat's are joined up to his beard.

OK, it's going to be Mark and Chris playing Film & Television.

Into the Question Room, both of you.

So, Mark, you once won the title of Great Britain's Best Elvis.

That must have been competitive, how did it work?

Well, originally they advertised it.

They had about 150 applicants.

From those, they had about 60 or so that they saw one afternoon,

and we all sang our bits

and they chose about a dozen from that, and we all performed

in a big showcase event in front of 600 or 700 people.

Then they voted for their favourite.

-Kind of X Factor for Elvises.

-It was.

And the great thing for me was that

just after the competition had finished,

the two guys that had organised it fell out with each other.

And so, as Chris always used to say,

I got to keep the title in perpetuity.

LAUGHTER

You are referring, of course, to International Mastermind.

All right, so let's play the round.

Film & Television, would you like to go first or second, Mark?

I think I'll go first, please.

Good luck, Mark. First question,

which EastEnders love rat made a return to the series

in September 2013?

Not a massive EastEnders fan,

but Arthur Fowler was the older gentleman,

if I remember rightly, who robbed the Christmas fund one year.

So I think we can get rid of Arthur Fowler.

Archie Mitchell, I can't put a face to,

but I know the Wicks...yeah,

I'm going to go with David Wicks.

Is the right answer, well worked out there.

And, Chris,

Harry Corbett was the creator of which teddy bear

glove puppet, that has appeared on television since the 1950s?

He didn't actually create him,

he just bought him on Blackpool Prom one day for...to amuse his son.

It was Sooty.

That's an interesting bit of background. And it is Sooty.

OK, Mark,

which 1980s film features the line,

"Don't push it or I will give you

"a war you won't believe. "Let it go."?

Well, I've seen Back To The Future and I can't imagine it.

I'm sure there are people who love the film,

they'll be screaming at the television now.

But I can't imagine that line being in Back To The Future.

I wouldn't say I'm a massive Star Wars buff, but once again...

No, I am going to go with First Blood,

which, if I remember rightly, was one of the first Rambo films.

Yes. Sly Stallone.

In First Blood, it's the right answer, well done.

OK, Chris, second question.

Who played Juliet in the 1996 Baz Luhrmann film, Romeo And Juliet?

There's been two or three lately, hasn't there?

'96, Baz Luhrmann. That was Claire Danes.

It was, Chris. Well done.

2-2, and so, back to you, Mark.

What is the profession of Bryan Cranston's

character before he turns to crime in the TV series Breaking Bad?

I've not watched the programme,

so it's only going to be an educated guess.

But if I was going to write a drama about somebody who turned

from one job to being a criminal, I think lawyer would make a good drama.

OK, lawyer.

It's not, though. No, they didn't go for that. Chris?

-He was a teacher, wasn't he?

-He was a teacher.

OK, well, a chance for Chris, then.

Chris, which of these Hollywood stars served in the Marines

and was honourably discharged in 1950?

I think the ex-marine there is James Garner.

James Garner, honourably discharged, you think, by the Marines in 1950.

No. Other Eggheads?

Steve McQueen.

-It's Steve McQueen.

-Oh.

OK, Steve McQueen, a let-off.

Right, you're still very much in it, Mark. Sudden death once again.

Your question. In 2013,

Hong Kong launched a major exhibition commemorating 40 years

since the death of which martial arts film star?

Um...

I can only think of one deceased martial arts film star.

Obviously, Elvis was very into his karate,

but Ed Parker, his instructor, wasn't a film star per se.

He used to be an adviser on a lot of films.

I'm going to go with Bruce Lee.

Correct answer, well done. Bruce Lee.

OK, then.

Chris, in 2010, who took on the role of Mrs Hudson

in the BBC TV drama series Sherlock?

Una Stubbs.

Yes! You got it.

OK, Mark,

Colonel Von Strohm, Captain Geering

and General Von Klinkerhoffen were all characters in which BBC sitcom?

COMEDY FRENCH ACCENT: Listen very carefully, I shall say zis only once.

It was 'Allo, 'Allo.

Yes! Right answer! 'Allo 'Allo. Very good.

Chris, in which 1994 film does Keanu Reeves' character

attempt to prevent a bomb from blowing up a Los Angeles bus?

A bus, it's got to be Speed, hasn't it?

Yes, it's the right answer. On we go.

Mark, who directed the 1957 film The Bridge On The River Kwai?

I'm kind of hoping he directed it,

I know he was in it and I've met him because he's a massive Chelsea fan,

so I'm going to go for Sir Richard Attenborough.

Ah, Sir Richard Attenborough.

It's not, in actual fact.

It is David Lean. David Lean,

one of his, so a chance for Chris.

Which actor appeared as Francois the postman in his feature-length

directorial debutant Jour de Fete?

Jacques Tati.

Is the right answer.

Which means, Chris, you'll be in the final round. No place for you, Mark.

Would you both come back and join your teams?

As it stands, Suspicious Minds have lost two brains

from the final round. The Eggheads are all still there.

Our next round is Arts & Books.

Who'd like to play this? Arts & Books.

Arts & Books. I think Paul's our man for this, yeah.

OK, Paul, and which Egghead would you like to choose?

Judith and Chris aren't available. Any of the other three.

I think I'll go for Dave.

OK, let's have Paul and Dave into the Question Room, please.

All right, Paul, better get on with it.

-Would you like to go first or second?

-I'll let Dave go first.

Dave, lines of verse that rhyme in pairs are known as what?

I think that's rhyming couplets.

That's correct.

Paul, a tutu is traditionally worn by female performers

of what style of dance?

It's certainly not flamenco or country dancing,

so I'll go for ballet.

Yes, right answer. Well done.

And Dave, who announced a residency on the streets of New York in 2013?

Well, the only one I've heard selling street paintings in New York

is Banksy. That's my answer.

Banksy is the right answer.

And Paul,

in the Harry Potter books,

what type of creature is Hagrid's pet, Aragog?

Unfortunately I've never read Harry Potter...

I suspect it's not gorilla.

I think that spider sounds more appropriate for

the type of subject matter. I'll go with spider.

Good answer. It's the right one. Well done.

Dave, the four Martin brothers, Robert, Charles, Walter and Edwin,

became well known for their work in which artistic field

in the Victorian period?

I've not got a clue about this...

So I'm going to have a guess.

I'll go with sculpture.

OK, sculpture for the Martin brothers.

It's incorrect. Other Eggheads?

-Pottery?

-It's pottery.

So, right, a chance for

one of the Elvises to get through here.

Paul, which artist painted La Coiffure

or Combing The Hair around 1896?

Well, Pissarro was generally landscape,

Manet, street scenes, society portraits.

That would suggest the answer is Edgar Degas.

You know your art.

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

-Yes!

Which means no place for you, Dave.

Would you both come back and join your teams?

So, Dave, all shook up

-after that storming performance by Paul.

-Oh, absolutely!

So the Eggheads have lost their first brain from the final round.

Suspicious Minds, of course, have already lost two.

So our last head-to-head before the final round is Sport,

and who'd like to play this from Martin or Joel?

-Martin or Joel, what do we think, guys?

-It's not our best subject.

-I'll play, then.

-Joel?

-Yeah.

-You like your football and things, don't you?

-Yeah, I do.

I read the back pages every day.

We'll go with Joel for sport, please, yeah.

OK, Joel, who would you like to play? You can have Barry or Pat.

I'll have Barry, please.

All right, let's have Joel and Barry into the Question Room now, please.

Let's see if we can get you through, Joel,

and it'll be all square in the final round.

Do you want to go first or second?

I'll go first, please.

Best of luck, Joel.

Which of these is the name of a London football team's home ground?

Selhurst Park,

and I believe that's Crystal Palace.

Is the right answer, of course.

Good start. And Barry,

what cricketing term describes a non-striking batsman

who is advancing down the wicket as the ball is being bowled?

I believe he would be backing up.

He would be.

One each, and Joel, second question.

The 1896 Olympic Games featured a 100-metres freestyle swimming race

restricted to sailors from which country?

Um, I'm not actually sure on this one,

but I'm thinking out of those three countries,

Great Britain was most known for its navy power back then,

so I'm going to go with Great Britain, but that's a guess.

-I have no idea.

-OK, guess at Great Britain,

but it is incorrect. They weren't from Great Britain.

-Can anyone tell me?

-It's Greece.

-Greece.

-Oh.

-It was held in Athens.

Yeah, the Olympics in Athens. OK...

Barry, in which year was rugby union's Heineken Cup first contested?

It's not 2005. It's been going much longer than that,

but I don't think it's been going as long as 1985.

I'll go for 1995.

OK, '95 is the right answer, so you have a lead.

And you need this, then, Joel.

In 2013, Brian Cookson was elected

president of which sport's governing body after an acrimonious campaign?

Um...

I don't think it's tennis, because I've not heard much about that.

Brian Cookson doesn't ring a bell,

so I'm going to go for the one that doesn't stand out to me,

-which is badminton.

-OK, badminton.

Pat's going to tell me.

It's cycling. It's the UCI, the global cycling body.

And who did he eject? Who was the incumbent?

-He replaced Pat McQuaid.

-He did.

OK, it's cycling there, Joel,

cycling, not badminton.

-Oh, this wasn't my affair!

-Oh, dear.

Well, I'm afraid the round is over, which means

Barry will be appearing in the final round, and no place for you.

Would you both come back and join your teams?

And this is what we've been playing towards.

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

I'm afraid those of you who lost those head-to-heads won't be allowed

to take part in this round,

so Mark, Neil and Joel from Suspicious Minds,

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

So, Martyn and Paul, you're playing to win Suspicious Minds £2,000.

Barry, Chris, Judith and Pat, you're playing for something

which money cannot buy - the Eggheads' reputation.

And, as usual, I'm going to ask each team three questions in turn.

This time the questions are all General Knowledge,

and you are allowed to confer.

So, Suspicious Minds, the question is,

are your two brains better than the Eggheads' four?

And Martin and Paul, do you want to go first or second?

We would like to go second, please, Dermot.

So, the Eggheads begin.

Here's your first question, Eggheads.

A brand-new standard adult UK passport

is normally valid for what period?

-Ten years.

-Ten years, yeah.

-Mine runs out next year, I've had it ten years.

-So does mine. Yeah.

Er, that's ten years.

Ten years is correct, Eggheads.

So, Suspicious Minds,

which entrepreneur's company produced

the early 1980s home computers known as the ZX80 and ZX81?

Which entrepreneur's company

produced the early 1980s

home computers known as the ZX80 and ZX81?

Well, we've just discussed it, and we both came up with the same answer.

Um, it was a strange one, it did lots of wonderful things,

Clive Sinclair.

Clive Sinclair, yeah, it's the right answer. Well done.

So, Eggheads, second question.

What is the Asahi Shimbun in Japan?

It's A-S-A-H-I, and then S-H-I-M-B-U-N.

I think it might be the largest circulating newspaper in the world.

Oh!

It's a daily newspaper.

It is, Eggheads. OK, two to you.

Suspicious Minds,

by what name is the fabric hessian known in America?

-Hessian... It's not gingham, is it?

-No.

-That's a much thinner material.

Hessian's like a thick sackcloth, isn't it?

Um...

Burlap or seersucker...

What are your thoughts?

Burlap sounds safer.

I was thinking burlap - because it's a material,

you get bits of material lapped over the others and intertwined.

So, it's got the word "lap" in it, so...

Go for burlap?

Yeah.

OK, Dermot, we'll go for burlap.

OK, tossing up between burlap and seersucker -

you've got the right answer.

Good stuff.

OK, Eggheads, third question.

The Scottish band Deacon Blue,

who had several hits in the UK in the 1980s and '90s,

took their name from the title of a song by which other band?

I'd go for Steely Dan.

Yeah.

We think that's Steely Dan.

Steely Dan for Deacon Blue, the name.

It's correct, Eggheads.

OK, they have a lead, and you know what you've got to do here,

Suspicious Minds.

Which of these women did Julius Caesar marry first?

I don't know the answer to that.

I've just got a...

feeling it could be Calpurnia.

I've heard of Cornelia, not Pompeia.

Calpurnia just...

It rings a bell.

It's either Cornelia or Calpurnia, I think.

I'm happy to go with Calpurnia, if you agree with that. But...

it's kind of guess.

Well, it IS a guess.

Down to you, really. I'm happy to go with it if you are, but I don't know.

Go with that?

Yeah.

OK.

Dermot, we'll go for Calpurnia.

OK.

Do you know, Eggheads?

Think it's Cornelia.

Calpurnia was his last wife,

and I think Pompeia was the middle one, so I'd have gone for Cornelia.

It is Cornelia, which means, bad luck. The Eggheads have won.

Well, congratulations due.

That was so close, you got that down to a 50/50,

and we don't get to put another question to the Eggheads,

because obviously they were batting first and got all three correct.

But listen, let's reflect on what great fun we've had

here in the studio today.

-Thank you very much indeed for...

-Thank you very much.

..some really good quizzing.

I mean, some of those head-to-heads couldn't have been closer.

I think it's a bit of an unfair reflection

of how good a team you are at quizzing

that there's only two of you in the final round

here in the studio, but some great stories.

And, of course, some fantastic singing.

Absolutely.

I'll be taking lessons from you guys.

Please, no. Thank you very much indeed to Suspicious Minds.

-Thank you.

-Best of luck with all the impersonating

that I'm sure you're bound to do. Thank you for playing the Eggheads -

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 that £2,000.

That means the money rolls over to our next show.

So, 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.

Until then, goodbye.