Episode 48 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.

Taking on the awesome might of our quiz Goliaths today

are the West Berks Wordsmiths.

This team are all members of the same Scrabble club

which is run by team captain Ian. Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Ian, I'm 61 and I'm a retired software engineer.

Hello, I'm Elizabeth. I'm 63 and I'm a housewife.

Hello, I'm Colin, I'm 69 and I'm a church bell ringer.

Hello, I'm Sue, I'm 52 and I run my own marketing business.

Hi, I'm Len, I'm 75 and a retired accountant.

Welcome to you, West Berks Wordsmiths.

Ian, Scrabbling, we'll talk about that in a moment.

But have you done any quizzing?

Do you think the two are in some way related?

We've never done any quizzing together.

A lot of us have actually done quizzes individually,

but this is our first trip out as a team.

Good to hear it. Now, tell me,

on the Scrabble side of things, "Egghead" is seven letters.

Could you make up a good Scrabble word out of that?

You couldn't refashion it to a seven-letter score,

or come in across a triple, anything like that?

I can actually find a seven-letter word there

but given that it's before the watershed...

-THEY LAUGH

-OK, enough said!

We'll leave that to the imagination. All right, let's move on swiftly.

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 rolls over to the next show.

So, West Berks Wordsmiths,

the Eggheads have won the last three games.

That means £4,000 says you can't beat them today.

Let's start with our first head-to-head battle.

This is Music.

Who'd like to play this from the Wordsmiths?

-Who's into music?

-That's one of two I said I didn't want to do.

-I've a feeling it was me.

-Yes.

-OK, it's me.

-OK, it's going to be Elizabeth.

Now, choose any Egghead you like. There's five of them there.

I'll try CJ, please.

OK, let's have Elizabeth and CJ into the Question Room, please.

So, Elizabeth, how often do you play Scrabble?

Well, I play once a week at a club,

and I play a lot of times a day on the internet.

Ha-ha, OK! CJ, are you interested in Scrabble,

do you find it keeps the mind sharp?

I played Scrabble to county level, one of the things I did

alongside playing chess.

I absolutely loved it.

My highest scoring ever word was "zingier",

across a triple word score,

scoring 167 points.

Whoa, that's good. Elizabeth, can you match that?

Not on an individual word, but my highest game score is 685.

Right!

I might get that if I played for a week.

OK. Right, let's play this round, it's Music and, as the Challenger,

Elizabeth, you get to choose, do you want to go first or second?

I'd like to go first, please.

Best of luck, Elizabeth. First Music question.

The UOGB, founded in 1985,

is a musical ensemble famous for playing which instrument?

Hm. I haven't actually heard of this.

I'm trying to think

which instruments you'd play as an ensemble.

Glockenspiel's a little bit impractical

because they take up a lot of space.

I think I'll try the ukulele.

OK, ukulele. So you think the U in UOGB is ukulele, clearly.

-Eggheads, what does it stand for?

-Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.

That's the one.

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain,

so you have the right answer, well done.

CJ, in the 1960s, The Mindbenders were the backing group

of which British singer?

Er, hm... I've heard of them.

I don't think it's Adam Faith.

I'm not sure he had any backing singers.

Billy J Kramer and The Mindbenders.

Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders?

I don't know.

Er... I don't know. I was hoping

saying them out aloud would ring a few bells, but it hasn't done.

There may be a few dropped heads in a moment on my team

but I'll try Wayne Fontana.

No dropped heads, right answer, well done, CJ,

it worked saying it out loud.

OK, second question, Elizabeth.

Which rock group topped the UK album chart in 2013 with Mechanical Bull?

I know I said I do music, but pop music is really not my thing.

I've only ever heard of Kings of Leon out of those three.

Erm, it seems a bit feeble to pick them

just because I've heard of them,

-so I'll go down the middle with Green Day.

-Oh, no. Oh, dear.

-Oh, no, it is Kings of Leon.

-It is?!

Oh, Elizabeth.

When you said that, I thought, "Just pick them this time."

Bad luck. OK, CJ.

In sheet music, what is meant by the instruction fortissimo?

This is a little better, as, being a musical theatre actor,

I can read sheet music.

And I think fortissimo means very loud.

Yes. I'm sure Elizabeth would have been

happier with that as well, yes.

OK, it means you need to get this, Elizabeth, your third question.

Which hit single by The Sweet was inspired by a gig

in Kilmarnock in 1973

at which they were forced off the stage

when the audience began throwing bottles at them?

Couldn't we have had some classical music questions?

I'd have been much better at that. Erm...

It has to be a stab in the dark, I'm afraid.

Blockbuster!

OK, Blockbuster!.

It is a bit more literal, given what happened to them there,

it is The Ballroom Blitz.

So it's The Ballroom Blitz, which means CJ doesn't need to face

another question, he's done enough to get through to the final round.

Bad luck with the way those questions fell, Elizabeth.

Would you both come back and join your teams?

After the first round,

the Berks Wordsmiths have lost one brain from the final round.

The Eggheads are all there. A long way to go.

Our second round today is Science.

Who'd like to play this from the Wordsmiths?

-That was going to be Elizabeth, so...

-I think it's down to me.

-Yes, it is.

-OK.

-It's me, Dermot.

-All right, Ian.

And choose your Egghead - any of them apart from CJ.

-I think Judith, please.

-All right.

Ian and Judith, into the Question Room now, please.

So, Ian, what are the rules at your level of Scrabble about using

dictionaries and Scrabble guides, things like that?

How do you play it, what are the rules?

Essentially, we play without any reference work on the table.

But, obviously, somebody will play a word and you may say,

"I don't believe that word is a word."

So there is a reference work that you can actually look up the word in,

and actually find out whether it's there, or whether it's not.

In those circumstances, if there's a challenge, you check it.

In your head, you've got all these two-letter words,

using Q without a U, X without a vowel, things like that,

you've got them all in your head?

That would be the theory!

DERMOT LAUGHS

Sometimes they don't actually stay in the head quite long enough.

OK. I hope plenty of science is in your head

because you're about to play the round.

Would you like to go first or second?

I'd like to go first, please.

Good luck, Ian, here's your first question.

What is the botanical name for the female reproductive part

of a flower that consists of the stigma, the style and the ovary?

I don't think it's the petal. I don't think it's the albumen.

So I'm actually going to go for carpel.

It's the right answer. Good start, well done, Ian. Off the mark.

Judith, on the pH scale of acidity and alkalinity,

which of these household substances has the lowest pH value?

So that's the one that's most acidic, isn't it?

I think it will probably be vinegar.

Yeah, once you've worked that out, which way the scale goes,

absolutely right, well done, Judith, vinegar is correct.

We go back to you, Ian. Second question.

Which component of a car engine is part of the exhaust system

and carries waste gases from the cylinders to the exhaust pipe?

Again, I don't think it's the crankshaft.

I don't think it's the piston. I think it's the manifold.

Of course it is, it's the right answer, well done.

Judith, in the human body,

a dendrite is a thread-like extension of which type of cell?

Dendrite, D-E-N-D-R-I-T-E.

Erm...

I'm not sure, but I don't think it's a red blood cell or male sex cell.

It sounds more like a nerve cell.

So, a nerve cell.

Well done, that is correct, yes, nerve cell. OK.

Ian, third question.

The contradiction between the high probability of the existence

of extraterrestrial civilisations

and the lack of contact with them is known by what name?

I'd have to say it's a question that I don't know the answer to.

So, I'm looking at...the answers, to see if there are any clues at all.

There's nothing leaping out.

I'm going to go straight down the middle with Sagan.

OK. Eggheads?

-It's the Fermi paradox.

-It is the Fermi paradox, I'm afraid.

So, bad luck, Ian. But wasn't there some scientist who said,

"Well, look, you know, you just have no idea what's out there"?

Yes, accepting the probability that there is extraterrestrial

civilisation but saying we ought to keep quiet about it.

-Let's not draw attention to ourselves.

-Oh, that's been said.

It was said some decades after the first radio broadcasts.

So, it was bit too late, really.

-They're out there.

-Early Laurel and Hardy episodes are.

-Flying through space as we speak.

-Eggheads is up there now.

Yes, Eggheads.

Extraterrestrials are forming their judgments

about human civilisation from you lot.

We're doomed.

Heaven help us. OK. Right, well, Ian didn't get that.

So a chance for Judith. Judith, your third question.

In 2008, after a recovery in its numbers,

the status of which whale

was updated on the IUCN Red List of endangered species

from vulnerable to least concern? Is it...

I was watching a programme about whales last night - killer whales.

And I was hoping you were going to say minke whale, cos there was

great controversy about fishing or whaling for minke whales

some time ago. I thought maybe they had come back.

But anyway, they're not on the list, so...

What am I to do now? Um...

JUDITH CHUCKLES

I don't know. Um...

I think they fish, or they whale - whatever the verb is -

for beluga whales.

So maybe they've managed to bring them back up.

-So I'm going to say beluga whale.

-OK, beluga whales. It is...

-the humpback whale.

-Oh.

The humpback whale, not the beluga whale.

OK, right, well, it stays all square and, Ian,

because it is all square after three questions, we are

going to go to the Sudden Death phase and remove the options.

So, can you tell me

which metallic element with the atomic number 21 was discovered

by Lars Nilson and named after a region of northwest Europe?

Rapidly going through the periodic table.

No, I'm not sure on this one at all.

I'll go sodium but I don't think it's the answer.

OK, sodium is not the answer

and there are a lot of clues in that question.

A region, not a country, of northwest Europe

and the man's name - Lars Nilson. Do you know, Judith?

Well, it's somewhere in Sweden, I suppose, or Scandinavia.

-It's not scandium, is it?

-It is scandium.

Yeah, you worked it out from those clues. Scandium.

OK, your question, Judith.

Which constellation, named after a mythological queen,

contains five bright stars forming a distinctive W shape?

I wonder if the queen's name is a W.

Um, I can't think of a mythological queen with a name W.

Um...

I'm no good on stars.

My mind's gone blank. I can't think of any mythological queens.

Mythological queens...

-Titania, queen of the fairies.

-Titania?

-Yes.

-OK.

-So, you're not going for one with a W?

-I can't think of one.

Well, you didn't have to. I only said distinctive W shape.

It didn't mean anything about W in the name.

-Well, it might've done.

-Yeah, but not Titania.

-It was a clue.

-Not Titania and I'm not surprised.

-Other Eggheads?

-Cassiopeia.

-Cassiopeia.

-Cassiopeia.

-Ah!

-The W shape.

It could just have been, what constellation is W-shaped?

It's Cassiopeia. OK, Ian,

another question.

Which group of bats from the family Rhinolophidae

are named for the shape of the fleshy growth around their nose?

I'm going to go for the horseshoe bat.

Right answer. Well done.

-Yes!

-Yeah!

-Back in motion.

All right, Judith,

for what does the letter "I" stand in the abbreviation BIS -

the think thank on space development founded in 1933?

Um...

British...

Um, it could be Interstellar.

-OK, Interstellar.

-I'm sure it's not but it could be.

It's Inter...planetary.

Oh, Interplanetary. Well...

-Interplanetary.

-..same neck of the woods.

-Yeah. Good guess

but not the right answer. Ian, you're in the final round.

-Good man.

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

Hail to the chief.

Much better for the Wordsmiths.

Both teams have now lost one brain from the final round.

Next subject, it's Arts & Books.

Who'd like to play Arts & Books?

I'm guessing that's going to be me, is it?

-We've got every confidence in you.

-Which one?

-I don't know.

-You tell me.

-There's three of them left.

-Who do you want me to take?

-Kevin, Dave or Pat?

Your choice.

-Let's try Dave.

-Sue and Dave playing the Arts & Books round.

Into the Question Room, please.

OK, Sue, what's your interest in Arts & Books, apart from Scrabble?

And reading a lot.

Yes, I'm not really looking forward to the art part of it,

I must be honest.

OK, well, let's hope you avoid those questions.

Would you like the first set or the second set?

I'd like to go first, please.

Right, Sue, here you go. First question.

The name of which royal house appears in the title

of a Shakespeare play?

Well, I'd love to see The Merry Wives Of Stuart

but I think I'll go for Windsor.

You've got it. Yeah. Right answer. Of course.

Dave, the title of a stage farce written by Ray Galton

and John Antrobus is When Did You Last See Your what?

I don't think it's turtleneck.

I don't think it's toupee. I like the look of trousers.

When Did You Last See Your Trousers?

Is the right answer. OK. Your second question, Sue.

The 1996 novel The Butterfly Lion was written by which author

who went on to be Children's Laureate?

I don't know the book at all.

Er, I don't like the look of Malorie Blackman

but I'm not really sure why.

I believe Michael Morpurgo was Children's Laureate

so I'm going to go for Michael Morpurgo.

OK, working on that part of the question and got the right answer.

Well done, Sue, you have two.

And Dave,

which actress was commissioned by the publisher

of the Beatrix Potter stories

to write a 2012 sequel entitled The Further Tale Of Peter Rabbit?

Mm, not heard of this at all.

I'll go Emma Thompson, but...

it could well be Helen McCrory but I'll go Emma Thompson.

Emma Thompson is the right answer, Dave. Well done.

Two-all. And Sue,

in 1991, which author was shortlisted for the

Booker Prize for the third time, for his novel The Redundancy Of Courage?

I have absolutely no idea at all.

This one's going to be pot luck I'm afraid, team.

Let's try Judith's rule and go down the right. Ben Okri.

OK.

I'm afraid it hasn't worked.

Um, do you know, Dave?

I'd have gone Rohinton Mistry.

-No, it's Timothy Mo.

-Oh, right, well, see...

At least you knew Dave wouldn't have got it

but it wasn't his question, Dave, this is.

Which British artist painted the worked entitled

The Architect's Home In The Ravine

which sold for over £7.6 million in 2013?

I missed this.

Should've seen this in the paper but I haven't got an idea.

I'll go Sexton Ming.

OK, right again. I mean, down the right again, but wrong.

I'd better be clear about that.

All these different sides. It's incorrect. Other Eggheads?

-Try Peter Doig.

-Peter Doig is the answer you were looking for.

So into Sudden Death again. You know what that means.

You saw Ian battling away there. And, Sue,

in George Orwell's novel 1984,

the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind

simultaneously and accepting both of them is known by what name?

I should know this - and I'm going to kick myself when you tell me -

but I don't.

No, I've got nothing.

I'm thinking of Room 101 and Newspeak

but I just can't call it to mind, I'm sorry.

Can't come up with this.

This is why the Sudden Death phase is so difficult.

You would pick this straight out of any list we gave you,

I'm absolutely certain.

-But you can't just conjure it out of your head.

-No.

-So, is that a pass?

-Yes.

-OK.

-Sorry.

-Dave, do you know?

-Doublespeak?

-Oh, it's not. I wouldn't have accepted that.

Other Eggheads?

-Doublethink.

-Doublethink.

-Oh. OK.

Dave was on the right track. Doublethink.

Dave, to win the round, potentially,

on arriving in New York in 1882, Oscar Wilde is believed to

have said he had nothing to declare but his what?

Um, genius.

It's the right answer.

Well done, Dave, you've got it right.

It's genius, which I'm sure you would've got as well, Sue,

but it wasn't your question.

It means you won't be in the final round.

Would you both come back and join your teams?

So the Eggheads back in the lead.

The Wordsmiths have lost two brains from the final round,

the Eggheads have lost one.

And our last head to head before the final round is Sport.

You've got two players, Colin or Len, who can play,

Wordsmiths.

-I'll take that.

-OK, and which Egghead would you like to play,

Len? You've got Kevin or Pat there.

I think I'll take Pat, please.

Right, let's have Len and Pat into the Question Room.

OK, Len, about to display your sporting knowledge, I hope.

-First set of questions or the second set?

-I'll go second, please.

Puts Pat in there. And your first question, Pat In September

2013, Paolo Di Canio was sacked as manager of which football club?

He had a fairly short reign at Sunderland.

He's quite an opinionated man, with his own way of doing things,

but he had to leave Sunderland.

He did. It's the right answer - Sunderland.

OK, Len.

Participants in which sport wear a so-called HANS device

around the neck to prevent serious injury?

HANS device. It's H-A-N-S.

I have never heard of the expression but, er,

just let me give this a little bit of thought.

I would have thought motor racing.

Motor racing? Yes. Absolutely right. Well done.

Pat, second question.

Hodori, who was the official mascot of the 1988 Summer Olympics

in Seoul, was a representation of which creature?

I'll have to cast my mind back.

I was getting married on the opening day of the Seoul Olympics.

I was distracted.

Well, a hamster sounds pretty...

It's not terribly inspiring. I suppose it could be funny.

Of the three of those creatures...

the most glamorous...

is the tiger.

The Siberian tiger... not that far away from Korea.

I'm not entirely sure. I think I'll go for tiger.

Hodori

was a tiger. It's correct.

OK.

Second question to Len.

Since it moved from White City to Wimbledon in 1985,

the English Greyhound Derby final has been run over what distance?

I'm not really certain about this one.

I haven't been greyhound racing for years.

Um...

..I would've thought...

480 metres.

480 metres is correct. Well done, Len.

Pat, which darts player won the 2013 BDO World Championship

at the Lakeside Country Club in Surrey?

I should know this but I'm not sure I do.

I've a feeling that Scott Waites had a big win sometime around that time.

I think I'll have to go for Scott Waites.

Scotty "2 Hotty" Waites -

that's his nickname.

It is the right answer. Well done.

All right. Well, er,

Pat sorted that out under a bit of pressure there

but has now transferred that pressure onto you, Len.

You need to get this.

After 32 straight victories, which boxer suffered his first

professional defeat in a 1981 fight dubbed "The Showdown"

against Sugar Ray Leonard?

I'm not a great boxing fan, unfortunately.

Um, I wouldn't have thought it was Thomas Hearns.

And I'm torn between the other two. Mm.

That's a bit difficult. Let me just...

Well, the one I know best

and I suppose I've got to go for that one, is Marvin Hagler.

OK, Marvin Hagler against Sugar Ray Leonard in The Showdown in 1981.

I'm afraid it's incorrect. Pat, do you know?

I'd have gone for Tommy Hearns.

Yeah, it is Thomas Hearns, which means,

he's delivered the knockout blow to you.

You won't be in the final round, Len.

Would you both come back and join your teams?

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

It's the final round which,

as always, is General Knowledge. But I'm afraid

those of you who lost your head to heads

won't take part in this round.

So, Elizabeth, Sue and Len from the Wordsmiths,

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

So Ian and Colin,

you are playing to win the West Berks Wordsmiths £4,000.

Pat, Dave, Kevin and CJ,

you are playing for something which money cannot buy -

the Eggheads' reputation.

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

The questions are all general knowledge

and you are allowed to confer.

So West Berks Wordsmiths,

the question is, are your two brains better than the Eggheads' four?

And Ian and Colin, how do you want to play this round?

Do you want to go first or second?

We'll take the first.

OK, best of luck, guys. First question coming your way.

Here you go.

Irish-born Orla Kiely is best known for her career as a what?

-Ah.

-I don't know the answer to this.

My misspent youth isn't contemporary.

Well, we've got to have a crack, haven't we?

I know we've got to have a crack, yeah.

Restaurant critic is slightly unlikely, I think.

It's fashion or stand-up comedian.

-I'm tempted towards stand-up comedian.

-I am tempted too.

-Yeah.

-We think she's a funny girl.

-Stand-up comedian.

-Stand-up comedian for Orla Kiely.

-Eggheads?

-She's a fashion designer.

She is a fashion designer, I'm afraid.

So nothing there. Didn't know that

but had a guess. Let's see

if the Eggheads get this, then.

Eggheads, first question,

what is the name of the virtual currency introduced in 2009,

to allow online transactions without the need for a central bank?

-Bitcoin.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

The subject of much controversy later on - Bitcoins.

Bitcoin is correct from the Eggheads. So, Wordsmiths,

second question.

GBZ is the international vehicle registration code for where?

It's not Jersey.

I don't think it's the Isle of Man.

But I'm not 100% certain.

I suspect the Isle of Man. But Gibraltar, do you know what it is?

-It's one of those two.

-Do you want to go for Isle of Man?

Yeah. All right.

-Isle of Man.

-OK.

Isle of Man.

I don't know if you can make a Scrabble word out of GBZ.

Knowing you lot, you probably could.

Um, GBZ is the international vehicle registration code for...

-Gibraltar.

-Oh.

Gibraltar, which means we're at the point already where

the Eggheads can win the game.

Got to hope they don't get this.

Lieutenant-commander is an officer rank

in which of the British Armed Forces?

-Royal Navy, yeah.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

That is the Royal Navy.

Royal Navy?

You've just sunk the Wordsmiths.

It's the right answer, Eggheads, you've won.

Well, bad luck, guys. You never really got going there, did you?

Well, if we'd had their questions it would have been more reasonable.

It is just the way those questions fall.

You try going second, you try... It just...

Frankly, anything can turn up, as you well know.

But well played today and really nice meeting you, Wordsmiths.

Good luck with the Scrabbling in the future.

-Thank you for taking on the Eggheads.

-Thank you.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them

and they still reign supreme over quiz land.

I'm afraid you won't be going home with the £4,000,

which 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.

£5,000 says they don't. Until then, goodbye.