Episode 8 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.

Question is, can they be beaten?

Welcome to Eggheads, the show where a team of five quiz Challengers

pit their wits against possibly the greatest quiz team in Britain.

They are the Eggheads.

And taking on the awesome might of our quiz Goliaths today

are Agatha Quizteam.

This team of friends all met

while studying at Warwick University over ten years ago, and gradually

they've all migrated to London, and now regularly quiz together

at the Elm Park in Brixton.

Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Hywel, I'm 31, and I'm a postgraduate journalism student.

Hi, I'm Ralph, I'm 31, and I'm business analyst.

Hi, I'm Kaajal, I'm 31, and I'm a gallery assistant.

Hi, I'm Tom, I'm 31, and I'm a teacher.

Hi, I'm James, I'm 31, and I'm a head of client services.

Well, welcome to you, Agatha Quizteam.

Er, yeah, I mean, just about getting it.

-It nearly works, but perhaps not quite.

-Yeah.

How did you come with that?

Well, it's just... We just can't resist a bad pun really, I think.

There's no actual relation to the much-famed author.

Tell us about the quizzing at the Elm Park.

How do you do in that quiz?

Well, we generally do pretty well. There's a few regulars

who tend to share the top prizes amongst themselves,

but we're there or thereabouts.

There or thereabouts isn't good enough in Eggheads.

-No...

-You have to be top of the pile to win the money, I tell you.

And how much money is at stake today?

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

for our Challengers. But, if they fail to defeat the Eggheads,

as you know, the prize money rolls over to the next show.

So, Agatha Quizteam, the Eggheads have won the last eight games,

and that means £9,000

says you can't beat the Eggheads today.

Well, let's set about that task, shall we?

And play our first head-to-head. It's Arts and Books.

And who wants to take this one on? Who's it going to be?

-I think that's me.

-It's Kaajal, yeah.

-Yeah, OK, sure.

-Good luck.

Saw that look on your face. Now choose an Egghead to play.

-Who do we think?

-Ah.

-Arts and Books.

-Um, Dave.

-Dave.

-Dave.

-OK.

-Kaajal against Dave.

-OK. That's who it's going to be then.

Let's have Kaajal and Dave into the Question Room, please,

just to make sure you can't confer.

Kaajal, do you want to go first or second in this Arts and Books round?

Er, I'd like to go first, please.

Good look, Kaajal. Here's your first question then.

The Merchant's Tale, The Nun's Priest's Tale

and The Squire's Tale are all parts of which work of literature?

Er, I know this one.

We actually studied it in school way back when.

Um, it's The Canterbury tales.

It is The Canterbury tales.

Well done. Good start. One to you.

And so to Dave.

Which of these writers did not win the Nobel prize for literature?

Right, I believe...

I'm trying to think of the dates here.

Rudyard Kipling's 1907, I think.

I'm going to guess that George Bernard Shaw was 1925.

I think it's George Orwell who was the one who hasn't won it.

Well worked out, Dave, that's the right answer.

George Orwell didn't win the Nobel prize for literature.

It's one-all.

Kaajal, second question.

Which author's works include biographies

of Charles Dickens and William Blake?

Um...

This is a complete guess.

I'm going to say Iain Sinclair.

Iain Sinclair...

No, it's not Iain Sinclair.

Do you know of the other two there, Dave?

I'd have guessed Hilary Spurling.

Oh, well, that's eliminated

all the wrong answers.

THEY LAUGH

And, therefore, Peter Ackroyd.

So, nothing for you, Kaajal. Dave,

in Tennyson's poem, The Lady Of Shalott,

the title character dies after being distracted by whom?

Don't know, and I should know this poem.

Right, King Arthur or Sir Lancelot...

I'll go with Sir Lancelot, but I'm not at all sure.

OK, Sir Lancelot distracting The Lady Of Shalott.

-It's the right answer, Dave.

-Oh, right.

All right, well, it means Dave did get that,

Kaajal, so you need to get this.

The artist Giorgio Morandi,

who died in 1964, specialised in which genre of painting?

I feel like I should know this.

And I feel like I do know it.

But... it's not coming to mind right now.

So, this is, again, going to have to be another guess,

and I'm going to guess...

still life.

-Crucial guess.

-Yeah.

-It's the right answer, yes. Well done.

-(Yes!)

Still life.

And still life in your challenge.

But you've got to hope Dave doesn't get this.

Dave, which Italian author wrote the post-modern 1979 novel

If On A Winter's Night A Traveller?

I don't know the answer to this,

so this is going to be a complete guess.

I'm going to go Umberto Eco.

-It is Italo Calvino.

-OK.

So, bad luck, Dave.

Didn't get it, which is great news for you, Kaajal.

Means we're going to Sudden Death.

It's good and bad news, you're still in it but...

we now play without options, just to sort out a winner.

State Of Fear and Airframe

are novels by which American author who died in 2008?

I'm really bad at contemporary American literature,

so, that's actually a really good question to direct my way. Um...

I'm afraid I'll have to pass.

I know that's a terrible thing to do, but I'm afraid I am.

I can't call anything to mind.

American literature not one of your strong points.

Is it one of your strong points, Dave? Do you know?

It's not my strong point but I'd guess Michael Crichton.

It is Michael Crichton.

Yeah, wrote State Of Fear and Airframe.

Nothing there for Kaajal. So another chance for Dave.

The actress Olga Knipper married which Russian playwright?

Um, I'm going to go Anton Chekhov.

Anton Chekhov...

Thought he was in Star Trek!

THEY LAUGH

Could've been.

Olga Knipper, or "Nipper" married Anton Chekhov.

It's the right answer, Dave.

Oh, dear. Bad luck, Kaajal.

Into Sudden Death, some consolation,

but you won't be in the final round.

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

Well, after the opening exchanges,

Agatha Quizteam have lost one brain from the final round,

the Eggheads haven't lost any.

And our second subject today is Science.

Who'd like to play this?

-Well, Science, we... I think...

-That's me, is it?

-Yeah.

Either James or Ralph, so...

-Do it.

-Yeah, I'll go for it.

-We'll nominate James, please.

OK, James, choose an Egghead, any of them apart from Dave.

I don't know, what do you think?

-CJ.

-I think CJ, yeah.

CJ's very arts focused, we know this about him,

so maybe he lets his science knowledge slip occasionally.

-Yeah.

-Yeah. CJ, please.

OK.

I've lost my last two on Science.

Right, so, was it a good choice? We'll soon find out.

James and CJ into the Question Room, please.

OK, Science. Do you want to go first second?

I'd like to go first, please.

OK, first question, James.

What term is used to refer to the upper boundary of the stratosphere?

Um, well, I studied physics at university,

and strangely enough this has come back to me.

So, I'm going to go with stratopause.

Well done, no pausing then. It's the right answer. Straight in.

Stratopause is correct.

CJ, which of these is the name for a plate designed to restrain

the emission of flight of the distribution of sound?

I haven't heard of it in relation to light,

but something that stops sound is a baffle.

It is. It's the right answer, CJ. It hasn't baffled to you.

OK, one each.

James, the bicuspid,

or mitral valve, is part of which organ in the human body?

Hm. Well, valves are usually in the heart.

So I'm group to go with heart, Dermot.

OK, going on the valve part of it, and you've got it.

Yes, heart is correct. Well done.

And, CJ, what is produced when an electron and a positron interact?

I'm... I don't know but...

I would've thought when subatomic particles interact it can't be

anything substantive, so it couldn't be water or hydrogen cyanide.

Um...

I don't know it, but I'll have to go for gamma radiation.

Gamma radiation.

Clearly, you know a thing or two about it as well.

That's the right answer, CJ.

It's two each.

James, which of these is most likely to contain phloem.

Phloem, hm.

A fish's swim bladder, is what allow them

to rise and fall in the sea,

but I think again, this is calling on me from back in...way back when.

Phloem, xylem and phloem... I would say plant stem.

Oh-ho-ho, yes!

That's the right answer.

-ALL:

-Yeah.

You know your stuff but you're being matched by CJ so far.

Third question, CJ.

In 1859, the amateur astronomers

Richard Carrington and Richard Hodgson

independently made observations of what phenomenon?

I think I'm going to have to do this on the date. It's far too late

for transit of Venus, that's much, much earlier.

You can't make observations of black holes.

Um...I'm surprised it hadn't been done earlier

but I think the only one of those that fits is solar flare.

Solar flare is correct, CJ.

Wow, CJ, you're on form,

demonstrating all the different techniques

of working the options out to get the right answer.

That's twice, and in different ways, you've done it.

But, guess what,

we're going to remove those options now, CJ.

-THEY LAUGH

-Have to do that, CJ.

It's going to be a lot harder. But, James,

you know the form in Sudden Death, no options appearing.

On 19th July, 2013, the Cassini probe in orbit around Saturn

took a much-publicised photo of which planet?

I think this is the famous

Tiny Blue Dot photograph of planet Earth,

so I'm going to go with Earth.

Clever old you. It's the right answer, yes.

Planet Earth.

CJ, which botanical term for the male reproductive part of a flower

comes from the Latin for "thread"?

Oh, dear.

I don't know, I...

Again, I may be wrong here, I always thought pistil was male

and stamen was female...

I'm not at all sure here but I'll go for pistil.

Pistil.

Bad luck, CJ.

-It's stamen.

-It's stamen.

I mean, you were right there.

You were right there.

You weren't looking for anything else but you just mixed the two up.

That's really bad luck. Well, listen, James,

we already got the cheers from your team-mates there.

What a performance by you, because CJ was firing on all cylinders

there, I thought, but you really outran him. Well done.

You're in the final round, playing for the money today.

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

I must say, I really enjoyed that round. I'm sure you did, James.

CJ, less so. But it was a treat for all Eggheads viewers out there.

Just really high quality,

high calibre quizzing on a very difficult category there.

And I'm keeping up my 100% record in Science.

THEY LAUGH

That's why you mixed up pistil and stamen, you really knew it.

But you thought, right, you'd only mess up that record.

So, as it stands, both teams then

have lost one brain from the final round.

Let's get on. Looking forward to this, round three, it's Music.

And who'd like to play this?

I think that's me, actually, Dermot.

Saw you puffing out your cheeks there.

THEY LAUGH

So, Hywel, you're going to play Music.

Who would you like to play from the Eggheads?

CJ and Dave have played, so you can play Kevin, Barry or Chris.

-Chris.

-I think Chris might be a good shout.

-We'll take on Chris, please.

OK, let's have you both into the Question Room, please,

Chris and Hywel.

Well, Hywel, a diverse knowledge of music always helps in this round.

Chris has one or two blind spots in music,

as has been exhibited on occasion in the past.

Let's see if you can find his.

Do you want to go first or second, Hywel?

I'll go first, please, Dermot.

OK, first set of questions, and this is the first of them.

Hywel, by what name was the country and western singer,

Ottis Dewey Whitman Jr commonly known?

Well, Slinky Whitman would be an odd name for a lead singer, really.

Um, Slender Whitman, I've not heard of. I'm going to go for Slim Whitman.

OK, yes, it's the right answer.

One to you.

Chris, the CBSO Centre is the home of which city symphony orchestra?

I think the only one that's got a symphony orchestra is Birmingham,

so that's got to be the answer.

OK, well worked out. It's the right answer, yes, Birmingham.

Hywel, who went to number one in the UK in March 2013

with a song of theirs that had reached number nine in 1994?

Well, I don't think Black Eyed Peas were around in 1994

in any commercial sense.

I don't remember George Michael getting to number one

any time in the recent past, and I think...

I do remember Let's Get Ready To Rhumble - with an "h" -

getting to number one recently for PJ and Duncan,

so that's what I'm going to say.

Very good. I like the correct spelling of Rhumble, with an "h".

PJ and Duncan is the right answer. Well done.

And, Chris, Strangelove and Never Let Me Down Again

were hit singles in the late 1980s for which group?

Well, I know nothing about that era at all. It just passed me by.

I had other things on my mind. Um...

Sounds pretentious enough for Depeche Mode,

so that what I'm going to go for.

And you, after those long silences,

kind of stunned into silence with almost disgust.

Chris, "Sounds pretentious enough."

It is the right answer, yes, indeed.

Depeche Mode.

We'll pass on your comments about their style.

Thank you very much, Chris.

It's two-all. Hywel, third question.

The image on the front cover of the 1976 UK release of Abba's album

Arrival shows the group sitting inside what type of vehicle?

Pff, well, not a massive ABBA fan.

Arrival...possibly

an airport theme there.

I suppose you can arrive in any forms of transport though.

Probably Arrivals, and maybe airport arrivals.

I'll go for an airliner.

OK, airliner.

No, it's not an airliner.

It is by air,

but by helicopter.

Helicopter.

So, well, Chris, chance for victory.

By what name is Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major

popularly known?

That the Emperor Concerto.

Beethoven pretentious?

I prefer Wagner.

-THEY LAUGH

-OK.

Emperor Concerto is the right answer, Chris.

Right up your street there. Straight in with it.

Bad luck there, Hywel.

You were going really strongly

until you got your wrong mode of air transport there for ABBA.

You won't be in the final round.

Would you both come back and join your teams?

Another good performance from Agatha Quizteam

in the form of Hywel there, but just lost out.

It means Agatha Quizteam have lost two brains,

the Eggheads have lost one.

Our next subject is Politics.

Well, pretty clear-cut, this one.

We're going to go for Tom, please.

-Tom.

-OK, Tom. Now, choose an Egghead.

Two of them remaining, Kevin or Barry?

-What do you reckon?

-What do we think?

-I think Kevin.

-OK.

-Do you want try to take on Kevin?

-OK.

We'll take Kevin, please.

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

Tom, do you want to go first or second?

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

OK, Politics, first question to you, Tom.

Walter Thomson, who died in 1978, was best known as the long-term

bodyguard of which 20th-century British prime minister?

Well, I'm not absolutely certain here

but I think if he died in '78 and Thatcher became prime minister

in '79 then he'd be pretty unlikely to have been her bodyguard.

Lloyd George was prime minister in 1910, so he would have been

pretty old, and maybe a time when prime ministers didn't need

bodyguards, so I'd imagine it would be Winston Churchill.

You worked that out very nicely. It is the right answer of course.

Yes, Winston Churchill.

Well, Kevin, how many female Labour MPs dubbed Blair's Babes

were elected to the Commons at the 1997 general election?

It was quite a jump at the time, I seem to remember,

so 11 would be too low.

I don't...I don't think there were as many as 101.

-No, 51.

-OK, 51.

-101, Kevin.

-Was it?

Oh, right. OK.

Well, I was keeping this little statistic in the background here,

Tom, but after that with you in the lead

and maybe a chance for 2-0.

Kevin is a formidable player in all categories, as you know.

This is one of his favourites. He's got a 90% winning record.

He's played 30 and only lost three.

Is he going to make it four?

Let's see as this pans out.

It's important to get this one.

Which should major US city filed for bankruptcy

with estimated debts of 18 billion in July 2013?

Well, I've seen quite a lot written about this,

and also some quite interesting photos of some abandoned buildings

and abandoned factories so I'm pretty certain it's Detroit.

Detroit.

It's the right answer, yes.

Well...

-Just a slim possibility here that Kevin's round could be over...

-Yep.

..on this question.

Strawberry Hill, in Twickenham, was the home

of which author and politician?

That was Horace Walpole.

OK.

-Steadied the ship.

-Hm.

-Got it there.

It's the right answer. Yes, got the tick.

But, your destiny, your fate not under your own control.

This ejects him if you get this, Tom.

Jack Straw served as which cabinet member's special adviser

from 1974 to 1976?

I'm not...

..absolutely certain, but I have...

Just dredging something up from the back of my mind...

If I had to guess, I'd think it's Barbara Castle.

-That's that your answer?

-Yes, it's Barbara Castle.

"I'd guess at Barbara Castle."

Kevin's out. It's the right answer.

-THEY CHEER

-Well done.

We've got to look at those scores again.

3-1.

No point putting another question to him.

As I say, he had a 90% winning record,

that ever so slightly lessened after that loss.

Well done, Tom.

Big scalp there.

Would you both please come back and join your teams?

OK, so this is what we've been playing towards.

It's 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 able to take part in this round.

So, Hywel, and Kaajal from Agatha Quizteam,

and Kevin and CJ from the Eggheads

would you all leave the studio, please?

So, Ralph, Tom and James,

you're playing to win Agatha Quizteam £9,000.

Dave, Barry and Chris,

you're playing for something which money can't buy -

the Eggheads' reputation.

As usual, I'll ask the each team three questions in turn.

This time, the questions are all General Knowledge

so anything can come up.

And, of course, the big difference, you are allowed to confer.

So, Agatha Quizteam, the question is,

are your three brains better than the Eggheads' three?

And, Ralph, Tom and James, would you like to go first second?

I think we're going to go first, if that's OK.

First question then for Agatha Quizteam.

Which of these can be referred to as a fear of public places?

Arachnophobia's spiders.

-Yeah.

-Yep, arachnophobia's spiders.

-Androphobia...men?

-Men or humans.

-Yeah.

I think it's agoraphobia.

That's what we going to go for.

OK. Agoraphobia is the right answer.

Yes, well done.

Eggheads, which of these women

came to the attention of the public as the girlfriend of Andy Murray?

I'm just trying to picture Andy Murray and Kim Kardashian

together, and it's an image I don't want to see too often.

I think we'll go for Kim Sears.

OK, Kim Sears.

Right answer, Eggheads.

One apiece.

And, Agatha Quizteam, the game of Pesapallo is often referred to

as a Finnish version of which sport?

My memory's saying lacrosse but I don't know why.

Yeah, I think golf is probably...I don't know.

-It just seems maybe not enough space.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Baseball seems...

Well, no, it could be like a stick ball kind of...

Yeah. Well, they're all kind of stick ball games really, aren't they?

-What do you reckon?

-My first thought was lacrosse.

Lacrosse seems the kind of thing that different countries

-would have a national version of.

-Yeah.

I kind of think that as well.

I think we're going to go with lacrosse but we're not 100%.

OK, lacrosse on pesapallo,

referred to as the Finnish version of...

I'm afraid that's incorrect.

It's not lacrosse.

Do you know, Eggheads?

-Baseball?

-Baseball.

-It's the Finnish version of baseball.

-Ah.

But not the right answer. Let's see how the Eggheads do

with their second question.

Where is the Humboldt Glacier located?

-Antarctica.

-Antarctica.

I would have thought it's Antarctica.

-Yeah. Are we happy with that?

-Yeah, it feeds into the Humboldt Current,

goes up the west coast of South America.

Well, Humboldt rejoices in the fact that there are more

geographical features named after him than any other person

who's ever lived.

We think the Humboldt Glacier

is in Antarctica.

So, there are more features, geographical features,

named after Humboldt than anybody else?

-Well, that's why you got confused then, cos it's Greenland.

-Oh.

THEY LAUGH

Good news.

I thought it was Antarctica.

Good news for Agatha Quizteam. It's all square. Here we go.

Third question.

The TV drama series Top Of The Lake

was co-written and co-created by which film director?

-Top Of The Lake.

-I don't think it is Kathryn Bigelow.

She does Hollywood stuff. She did like, Hurt Locker, was it?

Yeah, Hurt Locker.

-I haven't seen Top Of The Lake.

-No, I haven't.

-I have a feeling it's Jane Campion but...

-I...

-Go for it.

-Go for it.

I think we're going to go with Jane Campion.

OK. You had a feeling.

-Well, you had a feeling about lacrosse last time.

-We did, yeah.

You've got it this time. It's the right answer.

Well, back in it.

And will win the money if the Eggheads don't get this.

Which singer well known as part of a duo

wrote the 2013 autobiography

Bedsit Disco Queen?

Right. All I can go off is Keren Woodward is in Bananarama.

Which isn't a duo.

-Mary Wilson...

-Mary Wilson...

-Now, Tracey Thorn was in Everything But The Girl...

-Yeah.

-..which is a duo.

-Ah-ha.

-With Ben Watt.

-Yeah.

Bedsit Disco Queen. I mean, it...

-It sounds like Tracey Thorn, doesn't it?

-Her sense of humour.

Yeah, Mary Wilson was The Supremes, Keren Woodward was Bananarama.

We've got to go Tracey Thorn.

I mean, if it's Mary Wilson in some other duo, I don't know.

Or some other Mary Wilson.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We've got to go Tracey Thorn on the percentage.

Well, on the principle that we think only one of those ladies

is in a duo, we shall go for Tracey Thorn.

Tracey Thorn...

OK.

It is the right answer, Tracey Thorn.

Well, what a tight round.

It's all square. We go to Sudden Death again. So, here we go.

Ha is the symbol for which metric unit of area?

-Unless it's a trick it must be...

-No, no, it's a hectare.

I think we're pretty sure it's a hectare.

OK, hectare.

It's the right answer, yes.

Ha stands for hectare.

So, Eggheads, which bicycle race was first organised in 1909

in an attempt to increase sales of

the newspaper La Gazzetta Dello Sport?

THEY TALK OVER EACH OTHER

-..in Italy.

-Giro d'Italia, yeah.

We think the one in 1909 was the Giro d'Italia.

Giro d'Italia...

..is the right answer, Eggheads, yes. All square again.

Right, on with the Sudden Death round.

And, Agatha Quizteam,

which member of The Goons was awarded

the Peruvian Order of Merit due to his fundraising work

following an earthquake there?

-Who were The Goons?

-Member of The Goons.

-Spike Milligan?

-I think that was Spike Milligan.

And...

I'm getting confused with The Goodies.

Yeah, that was in my head.

-Graham...

-Yes, Graeme Garden.

-Graeme Garden, yeah.

-Is it Graeme Garden?

-But he was famous in Peru...

for fundraising, I guess.

-Maybe.

-Yeah.

I really have no idea.

-We can go for Graeme Garden.

-Shall we go for him?

-Yeah, yeah.

We're going to go with Graeme Garden.

OK, Graeme Garden, you're saying.

Member of The Goons awarded the Peruvian Order of Merit.

You were saying you were getting confused

between The Goodies and The Goons.

Well, you did get confused.

Graeme Garden, a Goodie not a Goon.

Goons well before The Goodies.

So perhaps a generational thing.

This lot'll know.

-Michael Bentine.

-Michael Bentine.

-Michael Bentine.

-Whose father was Peruvian.

His father was Peruvian.

Right, well, that's one to store away.

That's for another quiz.

Eggheads, another chance to win.

Which supermodel played Sheela in the 1993 film Sirens,

starring Hugh Grant?

-THEY TALK OVER EACH OTHER

-I think it's Elle Macpherson.

-Definitely Elle Macpherson.

-That's the first thing I thought.

Yeah, so, amazingly, we're on safer ground here with supermodels.

All three of us believe it was Elle Macpherson.

Elle Macpherson

playing Sheela in Sirens along with Hugh Grant back in '93...

It's the right answer.

Eggheads, you've won.

That was very, very close, as I don't need to tell you.

In the final round, and indeed in many of those head-to-heads.

One or two chances there to beat the Eggheads.

It's not often they get one wrong, so really nothing much in it

apart from the fact you didn't win the money.

We're sorry about that, but thank you very much indeed

for making such a great game of Eggheads

and giving them a real contest.

The Eggheads did what comes naturally to them,

and their winning streak continues.

I'm afraid you won't be going home with the £9,000.

That means the money rolls over to our next show.

Eggheads, congratulations.

Who will beat you?

Join us next time to see

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

We're up to £10,000 that says they don't.

Until then, goodbye.