Episode 89 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, as my mum always used to say,

you have been in the wars a bit, haven't you?

-ALL:

-Yes.

-Last game? ALL:

-Yes

-Then you came through.

So let's see what happens now.

Taking on the awesome might of our quiz Goliaths today

are Adam's Ants.

Now this team of colleagues all work together

at Dumfries House, a country house and estate in East Ayrshire,

which is open to the public.

They take their team name from Robert Adam,

the architect who designed the house.

Let's meet them.

Hello, I'm Alex and I'm a head tour guide.

Hello, my name is Gail and I'm a senior tour guide.

Hi, I'm Oliver and I'm an estate manager.

Hello, I'm Una and I'm a tour guide.

Hello, my name's Robert and I'm a finance director.

-So Alex's team, welcome. Good to see you.

-Thank you.

Tell us about Dumfries House.

It's an 18th-century house designed by Robert Adam with his brothers,

a noted collection of furniture inside,

mainly by Thomas Chippendale.

-We have maybe 10% of the authenticated Chippendale...

-Really?

..pieces in the world.

-Wardrobes and chairs and tables?

-All sorts of things.

Wow!

I had a look around and had a wee look at the antiques

-and brought some along today.

-THEY LAUGH

And Adam's Ants because of Robert Adam,

who you've mentioned who designed the place?

That's right and then the industrious work

that we all do inside the house.

All right, good luck doing some industrious work here.

Every day there is £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.

There's no real way of describing the last contest,

except to say the jackpot was not won by a very brilliant team.

Adam's Ants, the Eggheads have won the last 13 games,

so the jackpot is £14,000.

Are you ready to play for it?

-ALL:

-Yes.

OK. The first head-to-head battle is on the subject of Geography.

Who would like this?

-It's me, isn't it?

-Yep.

-Oliver?

-That's me.

And which Egghead would you like to play? You can have any of them.

We don't really know what Lisa's like at Geography, do we?

-We don't know.

-Shall we try Lisa at Geography?

-Yeah.

-Good idea.

-Let's do that.

They're stumbling on a possible area of weakness,

depending on how we're feeling today.

It's not a possible area of weakness, Jeremy,

that's awfully kind of you.

We'll see what happens in the booth.

Oliver from Adam's Ants, Lisa from the Eggheads,

please go to our Question Room now.

So Geography, Oliver, and your choice,

would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please, Jeremy.

Here is your first question, good luck.

In terms of area, which of these seas is the smallest?

Well, I'm going to rule out South China Sea straightaway

cos that's quite a big, old sea

down that way.

Um...

Now, the Med is quite narrow

but it does kind of go on for quite a while

and the North Sea is stuck in-between just Britain

and Scandinavia, so I'm going to go...

I'm going to go for the North Sea.

North Sea is the right answer, well done.

Good logic.

OK, Lisa, your question.

Ballybunion - all one word -

is a seaside town in which country?

Ballybunion.

The Ballys all tend to hang out in Ireland, don't they?

Bally this and Bally the thing.

Ballykissangel on the telly.

Um, we'll go for Ireland.

Ireland is the right answer, well done.

OK, Ireland is the answer.

Back to you, Oliver.

Which US state is sometimes called the Great Lake state?

Mm, I'm going to rule out Maine.

I think Maine is further east.

Minnesota's not too far away.

Um...

Lake Michigan is obviously one of the Lakes,

so I'm going to go down the middle and say, Michigan.

Michigan is quite right. Yeah.

Does that mean, Eggheads, that there's more than Michigan

in Michigan - other lakes as well?

Yeah, yeah, because most of Michigan...

Well, it is, a peninsula.

-Yeah.

-So there are about three other lakes that touch Michigan.

Ah. Lisa, your question.

Surfers Paradise is a popular resort in which Australian state?

We always love to do you an Australia question.

I love that you're laughing, yes.

Thank you so much for laughing.

I'm going to quietly discount Tasmania.

Um...

Now I wonder if this is... If I can go on the logic

that Bondi Beach being close to Sydney is a big surfing district

and just say it's sort of an extension of that.

I haven't got any better logic to go on than that,

so I'll say New South Wales

on the proviso this is Australian geography and it's probably wrong.

Oliver, you know that part of the world? What do you think?

I'm pretty sure it's Queensland.

You are right, it is Queensland. You got it wrong, Lisa.

Of course! It's Australian geography.

It's Australian geography!

-Every time.

-I know.

-So funny.

-I know.

OK, Oliver, your question.

For the round - in which European capital would you find

the official presidential residence, the Hofburg Palace?

Right, well...

It's a German-sounding name.

I'm going to rule out Prague on that basis.

Bern, being in Switzerland, has both Swiss, I mean German

and French things.

But Vienna being mainly German orientated,

being in Austria, I'm going to say Vienna.

Hofburg Palace in Austria - Vienna's the right answer.

Well done, you've taken the round. First blood to our Challengers here.

Lisa's been knocked out.

Please come back to us, both of you, and we'll play on.

A good start for Adam's Ants.

You've made them stand and deliver!

THEY CHUCKLE

Oh...

So they've lost... I love the groan.

They're already in a bad mood.

I'm not upset, Jeremy, ridicule is nothing to be scared of.

Yeah, very good.

Lost no brains, the Challengers.

Eggheads have lost one.

Lisa's gone. So what's happening next?

Music is the answer.

-Who would like Music?

-Alex, I think that's mine.

Alex, OK. Against which Egghead, Alex?

My aunt in Fareham said I had to take on either Kevin or Barry.

Barry's not here.

Um, I think that means Kevin.

I think it really does, logically speaking.

So from Adam's Ants, it's Alex,

and it's Alex against Kevin from the Eggheads.

The subject is Music.

Please take your positions.

So your nickname in quizzes, Alex, is Shazam. Tell us why?

Well, we had a quiz night at Dumfries House

a couple of years ago.

One of the rounds was a music round, it was an intro round

and it seemed to be after a very brief snatch of music

I tended to get the answer correctly and one of the guys on the team

started to call me Shazam since then.

Shazam is one of these things you get on your phone

and you hold it up and it tells you what a track is.

-It does, that's right.

-You are a human version of it.

-THEY ALL CHUCKLE

-Well, we'll see.

It won't help me much in this round, I don't think.

Let's see how you do against Kevin.

Alex, you can choose whether you go first or second.

I'll go first, please, Jeremy.

And here is your first question.

Which US city is often referred to as the birthplace of jazz?

-Ah...

-Hang on.

Is it... That's you doing your Shazam there?

Is it...

Well, Nashville would be the home of country music.

Miami might be more up tempo, contemporary stuff.

It's New Orleans, I would say.

New Orleans is the right answer, yes, well done.

An amazing place to go.

Kevin. A sestet is a musical composition for how many performers?

It's S-E-S-T-E-T.

That's well, part of the various small ensembles,

it's six.

-Quartet, quintet, sestet.

-Yeah.

-Then septet.

-Septet.

-For seven, and so on. Octet.

Yes. You can stop there.

Exactly, yeah.

Six is the right answer.

Alex.

Which musician, composer and arranger was a producer

on Michael Jackson's best-selling album, Thriller?

Well, Phil Spector I wouldn't associated with that type of music.

Brian Eno, experimental stuff, ambient house.

I would say, Quincy Jones.

Definitely Quincy Jones.

Well done.

Kevin, your question.

Urban Hymns was a best-selling

1997 album by which band?

It's not Oasis.

I was just...

I was just thinking,

"I hope The Verve and Pulp don't both come up."

Um...

But my first thought was The Verve, so The Verve.

-Lisa knows this.

-It is The Verve.

The Verve is right. She would have been so upset if you got...

You wouldn't have been able to come back here

if you got Pulp and The Verve confused.

-It's quite a serious issue for Lisa, yeah.

-Fair enough.

You're equal - two each.

Here we go Alex with your question.

Wanted On Voyage was a 2014 album by which singer?

I don't know that one.

It's not familiar to me.

It would have to be a guess.

And...

I would say, George Ezra.

George Ezra's the right answer, good play.

Three out of three.

Have you guys even got a question wrong yet? No.

OK, Kevin, your third question.

If you get this wrong, we know what happens.

Which composer was known to his friends as Little Mushroom

due to his lack of height?

I don't think I've ever heard that.

On the basis that...

I'd say I don't know how tall any of these guys were,

so it may be completely off beam.

On the basis that Schubert was a fairly gregarious character

and had a circle of friends

and was quite convivial, I'll try Schubert.

-You could tell me all of their birth years, couldn't you?

-Yeah.

-Go on.

Rachmaninoff?

-1873.

-Prokofiev?

-1891.

-Schubert?

1797.

I wish I could give you a point for that.

-You have got it right, though.

-Mm.

Well done, Schubert it is.

JEREMY CHUCKLES

Whoo! That's Kevin.

OK, so three out of three.

We go to Sudden Death,

it gets harder now, Alex, OK? I don't give you alternatives.

In the early 1990s,

Marcella Detroit was half of which musical duo?

I do know this, or I should know it.

She was in a duo with one of the girls from Bananarama.

I think they had both been in the, um...

Och, we spoke about this at the big house a couple of weeks ago.

Um, but the name of the duo

I will kick myself, if and when you tell me,

Marcella Detroit and...

Was it Siobhan Fahey?

I think it's two words.

-I will pass, I'm afraid.

-OK, I've taken the pass.

Your colleagues know.

We talked about this in the car on the way up.

It's Shakespears Sister.

-Shakespears Sister.

-Oh!

And it was funny as you'd got...

I absolutely thought you were just going to

knock it out, no problem, because you had Siobhan Fahey

and you had the two words.

Oh, I'm sorry about that.

OK, so Kevin has a chance to take the round and level things up.

According to the opening line of a 2005 UK hit single

for Katie Melua, there are nine million bicycles in which city?

Beijing.

Beijing is the right answer. You've taken it on Sudden Death.

Sorry, Alex, you've been knocked out.

The Challengers have just lost their skipper.

It's even and it's exciting.

Come back to us, rejoin your teams, we'll play the next round.

As it stands, Adam's Ants have lost one brain from the Final Round.

They lost the captain. The Eggheads have also lost a brain.

Very even, good contest.

The next subject is Sport.

I was going to do it.

-That'll be me.

-You choose.

OK, Robert, against which Egghead?

It's got to be Judith. Traditionally it's Judith for Sport,

so I'm not going to break with tradition. Sorry, Judith.

It has moved off Judith a little bit recently.

-It's becoming traditional for Chris.

-Shut up!

THEY LAUGH

So Robert from Adam's Ants versus Judith from the Eggheads

and to ensure there's no conferring,

please take your positions in our Question Room.

-So, Robert, you're a fan of St Mirren?

-Yes, indeed.

And you've got a programme signed by Alex Ferguson,

was that while he was manager?

While he was manager. He was manager of St Mirren for a period

of about three years and I just happen to be passing

the rear of the grandstand when he came out for a breath of fresh air

and I managed to get his autograph before he became famous.

Wonderful. So would you like to go first or second on Sport?

I think I'll go second.

I'm sorry you're back on Sport, Judith.

Well, that's life, isn't it?

We were pretending you were really good at it and that was working.

-Oh...

-Here's your question.

Which of these sports is played on a court

with the largest surface area?

Well, table tennis is on a table, so that rules that out.

You said the largest area, didn't you?

-Largest.

-And badminton is also...

You can play badminton indoors, I think.

Actually, you do play it indoors, don't you?

So, um, tennis.

Tennis is right. Well done, Judith.

Over to you, Robert.

In Boxing, what is different about a southpaw fighter?

Um...

I'm going to rule out they've never been knocked down

because I don't know of any boxer that's never been knocked down.

So we're down to two.

A southpaw, I believe, is a person who leads with their right hand.

They lead with their right hand, you're right.

Meaning, their big punch is with their left, yeah.

Judith, here's your question.

Harry Redknapp resigned

as the manager of which football club in February 2015?

He was manager of Portsmouth

but that was some time ago.

Um, I think it's West Ham.

No.

-No.

-It's not Queens Park Rangers.

-Yes, QPR.

-Oh!

-Portsmouth, you did have the connection there.

He's managed all of them, has he?

-He has, yeah.

-Yeah.

-Managed all three.

Queens Park Rangers.

-Oh...

-I thought I knew that. Oh!

OK, Robert, your question.

The flat racing classics

known as the 1,000 Guineas and the 2,000 Guineas

are traditionally raced on which course?

I have to say that horse racing is not my strong suit within Sport.

But I think...

I think the answer to this is Newmarket.

-Is he right, Judith?

-Yes.

Yeah, I know you know your horse racing. Newmarket is correct.

So Robert has two. Judith, you have one.

-That means you're a little bit on the brink here.

-Yeah.

Which of these UK sportsmen

was one of Europe's leading table tennis players in the 1980s?

I have absolutely no idea.

I wouldn't have known it if he was champion last year.

I don't know.

Um, go down the magic right, Peter Elliott.

Desmond Douglas was the one. He was quite famous, actually.

We didn't have any other table tennis players.

I'm sorry about the way this is turning out, Judith.

-Never mind.

-You've been knocked out on Sport. Robert, well done.

You're in the Final Round, that's great for your team.

You've got the edge now.

Come back and we'll play the next round.

As it stands, Adam's Ants have lost one

and the Eggheads have lost two brains,

and we move on with History.

Who would like History? Last round before the final.

Do you want me to take it because you'll be better in the Final Round?

-Do you think?

-Sacrificial.

-Ah-ha.

You're not sacrificial, not at all.

-Una's going to get this.

-Yeah?

Yeah, I'll take History.

Una on History and you can have either Dave or Chris.

-I think I'll take Dave, please, if I may.

-Yes, you may.

So Una from Adam's Ants and Dave from the Eggheads.

To ensure there's no conferring, please go to the Question Room now.

History, Una, I'm thinking as you're a tour guide

in this wonderful house, it'll be brilliant for you,

so would you like to go first or second?

I shall go first, please, Jeremy.

Here is your first question, good luck.

Which of these historic civilisations was based in what is now Mexico?

Well, Aztecs were South American,

as are the Incas.

To be honest, I've never heard of Numidia.

Oh, dear...

I think...

I'm going to say the Aztecs.

Team-mates, is she right?

-She is.

-You are right.

Oh, thank heavens for that.

It was a bit of a stinker, that.

-I guess Incas, Peru, is that right?

-Yeah.

Incas are Peru.

Seeing them both there is awkward.

Dave, your question.

Which Greek king died at the Battle of Thermopylae

in 480 BC?

I'm going to rule out Pericles.

This is a bad one for me.

It's terrible.

Er...

I'll have to go Themistocles but I've not got an idea.

Themistocles.

Themistocles. Una, do you know?

I don't know for sure but I think I would have gone Leonidas.

You're right, actually, it is Leonidas.

-Sorry, Dave, you've got it wrong.

-Yes, I did.

OK, Una, so you've got a bit of an advantage here.

In which year was Abraham Lincoln born?

I'm going to say 1809.

You're absolutely right, well done, 1809.

-OK, Dave, this is pressure, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Hengist and Horsa, who are believed to have arrived in Britain

to help fight the Picts in the 5th century AD

were members of which people?

Hengist and Horsa.

I don't think they're Vikings or Jutes, I think they're Visigoths.

-So you're gone straight for Visigoths?

-Yes.

-They were actually Jutes.

-Oh, right!

-You're knocked out.

-Oh, ho!

-What a great History round that was!

-2-0.

-Yeah.

So, um, Una...

you didn't need to worry, you're in the final.

-Very much by default, I think.

-Not at all.

Come back to us and we will play the Final Round

for £14,000.

Well, another lively contest today.

This is what we have been playing towards,

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

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

won't be allowed to take part in this round.

So that's Alex from Adam's Ants

but quite a lot of Eggheads are going -

Lisa, Dave and Judith.

I need to ask you to leave the studio.

So Gail, Oliver, Una and Robert, you played really well so far

and you're now playing to win £14,000 for Adam's Ants.

Kevin and Chris, you're playing for something that money can't buy,

the Eggheads' reputation.

Battered and bruised, the last couple of games, but can you win through?

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

This time, they're all General Knowledge.

You are allowed to confer.

So, Adam's Ants, the question is are your four brains

better than the Eggheads' two?

Gail, Oliver, Una, Robert - do you want to go first or second?

We'll go first, thank you, Jeremy.

OK, Gail and team, here we go. First question.

Which writer popularised the stories of Br'er Rabbit

in his Uncle Remus tales?

Do you know this?

I think... Was it Mark Twain?

You think it's Mark Twain.

Songs Of The South, and everything like that.

My gut instinct was Joel Chandler Harris, but I don't want to...

No, your gut instinct is probably better than mine.

-What do you think, Robert?

-I... That's what I would go with.

-So we're 2-2 on this.

-2-2.

Let's say... How confident are you?

-Not at all.

-Not at all either.

-How confident are you on Harris?

-I'm more confident about Harris than Twain.

-Same with me, but...

-OK.

-So shall we go with that? Go for that, guys?

-Yeah.

Right. Our answer, Jeremy...

Joel Chandler Harris.

Joel Chandler Harris. Democracy in action there.

You started off just going to plump straight for Mark Twain.

-Have they got it right?

-Yeah.

Yes, you got it right. Well done!

-Thank you, Robert.

-That was impressive.

Quite often, people get locked into the wrong idea.

You did very well to do your handbrake turn there.

OK. Your question, Eggheads.

In Greek mythology, who was the father of Theseus?

-It's not Heracles.

-No. Peleus and Theseus and Achilles was there.

Achilles was not related as such to Theseus.

And it's definitely not Heracles. So...

I think it's got to be Aegeus.

-Aegeus, yeah. Yeah.

-OK.

Er, it's Aegeus, Jeremy.

Your answer is Aegeus.

-An uncertain answer. Or...?

-Ish.

But I'm reasonably...

The more I think about it,

the more I am reasonably sure that Peleus was the father of Achilles.

So... And it's definitely not Heracles, so...

That does tend to lead to Aegeus.

Aegeus is the right answer.

So one each.

Both of the teams almost coming undone on the first question.

Here is your second question.

The island of Aruba is a self-governing part

of which European country?

-Gut feeling?

-Netherlands.

-That's what I thought.

Definitely. It's next to St Martin.

-Is it next to St Martin?

-Yeah.

-Our answer is the Netherlands.

The Netherlands is correct.

Eggheads,

which country elected to entirely remove

the 30th of December 2011 from their calendars

in a bid to boost their economy?

Samoa. It's Samoa, isn't it? To shift the date line.

-Yeah. It was, yeah.

-It was actually to shift themselves

from one side to the other of the International Date Line. It's Samoa.

-Seems radical, doesn't it?

-Mm.

Samoa is the right answer. OK.

Third question to you. Two points each.

This one can be crucial.

Which of these writers went to jail for six months

in 1951 for refusing to name names during the McCarthy witch hunts?

-Guys...

-Any clues?

-I don't think it would be Chandler, but I don't know.

Robert? Any particular thoughts on this one?

-I would be surprised if it was Raymond Chandler.

-Yeah.

-If it was him, I would be surprised.

-James M Cain?

-James M Cain sounds like a writer. I mean...

-It does, yeah.

Having said that, like, it's a strange one

to put in Dashiell Hammett if it wasn't Dashiell Hammett.

I know that's a weird way of saying it,

but why would they have put in Dashiell Hammett for the sake of it?

He might have been a writer at the same time. Probably was.

I don't know. That's kind of the one I'm thinking.

What sort of books did James M Cain write?

-What sort of stuff did he write?

-Not an author I know. At all.

-I think it's modern-day crime.

-The name is familiar.

Sounds like a James M Cain...

-Down the middle, Oliver, as you suggest?

-Dashiell Hammett.

-Let's do it.

-We've got nothing concrete to go on, really, have we?

Well, Jeremy, he was my gran's favourite author...

So we don't really know, but we are going to say Dashiell Hammett.

Well, he is the right answer. Well done.

-Dashiell Hammett is the right answer.

-Thank you, Gran.

-Thank you, Gran!

Three out of three.

£14,000 you're playing for.

Eggheads need to get this one right to stay in.

The footballer Ali Daei

scored a record 109 goals for which country?

-Iran.

-Iran?

-Iran.

-Definitely? Oh, right, OK.

Well, you'd know. I wouldn't.

It's Iran, Jeremy.

You went straight there.

Iran is the right answer.

You've got three out of three, both teams. So it couldn't be tighter.

£14,000. A substantial jackpot. It goes to Sudden Death.

Couldn't be more exciting, could it?

It gets more tricky, cos I don't give you alternatives now.

Which leading American-born dancer was killed in 1927

when her scarf became entangled with the rear wheel of a car?

Isadora Duncan.

Isadora Duncan is right. Well done.

Eggheads, the Brooklyn Bridge spans which river?

-It's the East River, isn't it?

-Between Manhattan and...

-Yeah.

The Hudson on the west side and the East River on the east side.

Goes across to Brooklyn. Yeah. It's the East River, Jeremy.

The East River is correct. In New York.

Back to you.

In which country did Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie marry in 2014?

It was Italy or France.

Was it near one of the lakes? No?

I seem to remember reading something that they'd hired a place in...

-Oh, God, was it in France or was it Italy?

-Robert, anything?

No.

-Gail, anything?

-I would say Italy out of the two, but I don't know.

On the basis of that's the country I would pick to get married in...

If I was getting married again, I would say Italy.

-Una, are you happy with that? You're thinking France.

-I can't think.

I can't get the reason why I'm thinking France, though.

Or where it was. So...

I'm not sure.

You're really not sure.

Sounds like the swingometer is going a bit towards Italy.

-We shall say Italy.

-OK.

It's France. You got it wrong.

Oh, Una. Sorry.

-That's OK.

-I was listening carefully. You didn't have a...

If you just had a little bit more there, you would have swung it. OK.

It's not over. It's Sudden Death.

It could end suddenly now,

with this question to the Eggheads.

Bang Bang was a 2014 UK hit single

for Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande and which British singer?

-Hm.

-I think... Well, my first thought was Jessie J.

-Yeah.

Rita Ora would be another candidate, I think.

No, I think it's Jessie J. I may be wrong. I may be wrong.

-Well, if it's wrong, we're still...

-Yeah.

We think it's Jessie J, Jeremy.

Jessie J is your answer. Just looking at the Eggheads behind you.

Lisa knows this. And she looks happy.

And the answer is Jessie J.

We say congratulations, Eggheads. You have won!

Well, you were winkling out your answers very well there.

-Very interesting process of...

-We should have listened to Una.

The democratic weighting was going on. Yeah. Well, well done.

Well played. My goodness, you have taken them right to the edge.

-And you enjoy a good quiz.

-We certainly do.

So commiserations to Adam's Ants.

-The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them.

-After a fashion.

Breaking into a sweat occasionally, the last couple of games.

This winning streak continues. It's getting impressive, Eggheads.

It does mean you won't be going home with the £14,000.

So the money rolls over to our next show.

Eggheads, my, oh, my - three gone, but you two here, enough to triumph.

I wonder if you will ever be beaten.

Join us next time to see if a new team of Challengers

can push them this close or even further.

£15,000 says they can't. Until then, goodbye.