Episode 97 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, if not the world.

-They are the Eggheads, and here you are.

-Hi.

-Hi, Jeremy.

-Sounding feisty.

Let's see how they play.

Taking on the awesome might of our quiz Goliaths

today are the Dinosaurs.

This team of friends all met whilst playing

rugby at university in Newcastle.

Their name comes from team captain Ben, who is from the same

area as Richard Owen, the man who coined the word dinosaur.

-Let's meet them.

-Hello, my name is Ben, and I'm a doctor.

Hello, my name is Jamie, I'm a mortgage broker.

Hi, my name is James, and I'm an investment manager.

Hi, my name is PJ, and I'm an area manager.

Hi, I'm John, and I'm a wedding singer.

-So, Ben, team, welcome.

-Hi, Jeremy.

So, help us with the word dinosaur, then, it was coined in your village?

Well, in Lancaster, the city where I'm from, Richard Owen... I went

to school with him, he was about 150 years above me.

JEREMY LAUGHS

And he came up with the word.

He was a bit of a controversial scientist of his time.

And we now have a pub named after him in Lancaster.

OK, do we know much about Richard Owen?

Well, as Ben said, he was a controversial character,

he didn't get on very well with his peers necessarily.

And why did he coin the word dinosaur?

What was the thinking behind that?

Well, dinosaur fossils were a relatively recent discovery,

they had been being discovered for some time, but putting them together

as a new class of creature was only around about the time he was active.

He was a good publicist,

and he came up with this "terrible lizard" from the Greek, "dinosaur".

-And that was the one that stuck.

-Can you give us his dates, Kevin?

It is something like 1804-72, or something like that.

-But I'm not...

-180...

-Four.

-Yeah, you're absolutely right.

I think... Yes...

He didn't know you were going to say all that. 1804-72. I think it is 92.

92, he was even longer lived.

But 1804, you are bang on with, there we go.

-That's what you are up against.

-What year was he at my school?

He could probably tell you that, as well.

You could probably work it out, actually.

So, we've basically got a collection of people here who

met at University of Newcastle, and then have gone...

You said London down the end, you're near Lancaster, and so on.

-All round the country, still friends, still quizzing.

-That's right.

All right. Good luck.

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.

So, Dinosaurs, the Eggheads are well into their stride at the moment.

They are striding around the earth like dinosaurs.

They've won the last five games. That means there's £6,000 to win today.

-I hope you are pleased you came. Do you want to start?

-Let's go.

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

Who would like this?

-It is going to be you, PJ.

-I think I will take it, Jeremy.

-OK, so, PJ, who would you like to play against?

-Lisa.

-I think I will take on Lisa.

-OK.

So, PJ from the Dinosaurs versus Lisa from the Eggheads.

They're just somehow sensing the geographical issue here.

Yes, thank you for bringing that up, it always makes me

-feel better before I play a round.

-OK, to ensure there's no conferring,

would you please take your positions in the Question Room?

-Lisa, we had a look at your stats on Geography.

-Oh, please don't.

No, just because it just helps us know when you are getting better.

20 rounds on Geography you have done. So you have been busy. You've won 12.

That's actually not as disastrous as I would have thought.

-So that means you've had eight questions on Australia.

-Yes.

THEY LAUGH

-And what was your dinosaur song?

-How does it go?

# I walk the dinosaur

# I walk the dinosaur! #

Two, three, four.

# Open the doors, get on the floor, everybody walk the dinosaur... #

-You know, that one.

-We know this, we know this.

-You've heard this, PJ, haven't you?

-I must be honest, I haven't.

THEY LAUGH

Well, that's ruined it. So, Geography, PJ.

And would you like to go first or second?

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

Here is your first question, good luck, PJ.

In which country is the coastal town of Porthmadog? Is that...

I've not been there, but I'm pretty sure it is not Scotland.

I'm pretty sure it is not England, so I'm going to go with Wales.

Wales is the correct answer. Porthmadog.

OK. Lisa.

Ataturk Airport is the main international airport

serving which city?

Kemal Ataturk was the boss man in Turkey for a long time.

I've probably even flown... Oh, hang on, I haven't flown in there

because I flew in the budget airport.

But I think it must Istanbul.

Istanbul is correct. So, one each.

Which of these cities, PJ, is the capital of Malaysia? Is it...

It's definitely not Kathmandu.

I'm pretty sure it is Kuala Lumpur.

It is Kuala Lumpur, well done. Now, Jakarta is Indonesia.

-Which one is Kathmandu? Anyone.

-Nepal.

-Nepal.

Lisa, back to you.

Hunan is one of the provinces of which country?

Hunan. H-U-N-A-N.

See, the great advantage about things like this is that all

the provinces have different types of cooking, and as we know,

I get all my geography from novels, fashion and food.

So, what do you have? You have Szechuan cuisine.

And you do actually have Hunanese cuisine from China.

China is the right answer. Well done.

So, back to you, PJ.

The Grand Teton National Park is in which US state?

Is it...

Right.

I have been to America a couple of times, but I've not heard of it.

I'm trying to think what's... Nothing is springing to mind.

So, no real logic behind it, but I'm going to go with Wyoming.

Wyoming is the answer. HE LAUGHS

Wyoming is correct, you've got three out of three.

We go back to you, Lisa. To stay in now.

Which is the largest of the Mariana Islands? Is it...

Right, Marianas. Where are the Marianas?

And what might they be called? I don't know.

I like the sound of Saipan best, so we will go for Saipan.

-Guam is the answer, Lisa.

-That's all right.

-You've gone. There we are.

12 out of 21. PJ, you are in the final round, well done.

Nice answer on Wyoming. Puts you in our final.

Both of you, please return and we'll play on.

Well, the Dinosaurs are walking the earth again. How about that?

They are roaring at the Eggheads here, they've lost no brains

from the final round. The Eggheads have lost Lisa, "the voice" has gone.

-Extinct.

-The next subject is Arts & Books.

-So, which Dinosaur would like this?

-John.

-Who is the reader?

-John.

-OK.

-John.

-Yeah.

-Our wedding singer. OK.

-Against which Egghead, John?

-Dave.

-Dave.

-OK, I'll go Dave.

-We'll go with Dave.

Although we did see him reading a book before.

I've seen that book, as well.

So, John from the Dinosaurs versus Dave from the Eggheads.

-What was the book, Dave?

-I can't remember.

You've chosen the right guy. Please go to the Question Room now.

So, John, you're a wedding singer.

Correct. I sang for a friend's 21st birthday

about ten years ago and it's kind of snowballed from that.

How marvellous.

Do you do the thing when you pretend to be a waiter who's gone rogue?

Sadly not, no. I've seen that happen, it's quite impressive.

It is funny, yeah, because people start saying, "What's going on?!"

-"The waiter's gone crazy!"

-Yeah, exactly.

What's your favourite song to sing?

It's Gloria by Van Morrison.

Give us a bar of that so we can just remember it.

Ha-ha, you're pushing me now.

I said to myself I wasn't going to sing.

-But it kind of goes...

-Come on, Lisa's always singing.

# And her name is G-L-O-R-I-A

# G-L-O-R-I-A

# Gloria... #

-Yeah! Got it. We love that song, Dave, don't we?

-Yes, we do.

We should have got Lisa in the booth with you

-and you could have done a duet.

-Next time, yeah.

OK, Arts and Books, John. Not a lot of music here.

-Would you like to go first or second?

-I will go first, please.

Here is your first question.

James Boswell's 1785

Journal Of A Tour To The Hebrides

is an account of a trip he made 12 years earlier

accompanying which literary figure?

Let me read it again.

James Boswell's 1785

Journal Of A Tour To The Hebrides

is an account of a trip he made 12 years earlier

accompanying which literary figure?

I must say, I don't know the answer.

I'm going to go for Samuel Johnson.

You're absolutely right.

Samuel Johnson is the right answer. Well done.

OK, Dave, your question.

Which of these painters is classed as a postimpressionist?

Well, it's not da Vinci. I'm not happy with this at all.

I shouldn't be struggling with this at all.

It's just a brain freeze.

I've got to go with Vincent van Gogh but, yeah, I'm not happy

with it at all.

Yeah, you are right. Van Gogh is the right answer, Dave.

You got there. Well done.

Your question, wedding singer John.

An oil canvas entitled Tesco Value Tomato Soup, which sold at auction

for nearly £120,000 in October 2008 is a work by which artist?

I don't associate that kind of thing with David Hockney's work.

I don't associate it with Tracey Emin, either.

So I'm going to go with Banksy.

Banksy is quite right. Well done.

Well done.

So, Dave, your question.

"The child is father of the man" is a well-known line

from the poem My Heart Leaps Up by which author?

I don't know this.

I'm not going to go Geoffrey Chaucer.

I'm not going to go William Wordsworth.

It's drawing me to Philip Larkin.

It's not really his style.

-It's William Wordsworth.

-OK.

So you have a chance now, John.

Get this one right and you are in the final round as well.

You've got two in the final if you get this right.

Which writer was born Cecily Isabel Fairfield,

but at the age of 19 named herself

after a character in Henrik Ibsen's play

Rosmersholm?

I don't really know this.

For some reason I just associate Virginia Woolf with having

a different name to what she was born with.

So I'll go with Virginia Woolf.

She comes up a lot in our quizzes.

Is she the right answer? Is she, Eggs?

-Who's the right answer?

-Rebecca West.

-Rebecca West is the right answer here.

-OK.

Tremendous Knowledge Dave,

to stay in, which of these authors became a US citizen in 1955?

It's not Golding.

PG Wodehouse, I associate him being linked to the left of centre,

possibly having problems with America.

I've got to go TS Eliot, but I have got a nagging feeling

that PG Wodehouse has got something to do with America.

But TS Eliot's my answer.

-PG Wodehouse is the answer.

-Yes.

-So well done,

John, you've done it, you're in the final round. You've knocked out Dave.

Wow!

You'll join us in the final. Dave has been knocked out.

This is getting lively. The Eggheads are quaking a bit.

Please come back and join your teams.

So the Dinosaurs are doing really well, lost no brains.

HE ROARS

That's what you need. It's like Yohan Blake in the Olympics.

HE ROARS

The Eggheads have lost two brains.

That's what happened to you, Eggheads.

The next subject is Music.

Who's going to bestride the Eggheads on this one?

-I'll take it.

-James.

James, our investment manager, against which Egghead?

This could be a crucial round, round three.

-Kevin?

-I'll play Kevin, please.

OK, Kevin, the kingpin, I think we've agreed.

We need a nickname.

You're still working on that, OK.

-We are working on a nickname, yeah.

-OK, right.

-What do you think?

-The King.

-We'll go with the King. King Kevin.

James from the Dinosaurs versus King Kevin from the Eggheads.

Please go to our Question Room.

James, you're playing Kevin. Would you like to go first or second?

I'd like to go first, please.

Here is your first question.

"This hit, that ice-cold, Michelle Pfeiffer,

"that white gold"

are the opening words of which UK hit single?

I'm not too sure about this one, to be honest, Jeremy.

I don't think it's All About That Bass.

Or Stay With Me. I will go with Uptown Funk.

Yes, successful song, didn't know those were the words,

Michelle Pfeiffer must love that.

You are right, Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars and...?

Well, Mark Ronson was the producer on it.

-Apparently it was the hardest song he has ever produced.

-Mark Ronson.

-Yeah.

-OK, Kevin. The folk song On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at

is often said to be the unofficial anthem of which part of the UK?

Given our strong Yorkshire connections on the Eggheads team,

-I'd better get this one right. It's Yorkshire.

-It is.

On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at.

In other words, on Ilkley Moor without a hat.

Yes, although there are bars in Ilkley called Baht 'at.

OK, James, what was the title of Alanis Morissette's 1998 album,

her follow-up to the hugely successful Jagged Little Pill?

I think I had her first album when I was a lot younger

but I don't remember her second album.

I am going to go down the left again and go

Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. It kind of rings a bell.

Yes, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie is the right answer.

Very hard to follow up that album, I should think,

because it was so great.

Kevin, which of these is a work by the composer Chopin?

Brandenburg Concertos was JS Bach.

Rhapsody In Blue was George Gershwin.

It's The Minute Waltz.

It is The Minute Waltz. Well done. Very surefooted play by Kevin.

James, see if you can unsettle him with your third question.

It can be a turning point in the game, this.

In which year did the composer Johannes Brahms die?

I have no idea again on this one, Jeremy, I'm afraid.

It is going to be a complete guess.

I am going to 1897.

-Kevin will know this. Kevin?

-Yep, it's right.

-What year was he born?

-1833.

1833. He knows all the dates.

Ridiculous.

It is ridiculous. 1897 is correct. You've got three out of three, James.

Let's see if Kevin comes unstuck here.

Kevin, who had hits in the 1980s with Gloria and Self Control?

I don't know, unfortunately. I don't think it's Toni Basil.

I honestly don't know. It's between the other two.

There've been more than one song called Gloria.

Gloria...

I can't choose. I'll say Pat Benatar.

Oh, no!

-Dave, you'll know.

-Yeah, unfortunately it's Laura Branigan.

Laura Branigan. You got it wrong, Kevin.

You've been knocked out on Music.

The King has been eaten by the Dinosaur.

HE ROARS

Well, this is looking interesting now.

James, well done, you took on an Egghead and you survived.

You will be in the final. Please return and rejoin your teammates.

Well, well, well, we had a game recently

when the Eggheads were reduced to one and it was Dave.

I can't believe it's going to happen again. It vary really happens.

As it stands, the Dinosaurs have won all three of their rounds

and the Eggheads have lost all three.

Three Egghead brains have gone.

The last subject before the final is Sport.

-Who would like sport?

-Nobody would like sport.

You want to look over that side

because it's the same emotion there, I'm sure.

I'm going to have to do it.

OK, Ben our doctor against either Chris or Judith.

We'll take Judith.

THEY CONFER

Really, I thought he was good, as well? We'll take Chris.

We'll take Chris. I've changed my mind.

You can go off people, you know?!

-You stand by your first decision.

-I spoke highly of you before.

Unless it's about a team I've played for, I'm not going to get it.

You don't want to do sport, then?

I know very, very little about sport.

I used to like sport when I was 11.

-OK.

-And unless it's about a team I played for,

like my five-a-side team, I'm not going to know the answer.

-Have you not got a sports person on the team?

-Yeah, us three.

-Oh, I see.

Ah, so this might be promising, Chris.

Yeah, I'm coming round to the idea.

I'm thinking, "Excellent!"

So, Ben from Dinosaurs versus Chris from the Eggheads.

Is this the turning point?

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

So, our doctor from Brookhouse in Lancashire

against our former train driver, on Sport.

Neither of you, particularly, sport is your hottest thing.

Ben, would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please, Jeremy.

Here we go with your first question, Ben.

Teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland and which other country

compete in the annual rugby union competition known as the PRO12?

I mean, rugby is basically the only sport that I get involved with,

I play a lot of rugby.

And, shamefully, I've not heard of the PRO12.

Romania is like an upcoming rugby nation, they don't play much rugby.

Fiji are very good, Wales are very good.

I'm going to go for Wales

because it's closer than Fiji to the other countries.

Wales is the right answer.

Chris, over to you.

Which football team did the French international Samir Nasri

join in 2011?

Well, I don't think it was Reading.

They don't tend to sign many internationals.

I don't think it would have been Sunderland, either -

they're not very internationally minded, either.

But, with all due apologies to Dave, I'll say Manchester City.

Dave accepts the apologies. You got the answer right. Man City.

I'll check with Dave. Sunderland, Reading don't sign internationals?

They sign plenty of internationals. Yeah.

They're not necessarily expensive internationals, Chris.

-It just means they come from other countries.

-Yeah, I know.

But football runs on money these days.

I'm not going to have any arguments with Chris today.

It's too frightening.

Ben.

Which athlete was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1968?

So, it was Torvill and Dean in 1984.

And that's as far as my knowledge goes.

I haven't let myself down.

I told you I was going to be awful at sport.

And I don't know the answer.

I'm going to go with the first one, Brendan Foster.

Brendan Foster is wrong.

Chris, you'll know this.

-Alan Wells, was it?

-No. David Hemery.

David Hemery is the right answer.

OK, Chris, your question to take the lead.

Maybe the Eggheads are on the turn.

Which West Indian cricketer scored a record 215 against Zimbabwe

in the 2015 Cricket World Cup?

Straight down the middle, Chris Gayle.

Chris Gayle is the right answer.

-Well done, Chris.

-So, Chris is in the lead here.

Ben, you need to get this right to stay in.

The support of jai alai - it's J-A-I and then A-L-A-I -

reportedly developed from a game played in which part of the world?

I'm... It's not a sport I ever took up. We didn't have it at school.

Maybe they did it in Rich and Owen's day.

But not when I was there.

I'm going to go for...

..Basque Country.

Let's see, Eggheads, is he right?

-Yes.

-Yes, you are right with the Basque Country,

so you're still in it. OK.

It's going to be fun if we go to Sudden Death in this round.

Chris, if you get this right, you are in the final round with Judith.

Roscoe Tanner was a leading name in which sport in the 1970s?

Roscoe Tanner played tennis.

Yes, he was some sort of oil millionaire

who had a very big serve at Wimbledon.

I remember that and he was in a lot of face-to-face contests with

Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg. Roscoe Tanner was a tennis player.

-Chris, you've won a Sports round.

-Ha-ha!

That's a lovely noise. And you will be in the final,

and Judith will not be alone in the final,

and if you come back to us, we will play that final round.

So, are the Eggheads starting to fight back?

Well, this is what we have 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 be allowed to take part in this round.

Ben from Dinosaurs and also Lisa, Dave and Kevin from the Eggheads,

would you please now leave the studio?

So, Jamie, James, Paul and John,

you're playing to win the Dinosaurs £6,000.

Judith and Chris, you are playing for something which money can't buy -

the Eggheads' reputation, and to keep this run of yours going.

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

This time, the questions are all General Knowledge.

You are allowed to confer.

So, Dinosaurs, the question is,

can your four brains beat the Eggheads' two?

And would you like to go first or second?

We'll go first, please, Jeremy.

OK, General Knowledge, Jamie and team, here we go.

In the 1950s, Jimmy Hoffa became the president of which union?

-Does anyone have any idea?

-Never heard of Jimmy Hoffa.

-I'm thinking, for some reason... In the 1950s?

-In the 1950s.

I'm thinking it's probably the steelworkers.

-Why?

-Because that's at the time when the Americans were trying to

reform the unions and he's probably someone that was...

-What's Teamsters?

-I don't know.

-My gut would be to go for steelworkers.

-OK, go for it.

Let's go for that.

We don't know the answer,

but we are going to go for United Steelworkers.

It's the wrong answer.

It's quite a famous thing - not to make you feel worse about it -

because I do believe the Teamsters had huge Mafia influences.

-Is that right?

-That is correct, yes.

-And so it became

all tied up with politics and it was all very, very sleazy.

He disappeared.

-He disappeared, did he?

-Jimmy Hoffa did. Yeah, never found his body.

Teamsters is the answer.

OK, well, we hope we find yours, Eggheads, at the end of this.

-So do we.

-Not been eaten up by Dinosaurs. Here's your question.

What name can be given to a novel

in which real people or events appear with invented names?

-Roman-a-clef.

-Yes. It's a roman-a-clef.

You said "roman-a-cleff".

Or "a-cle", I don't know, I can never remember.

But you are our French speaker.

I know, and I can never remember whether you include the Fs or not.

Roman-a-clef is the right answer.

So, they've got one and you've got none.

Maybe you're missing the Doc.

-I think he might have got the Teamsters, you know.

-I'm not sure.

Which of these Formula One drivers never won the world title?

-Jackie Stewart definitely did.

-I think it's Stirling Moss.

I think Stirling Moss.

I think Stirling Moss is classed as the best driver

to never to win the championship, I think.

Jackie Stewart definitely did.

-Jim Clark?

-I'm happy with that.

-Stirling Moss?

We are going to go with Stirling Moss.

The correct answer is Stirling Moss, well done.

So, Eggheads, your second question.

The dissident writer Georgi Markov, who died in London in 1978,

was born in which country?

-He's Bulgarian.

-He's Bulgarian.

Bulgaria is the right answer.

OK, third question, you must

get this one right.

The American politician Huey Long, who was assassinated in 1935,

served as governor of, and senator from, which state?

You must get this right.

I don't think it's Illinois.

I don't know why.

But I'm leaning towards...

I'm leaning towards Texas.

If you're called Huey, is that a Texas name?

Or a Louisiana name?

Or an Illinois name?

What happened in 1935?

So that was Prohibition.

If it's Prohibition, it could be Illinois,

because it could be Chicago. Shall we say Illinois?

Cos that is Prohibition era.

And that might be someone who'd be bumped off by the Mafia.

-Yeah, that's the most logical thing.

-Yeah, shall we go with that?

-We're going to go with Illinois.

-Illinois is your answer.

You must get this right to keep the contest going.

Prohibition was your connecting political thought.

He was known as The Kingfish.

And the state?

Louisiana.

Louisiana is the correct answer, so we have to say,

congratulations, Eggheads, you have won.

Oh, Dinosaurs, right at the end,

it wasn't the battle we thought it might be.

-We didn't get the questions at all.

-Yeah, Jimmy Hoffa.

Commiserations to you. Thanks for playing. Great game.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them.

Their winning streak continues. A little bit shaky today.

It does mean you won't to be going home with the £6,000,

so the money rolls over to our next show.

Eggheads, Judith, Chris, congratulations. A great performance.

Who will beat you? Join us next time to see

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

We've got £7,000 to say they don't.

Till then, goodbye.