Episode 20 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 challenging our resident quiz champions today

are A Clearer Head.

Now, this team of friends are all supporters

of the charity Alopecia UK.

Let's meet them. Hello, I'm Sue.

I'm an author and an ambassador for Alopecia UK.

Hi, I'm Victoria and I'm a director of a PR and marketing agency.

Hi, my name's Marie and I'm an interactive deliverables executive.

Hello, I'm Jeanette and I'm a freelance event organiser.

Hello, I'm Emma. I'm a PA and community care worker.

Sue, team, welcome. Good to see you. Thank you.

And tell us about the charity that's brought you together.

Well, as you can see, we all have alopecia.

And Alopecia UK supports anyone with hair loss.

It raises funds and it creates awareness.

And so, as far as we know,

this is one of these terrible autoimmune conditions, isn't it?

Yes. So it's just the body attacking itself

and we never really know the reason. No, absolutely.

And when I lost my hair in 1981,

they hadn't even concluded then that it was an autoimmune condition.

So it's a relatively recent thing.

OK, well, it's great to have you quizzing.

On a separate matter, are you all quizzers? Do you enjoy quizzing?

Oh, yes, we're going to enjoy this one!

Good, well, I'm really pleased and you're very welcome here

and you've timed it well.

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. You know that!

Now, A Clearer Head,

the Eggheads are on this incredible run at the moment.

They've won the last 28 games. THEY GASP

That's the first gasp I've had! THEY LAUGH

That's very good. So there's the pros and cons here.

The pro is that it means

?29,000 is on the table. A con is

that it's hard to beat them at the moment.

But anyway, many have fallen. Let's see if you can storm through.

The first head-to-head battle is on the subject of Film TV.

Who would like this?

OK! Right, team. What do you think?

Is it you, Emma?

Um, depends whether Food Drink...

Is there anyone else who would like to do it? It's not my strength.

I can do it but it's just depends if sport comes up.

You're going to do it, Jeanette? I'll do it. OK, Jeanette.

OK, Jeanette from A Clearer Head versus who? That's the question.

I will take on Judith, please. OK, the two Js.

It's Jeanette, our Challenger, and Judith, our Egghead.

And just to ensure there's no conferring,

would you please take your positions in our Question Room?

So, Jeanette. Film TV, here we go.

Would you like to go first or second against our Judith?

I'd like to go first, please.

And here is your first question.

The puppets Zig and Zag appeared regularly on which TV show?

I've heard of Zig and Zag. I think it was Saturday Superstore.

Let me see, Judith. Do you know this one? Absolutely no idea.

I didn't think it would be your thing but CJ has made a funny noise.

Hang on? I'm afraid it's

The Big Breakfast.

It is The Big Breakfast.

Oh! OK, Judith, your question.

Which 1980s film features a group of Florida retirees who become

mysteriously rejuvenated after swimming in a pool?

Well, I think... I don't think that would probably be Cocoon

because there's nothing

about cocoons in that scenario.

So, it could be Splash or it could be The Big Blue.

But why would it be Big Blue? Because you said it was a pool.

But I have a sort of feeling that

Splash was about a mermaid, so...

I don't know what to do. I'm going to say Splash.

Go against the grain! OK. SHE LAUGHS

No, it's Cocoon. Oh, no! I do know... How can it be Cocoon?

I know it's Cocoon but I don't know why it's Cocoon

because you're quite right, that they go in a pool.

But they come out and go into a kind of 'cocoma' or a...?

A cocoma? They go in a cocoma? A coma cocoon!

It doesn't even matter, it's Cocoon. This is going well.

Jeannette? The force is with you, I think.

You're off the hook here.

Who narrated the new version of the animated series Clangers

when it returned in 2015?

I shall imagine it's something that

Stephen Fry would...possibly do.

Or Michael Palin, I'm torn between those two.

I think I'll go for Michael Palin.

Excellent, you're right, well done.

Michael Palin.

Judith, Beyond Thunderdome was

the subtitle of the third entry

in which film franchise?

Beyond Thunderdome? Beyond Thunderdome.

Well, perhaps probably not Police Academy.

Um, Thunderdome?

Lethal Weapon. No, it was Mad Max.

You're having a scorcher today, Judith.

So, Jeanette, this one and you're in the final.

Which American medical drama series has featured characters

called Meredith Grey, Derek Shepherd and Cristina Yang?

It's not Scrubs. I know that because I did used to watch Scrubs.

But I never got into Grey's Anatomy

and I did used to watch some of ER.

I'm going to go for ER.

Now, I... Yes, you're wrong, actually.

I think the Grey is the connection, isn't it? Yes.

Because it's Grey's Anatomy for that reason.

I thought that was too obvious!

Yeah, it's... It's Grey, G-R-E-Y.

So, Judith. A chance to pull level.

Who played Grandpa Potts in the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

That was Lionel Jeffries. It was indeed Lionel Jeffries.

So you've got one each after three questions. We go to Sudden Death.

Jeannette, it gets a bit harder now.

I don't give you alternative answers.

Michael Rodd and Kieran Prendiville were two of the many presenters

of which BBC technology series?

Tomorrow's World.

Brilliant, Tomorrow's World it is.

OK, Judith.

Lea Thompson played Lorraine Baines in which film franchise

of the 1980s and '90s?

Absolutely no idea, absolutely no idea.

I can't even begin.

Pass.

Nothing? Nothing. Not a thing? Not a thing.

Star... Star Wars, I don't know. Star Wars?

You're actually not far off with that.

Back To The Future. Oh.

You've been knocked out, Judith. Well done, Jeanette.

First round to... ALL: Yeah! ..Clearer Heads.

Very clear heads.

So, come back to us and we'll play on.

So, as it stands, A Clearer Head have won in the first round.

Well done, ladies, and the Eggheads have lost a brain, Judith has gone.

Next subject for you is Politics. Oh! Who would like Politics? No, no.

This was the one we did not want.

You said that you... Oh, no.

You're fine. You're better than you think. You know it.

I knew this would happen and I'll have to do it.

OK, so the team captain.

The most senior member on politics against who?

Lisa. Very good. We've got a lot in common.

I didn't want it and I knew that would happen as well.

LAUGHTER

Sue from A Clearer Head versus Lisa from the Eggheads.

And please go to our Question Room now.

Sue, I know you're a writer. I am. Tell us about your writing.

Well, I've got more than 20 books

so I like to write across different genres.

Some are for young children, some are for teenagers

and some are for adults.

Amazing, OK. So, good luck in this round.

Politics is the subject. I know this wasn't your first choice.

In fact, I was expecting you to go on and answer on some books.

So, there we go. That was my first choice. Yeah, I know.

So, would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please, Jeremy.

And your first question is this.

In 2006, Margaret Beckett became the first woman in the UK

to hold which cabinet position?

I think it must be Foreign Secretary.

Foreign Secretary is correct.

Well done, Sue. On to you, Lisa.

Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington

served as Prime Minister under which of these monarchs?

SHE CHUCKLES

He'd have been going some to serve under Henry VIII,

I doubt he was even remotely born.

And, yeah, Edward VIII would be far too late so it must be George IV.

Yes, George IV is correct,

well done. Back to you, Sue.

Who did Thomas Jefferson succeed as President of the United States?

This is where I'm completely in the dark.

And I don't think I can reason it through.

It's going to have to be

a complete guess. So, um...

..Theodore Roosevelt.

Sue, it was Washington, Adams, Jefferson.

So, the answer is John Adams.

So, Lisa has a chance to go ahead.

When was last time that a UK general election was held on a Tuesday

rather than a Thursday, Lisa?

It's not 1991, I'm fairly sure there wasn't a general election in 1991.

'31, it was not... It was all

a bit politically uncertain in '31.

'61, much more settled.

Um, yeah. It is going to come straight down to a 50-50 yes.

And I have a slight preference for 1931 so I'll go with that.

Yeah, you've done well. 1931 it is.

So, you need this one, Sue.

Which of these politicians served as British Prime Minister

twice during the 1920s?

OK.

Again, I think I can eliminate one, which is Andrew Bonar Law.

But was it Lloyd George or Baldwin?

I'm going to say Stanley Baldwin.

Stanley Baldwin is the right answer, well done.

You're still in it, still in it.

But if Lisa gets this right, she will be in the final.

Which former US President's painting of himself in the shower

appeared on the internet in early 2013?

If somebody put those three in front of me and said,

"Which one of those do you think would be the painter

"and think it was funny to paint himself in the shower?",

I'd probably have said Reagan.

I just don't want it to be

George W Bush. This is hard.

I'm not going to get anywhere with this, am I? Let's just...

Right, hold my hands up, I'll go for Ronald Reagan.

It's funny, I didn't know about this story.

I did have, though, some sort of memory that George W Bush

had been doing quite amateurish paintings and this was him.

Oh, oh! I'm afraid.

So, George W Bush is the answer,

which means we're equal after three

questions, we go back to you.

And, Sue, Sudden Death now. I don't give you alternatives.

Which famous salon hostess

and leading Girondin during the French Revolution

uttered the famous words, "Oh, liberty!

"What crimes are committed in thy name,"

just before she was guillotined?

I don't think I can offer anything apart from Madame.

OK, no.

Jean-Marie Roland is the answer.

OK, Lisa,

your question for the round.

In British politics,

to which position was Baroness Hayman

elected in July 2006?

I was tempted to say Leader of the House of Lords

but one does not elect the Leader of the House of Lords

because it's a cabinet position

and it's at the Prime Minister's discretion.

So, is it Speaker of the House of Lords?

That's very well done.

It is Speaker of the House of Lords, well done. That's excellent play.

You've taken the round on Sudden Death, Lisa,

and you are in the final.

Sorry, Sue. You've been knocked out there. Never mind.

But it's still level pegging between these two teams.

If you return to us, we will play the next round.

OK, so the Eggheads have pulled back slightly here.

A Clearer Head have lost a brain now from the final round.

The Eggheads have also lost one

and the next subject for you is Food Drink.

Yay! So this is you, Emma, is it?

Emma!

Emma, who would you like to take on? I think I'll take on Kevin, please.

Why not? You obviously watch the programme.

So, Emma from A Clearer Head taking on Kevin from the Eggheads

on Food Drink and please go to our Question Room.

Here we go, Food Drink, Emma.

Would you like to go first or second?

I'd like to go first, please.

Here we go, your first question on Food Drink.

The dish of jellied eels is traditionally associated with

which area of the UK?

It's definitely not the Lake District.

Or the Shetland Islands. That would be the East End of London.

East End of London is quite right.

Kevin, the hedgehog is a popular style of preparing which fruit?

I've not heard of that.

The logic, there is a logical answer there

in terms of the look of the thing and the...

The relative roughness of its outer covering.

I can't see why a hedgehog would have anything to do

with a peach, or indeed a mango, so I'll say kiwi.

Ooh!

Emma, what do you think?

It's a mango. It is a mango, Kevin! Is it? Oh.

It's a mango. No, never heard of that at all. OK.

Get the old supermarket delivery

scheduled in. Huh! Right!

Emma, which of these is a main ingredient of a creme brulee?

That is egg yolks.

Do you do a lot of cooking? Yeah.

My degree's in food marketing. OK.

Egg yolks is right, well done.

So you're ahead of Kevin.

You need this, Kevin, to stay in.

Oud Bruin or Old Brown is a sour ale

originally brewed in which country?

Well, that's definitely requiring spelling.

O-U-D, B-R-U-I-N.

It doesn't sound either really

very Irish or Czech.

It sounds as though that's probably a Belgian beer.

There are plenty of them and it is certainly a frequently used word

in that Belgian brewing area.

So, yeah, Belgium.

Belgium is right, well done.

So, Emma, it's in your hands here.

Get this right and you're in the final round

and you've knocked out Kevin.

That would be a precious victory, don't let him come back.

Take your time.

What is mixed with prosecco and vodka

to make a drink called a Sgroppino?

And Sgroppino is S-G-R-O-P-P-I-N-O.

Um, well...

The idea of whipped cream in that or star anise

doesn't sound too good to me so I'd go for lemon sorbet.

If you have this right, you're in the final

and you've knocked out Kevin.

Playing very well, team. You've got it right.

Well done, Emma. ALL: Yay!

It is lemon sorbet. Sorry, Kevin. You're a goner.

Doesn't happen very often but Food Drink, he is vulnerable on.

Come back to us and we'll see what happens next

in this very exciting contest.

Right, well, as they say, game on.

As it stands, A Clearer Head have lost just the one brain.

Eggheads have now lost two, including Kevin.

And the next subject is Geography. THEY GASP

Last subject before the final.

Who would like this?

It's got to be Victoria or Marie? Want me to do it?

Or do you want to do it? Up to you, it's your call!

No, you can do it, you can do it. I'll go in the...

Right, it's Marie. OK.

OK, so Marie against either Pat or CJ.

CJ.

Apparently! Oh.

Very good, he'll be pleased with that.

Marie from A Clearer Head versus the always clear-headed

CJ from the Eggheads.

Please go to our Question Room now.

Well, Marie. Your team caught Kevin on Food Drink

and CJ will be utterly frank on his blind spots on geography,

won't you, CJ?

Um, I only have one blindspot, it's called the globe.

So would you like to go first or second, Marie? First, please.

Here we go. Which of these shares a land border with Russia?

I'm pretty sure it's not India.

As for China and Afghanistan, I don't think it's Afghanistan.

I'm going to go China.

China is right, well done. CJ.

Bude is a seaside resort on which English coast?

Don't know.

I don't think it's North Yorkshire.

That's B-U-D-E, isn't it?

B-U-D-E, like nude.

Cornwall.

Cornwall is correct but I...

I could see you struggling there.

That's a classic...

The sort of question CJ gets wrong on every other day of the week.

That's so funny! OK, Marie.

Benidorm is a holiday destination on which of the Spanish Costas?

Oh, goodness!

I've been there as well! SHE LAUGHS

I'm trying to remember which one it is.

I'm pretty sure it's not the Costa Brava.

I'm going to go Costa Blanca.

Costa Blanca is quite right.

Well done. ALL GASP

Gosh! OK, CJ.

To stay abreast of Marie.

By road, what is the approximate shortest distance in miles

between the Canadian cities of Montreal and Ottawa?

Well, it's not 4,120.

Because that would essentially be coast to coast.

And Montreal... Ottawa is not on the coast and neither is Montreal.

And 120 is surely too close for those two.

So, I mean, I don't know this but I think it has to be 620.

620 is the wrong answer. Oh.

The answer is 120, so this is now really interesting.

It's a good moment for your team.

If you get this right,

you will have knocked out CJ

and it'll be 4-2 in the final round.

Get this wrong and you let him back in, Marie. Take your time.

Queen Mary's Gardens, renowned for their spectacular

rose collection, are a feature of which London park?

I've never heard of Queen Mary's Gardens!

Um...

I'm going to have to go with what my team said,

and this is if you don't know the answer, middle's the diddle

so I'm going to go Green Park.

Hang on, let's check with your team now. Team?

No. I think it's Regent's Park.

It's Regent's Park. Oh.

It's Regent's Park.

So you're still ahead, Marie,

but if CJ gets this right,

it'll be Sudden Death.

The Bairro Alto district, which celebrated 500 years

of existence in 2013, is an area in which European city?

The Bairro Alto, CJ,

is spelt B-A-I-R-R-O and then A-L-T-O.

I mean, Alto, I think can be a few languages.

But Bairro, to me, sounds more Spanish,

especially with the double R in it.

Could be Portuguese but I'll try Madrid.

Madrid is wrong, CJ. It's Lisbon.

You've been knocked out. Well done, Marie.

Done really well there.

CJ getting one out of three,

they are misfiring, having been on this amazing roll.

So you've got into a brilliant position for the final.

Come back and we'll play it.

Well, the Eggheads have been bashed about here, haven't they?

This is what we've been playing towards.

It is time for the final round. As always, it's 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.

So that's Sue from A Clearer Head and also Judith and Kevin

and CJ from the Eggheads.

Would you please now leave the studio?

Victoria, Marie, Jeanette and Emma,

you are playing to win A Clearer Head ?29,000.

Eggheads, you're playing for something money can't buy,

the Eggheads' reputation.

So, as usual, I will ask each teams three questions in turn.

This time, they're all General Knowledge.

You can confer with each other. So, Clearer Head, the question is -

are your four brains able to defeat the Eggheads' two.

And it's a great test for Pat and Lisa.

You've not been the two before, have you? Not together. Don't think so.

Not together. So, Victoria, do you want to go first or second?

I think we'll go... First. We're going to go first, please.

OK, here is your first question.

What colour is the head of the eagle known as the bald eagle?

SHE LAUGHS

Appropriate question, isn't it?

It's a very appropriate and you have... White, white.

I think it's white. White, yes.

Er, it's white.

Yeah, the random computer up to its old tricks here.

THEY LAUGH White is the right answer!

OK, Eggheads.

Dreadlock Holiday was a 1978 UK number one single for which group?

I think it's 10cc. 10cc, "I don't like reggae." Yeah?

Is it from Sheet Music.

It's from one of their albums.

That's 10cc.

10cc is the correct answer.

OK, over to you, ladies. Here we go.

Your second question.

Araignee is the French word for which creature?

Let me spell it for you.

A-R-A-I-G-N-E-E.

Accent on the first E.

It's like Arachnida, isn't it?

I've no idea. I think...

It's a spider.

The logic makes sense.

That's the thing? Yeah.

We're going to go with spider.

Spider is your answer.

Brilliant logic, you're right.

Well done. That's exactly

how they do it, every day.

OK, so you got two, they've got one.

?29,000 we're playing for. Serious moment here.

The 2006 film A Prairie Home Companion

is the last film of which film director?

Well, I think Kubrick's last

film was Eyes Wide Shut. Yes.

Sam Peckinpah is...

I maybe misjudging him

but he is generally fairly

hard-on violent films, isn't he?

Do you think Peckinpah died earlier

than that? Well, I think he did.

I've never seen him interviewed or anything.

I mean, my slight preference really is for Altman.

I think I have a preference because I think I can remember

one of his very last

interviews on television.

Zina Saro-Wiwa interviewed him

and he was an old man,

a distinguished director and that...

Was 2000, the date again? 2006.

That dates it, it could be right.

Want to go with Altman? I'm OK to do that if you are.

OK, we're unsure here, Jeremy, but

we're going to go for Robert Altman.

Stanley Kubrick is not the answer,

Sam Peckinpah is not

the right answer either.

You've got it right, Robert Altman,

so you're two points each.

Oh, it's never easy with this lot!

Phycology is the scientific study of what?

Now, phycology is P-H-Y-C-O-L-O-G-Y.

Viruses is virology.

Virology yeah.

Something along those lines. Mushrooms is...

I would suggest mushrooms is fungology too. Fungus, yeah.

I would say seaweed

because it's light

so phyto is like light and stuff.

Ah! What, then?

Perhaps light and dark? Phyto is similar to...

Photosynthesis? Yeah.

Seaweed is, it's got

that chlorophyll in it.

Has it got chlorophyll?

Yes, chlorophyll. It'll be

chlorophyll to give its colour.

Give it a go. Seaweed?

Yes, seaweed. Are you sure?

Yes. Go for it.

We're going to go with seaweed.

You're right. THEY GASP

And that was absolutely

brilliant quizzing.

I must say, really brilliant.

So, seaweed is right. Well done.

You've done the best you can do in these three questions,

you got them all right and it's often enough.

Let's see if it's enough today.

If the Eggheads get this wrong,

you have ?29,000 and I know you're going to give it to your charity.

Eggheads.

The Celtic God Taranis is often said to be the god of what?

Do you happen to know off the top of your head, Patrick? No, I don't.

Well, I certainly don't. Could you spell Taranis, please, Jeremy?

Yes. T-A-R-A-N-I-S. Taranis.

Can't think of anything that would derive from that.

An extremely weak

inclination for fertility,

simply because fertility gods

tend to be... Big things.

Yeah, big.

Civilisations invariably have fertility gods

whereas they might be slightly less

bothered about rivers and thunder.

But that's very, very feeble stuff.

I'll take your inkling over my

not a clue and just, you know,

because it's something to go on.

Just on the principle that

fertility gods tend to be...

There are very few races

that aren't very concerned with

fertility for crops, for people.

Yeah. Um, oh.

I mean, I don't think I've got

a reason to deny you on this

so I'm prepared to go with that

if you're prepared to go with that

and we will take the consequences

as they come.

We're in trouble here, Jeremy.

And we're reduced to an

extremely feeble guess. Uh...

So I think we're going

to guess fertility.

And that's all it is.

If you have got this wrong,

then our brilliant Challengers

have ?29,000.

If you've got it right, it's three each and we go to Sudden Death.

And I thought, as soon as I saw Celtic God, I thought,

"Well, Pat knows all

"his Celtic gods."

He prays to them all the time.

You had a good rummage around there

but it wasn't good enough.

The answer is thunder.

We say congratulations, Challengers. THEY YELP

You have won!

HE LAUGHS

Ah, brilliant. That is so good. Let's say well done, Sue.

Well done, skipper. That's fantastic.

We've had such a long run and Clearer Head,

you took them apart bit by bit there.

Really, really patient play. So, fantastic.

Tell us, Victoria, what are you going to spend the money on?

Um, we're actually not going to spend the money at all.

It's going to go to Alopecia UK to fund research,

their support, their...things like their network

and things where you can go along and meet other people with alopecia

and try to just make some people's lives a bit easier.

Cos it's quite a tough thing to go through, I guess.

Well, we are glad that we are a part of that. Absolutely.

But that's an absolutely decisive victory, well done.

And a famous one too after all this time they've been sitting there

pretty without being troubled.

Well done, you've won ?29,000.

Thank you!

The charity gets the money and we are delighted by that.

You are officially cleverer than the Eggheads.

THEY LAUGH

You've proved that they can be beaten. Do join us next time.

I can't promise a game as good as this one, this was amazing,

but join us on Eggheads next time to see

if a new team of Challengers will be just as successful.

Till then, goodbye.