Episode 21 Eggheads

These people are amongst the greatest quiz players in Britain.

Together they make up the Eggheads,

arguably the most formidable quiz team in the country.

The question is can they be beaten?

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

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

They are the Eggheads.

Taking on the might of our quiz Goliaths today

are Eureka.

Now, this friends and family team

feature a person who not only

designed a cake mould for Michelle Obama,

but also once shared a cheesecake with Roxy Music legend Bryan Ferry.

-Let's meet them.

-Hello, I'm Derek and I'm an indexer.

Hi, I'm Mike and I'm a company director.

Hi, I'm Karen and I'm a mould maker and sculptor.

Hi, I'm Karl and I'm an event coordinator.

Hi, I'm Barbara and I'm a retired journalist.

So, Derek, team, welcome, great to see you.

So, friends and family, right?

Yes, indeed.

OK, and I've got to ask about the cake moulds for Michelle Obama.

Please tell.

I was asked to design a mould for the Christmas

decorations for the White House last Christmas

and it was a little 3-D bird, well, two 3-D birds.

How wonderful. So that is your business, is it?

Yes, I sculpt the designs and my husband

and two of our family members are involved in the business.

OK, and, Derek, any quizzing here?

Yes, I quiz quite regularly with,

around the country in various quizzes.

-Sure, so you like to compete.

-I do, very much so. Yes.

And you're competing today against the Eggheads?

Every day there is £1,000 worth of cash

up for grabs for our Challengers.

If they fail to defeat the Eggheads, the prize money rolls over

to our next show.

Now, Eureka, the Challengers actually won the last game

and it means £1,000 says you can't

beat the Eggheads today.

The first head-to-head battle is on the subject of Music,

who would like this?

We'll stick to families

as stated before.

-Yes, I'm going to go for that.

-Karl.

OK. Karl on Music, against which Egghead, Karl?

-I don't know, um, do you think CJ, shall we go for CJ?

-Yeah, good.

Yes, we'll go for CJ.

So, Karl, from Eureka versus CJ from the Eggheads.

The title of the round is Music and please go to our Question Room now.

Well, Karl, I reckon you have the best job ever.

-You do murder mystery weekends.

-That's right, yes.

So, you gather people together and there's a body on the floor

and they look for clues.

Yes, I write the script and coordinate the whole event

and yes, somebody usually ends up either frothing at the mouth or

-with a big knife sticking out of them.

-Fantastic.

And do people who pay to come on the weekends, does one of them

have to die or is the corpse always somebody else?

Usually, it's one of the actors that actually dies, yeah.

Oh, so you bring in an actor for that?

-Yeah, we have a bunch of anything up to seven actors.

-Wow!

One of them or more sometimes actually ends up dead.

Oh, I see, so they need to go round and quiz the actors

-and they find out the clues?

-Yes, that's it. Yes, we stay in

character the whole time.

OK, Music, Karl, and would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first.

So, here we go. In which year was the singer Kate Bush born?

Right, I'm pretty sure Kate Bush is about the same age as me.

So I'm fairly confident it's 1958.

It is indeed '58, yeah. 1958 is right.

CJ, your question.

The timpani would usually be found in which section of an orchestra?

Well, it's a big drum so I imagine

it's found in the percussion section.

It is found in percussion, you're right. Karl, back to you.

What is the birth name

of the U2 guitarist, The Edge?

Gosh, that's a difficult one.

None of those names look very familiar to me, unfortunately.

So I'm going to have to go for Laurence Mullen, just

because something's telling me that.

-Let me just see if the Eggs know. Eggs?

-It's David Evans.

David Evans is the answer. It's a classic quizzy question, that.

And they're all U2 members, Laurence Mullen tends to go

by Larry, and he is a member of U2. Paul Hewson is Bono's birth name.

Oh, right, so Laurence is the drummer, is he?

-Paul Hewson's Bono.

-Paul Hewson's Bono.

OK, CJ,

Plus, released in 2011 and featuring the singles, The A-team

and Lego House, is the debut studio album of which musician?

-How are you spelling Plus?

-Plus is simply the...

-The mathematical sign.

-..the mathematical sign, symbol.

I just wanted to check because I was already fairly sure who it was

cos Ed Sheeran's bestselling album, released later than that,

was Multiply, which is just a mathematical symbol and I didn't

think it was Nutini or Adele, so I'll have to go for Ed Sheeran.

It is indeed Ed Sheeran.

I think this is the orange one and the green one was Multiply.

You're quite right. Brilliant artist. OK, back to you, Karl.

Fiyero and Madame Morrible are characters in which stage musical?

And you need to get this right to stay in.

Gosh.

I think I know Sweeney Todd, which is the only one of those

I've seen. Um...

and I don't recall that, but, oh, dear, oh, dear,

you've got me on this one.

I'll go for Wicked.

-Is he right, CJ?

-He is, indeed.

Is this a story within a story that goes on in Wicked?

Is that right?

There are so many different layers in Wicked but, yeah, I mean,

these are two of the main protagonists in the story.

Wicked is right. Well done, Karl.

So you're still in it but CJ can take the round now.

Who Are You? and Eminence Front are songs by which of these bands?

Well, it's not Queen.

Now, I think I know there's a song called Who Are You? by The Who.

The second one means nothing to me.

Is it the one that goes... # Who are you? Ooh, ooh. #

If it's that one, and that doesn't sound like Led Zeppelin to me,

I can sort of hear Roger Daltrey singing it.

I'm not sure about this, but I'll have to go for The Who.

Yeah, you got everything right there.

The Who is the band and you even got the song exactly right

and you sang it with great gusto.

So, you've taken the round, CJ, well done.

Sorry, Karl, you've been knocked out,

cos he got all three right, he will be in the final and you won't.

Please come back and rejoin your teams.

So Eureka have lost a brain from the Final Round.

The Eggheads have not lost any so far.

Maybe you are back on track, Eggs.

The next subject is Film & TV.

Who would like this?

-I'm not very good on TV.

-Bit patchy on it, so...

-Yeah.

-What about you, Derek? I'm rubbish at it.

-What are we going to do?

-Nobody wants to do it. Or shall I?

-Oh, I'll have a crack if you wish.

-Take one for the team. Looks like it's me.

-Yes.

-OK, Barbara. Against which Egghead? It can't be CJ.

-Judith, I would say.

Judith, please.

So, Barbara from Eureka versus Judith from the Eggheads.

Please go to the Question Room.

I gather, Barbara, you've swum with sharks, but accidentally.

Um, yes, I was on a tall ship called the Soren Larsen in Vanuatu

in the Pacific and we moored off a reef

and had the option of snorkelling in over the reef

and it was so, the colours were so vibrant,

the fish and the coral and then I saw this shark.

It was like being in a Jacques Cousteau documentary

and so it was a pause of several

seconds before I realised that it was me and it sharing the same

water, at which point it had swum away, I'm glad to say.

There was a lovely documentary recently on sharks

and they did make the point that they are usually friendly.

Yeah, I think they're often more scared of you than you are of them.

So, Film and TV, Barbara, would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please.

Good luck.

Which radio DJ was unveiled as a

new judge on The X Factor in June, 2015.

Slight problem here. Never watch The X Factor.

Um, and I don't really listen to probably Radio 1, which

I would imagine... Chris Moyles, I can picture.

Nick Grimshaw, I can picture.

I'm terribly sorry, Scott Mills, I don't know who you are.

Um, I think I'll go down the middle. Nick Grimshaw.

It is. Grimmy.

Nick Grimshaw. Well done, Nick, if you're watching.

OK.

Judith, what is the subtitle of

the fifth film in Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible franchise?

The subtitle. I know you will have seen it.

I've absolutely no idea. I don't watch franchises.

It could be any of those. A fifth.

I have absolutely no idea. Age Of Extinction.

No, it's Rogue Nation.

All right, Barbara, your question.

Paul Rudd plays Scott Lang in which 2015 film?

I haven't seen any of those.

Um...

It's just an inkling, I don't know why, I've heard the actor's

name recently and I remember seeing some publicity about Ant-Man

coming out so I'll just have to go with that, Ant-Man.

Nicely done, it is Ant-Man, well done, so you have two points here.

-And, Judith, if you get this wrong, you will be jettisoned.

-Yes, I know.

Who won the 2014 series of Strictly Come Dancing?

Gosh, do you know? I have absolutely no idea. Um...

I really should know this.

Pixie Lott was very pretty.

I remember her, she danced rather well too.

I mean, I would have voted for her.

But it probably wasn't, oh, dear.

I'm going to say Pixie Lott because I thought she should win it.

Caroline Flack is the answer. And so, you're knocked out,

Judith, I'm sorry.

Well done, Barbara, you made short

work of that.

Judith, I'm afraid you were swimming with a shark.

Yes, and it got me.

And it got you and you won't be in the final.

Please come back to us and we will see what happens next.

So, Eureka have lost one, the Eggheads have lost one.

It's poised.

The next subject is Science.

Who would like Science? Who's got the test tubes?

-I think it's you.

-Well, as you're the...

As you're the one with the chemistry degree, dear. I think...

-It's Mike.

-I'll take it.

-OK, Mike, with a chemistry degree. OK.

And who would you like to fry in your... With your Bunsen burner?

-Yeah, I'll take Lisa, please.

-Ah.

Now, where did I put that chemistry degree?

THEY LAUGH All right.

But you're good on chemistry. I've seen that before.

Chemistry is kind of the least worst but it ain't saying a lot.

Mike from Eureka versus Lisa from the Eggheads on chemistry

and other things, as we call science.

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

So, you are running the cake mould business as well, Mike.

-Is that right?

-Indeed, yes.

My wife and I started it from scratch about five or six years ago.

Something we had always wanted to try and yes,

-we've done pretty well so far.

-That's great.

So, describe what you're doing, then.

You make these moulds and people use them to bake cakes. Is that it?

Not to make cakes, make the decorations that go on cakes.

So, if you have, I don't know, you want a flower-themed cake,

then we have a dog rose and a calla lily and a daffodil

and all sorts of things like that.

So, the moulds are used to make sugar paste impressions

which are then coloured up or not and applied to the cake.

It's...a very ephemeral art but nevertheless quite satisfying.

Great stuff.

Well, and I can see the connection between that and science

and I know that's your background as well.

So good luck with Lisa and would you like to go first or second, Mike?

I'll go first, please.

Your first question, then. Which of these great apes are native to Asia?

The orangutan, or old man of the forest, is native to Asia.

Orangutan is quite right.

Made light work of that.

Lisa, during which century did Charles Darwin live?

Right, so Origin Of Species I think was 18...

I'm now torn between 1870 and 1880.

Happily, we're not requiring that level of detail!

The 19th.

The 19th is quite right.

Back to you, Mike.

Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine specialising

in the anatomy, functions and diseases of which part of the body?

Well...

my first thought was eyes and I'm glad that it came up

because if it didn't, I'd have been in trouble. So, it's the eyes.

Yeah, it's the eyes. And you have...

What do we have? We have opticians but we have ophthalmologists,

though I'm never sure what the difference is.

Opticians test your eyes and sell you glasses, don't they?

-And ophthalmologists do a bit more.

-The diseases of the eye, maybe.

Yeah, exactly.

Lisa, your question.

Found in the UK, what type of bird is the common blackbird?

Common blackbird would be quite something

if it was a sparrowhawk, I think.

Um...

I think the blackbirds are related to the thrushes.

I think. I'll say thrush.

Thrush is right.

So, 2-2. Good play. Science. And Mike, back to you.

The name of which gland in the human body is derived from a Greek term

meaning shield-shaped?

Well, I was hoping when you said shield-shaped,

something along the lines of scutus or scutum would come along.

But I'm...not quite so confident now.

I think I'm going to have to go for thyroid.

Yeah, you've got it right, well done. Thyroid it is.

Yes, anyone help us with the Greek term,

the Greek word? Kevin?

The reason to go for that one there is that oid means,

in that sense, shaped.

But what the actual Greek word is for the shield in question,

-not too sure.

-OK. Lisa, to stay in.

In which year were the first atoms of antimatter

artificially brought into existence?

Atoms of antimatter.

I sort of feel like it should be quite a recent thing, really.

Yeah, I haven't got a great deal to go on.

Other than the feeling that it would be more recent rather than less.

But you know, quite possibly not a good thing to go on.

I shall say 1995 and hold my hands up.

The answer is 1995, so well done, Lisa.

Three out of three you've got and we go to Sudden Death, Mike.

Science, we're on. Gets a bit harder now.

I don't give you alternative answers.

Which disease was once known as the Saffron Scourge?

-Well, saffron is yellow, so is it yellow fever?

-Yellow fever is right.

Lisa, Thomas Edison's Menlo Park Laboratory

was based in which US state?

Right. I'll just have a little think.

No, do you know, I've not even got anywhere to start with this.

Menlo Park, where do the scientists hang out?

I don't know. New York State.

-Ooh, not far!

-How close was I?

-It's New Jersey, next door.

-That's pretty good! Actually pretty good

-for a wrong answer.

-That is pretty good. Even if I gave you a half

a point, you'd still be knocked out.

I am almost as proud as if I'd got it right. I'm happy with that.

Did you know that, Mike?

I would have thought it was in that area but which state,

-again, 50/1 shot.

-But anyway, you've won the round, well done.

Sudden Death, you knocked Lisa out. Good stuff.

So, come back to us and we will play the last round before the final.

OK, Eureka, you're doing well here. You've lost just the one brain.

The Eggheads have now lost two brains.

You're going to lose two on the spin here!

Two after the game we had just with the jackpot and all that.

Is this... Is it all unravelling?

Let's see. Next subject is History.

-Who would like this?

-I think that's...

-I could take History.

If you want a person who is eligible to do it

-with a degree in ancient history and archaeology?

-Don't make me...

-Don't say that too loud, Barbara! Don't say that...

-Karen?

-Yes.

-OK, against which Egghead?

-I'd go for Chris.

-Chris?

-Come on!

-Chris is your brain.

-Yeah, I'll take Chris, please.

Brilliant. So it's going to be Karen from Eureka,

who, remember, made the cake mould for the White House,

versus Chris from the Eggheads,

who's done many other exciting things himself.

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

So, Karen, just quickly back onto the cake moulds,

you have had some sort of cheesecake moment with Bryan Ferry.

I did, very long time ago, my best friend at the time was

the girlfriend of the guy who ran the fan club.

And we were invited down to AIR London Studios

to hear them recording.

So we shared a strawberry cheesecake with the boys, which was very nice.

Obviously making cake moulds is the way to meet

-all the interesting people in the world.

-Absolutely, yes.

Yeah, I'm working this out. Well, good luck on History.

I know you're very good on it. Would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please, Jeremy.

So, here we go. In which year did the Korean War end?

Well, it certainly wasn't in the '30s

and it certainly wasn't during World War II, so it's '53.

1953 is correct.

Chris, the 1854 Charge Of The Light Brigade

was an ill-fated British cavalry attack on the army of which country?

Well, it was during the Crimean War and it was in Russia.

Against Russia.

Russia is correct.

OK, back to you, Karen.

Who in 1972 was the last man to stand on the surface of the Moon?

Oh, dear. We were talking about this just the other day.

And my brain has gone to mush.

Um...

I'll go Jack Swigert.

I'm sensing Derek might know. Derek?

-I think it's Eugene Cernan.

-It is Eugene Cernan. Yeah.

Chris, your question to take the lead.

In which year was the United States Constitution originally written?

Well, the original Constitution was post-independence

but not that much post-independence, so it's 1787.

It is indeed 1787. Well done, Chris.

So, he has taken the lead. You need to get this one right, Karen.

The Guerra Sucia or Dirty War is the name given to

a period of state-sponsored violence from 1976 to 1983

in which South American country?

Can't say I've ever heard of it. Um...

No, I can't recall anything about that.

So, I'm just going to have to plump for one.

I'll go for Venezuela.

-Chris?

-Um, I think that was the Pinochet business in Chile.

No, it wasn't, it was Argentina, actually!

-Where the disappeared and all that, isn't it?

-Oh, the Desaparecidos.

In the run-up to the Falklands War as well.

So, Argentina is the right answer, Karen.

Sorry, you've been knocked out by Chris. No way back.

So, Chris will be in the final, Karen is out

and if you come back to us, we will play the Final Round.

So, this is what we have been playing towards,

it is 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 allowed

to take part in this round, so we're going to be evenly matched here.

Karen and Karl from Eureka and also Judith and Lisa,

would you all please leave the studio?

Derek, Mike and Barbara, you are playing to win Eureka £1,000.

Chris, Kevin and CJ, you are playing for something

which money can't buy, the restored Eggheads reputation.

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

This time, the questions are all general knowledge. You can confer.

So, Eureka.

The question is, are your three brains able to defeat these three?

Over here, a bit battered and bruised, the Eggheads are.

This is a good moment to take advantage.

Would you like to go first or second?

We'd like to go first, please.

Derek and team, good luck. What star sign is someone born on Boxing Day?

Right, well, I'm born on the

New Year and I'm Capricorn.

And the one before that

is Sagittarius

because my dad was born in December.

So, it's got to be Capricorn, then?

Unless I've got it horribly wrong.

Which is quite possible, yeah.

-I have not the faintest clue.

-It's just to do with family birthdays.

-I think it's right.

-I think it's Capricorn.

-I think the others are later.

-Capricorn.

Capricorn is correct.

Good logic there, Barbara.

OK, Eggheads.

Grey Mountain is a bestselling 2014 legal thriller by which author?

-John Grisham?

-Legal.

-Yeah, it's got

-to be Grisham.

-I'm pretty sure.

It's not Dean Koontz.

I think it's not Clancy.

Um, we think that's the sort of,

well, king of the legal thrillers,

John Grisham.

Yeah, legal is the key word.

John Grisham is right, well done.

One point each. Back to you, Challengers.

The Jamaican Asafa Powell has held the men's world record

in which athletics event?

-Well, he's a 100m runner.

-Sorry?

-He does run 100 metres.

But the world record?

Well, yeah, but he's not a hurdler.

I don't think he's a hurdler either. But is he 100m or 200m?

-Well, he could be either.

-Do you think that's more Usain Bolt?

-He could easily do 200 as well, couldn't he?

-Yeah.

So it's a toss-up, isn't it?

Do we think...?

He has held the world record,

not necessarily

he's holding it now then.

So I thought that would be Usain Bolt at the moment, wouldn't it?

-Do you think he's held it some time in his career?

-Well, quite possible.

-I just don't know.

-Shall we go for 100?

-Yeah.

100 metres.

You've got it right.

100 metres, well done.

Eggheads,

Harrison Ford is how many years older

than his wife, Calista Flockhart?

-Over to you, Kevin.

-Oh, I don't

know. I have no idea when...

No idea when Calista Flockhart was born.

Harrison Ford was born in 1942.

That would make Calista Flockhart born in what?

Well, it's not 12 years, is it?

It's not 12 years, no.

No, because that would make it

1954 and she's not that...

She's not that old.

-If it was 17.

-Surely that's too...?

-That's too old as well?

-Yeah.

So, it's got to be 22.

-I'm actually surprised it's as little as 22.

-Yeah.

Actually, how long ago

was Ally McBeal?

Getting on for ten years.

-It'll be more than that.

-More than that.

But nevertheless, I mean, if it

was 17, that would mean she was

born in 1959 which would make her

in her mid-50s now, which she's not.

She isn't, no.

-So it's got to be 22.

-22, yeah.

We think that must be 22, Jeremy.

Impressed with your dates there.

You're absolutely right. She was

born in '64, 22 years is correct.

So, third question.

Which member of the Cabinet traditionally makes a speech

at the Lord Mayor's dinner for bankers and merchants

at the City of London held annually at the Mansion House?

It's the Chancellor.

-Absolutely.

-100%, yeah.

Chancellor.

Chancellor of the Exchequer

is quite right.

So, three out of three.

Over to you, Eggheads.

Which city's bus station, often said to have been the largest in Europe

when it was opened, was given listed status in 2013?

-Preston.

-Is it?

-I've got an idea it's Preston.

-Yeah, I thought so.

Go with Preston, I think.

Because I've filmed in Preston and it's got a large bus station.

I seem to remember something about it being given listed status.

-Yeah, I thought it rang a bell with me.

-Yeah.

Um, maybe not 100%.

We think it's Preston.

Preston is right.

OK. We go to Sudden Death.

Final Round, playing for £1,000.

Eureka, your question. I don't give you alternative answers here.

Which website, launched in 2000,

was conceived by Steve and Julie Pankhurst,

who were curious about their old school friends?

-Friends Reunited, isn't it?

-Yeah, I think it's that. Yeah.

Yeah, old school friends, definitely.

-Anyone got an alternative possibility?

-2000.

-2000, quite a long...

-15 years ago.

-It's been going for a long time.

-Shall we go for it?

-Yeah, absolutely.

Friends Reunited.

Friends Reunited is quite right.

OK, over to you, Eggheads, to stay in.

Your first Sudden Death question. Get this wrong, it's over.

In 2010, Darren Sammy was appointed captain of which test cricket team?

West Indies. I'm pretty sure it's West Indies. Yeah, OK?

I think that's the West Indies.

West Indies is correct.

Sudden Death, your question.

Who played the role of Richard Nixon in the 2008 film Frost/Nixon?

SHE SIGHS

-It was one with Michael Sheen in.

-I...

-But he wasn't Nixon.

-He wasn't, no.

-No.

-Oh, blimey.

He was...

He was Frost. Nixon.

I have a feeling it's somewhere way at the back of my head

but I can't drag it forward.

British, American? Australian?

Um, no, American, I think.

I haven't really got anything, I'm afraid.

-We need to come up with a name, don't we?

-Yes.

So, let's think of a few American actors.

-Mm-hm.

-Robert Redford.

Go for it, we haven't got anybody else, so...

OK, we don't really know but we're going to pitch in Robert Redford.

Robert Redford is your answer. Are they right, Eggheads?

-No.

-Who was it?

Frank Langella.

Frank Langella is the answer.

OK, Sudden Death.

Eggheads, you can kill this contest off with this answer,

if you get it right.

Which singer, born in 1947,

co-wrote and starred in the original 1985 production

of the stage musical Mutiny?

-Sorry, the stage musical?

-Mutiny.

-Oh, that was David Essex.

-The thing based on The Bounty, wasn't it?

-Oh, yes.

-David Essex was Fletcher Christian.

-Born in '47?

-That's about right.

-He's my age.

-He was in Mutiny.

-OK?

-Yeah.

We think David Essex.

If you have it right, the contest is over. Do you think they're right?

-Yes.

-They look pretty certain, Chris.

One from Chris there on musicals. But, yeah, absolutely.

Born in '47, the singer was David Essex.

We say congratulations, Eggheads. You've won!

-Commiserations, Eureka. I hope you enjoyed playing.

-We did.

-We did, yes.

-They just sometimes take it up a level at a key moment.

And you've done well to recover from I know what was a very tough

defeat for you in the last game.

I know that was shattering.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them.

They reign supreme over quiz land once again.

It does mean our Challengers won't be going home with the £1,000.

So the money rolls over, adds up with the jackpot on the next show.

Eggheads, congratulations. Back on track.

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

have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

£2,000 says they don't. Till then, goodbye.