Episode 53 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 pretty unbeatable, I reckon.

Pretty, yes. Unbeatable, mmmm.

Challenging our resident quiz champions today

are...

..from Aberdeenshire.

Now, this team have been friends for five years.

They're all coaches at Ellon Rugby Club. Let's meet them.

Hi. My name is Dean. I'm an insurance broker.

Hi, my name is Jeff and I'm an accountant manager.

Hi. I'm Mike. I'm a survey engineer.

Hi, I'm Gareth. I'm a Senior Fishery Officer.

Hi. I'm Doug. I'm a workshop technician.

So, Dean and team, welcome.

ALL: Hi.

Rugby club is at the centre of this, Dean, is that right?

It is. Rugby club is at the centre of all our activities.

Our children, mostly, all play for the club.

Which they have done for a number of years.

We've known each other for about five or six years, guys?

Yeah. And we're all coaches at the rugby club.

We've got a lot of children we coach.

Oh, I see. So it's your kids mainly who play?

My son plays under-16 and S2, which is under-14.

Jeffrey's... Jeffrey, sorry. Jeff's son plays in my team.

Gareth's son plays in the team below us. He's a head coach there.

Doug's team... Doug's son plays with Gareth's son.

And Mike's son plays for the age group above us.

And you're Egg Chasers so you're expecting to chase this lot today.

I think we'll give them a run for their money.

Are you quizzing? We've quizzed before.

We've had a few rugby nights quizzing.

We've never actually been together as a team of five.

A few of us have been together before as a team.

And we came second or third, did we, guys? Was it about second?

Second. Second. Second, we came. Yeah.

So not too sad. All right. Good stuff.

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, Ellon Egg Chasers, the Eggheads have won the last four games.

Which means there's ?5,000 to win today.

Do you want to give it a go?

Yes, please. Yeah. Yes. Brilliant.

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

So which Ellon Egg Chaser would like this? Right, guys,

who'd like to take Film TV?

I'll take the Film TV. Douglas, no? Doug, you want to take that?

Yes, I'll have a go.

We'd like to put Doug forward for that, please.

Doug, which Egghead would you like to take on? Any one of the five.

Judith, please.

You said that without hesitation.

Right, Doug from Ellon Egg Chasers is going against our millionaire,

Judith from the Eggheads.

Just to ensure there is no conferring, would you please

take your positions in the legendary Eggheads Question Room?

So, Doug, would you like to go first or second?

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

Here is your question.

The TV drama Brideshead Revisited, starring Jeremy Irons

and Anthony Andrews, was first shown in which year?

Brideshead... I dinnae think it'll be 2001.

That might be a bit late.

And '81 might be just a bit too early.

I'll take 1991.

It was 1981.

Longer ago than that.

Judith.

Laura Tobin and Tomasz Schafernaker are known for presenting

which subject on television?

I put Tomasz Schafernaker, cos I love his name,

as a question of my own in a quiz that I did once.

He's the weatherman,

Tomasz Schafernaker. Laura and Tomasz are weather. Yes.

Along with the great Carol Kirkwood. Mm. Of course.

Smiley Carol. Love her.

OK, back to you, Doug.

Which Golden Globe-winning drama series stars Dominic West

and Ruth Wilson in the lead roles?

I don't think it's The Walking Dead.

I think it's more of a couple programme there.

Not sure it would be The Good Wife.

I would actually go for The Affair.

The Affair. Yes, it is The Affair. Well done.

Well done. He's busy, old Dominic West, isn't he?

Ever since The Wire. Mm.

What was his name, the character name?

McNulty. He's McNulty. Jimmy McNulty.

Yeah. Brilliant in that.

Judith.

Until his death in 2009,

Ken Annakin was a leading figure in British films

in which role?

Ken Annakin? Yes. A-N-N-A-K-I-N.

I'm sorry to say I've never heard of him.

Maybe he, cos I haven't heard of him, he was a director.

Director is the right answer.

Mm. Because you haven't heard of him, he's a director.

If he was an actor, I might have heard of him more. Oh, I see.

And if he was a critic,

he's not really involved in the film business, is he?

He's a journalist.

Yeah, well, I suppose someone like Pauline Kael made a life

out of films. Yes, I know.

But I don't think of them as being in the film business.

No? You may be right.

OK, Doug.

Angela Douglas, who played Princess Jelhi

in Carry On Up The Khyber, was married to which film actor?

I don't think it was Stewart Granger.

Going by the year, again. I've watched quite a few Carry On films.

And maybe John Mills... I think Kenneth More.

I'll go for Kenneth More cos I think there's a good possibility

it could be him.

I love the way you say that. Kenneth Morrrre.

Kenneth More is correct. Well done.

Back on track, Doug. Well done.

OK, Judith,

if you get this right, though, you are in the final.

Who played the title roles in the films Charlotte Grey

and Veronica Guerin?

I'm sure... Oh. It's...

I've seen them both and I just don't understand why I don't know.

I think it might be Renee Zellweger, but I mean...

I'd be amazed. But still.

You'd be amazed at your own answer? Yes.

And you've seen them both?

I've seen both films.

Was there something blocking your view?

LAUGHTER No.

Just my memory.

You didn't notice Cate Blanchett on screen at all?

It wasn't Cate Blanchett. It was, Judith!

Oh, honestly. Oh, honestly.

Yeah, honestly. Cate Blanchett is the answer, sorry.

You didn't get that right. But good for you, Doug.

You're still in there.

And we go to Sudden Death now.

Gets a bit harder. I don't give you alternatives.

In a 2015 programme, which British TV presenter gave President Obama

lessons in survival techniques whilst trekking across Alaska?

I think I know his...

I know who it is, but I just can't get his name, Jeremy.

It's right there. But I can't get his name. I'm sorry.

It's just there. Sorry. I just can't get his name. Sure?

You're passing?

Pass, sorry.

It's Bear Grylls.

Bear Grylls, that was it.

OK, Judith. For the round.

Which Strictly Come Dancing judge...

SHE LAUGHS

..said, "It was like watching a stork who'd been

"struck by lightning" after watching Jeremy Vine's jive?

THEY ALL LAUGH

Well, I saw that.

Well, it must have been Craig Revel Horwood.

Cos he's the nasty one.

Bless him. Craig Revel Horwood is the right answer.

Thank you for reminding me of that.

Judith, well done. You've taken the round.

Sorry about that, Doug.

There we go, on Sudden Death.

Beaten by our Egghead, Judith will be in the final.

Please come back, or maybe just dance back to us here in the studio.

Don't worry, Challengers. You've lost one brain from the final round.

And the Eggheads have not lost any. But plenty of time.

The next subject is History.

Who would like this?

Guys, who'd like to take History?

Go for it, Mike? Is it me? Yeah.

Was it me? I think it might've been you, Mike. Think it was you, Mike.

Gareth, do you fancy that one? No, not at all.

OK. I suppose it will be me. Yeah. You happy with that? Yeah.

We'd like to put Mike forward, please, for History.

OK, Mike goes forward. Our survey engineer.

Against which Egghead?

Not Kevin. Not Judith. Lisa? One of the other two.

Go on, then. OK, we'd like to challenge Dave, please.

Good. Tremendous Knowledge Dave.

It is going to be Mike from Ellon Egg Chasers on History,

taking on Dave.

Banned from every pub in Manchester now. That must be an exaggeration.

Just some of them. Some of them.

For knowing too much for their general knowledge machines.

Quiz machines, yeah. Quiz machines.

Please go to our Question Room, our very own quiz machine now.

So, Mike. History. Would you like to go first or second?

Can I go first, please?

OK. And here is your first question.

Fort Laramie was an important outpost in the west of which

country in the 19th century?

I'm pretty sure I know this one.

It wasn't Canada.

And it wasn't Australia. So I'll go United States.

Yeah, USA. Quite right.

Dave.

Pytheas, spelled P-Y-T-H-E-A-S,

who's said to have made history by circumnavigating

the islands of Britain around 300BC, came from which civilisation?

I have to go Greek.

Greek is correct.

Mike, back to you.

Philippa of Hainaut was the Queen Consort

of which king of England?

I have got no idea.

Let's see if anything jumps out at me.

I don't think it's going to be Richard II.

I'll go down the middle. Edward III.

Well done. You got it right. Edward III it is.

Nice quizzing.

OK, Dave. Back to you.

When was the most recent year the River Thames froze sufficiently

to hold a frost fair on it in London?

I've never heard of a frost fair on the River Thames.

It's going to have to be a guess.

1914.

Let's see if your colleagues know. It's earlier, is it, Eggheads?

1814, I think. Is it a famous thing, the 1814 fair?

Simply because it was the last one. They didn't know that at the time.

But it turned out to be the last one.

It's partly to do with climate change.

And also, redesign of some of the river features.

So there just wasn't the sufficient build-up of ice later on

to be able to do it with any safety.

So, 1814 was the last one.

Interesting, isn't it? 1814 was the last one, Dave. OK.

So it gives you a chance here.

Mike, get this right and you're in the final.

Borrowed by Ian Fleming for his fictional hero James Bond,

which secret agent was referred to in Elizabethan England

by the codename 007?

Oh. Um...

Pretty sure it's not Walter Raleigh.

Neither one of them are actually jumping out at me.

But I'll go for John Dee, I think.

What do you think, Dave?

I think I'm out.

You are out. Well done, Mike. Three out of three.

John Dee. I feel like I need some more information on him.

Dave, sorry, you've been knocked out.

Mike, you're in the final. Come back to us, please, both of you.

John Dee has been the subject of a musical by Damon Albarn.

He was an alchemist and his beard was as white... As snow.

..as snow. Mm.

He was also a Hermeticist.

It comes originally from Hermes, the Greek god, who was supposed

to be the source of secret knowledge of all kinds, of mysteries.

So he liked to know things no-one else knew? Yeah.

That's a bit like you, Kevin.

Oh, thank you. I think you are a Hermeticist.

Yeah, I think you'll wait a long time for the long, white beard.

Ah, maybe so.

All right, Ellon Egg Chasers. Well done. Well done, Mike.

So you've lost a brain, but the Eggheads have lost one too.

We play on, and the subject is Geography.

Who would like Geography?

That's going to be you, isn't it? That's you, Gareth?

I'll go for it. Happy with that? It's Gareth.

Gareth? Yeah. Against which Egghead? Can't be Judith or Dave.

Chris. Chris. Chris or Lisa. Lisa if it's Australia. Yeah, maybe.

Up to you. I'll go with Lisa.

I hope it's Australian. THEY LAUGH

All right.

So Gareth from Ellon Egg Chasers versus Lisa from the Eggheads.

Will Australia come up?

To ensure there's no conferring, please take your positions.

So, Gareth, you're a Senior Fishery Officer,

is that a fun job?

Quite a good, fun job. I've been doing it a number of years now.

Got to travel all over Scotland.

Worked in Scragsdale, the West Coast, Shetland

and now in the North-East. It sounds great.

And you have to stop people fishing where they shouldn't, basically?

No, I'm more shore-based.

So I deal with the big fishing trawlers when they come into port.

How they've been fishing at sea and what they do

when they arrive in port to land their catch.

OK. Well, good luck on Geography.

Would you like to go first or second, Gareth?

I will go first, please.

And here is your question.

The fishing village and tourist attraction of Mevagissey

is in which English county?

It would be a fishing question, wouldn't it?

Just thinking of fishing ports.

I'm going to go with Cornwall for the fact that it's

one of the hubs, apart from the north-east of England, for that.

I will go with Cornwall, I think.

Cornwall is the right answer. Well done.

Lisa.

Which of these cities lies on the Mississippi River,

roughly 100 miles from its mouth?

It ain't Seattle cos that's a fairly long way away from where

you'd put the Mississippi.

I'll try New Orleans.

New Orleans is right. Well done.

OK, over to you, Gareth.

Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo are airports serving which capital city?

HE MURMURS

I'm going to rule out Vienna.

Two airports. Significant size.

I'm going to go with Moscow.

Eggheads, is he right? Yes.

Yes, you're right. Well done.

Lisa, to catch up.

Which of these places in California is furthest south?

Anything with relational geography in it is always just going to

throw me completely.

I'm trying to think about where your larger cities are

in relation to each other.

I don't know.

I'm vaguely inclined towards Palm Springs,

so I'll go with Palm Springs.

Yeah, Palm Springs is right. Hey!

Well done.

Two each. And back to you, Gareth.

The Queen Elizabeth National Park,

incorporating parts of Lake Edward and Lake George,

is in which African country?

I'm trying to think which...countries have more lakes.

I don't know it off by heart, straight away.

I'm leaning towards Uganda.

Uganda is my answer. I'm leaning towards Uganda.

I'll go with Uganda, please.

Absolutely right.

Yeah.

Is that because of what,

the Great Lakes area would take you to Uganda, yeah? Yeah. Yes.

All right, you've got three out of three. Well done, Gareth.

Couldn't have done any better than that. Lisa, can you stay in?

Which river flows to the sea at the Yorkshire port of Whitby?

No, no, no! I can't remember.

Oh, it would be a Yorkshire question, wouldn't it?

I have an idea that Swaledale is further west than Whitby.

And I might be able to...

..rule that out.

I'm slightly more inclined to the Ouse, but I don't know why.

Is the Ouse further down?

I don't know. Logic will only get me so far with this.

So I'll try the Ouse and hold me hands up.

At least Barry's not here, eh?

Dave?

It's the Esk. The Esk.

At least I got it down to the right two. Let's start with that.

Yorkshire rivers. OK. So it's the Esk.

And that's good new for you, Gareth. Well done.

You're in the final round. Thank you.

You have beaten Lisa,

who will not be able to join the Eggheads in the final.

The Challengers now have the advantage.

So please come back to us. We'll play on.

Well, nice one, Gareth.

How about that? Advantage to the Ellon Egg Chasers.

They've lost one. The Eggheads have lost two brains

from the final round now.

And our next subject, and the last before the final, is Food Drink.

So who wants this? It's one of you two.

I think we decided if it was Food Drink, even though

Gareth knows too much...

Jeff. I think it should be Jeff.

Jeff? I'll take Food Drink. All right? Yep.

Account manager from Ellon against either Kevin or Chris.

All the best. JEFF LAUGHS

Who do you think we should put up for Food Drink?

Kevin. INDISTINCT CONVERSATION

We'll go for Kevin, please.

Oh, OK. No surprise. All right,

so Jeff from Ellon Egg Chasers taking on Kevin from the Eggheads.

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

So I gather you've got a new bakery business running from your home?

That's right. We do, yes. It's my wife who set it up.

Jeff, what are you making? Bread or what?

Mainly cakes. Cupcakes and wedding cakes as well.

Brilliant. So, is it fun?

Most of the time, yes.

I guess there are times when you get overwhelmed by demand, are there?

A lot of orders that come in at certain times of the year, yes.

That sounds like a great thing. Good luck with that.

Thanks. To you and your wife.

Jeff, would you like to go first or

second on what must be a good subject for you, Food Drink?

I'll go first, please.

OK, here is your question.

What is the L in a BLT sandwich?

I'm pretty sure I know this one. It's definitely not limburger.

Definitely not lemon. It's lettuce.

Lettuce is correct, of course.

Kevin.

Which of these traditional Russian recipes is a type of thin pancake?

Two of them I don't recognise at all.

The one that I know is a type of pancake is blini.

Blini is right. Well done.

Jeff.

What is jaggery, as traditionally used in Indian cookery?

Jaggery... I can't say that I've heard of it before, to be honest.

I would... I feel I'd probably rule out tea.

And I think I'd rule out sugar as well. So I'll go with herb.

It sounds like a herb or a spice, doesn't it?

It's actually sugar.

Sorry.

Kevin, to take the lead.

The pasta called orecchiette takes its name from the Italian

for which body part?

It's the ear.

Orecchiette is named after the ear.

You sound like you've had it, have you?

I'm sure.. I've had most pasta types at one time or another.

So I'm sure I have, yes.

There's ears and little ears.

There's so many different varieties of pasta.

There's a story about a young man goes to his mum and says,

"I'm getting married." And she says, "You can't get married.

"What about the pasta I cook?"

"What about my orecchiette?"

"I can speak to you like that. What about my pasta?

"because you're not Italian."

LAUGHTER

SINGSONG: I made Judith laugh.

LAUGHTER

OK.

Jeff, you've got to get this one right to stay in.

What is a Super Tuscan?

I think I'm going to rule out...wine.

Cos I don't think I've heard of a Super Tuscan wine before.

Um...

Same for cheese, actually. I'll go with sausage, I think.

Let's see if Kevin knows this. Kevin?

The word super does sound like it could be a sausage of some kind.

Only one correct answer. So Kevin will be in the final round.

It is time for our final round. As always, it's General Knowledge.

are not allowed to take part.

So, as I mentioned, evenly balanced.

Jeff and Doug from the Ellon Egg Chasers,

and also Dave and Lisa from the Eggheads,

would you please now leave the studio?

Well, here we are. Dean, Mike and Gareth playing for the jackpot.

Dean, it says here that you do an impression of a dripping tap.

I will try. My mouth's a bit dry.

My kids'll be loving me doing this. I'll try my best.

HE POPS CHEEK

OK. So you are playing to win the Ellon Egg Chasers ?5,000.

Chris, Judith and Kevin, you're playing for something that

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

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

This time the questions are all General Knowledge.

You can confer, gentlemen.

Simple as that. Would you like to go first or second?

We've gone first so far.

First, please.

Here we go then. Your first question.

Which term refers to a pictorial symbol intended to represent

a whole word?

It's not histogram. Histogram's maths.

I think it's logogram. It's logo.

You agree with that? Yeah. You happy with that?

We'll go for the middle one. Logogram.

Logogram is the right answer.

Eggheads.

The area surrounding the coastline of the eastern part of which

sea is known as the Levant?

Mediterranean. Yeah. Mediterranean, yeah.

East end of the Mediterranean. Where the Levantines come from.

Yes. Yep. That's the eastern end of the Mediterranean, Jeremy.

Yes, you're right. Well done, Chris.

Your question, Challengers.

What type of business is Hatchards in Piccadilly?

Founded in 1797 and said to be the oldest of its kind in London.

Instantly umbrella maker.

But I thought umbrella maker, as a shop, makes umbrellas, obviously.

And I thought that was just down from Tottenham Court Road.

I'd have said umbrella or pawnbroker.

I know there's definitely an umbrella shop, which is

the oldest one in London, which is just down the road,

between Tottenham Court Road and Holborn. Is that Piccadilly?

That's not Piccadilly. That's what I'm saying.

So... Well, it can't be umbrella maker then.

It's called Bloomsbury, I think.

If that's the oldest one in London, it must be bookshop.

Bookshop. Charing Cross Road has all the bookshops in London.

Pawnbroker then. Is there going to be a pawnbroker in Piccadilly?

Piccadilly is a very old area of London, obviously.

And pawnbroker is an old business.

I'd go pawnbroker, personally.

I'm happy with that. I'm not trying to talk you out of it.

I don't know the answer.

By process of elimination, we'll for pawnbroker?

Yeah. I think so, yeah. Are you happy with that? Yeah.

We don't really know.

But after the discussion we've had, we'll go with pawnbroker.

OK. Pawnbroker is your answer.

It's not umbrella maker. It is bookshop.

Oh!

So, Eggheads,

your question. Which England sports coach was appointed to the advisory

board of the investment bank Goldman Sachs in Japan in 2015?

The thing about Dave Brailsford, he's proved himself.

Eddie Jones is new to the job on England coach. For rugby.

Roy Hodgson is the football coach, isn't he?

Yeah, I can't think of any reason why it would be Roy Hodgson.

But the thing that worries me about Eddie Jones is that it said

England, not English.

Cos he's an Aussie.

Yeah. Yes. It said England coach and he is the England Rugby Union coach.

Yes. But before taking up the England job, he was coach of Japan.

Oh! He coached them in the 2015 World Cup.

So he's been in Japan. Yeah, so he's known to the Japanese.

He's been in Japan a long time. But that doesn't mean it's not...

But that makes sense. What's the balance of probabilities here?

Eddie Jones?

I think so, logically.

Well, because of his pre-existing connections with Japan,

and therefore his probably better understanding

of Japanese business...

if you're going to do business with Japan.

We'd have to say Eddie Jones.

I love the way you work, Eggheads. You're absolutely right.

Eddie Jones it is.

Two to them, one to you.

You've got to get this one right or the contest is over. ?5,000.

If you win the 5,000, it goes to the rugby club, I gather?

Yes, it does. Yeah. All right. For the children.

Let's hope.

LAUGHTER

They're not even susceptible to any of that. I thought I'd try.

Honestly, they've had everything tried on them.

Muhammad Yunas, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for pioneering

the concept of micro-credit, is a citizen of which country?

I've heard of this.

I can't remember.

For no reason at all, Egypt is coming into my mind.

That's what I thought, but I'm thinking of the name. Yeah.

I'd go with that. Yeah? I think so.

I don't know. I don't know for sure.

We don't actually know, to be honest.

But we're leaning towards, down the middle, Egypt.

OK, certainly sounds like it should be Egypt.

We'll just check it with this lot.

Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is the right answer. I'm sorry.

We have to say congratulations, Eggheads, you have won.

So commiserations to the Ellon Egg Chasers.

You could always try and get this lot up for a charity quiz sometime.

You can come and play rugby with us any time you like.

LAUGHTER I've got a bad leg.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them.

And they reign supreme over Quizland. No question.

I'm afraid it means you won't be going home with the ?5,000.

So we roll the money over to our next show.

Eggheads, well done. Who will ever beat you?

Join us next time to see

if a new team of Challengers have the brains to do it, take them down.

?6,000 says they won't. Till then, goodbye.