Episode 63 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, with sore heads today, I think.

-Mmm.

-Just a little.

-Yeah?

OK. We'll find out why in just a tick.

Hoping to beat the might of the Eggheads

are the Roebuckaneers from Staffordshire.

Now, this team all know one another from the Roebuck pub in Hilderstone.

Darrell is the landlord and Richard is the chef who cooks the pie

that the others compete for in the pub's weekly quiz.

Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Darrell and I'm the pub landlord.

Hello, I'm Peter. I'm a clinical coder.

Hi, I'm Fay, I'm a locality co-ordinator.

Hi, I'm Sean and I work in children's services.

I'm Richard, I'm the pub chef.

-So, Darrell and team, welcome. Good to see you.

-Thank you.

So, Richard cooks the pie and then the quiz winners eat it.

That's... Yes, if they claim it.

-If the claim it?

-Yes, not all of them claim it.

-What? You mean sometimes people win and they say, "We don't want the pie."

-Yes.

-Oh, gosh.

-That's not a comment on Richard...

-That's not a comment on the food.

-No!

Why would anyone turn down your pie, Richard?

I wouldn't... I've no idea.

It's a really nice pie but, erm...

-It's a lovely pie?

-Sometimes you can only take so much pie.

Understood. So, the pies are good at the pub and the quiz is good.

-Yes.

-Hope you have a great game against the Eggheads.

Every day there is £1,000 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.

Now, my reference to a headache is, Roebuckaneers,

that the challengers actually beat them in the last game.

They were a group of crime writers and there were four or five bodies on the library floor

by the time they'd finished with the Eggheads,

which proves it can be done.

So you've got £1,000 today on the table to win.

Would you like to crack on?

-Yes.

-Absolutely, yes.

-Good stuff.

So, the first head-to-head battle is on the subject of Food & Drink.

Hey! That's perfect, isn't it?

-It is.

-Yeah.

-Hopefully so.

-Yup.

-Hopefully so.

I'm guessing it's you, Richard, but I don't know.

Yes, I'll take that one.

OK, the chef against which Egghead?

You've got to take Kevin, really.

-It's his only weak subject.

-Yeah, Kevin, I think.

Richard from the Roebuckaneers, the chef,

versus Kevin who doesn't cook much from the Eggheads.

-At all.

-Or at all.

-No.

-Thank you for that correction.

To ensure there's no conferring,

would you please take your positions in our famous Question Room.

Richard, tell us about your pies.

They're proper pie with a top and a bottom, er...

multiples of fillings and, er, lashings of gravy.

Right, we're heading down there.

Please do, you're more than welcome.

I know it's a stressful job being a chef,

so I hope we've given you a nice... nice day of non-cheffing today.

Lovely day of non-cheffing but equally as nervous.

And you're on Food & Drink so there's no rest for the wicked here.

-No, no.

-So, Richard, would you like to go first and second?

I'll go first, please.

Here we go with your first question.

How many different birds, Richard,

typically form the American roast dish known as a turducken?

I believe that's three.

Hopefully, it's three.

Well, this question beats me. Now, can you visualise that?

It's a bird in a bird in a bird, I believe.

Oh, I see. It is three.

Well done.

That's a bit of a stinker, that.

-Turkey, a duck and a chicken.

-Oh, I see, a turkey, a duck...

Turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with chicken.

I see. Kevin, your question.

Which cookery expert, now perhaps best known as a talent competition

judge wrote the books Popular Freezer Cookery

and Popular French Cookery in the 1970s?

Well, I... Fanny Cradock has been dead for, erm...

for quite some time.

I'm not aware of Delia Smith doing the, erm...

the sort of judging job but the one who is best known now because of her

work on the Great British Bake-Off in particular is Mary Berry,

so I'm assuming it must be her.

Mary Berry is the right answer.

Richard, back to you.

The herbal tea rooibos, also known as red bush tea, is

made from the leaves of a plant native to which country?

Red bush tea. I...

Oh, I... I'm not sure at all on this.

Er, I don't think it's Mexico.

I'm thinking...

I'm leaning towards South Africa.

Yeah, South Africa's my answer.

I used to live in South Africa and I had it the whole time.

You're quite right, South Africa.

Well done. Really nice.

Kevin, in the dish Eggs Neptune,

a variation on Eggs Benedict,

what replaces the ham?

Well, again I'm not... I don't know the dish, but, again, applying...

attempting to apply logic to it, anyway,

if the ham's been taken out and you've got something called Neptune,

which would seem to refer to...

..the sea. Er...

Then I'm...

..assuming it must be crab meat.

Crab meat is right. OK.

Two each. Back to you, Richard.

Judas's Ear is a type of which foodstuff?

Hmm. Another one I'm not...

not familiar with. Erm.

Doesn't sound like a cheese to me or a sausage,

so I'm going to go with mushroom.

Mushroom is quite right.

Well done.

Perfect bit of, erm...

Perfect bit of quizzing logic there. OK, Kevin, to stay in.

What kind of beverage is Andean chicha?

C-H-I-C-H-A.

I don't know.

Probably, Barry had this when he was in, er...

When he was in Peru, I expect.

I had a first instinct and I suppose I ought to, erm...

Ought to stick with the first instinct, which is beer.

OK. Do you know what it is, Barry?

I don't. I would have gone for beer.

It is beer. Well done.

Three points each. So, you haven't shaken him off, Richard.

We go to Sudden Death.

It gets a bit harder. I don't give you alternatives.

The potato variety called King Edward was originally developed in which country?

I'm not sure but I think it might be Holland.

It's actually... The answer is more obvious than that.

-It's the UK.

-Oh!

Kevin...

For the round. The abbreviation PDO,

one of the European Union schemes to protect and promote the names of

particular foods such as roquefort,

stands for protected designation of what?

Of...origin.

Origin is right. You've taken the round on Sudden Death.

Sorry, Richard. You've been knocked out there.

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

As it stands, the Roebuckaneers have lost a brain from the final round.

We'll get the pie later, Richard, if you all get knocked out, OK?

-No problem.

-The Eggheads have not lost any.

We play on, and it's Film & TV.

So, Darrell, who would like this?

-I think I'll take that.

-Yeah, I think Pete's doing that one.

OK, Pete. Against which Egghead, Pete?

Do you reckon Judith or Chris?

Your choice, mate. Whatever you feel best with.

I think I'll take Judith, please, Jeremy.

All right, good luck in your round, Peter.

You're playing Judith, and to ensure there's no conferring

would you please take your positions?

All right, Film & TV, Peter.

Would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first please, Jeremy.

Here is your question. What is the name of the programme with which

Nigella Lawson returned to British television at the end of 2015?

Well, I don't really watch cookery programmes.

The only one of those I recognise is Nigella Bites,

so that's what I'm going for, Nigella Bites.

Funnily enough, it's not that.

It's Simply Nigella.

I'm afraid you're wrong. Judith, your question.

What natural phenomenon causes mayhem

in the 1997 film Dante's Peak,

starring Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton?

Well, Dante's Peak implies a mountain.

So, I suppose it could be a volcanic eruption or a snowdrift,

but I didn't see it so I'm not sure.

Erm... I think I'm going to go for snowdrift.

Ah, well, I think CJ's seen this cos he gave...

He exhaled in a profoundly pained way.

Two films pretty much came out at the same time,

Dante's Peak and I think Volcano with Tommy Lee Jones

and they were both similar stories. It's a volcano.

Volcanic eruption is the answer, Judith.

Oh, so could easily have gone for that.

Peter, what is the title of the 2015 film

written and directed by Angelina Jolie

and starting herself and her husband Brad Pitt?

I think Badlands was a film in the '70s.

A Walk In The Clouds sounds familiar.

But I've just got a feeling it's By The Sea, so I'll go By The Sea.

Yes, you're completely right, well done. By The Sea.

So, first point to our challenger.

Judith, which British actor played the part of Norrington

in the Pirates of the Caribbean films?

I've seen one of those.

And Norrington. I don't know.

Norrington.

Erm... Bill Nighy.

-Eggheads?

-Jack Davenport.

Jack Davenport is the answer.

If you get this one right, Peter, you're in the final.

Which of these scientists did Andy Serkis play in a 2008

BBC single drama?

Well, I know Andy Serkis from Lord Of The Rings films.

He played Gollum.

And I'm just trying to think which of those he looks most like.

I don't really know what Francis Crick looks like.

I think I'll go with Stephen Hawking.

It's not Hawking, actually. It's Albert Einstein.

So, a chance for Judith to equal it with your third question.

Which historical figure does Meryl Streep play

in the 2015 historical drama, Suffragette?

Oh, I haven't seen that either.

Erm...

And it's got Carey Mulligan in it and, erm,

Meryl Streep is the older woman in it, because I've seen a trailer.

But whether Carey Mulligan is being Emmeline Pankhurst or not I don't...

I'm not sure.

I... Oh, deary me.

I think she's Emmeline Pankhurst.

You've got it right, well done.

-Thank God for that.

-Emmeline Pankhurst it is.

So, you've got a point. You've both got a point.

We go to Sudden Death, Peter, cos it's equal.

It gets a bit harder, I don't give your alternatives.

Which actor best known for starring in westerns

plays the title character in the 1974 police corruption drama McQ?

I seem to remember John Wayne did a police film in the '70s, so,

I'm not totally familiar with the film but I'll go with John Wayne.

John Wayne is a great answer.

Well done. It's right.

OK, Judith.

What is the English title for the French supernatural

television series Les Revenants?

The Returned. I mean, it literally translates as The Returned.

-The Returned is quite right.

-Oh, thank goodness for that.

Peter, which actor born in 1980

is the star of the 2015 television drama series London Spy?

If I've got my programmes right, I think this was Ben Whishaw.

Ben Whishaw is the right answer.

You're quizzing well, Peter, well done.

OK, Judith.

Which Hollywood actress plays the half-elven Arwen Undomiel

in the Lord Of The Rings film trilogy?

Absolutely no idea. I...

I'm sort of allergic to Lord Of The Rings.

Er, I haven't watched it and I don't know.

Absolutely no idea. I've no idea.

-Is that a pass?

-I give up.

Oh, dear. Liv Tyler is the answer. Well done, Peter. You're through.

You played well there and you took on an Egghead and emerged triumphant,

so you will be in the final with other members of your team.

Please rejoin us and we'll play on.

So, a good round for the Roebuckaneers.

They've lost a brain from the final round but the Eggheads have now also

lost one and our next subject is Music.

-Who would like this?

-Oh...

Hmm.

-You.

-Me?

-Really?

-I think it was a toss-up between you two.

-Yeah.

-Erm.

Yeah, I think you know more about the past than me.

"You know more about the past than me"?

-OK.

-I think your knowledge is...

is...broader than Sean.

-Well, we'll go find out.

-Yeah.

OK, Fay, on music against which Egghead?

It can be Chris or Barry or CJ.

I recommend Chris.

Yes, I... Yeah.

Yeah. I'll have Chris, please.

All right, Fay from the Roebuckaneers versus Chris from the Eggheads.

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

So, music, Fay, would you like to go first or second?

I think I'll go first, please.

All right, good luck against Chris.

Here we go. What title is shared by a 2006 UK number one single

by Madonna and a 2015 UK Top 10 single by Justin Bieber?

Now...I don't think it's Pardon Me.

I'm not a fan of Justin Bieber at all.

I'm going to go down the middle and go for Sorry.

Sorry is good. Well done.

I think, Pardon Me. I can't imagine Justin Bieber saying...

Singing a song called Pardon Me.

It's not his style. Chris, your question.

A 1980s and 1990s contemporary American jazz favourite,

Harry Connick Jr is best known for playing which instrument?

Hmm. Harry Connick Jr, he stands up and plays the double bass.

-Oh.

-Erm.

-Oh.

-Erm, OK.

Everyone... All the Eggheads went... made the same noise.

They all went, "Oh!" Barry... Barry makes a little noise.

-Piano is the answer.

-Is it?

-Oh, yeah.

-So, that's good, Fay.

You're ahead, you need to stay ahead.

Love Unlimited and Korean Bodega

were hits in the late 1990s for which American group?

Again, I haven't got a...

Erm... a firm answer.

Hmm.

I'm going to go with a gut instinct of Stone Temple Pilots.

It's wrong, actually. Fun Loving Criminals...

Oh, no.

..is the answer.

Chris, your question.

Matt, James and Charlie are the first names of the members

of which boyband that reformed in 2015?

Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear.

Who's got back together again?

Erm.

One from three - I'll have a go at McFly.

-CJ knows.

-It's Busted.

-Busted.

-Busted.

You and your boybands.

Come on, I'm a 68-year-old man,

how am I supposed to know about boybands?

Well, you are a quizzer.

True.

Fay, your third question - get this right and you're in the final.

Which Austrian composer entered the monastery of St Florian in 1837

as a choirboy and later returned there as an organist,

composing many works during his tenure?

I haven't heard this story in relation to a composer, so...

I'm going to go with Schubert.

Franz Schubert.

This is one that the Eggs will know - Barry especially. Barry?

Well, Schubert was dead then, I believe, in 1837.

I'd go for Bruckner.

Bruckner is the answer.

So, you have a point, Chris is yet to score.

Chris, if you get this wrong, you're out.

Which album by Bob Dylan, released in the UK in 1975,

includes the tracks Tangled Up In Blue,

Idiot Wind and Buckets Of Rain?

I have an idea that's Blood On The Tracks.

Yes, it really is. It's a great album. Blood On The Tracks is right.

Well done. So, you're back in it.

Sorry, Fay. He just chased you down there.

So, we go to Sudden Death, OK? It gets a touch harder.

In 1991, Fay, Queen had a UK number one single

with a single that was a double A-side

with These Are The Days Of Our Lives

and a reissue of which of their biggest hits?

These Are The Days Of Our Lives.

I actually like Queen.

A reissue of one of their previous hits.

I'm going to go for We Are The Champions.

Yeah, it could easily be but it's Bohemian Rhapsody.

Oh.

Your question, Chris, for the round.

Which former Spice Girl reached the top of the UK singles chart in 2001

with a cover version of It's Raining Men?

-Geri Halliwell.

-If you've got this right, you're in the final.

You've just been complaining about boybands.

-Mmm.

-Are you OK on girl bands, apparently?

Yeah.

Geri Halliwell, that's the right answer.

Fay, sorry, he's knocked you out on Sudden Death.

There we are. Chris through on music - doesn't always happen.

If you rejoin your teams, we'll see what happens next.

All right, Darrell, we've got a few wheels coming off, any thoughts?

Yeah, as somebody once told me many years ago, the questions are only hard if you don't know the answers.

-So, yeah.

-Well, that's very, very good philosophy.

It's the Roebuckaneers who've lost two brains from the final round.

The Eggheads have just lost the one.

And the next subject, and the last before the final, is Politics.

Who would like this?

Well, I think I'm taking one for the team.

-Yeah.

-OK, Sean.

-On this one.

-And who would you like to choose?

You can have Barry or CJ.

I know it's not particularly appetising.

-Erm...

-I think you might have a better chance against CJ.

I'll take Pete's advice. I'll choose CJ please, Jeremy.

So, Sean from the Roebuckaneers is taking on CJ from the Eggheads.

To ensure there's no conferring, please, gentlemen,

take your positions.

So, I'm sensing it wasn't really your choice to do Politics, Sean.

Er, it wouldn't be my first choice, no.

All right. Would you like to go first or second?

Er... I'll go first please, Jeremy.

Here we go with your first question.

What relation is Justin Trudeau, who was elected Prime Minister of Canada

in 2015, to Pierre Trudeau

who held the same post in the '60s, '70s and '80s...

Well, I don't... I'm going to be ruling out grandfather.

Erm, so, it's between uncle and son.

I'm assuming that Justin is younger so I'll say son.

Yeah, the logic is impeccable and I'm glad you chose that,

you could have gone the wrong way there. Well done.

One of the most bizarre options we've ever had.

OK. CJ, what word was commonly used in the media in the 2010s

to mean the potential withdrawal of Greece from the Eurozone?

The question writers are having fun at the moment, aren't they?

Erm, I think that is Grexit.

Grexit is correct.

OK, Sean,

in November 1978, there was an outbreak of panic buying

of what foodstuff in the UK as a

result of a strike by workers involved in its production.

Erm...

I'm going to discount tea

because I'm assuming that is all imported.

I don't think they'd be panic buying of soup so I'm going to say bread.

Bread is correct. Well done, Sean.

CJ, to catch up,

which Labour politician,

a contender in the party's mid-2015 leadership election,

was appointed to the front bench

as shadow home secretary following Jeremy Corbyn's victory?

I was hoping there was only going to be one name there

from the leadership contest.

Unfortunately, all three of them are.

Erm, I really don't know this.

I'll try Andy Burnham.

Yeah, Andy Burnham is right.

So, two each.

Here's your question, Sean.

Conservative Future,

the youth movement of the Conservative Party in England,

Wales and Northern Ireland, is made up of all members

of the Conservative Party who are under what age?

Now, this is something that will be a complete guess.

I think a youth movement in the Conservative Party could include,

you know, up to the higher end there.

Erm...

I'm going to go down the middle and I'm going to say 25.

Yeah, it goes higher.

I'm afraid it goes to 30.

OK, CJ, you could probably join, couldn't you?

Erm, with a little more surgery, yes.

Here's your question. If you get this right, you're through.

In which year did Iran break off diplomatic relations with the UK

over Salman Rushdie's book, The Satanic Verses?

Well, I'm fairly sure it was published in '89.

Er... I think '85's too early and I think '93's too late.

I think it was published in 1989.

So, that's my answer.

Yes, you're right. '89 is the right answer.

Sorry, Sean, he's knocked you out there on The Satanic Verses.

CJ will be in the final.

If you return to us, we will play that final round.

So, here we are. 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, that is Fay, Sean and Richard, three of the Roebuckaneers,

but also Judith from the Eggheads.

Would you please now leave the studio?

Darrell and Peter, you are playing to win the Roebuckaneers £1,000.

CJ, Barry, Chris and Kevin -

you're playing for something that money can't really buy,

which is the Eggheads' reputation after that last game.

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

This time they're all General Knowledge.

You are allowed to confer, guys.

So, Roebuckaneers, the question is - can your two brains overwhelm these four here?

Best of luck to you. Really hope you do it.

And would you like to go first or second?

-First, I think?

-Yeah.

-First.

OK. General Knowledge.

Your first question -

Zapper is a colloquial term for what piece of technology?

-TV remote.

-Yeah, yeah.

TV remote control.

We all know that. TV remote control.

Well done. Eggheads...

Which of these is a word meaning a long time?

-Ooh.

-Oh, dear.

Oh, that's a tough one. Shall we go for yonks, then?

Yeah, I think so. Yeah.

I think it's got to be yonks.

The correct answer is yonks.

Your question, Roebuckaneers,

how many countries in the world end with the suffix -stan or -stan,

meaning country or place of?

Well, you've got many of the former Soviet Union.

Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan...

-Tajikistan...

-Yeah.

-Pakistan, Afghanistan.

-Yeah.

-So, we're up to...

-Five.

-Five.

There's other ones that I can't remember.

I don't think it'd be 13 but I think there are some more we haven't got.

Probably, another couple of...

-Yeah.

-Ex-Russian countries.

I would say so.

-That we're forgetting.

-Yeah.

Would you say on a probability - ten?

Yeah, probability's ten.

-Seven's too low, 13 too high, I think. Yeah.

-Mmm.

-So... Ten. Happy?

-Yeah.

Ten, Jeremy.

OK, ten, shall we try and do it?

So, you mentioned Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,

-Turkmenistan...

-Tajikistan.

-Tajikistan.

So, those are the five -stans, right?

-Pakistan.

-Then you've got Pakistan, which is six.

-Afghanistan.

-Afghanistan.

-Yeah, we've said that, yeah.

-What's the next one?

-I thought there were only seven.

-I didn't come up with any more.

I only came up with seven.

There are only seven. You nailed six so fast that you thought,

"Oh, there must be four more."

But there was only one more.

So, seven is the right answer.

Gives the Eggheads a chance.

Which ventriloquist featured with his dummy Archie Andrews

in the hugely successful radio show, Educating Archie?

-That's Peter Brough.

-Peter Brough.

-Definitely.

-Wonderful art of doing ventriloquism on radio.

Yes, we...

If somebody could explain to us how that works, we'd be very interested.

But with Archie it was Peter Brough.

Peter Brough is the right answer, Eggheads.

Well done. Yes, on the radio.

Not really ventriloquism, is it?

Your question, Challengers, you must get this right.

David Hockney's 1961 painting,

We Two Boys Together Clinging takes its title from a line in a poem

by which writer...

Obviously, literature is more your speciality than mine but...

Well, not, erm...

-Not this particular...

-Not poetry.

-No.

-So we are reduced to a guess?

I think so at the end of the day.

I've heard of Robert Frost, as well,

I haven't heard of Walt Whitman but is it...

Walt Whitman is an American poet, I believe.

Go for Whitman?

-Or...

-Yeah. Yeah, go for Whitman.

Walt Whitman.

Is the right answer.

Well done. So, you're level, but, Eggheads, if you get this right,

the game is over. Who wrote the book The Men Who Stare At Goats,

which was later turned into a film starring George Clooney?

Jon Ronson.

-Jon Ronson.

-Ronson.

-Jon Ronson.

-Jon Ronson.

Jon Ronson, and a truly awful film.

-Yeah.

-I quite liked it.

Erm, we believe that was Jon Ronson.

The correct answer is Jon Ronson.

We say, congratulations, Eggheads - you have won.

It was just that middle question, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

-Ah, commiserations.

It's hard against four of them there.

And they're bristling because they've lost the last one, so...

They're trying to put that behind them, so, time for some pie, I think.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them and they reign supreme

over quizland once again.

I'm afraid it means you won't be going home with the £1,000,

so we roll that money over to our next show.

Eggheads, congratulations.

Who will beat you?

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.