Episode 64 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.

Challenging our resident quiz champions today

are the Mole Valley Misfits from Surrey.

Now, this team is made up of members from five different rotary clubs

based in the Mole Valley.

The quintet has been hand-picked by team captain Simon

who sets the questions for rotary quizzes.

Let's meet them.

Hello, I'm Simon and I'm a sales and marketing director.

Hello, I'm Barry and I'm a retired market analyst.

Hello, I'm Jean, I'm a retired IT consultant.

Hi, I'm Keith and I'm a retired engineering consultant.

Hello, I'm Peter and I'm a part-time author.

-So, Simon and team, great to see you. Thanks for coming.

-Thank you.

-Are you looking forward to this?

-Absolutely.

-Yes.

-You don't hang out together normally, is that right?

-No!

-Definitely not, no.

-Is the phrase hang out the wrong phrase?

Erm, well, we...

As you say, we're all members of rotary clubs within Mole Valley.

We're all very involved in quizzing.

We've never quizzed together before.

And unless we win today and go on tour around the Mole Valley,

we will certainly never quiz together again.

Well, I wouldn't rule it out. OK, good luck.

Every day, there is £1,000 worth of cash

up for grabs for our Challengers.

However, if they fail to defeat the Eggheads,

the prize money rolls over to the next show.

So, Mole Valley Misfits,

the Eggheads have won just the last game.

So, that means £2,000 is here for you to win today.

-Would you like to try?

-Absolutely.

Excellent, the first head-to-head battle

is on the subject of Geography.

So, who would like this?

-Erm, right, I'm out. Geography?

-No, you do it.

You do it. OK.

-OK, I'll do it, Jeremy.

-Barry's going to have a crack.

-OK, Barry. Against which Egghead, Barry?

-Good luck with that.

CJ? Oh, yes, everybody picks CJ. So, we'll pick CJ.

JEREMY CHUCKLES So, Barry versus CJ of the Eggheads.

Please go to our famous Question Room.

So, Geography, Barry, and would you like to go first or second?

I think it's traditional to go first, so I'll keep with that

and go first, please.

Good luck, Barry, here's your first question against CJ.

Which of these is a feature of land described as a tundra?

Right, well it's nice to have

a relatively straightforward one first.

It's certainly not forest and it's not sand dunes.

It's frozen ground.

Frozen ground is correct.

CJ, the national flag

of which of these countries

consists of three horizontal stripes?

Denmark, I believe, is a Nordic cross.

The Czech Republic...

..has gone out of my mind for the moment.

I don't know what the Czech Republic flag is.

Bulgaria should be three stripes but let me just...

I'm desperately trying to think what the Czech Republic is.

And I can't...

My brain's completely, for some reason, gone completely addled.

I can't remember Bulgaria, it's certainly three stripes,

whether they're vertical or horizontal.

-Three horizontal stripes?

-Three horizontal stripes.

Czech Republic.

OK, what does the Czech Republic flag look like?

It has a large triangle on the hoist side and then three stripes.

So, it's a triangle and three stripes with the Czech...

-Of course it is!

-Bulgaria is the answer, CJ. OK, this is good, team.

Got one answer right and you're already ahead.

Barry, which Welsh town has a regular ferry service to Dublin?

Well, it would be very difficult

to come from Hay-on-Wye, I would have thought.

And having come from more or less that neck of the woods,

born in Liverpool, I know it's from Holyhead.

It is from Holyhead, well done.

Two points to you. So, CJ, if you get this wrong,

you're in trouble. Well, you're out.

Which of these English seaside resorts is furthest north?

Oh, that's nasty!

Skegness is in Lincolnshire, Scarborough's in North Yorkshire.

Not sure where Bridlington is

but I think it's further south than Scarborough,

so I'll try Scarborough.

Yes, Scarborough is correct.

All right. If you get this one

right, Barry, you're in the final.

What is the capital of Namibia?

Well, I was looking at capitals yesterday

but didn't really get as far as Africa,

although there's been a lot of discussion about African capitals.

I think that's Windhoek.

Windhoek is indeed Namibia. Well done, Barry, you've taken the round.

Sorry, CJ, brain freeze.

I deserved that completely.

-OK, the Bulgarian flag has swept you out.

-Absolutely right.

And, Barry, you're in the final. Please come back to us and play on.

So, good start for the Mole Valley Misfits,

who've managed to cast off CJ.

They haven't lost any brains from the final round,

the Eggheads have lost one.

And we go to Science. Who would like this?

Um, I think you, Keith?

-That was your shout.

-It will be me, Jeremy.

Keith, OK. Retired engineering consultant. Against which Egghead?

-Barry?

-Yeah. OK.

-Barry!

-Barry, known as the Brain.

-Whoa, that was a surprise!

-You haven't been picked for so long.

I've forgotten what it's like to be picked for a head-to-head.

I think it's six games out of seven or something?

Six out of the last seven, I wasn't picked.

-So, you've made his day, made his day.

-Oh.

So, it is Keith from the Mole Valley Misfits versus

Barry from the Eggheads.

And to ensure there's no conferring,

please, gentlemen, take your positions.

OK, Science, Keith, first or second?

First, please, Jeremy.

And here is your question.

In meteorology, what name is given to irregular air motions

characterised by winds that vary in speed and direction?

Well, affluence is to do with your wealth, coherence would be...

Well, not sure.

But they're certainly talking about turbulence in this case.

Yes, it is certainly turbulence, well done.

Barry, your question.

On which part of a horse's body is its fetlock?

The fetlocks, I believe, are on the leg.

Leg is correct.

OK, back to you, Keith.

In November 1969, who became the fourth man to set foot on the Moon?

I'm not sure about this.

I've just got an inklet that it might be Michael Collins.

He was definitely involved somehow. Let's check with Barry. Barry?

Michael Collins ran the...

What was on the Apollo 11 but he didn't set foot on the Moon.

Yes, he was in the orbiter, wasn't he?

James Lovell was in Apollo 13

but the third and fourth men on the Moon were Conrad and Bean.

-Alan Bean, Keith.

-OK.

Barry, which of these is a type of lizard?

Well, a katydid is a sort of grasshopper or cicada.

And an agouti is a small rodent-like animal

which I have seen in South America crossing the road in front of me.

But a chuckwalla is a lizard.

Chuckwalla is indeed a lizard, well done.

So, Keith,

-you must get this right.

-OK.

What is the technical term for the bone in the human body

popularly known as the anvil?

Well, I think the clue must be in the description of an anvil.

So, maxilla doesn't really sound

as though that would be shaped like an anvil.

Erm, the other two, I can't see any clue in the words.

So, it will be a bit of a guess between those two

and I think I'll plump for talus.

Now, interestingly, I...

-Embarrassing story, while dancing badly on Strictly...

-Oh, yes?

The charleston really hit my talus. It swelled up.

And the talus is, my understanding is the foot.

-Am I right?

-Mm-hm.

And so, it's in the foot area.

-It's not the right answer here.

-Oh.

-Maxilla is the jaw.

-Maxilla is the jaw, where is the incus?

-In your ear.

-In the year, so it's almost the eardrum area.

Yes, presumably it's something you bang.

Incus is the answer, it's in the ear.

-Keith, I'm sorry, you've been knocked out by Barry.

-OK.

Barry will be in the final.

Beaten by an Egghead, no shame there.

Please, gentlemen, return, rejoin your teams.

So, Mole Valley Misfits have lost one brain,

the Eggheads have lost one brain.

Where do we go from here? We go to Sport.

So, who would like this, Simon?

Erm, right. What did we decide on that?

-I'll take one for the team.

-Oh, yeah?

-Well done.

As long as it's not American football.

OK, Peter and which Egghead? Can't obviously be CJ or Barry.

Judith, please.

Peter from Mole Valley Misfits

versus Judith from the Eggheads on the dreaded Sport.

Come on, Judith. You can do it. Please go to the Question Room.

-On Sport, Peter, would you like to go first or second?

-First, please.

And here is your question.

Which country's Athletics Federation was provisionally suspended

from international competition by the IAAF in November 2015?

Er, not Greece, certainly not USA.

It was Russia.

It was indeed Russia.

Judith,

which of these footballers is the tallest?

I have absolutely not a first...

I thought you were going to say Peter Crouch,

who I know is very tall.

What about that one in the middle?

With the unpronounceable name.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Cristiano Ronaldo sounds little and nippy.

And Lionel Messi...

..rather the same.

So, I think Zlatan is the tall one.

So, your height is a function of the number of letters in your surname?

SHE LAUGHS Is that what we've come to?

Got to go on something, haven't you?

Well, you are right, by the way.

-Oh, no!

-SHE LAUGHS

-How absolutely wonderful.

-6ft 5 and Messi is very short.

OK, back to you, Peter.

In which decade of the 20th century did Dick Francis

win his only National Hunt Champion Jockey title?

Well, I'm fairly old and I only remember him as an author.

So, therefore, it certainly isn't the '90s.

It wouldn't be the '70s so it must be the 1950s.

1950s, please.

-And he then wrote all those books, didn't he?

-He did.

1950s is right.

OK, Judith.

The laws of test match cricket state that, on the first day of a game,

unless an innings ends or an interruption occurs,

play shall continue until at least how many overs are completed?

I imagine that's meaning over the five days of the test,

or whatever it is.

I think it must be 90, then.

OK.

I'm assuming that means the whole test match, which is five days.

-Well, I did read the phrase on the first day of a game.

-Yes.

-Anyway, doesn't matter, you have it right.

-Oh.

-Did it only mean the first day?

-Yes, it did.

-Oh.

-Well, that's lucky, another lucky.

-Yes. All right. Peter.

New Zealand rugby union international Jonah Lomu

usually played in which position?

Well, he's one of the greatest players of all time

and absolutely reduced the England team -

being Welsh, I rather enjoyed that -

while he was playing on the wing and scoring a record number of tries.

Brilliant, you're quite right. Wing is it.

Well done. Wing is right.

Judith,

your question to stay in.

In tennis, how many players compete in the men's singles competition

at the ATP World Tour Finals?

That's the one in November, the O2 thing, isn't it? It's eight.

-Eight is right.

-Hmm.

-Three out of three on Sport for you both.

So, we go to Sudden Death. Gets a bit harder, Peter.

I don't give you alternatives, OK? Here's your question.

Silly mid-off and silly mid-on are positions in which sport?

Thank you very much. Cricket.

OTHERS LAUGH Cricket. Cricket is right.

Judith,

which of golf's four major tournaments

did Arnold Palmer win on four occasions between 1958 and 1964?

Erm, the Masters.

-Masters is the right answer.

-God, lucky!

-US Masters.

OK, Peter.

Here is your question.

At which racecourse do horses cross the Melling Road during a race?

OK, I believe it's very close to the start of the Grand National,

therefore the racecourse is Aintree.

Aintree is the right answer.

OK, Judith.

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, cut the ribbon to officially start

which sporting event in 2014 outside Harewood House in Yorkshire?

Erm, it might be a horse trials

but I can't think of what name to give it.

Erm, I'm sorry, I can't think. Can't think, no idea.

-You think it's something horsey?

-I think it might be something horsey.

-OK, it's wrong. Tour de France.

-Oh, Tour de France.

Of course it was in Yorkshire,

that they ran a particular leg of it.

-Yes.

-So, well done, Peter.

On Sudden Death, you've beaten Judith.

Return to us, please, and we'll play on.

So, we've lost Judith on Sport again.

And as it stands, the Mole Valley Misfits have lost a brain

from the final but the Eggheads have now lost two.

And the next subject is Film and TV, so who would like this?

I think we're agreed, aren't we?

-I think that's you.

-I think that's me, please, Jeremy.

OK, Simon. Against which Egghead? You can have Chris or Pat?

Oh, as long as it's not films about trains,

I think we'll have a go with Chris, please.

It's always the Titfield Thunderbolt!

-Is that a film about a train?

-Yeah.

-Best Ealing comedy of all time.

-Of course, of course.

-You were very young.

So, Simon from Mole Valley Misfits

versus Chris the Locomotive from the Eggheads.

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

Simon, Film and TV. Would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please, Jeremy.

Good luck, Simon.

On which TV quiz show do contestants lose five points

if they interrupt the starter question with an incorrect answer?

Well, Wheel Of Fortune is all about the money

and there's no points involved.

Countdown, again the points only ever go up for

getting the words right.

So, the answer is University Challenge.

Yes, it is University Challenge, well done.

Chris,

which of these venues is often a location

for Strictly Come Dancing?

Well, it wouldn't be Wembley Stadium, would it?

That would be a bit draughty and cold.

If I were staging Strictly, I'd take it to Blackpool Tower Ballroom

so that's what I'll have to answer, Blackpool Tower Ballroom.

You've obviously been watching carefully, Chris.

The whole series they talk about it. Blackpool Tower Ballroom is correct.

-Hmm.

-Simon.

Which 1997 film starred Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz,

Dermot Mulroney and Rupert Everett?

Well, on the strength of only really knowing I think Julia Roberts

was in Runaway Bride and I'm not too sure who was in the other two,

I'll go with Runaway Bride, please.

No, it was My Best Friend's Wedding.

Chris, your question.

Who starred in the comedy short The Music Box

in which a piano must be moved up a flight of stairs?

It's an absolute classic with Laurel and Hardy.

Laurel and Hardy is the right answer.

So, you need to get this one right, Simon.

What is the name of the human girl

at the centre of the 2015 animated film Inside Out?

Oh.

I know some of the characters that are in her head.

I'm not sure of the actual main character's name.

It's going to be a complete guess at Patty.

-Let's see if the Eggheads know this. Eggheads?

-Riley.

Riley is the name. Sorry, Simon.

Chris has won, he's in the final.

You've been knocked out.

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

So, this is what we have 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, Simon and Keith from the Mole Valley Misfits

and CJ and Judith from the Eggheads,

would you please now leave the studio?

Barry, Jean and Peter,

you're playing to win the Mole Valley Misfits £2,000.

Pat, Barry and Chris, you're playing for something money can't really 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 are allowed to confer.

So, Mole Valley Misfits,

the question is can your three brains defeat these three?

And would you like to go first or second?

We would like to go first, please.

Jean and team, good luck. Here we go with your first question.

Which of these words is used to refer to loose-fitting clothing

worn by military personnel?

-I think it's fatigues. You think? Fatigues, yes?

-Loose fitting.

We all agree, then?

We think that's fatigues, Jeremy.

Fatigues is correct.

Eggheads,

which birthday would Elvis Presley have celebrated in 2015?

He was 42 when he died in 1977.

He was born in 1935, yes.

Born in 1935, yes?

Then add 80, you get 2015.

-Yes, 80.

-80th.

We think he'd have celebrated his 80th birthday.

80 is correct.

One each, back to you, Challengers.

What is the first line of the work that ends,

"And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls,

"it tolls for thee."

-It's John Donne.

-It's not Tyger! Tyger!

No, it's John Donne, it's No Man Is An Island.

-Yes, Stop All The Clocks is Auden.

-I know that, definitely.

-So, yes.

We definitely know that is No Man Is An Island.

You've got it all taped up there, yes.

Absolutely right, No Man Is An Island.

OK, Eggheads, to catch up.

What is the demeanour of a person described as panglossian?

Dr Pangloss was the optimist in Candide.

Hyper-optimistic philosopher.

-So, a panglossian person would be...

-Optimistic.

We think he'd be optimistic, Jeremy.

And you're all panglossian yourselves, aren't you?

Optimistic is right.

Your third question, it's equal.

Two points each.

Get this right, put some pressure on them.

In Japanese cuisine, what type of food is gyoza?

That's spelt G-Y-O-Z-A.

-Know anything about Japanese cuisine?

-Not a thing.

I wouldn't have thought it was octopus.

Got kind of a vague feeling it's filled dumplings.

It's not, skewered meat is like teppanyaki, isn't it?

-I'm sorry, I have...

-The Japanese still have skewered meat.

John Donne I know, this I don't.

I would say it was filled dumplings.

I've got a vague feeling it's filled dumplings.

-I don't think it's the octopus.

-We're not sure...

-That's tempura, they'd be tempura.

-Yes, that's true, maybe.

So, given we don't really know,

we're going to go for filled dumplings.

Filled dumplings is your answer.

Now, the person to ask about this is Barry.

I think that's right.

Yes, absolutely right. Filled dumplings it is.

Barry loves Japan.

OK, Eggheads.

If you get this wrong, the contest is over and you've lost.

In sequential order,

which creature follows the dragon in the Chinese lunar calendar?

Goodness.

There was a mnemonic to remember this

but I can only remember the first line, which is the first four

and none of those are in it, which is unfortunate.

I have a feeling...

I can remember standing in a Chinese takeaway

staring at their little calendar, trying to memorise this sequence.

And it's one of two.

Unfortunately, I've not got complete control over my mnemonic.

It's MHD-SHG-PROTRD.

Or it's SHG-MHD-PROTRD.

The D is at the end, that's the dragon

so it's either monkey or snake.

Depends which of them comes first.

My instinct as...first I heard it was for monkey.

Well, they wouldn't have...

I can't think they'd have dragon and snake together.

They wouldn't have a reptile together, would they?

I'm slightly inclined with snake.

-Ah.

-SHG-MHD-PROTRD.

Hmm, it's all very murky, though. Haven't got a grip on it at all.

If the D is the last dragon and it starts MH...

Well, I think it's SHG...

Oh, I see.

SHG-MHD-PROTRD, but I'm not completely certain.

I could be wrong.

I have...

I have a slight feeling that MHD

is buried in the middle of the mnemonic.

Right, we'll go with your instinct.

It's served us right in the past.

It's a slightly broken mnemonic.

OK, we'll go with your instinct.

Yes, having terrible mnemonic trouble here.

Erm, here we go.

Snake.

Snake, OK. If you're wrong, the contest is over.

But you're right, it is snake.

-Oh!

-It is snake.

So, you're keeping them at bay.

Press the advantage.

Sudden Death, gets a bit harder, I don't give you alternatives.

For what do the letters H and S stand in HS2,

a planned railway link between London and the North of England?

-High-speed, yes?

-High-speed.

-Unless it's a trick question.

-It's not a trick question.

-I'm sure that's exactly what it is.

We think that's high-speed, Jeremy.

Yes, High-Speed 2.

Eggheads, something

described as decennial happens how often?

Every ten years?

-Sounds like it, doesn't it?

-Could you just spell that, please?

D-E-C-E-N-N-I-A-L.

-It must be, every ten years.

-Yes, every ten years.

-Every ten years?

-Mm-hm.

Every ten years.

Every ten years is correct.

Challengers, in which century

was the University of St Andrews founded?

-Oh. Oh, my word.

-It's got to be...

-Which century?

-14th.

-You think?

-Oh, it's very old.

-St Andrews?

-It's very, very old.

It's the oldest of the Scottish universities.

-And it's either 14th.

-1400s.

-So, the 15th century.

-15th century.

-You really think it's around that time?

-I do.

-Compared to Cambridge colleges, for example?

-I do.

-Go on, then.

We are going to go for the 15th century.

Correct, it was 1413, well done.

Well done! Well done, Peter.

Eggheads, "Just like the ones I used to know"

is a line from the song White Christmas written by which composer?

Irving Berlin.

Who would it be? Irving Berlin, who's the other one?

-I'm sure it's Irving Berlin.

-White Christmas, Irving Berlin.

-It's not Cole Porter.

-No.

-It's not Sammy Cahn.

-It's Irving Berlin.

-Irving Berlin.

-Irving Berlin is correct.

Sudden Death, playing for £2,000.

Mole Valley Misfits,

0116 is the area dialling code for which Midlands city?

I think that's Birmingham.

-No, it's not. 121 is Birmingham.

-0116? Oh, yes, it is.

Derby. Derby or Nottingham. Nottingham or Leicester.

Let us think, hang on. It's 0116.

So, in the old days, when it was alphabetic, the 1 was...

It's close to the beginning of the alphabet. So, it could be Derby.

-No, I think it's Nottingham.

-I think it's Nottingham.

-It too far, surely?

-No, I think...

-You sure it's Nottingham?

-No, I'm not sure.

Because I know it and my kids went to university there.

-And it's Nottingham?

-That's why I think I know it, yes.

-OK, go for it.

Yes.

We think it might be Nottingham?

-Let's see what the Eggheads think. Are they right?

-Not sure.

Yeah, it's a tricky one. It's Leicester.

-Oh, Leicester!

-Sorry.

Yeah, Leicester.

-Sorry!

-Don't worry.

-OK, we're on Sudden Death.

Eggheads, you can take the contest with this answer.

What name was given to Norman Wilkinson's

extraordinary camouflage patterns for First World War ships?

-They were dazzle ships.

-With dazzle painting and dazzle ships.

-Dazzle ships, yes.

-Dazzle?

-Dazzle painting.

-Dazzle painting.

-Mm-hm.

Dazzle painting. Or dazzle.

To break up the outline of ships and confuse U-boat captains,

the answer is dazzle.

-Well done, Eggheads. You have won.

-Phew!

Well, you gave them a run for their money there, my goodness. Well done.

You really were punching your weight there, brilliant.

So, commiserations to the Mole Valley Misfits,

the Eggheads have done what comes fairly naturally to them.

They did make heavy weather of it today.

And they do reign supreme over Quiz Land.

I'm afraid it means you won't be going home with the £2,000,

so the money rolls over to our next show. Eggheads, well done.

-That was a marathon.

-That was a marathon.

But it shows what you're made of and particularly your mnemonic, Pat.

That was impressive.

Join us next time to see if Pat will reveal another mnemonic.

No, that won't get anyone watching, will it?

THEY LAUGH

To see if a new team of Challengers

have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

£3,000 says they don't. Till then, goodbye.