Episode 74 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, looking quizzically robust.

-Yes, definitely.

-Full of beans and raring to go.

-All right. And full of confidence.

Challenging the might of our quiz Goliaths today

are Dropped In IT from Hampshire.

Now, this team of colleagues

all work together in the IT

department of a well-known card payment company. Let's meet them.

Hello, I'm Tom and I'm a software test analyst.

Hi, I'm Paul. And I'm a compliance specialist.

Hi, I'm Vic and I'm a project analyst.

Hi, I'm Bren, and I'm a software asset management analyst.

Hi, I'm Graeme. And I'm an IT change analyst.

-So Tom and team, welcome. Great to see you.

-Thank you very much.

-So all computers, basically, this team.

-Yeah, that side of it,

that side of the business, yeah.

Yeah, meaning what you see in front of screens and work stuff out.

-All of us do that, I think.

-Try to.

All different aspects, different aspects of IT.

Some testing, compliance,

but we're all associated and all in the same building.

OK, you quiz together?

We haven't quizzed together as a team like this before.

Some of us have, in pairs, or what have you.

-We're all very keen quizzers.

-Good, well, that's very good.

And Pat, over here. You are a massive computer man, aren't you?

-You bring a huge computer everywhere with you.

-I love computers, yeah.

Yeah, why do you love them so much?

I don't know, I've just been using them for 30 years.

-Just astonishing machines.

-OK. Well, there we are.

So you've got an IT guy over there.

He will be playing against you, of course.

And you're a mind-reader, Tom, I gather?

-SLOWLY:

-Yes.

Shall we...? While you're thinking of an answer,

-I kind of try and project it to you?

-Yes, it's called mentalism.

-Mentalism?

-Mentalism, yeah.

Right, well, use whatever you can today.

-Yeah, I was going to use it on these guys.

-Do use it.

I won't use it on you even though I know you have the answers.

That would be cheating.

I will try and project an answer to you once or twice and see

whether it works.

Good luck with the computer side, with the mentalism,

good luck with everything.

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, Dropped In IT,

I can tell you the Eggheads have won the last three games,

which means £4,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads

-and bring that streak to a stop. Would you like to try?

-Of course.

-Yeah, shall we do it? We think, yes.

-Well, since you're here.

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

Who would like Science?

-Am I taking one for the team, am I?

-It's one of you two, isn't it?

No, well, I have got the other three, haven't I?

-I'll take one for the team. Yeah.

-Graeme?

Graeme is going to take Science.

On Science, OK, our change analyst. Against which Egghead?

-Dave, let's go against Dave.

-OK, Tremendous Knowledge.

-Straight into action, Dave.

-Yep.

So, Graeme from Dropped In IT versus

TKD from the Eggheads.

Please go to the famous Question Room now.

All right, so Graeme on Science,

I know you are going to be good at this.

-Would you like to go first or second?

-Definitely first.

Definitely first. Here we go.

Which of these is an element on the periodic table, Graeme?

It's lead. 100%.

It is.

-Do you know what the letters are for lead?

-No.

-Dave?

-Pb.

-Pb.

Plumbum.

OK, Dave,

in which year was Albert Einstein born?

I think...

The Theory of Relativity was 1905, so let's go for 1879.

1879 is quite right.

Graeme,

the Goliath bird-eating tarantula, sometimes said to

be the world's largest spider, is native to which continent?

I think, I think I'm going to get this right,

I remember seeing this on a TV programme.

It's South America.

It is indeed South America.

Well done.

OK.

Dave, which scientist was the first person to observe Saturn

with a telescope in 1610?

I'm not going for Edwin Hubble

or Carl Sagan. I'll go for Galileo Galilei, please.

Galileo Galilei. Quite right.

So two each. He's a good player,

-Graeme.

-I know.

Got to hold focus here.

Which of these was a carnivorous

dinosaur with a distinctive horn-like growth on its head?

Um, I don't know is the honest answer.

100%. Um, so I'm going to have to take a guess, I'm afraid.

I'm going to guess it's Ceratosaurus.

-Yeah, you're right, Graeme. Well done.

-Excellent.

-Ceratosaurus.

Unbelievable.

You have to get a picture of that on your bedroom wall.

Dave, to stay in.

-Yeah.

-Which of these animals is a South American

member of the camel family?

Right, I don't think it's a grebe.

I thought a gharial was to do with lizards and things.

I've got a funny feeling that a guanaco is a llama,

which would lead to a member of the camel family.

So guanaco is my answer.

And guanaco is the right answer, well done.

-Oh, well, it wasn't going to be easy, was it, Graeme?

-No, never.

Against an Egghead.

So it goes to Sudden Death and gets a bit harder,

I don't give you alternatives.

What name is given to the fine,

usually yellow powder that is borne on the anther of a flower

and dispersed by insects, wind or other means to compatible plants?

The only word that I can think of around that is to do with

pollination, so is it pollen?

Yes, pollen is right.

Straight on.

Dave, to stay in. Of what does the Richter scale measure the magnitude?

-Richter?

-Yeah.

-Earthquakes.

Correct. It may get harder.

Graeme,

areography is the term for the physical geography

of which planet?

Again, absolutely no idea.

At best, we're looking a lot at Mars,

so I am going to go for Mars.

Yeah, it is Mars, actually.

And how do we get...? Barry will know how we get to areography.

Aries is the god of war, isn't he?

And Aries is always associated with Mars.

OK.

You Eggs,

never cease to amaze. Dave,

to stay in.

Lemmus lemmus is the scientific name

for a species of which type of rodent,

usually found in Arctic regions?

Rodent?

No, it's not coming. Um...

I'll just put in a guess, but I don't think it's right. Ants.

Ants.

Yes, it's one of those ones where you look at the word

and you just choose the creature closest to the word. So, Eggheads?

-Lemmings?

-Lemmings.

-It's a lemming, all right.

I don't know what a lemming is, to be honest.

I mean, the only thing I know is that they all move in groups

and we talk about them.

Anyone seen a lemming?

-It's a rodent.

-Yeah, yeah.

It's like a small, you know, smallish furry creature.

OK. It's a smallish...

You've been knocked out by

a smallish, furry creature, Dave. HE LAUGHS

So, sorry. And, Graeme, you're in the final, well done.

Wow.

-Good.

-Thanks, Dave.

-First strike to the IT team.

Come back, please, and we'll play on.

Right, Lemmus lemmus, Eggheads.

Is that what a Lemmus lemmus looks like? I've just drawn that.

Is that... Is that...

-to scale?

-Is that a police reconstruction?

-Yeah.

-Have you seen this rodent?

-It's not a million miles away.

-Evaded fare on the underground.

-I'm told there is no... Oh, hang on.

There is no... A lemming has no tail.

Oh, now I recognise it. Absolutely!

Now they recognise it! HE LAUGHS

OK, so good start for Dropped In IT,

who've not lost any brains from the final round.

The Eggheads have got a bit of a computer virus. They've lost one.

The next subject is Sport.

Good? Who wants this?

I think that will be me.

OK, Paul. Choose an Egghead.

-Anyone except Dave.

-Lisa. Lisa?

-I'd like to take on Lisa, if I may.

-Yeah.

-You may.

She's good on her Sport.

Paul from Dropped In IT versus Lisa from the Eggheads on Sport.

Please go to our Question Room.

-OK, Paul, you're up against a very competitive player.

-I certainly am.

-Are you ready for this?

-Yes, I am.

OK, would you like to go first or second against Lisa Thiel?

I would like to go first, please, Jeremy.

And here we go. Where was the golfer Rory McIlroy born in 1989?

Something I follow quite closely is golf,

and that would be Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland is quite right.

Lisa,

in motor racing, what name is given to a tight sequence of corners

in alternate directions?

That's a chicane, Jeremy.

It is a chicane.

Paul,

George Ford joined which rugby union club in 2013?

Rugby union is not my strong point. Um...

I'm going to hazard a guess at...

Gloucester.

-And it is a guess.

-All right, who knows here?

-Bath.

-Bath, they say.

Sorry, Paul. Gives Lisa a possible advantage.

Which 20-year-old British tennis player made his Davis Cup

debut in the 2015 final against Belgium,

losing the opening rubber to David Goffin in five sets?

Was this...?

Yeah, I mean, everyone says it was Andy Murray won the Davis Cup,

but actually, if you trace it back, it was James Ward who won

the decisive singles match against the US. Jamie Murray is older.

It's Kyle Edmund.

It is Kyle Edmund.

So she's ahead. Paul, you need this one.

I certainly do.

Which country was the most successful in the sport

of fencing at the 2012 Olympics, winning three gold medals?

Again...

not one of my strongest.

I'd probably have to go...

..straight down the middle with Italy.

Yeah, nicely done. Italy is right.

Lisa, to take

the round.

Which former New Zealand cricketer was found not guilty of perjury

and perverting the course of justice at

Southwark Crown Court in November 2015?

See, you know you're a minority sport lover when you'd

have preferred the fencing question to the cricket question.

Um, right...

The inkliest inkle possible tells me to go for Chris Cairns.

On the basis of what? He was...

It's just the only name I've got any sort of recognition for.

It was in...

I remember this story happening,

and I hadn't seen any of the back story to it and I read it and,

you know, when you start with the last day of the story,

it's never easy.

But it is Chris Cairns, well done. Chris Cairns is right.

She got three out of three.

-Sorry, Paul.

-Never mind.

-Knocked you out.

No way back for you. Beaten by our Egghead and

not in the final round.

Come back to us, rejoin your teams, we'll play on.

So the Eggheads have pulled one back here.

Dropped In IT have lost a brain now from the final.

The Eggheads have also lost one.

We move to Geography. So who would like this?

Do you want to take it?

I don't mind taking it.

I'm much better on History than Geography.

-I'll go for Geography then.

-OK, that's very democratic.

Bren on Geography. Software asset management analyst.

-Against which Egghead?

-Barry.

Barry. He's been to every answer.

HE LAUGHS

There was no easy choice there.

Barry He's Been To Every Answer Simmons.

OK, Bren from Dropped In IT versus Barry, who's done

a lot of travelling, from the Eggheads on Geography.

Please go to the Question Room.

OK, so, we're on Geography, Bren.

-Would you like to go first or second?

-I'll go first, please.

Here we go with your first question.

Which of these geographical features produces

approximately 20% of the world's oxygen supply?

Well, I can't imagine the Himalayas producing much in the way of oxygen.

Nor the Great Barrier Reef, so the Amazon rainforest is my answer.

Amazon rainforest is correct. Barry,

which famous building is located at a place called Bennelong Point?

I haven't been to Australia, but I actually have Australian

friends who have invited me and they actually live on Bennelong Point.

So if I went to see them, I would see Sydney Opera House.

Sydney Opera House is the right answer. Well done.

OK, Bren,

what is the only city in the County of Cornwall?

Not Falmouth.

I have looked at a list of cities, so although I may be setting

myself up for a big fall here, I'm pretty sure it's Truro.

Truro is correct.

Back to you, Barry.

The Isle of Sheppey

is located at the mouth of which river?

The Isle of Sheppey is at the mouth of the Thames.

It is indeed.

Quizzing well and briskly here, too.

Third question, Bren.

What is the smallest

and most densely populated country in Central America?

OK, I'm not 100%, but I'm going to take a stab at Nicaragua.

Let's see whether Barry knows.

I'd have gone for El Salvador.

El Salvador is the right answer.

Sorry, Bren.

I don't how much smaller it is,

but it's the answer. Barry.

What is Germany's largest port?

Germany's largest port? That must be Hamburg.

Hamburg is the right answer, Barry, you are through. Sorry, Bren.

One wrong answer can be costly, as Paul found.

Come back to us and we'll play on.

So, as it stands, Dropped In IT have lost

two brains from the final round. The Eggheads have lost one.

So the Eggheads just pulling ahead here. You've got to stop them, guys.

Music now.

-Yay!

-Who wants the...?

Yeah, is that good? Who's Music?

-That'll be me.

-OK, Vic.

-It's got to be Kevin.

Yeah, it's got to be Kevin.

OK, so Vic from Dropped In IT, versus Kevin,

the Grand Master, from the Eggheads.

Please go to the special room.

Well, it's good to hear someone say they love Music, Vic.

-Yeah, I certainly do.

-So let's see how we go.

-Would you like to go first or second?

-I'll go first, please.

Good luck.

Vic, which of these rap groups are commonly

described as practitioners of gangster rap?

I think that would be NWA.

NWA is right. Kevin,

which singer performed at the wedding reception

of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011?

In 2011... Yeah, it was 2011, wasn't it? It was April 2011.

End of April.

I really don't know. Um...

I'll say Ellie Goulding.

-Is he right?

-Yes.

-Yeah, you're right.

Ah, that would have been handy, Vic.

In which year was Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker

first performed publicly?

Well, I think 1692 is too early

and probably 1792 is too early,

so I'll go 1892.

-1892 is the right answer!

-Yes!

-Well done.

Kevin,

Take Me Home is the title of a 2015 UK hit single

for which singer?

I'm not associating that with...Gary Barlow.

And Tom Odell was a sort of...

He became a critical favourite,

won awards, that sort of thing.

I'm going to go for Jess Glynne.

Yes, Jess Glynne is right.

So, can be crucial this third question, Vic, good luck.

Horse With No Name was a UK top ten hit

in the early '70s for which band?

I think it was America.

-Well done.

-Yes, well done.

OK, America is right.

So, Kevin, to stay in, what name was given to the 19th-century

musical argument between radical composers like Wagner and Liszt

and more conservative artists such as Brahms and Clara Schumann?

All depends who applied this term,

whether it's just a sort of a critical...

..a critical or a popular term

because War of the Aesthetes seems...

..almost a bit too intellectual, in a way.

Unless it's being applied in some strange way,

I can't make a case for War of the Baroques.

So I'll rule that out.

Yeah, it could have been somebody just using it

as a term of abuse for older...

..composers.

I mean, both sides, in some respects,

could be said to have come from the Romantic tradition.

If you've got... So it was Tchaikovsky and Wagner

versus Brahms and Clara Schumann, although that's obviously just a...

So,

War of the Romantics.

Any Eggheads know? Is he right?

Well, it was the Romantic period of music,

so I would have gone for War of the Romantics.

-Anyone else?

-I would have gone for that.

Yes, Barry likes it, Dave likes it, and it's right.

-Yeah.

-War of the Romantics.

Oh, well.

Three, three.

We go to Sudden Death, Vic.

Eyes Open is the title of a 2006 chart-topping album

by which British group?

I'm just trying to think who was around in 2006.

Coldplay? I don't know.

I don't think that's right. That's not right.

No, but you were in the right territory. It's Snow Patrol.

OK, bad luck,

Let's see if Kevin can take the round. Sudden Death.

The lead singer of which British heavy metal group has had

a parallel career as a commercial airline pilot,

sometimes flying the band to destinations on their world tours?

-So it's the band you want?

-Yeah.

It's Iron Maiden. It's Bruce Dickinson.

Yes, it is Iron Maiden and it is Bruce who's the singer

and the pilot. And well done, Kevin. Sorry, Vic.

-That's OK.

-Very good player on Music, I can tell.

Please come back and we will see what happens in the final.

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 lost your head-to-heads

won't be allowed to take part in this round.

So, that's Paul, Vic and Bren from Dropped In IT,

and also Dave from the Eggheads.

Would you please now leave the studio?

So, Tom and Graeme, you are playing to win Dropped In IT £4,000.

Use mentalism. Use whatever.

Lisa, Pat, Kevin, Barry,

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

the Eggheads' precious reputation and to keep this little streak

going that you've got, modest streak that you've got going.

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

This time, they're all General Knowledge.

You are allowed to confer. So, Dropped In IT,

the question is, are your two brains better than these four?

-And would you like to go first or second?

-First?

-Absolutely.

-First, please, Jeremy.

All right, General Knowledge, first question to our Challengers.

Which of these characters has featured in the most

novels by their original authors?

-OK, well, it's not Dracula.

-Sherlock Holmes, has got four...

-Sherlock Holmes did a lot of books.

-Original author.

-Yeah, by the original... By the ORIGINAL author.

-Author, yes.

So James Bond had some new authors.

So there's only so many films.

Six or seven, or whatever it is, by...

-..what's his name?

-Fleming.

Fleming. Ian Fleming. And then Conan Doyle...

-Yeah.

-So he... How many did he write?

-Now, he wrote quite a few books, I think.

-I've never read any of them.

-Haven't you?

-I haven't even watched the TV shows.

The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Scarlet Letter...

Six or seven, isn't there? Yeah.

I think it must be Sherlock Holmes.

-We'll give it a go.

-I think so.

It's going to be close.

It's going to be something like six, seven or something.

Do you know how many Bond films there are?

-There's 27-odd Bond films.

-27?

-Bond films, yeah.

-It's either going to be Sherlock Holmes or James Bond.

-You're scaring me with 27.

-But that's just films.

A lot of them were written by Broccoli and co.

-Were they?

-Yeah.

-OK.

-Let's go with your gut.

-OK.

-And we'll go with Sherlock Holmes.

-OK.

We're not sure.

So it's going to be the other one, anyway.

But we'll go for Sherlock Holmes.

Actually, in terms of novels that feature Sherlock Holmes...

It is a tough question,

we can probably quote them.

The Sign Of The Four,

The Hound Of The Baskervilles...

A Study In Scarlet.

A Study In Scarlet and...

The Valley Of Fear.

The Valley Of Fear. Right.

So James Bond some way ahead of Sherlock Holmes.

James Bond is the right answer there. Sorry, Challengers.

OK, over to you.

Rachel Khoo is a famous name in which field?

Khoo is K-H-O-O.

She's the Little Paris Kitchen, she's a cook.

Cookery presenter, yeah?

-Everybody happy with that?

-Yeah.

She's done various cookery programmes.

She's been in Paris and elsewhere. Cookery.

Cookery is correct.

Your second question.

Don't give up hope here because they often go wrong.

Alex DeLarge is the protagonist of which 1970s film?

I've never watched any of these. Alex DeLarge?

-It screams out A Clockwork Orange.

-To me it does.

Marathon Man was the diamonds from the Second World War.

I don't know what The Conversation is.

So we'd have to go Clockwork...

My first thought was Clockwork Orange,

but I was like you, I've never seen them.

I've never watched them, so I don't know.

We'd have to go A Clockwork Orange.

Yeah. We have to choose one, don't we?

Again, we don't know...

..so we are going with A Clockwork Orange.

-A Clockwork Orange is the right answer.

-Excellent, well done.

So you've got one, they've got one.

Let's see what they do now.

What collective name is often given to the medieval literature

and legends relating to Britain, in particular

the myths of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table?

Eggheads...

-The Matter of Britain.

-Yeah?

Refrain is not right,

so, no, it's the Matter of Britain.

OK.

Jeremy, I'm advised by my colleague it is the Matter of Britain.

Yeah, never heard this.

The Matter of Britain is correct.

Well done.

They're ahead.

You must get this one right.

Tony Gallagher became the editor in chief

of which national newspaper in September 2015?

Was it...?

-Tony Gallagher. No idea?

-None whatsoever.

-I've got no idea.

-Don't follow...

-News to me.

-Yeah.

Who's not selling very well?

That's a good point. In that case,

you would say The Sun, wouldn't you?

-Yeah, I guess.

-The other two are bestsellers.

They all have their fits and starts, but stable,

yeah, they have their set readers.

Yeah, let's go with The Sun.

Well, with cast-iron certainty yet again...

GRAEME CHUCKLES

..we're going to go for The Sun.

Yeah, it almost could be any,

but you got it right. It is The Sun.

Nicely done.

So, Eggheads, if you get this right,

cos of their Sherlock Holmes

answer earlier on, you will have taken it and ended the contest.

Otherwise, we go to Sudden Death, playing for £4,000.

Alfie Deyes, born in 1993, has found fame in which field?

Deyes is D-E-Y-E-S.

-He's Zoella's boyfriend.

-Is he Mr Zoella?

Yeah, that's what I said.

Is it D-A-Y-E-S?

No, D-E-Y-E-S.

I think they're based in Brighton.

And there are people looking in the windows of his house and he's now

getting very upset about it.

As soon as I saw those choices, I thought vlogging.

I'm fairly sure he is. Pat is right, he's Mr Zoella.

Well, we think he's based in

Brighton and he's a keen man in

internet vlogging.

As the partner of who?

-Of Zoella.

-Zoella?

Zoella Sugg is it, no?

-Yes. Yes.

-Zoe Sugg. Right.

The stuff you know.

If you are right,

the contest is over cos you will have had three correct ones.

You didn't think software design

in tribute to our Challengers

who are all IT people. It's not

-software design, is it?

-No, no.

You would know that.

The correct answer is internet vlogging.

We say congratulations,

Eggheads, you have won.

It's funny, with the first one there,

when Graeme said 27 Bond films,

-I thought, "Ah!"

-Yeah, straight in.

But then that doesn't necessarily mean books.

I know that he didn't write most of the films so...

-Yeah, he wrote the first bit, the first lot.

-I didn't know how many.

-No. Well, listen, I hope you enjoyed it.

-Oh, it was great.

-It was fantastic.

-They played well today.

-They're playing well at the moment.

-Thanks very much, yes.

Four of you in the final, Eggs. Playing strongly.

Commiserations to our Challengers, Dropped In IT,

the Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them.

They're getting into their stride big-time here.

They reign supreme over Quizland.

It does mean you won't be going home with the £4,000.

We will take that money and roll it over to the 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 them.

£5,000 says they don't. Till then, goodbye.