Episode 79 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 the might of our quiz Goliaths today

are Trouble at t'Mill from Lancashire.

Now, this team of colleagues all work together

at Bolton Lads & Girls Club.

Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Paul and I'm an external funding manager.

Hi, I'm Jackie, I'm a finance officer.

Hi, I'm Kim and I'm an NCS recruitment officer.

Hi, I'm Katherine and I'm a mentoring coordinator.

Hi, I'm Suneet and I'm a senior administrator.

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

-Hello.

-Hello.

So I must ask you about Bolton Lads & Girls Club.

What's it all about, Paul?

Well, it's one of the largest and oldest youth clubs in the country,

established in 1889.

And originally was for the young lads working in the cotton mills

that were in Bolton.

And we now offer a seven-day-a-week service providing a whole range of

activities for young people in the town.

OK. So the "Mill" bit of your team name refers to the sort of

-history of the club?

-It does, yes.

-Yes.

-And it's a very good Northern phrase.

We're very proud of being Northern.

Well, how wonderful.

They always say that there aren't enough youth clubs around any more,

so this is good.

-This is important.

-Absolutely.

They'll be watching today, won't they? I'm assuming.

-Oh, they will, yes.

-OK. Well, good luck to you.

Are you quizzers?

Not in this format, but members within the team

-have done some quizzing before.

-All right.

-But this is our first outing as a quiz team.

-Great.

Well, let us hope that it is lucky number one.

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, Trouble at t'Mill, the Eggheads have done rather well.

They've won the last eight games.

They've had their moments. So there's £9,000 to win.

-Right.

-How's that?

-Great.

-Would you like to go for it?

-Absolutely.

-ALL:

-Yes.

The first head-to-head battle will be on the subject of Music.

Who wants this?

-Who did we decide?

-I think it's Jackie.

-I think I said I'd do Music.

-Yeah.

We have to hope it's a genre I'm comfortable with.

-Yeah, you'll be fine.

-I'll go for Music.

-Yeah, you'll be great.

Jackie, finance officer, on Music against which Egghead?

-Who do you think?

-I'm thinking about Kevin.

-Kevin?

-I think I'd just like to go up against Kevin.

-Go for Kevin. Yeah.

-I think I'd just like to go for... Yeah.

-Yeah. Great.

-All right.

-I'm being ambitious.

-That can work, actually.

Kevin sometimes takes a couple of rounds to get warmed up,

doesn't expect this,

and we've seen him knocked off his perch a couple of times.

So good luck, Jackie, from Trouble at t'Mill,

versus Kevin from the Eggheads.

And to ensure there's no conferring,

please take your positions in the famous Question Room.

Well, Jackie, I know you leapt at Music because you love music.

-That's right.

-Tell us what you love.

I'm quite a bit of a rock chick on the side.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-You and I are roughly the same age, so is it, what,

Indie music in the '80s or '70s, Pink Floyd and stuff?

Yeah, '70s, Pink Floyd. I saw Roger Waters, the world tour,

a couple of years ago.

I think probably the best gig I ever went to was Rammstein.

That was brilliant. They really do know how to rock a show.

Now, Rammstein I don't really know at all. Who are they?

They're a German band.

-OK.

-Yeah.

-Is that German punk or...?

It's German heavy metal.

-OK. Your AC/DC and all that, then?

-Yeah.

I've got a very broad taste in music but that was properly my first love.

Good luck in this round then, Jackie.

You can choose whether you want to go first or second.

I'll go first, please, Jeremy.

And here we go.

The US actor and singer Gene Autry was a famous name in

the 1930s in what style of music?

I've heard the name

and I don't think it's reggae.

And I'm not altogether sure what bubblegum pop is.

I'm going to go for country and western.

I have definitely heard of the name.

Yes, bang on. Country and western is correct.

Brilliant.

Kevin, your question.

What name is given to a musical composition where a minimum

of three voices sing exactly the same melody but each beginning

at different times?

The idea being that the rhythm goes round and round.

So it's a round.

It is singing in a round. You're right.

Jackie, according to a title of a single

release by the rap group Public Enemy in 1990,

what telephone number is a joke?

I don't know this. I've heard of the group.

And as I think they're an American group...

..I'm going to go with 911.

It is a guess but I'll go with 911.

Yeah, 911 Is A Joke, which is their 999, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-That's the correct answer.

OK. Kevin,

which singer left Splott Secondary Modern School

at the age of 14 in 1951?

Right. OK. Splott is an area of Cardiff.

These are all Welsh singers.

Bonnie Tyler's too young.

Shirley Bassey and Tom Jones aren't far apart in age.

But 14 in 1951 would take it back to about 1937.

And I don't think Tom Jones was born until the 1940s,

just into the 1940s.

Whereas Shirley Bassey is a few years older.

So I will say Shirley Bassey.

Shirley Bassey is the right answer.

Well done. OK.

Your question, Jackie.

David Bowie appears with a lightening bolt

painted across his face on the cover of which album?

I can see the album cover in my mind and I do love David Bowie.

I don't think it's Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps).

It's either Space Oddity or Aladdin Sane.

PAUL SPEAKS INAUDIBLY

I'm going to go with Aladdin Sane.

I'm so glad you did. You're right.

Brilliant. Well done.

OK, Kevin, to stay in against Jackie, your question.

The final studio album by Oasis

before their 2009 split was entitled Dig Out Your... what?

Well, I may be wrong entirely here, but the one that's sort of

not leaping out at me exactly,

but the one that I have an instinct for there is Soul.

So I'll go for Soul.

Do you know this one, Jackie?

I don't actually know it but something's telling me it's Heart.

-It's actually Soul.

-Oh, right.

So Kevin has got three as have you.

So we go to Sudden Death. And that means it gets a bit harder, Jackie.

I don't give you alternatives.

-Are you ready?

-I'm ready.

Which Michael Jackson song contains the lyrics,

"What about elephants? Have we lost their trust?"

Now, I do recall the song.

Let me just think to get the name right.

What is it? It's something...

Something like planet...

..life or Earth, something like that.

Earth Song.

Earth Song's right. Well done.

OK. To stay in,

Kevin, your question.

"Wouldn't it be nice to get on with me neighbours?" is the first

line of which 1968 UK number two single?

It doesn't mean a thing, that one, I'm afraid.

Sounds as though it's some kind of novelty song,

although not necessarily.

Can't think of anything.

Nothing at all is coming, I'm afraid.

I think I'm going to have to throw my hands up on this one.

It'll probably turn out to be something blindingly obvious

when you give the answer, but I just can't think of anything at all.

I'm going to have to surrender, Jeremy, I'm afraid.

I can't even think of a sensible answer.

OK. So just to make sure, you're passing?

-I'm passing, yes.

-OK.

So the answer, if I sang it to you, you'd get it.

# "Wouldn't it be nice to get on with me neighbours? #

HE HUMS TUNE

Nope, that didn't work either.

# Lazy Sunday afternoon... #

Oh, dear. Right. OK. It's a Kinks song.

-# And I've got no worries... #

-Yeah, OK.

No, it's The Small Faces, actually, but it's Lazy Sunday.

Anyway, well done, Jackie. You've done it.

You're through!

It's not Trouble at t'Mill any more, it's trouble at the Eggheads.

All right. Come back to us. We'll play on.

You'll have that going round your head now, won't you?

Well, a bit, yeah. It's a song, I do know it when I heard the answer,

obviously, I know the song.

But I wouldn't say it's a song I know especially well,

so I wouldn't have come up with that.

OK. We did some birth dates, which I know you love, Kevin.

-Oh, yes.

-'37 was Shirley Bassey, you're absolutely right.

Actually, Tom Jones was 1940.

-Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

-Very close.

'40 was what I was thinking.

I couldn't quite make up my mind between '40 and '43,

but I thought '40.

So, well done, Jackie.

Trouble at t'Mill have not lost any brains from the final round.

The Eggheads have lost one brain.

They've lost Kevin. So you've started well.

The next subject for you is Geography.

Who wants Geography?

-Is that you, Paul?

-I think that was me.

-Yeah.

-It was.

-We were sort of going for Katherine,

but we're holding Katherine back, aren't we, for the final?

-Saving her.

-Yeah.

-OK.

-Team captain?

-Yes. I'll take Geography, Jeremy.

Who would you like? Anyone but Kevin.

Ooh. Um...

-It's your choice, Paul.

-Your choice, you choose, you pick.

-I'll go for Pat.

-OK.

-OK. Pat, yep.

-I'd like to go for Pat, please.

OK, Paul, from Trouble at t'Mill

versus Pat from the Eggheads on Geography.

Please go to the Question Room now.

So, Paul, Geography, first or second?

I would like to go first, please, Jeremy.

Here is your question. Which city is Pakistan's

largest and principal seaport?

With you saying seaport, I was drawn to Bangalore.

I'm not sure Karachi is actually a seaport.

So I think I will rule Karachi out.

I'm going to go with my instincts and go with Bangalore.

OK. Let's check with the Eggheads.

-Eggs?

-Karachi.

-Karachi.

Karachi, you say? So Karachi is on the sea, is it?

Yes, indeed. Bangalore is in India and Dhaka is in Bangladesh.

OK. Bangalore is in India and Dhaka is in Bangladesh.

-Oh.

-So they're different countries.

-So the only one in Pakistan is Karachi.

-Right.

So Karachi is the right answer.

Pat, your question.

Which European lake is known in French as Lac Leman?

It straddles two countries.

It has places like Geneva and Lausanne on its shore.

It's Lake Geneva.

Lake Geneva is correct.

So back to you, Paul.

The Texas city of El Paso stands on which river?

OK.

I've actually been to the Mississippi

and that's at New Orleans.

I know that's not too far away from Texas.

Hudson is telling me Hudson Bay, which I think is much further north.

And the Rio Grande,

I'm thinking Brazil.

So I'm going to go

for Mississippi, please.

-It's actually the Rio Grande...

-Oh.

..which runs through Texas.

So, Pat, your question.

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

Which island is separated from the mainland of North America

by the Queen Charlotte, Georgia and Juan De Fuca Straits?

Key West is in the Atlantic, below Florida.

Alcatraz, I think, is a rock in San Francisco Bay.

But it's Vancouver Island, which is separated from British Columbia by a

whole series of straits and waterways.

Vancouver Island.

The correct answer is Vancouver Island.

So we say, Pat, well done. No way back for you, Paul.

Sorry, just the wrong questions for you.

-They were.

-Not to worry.

Still level now with the Eggheads, your team.

Come back to us and we will play on.

So, as it stands, Trouble at t'Mill have lost a brain,

lost their captain from the final round.

The Eggheads have lost one as well.

Evenly balanced,

and the next subject is History.

Now, the Eggs like a bit of History. So who wants to do this?

-You were doing...

-Kim.

Suneet, when we were doing those questions on the train coming up,

you and Katherine were both good.

Yeah, yeah.

It's not my strongest point though.

It's sort of what comes after though as well, isn't it?

But if Sport comes out, we need Suneet.

-For that one, yeah.

-Don't we?

I will sacrifice myself.

Yeah.

I apologise in advance.

OK. Kim against which Egghead?

-Who are you going to pick?

-Guys, I need your help on this.

-Between Judith and Chris?

-I did want to take on Judith.

Yeah, you did, didn't you?

-In your interview, you said that, didn't you?

-I did say that. Yeah.

-Here's your opportunity.

-I'm in awe of Judith.

-Well, listen, you have to, don't you?

-Yeah.

It's intimidation and I'm also very impressed by Judith.

-So I'll go for Judith.

-All right, good call.

So Kim from Trouble at t'Mill takes on her...heroine, can we say?

-Definitely.

-Judith from the Eggheads.

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

Good luck, Kim.

We're on History. Would you like to go first or second?

I would like to go first, please.

Here we go.

Who led the first English expedition to circumnavigate the world

in a voyage that lasted from 1577 to 1580?

I apologise, guys. I'm going to go for Horatio Nelson.

No. It was Francis Drake.

-Francis Drake.

-Sorry, guys.

So, let's see what Judith does now.

What was the name of the Anglo-Saxon resistance leader

based in and around the Isle of Ely who was nicknamed the Wake?

He was called Hereward the Wake.

-Hereward the Wake.

-Yeah.

Yes, that's true. Very good quizzing. Well done.

Kim, back to you.

In 1909,

Captain Sir George Mansfield Smith-Cumming

became the first director of an agency

that is now known by what abbreviation?

I'm going to go with MI6.

-Brilliant. Well done. You've got it.

-Woohoo!

MI6 is the right answer.

Well done. OK, Judith.

Who was leader of the Soviet Union

at the time of the Warsaw Pact

invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968?

Well, it couldn't have been Stalin because he died in, I think, 1953.

And I think Nikita Khrushchev had gone by then.

I think it's Brezhnev.

The answer is Leonid Brezhnev.

Well done, Judith.

So you need to get this one right, Kim, to stay in.

Which US secretary of state

attempted to mediate between Britain and Argentina

in the run-up to what became the Falklands War in 1982?

Um... I don't really know too much about that period of time,

to be honest.

I am going to guess...

Alexander Haig.

You got it spot-on.

Well done. Judith, Kim's got two, you've got two.

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

Roald Amundsen was in a group of how many people when he became the first

explorer to reach the South Pole in 1911?

I don't know cos I'm not entirely sure of the meaning of the question,

whether it meant his whole group,

the whole expedition,

or just the people who actually arrived at the pole.

I'm going to assume it's the people who actually arrived at the pole

-and say five.

-OK.

On the basis that some may have fallen along the way?

Well, there probably was a group of 15 or even 50

for the whole expedition.

-The correct answer is five.

-Oh, I was right.

-Yeah, you were right.

Oh, Kim, what a shame, cos she was struggling there.

I thought you were going to take her to Sudden Death.

So, Kim, you've been knocked out. Judith, you will be in the final.

Please come back. We'll play the next round and the last

round before the final.

So trouble has moved this way a little bit.

Trouble at t'Mill have lost two brains now.

The Eggheads have lost the one.

And we have another subject to play, which is Sport.

Now, who wants Sport?

-KIM HUMS

-That's me, then, isn't it?

-Yes, that's got your name on it, Suneet.

-Absolutely.

Against which Egghead, Suneet?

I'll go Chris. There's no reason behind it, just why not?

Just why not?

-Chris?

-Chris, please, yeah.

So Suneet from Trouble at t'Mill versus Chris from the Eggheads.

He likes his sport.

The grim inevitability reminds one of a Greek tragedy.

Every time Sport comes up I get picked for it.

-When I don't get picked.

-When Judith doesn't get it.

-You've got to be gentlemanly about it, Chris.

-I know, I know.

I'll keep my powder dry.

To ensure there's no conferring,

would you please take your positions?

Chris, I've just had a look and this is your 222nd Sports round.

-Is it indeed?

-Yes.

-That's 222 too many.

Well, you've won 77 of them.

That's nearly a third of them when you look at it.

-Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

-Hm.

You can see what you're up against here, Suneet.

What sort of sport do you like?

Used to play a lot of basketball, a bit of badminton,

still watch football, started watching rugby.

So hopefully, I've got a good mix.

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

I'll go first, please.

Here we go.

Which organisation was Andy Murray talking about when, at the

end of 2015, after Great Britain's Davis Cup win, he said,

"Nothing ever gets done and I don't like wasting my time"?

There was a lot towards the end of the year about anti-doping

and sort of possible scandals and cover-ups.

So I'm going to go World Anti-Doping Agency.

No, they were quite busy, actually.

The Lawn Tennis Association is the answer.

Chris.

Alex Hales, born in 1989, has represented England in which sport?

-MUMBLES:

-Don't think Hales is a cricketer.

Rugby union.

-Cricket is the answer.

-Ah.

Suneet, in October 2015,

which footballer took three minutes and 22 seconds to score the fastest

ever hat-trick in Bundesliga history?

I'm almost certain it wasn't Suarez.

I want to go for Thomas Muller.

Thomas Muller.

No. It's Robert Lewandowski.

OK. So fairly low scoring round here.

Chris, see if you can burst

into the lead now.

When Tyson Fury defeated Wladimir Klitschko in 2015,

the Ukrainian had been World Heavyweight Champion

for how long?

Well, it wouldn't be 16 years.

And I doubt it would be nine years.

Surely, it's got to be four years.

Well, I would have thought so too, but it's nine.

Nine years is the answer.

So we look at the scores and it is two wrong answers for you both.

So it's a very tight round.

JEREMY CHUCKLES

Suneet, in the 1960s and '70s,

the New Zealander Ivan Mauger was a six-times world champion

in which sport?

My gut's telling me it's not squash.

And I've no idea between the two.

So I'm going to go straight down the middle and say shooting.

The correct answer is...

speedway. Sorry!

Don't worry though because, up against Chris,

you guys are level here.

This is your chance, Chris, to win through on Sport.

Suneet has just not had the rub of the green.

Chris, for the round,

which baseball player born in 1886

set a long-standing major-league record

with a career batting average of 367?

I think that was the Pride Of The Yankees

or the Yankee Clipper, Ty Cobb.

-Ty Cobb is your answer.

-Mm.

If you've got it right, you have taken the Sport round

and add it to your tally of successful rounds in Sports.

Let's see.

The answer is Ty Cobb.

Chris, you've done it on the third question.

Sorry, Suneet. That just didn't go

the right way for you there.

-No.

-Not to worry.

Come back to us and we'll see what happens in the crucial final round.

-Well played, Chris, in an unusual round.

-It was rather, wasn't it?

And Ty Cobb was right but he wasn't the Pride Of The Yankees.

-Wasn't he?

-He was known as the Georgia Peach.

-Trust me.

-Yeah, Ty Cobb, trust you.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-So this is what we have been playing towards.

It's 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, Paul, Kim and Suneet, from Trouble at t'Mill, and also Kevin,

from the Eggheads... How often do we see this?

..would you please now leave the studio?

OK, Jackie and Katherine, you're playing to win

Trouble at t'Mill £9,000.

Great jackpot today.

Pat, Barry, Chris and Judith,

you're playing for something which money cannot buy -

the Eggheads reputation.

Will we get the jackpot to 10,000, five figures?

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

This time they're all going to be General Knowledge. You can confer.

So, Trouble at t'Mill,

the question is - can your two brains defeat these very large four?

The brains, by the way, that's a reference too.

Would you like to go first or second?

We would like to go first, Jeremy, please.

Here we go with your first question. General Knowledge. Good luck.

The method of attempting to stimulate an economy

by boosting the overall

amount of money in the banking system is known as what?

Jackie, you're our money lady.

I know. I have heard of quantitative easing, but I think...

I think quantitative easing.

If it's not that, it'll be...

-Let's go for quantitative easing.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

Jeremy, we're going with quantitative easing.

It's very hard to say, that's for sure.

There seems to be an extra T in it every time I look.

-Quantitative easing...

-Quantitative.

-..or QE.

You're absolutely right. Well done.

It's what they used after the 2008 crash in lots of countries.

Pouring money into the banks.

OK, Eggheads.

Crevette is a French word for what food item?

Crevette.

-Prawn.

-Prawn.

-Prawn.

Crevette, from my French correspondent on my left,

is a prawn.

-I thought you didn't speak French, Judith?

-I do speak French.

You speak prawn?

I talk about crevettes in France.

-You have long conversations about crevettes?

-Yes.

Crevettes are prawns.

Well done. OK.

Here's your second question.

Who directed the 1999 film The Talented Mr Ripley

and the 2003 film Cold Mountain?

James Cameron sounds right but so does Sam Mendes.

I've not heard of Anthony Minghella.

I've heard of Minghella.

-I've not seen either of them.

-No.

My first instinct was James Cameron but based on nothing.

-Just a guess.

-Just a daydream, probably.

-We don't know it, do we?

-We don't know the answer.

We just need to pick one, don't we?

We're going to go with Jackie's first instinct,

which was James Cameron.

OK. Definite film director

who did Titanic and Terminator

and, and, and...

-Aliens.

-Aliens.

-But not this.

-Is it Sam Mendes?

-Not this.

It's Anthony Minghella.

-Oh, the one we'd not heard of.

-We didn't know that.

So Anthony Minghella is the right answer there.

Eggheads.

"It's been a long day without you, my friend"

are the opening lyrics to which 2015 hit single?

I think it's See You Again.

# It's been a long day without you. #

It's kind of slow, and then it finally ends up with,

something, something, "See you again."

Is it Sam Smith or something?

It's sort of logical too, somehow.

-I think that's the best we've got there.

-Best we've got, yeah.

Pat seems to know this and he's been playing it in his head quite loudly.

So on that basis, we're going to go for See You Again.

See You Again is quite right.

-Well done.

-So, you have two.

Challengers, you have one.

You must get this one right to keep the contest alive.

£9,000 you're playing for.

It is traditional for which well-known flag

to be flown by Royal Navy submarines

when they return to base following a successful mission?

-Well, we know it's not the Jolly Roger, is it?

-No.

-What's your instinct?

-My gut is the Royal Standard.

It's mine too, just because if you've done something...

It sounds like something you'd be proud of.

..something you'd be proud of.

-The Red Duster, you know, it doesn't really...

-No.

We don't know.

It sounds like something that you would be proud to fly

when you've achieved something,

so we're going to go with Royal Standard.

Royal Standard.

Now, if you've got this right, the contest goes on,

if you've got it wrong, the contest is over.

Let's see with the Eggheads.

-What's the answer?

-Jolly Roger.

The Jolly Roger.

-Oh.

-Meaning what, skull and cross bones and all that?

They would only fly the Royal Standard

if the sovereign was aboard

and the Red Duster is the Merchant Navy ensign, so

it's got to be the Jolly Roger.

The answer is the Jolly Roger.

We say, congratulations, Eggheads.

You have won.

By the way, See You Again was a single for Wiz Khalifa

featuring Charlie Puth.

-So not Sam Smith.

-Oh, I had doubts.

That's a detail lost in the wash now.

So they fly the Jolly Roger?

I don't believe it. And you didn't believe it either.

-It doesn't sound right.

-No. We negated that straight away.

We were well with the pirates.

-I looked at it as well, I thought, "No, it can't be that."

-Yeah.

So commiserations. On such things contests are won and lost.

-We've had a good time.

-I'm glad you have. Jackie, you played

-your Music round brilliantly as well.

-You did.

-Thank you.

Bad luck, Trouble at t'Mill.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them.

They're really storming it now. This winning streak continues.

I'm afraid you won't be going home with the £9,000,

so the money rolls over to our next show.

Eggheads, congrats.

Who will beat you? I'm guessing no-one ever.

Ever, ever.

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

have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

Well done for knocking Kevin out today.

£10,000 says the next team won't win.

Until then, goodbye.