Episode 8 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.

Here they are, the Eggheads.

Taking on the awesome might of our quiz goliaths

are The Old Contemptibles from Huddersfield.

Now, everyone on this team is part of the Colne Valley Quiz League.

Let's meet them.

Hello, my name is Jimmy, I'm retired,

I was a subcontractor in the construction industry.

Hello, I'm David. Before I retired, I was a chartered accountant.

Hi, my name is Alistair, I manage a newsagent's shop.

Hi, I'm Jeremy and I'm a local government finance officer.

Hello, I'm Kay, I'm a legal officer for a local authority.

So, team, Jimmy, welcome and just tell us

why the name The Old Contemptibles? I know it's an important name.

Well, it was during the First World War

and my grandfather's regiment - unfortunately they got decimated

along with the Canadians and they were co-opted onto other regiments.

-In his case, so I believe, it was the Lancashire Fusiliers...

-Yeah.

So proficient as professional soldiers -

they were the firing single-shot rifles at the Germans so fast,

the Germans thought they were being machine-gunned,

which was not the case.

Kaiser Wilhelm instructed his generals,

"Rid me of this contemptible little army."

They weren't able to do it.

And they took that as a compliment, not as an insult.

Hence, they got the nickname The Old Contemptibles.

And that was your grandfather.

-That was my grandfather, yes.

-If we said Old Contemptibles to

you, Chris, you'd be straight there, wouldn't you?

Veterans of the professional army of 1914, yeah.

Armed with the finest infantry weapon ever made,

the Lee-Enfield .303 rifle.

And in the hands of a professional soldier, that was one deadly weapon.

And the Germans didn't like it up 'em, sir.

LAUGHTER

And the name came from the Kaiser. I didn't realise that.

Yeah, he referred, "Oh England's contemptible little army."

And they took a perverse pride in that -

"we are The Old Contemptibles."

OK, so you are now playing The Old Contemptibles here

and Jimmy and team. And, Alistair, the team captain,

you brought them together, is that right?

Yes. I'm more a middle-aged Contemptible, I think.

LAUGHTER Well, let's see how you go.

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, Old Contemptibles, the Eggheads have won the last 16 games,

so they are ripe and ready here for a bashing at some point, aren't you?

Let's face it. It's going to happen.

£17,000 for you to win, shall we start?

-Yep.

-OK, I thought you were going to say no for a second.

LAUGHTER

I wouldn't know what to do.

The first head-to-head battle is on the subject of Arts & Books.

Who would like this?

-Kay, I think.

-I think, Kay.

Kay, all right. Against which Egghead?

What do you suggest?

-Barry?

-Barry?

Shall we go with Barry?

That's pretty clear. So it's going to be Kay on Arts & Books.

You've had this quite a lot, Barry.

I think people look at you and think you don't read much.

They'd be surprised then, wouldn't they?

Well, I know they would, but anyway. We shall see.

Old Contemptibles versus the Eggheads, let's start.

Please go to the Question Room now.

-I gather it's your wedding anniversary, Kay.

-Yes, 31 years.

I think we need a round of applause, don't we?

Cos you're married to Jeremy, here,

so is it good being married to a Jeremy?...

It's an excellent thing.

Good. I'm pleased to hear it.

-So you're on Arts & Books - do you do a lot of reading?

-Yes.

OK, that's said purposefully.

And you read stuff from now, or yesterday?

Or the day before?

I tend to read fiction, but I do read some non-fiction.

I read well over 100 books a year.

Oh, really, where do you get time to do that?

I commute, so I spend a lot of time reading.

All right, well, 100 books a year, I bet even you can't beat that,

-Barry?

-I could have when I was younger, but maybe not now.

OK. Kay, I'm looking forward to this, do you to go first or second?

I'll go first, please.

Here we go...

In which decade did Andy Warhol

create his 32 Campbell's Soup Cans paintings?

Was it...?

I think he's most associated with the 1960s,

so I'll go with the 1960s.

You're spot-on, well done. '60s it was. Over to you, Barry...

In the Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling,

which of these characters is a tiger?

It has a wonderful name. Baloo is a bear,

and Kaa is a snake but the tiger was indisputably Shere Khan.

Shere Khan is right. The tiger.

Kay, the Iliad is an epic poem

believed to have been written by which of these authors?

It was thought to have been written by Homer.

Homer is correct.

Barry, A Feast For Crows is the fourth

in a series of books by which author?

This is the Game Of Thrones question, isn't it?

It's George RR Martin.

It is indeed George RR Martin.

OK, two points each.

Back to you, Kay, keep the pressure on this Egghead,

he can crack more easily than you might think.

Which famous Russian novel starts with the sentence,

"All happy families are alike,

"each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way?"

Is it...?

Right... I've not read Dr Zhivago.

I don't think The Brothers Karamazov starts like that,

I think it's Anna Karenina.

Your team like that.

Your husband is nodding, you'll pleased to know.

Anna Karenina is the right answer.

Jeremy's given it the thumbs up.

So, Barry, get this wrong, you'll be out.

In which Shakespeare play does a character dress up

as Herne the Hunter, complete with stag horns?

Oh, gosh...

It's not A Midsummer Night's Dream.

And I can't recall it in Twelfth Night.

I think it's The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Very good elimination.

it is that rather obscure play, The Merry Wives of Windsor.

So, well done, three points each. Two learned people here.

Two scholars.

It gets a bit harder now, Kay,

it goes to Sudden Death, I don't give you alternatives.

In the print by Hokusai, known as The Great Wave,

which snow-capped mountain is in the background?

Think it's Mount Fuji.

It is indeed Mount Fuji, well done.

He did lots of them, didn't he? Lots of The Great Wave prints.

An amazing collection. Barry.

What is the English title of Van Gogh's painting Sternennacht,

which depicts a night-time view from his hospital window?

I think this must be Starry Night.

Starry Night is correct.

Sudden Death, Kay, back to you.

Rebecca and Lady Rowena are central characters

in which Walter Scott novel?

I think that's Ivanhoe.

Ivanhoe is right, well done. Barry.

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird,

the character of Dill is based on which US author born in 1924?

Ah...

I should know this.

Harper Lee was very good friends with Truman Capote.

So I'm going to say Truman Capote.

Truman Capote is correct, Barry, well done.

Kay, who wrote the novels, The Maid Of Buttermere,

A Time To Dance, and The Soldier's Return?

I think that was Melvyn Bragg.

Melvyn Bragg is correct. Barry.

Red, a play by John Logan, which premiered in London in 2009,

is centred on the life

and work of which 20th-century abstract expressionist artist?

I don't know the play, but I think I'll have a shot at Mark Rothko.

Mark Rothko is right.

Kay, which Italian Renaissance artist spent his last years

in France as a painter, architect and engineer to King Francis I?

No, I can't think... Bernini.

I would need a first name and a last name

but it's wrong anyway. Leonardo da Vinci.

Barry, for the round...

The artist Maurice Utrillo was born in which country?

His mother was Suzanne Valadon and he was born in France.

How do you know his mother's name, for Pete's sake?

-She also is a famous artist.

-OK.

France is right. What a round! Kay, really, toe-to-toe, that was.

Brilliant play.

Barry's taken it, though, just at the end there,

and will be in the final.

Please both of you return to us and we will play on.

Bad luck, Kay, on that round, cos you...

I won't say you deserved it, but my goodness,

-we don't see many players as good as you are.

-No, indeed.

Anyway, if it's going to be like that all the way through,

Eggheads, you've got a battle on here.

But then you are fighting The Old Contemptibles.

So that's what we'd expect.

They've lost a brain, the Eggheads have not lost one yet.

The next subject for you is Science.

Who would like this, Alistair?

THEY CHATTER

-David.

-David? OK, David is going to do Science. Against which Egghead?

-Not Barry.

-We'll try CJ.

Yep, I can understand that,

doesn't look as if he's spent much time in a laboratory.

Certainly not. No, I've been studied.

I was going to say, may be.

So, David from The Old Contemptibles plays CJ from the Eggheads

on Science and just to make sure there's no conferring,

please go to our Question Room.

So, good luck here, David, on Science. Against the great CJ.

-Would you like to go first or second?

-I'll go first, please.

Here we go, for what does the letter R stand in the abbreviation

MRSA, the bacterium that is often referred to as a superbug?

Is it...?

Resonant.

Resonant, you say?

Yes.

It is actually resistant.

I'm afraid you're wrong.

CJ, daddy-longlegs is a common name in the UK

for which of these creatures?

I think a daddy-longlegs is a crane fly.

Crane fly is correct, so first point to CJ.

David, try and beat him back now.

The American inventor Thomas Edison was named the Wizard of where...?

It's Menlo Park.

Yes, it is indeed, well done. Menlo Park.

CJ, your question...

What name, translating loosely from Latin as "two long teeth",

is given to a large, extinct carnivore that had

a distinctive sail-like crest down the length of its back?

It's not the Diplodocus, it's not Diceratops, it is Dimetrodon.

It is the Dimetrodon,

although we don't seem to have heard of it very much.

It's famous cos it has the big...

Long tail, very low creature, walked on all fours,

big sail on its back which was used to regulate heat.

-You obviously know a lot about dinosaurs.

-Yep.

OK, David, your question.

Got two out of two, CJ, inconveniently for us.

Which penguin, one of the most southerly-breeding species,

is characterised by a small ring of white feathers surrounding each eye?

I think it's in the Adelie penguin.

Yeah, it is the Adelie penguin.

Have you got some penguin experience?

Only the chocolate ones.

LAUGHTER

OK, CJ, all the same, if you get this right, the round is yours.

Cos David got the first one wrong.

The axis of which planet in our solar system lies almost parallel

to its orbital plane,

which means that it spins while appearing to lie on its side?

Is it...?

Um, there are lots of...

weird things that happen in the solar system.

Venus, for example, its day is longer than its year,

but I think the one with the parallel axis is Uranus.

Uranus is the right answer. David, I'm sorry, you just couldn't

get any daylight in there with CJ, could you?

So you've been knocked out, I'm afraid.

The Eggheads can do that, they are playing rather well.

Come back to us, please, and we will play on.

OK, Alistair, The Old Contemptibles have lost a couple of brains

but trench spirit, I guess.

That's it, or trench foot. One or the other.

LAUGHTER

OK, well, the Eggheads have not lost any,

but at some point they are going down, there's no doubt.

So, let's see if a crack opens up. The next subject is Music.

Who would like this?

I think, yes... Do you want to do that?

It's going to be me.

OK, the skipper goes in. Alistair, against which Eggheads?

We can see who we've got here, Chris and Judith and Pat.

Right, what do you think, then?

Of those three, I think Chris.

You think Chris, do you? Are we agreed?

We'll try Chris.

-Yeah?

-On the basis that it may be more recent music.

We've not have any classical questions for ages,

so there ought to be some classical questions coming out.

-We had a question about a bassoon.

-Bassoon?

-Yes.

You said that in the manner of Lady...

-AS LADY BRACKNELL:

-A handbag?

-LAUGHTER

So Alistair from The Old Contemptibles,

-versus Chris "The Bassoon" from the Eggheads.

-"Buffoon" to you!

And please go to the Question Room now.

OK, Alistair, would you like to go first or second?

Second, please, Jeremy.

OK, so, Chris, this is your question.

Which song, a UK number-one hit for Wiz Khalifa

and Charlie Puth in 2015 features on the soundtrack

of the film Fast And Furious 7?

Is it...?

Well, going by the general milieu of Fast And Furious,

I'd say it would have to be Bad Blood.

No, that's the Taylor Swift one. See You Again is the answer.

OK.

OK, Alistair, your question.

It's quite good, you've not even answered a question yet,

you're in the lead.

When describing vinyl records, LP usually stands for what?

Well, I think it's to do with how long the record lasts

as opposed to a single, so I would go for long-playing.

It is long-playing, well done.

Chris, which of these classical composers

lived for the shortest length of time?

Schubert died very young,

So it has to be Franz Schubert.

Bang on, Schubert it was.

There we are - that's your classical question,

-you said they hadn't been coming up.

-Well, it has now.

-It has now.

-All we need now is a rap question and you'll be happy.

-Yes, indeed.

I'll be well away.

OK, Alistair, where was Hozier, best-known for his hit single

Take Me To Church, born?

Nothing springs to mind, I think I'll go for Scotland.

Ireland...

is the answer.

What have we got here? One point each. Chris, your question.

Curtis Jackson is the real name of which American rapper?

Just when I... hoped for a rap question.

I think he's Snoop Dogg.

ALL GROAN

Eggheads, let's just see that again in slow motion, please.

LAUGHTER

Let's do the despair, let's see it.

-Go on, facepalm.

-Oh!

No, it's 50 Cent, Chris. So you got that wrong.

All right, well, Alistair,

if you get this right, you're in the final round.

Words written by the poet James Thomson

are used for the lyrics of which patriotic song?

Land Of Hope And Glory is Thomas Alan, I think.

Out of the other two, I'd go for Rule Britannia.

Rule Britannia is the right answer, well done, Alistair,

maybe turning it around for your team, good stuff.

Chris, you've been knocked out.

Lot of money we're playing for here.

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

So a bit of movement back for The Old Contemptibles.

They have lost two but the Eggheads have now lost one brain,

it's getting tighter, isn't it?

The next subject is Politics.

-Right... Shall I...?

-If you volunteer.

-Yep.

OK, I'll do that, Jeremy.

Jeremy, another Jeremy who loves his Politics, I feel at home.

-Against which Egghead?

-Well, what do we think?

What about Judith?

-Yeah, OK, we'll do that, then. Yeah.

-Judith.

OK. Jeremy from The Old Contemptibles

versus Judith from the Eggheads.

On Politics. To ensure there's no conferring,

please go to the Question Room.

I think you're quite good on Politics, Judith,

-shall I tell you why?

-Yes, cos I beat Edwina Currie.

Did you, really?

Yes, we had a celeb team and Edwina Currie did Politics

and chose me, and I beat her.

You may not remember, we had a guy on who was the highest scorer

on Fifteen To One or something like that.

He came on and you beat him on Politics..

-Oh, did I?

-Yes.

-Yippee.

So, we're into very strong Judith territory now.

But I guess you like your Politics as well, as you're called Jeremy.

-That's right, Jeremy, yes.

-Yeah, cos I love mine.

So would you like to go first or second?...

I think I'll go first, please.

So, here we go, good luck, Jeremy. And your question is...

Which woman, who became famous as a model,

did the French president Nikolas Sarkozy marry in 2008?

Right, well, I think I know this one. Which is good.

I think that is Carla Bruni.

It is Carla Bruni, well done.

Judith, your question.

Who became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 2010?

-In 2010?

-Yes.

Well, I think it's George Osborne.

George Osborne is the right answer.

Back to you, Jeremy. In which year did Ceylon,

now known as Sri Lanka,

appoint the world's first female prime minister?

Right, I think that was Mrs Bandaranaike, I think that was 1960.

Yes, it was 1960. I'm sensing you know your stuff.

We've got some quizzers here, haven't we, Eggs?

On this challenging team.

Judith, in which city

was Martin Luther King Jr assassinated in 1968?

Well, I think it was Memphis.

It was, indeed, Memphis.

Jeremy, your question...

Who was the only president of the USA in the 20th century

to have been divorced?

Right, well, I think I know the answer.

It wasn't Franklin D Roosevelt...

I'm fairly sure it wasn't Dwight Eisenhower, I think

it was Ronald Reagan.

Yes, indeed, it was before he married Nancy, I guess.

-I can't remember who it was. Who was it?

-Jane Wyman.

Jane Wyman. The actress.

Yeah, good, Jeremy, Ronald Reagan is right. Three out of three.

Judith...

Which of these women was nicknamed the Iron Butterfly?

Well, Margaret Thatcher is the Iron Lady, the Iron Butterfly...

I think it was Imelda Marcos.

Imelda Marcos is correct.

Well done, Judith. And well done, Jeremy,

three out of three for you both.

Good round so far, we go to Sudden Death, Jeremy.

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

In parliamentary politics,

for what do both of the letter O's stand in the acronym OMOV?

They stand for... One, Jeremy.

-As in one member, one vote?

-Yes.

You're right.

Judith...

What is the name of the guerrilla organisation

that overthrew the Somoza ruling dynasty in Nicaragua in 1979?

Gosh, what were they called?

One of them's called the Shining Path.

In one of those South American countries.

But I don't think it's that one.

I can't remember.

I'm going to have to say the Shining Path.

No, they were Peru.

They were Peru.

-This was the Sandinistas.

-That's right, absolutely.

So you've lost the round to Jeremy. Well done, Jeremy, on Politics.

I think you've still got some fuel in the tank there, as well,

you will be in the final round.

If you both return to us, we will play the final round for £17,000.

So quite a contest.

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 David and Kay from The Old Contemptibles,

and Judith and Chris from the Eggheads.

Would you please now leave the studio?

Jimmy, Alistair, Jeremy,

you're playing to win The Old Contemptibles £17,000.

On the other side, we've got the Eggheads,

two Brain Of Britain winners and CJ de Mooi!

I'm pretty, I'm pretty!

LAUGHTER

Anyway, all good quizzers, as you know.

Eggheads, you are playing for something that money can't buy,

which is your precious reputation.

And you are doing so well so far,

you wanted to keep this streak going.

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

this time the questions are all General Knowledge.

You are allowed to confer, gentlemen.

So, Old Contemptibles, the question is,

are your three brains able to destroy these three over here?

In a gentle and polite way.

OK, Jimmy, I'll ask you, would you like to go first or second?

I think we'll go first, Jeremy.

Here we go, I'm feeling like this is a contest we've got here,

so take your time.

General Knowledge, £17,000 we're playing for.

Which football team won the 2014/15 Premier League?

THEY CHATTER

-ALL: Chelsea, wasn't it?

-Definitely.

-Yes, definitely.

Chelsea.

Chelsea is the right answer.

OK, Eggheads.

Which of these is a book by Nick Hornby?

It's High Fidelity, Nick Hornby.

-Who was Man And Boy, was that Tony Parsons?

-Yeah, I think so.

One Day is Nicholls...

-We're happy it's...?

-High Fidelity.

We think that's High Fidelity....

High Fidelity is quite right. it's tricky that,

Because he did write About A Boy. But not Man And Boy.

OK, back to you, Challengers.

Who plays the title role in

Kenneth Branagh's 2015 film, Cinderella?

-I have no idea on this.

-No, I've not seen it.

What do you think, then?

There's two Lilys and one Emilia,

I think it's probably going to be a Lily...

Mm... Well, that's as good an argument as anything...

-But which Lily?

-Shall we go for Lily Collins?

-Lily Collins.

-It's a one-in-three chance, yes, go for that,

we'll go for that.

We aren't sure, Jeremy. Obviously, two Lilys, one Emilia.

We'll go for Lily Collins.

Yeah, it is one of the two Lilys, but you went for the wrong one,

it's Lily James.

She plays Rose in Downton Abbey.

By the way. Eggheads, to take the lead...

South Africa is bordered by how many countries?

-I think it's four.

-It's got to be, cos you've got...

-Mozambique.

-Mozambique...

-Namibia.

-Lesotho...

-Botswana, Swaziland.

You've only got one of those two, one's internal.

But why are you excluding an internal border?

-Oh, true...

-It's a border with...

-It's a border.

-..customs posts.

It has a border with Lesotho...

It depends on the question.

Can you just repeat the question, please?

South Africa is bordered by how many countries?

All right, so you've got to include it...

Swaziland, Lesotho...Mozambique.

Botswana, Namibia...

That's five, what's the sixth? What are we missing?

Does Zimbabwe come all the way down?

I think it does...because I think there's been a big fuss

-about Zimbabweans coming over...

-Well, I thought it did,

cos I've flown from...Jo'burg to Harare...

-And it was a very short flight.

-So you think that makes it six?

-That makes it six.

-OK, we'll go that way.

We're going to go for six, Jeremy.

A fascinating discussion because I can see if Lesotho and Swaziland

are inside South Africa, does that count as being bordered by...?

But it does, for our purposes, OK, so you're right to include them.

Also right to include Zimbabwe, cos there is a big issue

in South Africa with Zimbabweans floating over the border. Bang on.

-Well done. I could see how that could go wrong.

-That was teamwork.

That could go wrong, cos you could say well, Lesotho,

Swaziland, they are not running outside the border.

But, anyway, you got it right. Six.

Phew!

So, you must get this one right.

Who won an Academy Award for best actor

for his role as a recovering alcoholic/country music singer

in the 1983 film, Tender Mercies?

Jason Robards Jnr...

Was it?

I don't think it's Gene Hackman.

If I had to guess, I'd say Robert Duvall,

but I don't know.

Well, I think it's Jason Robards.

-Are you quite sure on that?

-Jason Robards Jnr, isn't it?

-Jason Robards Jnr, I don't really know a lot about.

-Yeah.

I'm pretty sure Robert Duvall has won an Oscar.

I would go for... If I had to choose, I would go

for Robert Duvall, but I'm not sure.

Well, we'll go with that consensus, but I think it's Jason Robards...

But consensus as always...

-LAUGHTER

-I wish you...

-Yeah.

-So, we're going for Robert Duvall, then?

-OK, we'll go for that.

Robert Duvall.

Duvall is your answer. Jimmy, well done, you gave way, which was good.

-Cos it is Robert Duvall.

-Brilliant, brilliant.

-That can be painful...

-I always do as I'm told.

Yeah, you did well to give way there.

OK, so, Eggheads still have it in their hands if they win this.

What was the name of the giant panda

that was a key attraction at London Zoo from 1958 to 1972?

-It was Chi Chi...

-Chi Chi was the big panda, yeah.

-I think Tian Tian is in Edinburgh, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Chi Chi was at London Zoo.

-OK...

We're going to go for Chi Chi.

-Chi Chi, do you know this one, guys?

-Yes, Chi Chi is right.

It is Chi Chi.

And with £17,000 on the table,

you've pulled it off again, Eggheads, well done.

We say congratulations, you have won.

And I'm now...

In distant memory, what was the one you got wrong there?

-Cinderella.

-That's hard,...

-Lily James and Lily Collins.

Yes, well, commiserations to The Old Contemptibles,

great team story, by the way, Jimmy, thank you so much for that.

Telling us about your grandfather.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them, though.

Their winning streak continues.

It does mean the Challengers don't go home with the £17,000,

so we'll add another 1,000 and play for that next time.

Eggheads, well done. I'm going to say, hands on the table here,

you're NEVER going to lose.

Join us next time

to see if a new team of Challengers can defeat them.

£18,000 says they can't. Till then, goodbye.