Episode 86 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 are...

Now, this team are all members

of the Association of Speakers Clubs,

a group which encourages people to face their fears when it comes

to public speaking and to overcome stammers and speech impediments.

Let's meet them.

Hello. I'm Anne and I'm a retired teacher.

Hi. I'm William.

I'm the national president of the Association of Speakers Clubs.

Hi. I'm Malcolm. I'm a customer service advisor.

Hello. I'm Martin. I'm a deputy head teacher.

Hi. I'm Margaret and I'm a retired teacher.

So, Anne and team, thank you for coming.

Welcome. And tell us about the association, Anne.

Well, it exists to help people, as was indicated before,

but a lot of us are members because we simply enjoy speaking.

We have members who are in employment who maybe need

to deliver presentations and so on as part of their jobs,

and they also find benefit in what we can offer.

-And it's all about sort of fronting it up, right?

-It is.

-Yeah.

-Facing the fear and doing it anyway...

-Good stuff.

..to coin a phrase.

I suppose this is the sort of thing you do, Eggheads.

-You have to appear in public quite a lot.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

It's true, I suppose. Definitely an element of that.

What about quizzing? Do you get together to quiz?

Well, we quizzed at the last national conference

at Southport, actually, earlier on, and Pat came along.

-Oh-ho!

-So...

-He's not here today.

-No.

-He was on the losing team.

-Oh. LAUGHTER

Right. Game on. We like that.

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, Witterers Inc, the Challengers actually won the last game.

They brought a long roll the Eggheads had been on

to a halt, but it proves it can be done

and it means that £1,000 is up for you to win today.

-Would you like to try?

-Absolutely.

-Yes.

OK, the first head-to-head battle is on the subject of Music.

Who would like Music?

-What do you think?

-I'll take it.

-Is that you? Is that you, Malcolm?

-Yeah, yeah. I'll take it.

-OK? Malcolm.

-Yeah?

-Malcolm?

-I'll do that one, yes.

Good stuff. And against which Egghead, Malcolm?

-Any one of the five.

-Chris...

Kevin wobbled on Music at one couple...

-Go for Kevin.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

OK. I've been instructed for Kevin.

OK. So, Malcolm from Witterers Inc going for Kevin, full-tilt,

from the Eggheads, known as the Grand Master.

To ensure there's no conferring,

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

-So, Malcolm, you keep tropical fish?

-Yes, I do, Jeremy.

-I've kept them for about 25 years now.

-OK.

And your favourite breed?

The one that I would say would be the Tiger Oscar.

The Tiger Oscar we bought at a young age,

and they share the tank.

And as the fish got bigger and larger,

the other fish were quickly disappearing.

Oh, no. LAUGHTER

The two fish, they ended up six inches long,

four inches high and an inch and a half thick.

And at some point it outgrew the tank, I'm thinking.

Yes, and it came to the stage where I was afraid

to start putting my hand into the tank.

LAUGHTER OK, so, Malcolm, on Music...

I'm so glad I asked about that.

Malcolm, do you want to go first or second?

I'll go first, please, Jeremy.

Your question.

What term refers to the sound of two or more notes heard simultaneously?

I would say for more than one note,

notes are played together

so I would say that notes are played in harmony,

and that's the term that I would go for, is harmony.

Harmony is the right answer.

-Well done, Malcolm.

-Yeah. Well done, Malcolm.

Kevin, the title of the debut album by Oasis is Definitely what?

It's Definitely, Maybe.

It is Definitely, Maybe.

Malcolm,

When Love Comes To Town, which reached the UK Top 10 in 1989,

is a single by U2 and which blues guitarist?

I've heard of John Lee Hooker. Not too sure of Buddy Guy.

But I do believe that U2 had a hit with BB King.

They did, and you're right.

BB King it is. Well done, Malcolm.

-If you get into trouble, just set the fish on Kevin, OK?

-Yes.

LAUGHTER Get it ready.

Kevin, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing

was a hit in the UK in 1976 for who?

I'm just trying to conjure up Rod Stewart doing that,

but You Make Me Feel Like Dancing was Leo Sayer.

Leo Sayer is quite right.

OK, Malcolm, your question.

Get the third one right, see if he might go under.

Which singer appeared on Peter Sellers's 1960 album

Songs For Swingin' Sellers under the pseudonym of Fred Flange?

Long before my time, this question.

All three recognised singers.

I know that Matt Monro did the Bond film From Russia With Love.

Andy Williams has always been very famous.

1960, I think, maybe too early for Tom Jones.

I'll say Matt Monro.

Nicely done. Three out of three. Matt Monro it is.

Confident play from Malcolm.

OK, Kevin, to stay in,

Ornithology, first recorded in 1946, is a jazz standard by which artist?

Yes, well, I've heard of Ornithology.

Charlie Parker's nickname was Bird,

and so that's the name I was thinking of

before the choices came up,

but it's not beyond possibility that it could have been done by

one of the others, possibly even in tribute to him.

I don't...

I'd be taking a chance, though,

a real chance, if I went for either of those,

It could be, but I shall say Charlie Parker.

Charlie Parker is correct.

Well done, Kevin. You've got three out of three as well.

Bird was the key word.

So, Malcolm, you go to Sudden Death with Kevin now.

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

Who is the lead singer of the band Blur?

I'm just trying to think the pronunciation of his surname.

I believe it's Damon Albarn.

Damon Albarn is right.

Kevin, your question. Sudden Death.

Which member of Duran Duran sings the line,

"But when you're having fun,

"there's a world outside your window,"

in the original version of Do They Know It's Christmas?

-In the original version of Do They Know It's Christmas.

-Yeah.

Well, I mean, I don't know this, but I'll have to just...

Again, it would be taking a chance if I went for one of the others.

It may well be one of the others, but I'd have to say Simon LeBon.

Definitely his voice on that, yes. Simon LeBon.

So, you're equal.

Sudden Death. Back to you, Malcolm.

Who released the 2014 album Never Been Better

featuring the singles Wrapped Up and Seasons?

This is where I am now out of my comfort zone for recent music

and I'll just need to take one of the current singers

on the scene for...

Katy Perry.

-It was Olly Murs.

-OK.

Wrong gender.

Kevin has a chance therefore to take the round on Sudden Death.

Which Austrian composer created the 1819 one-act opera

Die Zwillingsbruder, or The Twin Brothers?

For 1819, in terms of, let's assume,

big names who were active around that time,

I'm struggling to come up with anybody other than Schubert.

It's after Haydn, and he wasn't a great one for opera, anyway.

So, I would have to go for Schubert.

You need to give me the first and last name.

Oh, it's Franz Schubert.

Franz Schubert is the right answer, Kevin. So Sudden Death,

you've triumphed. And, Malcolm, sorry.

-You've been knocked out, but he is very good, isn't he?

-Yeah.

-Yes.

So, come back to us. Early days.

We will see what happens when you rejoin your teams.

OK, as it stands, Witterers Inc

have lost one brain from the final round.

The Eggheads have not lost any so far. They're all sitting there.

Mind you, you had a bad game, the last one,

so you need to rebuild, Eggheads.

The next subject is Science.

Who would like Science?

I think you do that one.

-Do you want me to do it?

-It's got your name on it.

OK, Margaret.

-Retired teacher. Teacher of science?

-Yes.

-OK. That's handy.

-Who would you like to go against?

-Difficult.

-Very tricky.

-Are we going to try and take Chris out?

-Take Chris?

-Yeah, take Chris.

OK, we'll take Chris.

-So Margaret from Witterers Inc versus Chris on Science...

-Uh-huh.

from the Eggheads.

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

So let's go for it. Would you like to go first or second on Science?

I would like to go first, please, Jeremy.

Here is your first question, Margaret, good luck.

Adults of the common species of swan, known as the mute swan,

have what colour bills?

I don't think I have ever seen a swan with a purple beak.

I might be wrong, but I don't think so.

I think the mute swan has an orange beak with

a little bit of stuff at the side.

Right, I think orange.

-Orange is the right answer.

-Good.

Chris, which part of the human body features

a crescent-shaped whitish mark known as a lunula?

You find those in your fingernails.

-Yes, I've noticed it now.

-Hm.

-Yeah.

Lunula. Who knew?

Margaret, at the start of December 2015,

which city issued its first ever pollution red alert,

closing schools and halting outdoor construction?

Difficult one, this.

I have the feeling that Beijing

might have issued pollution

warnings for quite some time,

because China is quite polluted,

San Francisco also.

I haven't heard anything about

Limoges issuing a warning.

But on the grounds that the other two

have probably done this before...

..um, I think I would plump for Limoges.

-Limoges...

-No.

..is the wrong answer. It is Beijing.

It's interesting because I get your logic completely,

that it's very polluted there, so they must have done this

before, but this was the first ever pollution red alert,

so it went to the top scale where they closed schools.

OK, Chris,

an arc second is a unit of what?

An arc second? Yeah, it's an angle.

-You want to say angle?

-Uh-huh.

Angle is correct.

Margaret, he's ahead. And you've got

to stop him with this answer.

Madagascan Sunset, Peppered,

and Emperor Gum are all species of which creature?

I'm not entirely sure about this at all.

Given the colours, maybe we would try the moth.

Yeah, I think that's exactly right.

The moth has got the wing span to

spread a sunset across its wings.

Moth is right.

So you're still in it, but if Chris gets this right,

because of your earlier wrong answer, he's through.

Sputnik Planum, photographed during a probe flyby in 2015, is an

icy plane located where in the solar system?

I don't know. Well, Ceres and Enceladus are both asteroids.

Have we got a probe as far as Pluto?

Yes, of course we have. We've gone past Pluto, so...

Yeah, it must be on Pluto.

Pluto is the right answer, Chris, well done.

Sorry, Margaret, three out of three for him.

They're playing well today, these Eggs, aren't they?

-ALL:

-Yeah.

You caught them on a bad day.

That's what they like to do after they had a big defeat.

They sort of come back fighting.

So, Margaret, you are, I'm afraid, knocked out.

Chris is in the final.

And please return and rejoin your team-mates.

So it's looking a bit tricky for Witterers Inc.

They've lost two brains from the final round.

The Eggheads are playing well, they haven't lost any.

And the next subject for you, Witterers, is Geography.

Ah,

excellent, so that's me.

-Don't go, don't go. Martin, that's you, is it?

-It is.

Did you used to teach geography?

I teach in a primary school, so I teach everything.

-But I must say, I have a very strong interest in geography.

-Lovely.

-So which Egghead? Obviously can't be Chris or Kevin.

-Barry?

-Yes, let's go with Barry.

-Try Barry.

-We'll try Barry.

Barry, famously, has been to every answer.

We always say, every time an answer comes up, he's been there.

So Martin from Witterers Inc versus Barry from the Eggheads.

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

-So Geography, Martin, first or second?

-I'll go second.

So Barry first.

Barry, direct trains to Liverpool normally depart from which

London railway terminus?

Is it...?

Waterloo's for the south.

This is where Chris will be tearing

his hair out, when I think...

I think Paddington is the west, so it must be Euston.

Let's see, Mr Chris?

Well, it is Euston, generally,

but not so many years ago,

you used to be able to get trains from Paddington to Birkenhead.

OK, thank you. Euston is the right answer, Barry.

Martin, Tobruk,

the scene of an extended siege during World War II,

is a port city on the coast of which country?

Is Tobruk in...?

-Libya.

-Oh. Straight there.

Libya is correct.

Barry,

the name Ruthenia was used to refer to areas of which part of the world?

Ruthenia relates to a large chunk of Eastern Europe.

Eastern Europe's right.

Martin, your question.

The celebrated Alhambra Palace is located

within which region of Spain?

The Basque country is in the north of Spain.

Has Bilbao as the capital.

Catalonia, in northeast Spain.

I'm thinking of Barcelona. It has to be Andalusia.

Andalusia is correct. Playing well, Martin. Very sure-footed.

Barry, your third question.

The private Gramercy Park,

accessible only by key,

is situated in which borough of New York City?

I've been to Manhattan and the only two parks I recall in

Manhattan were Central Park and Battery Park.

That's not to say, though,

it couldn't be a private one because there's

a lot of very expensive private accommodation in Manhattan,

and they may well have their own park.

So this is going to be a guess.

Well, I'm going to go for Queens,

but I really don't know the answer to this one.

Yeah, the only way, I think, of guessing it is

to say that it must be a bit posh,

and it's the poshest bit.

But...I, you know, help us, Eggheads, do you know?

-It's in Manhattan.

-Yeah, it is, yeah.

Manhattan is the answer, Barry.

-And it is very posh.

-It's very posh.

So, a chance

for Martin to take the round with your third question.

The Lena River flows through Russia

and empties into part of which major body of water?

Is that the...?

I'm going to... I will have to take a guess.

It sounds, by the sound of it, vaguely Scandinavian.

-I'm going to take a guess. I'll go for the Baltic Sea.

-Barry?

It flows into the Arctic Ocean,

as many of the great Russian rivers do.

Arctic Ocean is the right answer, so we're locked on two points each

after three questions. We go to Sudden Death.

Barry, your first question.

I don't give you alternatives here.

The 2,000-mile-long Purus, P-U-R-U-S,

is a tributary of which other major river?

That's pretty long for a tributary.

So I'm guessing that it would flow into one of the longest

rivers in the world.

And it sounds vaguely Brazilian, so I'm going to go for the Amazon.

Amazon's correct. Very well done.

So you have to get this right, Martin.

Which city in Tasmania, named after a town in Cornwall,

is located where the North and South Esk Rivers

become The Tamar?

The only city I can think of in Tasmania is Hobart.

Gosh, this is a tough one. I'm going to have to say Hobart.

-It's Launceston.

-Oh.

Launceston is the answer.

Martin, I'm so sorry, I can tell you're a very good

geography player, but Barry squeaked it.

There we go, with all those stamps on his passport.

Please come back to us and we'll see what the next round brings.

As it stands, Witterers have lost three brains from the final round.

The Eggheads are still sitting pretty, all five of them.

Knock one out now if you can because we've got the last subject

before the final, and it is Film & TV.

Who would like this?

I'll have that.

OK. William, against which Egghead?

-Need to confer, need to confer. So what do we think?

-Try Judith.

What about David?

David, try David.

-Right, the consensus is we're going for Dave.

-Fine.

Are you happy with that, Dave?

I've got to be happy with it, as my colleague, Chris would say.

I didn't know there was a new rule where I could opt out of

the subject if I don't like it.

All right, so William from Witterers Inc

versus Dave from the Eggheads

on Film & TV. And, please, for the last time, go to the Question Room.

So, William, we were talking about the Association of Speakers Clubs

-and you are the president.

-I am. I am, for my sins.

It's great fun. I really, really enjoy it.

And what brought you into it originally?

I love to speak, Jeremy, I really do.

My problem is often understanding how to communicate and how to

slow down, and how to get my point across, so what I've learnt

at the club is really how to do all of that kind of stuff.

Good luck communicating in this round.

It's all about content, a lot of the time?

You're not kidding. Three-legged stool, Jeremy, remember.

-Your content, your room and your audience.

-Right.

And if one falls out, the whole thing falls over.

Well, on the subject of the three-legged stool,

we've got three questions for you and the content needs to be

correct answers, so that's our version.

-Would you like to go first or second?

-I'd like to go first.

OK, William, good luck.

Film & TV. Which of the following is the name of one of the characters in

the 2015 film Star Wars - The Force Awakens?

Well, I think Orla Guerin is a BBC reporter.

I really don't know between the other two.

Oh, that's interesting, though, Matt Frei is also a BBC reporter,

isn't he? So I think I'm going to go for Kylo Ren.

Yeah, Matt left for Channel 4 from the BBC, but you're right

about Orla and him. Kylo Ren is the correct answer, well done.

The content was there.

OK, Dave, who plays the title role in the 2015 film Carol?

I hope it's Cate Blanchett.

Cate Blanchett is right. What's it about?

-Do you remember?

-It's a lesbian love affair.

-It's a lesbian love affair.

It's set in the 1950s. Written by Patricia Highsmith, originally.

OK. Over to you, William, with your

second question.

Which comedy writer presented the TV viewers' letters show

Points Of View from 1979 to 1986?

Is this...?

Ooh. Very difficult. Very difficult.

I don't think it's David Nobbs.

But it's close between Barry Took and Denis Norden.

And, of course, I grew up in

Ireland, Jeremy, and we

didn't really have a lot of British TV in Ireland,

so I'm not exactly sure.

But I have a feeling

that it was Denis Norden.

Yes, it's the sort of thing he could have done,

-but it was actually Barry Took.

-Oh.

-OK, Dave.

Which children's TV show centres around Mossy Bottom Farm?

This to take the lead.

Oh, brilliant, children's telly? Just the kind of question I love.

-Can you give me the name of the farm again?

-Of course, Dave.

Mossy Bottom Farm.

I'm going to go Shaun The Sheep.

Yeah, it's brilliant as well. Shaun The Sheep is right.

So Dave is in the lead, William.

And you must get

this right or it's going to be Anne on her own in the final.

Who played Carrie, the passenger of Burt Reynolds,

in the 1977 film, Smokey And The Bandit?

Was this...?

Well, this is the first question that I actually have

a fair idea that I know the answer to.

It's not Goldie Hawn, she did Private Benjamin.

It's not Sissy Spacek, she actually

starred as Carrie in the film

adaptation of Stephen King's novel.

I think it's Sally Field.

Yeah, I can see you know your movies. Sally Field is correct.

Well done. Sissy Spacek, if she had been Carrie in that film,

-there would have been...

-There would

-have been blood.

-..a lot more blood.

So, Dave, you can still take the round

if you get this right.

Which actor appears very briefly as a party guest in Woody Allen's

film Annie Hall, telling someone on the telephone, "I forgot my mantra."

I do not know. I've not heard of this and I should have heard of it.

1977, so it could feasibly be any of them.

I'm not happy with this, but I'm going to go Jeff Goldblum.

Jeff Goldblum is the answer, though, Dave, well done.

So three out of three again for

these Eggheads. They're really playing well.

William, sorry, you've been knocked out.

Ah, I was beaten by a better guy, Jeremy.

So, Dave, you're in the final, and if you both come back and

rejoin your teams, we will play that final round.

So this is what we have been playing towards.

It is time for our final round and, as always, it 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, all from this side, I'm afraid, that's William, Malcolm, Martin

and Margaret from the Witterers Inc,

would you please leave the studio?

OK, Anne. You are alone

but you are playing to win Witterers Inc £1,000.

Barry, Chris, Judith, Kevin, Dave,

you're playing for something which money cannot buy,

to restore the Eggheads' reputation after the thing that happened.

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

This time, they're all General Knowledge.

You can confer. Anne, I'm sorry that doesn't help you.

The question is, can you with your one brain defeat these five?

And the very last person I asked that to, managed it.

-So would you like to go first or second?

-I'll go first, please.

Here we go, Anne, good luck.

As well as being the name of an item of clothing,

which of these words can mean to eat voraciously? Is it...?

To eat voraciously?

I've never heard of anybody scarfing their food or gloving their food,

but come to think of that,

I've never heard of anybody socking their food either. Um...

But I suppose it sounds, possibly, the most likely,

so I'm going to go for sock.

Yeah, I have not heard this either.

-Eggs, have you heard this?

-Scarfing down doughnuts, yeah.

Scarfing doughnuts.

-Oh, right.

-Have you done any of that, Chris?

-I like a doughnut now and again.

-Have you scarfed any?

-Yeah.

And scarf is the answer.

OK. Question for the Eggheads.

The word factotum, meaning a person who does all kinds of

services for an employer, comes from the Latin for which phrase?

-Do everything.

-Yes, do everything.

-Yes? OK.

-Do everything, totum.

That's do everything, Jeremy.

Do everything is the right answer. OK, Anne, back to you.

In German-speaking countries,

a Kapellmeister is most likely

to be in charge of which of these?

So Kapell is K-A-P-E-L-L.

Yes, originally, he would have been in charge of

a church choir, but obviously from that selection, an orchestra.

Orchestra is right, well done.

Over to you, Eggs.

Which British military figure was fatally wounded in

a motorcycle accident in 1935,

when he swerved to avoid two boys while out riding in Dorset?

TE Lawrence.

-THEY MURMUR

-Everybody happy?

Yeah. It's TE Lawrence,

who was Lawrence of Arabia.

TE Lawrence is the right answer.

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

Holbeck Rugby Club,

whose last season ended in 1904, was the original owner of which stadium?

Is this...?

Ooh, somehow I think Elland Road is

a more northerly stadium.

I must admit rugby is not my strong point.

And if I'm honest,

I'm going to just have to take a guess at it and say Loftus Road.

OK. I thought you were going Elland there.

Let's just check this with the Eggs. Portman Road, first of all,

-where's that?

-Ipswich.

-That's Ipswich.

And Loftus is QPR, is that right?

-Queen's Park Rangers.

-Yeah, Barry, you know the answer?

Holbeck is the district of Leeds, where Elland Road is.

So the answer, unfortunately, is Elland Road.

The answer is Elland Road and, sorry,

we have to say congratulations, Eggheads, you have won.

Commiserations there.

-I think scarf was a hard one, I wouldn't have known.

-No.

It was one of those things you think, "Wait, what is that?" Yeah.

Often, when they come off the back of a defeat, they have a big

team talk, they go into a huddle and they come back quite strong so...

-It paid off.

-Yeah.

They've done what comes naturally to them, most of the time, and they

are beginning to say they reign supreme once again.

So it means you won't be going home with the £1,000.

We'll roll that money over to the next show.

Eggheads, well done.

Back on track.

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

brains to defeat that lot.

£2,000 says they don't. Till then, goodbye.