Episode 92 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.

We feeling bolshie or benign today?

-Bolshie.

-Bolshie, says Judith.

-Very bolshie.

-Oh, very bolshie, OK.

Hoping to beat the might of the Eggheads today

are Generation Game from Surrey.

Now, this friends and family team are regular quizzers

and have 90 years of quizzing experience between them.

Let's meet them.

Hello, I'm David and I'm a PhD researcher in history.

Hello, I'm Dan, I'm a business owner.

Hello, I'm Anthony, I'm a retired chartered engineer.

Hello, my name's Simon and I am a molecular virologist.

Hello, I'm Alex

and I'm a postdoctoral research fellow in English.

So, David and team, welcome.

-Thank you.

-It seems we've got a quizzing team here, David,

-is that right?

-Pretty strong, we hope.

Good, excellent. You quiz together or separately?

We've quizzed in different permutations amongst the five of us,

so different couples, different pairs, yes.

And at the heart of this are two families

who are friends with each other.

Two fathers and sons who are friends with each other at both levels.

The Zell and Spiro families.

-Correct.

-What about these Eggheads, then?

Are they famous in quiz land?

I think they are pretty notorious, yes.

-Good luck to you.

-Notoriously clever.

Yeah, although like all good machines, they can sometimes break.

Every day there is £1,000 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. I know you know that,

so let me tell you, Generation Game,

the Eggheads are just getting into their stride.

They've won the last six,

so that means £7,000 is here for you to win today.

-Would you like to try?

-We'll have a go.

Good stuff. The first head-to-head battle is on the subject of History.

I reckon this is right up your street.

-Who's going to do it?

-That must be you.

I think that's me, isn't it? I'm going to do that.

OK, Anthony, retired chartered engineer, against which Egghead?

Anthony, pick any one of them.

I think we'll go for Dave, won't we?

-Dave?

-Is that the agreement, Dave?

-Dave.

-We'll go for Dave.

So, it's going to be Anthony from Generation Game versus Dave from

the Eggheads on History and just to ensure there's no conferring,

please take the short walk to our famous Question Room.

So, Anthony Spiro,

and what gives you your interest in history, Anthony?

Well, I like reading about it,

I'm of an age that I can look back over quite a long period

and it's a subject I enjoy.

Whether I know anything about it, we'll soon find out.

We will see. History against Tremendous Knowledge Dave

-and would you like to go first or second?

-First, please.

Here's your question.

The 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact, signed by nearly all

the nations of the world, aimed to eliminate

what as an instrument of national policy?

That's an interesting question.

Whether it was sport,

I doubt that because the Olympic Games had been going

for about 30 years by then.

I would have thought that some sort of pre-runner,

precursor to the United Nations.

I'll go for war.

War is correct.

Well done. Dave, your question.

King of England Richard the Lionheart spent a large part

of his adult life in which country?

I've got to go France.

France is correct.

Anthony. Until the Reformation,

the Emperor Elect of the Holy Roman Empire was required to be crowned

by which of the following?

Unlikely to be the Tsar of Russia because I don't think there were

any Tsars of Russia about that time.

Charlemagne I doubt because he only lived for a finite period.

I'll go for the Pope.

The Pope is right.

Brilliantly logical, sir.

Well done.

Dave. I can see you're up against a good quizzer here.

Yeah, very definitely.

During World War II, who served as Taoiseach,

the Irish equivalent of Prime Minister?

This is tough.

I'm not happy with this at all because I thought

Eamon de Valera was Irish president.

I'm going to rule out Jack Lynch

because I think it's too early for him.

I'm not happy with this at all because, as I said, I thought

Eamon de Valera was President rather than Prime Minister.

So I'm going to go for Sean Lemass.

Eggheads, is he right?

-No.

-No.

-No, no.

-De Valera.

-It's de Valera.

-Well, fine.

-De Valera did become President.

He was Prime Minister for a long time but then eventually, in 1959,

I think, he became President and was there

for a considerable time longer.

He became President, Dave, you're right about that,

as Kevin's confirming, but not at the time.

Right, fine.

OK, Anthony, get this right, you're in the final.

The first Sino-Japanese War,

which took place between 1894 and 1895, grew out of a conflict between

Japan and China for supremacy in which country?

I think I can discount Tibet because that's too far away.

Mongolia, I doubt.

I'm going for Korea.

Yes! Yes!

Challengers, is he right?

-I think so.

-Think so.

-Yeah, they like that answer.

Korea is right. Well done, Anthony, you're in the final round.

You took on an Egghead and you defeated him

and Dave has been knocked out.

Early days. Come back to us, we'll play the next round.

So, as it stands,

the Generation Game have not lost any brains from the final round.

They're playing well.

The Eggheads have lost a brain.

Looks a bit dodgy for the Eggheads today.

The next subject is Music.

-Who would like Music?

-That's...

-That's mine. That would be me.

-It's you, Dan.

-That's me, Dan.

-OK, Dan.

Dan Zell against...

-We're doing Judith, right?

-Judith, yeah.

Judith.

Yeah, she loves a bit of opera, but not rap.

Dan from Generation Game challenges Judith from the Eggheads on Music.

Please go to the special room.

All right, so, you're on music, Dan.

Would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please.

And here we go.

What is the title of the Chuck Berry song that begins with the line,

"Riding along in my automobile"?

Good question. I know the song, I don't know what it's called.

HE HUMS THE TUNE

I don't think it's Sweet Little Sixteen,

I don't think it's Reelin' And Rockin'.

I suspect it's No Particular Place To Go

because it's about the joy of motoring.

No Particular Place To Go is the right answer, well done.

Well done. Your father approves.

Judith. Which musical term is also the Italian word for slow?

I think that is Lento.

Lento is quite right.

Dan, who is the lead singer of the Irish band The Cranberries?

I've actually got a bit of a thing for The Cranberries but I don't know

the answer to this off the top of my head.

I don't think it's Mary Black.

Something's telling me that it's not Roisin Murphy

because I think she's someone else.

I think it's Dolores O'Riordan.

Dolores O'Riordan is quite right.

OK. Two out of two.

Back to Judith.

All About Tonight and Boys And Girls are UK number one singles

by which female singer born in 1991?

Oh, glory be.

Search me.

Pixie Lott.

Pixie Lott is the right answer.

-How do you do that?

-I don't know.

Spirit of Daphne.

OK. Dan.

Get this right, a little bit of pressure on Judith.

Because of the pizzicato sections in the first movement,

whose String Quartet Number Ten In E Flat Major,

published in 1809,

is nicknamed The Harp?

-1809?

-1809.

OK.

It's too late for Beethoven, I think.

If it's a string quartet it's kind of chamber music,

which makes me think it's more likely to be Schubert than Rossini,

so I'll go for Schubert.

Schubert is your answer.

This always comes back to the dates, these questions.

1809 it was published. Can I get some dates from Kevin?

Kevin, Beethoven.

-What, his birth and death dates?

-Yeah.

1770 to 1827.

-OK, so he's 1770 to 1827, Kevin says...

-Ah.

..so he would have fitted the bill.

-Rossini?

-1792 to 1868.

All right. Would have been a bit young.

And Schubert?

1797 to 1828.

Even younger. The answer is Beethoven.

Ah.

Yeah, OK.

So, Judith now has a chance to square things up here.

Maceo Parker, celebrated for his work with James Brown

in the 1960s, is best known for playing which instrument?

I'm not... I don't know, so...

I don't think it's drums.

So either saxophone or guitar.

I think it's saxophone.

-Eggheads?

-I think so.

-Yeah, yeah.

They like it. Saxophone is the right answer.

Three out of three, Judith,

you're in the final round. Sorry, Dan,

you're out, I'm afraid. Come back to us,

rejoin your teams, and we'll see what happens next.

So, as it stands, Generation Game have lost a brain now

from the final round. The Eggheads have also lost one.

Looking very competitive, this game today,

and the next subject is Sport.

So, who wants to take this?

That's you, David. You're going to go.

-Gosh, fall on my sword.

-David, don't go, don't go.

David, before you go, tell us which Egghead.

It obviously can't be Dave or Judith.

-I think it's Lisa.

-I think we're going for Lisa, aren't we?

Take on Lisa.

Good stuff. So, David from the Generation Game

versus Lisa on Sport.

-That'll work for me.

-Good.

Very positive. Not the normal response I get from old Chris,

-is it?

-Trying to set a good example.

Excellent. To ensure there's no conferring,

please take your positions.

So, good luck, David, on Sport.

Would you like to go first or second against Lisa?

I'll go first.

And here is your first question.

Brian Moore, who died in 2001,

was best known as a commentator on which sport?

Well, I can't remember him doing horse racing

and I never watched much darts

but he was certainly very big on football.

He was. Football's right, well done.

OK, Lisa.

What nationality is the former

Formula One racing driver Jarno Trulli?

In the best tradition, Jarno Trulli is an Italian.

Yes, you're right.

ITALIAN ACCENT: Jarno Trulli. OK, David.

Which of these cyclists was nominated

for the BBC's Sports Personality Of The Year award in 2015?

I know this one. It was Chris Froome.

Chris Froome is the right answer.

Lisa.

In which year did the swimmer Michael Phelps

win his first Olympic gold medal?

Now, this is going to be a question of me trying to work out

how old he is and when he started.

I think he might have been born sort of late '80s, early '90s.

I think, for all that, 2004 would be optimistic for a first gold.

Erm...

I think he was an established hit of the pool by 2012...

..so I will say 2008.

2004 is the answer, Lisa.

So, chance for you now to take the round, David, on this question.

In which sport did Katharine Merry win an Olympic medal

for Great Britain at the 2000 Olympics?

2000 Olympics was in Sydney.

Katharine Merry.

I don't think it was gymnastics.

Athletics doesn't really ring a bell.

I think I'm going to have to go for rowing.

-So I'll say rowing.

-Let's see if your team-mates know.

Team-mates, is he right?

-No, it's athletics.

-No, they all like athletics.

-Ah.

Athletics it is. 400 metres, to be precise.

So your chance to come back in here, Lisa.

The rugby union players Phil Bennett,

Naas Botha and Barry John usually played in which position?

You don't even need to read the options, Jeremy.

I'm just going down the pub now, I haven't got a clue.

We haven't worked out a rule for these questions.

There's usually a rule that when you're in doubt

about a certain type of question you say a certain answer.

But we don't really have, like, when in doubt say flanker or

when in doubt say fly half for rugby union.

I am going to have to institute this rule.

Yeah, no, I think David deserves this one,

so it'll be terrible if I guess it.

Hooker.

OK, that is not the rule.

Fly half.

Actually, the general rule is you don't say fly half,

so it doesn't really matter.

-That's fine.

-But Judith thinks she might have a rule on this.

-Judith, what would you say?

-My rule would have been a fly half.

Why would you go fly half in this question if you had no knowledge?

It's the most glamorous position.

He's the one who wins in the final minute, kind of thing,

by kicking a penalty or something.

Judith says you go fly half because it's the most glamorous position.

Well, to be fair, the kickers are normally the most famous so, yeah.

But I thought on that basis I might have heard of at least one of them.

That's true. Works the other way as well.

-Yeah.

-So you're...

-I'm out. Yeah. No more of this rubbish!

-So you're out, Lisa.

Gone! Two wrong out of three.

David, you're in the final round, and that's good news for your team.

Come back to us, we'll play on.

So, as it stands, Generation Game have lost a brain

from the final round. The Eggheads have lost two now

and the last subject before the final is Arts & Books.

Well, that's me, chaps.

Good luck, Alex.

OK, against whom?

I will, with trepidation, take on Pat, Jeremy.

So you're leaving Kev until the final.

OK, Alex from Generation Game versus Pat from the Eggheads.

-Good for you, Pat?

-It's all right.

I read a book every now and again.

To ensure there's no conferring,

would you please take your positions in our Question Room?

Alex, I know you're doing research at university.

-Yes, that's right, Jeremy.

-Tell us what it's in.

Victorian poetry.

Oh, well, perfect, so Arts & Books is not...

Because I thought you might be about to say chemistry or something,

which wouldn't come in handy for this round.

No, advantageously, or maybe regrettably, it is my job.

And you've written a book on the great WB Yeats,

who's my hero, my poetic hero.

Oh, glad to hear it.

Yes, the book is about Yeats and Rudyard Kipling in the early part

of their lives when they were living in London at the same time.

OK, and they met each other or not?

No, the title of the book is Meeting Without Knowing It because they

intersect thematically but they never directly cross paths.

They shadow one another.

How fascinating. All right, good luck in this round.

I know it might not all be Victorian poetry, so you have that defence.

Would you like to go first or second against Pat, or as he's known,

the Silent Destroyer?

I shall go first, Jeremy.

Good luck, Alex.

A theatre that has no performance currently running

is commonly said to be what?

I'm a little baffled by this, really.

My suspicion is that it's dark - that would make sense.

The lights are off, the theatre is disused.

I think that's the best that I can manage.

I'll say a dark theatre.

Dark is right. Well done.

Over to you, Pat.

Which man wrote the poem that begins

"On the Ning Nang Nong

"Where the cows go bong

"And the monkeys all say boo"?

I think this was featured in The Goon Show, I think.

I have a slight concern that Peter Sellers may have had some

connections to The Goon Show

but I think I'll have to go for Spike Milligan.

Yeah, well done, Pat. Spike Milligan is right.

Alex.

How were faces usually painted in ancient Egyptian art?

Well, these are the paintings that one would see on the walls

of Egyptian tombs and they are all in profile.

In profile is quite right.

Well done.

Pat, your question.

Which novel by Thomas Hardy is subtitled

The Life And Death Of A Man Of Character?

Hmm.

Well, I don't think it's Tess Of The D'Urbervilles,

seeing as the book is centred on a female character,

so she wouldn't be a man of character.

So, it's Far From The Madding Crowd versus The Mayor Of Casterbridge.

I think Far From The Madding Crowd,

Bathsheba Everdene is sort of the central character

and there are two or three husbands.

The Mayor Of Casterbridge, that's Henchard,

who sells his wife and child or something.

That's the most tempting of the three,

so I'll go for The Mayor Of Casterbridge.

The Mayor Of Casterbridge is right.

So, two each.

Alex, the third question could be crucial.

Here's your question. I'm just praying for some Victorian poetry.

Who created the artwork Balloon Dog Orange,

which in 2013 achieved the highest price for a living artist's work

sold at auction when it went for 58.4 million?

Well, yeah, we see variations of this outside of large

and gullible public art galleries around the world.

This, I'm pretty sure, is the extremely rich Jeff Koons.

It is Jeff Koons, well done.

Well done indeed.

OK, Pat, to stay in.

Alex is playing well.

Although Ariel Dorfman was born in Argentina, his works, such as

the play Death And The Maiden, have been particularly concerned

with the turbulent and violent history of which country?

My first reaction is Chile.

The Pinochet years and all those...

..human rights issues.

Nicaragua and Bolivia...

I think I'll have to go for Chile.

Chile is correct. So we go to Sudden Death.

Gets a little bit tighter, Alex.

I don't give you alternatives.

Dan Brown's character Robert Langdon first appeared in print

in which novel?

I'm not a fan of Dan Brown but I think this is the art professor

in The Da Vinci Code.

I think you're probably right but also wrong,

because he appeared in Angels And Demons.

Is that the story before Da Vinci Code?

Yeah, it's set in Rome and it's concerned fairly heftily

with the Catholic Church.

And he then goes on to Da Vinci Code?

I think the second one is The Da Vinci Code, yes.

There are very brief references to Angels And Demons

in The Da Vinci Code.

Alex, sorry about that, you got it wrong,

so Pat has a chance to take the round.

Idefix is the French name for which four-legged character

in the Asterix series of comic books?

Oh...

Four-legged character.

I think it's the dog.

So, what did they call the dog in the West?

I have a name in my head.

I'm not sure it's right.

Could I just listen to the question one more time?

Yeah. I-D-E-accent-F-I-X is what we're looking at.

Idefix is the French name for which four-legged character

in the Asterix series of comic books?

The four-legged character has got to be the dog, sheep, goat, cow...

I think it's dog. There's a dog.

I'm not sure I'm right but I'm going to go with Dogmatix.

The answer is Dogmatix.

Well done, Pat, you've taken the round.

Sorry, Alex, beaten by our Egghead.

Levels it up, though. Makes for an interesting final.

Please, both of you, return and we will play that final round.

So, bad luck, Alex, there.

And just for clarity, Da Vinci Code was obviously

the big explosion publicity-wise,

but Angels And Demons was published before, in 2000.

So, Da Vinci was 2003, but after Da Vinci Code,

everyone bought Angels And Demons,

so there's a bit of confusion about which came first.

Anyway, bad luck to you, but full of hope for your team here.

This is what we've been playing towards.

It is time for the final round.

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, Dan and Alex from Generation Game

and Dave and Lisa from the Eggheads,

would you please now leave the studio?

So, David, Anthony and Simon,

you are playing to win Generation Game £7,000.

Judith, Kevin, Pat,

you're playing for something which I don't think money can buy,

which is your reputation.

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

This time, they're all General Knowledge.

Gents, you are allowed to confer.

OK, so, Generation Game, the question is,

can you with your three brilliant brains

overwhelm these three over here?

-We'll try.

-We'll have a go.

-You don't need to say.

-No pressure.

-Just tell me if you want to go first or second.

We'll go first, please.

So, your first question is this.

Gold Coast Airport, previously known as Coolangatta Airport,

is located in which country?

-Gold Coast is Australia.

-It's Australia.

We're just going to go straight for it, Australia.

Australia is correct.

Back to you, Eggheads.

Under what moniker did the TV chef Graham Kerr

become famous in the 1960s and '70s?

Well, I think Galloping Gourmet.

Galloping Gourmet. Yes.

A favourite of my mother's.

He was one of the first of the celeb chefs.

-I can remember seeing him. OK?

-Yep.

That is, or Graham Kerr was, The Galloping Gourmet.

The Galloping Gourmet is quite right.

Well done.

OK, your question.

In the UK, the Girobank was created in 1968 as a clearing bank

that was part of which organisation?

-Post Office.

-Post Office.

-Post Office, definitely.

-I don't remember it,

but these two certainly remember the Post Office.

Post Office is correct.

Two out of two. Well done. Eggheads.

What is the name of the award given for the best feature film

at the annual Berlin Film Festival?

-Golden Bear.

-Golden Bear.

-Golden Bear, I think, yeah.

That is the Golden Bear.

Golden Bear is correct.

You been to that, Kevin?

No, my film festivals tend to be in the UK.

-In the UK.

-I have once been to the Reykjavik Film Festival, though.

Oh, right, OK.

Third question could be crucial. You're speeding along here.

If you get this right, you put some pressure on them.

£7,000, we're playing for.

In which decade was Erica Jong's novel

Fear Of Flying first published?

It was on the cusp of '60s and '70s.

-It definitely wasn't the '80s.

-It wasn't the '80s.

It was somewhere between the '60s and '70s.

-Gosh.

-I think it was the very late '60s.

I think it was. I'd be more comfortable with the '60s.

-I think it's a higher probability in the '60s.

-'68, '69.

-I think it was.

-Yeah, or '70s.

-I don't think it was the '70s.

Do you remember anything in the novel

that would give a clue to the...?

No. I was still at university until I started work in '69.

Well, if you started the book in '69, it's '60s.

-Started work.

-Oh, started work.

No, no, I started work, and I'm just trying to remember when it...

Because it could just have been the early '70s.

It could have been the early '70s, yeah.

I'm tempted, I'm getting more tempted to '70s.

Me too, me too. The more we think about it.

Your first thought was the '60s.

-I'm talking myself into the '70s.

-What do you think?

Do you think your second thoughts beat your first thoughts?

There's an old saying you should always go with your first reaction

but the '60s was not Fear Of Flying.

Let's take a think here.

I think we should go with our first choice, which was the '60s.

OK. OK.

All right, so after much deliberation,

we're erring towards the 1960s. We're going to say the '60s.

OK. Oh, I listened to that so carefully

and you were going '70s.

-Do you know, Eggheads?

-I think it's '73.

1973 is the year.

'70s is the answer.

So you've got two out of three. Third question to the Eggheads.

Capitol Hill in Washington, DC

is the location of which of the following?

You get this right, the contest is over.

-The Pentagon...

-White House is Pennsylvania Avenue.

-Pentagon's in Virginia.

-Pentagon's out in Virginia.

-So it's got to be Congress.

-Congress is on Capitol Hill.

Well, Congress sits in the Capitol, so...

-Yeah.

-I mean, it's, yeah.

OK? Seems straightforward enough - hope there's not a twist to it.

Well, the White House is 1,600 Pennsylvania Avenue,

the Pentagon sits out in Virginia on the other side of the Potomac,

but Congress sits in the Capitol building and that would be on...

Which is on rising ground, so that would be Capitol Hill,

so it's Congress.

The correct answer is Congress.

We say congratulations, Eggheads, you have won.

And I know you know that one.

But then they'd know the Fear Of Flying so if you'd gone second,

maybe you'd be in Sudden Death.

Who knows? Who knows?

-Who knows?

-Very close.

-Commiserations, Generation Game.

You played a great game. I can see you're good quizzers.

You lost a couple of good quizzers round the back as well.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them.

This winning streak continues.

It means that you won't be going home with the £7,000

so we roll the money over to our 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.

£8,000 will be up for grabs.

And until then, goodbye.