Episode 15 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.

And playing rather well at the moment, I think, Eggs.

Challenging the might of our quiz goliaths today are...

Now, in forming this team, captain Rhonda

has called upon the services of her quizziest friends and family.

Let's meet them.

Hi, my name's Rhonda, I work for an advertising agency.

Hi, I'm Nat and I'm a production manager.

Hi, I'm Clive, I'm an engineering consultant.

Hello, I'm Vikki and I'm a programme manager.

Hello, I'm Nicky, I'm a physiotherapist.

So, Rhonda and team - welcome.

-ALL:

-Thank you.

-Rhonda, tell me how you all know each other.

I know this is going to be complicated.

Yeah, it is a bit complicated.

I used to work with Nathalie.

-And this is Nathalie's father, Clive.

-Right.

And Vikki is a friend of a friend.

And Nicky is Vikki's friend. It's really...

-So we all quiz but we quiz separately.

-OK.

-But we can call it friends and family.

-Correct.

-And quizzy friends and family as well.

-Yes.

-And you're based geographically...?

-All over the place as well.

All over... And I hear a bit of Australian.

-I'm originally from Australia, yeah.

-OK.

-I've been here for 16 years, though.

-Good luck.

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, formalities over, Soft Boiled, I can tell you the Eggs

-have won the last four games.

-Oh.

-So they're not so much on a run

but they're breaking into a jog, really. And you've got to stop them.

£5,000 is on the table for you if you do.

-And would you like to start?

-Yes, please.

-I thought so.

The first head-to-head battle is on the subject of... Who would like this?

-RHONDA LAUGHS

-I think that's me, then, yeah?

-What do you think? Yeah?

-Are you guys happy with that?

-Yes, definitely.

-OK.

-Thank you, Jeremy, that will be me.

-OK, Vikki, against which Egghead?

I think we'd like to challenge Lisa!

Vikki from Soft Boiled against Lisa from the Eggheads,

on Geography. And to ensure there's no conferring,

would you please take your positions in the Question Room?

-OK, so Geography against Lisa.

-Yeah.

-And, Vikki, your choice -

would you like to go first or second?

I'm going to go different here and I'm going to go second, please.

OK, here we go. The US state of North Carolina

is bordered by which ocean?

Now, I have to ignore Judith's standard rule

because I think North Carolina is east coast,

so it would be Atlantic.

And of course cos Judith normally says, if in doubt,

choose the Pacific, whatever the subject.

-Indeed.

-Yeah, I think even she would have gone for Atlantic here.

Atlantic is right. Vikki, your question -

According to population figures in 2013, which was

the second largest city in France?

Right, OK... This is going to be a process of elimination

cos I don't know the answer. Something is drawing me

towards Lyon, but then I'm thinking that's quite a small city

in comparison.

I think I'm going to go for Marseille.

-Marseille, which is in the south.

-Yeah.

Eggheads, can you help us out here? This is a hard one.

-It is Marseille.

-Marseille, yeah.

-By a long way?

Not much...but sufficient.

-OK, Vikki, it is Marseille.

-Oh, wow, fantastic.

-Well done.

Lisa - your question.

How many countries share a border with Bolivia?

-Stop crying.

-I can't!

Of all the questions. I don't know. There are subcategories

of geography questions that I hate and this is probably

going to make the top three.

I think, given there are only 12 countries -

it would struggle to be nine. To be just the one border

you have to be either very small or be sort of coastal.

I think five is probably a decent shout so I'll try five.

I'm liking your logic. Five is right.

Well done. The Australian state of Victoria shares a border with

which of the following states?

OK, I've been to Victoria. So I should get this right.

Queensland is up in the north-east of Australia,

and Western, by its name, Western Australia is in the west.

I think it's New South Wales.

-What do you think, Lisa?

-Spot on.

-Really, you'd have gone the same?

I really would. Yes.

I was thinking, this is the question with your name on it.

-The tone of surprise!

-New South Wales is right.

-Excellent.

Thank you.

So, two each and your third question can be very important,

Lisa, here we go.

The two official languages of the African country of Cameroon are...

French and which other?

Now, there's a trick to this.

I have been through all the countries with official

languages of English and French and...

Spanish is the other one that is quite good to have a handle on.

I'm struggling really to make a case for anything other than English.

I'm not desperately happy with it but I will say English.

English is the right answer, Lisa, well done. Well done.

OK, so the pressure on you a little bit, Vikki.

Get this right and we go to Sudden Death.

The Nakdong River is the longest river in which Asian country?

Obviously, Japan and South Korea... Well, Japan, obviously...

is a landmass in the Pacific.

South Korea is a smaller...area.

Although I've not been to Vietnam, I was in Cambodia and the Nakdong

does sound maybe more Vietnamese. So this is a very big wild guess.

But I'm going to go for Vietnam.

-Eggheads?

-South Korea.

South Korea is the answer.

Vikki, I am so sorry. You've been knocked out, Lisa has won through.

-She will be in the final round.

-Well done, Lisa.

Come back to us, both of you, and we will play on.

As it stands, Soft Boiled have lost a brain,

but it's early days here, the Eggheads are still sitting pretty,

completely intact, and the next subject is...

So, who would like this?

None of us, really.

LAUGHTER

-Can we have a different one?

-Come on, you must.

-It will be me.

-OK.

-But you are in advertising, you watch loads of stuff.

-Well...

OK, Rhonda, against which Egghead? Can't be Lisa.

Probably...Chris.

Chris likes certain films but they have to have trains in them.

So, Rhonda from Soft Boiled versus our probably hardest-boiled Egghead.

Young Chris.

To ensure there is no conferring,

please go to the Question Room now.

So, Film & TV, would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, thanks.

-OK, all the best, Rhonda.

-Thank you.

See if we can keep the team captain in here.

In which city was the actor Ray Winstone born?

I'm going to say London.

London is the right answer. Well done. Chris...

Which television series starring Edward Woodward

was screened in Italy under the title Un Guistiziere a New York?

Is it...?

Well, it's one something in New York, isn't it?

And Edward Woodward played a retired Secret Service chap

who went around righting wrongs in The Equalizer.

So it's got to be the Italian version of The Equalizer.

The Equalizer is quite right. So, one each, back to you, Rhonda.

Who stars as DCI Vera Stanhope

in the television crime series Vera?

I actually love this show, it's Brenda Blethyn.

Brenda Blethyn is quite right. Well done.

This is your question to catch up, Chris.

Who was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his performance

in the film Driving Miss Daisy?

Yeah, he played the chauffeur, it was Morgan Freeman.

Yes, it was Morgan Freeman.

OK, Rhonda, see if you can get this one right,

puts a bit of pressure on him.

Who played Clarice Starling in the 2001 film, Hannibal?

Well, I know Jodie Foster played her in the first one.

I'm going to take a guess at Julianne Moore.

Yeah, it's tricky, this,

cos we straightaway go to Jodie Foster, don't we?

Cos that was the most famous one.

-Julianne Moore is the right answer.

-Yeah.

Three out of three. OK, Chris...

Which Avengers actress went on to play Rosemary King

in the soap opera Emmerdale?

Yeah, she faked her own death, it was Linda Thorson.

Yeah, very good, Linda Thorson is right.

Straight there, OK, three-three.

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

I don't give you alternative answers.

In the 1940s and 1950s,

which actor took the title role in films of three Shakespeare plays -

Henry V, Hamlet and Richard III?

The only person I can think of is Richard Burton. But, yeah...

No, it's not him. It's...

-Laurence Olivier.

-Laurence Olivier.

-Ah, OK.

OK, Chris...

This for the round. The 2011 sequel

to the Rowan Atkinson spy comedy Johnny English

was entitled Johnny English what?

Reborn.

-I didn't think you would get that. Have you seen it?

-Yes.

Chris, it is Reborn. You've won the round.

-Rhonda, sorry.

-That's OK, congratulations, Chris.

Bumped into a bit of Chris knowledge there.

Please return, rejoin your team-mates and we'll see what happens next.

So, as it stands, Soft Boiled have lost two brains now.

Too little yolks have gone

from the final round. The Eggheads are still sitting there.

Let's see if you can dent them now.

So, it's...

OK. Rhonda, who should take this?

-I think it's...

-I think it's Clive.

Clive. OK, our consultant engineer. And against which Egghead?

It can't be Chris or Lisa.

-I'll try Pat.

-OK.

Clive from Soft Boiled,

Pat on Politics from the Eggheads. Please go to our Question Room.

Clive, would you like to go first or second on Politics?

I think I'll go second, please.

And here is your first question, Pat...

Meritocracy is a system in which advancement is based on which

of the following?

Of those three...

I think meritocracy should be advancement based on ability

and achievement.

Ability and achievement.

Yeah, that's the right answer.

Clive, in the US,

when politicians of one party attempt to form a consensus

with those of the other party,

they are said to reach across what?

You couldn't have started me off with a worse one than this,

cos it's going to be a total guess.

But I'll go for the middle one, I'll for the counter.

It's actually a reference to the physical aisle in the...

I guess the Senate or the House of Representatives. Or both.

So they're reaching across the aisle, Clive. Pat, back to you.

Which Commons seat

did Nigel Farage contest at the 2015 general election?

South Thanet had quite a high profile prior to that election.

I suppose...

Presumably he would contest a seat where he thought he had

a chance of winning...

South West Surrey sounds quite prosperous.

Might not be fertile ground.

I think I'll have to go for South Thanet.

Yeah, you got it right.

OK, Clive...

Who was Chancellor of West Germany

at the time of the UK referendum on membership of the EEC in 1975?

Was it...?

Well, it's nearly as old as me.

I think...it was Helmut Schmidt.

You're bang on, well done, Helmut Schmidt it was.

I'm thinking... Was Brandt later or earlier?

-Earlier.

-So, Brandt was earlier, Kohl was later.

OK, Pat, your question.

Get this right and you are in the final round, Pat.

In 2015, Cambiemos, meaning "let's change,"

became the ruling coalition in which country?

Hmm...

Well, I think in Bolivia Evo Morales was in power for quite

a while before that date and for some time afterwards.

Chile and Argentina...

Kirchner left office and Macri took office in Argentina.

But I thought that they were representatives

of two established parties.

I'm not so sure about Chile. I think between Argentina and Chile

I am going to go for Chile.

-Actually, you've got it wrong.

-Oh, dear.

I loved your legwork there, getting up to the answer but you just

-swerved at the end in the wrong direction.

-Argentina.

Argentina is the answer, Pat.

So, Clive, that's handy.

What position did Angela Eagle hold when she resigned from

Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet in the wake of the EU referendum

in June 2016?

Well, this has been in the recent news. So I should know it.

I think it was the shadow business secretary.

Spot on. You are right, Clive, well done, well played.

Shadow business secretary. So, after three questions you are level.

We go to Sudden Death,

it gets a bit harder, I don't give you different options.

Pat, your question.

What region of the world is indicated by the letters C-A-R

at the start of the trade organisation names CARIFTA and CARICOM?

I have an idea, I'm just double-checking.

Yeah, I think it's the Caribbean...region.

It is the Caribbean.

Well done, and one of them is the free trade association and

the other one is Caribbean community which is a kind of common market thing.

OK, Sudden Death, it can end quickly here, Clive.

Your question...

The economist Mario Draghi,

who in 2011 became president of the European Central Bank,

had previously served as governor of which country's central bank?

Well, I've basically no idea...

HE CHUCKLES

..so, I'll have to take a guess.

And I'll go for...

Italy.

Italy is correct.

Mario Draghi.

Pat, Sudden Death,

which British Prime Minister was nicknamed "the Welsh goat"?

My first thought is Lloyd George.

He was certainly born in Manchester but I think

he was born to Welsh-speaking parents.

And he had his enemies who would have been happy to have given him

an unflattering nickname.

Anybody else?

No, I don't think so. I think I'll go for... David Lloyd George.

David Lloyd George is correct.

Clive...

Sudden Death, your question. Got to get this right.

On the 31st of December 1999,

when Boris Yeltsin resigned as president of the Russian Federation,

who became acting president?

I think it was Eduard Shevardnadze.

Yeah... No, it wasn't.

But that's almost a better answer than the correct answer,

which is just Vladimir Putin, actually.

Sudden Death, sorry, Clive.

You've been knocked out.

Come back to us, both of you, and we'll play on.

Soft Boiled have lost three brains from the final round.

The Eggheads are getting into gear a bit here. You've got to stop them.

The next subject is...

Now, who wants this?

I am rubbish... I won't get anything.

-Shall I do it, then?

-So, Nicky, it's you, is it?

-OK.

-Well done.

Who are you going to call? It's either Kevin or it's Dave.

I'd go for Kevin. Dave's good on Music.

Yes, I'll take Kevin, please.

Nicky from Soft Boiled on Music against Kevin from the Eggheads.

Please go to our Question Room now.

So, Music, would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please.

Good luck, so pulling it back now for Soft Boiled, let's see

if you can get into the final.

Who reached the top of the UK singles chart in 1960 with

the song My Old Man's A Dustman?

Is it...?

I'm pretty sure that that was Lonnie Donegan.

I was laughing because I was trying to imagine Buddy Holly...

If that was Buddy Holly's song...

LAUGHTER

Can you imagine...? Lonnie Donegan is quite right, well done.

OK, Kevin...

Which of the following is a term for the fade-out that can

happen at the end of a song?

Is it a word that you ever used to see that much?

But it's become more common now as just a counterpart to intro.

Outro.

Outro is right. OK, your question, Nicky.

Which song by the Sex Pistols begins with the line...

"There's no point in asking, you'll get no reply"?

Is it...?

OK, well, I don't know. So this will be a guess.

I'll go for Anarchy In The UK.

OK, "There's no point in asking, you'll get no reply...

"We're so pretty, oh so pretty..." Pretty Vacant.

Kevin, in the late 1990s,

Justin Timberlake was a member of which boyband?

Is it...?

He was with the one with the...

Probably the silliest of those names. I assume it's "in sync".

The asterix, I assume, is meant to be for an "I".

Anyway, it's in *NSYNC.

*NSYNC is correct.

Right, so he's in the lead, Nicky,

and you've got to stop him with this answer.

Released in 2016,

The Life Of Pablo is an album by which recording artist?

Wow.

Absolutely not a clue. So I'm going to guess...

Ed Sheeran.

Let's see, Challengers?

-It's Kanye.

-Kanye West is the answer.

-Nat knew that.

-Oh, well.

-Well done, Kevin. You are in the final.

Nicky, sorry, you were beaten by our Egghead.

If you both return to us, we'll see what happens

with the Challengers playing one person in the final round.

OK, this is what we've been playing towards,

it is time for the final round.

As always, it's 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's Rhonda and Clive and Vikki and Nicky from Soft Boiled.

Sorry, but would you please now leave the studio?

OK, Nat, good luck.

I know it wasn't supposed to end like this, but you can win,

and it's been done before, Eggs, hasn't it?

So, you're playing to win Soft Boiled £5,000.

Kevin and Chris, Lisa, Dave and Pat, you're playing for

something which money can't buy - which is the Eggheads' reputation.

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

this time they are all General Knowledge. You can confer.

Sorry that doesn't help you, Nat.

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

And would you like to go first or second?

I will go second, please.

OK, so Nat goes second, first question to you, Eggheads.

In common law, what is an agreement between two or more people to

commit an unlawful act known as?

-Conspiracy.

-I think so.

-Conspiracy.

We're going for a conspiracy, please, Jeremy.

It is a conspiracy, well done.

Nat, over to you.

Ilyich was the middle name of which 20th-century leader?

I think it's a Russian name.

And for that reason I am going to go with Lenin.

Brilliant. Lenin is right, Nat, well done.

You are off the starting blocks there.

In the standard version of the cautionary verse beginning,

"For want of a nail, the shoe was lost,"

what is the largest entity that has been lost by the end?

The kingdom. For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost.

The kingdom was lost.

And all for the want of the horseshoe now. Yeah.

So, then, the kingdom is our answer.

We're going for the kingdom, please, Jeremy.

The kingdom is your answer. So it goes the nail...

The shoe was lost. For the want of the shoe, the horse was lost...

-Horse...

-The rider was lost.

For want of a rider, a message was lost.

For the want of a message, a battle was lost.

For the want of a battle, a kingdom was lost.

OK. The kingdom is right.

OK, Nat, your question. What is the name of the geological epoch

that immediately preceded the Pliocene?

I'm assuming they all relate to numbers.

Mio possibly being 1,000.

I think I will go with Miocene.

-Miocene is right.

-Oh, my goodness.

-Nat, stupendous play.

-A stroke of luck.

-Well done.

OK, Eggheads, so, it's two each.

Osier, goat and crack are species of which type of tree?

-Osier, I assume is O-S-I-E-R?

-Yes, it is.

Willow, yeah?

-Are we all happy with that?

-There is a crack willow as well.

There is a goat willow. Goat willow? Yeah, that sounds familiar.

So, Willow. Willow is our answer, please, Jeremy.

You think there is a crack willow?

Willow is correct.

-Well done, team.

-I'm sorry they're not making this easy.

But get this one right, we go to Sudden Death, Nat.

The Evenk people are one of the many small ethnic groups

of what region of the world?

In Central America...

I'm not really sure. I think it sounds like a European word.

And probably more a sort of Eastern European word. Russian.

I'm going for Siberia.

-Siberia is the right answer.

-Yes!

-Three out of three.

-Often three is enough to win.

But we go to Sudden Death,

cos the Eggheads have met you toe-to-toe here.

And it gets a little bit harder, Eggheads,

I don't give you different options, here we go.

The given name Aisling, meaning dream or vision,

comes from which language?

-I think that's Irish.

-It's an Irish name.

Our answer is Irish, please, Jeremy.

Aisling, meaning dream or vision,

yes, Irish, Gaelic Irish, correct.

Over to you, Nat.

The woman known as Mata Hari was shot by the French towards

the end of the First World War, on charges of spying for which country?

-I believe it was Germany.

-Germany is right.

Playing well. Back to you, Eggheads.

Time Out Of Joint was one of the early novels of which

American science-fiction writer?

-Who have we got?

-Heinlein, Asimov.

Bradbury.

Philip K Dick.

Not a novel writer known for being a novel writer,

cos it kind of sounds like there's more than one novel there.

So would you describe Asimov as American?

He was born in Russia but I think he became a naturalised American.

-Yeah.

-It could be any of them.

-It could be Bradbury.

-It could be Ray Bradbury, yeah.

He used Shakespearean quotations elsewhere,

you know, Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Pat, have you got any inkling, any preference?

Sometimes it's sensible to go for the biggest name.

-Just throw yourself at the mercy of the percentages.

-OK.

A tiny preference for Asimov, but I don't know.

-What about you, Chris?

-Well, I still think Ray Bradbury...

But if Pat's got an inkling for Asimov...

-What about you, Kev?

-I can see the Bradbury thing.

But maybe follow the logic of the name.

Do we think it's a Shakespearean phrase?

-Time Out Of Joint is.

-What about you, Lisa?

I would have said Asimov, so I'm prepared to stand by that.

I think there's three... Am I right in saying there's three

leaning towards Asimov? And we haven't got all day...

We're not going to get anywhere else with it, so...

If we say Isaac Asimov as an answer...?

-We'll all say sorry afterwards.

-Yeah? Is that all right?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

We're going for Isaac Asimov, please, Jeremy.

It's interesting the way you guys work,

your brilliant minds.

It's not Asimov, it's not Bradbury...

You did mention the answer...

Oh, no! It's Philip K Dick, I talked everyone out of it, oh, no!

-You had that quiz thing that he only does short stories.

-Oh!

He didn't only do short stories. 1959 and the lead character

in Time Out Of Joint was a guy called Ragle Gumm.

-But it was Philip K Dick.

-No problem.

-Worth knowing.

OK, this is good now, Nat.

If you get this one right you've won £5,000 and you enter

our pantheon of players

who have beaten all five Eggheads on their own,

and here we go...

A creatinine clearance test is a clinical measurement

to estimate the performance of which pair of major organs?

OK, that narrows it down a bit, I suppose, to...

I'm hoping, to two of the same organ, so two lungs

or two kidneys...

Or could it be the liver and kidneys? Oh...

I'm going to go with the kidneys.

So, you've gone for...

-..kidneys.

-I have.

You've gone for the idea that the pair means

that there's two of the same, so it's not...

It's not one liver and a spleen or something like that?

I'm hoping not!

Well, it measures the filtration rate of the glomeruli!

The clusters of blood vessels that are the primary filtering

structures of the kidneys. Well done, you've got it...!

CHEERING

One on five, we do not see that very often, well done, Nat.

Thank you so much, that's a big shock and a formidable team,

so I'm really delighted! Thank you, thanks so much.

-Brilliant.

-Congratulations, you've just won £5,000 for Soft Boiled,

you are officially cleverer than all the Eggheads put together

and you've proved they can be beaten.

Join us next time on Eggheads, to see if a new team of

Challengers will be just as successful. Great to play with you.

-Thanks, Nat, I hope you enjoyed it.

-Thank you, I loved it!

And all of you, thanks for coming.

-ALL:

-Thank you.

-Until next time, goodbye.