Episode 16 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! Welcome, Eggs!

-Hello!

-How kind.

And hoping to get one over on our quiz champions today

are the Seaviewers.

Now, this team are all regulars at the Seaview Inn in Falmouth,

where Alan hosts a weekly pub quiz.

Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Rob, and I'm a retired research scientist.

Hi, my name is Mark, and I'm a guesthouse proprietor.

Hi, my name's Ruth, and I'm an office and finance manager.

Hi, I'm Peter, and I'm a yacht rigging consultant.

Hello, I'm Alan, and I'm a retired maths teacher.

-So, Rob, regulars at the same inn?

-Indeed.

-Rob, I know about your sculpture.

-Yes.

-Tell us what you do.

Well, I have always had an interest in sculpture,

and I think perhaps it's timely just to bring something along

-and show you, which you may or may not appreciate.

-Is that me?

-That's fantastic!

-It's meant to be.

LAUGHTER

I'm chuffed about that. Was that done with, er...

-No, it's, er...

-..a chisel?

No, it's modelled in clay and cast in plaster.

-Shall I just take delivery of it?

-You take delivery of it.

-This is...

We once had somebody do... model all the Eggheads in Lego.

Actually, do you know what? That is very...

-It's good, isn't it?

-OK, take a look, everyone.

CONTESTANTS CHUCKLE

It's closer than it should be.

That's very good. I'm going to put this beautiful thing there.

Thank you very much. Good luck, Challengers.

Every day there is £1,000 worth of cash up for grabs

for the challenging team.

But if they fail to defeat the Eggheads,

the prize money rolls over to the next show.

So, Seaviewers, the Challengers won the last game,

which in a way is good news cos this lot are now reeling, OK,

so take advantage.

There's £1,000 that says you can't beat them today.

-Would you like to try?

-Absolutely.

-Good stuff.

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

So who would like this?

-Well, I think that sounds like Ruth.

-Yeah.

-Sounds like Ruthie.

OK, Ruth, our office and finance manager, against which Egghead?

-Who do you fancy?

-Who...? You tell me.

-Erm...

-Erm...

I think we should go with...

-Who doesn't look like they know any history?

-They all go back a way!

-There's no-one obvious, I must say.

-No, there's no-one obvious.

-It's classic quiz territory.

-Will we go with Kevin?

OK, yes. Certainly.

Why not...? Is this a good idea?

Somebody hurled themselves at Kevin the other day...

Actually that was nothing to do with the quiz, though.

LAUGHTER

Ruth from the Seaviewers against Kevin from the Eggheads.

The subject - History.

And to ensure there's no conferring,

please take your positions in our Question Room.

So here we are on history, Ruth.

Good luck, and would you like to go first or second?

I will go first, please.

History, your first question.

Which Medieval society was roughly divided into groups called

"jarls," "karls" and "thralls?"

Right, well, not Egyptians. Erm...

I don't think it was Franks, either.

So I will go for Vikings.

Yes, Vikings is right.

Kevin, by which alternative name is

the ancient city of Troy known?

It's sometimes used as a poetic name

for Troy, and it's Ilium.

Ilium is the answer.

Ruth, back to you.

Which of these historical figures

supposedly died on his wedding night?

Right, erm...

Let's see, I...

..don't think it was Genghis Khan.

Now, I think...

..Alexander the Great was ill for quite a while before he died,

so he's possibly not going to get married while he's ill.

So, erm, we'll try Attila the Hun.

Attila the Hun is the right answer. Good play, Seaviewer!

Your team are pleased. OK, Kevin, what name is given to

an old naval warfare tactic that

allows a ship to bear all its guns on an enemy?

It comes from, obviously, from the days of sail,

where one line of ships would basically...

Or maybe a ship would cut across another one, erm, so that

they could bring all their guns to bear on the bows or the stern or...

Erm, and if you think of the way in which that would work as a design,

it's Crossing the T.

-They're coming round the front, are they?

-Or the back.

-Yeah.

Or the back. Basically, they cut the enemy's line.

-Right.

-Try and separate the enemy ships, cut their line,

and if they're broadside on, erm,

the enemy is not able to bring its guns to bear against them,

and they can bring down its rigging, its mast...

I see, I see, yes, Crossing the T is quite right.

OK, Ruth, your question. Two points each.

The majority of the Great Wall of China, as it exists today,

dates from which dynasty?

Right, erm...

I'm pretty sure that dynasty is the one where we get China from,

so that's the Qin Dynasty.

Kevin, let's see, do you know this one?

Well, the wall was begun under the Qin, definitely.

I mean, it was one of the great measures that they took,

but the question said, "As it..."

It says, "The great majority of the wall, as it exists today,

dates from which dynasty?

I might have said Ming for that.

I'm not entirely sure.

It depends on relative distances, but...

It certainly originates with the Qin but whether the majority of it today

dates from one of the others... I'd probably say Ming.

Ming is the right answer, Ruth.

Oh.

Your Qin was not...

-That was a good stab because it was started under the Qin.

-Yeah.

OK, Kevin your question.

In 260, which Roman emperor was captured by the Persians

and later died in captivity?

Was this...?

Now...

..I don't actually recognise Trajan Decius as a name.

That seems to be a...

Maybe he was one of the very short-lived guys.

Um...

Gordian I, I believe, was probably a little bit earlier.

But 260 being captured and subsequently dying in captivity,

I think that was Valerian.

Valerian is right.

Kevin, well done, well played.

You've won the round. Sorry, Ruth, you did take on a very good Egghead.

I think he went ten years without being beaten in history.

As a result, Ruth, you're not in the final but Kevin is.

Please come back and we'll play on.

All right, so it's early days but the Seaviewers have lost a brain

from the final round. The Eggheads, still got all of you there.

The next subject is Music.

So who would like this?

-That will be Mark.

-Mark.

-Mark, OK.

Against which Egghead and it can't be Kevin, Mark?

THEY WHISPER

Ask Rob, he's done his research.

-What about Judith?

-Well, they're saying Chris.

Chris?

-It depends whether Sport comes up later.

-CHRIS:

-I know!

THEY LAUGH

Can you tell us what subjects are coming up?

Do you know, I don't even know.

I haven't looked.

All right, so it's definitely Mark.

But you seem to be havering between Chris and Judith.

-Go on, then.

-Judith.

-Judith.

-Judith.

OK, it's Mark from the Seaviewers versus Judith from the Eggheads.

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

All right, Music, Mark.

Do you want to go first or second?

I'll go second, I think.

OK, Judith, here we go.

Ryedale High School is the setting for much of the action

in which 1978 film musical.

Judith, is it?

Oh, it's definitely not West Side Story.

And it's the '70s.

I think it's Grease.

Yes, Grease was 1978.

Mark, which of these is the title

of Blondie's first UK hit single

reaching number two in 1978. Is it...?

Well, um...

I don't think it's Mickey.

Er...

I think Fernando was, er...

Dr Hook or something like that,

so I'm going to go for Denis.

Yeah, I can't remember if it was Denis, Denis. Was it?

I thought it was Denis, Denis.

Was it Denis, Denis as a title, Dave?

Yeah, Denis, Denis, she sang a bit in French, didn't she?

-Yeah.

-Because Mickey was Toni Basil and Fernando was Abba.

Right. Judith, your question.

In which country was the composer Heitor Villa-Lobos born?

I was going to say it's got to be Spain.

Um...

Well, unless it's a sort of trick question, it must be Brazil.

Brazil is the right answer, Judith, well done.

Good quizzing.

Second question to you, Mark.

Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg

is a comic opera by which composer?

Well, um...

I've never heard of it.

So I'm going to have to make a guess.

I'll go for, I think, Stravinsky.

It's not, it's Wagner,

who's not known for his comedy, I must say.

OK, so Eggheads have two, Challengers have one.

Judith, to take the round.

Which song by U2 replaced Bryan Adams after 16 weeks at the top

of the UK singles chart in 1991?

I haven't the first clue.

Um...

Where The Streets Have No Name.

The Fly is the answer, Judith.

So equal and let's go back, you've got to save the round here, Mark,

with your answer.

According to the title of the 2015 album by The Weeknd,

what is Behind The Madness?

Well...

Er...

Modern stuff isn't my speciality.

So again I'm going to have to try and work this one out.

Er...

Right, I'm going to take a guess again.

I'm going to say Beauty.

-Beauty's right!

-Oh!

OK, Sudden Death.

Judith...

..equal after three questions.

Very tense in the studio.

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

"I long to see the sunlight in your hair

"and tell you time and time again how much I care,"

Judith, are lyrics from which Lionel Richie hit single?

I don't know.

Well, work your way through it.

I don't, I haven't...

I can't think of a Lionel Richie anything.

-So you're passing?

-I'm passing.

-OK.

Do you know this, Mark?

Er, yeah, I do actually. I wish I'd gone for the first set now.

-JEREMY CHUCKLES

-It's Hello.

-Yeah, Hello.

-Oh.

-Have you heard that one?

-I have, actually, now you mention it.

Yeah, OK.

All right, there we are.

So she's playing a tight game here, Mark.

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

With which British male artist did Taylor Swift duet

on her 2012 single, Everything Has Changed?

Um...

I don't know the answer to that.

Taylor Swift.

Oh, I don't know. Mick Hucknall, I don't know.

-Ed Sheeran.

-Ed Sheeran, yeah, of course, yeah.

-And they're sort of best mates, those two.

-Yeah.

OK, Judith, Sudden Death, your question.

Come Away With Me was a UK number one album for which

female artist in 2002?

I have no idea.

Um... Pixie Lott... I don't know.

-Pixie Lott. No, it's not, it's Nora Jones.

-Right.

Mark, your question for the round.

Judith is panicking, so you've got a chance here.

Which band, whose members included Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart,

had a 1979 UK top ten hit with I Only Wanna Be With You?

You're going to know this.

I am going to know that.

I think... And I think they're called The Tourists.

-The Tourists is right.

-Yes!

Well done, you're in the final round.

Oh, Judith, they just didn't fall for you.

They absolutely didn't.

All right, come back to us, both of you,

and we'll see what happens next.

As it stands, the Seaviewers have lost a brain from the final round,

but Mark has pulled it back a bit here.

The Eggheads have lost a brain, as well.

And the next subject is Arts & Books.

So which of you would like this?

-It's either me or...

-It's either you or.

No-one else is leaping forward for Arts & Books.

It doesn't look like it.

-It better be me and we just hope we don't get Science.

-No.

-I can do Science.

-Of course you can.

Right, it had better be me.

OK, retired research scientist, Rob, against...

Who do we fancy?

Chris, Lisa or Dave?

Um, I'm going against Chris.

Very good.

OK, Rob from the Seaviewers against Chris on Arts & Books.

And it's all very evenly balanced here, isn't it?

Please go to the Question Room, gentlemen.

Rob, you can choose whether you go first or second on Arts & Books

against Chris.

I will go first, Jeremy.

And here is your first question.

With which of the following are cherubs usually depicted

in religious renaissance paintings?

Well, cherubs certainly don't have horns and I've never seen

a cherub with a tail, so I think it must be wings.

Wings it is, well done.

Chris, over to you.

My Wicked, Wicked Ways is the title of an autobiography

by which man?

That was the autobiography of Errol Flynn.

Errol Flynn is right.

Back to you, Rob.

The 2016 thriller Crisis is the fiction debut

of which BBC correspondent?

Ah...

Right, I don't feel that it's Andrew Marr.

Frank Gardner...

I don't actually know Frank Gardner.

Um, I'm going to have to go with my strongest hunch,

which is Jeremy Bowen.

-Frank Gardner is the answer.

-Oh.

BBC security correspondent.

OK, Chris.

Which best-selling novelist created the fictional adventurer

Hal Courtney?

Ah, well, Dan Brown writes The Da Vinci Code

and all that sort of stuff, so I don't think it's him.

Wilbur Smith writes a lot of things set in sort of colonial Africa.

So is it Wilbur Smith, or is it Jack Higgins?

No, I'll say Jack Higgins.

-Oh, you veered.

-Mmm.

You swerved away from the correct answer, Wilbur Smith it is.

Oh, there we go.

So one each.

And back to you, Rob, for your third question.

"I was adored once, too" is the lament

of which Shakespearean comic character?

Right...

Er, and again I am not acquainted with that quote.

So...

Um, I'm going to have to go,

I think, with Sir John Falstaff.

Let's see if Chris knows this. It's a beautiful line, actually, Chris.

Yeah, once upon a time I played Sir Toby Belch

opposite Sir Andrew Aguecheek.

-It's Sir Andrew Aguecheek who says that line.

-And the play, Chris?

-Twelfth Night.

-Twelfth Night, Sir Andrew Aguecheek is the answer.

OK, you can get into the final with this one answer, Chris.

Which renaissance artist painted the work Tarquin And Lucretia

housed in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge?

Oh.

Lucretia.

Sounds like she might be a Titian-haired beauty.

So I'll say Titian.

Tarquin And Lucretia was painted by Titian. You're right, Chris.

So he's just pulled ahead of you there over the three questions, Rob.

It means you've been knocked out and Chris will be in the final.

Come back to us and we'll play the last head-to-head.

So the Seaviewers have lost two brains from the final now,

the Eggheads have still just lost Judith.

The last round before the final is Sport.

Everybody, who wants this?

Yeah, that's me, I think.

-Alan.

-By a process of elimination.

-Alan, which Egghead?

-It can be Lisa or Dave.

-Oh, who are we going to have, Lisa or David?

Um, Rob, you're the expert here.

Um, I would tend to go for Lisa.

All right, so Alan, from the Seaviewers,

taking on Lisa from the Eggheads on Sport

and please go, for the last time, to our Question Room.

Sport, Alan. Would you like to go first or second against Lisa?

Well, I think I'd better go first.

And here we go.

Which informal golfing term is used to describe an attempted swing

that misses the ball completely?

It's definitely an air shot.

Air shot is right.

Lisa...

..which ex-Manchester United player left the club in 2016

after an association that lasted 29 years?

Took one look at Jose Mourinho and said,

"I don't like the look of that!" It's Ryan Giggs.

It is Ryan Giggs, well done.

Back to you, Alan.

In a game of rugby union, which player will normally throw the ball

back into play during a line-out?

Well, it's definitely one of the forwards, so it's not a full back.

The scrum half is not... I think it must be the hooker.

Hooker's right.

-Well done.

-Yeah.

Lisa, which boxer was quoted

as saying, "The question isn't at what age I want to retire,

"it's at what income."

CHUCKLES

Oh, goodness.

Um...

OK, it sounds slightly more Tyson/Foremanesque than Bruno,

so let's take him out of the equation.

I don't know. You see, I'm a bit torn here because it sort of sounds

like Tyson but, then, George Foreman dragged himself on for years

and years, didn't he, boxing?

So it's the sort of question you would have asked him,

"When are you finally going to hang up your gloves?"

That's sort of better logic than it sounds like Tyson, isn't it?

Um...

I may regret it, I'll go for George Foreman.

It is George Foreman.

-Woohoo!

-Lisa, well done.

So 2-2, third question to you, Alan.

What nickname has been given to the new Formula 1 cockpit

protection device trialled in 2016?

Well, I haven't got a clue

but it's quite likely to be an acronym,

so I think I'm going to go for one of the four-letter ones.

Then it's just a guess.

So, Aura.

Lisa?

-It's Halo.

-Halo.

This is your question to get into the final,

if you get it right, Lisa.

Hubert Van Innis was the first Belgian to win an Olympic gold medal

in which sport at the 1900 Games?

The first Belgian. OK.

So there hadn't been a huge number of modern Olympic Games before this.

If he's the first Belgian to win,

does that mean it's something in which the Belgians

are sort of renowned as being quite good?

I'm kind of not getting a feeling for anything.

-I don't know. Why don't we try Sailing?

-Sailing.

Now this guy is interesting as we're about to find out.

Let me just see if Kevin knows.

Have you heard of Mr Van Innis?

-I think it's archery.

-It is archery, Kevin, yeah.

He just won a lot of medals. He was, I think, Belgium's most successful

athlete of the 20th century.

He won six golds and three silvers in archery.

So he wasn't just any old Hubert Van Innis.

-Cos there's so many of those!

-There's so many.

So it was archery. You're level after three questions.

We go to Sudden Death again.

Alan, it gets a bit harder. As you know, I don't give you options.

Which country's athletes were suspended from official competition

by the IAAF in November 2015?

Russia.

Russia's right.

Lisa...

Which of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments

is usually staged earliest in the year?

Assuming the year runs January to December

it's the Australian Open.

It is the Australian Open.

Back to you on Sudden Death, Alan.

The FIVB is the governing body of which sport?

I'll have a guess at volleyball.

Volleyball is correct.

The Federation Internationale de Volleyball.

Lisa...

Which cricketer achieved the rare feat of scoring a century

and taking ten wickets in a 1983 Test match in Faisalabad?

-LAUGHS

-You could have stopped at "which cricketer"

and it wouldn't have made any difference at all.

Oh, I don't know.

Pick a cricketer. Any cricketer.

I don't know. Let's say Ian Botham, get it over with.

Ian Botham. Alan, what's your answer to that, do you know?

-I don't know.

-All right, Eggheads?

-Imran Khan.

-Imran Khan, they all say.

-Of course, of course.

So...

-Lisa you're knocked out.

-That's all right. Byesy-bye.

Alan, you're in the final.

Come back to us, both of you, and we will play the final round.

So this is what we have been playing towards,

it is time for the final round which, as always,

is General Knowledge.

But, unfortunately,

those of you who lost your head-to-heads can't take part in this round.

So Rob and Ruth from the Seaviewers,

but also Judith and Lisa from the Eggheads,

would you please now leave the studio?

Mark, Peter and Alan, you're playing to win the Seaviewers £1,000.

Kevin, Chris and Dave, you're playing for something that money can't really buy,

which is the Eggheads' reputation

and not to put too fine a point on it,

to get this show back on the road.

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

This time the questions are all General Knowledge.

You are allowed to confer.

So, Seaviewers, the question is,

can your three brains defeat these three mega-brains over here?

Would you like to go first or second?

We'd like to go first, please.

OK, Peter and team, here we go.

Good luck.

What informal name is given to the hygienic clothing

worn by surgeons during an operation?

Scrubs.

We all agree it's scrubs.

Scrubs is right.

OK, Eggheads...

By what acronym is the standard rate of interest for loans

between financial institutions in the UK better known?

-LIBOR rate.

-It's LIBOR, isn't it?

-LIBOR rate because it was the...

-Big scandal.

-Yeah.

-We're saying LIBOR.

-Yeah.

Cos the other one refers to an exchange.

I can't remember what LEAPS is, but...

-LIBOR between financial institutions.

-Interbank.

Interbank ones there.

Right, we're going for LIBOR, please, Jeremy.

LIBOR is right.

Mark, Alan, Peter, to take the lead, here's your question.

Who wrote the theme tune for the cult TV comedy,

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em?

I think Tony Hatch was Crossroads.

I don't think it was Tony Hatch.

I don't think it was him, no.

It's between Ronnie Hazlehurst and Simon May.

What was the TV show again?

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em.

HUMS THEME TUNE

-Michael Crawford...

-It doesn't sound like a Ronnie Hazlehurst theme.

I think it's Simon May.

To be honest, I'm not sure.

-It's either between...

-I would have to guess between one of those two.

I'd probably go for Simon May.

-What do you reckon?

-I don't know.

Shall we go for Simon May?

We might as well go for Simon May.

-Simon May, we think, please.

-Eggheads?

-ALL:

-Ronnie Hazlehurst.

-Oh!

Sorry!

OK, your question, Eggheads, to take the lead.

Of which country was Gudni Johannesson

elected president in 2016?

Sounds Icelandic.

It sounds a bit Icelandic.

-Sounds Icelandic.

-And they did have a presidential election in 2016.

-OK.

-And Sweden has a prime minister.

-Norway's a monarchy.

They're monarchies, aren't they, so they don't have presidents.

-No presidents.

-So we've got to go Iceland, haven't we?

-Yeah.

We're going to go Iceland, please, Jeremy.

Iceland is quite right. So they've taken the lead.

This one to stay in the contest.

If you get this wrong, the contest is over.

Which of these is a variety of apple brought to the UK

from Italy in the 2000s?

It's only 2000s.

THEY CHUCKLE

It's a pure guess, isn't it?

Vermeer's Dutch. What was Rembrandt, then?

Rembrandt wasn't Italian, I think he was Dutch.

Rubens...

I would go with Rubens, actually.

-You're the boss.

-You're the boss.

-Only because it's ruby red, Rubens...

-Ah, go on.

Let's go for it.

Rubens, we'll give it a try.

-Rubens is right.

-Oh, yes!

It's working for you.

OK, 2-2, very tight but, Eggheads, you've got a question in hand here.

Get this right and the contest is over.

Which word means the study of the nature, origin

and limits of human knowledge?

Epistemology, yeah.

-Epistemology.

-I'm not too sure what axiology is,

but I presume it's to do with axioms.

But phenomenology is a different branch of philosophy all together.

The theory of knowledge is epistemology.

Epistemology.

We believe that's epistemology, please, Jeremy.

OK.

If you've got it right the contest is over.

The correct answer is epistemology.

We say congratulations, Eggheads, you have won!

-DAVE:

-Well played, lads.

APPLAUSE

Yeah, and a relief to you, Eggheads, after the last game

ended in tragedy.

Well, commiserations, Challengers.

On a good day they're strong, there's no doubt about that.

-I hope you enjoyed playing.

-Very much so.

-It's been great fun.

Commiserations, Seaviewers. Great to see you.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them

and they reign supreme over quizland once again.

It does mean you won't be going home with the £1,000,

so the money rolls over to our next show.

Your great relief, you'll be able to try and get a roll together.

I wonder, if at some point in the future,

we'll ask if you are actually unbeatable Eggheads?

Challengers, thank you very much for my sculpture of me, as well.

I'll find a place for that.

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

a, can do sculpture and

b, have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

£2,000 says they don't.

Until then, from all of us here, goodbye.