Episode 22 Eggheads

These people are amongst the greatest quiz players in Britain.

Together they make up the Eggheads,

arguably the most formidable quiz team in the country.

The question is, can they be beaten?

Welcome to Eggheads, the show where a team of five quiz Challengers

pit their wits against possibly the greatest quiz team in Britain.

Here they are, the Eggheads, and in storming form.

-We're doing OK.

-We are doing OK.

-Yeah, always modest...

Well, actually, not very modest at all, are you?

Challenging the might of our quiz Goliaths today are No Blame Culture.

Now, this team regularly quiz together

at the Queen's Park Cafe in Glasgow. Let's meet them.

Hello, I'm Eric and I'm a retired sales manager.

Hello, I'm Malcolm and I'm a local government officer.

Hello, I'm Neil and I'm a company director.

Hello, I'm Ali and I'm a retired marketing manager.

Hello, I'm Ricky and I'm a retired sales manager.

So, Eric and team, welcome. Good to see you.

-ALL:

-Hello.

You come from round the corner, Eric, right?

-Not far away at all.

-And I know you used to do sport together.

We all play hockey and cricket

at Clydesdale Cricket Club, and hockey club.

And did you stop and start quizzing because it was safer?

THEY LAUGH

-Not really, we've always been interested in quizzing.

-Yeah?

-And we rarely win.

-You rarely win?

-We rarely win!

OK...

Well, that may not discomfit them that much,

so we might need to change the story for their benefit!

We need to unsettle them. Well, good luck.

Whether it's hockey or cricket or quizzing, good luck to you.

Every day there is £1,000 worth of cash

up for grabs for our Challengers.

If they fail to defeat the Eggheads,

we take the prize money and roll it over to the next show.

Now, No Blame Culture, the Eggheads are on a little bit of a roll here,

they've won the last six games,

so there is £7,000 to win today.

-Would you like to try?

-Absolutely.

-Good, I'm very pleased.

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

-Who would like this?

-Malcy?

-Yeah, I'll do it.

-Malcolm?

-Yes, I'll take that.

And you can choose any Egghead, including our two newest ones.

-Could I select Beth, please?

-You may indeed.

She won through on her last History round.

So, Malcolm from No Blame Culture... That wasn't supposed to put you off!

Malcolm from No Blame Culture, Beth from the Eggheads,

please go to our famous Question Room.

So, Malcolm, History - would you like to go first or second?

Could I go first, please?

Here we go, good luck to you and good luck to No Blame Culture.

What title is given to the chief official of

the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, or NATO?

It's Secretary General.

It is the secretary general of NATO, well done.

Beth, your question.

Henry of Bolingbroke went on to become which King of England?

I think that was... Henry IV.

Henry IV is quite right.

Anyone help us here? Could it not have been Henry I?

Is he the one who died of eating lampreys, Lisa?

Henry I is the one that died of a surfeit of lampreys, yes.

That's my one historical fact. Henry IV was Bolingbroke?

Yeah, he sort of marched in and said to Richard II,

"No, that's my throne, get off."

And Richard II just said, "All right"?

Well, he had to lock him up

in Pontefract Castle for a bit, but, yeah.

OK, one each. Back to you, Challenger.

The Helsinki Accords of 1975 aimed to ease tension between

the West and the East by recognising the inviolability of frontiers

in what part of the world?

Europe.

Oh, wow, you just go straight there!

You didn't take any run-up at that at all.

Do you want to show your workings there at all?

Well, the final settlement of the post-World War II boundaries

-was agreed at the Helsinki Agreement in 1975.

-Brilliant, quite right.

Europe it is.

Beth, how many chests of tea were thrown into the harbour

during the so-called Boston Tea Party

of 16 December, 1773?

Ooh! Oh, Lord.

34 seems like an awfully small number for such a furore.

But then, could it have been just 34...?

Had they only got 34 off before they were apprehended?

The first number that came to my head before the numbers came up

was quite low, so I'll go with 34.

34 is your answer. Do you know this one, Malcolm?

No, I'm really glad it wasn't my question in this instance!

Let me check with the Eggheads. Puzzled?

I'm puzzled, but I'd have gone with Beth there, because it was

mainly a protest rather than, you know, a definitive thing.

I would have gone with the lower number myself.

Dave agrees with you, Beth.

Oh!

But it's 342.

-Oh, right.

-It's the middle one.

So, you are in the lead and you can take it with this answer, Malcolm.

During the American Civil War,

what name was given to any citizen in the North who opposed the war

and advocated restoration of the Union

through a negotiated settlement with the South?

HE CHUCKLES

It's Copperhead.

-You're certain?

-Yes.

You're good on history!

A man of few words. Copperhead is the right answer.

Three out of three. So, no way back for you, Beth.

Sorry, you've been knocked out. Malcolm, you're in the final round.

Come back and rejoin your teams.

I see, so at the start, Eric,

you were suggesting that not only was your team not the best

quiz team in the country,

you weren't even the best quiz team in the Queen's Park Cafe!

And now you unleash your history player

and you blow us out the water!

Well, that's what happens. Malcolm is our weakest link, so...

-THEY LAUGH

-We are looking forward to it now.

Oh, my goodness! You did a brilliant job there,

just lulling them into thinking it was going to be easy.

As it stands, No Blame Culture have not lost any brains and

haven't even got a question wrong yet. The Eggheads have lost a brain.

We play on, and the next subject is Arts & Books.

-Is this good?

-Oh, no!

It's Neil.

-That's me, that's me.

-OK.

-Yes.

So, Neil from No Blame Culture versus which Egghead? Can't be Beth.

What would you suggest? Do you think...?

I don't know, what about Steve?

You could try him.

-Yeah.

-Go for that, yeah.

-OK, we'll go for Steve, please.

Right. We are still discovering what Steve is made of.

Neil from No Blame Culture

to play Steve from the Eggheads on Arts & Books.

Please go to the Question Room now.

So, tell us what you do in your working life, then, Neil.

I'm a company director for a couple of forestry companies

and have in the past also been the past president of

the Institute Of Wines And Spirits Scotland.

Amazing, that must have been a rather nice job.

It was, um...trying!

THEY CHUCKLE

An awful lot of tasting had to be done.

Yes, I'm sure, I'm sure. Well, we'll always help you with that!

Good luck on Arts & Books.

You're playing Steve, and would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please, Jeremy.

OK, so here is your first question, Neil, good luck.

Monty: His Part In My Victory is a book by which comedian?

I'm pretty sure that's Spike Milligan.

Spike Milligan is right.

Steve, here's your question.

Nick Hornby's autobiographical book about football fandom,

Fever Pitch, was first published at the start of which decade?

Right.

When was it published, you said? Sorry.

Yeah, first published at the start of which decade?

Well, he is a fairly recent author, he's still going,

so I think it must be the '90s.

1990s is right. Back to you, Neil.

The Renaissance artist born Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi

was popularly known by what name,

derived from an Italian word meaning "small wine cask"?

"Small wine cask" is the one that gives it away to me.

That's going to be Botticelli, I suspect.

Yes, you're right, that's a rather handy question for you, isn't it?

-That came across quite well.

-Botticelli is right.

Over to you, Steve.

In which Shakespeare play are Lucius, Quintus, Martius and Mutius

sons of the title character?

Right.

Well, I don't think it's Othello.

I don't really remember Julius Caesar having that many sons.

So by default I'm going to have to go with Titus Andronicus.

Yes, classic elimination moment there.

Have you seen Titus Andronicus or read it or...?

Yeah, there is a film, I think it's Ralph Fiennes,

or perhaps I'm completely off beam, but... Or is it...?

No, it might be Anthony Hopkins, actually.

But, yeah, I've seen the film and read the play,

so I should know, really.

Yes, you're right. Two each.

Your third question, Neil.

Which novel by Albert Camus consists of an extended,

one-sided conversation between an unidentified stranger

and a former Parisian lawyer?

I don't know this one.

The only one that I know of by Albert Camus, of those three,

is The Stranger, L'Etranger.

Um, so, I will go with The Stranger.

OK, The Stranger is your answer. I think they are all Camus.

Any Eggheads know this? No? We are drawing a blank.

What about you, Steve?

I'm embarrassed to say, I think I've read them all, but, um,

I've got no way of distinguishing...

I don't think it's The Plague, so it probably will be,

now I've said that! But I would be guessing, to be fair.

-Yeah, it's not The Plague or The Stranger. It's The Fall.

-Oh, well.

So, Steve has a chance to take the round, pull one back.

Here's your question.

All the Conspirators in 1928 and The Memorial in 1932

were the first published novels by which writer?

Well, I don't think EM Forster was that prolific, to be honest.

I thought I'd read most of his stuff,

and they certainly don't tie in with that. The same with Aldous Huxley.

In fact, I think Aldous Huxley's first novel was Chrome Yellow,

which blows that out of the water, really.

So, because I'm not as familiar with Isherwood's work,

I would say Christopher Isherwood.

Impressive, Steve. Christopher Isherwood is the right answer.

Sorry, Neil, the Eggheads reasserted themselves a bit.

These things happen.

They are quite good!

The question didn't fall my way, of course.

So, come back to us, both of you, and we'll play the next round.

OK, No Blame Culture have lost a brain now.

That was not the plan! The Eggheads have lost one as well.

We play on, and it's Music.

Who would like Music?

-I think that's me, Jeremy.

-OK, Ricky against which Egghead?

Anyone except Beth or Steve.

I think I'll try Pat, please.

OK, Ricky from No Blame Culture versus Pat from...

What's the opposite of No Blame Culture?

-It's where everyone else is to blame.

-Well, aren't they always?

Pat from the Eggheads, please go to our Question Room now.

OK, Ricky, so you are on Music,

and I know, by the way, you play guitar, do you?

I do, yes, after a fashion.

In a band?

Um, yes, well, I've played in bands since I was at school.

But, um, nobody wants a 69-year-old rock 'n' roller these days,

so the chances are few and far between.

Well, nobody's told Mick Jagger that!

That's for sure.

OK, on Music, do you want to go first or second against Pat?

I think I'll go first, please.

Here is your question.

In music, two or more musical parts sounding the same pitch

at the same time is known as what?

Well, overture is the commencement of a piece,

so I suspect it is unison.

Unison is correct.

Pat, over to you.

The singer Bessie Smith, who was born in 1894,

was best known as an exponent of which musical genre?

I could be getting this wrong,

but I think she was the Empress of the Blues, so I'm going for blues.

Blues is right. OK, Ricky.

Which record label, set up with an 800 family loan,

celebrated its 50th anniversary in January 2009?

I think EMI has been going longer than that.

Um...

Motown, I think, was a fairly big production,

so I'm going to go for Apple.

Any Eggheads know this?

Yeah, Motown.

Motown is the answer, Ricky.

OK, so you've got one wrong and Pat has the chance to take the lead.

Released in 1957,

Love Is The Thing is a chart-topping album by which singer?

The album doesn't ring any bells with me.

It'll end up being a bit of a guess, this.

Can I have the question one more time, please?

Released in 1957,

Love Is The Thing is a chart-topping album by which singer?

Well, Nat 'King' Cole died in his mid-40s, tragically young.

I've certainly seen footage of him in black and white,

so it's just possible that he was dead by then.

Of the other two, I can certainly imagine Frank Sinatra

releasing an album of that name.

He sang loads of classic standards and ballads.

So I'll take a chance on Frank Sinatra.

No, it's not, it's Nat 'King' Cole.

It is Nat 'King' Cole.

So, Ricky, a little bit of a let-off,

you need to take advantage now if you can.

Which orchestral suite, first performed publicly in 1920,

was originally called Seven Pieces For Large Orchestra?

I suspect that wasn't Tchaikovsky.

I think that may be The Planets.

The Planets is the right answer. Puts a bit of pressure on Pat.

Pat, get this wrong and you'll be knocked out.

Which Simon & Garfunkel song contains the lines, "the words of

"the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls"?

I'm playing it in my head. They're all three well-known songs.

I think it's The Sound Of Silence.

Yes, you're right. We're level after three questions.

And, Ricky, it gets a bit harder. It goes to Sudden Death.

-I don't give the alternatives. Are you ready?

-I am, yes.

Castle Cary train station in Somerset is the closest

station to the site of which music festival?

Glastonbury?

Glastonbury's correct.

Pat, in which decade

was the rock-music magazine Kerrang! first published?

Well, it's all about heavy metal, isn't it? Erm...

I suppose it could have come out in the '60s.

'60s or '70s. I think it's going to be a pick between those two.

Erm, '80s, surely heavy metal was well established by the '80s.

Led Zeppelin had been... Were big names from the early '70s onwards.

I think I've no choice. I think the 1970s are a more heavy-metal decade

than the '60s, so I'll go 1970s.

1970s. Now, Ricky, you're the musician. Do you know?

I'm not particularly a heavy-metal fan,

but I suspect it might have been the '80s.

You're bang on, actually!

-'81, Pat!

-Oh!

-So the decade was the '80s.

You've been knocked out by our rather good quizzers here.

Another Egghead bites the dust.

Ricky, well done, you're in the final round. Come back to us.

We'll play on.

Well, Eric, there we are,

the understated start, and you've now knocked out two Eggheads.

You've lost one brain, No Blame Culture, Eggheads have lost two.

Final round before the final itself is Sport. Who would like this?

-That'll be me.

-OK, Eric.

I'm not going to believe anything you say about how weak you

may be on Sport. I won't believe it.

Eric from No Blame Culture plays Sport against whom?

And it can be either Dave or Lisa,

so you're picking on the left-hand side there.

-They're both good on Sport. I'll pick Lisa.

-All right.

Eric from No Blame Culture... What was the phrase?

"Good on Sport" - an exaggeration.

I cannot tell you how much I'm not looking forward to this.

LAUGHTER

Well, let's see if Lisa can hold up the flow here.

To ensure there's no conferring, please take your

positions in our Question Room.

So, Eric, would you like to go first or second on Sport?

I'd like to go first, please, Jeremy.

And here is your question, Eric. Good luck. In the Olympic Games,

the weightlifting competition is divided up into a number of

events in which athletes compete depending on what factor?

It's not age.

I don't think it'd be height. I'll go their weight.

Yes, it is their weight.

Lisa, the Tour de France traditionally ends on which

Parisian thoroughfare?

Fancy putting it on a quay! That'd be a bit scary.

It's the Champs-Elysees.

It is the Champs-Elysees. Eric, back to you.

Apart from final matches,

how many minutes is each half of a game of rugby sevens meant to last?

Rugby sevens is a hard game. 25 minutes would be tricky.

I think the answer to that's seven.

Yes, it is seven minutes. Have you seen it or played it?

I've played it, when I was younger, yes.

It seems very short. Why is it so explosive?

It's very intense.

You've got the whole of the rugby pitch to cover and you've only

-got seven players, so it's hard work.

-OK.

-So a lot of running around.

-Yeah.

Lisa, your question.

Which American athlete set a world record in the long jump

of 8.90 metres at the 1968 Olympics?

That was Bob Beamon.

Yes, and he's a very famous name.

Is that because it was unbroken for a long time?

Yeah, Mike Powell actually was the one to break it, in 1991, 8.95.

Still stands.

OK, two points each.

Challengers have got the edge on the Eggheads here.

If you get this one right,

we may be at a decisive moment in the game, Eric.

Which of these football clubs have played home matches at the

Ricoh Arena? That's R-I-C-O-H.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think

that might be Coventry City.

-Let's see if your team-mates think you're right. Yes?

-Spot-on.

Spot-on! Well done, Eric. Coventry City it is. OK, your third question.

You can't put it off any more, Lisa.

Kukkiwon is the name of the headquarters of which sport?

K-U-K-K-I-W-O-N, Kukkiwon.

Can you spell it for me again, Jeremy, please?

There are three Ks in it.

K-U-K-K-I-W-O-N, all one word. Kukkiwon.

I haven't got a clue.

And I haven't got a clue how to go about narrowing it down, either.

Would it be too simplistic simply to say taekwondo because

the same thing's in there?

Ooh, no, see, I'm having a fight here. I don't think it's kendo.

I'm torn between taekwondo and judo, and I am the world's worst at 50/50.

Come on. Taekwondo.

JEREMY LAUGHS

Well, yeah, your one little straw that you grabbed was the

-appearance of the "won" in Kukkiwon and taekwondo.

-Wrong straw?

No, the straw's good. Taekwondo's the right answer. Well done.

Thank you, straw!

Oh, Eric, you were so close there to delivering

a possibly pulverising blow to the Eggheads. Let's see.

We go to Sudden Death. Gets a bit harder.

I don't give you alternatives. Here's your question.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Hank Aaron was a major name in which sport?

I'm going to say baseball.

Baseball's right!

He held the Major League all-time home-run record for 30, 40 years.

Lisa, to stay in...

which 51-year-old six-time champion jockey announced his

retirement in July 2016?

I think it was Kieren Fallon. Kieren Fallon?

Kieren Fallon is right.

Back to you. Sudden Death, Eric. In which sport, Eric,

would you use a technique known as the Indian dribble?

Well, I'm hoping that's hockey.

Yeah, field hockey, hockey.

It's the sport that brought you guys together, isn't it?

-Correct.

-That's right. OK, Lisa, it doesn't get any easier, does it?

In basketball, which player position, sometimes called the one,

is responsible for controlling the team's attacking play?

Ooh, look, new team positions to learn when I've got a second...!

I can't even think of any position in basketball, so I'm going to

have to pass and hand Eric a very well-deserved round. I'm sorry.

You've got to guess.

Honestly, I cannot think of a single position in basketball!

-OK. Point guard.

-Point guard!

-And you're out.

-I've learned something, though. That's all right.

-You're a goner,

Lisa. Sorry! Eric, well done.

This team that you undersold to us is performing very, very well.

Come back to us, and we're going to play what

looks like now a very exciting 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 I'm afraid those of you who lost your head-to-heads are not

allowed to take part in this round.

So, that is Neil from No Blame Culture,

but it's also Lisa, Pat and Beth from the Eggheads.

Would you please now leave the studio?

Well, well, well! Eric, Malcolm, Ali and Ricky,

you're now playing to win No Blame Culture £7,000.

Dave and Steve, you're playing for something the money can't buy,

which is the Eggheads' reputation,

and to somehow block the advance of these impressive Challengers.

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

This time, they're all General Knowledge.

You are allowed to confer, gentlemen.

So, No Blame Culture, the question is, are your four brains now able

to defeat these two and prove that you are all-powerful in Quizland?

Would you like to go first or second?

We'd like to go first, please, Jeremy.

OK, Ali and team, good luck. First question...

which of these words means to deny or contradict a fact or statement?

-Gainsay, do you think?

-I think it's gainsay.

-Certain.

Yeah, we're pretty confident that this is gainsay, Jeremy.

Gainsay is the right answer.

Eggheads, your first question.

What is a hamlet?

-It's not a cigar, then!

-No, no.

It's a small village, I think.

-Are you happy with?

-Small pig's funny, though, in't it? Ham-let.

-Ham-let, yeah.

-Yeah, small village.

We're going to go small village, please, Jeremy.

Oh, can't you get this one wrong?

-No.

-Because it would be really funny.

-No.

-Cheers, pal(!)

Small village is the right answer.

OK, I think that's probably the shortest question I've ever

asked on Eggheads, "What is a hamlet?"

OK, your question.

A regular icosahedron has 20 faces and how many edges?

What's "icosa-"?

20 faces. Trying to work out...

-How many edges?

-How many edges?

If there's 20 faces, surely it has to be the highest, 50 edges.

Some of them are common faces.

-Y'know. Faces and edges are common.

-Uh-huh.

-I really don't know.

-No blame! Might just be

40, but...

-What do you want to go with? 40?

-Go down the middle?

-Malcolm, have you not got...?

-No.

-We don't know.

Jeremy, we're really not very sure about this one,

but we're going down the middle with 40.

OK, 40 is your answer. What would you say, guys?

I might have gone 30, but I could be very wrong.

-Let's try back there. Lisa, Pat, Beth?

-I have a theory.

-It's 20 triangular faces.

-Yeah.

So that's 20 times three is 60 edges, but they've

all been double-counted, so you divide by two and you're down to 30,

-I think.

-Oh, I see, because every edge abuts one triangle.

Well, that sounds right. The answer is right. 30. It's 30.

Now he says that... Did you know it was triangles, the shape, or not?

-No. I didn't.

-No, we didn't.

OK. Back to the Eggheads.

What is the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet?

Right, alpha, beta, gamma... No, alpha, beta, kappa...

-Alpha, beta, gamma, delta...

-Epsilon.

-Zeta, eta, theta, iota.

-So iota's the ninth.

-Yeah, kappa, lambda then mu.

-Yeah. That's fine, yeah. Right.

-Iota.

Yep. We're going for iota.

Iota. OK. They're quite impressive on their Greek alphabet, these two.

I don't know when they find time to practise it.

Iota is the right answer.

So they've got two and you've got one.

Get this one wrong and it's over.

Which of these creatures belongs to the scientific suborder vermilingua?

That's V-E-R-M-I-L-I-N-G-U-A,

-vermilingua.

-I would guess eel.

-Uh-huh.

I was looking for worm to come up.

-Vermicelli is "little worms".

-Yeah.

-So eel is almost like that.

-Yeah.

Yes, Jeremy, we're ruling out anteater and snail and going

-for eel.

-Eel. What was your reasoning for that?

Verm-, vermicelli, little worms.

-Oh, I see, yeah, yeah. Got you.

-We thought eel was the most like that.

Let me check with the Eggheads on this.

Well, we were thinking vermilingua, "worm tongue",

so something with like a worm, long tongue,

so I'd personally have gone anteater, but I'm not...

I don't know.

Mm! OK, well, these are both good arguments.

If this is wrong, the contest is over.

If it's right, we play on, we go to them.

The correct answer is...

-anteater.

-Oh, dear.

-We say congratulations, Eggheads, you have won.

-Well played, lads.

Well played. Well played.

-The icosahedron, that was the killer.

-Yeah.

-I'm afraid so, yep.

And now Pat explains it, I've got it pictured in my mind,

but I didn't know they were triangles.

Guys, thanks for playing. That was brilliant. Great game, wasn't it?

-They're a brilliant team.

-A very good team.

Commiserations to No Blame Culture.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them.

This is now properly a winning streak.

Somebody's got to come and stop it, surely.

I'm afraid it means the Challengers are not going home with the £7,000.

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

Eggheads, well done. Who will beat you?

A little bit ragged today, but you were there in the end,

in the final round, which is what counts.

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

brains to defeat that lot. £8,000 says they don't. Till then, goodbye.