Episode 3 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.

And here they are, the Eggheads.

You've got an appetite for the fight today?

Definitely. I have now, yes. Absolutely. Raring to go.

Taking on our awesome quiz champions today

are Yes, Sarah.

Now, this team are all members

of the Norwich Phoenix Male Voice Choir.

Let's meet them.

Hello, I'm Philip, and I write crime novels.

Hello, I'm Jerry, and I'm a retired finance manager.

Hello, I'm Keith, and I'm a retired engineer.

Hi, I'm Eddie. I'm a retired hotel manager.

Hello, I'm Chris, and I'm a retired teacher.

So, Philip and team, welcome.

Thank you very much. Got to ask about the team name first.

Why are you called Yes, Sarah?

Well, Sarah is our lovely musical director,

and with 30 reprobates like us,

she needs to have a rod of iron in a velvet glove,

so she's taught us that when she asks a question, we reply...

ALL: "Yes, Sarah." I see.

All right, with gusto.

How long have you all been singing together?

Well, the choir has been in existence for about six years,

and we've joined at various intervals in that time.

And I guess the key question is whether you quiz together as well,

or do any of you quiz?

We have a couple of quizzers. Maybe don't point them out.

You want to keep the Eggheads guessing here.

OK.

But we enjoy quizzing,

and we watch the programme religiously.

Oh, fantastic. OK.

Well, you'll recognise then our two new Eggheads

right in the middle there - Beth and Steve.

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, Yes, Sarah, the Challengers won the last game,

proving it can be done.

That means ?1,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads today.

Would you like to try and win now? Certainly would. Good stuff.

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

Now, who would like this? LAUGHTER

Volunteer for Food Drink?

Sounds hopeful. I think that's Keith. Yes.

Keith? I'll take Food Drink, yes.

OK, retired engineer against which Egghead?

I'm thinking of Tremendous Knowledge Dave.

So, it's going to be Keith from Yes, Sarah

versus Tremendous Knowledge Dave from the Eggheads.

And just to ensure there's no conferring,

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

So, Dave, Food Drink. Are we confident on this?

Well, we'll just have to see what questions come up.

I've got a mixed record on this subject, I believe.

Keith, on Food Drink,

you can choose whether you go first or second.

Thank you. I will go first, Jeremy, please.

And here we go with your first question.

What phrase has come to mean a specialised ale

brewed in small quantities by an independent brewery?

Well, I am a member of CAMRA, Campaign for Real Ale,

and I recognise craft beer as the answer.

And you're right too. Craft beer it is. Well done.

There we go. First question to your team. Well done.

Dave, what is the literal translation of the name

of the Italian dumplings called gnocchi?

I don't know.

Let's have a think.

They're not tubular.

Not hoops.

I've got to go lumps,

but I'm not really happy with that answer at all.

But lumps.

Yeah, lumps. You've got it. That's what they are.

Lumps is the answer, cos that's what they are.

Keith, in Indian cuisine,

which nut is a common ingredient in korma-style curries?

I would say that's the almond.

Yes, you're quite right. Almond it is.

Dave, back to you.

Popular in Austria at Christmas, Vanillekipferl is a type of what?

It's one word. V-A-N-I-L-L-E-K-I-P-F-E-R-L.

Vanillekipferl.

Just on the basis that biscuits and puddings are quite commonplace -

it could be a Christmas biscuit or Christmas pudding -

I'm going to go liqueur, because possibly at Christmas time

somebody would have a liqueur like that.

The answer is biscuit. Right. Never heard of it.

All right, this is good, Keith.

Get this question right, you're in the final,

you've knocked out an Egghead.

Hawke's Bay is a well-known wine region in which country?

Well, it's a New World wine,

and I believe it comes from New Zealand.

Is he right, Dave? Yes, of course he's right.

You're right. New Zealand it is. Well done.

Three out of three, Keith.

Continues the slightly torrid time for the Eggheads.

Dave has been knocked out and won't be in the final.

Keith, you will be. Please rejoin your teams.

Well, the Eggheads taking a bit of a bashing at the moment.

Yes, Sarah have not lost any brains from the final round.

The Eggheads have lost a brain already.

And the next subject for you is Music, gentlemen.

Who would like Music? This is good, isn't it?

Yes, it's very good. Yes, I'll take Music.

OK, it's going to be Eddie, our retired hotel manager.

Against which Egghead? Anyone but Dave.

Let me try Beth.

Very good idea of trying Beth.

We don't know... I'm just thinking, are you...?

Where are you on your music, Beth?

I think you like music. I do like music.

I've not had the Music round... No. ..in this so far. OK.

You didn't choose Music on Make Me An Egghead, did you?

No. Julia in the final chose Music.

Oh, but you won on that round. But I beat her on that. That's right.

OK, so, Eddie from Yes, Sarah versus one of our newest Eggheads,

and please go to the special Question Room now.

So, Beth, your musical tastes, remind us.

Oh, they're very wide-ranging.

Popular music, '90s '80s.

Goes down into the classical range as well.

All right, well, good luck in this round.

Good luck to you, Eddie, as well.

What's your particular kind of music

if you could choose what sort of music came up?

Just general.

I mean, I like all genres of music, really. Great stuff.

Listen, good luck, Eddie. Would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please, Jeremy.

Here is your first question.

Which of these, Eddie,

is a traditional long-necked stringed instrument from Greece?

Ooh.

I can't say I'm absolutely sure about that one.

They're fairly obscure, as far as I'm concerned.

I'd say possibly bouzouki.

Bouzouki is quite right.

The bouzouki has become

something of a fixture

in traditional Irish music.

It jumped the barrier... Did it?

Bands like De Dannan and people like Alec Finn and Donal Lunny,

suddenly bouzoukis were everywhere, and they fit in really nicely.

OK, good answer from Eddie. Beth, your first question.

What is the title of Paul Simon's 2016 solo album?

Ooh.

I don't know for certain,

but the one that pulls out to me strongest is Stranger To Stranger.

Doesn't sound... Odder To Odder... No.

So, Stranger To Stranger.

Yes, Stranger To Stranger is right.

OK, back to you, Eddie.

Which female singer and songwriter was born Claire Boucher in 1988?

Golly, that's some fairly obscure ones.

1988?

1988.

Oh, dear.

I've got nothing really to go on here, I don't think.

Would it be Lorde?

It's not Lorde, but who is this, Pat?

Grimes. Grimes is the answer.

OK, Beth, your question.

"And if I were a watch, I'd start popping my spring,

"or if I were a bell I'd go ding-dong, ding-dong, ding"

are song lyrics from which musical?

It doesn't particularly sound West Side Story.

I can't see the Sharks and the Jets

singing "Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding."

I'm going to go with Singin' In The Rain.

Singin' In The Rain. Now, I wonder if Eddie knows this. Eddie?

I thought it was Guys And Dolls, but...

No, you're absolutely right. It is Guys And Dolls. Oh. Yeah.

OK.

So, one each after two questions.

Your third question, Eddie, is this.

Which composer fled the Russian Revolution in 1917,

making the final part of his journey on an open sled?

Ah.

Yeah, I'm not absolutely certain about this one.

Is that Rachmaninov?

It is Rachmaninov. Well done. Thank you.

Anyone know where he ended up or anything?

He spent a lot of time in America,

and then he retired,

I think, to Switzerland.

But he had been from a very rich family in Russia,

and pretty much lost everything when he fled the revolution.

And at the age of 40,

he embarked on a career as a concert pianist

because he was primarily a composer, but he was a magnificent pianist.

And despite stage fright,

he built himself back up

into a very wealthy man.

At the age of 40, it takes some bottle.

Wow. That's a great story. OK, Beth, pressure on here.

Mm-hm.

You need to get this one right to stay in. Yep.

Pelican West was the sole album released

by which short-lived '80s pop band.

Well, I'm pretty sure that Curiosity Killed The Cat

was a bit longer-lived than just one album.

And similarly with Haircut 100.

So, Modern Romance isn't a band I'd heard of,

so they're probably the least well-known

and therefore shorter in duration, so, Modern Romance.

OK, Dave will know this,

cos this is not so much your kind of music

but your era, our era, Dave.

Haircut 100.

Oh! Haircut 100, Beth.

Not to worry, but you've been knocked out

and this is another good moment for our Challengers.

What is happening to the Eggheads here? Wobbling around.

So, well done, Eddie. You're in the final round.

Please return to us, return to your team-mates,

and we'll play on.

As it stands, Yes, Sarah are Yes, Yes, Sarah.

You're doing really well.

Sarah will be watching this, won't she? She will.

She'll be thinking, "This is fantastic."

Her name is up in lights. You've not lost a brain.

The Eggheads have lost two, and we play on with History.

So, who would like this?

We have our historian.

On the plan, that's me, isn't it? Yep.

OK, Chris. And against which Egghead?

You can choose anyone but Dave and Beth.

I'll try my luck with Barry.

So, Chris from Yes, Sarah versus Barry from the Eggheads.

You love doing History, Barry.

I do, and it's very rare I get picked on it,

so I'm going to enjoy this.

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

History, Chris. Any particular time, period, area?

Well, I suppose the 16th and 17th century

are the favourites with me.

And I'm just thinking which kings they would be.

We're talking Henry VIII onwards, are we?

Henry VIII and Elizabeth and James and Charles I and...

Well, that's a very rich seam for quizzing, isn't it, Barry?

It is indeed.

Henry VIII especially seems to come up in all sorts of places.

I always think with kings and queens,

if you know Henry VIII, you've got half the potential questions.

If only!

All right, so, Chris, would you like to go first or second in this round?

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

And good luck.

Let's see if you can take down another Egghead here.

Which of these words describes a band of Zulu warriors?

I think sepoy I associate with the Indian soldiers.

Impi, I've got a feeling I've heard a song

about, "Hold you down, you impi warrior,"

but I may be getting it muddled up with something else.

In any case, I'm going to go for impi.

Yes, impi is right. Well done.

Barry, a satrap was originally

the name given to the governor

of a province in which ancient empire?

Satraps were governors in the ancient empire of Persia.

They were indeed. Persia's right.

Chris, back to you.

In which US state was the First Battle of Bull Run

fought in 1861?

I would rule out Alaska.

I don't think much of the Civil War was fought in that area.

And, likewise, California was

a bit out of the main run of things at that stage.

So, I'll go for Virginia, Jeremy.

Really good logic, Chris. Yes, you're right. It is Virginia.

Trying to hold back the tide here, Barry, aren't you?

I'll do my best.

Who was the youngest son of William the Conqueror?

Richard I was a son of Henry II.

William the Conqueror was followed by,

if I'm not mistaken, William Rufus and then Henry I,

so I'll go for Henry I.

Henry I is correct.

So, two each. Chris, back to you.

So, this is an interesting moment in the contest here.

Your team are in control at the moment.

What was the name of the last Muslim dynasty in Spain,

expelled in 1492 after the defeat at Granada?

Oh, about all I know about Spain and Muslims

is that it was El Cid who did a lot towards chasing them out,

so I'm in the area of complete guesswork here, I think,

and I can't see a lot to go on in the clues in the names.

I think I'll just go straight down the middle and go for Nasrid.

HE LAUGHS Is he right, Barry?

Yes, he's totally right.

Nasrid it is.

OK, Barry, back to you to stay in.

Who was the British governor general of India

at the time of the rebellion in 1857?

Oh, my goodness me.

This is something I really should know.

1857 seems a little late for Canning,

so I'm going to discount Canning.

I've never heard of Sir Henry Hardinge,

but Lord Dalhousie rings a very vague bell,

so I shall go for him, but I'm really not sure on this one.

OK, Lord Dalhousie is your answer.

If you've got it wrong, you've been knocked out.

You'll be the third Egghead in a row to be knocked out

by our brilliant singers.

The answer is Viscount Canning. You've been knocked out, Barry.

Wow. Well done, Chris.

Well done indeed.

You've actually knocked Barry out

on pretty much his strongest subject as well,

and you will be in the final.

Please return to your teams now.

Well, team, what can I say? This is going so well.

So, all you've got to do is knock one more out,

and it'll be all five of you against one.

But it doesn't really matter at this stage,

cos you're doing so well.

The key thing is you've got to win the final round.

Yes, Sarah still haven't lost a brain.

This is a really interesting game.

The Eggheads have lost three,

despite having the new blood and everything else.

The next subject is Arts Books,

so who from the Challengers wants that?

Will you take that?

I'll give it a go if you like, yeah. OK.

I think so, probably. I'll try. Jerry, OK.

Against which Egghead, Jerry?

And you can have Steve or Pat?

I'd like to go with Steve, please.

OK. Another new Egghead.

All right, let's see if Steve can turn the tide somehow.

So, Jerry from Yes, Sarah versus Steve,

one of our newest Eggheads.

Please both of you go to our special Question Room now.

Does it feel like a crisis, Steve?

It certainly does, Jeremy.

Just as a measure of how serious this is,

Barry has done 41 History rounds in his Eggheads life

and that was only the fourth he's lost.

Think it might be a case of name on the trophy. It's...

At least Pat will have plenty of room to spread out.

Let's put it like that. All right, so, Arts Books, Jerry.

I know there's almost more pressure on you here

cos you've got to keep this going.

Do you want to go first or second?

I will go first, please, Jeremy.

And here is your first question.

The 2003 novel entitled The Kite Runner

is a work by which author?

Not something that I know.

I think I'm going to have to hazard a guess.

The Kite Runner, you said? The Kite Runner.

I'm going to go for Salman Rushdie.

Steve, you know this?

Yeah, I've read it. It's a fantastic book.

It's Khaled Hosseini.

It is Khaled Hosseini, who I think lives in the States now,

actually, doesn't he?

But he also did, was it A Thousand Splendid Suns?

Yeah, that's an even better book. I agree.

I thought they were both incredible books.

Khaled Hosseini is the right answer.

OK, Steve, your question.

In which US city was the art museum

simply known as The Met founded in 1870?

At risk of sounding overconfident,

I would hope that's got to be New York.

New York it is.

Back to you, Jerry.

Robert Indiana was a prominent figure

in which 20th-century art movement?

I've got a feeling that cubism is a bit too early.

I will go for pop art, please, Jeremy.

Lovely job. You've done it. Well done. Pop art it is.

I wonder if the Eggheads are starting to get

a bit of their mojo back here.

We'll see. Steve, your question.

"You better not never tell nobody but God"

is the opening line of which novel?

Well, I did have an actual answer in my head before you mentioned it,

and it has come up.

So, I mean, I know it's not To Kill A Mockingbird,

cos that's something about Jem's brother

getting his arm broken, something along those lines.

Gone With The Wind, I've read it

but I cannot remember the first line.

I've also read The Color Purple,

and that is the answer that I think it is.

The Color Purple is right.

So, it's slightly tilting back against you here, Challengers.

You need to get this one right, Jerry, to stay in.

Which author managed one of the first Saab car dealerships

in the United States -

an experience he later drew on in a novel?

Ray Bradbury is science fiction.

Joseph Heller, I think, was Catch 22.

So, I'm going to go for Joseph Heller.

Kurt Vonnegut is the answer, Jerry, so that gives the round to Steve.

Well done, Steve.

Have you stemmed the tide here? We shall see.

If you both come back to us, we'll play the final round.

We had our favourite thing of first lines of books there.

Steve, you mentioned To Kill A Mockingbird.

You got it very slightly wrong.

"When he was nearly 13, my brother Jem got his arm..."

"Badly broken at the elbow." Yeah. Yeah. I was just paraphrasing.

No, no, no. I think... Yeah. I know.

I thought his version was better. Well, I think you did, actually.

I knew... Yeah, yeah. I think your version was better.

Right.

Any other great first lines that quizzers should know?

1984, I'd imagine, would be an obvious candidate. Which is?

"Bright cold day in April, and the clocks were all striking 13."

That's right. And Moby Dick.

"Call me Ishmael," yeah.

That's an almost inexhaustible trove.

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

won't be allowed to take part here, so that's Jerry from Yes, Sarah,

but also Dave, Beth and Barry from the Eggheads.

Would you all please now leave the studio?

Philip, Keith, Eddie and Chris,

you're playing to win your team, Yes, Sarah, ?1,000.

Pat and Steve, you're playing for something that money can't buy,

which is to just somehow build back the Eggheads' reputation.

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, Yes, Sarah, the question is,

are your four brains able to defeat these two?

And as we know, there's no obvious answer to that,

but we wish you all the best. Good luck.

Do you want to go first or second? We'll go first, please.

OK, Philip and team, all the best.

Playing for ?1,000.

Which of these words taken from French

means a feeling of listlessness or dissatisfaction?

All right, gentlemen. Down the middle, I think.

Parapluie is an umbrella, isn't it? Parapluie is umbrella, yeah.

Drolerie sounds like humour. Yes.

Ennui is boredom, isn't it?

Ennui is definitely boredom, yeah.

We'll go for ennui.

Ennui is correct.

Eggheads, Pat and Steve,

what name is given to a non-elected delegate

in a US presidential campaign who has not pledged

to support a particular candidate?

Super?

It sounds the most familiar of those three.

It's the only one I've heard of, to be fair.

Yeah, the other two sound unlikely, don't they?

I mean, they're all superlative terms, aren't they?

You're going from super to hyper to mega.

Got to be a superdelegate. Yeah. Yeah? OK.

We think that's superdelegate.

Superdelegate is correct.

Challengers, for what does the first A stand

in the name of the provider

of school and college examinations, AQA?

Associated. OK.

The middle one stands for Quality, doesn't it? Yes, yes.

So it's got to be something that makes sense with Quality...

which...

Academic Quality makes sense.

I mean, I've been out of that...

I think it's probably got to be Academic, has it not, the first A?

Academic Qualifications Assessment.

Unless it's Associated Quality...

Yeah, it's more likely Academic.

Academic, yes.

Things have changed

so much since I was last...

Things have changed since we all left school.

Very radically.

Shall we go for Academic?

Yep. Yep. Go for it.

Without any confidence, we'll go for Academic.

OK. Academic is your answer.

We've got at least one teacher, haven't we?

Yes.

Although, I think maybe

the AQA is quite a recent...

That's right, yes. Since my time.

Do you know this, guys? Is it Academic?

I didn't think it was.

I thought it was Assessment, based on being at school

probably more recently than anybody else here,

but I could entirely be wrong.

Well, it's Assessment and Qualifications Alliance.

Ah. OK.

So, that's the AQA, and it means you've got a wrong answer

at what might be a crucial moment, but let's see.

Have the Eggheads

corrected their skid?

In which country did work on the FAST radio telescope,

500 metres in diameter, begin in 2011?

FAST is F-A-S-T, capital letters, OK?

Yeah, I know about this.

Yeah, that's good, then.

It's in Guizhou Province

in southern China. HE CHUCKLES

Are you laughing, Steve, cos...? I'm not going to argue with that.

He's got the actual GPS coordinates there!

China is right. So, the Eggheads pull ahead,

and that means you need to get this one right, Challengers.

Which of the UK's Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

is the largest in area?

Right, do we know where these various areas are?

The Weald of Kent, presumably? Kent.

Weald of Kent. That's Kent, yes.

The Cotswolds cover

quite a large area. They do.

From Bath north to beyond

Cheltenham and Gloucester.

Yes. Wessex Downs... North Wessex Downs.

Wessex is one of those...

Yeah. Covers a lot of areas.

..odd sort of old areas.

Does that include Exmoor and so on? Well, I don't know. It might do.

North... It could do, in which case it could be quite large. Yeah.

I suspect it's not the High Weald. Would you agree with that?

Yeah. I don't...

I haven't heard that's a particularly large area.

So, what are we going to go for?

Let's decide, have a vote. I'm inclined to go for North Wessex.

You go for North Wessex.

Yeah, Devon is a big county,

isn't it?

And Dorset.

I do suppose it could also include Somerset. Yes, yeah.

It could include the Quantocks. Is it the Quantocks?

Yes, the Quantocks.

I'm thinking of moving towards the North Wessex Downs,

to be honest. OK.

Well, this is something

of a shot in the dark

because we haven't got a real picture of what we're talking about.

We know what the Cotswolds look like.

We think we know what the High Weald looks like,

but on the basis that the North Wessex Downs

could include quite a chunk

of Exmoor and the Quantocks

and hills into Somerset, we will,

with some reluctance,

go for the North Wessex Downs.

North Wessex Downs.

OK.

If you've got this right, we play on.

If you've got it wrong, the contest is the Eggheads'.

The largest Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is the Cotswolds,

so we say congratulations, Eggheads.

You have won.

I'm sorry, Challengers,

but, my goodness, you had them on the ropes there.

You really did. Commiserations, Yes, Sarah.

Thank you. And Sarah and others will be thinking this is

a great performance, no question.

No question at all. We may be in the naughty box when we go back.

HE LAUGHS Well, there we are.

You've been bashed around today, Eggheads, haven't you?

But they have done what normally comes naturally to them,

and they do reign supreme once again over quiz land.

It does mean you're not going home with the ?1,000.

Thank you for being here. Pleasure.

The money rolls over to the next show. Eggheads, congratulations.

Who will ever beat you, I wonder?

Can't see it happening, can you?

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

have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

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