Episode 40 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 some slightly sore heads today, I think?

-Well...

-Empty head.

-Yeah.

-Ah.

Taking on our quiz champions today are Abide With Us.

Now, most of this team are members of Brixham Bowling Club,

where they often quiz together.

Some of them are also regular participants

in the South Devon Quiz League. Let's meet them.

Hello, I'm David, I'm a retired bank manager.

Hello, I'm Ben, I'm a radio presenter.

Hello, I'm Chris, and I'm a retired IT specialist.

Hello, I'm Barry, I'm a retired science teacher.

Hello, I'm Rob, I'm a semi-retired engineer.

So, David and team, welcome.

-Thank you, Jeremy.

-Good to see you.

Tell us why it's called Abide With Us.

Abide With Us, Jeremy, in the 1900s,

Henry Francis Lyte was the minister in Brixham,

and in 1847, he wrote the poem, Abide With Me.

Most people will know that now from the hymn that's sung

before the Wembley Cup Final,

so today we invite the Eggheads to abide with us.

Are you going to abide with them?

Eggs? Well, Brixham is a beautiful place in Devon, isn't it?

-Marvellous place.

-Has it made you all happier than most people?

I do sense a bit of happiness coming off here.

Now... So what happened?

My reference to the sore heads is that

the Eggheads lost the last game.

They couldn't identify the phrase "gert lush".

-Ah.

-Anyway, that's all history.

So, every day there is £1,000 worth of cash

up for grabs for our Challengers.

Because they lost the last game, we start back on the £1,000 jackpot.

Would you like to try and win it now?

-Yes, please.

-Good stuff.

The first head-to-head battle will be on the subject of Music,

and you can choose from Judith, Steve, Kevin, Dave and Lisa.

Music, so that's Ben or Chris.

-Your choice, captain.

-Yeah, it's up to you, Skip.

I think we put the radio presenter in first.

-No pressure!

-LAUGHTER

Right. Against which Egghead?

I think...Judith?

-Yeah?

-Judith, please, Jeremy.

So, Ben from Abide With Us,

abiding with Judith from the Eggheads on Music.

And just to ensure there's no conferring,

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

Ben, you're the natural choice, cos you're a radio presenter.

Absolutely. There's no pressure on me now, is there?

It's always dangerous going on home turf, I know.

And so you broke the world record for naming the most Beatles songs

in one minute. Tell us about that.

Er, about a year or so ago, on Guinness World Records Day,

they rang round a lot of the radio stations and asked the presenters

if they'd like to take part in these world records, so obviously I did,

did it for a bit of a laugh and ended up breaking the world record.

But I got, I think, 15 in a minute,

and I've got my certificate proudly displayed at home.

Well done. I mean, it's not beyond the bounds that the Beatles

might come up in this round, Judith, is it?

-Well, they probably will.

-Good luck, Ben.

-Thank you.

-Would you like to go first or second?

-I'll go first.

And here is your first question...

"Let me whisper in your ear, say the words you long to hear",

are lyrics from which early Beatles song?

GENTLE LAUGHTER I never see what's coming up, so how about that?

Is it...?

Erm... Well, I should get this right, really, shouldn't I?

"Let me whisper in your ear". Well, it's not Love Me Do.

It's Do You Want To Know A Secret? I'm doubting myself here.

You're right, don't worry, Do You Want To Know A Secret?

-That's the most bizarre coincidence I think we've ever had.

-Have we?

That is totally weird.

I promise this just comes out of a giant great tombola, these questions.

I've never even seen, even been allowed to look at it.

OK, Judith,

in which part of the world did the music genre known as rock-steady

originate in the 1960s?

Well...

I don't know,

you don't associate rock with Middle East and...

Particularly in North Africa.

I should've thought it's the Caribbean.

Caribbean is correct.

OK, Ben. Your question.

Which artist had his first UK number one single in 2000

with Fill Me In?

That's a guy who's kind of back in the news at the moment, actually.

He kind of had a lot of success around about that period

and disappeared for a bit, and now he's back.

I think he's just had another number one album.

It's Craig David.

It is, he's had an amazing resurgence.

You're right, Craig David.

-Respect to him, cos he was kind of unfashionable for a while.

-Yeah.

Judith,

which of these was the first UK top ten single for AC/DC?

JUDITH LAUGHS

Er, I haven't the faintest idea.

Erm...

I've got a daughter called Rosie,

so I'm going to say Whole Lotta Rosie.

-Highway To Hell is the right answer, Judith.

-Mm.

-It looks like you might be heading down it.

-Yeah.

LAUGHTER

How about that, Ben? I just did a DJ link there.

Very good.

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

Which US rapper released the album American Gangster in 2007?

We don't play a lot of rap music on the stations

that, er, I tend to work at.

Erm...

Feasibly could be any of those, but I have a leaning...

..towards 50 Cent.

-50 Cent. Judith, do you know this?

-No.

-Is he right? No?

-Jay-Z. Jay-Z.

-Mm.

-Or as I called him on my first day at Radio 2, Jay-Zed!

LAUGHTER

So, a way back in for you here, Judith.

Who composed the score for the Lord Of The Rings trilogy of films?

I'm terribly bad at film composers. Erm, I really don't know. Erm...

I'm going to say Howard Shore.

Just on the basis of going down the right?

-Yeah.

-Howard Shore is the correct answer.

-Well, it sometimes works!

-It did work on this occasion.

OK. Sorry, you had her there, Ben, she's managed to take, what is it,

the exit routes from the highway? So, so far, you're level.

We go to Sudden Death, it gets a bit harder.

Ben, I don't give you different options.

Which iconic structure at the Glastonbury Festival

was first built in 1971

on the site of a local spring?

I've got absolutely no idea.

Um...

-I don't know, Jeremy.

-Want to take a guess?

-I'll say a pyramid.

-I think I can accept that.

Pyramid Stage. Well done.

-Thank you.

-JEREMY LAUGHS

Said without massive conviction.

-Well, I knew there was the Pyramid Stage, that's why I said pyramid, but...

-Yeah, sure, sure.

OK, so, Judith, clinging on

by those fingernails of yours.

Who was the producer of the 1979 Michael Jackson album Off The Wall?

I have no idea.

Sorry. Pass.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-I'll go to... Man on this kind of thing is Dave.

-Quincy Jones.

-Quincy Jones is the answer.

So, well done, Ben, you're in the final round.

-Thank you.

-Gave up the ghost of it there, Judith.

-Yeah.

-You just went, "Ah, whatev!"

Not the sort of questions I can answer.

OK. Do come back to us, both of you, we'll play on.

As it stands, Abide With Us have not lost a brain,

they have started strongly. The Eggheads have gone down to four.

Any more damage coming?

Let's see. The next subject is Science,

so who from Abide With Us wants this?

Right, Barry or Rob.

-Rob?

-It was going to be Barry, wasn't it?

-Shall I do it?

-Barry.

-Yeah, Barry.

-Barry.

You are a retired science teacher, so...

-No pressure.

-And who would you like?

-Anyone but Judith.

-Steve.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, Steve.

-OK, everyone's in favour of that.

Barry from Abide With Us will play Steve,

one of our newest Eggheads, on Science.

Please go to the Question Room now.

So, Barry, were you a science teacher in Devon?

-Yes, I was.

-Did any experiments ever go wrong?

Oh, yes. I had quite a few disasters, especially early on.

Barry - our quizzer Barry - always says he blew up the science lab,

that's where he first started taking an interest in science.

-What's the best experiment?

-Ooh, that's a good one, that one.

I suppose, expansion of gases and taking the molecular weight,

that's one where we had a bit of a disaster,

but that was one of the most exciting.

Where you heat them, and everything...?

Yeah, I put a gauze under the huge beaker which you put the syringe in,

and it was getting hotter and hotter,

and one of the youngsters suddenly said,

"Shouldn't you have a gauze under that?"

And as he said that,

the beaker absolutely shattered and the boiling water poured

all over my trousers, all down the front...

-Ooh!

-I tell you what, they've never forgot that experience.

Well, exactly.

Steve, did any of your science experiments go wrong in school?

Well, I didn't do them, I watched them.

I got excited when they burnt a peanut once, but that were about it.

LAUGHTER

OK, Science, Barry, should be perfect.

Would you like to go first or second?

First, please.

Here is your first question,

which ore is the principal source of aluminium?

Well, if I don't get this, I'm really in trouble,

I was a chemistry teacher.

Bauxite.

Bauxite is correct.

Did I pronounce them right in the option there?

Yeah, you did really well.

LAUGHTER OK, thank you.

I'm currying favour.

OK, Steve...

By what name is the sporting injury medial tibial stress syndrome

sometimes known?

Well, if I've got my basic anatomy right,

I think I've suffered from this myself before

doing a lot of running,

and it's shin splints.

It is indeed shin splints. It's painful, I gather?

Mm. Yeah, you just have to run through it.

Right, back to you, Barry.

Which of the following is a variety of wasp, mainly native to dry,

tropical regions?

Right. I wouldn't have thought it would be an ant.

Bee or fly?

I mean, it would be in the same...

group as a bee.

I'm going to go for suede bee.

Suede bee sounds a bit, kind of...stylish.

He's rocking a sort of 21st-century look there.

It's not the suede bee. It's the velvet ant.

-Good gracious.

-Yeah, it's a kind of wasp.

OK, so a chance for Steve to take the lead.

Primula Veris is the scientific name for which wild flower?

Yeah, I was sort of hoping something else would come up there.

Right, well, Bluebell, that's some sort of wood hyacinth.

Snowdrop, that's galanth something or other.

Erm, Cowslip...

Primula, Primula, Veris, spring, Veris, spring flower...

Ah. I don't really know. I'm going to...

I'm going to have to go for cowslip,

but I'm not ever so sure, but that's my answer.

Yes, it is right. Cowslip is correct.

So, he's taken the lead. You need to get this one right, Barry.

The critically endangered Amur leopard is native to Russia

and which of these countries?

Well, it doesn't sound Chinese.

So it's between those two.

-I'll go for Mongolia.

-Let's see if the Eggheads know this.

Judith sometimes is very good on her wildlife.

I would've said China.

Would you? Why China?

It would cross the border.

The Amur River forms the border between Russia and China.

Ah. China's the right answer, Barry, I'm sorry.

No way back in this round. So well done, Steve.

Barry, you were beaten by our Egghead,

often happens on home territory, don't worry.

Judith once knocked out a rocket scientist on Science,

which was one of our most famous moments.

Please rejoin your teams, and we'll play on.

So, a little bit of a setback for Abide With Us from Devon,

they've lost a brain from the final round.

The Eggheads have also lost a brain, and the next subject is Film & TV.

-Who would like this?

-Well, it was Ben.

-Chris, would you...?

-I'll take it, yeah.

-Yeah?

It'll be Chris, please, Jeremy.

OK, it's going to be Chris, against which Egghead?

And it's got to be one of the three on the left.

Your choice, Dave. You're the captain.

Dave or Lisa.

I think we'll have Dave, please, Jeremy.

I notice you missed out Kevin there.

THEY LAUGH

At some point you will cross him in this game.

All right, Chris from Abide With Us is going to go against

Tremendous Knowledge Dave from the Eggheads.

And to ensure there's no conferring, please go to the Question Room.

Chris, you're the secretary of the bowling club?

-I am indeed, yes.

-Which is at the heart of the team, really -

it's a bowling-based enterprise, this.

Absolutely, yeah. Most of us are bowlers at Brixham Bowling Club.

And Dave, have you ever bowled?

Very amateurishly.

But I appreciate the game.

You know, it's an interesting one to watch.

Yeah, and people really go for it, don't they?

You see people sometimes, they hurl the ball.

Yeah, that's called firing.

-Oh, is it?

-Yeah.

-Is it regarded as sporting, that, or not?

Well, you sometimes have to remove an opponent's wood

to try and maximise your score, yes.

-And that is what you have to do now.

-Indeed.

Film & TV. Do you want to go first or second?

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

Which of these TV detectives often refers to his powers of deduction

by mentioning the "little grey cells"?

Well, it's not Thomas Magnum.

It is a man with a French accent, and it's not Bergerac,

it's Hercule Poirot.

It is Hercule Poirot.

Dave, in the cult 1960s TV show Thunderbirds,

which of the Tracy brothers was the pilot of Thunderbird One?

DAVE MUTTERS INDISTINCTLY

I don't know.

I can tell you that straightaway.

Should know all of these.

It really is an eeny-meeny-miny-mo situation.

I've never stopped around long enough to watch the show.

Erm...

Alan.

No, Scott.

It's A bit like our Telly Tubby moment, isn't it?

-Yeah, it is.

-What was that?

-Which... The purple one, was it?

-Yeah.

-And what was the purple one?

-Tinky Winky.

LAUGHTER

We're back there. This is good, isn't it?

Chris, we can have a little bit of fun here, I think, possibly,

get you into the final, let's see.

Who stars as Lang

in the 2015 film adaptation of the JG Ballard novel

High-Rise?

I do not know this at all.

Not a film I'm familiar with.

I don't think it'll be Daniel Craig,

cos I would expect him to be busy doing other things.

I will go for Tom Hiddleston.

Yes, you've gone the right way. Well done. Tom Hiddleston.

APPLAUSE

-OK, Dave. You need to get this right.

-Yeah.

In which film does Brad Pitt play a character called Rusty Ryan?

Right, erm, I'm not sure at all.

But, erm, I like the look of Ocean's 11 in this case,

so I'll go for that. Ocean's 11, please.

Well done, Ocean's 11 it is.

Chris, back to you. For the round if you get it right.

"That's a Smith & Wesson, and you've had your six",

is a quote from which James Bond film?

I've seen them all over many years.

But it's going have to come down to a guess yet again.

I'm going to have to err on Goldfinger.

Goldfinger. Let's see, Dave, is he right?

I think he's right.

-It's Dr No.

-Oh, right.

We're both wrong.

So, Dave, get this right, you're back in it, get it wrong...

-Yeah, gone.

-We know what happens.

Gone, following Judith down the highway to hell.

DAVE LAUGHS

Here we go. In 2016, Rebecca Adlington,

Beth Tweddle and Tina Hobley were all forced to leave which sporting

reality show after being injured?

I don't think it's Splash! I don't think it's The Getaway Car.

I think it's the winter sports one, that caused a lot of problem...

-I think it's The Jump.

-Amazing that people kept going in for it,

you're right, it is The Jump. Well done.

All right, so we're level after three questions.

Two each, and we go to Sudden Death, Chris.

Just to make it that bit harder, I don't give you options.

Which British actress, born in 1992, plays the character Rey,

which is R-E-Y, in the Star Wars franchise?

No. I can see her, but I have not seen the film.

No, I can't give you the name, I'm sorry.

-Daisy Ridley.

-Correct.

JEREMY LAUGHS Daisy Ridley, thank you.

Dave, here we are, the comeback king.

Let's see if you can get your place in the final with this question.

Which American TV talk-show host and comedian

left The Late Show in 2015?

I thought Letterman left earlier.

I think Jimmy Kimmel's still going.

Something I should know. I'm just not firing...

-You know what?

-DAVE SIGHS

David Letterman.

David Letterman is the right answer. You're in the final round, Dave.

-Good answer.

-Chris, sorry, you were beaten by our Egghead.

As a result, you will not be in the final round.

Come back, we've got one more round to play.

On the subject of the Thunderbird names, so, Alan, Virgil, Scott,

anyone know, Eggheads, where they come from?

American astronauts, the ones in the Mercury programme.

And Mercury was prior to the moon landing?

Prior to Apollo, yes, so they were one-man missions.

So, Virgil, for example...?

That's... Virgil was the real first name of Gus Grissom,

who was the second Mercury.

The names in relation to the numbers of the Thunderbirds are not actually

in the chronological order of the flights that the astronauts did.

I see. Wow.

OK, as it stands, Abide With Us have lost two brains

from the all-important final, the Eggheads have just lost the one.

Let's see if that changes now with Geography.

-Who would like this, Dave?

-Perfect, Jeremy.

-Rob?

-That's me, isn't it?

-Our expert in geography.

-Couldn't be better.

-Brilliant, OK.

Semi-retired engineer Rob against...?

I think Lisa, Rob.

-Rob v Lisa, please, Jeremy.

-Maybe a good choice,

-we have our moments on geography, don't we, Lisa?

-Often.

LAUGHTER

Let's see if we have another moment now.

Rob from Abide With Us playing Lisa from the Eggheads on Geography.

Please go to the Question Room for the last time.

On Geography, then, against Lisa, Rob,

would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please.

Here's your first question. Good luck, Rob.

Which of these Asian countries is landlocked?

Bangladesh is, er...got a big river running through it.

Er, Burma's also got a big coastline.

It's Bhutan, up near the Himalayas.

Bhutan is the right answer, well done.

APPLAUSE

Never been there, quite interested.

-Anyone been to Bhutan?

-Barry has.

Barry has, of course Barry has!

Sorry, not you, Barry, the other - our Egghead Barry.

Lisa, Paxos is the smallest of which group of Greek islands?

Have I anything to go off?

Dodecanese sounds like there might be sort of more to go from.

LISA LAUGHS

I really don't know. I quite like the sound of the Dodecanese,

so we'll try that.

-It's Ionian.

-OK.

So you have the advantage, Rob.

Which UK National Park has the most coastline, with 418km?

Dartmoor's certainly landlocked.

Um, but the one with the longest coastline's got to be

the Pembrokeshire Coast.

Yeah, the clue is in the name, surely!

Surely! Pembrokeshire Coast.

I thought... I almost worried I'd misread that.

OK. Lisa.

Here's your question.

The airport at Gardermoen is the largest international

terminal in which country?

And it's G-A-R-D-E-R-M-O-E-N.

See, that O-E-N ending

is taking Sweden away for me and leaving me

with Norway and Denmark.

Could I just have the question one more time, please, Jeremy?

The airport at Gardermoen

is the largest international terminal in which country?

OK. So that kind of suggests there might be a few more airports

in whichever country we're talking about.

Erm...

And on that basis, Norway's bigger than Denmark.

So maybe they need more airports!

I don't know,

I'm just trying to fashion some sort of twisted logic here.

I'll go for Norway.

You're absolutely right, well done.

LAUGHTER Norway it is.

OK. So get this right, Rob, you're in the final round.

And you even things up. It's quite a big moment, this.

By area, what is the largest of Spain's autonomous communities?

By area.

No real clue, I'm afraid.

Er...

HE EXHALES DEEPLY

Castile-La Mancha.

That's my guess.

No, it's wrong. Castile-Leon it is.

So, Lisa, a chance for you to come back.

In which a range of US mountains are the headwaters

of the Missouri River?

LISA LAUGHS

Mountains and rivers together?

My two favourite things in the whole world.

Am I...? Am I wrong in thinking the Sierra Nevada

is in completely the wrong place for this to be right?

Mm...

The Rockies, of course, are awfully big, as ranges go,

so they could be...

getting in my way here, but then they're up near Canada,

and they might also be in the wrong place.

I don't know. From my sort of tenuous, tenuous grasp

of these things,

I'd probably have to plump for the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I'll just have one more think about it.

Erm...

I don't know. I feel like if I go any more, I'll be overthinking this.

So we'll try the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Blue Ridge Mountains. That was a long way round...

to the wrong answer. It's Rocky Mountains, Lisa.

-OK.

-So we say well done, Rob.

You have booked your place in the final.

You took on an Egghead, you emerged triumphant.

That's very good news for your team, cos you're now going to be level in the final.

Come back to us, both of you, and we will play that all-important 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 won't be allowed

to take part. So that's Chris and Barry from Abide With Us,

and also Lisa and Judith, both ends of the Eggheads.

Would you please now leave the studio?

David, Ben and Rob, you're playing to win Abide With Us £1,000.

Dave, Kevin and Steve, well,

you're playing for something money can't really buy,

which is the Eggheads' reputation, and to just gradually rebuild

after what happened in the last game.

-Which we don't mention.

-Which we don't mention.

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

This time, they're all General Knowledge.

You can confer, OK?

So, Abide With Us, the question is, can your three brains

take down these famous three over here?

And David, Ben and Rob, would you like to go first or second?

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

OK, General Knowledge.

David and team, good luck, here's your question.

Which member of Nasa's Apollo 11 mission

did not set foot on the moon?

I'm pretty sure it's Michael Collins.

Yeah, Michael Collins.

-It is...

-Yeah. He was the one that continued to orbit the moon.

-Yeah.

-You sure?

-Yeah, yeah.

-You sure?

-Yeah.

Michael Collins, we believe, Jeremy.

-Michael Collins is right.

-Well done, guys.

Over to you, Eggheads.

Harvard University is based in which US state?

-Massachusetts. We're happy, yeah.

-Just outside Boston.

-Yeah.

It's not far from Boston, it's in Massachusetts.

It is in Massachusetts.

Challengers,

for which of the following sides

did Leary - later Baron -

Constantine play Test cricket?

-West Indies.

-West Indies.

-Yeah.

-Definitely.

West Indies, Jeremy.

West Indies is right. Well done, you're playing well.

Two out of two. Eggheads,

in which Shakespeare play does Rosalind

dress up as a man named Ganymede?

-As You Like It.

-As You Like It, yeah. That's As You Like It.

You're not quite breaking into a sweat yet, Eggheads, are you?

As You Like It is right.

I'm worried about them over there.

They've got quite a bit to prove today.

Well, get this one right, who knows?

Your third question.

Over which UK city would you be afforded a panorama

by climbing up the steps of Cabot Tower?

As soon as they...

Before the answers came up, I mean... John Cabot's from Bristol.

-Bristol.

-And there's a replica ship in Bristol docks

called The Matthew.

-Bristol.

-Yeah.

-That's my best guess.

We bow to our geography expert and go for Bristol,

Jeremy.

Rob, you're on fire today. Well done. Bristol is right.

Three out of three. Challengers playing well.

Will it be enough?

If the Eggheads get this wrong,

the jackpot goes out the studio for the second time in a row.

What was the nom de plume of the 17th-century female playwright

Aphra Behn?

Well, it's not Sappho.

And I wouldn't have thought it was Astraea.

Astraea, that's from a poem, isn't it?

There is a poem about Astraea, yeah.

I'd have thought Orinda, but it's...

Orinda. Hmm, yeah...

Because didn't she write Okorinoko, or something like that?

Yeah, that's what's worrying me slightly.

-Right.

-In that she wrote Orinoco, which sounds...

-Yeah.

-Hmm.

-I can't place Orinda anywhere else.

No. No, that's it.

-Whereas with the other two I can...

-Yes, Astraea...

Astraea is a character or a name in other stories.

If it is... If it does turn out to be Astraea,

the problem is the interference from that being used as a name elsewhere.

-Mmm.

-Yeah.

-And as you say, I can't think of any other...

-Unless...

-I've never heard Orinda in any other context.

-Could be a character from somewhere else.

-Yeah?

Right, OK, well, we don't... Shall I go? Can we go for that?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-We're pretty sure it's not Sappho, she didn't use Sappho,

but actually really rather torn as regards the other two.

But on the basis we know Astraea is used elsewhere,

I think we'll have to go for Orinda.

Not at all sure. It could very easily be Astraea.

Are we on the verge of a second Egghead defeat in a row?

Let's see. If they've got this wrong, then the contest is over.

Sappho you were right to rule out.

Steve was big on Orinda.

-Kevin was worried.

-Mm.

It's not Orinda, it's Astraea.

We say congratulations, Challengers, you have won.

APPLAUSE

How are you feeling?

-Yeah...

-Brilliant.

LAUGHTER

Well, skid pan alley for the Eggheads at the moment.

Well done. Abide With Us, you've come and you've won.

Can't put it any fairer than that.

Well done. You take £1,000.

You are officially cleverer than the Eggheads and you can boast about it

on the bowling green and wherever you like.

You've proved they can be beaten.

I wonder if they're having a little bit of an existential crisis now.

Join us next time on Eggheads

to see if a new team of Challengers can make it

three defeats in a row.

Till then, goodbye.