Episode 41 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 really the greatest, right?

-Oh, yes.

-Oh, yeah.

-On a good day.

There's a little pause. I'll explain why in a second.

Hoping to beat the might of the Eggheads today are The Interveners.

Now, this team from Newcastle-upon-Tyne work together

as part of a mental health early intervention team.

Let's meet them.

Hi, my name's Mandy, and I'm a mental health nurse.

Hello, I'm Dave, and I'm a care coordinator.

Hi, I'm Steve, I'm an advanced pharmacist practitioner.

Hi, I'm Mike, and I'm a community psychiatric nurse.

Hello, I'm Alan, and I'm a semi-retired care coordinator.

So, Mandy and team, welcome.

-Hello!

-Good to see you. Very cheerful, that's great.

So, you help people who are in, er,

basically a mental health crisis, is that right?

Yeah, yeah, first episode, sort of psychosis, presentation.

OK, and you're together in an institution of some kind,

-or you are out and about?

-Community.

-So we're out and about.

-In the community, OK.

Brilliant. Have you quizzed together?

No, a couple of the team members, Dave and Alan, quiz together,

but we do a bit of PopMaster on Radio 2.

Oh, yes? Well, that will help in the music round for sure.

And any particular areas of strengths or weakness?

Maybe you shouldn't tell us.

Mm. Yeah, we'll keep that under our belts, actually.

-We don't want to...

-We've got a wide breadth of knowledge.

-Yeah.

Well, good luck, Challengers.

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

If the Challengers fail to defeat the Eggheads,

the prize-money rolls over to the next show.

When did that last happen?

The Challengers failing to defeat you?

LISA CLEARS HER THROAT

They've had a terrible time, basically.

They're in a kind of little crisis of their own here.

So, they've lost two in a row.

Which means there's £1,000 for you to win today,

and it also means you might sense that they're just uncertain.

So take advantage.

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

You've got Judith, Dave, Kevin, Barry or Lisa.

-It's a big one, this, isn't it?

-It is.

-It's the worst one that could come up...

-You can sacrifice me, but...

We don't want to sacrifice you.

-You want to keep us for the end.

-But then there's anyone you think you could take on Sport,

in which case we could have you in the final as well.

Does anybody else want Sport?

Do you want me to take Sport? I'll take the fall.

-MANDY:

-All right, OK.

All right. Against which Egghead?

Judith, if you don't mind, please.

Ah. Now, this is interesting too, isn't it?

-No, it isn't.

-Because we're close...

-You might be able to sing later.

-I'll explain why shortly.

-But...

We're getting all kinds of things that we're on the edge of here.

To ensure there's no conferring,

would you please take your positions in the Question Room?

OK, Judith, you need to cover your ears, cos I just must tell Steve

about the significance of this round.

-Oh, no, please don't.

-No, but... We must...

I will blame you.

Well, so Steve...

-Judith has won six Sport rounds in a row.

-That's done it.

The last time she did that was under the Tony Blair administration.

LAUGHTER OK?

If she wins this one, it will be seven,

which will be unprecedented for her in Eggheads.

So it's a bit, we're all a bit, we're ready for the party, Judith.

Yeah, you just messed it up.

JEREMY LAUGHS

-All right...

-Honestly, you have.

-No, I haven't.

-I know.

-I'm sure I haven't.

Steve, would you like to go first or second?

I'd like to go second, please.

OK, Judith. Your first question.

Super Victor was the name of the official mascot

of which of these 2016 sporting events?

Well, the Grand National doesn't have a mascot,

I don't think. Er...

Super Victor. It's probably Olympics, I should think.

Rio Olympics.

Any Eggheads know this?

-It doesn't ring a bell.

-We're drawing a bit of a blank here,

but I'm afraid it was Euro 16, Judith.

You see? I knew you'd jinxed it.

-No, I haven't...

-Absolutely your fault.

JEREMY LAUGHS

Steve, your question.

Which country joined the Home Nations rugby union

tournament in 1910, making it the Five Nations Tournament?

Well, I do believe they're all in the Five Nations,

so that's about as good as my knowledge gets

when it comes to rugby. Erm...

I'm going to take a stab,

because I imagine that Ireland and England

might have been in the tournament together

in the first place, I'm going to say France, please.

Yes, France. So, it's Scotland, Wales, Ireland, England,

and France is the fifth nation.

Judith, your question.

The tennis player Roger Federer holds dual nationality

between Switzerland and which other country, thanks to the fact

that his mother was born there? Is it...?

Oh.

Now, that's interesting. Um...

I don't know why, but I have a feeling it's South Africa.

South Africa is the right answer.

-Mm.

-Back in the saddle, well done.

OK, Steve, your question.

In football, a Panenka, named after the Czech player who pioneered it,

is a method of taking what?

This, I think I do know.

I believe this is when a player crosses his foot behind another one

and takes a penalty.

Er, a very flash penalty, I think. I hope.

Penalty's right.

Is that right, Dave? Is the description right?

The Panenka was the one where he ran up to it and then waited

-for Sepp Maier to go one way and then just coolly chipped it in.

-Ah.

Oh, I see. So, Steve, a Panenka...

You've got it right, don't worry. But the Panenka is where, Dave says,

-you pause and the goalkeeper goes and then you kick it.

-Yeah.

And the Rabona is the one where you...

-Yeah, where you flick...

-Yeah.

-It's all the same thing.

LAUGHTER

So, Steve is ahead.

Judith, you need this one.

Which golfer won his first major in 2016

when he won the US PGA tournament?

Oh, gosh. I thought I would know this one, but they're not

ringing bells, those people.

I don't know, Jimmy Walker.

-Is she right, Eggs?

-Yes.

-Yay!

-Phew!

-You've got it right.

-God.

-JEREMY LAUGHS

OK, well, we are within sight for Judith

of those seven wins on the trot. Let's see.

She's still in it, but, Steve, if you get this right,

you go through to the final.

The Tarbes National,

named after the town in southern France where it begins,

is an event in which sport?

Tarbes is T-A-R-B-E-S. Is it...?

Well, I don't speak French

so I can't even think what the, er, what the letters might stand for.

Just to explain,

when you say what the letters might stand for...

-Oh, sorry, is it not an acronym?

-No, I was just going to say,

-it's a capital T and then all lower case, OK?

-Ah, right.

I'll have to say hot-air ballooning in that case, as a wild guess.

-Please.

-They've got a big tradition of hot air ballooning in France,

but... Actually, Judith, you might know cos your French...

No, I don't. Maybe it's pigeon racing.

Pigeon racing is the right answer.

Pigeon racing.

So we go to Sudden Death, in Sport, Judith.

In Sport. Your question.

In 2016, the mother-in-law of which sporting figure from the world

of motor racing was freed after being kidnapped in Brazil?

Oh. I'm trying to think of drivers who might be married.

I don't know. Erm...

Alonso.

-It's Bernie Ecclestone.

-Really?

-THEY LAUGH

Steve, this is for the round.

The big serving tennis player Sam Groth represents which country?

Australia.

Australia's the right answer, Steve, well done.

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE You are through.

Sorry. Oh, I'm in such trouble.

You have got me into so much trouble now.

Well, we got six in a row and every decade or so, Judith, we get there.

Sorry. You're not in the final.

Steve is.

Come back and we'll play on.

So, as it stands, The Interveners

have not lost any brains from the final round.

The Eggheads have lost one, and I'm in such trouble, aren't I?

Yes, you are. Absolutely. I'm going to have my revenge.

History. Who wants this?

-Shall I go for it?

-Go on, Mike.

-Who do you want to take on, Mike?

-OK, Mike...

-Do you want to go for Lisa?

-Go for Lisa?

-Flip a few coins.

-Lisa?

-Can we try Lisa?

Yes, by all means. She's good at History, loves kings.

Oh... Can I change my mind?

Mike from The Interveners versus Lisa from the Eggheads.

Please go to our Question Room now.

Mike, on History, would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, thanks.

Good luck, here we go.

Which city was the capital of West Germany

between 1949 and 1990?

Oh...

I'm sure it's Bonn.

I think when the wall went down, then it swapped back to Berlin.

So I'll go for Bonn.

Yes. How soon we forget.

Bonn is right, but it's not often spoken of now.

Lisa.

The Cod Wars were a series of confrontations

between Iceland and which other country?

I had a feeling that was us in the UK.

Let me just have a quick think, cos, you know... The Cod Wars...

I mean, are they going to make that joke in Russia or Spain?

I'll go with the UK.

It was the UK. I can't remember...

Obviously it was about fish. I can't remember the details.

It was, I think, my childhood, when this was going on.

Back to you, Mike.

Elizabeth Woodville was the mother of which King of England?

Woodville... Possibly French.

I'll take a chance on...on Richard.

Is he right, Lisa?

No, afraid not. Richard I predates her by a few hundred years.

She was the more controversial wife of Edward IV,

and gave birth to Edward V, who was one of the Princes in the Tower,

so he didn't last very long.

Henry VIII's mother was another Elizabeth, Elizabeth of York,

who was also one of Elizabeth Woodville's children.

Edward V is the answer, Mike.

So, to take the lead, here is your question, Lisa.

The English soothsayer Mother Shipton

is believed to have been born in a cave

in which county in the 15th century?

I've been to her cave.

It's just in Knaresborough, which is in Yorkshire.

Barry, you would've been very upset if she'd got that wrong.

I couldn't believe any set of circumstances at all

where Lisa would get that wrong.

Yorkshire is the correct answer.

So she pulls ahead, Mike.

You've got to restrain her now.

The half-brother of which Prime Minister served as

Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1903 to 1905,

and Foreign Secretary from 1924 to 1929?

I know Churchill's sons went into politics,

I don't know if he had any siblings.

I know nothing about Stanley Baldwin.

I know there's been a few Chamberlains in politics,

so I'll take a chance on Neville Chamberlain.

Good thinking, it was another Chamberlain.

It was Austen Chamberlain.

So you've got it right. So level now.

But Lisa can take the round with this.

Imposed between the 14th and 19th centuries,

butlerage was a tax on which product when it was imported into England?

14th and 19th centuries...

We didn't do a whole bunch of tobacco, really, before Raleigh,

which is a fair bit later than the 14th century.

So that would seem not quite right.

And I would have thought cheese wasn't right either.

I mean, I don't know how much cheese we really sort of imported.

Oh, come on. Wine.

Wine is the right answer.

Sorry, Mike, beaten by our Egghead, so not able

to take your place in the final.

Lisa will be there, though.

Please return to us, and we'll play on.

So, as it stands, The Interveners have lost a brain now

from the final round.

The Eggheads have also lost one, so pretty evenly matched.

A lot at stake, remember, for the Eggheads,

cos they lost the last two matches.

The next subject is Film and TV.

So, who would like this?

Do you want to take it, or do you want me to take it?

-What do you think?

-You go for it, Dave.

-I'll have a go, Jeremy.

-And, Dave, who would you like to play?

I'll go for Dave.

OK, so we're going to have Dave on Dave.

Dave from The Interveners, Dave on the Eggheads, on Film and TV.

Please go to the Question Room.

Challenger Dave, do you want to go first or second?

I think I'll go second, please, Jeremy.

All right, so, Tremendous Knowledge Dave,

here is your question.

Who plays Deadshot in the 2016 film Suicide Squad?

I must be the only person in the world who's never seen this film.

And I could be very wrong, but Ryan Reynolds is jumping out at me,

so I'll go Ryan Reynolds, please.

It's Will Smith. Oh, dear!

Oh, dear, oh, dear...

That's a good start there, Challenger Dave.

Haven't even lifted a finger yet. You're already ahead.

Which American actor co-founded a comedy website

called Funny Or Die in 2007?

Actor...

Well, I can't see Tom Cruise doing that.

Will Ferrell...

I'll go for Seth Rogen, Jeremy.

-Dave, what do you think?

-I thought he was right.

Yeah. Not, it's not, it's Will Ferrell.

-Oh, is it, really?

-So you're level.

Tremendous Knowledge Dave.

Who became the male host of Robot Wars

when it returned to television in 2016?

Right...

It's not Clive Anderson.

Was it Bill Bailey? No, I'm going...

Yeah, I'm going to go Dara O Briain, please.

Dara O Briain is right.

-Yeah!

-Yay!

OK, Dave,

Challenger Dave, your question.

Who plays a villain called Krall in the 2016 film Star Trek Beyond?

His friends might call him "Krawl".

I should go to the pictures more often.

I can't see it being Martin Freeman.

I'll go for Idris Elba, Jeremy.

-Idris Elba is right.

-That's good.

-Nicely done.

So you're level after two.

Tremendous Knowledge Dave.

In which film does John Huston

play the villainous businessmen Noah Cross?

Right, I've got a yearning for one of them.

I think they're all good films, but I can't remember all of them,

all the different things that go on.

I'm going to go, in this case,

for Chinatown.

Chinatown is the right answer.

The Egghead is ahead.

You need to get this one right,

-Challenger Dave.

-OK, Jeremy.

In September 2015, which British-born actress made headlines

when she joked that she made a terrible mistake

by becoming an American citizen?

Oh, dear, I don't know this one as well.

Which one of them became an American citizen?

I'll go for Keira Knightley.

No, no, no. She...hasn't done that.

-Oh, dear.

-Emily Blunt is the answer.

-Oh, I thought...

-Emily Blunt.

-OK, Jeremy.

-So, Dave,

the other Dave, taken the round.

Maybe something's going on here.

Maybe the Eggheads are starting to feel

the fire in their bellies again.

Going to get back into winning ways. Too early to say.

But Tremendous Knowledge Dave will be in the final,

Challenger Dave, you've been knocked out.

Please return to us. We'll play the last round before that final.

So, the Eggheads now fighting back after a difficult time.

Well, the Interveners have lost two brains from the final round,

the Eggheads have just lost the one at this point.

The next subject is Music.

So, which Intervener wants Music?

-Alan or Mandy?

-Go for it.

-I think that's going to have to be me.

-Go on, Mandy. OK.

Against which Egghead? It's got to be Kevin or Barry.

-I'll take...I'll take on Kevin.

-All right. Do that.

Mandy from the Interveners versus Kevin from the Eggheads,

who got knocked out in the last game, by the way.

To ensure there's no conferring,

would you please take up your positions in the Question Room?

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

I'll go second, please, Jeremy.

Kevin, your question, then.

Whose 1998 hit Believe is often described as

the first widely known use of the Auto-Tune audio processor?

I believe that that was Cher.

Cher is right.

-OK, Mandy.

-Can I have his question?

Don't worry, don't worry.

Got a good one for you.

In 1981, One Day In Your Life became the first UK number one solo single

for which singer?

I do believe that was Michael Jackson, Jeremy.

Well done, Mandy, it was. Michael Jackson.

Kevin.

The 2010 album Pink Friday is the debut release

by which American recording artist?

Debut release? OK, well, I don't think it's Beyonce.

And I think that's probably too late for Mary J Blige as well.

I think I'm getting a bell ringing saying Nicki Minaj.

So I'll say Nicki Minaj.

Nicki Minaj is quite right.

Mandy, who composed

the Ride Of The Valkyries,

a piece of music that appears in the film Apocalypse Now?

Classical music really isn't my bag.

I'll go for Richard Wagner.

The Eggheads are laughing cos you're right. Well done.

OK, Kevin.

Who wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics

of the 1930s song Don't Fence Me In?

Well, I think it's an American song, so...

..probably best to rule out Noel Coward.

I'm not sure, I'm not sure. It's between Porter and Berlin.

I'm going to say Irving Berlin but...it could be either.

-You're wrong.

-Yeah...

-It's Cole Porter.

This is interesting, Mandy. You've got a chance here

to knock him out. My advice would be to try and take it now.

Mandy, which group headlined the first Glastonbury Festival in 1970

when they stepped in to replace The Kinks?

Um...I don't think it would be Mud.

I'll guess at T-Rex.

-Eggheads?

-That's right.

-You're right!

Well done. Three out of three.

Kevin, sorry, sin bin for you.

We are in a little interesting streak with the Eggheads, aren't we?

Well done, Mandy.

Got the rub of the green, the Challengers, at the moment.

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

So, here we are. This is what we've been playing towards.

Another great game. So far.

Now, it's 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 the final.

So, that is Dave and Mike from the Interveners,

but also Kevin and Judith from the Eggheads.

Would you please now leave the studio?

OK, Mandy, Steve and Alan, you are playing

to win the Interveners £1,000.

Lisa, Barry and Tremendous Knowledge Dave,

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

which is the Eggheads' reputation - and to try to get back on the road!

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

They are all General Knowledge. You can confer.

OK. So, Interveners, firstly, good luck,

and, secondly, can you overwhelm these three?

Would you like to go first or second?

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

Here we go. So, first question to the Eggheads.

Pedal pushers are a style of which item of clothing?

-Trousers?

-Trousers, gentlemen, yes.

-Trousers, yeah.

Surprisingly, this is one we all know,

and they are trousers.

Trousers is correct.

Your question, Challengers.

In Scotland, the Gay Gordons is a type of what?

I've got ideas on this one. What about yourselves, team?

I don't think it's a mushroom.

-No.

-I don't think it's an edible haircut.

"Edible haircut"?

We're pretty clear it's a dance, isn't it?

-We all learned this at school, did we not?

-We did.

-We might not have all learned it at school.

-Oh, no...

Yes, I'm a bit older.

It's a dance, Jeremy.

It is indeed a dance.

Eggheads,

the city of Wichita Falls

was incorporated in 1889 in which US state?

-Is it Texas?

-I thought it was Texas.

-I thought of Kansas when I first thought...

-So did I.

-That's just Wichita.

-That's Wichita.

1889...

My inclination, I must admit, out of those three, would be Texas.

But...

Cos I've not heard of it in Flori..

-Yeah, it's definitely not Florida.

-Don't think it is Florida.

I would've said Texas myself, but...

-Well, my gut feels was Texas.

-Yeah, OK.

If they were asking for the state, I might've changed it...

-Yeah, go on.

-All right, as you can tell,

we're not sure at all on this one.

We discounted Florida fairly quickly,

and we think we're going to plump for Texas.

It's like a car with the engine in the wrong place

at the moment, isn't it?

But you are right. Texas is correct.

-Well done, Dave.

-Well done, gentlemen.

Particularly, Dave. OK...

So...

back to the Challengers. They haven't put a foot wrong yet.

Which British Prime Minister, born in 1858,

was known as The Unknown Prime Minister

as he held office for less than a year?

-That's Bonar Law, isn't it?

-We think it's Bonar Law.

-This really rings a bell.

-It rings a bell, yes.

I'm sure he was the shortest-serving Prime Minister.

Yes.

In which case that would sway it towards it.

I think he's got a name for that.

-Are we happy with that?

-Yes.

-Yes.

We're going to go for

Andrew Bonar Law, Jeremy.

Andrew Bonar Law is the right answer.

Well done, Challengers.

So, your third question.

Eggheads, who wrote the poem The Mask Of Anarchy

following the Peterloo Massacre of 1819?

It's Shelley.

-He got thrown out of Oxford for writing it.

-OK, fine.

-You're confident, good.

-I'm very confident on this one.

I believe the answer is Percy Bysshe Shelley,

because I believe he was expelled from Oxford for writing that poem.

Barry suddenly starts firing.

The cylinders of Simmons

are roaring again.

Percy Bysshe Shelley is right.

Not a moment of uncertainty.

-Well, that's a bad time for that to happen, isn't it?

-Mm...

OK. So, now, you're a little bit on the defensive here.

You have to get this right to stay in.

What is the only African country

where Spanish is an official language?

-I'm afraid I haven't got a clue.

-We have no idea on this.

Let's try and think it through.

I'm sure the Senegalese footballers usually speak French.

-I...I...

-I think.

I've got a feeling

that Mozambique...

I could get this wrong,

but I've a feeling that that...

..was Portuguese-speaking.

-Do we think that?

-I think you could be right.

-Yes?

So, my inclination would be to go for the one

that I haven't clue about, to be honest,

which is Equatorial Guinea.

-Right.

-Yeah?

-OK.

-Absolutely.

Jeremy, I think we're going to go for Equatorial Guinea.

-Eggheads, do you know?

-That's right.

-They're right.

Well done. Equatorial Guinea it is.

So, we go to Sudden Death, Eggheads.

Gets a bit harder, as you know. I don't give you options.

Here we go.

The word chugger, for someone who approaches people in the street

asking for donations or subscriptions,

is a combination of "mugger" and which other word?

-Charity.

-Charity.

I think we've all been chugged on occasion.

and it's a combination of "charity" and "mugger".

Charity is correct.

OK. So you need this to stay in.

In which language does "domo arigato"

mean "thank you very much"?

It's two words. D-O-M-O, and then A-R-I-G-A-T-O.

It's like a Latin sort of feel.

It's got a Latin feel to it, hasn't it? But, then again, not.

I think it's just going to have to be a stab in the dark, isn't it?

Latin, I would guess.

We're tempted to say Latin, because it sounds like Latin.

So that's what we give as an answer.

I didn't give you any pronunciation of it because that would've...

If I'd pronounced it...

Barry, you know this. We'd have given it away.

You pronounce it for us.

Well, you pronounce it correctly, domo arigato.

It's Japanese.

THEY GROAN Japanese.

We have to say, congratulations, Eggheads, you have won.

I didn't really... If I'd said...

VAGUELY JAPANESE ACCENT: domo arigato

-then you would've...

-It could've been a hint.

Exactly. So, I hope that I said it right for you.

I did it without any accent at all.

I'm sorry cos, of course, now you know, "Oh, of course!"

-You've heard it, you've seen it.

-Uh-huh.

-Commiserations, Interveners.

I guess there was always going to be a moment

when they picked up the pieces, the Eggheads, and marched on.

They've just about done it today, this ragged band of quizzers.

They've got a victory,

and it means you won't be going home with the £1,000,

so we roll that money over to our next show.

Eggheads, well done. Back on track.

Lost Kevin, lost Judith, but you did win,

and maybe you can get the beginnings of a run together.

Maybe you can win two in a row.

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

have the brains to defeat them.

We will have £2,000 waiting, ready for them.

-Thanks for playing, hope you enjoyed it.

-Thank you.

Till next time, goodbye.