Episode 64 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.

Hoping to get one over on our quiz champions today

are the Fox Cubs.

This team were in the same

sixth form class at Manchester Grammar School

and recently reunited for the first time in nearly 50 years.

Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Roger. I'm an emeritus professor of law.

Hi, I'm Graham and I'm a writer.

Hi, I'm Jon and I'm a retired property consultant.

Hi, I'm Ian and I'm a retired civil servant.

Hi, I'm Richard and I'm a psychometrics consultant.

Roger, team, welcome, great to see you.

-Hello.

-Roger, was it great to see each other when you all reunited?

Yes, it was. Yes.

Did you have that amazing thing

-where you can just pick up straightaway?

-Absolutely, yes.

-Really?

-Yes.

I should ask you about the team name.

Fox Cubs relates to your teacher.

He was our form master and English teacher, Geoff Fox.

-Still with us, I gather?

-Yes, still with us.

Knows all about this.

Maybe watching today and cheering you on.

He says he will, yes.

-He was a good teacher?

-Very good teacher. Yes.

That makes all the difference, doesn't it, Eggheads?

Anyone here had a great teacher?

Yes, I had a fantastic biology teacher.

I was going to drop biology A-level

but it was her that encouraged me to keep with it.

And now it is your career. Yeah. I had a great English teacher.

Good luck. Summon up the spirit of the class.

Stay united here in the face of the onslaught.

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

for our challengers.

If they fail to defeat the Eggheads,

that prize money rolls over to our next show.

So, Fox Cubs, the Eggheads have won just the last game.

That means there is £2,000 for you if you win today.

-Would you like to try?

-Yes, please.

OK, let's go for it.

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

You can choose either Judith, Beth,

Pat, Steve or Chris.

-Who is going to go for it?

-Do you want to?

Do you want to?

One of us, presumably.

-Shall I go?

-Yes. Graham.

Graham, our writer, against which Egghead?

Any one of the five.

-Beth.

-Beth.

That's what I was going to think of.

-Beth, please.

-One of the newest Eggheads.

Graham from the Fox Cubs versus Beth from the Eggheads on Geography.

Please both of you go to our Question Room.

I understand you worked in the library, Graham, did you?

Yes, I was a librarian for nearly 40 years.

-It was where?

-Various different places.

Most of the time I was working for an international law firm

as their head of information services

but before that I was at Hull University and Kingston Polytechnic.

And if we say to the Eggheads University of Hull library,

what is your immediate name?

-Philip Larkin.

-Philip Larkin,

one of the undoubtedly great poets of the 20th century,

who I understand worked

in the library just down the corridor, did he?

-He was my boss.

-So, as somebody once said, you met him as he lived.

Yeah, sure. He was rather reserved so one didn't see him a lot.

He stayed in his office a lot.

But I had a few very pleasant conversations with him

over the year or two that I was there.

I promise you don't have to say he was a nice guy.

-I'm assuming he was quite grumpy at times.

-Very.

Those poems, do you love them yourself?

-I do.

-Remarkable.

Good stuff. On Geography, then, I am sorry it is not Arts and Books, but there we go.

Geography for you against Beth.

-Would you like to go first or second?

-I'll go first, please.

Here we go. Geographically speaking, which of these countries occupies

a large proportion of the Scandinavian peninsula?

Iceland isn't in the peninsula. I assume the peninsula is the bit

that includes Norway, Sweden and Finland, so Denmark

wouldn't be included in that, so I think the answer must be Sweden.

Sweden is right. Well done.

Over to you, Beth. Hobart is the capital of which state of Australia?

Luckily I am not afflicted with the same gaping hole of Australia

as Lisa is. I am pretty sure that is Tasmania.

She would fly into a panic if she saw this question.

Tasmania is right.

OK, Graham. The equator passes through which of these countries?

The equator passes through South America

so it won't go through Mexico.

It certainly doesn't get anywhere near South Africa.

So the answer must be Indonesia.

You're very good. Indonesia is right.

Graham ahead. Can Beth catch up?

What is the approximate population of Saudi Arabia?

Wow. It is a big country.

Does it have a similar population to Great Britain?

Or does it have half of that?

Probably half of that. 32 million.

You have done very well there.

It is not an easy question. 32 million is right.

Toe to toe, Graham. Here we go, your third question.

Ouagadougou is the capital of which African country?

The capital of Benin is Porto-Novo.

The capital of Botswana is Gaborone.

And the capital of Burkina Faso is Ouagadougou.

Good quizzing. Burkina Faso is right.

He knows his capitals, Beth.

-Yeah, he does.

-We can tell a quizzer a mile off, can't we?

OK. Your question to stay in.

What is the capital of the French departement of Gironde?

Gironde?

That is certainly not Paris

and Le Havre is on the Brittany, Normandy coast

so it's got to be Bordeaux.

Well done again. Bordeaux it is.

So, perfect round for you both so far, three out of three.

We go to sudden death. Graham, it gets a little bit harder.

I don't give you options.

-Are you ready?

-Yup.

Which Benelux country has a name

that translates from its native language into

English as low country?

The Netherlands.

The Netherlands is right. Nederland as it is to them.

Beth, to stay in.

Mount Paektu, the highest mountain in North Korea,

lies on the border between that country and which other?

With Lisa's gaping hole over Australia,

my gaping hole is over east Asia.

I am going to...fingers crossed and hope that North Korea

joins itself up with China. China.

China is correct. Graham...

Netherthorpe, Pitsmoor and Darnall

are suburbs of which English city?

So we are talking...

..possibly moorland.

I've never heard of any of them.

I'm going to go for Nottingham.

-Do you know this, Beth?

-No,

I would have thought maybe slightly more north than Nottingham.

Leeds possibly? Sheffield?

Sheffield is the answer.

Beth, you have a chance to take the round with this question.

The flag of Ghana features a black star

and how many different coloured bands?

-Three.

-Three is right.

Red, yellow and green. Well done, you are in the final.

Well played, Graham,

that was a really fearsome challenge you put in there.

You are very good. Please come back to us, both of you,

and we will play on.

As it stands, the Fox Cubs have lost one brain from the final round.

The Eggheads haven't lost any so far.

The next subject for you is Science.

Who was the science stand-out in class?

-We didn't do science.

-We're all liberal arts!

There was no swot?

I see. OK.

I have been nominated as the fall guy here.

-Jon, OK.

-Jon is our expert on science.

Property consultant against which Egghead?

-Anyone but Beth.

-I would say Judith.

Judith, yeah.

Judith.

-I can hear a strange noise.

-It is me groaning.

Why would you groan at Science?

I have never had a science lesson in my life.

-Have you not?

-We're in the same boat, Judith.

You are in the same boat? OK.

Let's see. Somebody may be hiding their knowledge.

Jon from the Fox Cubs versus Judith from the Eggheads.

To ensure there is no conferring,

please take your positions in our famous Question Room.

Jon, I know that many of the team members are very decorated in their

lives since school and you won the Cromwell Prize in 1972.

Yes, that was given out by my university, East Anglia,

on historical research into Oliver Cromwell.

Brilliant. You got a monetary prize or whatever?

What did you do with it?

I spent it on a celebratory party

and they informed my tutor what I had spent the money on only to get,

instead of a letter of congratulations,

I got a letter back saying you should have realised

it was to be spent on furthering your research into Oliver Cromwell.

Oh, dear!

The money had gone, so it was too late.

Hopefully you talked about Cromwell at the party.

No. This was a story that I have never told any of

my colleagues here in the team,

so this is the first they have heard of it.

Jon, would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please, Jeremy.

Your question -

a salinometer is a device used to read the percentage of

what substance in a solution?

Saline will be salt.

Salt is quite right.

Judith, your question.

What is the scientific study of insects known as?

Is this seismology, entomology or psychology?

It is not psychology or seismology, so it is entomology.

Are you sure it is not psychology?

Definitely. That is the mind.

Entomology is right.

We are back to you, Jon.

The human genome project,

the aim of which was to mark all the genes on the human chromosomes,

was begun in which year?

It is not an answer that immediately springs to mind.

I think it was before 2010.

I would go for 1990.

1990 is the right answer.

Judith, often used in food products,

gelatine is a substance derived from which protein?

Gelatine, I thought that came from beef.

That was the great worry about it.

When the mad cow disease scare happened.

I think it is keratin.

Here you have gone astray, Judith.

Oh, dear. It is collagen.

Collagen. That is what holds skin together, isn't it?

Gelatine... Yes, maybe that is the beef connection.

I thought keratin had something to do with your hair.

-Like gel?

-Well, no, not that you put on your hair,

but it sort of held the hair together.

Well, that is gel.

Collagen is right, I'm sorry, you have fallen foul of keratin there,

so you can take the round now, Jon, with this answer.

The yellow-brown transparent gem citrine

is a variety of which mineral?

Citrine is C-I-T-R-I-N-E. Citrine.

I don't think it's diamond.

I don't think it's gypsum either.

I think it's quartz.

The correct answer is quartz.

Well done, Jon. You have got three out of three.

Judith, you have fallen by the wayside.

I'm afraid you have been knocked out.

You will be in the Sin Bin in the final round. There we are.

A bit of a problem on science.

Maybe she's right. Jon, it is good news for your team.

Please come back to the studio and we will play the next round.

As it stands, the Fox Cubs have lost one brain from the final round

and you have just turned and knocked one of theirs out.

The Eggheads have lost one, too.

It is getting a bit lively now.

The next subject is Sport.

Who would like this, Roger?

-Ian.

-I will take that, Jeremy.

Ian, a retired civil servant against...

Let me see, Chris, Steve or Pat?

-Chris, apparently.

-OK, somebody watches the show.

Ian from the Fox Cubs is taking on Chris on sport.

-I'll get my coat.

-Don't get your coat,

get your donkey jacket and off we go.

To ensure there is no conferring, please go to the Question Room.

Sport against Chris, Ian, would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please, Jeremy.

Here is your question. How far to the nearest foot does the oche stand

from the board in a professional game of darts?

If you were throwing darts from 15 feet you would have to be

pretty good or have a good screen around the audience, I think.

I believe it is eight.

-Chris, do you know this?

-It is eight, yes.

Eight is the answer, well done.

That is the key thing. Eight is right.

Chris, your question.

Which Japanese martial art has a name that

translates as "way of the sword"?

Judo is the gentle way, karate is empty hand

and in kendo they belabour themselves with bamboo rods

like swords, so it is kendo.

Yes, and they wear kind of helmets and stuff?

Kendo is right. OK, back to you, Ian.

The footballer Jens Lehmann

played in which position for both club and country?

I've seen him play so I won't discuss it,

Jens Lehmann was a goalkeeper.

He won't discuss it because he played for...

He played for the wrong team.

I know who you're talking about. We could mention Arsenal but this is

about Germany and you're right anyway.

Goalkeeper is correct.

Chris, the winter sport of bandy

is most similar to which of the following?

Bandy, they play it in Ireland, don't they?

It's not ski jumping and curling they have to play on ice,

so it's not curling.

I think bandy is an extremely vicious game played on grass that's

a bit like ice hockey. So that's the answer.

Let's see if the Eggheads know.

-Is he right?

-He's right.

It's like ice hockey. It's played on ice, though.

It's like ice hockey.

Chris, you're right. Ice hockey. We gather from Pat it is played on ice.

OK.

2-2.

Ian, it's tense. Here's your question...

The Scottish athlete Laura Muir specialises in what kind of event?

This is very embarrassing in Glasgow.

I'm afraid this is going to have to be a punt, I'm awfully sorry.

I'm going to say middle-distance running.

Middle-distance running is the right answer.

Three out of three.

OK, Chris, your question.

Published in 2016,

Unguarded is the title of which England cricketer's autobiography?

Unguarded.

Possibly a wicketkeeper.

None of those are known for making unguarded remarks

so spin a three-sided coin,

straight down the middle, Michael Vaughan.

Sorry, Chris, it's Jonathan Trott.

Sorry, you been knocked out by Ian who got three out of three,

which is always handy. You took on an Egghead,

Ian, you emerged triumphant, so advantage to your team now.

This is getting exciting.

Come back to us, we'll play the last round before the final.

So, as it stands, the Fox Cubs have lost one from the final round.

The Eggheads have lost two brains from the final round.

Let's savour this moment, guys.

This is a good moment. Now you need to drive it home

with the next round, the last one before the final.

Knock another Egghead out, game on.

Film and TV is the subject.

So Richard or Roger?

That must be me.

-OK, Richard.

-Thank you, Richard.

Psychometrics consultant, against which Egghead, Pat or Steve?

-I would say Steve.

-Steve, please.

Very good. Richard from the Fox Cubs

is going to play Steve from the Eggheads.

Please, for the last time, go to the Question Room.

So Film and TV. Do you want to go first or second against Steve?

First, please.

Who presents the UK version of the TV show

I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here?

Right. I was scientifically chosen for this particular subject

because I don't watch television.

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

..on no information at all.

Ant and Dec.

No, you've got it, Ant and Dec is right.

They're the ones in the jungle.

OK, Steve.

Your question. Who played Detective Roger Murtaugh

in the Lethal Weapon series of films,

starring opposite Mel Gibson?

To the best of my knowledge, the only one that was in those films

is Danny Glover, so that's my answer.

Danny Glover is quite right.

Richard, which Only Fools And Horses character

was played by Lennard Pearce?

Right, this has got me thinking frantically.

I'm ruling out Trigger.

Scientifically it must be Uncle Albert because it's on the left.

Is that scientific?

I don't know.

Judith's rule is you go down the right.

All right, Uncle Albert.

Was Uncle Albert in something, Steve?

Well, he was in Only Fools And Horses but I think that was

-Buster Merryfield.

-And who played Trigger?

Roger Lloyd Pack.

So the answer here is Grandad, Richard, I'm sorry.

Good to see you showing off your facts, Steve. Impressive.

All of them.

I know you've got some spare, I know that.

Here's your question.

Which actress played the role of Clara Oswald in the TV series

Doctor Who from 2012-2015?

Well, Doctor Who is a show I absolutely adore.

I've watched it for years.

Since Tom Baker was on it.

So I know full well that's Jenna Coleman.

It is the brilliant Jenna Coleman, you're right.

Who then popped up in Victoria, didn't she?

-She did indeed.

-Great actress.

So he's in the lead, Richard.

It's not panic stations but it would be good if you got this one right.

Well, more than that,

you must get it right to stay in. No two ways about it.

What is the name of the organisation that the hero works for

in the 1960s puppet TV series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons?

As I said I'm implying strict scientific theory to this

and I'll go for International Rescue.

No.

Let's see if your team-mates agree. I heard a groan. No?

Well, International Rescue was definitely Thunderbirds.

Thunderbirds, yes, that was.

So which one is this? Do you know?

-I'd go for Spectrum.

-I'd go for World Intelligence.

-Steve, what would you say?

-Spectrum.

Spectrum is the answer, Richard.

So Steve has taken the round.

No way back for you and that really leaves it in an interesting

position for the final because you're going to be perched equally.

Please return to us, gents, and we will play the final round.

This is what we have been playing towards.

It is time for our final round

and as always it's General Knowledge.

But I'm afraid that those of you who lost your head-to-heads

won't be allowed to take part in this round.

So Graham and Richard from the Fox Cubs,

and Chris and Judith from the Eggheads,

would you please now leave the studio.

Roger, Jon, Ian.

You're playing to win the Fox Cubs £2,000.

Hopefully with Mr Fox watching, your old teacher.

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

the Eggheads' reputation.

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

They're all general knowledge and you can confer.

Gentlemen, so the question is - can your three brains defeat these

three super brains over here?

And Roger, Jon, Ian, would you like to go first or second?

We'll go first please, Jeremy.

OK, here's your question.

The term "dick" is sometimes used as a slang term for which professional?

The term "dick" is sometimes used as a slang term for which professional?

It's detective, I don't think we need to discuss that.

-Detective.

-Yes, in lots of...

I was thinking Raymond Chandler's books and all of that.

Big Sleep and so on. Detective is right.

OK, Eggheads, your question.

The trainer Angelo Dundee, who died in 2012,

was a leading name in which sport?

Boxing.

I think he famously trained Muhammad Ali, he was a boxing trainer.

Yes, I read Muhammad Ali's autobiography

and he was on every other page.

Boxing is the answer. Well done.

Back to you.

The high-energy dance the cancan first became a popular musical dance

during which period?

-I think...

-Didn't Toulouse-Lautrec...

Yes, so it's the late 1800s.

I would've thought it was the 1800s, that's what...

The pictures of dancers in that sort of style.

Definitely not the 1700s.

No, but I'm sure... It's definitely not 1700s, I agree.

Shall we?

Yes. I'm happy with that.

For better or for worse, we're going for 1800s.

You've got a memory of a Toulouse-Lautrec poster?

I think that's right, I think he did do a painting

with all of the legs in the air?

1800s is right. Well done.

OK, Eggheads, behind at the moment.

During which conflict was the Battle of Blenheim fought?

-Spanish Succession.

-Spanish Succession.

I think it's the Spanish Succession.

THEY CONFER

Yes.

We think that's the War of the Spanish Succession.

War of the Spanish Succession is the right answer.

They're not thrown off easily, these Eggheads.

OK, your third question -

get this one right and they may stumble and fall.

This could be the tricky one.

Get it wrong and it gives them a clear shot at goal.

Drake was at number one in the UK singles charts

with the song One Dance for how many consecutive weeks in 2016?

Question from hell.

I have absolutely no idea.

Any thoughts, any input, Jon?

I have a fancy it was for longer than five weeks.

Do you, well, if you have a fancy, you go for it.

He's got teenage children,

which is the very tenuous thing that we're going to hold on to.

So are you going for ten, are you?

I don't know, I think it might be fifteen,

I think it was there for quite a long time.

-Fifteen is nearly four months.

-OK, so we'll go ten.

Well, no, I'm just asking, I'm just saying.

Split the difference. Split it down the middle and go ten.

Are you sure? How...

I'm not sure.

OK, how strong is your inkling, as the Eggheads always say,

for fifteen, because I don't want us to talk you out of it

-just as a blind...

-It's 50-50.

I don't think it's five.

-Right.

-Fair enough.

OK. We'll go with you on that.

I think ten is probably the best option.

OK.

Fifteen, as Ian says, is a long time.

Right, I have absolutely nothing to give on this.

I don't.

-I think we should go ten.

-Right.

I won't say Jon says, no...

Unfortunately we have absolutely no idea on this.

After some rather inconsequential discussion

we're going to go with ten.

OK, I see your logic because you argued out of five

because that's not really long enough

to make it important enough to be a question and then

we had fifteen from Jon and then Ian said well, that's a long time,

that's four months and then you kind of just went down the middle

and you went to ten as a sort of a compromise.

I'm feeling bad for you because it's fifteen.

Oh, it was fifteen, yeah.

There was a moment when I thought you were going to get it.

I listened very carefully, you did all you could, Roger,

you chaired that very well.

So, fifteen is the answer.

OK, Eggheads, it's in your hands now.

If you get this right, the contest is over.

If you get it wrong, we go to Sudden Death.

In which US city was the Home Insurance Building,

considered to be the first skyscraper built in 1885?

That's Chicago.

Chicago. Daniel... is it Daniel Burnham.

No, it wasn't, it would be Sullivan.

OK, yeah, it's not Los Angeles or Las Vegas.

-Yeah, we're happy with that.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We think that's Chicago.

1885, the Home Insurance Building.

Do you know it?

I would have gone for Chicago.

The correct answer is Chicago.

We say congratulations, Eggheads, you have won.

-Would you have known the Drake?

-Yes.

-You would have known that?

-Yes.

-Well, because you follow who's number one when?

Yeah, and he was number one for a long time.

You just can't believe it was number one for that long.

Yeah, as we were saying, nearly four months.

I think one more week, it would have taken the record.

It was the equal record.

-Or equal record.

-Isn't that Wet Wet Wet or somebody?

-No, Bryan Adams.

-Bryan Adams.

-Another Canadian.

-Well, Challengers, I'm sorry.

The Eggheads have sort of done what they are quite good at doing,

which is just nicking it on the third question of the final

and it happens all the time

and it means they reign supreme over quizland

so you won't be going home with the £2,000.

-I hope you've enjoyed your time.

-Oh, yes.

-Yes, thank you very much.

It's been another go at the school reunion.

Yes, that was the main motive.

And Mr Fox, if you're watching, you can be proud of them.

Eggheads, congratulations.

Who will beat you? Join us next time to see if a new team of challengers

have the brains to take these Eggheads down.

It's now going to be £3,000 they're playing for.

Until we quiz again, goodbye.