Episode 82 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.

Taking on our quiz champions today

are The Sadberge Saxons from County Durham.

This team often quiz together on a Sunday night

at the Springfield pub in Darlington. Let's meet them.

Hi, my name's Michael and I run my own cleaning company.

Hi, I'm Derek and I am an ironmongery sales advisor.

Hi, I'm Anthony and I run my own window cleaning business.

Hi, I'm Owen and I am a company director.

Hi, I'm James and I'm a town clerk.

-So, Michael and team, welcome.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Good to see you.

You get together to quiz, Michael, do you?

Yes, we get together at the Springfield pub in Darlington

-on a Sunday evening.

-Brilliant.

Tell us about the Sadberge bit of your name. What is that all about?

Sadberge is a small village just outside of Darlington.

The Saxons part is that it was an Anglo-Saxon village.

It was known as a "wapentake", was it?

-Tell us about that.

-What I know is that a wapentake

is the centre point, like the capital of that area,

where the Vikings would come together to meet... And the Saxons.

Now, you do a lot of sport together, don't you?

Yes, we... A few of us are in a group of 14 called a "provocare",

which is kind of Latin for "challenge".

We get together once a month and we play a different sport each month.

We have a competition, a league table, which culminates

at Christmas with the presentation of the trophy to the winner.

And just to lower the tone, you've also worked as a cowboy, Michael?

Yes, I went over, when I was a young boy, to Wyoming,

to Medicine Bow Lodge in Wyoming,

and I was a cowboy for about six months.

How fantastic! Well, I hope you can rope in the steers over here.

It's all very exciting on Eggheads at the moment.

There is, as you know, £1,000 worth of cash

up for grabs for our Challengers

and if they fail to defeat the Eggheads,

we basically keep the money and roll it over to our next show.

And, Sadberge Saxons, the Eggheads have won the last...

How many is it, Eggs? Come on, tell me.

-19.

-19 games on the trot.

The key thing here is there is £20,000 to play for.

So we've got a serious quiz on here.

First head-to-head battle is on the subject of Film & TV.

So, Film & TV, Challengers,

you can choose between Judith, Beth, Pat, Steve and Chris.

Who shall we go for?

-I think that's you.

-Yeah, definitely you.

Yeah. Then who should we...?

Oh, it's the skipper going in?

-Yes. It's me.

-All right. With the provocare.

Which Egghead would you like?

We'd like to take on Chris, please, Jeremy.

Very good. So, it is Michael from The Sadberge Saxons

taking on Chris on Film & TV.

Been a while since we've been in the cinema together.

Been a while, been a while.

Last time there was a bloke at the front playing organ!

To ensure there is no conferring,

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

OK, Film & TV, Michael.

Your choice, would you like to go first or second?

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

OK. Playing for £20,000.

Let's see if you can knock Chris out as a start. Here we go.

Lou Carpenter is a character

in which long-running Australian soap opera?

Erm... I've never heard of A Country Practice.

I think Neighbours is the oldest of the series.

But for some reason I'm going to go for Home And Away, please, Jeremy.

I could see why Neighbours is almost too obvious, but that is the answer.

It's Neighbours.

OK, Chris, your question.

The well-known car chase in the 1960s film Bullet,

starring Steve McQueen, is set in which city?

Well, it's dodging the cable cars

up and down all the hills in San Francisco,

doing his suspension no good at all in the process.

San Francisco is the right answer.

OK, Michael. Which British actor

was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2016?

I think Martin Freeman and Jamie Bell are fairly new over in America,

so I'm going to go for Hugh Laurie.

Yeah, very good, it is Hugh Laurie, who is...

What is his big thing over there, Michael? What is his big show?

-House, I think.

-Yeah, House, it's so popular.

Chris, to take the lead, your question.

Who played the intelligence officer Angela Burr

in the 2016 TV series The Night Manager?

Ah! Never watched that either.

The Night Manager, I think that was Rachel Weisz.

Do you now?

Beth, do you know?

In the original book The Night Manager,

this character was written as a man

and the screenwriter wanted Olivia Colman to play this role,

so changed it to a woman.

Olivia Colman, Chris.

She's almost typecast now as this sort of slightly harried,

under-pressure, middle-aged character.

You've got a bit of a way back in here, Michael.

He's not steaming along as he always does.

If you get this right, you could put Chris under some pressure,

maybe he'll topple off the edge.

Who directed the 2016 film Nocturnal Animals?

I only know Christopher Nolan, of the three.

I'm not sure if it's one of his type of films.

I don't know Tom Ford at all.

I'm going to go for Dennis Villeneuve.

Tom Ford is the answer.

So, Chris has a chance to take the round.

Which of these 1980s sci-fi films

is set largely on a planet called LV-426?

Set largely on a planet with an alphanumeric designation,

so it's a fairly dehumanised sort of place...

So, is it the prison planet in Aliens?

Aliens is the right answer, Chris, and the logic is good there.

Well done, you're in the final.

Sorry, Michael. Team captain knocked out.

What does that augur for our Sadberge Saxons? Let's see.

Return to us, please, both of you, we'll play the next round.

-Well done, Chris.

-Thank you.

-Have you seen Aliens?

I have, actually, yeah.

Right! Excuse the correction, LV-426 was not a prison planet,

-it was just a...

-Well, yeah.

And I think Alien 3 had a prison planet.

-Ah, yeah.

-OK. As it stands, The Sadberge Saxons

have lost a brain from the final round.

The Eggheads are all still sitting there with this big jackpot,

guarding the money. You've got to take it, guys.

The next subject for you is Science.

Who would like Science?

-Worrying silence.

-I think that was yours, wasn't it, Jamie?

I was second choice for that.

Well... Do you want to go for it?

-I can do it...

-Yeah, go on.

If Politics comes up, we'll need you two.

-Science?

-I'll have to, then.

-Yep, OK.

-James?

OK, before you go, choose an Egghead. It can't be Chris.

-Should we go for Judith?

-Judith, yeah.

OK, we're going for Judith, please.

All right. James to take on Judith,

who once knocked out a rocket scientist in Science.

Yes, and we mustn't ever forget that!

To ensure there is no conferring, please take your positions.

So, is science your thing, James?

It wasn't my first-choice subject, but I'll do my best.

You were once mistaken for the chef James Martin?

-That's right, yes.

-What, at a village fete?

Yes, it was a village garden open day

and two elderly ladies who let me in the garden

were convinced I was James Martin.

And they wouldn't let me leave their house

until I had signed a couple of books that they had.

Oh, so you thought it's easier to go along with it?

Yeah. I just had to play along with it, yeah.

So, science we're on, James.

-Would you like to go first or second?

-I'll go first, please.

OK, and here we go.

What general name is commonly given

to organic plant or animal matter that is converted into power?

Erm... It's obviously not nuclear fuel. Erm...

Florafuel, that's something you spread on your bread!

No, I'll definitely go for biofuel.

Biofuel is right. Judith, your first question.

What name is given to the five vertebrae of the lower back

between the ribcage and the pelvis?

Oh, dear. I'm very bad at these.

The five at the bottom?

The five vertebrae of the lower back between the ribcage and the pelvis.

Well, I think it must be cervical.

-The cervical vertebrae?

-Yeah.

I don't know if there are any cervical vertebrae...

Let's just check with Beth.

Cervical vertebrae are up round your neck.

Thoracic is between your neck and the lumbar.

-Is it lumbar?

-Yes, it is. It is lumbar.

So, well, that's handy.

-James, just keep steady here.

-Trying my best.

-Playing for £20,000.

What is the practice of using a domain name

whose traffic relies on misspellings by internet users called?

Wow.

I'm just going to have to use logic here because I've not heard of that.

Typo-jacking... Jacking sounds more like you are taking it off somebody.

So I think I'll go for typo-jacking.

It's typo-squatting.

Ah! That was perhaps my second choice.

-I didn't even know that was a thing.

-No, neither did I.

Here's your next question.

Which dinosaur, Judith, whose name means "wounding tooth",

is often said to be the most intelligent of all dinosaurs?

Triceratops, that's something to do with three.

I'm drawn to troodon, or "tro-odon", or whatever...

because I think that might have something to do with teeth.

Troodon is right!

Oh! Magic right again!

Yeah, the magic right.

So she's on the scoreboard,

but you can take the lead with this one, James.

What is the common name of Halichoerus grypus,

the larger of the two seal species found in the UK?

Let me just spell them. I think it's worth me spelling them.

Two words. H-A-L-I-C-H-O-E-R-U-S, Halichoerus.

And grypus is G-R-Y-P-U-S.

Grey seals are not particularly large,

so I don't think it's that.

I've never heard of a leopard seal being in our seas,

so I think I'm going to go for a Ross seal.

Ross seal is your answer. I can see that...

I think Derek knows this, Derek?

-Grey seal.

-Grey seal is the answer.

So, Judith can take the round now, with your third question.

By what name are the elements making up

group 16 of the periodic table often known?

Well, group 18 is the...

What are they called? Inert gases...

I thought halogens are the one next door.

On the other hand, I've never heard of the other two.

So...

I think I'm going to say halogens.

Chalcogens is the answer.

Ooh! That's a hard old round, that, wasn't it, James?

You're not out yet,

not by any manner of means. We go to Sudden Death.

Gets a bit harder, I don't give you alternatives.

Which shark of the genus Alopias,

is noted for its long, scythe-like tail

that may constitute almost one half its total length?

It's very difficult to picture one that's got a long tail, so...

I think I'll have to go for...

-..great white.

-Great white.

Let's see, Derek, do you know?

-We think the thresher?

-Thresher, yeah.

Why aren't you playing the science round, Derek?

-What are you being saved up for here?

-I don't know!

Goodness me, OK.

Thresher is the answer.

So, Judith, for the round...

Which probe, built by the European Space Agency,

crash landed on Comet 67P in September 2016?

Erm...the thing that comes into my mind is Rosetta.

-Yeah, Rosetta.

-Rosetta is the right answer.

Well done to you. You've taken the round on Sudden Death,

James knocked out by our Egghead there,

so Judith will be in the final round.

If you come back to us, we'll see what happens next.

So, as it stands, The Sadberge Saxons have lost two brains

from the final round despite some valiant efforts.

The Eggheads are still all there.

This could be the moment for the comeback, Michael,

-just a suggestion!

-Yes!

The next subject is Arts & Books.

THE SADBERGE SAXONS CHUCKLE Who wants this?

-Which one of you?

-I'll take it.

-You sure?

-Yeah.

-Are we still going to leave...

-Anthony...

-I'll take it.

-OK.

-..runs a window cleaning business.

-Anthony.

Who would you like to clean out here?

-Who do you think?

-We'll go with Steve.

All right, Anthony from The Sadberge Saxons

is going to take on Steve from the Eggheads.

Please go to the Question Room.

So, Anthony, you're playing Steve, known as "10,000 Books" Cook!

Yeah. That's the last count, isn't it, Steve?

Yeah, yeah, there's been a few added since I've been filming.

Which are the ones you absolutely will never get rid of, ever?

-None of them!

-Really?

Yeah, well, I haven't read half of them so I've got to...

I'm just stockpiling them for a rainy day.

Well, good luck getting through them.

And also good luck to you, Anthony, more to the point, on Arts & Books.

Do you want to go first or second?

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

OK, third round. Good luck, Anthony.

By whose ghost is Hamlet visited

in the Shakespeare play of the same name?

I'm not 100% sure on this one.

I think I'll go for his uncle, please, Jeremy.

I think his main motivation was the death of his father.

So it's his father that makes him think he's got to take revenge

and all else then follows. Steve,

the artwork called the Lobster Telephone

is a creation of which Spanish surrealist?

Well, when you say "Spanish surrealist", Jeremy,

you go to answer Salvador Dali.

-That's it?

-That's it.

Salvador Dali is quite right.

Back to you, Anthony. Which of these poets wrote To The Cuckoo?

Again, I'm not sure about this one.

I'm going to go down the middle and say William Wordsworth.

Yes, bang on, well done, William Wordsworth it is.

OK, your question, Steve, to take the lead,

who is the author of the 2016 novel Swing Time?

I've not heard of it and they are all current writers,

so it's a bit of a one-in-three, this, I'm afraid.

I really don't know.

Can't work it out.

Monica Ali.

-No, no, no, Steve. It's Zadie Smith.

-No, never heard of it.

So, that's rather handy there, Anthony.

Get this right, put him under some pressure,

get your place in the final.

The Odes, the Epodes and the Epistles

are all works of which 1st-century BC Roman author?

Again, one I'm going to have to guess at, I think.

But somewhere in the back of my mind I've got Horace.

So I'm going to go for Horace.

-Steve, is he right?

-He is right.

Steve's right, you're right, everyone is right.

Horace it is.

OK, Steve, to stay in, you need to get this right.

The Kitchen, staged by the National Theatre in 2011,

was the first work of which British dramatist?

Well, David Storey, I don't know if he's renowned for his plays as such.

Willy Russell, I'm not fancying that.

I'm going to say Arnold Wesker, but I really don't know.

Eggheads, do you know?

-Arnold Wesker.

-They like that.

At least I think they do. Judith, do you?

-Yes, I like that.

-Yeah.

-Is it wrong?

No, it's the right answer! Arnold Wesker it is.

Oh, you were nearly there, Anthony.

-Nearly, nearly.

-Needs a bit more work now.

Sudden Death we go to. Steve is very good on Arts & Books.

-It gets a bit harder, I don't give you alternatives, Anthony.

-OK.

Which 1990 Booker Prize-winning novel

centres around a love affair between two fictional Victorian poets

called Randolph Henry Ash and Christabel LaMotte?

I don't know the answer to this. Romeo And Juliet!

No, it's... This is 1990 we're talking about,

this is Possession by AS Byatt.

Steve, for the round, what is the title

of the controversial 2008 Christos Tsiolkas novel

about the aftermath of a child being disciplined at a barbecue?

I've actually read this book and it's a brilliant book.

It's called The Slap.

Now, I saw what I think was the Australian TV series of this,

so I can tell you you're absolutely right, Steve, well done.

It is The Slap.

And with that, Anthony, you've been knocked out.

From a slap to a knockout, I'm afraid,

you won't be in the final, Steve will.

It's looking difficult but not impossible for our Challengers.

Please return to us and we will play the last round before the final.

So, as it stands,

Sadberge Saxons have lost three brains from the final round.

The Eggheads have not lost any yet.

Another chance now to get an Egghead out.

Come on, guys, it's Politics.

-LAUGHING:

-Oh, no!

No? What's happened?

You used your political player, did you?

-We're scuppered now.

-He's already gone!

-You going?

-I've got to do it.

-Owen.

-It's going to be Owen.

OK. Our company director from Darlington.

And who would you like to take on?

You can have either Pat or Beth.

I'll take Beth, please.

Good stuff. So it's going to be Owen from The Sadberge Saxons...

-In fact you live in Sadberge, is that right?

-Indeed, yes.

OK, the very place. ..versus Beth from the Eggheads on Politics.

For the last time, please go to our Question Room.

Owen, Politics. Would you like to go first or second against Beth?

I'll go second, please, Jeremy.

Here is your first question, Beth.

What is the common term for a document

containing proposals for legislation by the UK's government?

For part of my Health and Safety diploma,

we had to learn about how laws were made

and Black Paper and Blue Paper, I don't believe, came up,

so I think it is a White Paper.

It is indeed a White Paper.

There are Green Papers, but that is another thing.

Owen, your question. Which UK party

commissioned a large stone tablet with its policy pledges

during the 2015 General Election?

I...don't think it was Ukip.

I think it would have been Labour.

Yeah, one of the all-time great election disasters in this country.

-Yeah.

-Labour is the right answer.

-Known as the EdStone, I believe.

-The EdStone cos it was Ed Miliband.

I remember because, the joy of Twitter,

you can see conversations as they go on,

and the Conservative press office

was messaging the Labour press office,

saying, "We can't even pay for this stuff!"

OK. Beth, your question.

Kenneth Clarke was caught on camera in 2016

saying that which Tory leadership hopeful

would go to war with three countries at once?

Boris Johnson didn't stand for the leadership contest.

Mrs May was victorious,

but I'm possibly thinking that Michael Gove was this person.

Yeah, I think you could include Boris as a potential here,

he would have been a hopeful at some point.

He is not the answer and, funnily enough,

Kenneth Clarke said some slightly indiscreet things about Theresa May,

so she would have been tempting, too.

But you have got it absolutely right, Michael Gove is the answer.

OK, Owen. The Partido Popular, or People's Party,

is a mainstream conservative political party in which country?

It's only a guess.

I will go down the middle and say Spain.

Spain is correct.

-Playing well.

-Well done again, Owen.

So, level after two. The third question could be crucial.

And here is Beth's. In July 2016,

who was appointed the EU's lead negotiator for the Brexit talks?

Oh. I don't know, this fact seems to have passed me by.

How... How... How odd. I think the only name I've seen

written down in print is Martin Schulz,

so I'm going with that.

Let's see, Eggheads. Martin Schulz?

Well, the correct answer is Michel Barnier.

Michel Barnier is the correct answer.

One I wouldn't have picked anyway.

Owen, you can take the round just by getting this question right.

This may be the turning point for our Challengers.

Who delivered the withering put-down,

"Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy," in a 1988 vice presidential debate?

I've never heard of Lloyd Bentsen.

So, again, I am torn between the other two.

I only know Al Gore, so I will go for Al Gore.

No, it was Lloyd Bentsen.

He was the running mate of Michael Dukakis.

-OK.

-And he was up against a guy called Dan Quayle.

Dan Quayle made some kind of comparison

that he was as young as Kennedy was

when he entered the Senate or whatever.

And Lloyd Bentsen said, "Senator, I've served with Jack Kennedy,

"I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine.

"Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy."

And as one commentator said,

"It was as close to devastation as you could get on a stage that size."

OK, so we go to Sudden Death.

Beth, your question. I don't give you alternatives. You're level.

The FCO is the name of one of the major departments

of the UK Government. For what do the letters F, C and O stand?

The university I work for has quite a lot of dealings with this,

because we have a lot of people overseas

and it stands for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Absolutely, it does. Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Owen, back to you.

Daniel Hannan, a senior member of the Vote Leave campaign

during the UK referendum on EU membership,

has served as an MEP for which political party?

H-A-N-N-A-N.

I will just go Liberals.

He was Conservative, Owen, so, sorry, you've been knocked out.

So Beth is in the final.

That's a clean sweep for the Eggheads.

Can the Challengers still win? Absolutely, they can.

Please return to us. We will play the final round for £20,000.

So this is what we have been playing towards.

It is time for our final round.

As always, it is General Knowledge.

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

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

So, all from the Challengers' side, I'm afraid,

Michael, Anthony, Owen and James from The Sadberge Saxons,

would you please now leave the studio?

Good luck, Derek. You're playing to win The Sadberge Saxons £20,000.

Playing alone, which I know is not quite how you planned it.

Chris, Steve, Pat, Beth and Judith,

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

which is the Eggheads' reputation, and to keep this run going.

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

They are all General Knowledge.

Normally, I say you can confer, but you're in a bit of a pickle there.

So, Derek, the question is,

can your one Sadberge Saxons brain defeat the Eggheads' five over here?

I'll bet you can. Would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please.

Good luck, Derek. Here we go.

According to the saying, what does a rising tide lift?

Not heard this one before.

I would say...

-..all hopes, I think.

-All hopes?

-No, no, rising tide lifts all boats.

-Yeah.

It's the idea, like in banking or shares or something,

when things are good, everything goes up.

Eggheads, which city's airport has the international code PEK?

-Beijing?

-Sounds like it's a throwback to the use of Peking.

-Everybody happy with that?

-Judith?

I don't know. Could be Beijing or Bangkok, couldn't it?

-I think it's a reference to the old Peking name.

-Yes, I thought that.

I think the answer to this is Beijing.

We think that's Beijing.

Beijing is right. Well done.

OK, Challenger, your question.

Which astrological sign covers the approximate period

between the 20th of April and the 20th of May?

I was born on the 11th of May, so I'm going to go Taurus.

I was born on the 17th of May, so I know you're right.

-We're both Taureans.

-Yeah.

Doesn't that mean we are obstinate and we keep pushing on, Derek?

-We do.

-Hint, hint.

Eggheads, your question.

Satchel Paige was a famous figure in which US sport?

-Baseball.

-It's baseball.

Sounds right.

OK?

I think we're happy with that.

We think that's baseball.

Baseball is the right answer. All right, let's see.

They've got two, you've got one.

You're playing for £20,000.

Jackpot is big, it means you need to get this one right.

Derek, get this wrong and the contest is over.

By what name is the British musician and singer

Tahliah Debrett Barnett better known?

Never heard of her. Erm...

Twigs? Bat for Lashes?

I'm going to go down the middle, Bat for Lashes.

Bat for Lashes, OK, I've heard a lot of Bat for Lashes' work

and I like her a lot. I'm not sure what her real name is.

Do we know the real name of Bat for Lashes?

-Natasha Khan?

-Something like that.

-Natasha Khan?

-Natasha Khan? OK.

The correct answer here

is FKA Twigs.

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

Don't worry, Derek. I know you are a great quizzer.

I know that those two wrong answers are not representative...

-No.

-..of your quizziness.

I'm sensing your team saved you for the final as well.

Commiserations, Challengers.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them.

What's worrying me is the number of times

they don't even have any Eggs knocked out.

It really is frustratingly impressive, isn't it?

-It does mean that you won't be going on with the £20,000.

-No.

So we will roll that money over to our next show.

Eggheads, congratulations.

Who, if anyone, will ever beat you?

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

have the brains to defeat them.

£21,000 is here to be played for.

Until then, goodbye.