Episode 12 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

Hippo's Hippocampus from Kent. Team captain John has enlisted the help

of his quizziest friends in an effort to defeat the Eggheads.

Let's meet them.

Hello, my name's John, and I'm a ghost tour guide.

Hello, my name's Andrew, and I'm manager of a punting company.

Hello, I'm Zoey, and I'm a retired NHS dentist.

Hello, my name's John,

and I'm managing director of a hygiene service provider.

Hello, my name's David, and I'm an ex-customs officer.

So, John and team, hello. Hello. Great to see you.

Thank you for coming.

Tell us what brings you all together, John.

I gathered my best quizzers' minds together to hopefully

crack a few Eggheads.

And Hippo's Hippocampus. Tell us about the team name, John.

Well, I came up with the name because at school, well, my surname

is Hipsley, and they called me Hippo as my nickname,

and the hippocampus being a part of the brain that contains memory,

so I thought, together, Hippo's Hippocampus.

Are you a quizzer? I am. Good, fantastic. Anyone else a quizzer?

Yes, right.

Suddenly, the Eggheads are all excited because they love to meet

real quizzers. And you have a very interesting job, John,

because you are the director of Canterbury Ghost Tours.

That's correct. And you take people on tours around Canterbury,

is that right? That's right, around the old city.

OK. And do you point out ghosts,

or they probably fly away just in the nick of time?

Never usually very reliable, ghosts!

Well, I know these can seem a bit ghostly,

certainly a bit frightening sometimes, these Eggheads.

Good luck spooking them. I hope the spirits are with us!

I love the bowtie, by the way. Thank you, sir. Good luck, team.

Every day, there is ?1,000 cash up for grabs for our Challengers.

However, if they fail to defeat the Eggheads,

that prize money rolls over to our next show. So, Hippo's Hippocampus,

the Eggheads have won the last three games.

They are getting on not so much a roll as a trot.

But it may break into a gallop. Who knows? You've got to stop them.

There's ?4,000 if you do.

Would you like to try and win it? Yes. I thought so.

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

And you can have either Judith, Kevin, Pat, Steve or Lisa.

Politics. Right, who wants to do Politics?

John? Zoey? No, I'm no good at Politics.

I think that's a bit mean.

I'll take Politics.

Oh, John, you looked for a volunteer, and they volunteered you.

So who would you like?

Lisa? Lisa, yes.

I think we are going to choose Lisa, if we may.

Yep, she has her moments, don't you? Hippo, hippo, hooray!

John from Hippo's Hippocampus versus Lisa from the Eggheads,

on Politics. Just to ensure there's no conferring, would you please

take your positions for the first time in our legendary Question Room?

On Politics, John, your choice.

Would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please, Jeremy.

Good luck against Lisa.

From 1983-2007, Tony Blair served as MP for which constituency?

Well, Finchley, I seem to recall, was a pretty safe Tory seat.

Huntingdon, a bit of a funny old seat,

so I'm going to go Sedgefield.

Sedgefield's right. Finchley was Mrs T, Huntingdon was John Major.

Sedgefield was Tony Blair.

Lisa, your question. In which century was

Spencer Percival assassinated whilst serving as UK Prime Minister?

I've got 1820 something in my head.

I've been going through my Prime Ministers.

My dates are notoriously bad.

But I think it's the 19th.

19th is absolutely right.

Kevin, do you know the date? 1812. 1812.

Bother. Was he shot? Is that my imagination?

He was shot, yes. Yes, because he famously shouted out, "I am shot,

"I am shot!" And it was said to be the only time a politician

had told the truth. LAUGHTER

OK, John, your question.

Which city is home to a Parliament called the Knesset?

Well, it's not Cairo, and it's certainly not Helsinki.

I think we are going to have to go for Jerusalem.

Bang on. Jerusalem it is.

Lisa, over to you. In 2004,

Robert Kilroy-Silk was elected as the MEP for the East Midlands,

for which party?

Was it a very early incarnation of Ukip?

I don't think it's Green.

I don't think it's Liberal, either.

Yeah, OK. I'll try Ukip.

Ukip is correct.

Third question for you, John.

Which of these is thought to have hastened the death of the

two-time UK Prime Minister, Robert Peel, in 1850?

Oh, that's a tough little one, isn't it?

I think it's unlikely that he was stung by a wasp, although that

could have set off anaphylactic shock.

Overheating in the bath seems pretty unlikely because they didn't bathe

very often then at all, so I'm going to go for he fell off his horse.

Yes, you've got three out of three right.

Well done, John. He fell off his horse.

The hippocampus is working well, there.

OK, Lisa. What was the maiden name of Clementine

who married Winston Churchill in 1908?

I thought, "I'll know that when it comes up."

I don't.

I wonder... I sort of like Harrington, but I don't know.

I've nothing concrete to base this on. It's very awkward.

I'm fairly sure she was a connected lady, and I just forget

to whom she was actually connected.

I don't know.

Harrington.

Harrington. Let's see, Judith, do you know?

Hozier. Hozier is the right answer, Lisa, so, sorry.

You've fallen behind, there. You've been knocked out.

Well done. The Challengers have taken a scalp.

John, you're in the final. Come back to us, we'll play on.

So, good start for Hippo's Hippocampus.

They've not lost any brains from the final round.

The Eggheads have lost Lisa. The next subject is Music.

Who would like Music?

For you, I think, Zoey. Right, OK, yeah.

Right, Zoey. I'll do Music, Jeremy, yeah.

Good stuff. Who would you like to play? Obviously can't be Lisa.

Can I play Judith, please?

You may, indeed. Zoey from Hippo's Hippocampus

takes on Judith from the Eggheads.

To ensure there's no conferring, please take your positions.

So, Zoey, golf is your great passion?

Absolutely, I love it.

I've played for 51 years and, in all that time,

I've tried to have a hole in one, and every time I stand on a par-3,

I think, "This is it," and it never happens!

But I just enjoy the companionship and the friendship.

It's just good fun. But I know from friends who play,

it's quite a time-consuming thing, isn't it? It can be, yes.

And it's good that John R, he plays golf as well, my husband.

It's something that we can do together, so that's good.

Would you like to go first or second on Music, Zoey?

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

So here we go, Zoey, good luck.

"I hope you don't mind that I put down in words how wonderful life is

"while you're in the world," is a repeated line

from which Elton John song?

Elton John, whilst he was doing this album,

is one of my favourite singers.

And it's from Your Song.

It is. It's so beautiful, isn't it? Yes.

OK, Judith, let's see if we can get some music knowledge.

Dredge some! Oh! In 1987,

Letter From America became the first UK top ten single for which duo?

I don't know.

The Proclaimers.

Is it? Yeah, totally!

Oh, thank goodness for that. The Proclaimers.

All right, so, she got it right, which is very annoying,

Zoey, but that's the way it goes. Your second question.

Which of these found fame as the lead singer of the group,

Bay City Rollers?

It definitely wasn't Roy Wood, because he was with Wizzard.

Now, the Bay City Rollers,

I think it's Dave Bartram,

but I may be wrong.

Ah! No, it is Les McKeown.

Let's just think. Who was Dave Bartram? Any Eggheads know?

Showaddywaddy. Showaddywaddy was Dave Bartram.

Ah, right, yes. He was the main singer, wasn't he?

All right, so, Judith has a chance to take the lead.

In 2002, Javine Hylton just missed out on joining which girl group?

No idea.

Girls Aloud.

Girls Aloud is right. I don't know how you're doing this.

It's uncanny!

That was the magic right.

So, she's in the lead.

Zoey, you need to get this one right to stay in. Yes.

In the work Peter And The Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev,

which instrument represents the duck?

That is an interesting question. Erm...

The duck. The duck would presumably be a bit of a quacky sound,

but they are also a bit waddly. I don't think it's the oboe.

I can imagine the duck waddling,

so I'm going to say the glockenspiel.

I completely understand that the sort of motion on a glockenspiel

could be a duck's waddle. This is, I think, more about the sound.

Right. And the oboe is the answer.

Oboe is the answer, the first one I excluded.

Never mind. Don't worry.

It's early days, still.

Judith, you've gone through on Music.

I shouldn't have done, is all I can say.

Well, I won't disagree with you there!

Zoey beaten by our Egghead, and as a result, you're not in the final.

Please come back to us, both of you, and we'll play round three.

What about that? As it stands,

Hippo's Hippocampus have lost a brain from the final round.

The Eggheads have lost one as well.

Very evenly matched, isn't it?

The next subject is Food Drink.

Now, who is the Food Drink person?

I might. Yes?

Happy about that? Yeah, OK.

OK. I'll take that, Jeremy, please.

OK, John. Managing director of a hygiene service provider.

Against which Egghead? It can't be Lisa or Judith.

I'd like to take Kevin, please. All right.

You've been watching the show carefully, I can tell.

John from Hippo's Hippocampus is taking on Kevin from the Eggheads.

Food Drink, not his favourite subject. No.

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

Well, they're still picking you for Food Drink, Kevin.

Yeah, although, funnily enough, it is a little while

since I've done one, I think. We used to joke that you had a house

with no kitchen, but I know you've now moved into a new house.

Is there a kitchen in that one? Well, a flat, yeah.

There is a kitchenette. Any sight of an oven in there?

There is an oven, yes. Has it been opened yet?

I've opened it to look inside, yes.

"Have you cooked anything in your oven yet?" is what I'm asking.

I haven't cooked anything in my oven. It is in use.

It's in use as a handy surface on which to stack magazines. OK.

Would you like to go first or second, John?

I'd like to take the first questions, please, Jeremy.

So, here we go. Food Drink.

The soup, borscht, usually made with beetroot,

is a speciality from which area of the world?

OK, well, I don't believe that it'll be Central America, nor do I believe

that it'll be Southeast Asia, so my answer will be Eastern Europe.

Eastern Europe is the right answer.

Well done, John. Kevin, your question.

Falafel are usually served in what type of bread?

Well, pitta is a more Mediterranean type of bread, generally.

Focaccia and ciabatta are more specifically Italian.

And falafel is thought of as a Middle Eastern dish,

so I will say pitta.

Pitta is quite right. Back to you, John.

Which of these is a vital ingredient for a Bernaise sauce?

That's probably one of the very few sauces that I've never made.

I've done lots of beef stock and I've done lots of red wine sauce,

so I would believe it is a yellow sauce that is made with egg yolk.

Absolutely right, well done.

Good quizzing. Egg yolk is right.

Elimination, always a good way. Kevin, your question.

Lapsang souchong is categorised as being a type of what colour tea?

It's not white.

I hope I'm not going wrong here.

I believe that would be categorised as black.

Yes, nice. Black is right.

So, level. John, the third question could be crucial. Here we go.

The Yorkshire village of Denby Dale is particularly famous

for making giant what?

I have no logic to this, really, but I believe the only thing that

could be giant would be the doughnuts.

Doughnuts. I'm just thinking about whether I might have been there.

Denby Dale. Anyone been?

Junction 39 of the M1,

it's only down the road from me, and I've never heard this.

You haven't heard this? No.

Pat? They make giant pies.

It's sort of like every 20 years, or 30 years,

they have almost a festival. Do they roll them down a hill?

No, no, I think they just make big pies.

Pies is the answer, John.

Pat confirms that they make very large ones.

I didn't ask him whether he's ever had one.

OK. Kevin, your question.

You can take the round with this.

What type of vegetable is a Kelvedon Marvel?

Ah, K-E-L-V-E-D-O-N?

Yes, exactly. Marvel, M-A-R-V-E-L.

Because there are a few things called Kelvedon, I believe.

And I must admit, I was expecting pea to come up there.

That's a bit unfortunate.

So I don't think it would be a turnip.

I suppose it could be either of the others,

because the logic of naming is not always obvious. Erm...

I think, however, on the basis that I was expecting to see a legume

come up by way of a pea, I would probably have to go

for runner bean, here, on the basis that that is another legume.

It's a sort of logic,

but it could be a Brussels sprout. I really don't think it's a turnip.

I will go for runner bean.

Runner bean is your answer.

I suppose it's as near to your pea as you've got an option for.

That's the logic, basically,

but naming conventions are not always straightforward.

The answer is runner bean.

Well done, Kevin. On Food Drink, you've taken the round.

John, sorry, he's played well. Yes.

He does play well in almost every round.

You were beaten by our Egghead, and as a result,

you will not be in the final round.

So, come back to us, we've got one more round before the final.

So, as it stands, Hippo's Hippocampus have lost two brains

from the final round, while the Eggheads have lost just one.

Time to level it up, maybe, team. The next subject is Arts Books.

So, who would like this? David? I'll take it.

OK? David. David, our ex-customs officer.

Against either Steve or Pat.

Steve or Pat, Dave? It's one of my ambitions to take on Pat.

Right.

Is the other ambition to take on Steve?

David from Hippo's Hippocampus is going to fulfil an ambition to

go into the booth now with Pat.

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

Arts Books. Do you want to go first or second, David?

I'll go first, please, Jeremy.

David, good luck. Here's your first question.

Which Harry Potter book comes between The Order Of The Phoenix

and The Deathly Hallows?

I really don't know this one.

I'm not a big Harry Potter fan.

I think I'm going to go for The Goblet Of Fire, please, Jeremy.

Now, I'm not, particularly. My kids are.

And I know that it comes up an awful lot.

Pat, can you tell us the answer here?

Well, The Deathly Hallows, I think, is the last of the books.

I think it was preceded by The Half-Blood Prince.

Yeah, the answer is The Half-Blood Prince, David.

So, Pat has the chance to take an early lead.

L'Ultima Cena is another name for which famous painting?

The Night Watch has an alternative name to do with the company of...

Is it Corporal Banning Cocq, or something?

Guernica, I'm not sure it has an alternative name.

But this sounds good for The Last Supper.

So I'll go for The Last Supper.

Yes, The Last Supper is right.

David, back to you. Which of these is the title of a famous painting by

George Stubbs that is on display in the National Gallery?

I really don't know this. I know that Stubbs...

I think he was mostly painting to do with horse racing and horses.

I think I'm going to go for Whistlejacket, please, Jeremy.

Let me ask your team-mates. Is he right?

Yes. Yes, absolutely right, well done.

The logic was brilliant, there, because it is that jumping horse,

isn't it? It sounds like horses.

Yeah, it's 1-1.

We go to you, Pat. The first editions of Jane Austen's novel,

Sense Sensibility, were published anonymously, with what appearing

on the cover page where the author's name would normally be?

I have a preference for "By A Lady". I'm just thinking it over.

It's strange how, Walter Scott, his early books were all published

without using his name, and Jane Austen did the same.

I think they were By A Lady.

Indeed, yes. She wasn't trying to hide that she was female, Pat.

She was just, for some reason, not giving her name.

Is that right?

It's to do partly with the gentility and this sort of thing.

What do you do as a respectable profession?

And her tomb in Winchester Cathedral, her original tomb,

doesn't even mention the fact that she was a writer.

And that had to be remedied some time later,

and another plaque put up by people who appreciated her work.

Really? Really? How amazing.

OK. He's ahead, and it means, David, you need to get this one right.

Yep. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage is a poem by which writer?

And Childe is spelled C-H-I-L-D-E.

OK, I don't think there's much of a clue in the question there.

I really don't know this. Erm...

I'm going to say Byron, Jeremy.

Big sigh of relief from Andrew. Is he right? Andrew is smiling.

Byron is the right answer.

You're still in it. Well done, David.

Let's see what Pat can do now.

Pat gets this right, he's in the final.

What is the surname of Susannah, the cousin of Jude,

in Thomas Hardy's novel, Jude The Obscure?

Hmm.

Now, this is tricky.

Who was Clem Yeobright?

Or am I imagining him? Have I just made him up?

I think I may have made him up. And yes, I think he might be

a Hardy character, so is that enough reason to

attach the surname to Susannah?

I think I'll do that.

It's not very convincing logic at all, so I'll go for Yeobright.

Yeobright is your answer.

Any Eggs know? Bridehead.

Bridehead, says Kevin, and he's right.

Bridehead is the answer. You got it wrong.

The scores are level after three questions. How about that, David?

You can now say you've taken Pat to Sudden Death.

Even better. Another ambition fulfilled.

It gets a little bit harder here, David,

because I don't give you alternative options, OK? I understand, yeah.

Which fictional bear came to be resented by the illustrator

E H Shepard, who called him "That silly old bear"?

The only bears I can think of are Rupert Bear or perhaps Paddington.

And something in the back of my mind is saying Paddington,

but there's really nothing more to it than that.

I'm going to say Paddington, Jeremy.

Ah, but there's a bear you missed out - Winnie The Pooh.

Winnie The Pooh. Winnie The Pooh is the answer.

And I think he felt that his work on those books overshadowed

all of his other work.

Pat, you can take the round with this question.

Louis De Berniere's novel, Captain Corelli's Mandolin,

is set on which island?

It's definitely a Greek island.

It's over in the Ionians.

We got Corfu, we've got Kefalonia.

I think it's Kefalonia.

Kefalonia is the correct answer. That's the trouble.

Give them a bit of daylight, David, but there we are.

Hope you enjoyed that. I did.

Great to have someone coming who wants to take on an Egghead

face-to-face. Pat has won through.

He will be in the final.

And if you both return to us, we will play that final round.

So, this is what we have been playing towards.

It is time for the final round. As always, General Knowledge.

But I'm afraid those of you who lost your heads will not be allowed

to take part in this round.

So, Zoey, John R and David from Hippo's Hippocampus,

but also Lisa from the Eggheads,

would you please now leave the studio?

Well, here we are, John and Andrew,

you are playing to win Hippo's Hippocampus ?4,000.

Steve, Pat, Kevin and Judith,

you are playing for something that money can't buy,

which is the Eggheads' reputation.

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

This time, they are all General Knowledge.

You can confer. So, John, Andrew, the question is,

are your two hippocampi able to take down these four?

They look a bit too confident for my liking.

I think you can do it. Yes.

Do you want to go first or second? Shall we go first?

Let's go first. We'll go first. We'll get it over with.

OK, Andrew and John, good luck.

Here we go. In the popular saying about magpies that begins,

"One for sorrow...", what do five magpies signify?

It's one for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy,

five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told.

So that makes it silver. It was a '70s TV show, wasn't it?

I believe it was, yes.

So, silver is the answer. Silver is the answer. You're right.

Yes, it was a show called Magpie that drummed it into us.

# One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy...#

Who presented that, Eggs?

Susan Stranks were on it, weren't she? Susan Stranks.

OK, Eggheads, your question.

Which Latin phrase means, "Time flies"?

Tempus fugit. Yes, all happy with that?

Yes. Yes.

I think somebody in Coronation Street used to say it a lot.

It's tempus fugit. Tempus fugit is correct.

1-1. Back to you, Challengers.

What is the only country in mainland South America to have English

as an official language?

It's Guyana, because that was a British colony. Yeah.

Guyana. Sorry, Guy-ana rather than Gee-ana.

Gee-ana is quite right.

Thrown me, whether I say Gee-ana or Guy-ana.

I think I would say Gee-ana.

I think it's Guy-ana. I think you can say either.

Two to the Challengers, one to the Eggheads.

Eggheads, your question. Nico Rosberg won the 2016 Formula 1

drivers' championship with which team?

Mercedes.

I think we're all pretty happy with that one.

Mercedes, Jeremy. Mercedes is correct.

They are playing in a slightly too sure-footed way for my liking here,

but they can come unstuck, I promise, Challengers.

Your third question in the final round, ?4,000 on the table.

What was the first name of the American librarian Dewey

who formulated the Dewey Decimal system?

No idea on this one. I just know him as Dewey Decimal.

What period did he live? Was it 1850s?

I don't know. It's going to have to be a plump for which one.

So, Theodor Dewey, Melvil Dewey, Victer Dewey?

Melvil Dewey sounds about right, does it? Hmm.

I'm tempted by Victer.

Victer? I'll go with you. OK.

Purely a plump - we'll try Victer.

OK, we had a little bit of Melvil going on there, did we?

John, did you? Can we change our answer?

No, I just wanted to get the trail. What was it, Eggheads?

Melvil. Melvil Dewey was the answer.

It's all right. Came close. Two out of three.

Very hard to guess that one.

Eggheads, with this you can take the contest.

In classical mythology, who captured the man-eating horses

of King Diomedes of the Bistones?

Heracles? It was one of his labours. Yeah. One of his 12 labours.

Yes. Capturing the man-eating mares of Diomedes.

Yeah, yeah. Judith, you happy with that? Yes.

Yeah? We think it was one of the labours of Heracles, Jeremy.

So that is the answer.

It was a labour of Heracles to capture the man-eating horses

of King Diomedes.

The correct answer, Eggheads, is Heracles.

We say congratulations, you have won.

Did you know that last one? Yes. Yeah.

Yes, it was a labour of Heracles.

I'm sorry about that. That's the way it goes.

Is Melvil Dewey well known in the quiz world?

Not in my head. Yes. It comes up a lot?

It's probably fair to say that it does, yes, I think so, yes.

Old Melvil. Commiserations, Hippo's Hippocampus, that's a shame.

Came close.

Well, I think you are clearly quizzers.

There's no doubt about that.

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them.

Here you are, reigning supreme over quizland.

We can say now it is officially a run that you're on.

It means the Challengers won't be going home with the ?4,000.

The money rolls over to the next show.

Eggheads, well done. Who will beat you?

Join us next time to see if the new team of Challengers have the brains

to defeat the Eggheads. There's going to be ?5,000

for them to play for. Until we quiz again, goodbye.