Episode 17 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 beat the might of the Eggheads today

are My Chemical Bromance.

Now, this team of students - with a brilliant name, by the way -

are all in their final year of studying chemical engineering

at Queen's University in Belfast.

Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Conail, and I specialise in water treatment.

Hi. I'm Sean,

and I'm specialising in hydrogen production from glycerol.

Hi, I'm Conor, and I specialise in the recycling of waste plastics.

Hi, I'm Michael, and I specialise in solvent extractions.

Hi. I'm Conor, and I specialise in biofuel production.

So, Conail and team, hello.

TEAM: Hi, Jeremy. Great to see you.

And I'm just desperately hoping

chemical engineering comes up, Conail.

Yeah. Well...

it might be bad if it does - we could be embarrassed.

Well, that's true, but although normally with quizzing

you try to spread the abilities,

here we've got five people who are whizzes at chemical engineering.

Yeah.

Could that be a drawback here?

Um, it could be - if thermodynamics doesn't come up,

we might be struggling.

Now, you do quiz, though, don't you, Conail?

Um, yeah, we do it in our local students' union,

and we are perennial runners-up.

Meaning you come second, or...?

Yeah. Oh, OK.

Is there somewhere a team that's even better?

Yeah, there's usually one or two really strong teams, and...

They weren't available today. We just seem to...

Oh, no, but they'll be watching, and when you win, they'll be so gutted.

So that's good. Yeah.

And just remind us of the team name.

Cos it's a play on something, isn't it?

Yeah, it's a play on the band My Chemical Romance,

which is actually Conor down at the end there's favourite band,

so he was just desperate to get that name on.

Can't wait to see you play.

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

for our Challengers.

However, if they fail to defeat the Eggheads,

the prize-money rolls over to our next show, as you know.

Now, My Chemical Bromance, the Eggheads are playing...

quite well, they are back on their feet

after a difficulty a few games ago.

They've won the last two,

and that means there is

?3,000 to play for today.

Would you like to try and win it?

Yes, please. Excellent.

Your first head-to-head battle is on the subject of Geography,

so it's one of you against either Beth,

Chris, Pat, Steve or Lisa.

Michael, I think that's going to be you.

Yeah, I think that's probably me. Yeah.

OK, Mike... Who do I go up against?

All right. Who would you like to take on?

Who looks lost? Anyone got an opinion?

Chris, Beth...?

Yeah, Chris. Chris.

Chris. OK... Give it a go?

Um, Chris. OK.

Michael from My Chemical Bromance is playing Chris...

No bromance on that side, is there, Chris?

Don't go there, girlfriend.

THEY LAUGH

..Chris from the Eggheads. To ensure there is no conferring,

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

Now, I think I know why you're doing Geography, Michael,

because you've been all over the place.

Yeah, I've tried to travel

throughout my university summer times.

I just hope that my travels come in useful.

Best place? Which is the most exciting country you've been to?

I think the most exciting has probably been Jordan.

I spent a summer there for an internship.

Completely different culture from Northern Ireland,

so it was really nice to get out there and experience new things.

What a great experience in your early 20s, yeah, brilliant.

All right, Geography against Chris, another new experience for you.

Yeah. Michael, do you want to go first or second?

Could I go second, please?

OK, Chris.

Here's your question.

Myanmar, also known as Burma,

has extensive coastline on which body of water?

It's on the Bay of Bengal, Jeremy.

Yes, it is. Bay of Bengal, well done.

OK, over to you, Michael.

Reims Cathedral, now a Unesco World Heritage Site,

was formerly the place where the kings of which country were crowned?

And Reims is spelt R-E-I-M-S.

Um, could I go down the middle, please, with Italy?

You can, but it's wrong.

Oh. France is the correct answer, not Italy.

Sorry, Michael. Chris, over to you.

Of the three main

classes of rock,

which does coal belong to? Chris, is it...

Ooh...

Hang on. It's, um...

compressed organic material, isn't it? So it's sedimentary.

I thought you'd get that, cos there's a train connection there.

Sedimentary's right. Anything that has a train connection,

however tenuous, he tends to get right, Michael.

Here comes your second.

Krakow in Poland is served by an international airport

named after which historical figure?

Unfortunately I don't know this answer for sure, either,

but I will go down the middle,

with Pope John Paul II because of his Polish connections.

Pope John Paul II.

Let's see - Eggheads, is he right?

Yeah. I think that's right. Yes, you're right, well done.

Good quizzing there, Michael, not an easy question at all.

Chris, this is for the round.

Because you will have got three in a row if you get this.

Where is the Grade I-listed monastery of Quarr Abbey located?

Can you spell that, Jeremy? Yeah, Quarr is Q-U-A-R-R.

Well, A-R-R endings tend to be sort of...

Hebridean, don't they? So I'll say the Isle of Bute.

Eggheads, do you know? Or Beth, I think you might know.

No, I think it's the Isle of Wight.

You think it's the Isle of Wight.

You're right, as well. Isle of Wight is the answer.

Isle of Wight? Yeah.

Wrong end of the country!

Ooh, we've had a nice little let-off there.

Get this right, Michael, and we go to Sudden Death.

Faneuil Hall, sometimes referred to

as the Cradle of Liberty and the site of several speeches

by Samuel Adams, is a landmark in which US city?

I'll go with Boston, please.

Only on the connection between Sam Adams beer

and I know they have a Boston Lager, so...

that's my logic behind that answer.

To be fair, that's a brilliant way of quizzing,

and you're absolutely right.

That's the kind of Eggheads-style bit of logic there.

Boston is the right answer.

That's the exactly same way I got to the answer -

know your breweries!

Always do it through beer. Beer or trains, Chris.

That's the principle, isn't it? Always a good decision.

Right, two each after three questions. Well done, Michael.

You fought back there. We go to Sudden Death.

Chris has the first question.

Gets a bit harder now, as you know, Chris,

because I don't give you alternative options.

What is the official language of Bahrain?

Arabic.

Arabic is correct.

Your question, Michael.

Tokelau, a dependant territory of New Zealand,

is an island country in which ocean?

I don't know, I'm having a blank.

I will go for the Indian Ocean.

There's a little rule that Judith always has,

which is, if you don't know the ocean, say Pacific.

Yeah. Pacific is the answer here

cos it's big and there's a lot in it.

Sorry, you've been knocked out by Chris.

Chris, well done. Sudden Death was a bit sudden.

You'll be in the final.

Return to us, gentlemen.

We'll play on.

So, as it stands, My Chemical Bromance

have lost one brain from the final round,

the Eggheads have not lost any so far.

The next subject is Arts Books.

Who would like this?

Is this good for chemical engineers?

THEY LAUGH

The worst.

That was Michael's, as well.

Oh, that was Michael, as well? Unfortunately.

I think, Sean. I would not...

I would fail. I would not do well.

It's up to you. I don't mind.

Yeah? I'll give it a go.

Good stuff. So Conor.

Any particular Egghead?

I'll take Pat.

Right. Good decision.

It's going to be Conor M from My Chemical Bromance

taking on Pat from the Eggheads on Arts Books.

Please go to the Question Room again.

All right, Conor,

this wasn't particularly your choice of subject, was it?

No, definitely not. We were going to put Michael up for this

but, unfortunately, he went there, so I'm the scapegoat.

And you have had an amazing life

because you were born in San Francisco?

Yeah, I lived there for five years.

And then you moved to Ballycastle,

which I know is one of the nicest places in Northern Ireland.

Yeah, it was voted the best place to live there, I think, last year,

by the Sunday Times, so it's something we like to boast about.

Your hobby is hurling, is that right?

I played since I was about eight years old until about 21.

Yeah. OK.

Well, we're on Arts Books.

I can't guarantee that hurling will feature here.

No. Conor, do you want to go first or second?

I'll go second, please, Jeremy.

So, Pat starts with Arts Books. Here we go.

In George Orwell's Animal Farm,

what sort of animal is the character Squealer?

It sounds like a pig.

I wonder.

It would be rather perverse naming if it isn't a pig.

I think I'll have to say pig.

Pig is correct.

Back to you, Conor.

We British, a book about the history of British poetry,

was written by which BBC journalist?

Really have no idea here, so it's just got to be a punt in the dark

with Andrew Marr.

Yes, it is Andrew.

Well done. Andrew Marr, absolutely.

Great book, actually, as well. My mum gave it to me.

I really enjoyed it.

Pat, in France, the Prix Goncourt

is a prize awarded in which field of the arts?

I think there were two Goncourt brothers...

..who wrote almost like a single author...

..but in the end the prize in their name is for writing.

Writing is quite right.

Cracking on here, aren't we, Conor?

Here's your second question.

Which of these poets came to prominence in the 1920s and 1930s?

I think I did a few Seamus Heaney poems

whenever I was in school

and I think that was around the right time for him,

so I'm going to guess with Seamus Heaney.

Yeah, it's not Seamus Heaney.

It's not Ted Hughes. They were later.

Cecil Day-Lewis is the answer.

So Pat has the lead,

and, Pat, you can end the round with this question.

Bill Masen is the hero of which of these novels?

Masen is M-A-S-E-N.

Oh.

Is Guy Montag the hero of Fahrenheit 451?

He's certainly a key man in it.

I Am Legend...

I think that became a film called The Omega Man.

I think it became several films.

I think I'll discount Fahrenheit 451...

..and it just doesn't ring a bell with I Am Legend.

So I think I'll go for Day Of The Triffids.

If you're right you've won the round.

The answer is Day Of The Triffids, Pat.

Well done. You're quizzing well, here.

Conor, sorry. Beaten by our Egghead.

They are on quite good form at the moment.

Come back to us, both of you, we'll play round three.

My Chemical Bromance have lost two brains now.

You're engineers, Conail,

so I'm assuming you've got a plan now?

Yeah, panic.

THEY LAUGH

The Eggheads have not lost a brain so far.

They are sitting looking far too smug.

The next subject is Music.

Who would like this?

I think probably Conail.

I think I'll go.

Do you reckon?

Just in case History comes up next.

OK. So Conor in the middle?

All right. Conor in the middle.

Who would you like to take on?

It can be Beth near me, or Steve or Lisa on the far end.

Lisa loves music, so...

I'll take on Beth. All right.

She likes her music. We like some of the same stuff.

Yeah. So Conor F from My Chemical Bromance versus Beth.

Have you heard of My Chemical Romance?

I have. Have you listened to them?

I have in the past, yeah.

To ensure there is no conferring,

please take your positions in the Question Room.

So, Conor against Beth.

And would you like to go first or second, Conor?

I'd like to go first, please.

Here we go. Your first Music question.

"The old hometown looks the same as I stepped down from the train,"

is the first line of which song

that Tom Jones took to the top of the UK chart in 1966?

Well, with those lyrics, you kind of would lean towards

Green, Green Grass Of Home,

but then She's A Lady, as well, is a famous Tom Jones song.

I think I'll go with Green, Green Grass Of Home.

Let's check with Chris, because this, again, involves a train.

Chris, is this the right answer?

Very tangentially. Yeah.

# The old hometown looks the same as I stepped down from the train

# And there to greet me is my mama and papa

# Down the road I looked and there runs Mary

# Hair of gold and lips like cherries

# It's good to touch the green, green grass of home. #

My, my.

Very good. And at what point does Delilah get involved?

She doesn't. Oh, it's a different song.

Green, Green Grass Of Home is quite right.

Well done. Beth, your question.

For which 1969 song did David Bowie win

an Ivor Novello special award for originality?

Let's Dance and Heroes were much later than this time,

So it's got to be Space Oddity.

Space Oddity is quite right.

Back to you, Conor.

Which singer performed the song Read All About It

at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London?

I know this one.

It's Emeli Sande.

Yeah, nice work. It is Emeli Sande.

OK, Beth, your question.

What name is given to the flared bottom

of a clarinet, from which sound emerges?

I assume it's the same as the trombone,

which is my instrument, and that would be the bell.

Bell is correct.

All right. So where are we?

We've got two each.

Getting three would be a good idea here, Conor,

cos they're playing well today.

Which female singer's biggest UK singles chart success came in 1971

with The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down?

This one, I'm not sure about.

I think I'll just take a wee guess with Joan Baez.

You are absolutely right, Joan Baez it is.

OK, Beth, your question.

To stay in.

Claude Debussy's composition Clair de Lune

was inspired by a poem of the same name by which writer?

Thinking about Debussy, he'd be a bit

early for Andre Breton, I think.

Paul Verlaine or Baudelaire.

Debussy was composing in the Romantic period,

and I think Baudelaire was quite flowery,

so I'll go with Charles Baudelaire.

Charles Baudelaire is the wrong answer.

It's Paul Verlaine, actually.

So, look, here we are.

That's not bad, Conor. Not bad at all.

Beth, you've been knocked out. Conor, you're in the final round.

Well done. Thank you very much.

Come back to us. One more round to play.

So our young Challengers are striking back now.

They have lost two brains from the final round,

the Eggheads have lost one, though, and the next subject is Science.

Who would like this?

Well, this is good, isn't it?

Hopefully!

It should be. It's either the captain, Conail, or it's Sean.

I think it's Sean.

I think you have a more broad knowledge of science than I do.

OK. Yeah. Sean?

OK. And against which Egghead?

You can have either Lisa or Steve.

So you've got to go left.

Go Steve.

Steve. Very good.

Sean from My Chemical Bromance to play Steve from the Eggheads,

the last round before the final.

Please take your positions.

So, Sean, here we are, on Science, and you're the scientist.

Well, engineer, so hopefully that helps.

Chemical engineering, help us understand,

that's not test-tubes - is that right?

No, it's more reactors, heat exchangers,

more...upscaling what the chemists do.

Sean, do you want to go first or second on Science?

I'll go first.

Your first question.

The Beulah Speckled Face is a breed of which type of animal?

I think, from the options, I'll go for monkey.

It's sheep.

I know that's not a chemical engineering question.

Unless you've engineered a sheep.

Not yet.

That's coming. Steve, your question.

Approximately three quarters of the diet

of a sperm whale usually consists of which other sea creature?

Well, out of the three options there,

I think squid is probably the most likely,

so I'd say squid.

Squid is right.

Sean, back to you.

What was a trilobite?

And, Sean, it's all one word.

T-R-I-L-O-B-I-T-E.

Almost as you'd expect. Trilobite.

Well, if I'm thinking of the right creature,

I think it's a prehistoric marine creature.

Can you visualise it?

It's a little small, like, segmented type-thing.

Like a caterpillar or something?

More like a wood louse, in my head, at least.

OK. Prehistoric marine creature is quite right.

Well done. Steve, on to you.

The Magnetophon K1, demonstrated in Germany in 1935,

was the first practical example of what piece of technology?

Yeah, I'm not sure.

But the magnet bit is attracting me to recordings.

So, on the base of little else,

I will say tape recorder.

I see, based on the idea that the old-fashioned bits of tape,

quarter inch, whatever, were little reordered bits of iron or something?

Maybe, just magnetise, picking stuff up.

Yeah, magnetisation was part of it.

Tape recorder is quite right.

An interesting point is that Bing Crosby...

..formed a company to exploit the tape recorder technology

that they found in Germany. Really?

And he made a great deal of money out of it.

He supplied very early tape recorders

to recording studios and film studios.

That's amazing. Thank you.

Your third question here, Sean.

You need to get this right, or you're out.

Somatotropin, which has been banned by bodies

such as the International Olympic Committee,

is a hormone that stimulates what?

Somatotropin?

I'm trying to see if the name helps me out here.

I feel I might just have to go down the middle, growth.

Yeah, it's funny, it's a word that looks like

it leads you to sleep, doesn't it?

I was thinking, but I thought...

Why would sleep be helpful?

Yeah, and stimulating, how do you stimulate sleep,

surely you un-stimulate it?

You're absolutely right. Well done.

Growth, it is. Still in there.

Steve, your question.

You can take the round with this, get yourself a place in the final.

What is a bolometer used to measure?

Can you just spell that, please, Jeremy?

As you'd expect.

B-O-L-O-M-E-T-E-R. One word.

I don't really know how I'm going to get there from

what you've said.

I don't know.

Wind speed.

Wind speed is your answer? Yeah.

Eggheads, do you know?

Radiation, I think.

Yeah, Pat says radiation.

Oh. Did you know this one, Sean?

No, not myself. I almost would have guessed wind speed.

Yeah, no, it's not, it's radiation.

So that's handy.

After three questions each, the scores are level.

We go to Sudden Death and just to make it that bit harder,

this is not multiple choice. Sean, your question.

Araucaria araucana, or the monkey puzzle tree,

is native to which continent?

Monkey tree. Monkey puzzle tree. Puzzle tree.

I think I'll go with China.

I'm sorry, Sean. I have to take your first answer.

We were looking for a continent.

But it's actually not that part of the world -

the answer is South America.

South America is the answer.

Steve, at room temperature,

the element argon exists in what fundamental states of matter?

I'll just take a second.

I'm pretty sure it's a gas.

Now, this is a classic chemical engineering question.

Sean, is he right? Yeah.

Yeah, you're right. It is a gas, and, Steve, you've knocked out Sean.

Sean will not be in the final round.

Please return to us, we will play that final for ?3,000.

So this is what we've been playing towards.

It is time for our final round, and, as always, General Knowledge.

But I'm afraid those of you who lost

your head-to-heads are not allowed to take part in this round.

So, Sean, Michael and Conor M from My Chemical Bromance,

but also Beth from the Eggheads,

would you please now leave the studio?

Conail and Conor,

you are playing to win My Chemical Bromance ?3,000.

Lisa, Steve, Pat and Chris,

you're playing for something that I don't think money can buy -

it's the Eggheads' reputation.

As usual, I'll ask each team three questions in turn,

they are all General Knowledge, and you may confer.

So, Conail and Conor,

the question is, can your two brains defeat these four over here?

Good luck. Would you like to go first or second?

We'd like to go second, please.

So, first question, therefore, to the Eggheads.

And here it is.

Jennifer Saunders married which other comedian in 1985?

Adrian Edmondson.

All happy with Adrian Edmondson?

Yeah? OK.

She is Mrs Adrian Edmondson.

Yes, it is Adrian Edmondson.

Well done.

Over to you, Challengers.

In the film The Empire Strikes Back

which character says the line,

"Do or do not. There is no try."

Which movie was that, sorry?

The Empire Strikes Back.

Ben Kenobi was dead by then.

I thought it was Yoda.

I haven't seen it, but I'm almost certain it's Yoda.

You've seen it, though.

Ben was dead in the fourth one.

So what do you think?

Yeah, go Yoda.

We are going to go Yoda.

Are they right?

Yes. Yoda is the right answer.

Well done. Level...

in the final round.

Eggheads, in Greek mythology,

what was the name of the Cyclops

from whom Odysseus and his companions escaped?

Polyphemus. Isn't Polyphemus the only one there who's a Cyclops?

Yeah.

The other two aren't.

Bellerophon was a man.

Until he fell off Pegasus and died.

I think the only one there that was a Cyclops was Polyphemus.

Polyphemus is quite right.

We go back to you, Challengers.

Lentils are the main ingredient in which of these Indian dishes?

Do you know?

I don't know my Indian cuisine.

Is there any you were thinking?

I kind of want to go between keema and dhal but I don't know why.

I don't know why I thought keema.

I've no idea what any of them are, to be honest.

What do you think? I think just pick whatever you want.

Keema or dhal. Keema?

Are you sure? Yeah. Keema.

We're not really sure at all, we don't know what any of them are.

Our food specialists are in the back there.

But we're going to go keema.

Keema is your answer.

So you don't go out for a curry in Belfast?

Not too often, no. Really?

Yeah. Let's just check in the back.

Any ideas on this, guys?

The answer is dhal, Jeremy.

Yeah. They are right back there.

It's dhal.

That's annoying.

Because that means the Eggs can take it with this question.

In 1968,

whom did Ed "Stewpot" Stewart take over from

as host of the radio music request programme Junior Choice?

It's not Michael Bentine.

I wouldn't have thought it was Des O'Connor.

He was a recording star at the time, wasn't he?

I think it was Leslie Crowther.

As in, "Come on down." Yeah, yeah.

I know Michael Bentine did a lot of kids' stuff, didn't he?

Definitely not him. Well, Potty Time, It's A Square World,

that wasn't a kids' show.

The Bumblies.

Yeah. Never did no radio stuff.

Don't think so, no. Well, the very early Goonie shows.

Any thoughts, Pat? No, I don't think I know this.

Leslie Crowther looking favourite, then?

Yeah. Right, I'll go with that.

OK. I think that's the best logic we've got.

Leslie Crowther. Yeah.

Just checking.

OK, I am assured by these learned gentleman,

to the best of their knowledge, we think it might be Leslie Crowther.

Leslie Crowther is your answer.

Now, if you've got this right, you've won.

You've barely got any questions wrong today.

The correct answer is Leslie Crowther.

We say congratulations, Eggheads.

You have won.

My Chemical Bromance, you played really well.

I'm sorry, there were just moments when they were just unstoppable.

And the three questions right in the final round is, let's say,

inconvenient, to say the least.

We should have got the second one right, to be honest.

Oh, don't you worry.

Commiserations to our Challengers.

The Eggheads have done what is coming naturally to them again.

They are just remembering who they all are.

Reigning supreme over Quiz Land. No doubt about it.

It does mean you won't be going home with the ?3,000.

We're going to roll that money over to our next show.

Eggheads, congratulations.

Are you finally impossible to beat?

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

have the brains to surprise them.

There will be ?4,000 to play for.

Till then, goodbye.

Star Wars...