Episode 52 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.

Looking brainy, I think, today.

-Very kind.

-Really - and bright shirts, as well.

Now, Barry has a little teaser for us,

and we can think about it during the show. Barry.

OK, my teaser is this...

How to punish bad Daleks

before many million earthlings truly see clearly

is a mnemonic for remembering what order?

We'll find out the answer at the end of the show for you.

Now, challenging the might of our quiz Goliaths today

are the Tasselled Wobbegongs from the south of England.

The founding members of this team share a passion for scuba diving

and they take their name from one of the creatures they love to see

during their dives. Let's meet them.

Hello, my name is Tricia and I'm a scientist working in the NHS.

Hello, I'm Ian and I'm a performance manager.

Hi, I'm Linda and I'm a freelance marketer.

Hi, I'm Ian and I'm a software engineer.

Hi, I'm Dave and I'm an IT consultant.

So, Tricia and team, hello.

-Hello, Jeremy.

-Great to see you.

You must tell us first of all about this tasselled wobbegong.

-Yes.

-What that exactly is.

It's an interesting creature. It's a type of shark, Jeremy.

But it's a large, flat shark that lives at the very bottom of the sea.

It's very ornate, but you don't see it very often,

because it kind of hides itself in the sand.

And if you're diving,

you sometimes see a pair of eyes, and then, when it's disturbed,

it will ripple the edge of itself and you can see the rest of it.

-Beautiful creature.

-It sounds exactly like Pat.

LAUGHTER

He is known... He is known as the shark,

because he will sit there for hours and then suddenly eat someone.

But presumably that doesn't happen with this shark,

-cos you enjoy seeing it?

-We enjoy seeing it.

-It's not dangerous?

-No, not dangerous, but hopefully we can be threatening, too.

Yes, you can. So scuba diving has brought you together,

and other things, and I know you quiz, as well.

Yes, we quiz, some of us are members of book groups together,

some of us have connections through work, but the main reason why

we met each other first was through scuba-diving.

And you have been on University Challenge.

-I have.

-Now they immediately...

Suddenly their antennae go up when you say that.

-Do you want to say what your specialist subject was?

-No.

LAUGHTER No? OK, good. Tell us later on.

-We'll try and guess.

-Part of the strategy, to keep it secret.

All right. I think this is a good team here, Eggheads, I can sense it.

Good luck, challengers.

Release the sharks.

Every day there is £1,000 worth of cash

up for grabs for our challengers.

If they fail to defeat the Eggheads,

the prize money rolls over to the next show.

So, Tasselled Wobbegongs, the Eggheads have won the last nine.

So they're in confident mood.

And it means there's £10,000 to play for.

-Do you want to try and win it?

-Absolutely.

Good stuff. So, Tricia, team,

the first head-to-head battle is on the subject of Science.

And it's one of you against either Lisa, Beth,

Barry, Pat, or Chris.

-Me?

-We'd like it to be Linda. We'd like it to be Linda.

-But who?

-Erm...

Lisa, perhaps?

Yes, I think that's a good decision.

So we'd like to send Lisa against Linda.

OK, I was thinking, you're the scientist, Tricia,

you'll do Science. Obviously you've got something up...

-I'm hoping I have another talent.

-You may have another talent, that's interesting.

Linda from the Tasselled Wobbegongs

to play Lisa from the Eggheads on Science.

To ensure there's no conferring,

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

OK, Linda, are you a quizzer?

Erm, yes, I quiz once a week at our local pub

in Stanford in the Vale, which is called the Horse & Jockey.

-So you enjoy it?

-Yeah, very much. Particularly when we win.

We've kind of combined with another team,

and we've got a good hit rate of winning

ever since we linked up with them.

All right, Linda. Good luck against Lisa.

-Would you like to go first or second on Science?

-I'd like to go first, please.

And here we go.

Linda what type of animal is the porpoise?

Ooh. Um...

I'm pretty sure it's not a fish,

but is it a mammal or an amphibian? Erm...

I have a feeling I've heard it lays eggs,

which mammals don't normally do.

Erm... The thing is,

the definition of an amphibian is it's something that can live on land

and in water,

but I think more of things like frogs and lizards, that amphibians,

so I'm a bit confused about this one.

Um...

I'm going to say that it's an amphibian,

but not with any confidence.

OK. I've got an intake of breath on your teammates.

-What do we think, teammates?

-It's a mammal.

-It's a mammal.

-Oh.

-But I think that is a hard question, actually,

cos once you rule out fish...

-Tricky.

-I think Linda's got herself a bit mixed up between porpoises

and platypuses there.

Oh! Yes.

Tell us what a porpoise... I called it porpoise, but a por-pus...

A por-pus is a little bit like a dolphin,

except where a dolphin has got a more of

a bottlenose, a por-pus is more sort of a rounded-snout job.

Yes, I got the same conclusion, I must say.

-Don't worry, Linda. Plenty of time.

-OK.

OK, Lisa, your question.

The metatarsal bones are found in which part of the human body?

Usually the footballers breaking the metatarsals, isn't it?

Must be the feet.

Feet is correct.

Linda, in which year

did CERN's Large Hadron Collider run its first test operation?

And CERN is C-E-R-N, capital letters.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't 1998,

it's a question of whether it's 2003 or 2008.

I am going to go for 2008, but again, not with any confidence.

What do we think, challengers?

-I think that's probably right.

-It's correct, well done.

2008. Well done. LINDA LAUGHS

Lisa, who was the first woman to go into space?

I think they're all the first from their respective countries.

Erm...

LISA SIGHS

Just a bit concerned in case she's later than Sally Ride.

I'm pretty sure Sharman's the latest.

But I'll go with Valentina Tereshkova.

Yeah, let's check with the Eggheads, is that right?

-Yes.

-You like that.

That first female cosmonaut is a real quizzy question, isn't it?

-Yes.

-Mm-hm.

-OK.

So, you need this one now, Linda.

-OK.

-What is the approximate carbon content of anthracite?

I would expect it to be very high.

Erm, I'm ruling out 30%.

But to be honest, I'm not really sure of the exact definition

of anthracite. I think it's something to do with coal,

but I don't really know.

I'm going to go for 90%.

90% is correct.

-Oh, thank goodness.

-It's all right, you're doing well!

All right. Lisa, you can take the round with this one.

If you don't, we go to Sudden Death.

Which of these scientists was born first?

It's one of the millions of times I wish I'd been born Kevin Ashman.

Erm...

Now I think, of the three...

Pascal is the latest.

My inclination is Kepler.

I'm not completely sure why.

So, rather than draw it out and stumble around in the dark,

I don't think I can pin it to anything better than that.

No, I don't think I can.

I will go for Johannes Kepler, with very little to base it on.

Barry, you're smiling, it looks like good news.

-Barry?

-Yes, I like that very much.

And just while we're on this, Johannes Kepler, what did he do?

He continued the work of Tycho Brahe, and he came up with

the three laws of planetary motion that describe,

well, the orbits in the solar system.

There we go. You got it right, Lisa. Johannes Kepler is the right answer.

Sorry, three out of three, Linda,

it's hard to beat them when they do that.

You've been knocked out, beaten by our Egghead.

-OK.

-So Lisa will be in the final.

Please return to us, we'll play Round Two.

So, the Tasselled Wobbegongs have lost one player

from the final round.

The Eggheads are all still there, all five of them.

And the next subject in Round Two is Sport.

-Who wants this?

-Dave.

OK, Dave, our IT consultant, against which Egghead?

And it can't be Lisa?

-Chris.

-Er, Chris, please.

-Gosh!

-Another statistical anomaly.

I hope you're listening upstairs!

LAUGHTER

He doesn't like his sport, you may have chosen well.

Dave from the Tasselled Wobbegongs trying to get Chris out on Sport.

Please go to our famous Question Room.

All right, Sport, Dave, against Chris.

You can see how pleased he is.

-Would you like to go first or second?

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

Here we go.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic joined which Premier League football team

in 2016? Is it...

He famously said whichever team he went to,

he would win a title with,

and I don't know if the Europa League counts,

but it's Manchester United.

I think it counts for them, doesn't it? There's no Dave today.

-I like this man.

-Manchester United is quite right, well done.

APPLAUSE

Chris, which of these athletes won long-jump gold medals

at four consecutive Olympic Games?

Well, Carl Lewis is a sprinter.

Donovan Bailey I've never heard of.

But long jump I think is Maurice Greene.

Or Mo-rice Greene.

-Mo-rice Greene?

-Hmm.

It's not Maurice Greene, Chris, I'm sorry to say.

Help us out. Anyone... Barry, do you know this? Or Beth?

-I can. Well, they're actually all sprinters.

-Yeah.

And they've all won championships in their time,

but Carl Lewis was primarily a long-jumper over a sprinter.

Beth is saying Carl Lewis was primarily a long-jumper...

-Was he?

-..more than a sprinter.

-Oh, OK.

-Carl Lewis is the answer.

OK, started well, Dave.

Playing brilliantly. Here's your second question.

James Haskell usually plays in which position for the England rugby union team?

He's a back-row player, so he'd be a flanker.

Flanker's right.

Chris, you need this one.

The German Andre Greipel, born in 1982,

is a leading competitor in which sport?

I don't think he's ever made a Wimbledon,

so I don't think it's tennis.

Athletics or cycling.

He gets on his bike, he's a cyclist.

Cycling.

He's a cyclist, yeah. Well done.

I don't know where you got that from, but you're right.

Greipel is a cyclist.

So, Chris has a point, but if you get this right, Dave,

you are in the final round.

The boxers Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev

contested a world title fight in which weight division in 2017?

OK. So none of those names are ringing any kind of bells for me,

so I will say light heavyweight.

If you've got it right you're in the final round.

Challengers, is he right?

-No idea.

-You don't know.

-Eggheads? You'll know this.

-He's right.

-Yeah, he's right.

-You are right, it is light heavyweight. Well done.

So how about that, Dave?

You took on an Egghead, you emerged triumphant.

You will be in the final, and you've levelled it up, as well.

Please return to us and we'll see what happens next.

The Tasselled Wobbegongs have lost a brain from the final round,

but the Eggheads have lost one, as well.

So they're on the trail of the £10,000 here.

And the next subject for you is Geography.

Ah! This is Ian.

-This will be Ian.

-Going to be Ian?

-OK.

-Yes?

-Our performance manager.

Who do you want to take on, Ian?

It can be any of the three in the middle.

Beth, Barry, Pat.

Beth.

Good. A man of few words, I can see.

THEY LAUGH

Ian from the Tasselled Wobbegongs takes on Beth.

-Pleased about this, Beth?

-Well, I knew it was coming my way,

with these two left!

Please now take your positions in our Question Room.

So, Geography, Ian. Do you want to go first or second?

I'll go first, please.

All right. Is this a turning point in the game?

Here we go, your question.

Which of these cities is located in the Canadian province of Quebec?

I think,

as it's French - and I might regret this one -

but I think it's Montreal.

Montreal is the right answer.

Well done.

Beth, which of these geographical terms is another name

for a large waterfall?

Crevasse is a depth.

A cataract, rivers I think.

But a cirque must be a circle.

So I'll go with cirque.

Barry has his head in his hands.

-Oh, does he? I bet it's cataract, isn't it?

-That's normally a sign.

-Barry, explain.

-It's a cataract.

A cirque is a small lake in a top of a mountain, normally, like a core.

-Yeah.

-But a cataract is a waterfall in a river.

Cataract is the answer.

OK. Back to you, Ian.

The Dodecanese islands are part of which sea?

Sadly, I'm not good on my seas.

The Dodecanese?

Dodecanese, all one word.

They're all around about the same area. I'm going to say Aegean.

Challengers, what do we think?

-We think that's right.

-They like it, and it's right.

Well done. Aegean.

Yeah. Nice work, because you're ahead now.

-Beth, you've got to get this one right...

-Yeah.

-..to stay in.

-I do.

-Lake Windermere is located in which county?

Phew! Luckily my mother-in-law lives up this way.

It's in Cumbria.

Cumbria is correct.

So she has one point,

but you can finish it here with this question, Ian.

Lilongwe is the capital of which African country?

Well, it's not Angola, because I think it's Luanda.

I think it's Malawi.

It is Malawi, well done.

Now let's just think. Equatorial Guinea, do you know, Ian?

No, sadly not.

-Eggheads?

-Malabo.

Malabo. That's an obscure...

That'll come up one day. Anyway, well done, Ian, you've done it.

You've knocked another Egghead out, Beth is gone.

Beth will not be in the final round.

You will be. And there's £10,000 that we're playing for.

One more round before the final.

You were doing cataracts and cirques.

A cirque is a amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion.

Right, well, just remember that.

So, as it stands, the Tasselled Wobbegongs are doing very well.

They've only lost the one brain.

The Eggheads have lost two.

I can see knees knocking there.

The next subject is Music.

-Oh!

-Is this good?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, I'm all right.

I'm all right with that, yeah.

-Ian?

-Yeah, it's me. Yes.

Taking on who?

And you've only got two left now - Barry and Pat.

Taking Barry? Yeah?

I'm just sensing a strategy here.

Whatever you're doing is working.

So Ian from the Tasselled Wobbegongs versus Barry from the Eggheads

on Music. And please go, for the last time, to our Question Room.

It's scuba diving that brings you together, Ian?

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, Tricia and I used to be members of the same

diving club based around Reading.

And have you seen one of these tasselled wobbegongs?

I haven't, unfortunately, no.

No, I've seen a similar shark,

an angel shark. But no wobbegongs.

I think Tricia has seen one, but I haven't.

Where's the best place to scuba dive - outside Reading?

HE CHUCKLES

Almost anywhere else, I think.

But Indonesia.

I particularly like diving in Indonesia.

Gosh, so would that be Bali or somewhere near or off the island?

I've dived off the north coast of Sulawesi in Indonesia,

either side of the northern tip of Sulawesi.

There's a stretch of water called the Lembeh Straits.

You do what's called muck diving there,

where it's in black, volcanic sand.

And it's got a more...

A smaller level of creatures that you see in there.

So you don't get so many sharks, but you do get blue-ringed octopus,

flamboyant cuttlefish.

A lot of really unusual creatures in there.

Brilliant. So Music is the subject.

Ian, would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please.

Here's your question. Which of these instruments would be found

in the percussion section of an orchestra?

A bassoon is a woodwind instrument,

a harp is a stringed instrument,

and a glockenspiel is percussion.

So glockenspiel.

Glockenspiel is correct.

Barry, which of these musicians died in 2017?

Well, Jim Morrison of The Doors died a long, long time before that.

And Johnny Cash was also somewhat earlier.

But unfortunately, we lost the great, great Chuck Berry.

Well done. Chuck Berry's right.

He lived a very long life.

OK, Ian, back to you.

Ed Sheeran had a UK number one single in 2017 with the song

Shape Of what?

Yeah, I always feared chart music,

modern chart music coming up.

I think I'll go for You.

Shape Of You. Well done.

OK, Barry. "If you told me you were drowning, I would not lend a hand.

"I've seen your face before, my friend,

"but I don't know if you know who I am,"

are lyrics from which Phil Collins song?

Oh.

Let me just have a think about this.

I know all the songs, but can't recall those lines.

I'll go for S-S-Sussudio.

-OK.

-Sussudio.

I can feel it coming in the air tonight, Barry!

-Oh!

-So, this is very interesting.

The Challengers were already ahead.

They're about to knock Barry out.

And then goodness knows what happens in the final.

It's going to be a last-ditch defence by the remaining Eggs

if you can do it. Ian, get this right,

you've got a really good chance of winning £10,000.

How does the lead character die in Bizet's opera Carmen?

Yeah, opera another one of my weaknesses.

I don't think she's likely to be shot.

So, it's between stabbed and strangled.

I know opera likes the grand theatricality of something.

So, I'm going to plump for stabbed.

Let's see. Barry, do you know?

Stabbed by Don Jose!

Stabbed is the right answer, Ian. Well done! Three out of three.

Barry, what about that?

This makes for a very interesting final, doesn't it?

Return to us, please, and we'll play for £10,000.

So, here we go. It is time for our final round,

which, as always, is General Knowledge.

But I'm afraid those of you who lost

your head-to-heads can't take part in this round.

So, it's Linda from the Tasselled Wobbegongs,

but it's also Beth, Barry and Chris from the Eggheads.

Would you please now leave the studio?

Tricia, the two Ians and Dave.

You are playing to win the Tasselled Wobbegongs £10,000.

Lisa and Pat, you're playing for something that money can't buy,

which is to somehow defend the Eggheads' reputation

and the jackpot, as well.

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

They're all General Knowledge. You can confer.

So, Tasselled Wobbegongs,

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

And would you like to go first or second?

Going first has been a good strategy for us up to now,

so we'll stick with it. We'll go first, please, Jeremy.

OK. It just got real.

In the UK, which of these is most commonly used as an accompaniment

to Christmas pudding?

-Brandy butter?

-It's brandy butter.

Brandy butter.

It's not redcurrant jelly.

We think mint sauce goes better with lamb.

So we think it's brandy butter.

Brandy butter is correct.

Well done. They may get harder.

Eggheads, which of these franchises released its eighth film in 2017?

-That was Fast & Furious, isn't it?

-I think it is.

I don't think you get much beyond...

Is it five for Die Hard and four for Mad Max, I think, at the moment?

Yeah, that sounds about right, doesn't it?

-Yeah, but I'm fairly sure it is Fast & Furious.

-Yeah. Yep.

We think that's Fast & Furious.

Fast & Furious is correct.

One each.

We go back to our Challengers.

£10,000 we are playing for.

Elizabeth Truss stood as a member of which political party

at the 2017 general election?

-Well, she's a cabinet minister, so she's Conservative.

-Conservative.

-Conservative?

-Yeah.

-OK.

We're going to go for Conservative, Jeremy.

Conservative is correct.

OK. Back to you, Eggheads.

Which area of the world was invaded by the nomadic people the Huns

at the end of the fourth century?

Well, I don't think the Huns did a great deal of damage

in either West Africa or Central America.

Good, cos neither did I.

So it's always nice to have you confirm my thoughts.

It must be southeastern Europe.

We think that's southeastern Europe.

Southeastern Europe is correct.

Oh, it's tense here!

Two each. They haven't slipped up.

-It's even more tense over here!

-Yeah, for sure!

You haven't slipped up, you're playing well.

Hold focus here.

The actress Meghan Markle plays Rachel Zane in which

American legal drama?

-Is she Prince Harry's girlfriend?

-Yes, she is. Yeah.

-It's not Ally McBeal.

-It's not Ally McBeal.

-I think it's Suits.

-I think it's Suits.

I think it is, as well.

Yeah. We're not entirely confident.

We know her for other reasons

because she's Prince Harry's girlfriend, sometimes,

but we think the programme she's in is Suits.

Yes, it is Suits. Three out of three.

So, you may have won the £10,000 already.

It may not...

-Or not.

-Or not. Let's see.

Eggheads, if you get this question wrong, they have won.

They've taken the jackpot.

Here's your question.

Which American poet wrote Trees,

which begins with the lines,

"I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree"?

Hmm.

I don't have an immediate answer.

-I've heard the... I've heard the line.

-And me.

The cadence sounds quite Emily Dickinson.

The sentiment doesn't, does it?

How much do you know about Joyce Kilmer and Wallace Stevens?

-Cos I've got nothing.

-Not very much.

I suppose she was quite a nature lover, Emily Dickinson.

It does... The theme creeps in quite often.

-It does seem slightly light-hearted for her.

-Hmm.

She was quite serious.

Do you think it's a humorous poem?

I mean, is it almost tongue-in-cheek or is it just a straight

poetic sentiment?

I have never seen anything beyond those two lines.

I could not tell you.

We could be doing her a great disservice.

Joyce Kilmer, does that ring a bell?

She isn't one of these notoriously bad poets?

It's not something like... She's not an American McGonagall, is she?

I'm genuinely getting nothing from the other two.

I mean, could that be...?

Like The Tay Bridge Disaster, could it be the American equivalent?

It's not a terrible poem, though.

It's hard to tell from just one line, isn't it?

If it's truly awful, you can't really tell from just one line.

Long shot. We could decide that it's actually a bad poem.

Maybe Joyce Kilmer is an American McGonagall.

There is a lady, it might not be her.

But there is a lady famous for...

..dodgy poems.

I think if I were going to go based, as you say,

on the cadence, and the fact that I know she was quite a nature lover

and it does creep in, I probably would go Emily Dickinson.

But, again, you're right.

I mean, I have nothing else to base it on.

So it is a bit of a toss-up.

What do we do?

Well, we either go for Joyce Kilmer

on the basis that she's a McGonagall.

Or we go for Emily Dickinson on the basis that it's the right cadence.

Which one do you fancy?

Let's go with Emily Dickinson and put it on me, shall we?

OK. As you wish. Yep.

We'll go there.

We're completely at sea,

and we're going for Emily Dickinson.

Fascinating to hear this discussion.

Barry has had some sort of collapse back there.

Do you know the answer to this, Barry?

-Yes, it's Joyce Kilmer.

-Ah.

-Joyce Kilmer is a man, as well.

-Ah.

The answer is Joyce Kilmer.

We say congratulations, Challengers.

You have won!

I mean, credit to you.

You thought it through, and I can absolutely see...

I love Emily Dickinson, I can see how you think there was that

sort of rhythm to it.

Anyway, that's now your favourite poem.

Yes, forever and ever!

So, how does it feel? You've won!

-It's amazing!

-And you actually didn't even break into a sweat

on the final round there.

I'm sure you could have taken them to Sudden Death and won, as well.

Congratulations to Tasselled Wobbegongs.

You've won £10,000.

You are officially cleverer than the Eggheads.

They're going to be furious because they love getting to 10,000.

They've got to be reset to one now.

And, Barry, we mustn't forget your question at the very start.

Yes, the question was -

the phrase, "How to punish Daleks before many million earthlings

"truly see clearly,"

is a pneumonic for remembering what order?

And the order is the order of actors who've played Dr Who

on the TV series.

And they go Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee.

Tom Baker, Davidson, Colin Baker.

McCoy, McGann, Eccleston,

Tennant, Smith and Capaldi!

-Well remembered!

-And for the Dr Who aficionados out there,

John Hurt also played Dr Who,

but that was in an anniversary special.

There we are. That question has floored us.

And you floored them.

So, well done. Very, very good.

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

can be as good as our disguised sharks here.

Until then, goodbye.