Episode 62 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.

On a roll, Eggheads?

-Yes, indeed.

-I think.

Lisa's got a teaser for you at home

if you would like to ponder something throughout the show.

So, before we go on, Lisa?

You're going to like this one, Jeremy.

Little football teaser for you.

Sunderland did it in 1979.

Villa did it in 1981.

The question is, who did it in 1980?

We're all thinking about that.

We're going to find out the answer at the end of the show from Lisa.

Hoping to beat the might of our quiz Goliaths today

are the Salford Wolves from Greater Manchester.

Now, the members of this team normally quiz against each other

at the Bull's Head in Walkden,

but they have joined forces to take on the Eggheads.

-So let's meet them.

-Hi, I'm Matt and I'm a sales manager.

Hi, I'm Graham and I'm a self-employed plumber.

Hi, I'm Norman, I'm a customer service specialist.

Hi, I'm Rich.

I'm a resource planning analyst.

Hello, I'm Bob, I'm a retired catering business owner.

So, Matt and team, hello.

ALL: Hello. Great to see you.

And quizzing normally against each other, Matt, is that right?

Yeah, sometimes against,

we have combined forces in the past,

but we do generally compete against each other.

And what about the Bull's Head, what kind of a pub is that?

It's just a local pub, public house,

and has a quiz on Wednesday night.

We also play in a local British Legion as well on a Thursday night.

So you've hand-picked the best players, have you, from

-the Bull's Head?

-Yeah, I'd like...

Yeah, the Bull's Head. I couldn't not pick him, he's my brother!

-But...

-LAUGHTER

Well, look, good luck with the Eggheads today, Challengers.

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 onto the next show.

Salford Wolves, the Eggheads have won the last nine.

So the jackpot is £10,000 today.

Right. Bad news,

they're on good form. Good news, the jackpot is a nice one.

-Do you want to get cracking?

-Yes, please.

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

So who would like this?

Oh, go on, I'll take this one.

OK, Rich, and it's either Lisa, Steve, Barry, Pat, or Chris.

Um...

-Lisa?

-Yeah.

I'll go for Lisa.

Very good. So Rich, our resource planning analyst,

to take on Lisa on science.

To ensure there's no conferring,

please take your positions in our legendary Question Room.

So Rich, your thing is classic American cars.

Yes, I'm quite into my older cars.

I enjoy Corvettes, Camaros, things like that.

And do you have any at home?

Or do you just go and see them...?

Oh, no! No, I just enjoy seeing them.

It's not my thing to have one,

they are a bit too unreliable for my taste.

It's true, I suppose maintaining them would be really difficult,

-actually.

-Yeah, it would be, yeah, a bit tricky, yes.

But they're a beautiful shape, aren't they, those old boxy cars?

Oh, lovely, yes. And even if you break down at the side of the road,

you still look good doing it.

All right, Rich, let's hope you don't break down

at the side of the road, here, against Lisa on science.

and would you like to go first or second?

Er, I'll go first, please.

Here we go. What is the commonly used alternative name

for the North American Coyote?

Prairie dog,

I think I'm going to go for.

I would have said that, but it's actually prairie wolf.

Sorry.

Lisa.

Which of these objects in our solar system

is smaller than the Earth's moon?

Mars and Neptune are going to be that bit bigger than the moon.

I think it must be Pluto.

It is indeed Pluto, yeah.

OK, Rich back to you.

What happens to water when it freezes?

Um, I'm going to think back to my science class

that I didn't do too well in.

And I'm going to say that it shrinks to half its size

because I think the molecules get closer together.

It's... No, it expands. You know, like,

when you have a burst pipe or something,

the water stays in it, and it gets bigger and the pipe bursts.

It expands when it freezes.

Lisa.

You can take the round with this.

Which of these is often said to be the only snake species known

to actively construct a nest to incubate their eggs?

Is there a little...

I don't know, is there a resonance here with like a nest of vipers?

Erm... Or is that just a collective term for the snakes

rather than...

the actual, er, construction of a nest thereof?

I don't actually know this.

How very awkward. Um...

..shall we grasp at that straw and go for the puff adder?

It's a hard one to guess.

-It's king cobra.

-Interesting.

Yes.

So Lisa's ahead.

Get this one right, Rich, and you level it up.

Which inventor, usually said to have been born in Nottinghamshire,

devised the first knitting machine, also known as the stocking frame,

in the 16th century?

Oh, not my forte.

So, um, I think I'm going to have to pick the one on the right,

and go for Henry Trengrouse.

Let's see if the Challengers know.

It's quite a tricky one, this. Any Challengers know this?

-No.

-No.

No. Eggheads, do we know?

-William Lee.

-They say William Lee.

William Lee is the answer, Rich, sorry. Fallen behind, there.

I know we didn't get the best out of you.

Lisa is in the final round, but it's very early days.

Return to us, both, if you please, and we'll play Round 2.

OK, as it stands, the Salford Wolves have lost a brain,

they've lost Rich from the final round.

The Eggheads, not lost any. Early days!

The next subject is Sport.

Now, who would like to take on Sport?

-You, Bob.

-Looks like it's you, Bob.

OK. So it's going to be Bob against which Egghead?

It can be anyone but Lisa.

-Who shall we go for?

-Chris?

Yeah.

-Chris.

-OK.

Bob from the Salford Wolves.

Look how pleased Chris is about that.

-I'm in a good mood, today.

-He's in a good mood!

-Yeah.

Versus Chris from the Eggheads.

Please go to our Question Room, now.

All right, well, good luck against Chris on Sport.

Would you like to go first or second, Bob?

I'll go first, please.

And here is your question.

Which of these athletes never won an Olympic gold medal?

I'm pretty sure, I'll eliminate two of those,

which are Coe and Christie.

I'll go for Roger Bannister.

Yes, absolutely. Roger Bannister.

-Thank you.

-OK, Chris.

Although best known as the venue of the Wimbledon tennis championships,

the full name of the All-England Club also includes

which other sport?

Well, lawn tennis was very much a side issue when it started,

it was the All-England Croquet Club.

Croquet is correct. One each.

Bob, back to you. Danish wipe,

dead bird and flick serve are all terms in which racket sport?

I've played a lot of badminton, um...

and I've also played squash.

By elimination, never having heard of it,

I'll go with racketball.

It's actually badminton.

-Ooh!

-Yeah!

But I guess one could do these strokes without even knowing.

I'm trying to think. Chris, do you know what a Danish wipe is?

If you'd asked me, I'd say it was a butterfly!

Probably clobber the shuttlecock so hard it turns inside out,

-or something, I don't know.

-Pat, is that...?

Oh, the Danes are very good at badminton.

They're one of the outstanding nations at badminton.

So maybe a Danish wipe would be when you lose to nil,

love points?

OK, Chris.

Whose first match as captain of the England rugby union team,

in 1988, resulted in a surprise 28-19 victory over Australia?

1988, you say?

-1988, captain.

-Yeah.

That would have been Will Carling, I believe.

Yes, you're right, Will Carling.

OK, Bob.

You need to get this one right to stay in.

Which cricket team played its first Test match in 1930

but had to wait 26 years before achieving its maiden victory?

I'll rule out India.

I, I...

..will go with my gut feeling which was Sri Lanka.

So, 26 years before its maiden victory is actually New Zealand.

Sorry, Bob, knocked out by Chris,

on Sport. And well done, Chris,

you're in the final too.

Please return to us, Bob and Chris, and we'll play Round 3.

So some of those badminton terms, Eggheads.

the Danish wipe is kind of a backhand, all right?

Dead bird is...

Obviously the shuttlecock with the feathers is the bird,

it's when its out of the court. And flick serve is kind of obvious.

The first one is Danish wipe, is it, W I P E?

-What did you think I said?

-Danish white.

I was trying to work out why you'd resisted making any rude jokes,

and that's obviously the reason.

CHRIS CHUCKLES

Matt, we're OK here, aren't we?

We've lost a couple in battle.

-Tough questions.

-Yeah, very tough,

but I think this is the moment for the upswing.

-I do too.

-For the Salford Wolves to bite back.

So the next subject is Geography.

Who would like this?

CONSPIRATORIAL MUTTERING

What were you going to do anyway?

-It's either me or you.

-I think you're better qualified...

-I do.

-It'll be Norman.

I've bitten the bullet.

OK, Norman.

Against which Egghead, and it can't obviously be Chris or Lisa,

so one of the three in the middle, Norman, Steve, Barry, Pat.

Yeah, we'll go for Steve, yes?

-Steve.

-Steve, congratulations.

All right, Norman from the Salford Wolves

playing Steve from the Eggheads.

Let's see what happens on Geography. Please take your positions.

So, Norman, you saw a street cleaner outside a pub in London once.

I thought it was a street cleaner.

He was sat there, nursing a very lonely pint.

I was on expenses, so I was having a few pints,

and offered to buy him one.

So, you bought him a drink and then it turned out to be who?

It turned out to be an old actor called Ricky Harris, Richard Harris.

Yeah, who's one of the greats!

Yeah, so, what, he was hiding, basically?

He lived in the Savoy, the pub was the Coal Hole next to the Savoy,

and that was his disguise.

He came out dressed as a street cleaner.

LAUGHTER

-Sat there, nobody spoke to him.

-And did you then become friends?

We became friends with a small f, to be fair.

But, yeah, we kept in touch quite a lot until his sad demise.

So, he lives in the Savoy, he drinks at the pub around the corner,

he disguises himself as a street cleaner,

and because you buy him a pint, you find out who he is.

-That's amazing.

-That's exactly it, yeah. I was more surprised.

All right, well, good luck in this round.

It is Geography, so we might range further than Central London.

And, Norman, you can choose whether you go first or second

-against Steve.

-I'll go second, please.

Steve, here we go.

Bethnal Green and Bow and Whitechapel

are areas in which part of London?

I hate London questions.

Bethnal Green and Whitechapel.

Eenie, meenie, minie...

-East End.

-Yeah, that's it.

What's the problem?

I've a total blank with London.

-No idea.

-Do you?

-No, seriously.

I think maybe, yeah, if you live in London,

you see the tube map the whole time,

you know where those places are.

East End is right, well done.

OK, Norman, your question.

Which of these seaside resorts is located in the county of Devon?

I'm not sure that Devon planners would allow them to build a tower.

Skegness is that funny Yorkshire language, isn't it,

so it's got to be Torquay.

Yeah, Skegness is so bracing.

The answer is Torquay.

Steve, what type of weapon appears

at the centre of the flag of Barbados?

That's a Trident, Jeremy.

It is a Trident, yeah, you're right.

Norman, your question.

What is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City?

Brooklyn I've always thought of as fairly central.

For some reason, the Bronx appears to be West for me,

but I know where Staten Island is.

I think I'd go for the Bronx.

You're absolutely right, it is the Bronx, well done.

OK, Steve.

Your question.

What is the capital of the Canadian province of British Columbia?

Yeah, just not rushing into this one.

It's Victoria, Jeremy.

It is Victoria.

Both playing well. Let's see.

You need to get this one right,

Norman, cos you went second.

In which part of Spain is the city of Santiago de Compostela?

Where in Spain?

I tend to go to the south-east quite a lot.

Not sure about the middle or the north.

I think I'll go for the north-west.

North-west is right.

Nothing to choose between you so far so, after three questions,

it's level and we go to Sudden Death.

And Steve, you know what that means.

-I do.

-I don't give you options.

Bujumbura, capital of Burundi, stands on the shores of which lake?

Yeah... I'm a bit torn here.

I'm probably going to go for the wrong one.

I'm going to say Lake Victoria.

-Eggs?

-Lake Malawi or...

Tanganyika.

Yeah, it is Tanganyika.

Steve, did you think about that too late, did you?

No, I said I were torn.

I thought it was one or the other.

Ah! Yes, it's Tanganyika.

So, you have a chance, Norman,

to take the round, and maybe turn things around for the Challengers.

The Spanish city of Melilla

is situated on the coast of which African country?

So, Melilla is M-E-L-I-L-L-A.

Completely blank now, I can't think of any African countries that...

Let's go for Malawi.

No, more north of Africa, Morocco...

..is the answer. Melilla is situated on the coast of Morocco.

So we're back to level pegging here,

Sudden Death. We go to you, Steve.

What is the capital of the Madeira Islands?

Funchal.

Funchal is correct.

Norman, to stay in.

The Gulf of Tadjoura, which divides into two

the eastern half of the African country of Djibouti,

is located at the extreme western end of which much larger Gulf?

No, completely blank on that.

I was going to say Gulf of Arabia but I don't think that's anywhere...

No, I'll go for that cos I can't think of any other.

-Gulf of...?

-Arabia.

Arabia? No.

The Gulf of Tadjoura is at the extreme western end

-of a larger Gulf, Eggheads?

-Gulf of Aden?

Yes, Pat, good. Gulf of Aden is the answer.

So, Steve, you've won through there,

you'll be in the final as well, please come back to us.

One more round to play before the final.

OK, it's looking tricky for the Salford Wolves,

but you can still do it, Challengers.

You have lost three brains from the final round.

The Eggheads are sitting there, looking just a little bit too happy.

So we've got to wipe the smiles off their faces, Wolves.

And the next subject is Music.

The last before the final, who's doing this?

-This'll be Graham.

-OK, Graham,

against which Egghead?

It's going to be either Pat or Barry.

-Which one?

-I think Barry.

-Barry?

-Yeah.

-Barry?

-Yeah.

-Barry.

-BARRY CHUCKLES

Graham from the Salford Wolves.

Barry, you gave out a mean cackle, there.

I'm just thinking, this is a Salford Wolves

-against a Leeds Rhino.

-That's true!

Let's see. I can't even think which way that's going to go.

Let's see. We'll play this round, and then the final after that.

Graham, tell us what you do when you're not quizzing.

I'm a self-employed plumber.

OK, so you go around house-to-house, fixing all kinds of stuff?

Yeah, yeah, that kind of thing.

Mainly I do boiler installations, that's the biggest part of my job.

I must say, my knowledge of how my own...

..the plumbing in my house works is just pathetic.

How about yours, Barry?

Mine is terrible but I'm fortunate in that I have a wife

who understands it implicitly.

I just don't understand what those big tanks are for.

You know, there's a boiler, and then there's another tank.

I don't know what it is.

Can you help me there? Graham?

I'll give you my card later.

LAUGHTER

What would it be, the one downstairs, the enormous one?

Is it plastic or is it copper?

It's got some sort of insulation on it.

Yeah, that's the cylinder. That's your hot water tank.

Oh, OK. Well, that's solved something for me.

I've been wondering for a while!

LAUGHTER

But when it goes wrong... It goes wrong all the time, doesn't it,

this stuff? You're going to be in work forever.

-Hopefully!

-Does your plumbing ever go wrong at home?

Oh, no!

That's one thing I CAN fix.

All right, well, you're up against Barry.

Do you watch Eggheads?

Oh, yeah, religiously.

So you know what Barry's capable of on a good day.

But then you have your moments, don't you, Barry?

-I certainly do!

-Sometimes on Music as well,

so you may have chosen well, here, Graham.

Would you like to go first or second?

I'll go second, if that's OK.

Here we go, Barry, your question.

Which of these Rolling Stones songs was released first?

I'm sure Street Fighting Man is probably the latest there.

I've never heard of Start Me Up.

But I know I Can't Get No Satisfaction was certainly

one of the earlier hits of the Stones.

So that's what I'll go for. I Can't Get No Satisfaction.

Yes, indeed, I Can't Get No Satisfaction is the right answer.

And to you, Graham.

In 1980, Kenny Rogers had a UK number one single

with Coward Of The what?

I think I'm going to go with County, Jeremy.

Yeah, well done. It was Coward Of The County.

All right, Barry.

"What you gon do with all that junk, all that junk inside your trunk"

are the opening lines to which song by the Black Eyed Peas?

I do love it when you get such erudite lyrics.

What you going to do with all that junk?

Oh, goodness me.

I'm sure the whole country knows this one.

Oh, well, apologies to Fergie and Will.i.am,

but I'll go for I Got A Feeling.

Lisa knows.

The opening lyric to I Got A Feeling is "I got a feeling."

I would imagine it's My Humps.

It is My Humps by the Black Eyed Peas.

All right, we now know that Barry's got

a bit of a blind spot there.

Graham, Galway Girl was a 2017 UK hit single by which singer?

I'm going to go with Louis Tomlinson.

Let me ask your brother, Matt.

-Ed Sheeran.

-Ed Sheeran is the answer.

Galway Girl is by Ed Sheeran.

So, level.

You had a let off there, Barry.

-Indeed.

-Next question. Which music hall entertainer,

originally named Matilda Wood,

became known by the sobriquet Queen of the Halls?

It's not Florrie Forde.

Originally, when you said the question,

Vesta Tilley was the first name that popped into my mind

but I don't know why it did.

But on the very spurious grounds that I think Marie Lloyd

was a little bit better known than Vesta Tilley,

I'll go for Marie Lloyd.

Ah, you've diverted onto the right answer.

Marie Lloyd is the answer, Barry.

Graham, I thought he was sunk there!

OK, so you need to get this one right.

Which composer was born on May 22nd, 1813, in Leipzig?

I'm not sure of this, Jeremy.

I'm not sure at all. But...

..I'm going to go with...

..Richard Wagner.

Barry, you like that?

The dates are wrong for the other two.

Yeah, Richard Wagner is the right answer, well done.

After three questions, the scores are level, we go to Sudden Death.

And, Barry, this is yours.

Bringing It All Back Home is the title of a 1965 album

by which influential American folk and rock singer?

Oh, gosh. I have heard of the album.

Folk and rock?

Doesn't sound like an early Dylan album.

It would be early at '65.

Bringing It All Back Home...

Don't know why but I'm still going to say Bob Dylan.

Yes, Bob Dylan is correct.

Well done. So, all right, Graham,

he keeps wriggling off the hook, doesn't he?

You need to get this one right to stay in.

Which English singer, who died in August 2015,

achieved her first UK number one album the day after her funeral

with the compilation album The Very Best Of?

-What are you thinking, Graham?

-I can't get the name.

I know the answer.

It's there. I just can't dig it out.

I do know it's...

..the female singer who died...

Black hair, very famous, and I just can't get the name.

No, I haven't, I can't get the answer, Jeremy,

I just haven't got it. I'm sorry.

OK, listen, if it's any consolation,

-what you're thinking of is Amy Winehouse.

-Yeah, it was.

But it's not her. It's Cilla Black.

-Oh! Course.

-Yeah.

So, Barry, well done. You're in the final round.

Sorry, Graham, beaten by our Egghead.

You played him close, though. Got to Sudden Death.

Please return to us and we'll see what happens in the final.

So, this is what we have been playing towards,

it is time for the final round which,

as always, 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 it's the Challengers,

Graham, Norman, Rich and Bob from the Salford Wolves,

would you please now leave the studio?

OK, Matt, here we are.

Hasn't gone quite to plan, but you can still win, no question.

You're playing to win the Salford Wolves £10,000.

Lisa, Steve, Barry, Pat, Chris,

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

the Eggheads' reputation, and to keep this streak going.

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

This time, they're all General Knowledge.

I normally say you can confer, but, with your team-mates back there,

you're on your own, I'm afraid.

But, as I say, you could still do it, Matt.

Can your one brain now take down these five?

I think it can. Would you like to go first or second?

I'll play second, please.

Here we go.

Eggheads, what is the approximate size of the Kalahari desert?

Oh, gosh.

Well, nine million square kilometres would be 9,000 by 1,000.

-That's a lot.

-Kalahari is quite small.

-That's 700 miles.

Is it? It covers most of Botswana, doesn't it?

Yeah, but...

It'd be 700 miles by 7,000 miles.

That'd be all of Africa, really, wouldn't it?

If we just double check our sums...

Surely it has to be 900,000.

600 miles by 600 miles, that sounds pretty decent.

-About right.

-Yeah, that could be a decent desert.

I think nine million must be most of Africa,

and 90 million must be most of the Earth.

LAUGHTER

I don't know. Your geography's far better than mine.

-It's really down to maths, really.

-I'm not arguing.

-And, certainly,

I don't think we can go... We can't go for something ten times bigger

or 100 times bigger. OK, yeah?

Happy with that, go with it.

We think that's 900,000 square kilometres.

900,000 square kilometres?

I was listening to some of the maths going on, it was amazing.

900,000 square kilometres is the right answer.

-Well done.

-Well done.

-OK.

Matt, your first question.

During which conflict did the Battle of the Plains of Abraham take place?

I don't think it's the Hundred Years War.

The Napoleonic Wars were in various countries,

so I'm going to go with Napoleonic Wars.

Let's see if the Eggheads know. Is it the Napoleonic Wars?

No. It was in 1759, which was the Seven Years' War.

There we go, Seven Years' War.

Eggheads, your second question.

Who plays the role of Demelza in the recent BBC drama series, Poldark?

Eleanor Tomlinson, yeah.

-Heida Reed's in it, but she's one of the others.

-Right.

Couldn't tell you much about the other one,

-but it's definitely Eleanor Tomlinson.

-Eleanor Tomlinson?

-Yes.

We think that's Eleanor Tomlinson.

Well done, Lisa. Eleanor Tomlinson is the right answer.

Eggheads, you have two,

so, Matt, you've got to get this one right to stay in.

The TV presenter Steve Backshall married which Olympian in 2016?

Pretty tricky, this. It's...

I'm not even sure what sports they do.

It's going to be a guess.

I'm going to guess Becky James.

Becky James is your answer.

All right, now, you need to get this one right to stay alive

in the contest. Let's see whether these Eggheads know.

Lisa, you know this kind of thing.

Yeah, it's Helen Glover.

Helen Glover is the answer.

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

I know that was just the way the cookie crumbled, there.

Bad luck, Matt,

and not easy when you haven't got your team-mates with you,

so you're playing alone. Commiserations.

No, they're...fantastic.

They are on very good form at the moment.

There's been quite a few games where we've had five of them.

So, I hope you've enjoyed it.

-Very much so, yeah.

-Good!

The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them.

They look suitably abashed and ashamed,

but they do reign supreme over Quizland,

there's no question.

And it does mean the Challengers don't go home with the £10,000.

The jackpot is really piling up now, and it rolls over to our next show.

Eggheads, well done.

I'm just wondering if anyone's actually going to

take you down at all!

Now, before we go, Lisa, you had a question.

I did, and I promised you an answer.

So, here we go.

Sunderland did it in 1979,

Villa did it in 1981,

and who did it in 1980?

The answer's Trevor Brooking.

The "it" in question is score the winning goal

in the FA Cup final that year.

So, Sunderland is actually Alan Sunderland,

and 1981 Villa is Rickie Villa for Spurs.

But it was Trevor Brooking for West Ham in 1980.

Oh, that is so cunning! Thank you, Lisa, for your question.

Hope you enjoyed that. Do join us next time to see if a new team

of Challengers have the brains to, at last, end this run.

£11,000 says they don't.

Until then, goodbye!