Episode 83 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. Feeling colourful today?

-Yes.

-All right! If you would like to work on a question from the Eggheads

while you watch at home, Dave, you've got one for us now.

Yes, I have.

Question is - what unusual fact links the Oscar-winning acting

performances of Jane Wyman, John Mills and Holly Hunter?

-The Oscar-winning performances?

-Yes.

All right. Dave's going to give us the answer at the end of the show.

Taking on the might of our quiz goliaths today

are the Clarets and Blues from Lancashire.

This team have managed to remain lifelong friends

despite support for local rival football teams -

the claret of Burnley and the blue of Blackburn. Let's meet them.

Hi. I'm Craig, and I'm a retired management consultant.

Hi. I'm Gemma, and I'm a college lecturer.

Hi. I'm Jerry, and I'm a business proprietor.

Hi. I'm George. I'm a retired GP.

Hi. I'm Phil, and I'm an international sales manager.

-So, Craig and team, hello. ALL:

-Hello!

And Clarets and Blues, let's just go through it, then, Craig.

The clarets are...?

The clarets are Burnley, and they're at that end.

Yes. I was going to say, as you said that,

-you looked a little bit queasy.

-Yeah!

I've had quite a number of years where Blackburn were the top team,

and Burnley were the ones that we could abuse,

-if that's the right way of putting it.

-Yes.

-Now they're getting their own back.

-OK.

-I've got to just take it.

Good luck, Challengers.

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

but if the Challengers fail to defeat the Eggheads,

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

So, Clarets and Blues, the Eggheads have won the last nine games,

so there's £10,000 to win.

They get very upset if the £10,000 is suddenly seized

and they have to start again,

so there's a lot riding on this. Would you like to try?

-We will.

-Yes, please.

-Brilliant.

The first head-to-head battle is on the subject of Film and TV,

so one of you, please, against

either Dave, Lisa, Steve, Kevin or Judith.

-Are we still going with what we said before?

-Yeah.

-Our expert?

-Fabulous.

Gemma's going to be the one that's going for it.

OK. Our college lecturer to take on which Egghead?

You've got the pick of the bunch here.

-Oh, heck.

-I'm tempted to go for Kevin, actually. Go on.

-Yeah.

Get him out of the way.

-Not an easy one.

-OK.

Gemma from the Clarets and Blues versus Kevin from the Eggheads,

and to ensure there's no conferring,

would you please take your positions in our legendary question room?

OK, Gemma. Film and TV against Kevin.

Would you like to go first or second?

Can I go first, please?

You can indeed. Good luck getting Kevin out. Here we go.

The film Bonnie And Clyde, starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway,

was released in which year?

Well, this was a little bit before my time, I think,

but I'm going to say that it definitely wasn't 1987.

That's far too late.

I probably would have watched that

because it is something that's quite iconic.

I think 1947 might be a little bit too early,

so I think I'm going to go 1967.

Well done, Gemma. Very good. '67. Well done.

OK, Kevin. The TV soap Emmerdale is set in which part of the UK?

Yeah. It's meant to be a very dangerous village in Yorkshire.

Yorkshire.

There aren't many of them. Yorkshire's right.

Gemma, your question.

What is the name of the character played by James Gandolfini

in the TV drama series The Sopranos?

I'm not 100% sure.

I've not really heard of anybody who's there apart from Tony,

so I think I'm just going to have to go Tony Soprano, unfortunately.

That's really good quizzing, cos you're right.

OK. Kevin.

Who played the role of the Dude in the Coen brothers' film,

The Big Lebowski?

Yes, it's a cult film, The Big Lebowski.

I have to admit it's not something I've ever... I thought it was fine,

but it's not something I've ever really quite got.

But, anyway, the one there who was in that was Jeff Bridges.

Jeff Bridges is right. I'm the same as you - watched it,

-never quite understood the total appeal of it.

-Yeah.

OK, Gemma, you're playing well.

Here we go. In which Oscar-winning film does a character named

Terence Fletcher say,

"There are no two words in the English language more harmful

"than 'good job'"?

I've not seen La La Land yet.

Again, I think I'm going to have to go for a guess,

and I think I'm going to have to say Whiplash.

But I'm not 100% sure.

Let's see if we can work this out.

I don't think there was a Terence Fletcher in La La Land.

Birdman...

-Could have been, but the answer is Whiplash.

-Oh!

All it is is because he's quite cruel,

-if it's the...

-The teacher.

-..the teacher.

So if he's saying, "Don't praise anybody.

"Keep going, keep going until you get perfection,"

that's the kind of quote he would have come out with.

All right. Kevin.

Who is the creator and writer of the TV comedy series Twenty Twelve

and W1A?

I should know that, but I don't.

Armando Ianucci was The Thick Of It and...

It's the sort of satire that he would do.

Was it him, though?

I don't know. I don't know.

I'm going to have to guess and I'll...

I'll assume that it's not him doing everything. I'll try...

I'll say Arthur Matthews, but I've got no confidence at all.

Yeah. It's absolutely Armando Ianucci's kind of thing.

-It's not him.

-Ah.

-And it's not Arthur Matthews.

-It's John Morton.

-50-50.

Isn't that funny, Kevin?

-Your strike rate with 50-50 is about one in ten.

-Yeah.

-For whatever reason.

-I don't know.

-There we are.

-So, Gemma, how about that?

-Thank you.

You're in the final round, with three out of three.

You've done exactly the right strategy.

You went straight for Kevin, took him off balance, and he's gone.

So come back, both of you, and we'll play round two.

A great start for our Challengers, with £10,000 to win today.

The Clarets and Blues have not lost any brains from the final.

The Eggheads have lost Kevin.

The next subject is Politics.

-Who would like Politics?

-Are we still where we said?

-Yeah.

-I think that's me, Jeremy.

OK.

It's Phil, our sales manager, against which Egghead?

Can't obviously be Kevin.

I'd like to take on Tremendous Knowledge Dave, please.

-Oh, yeah.

-All right. Never easy, but worth trying.

Phil from the Clarets and Blues

versus the all-red Dave. Yeah?

If we're doing football?

Yes, absolutely.

To ensure there's no conferring,

would you please take your positions in the question room?

Phil, good luck against Tremendous Knowledge Dave.

Would you like to go first or second?

I'd like to go first, please.

Here we go. Where was the Lib Dem politician Tim Farron born in 1970?

I'm pretty sure he's a good Lancashire lad,

and, curiously enough, he's also a Blackburn Rovers fan.

So my answer would be Preston.

Can you tell from his accent?

-He's got that kind of...

-Yes, he has.

-Preston, Lancashire's right.

OK, Dave. Who defeated both John McCain and Mitt Romney

in US Presidential elections?

I don't think it's George W Bush.

I don't think it's Clinton.

McCain got beaten in 2008,

and Romney in 2012

by Barack Obama.

Barack Obama is quite right, yes.

And back to you, Phil.

Which of these was the nickname for the Conservative MP Norman Tebbit?

I think Tarzan was Michael Heseltine.

And I'm not sure about Two Brains.

But I think Norman Tebbit was the Chingford Skinhead.

-That's right.

-OK!

Chingford... Cos I think his constituency was Chingford,

which then went to Iain Duncan Smith.

Chingford Skinhead is right.

Dave, we go to you.

Which of these countries achieved independence from the UK first?

Right, Jamaica's 1962.

India was 1947.

And that leaves Australia.

Australia's my answer.

Australia is right.

Two-two. And we go back to you, Phil.

It's a good round.

What did the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev famously use

to bang on the table of the UN General Assembly in 1960?

I'm not sure banging with his hat would have made that much noise.

Um...

My inkling is that it's possibly his shoe.

I'll go for his shoe.

Yes, it is his shoe. Very famous moment, I think.

Was it Macmillan who said, "Can we have that in translation?"

I think. OK, three out of three.

Our Challengers have not got a question wrong yet.

Let's see, Dave, if you can stay in.

Who became the Labour Party's first Cabinet Minister

when he joined the 1915 coalition government?

Right, it's too early for Gaitskell.

I can't remember Keir Hardie serving in a coalition.

I thought Arthur Henderson was later.

It's going to be a bad one, this.

Henderson. Arthur Henderson.

Is the right answer. Three out of three.

Arthur Henderson. So three questions each. The scores are level.

We go to sudden death. It gets a bit harder, Phil.

I don't give you alternative answers. A really good round.

Which tiny Pacific island joined the UN in 1999

as the world's smallest independent republic?

Going off its name, I would say Micronesia.

No, it's Nauru.

-Ah!

-N-A-U-R-U.

So, Dave, you have a chance to take it.

In which decade did Alain Juppe first become

prime minister of France?

I'm going to go that he was in Jacques Chirac's cabinet,

and say the 1990s.

Kevin?

I think... I mean, Juppe is now in his 70s,

and I think he actually became prime minister

when he was quite a bit younger. I would say the '80s.

Yeah. Well, Dave is right. 1990.

-OK.

-It was 1995, bang in the middle, under President Chirac.

Absolutely right, Dave.

So you were knocked out, Phil. Phil, sorry!

-Well done, mate.

-You played so well.

Another great round.

What a contest today.

Please return to us. We'll play round three.

So, Dave has struck back.

The Clarets and Blues have lost a brain now from the final round.

The Eggheads have lost one as well. This is a very tight contest,

and the next subject for you is Food and Drink.

Who would like this?

I'll take Food and Drink.

-Do you not mind?

-I've eaten a lot!

And you brew your own beer!

Because it was going to be Gemma.

I know.

-George?

-Yeah.

-OK, our retired GP.

So it's Lisa or Steve or Judith?

Lisa, please.

Brilliant.

George from the Clarets and Blues to take on Lisa.

An unusual outing on Food and Drink.

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

Food and Drink and, George, you can choose

whether you go first or second against Lisa.

I'll go first, please.

George, which Italian soup takes its name from the ragged-looking

egg strands running through it?

Oh, now...

I don't really know.

Because it's near, I'd say stracciatella.

Yes, you're absolutely right.

It just sounds, doesn't it, like ragged-looking egg strands.

Stracciatella is right.

Lisa, just your third Food and Drink round in the history of Eggheads.

Wow.

Flower of Rajya is a cheese made in Nepal, Lisa,

using milk from which creature?

Yeah. I mean, you know, if you were in Nepal,

you've probably got all of those at your disposal,

but why would you bother milking a dog for it?

I'm reminded of Red Dwarf, where he goes,

"I've used up all the supplies and we're on the dog's milk now."

I'll go for yak.

Yak is right. 1-1.

Back to our Challenger.

Tej, a honey wine or mead, is considered to be the national

drink of which of these African countries?

I've never heard of tej, so...

I think, because it's such a short word,

I'll go for Morocco.

I would be tempted by that,

but it's wrong. It's Ethiopia.

OK, Lisa.

What is the name of the traditional Alaskan Inuit dish

made by wrapping the head of a salmon in grass

and burying it for several weeks?

I don't know.

I suppose all of them are sort of plausible.

I sort of like stinkhead

but would you really call something stinkhead?

Um...

On the basis that there are countries who consider

eating mould a delicacy,

I will go for mouldhead.

Mouldhead. Now, I can see Steve looks like he knows this.

I don't know it at all!

I just thought it seemed logical - you're burying a fish's head

for a period of time, it's going to stink.

Yeah. Well, it would have mould as well, then.

-Oh, yeah.

-And fungus.

And fungus. We think there's mould and fungus and...

But the answer is stinkhead.

That is a quality name, though, isn't it?

It's going against your first instincts.

-One of the all time great Eggheads questions.

-Yeah, awesome.

OK. Stinkhead is the answer.

So you're still level.

George, which fruit is traditionally found inside a Sussex pond pudding?

I've never heard of a Sussex pond pudding.

I wouldn't have thought there was much lemon in.

I'll go for pear.

It is actually lemon.

-Ah.

-I'm sorry to say.

So Lisa has the chance to take only her third Food and Drink round

if we can put the stinkhead behind us.

In which country are hot and cold appetisers known as zakuski,

often served before a meal?

It sounds like it should be Russian,

and the Russians are very big on their appetisers.

Um...

Like the Scandinavians, they often do sort of herring-based things

and caviar and the like.

Maybe Turkey's an outside bet,

but I think I will go for Russia.

OK. Russia is your answer.

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

Zakuski is hot and cold appetisers in Russia.

Well done, Lisa. You've got it.

Sorry, George. Knocked out by our Egghead there,

although she nearly went down with a stinkhead.

As a result, George is not in the final and Lisa is.

Return to us. We've got one more round to play before the final.

Well, the Clarets and Blues have lost two brains now

from the final round. The Eggheads have lost the one,

but it is Kevin.

The next subject is Geography.

Which one of you wants this?

-That is yours.

-This is Jerry's.

-Jerry?

-OK. Yes.

-OK, business proprietor.

Who do you want to go against, Jerry?

It can be Judith, near me, or Steve, in the middle?

I'll go for Steve, please.

Right. So, Jerry from the Clarets and Blues

taking on Steve from the Eggheads in the last round before the final.

Please take your positions.

Could be a turning point in the game, this.

Geography, Jerry. Would you like to go first or second?

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

Here we go with your first question.

Which mountains separate the Indian subcontinent

from the Tibetan Plateau?

I think it's the biggest one of the lot, the Himalayas.

Yes, it is the Himalayas. Well done.

Steve,

Benbecula and Eriskay are islands belonging to

which of the four countries of the UK?

Sound very Scottish, Jeremy.

So Scotland is my answer.

Yeah. Benbecula, Eriskay, Scotland. Correct.

OK, Jerry.

The sisserou, or imperial parrot,

features on which country's flag?

I think, of the three countries that are there,

the one that's most likely to have a parrot

would be...

Not Japan.

I think I would go for Domenica.

That's the correct answer.

OK, Steve, your question.

The triangular Istrian Peninsula,

shared primarily by Croatia and Slovenia, extends into which sea?

You did say Croatia and Slovenia?

Yes, shared primarily by Croatia and Slovenia.

That's the Adriatic.

It is the Adriatic. Well done.

So you are level after two questions.

Jerry, the third, as we know, could be crucial.

Toompea Castle is located in which European city?

It's T-O-O-M-P-E-A.

As far as I can see, I think that would be any of those three,

quite easily, as far as my knowledge is concerned,

and the actual name of the place still doesn't give me a clue at all.

So it would have to be a guess.

I'll go middle for diddle and I'll go for Tallinn.

-Tallinn is right.

-Well done, Jerry.

Any way of getting there through the words?

Maybe. Estonia is sort of...

When you go to Estonia, all the signs are in Estonian

and then Finnish and then English.

-Yeah.

-So it sounds vaguely Finnish with the way the vowels are put,

-so maybe...

-OK. A little bit Finnish.

OK. Steve, your question to stay in.

Which of these countries has an exclave on Lake Lugano

within the borders of Switzerland?

I'm not entirely sure.

But I am drawn towards one,

which is probably going to be the wrong one.

I'll say Italy, Jeremy.

Yes, it's right. Three out of three for you both.

We go to sudden death again, Jerry.

I don't give you alternatives, so it's a bit harder.

Spike Island,

which was once at the centre of the British chemical industry

and which was the venue for a famous concert by the Stone Roses in 1990,

is located in which English county?

To go for the chemical industry slant,

I think that would lead me towards Ellesmere Port, maybe, in Cheshire.

-Cheshire's right.

-Well done!

Steve, to stay in, substantial stretches of beach

and cliff along the shoreline of Cardigan Bay in Wales

form parts of two national parks,

the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and which other?

Brecon Beacons.

No, Steve, Snowdonia.

-Oh!

-You've been knocked out.

So you've levelled it up, Jerry. Well done.

Our Eggheads snatched at it slightly there.

Let's see, if the Eggheads play like that in the final,

you're going to win £10,000.

Return to us, please, and we'll play the final round.

This is what we've been playing towards.

It's time for our final round which, as always, is General Knowledge.

But I'm afraid those of you who lost your head-to-heads aren't

allowed to take part in this round.

So that's George and Phil, a claret and a blue,

and also Steve and Kevin from the Eggheads.

Would you please now leave the studio?

Look at this. Craig, Gemma and Jerry, here you are,

playing to win the Clarets and Blues £10,000.

Dave, Lisa and Judith, you're fighting a rear-guard action

to defend the Eggheads' reputation

and keep this run going.

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

They're all general knowledge, and you can of course confer.

So, Clarets and Blues, the question is -

can your three brains take down these three over here?

And would you like to go first or second?

I think we'd like to go first, Jeremy.

Craig and team, you've been brilliant so far.

Now you need to win the jackpot.

The British author Martina Cole is best known for writing

novels in which genre?

-I don't know.

-Science fiction?

-What were you going to say?

Martina Cole sounds like a crime writer.

-Do you think?

-It does.

I'm trying to visualise the front cover of the book.

That's what I'm trying to do.

-Picture the front cover.

-Not science fiction?

-No.

Somebody called Martina Cole doesn't write science fiction.

They don't, do they?

Crime or romance.

I'd lean away from romance,

and I think Martina Cole is a serious name,

and a serious name writes crime.

-OK.

-I think.

We're not sure between crime and romance,

so the best guess I think we're going to be able to make

is that Jerry thinks that,

with a name like Martina Cole,

it's somebody who ought to write crime.

So our answer's going to be crime novels.

OK. I did read one of her books about ten years ago,

and there was a murder in it,

so you're absolutely right!

Crime it is.

Eggheads, your question to catch up.

Which British pop group's chart-topping albums

include Progress and III?

-I thought it was Take That.

-It is Take That.

Progress was one of their comeback albums,

and III was after Jason Orange left

and they were down to, funnily enough, three.

-That's fine.

-Take That.

-Take That?

-Yeah.

-It's Take That.

Take That is right.

Challengers,

Liam Heath won a gold medal and a silver medal

in which sport at the 2016 Olympic Games?

-My first guess is... What?

-Canoeing.

-Yeah.

-Really?

-Yes, cos he wasn't one of the boxers.

Oh, right.

I don't think he was.

-OK. We did well in the canoeing, didn't we?

-Yes.

-And we didn't win much in the diving.

-No.

-Boxing?

-It wasn't boxing.

-No.

Shall we go for that?

-Yeah.

-We're not totally sure

but we think, because we all seem to be agreeing,

that it's definitely not boxing,

we don't think we did brilliantly well in the diving,

so we think he was...

We're going for canoeing.

Canoeing is correct.

Two out of two. You are good quizzers.

Eggheads, which British physicist was the recipient of a letter

from Isaac Newton that contained the line,

"If I have seen further, it is

"by standing on the shoulders of giants"?

-Right.

-It ain't Rutherford.

-No, it's not.

-Hooke is 1600 something.

He's around that area.

Rutherford is 20th century.

-Galton...

-Galton is 19th century.

So I think we've got to go Hooke.

-I think it's Hooke.

-OK.

And I'm happy with that.

-Yeah, go on.

-Are you happy with that?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Yeah.

-OK. We think that's Robert Hooke.

-Yes, you've got it right. Well done. Robert Hooke.

-Well done, Judith.

Here's your third question.

Get this right and we go back to them, and if they get it wrong,

you've won £10,000. It really is as simple as that.

The village of Baginton is home to an airport serving

which UK city?

Not Manchester.

I don't think it's Norwich.

Baginton, if there is such a thing,

-sounds more like a Coventry type area name.

-Yeah.

-And Norwich would have a different type of name.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-OK.

OK, Manchester is our local airport.

That's not Baginton,

and I've been through it that many times,

I think I might remember that,

so I hope I'm right on that one.

We're not sure... We don't think it's Norwich

because we've flown into there as well,

so we're going to go for Coventry,

cos Baginton sounds like it ought to be Midlands.

-Coventry is the right answer.

-Yes!

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

We couldn't ask for more. You played brilliantly. £10,000 jackpot.

Here are the Eggheads. Two impressive players removed.

Three of them left.

You've got to get this right to stay in it, Eggheads,

otherwise they win.

In 2016, who became the first US author

to win the Man Booker prize?

-ALL: Paul Beatty.

-We're happy with that?

It's Paul Beatty.

Paul Beatty is the right answer.

We go to sudden death in the final round. Clarets and Blues,

which French artist and writer directed the films

Le Sang D'un Poete, or The Blood Of A Poet,

in 1930 and Orphee in 1950?

And just so we're clear, Orphee is O-R-P-H-E-E,

and the O is a capital letter.

You know what? I've no idea.

I don't know any French.

And I can't even drag an artist or an author from France in 1930.

I don't think I can come up with a guess.

Who was around in that...

I can only think of Toulouse-Lautrec, which isn't...

-That was before, though.

-Yeah.

-That's turn of the century.

-Yeah.

-Moliere's a long way back, isn't he?

-Yeah.

That's before that.

-I can't think of anybody.

-I can't.

Mid-20th-century French... There's just nothing there.

-It won't come.

-I know none.

-I couldn't even guess.

-No.

We really can't drag it up.

So...

THEY LAUGH

Jerry wants to say Toulouse-Lautrec but we know we're wrong.

But we've got to say something. We just can't think of the right name.

-Eggheads?

-Jean Cocteau?

-Jean Cocteau is the answer.

That gives the Eggheads a way of ending the contest with this

sudden death question. Eggheads, here we go.

Admirers and followers of which artist and writer born in 1757

formed themselves into a group called

the Ancients in the 1820s and 1830s?

You don't think it's William Blake?

I don't know. It could be Blake.

Could be Blake. What about Ruskin?

I think he's a bit later.

OK.

Blake. Blake fits the bill.

It's just that the Ancients... I don't know.

Um...

If you think Blake...

I just can't think of anybody else, now I've thought of it.

No, neither can I,

and I perfectly prepared to go with what you said, Judith.

-I'm happy to go with that.

-So, you know.

We've got rather stuck on one artist and writer.

And it's my fault.

We're going to say William Blake.

Shall we just check with Kevin back there?

-Kevin?

-That's right. It's Blake.

-Oh!

-William Blake is the correct answer.

We say congratulations, Eggheads, you have won.

Well done, Judith, a multi-millionaire...

-Well...

-No, one million only.

-One million, sorry.

All hail Queen Judith of Egghead-land.

Queen Judith, who won the first million on

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? comes up with the golden answer there.

It does mean the Challengers don't go home with the £10,000 jackpot,

so we roll it over to the next show.

Sorry, Challengers, because you were one of our best teams.

Congratulations, Eggheads. Before we go, Dave, that question.

Yes. I asked what unusual fact connects the Oscar-winning

acting performances of Jane Wyman, John Mills and Holly Hunter?

And Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda,

John Mills in Ryan's Daughter

and Holly Hunter in The Piano

-didn't speak a word of dialogue throughout the film.

-Right.

Gosh. Wouldn't have thought of that.

Did you get that at home?

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

to defeat the Eggheads. There'll be £11,000 to play for.

This jackpot keeps on going up and up.

Until then, goodbye.