Episode 85 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.

Are you going to dig deep today, Eggs?

-Definitely.

-Definitely.

-Excellent.

Now if you'd like to work on a question from the Eggheads while you

watch at home, Beth, you have one for us?

I do.

What are the six countries that have a top-level Internet domain

code starting with the letter D?

I see. So .D something?

OK. We'll find that the answer from Beth at the end of the show.

Now, hoping to get one over on our quiz champions today

are the Tinpot Miners.

The majority of this team study mining engineering

at the University of Exeter's Penryn campus

and quiz together regularly at Seaview Inn in Falmouth.

Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Lewis and I'm a student of mining engineering.

Hi, I'm Alex, I'm also a student of mining engineering.

Hi, I'm Anthony, I'm a mining engineering graduate.

Hi, I'm Elliott and I'm studying business.

Hi, I'm Nick and I'm studying economics.

So Lewis and team, hello.

-ALL:

-Hello.

-So this is all about Falmouth.

You are based down there, are you, Lewis?

Yeah, we are.

We are based in Falmouth on the Penryn campus of Exeter.

-Very beautiful there, isn't it?

-It's lovely being down there, yeah.

The sea is brilliant, in the summer especially.

Yeah. Do you do some surfing and stuff?

I said I would when I went down there, but I didn't get to do it in the three years.

But, yeah, maybe if I go down there again, I think I will.

So you are graduates or students of mining, the first three of you?

-Yes, that's right.

-Hence the team name.

-Yeah.

-Does that mean you are aiming at careers in mining?

We hope so, yeah. I think, us three are, definitely.

Yeah. The two on the end, are you interested in mining at all?

-Not really.

-Not really?

-Not really, if I'm honest.

-You're just friends?

-We're just friends with them, yeah.

So you quiz together, or separately?

Yeah, we don't quiz with Elliott and Nick, but

we quiz with... Well, I quiz with Anthony and Alex

as well at the Seaview Inn.

It's called Quiz Go.

It's like a combination of a quiz and bingo, which is... Yeah.

It's really good fun.

Right, have any of you done that, you Eggs, Quiz Go?

-No.

-No. Quiz Went?

Not at all. So that's good. They are drawing a blank on that.

That's a good start for us.

We should introduce a mining round, shouldn't we, to make it fair?

-It all comes in Science, doesn't it?

-It comes in Science.

Well, we'll see. Good luck Challengers.

Every day there is £1,000 worth of cash up for grabs for our challenging team.

If they fail to defeat the Eggheads, that prize money rolls over,

as you know. Tinpot Miners, the Eggheads are storming at the moment.

They have won the last 11 games.

I don't know if that's good or bad.

Slight pressure.

It's pressure, but the jackpot is £12,000,

that's the good thing. So it's worth being here.

-Shall we have a go?

-Let's do it. Definitely, yeah.

-Let's do it.

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

So it's one of you, please, against either Dave, Pat, Beth,

-Kevin or Judith.

-Nick, I think.

-I'll take this one.

-Who do you want to play?

OK, Nick.

Would you like to play...

Shall we go with...

-Dave, maybe?

-Dave?

-Shall we take on Dave.

-Yeah.

Very good. Nick from the Tinpot Miners taking on Dave from the Eggheads.

Not quite mining.

It doesn't matter for you, because you're not a miner.

To ensure there is no conferring,

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

History, Nick, do you want to go first or second?

I'd like to go first, please.

OK, good luck against Dave.

Here we go. According to the popular but possibly untrue legend,

for whom did Sir Walter Raleigh lay down his cloak so that she would not

have to step into a muddy puddle?

I'm pretty confident that I know this one.

I know Walter Raleigh was around at the time of Elizabeth I,

so that's my answer.

Elizabeth I is right.

Dave, your question.

In 64 AD, during the reign of the Emperor Nero,

what disaster befell the city of Rome?

I believe he fiddled while Rome burned,

so I'll have to go a huge fire.

A huge fire is right.

Eggheads, is that true, that myth,

legend of fiddling while Rome burns?

Urban legend, probably.

-Probably not true?

-No.

-He probably didn't play the fiddle?

He probably didn't, no.

He wouldn't have been called a fiddler at the time anyway,

-so it was just, yeah...

-Yeah, OK.

So, back to you, Nick.

Approximately how many Allied troops were evacuated from Dunkirk between

May 26th and June 4th 1940?

OK.

Not too sure specifically here.

So I think I'm going to have to go for,

er, 340,000.

Yes, you're right. Well done.

340,000 is correct.

A big evacuation.

Dave, in 1978, which man became the first non-Italian Pope

of the Roman Catholic Church for 455 years?

Jorge Bergoglio was Francis,

from Argentina.

So it's not him. Joseph Ratzinger, I think, was Benedict XVI

from Germany. No.

Um, I think it's Karol Jozef Wojtyla,

John Paul II. 1978.

Brilliant, Dave. Good quizzing.

Mr Wojtyla is the right answer.

OK, Nick, your question.

Which 66-year-old holy Roman Emperor died

whilst crossing a river in Anatolia in 1190,

whilst travelling to the Holy Land to take part in a crusade?

OK.

Charlemagne is the only Roman emperor I have heard of there.

I'm pretty sure he was the first.

In which case I think I'll stick with my guns

and go with Charlemagne.

Dave, what do you think, is he right?

I think it's Leopold I, myself.

-Eggheads?

-Barbarossa.

-It's the other one.

The other one is Barbarossa. Frederick I of Barbarossa.

Dave, you can take the round with this.

In 1861, who became the first prime minister of an united Italy?

Right, that's a tough question.

Um...

I have not heard of any of those names in terms of the unification of

Italy. All I was thinking of was Garibaldi.

And maybe even Cavour coming in.

But I've not heard of any of these.

I've not heard of him, but Camillo Benso is my guess.

Let's have a look. Kevin?

Yeah, that's good, actually, because Dave mentioned Cavour.

And he is normally known as Cavour, which was his title.

-Ah.

-He was the Count of Cavour.

But his family name was Camillo Benso.

Well, you mentioned Cavour, and actually that's the same guy.

-Is it?!

-It's because of the family name, yeah.

So Camillo Benso is absolutely right, well done.

Very good. Three out of three. You can see how good these Eggheads are.

Nick, you played well, but you got beaten I'm afraid and you won't be in the final round.

Come back to us, please, gentlemen. We'll play on.

Right, the Tinpot Miners have lost one brain from the final round.

The Eggheads are still over there with their mining implements,

digging away. And the next subject for you, Arts & Books.

CHALLENGERS GROAN

-Not good.

-Not what we wanted.

-Is this me?

-I think it is you.

-Take one for the team.

-All right, OK.

Who would you like to go for?

Team captain, who am I picking?

Um, would you like to take on Pat?

-Yeah.

-Go on.

-Pat, I think.

-OK.

Anthony from the Tinpot Miners taking on Pat from the Eggheads.

Please go to the Question Room now.

Anthony, you were born in Johannesburg?

-Yeah, that's right.

-So you came to the UK to study?

I moved here when I was five with my little brother.

My parents decided the education would be better over here.

You are also one of the Tinpot Miners?

-Yeah, that's true.

-With the intention of what of doing

mining in South Africa, or Europe, where?

I'm really not sure at this point.

I thought I would do a Masters, but I would have to find a job at the end of that.

So I decided I would just dive in right now.

What kind of mining would it be - gold mining?

Oh, specific. But I suppose I could get into that.

Yeah. Or coal, does it not matter?

-At this point, not really. I'm just trying to see where I can land, really.

-OK.

-Any suggestions, Pat?

-Just keep digging until you find something.

Yeah, very sensible.

He is wise, isn't he? He is very wise, Anthony, isn't he?

Oh, yes. That's why he won £1 million on Millionaire.

OK, Arts & Books, would you like to go first or second?

I'd like to go first, please.

All right, I sensed it wasn't necessarily anybody's first choice,

this subject. So good luck, Anthony.

-Thank you.

-Jane is the first name of which of these fictional characters?

I have a feeling that it's Miss Trunchbull,

purely because I saw Matilda recently.

So I'm going to go for that one.

Miss Trunchbull. There's a strange correlation between the

first and the second answer.

I think... Was she Agatha Trunchbull?

-Yes. That's right.

-Have I totally misremembered that?

-No, you are right, yeah.

-And of course Miss Marple

is Agatha Christie's creation, and she was Jane Marple.

Goodness me.

Pat, your question.

With which genre of literature is the author, Alistair MacLean,

most closely associated?

I think he wrote things like Ice Station Zebra.

I think the things he wrote were thrillers.

They were, indeed, thrillers.

OK, Anthony, back to you.

Which character from a play is secretly in love

with a character named Roxanne?

I know the film.

I think Baz Luhrmann did a remake of it and I've forgotten it.

But I feel like it's Cyrano de Bergerac.

Cyrano de Bergerac is the right answer.

Well done. With that French actor, who was that?

-Depardieu.

-Gerard.

-Gerard Depardieu, that's right.

OK. Pat, your question.

"This was the most unkindest cut of all",

is a famous line from which of Shakespeare's plays?

I think this is one of those occasions when we should not

go for Hamlet.

I think it relates to the assassination of Julius Caesar.

It might actually relate to Brutus' contribution to the assault.

I don't think it's Much Ado About Nothing, which is a comedy.

And I think for once it's not Hamlet.

So I'm going for Julius Caesar.

Julius Caesar is correct.

And was it part of the famous funeral speech then?

It may be by Mark Anthony to the killing of Caesar.

OK, we go back to you, Anthony.

Which poet famously wrote,

"Any man's death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind"?

And you need to get this right.

I'm going to have to take a complete stab in the dark

and go for William Wordsworth.

Any of your team know?

-Not a clue.

-I think I would have went with that.

I mean, he's the most well-known.

-He's the only one I recognise.

-Yeah.

-Definitely poets, all of them.

John Donne is the answer.

Anthony, sorry. Pat's won through and will be in the final as well.

And the Eggheads are in good shape here, so Challengers,

round three is the time to come back.

So we had John Donne there.

"Any man death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind".

Where is that from?

That is from a poem called No Man is an Island Entire of Itself.

And that's as far as I can get!

JEREMY CHUCKLES

And when was he writing, John Donne?

Late 16th, early 17th century.

Metaphysical poet, is that what they call him?

-What does that mean?

-Dealing with the realm of the spiritual.

So beyond physics, beyond the physical world.

I think he was the Dean of St Paul's, or something like that.

-Was he?

-Wasn't he?

-He was Dean of St Paul's.

-Yes, he was Dean of St Paul's.

OK, as it stands the Tinpot Miners have lost two brains

from the final round. What do we do now?

What's the thought?

-Try and win a category!

-Try and win something.

A good round now, definitely.

A good round now would be very useful indeed.

The subject is Music, gentlemen.

I think you can out class them on lots of music, I think.

It's not ideal, but...

-We'll have to give it a go, I think.

-Yeah.

Are you going to go for it?

I will.

-OK, it's going to be Alex.

-And who do you want to take on?

We could just carry on down the line I mean, I don't think...!

-Beth? Yeah?

-Yeah, go for it.

-I'll take on Beth.

-OK, so you're making progress from Dave...

I see the logic. This is brilliant.

No-one's ever done this before!

Alex from the Tinpot Miners taking on Beth from the Eggheads on Music.

Please go to the Question Room now.

You were a runner, Alex, or you are a runner?

Well, now and again back a few years ago, when I used to play football.

Yeah, I had a bit of a good time on the wing

when I used to be quick, before university.

You then ran for Wales, did you?

Yeah. Under 17s.

Basically the chairman thought I was quick on the wing,

and he just sort of said, there's a bit of a spare seat,

really, or run, and that's how it happened, really.

What distance were you running then?

-It was the 200, it was.

-At what sort of level?

It was UK-based - Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England.

Terrific. And so did you stop that at some point, or what?

Not really. I mean, I wasn't really a sprinter as such.

The chairman saw there was a spare space,

and he thought it would probably be a good idea, so I had a go.

OK, well good luck racing Beth here.

It's Music. Would you like to go first or second, Alex?

I'll go first, please.

Here we go. Which song begins with these lines,

"Look into my eyes, you will see what you mean to me.

"Search your heart, search your soul,

"and when you find me there you'll search no more"?

Can you repeat the first, please?

Which song begins with these lines, "Look into my eyes, you will see,

"what you mean to me, search your heart, search your soul,

"and when you find me there, you'll search no more."

I just, yeah, I had to re-...

Get it through my ears. I think that is Bryan Adams.

(Everything I Do) I Do It For You.

Yes, it is, well done.

(Everything I Do) I Do It For You.

OK, Beth. Which of these albums was released first?

Back to Black was sort of, mid-2000s,

Parklife was mid-1990s,

Brothers In Arms was probably early '80s,

but it's definitely Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits.

Brothers in Arms is quite right, Beth.

Second question to you Alex.

The word skirl,

S-K-I-R-L,

refers to the sound made by which musical instrument?

I don't know I understand what a zither is.

Oh, skirl, skirl...

I will have to have a guess on this one.

I'll go for bagpipes.

The bagpipes is right. Well done.

Got any Scots on this side?

No. No, we haven't.

Beth, who found fame as the lead singer in the band The Cure?

They're all frontmen of bands.

Jimmy Somerville was The Communards,

the lead singer of The Cure was Robert Smith.

Yeah, Robert Smith, obviously.

Not remembering Feargal Sharkey's band is quite serious.

Feargal Sharkey was the lead singer of The Undertones.

-The Undertones! That's right.

-Yeah, that's quite a major thing.

I remember him as a solo artist.

-What can I say?

-Yeah, that's even more unfortunate.

-Tragic, I know.

-Robert Smith is the right answer, there.

You've got your point. Well done. OK.

Alex, according to musical legend,

the young Mozart risked excommunication by writing down from memory

which piece of music after hearing it performed at the Vatican?

I'll have a bit of a think.

I'm not sure.

But something tells me maybe Handel,

so I'll go for Messiah by Handel.

OK, Beth. Can you help us with the dates, or the logic here?

Oh, the dates I can't help you with.

But I can help you with the right answer.

-Go on.

-Which unfortunately is not Messiah, it's Miserere by Allegri.

Miserere by Allegri.

Anyone help us out with the other two after Mozart or,

is it possible that he could've written one of those down or what?

-No, well, he could because they both precede...

-Right.

-..Mozart.

So, yeah, it's possible that he could've done either, yeah.

Yeah, it could've been any of them, Alex.

None of them were after Mozart.

Miserere by Allegri, as Beth says, is the right answer.

That's a shame.

Yeah, because it lets Beth in now with the third question.

So Beth, you can get your place in the final with this.

To Those Who Pass The Borough,

and What Harbour Shelters Peace

are songs from which opera by Benjamin Britten?

Can I have the names of the songs again, please?

Yeah, there's two of them. To Those Who Pass The Borough

and What Harbour Shelters Peace. What Harbour Shelters Peace.

Songs from which opera by Benjamin Britten?

I'm not a fan of English composers at all.

I'm going to go with the one that I've...

I've not performed any of them

and I'm more oratorio singing than opera singer.

I'm going to go with Peter Grimes.

-Eggheads, do we like that?

-Yes.

-Yes.

-Yes, we do. Peter Grimes is right.

-Lucky me!

-Well done.

-Three out of three.

-So sorry, Alex.

Alex, knocked out by our Egghead.

Another Egghead in the final round.

So we've got one more round to play before the final.

Please return to us and we'll do just that.

As it stands, the Tinpot Miners have lost three brains from the final

round. The Eggheads have not lost any,

and have had a number of games where they've been playing really

strongly, haven't they? And the next subject is Sport.

-Yes!

-Is that good?

-At last.

-We think so.

Yeah.

-This is Elliott for this one.

-Elliott, our business student.

-Yes.

-Which Egghead would you like to take on?

I'm guessing it's Kevin cos you're going one at a time.

I'll carry on the pattern. See if we can take Kevin out before the final.

Yeah, well, he has to be faced at some point for sure.

So, Elliott, from the Tinpot Miners, taking on the Ironman,

from the Eggheads.

That's Robert Downey Junior.

To ensure there is no conferring,

for the last time please go to our famous Question Room.

Right, Elliott, good luck to you.

-You're studying business?

-Yeah, I am, yeah.

-Where are you studying at?

-Down in Bath, nice place.

OK, and based in London, normally?

-Yeah, doing a bit of work in London at the moment but originally from Hertfordshire.

-What's your...

-Is your aim to be a miner as well or...

-It's not.

I think we'll leave that to the guys, the three of them.

I don't want to go down a hole for the rest of my life.

-OK. Good luck here.

-Thank you.

-Sport it is.

Against Kevin. Let's see if you can pitch him out.

-That would be really, really handy.

-OK.

-First or second?

I'll go first, please.

And here we are with your question, Elliott.

In which year was the boxer Anthony Joshua born?

Well, I'm 21.

And, I doubt he would be...

Would he be only 23?

How much older than me?

I'm going to go with 1989.

Yeah, well done. 1989.

Brilliant boxer.

Did you see that bout, Kevin, between Joshua and Klitschko?

-I saw some of it, I didn't see the whole thing.

-One of the best ever.

It was up and down, and you couldn't tell who was going to win.

-Yeah.

-A bit like Eggheads, most days.

-Yes, exactly, yeah.

-All right.

Your question. In the men's version of which sport are there two teams

made up of ten people on each side

and the match divided into four periods of 20 minutes each?

So ten, ten men per side?

Ten men per side, and the match divided into four periods

of 20 minutes.

That would be lacrosse.

Lacrosse is quite right. Elliott, your question.

Which football club came second behind Chelsea

in 2016/2017 English Premier League season?

That's easy, that's my club, Tottenham Hotspur.

I promise we didn't ask you that deliberately.

-OK.

-Tottenham Hotspur is the right answer.

As a Chelsea fan, I feel your pain.

-Really sorry about it.

-I'd say thanks, but...

-Yeah.

-As we always say, it's happened again.

Kevin. Harold Larwood was a major

name in which sport in the 1930s?

He was a fearsome bowler in cricket.

Cricket is correct.

-So nothing to choose between you so far. Two points each.

-OK.

Elliott, how many Olympic medals did Steve Ovett at win in his career?

I'm not entirely sure.

So I'm going for the middle ground and go for four.

Four is your answer, then. He is a contemporary of Sebastian Coe.

-Dave?

-I think it's two, I think he just won two in 1980.

I think he won the gold in the 800 metres,

which he wasn't expected to win.

And bronze in the 1,500 metres, which he was expected to win.

And that he qualified in '84 for the 1,500 metres

but collapsed with dehydration,

didn't make the podium whereas Coe defended his title.

Very good, Dave. The answer, Elliott, is two, I'm afraid.

OK, Kevin. Your question to take the round.

Tim Visser and Richie Gray,

have played international rugby union for which team?

Kevin, for the final place...

-What was the first name?

-Tim Visser.

So that's V-I-S-S-E-R.

Yeah, and Richie Gray

International rugby union for which team?

I might be going wrong here, but I believe that's Scotland.

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

And it's a clean sweep by the Eggs.

The answer is Scotland. Well done, Kevin.

Sorry, Elliott, knocked out there on Sport.

As a Spurs fan, I know that's hard to take.

It is. Again.

Please, return to your teams, we'll play the final round for £12,000.

So, this is what we have been playing towards.

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

But I'm afraid that those of you who've lost your head to heads,

won't be allowed to take part in this round.

All from the Challengers' side, I'm afraid.

Alex, Anthony, Elliott and Nick from that Tinpot Miners,

would you please now leave the studio?

Lewis, you're playing to win the Tinpot Miners £12,000

and it can be done. Dave, Pat, Beth, Kevin, Judith,

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

which is to keep this storming run the Eggheads are on, going.

And you're playing for the shirt.

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

They're all General Knowledge, Lewis.

Normally, I would say you can confer but it's tricky with your friends back there.

But now we see whether you with you one mining brain

can take down the deep-sea divers of the Eggheads.

Let's see, would you like to go first or second?

I'll go first, please.

Good luck, very tense here with £12,000 to play for.

What is the name of the highest point in the Peak District?

OK, so...

Ben Macdui that implies more Scotland

with the Ben in front.

I think, anyway.

Kinder Scout, I've never heard of.

But then, Scafell Pike - is that in the Peak District?

It's a tough start.

I'll...

I'll go with Scafell Pike.

Scafell Pike is your answer.

Let's check, where is Scafell Pike, Eggheads?

-Lake District.

-Lake District.

-It is the Lake District.

-It's a high place.

-Yeah.

It's Kinder Scout in the Peak District.

OK.

Eggheads, The Real Slim Shady is a song by which rapper?

Eminem, Judith.

OK, that is Eminem, I'm told.

You knew that?

No, I didn't.

Eminem is the right answer.

So they're ahead

but you can pull back now.

Which actress first found fame as Allison MacKenzie in the American soap opera Peyton Place?

I can't gauge how old that would be.

I don't know, maybe Meryl Streep, is...

..slightly. Well, I can gauge how old she is.

Um...

I've not heard of Mia Farrow.

I don't know if I should've or not.

Diane Keaton I've have heard of.

Usually when I'm watching this, it's normally the one that

I don't think it is, is normally the right answer.

And that would lead me towards Mia Farrow.

But...for some reason I'm going to go with Diane Keaton.

-It's Mia Farrow.

-Oh!

You used the brilliant logic

that you think it's Diane Keaton but that's probably going to be wrong,

so you'll go for the one you don't think it is,

which is Mia Farrow which would've been right but then you went back

-to Diane Keaton.

-Yeah.

-I felt your pain.

-It always works, as well.

-You're right, it does always work.

-Yeah.

OK, Eggheads. You can take the contest with this question.

In the 2016 presidential election,

it was announced that Hillary Clinton had been diagnosed with which medical condition?

-She had pneumonia.

-Pneumonia.

-Yeah.

-I think pneumonia, yeah.

-Yeah, pneumonia.

-Pneumonia, yeah.

She had pneumonia.

If this is pneumonia,

you've taken the contest cos there's no way back for our Challenger.

If not, we play on.

The correct answer is pneumonia.

We say congratulations, Eggheads, you have won.

APPLAUSE

Commiserations, Lewis.

I should've gone second there, I think.

-It's always the case, though.

-I'm sure you would've got, well...

-I guess these, you will have know your Scafell Pike, as well.

-Yeah.

-I'm sorry about that. It's really hard when you're on your own.

-It is, yeah.

-I was begging for a mining question to come up there.

-I was.

I don't know think I would have got it right.

We needed gold, we needed silver, we would've settled for anything - tin, copper, anything.

So sorry, the Eggheads, I almost feel like I'm apologising for them now.

They've done what comes increasingly naturally to them.

This winning streak continues.

And it does mean that the Challengers don't go home with the £12,000.

So the money rolls over to our next show, no easy way to say it.

Eggheads, congratulations.

Who will beat you? Five again.

Honestly, what are you eating for breakfast?

Oh, before we go, Beth, you had a question.

I did. I asked you what the six countries that had the top-level Internet domain codes

starting with the letter D.

They are, let's start with the easy ones,

.DE is Germany,

.DK is Denmark,

.DJ Djibouti...

-Oh!

-And then we go.

.DM, Dominica,

.DO Dominican Republic,

and the one that people might not have thought of is

.DZ which is Algeria.

That's a very, very good question.

I hope you got that at home.

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

£13,000 says they won't do it.

Until then, goodbye.