Episode 118 Eggheads

These five 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.

You might recognise them, as they are Goliaths in the world of TV quiz shows.

They are the Eggheads. And taking on the might of our quiz Goliaths today

are the Wise Monkeys, from Northern Ireland.

The team have been friends since their schooldays and, as they are all keen quizzers,

team captain Jim decided they should take on the Eggheads. Let's meet them.

Hi, I'm Jim, I'm 46 and I'm a retired printer.

Hi, I'm Stephen, I'm 46 and I'm a fire-fighter.

Hi, I'm Mervyn, I'm 46, and I'm an education welfare officer.

Hello, I'm Alan, I'm 47 and I work for Revenue and Customs.

Hello, I'm Alistair, 48, and I'm a rug tourist.

-So, Jim, quizzing brought you all together?

-Well, we were schoolmates,

but we go to quizzes all around the county,

and it's sort of been the glue that's bound us together.

Does an all-male team have any weaknesses, do you think?

No, we're strong in everything!

Well, good luck. Hope it goes really well for you guys.

-Thanks very much.

-Every day, there's £1,000 worth of cash up for grabs for our challengers.

However, if they fail to defeat the Eggheads, the prize money rolls over to the next show.

So, Wise Monkeys, the Eggheads have won the last five games,

which means £6,000 says you can't beat them.

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

Challengers, which one of you wants to play History,

and against which Egghead?

Looks like Alan's gonna take the poisoned chalice, so...

Alan, our customs official?

Any Egghead in mind?

-Do you have any thoughts right away?

-I... I think I'll play Kevin.

-Kevin.

-OK.

-Very brave!

-So it's Alan, from the Wise Monkeys, versus Kevin, from the Eggheads.

Please take your positions in the question room.

-Alan, you have the choice to go first or second.

-I'll go first.

What name was given, Alan, to the group of the outlaws

organised by Butch Cassidy at Brown's Hole in August, 1896?

Yeah, well... Let me have a little ponder on that one for a minute.

The Mad Bunch... Seems a bit 20th century, Mad Bunch.

The last century, I think, they might have used

the term the Wild Bunch. I'll go for the Wild Bunch.

Wild Bunch is right. Well done.

Kevin, patented in 1733 by the Englishman John Kay,

the flying shuttle was a component of which larger piece of equipment?

It was one of the early inventions

that drove the Industrial Revolution along.

It was used in textile mills, so the answer is loom.

Spot on. The answer is loom. Well done, Kevin. one-all.

Back to our Wise Monkeys.

By what soubriquet was Suleiman, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire

from 1520 to 1566, commonly known?

I don't think Suleiman was unready. He may have been a lionheart,

but I believe he was known as the Magnificent.

-That's your answer?

-Yes, it is.

-You're right, well done.

The pressure is on Kevin.

Kevin, the Four Freedoms outlined to Congress by Franklin Roosevelt

in his 1941 State Of The Union address were...

freedom of speech and expression,

freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from what else?

It was freedom from fear, Jeremy.

Correct. Two points each. Here's your next question.

Alan, the Hudson's Bay Company was founded in the 17th century,

primarily to trade in which commodity?

Well, I don't believe they have a lot of spices around Hudson Bay.

They may have some gold up there, but I believe it was furs.

Furs, I'll go for furs.

And furs is correct. Three out of three.

Kevin, if you get this wrong,

not only are you out of the contest, but this will be the first time

in 20 History rounds that you've fallen short.

The first British naval ship to bear the name Ark Royal was purchased by which monarch?

Ah, now... You may have me, because I don't know this.

Should do.

I don't know it, so I'm going to...

..go for Elizabeth I.

A guess from Kevin.

We should put a plaque up in the studio for that!

You're right, well done, Elizabeth I.

-Oh!

-You came...

so close! We now go to Sudden Death after our multiple-choice questions,

and to make it that much harder, I'm not going to give you options. You have to give me the answer.

So, Alan, which figure from World War One famously said, "Patriotism is not enough?"

"Patriotism is not enough." A leading figure perhaps.

I'm reckoning it's got to be a national leader, or perhaps an army leader, perhaps one of the generals.

I'll go for Lord Kitchener.

-That's your answer?

-It is.

It's wrong, I'm afraid, Alan. Kevin, do you know the answer?

-It's Edith Cavell.

-Yeah, Edith Cavell is the answer.

So, Kevin, if you get this question right,

then you've won the head-to-head.

Who was President of America's International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1957 to 1971?

Yes, and mysteriously disappeared later on. Jimmy Hoffa.

Kevin, you've got the right answer, well done. That means you take the round.

Alan, you were beaten by our Egghead,

so we won't be seeing you in the final round, I'm afraid.

Both of you, please come back and rejoin your teams.

As it stands, the challengers have lost one Brain from the final round,

while the Eggheads have lost no Brains. Our next subject is Arts and Books.

Which of you wants this, and against

which Egghead?

What do we think, guys?

Arts and Books.

-Alistair?

-Count me out!

I'll have a go. Yeah.

Mervyn. OK, Mervyn, education welfare officer.

Which Egghead, Mervyn?

CJ.

OK, it's Mervyn from the Wise Monkeys against CJ from the Eggheads.

Please take your positions in the question room.

Mervyn, good luck. Three questions, multiple-choice. Arts and Books,

you get to choose the first or second set.

I'll choose to go first.

Here we go, Mervyn. Which term refers to both a crayon made from pounded pigments

bound with resin or gum, and a soft, delicate shade of a colour?

It's... Having done A-level art at school,

I should know this, so I'll be very embarrassed if I've got this wrong,

but I would say it's the middle one, pastel.

-Pastel is your answer?

-Yes, it is.

-Quite right, well done.

CJ,

where in a book is the appendix usually found?

Usually at the bit I look up first, the end.

That's correct. Well done, CJ. Mervyn,

here's your next question. Benefits Supervisor Sleeping,

which went to auction in May 2008, is a 1995 painting by which artist?

It's a very difficult one. Erm...

Really, I don't know much about Lucian Freud.

I know nothing about Frank Auerbach.

It's kind of a German name.

Because the title's actually in English, I'm just wondering,

should I pick the one that's in English?

Now, David Hockney, I've seen some of his...

his paintings I've been more familiar with and,

even though I've never heard of the painting, I'll pick David Hockney.

David Hockney is the wrong answer, I'm afraid.

It's Lucian Freud.

-Did you know that one?

-A large lady,

-and her name was Sue Tilley.

-Sue Tilley?

-Yeah.

-And she's around and she's commented on it and everything?

-Yes.

-And she's become the subject of the most incredibly expensive painting.

-Yeah.

-Bad luck there, Mervyn.

CJ, your next question.

In the books by Enid Blyton, which female member of The Famous Five

prefers a masculine version of her name?

It's not Timmy then?

Which is the only member of The Famous Five I know!

Oh, dear.

-It's George.

-Wow!

You suddenly said that in a booming voice.

You want conviction, and I can see what sort of female name

that would come from, but I can probably work out less likely ones

-for the others, but it's definitely George.

-Is he right, Eggheads?

-Yeah.

-He is right! CJ, well done. You take the lead, and that means,

Mervyn, you need this question.

Anthony Powell's 12-volume novel cycle, A Dance To the Music of Time, is named after a painting by whom?

Um...

I'm not familiar at all

with this part of art, and it would really just be a guess,

and I'm just guessing Anthony Van Dyck.

-That's your answer?

-Yes, it is.

I'm sorry, that's wrong, Mervyn.

It's Nicolas Poussin.

So, no way back, and therefore, CJ, well done. You have won the round.

Please, both of you, come back and rejoin your team-mates.

As it stands, the challengers have lost two Brains from the final round. The Eggheads have lost none.

The next subject is Sport.

Who, from the challengers, wants Sport?

-Go for it....

-OK, I'll go for it, Jeremy.

OK, Jim, on Sport. And which Egghead would you like to take on?

We'll go for Judith, Jeremy.

Judith on Sport.

You had... That impassive expression, which was saying,

"I'm not actually here," didn't work!

So, it's Jim from the Wise Monkeys against Judith from the Eggheads,

and to make sure there's no conferring, please now leave the studio.

-Jim, tell me if you'd like the first or the second set of questions.

-I'll have the first, please.

And good luck to you,

Wise Monkeys. Here we go. The US Open golf tournament is traditionally held

on the weekend that ends on the third Sunday in which month?

Third Sunday...

Um... I don't think it's February.

June, no.

I think it might be October.

I'll go for October.

-So it's your answer?

-Yes.

I'm sorry, June is the right answer, Jim. June is the answer.

OK, Judith.

The name of Haydock Park is most closely associated with which sport?

That is racing.

Yes, you're right. Horseracing is the answer.

Well done, Judith. Jim,

your question. In the Olympic triathlon event, over what distance do competitors run?

Um...

Let's see. I don't think it's 40.

I think it might be 25km.

It's not. It's 10, it's 10 kilometres.

Not 25. Judith, back to you.

The elusive Triple Crown of Cycling consists of the World Road Race championship,

the Tour de France and which other event?

I don't think it's the Deutschland Tour.

I'm torn between the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana.

My inner voice, my inner cycling voice

is saying Vuelta a Espana.

-Is that your answer?

-Yeah.

You're wrong, it's the Giro d'Italia.

Jim, you live to fight another day here.

Well done, back to you. By what name is the Brazilian footballer

Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite better known?

The last name there is L-E-I-T-E.

Kaka. I'll go for Kaka.

-Kaka is your answer?

-Yeah.

Right answer, Jim, well done.

One point each. Judith, get this right and you'll take the round.

The quotation, "If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same,"

taken from Rudyard Kipling's If, is inscribed above the players' entrance at which sporting arena?

It's the sort of Edwardian thing

that might be above, at Lord's, but actually, that's a new stand.

There's a new stand at Lord's, isn't there? On the other hand,

cricket is a very sort of old-fashioned game, isn't it?

I think...

I think it might be Lords, actually.

I think it sort of goes with cricket

and those sort of rather high-flown sentiments.

Lord's is wrong, Judith. It's Wimbledon.

Oh, it's Wimbledon.

So, after three questions each, the scores are level.

-We move off multiple choice. We go to Sudden Death now. Are you ready, Jim?

-Certainly, yeah.

Which nation won gold in the Olympic women's softball competition

at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Summer Games?

Um, softball.

United States of America?

Is that your answer?

That is.

It's right.

This is tight.

Judith, in which martial art do competitors wear a traditional jacket,

long divided skirt, chest protector, waist protector, mask and padded gloves?

The most dangerous one, by the sound of it.

-Bushido, or however you pronounce it.

-Bushido?

-Yes.

-Is that your answer, Bushido?

Mmm.

-No.

-No?

-It's kendo.

-Kendo.

-I haven't heard of bushido.

It's the samurai code.

It's the samurai code.

-The code for samurai.

-Rather than the sport.

-Judith, bad luck. You've been knocked out.

Well done, Jim. You took on one of our Eggheads, emerged triumphant.

Great news for your team. You'll be able to join them in the final round.

Congratulations. Please, both of you come back to the studio.

So, as it stands, the challengers have lost

two Brains from the final round whilst the Eggheads have lost one.

Our last subject is Film & Television.

Which of the challengers wants Film & Television?

-You have a go, Stephen.

-I'll go for it, Jeremy.

Stephen, OK. All right.

I'll pick Chris.

So, Steve from the Wise Monkeys, versus Chris from the Eggheads. Please take your positions.

Good luck in this round. Three questions on Film & Television multiple-choice.

-Would you want to go with the first or second set, Stephen?

-I'll go first, please.

Let It Be, released in 1970, is a documentary filmed during the slow break-up of which group?

Well, it's fairly obvious, it has to be The Beatles.

I'll just go for The Beatles.

It has to be and it is. Well done!

Chris, here's your first question.

Which US TV series was based around Southfork, the home of the central family?

Southfork, that's the Ewing ranch in Dallas.

Quite right, it's Dallas.

Stephen...

Tiffany Case, played by Jill St John, is a character in which James Bond film?

It's definitely not Goldfinger.

That was the second one released. She wasn't in it.

Diamonds Are Forever. That was a moon buggy in the desert.

I seem to remember Jill St John being there.

Very scantily clad from what I can remember.

So, I'm going to say Diamonds Are Forever.

Good memory. I don't know if there was anything in that scene that helped you remember!

Diamonds Are Forever is correct, Stephen.

Chris, over to you.

Who played the title character in the 2008 television drama, Frankie Howerd, Rather You Than Me?

And a very good job of it he did as well. It was David Walliams.

That's the correct answer.

What was the great Frankie Howerd line?

Titter ye not.

Yeah. Third question to you.

Put the pressure on with this one, Stephen.

Jude Law dropped out of school to appear in which now defunct daytime soap?

Right, um, I'm not really a watcher of daytime soaps. That doesn't help.

I'll hazard a guess.

Not even an educated guess.

A stab in the dark. I'll go for...Albion Market.

It's the wrong answer, Stephen. It's Families.

Families! Chris, what can you do for the Eggheads family?

Who presented the statuette at the first ever Academy Awards ceremony in May 1929?

I don't think it would have been Mack Sennett, he was on the production side.

He wasn't a celebrity as such.

Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford were married to each other at the time.

So, given we're still talking about a patriarchal society and they'd rather have a gentleman than a

lady presenting the statuette, I'd say it was Douglas Fairbanks Senior.

I love your logic. You're absolutely spot-on, Chris.

That's why you're an Egghead. Well done! You won that round.

Bad luck, Stephen. Taken out of the final round, I'm afraid.

Please, both of you, come back and rejoin your teams.

So, this is what we've been playing towards.

It is time for our final round.

As always, it's General Knowledge.

I'm afraid those of you who lost your head-to-heads won't be allowed to take part.

So, Stephen, Mervyn and Alan, from the Wise Monkeys

and Judith from the Eggheads, please now leave the studio.

Jim and Alistair, you're playing to win the Wise Monkeys £6,000.

Kevin, CJ, Daphne and Chris, you are playing for something that

money can't buy - the Eggheads' reputation, that precious thing.

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

This time, the questions are all General Knowledge. You are allowed to confer.

Wise Monkeys, the question is, are your two Brains better than the Eggheads' four?

Jim and Alistair, you can choose.

Would you like to go first or second set of questions?

I think we'll go first.

We'll go first.

Your first question.

Traditionally, from where did a costermonger sell his wares?

Traditionally, Wise Monkeys, from where did a costermonger sell his wares?

The spelling of that - C-O-S-T-E-R-M-O-N-G-E-R.

Jim, I don't think it's possibly a warehouse. Like fishmonger, etc.

-Pub.

-I don't think it's...

I think it's barrow.

That would be my less than educated guess.

I think we concur. Barrow.

I think that sounds good. We'll stick with that.

We'll go with barrow.

Great answer, you're right. Well done, guys. One point to you.

First question to the Eggheads. In Greek mythology,

what creatures did the three Gorgons have in place of hair?

They had snakes, Jeremy.

That's your answer? It's the right answer, Eggheads.

They did. Here's your second question, Wise Monkeys.

What was the ninth month of the Roman republican calendar?

Something about the Ides of March - was that the start of the year?

April, May, June, July, August, September, October.

-November.

-November.

We'll go for November, Jeremy.

November.

We've thought about it logically.

We were following the logic and the logic was good logic. You're right.

You are right.

OK, Eggheads, they're pressing you.

Here's your next question.

The American naval engineer, Richard T James, accidentally invented

which multi-million selling toy while working on power meters for battleships during 1943?

You can't accidentally invent Scalextric.

You can't accidentally invent Scalextric.

I would think Play-Doh is the wrong thing.

You would think, logically.

Well, we are going to go for Slinky.

You know the one with the coils. It sounds...

Goes down the stairs and all that.

You're right, Slinky is right.

Wise Monkeys, most often seen on tombstones,

what is the English translation of the Latin phrase, hic jacet?

Most often seen on tombstones, what is the English translation of the Latin phrase, hic jacet?

That's spelt H-I-C J-A-C-E-T.

I'm trying to think, I did Latin for a couple of years at school.

Hic.

-Can you separate them?

-I think hic is possibly here.

-If I were going to make an educated guess...

-Here lies, no?

My Latin was mensa, mensa, mensa, I'm afraid. I got a bit lost after that.

I'd go here lies.

Here lies.

-Do you think so?

-No.

-No!

-Yes, we'll stick with that.

-Here lies, here lies.

-Is right!

Three out of three.

Eggheads, if you get this wrong, we're going to be sending

the Wise Monkeys back to Northern Ireland with £6,000.

If you get this wrong, Eggheads. Here we go.

The word aquiline, often used to describe a Roman nose, refers specifically to which bird?

That would be eagle, Jeremy.

Eagle is right. Eagle is right. After three questions each, the scores are level.

We go to Sudden Death now. Wise Monkeys, you're playing well.

Nigel Molesworth, created by the writer, Geoffrey Willans,

and drawn by the cartoonist, Ronald Searle, is a pupil at which fictional prep school?

St Custard's.

St Custard's.

-Good stuff! St Custard's it is, Well done!

-Well done, Jim.

-I didn't know that at all.

-Thank you.

Eggheads, if you get this wrong, you've lost and our challengers have gone away with the money.

What is the name of the French literary award with a prize value of just ten euros,

given each December since 1903 to the author of the best and most imaginative prose work of the year?

I don't know of any others. Is it only ten euros?

It is a nominal sum.

Prix Goncourt.

Prix Goncourt is the correct answer.

Next question for you, Wise Monkeys. Which novel by Iain Banks was made into a 1996 television series,

starring Peter Capaldi, Dougray Scott and Joseph McFadden?

What nationality do you think those actors are?

I have absolutely no idea, Jim.

I think it's about a fly or something.

A book about a fly!

I could be wrong.

Give me an idea to think.

I think it's science fiction/horror,

-I think.

-1996.

-I don't know, Jim.

-We don't know.

We'll pass on that.

OK.

The novel, which was made into the TV series, is called the Crow Road.

You were mentioning fly. Is there an Iain Banks story with "fly" in the title?

-There's The Wasp Factory.

-The Wasp Factory.

-That's what I was thinking.

If the answer had been that, I would have felt for you. I could feel you getting closer.

I was trying to think logically.

Eggheads, if you get this right, you've won the contest.

Which radio show started in 1941 to boost wartime morale

and was broadcast from factory canteens and shop floors?

It was still going when I was a kid. Workers' Playtime.

-Workers' Playtime.

-Workers' Playtime is the correct answer.

So, the Eggheads have won.

-Commiserations, you've really played a great game.

-We came, we lost.

-It's been great to have you.

-Thank you for having us.

-We've enjoyed it.

Commiserations. The Eggheads have done what comes naturally to them.

Their winning streak continues.

Wise Monkeys, you won't be going home with the £6,000.

That money rolls over to our next show.

Eggheads, congratulations.

Who will beat you? Join us next time to see if the new challengers have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

£7,000 says they don't. Till then, goodbye.

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