Episode 158 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?

Hello, and welcome to Eggheads,

the show where a team of five quiz challengers

pit their wits against possibly the greatest quiz team in Britain.

You may know them, as they are Goliaths of TV quiz shows.

They are the Eggheads.

And taking on the might of our quiz Goliaths today

are Egg Traffic Control. The team are all software engineers

for a company which provides air traffic control services to planes

flying in UK airspace and the North Atlantic. It's fascinating stuff.

-Let's meet them.

-Hello, I'm Giles.

I'm 29 and I'm a software engineer.

Hello, I'm Ed.

I'm 33. I'm a software engineer.

Hello, I'm Mark. I'm 41 and I'm a software engineer.

Hello, I'm Mick.

I'm 40 and I'm a software engineer.

Hello, I'm Simon. I'm 33 and I'm also a software engineer.

Welcome to you, Egg Traffic Control.

-Thank you.

-And Giles, tell us what you actually all do.

Right, we're all software engineers and we work

on air traffic control simulators, which are copies of the real system.

Our simulators are used for research and development

of new tools and procedures, and they're also used for training

new air traffic controllers.

Our skies are busy, aren't they?

Busiest in the world.

Yes. So we need you and your brilliant software work.

Anyway, more mundane matters.

Every day, £1,000 is up for grabs for our challengers.

If they fail to defeat the Eggheads, it rolls over to the next show.

Egg Traffic Control, the Eggheads have won the last

five games, which means £6,000 says you can't beat the Eggheads.

The first battle will be on music.

-Which challenger wants this?

-I think that's an easy one, isn't it?

-Yes.

-Mick.

-Mick on music? Software engineer?

-Yes.

I can just keep saying "software engineer"! Can't get it wrong!

And which Egghead?

-Who are we gonna take on?

-Who's the bum note?

One of the strong players.

-We could try Barry.

-Yes.

-An unknown quantity.

-Yeah.

-Barry.

OK, Barry. They've got you on the radar.

So it's Mick from Egg Traffic Control versus Barry

from the Eggheads. And to ensure there's no conferring,

please take your positions in the question room.

Mick, good luck.

-Thank you.

-Would you like first or second set of questions?

I think I'll go first, please.

Your first question. Circle Of Life and Hakuna Matata

are songs from which musical?

Having two small children who love Disney,

I'm going to have to say it's The Lion King.

And you're absolutely right.

APPLAUSE

Your children are what age?

Five and seven.

Lovely. Barry, over to you.

Take A Bow was a UK hit single for which singer in 2008?

Haven't a clue. This'll be a straightforward guess.

I know Rihanna did Umbrella, so I'm hoping she didn't have another hit,

because Umbrella was in the charts for quite a long time.

Estelle featured with Kanye West, I think,

on some track, so on that basis alone, I'm going to go for Jamelia.

Jamelia is wrong, Barry.

-It's Rihanna!

-Ah.

Over to you, Mick.

In which British city was the band Electric Light Orchestra formed?

I should know this because this was about the '80s,

when I was very much into Radio One and suchlike.

I don't think it was Manchester and I don't think it was Liverpool,

so I'm going to have a semi-educated guess at Birmingham.

You're absolutely right. Birmingham is the answer.

Barry, your question.

Pennsylvania Six-5000 and Chattanooga Choo Choo

are songs particularly associated with which bandleader?

Well, I'm surprisingly not quite old enough to remember

the big band era but those two were definitely Glenn Miller.

Yep, you got it right.

Glenn Miller it is.

So third question, Mick. If you get it right

you've taken the round and Barry won't play in the final. Here we go.

Count Almaviva and Rosina

are characters in which opera?

OK, I know very little about opera.

It is a pure guess...

..I'm afraid. Let's go with the Barber Of Seville.

-Pure guess?

-Yes.

Barry knows what's happened now!

-Barry?

-Same again. I've known all of his questions

and of course he got it totally right.

He's got it right. Well done.

-Excellent.

-Thank you.

So Barry won't play in the final round.

He's off to revise on those female singers,

and you'll help the challengers in the final,

so do come back to us now.

As it stands, the challengers have lost no brains from the final round,

while the Eggheads have lost one brain. The next subject is sport.

Who from the challengers wants to play this round?

-I think we know.

-Our strongest player...

-Definitely Ed.

-It's got to be Ed.

-OK, yeah.

-Ed?

-Yeah.

-A software engineer, I think.

-Yes.

-Right again.

-I just guessed. Totally guessed. Who against?

-Chris.

-Go for Chris?

-Yeah. Yep.

-We'll go for Chris.

-Yeah.

OK, Ed from Egg Traffic Control versus Chris from the Eggheads.

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

Ed, you can choose the first or second set of questions.

Second, please, Jeremy.

So, Chris. Your question on your beloved sport.

Pah!

Who became the manager, Chris, of Blackburn Rovers football team

in June 2008?

I think there was a wee bit of controversy about the appointment

of Paul Ince to something or other, so I'll guess at Paul Ince.

That's right.

So your question now, Ed.

What is the nationality of the tennis player, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga?

I think I know the answer to this one.

He's French.

He is indeed French.

Well done.

Good knowledge.

Chris, Adrian Sutil is a famous name in which sport?

I've never heard it in connection with snooker

and I've never heard it in connection with motor racing.

And you just never hear of badminton, so I'll guess at badminton.

Badminton is wrong, Chris.

It's motor racing.

So a stirring of excitement on the radar here.

They're in with a chance.

Knocking out another Egghead.

OK. William Kipsang and Khalid Khannouchi

are top competitors in which athletic discipline?

I think Khannouchi is Kenyan, and the Kenyans are very good

at middle-distance and long-distance running.

Yes, I'm pretty sure it's marathon.

And you're right on that as well. It is the marathon. Good play!

Chris, if you get this one wrong, then you will not be in the final.

Niblick is the nickname given to which golf club?

Not a nine iron, I don't think.

It's one of these special-purpose clubs,

so I presume that's for blasting balls out of bunkers

and it's a sand wedge.

Brilliant logic, you've used. Absolutely fantastic.

-Wrong.

-And completely wrong. The correct answer is... Barry?

I think it's a nine iron.

It is a nine iron. That means well done, Ed.

You've taken the round. You will be helping your team in the final.

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

So, currently, the challengers have lost no brains from the final round.

You're playing a storming game so far, gentlemen.

The Eggheads have lost two brains and they look shattered.

The next subject is arts and books.

Who from the challengers would like arts and books?

-I think we know who that is.

-Giles.

-Leave it to you, Giles.

Giles. Which Egghead?

-Right. We weren't sure on this.

-Judith?

-I think so, yeah.

-Your choice.

-Is that all right? Yeah.

-Judith reads a lot.

-I do, yes. I do.

-And people read to you, or?

-No, I haven't got to that stage yet, Jeremy, thank you.

-OK.

It's Giles from Egg Traffic Control versus Judith from the Eggheads.

Take your positions.

Giles, would you like the first set of questions or the second set?

I'll go for the first set, please.

OK, here's your first question.

Who wrote the 1939 crime novel "The Big Sleep"?

The Big Sleep?

Right. I don't know it.

I've never heard of James Ellroy.

I've heard of Raymond Chandler.

He's famous for Catcher In the Rye, I think.

I've heard of Elmore Leonard but I don't know what books he wrote.

So I'll go for Elmore Leonard.

That's wrong.

The correct answer is Raymond Chandler, Giles.

Over to you, Judith. What term is used to describe

a ballet dancer's ability to ascend

without apparent effort and to land smoothly and softly?

Well, brise means broken in French.

Ballon is a balloon.

I think it might be ballon, if the ballon's a balloon,

because it's light and it floats.

-I don't know, actually.

-But you do know, because ballon is correct.

Well done.

So one point to Judith. Giles, none to you.

See if you can catch up.

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments"

is the opening line of a poem by which writer?

Right.

Again, I don't know this one.

Milton is famous for Paradise Lost, among others.

Percy Shelley, I've heard of him but I'm not sure what he wrote.

It does sound...

The wording sounds vaguely Shakespearean,

so I'll go for Shakespeare.

Nice one. Spot on.

Well done!

Was that a sonnet, Judith? What was it?

I don't know. Is it? I was trying to think.

I think it might be a sonnet.

-It is a sonnet.

-It's not a play. It's one of his poems.

-It's a sonnet.

-Yeah.

Judith, Jean-Antoine Watteau and Francois Boucher

are two of the best-known exponents of which painting style?

Fauvism and Pointillism are much, much later.

It's Rococo.

-Rococo is correct.

-Yeah.

Giles, I know the pressure's on you.

If you don't get this, you won't join your colleagues in the final.

Your question.

Which Patrick McCabe novel tells the story of Francie Brady

and his struggles with his alcoholic father and depressive mother?

I'm getting really bad questions, I think!

Can I have another three? I've no idea.

Because he's...

The character is obviously a son of the two parents,

I'm going to go for "The Butcher Boy".

Your answer is right. Well done.

You've just got that sense of where to guess, and it's impressive.

Judith. Serious Money, A Number and Drunk Enough To Say I Love You

are dramatic works by which British playwright?

I'm sure it's not Tom Stoppard.

I think it's most likely to be Patrick Marber,

out of the other two.

Patrick Marber is your answer?

Yeah. Wrong?

It is wrong!

It's Caryl Churchill.

I should have known that.

So, on her strongest subject, you've managed to force it to sudden death,

and anything can happen now. Well done. Here we go.

Not multiple-choice, Giles. Here's your question.

Study Of A Baboon and Study From The Human Body

are paintings by which Irish-born 20th-century artist?

Right. I've been swotting up

on art for the last week or two but I haven't come across these two works.

I'm going to try and think of an Irish 20th-century painter.

At the moment I can't think of any.

OK, complete guess because I can't think of any Irish

20th-century painters, I'll go for

Aubrey Beardsley. I think he might be too early but I'll go for him anyway.

-Aubrey Beardsley? Is that your answer?

-Yeah.

-It's Francis Bacon.

-Ah!

Judith, if you get this right, you've taken the round

-and you're in the final.

-Oh, don't!

"At the age of 15, my grandmother became the concubine

"of a warlord general"

is the first line of which award-winning 1991 novel?

Oh, I think that must be Wild Swans, isn't it?

-It is, by Jung Chang.

-Yeah.

-You're right.

Well done. You've taken the round on sudden death.

It's Wild Swans. Giles, you were beaten by our Egghead.

It's a subject she's very strong in, and you won't be able to help

your team in the final round.

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

So you've lost a brain now, challengers.

Eggheads have lost two brains.

The last subject is science.

Which of the challengers wants to play this?

-If you want it, go for it.

-I'll take it.

-Yeah?

-Please.

-Simon? OK.

-We'll put Simon through.

-Who do you want to go for?

-Go for broke?

-Shall we try and get rid of Kevin?

-Might as well.

He's pretty good on science, so we'll go for Kevin?

We'll try Kevin.

I love the phrase, "Shall we try and get rid of Kevin?"

So, Simon from Egg Traffic Control versus Kevin from the Eggheads.

So there's no conferring, take your positions in the question room.

Kevin, you've played this 17 times, and won 17.

All good things come to an end. Sooner or later it'll happen, so...

Always so disarmingly modest.

-Simon, good luck.

-Thank you.

So would you like the first set of questions or second?

I'd like to go first, please.

Here we go. In a laboratory,

what name is given to a container in which ores or metals are melted?

OK, well, a burette is a sort of measuring device,

for measuring out liquid.

I'm not entirely sure what a chemostat is.

But I'm fairly sure the answer is crucible.

Crucible is the right answer.

Kevin, what kind of creature is a pipit?

Is that P I P E T? Oh, sorry...

-P I P I T?

-P I P I T.

-It's a bird.

As in tawny pipit and others.

-What sort of bird is it?

-Small.

-A small one? What, flies, does it?

-Yeah. Wings, that sort of thing.

-OK.

That's the correct answer, a bird.

Simon, here's your next question.

Approximately how long does it take Saturn

to make a complete orbit of the sun?

Hmm, OK. That's a tricky one.

OK, well, Saturn's further out than Jupiter,

sp I'm going to have a sort of educated guess and say 30 years.

You're right. 30 years it is.

Kevin, over to you.

In the human body,

by what name is the zygomatic bone more commonly known?

That's the cheekbone, Jeremy.

That is the cheekbone. Well done, Kevin.

Question three to you, Simon.

Chlorine and astatine belong to which chemical group

on the periodic table?

OK.

It's not alkali metals.

Actinoids I've not really heard of.

So I'm going to have a stab at halogens.

-Halogens is your answer?

-Yes.

-Just cos it's the one you can't rule out?

-Pretty much.

Always a good way of doing it, and you're right.

Halogens is correct.

In plate tectonics, Kevin, what is the name of the small plate

which lies between the South American and the Antarctic plates?

Now that I don't know. That is...that is tough.

I'll rule out Cocos on the basis that... I don't know...

The Cocos Islands aren't sufficiently in that area, I don't think. Hm, no.

Juan de Fuca was a Spanish explorer.

He gave his name to a strait up on the north-western

coast of America, up towards the American/Canadian border.

But that's not to say that

other places couldn't be named after him as well.

And the Scotia Plate could have been named after the...

I mean, that's quite possible

because a number of Antarctic explorers were Scots that...

I'm... Yeah.

Sorry, guys, but I'm gonna go for Juan de Fuca Plate,

but it could very well be Scotia.

I'm afraid you're wrong.

The correct answer is Scotia Plate.

So, played 17, won 17, is now played 18, won 17.

And you've done it, Simon. You've taken out the most powerful Egghead

-on science, which he's very, very good on. Well done...

-Thank you.

..to the challengers, cos you will play with them in the final

and Kevin, you won't join in the final. You'll sit that out.

Both of you come back to us and rejoin your teams.

This is what we've been playing towards.

It's the final round which, as always, is general knowledge.

I'm afraid those who lost your rounds won't be allowed

to take part in this round, so Giles from Egg Traffic Control,

and Chris, Barry and Kevin from the Eggheads, please leave the studio.

So, Ed, Mark, Mick and Simon, you're playing to win Egg Traffic Control

£6,000, with Giles looking on at the back, there.

Judith and CJ, you're playing for something that money can't buy it...

the Eggheads' reputation.

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

The questions are all general knowledge.

You are allowed to confer. So Egg Traffic Control, radar's on.

The question is, are your four brains better than Eggheads' two?

Ed, Mark, Mick and Simon, do you want to go first or second?

-First?

-I think we should go first.

-I'm guessing first.

First, please, Jeremy.

Your question, and good luck, guys.

Who played the twin of Eric Sykes's character in the TV sitcom Sykes?

-I've got no idea.

-It isn't Bella Emberg...

-No.

-because that was Russ Abbott.

-I think it was Hattie Jacques.

-I think so.

We think it's Hattie Jacques, Jeremy.

Hattie Jacques is correct. Good bit of knowledge to have.

You don't want to get the first one wrong.

OK, Eggheads.

What is the name of the Earthling protagonist

of The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy,

who is saved from death by Ford Prefect at the start of the book?

You can say it.

It's Arthur Dent.

That's the correct answer. Well done.

Egg Traffic Control, on a standard mobile phone keypad, which number

features the letters M, N and O?

Don't reach for yours now.

ABC is three.

-You've got ABC...

-All three.

-It's two, isn't it, ABC?

-Oh, is it?

-Three, DEF.

-Yeah.

-Four, GHI. JKL is five.

-Yeah.

-So...

-And MNO is six.

-We'll go for six.

-We're going for six?

-I think, yeah. That's fine.

Six. We'll go for six, Jeremy.

The answer is six. Well done.

Well done.

OK, Eggheads.

John Frost and William Lovett were leaders of which political movement?

I don't think they were the Radical Whigs.

I don't think it's the Radical Whigs. I agree with you there.

And I don't know anything about the Reform League

but I do know something about the Chartists,

and I'm trying to remember what their main leader was called.

And I know the name William Lovett.

Going between the other two, I'm not sure.

Oh, why can't I remember who the main leader of the Chartists was?

-Oh, dear.

-Let's go for the Chartists.

-OK.

OK, you've gone for the Chartists.

Chartists is right. Well done.

Two points each. Over to Egg Traffic Control.

-They're not going to make it easy for you!

-No!

Your third question.

What is the name of the IBM supercomputer which became

the fastest in the world in June 2008,

achieving a speed of 1.026 petaflops?

Unfortunately, despite the fact that we're engineers...

I've never heard of it either.

-I think Deep Blue won the chess...

-That's right.

I'm going to guess Blue Gene, if we have to choose one of those.

-It's a guess...

-It sounds like a historical thing,

going through the...

You know, the genetics of the breed of computers, so...

-So... And it's got the blue.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

I can't think of a reason to pick anything else.

No.

OK, we're going to go for Blue Gene, Jeremy.

You're software engineers, the question is on computers,

and you don't know the answer.

-And you've had to guess it. And you've guessed wrong.

-Oh!

-Oh no!

I know exactly what you were associating it with.

Deep Blue, when?

They were thinking of Deep Blue and Deeper Blue,

the chess computers that played Garry Kasparov.

-It's Roadrunner.

-Roadrunner!

So, £6,000 will be snatched away.

If you get this question right, Eggheads, you've got it.

Kitty Hawk was the name given to the command module

of which Apollo space mission?

-It's not...

-It wasn't a moon landing.

-Well, they're all moon landings.

But it's not Apollo 11. That's... Eagle and something else.

The Eagle has landed.

Yeah, but the commanding one doesn't land.

It's the one that stays in orbit.

But I don't think it's Kitty Hawk. It's something else, I think.

Oh, hold on. Here's an idea.

Apollo the 17th, the landing was December the 19th.

The Kitty Hawk flight was December the 17th, 1903.

I wonder if the dates are...

Wanna go on the date, rather than that?

The answer we're going to offer,

simply based on the dates, is Apollo 17.

OK. If you get this question right, you have taken the contest.

But you've got it wrong!

-The right answer is Apollo 14.

-Ah.

We move off multiple-choice. It's sudden death.

Which American portrait photographer was responsible for the notorious

1991 Vanity Fair cover that featured a naked,

heavily-pregnant Demi Moore?

I remember the photo.

I distinctly remember it. It was very famous.

Couldn't tell you the photographer's name.

-The photographer...

-No.

What does Getty do?

-John Paul Getty.

-There's the Getty...

a website, isn't there, that has all the photos on, of...

-Yeah.

-Give it a try.

-Give it a try.

Yeah?

OK, we're going to have a bit of a guess. We're going to try Getty.

John Paul Getty.

John Paul Getty. Eggheads, do you know?

-Annie Leibovitz.

-Annie Leibovitz.

-Annie Leibovitz is the answer.

So, Eggheads, if you get this right, you have taken the contest.

Reno Sweeney and Moonface Martin

are characters in which musical by Cole Porter?

They sound like gangsters.

I believe Reno Martin's something to do with gambling, and Anything Goes.

Is that a gambling... Is it about gambling?

I don't know. It rather suggests that by the title, doesn't it?

-And it's certainly Cole Porter.

-Yes, certainly Cole Porter.

-Do you know the plot?

-No. No, sorry.

-And it's about gambling?

-Well, I don't know that, but...

the song Anything Goes is all about permissive society, isn't it?

-OK, let's do it, then.

-Yes?

-Mmm.

We are not sure.

We're going to try Anything Goes.

You're not sure and you're going to try Anything Goes.

If you got this right, it's the end of the Egg Traffic Control's

brilliant, brilliant outing on Eggheads.

If you get it wrong, we play on.

The answer is...Anything Goes. Congratulations Eggheads.

You've won.

Oh, phew.

Egg Traffic Control, you ran them very close.

-You came very near.

-Mmm.

But unfortunately, the £6,000 won't be yours today.

The Eggheads did what's natural to them. Not that natural today!

Their winning streak continues. I'm afraid you won't be going home

with the money, so it rolls on to our next show.

Eggheads, congratulations. Who will ever beat you?

Join us next time to see if a new team of challengers

have the brains to defeat the Eggheads.

£7,000 says they don't.

Until then, goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd