Episode 18 Make Me an Egghead

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 -

do you have the brains to join them?

Hello and welcome to Make Me An Egghead.

We've launched a nationwide search

to find the greatest quiz brains in Britain.

By the end of the series, two people will emerge as champions

and win the ultimate prize for quizzing enthusiasts -

a place on the most fearsome quiz team in history, the Eggheads.

There's your build-up.

Now let's meet the contestants,

both hoping they've got what it takes to become an Egghead.

Hi, I'm Jo Neill, I'm a teacher from Liverpool.

Hello, I'm Dr Jane McCartney.

I'm a chartered psychologist from London.

Welcome, Jo and Jane.

So, Jo, you've been on The Chase? Yes.

Tell us about that. Erm, I went on...

I had Paul Sinha as my Chaser.

Er, I only scored seven in my cash builder but I went for the

big money that they offered me, which was ?47,000. And?

I won. I won with about three steps.

How brilliant. Just lovely.

How fantastic. Jane, what about your quizzing? What do you like to do?

I play for a local quiz, erm, at our local leisure centre,

actually, and I do quite a lot of online quizzes as well.

Terrific. And you are "Dr Jane" on your tag there, so, psychologist,

meaning you treat individual patients or...?

That's right, yep, yeah, I treat individuals, sometimes groups,

but mostly individuals.

And we've got five tortured souls here, haven't we,

as you can see, in a lovely way.

Quizzers are built differently, aren't they?

I... I've been assessing them over the years.

JEREMY LAUGHS

And I know you both love music. Jo, tell us about your love of music.

I play saxophone and clarinet and recorder.

I used to play in a concert band.

Erm, I don't play music that much now but I join in with

a choir at the church when it's being run,

which is every year, round about Christmas time.

And, Jane, you listen or you play or both?

Sadly I don't play, but no, I like watching live bands, erm,

I've been to see quite a few.

I live quite near the O2, so we go and see...

Not quite who's ever on there,

but we go and see, you know... people there, and, er, yeah,

Kate Bush I think was a real highlight a couple of years ago.

All right, well, good luck to you both.

Contestants, this is where you need to prove

that you could be an Egghead.

Just like on Eggheads, both of you will compete

over a series of different rounds,

where your knowledge will be tested on the regular Eggheads categories.

So the first head-to-head battle is on the subject of Arts Books.

I'm going to ask each of you three

multiple choice questions on Arts Books in turn.

Whoever answers the most questions correctly wins the round.

The prize for winning a round on Make Me An Egghead is that

you gain one of them.

So you can ask one of them to help you in the final,

and they cannot refuse.

Before the show, we tossed a coin.

As a result of that, Jo, you can decide -

do you want to go first or second?

I'd like to go first, please.

And here is your first question. Good luck, both.

Which of these writers died in 1928?

Well, Wilkie Collins, he's a Victorian,

I'm sure he died before 1928.

Erm, George Orwell, I know for a fact died in 1949,

because it was after Nineteen Eighty-Four had been published,

and that was the year before.

And I actually happen to be reading the biography of this man,

it's Thomas Hardy.

Very good. It is Thomas Hardy.

It's always amazing to me that Thomas Hardy, who we think of as

being a sort of 1800s guy, wrote a poem on the sinking of the Titanic.

I can never... He was very long-lived. Yeah, was he?

He stopped writing about 1900, for the novels, didn't he,

and then kept on writing poetry. Did he? Yeah. Yeah.

He wrote about the world he was born into,

rather than the world he lived in.

Right, and what age was he when he died?

He was in his late 80s. Late 80s.

OK, so, Thomas Hardy's right. Jane...

What is the first name of Roger Hargreaves' son,

who took over the Mr Men business when Roger died in 1988?

Now, I've read an enormous amount of Mr Men and Little Miss books,

and I have a suspicion...

I'm not entirely sure, but I think it is...

..I kind of want to go one way, but I want to go the other -

I will say Adam.

Adam is right. Well done.

Jo, in the title of a Claude Monet painting,

usually exhibited in the National Gallery,

who are at La Grenouillere?

At La Grenouillere.

I can spell that for you if you want.

No.

I don't think it's dancers, cos it's Claude Monet.

I don't think he was into painting dancers, that was more Degas.

Erm, painters is a bit...

I think it's bathers.

I'm going to go for bathers, please.

Yes, it is bathers, well done.

Second question to you, Dr Jane.

Tiffany Aching is a character created by which writer?

Aching is spelled as you'd imagine. A-C-H-I-N-G.

Oh, gosh. Erm...

It's... Tiffany...

That almost sounds a bit too early for Wodehouse.

I can't remember it in any of the...

..JK Rowling books, so I'll go...

I haven't read any of the Terry Pratchett,

but I will go for Terry Pratchett.

Yeah, now I was thinking, could it be JK Rowling but not Harry Potter?

She's done The Casual Vacancy, and...

I had an idea it was one of the characters in The Casual Vacancy.

Yeah. Can't be sure.

Anyway, you're right. Terry Pratchett.

Bless him. Third question to you, Jo.

Which of these poets studied to become a surgeon,

and, in 1816, became a licensed apothecary?

Byron, he's famous for going off, fighting in the wars.

Coleridge...

I can't think that he would become a surgeon.

He was off in the Lake District with Wordsworth

most of the time, wasn't he?

Keats... Keats died dead young.

Do you know, I'm going to go Coleridge. Coleridge.

So studied to become a surgeon and then became

a licensed apothecary, a mixer of medicines. Yeah.

It's Keats. Keats.

So, it's all true, he became a surgeon and died young.

He did die young, yeah. I mean, he was only in his mid-20s

when he died, but he did, erm, he did study to become...

He didn't come from a very well-off background,

and he studied and apprenticed to become an apothecary. OK.

Keats it is. Gives Jane a chance to take the round.

In 2007, Miguel Falomir,

the curator of the Prado Museum in Madrid,

revealed he'd discovered that

"Comin" was the family name of which painter?

"Comin" is C-O-M-I-N.

Erm...

This is going to be a complete stab in the dark,

and I will say...

Comin, probably not Canaletto or...

I'll go for Raphael.

Based on the spelling.

I see. Just shorter word or...?

Yeah, without the vowel at the end.

I see, I see. That's my logic on that.

OK, well, I'm not sure...

Presumably, Canaletto and Tintoretto were not their names,

they were sort of nicknames, were they? And Raphael...

But Raphael was not his name either, was it? Sanzio, wasn't it?

Yeah, Sanzio. Sanzio, ah, so which one is this?

The "I-N" ending to the name implies it's probably somebody Venetian,

because that sort of name ending is from that region.

So, Canaletto or Tintoretto, erm...

Haven't come across this, but I think the one possibly

with the slightly murkier name background is Canaletto.

But not sure. One of those two, I would think.

Well, it's not Raphael.

It is Tintoretto. Ah, Tintoretto.

All right, so, that's a little let-off for you there, Jo.

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

It gets a bit harder, I don't give you alternative answers.

Jo, your question.

Which Oscar Wilde play features the line,

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars?"

Running through Oscar Wilde plays...

Lady Windermere's Fan...

The one about the husband...

Erm...

I'm going to go for my favourite one.

The Importance Of Being Earnest.

No, it's the first one you mentioned, actually.

It's Lady Windermere's Fan. Good grief.

He wrote some just wonderful plays.

OK, Jane, for what does the letter J stand

in the name of the English landscape painter JMW Turner?

Get this right, you've won the round. OK...

There was the recent film with Timothy Spall being J...

Erm...

I think it is, I hope it is,

I pray it is James.

It's Joseph. (Joseph! Oh...)

Back to you, Jo.

Miss Betsy Trotwood is the great aunt

of which Charles Dickens title character?

Erm, I like this one because it's connected to Catcher In The Rye,

with, like, you want to know where I come from and all that...

David Copperfield sort of stuff.

And your answer is...? David Copperfield.

..is the correct answer. David Copperfield.

So, pressure on you now, Jane.

You need to get this right to stay in the round.

I Hear America Singing is a work by

which American poet, born in 1819?

Walt Whitman.

Walt Whitman is correct.

Sudden Death we're on.

Jo, Michael Tolliver is a recurring character in a series of books

first published in the 1970s and 1980s by which US author?

I don't know, so I'm going to say John Updike.

No, it's the Tales Of The City series - Armistead Maupin.

OK, for the round, Jane.

Hotel Honolulu, Blinding Light, and Kowloon Tong are works by

Hotel Honolulu, Blinding Light, and Kowloon Tong are works by

which US novelist and travel writer, born in 1941?

I am not entirely confident.

I will go for Paul Theroux.

And you've gone ahead on Sudden Death - Paul Theroux it is.

Well done, Jane, you've won the first head-to-head.

That was touch-and-go for you both. Nip and tuck.

OK, so, you can choose an Egghead, Jane.

OK, I would like Chris, please.

Very good, so, Dr Jane has chosen Chris,

and that sounds like you're going to get a run out, Chris.

Oh, yeah, makes a nice change, doesn't it?

So Jane now has an Egghead, Jo doesn't have one yet.

Let's see if that changes. The next category is Geography.

Dr Jane, as the winner of the previous round,

you can choose if you go first or second.

Erm, I'll stick with second, please.

So, Jo, we start with you.

The town of Glossop is in which English county?

I think it actually lies in the, uh, Lord Derby's estate,

and apart from the bit that he has around Merseyside and Knowsley,

the rest of it's in Derbyshire.

Brilliant. Derbyshire's right.

Jane, Bondi Beach is part of which Australian city?

Erm, I am pretty sure it is, erm, not Melbourne, not Perth,

but Sydney.

Sydney is correct.

Jo, the airport officially called

Lester B Pearson International Airport serves which Canadian city?

I'm guessing not Montreal, because that's in Quebec,

and I'm sure they'd name their airports

after French-sounding names.

I'm going to say Vancouver, please. Pure guess.

Any Eggheads know? Flown through it? Toronto. Toronto.

Yeah, Toronto it is. So, Jane, your chance to go ahead.

Which of these countries does not have a coastline?

Hmm, Afghanistan jumps up as an obvious one, but I just need

to kind of have a quick mental flick through a map in my head.

OK, erm, I'm pretty sure...

Yeah, I'll stick with my first thoughts of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan. Lisa, your geography? I think it's Afghanistan.

Yeah, Afghanistan is right. Well done.

OK, third question to you, Jo.

You need to get this right.

Which of these shares a border with the Republic of Macedonia?

I think Croatia's further north, in what used to be Yugoslavia.

I'm thinking where Romania is...

I'm going to go for Bulgaria.

Yeah, these are questions where you need to sort of almost see

a map in your mind's eye. Try to make it up.

Bulgaria is correct.

So, you've both got two, and, Jane, you can win it with this answer.

The southernmost tip of the African continent

is not the Cape of Good Hope, but which other cape?

OK, erm...

This is going to be a complete guess.

I've not looked at...

at any of them before,

so I will go with my first instinct, which is to say Cape Juby.

I'm afraid it's Cape Agulhas.

You've had three questions each, the scores are level,

we go to Sudden Death again.

So, Jo, your first question. Not multiple choice now.

Kensington Gardens adjoin which London park?

I think Kensington Gardens adjoins Hyde Park.

Yes, you're absolutely right.

And people get them confused cos there's almost

two thirds Hyde Park, one third Kensington Gardens.

It all looks like Hyde Park from the air.

You're right, Hyde Park.

Jane, this to stay in the round.

Tampa Bay is a feature of the coastline of which American state?

I think that is Florida.

It is Florida, well done.

Sudden Death we're on. Back to you, Jo.

Which Scottish island is referred to as "Scotland in miniature"

because the northern half is mountainous like the Highlands,

while the lush farmland of the southern part

resembles the Lowlands?

I don't know that many Scottish islands,

I'm going to have to say Skye.

Any Eggs? Arran. Isle of Arran.

Arran, the Isle of Arran is the answer.

So, Jane, you have a chance to take this second round.

Lausanne in Switzerland lies on the shore of which lake?

Erm, I think it's the obvious one, so I will say Lake Geneva.

The correct answer is Lake Geneva.

So, on Sudden Death, we say congratulations, Dr Jane,

you've won that head-to-head.

Again, a tight round, and you've got Chris already.

Who else would you like in the final?

I think, to complement Chris's top, it's got to be Dave. Yes.

What, just the top, the colours...?

You're going on matching colours here? Yeah, absolutely.

OK, we haven't had that as a rationale before.

That's good, though. Port and starboard, yeah.

Yeah, you'll look good in there together.

As it stands, Dr Jane therefore has two Eggheads, Chris and Dave,

helping her in the final. Jo, you've got to win one now.

Our third category is Music,

and, Jane, as the winner of the last head-to-head,

you can choose whether you go first or second.

I will stick to going second, please.

OK, Jo, good luck in this round. Try and get yourself an Egghead.

Here we go. Who has achieved the most number-one singles

on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart?

Mm...

I know the Beatles got quite a few.

I know Michael Jackson's got quite a few.

I come from Liverpool,

I'm going to stick with the local boys - the Beatles.

The Beatles is quite right.

Jane, which female artist released the album Honeymoon

in September 2015?

Oh...

This is a little bit too contemporary for me.

So, I will have a guess at...

er, Lana Del Rey.

Lana Del Rey is the right answer, well done.

So, Jo, like his mother and his first wife, Alexander Scriabin

was a concert performer on which musical instrument?

Would help if I knew who his mother and his wife were.

I'm going to go straight down the middle, I'm going to go cello.

There's no reason behind it apart from...

OK, let's just get a bit of background here on Scriabin.

Who was the mother and the wife?

I don't think either of them were anything like as well known as him.

Oh, so we're not looking for very famous... No, no, no.

..people? No, no, he was a pianist. Right, piano is the answer.

So you're equal on one point, which is a slight advantage to you,

Jane, cos you've got a spare question here.

Which British composer moved to Orkney in 1971?

OK, I don't think it was Britten, because he was Suffolk way.

I think... Possibly going by...

Trying to remember the type of music,

I will go with John Tavener.

It's a rare wrong answer from you.

It's Peter Maxwell Davies. Ohh...

So, Jo, this is the moment to get this question right and put

some pressure on. Here we go.

What is the birth name of the UK music producer

who has used the aliases Rebel MC and Congo Natty?

You can tell by my face how much I listen to this sort of music.

Not at all. Erm, I'm going to follow the same reasoning, Trevor Romeo.

I have no idea. I can't even say anything about anybody else.

I can't say why I'm picking him, I'll just go Trev.

Is it the same reasoning? Just down the middle? Romeo's a nice name.

I'm afraid you've got it wrong, it's Michael West.

So, Jane, you have a chance here.

The numbering system TWV was developed

to catalogue the works of which prolific composer?

TWV, I'm trying to put the...

Well, the W of Wagner, obviously...

V, Vivaldi, T... All right, OK, erm...

It starts with a T, I'll go for Telemann.

I'm not confident, but I'll go for Telemann.

OK, it's your third question.

If you get this one right, you've taken the round.

Anyone tell us any details on this, Eggs?

Well, the "WV" bit is used for a number of composers.

It's just the German for "catalogue of works,"

which is "Werke-Verzeichnis."

So, in this instance, it would be Telemann.

It's the composer's name comes first.

Georg Philipp Telemann is the answer. Well done, Jane.

Three rounds out of three. You've won the final head-to-head.

You can choose another Egghead.

This is looking good for you,

bearing in mind you've got to get up to the top of our leaderboard.

So, choose another Egghead. You've got Chris, you've got Dave.

Is it going to be on shirts now, or... Erm... ..brains?

It's a combination of both. I'm going to go for Lisa, please.

OK, so, Dr Jane,

you now have got Chris and Dave and Lisa in the final round.

And, Jo, you don't have any Eggheads but it may not make a difference,

you could still win the final.

Let us play that final round.

So, this is what we have been playing towards.

It is time to find out who's one step closer to becoming an Egghead,

and who is going to be eliminated from our search.

Jo and Dr Jane, I'm going to ask each of you three questions in turn.

This time the questions are all general knowledge.

In this final round, you will have the backing of

the Eggheads you've won over the course of the show,

so, Dr Jane, there you have, let's see, Dave and Chris,

and there in the middle we have Lisa as well, so you've got three.

And, Jo, you'll be going it alone, I'm sorry to say.

Now, you can call on them only once, that's the first thing to say.

If you want, you can use all three of them on one question,

that's fine. But once you've used them, that's it, so use them wisely.

Dr Jane, as you won the last round,

you get to choose whether you now go first or second.

I'll stick with second, please.

Final round, and here we are, Jo, with your first question.

Which country held a referendum in March 2016

to decide on the design of their flag?

I'm pleased to say I do know this one,

and I think they stuck with the one they have already.

It was New Zealand.

It was indeed New Zealand, well done.

Jane, the character known as "Hello Kitty" originated in which country?

I'm very pleased to say,

cos my daughter really liked Hello Kitty when she was younger,

so we had quite a lot of the stuff, and I do believe it is Japan.

Japan is correct.

Jo, in which film

does Humphrey Bogart play the role of Fred C Dobbs?

I'm not a big Bogart fan,

so this one is going to be slightly a bit of a guess. I'm going to go...

I'm going to go for The African Queen,

cos that was what popped up first.

OK, this is ideally one where you'd... I want to get it right!

..call back to an Egghead, but they're not there.

Let's see if they know. Do you know, Eggs?

Well, I'd go for The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre myself.

The African Queen was Charlie Allnutt.

Oh... Yeah, he's right.

The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre is the right answer.

So, Jane's chance to take the lead,

and you still have those three Eggheads all poised.

William Harrison Ainsworth's novel Rookwood

accounts an adventure of which historical character, Jane?

Erm...

I'm going to ask my Eggheads.

I will ask Dave first, please.

OK, Dave, I'll give you the question again. Mm-hm.

William Harrison Ainsworth's novel Rookwood accounts an adventure

of which historical character?

Right, I'm not entirely sure, erm, Jane,

but my gut instinct would be Dick Turpin.

Erm, with Dick Turpin, in terms of an historical novel,

when you look at the others,

with Walter Raleigh and Fletcher Christian,

they are feasible options,

but I would have thought that the adventures of Dick Turpin

and his particular, erm, situations that he would have got himself into

would have made, er, given more purchase for a novel.

OK, so he doesn't know,

but he's giving you some good groundwork there. Mm-hm.

You can go with any one of the three you want in terms of the answers.

You can go with Dave's Dick Turpin, if you want,

or you could ask another Egghead. It's up to you.

OK, I would like a second opinion from Chris, please. OK, Chris?

Yeah, it is Dick Turpin, Jane.

OK, then, I will give the answer as Dick Turpin.

And Dick Turpin is the right answer.

OK, well done, Eggs, but two of them gone there on that question.

Just Lisa left. So you have to get this right, Jo. Mm.

Vermont shares borders with Quebec, New York, New Hampshire,

and which other US state?

I think it's Stephen King's state. I think it's Maine.

Maine is your answer. If you've got this wrong,

the contest is over. Urgh!

Do you know, Eggs? I think Massachusetts.

I think it's Connecticut. I'd go Connecticut.

The answer is Massachusetts.

Ohhh, Jane, well done. Thank you very much.

Jo, sorry, you have lost there, and we say congratulations,

Dr Jane, you've won!

But still some good quizzing along the way, Jo, no question.

And it's not having the advice, it's difficult... It is difficult, yes.

..in the final round.

And I guess it took two of them to get Dick Turpin there,

but you did it. Feeling good? Absolutely. Thrilled.

Well done, Dr Jane, you've proved that winning

comes as naturally to you as it does to our Eggheads.

You are one step closer to joining our quiz Goliaths,

but your work for today isn't quite done.

We're going to give you three points for each round you've won -

that's very, very handy, those nine points -

and you'll now get the chance to add to those points

by answering quickfire questions for two minutes.

We'll give you one point for each correct answer,

and then we'll see where your final score puts you on our leaderboard.

The top four places at the end of the heats

will make it through to the semifinals.

If you just have a look,

cos you're almost the last name to join the board here,

you can see the challenge.

You've basically got to get above 20 points to get in the green area.

If you end up outside the green, then you won't be in the semifinal.

So, all to play for. Jane, are you ready? I am.

OK. Good luck. Your time starts now.

Which country of northern Europe has a flag that consists of

an off-centre blue cross on a white background?

Finland.

The winner of which of golf's four major tournaments

is presented with the Claret Jug trophy?

The US Masters.

No, the Open. What number wife of Henry VIII was Ann of Cleaves?

Er, she was the...

fourth.

The brothers who formed the group the Bee Gees were born on

which island? Isle of Man.

Named after a French physicist born in 1852,

what is the SI unit of radioactivity?

Er, radioactivity... Curie?

No, Becquerel. Which Shakespeare play features the line,

"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark?"

Hamlet. In which year did the tennis players Neil Broad and Tim Henman

win Olympic silver medals in the men's doubles?

OK, so, '12, er...

Er, hang on, '12...

'98. 1996.

Which Scottish city is situated between the rivers Dee and Don?

Dundee. No, Aberdeen.

Which film and stage musical features the characters

Miss Hannigan and Grace Farrell?

Erm, Annie.

In Roman numerals, what number is represented by the letter D?

Er, pass. 500.

During which century did England's Peasants' Revolt,

led by Wat Tyler, take place?

The...er...

13th century?

The 14th.

In 2001, an airport in which city was named for the composer Chopin?

Which city? Chopin, Chopin...

Erm, er, Berlin.

No, Warsaw.

Excluding substitutes,

how many players make up an Australian Rules Football team?

Nine.

18.

Which 1980s film comedy starring Dan Aykroyd features the line,

"It's dark and we're wearing sunglasses?"

The Blues Brothers. Of which 19th-century novel is

Dorothea Brooke a central character?

Pass. Middlemarch.

Which group had UK number-one singles with...?

END-OF-ROUND BUZZER

You know that. Heart Of Glass and Atomic. Blondie, yeah?

Just out of time with Blondie. OK, Jane, you've scored six points.

That gives you a grand total of 15 points.

Let's just have a look on the leaderboard now

and see your name appear.

And you actually go above Nancy because you got to your 15

just a little bit quicker than Nancy did,

but you're outside the crucial green area, which is our semifinal area.

Aww.

So you didn't quite make it there, I'm really sorry, I thought you were

going to power through with your three Eggheads, but great quizzing.

Thank you very much. Thank you for coming. Thanks, Jane. Thanks, Jo.

Lovely to see you both.

Join us next time to find out who else might have what it takes

to become an Egghead. Only one more place on the leaderboard to go.

Till then, goodbye.