2nd May 2025

 MARY’S OLD BOY BEATS THE EGGHEADS

1954 starter Paul Connolly recalls an appearance on popular TV Show ‘Eggheads’ and coming away with a rare victory

Do you know which pre-decimal coin was the last to be withdrawn from circulation in 1993?

If not, you are in good company. In April 2008 neither did the Eggheads TV Quiz Team, thus handing a narrow victory and a cash prize of £12,000 to their challengers.
Following my retirement, I joined a small group of old friends who had formed a walking and pub lunch club known as “Lads Wot Lunch”. At that time the Eggheads show was at the height of its popularity attracting a strong following among retirees and university students.

The latest episode often featured in our pub conversations and like many viewers, we fancied we could do at least as well if not better than some of the challengers. One of the “Lads” was insistent we take things further than just talk. He eventually wore us down and after one particularly refreshing lunch, we agreed he could put our names forward.
Several months of silence followed during which we forgot all about it but then a letter arrived from 12-yard (the production company) inviting us to an audition. At this point some of the Lads got cold feet and pulled out leaving our number down to four which was a problem. What are devoted wives for if not to support their foolhardy husbands? Two of our “Ladettes” bravely stepped into the breach (one on condition she would only be our Reserve) and we were back in business.

Our audition took place on January 2008 in London. We were each handed a list of general knowledge questions to be completed individually (no conferring) and then asked to compete as a team in a short Quiz against one of the other auditioning teams. We were pitted against “The Checkmates” and lost! Not a good omen.
We needed a Plan.
During the actual TV Quiz the general knowledge categories were randomly selected from among Arts & Books; Entertainment; Food & Drink; Geography; History; Politics and Sport and one of the Lads had been collecting a few statistics. His research revealed that Entertainment had come up most frequently, followed by Arts & Books and Sport. Whereas Politics and Food & Drink seldom featured. Hardly a reliable guide but it made sense to be prepared and we agreed that we would each take on two topics according to our own perceived “strengths”. Our stats also showed that opting to answer the first question was often more successful than going second.

The resident Eggheads team consisted of individuals with successful track records in other well-known Quiz shows such as “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”, “Brain of Britain”, “Mastermind”, “Fifteen To One” etc. etc. and weekly appearances on Eggheads kept their minds sharp. Nevertheless, we had noted that some of them appeared less strong on certain subjects. For example, Judith Kepple could be (relatively) wobbly on Sport; Chris Hughes on the Arts and CJ de Mooi on History. Daphne Fowler could be wobbly on any topic but more than compensated for this with an uncanny knack of guessing correctly.

Frustratingly, the mighty Kevin Ashman had no discernible weaknesses at all so we would just endeavour to avoid him in the opening rounds. Nevertheless, this helped us to agree upon which Egghead to challenge if the right topic came up.

Not exactly a “cunning plan” but at least now we were organised which helped to suppress the dread of humiliation on national television.
We were instructed to report to the old BBC Television Centre at Wood Lane, at 10.00 am to start filming at 11.30. The joining instructions mostly addressed obvious things like non-smoking, medication and personal belongings. But those relating to clothing were amusingly prescriptive:
– Dress Code was Smart-Casual.
– Bring three possible outfits each in varying colours and styles. Ensure that they complimented (but did not clash) with our Name Badges – which would be Light Blue.

– Do not wear any of the outfits to travel in (unsightly creases).
– No stripes, polka dots or zig-zags.
– No plain black as it would make us look “washed out” on screen.
– No logos no matter how small.
– Nothing light blue or pastel.
– Bright colourful tops would look best esp. reds, greens, purples, pinks or yellows.
– The Wardrobe Dept. would decide which of our outfits would look best on camera.
– All male contestants to arrive clean shaven unless they customarily wore beards or designer stubble.
– We could decide whether to wear spectacles but having decided, we could not then remove them (or put them on) once filming had started.
Upon our arrival we were greeted by a rather stern, old school, uniformed Commissionaire who issued us with Visitor Passes and handed us over to a well-spoken young woman wearing a (very) miniskirt who conducted us upstairs to the Studio Suite being used by 12-Yard.
We were ushered into the “Green Room” which was not green at all of course but a windowless lounge furnished with sofas and low tables. The walls were plain but hung with large, framed photographs of TV stars of the 1960s e.g. Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black, Lulu, Adam Faith and Charlie Drake.

After ten minutes or so, two cheerful ladies from Wardrobe arrived and quickly decided our outfits which were taken away to be pressed. We were then escorted to the Makeup Department. Thankfully this did not involve full theatrical “Slap”. For the Lads, soft brushes were used to apply a matte foundation – to minimize the shine caused by bright lighting, then any skin blemishes were concealed with a slightly darker shade. Errant hairs protruding from eyebrows, ears and noses were expertly trimmed and that was it. Our Ladettes got a lengthier more glamorous “makeover” with which they were thrilled. Then it was time to get changed and go into the Studio.

Surprisingly there were no cameramen. All the cameras were fixed in position and recording remotely for postproduction editing. We were shown to our places and left alone for a few minutes to acclimatise. The Quizmaster, Dermot Murnaghan, was first to arrive and came over to welcome us, to get our names straight and ask about our team’s name. Then, one by one, the Eggheads wandered in and introduced themselves. They were very friendly and seemed relaxed – unlike us. It was the practice to record six to eight episodes per day, so the Eggheads already had one in the can that morning but gave no hints as to whether they had won or lost.
Dermot gave his customary slick introduction of the individual Eggheads and invited us to introduce ourselves in turn to camera. He then announced that as the Eggheads had been unbeaten for the last eleven shows, the Prizemoney now stood at £12,000 (Gulp).

We used to say at the time that one did not beat the Eggheads – they lost it and that was pretty much what happened to us.

The first category to come up was Arts & Books which was “my” subject. I duly challenged Chris Hughes as planned and we moved to our places in the “Question Room”. This was not a separate room but a corner of the Studio which had been curtained off. Two TV cameras were fixed in place in front of two chairs side by side so that we were seated within touching distance of one another. The viewing public could see our enlarged images projected onto screens behind our respective teams.
I elected to answer first and the three multiple choice answers appeared on a small screen below the camera lens in front of me. I chose correctly but then Chris also answered his first question correctly. I then managed to get my next two questions wrong. Disaster loomed. But Chris did exactly the same thing with his next two questions. So, honours were even as we faced the fourth round which was “sudden death” – there being no multiple choices for this one. Thankfully I answered correctly but Chris struggled with his question for several minutes before admitting defeat. So he was eliminated and I stayed in. Phew!

The next topic was Geography and our Lad narrowly lost to CJ.
Then it was Politics and our Lad went to sudden death against Judith who got a really obscure question about Nelson Mandela’s middle name which defeated her. Now they were two Eggheads down.

Entertainment was next and Daphne got a clean sheet so we were also two down.
Thus it was three Lads against three Eggheads as we got to the final round – General Knowledge. The tension on our side of the Studio was almost palpable.
We answered our first question correctly. So did the Eggheads. We answered our second question correctly. So did the Eggheads. We answered our third question correctly. The Eggheads’ third question was:
“Which was the last pre-decimal coin to be withdrawn from circulation in 1993?
Was it (a) Half Crown (b) Halfpenny (c) Florin “
The Eggheads faltered. None of them was sure. Their deliberations became tense. Then, finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, they agreed to go for the Halfpenny. Wrong! It was the Florin (which, believe it or not, we all knew).
Victory was ours and so was the £12,000. We could hardly believe our good fortune.

The show (Series 9 Episode 65) was transmitted in January 2009. Unfortunately I was away and missed it (!) but a kind friend recorded it on to a DVD for me.