Sunday 10 June 2012

Do Specialist Questions belong in a pub quiz ? ?

I’m honest enough to admit that they’re fine by me as long as I know the answer. If I don’t though . . . I’ll tell you why I mention it. There were just a couple of questions that were asked in the rugby club by Dai Norwich last Thursday – well , more than a couple , if truth be known, which seemed to me to go a little way beyond the level of general knowledge and into the realm of the specialism. See what you think –
* What was the name of the dragon in the Herbs ?
For anyone under their late 40s, I’ll tell you the answer – it was Tarragon. He didn’t appear in all that many episodes of the Herbs, either, as I recall. The other question was : -
* What is the name of the inn in Bree where Aragorn meets the hobbits in The Fellowship of the Ring ?
Again, if you’ve never read it, or can’t remember, the answer is The Prancing Pony.

I won’t lie, I was glad enough to hear these two questions on Thursday night, having known the answer to both of them. Which certainly contributed to us scoring 2 points more on the questions than Lemurs did. Granted, Lemurs scored 4 points more than we did on the picture handout, but at the moment I’m more than happy enough to settle for a moral victory in the club.

It’s not that often, though, that I do find I’m asked questions in pub quizzes where I think to myself – hmm, that’s a bit specialist, isn’t it ? – and – hang on a minute, though , I do know the answer ! There was one occasion in a quiz where, in a round of 20 questions, there was one about Henry Ford, one about the Prince Regent and one about London Bridge – my three 2007 Mastermind subjects. When I asked him later the question master swore blind that he hadn’t done it deliberately, and that it was pure coincidence, or synchronicity , or maybe even serendipity. Perhaps. Well, I’m off to the Dyffryn Arms in about half an hour, and I’ll be Billy No Mates tonight since John can’t make it, so a round full of questions like this would suit me fine. No chance.

4 comments:

Londinius said...

Kevin Smith - if that's your real name - please stop leaving comments which have nothing to do with anything I post here, with links to your own commercial site. I will delete them every time I find them, so please don't waste any more of your effort or mine.

With thanks

Dave

HughTube said...

I suspect Kevin Smith is a bot and therefore cannot read your protestations. So, unless there is a way of blocking him, he's not going to stop.

However I like to think it's the director of 'Clerks' trying a new career.

In relation to your post, I think it's good to have the odd tougher question as long as some people can still get it. The questions you mentioned I think are fine. Without being much of a Tolkein fan, I knew The Prancing Pony, and most people have at least seen the film. 'The Herbs' was broadcast twenty years before I was born, so I didn't get that one but it's fairly guessable as it's going to be a herb. The sort of question you described in a recent post, where you're just guessing on something meaningless and unknowable, are the ones that annoy me.

Londinius said...

Hi Hugh

Yes, I mean, although I don't like getting things wrong, if it's a question where I think - oh, that's interesting - or - good question, that'll be asked somewhere else, and I can make sure that I get it right next time - then I'm happy ( ish ) .

Gruff said...

I never saw The Herbs, but it is such a quiz staple that I know about Parsley the Lion et al. Prancing Pony is a good pair with the Leaky Cauldron and I think due to the films alone is justifiable in a pub quiz.

Last night I was shocked that a teammate of long standing didn't know the answer to: "In which film would you hear the line 'There's no place like home'". Admittedly there are probably numerous films with that line. But he had never seen the Wizard of Oz and it meant nothing to him. Yet I bet he would have got Prancing Pony.