Saturday 2 October 2010

Only Connect - Interview with Victoria Coren

I've been keeping an eye on Jamie Miller's Quiz Genius site, and I was interested to see that he has bagged an interview with Victoria Coren - lucky man ! If you want to read it for yourself, then just follow this link

Quiz Genius - Only Connect Interview

8 comments:

Gruff said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gruff said...

Out of interest, have you seen a copy of this guy's book?

I have to say that the claim that it will help anyone 'become as good as a professional quiz player in a short amount of time' is an amazing claim. I would be interested to see the evidence, because quite frankly I struggle believe it.

It seems like the sort of claim that someone who has never competed at the top level against the likes of Ashman and Gibson would make.

I await the follow-up "How to become a better golfer than Tiger Woods in 2 weeks". Then again, seeing him at the Ryder Cup this weekend that might not be so implausible :)

Anonymous said...

I've not bought the "book"

It's a collection of A4 pages stapled together so how he can call it a book is beyond me.

A rip-off by any other name

Not sure why this blog promotes that site so frequently - does the blogger here have a vested interest?

Anonymous said...

In fairness to David, he is promoting the site (not the book) which has a lot of useful quiz-related stuff.
I have actually purchased the book and do not consider it to be a rip-off. Unless my copy was different, it was not a collection of A4 papers stapled together, it was a professionally-printed book the size of a standard revision textbook and full of useful things I hadn't considered before. I don't know of Jamie's status in the quizzing scene but when I emailed him for pointers on quizzing, he seemed very decent and passionate about quizzing.

Londinius said...

Hi Gareth, and Hi Laura

Actually I haven't seen the book for reasons which I will explain shortly.

Laura, thank you for kindly pointing out that I neither endorse nor criticise Jamie Miller's book in question. Which brings me to MWaltonFTM

Hi MWaltonFTM- Welcome to LAM.

"Not sure why this blog promotes that site so frequently - does the blogger here have a vested interest?"

Speaking as 'the blogger here' - feel free to call me Dave, and don't be afraid to ask me a direct question if its bugging you.

OK - lets look at that. There are currently about 500 posts on LAM since I started. Precisely three concern Jamie Miller and his website. Even if you say three in three months rather than three in two years I hardly think that qualifies as SO frequently. Jamie or his website have featured in three out of about the last 50 posts. I mention the brilliant Weavers Week a lot more often than that, as an example.

I can answer categorically that I receive nothing for writing about his or any other site when I do. I write about things on my blog because I want to - not because I think it might bring me some personal gain.

LAM is a pleasure of mine. I do not see it as a moneymaking opportunity.Maybe you didn't mean it that way, but I take it as a personal insult if you insinuate or think that I do. As it happens I have consistently turned down opportunities to put advertising on the site and make a little money through it this way.

I'm not greedy.

I am, on the other hand, vain.

So when Jamie asked me to give him an interview for his site, of course I was always going to mention in on LAM. He never asked me to.

He did, on the other hand, promise me a copy of the book if I did the interview. I gave him the interview, and to date I have not received this copy of the book. Jamie, if you're reading this, please take note. If you forgot, well I'm reminding you. If you have no intention of sending it, then you shouldn't have promised it in the first place.

I'm not trying to tell you or anyone else what to think about Jamie's or anybody else's website. My motto is always - this is what I think, but please feel free to disagree. You have obviously formed your own opinion about Jamie's, which you are fully entitled to do.

So please, accept what I say in the spirit that it is meant. What I get out of LAM is the pleasure of sharing my great interest in quizzes with anyone who wishes to read it. That's all.

I hope that this has cleared things up for you, and that next time you comment, as you are welcome to do, we can be a bit more pleasant to each other.

Regards

Dave

Anonymous said...

Apologies for my previous message - the tone was far too harsh and I take back what I said about you (I won't take my comments back about the "book" - would you consider 28 pages of A4 a book? It's more of a pamphlet... 5 quid plus is a scandal!)

BTW I really enjoy this blog - I'm appearing on Brain of Britain on October 19th (Episode 11 due for broadcast in January) and it has proved to be invaluable in my preparation. I just hope I can emulate your excellent record!

Londinius said...

Hi MWaltonFtm

Apology accepted, and by all means feel free to hold and express whichever opinion you like about that or any other book !

Congratulations about getting onto BoB. Its actually an achievement getting on the show, bearing in mind how many applications they get.

If any of the posts have been helpful to you , then I'm delighted. I think that the best advice I could give is to try to enjoy it as much as possible, don't panic - and remember, you don't get any points taken away for buzzing in with a wrong answer.

I wish you the very best of luck !

Dave

Unknown said...

Everything has changed. An interview has become such a confrontational thing. It makes you very defensive. See the link below for more info.

#interview
www.ufgop.org