I have tried to mellow just a little as I get older. But the fact is that when I do finally manage to wholeheartedly subscribe to the undoubtedly correct view – it’s only a game – I’ll probably have so little of my allotted three score and ten left that it won’t be log enough to make a lot of difference. I take it all too seriously, still. Not as much as I did, but that’s not saying that much when you get down to it.
Which is maybe why I let myself get worked up about 2
questions last night. The question setter last night is a regular, and someone
I like very much. As a person. As a question master, well, he frustrates me. It’s
not so much that he gets things wrong, although he does. It’s more that he gets
things wrong which, well, for want of a better way of putting it, he gets
things wrong which he really should get right and which he would get right if
he wasn’t so slap-dash about it.
Now, last night’s quiz was a gimmicky thing. Each round had
a theme (ugh, themed quizzes). Each team had a joker. Before the first question
of each round was asked, you had the opportunity to play the joker on the
round. Whatever your score, as Arthur Ellis would say ‘Played the joker, double
it up to . . . “ The first question in each round was a three pointer. The last
was an either/or with two answers to choose from (ugh, either/or questions). So
look, he’d obviously taken some time over putting it together. But then on the
transport round he comes up with this one – in 1952 where did Albert Gunton
jump a double decker bus? Was it – and by this point I’d already written down
Tower Bridge – 12 other double decker buses, or , London Bridge?
Now, what gets me is that when I told him of his mistake –
sorry, but London Bridge is important to me. It was my specialist subject in
the final of a well known TV show- when I told him of his mistake he even
admitted that the right answer made more sese. Mind you he wasn’t happy that it
pretty much meat he had to tell everyone the right answer then.
He’d maybe have been even more unhappy if I’d told him that
he’d cocked up this question – When Josh Kerr won the men’s 800m in this year’s
world athletics championship, who presented his gold medal? – Because as I am
sure you and everyone else knows, Josh Kerr didn’t wi the 800m. He won the 1500m.
Just lazy slapdashery.
Does it matter? That’s a tricky one. It made no material
difference to he outcome. It didn’t affect the result. And let’s be hones, even
if it had, would it have mattered? It certainly would not have been important.
But as I’ve said before, just because something isn’t important it doesn’t mean
that it doesn’t matter. My view is this. Everyone makes mistakes. When you set
a quiz you are going to make mistakes with the best will in the world. But you
don’t have to make mistakes which are simple and easy to find.
I’d like my pedantry proficiency badge and certificate back
please.
2 comments:
Apart from those instances, it was a perfectly reasonable quiz. However as he made a point of apologising to some of the younger members in the room, I think it's high time a few setters consider bringing some of their questions a bit closer to the present.
It's certainly an issue, Dan. In terms of quizzing the regulars in the club are a pretty (small 'c') conservative bunch. They know what they like and that's exactly the same kid of questions as were asked when I started playing in the club the best part of 30 years ago (and which weren't exactly fresh even then. Now, you might well say 'give the people what they want'. But how long will the quiz go on if we only do that? It's worrying that you, Jess and Adam are by far the youngest players and there's precious little sign of us attracting any new teams or new players.
You know yourself that as a question setter you try to provide something for everyone, and with the best will in the world Thursday's quiz failed to do that. Was this a consequence of having themed rounds? Yes, at least partly so. I've never been a lover of themed quizzes. When you're not - how should we say it - not the most thoughtful about the questions that you ask, the way that you phrase them or that you check that your question is correct in the way that you ask it then I can see that the setter would have plumped to stick with what he's familiar and comfortable with, consciously or sub-consciously.
It's tricky at the club at he moment. There are 9 people who set quizzes, I think There's the four of us. There's Thursday's setter. There's Dai Norwich. There's the two from Beauties and the Beasts and there's the Science guy from Bamseyitis. Dai seems to be restricting him to one a year, and judging by his first two efforts that's no bad thing. Of he others, well it doesn't help that none of them are even decent quizzers. Next week's setter will probably include a lot of questions from the same 2017 quizbook she gets most of her questions. I've already been negative enough about Thursday night's setter. The bloke from Beauties is okay, but he does so few now I can't really remember much about his quizzes. Dai is okay now compared with what he was like ten years ago but still a bit hit and miss. This means that whenever it's not one of us doing the quiz, you can't feel that you're in totally safe hands. 10 yars ago it would have really got to me. And I've realised that I'm burbling now so I am going to stop typing.
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