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.
Sunday, 10 June 2012
Friday, 8 June 2012
News Questions
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news ?
1. Natalie Harrison
2. Eli Alfred
3. Seamus Heffernan
4. Was
5. Spirit of Chartwell
6. Ursula Katherine
7. Helen Johnstone
8. Danny Welbeck
9. Gary Cahill
10. Dirk Kuyt
11. Leanne Mitchell
12. Ricky Martin
13. Alex Cassie
14. Tintin in America
15. Mike Hall
16. Jean de Villiers
17. Martin Kelly
18. Abu Yahya al Libi
19. Wii u
20. Scott Walker
21. Close Protection UK
22. Dr. Riad Hajib
23. David Ferrer
24. Dorothy Richards and Marjorie Ruddle
25. Simon Berkowitz
26. Herb Reed
27. Aaron Cook
28. Rocco Magnotta
29. Solar Impulse
In Other News
1. Who was allowed leave to remain in Libya last week ?
2. Which fast food founder’s long lost autobiography is going to be published ?
3. What is troubled Spanish banking group Bankia offering to entice young savers to keep their accounts open ?
4. In which Midlands town was there a minor earthquake last week ?
5. Theresa May ordered a new inquiry into what ?
6. The Republic of Ireland voted yes in a referendum on what ?
7. Who sold his Money Saving Expert website last week for £87 million ?
8. The father of which Oscar winning actress is being investigated over alleged bigamy ?
9. Who quite Sale RFC to work with England ?
10. How many substitutes will clubs in the Football League be allowed next season ?
11. Who was given a life sentence for complicity in the murder of 850 protestors ?
12. What was the score in the England v Belgium friendly football match ?
13. Name the father and son trainer and jockey combination that won the Derby with Camelot
14. What was the score in the Wales v. Barbarians match ?
15. What did the Queen’s Englsih Society announce last week ?
16. Which two Hollywood stars began a court case over failed investments ?
17. Which Welsh town has welcomed back traffic wardens after a year’s absence ?
18. The Duke of Edinburgh was hopitalised for which reason ?
19. – and in which hospital ?
20. Tiger Woods equaled Jack Nicklaus record number of PGA tour wins. In which event – and how many wins ?
21. Which group performed on the roof of Buckingham Palace for the Jubilee ?
22. Which supermarket was accused of using beef from cows raised on illegally forested rain forest land ?
23. Near which African city did a plane crash occur ?
24. – and which airline was involved ?
25. What was the score in the Scotland v. Australia rugby match ?
26. Which police inspector is to be brought out of retirement ?
27. Which sci fi author passed away aged 91 ?
28. How many years will it be until the next transit of Venus ?
29. According to a survey what is the most reliable family car ?
30. A Japanese dock, washed away in last year’s tsunami, was washed ashore where ?
31. Who has said that he will not stand as Mitt Romney’s running mate ?
32. Who qualified as an operational search and rescue captain ?
33. Who announced his retirement from politics ?
34. Name the two players making their debut for England in the rugby union test against the Springboks
1. Natalie Harrison
2. Eli Alfred
3. Seamus Heffernan
4. Was
5. Spirit of Chartwell
6. Ursula Katherine
7. Helen Johnstone
8. Danny Welbeck
9. Gary Cahill
10. Dirk Kuyt
11. Leanne Mitchell
12. Ricky Martin
13. Alex Cassie
14. Tintin in America
15. Mike Hall
16. Jean de Villiers
17. Martin Kelly
18. Abu Yahya al Libi
19. Wii u
20. Scott Walker
21. Close Protection UK
22. Dr. Riad Hajib
23. David Ferrer
24. Dorothy Richards and Marjorie Ruddle
25. Simon Berkowitz
26. Herb Reed
27. Aaron Cook
28. Rocco Magnotta
29. Solar Impulse
In Other News
1. Who was allowed leave to remain in Libya last week ?
2. Which fast food founder’s long lost autobiography is going to be published ?
3. What is troubled Spanish banking group Bankia offering to entice young savers to keep their accounts open ?
4. In which Midlands town was there a minor earthquake last week ?
5. Theresa May ordered a new inquiry into what ?
6. The Republic of Ireland voted yes in a referendum on what ?
7. Who sold his Money Saving Expert website last week for £87 million ?
8. The father of which Oscar winning actress is being investigated over alleged bigamy ?
9. Who quite Sale RFC to work with England ?
10. How many substitutes will clubs in the Football League be allowed next season ?
11. Who was given a life sentence for complicity in the murder of 850 protestors ?
12. What was the score in the England v Belgium friendly football match ?
13. Name the father and son trainer and jockey combination that won the Derby with Camelot
14. What was the score in the Wales v. Barbarians match ?
15. What did the Queen’s Englsih Society announce last week ?
16. Which two Hollywood stars began a court case over failed investments ?
17. Which Welsh town has welcomed back traffic wardens after a year’s absence ?
18. The Duke of Edinburgh was hopitalised for which reason ?
19. – and in which hospital ?
20. Tiger Woods equaled Jack Nicklaus record number of PGA tour wins. In which event – and how many wins ?
21. Which group performed on the roof of Buckingham Palace for the Jubilee ?
22. Which supermarket was accused of using beef from cows raised on illegally forested rain forest land ?
23. Near which African city did a plane crash occur ?
24. – and which airline was involved ?
25. What was the score in the Scotland v. Australia rugby match ?
26. Which police inspector is to be brought out of retirement ?
27. Which sci fi author passed away aged 91 ?
28. How many years will it be until the next transit of Venus ?
29. According to a survey what is the most reliable family car ?
30. A Japanese dock, washed away in last year’s tsunami, was washed ashore where ?
31. Who has said that he will not stand as Mitt Romney’s running mate ?
32. Who qualified as an operational search and rescue captain ?
33. Who announced his retirement from politics ?
34. Name the two players making their debut for England in the rugby union test against the Springboks
Answers to News Questions
Who or what are the following, and why have they been in the news ?
1) Loreen
2) Buzz Cody
3) Paolo Gabriele
4) Ashley Young
5) Baroness Warsi
6) Random
7) Houla
8) Amour
9) The Angels’ Share
10) Ryder Hesjedal
11) Jacqueline Woodhouse
12) American Grown
13) Cavezzo
14) Peter Trelawney
15) Lucian Bute
16) Scimitar
17) Anton Zigurevitch
18) Virginie Razzano
19) Flame
20) Johnny Tapia
21) Phil Jagielka
22) Andy Schleck
23) Eddie Shah
24) Wayne Comben and Graeme Pullen
25) Madeleine Miller
26) Julian Ponder and Rachael Dougall
27) Kemar Roach
28) Mick and Mariaid Philpott
29) Nick Compton
In Other News
1) Which country’s group of singing grannies came second in the Eurovision with “Party for Everybody” ?
2) - and how many points did poor old Engelbert actually score ?
3) Chris Coleman managed which national side for the first time last week ?
4) What was the score in the English Aviva Premiership final ?
5) Which team won the Women’s FA Cup Final ?
6) What is the new British Heptathlon record, and who set it ?
7) Which team won the League One play off ?
8) Which team won the League Two play off ?
9) Who won the Monaco Grand Prix ?
9) Who won the PGA to go top of the world rankings in golf ?
10) What was the score when England played the Barbarians ?
11) What was the score in the Rabo Direct Pro 12 final ?
12) Which 39 year old failed to qualify for the Olympics last week ?
13) Who won the BAFTAs for the Best Actor and Actress ?
14) - and for their roles in which show did they receive them ?
15) Scotland lost 5 – 1 at football to which country ?
16) Who lit the Olympic torch on top of Mount Snowdon ?
17) What was revealed to have been Britain’s most complained about advert ever ?
18) Which town was revealed to be Britain’s safest for cyclists ?
19) What was revealed as the British public’s favourite album of the last 60 years ?
20) What will be Aung San Suu Kyi’s first overseas destination ?
21) Which country did the Barbarians defeat 29 – 28 ?
22) Who was sentenced to 104 days community service for failing to pay child support ?
23) What did Bob Dylan receive this week ?
24) Richard Hammond was heavily criticised for his use of which word in an article ?
25) The National Trust this week said whose birthplace isn’t worth saving ?
26) Which US reality TV star this week accused Heathrow airport baggage handlers of theft ?
27) For how long was Charles Taylor jailed this week ?
28) Who is the new manager of Liverpool FC ?
29) Which team won the English rugby championship final ?
30) When has the doctors’ strike been scheduled ?
31) Whose campaign team spelled America – Americia ?
32) Which footballer was cleared of sexual assault charges ?
33) Who has resigned from the England limited overs cricket team ?
34) What will the League Cup be known as next season ?
35) Who denied that he ever called Jessica Ennis fat ?
Answers
1) Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest. She represented Sweden with the song Euphoria.
2) New son of Frank Skinner and Cath Mason
3) The Pope’s butler, arrested for illegally possessing secret documents
4) Scorer of England’s goal v. Norway
5) Tory peer who may face an expenses inquiry
6) Winner of BAFTA for Best Drama
7) Syrian town, scene of horrific massacre
8) Michaele Haneeke film that won Palme d’Or at Cannes
9) Film by Ken Loach which won the Prix Grand Jury at Cannes
10) Won the Giro d’Italia
11) Jailed for racist rant on tube train
12) New book by Michelle Obama
13) Italian town hit by earthquake
14) Radio 3 journalist arrested in Zimbabwe on a charge of working without a permit
15) Boxer who lost his world super middleweight title to Carl Froch
16) Horse that won the Irish 1000 Guineas
17) New owner of Reading FC
18) She knocked Serena Williams out in the first round of the French Open
19) Computer virus in Middle East
20) US boxer – triple world champion, passed away
21) Drafted into England Euro squad due to Frank Lampard’s injury
22) Belatedly awarded yellow jersey for 2010 Tour de France after Alberto Contador disqualification upheld
23) Former newspaper proprietor charged with sexual assault on girl
24) Caught the biggest shark ever caught off the coast of Britain – a porbeagle
25) Winner of the Orange Prize for The Song of Achilles
26) Facing possible death sentence for drug smuggling in Indonesia
27) West Indies fast bowler out of tour through injury
28) Charged with the murder of their 6 children after house fire
29) Grandson of Dennis Compton – narrowly missed scoring 1000 runs in May
In Other News
1) Russia
2) 12
3) Mexico
4) Harlequins 30 – Leicester 23
5) Birmingham City beat Chelsea on penalties
6) 6,906 – Jessica Ennis
7) Huddersfield
8) Crewe Alexandra
9) Luke Donald
10) 57 – 36 England
11) Ospreys 31 – Leinster 30
12) Halie Gebreselassie
13) Dominic West and Emily Watson
14) Appropriate Adult
15) USA
16) Sir Chris Bonnington
17) KFC – people talking with their mouths full
18) Plymouth
19) The Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden ( honestly !)
20) Thailand
21) Ireland
22) Dennis Rodman
23) The Presidential Medal of Freedom
24) Pikey
25) Ringo Starr
26) Kim Kardashian
27) 50 years
28) Brendan Rodgers
29) London Welsh
30) 21st June
31) Mitt Romney
32) Titus Bramble
33) Kevin Pietersen
34) The Capital One Cup
35) Charles Van Comenee
1) Loreen
2) Buzz Cody
3) Paolo Gabriele
4) Ashley Young
5) Baroness Warsi
6) Random
7) Houla
8) Amour
9) The Angels’ Share
10) Ryder Hesjedal
11) Jacqueline Woodhouse
12) American Grown
13) Cavezzo
14) Peter Trelawney
15) Lucian Bute
16) Scimitar
17) Anton Zigurevitch
18) Virginie Razzano
19) Flame
20) Johnny Tapia
21) Phil Jagielka
22) Andy Schleck
23) Eddie Shah
24) Wayne Comben and Graeme Pullen
25) Madeleine Miller
26) Julian Ponder and Rachael Dougall
27) Kemar Roach
28) Mick and Mariaid Philpott
29) Nick Compton
In Other News
1) Which country’s group of singing grannies came second in the Eurovision with “Party for Everybody” ?
2) - and how many points did poor old Engelbert actually score ?
3) Chris Coleman managed which national side for the first time last week ?
4) What was the score in the English Aviva Premiership final ?
5) Which team won the Women’s FA Cup Final ?
6) What is the new British Heptathlon record, and who set it ?
7) Which team won the League One play off ?
8) Which team won the League Two play off ?
9) Who won the Monaco Grand Prix ?
9) Who won the PGA to go top of the world rankings in golf ?
10) What was the score when England played the Barbarians ?
11) What was the score in the Rabo Direct Pro 12 final ?
12) Which 39 year old failed to qualify for the Olympics last week ?
13) Who won the BAFTAs for the Best Actor and Actress ?
14) - and for their roles in which show did they receive them ?
15) Scotland lost 5 – 1 at football to which country ?
16) Who lit the Olympic torch on top of Mount Snowdon ?
17) What was revealed to have been Britain’s most complained about advert ever ?
18) Which town was revealed to be Britain’s safest for cyclists ?
19) What was revealed as the British public’s favourite album of the last 60 years ?
20) What will be Aung San Suu Kyi’s first overseas destination ?
21) Which country did the Barbarians defeat 29 – 28 ?
22) Who was sentenced to 104 days community service for failing to pay child support ?
23) What did Bob Dylan receive this week ?
24) Richard Hammond was heavily criticised for his use of which word in an article ?
25) The National Trust this week said whose birthplace isn’t worth saving ?
26) Which US reality TV star this week accused Heathrow airport baggage handlers of theft ?
27) For how long was Charles Taylor jailed this week ?
28) Who is the new manager of Liverpool FC ?
29) Which team won the English rugby championship final ?
30) When has the doctors’ strike been scheduled ?
31) Whose campaign team spelled America – Americia ?
32) Which footballer was cleared of sexual assault charges ?
33) Who has resigned from the England limited overs cricket team ?
34) What will the League Cup be known as next season ?
35) Who denied that he ever called Jessica Ennis fat ?
Answers
1) Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest. She represented Sweden with the song Euphoria.
2) New son of Frank Skinner and Cath Mason
3) The Pope’s butler, arrested for illegally possessing secret documents
4) Scorer of England’s goal v. Norway
5) Tory peer who may face an expenses inquiry
6) Winner of BAFTA for Best Drama
7) Syrian town, scene of horrific massacre
8) Michaele Haneeke film that won Palme d’Or at Cannes
9) Film by Ken Loach which won the Prix Grand Jury at Cannes
10) Won the Giro d’Italia
11) Jailed for racist rant on tube train
12) New book by Michelle Obama
13) Italian town hit by earthquake
14) Radio 3 journalist arrested in Zimbabwe on a charge of working without a permit
15) Boxer who lost his world super middleweight title to Carl Froch
16) Horse that won the Irish 1000 Guineas
17) New owner of Reading FC
18) She knocked Serena Williams out in the first round of the French Open
19) Computer virus in Middle East
20) US boxer – triple world champion, passed away
21) Drafted into England Euro squad due to Frank Lampard’s injury
22) Belatedly awarded yellow jersey for 2010 Tour de France after Alberto Contador disqualification upheld
23) Former newspaper proprietor charged with sexual assault on girl
24) Caught the biggest shark ever caught off the coast of Britain – a porbeagle
25) Winner of the Orange Prize for The Song of Achilles
26) Facing possible death sentence for drug smuggling in Indonesia
27) West Indies fast bowler out of tour through injury
28) Charged with the murder of their 6 children after house fire
29) Grandson of Dennis Compton – narrowly missed scoring 1000 runs in May
In Other News
1) Russia
2) 12
3) Mexico
4) Harlequins 30 – Leicester 23
5) Birmingham City beat Chelsea on penalties
6) 6,906 – Jessica Ennis
7) Huddersfield
8) Crewe Alexandra
9) Luke Donald
10) 57 – 36 England
11) Ospreys 31 – Leinster 30
12) Halie Gebreselassie
13) Dominic West and Emily Watson
14) Appropriate Adult
15) USA
16) Sir Chris Bonnington
17) KFC – people talking with their mouths full
18) Plymouth
19) The Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden ( honestly !)
20) Thailand
21) Ireland
22) Dennis Rodman
23) The Presidential Medal of Freedom
24) Pikey
25) Ringo Starr
26) Kim Kardashian
27) 50 years
28) Brendan Rodgers
29) London Welsh
30) 21st June
31) Mitt Romney
32) Titus Bramble
33) Kevin Pietersen
34) The Capital One Cup
35) Charles Van Comenee
Thursday, 7 June 2012
Who wastes time ?
Not that I need an excuse to waste time pottering around the house, but the weather has been so awful it’s pretty much put paid to any ideas I had of using my half term week off for trips or visits to places of interest. As a teacher I do sometimes get people discussing the long summer break ( which never has been 6 weeks, by the way, thanks for asking ) with me, and wondering out loud whether I get bored during it.
No.
Let me qualify that. I’m not saying that I don’t have periods of total inertia, but that’s more to do with being unable to make up my mind which of two or more options I should do first. I’m put in mind of something I read that Sylvia Plath once wrote about seeing herself starving to death in a fig tree because she couldn’t make up her mind which of the figs to eat. So, anyway I thought I’d tell you what I’ve been doing to improve the shining hour over the last couple of days.
I’ve spent not a little time compiling questions. It’s not my turn at the club tonight, and for all I know maybe it won’t be next week. Still, it’s bound to come soon, and my way of thinking was I’m stupid if I don’t put a stock of quizzes together while I’ve got time, rather than putting myself under undue pressure during term time. I’ve tried to do it slightly differently from normal. Usually I’ll do one quiz at a time. I tend to think in terms of broad categories, and put the same category headings into each round. So basically I know that for each quiz I need 8 of this, 8 of that, 4 each of those , and so on. Then I slot them into rounds. This time though I’ve been gathering questions in their 40s and 80s, rather than 5s and 10s. It’s interesting doing it this way, although it does make you realize how samey a lot of your stuff is between quizzes. It made me realize this anyway, so hopefully they should see a change in the club in the next half dozen or so quizzes I do for them.
Then there’s Triviador. Although I was recommended this one by Daniel quite a while ago I never got round to playing it. If you haven’t found this for yourself yet, it’s on Facebook. Basically it’s a trivia duel between three people, who try to answer faster and more accurately than the others in order to slice them up with swords , or shoot the with cannonballs. Yes, a philosophical work, for certain. Be warned, though, it is rather addictive.
Unfortunately I haven’t had a trivia games Marathon as happened at Easter. The twins are preparing for their exams,. and so that’s been put on hold. Bit of a shame since I have collected a couple more trivia games since Easter which I wanted to try out, but they’ll keep, I suppose
I’ve only played in one quiz so far this week. That was the Dyffryn Arms on Sunday. I’m really going to have to try to find another midweek quiz by the end of July so that I can go during the summer holidays. I don’t know, two quizzes a week seems like famine rations to me at the moment. On Sunday I walked in and there was Rob, his wife Pam and some of the guys from the Thursday night team, plus a couple of others too. John wasn’t available, which left just me, with my daughter Jess along for support. So you can imagine how delighted I was that we managed a draw by the skin of our teeth.
I had a lovely email from Glenys Hopkins, asking if I’d like to join the Mastermind Club. I say join, but actually it’s more of a case of rejoin. I did join a few years back, but lost the standing order form and basically dropped out through sheer inertia. Well, your Dave is not the sort of chap to refuse a request from a lady, so I’ve set the wheels in motion there, and hopefully that will all go through OK now. If you’re not sure what I’m on about, basically membership of the Mastermind Club is open to anyone who has been a contender in any version of the show – Original BBCTV – Radio 4 – Discovery – revived BBCTV. I think I’m right in saying that as an organization specifically for people who have taken part in one particular quiz show it’s unique, and I certainly think that in itself is worthy of praise.
Oh, there was the little matter of the Jubilee going on as well, I suppose. Our street party, which was going to be held in the park down the road since we are on a main road, was rained off. All in all it’s been a little restrained. I was going on 13 when the Silver Jubilee happened, and even in suburban West London people made quite a fuss about it – lots of bunting, and decorations, and souvenir tea towels being displayed in front windows as I recall. Mind you, when you compare it to what happened when the Queen drove past my house for the Golden Jubilee, maybe a more restrained celebration is no bad thing. Ten years ago the Queen drove past us , on her way from the station to Margam Park, a couple of miles down the road. The royal roller glided past us, then just 20 yards down the road a local character did something rather unexpected. No names, no pack drill,but she is, well, how can I put it ? Well, let’s say that she is a card carrying member of the oldest profession, or as I think Ronnie Barker put it once , what her profession is I’m not telling you on this programme, but here’s a clue, they have jam on them and appear at teatime. She jumped right out in front of the car, and, erm, completely exposed herself to the royal personages. They never put that on the local news bulletins. Thankfully she wasn’t around when the torch went past.
I don’t know – and people think that teachers just waste their time during the holidays !
No.
Let me qualify that. I’m not saying that I don’t have periods of total inertia, but that’s more to do with being unable to make up my mind which of two or more options I should do first. I’m put in mind of something I read that Sylvia Plath once wrote about seeing herself starving to death in a fig tree because she couldn’t make up her mind which of the figs to eat. So, anyway I thought I’d tell you what I’ve been doing to improve the shining hour over the last couple of days.
I’ve spent not a little time compiling questions. It’s not my turn at the club tonight, and for all I know maybe it won’t be next week. Still, it’s bound to come soon, and my way of thinking was I’m stupid if I don’t put a stock of quizzes together while I’ve got time, rather than putting myself under undue pressure during term time. I’ve tried to do it slightly differently from normal. Usually I’ll do one quiz at a time. I tend to think in terms of broad categories, and put the same category headings into each round. So basically I know that for each quiz I need 8 of this, 8 of that, 4 each of those , and so on. Then I slot them into rounds. This time though I’ve been gathering questions in their 40s and 80s, rather than 5s and 10s. It’s interesting doing it this way, although it does make you realize how samey a lot of your stuff is between quizzes. It made me realize this anyway, so hopefully they should see a change in the club in the next half dozen or so quizzes I do for them.
Then there’s Triviador. Although I was recommended this one by Daniel quite a while ago I never got round to playing it. If you haven’t found this for yourself yet, it’s on Facebook. Basically it’s a trivia duel between three people, who try to answer faster and more accurately than the others in order to slice them up with swords , or shoot the with cannonballs. Yes, a philosophical work, for certain. Be warned, though, it is rather addictive.
Unfortunately I haven’t had a trivia games Marathon as happened at Easter. The twins are preparing for their exams,. and so that’s been put on hold. Bit of a shame since I have collected a couple more trivia games since Easter which I wanted to try out, but they’ll keep, I suppose
I’ve only played in one quiz so far this week. That was the Dyffryn Arms on Sunday. I’m really going to have to try to find another midweek quiz by the end of July so that I can go during the summer holidays. I don’t know, two quizzes a week seems like famine rations to me at the moment. On Sunday I walked in and there was Rob, his wife Pam and some of the guys from the Thursday night team, plus a couple of others too. John wasn’t available, which left just me, with my daughter Jess along for support. So you can imagine how delighted I was that we managed a draw by the skin of our teeth.
I had a lovely email from Glenys Hopkins, asking if I’d like to join the Mastermind Club. I say join, but actually it’s more of a case of rejoin. I did join a few years back, but lost the standing order form and basically dropped out through sheer inertia. Well, your Dave is not the sort of chap to refuse a request from a lady, so I’ve set the wheels in motion there, and hopefully that will all go through OK now. If you’re not sure what I’m on about, basically membership of the Mastermind Club is open to anyone who has been a contender in any version of the show – Original BBCTV – Radio 4 – Discovery – revived BBCTV. I think I’m right in saying that as an organization specifically for people who have taken part in one particular quiz show it’s unique, and I certainly think that in itself is worthy of praise.
Oh, there was the little matter of the Jubilee going on as well, I suppose. Our street party, which was going to be held in the park down the road since we are on a main road, was rained off. All in all it’s been a little restrained. I was going on 13 when the Silver Jubilee happened, and even in suburban West London people made quite a fuss about it – lots of bunting, and decorations, and souvenir tea towels being displayed in front windows as I recall. Mind you, when you compare it to what happened when the Queen drove past my house for the Golden Jubilee, maybe a more restrained celebration is no bad thing. Ten years ago the Queen drove past us , on her way from the station to Margam Park, a couple of miles down the road. The royal roller glided past us, then just 20 yards down the road a local character did something rather unexpected. No names, no pack drill,but she is, well, how can I put it ? Well, let’s say that she is a card carrying member of the oldest profession, or as I think Ronnie Barker put it once , what her profession is I’m not telling you on this programme, but here’s a clue, they have jam on them and appear at teatime. She jumped right out in front of the car, and, erm, completely exposed herself to the royal personages. They never put that on the local news bulletins. Thankfully she wasn’t around when the torch went past.
I don’t know – and people think that teachers just waste their time during the holidays !
Monday, 4 June 2012
Questions where you just don't care . . .
Question – what percentage of women kiss with their eyes closed ? The correct, indeed the only acceptable answer to such a question is, of course, who gives a stuff ? Now I wouldn’t want you thinking that any local question master has upset me recently by asking such a question. In fact I was at the Dyffryn Arms last night, and I thought that the quiz was actually very good. Graham, one of the regular question masters there, has a little bit of a habit of going gimmicky – last letter first letter rounds and the like – but last night I thought that he pitched the quiz very well indeed. IN fact there were a couple of genuinely interesting questions that caught me out – for example, the country that produces more cheese annually than any other. Now, I knew that I’ve been asked this before, and I knew that the answer I gave then, France, was wrong. In fact the only thing I didn’t know was which country actually was the correct answer. It was actually USA – good question.John wasn't there last night, and I have a feeling that he'd have had that right. It's one of the reasons why we work well as a team - he knows stuff that I don't, and vice versa, however, I digress. Any question where you immediately think you should know the answer, yet you still get it wrong is doing something right. Coming back to the question I began this post with, on a question like that, there’s no earthly reason why anyone should either know or care that 97% of women kiss with their eyes closed. I hate this sort of question. You might just as well say name a number between 1 and 100 as ask something like this. I’ll tell you what makes me raise this issue today. My oldest daughter runs a charity shop in Port Talbot. I popped in to have a chat a couple of days ago, and I noticed that someone had donated a box of continuation trivia questions. They were made for WH Smiths in the mid 80s during the Trivial Pursuit boom, and though they obviously couldn’t say it on the box it’s pretty clear that they were meant to be used with alongside TP or ’other trivia board games’ . You can see the box in the photograph. I paid for them – all above board, you see – and when I got home to have a good look, to say that I was disappointed when this question was one of the first to rear its ugly little head would be an understatement. In the interests of fairness I should probably add that they’re not all like that. Still, it does lead me to question what the point is of writing and including a question like that. Unless the thinking behind it is that it’s a game, and after playing , and being asked that question a few times you could amaze your adversaries by answering it correctly. I suppose.
What I don’t really understand is why anyone would want to include a question like this in a pub quiz – and unless you’re very lucky indeed I’m sure that you’ll have been to pub quizzes in the past where questions of this sort will have been asked. I certainly have. Of course this is just my opinion, and of course you must feel free to disagree, as always, but when I compile a set of quiz questions, what I don’t want is any of my questions to provoke people taking part to ask themselves :-
* How on earth can anyone here be expected to know that ?
* Who would ever want to know the answer to that ?
* How does the question setter KNOW the answer to that ? I mean - has he ASKED every woman in the world if they do or not ?
* Who cares about it anyway ?
I expect most question masters would feel the same way. Unless , that is, the purpose of your quiz is to try to show off what you know and prove how clever you are by producing a quiz where nobody in any of the teams can answer a large number of the questions. I’m afraid that there are still a a few QMs like that out there too. Still, not, thankfully in the rugby club, and not in the Dyffryn Arms.
Friday, 1 June 2012
In the News
Who or what are the following, and why have they been in the news ?
1) Loreen
2) Buzz Cody
3) Paolo Gabriele
4) Ashley Young
5) Baroness Warsi
6) Random
7) Houla
8) Amour
9) The Angels’ Share
10) Ryder Hesjedal
11) Jacqueline Woodhouse
12) American Grown
13) Cavezzo
14) Petroc Trelawney
15) Lucian Bute
16) Scimitar
17) Anton Zigurevitch
18) Virginie Razzano
19) Flame
20) Johnny Tapia
21) Phil Jagielka
22) Andy Schleck
23) Eddie Shah
24) Wayne Comben and Graeme Pullen
25) Madeleine Miller
26) Julian Ponder and Rachael Dougall
27) Kemar Roach
28) Mick and Mariaid Philpott
29) Nick Compton
In Other News
1) Which country’s group of singing grannies came second in the Eurovision with “Party for Everybody” ?
2) - and how many points did poor old Engelbert actually score ?
3) Chris Coleman managed which national side for the first time last week ?
4) What was the score in the English Aviva Premiership final ?
5) Which team won the Women’s FA Cup Final ?
6) What is the new British Heptathlon record, and who set it ?
7) Which team won the League One play off ?
8) Which team won the League Two play off ?
9) Who won the Monaco Grand Prix ?
9) Who won the PGA to go top of the world rankings in golf ?
10) What was the score when England played the Barbarians ?
11) What was the score in the Rabo Direct Pro 12 final ?
12) Which 39 year old failed to qualify for the Olympics last week ?
13) Who won the BAFTAs for the Best Actor and Actress ?
14) - and for their roles in which show did they receive them ?
15) Scotland lost 5 – 1 at football to which country ?
16) Who lit the Olympic torch on top of Mount Snowdon ?
17) What was revealed to have been Britain’s most complained about advert ever ?
18) Which town was revealed to be Britain’s safest for cyclists ?
19) What was revealed as the British public’s favourite album of the last 60 years ?
20) What will be Aung San Suu Kyi’s first overseas destination ?
21) Which country did the Barbarians defeat 29 – 28 ?
22) Who was sentenced to 104 days community service for failing to pay child support ?
23) What did Bob Dylan receive this week ?
24) Richard Hammond was heavily criticised for his use of which word in an article ?
25) The National Trust this week said whose birthplace isn’t worth saving ?
26) Which US reality TV star this week accused Heathrow airport baggage handlers of theft ?
27) For how long was Charles Taylor jailed this week ?
28) Who is the new manager of Liverpool FC ?
29) Which team won the English rugby championship final ?
30) When has the doctors’ strike been scheduled ?
31) Whose campaign team spelled America – Americia ?
32) Which footballer was cleared of sexual assault charges ?
33) Who has resigned from the England limited overs cricket team ?
34) What will the League Cup be known as next season ?
35) Who denied that he ever called Jessica Ennis fat ?
1) Loreen
2) Buzz Cody
3) Paolo Gabriele
4) Ashley Young
5) Baroness Warsi
6) Random
7) Houla
8) Amour
9) The Angels’ Share
10) Ryder Hesjedal
11) Jacqueline Woodhouse
12) American Grown
13) Cavezzo
14) Petroc Trelawney
15) Lucian Bute
16) Scimitar
17) Anton Zigurevitch
18) Virginie Razzano
19) Flame
20) Johnny Tapia
21) Phil Jagielka
22) Andy Schleck
23) Eddie Shah
24) Wayne Comben and Graeme Pullen
25) Madeleine Miller
26) Julian Ponder and Rachael Dougall
27) Kemar Roach
28) Mick and Mariaid Philpott
29) Nick Compton
In Other News
1) Which country’s group of singing grannies came second in the Eurovision with “Party for Everybody” ?
2) - and how many points did poor old Engelbert actually score ?
3) Chris Coleman managed which national side for the first time last week ?
4) What was the score in the English Aviva Premiership final ?
5) Which team won the Women’s FA Cup Final ?
6) What is the new British Heptathlon record, and who set it ?
7) Which team won the League One play off ?
8) Which team won the League Two play off ?
9) Who won the Monaco Grand Prix ?
9) Who won the PGA to go top of the world rankings in golf ?
10) What was the score when England played the Barbarians ?
11) What was the score in the Rabo Direct Pro 12 final ?
12) Which 39 year old failed to qualify for the Olympics last week ?
13) Who won the BAFTAs for the Best Actor and Actress ?
14) - and for their roles in which show did they receive them ?
15) Scotland lost 5 – 1 at football to which country ?
16) Who lit the Olympic torch on top of Mount Snowdon ?
17) What was revealed to have been Britain’s most complained about advert ever ?
18) Which town was revealed to be Britain’s safest for cyclists ?
19) What was revealed as the British public’s favourite album of the last 60 years ?
20) What will be Aung San Suu Kyi’s first overseas destination ?
21) Which country did the Barbarians defeat 29 – 28 ?
22) Who was sentenced to 104 days community service for failing to pay child support ?
23) What did Bob Dylan receive this week ?
24) Richard Hammond was heavily criticised for his use of which word in an article ?
25) The National Trust this week said whose birthplace isn’t worth saving ?
26) Which US reality TV star this week accused Heathrow airport baggage handlers of theft ?
27) For how long was Charles Taylor jailed this week ?
28) Who is the new manager of Liverpool FC ?
29) Which team won the English rugby championship final ?
30) When has the doctors’ strike been scheduled ?
31) Whose campaign team spelled America – Americia ?
32) Which footballer was cleared of sexual assault charges ?
33) Who has resigned from the England limited overs cricket team ?
34) What will the League Cup be known as next season ?
35) Who denied that he ever called Jessica Ennis fat ?
Answers to News Questions
Who or what are the following, and why have they been in the news ?
1) Sing
2) The Canterville Ghost
3) Bankia
4) Priscilla Chan
5) Chen Guancheng
6) David Price
7) Jenna Talackova
8) Carina Trimingham
9) Hugh Robertson
10) Eugene Polley
11) Phil Dowson
12) Uttershaw
13) Gryffindor
14) Jonathan Ive
15) Alesha Ahmed
16) Pastora Soler
17) Love Will Set You Free
18) Alan Oakley
19) Hibu
20) Tokyo Skytree
21) Falcon 5
22) Adrian Beecroft
23) Georgia Davis In Other News
1) Which welsh town became the world’s first wikipedia town ?
2) The G8 Meeting last week took place where ?
3) What breed is Britain’s Got Talent winner Pudsey ?
4) Who died in Libya ?
5) In pounds what was the flotation vallue of Facebook ?
5) The italian earthquake between Modena, Ferrara and Bologna was which force on the Richter scale ?
6) How many wickets were taken by Stuart Broad in the first test ?
7) Which team won the Championship play off final ?
8) Which team won promotion back into the Football League ?
9) What was the final score in the Heineken Cup Final ?
10) What punged the German town of Hamelin into darkness ?
11) Whose Brighton Beach house was saved last week ?
12) Which part of Britain’s road system celebrated its 40th birthday last week ?
13) A British company tried to auction off what last week, but were prevented ?
14) Kevin Pietersen was fined for his tweet about whom ?
15) Who told Jeremy Paxman how to hack into someone’s phone messages ?
16) Free elections were being held for the first time in which country ?
17) Which country has withdrawn its ambassador from Azerbaijan over the Eurovision Song Contest ?
18) What punishment did Joey Barton receive last week ?
19) Why has an AQA GCSE paper received heavy criticism ?
20) Who took pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix ?
21) Who is the only british woman tennis player to qualify for the French Open ?
22) Which is the world’s most valuable brand ?
23) Which is the UK’s most valuable brand ?
24) Who have abandoned their sponsorship of a well known literary prize ?
25) Whose ashes were taken to the International Space Station ? Answers
1) Gary Barlow’s song for the Diamond Jubilee
2) Film which will reunite Fry and Laurie
3) Spanish Bank in dire straits
4) Married Mark Zuckerberg last week
5) Blind chinese dissident finally arrived in USA
6) Won British Heavyweight Boxing championship
7) Transsexual who entered Miss Universe Canada
8) Lover of Chris Huhne lost privacy case in the High Court
9) Minister for the Olympic Games
10) Inventor of the TV remote control , passed away
11) Captain of England RFU team v. Barbarians
12) Home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle under threat of being turned into town houses
13) Name of one of the Queen’s dogs
14) Apple designer received knighthood from the Queen
15) Claimed in high court that she watched her parents murder her sister Shafilea
16) Spanish singer claimed she hoped that she does not win Eurovision because Spain cannot afford to stage the contest next year if she does
17) Title of UK entry to Eurovision sung by Engelbert Humperdinck
18) Inventor of Raleigh Chopper, passed away
19) New name of Yell.com – online yellow pages
20) World’s tallest free standing tower
21) First ever private mission to the International Space Station
22) Businessman whose report recommends scrapping unfair dismissal laws
23) 63 stone teen whose house had to be partially demolished to allow emergency services to take her to hospital
In Other News
1) Monmouth
2) Camp David
3) Bichon Frise cross
4) Abdel Basset al-Megrahi
5) £66 billion
6) 9
7) West Ham
8) York City
9) Leinster42 – Ulster 14
10) Ironically a plague of rats destroyed power cables
11) Dave Gilmour
12) Spaghetti Junction – Gravelly Hill Interchange
13) A vial of Ronald Reagan’s blood
14) Nick Knight
15) Piers Morgan
16) Egypt
17) Iran
18) 12 match ban
19) Because it asked why some people are prejudiced against jews
20) Mark Webber – Michael schumacher was fastest, but was penalised 5 grid places for infringements in the previous race
21) Heather Watson
22) Apple
23) Vodafone ( 12th in the world)
24) Orange
25) 307 people including James Doohan – Scotty from Star Trek
1) Sing
2) The Canterville Ghost
3) Bankia
4) Priscilla Chan
5) Chen Guancheng
6) David Price
7) Jenna Talackova
8) Carina Trimingham
9) Hugh Robertson
10) Eugene Polley
11) Phil Dowson
12) Uttershaw
13) Gryffindor
14) Jonathan Ive
15) Alesha Ahmed
16) Pastora Soler
17) Love Will Set You Free
18) Alan Oakley
19) Hibu
20) Tokyo Skytree
21) Falcon 5
22) Adrian Beecroft
23) Georgia Davis In Other News
1) Which welsh town became the world’s first wikipedia town ?
2) The G8 Meeting last week took place where ?
3) What breed is Britain’s Got Talent winner Pudsey ?
4) Who died in Libya ?
5) In pounds what was the flotation vallue of Facebook ?
5) The italian earthquake between Modena, Ferrara and Bologna was which force on the Richter scale ?
6) How many wickets were taken by Stuart Broad in the first test ?
7) Which team won the Championship play off final ?
8) Which team won promotion back into the Football League ?
9) What was the final score in the Heineken Cup Final ?
10) What punged the German town of Hamelin into darkness ?
11) Whose Brighton Beach house was saved last week ?
12) Which part of Britain’s road system celebrated its 40th birthday last week ?
13) A British company tried to auction off what last week, but were prevented ?
14) Kevin Pietersen was fined for his tweet about whom ?
15) Who told Jeremy Paxman how to hack into someone’s phone messages ?
16) Free elections were being held for the first time in which country ?
17) Which country has withdrawn its ambassador from Azerbaijan over the Eurovision Song Contest ?
18) What punishment did Joey Barton receive last week ?
19) Why has an AQA GCSE paper received heavy criticism ?
20) Who took pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix ?
21) Who is the only british woman tennis player to qualify for the French Open ?
22) Which is the world’s most valuable brand ?
23) Which is the UK’s most valuable brand ?
24) Who have abandoned their sponsorship of a well known literary prize ?
25) Whose ashes were taken to the International Space Station ? Answers
1) Gary Barlow’s song for the Diamond Jubilee
2) Film which will reunite Fry and Laurie
3) Spanish Bank in dire straits
4) Married Mark Zuckerberg last week
5) Blind chinese dissident finally arrived in USA
6) Won British Heavyweight Boxing championship
7) Transsexual who entered Miss Universe Canada
8) Lover of Chris Huhne lost privacy case in the High Court
9) Minister for the Olympic Games
10) Inventor of the TV remote control , passed away
11) Captain of England RFU team v. Barbarians
12) Home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle under threat of being turned into town houses
13) Name of one of the Queen’s dogs
14) Apple designer received knighthood from the Queen
15) Claimed in high court that she watched her parents murder her sister Shafilea
16) Spanish singer claimed she hoped that she does not win Eurovision because Spain cannot afford to stage the contest next year if she does
17) Title of UK entry to Eurovision sung by Engelbert Humperdinck
18) Inventor of Raleigh Chopper, passed away
19) New name of Yell.com – online yellow pages
20) World’s tallest free standing tower
21) First ever private mission to the International Space Station
22) Businessman whose report recommends scrapping unfair dismissal laws
23) 63 stone teen whose house had to be partially demolished to allow emergency services to take her to hospital
In Other News
1) Monmouth
2) Camp David
3) Bichon Frise cross
4) Abdel Basset al-Megrahi
5) £66 billion
6) 9
7) West Ham
8) York City
9) Leinster42 – Ulster 14
10) Ironically a plague of rats destroyed power cables
11) Dave Gilmour
12) Spaghetti Junction – Gravelly Hill Interchange
13) A vial of Ronald Reagan’s blood
14) Nick Knight
15) Piers Morgan
16) Egypt
17) Iran
18) 12 match ban
19) Because it asked why some people are prejudiced against jews
20) Mark Webber – Michael schumacher was fastest, but was penalised 5 grid places for infringements in the previous race
21) Heather Watson
22) Apple
23) Vodafone ( 12th in the world)
24) Orange
25) 307 people including James Doohan – Scotty from Star Trek
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