News Years Quizzing Resolutions

Well on the eve of another year it is time to make some quizzing resolutions for 2013 -

- Continuing to attend national events, mainly BQA's GP's is the main one. Mixed with attending though I want to continue to improve my scores and raise my standings. I am putting a lot of work into key areas that are dragging my total down (Sport and Entertainment will always be something I can have a fair stab at) but in other areas I need to get more of the "easy" points I am missing. This should start straight away with the Coventry GP on the 5th January.

- Continue with Quiz League. Goes without saying really. I am enjoying the league so much since joining its daft to include it even as a resolution as I know I will be there every Wednesday eager to play.

- Get on TV! This year I am determined.......Applications have already been made so fingers crossed.

- Improve weak areas. Science, Animals and a lot of pre-70's entertainment is pulling me down a lot in every type of quizzing I am doing so again its a need to look at these areas to avoid easy points going missing.

- Keep the blog going. I am still enjoying writing on here and the only major change I am making in the new year is to add more quiz questions. I actually write a load of questions in my revision so I aim to share as many on here as possible.

Merry Christmas!

Just a message to say Merry  Christmas to one and all. I hope you have a fantastic day tomorrow whatever you are doing!

The Chase App

An app of The Chase has been released recently, as far as I know only for Iphone/Ipad, which I have been played for a number of days. Priced at £1.49 is it worth your time and money?

The set up is great, the music, the presentation, the images of The Chaser. I can't fault it in this department. Its for up to 4 players (although doing the Final Chase is hard with more than one person) and its pitched in terms of difficulty at the same level of the TV show. 

I have to be honest here, and as much as I love The Chase, one major flaw ruins this app...the lack of questions (based on the regular repetition I cant see there being many in the database). No disrespect to anyone involved in the App as it definitely has its good points but even in my second or third game the repetition was high and frequent and after 5-6 games I was seeing no new questions. 

All in all, the app is perhaps worth a look but there are far better apps out there and unless the improvement is made in numbers of questions I won't be finding much use for this.

2012 TQA Awards

Just a bit of fun, inspired by David Clark's excellent Life After Mastermind Blog, lets have a look back at some of my highlights of the year in the style of some awards.

Best Quiz Show of The Year 

2012 has been quite a good year for all the major quiz shows with Mastermind, won by Gary Grant, clocking up another great series, University Challenge as strong as ever and Only Connect throwing in arguably the best series yet so this one is a tough call. The Chase remains a daily fixation as it continues to remain strong, the addition of a new Egghead spiced things up on the ever-present BBC 2 hit and changes made to Pointless showed it has plenty of legs left in it yet. Only Connect would however come a close second to me to Mastermind. I have upped my enjoyment of this show by taking part in the weekly Wiki Challenge and it is still, for me, the benchmark of serious quizzing in broadcast.

Winner - MASTERMIND

Best New Quiz Show of the Year

This year we have some quiz shows fade out without as much of a whimper including the likes of Question of Taste. The Exit List was one of the better shows ITV tried, Tipping Point being about the worse and Channel 4's The Bank Job was not terrible, but 1001 Things You Should Know is!

There is a clear winner here however and sadly it is from a show that has not been re-commissioned. Cleverdicks was Sky's attempt to cash in on the Quiz Show market on its new Channel Sky Atlantic. Anne Widdecombe started slowly but became a good host in my opinion and the show was based around finding the finest quizzers and pitting them head to head. It worked well and its well worth catching up on on Challenge where it is being repeated frequently.

Winner - CLEVERDICKS

Best Quiz App

You have probably gathered I am a fan of Quiz apps for my iphone. There has been many released this year as usual, in fact new ones come along almost every day so this has taken some time. The Only Connect app has continued to entertain, although it was to the back end of last year so that is ruled out. The Big Pub Quiz app is well worth a look but it is Mastermind again that wins this one. Earlier this month a new Mastermind app, similar to the game which appears online, was released for free and has plenty for any quizzing fan to get stuck into.

Winner - MASTERMIND (Iphone App)

Best New Quiz Book

My quiz book collection has expanded considerably this year and its very tough to pick just one out. Very honourable mentions go to the likes of The Wordsworth Quiz Book and the Quiz League series of books I have mentioned before but Mastermind completes the triple by winning this as I found the quiz book the BBC put out in September to be very engaging.

Winner - MASTERMIND QUIZ BOOK

Special mention - Pocket Pub Quiz

A special mention here regarding the Pocket Pub Quiz Magazine which was released this year. I mentioned it earlier in the month so if you are interested check out that review. Otherwise, suffice to say that the book fills a hole in the market. We have plenty of weekly/monthly puzzle magazines so its great to see a Quizzing title on that shelf. Hopefully 2013 will see the magazine take off and increase circulation as the quality of the questions and effort put in deserves it!

Best Quiz Event

A few could have taken this title I suppose. The Sunderland Echo Quiz League has been something I am enjoying considerably, the Brunton Shield which ties into that (sort of) was my personal highlight of the year and of course the December GP at Rolleston where I met several quizzers and had a great day.

But because it was my first major quizzing event where I met some great people, had a fantastic day in my first visit to Edinburgh and a cracking team quiz in the afternoon it has to go to the World Quizzing Championships, specifically the Edinburgh Venue.

Winner - World Quiz Championships 2012, Edinburgh 

Best Pub Quiz 

Since moving to Sunderland my quizzing has widened but there is only one contender here. Every Thursday Fitzgeralds in Sunderland hold a pub quiz which has a total control on cheating, a great environment and superb formats and questions. If you are local, check it out every Thursday at 9pm!

Winner -Fitzgeralds Quiz Sunderland

Best Quiz Site

A few could have fallen in with a chance this year but for consistency and regularity the award again has to go to David Clarks Life After Masternmind site which continues to be a very readable, fun, informative and witty look at the quizzing world from a  man who has literally been there, done that and probably fort the T-Shirt!

Winner - Life After Mastermind

Mastermind 2012/2013 - Heat 18

Mastermind 2012/2013 - Heat 18

After last weeks high quality show, tonight's edition of Mastermind and the last regular show of the year, had a lot to live up to. In the hot seat tonight...

Allan Nicholas
Mark Cooper
Tony Ryan
Rob White

Allan Nicholas kicked things off tonight with the Bee Gee's which contained a few chestnuts in it and as with last weeks music round seemed a fair and gettable set. Allan scored a competitive 11.

Through Facebook I knew Mark Cooper was appearing tonight. A regular on the Uk Quiz circuit Mark took on the life and films of Kevin Smith. I had seen a few Smith films and read a little about him so tried this one without the aid of Wiki but failed miserably scoring only 3 points. Mark scored 10 to give him every chance of progression.

Tom Ryan took on The Falklands and although he was very much eased into the round with some gimmies his score of 11 was very good indeed on a set with plenty of long questions and tricky posers.

Last but not least was Rob White taking on Thomas Hardy. And take it on he did with one of the best SS rounds of the series so far and scoring 15 gave himself a nice cushion.

After the SS round then the standings were -

Rob White - 15

Allan Nicholas - 11
Tony Ryan - 11
Mark Cooper - 10


GK started with Mark Cooper who began his round strongly with fast, correct answers and continued throughout giving himself a total of 24. Enough to have won several heats this year and put pressure on rivals.

Allan Nicholas could not manage it scoring 18 and Tony Ryan fell just short scoring 23. So it was down to Rob White who got off to a stuttery start with a pass, an ask for a repeat and a miss of a few easier questions.  Needing nine he moved closer and closer to the target and managed to breach the 20 mark. He reached the 24 he needed taking time to answer the questions but it was job done and in the end a score of 27 won him the heat.


Final scores tonight -

Rob White - 27
Mark Cooper - 24
Tony Ryan - 23

Allan Nicholas - 18


So congratulations to Rob White who makes it into the Semi Finals. With the score at a minimum of 27 to make it as a runner up this means Rob is the only contender from this weeks show we will be seeing again this series.

Mastermind is now taking a few weeks off over Xmas with the show returning on 11th January. There is of course the Celebrity version to get your teeth into between Xmas and New Year.

Qualified

Andrew Frazer -35
Roger Canwell - 33
Rachael Neiman - 33
Gregory Spiller - 32
Kathryn Palmer - 31
Christine Plume - 29
Jonathan Gordon - 29
Michael Wright - 29
Sean Howley -29
Mark Grant - 28
Rob White - 27
Sian West - 26
Shahab Mossavat - 26
Matthew Bradshaw -26
Alcuin Edwards - 25
Aidan Mccquade - 24
John Chadwick - 23
Mark Roberts - 20

Highest Scoring Runners Up

Colin Daffern - 32
Chris Cann – 29

John Wheeler – 29
Helen Marshall - 28

Paul Whittaker - 27
Chris Quinn - 27
Peter Wharmby - 27

Other
Nathan Joss – 26 

lan Sharp - 26

Mike Foden - 26

Bart Smith - 25

Andrew Hunt - 25
Nina Fetherston - 25
Philip Walters - 25
Julie Green - 25
Kirsa Lommerud Olsen - 25
Mark Cooper - 24
Jeff Lloyd - 24
Mark Kirby - 24

David Gow - 24
Andrew Granath - 24

Alan Wharmby - 24

Rosalind Winter - 24

Laurie Handcock – 24

Kevin Baker - 24 
Paul Sharp - 24
Tony Ryan - 23
Thomas Grinyer - 23
Colin Wilson - 23
Roland Mcfall – 23

Hazel Humprheys - 22
Sam Goodyear - 22
Chris Kirk - 22
Les Wallace - 22

Graeme Marley -22

 Ian Copping - 22

Alan Haddick - 21 
Charlie Tinsley - 21
Aileen Lucas - 20
James Jack -20
Kathy Richards - 19
Brian O Donnell - 19
Henry Morris - 19
Nick Mazonowicz - 19
Sarah Le Fevre - 19

Jackie Phillips - 19
Allan Nicholas - 18

Mathhew Clarke - 18
Nathan Scott – 18
Xavier Woodward - 18
Nick Gunatilleke - 17
Charlotte Mason - 17

Brig Rooke - 16

Barbara Bell - 15

Brain of Britain 2013 - Round 1 - Match 4

Brain of Britain 2013 - Round 1 - Match 4

Just a quick update to add in the scores of this weeks Brain of Britain which again was a very enjoyable episode.

It was close throughout between Scott Dawson and Darren Martin with some cracking answers both ways!

The final standings were...

Scott Dawson - 15

Darren Martin - 14

Steve O'Gorman - 9

Bel Freedman - 7

Heat Winners

Rufus Stilgoe - 19
Scott Dawson - 15

Anthony Fish - 14

Rob Cruise - 11

Others

Jenny Dunn - 17 (2nd)
Darren Martin - 14 (2nd)

Carol Atkinson -10 (2nd)
Allison Jacobs - 9 (2nd)


Steve O'Gorman - 9
Sarah Greenan - 8
Bel Freedman - 7

Philip Issac - 7

Chris Gould - 6

Douglas Dickie - 5

David Hankin - 3

Dhruv Sharma - 2

Last Years Resolutions - Did I manage?

Well, again being in the reflective mood I always am at this time a year I have trawled through my archives here and found last years quizzing resolutions. Let's see if I kept them....

- A very simple one to start off with, simply attend more quizzes. I get to quite a few but for various reasons..... financial, work related etc.....I have been inconsistent at parts this year. There was a time earlier in the summer when I was attending 5 quizzes a week and I hope to get back to that level at some point.

I can certainly say this has been kept! I am attending more quizzes than ever and certainly pushing myself on all fronts. Moving to Sunderland City Centre certainly helped this year and the choice of quizzes is far greater.

- Get on a TV show. Applications have been going in every chance I get but I hope 2012 is they year I finally make it onto a TV show. An audition I couldn't make for a Nick Hancock quiz and The Chase have cropped up this year so hopefully more will come.

Failed but not for the want of trying.....I won't give up that easily!

- Run a pub quiz. I had the chance earlier in the month to meet a local bar owner to run a quiz but as it was during work time I couldn't make it and it was never re-arrange. I really would like 2012 to be a year in which I can run my own pub quiz, even just for one night or to cover a regular. I am hoping this will happen sooner rather than later.

An opportunity has never arose and to be quite honest I am not overly fussed that this failed. I enjoy setting questions for the League but feel I would not get the same out of setting a standard pub quiz and would rather use that time a) studying or b) attending the quiz!

- Expand my quizzing horizons. I am very much at the moment relying on expensive taxis and buses to get to and from quizzes as well as my own two legs. Obviously this restricts me massivley and there are certain quizzes I attend that I wish I could find alternatives to. Hopefully my driving test will be passed this year and I can get up and running and.............

I failed my last driving test and 2012 has not seen that progress but living in Sunderland and meeting fellow quizzers has certainly expanded my horizons.

- Join a Quiz League. I have been talking to various people at The Sunderland Echo Quiz League for some time now and there is scope to join but the travel doesnt suit me so if either I get my proposed move sorted or pass my test I can enter this. 

Achieved. So glad I managed this and I would urge anyone with any interest in quizzing to seek out a local league.

 - Regardless of anything else I really desire to attend an even through the British Quizzing Association. I am an active member of the forum over at Quizzing.co.uk and am dying to attend but due to it being Xmas and me changing jobs the last few months finances haven't permitted it but I am determined to make it to either Coventry on 7th Jan or Yorkshire the following month.

Thanks to the kind offer of a lift I made it to the final GP of the season (and also the WQC earlier in the year via train) so I hope to attend as many as possible this year. Work and travel arrangements permitting I may be able to attend the majority of events held!

Not a bad return

My 2012 in Quizzing

Well another year is coming to end and I am always, like others, in a very reflective mood. 2012 has been a very kind year to me and as I look at what has passed my quizzing has come a long way as well.

The main satisfaction I have gained this year is finally getting myself out there and going beyond the normal "pub quiz". Don't get me wrong I am still and always will regularly attending pub quizzes up and down the region and enjoying it as much as ever but my main quizzing enjoyment this year has come from outside this sphere.

After much faffing around on my behalf I finally attended a couple of national quizzing events. The first organised by the IQA was the World Championships in 2012 in June. I went to the venue in Edinburgh and had a really enjoyable day, the first taste I had of a "serious" quiz event and it gave me a taste for more. I set myself the ambition of working hard to raise my knowledge in certain areas and start attending events in 2013 but the chance of a lift came up to Rolleston, Burton for the BQA's monthly GP event at the start of December. Another great outing, met some wonderful people and it has given me a taste for more quizzing. Hopefully in 2013 I will attend many more events.

Both events improved my quizzing no end and the score I got in Rolleston was my highest yet in such a paper (I know as I usually buy the questions after the event and test myself) and if I can keep on improving I have something to aim at. But above all else I have met some wonderful people and everyone I have met has been full of great advice.

I also found myself attending the Brunton Shield Event in Edinburgh which involved teams from the North East competing against Scottish teams. After struggling through the initial questions I had perhaps my finest quizzing moments of the year in the final when a string of questions, suited perfectly to my knowledge, swung my way and I was able to rattle of some key answers and win the event.

My involvement in that event came as a result of my involvement in the Sunderland Echo Quiz League. After a taster match in the middle of the year I was found and a team and thus far have competed in three matches, all of which I have enjoyed and even the week when we were setting I found myself having great fun. It has been a fantastic experience so far and I am very much looking forward to continuing the season in the new year and for the foreseeable future.

The only downside this year has been my failure to get onto a TV quiz. I did make a brief appearance on a radio-phone in quiz, but in terms of something I genuinely would love to be on it hasn't happened. Mastermind audition failed. I know I am not quite ready for the show yet and need a lot of work but playing from home scores of 10 plus in the GK round regularly have given me some encouragement that if I went on I at least would not embarrass myself. Another application is pending...

Overall 2012 has been a great year for me quizzing wise, my knowledge and experience has grown, I have had many several enjoyable days and evenings quizzing and above all else I have met some wonderful people!

I hope 2013 brings us all some good luck!

Celebrity Mastermind Returns

As with last year the BBC will be screening a series of Celebrity Mastermind over the festive period, starting on the 27th and running every night until January 4th. I always enjoy this run of shows and looking forward to starting it.

Not too sure on full names and specialist subjects but those taking part this year include Ken Bruce, Milton Jones, Nick Hancock (who seems rather knowledgeable on Breakway so this will be interesting), Austin Healey, Denise Robertson and Paul Young.

Christmas University Challenge

Tonight sees the return of Christmas University Challenge in which notable alumni from various universities compete over 10 episodes shown between now and the new year. 7.30pm BBC 2 all this week!

I really enjoyed last years series so quite looking forward to this!

Only Connect Contestant Call

With the current series ending recently the Only connect team are already on the hunt for teams to take part in Series 7. This is the email/flyer doing the rounds so if anyone is keen be sure to apply. Everyone I know who has taken part cannot speak highly enough of the experience.....

"The current series of Only Connect is fast coming to a close and with our highest figures in Only Connect history we have fortunately been commissioned for another series of Only Connect that we'll record in March/ April 2013. We value any recommendations from past contestants of the show, so please encourage friends, families and colleagues to apply. I've attached a flyer with details of how to apply for 2013, please feel free to email this on to anyone you think may be interested, or even post it on Facebook or tweet about it! All types of social media are fantastic for us and good old word of mouth works brilliantly too! 

If you have any questions then please feel free to get in touch with me at my NEW email address here: rachel.griffiths@parasolmedia.co.uk "

Only Connect Final Preview

The Draughstmen vs The Scribes

It has been a superb series of Only Connect so far and has flown by! It doesn't seem like five minutes since the series was just beginning back in August but already we have reached the final stage and it should be a cracking game!

The Scribes (Dom Tait, Holly Pattenden, Gareth Price) eased their way into the semi final wins with 31-13 and 27-7 victories and defeated the Wordsmiths 25-14 in the semi final. All very strong scores against very good teams and throughout the series they have shown a huge range of knowledge which will make them hard to beat. With a strong buzzer round to finish off they will be in this until the very end.

The Draughstmen are made up of Andy Tucker, Stephen Dodding and Iwan Thomas, all notable quizzers in their own right. They appeared in the very first episode of this series with a tense tiebreaker win over the Joinees in arguably the best match of the series this year. A 28-14 victory over the Numerists set them up for a Semi Final Showdown with the Footballers who they defeated 19-18. Don't let the two narrow wins fool you though as there have been some very strong teams this year and getting to the final is a tough asks I imagine.

Too close to call for prediction but with record viewing figures, another series commissioned and some highly entertaining TV quizzing, don't miss Only Connect, Monday 8.30pm BBC 4! 

Mastermind 2012/2013 -Heat 17

Mastermind 2012/2013 - Heat 17

After last weeks table-topping victory from Andrew Frazer tonight's Contenders had a lot to live up to.
I had a little inside information on tonight's show and knew it was going to be a  corker.

Tonights Contenders -

Jeff Lloyd
Kirsa Lommerud Olsen
Roger Canwell

First into the chair, and taking on a very interesting subject, was Jeff Llloyd. British Number 1 singles 1963-2000's was his task. This was quite a straight forward set and contained many "old chestnuts" and it was a very accessible set indeed. I do honestly feel a lot of these questions could, and have, been in pub quizzes around the country and it is not that often you can that about a Mastermind SS round. That is of course with no disrespect intended.  I was over the moon with my non-wikied 8 which is my highest of the series easily. Jeff score a solid 11.

Kirsa Lommerud Olsen tackled Alan Bennet's talking heads. I had not tried this on Wiki and without any real knowledge of it could not really judge how difficult this round was. Kirsa stormed to a great total of 14 showing very confident and speedy answers. Gave herself every chance.

Roger Canwell took on Ketts 1549 Rebellion which I pretty sure was a subject not so long ago (maybe 2007-2008). Either way being a very small subject this seemed very straight forward for Roger who scored a very impressive 15 to take the lead.

I met Colin Daffern a couple of weeks ago at the Rolleston GP and quizzed with him in the team event. A very knowledgeable and friendly quizzer indeed and taking on the subject of Michael Foot. He seemed to get some quite long questions thrown in the mix and I haven't worked it out but I imagine he was asked the least questions of all. This did not stop him storming through to a score of 13.

This was going to be tight!


Standings after SS round -

Roger Canwell - 15
Kirsa Lommerud Olsen - 14
Colin Daffern - 13
Jeff Lloyd - 11

Jeff Lloyd kicked us off and with 4 points to make up needed a good round to put pressure on the others. At this point 27 is still the aim for a runner up slot. Jeff made a cracking start with plenty of "gimmies" thrown in (Still stand by my view the person coming to the chair first gets at least 4 more "gimmies" than others). Either way Jeff began to build a solid total and indeed his score of 24 would have won many other heats and set a good total for the others to reach.

Colin Daffern was next. I gathered from talking to him in Rolleston that he is a regular on the UK quizzing scene and he certainly showed great knowledge in his round. The points kept ticking over and once in his stride there was no stopping Colin. Starting on 13 he finished up on 32 giving him a fantastic GK score of 19. One of the best rounds of the series so far and leaving him with a great chance of making it through. This score would have won all but two heats so far!

Kirsa Lommerud Olsen was back and her first round score of 14 meant she needed 19 herself to take the lead. The round started well but a pass streak in the middle of the round slowed down the score building but again her score of 25 was very good indeed and would have some heats this year.

So Roger Canwell had it all to do and started in the right way. After a string of shows in which no one breached 30 we have had a run lately of high scores. Roger was left with 32 as the buzzer went...a stamp question.....a correct answer...33. A great score indeed which gave him the win. Dramatic end indeed.

So congratulations to Roger Canwell who qualifies for the next round with the joint highest score of the series so far and Colin Daffern should also qualify after he became the highest scoring runner up by some distance.

Final Standings after GK round - 

Roger Canwell - 33
Colin Daffern - 32
Kirsa Lommerud Olsen - 25
Jeff Lloyd - 24

Qualified

Andrew Frazer -35
Roger Canwell - 33
Rachael Neiman - 33
Gregory Spiller - 32
Kathryn Palmer - 31
Christine Plume - 29
Jonathan Gordon - 29
Michael Wright - 29
Sean Howley -29
Mark Grant - 28
Sian West - 26
Shahab Mossavat - 26
Matthew Bradshaw -26
Alcuin Edwards - 25
Aidan Mccquade - 24
John Chadwick - 23
Mark Roberts - 20

Highest Scoring Runners Up

Colin Daffern - 32
Chris Cann – 29

John Wheeler – 29
Helen Marshall - 28

Paul Whittaker - 27
Chris Quinn - 27
Peter Wharmby - 27

Other
Nathan Joss – 26 

lan Sharp - 26

Mike Foden - 26

Bart Smith - 25

Andrew Hunt - 25
Nina Fetherston - 25
Philip Walters - 25
Julie Green - 25
Kirsa Lommerud Olsen - 25
Jeff Lloyd - 24
Mark Kirby - 24

David Gow - 24
Andrew Granath - 24

Alan Wharmby - 24

Rosalind Winter - 24

Laurie Handcock – 24

Kevin Baker - 24 
Paul Sharp - 24
Thomas Grinyer - 23
Colin Wilson - 23
Roland Mcfall – 23

Hazel Humprheys - 22
Sam Goodyear - 22
Chris Kirk - 22
Les Wallace - 22

Graeme Marley -22

 Ian Copping - 22

Alan Haddick - 21 
Charlie Tinsley - 21
Aileen Lucas - 20
James Jack -20
Kathy Richards - 19
Brian O Donnell - 19
Henry Morris - 19
Nick Mazonowicz - 19
Sarah Le Fevre - 19

Jackie Phillips - 19

Mathhew Clarke - 18
Nathan Scott – 18
Xavier Woodward - 18
Nick Gunatilleke - 17
Charlotte Mason - 17

Brig Rooke - 16

Barbara Bell - 15

Mastermind Wiki Challenge

Well the subjects for the Mastermind episode on our screens on Friday are as follows...

British Number 1 Singles 1963-2000

Alan Bennetts Talking Heads

Ketts 1549 Rebellion

Life and Career of Michael Foot

Some interesting ones to have a go at and I looking forward to having a go at some of these!

Xmas Gifts For Quizzers #3

I was at first very hesitant about e-readers. I am and always will be a physical book reader but I never knew how much I would get out of a Kindle until I actually got one. As well as all the other features, in terms of quizzing this has given me to access of thousands of works of classical literature (all free), endless valuable ebooks, plenty of apps and much more.

I never thought I would recommending an e-reader but this kindle Fire HD is going to benefit me as a quizzer in a lot of ways and the possibilities are endless. The price is worth it for the access to the thousands of free classic titles alone!

Xmas Gift Ideas for Quizzers #2

Continuing in my short series on good Xmas gift ideas for quizzers then some great additions to any quizzers bookshelf will be the 1001 series. These are fact packed editions with great information, concise workings of important events etc, plenty of illustrations and plenty to learn.

There are more in the series but below are the few I have found to be the best of the bunch.

Brain of Britain 2013 - Round 1 Match 3

Brain of Britain 2013 - Round 1 - Match 3

I have taken to listening to Brain of Britain using iplayer now on a Monday Evening as work prevents me from being able to listen to it when it goes out live. Anyway, this weeks contestants were - 

Rob Cruise
Chris Gould
Sarah Greenan
Allison Jacobs

It was a very close heat this week with topsy turvy scores throughout. Everyone at one point was in with a whisker of taking the lead. Rob Cruise looked steady throughout though and was tending to give more consistent answers which allowed him to keep his nose in front. Despite some wild guesses (perhaps the question not being heard properly) this was a very good heat and very entertaining indeed.

The final scores were -

Rob Cruise - 11
Allison Jacobs - 9
Sarah Greenan - 8
Chris Gould - 6

Heat Winners

Rufus Stilgoe - 19

Anthony Fish - 14

Rob Cruise - 11

Others

Jenny Dunn - 17 (2nd)

Carol Atkinson -10 (2nd)
Allison Jacobs - 9 (2nd)

Sarah Greenan - 8
Philip Issac - 7
Chris Gould - 6

Douglas Dickie - 5

David Hankin - 3

Dhruv Sharma - 2

Only Connect - Bronze Medal Match

The Footballers took on The Wordsmiths in the, for want of a better term, Bronze Medal Match in last nights Only Connect. Both teams were unlucky not to be in the final but it was the Wordsmiths (Chris Brewis, Dave Taylor, Brian Pendreigh) who took a narrow victory. Both teams have been very entertaining this series and it was a good contest, with the Footballers nearly scraping it back in the missing vowels round, between too very good teams.

Pub Quiz Article

I quite enjoyed reading this article HERE so thought I would share it.

It focuses mainly on the Quiz League scene in the UK in the first part and goes onto to mention the general pub quiz.

Xmas Gift Ideas for Quizzers #1

Yet again, much the same as last year I have had one or two emails from partners/friends/family of dedicated quizzers so I am going to set up a string of posts in the next few days with a few great gift ideas.

Starting off with a gift for the serious quizzer..

The Worlds Most Difficult Quiz does exactly what you would assume....melts the brain. This is by far the toughest quiz book available on Amazon from a very experienced setter and will keep any quizzer busy for hours over the festive period!

Mastermind 2012/2013 - Heat 16

Mastermind 2012/2013 - Heat 16

After an ever so tight contest last week and the Mastermind Contest getting deeper and deeper into the first round of heats it was one with the 16th of 24 heats this year and another very entertaining show.

Contenders on tonight's Mastermind were...

Brig Rooke
Sam Goodyear
Henry Morris
Andrew Frazer


Brig Rooke started us off with a go at William Golding Novels and made a very confident start to proceedings. My little bit of Wiki revision here did very little to help me but Brig clearly had a great knowledge here and set the ball rolling with a very good 10. Sam Goodyear was next on the Soviet Union under Stalin and having Sam on Facebook I know he is a keen quizzer and this was a subject I was interested in. A very wide one indeed and even though I studied it well at Uni and felt I had retained a lot I struggled with some of these questions but Sam stormed his way through to a score of 8. Some very long questions here!

Henry Morris on the KLF next and this was one example of where the Wiki Challenge worked. Before reading the Wiki page I would have maybe got one or two here but managed half a dozen. Henry Morris was answering fast, correctly and scored 13 taking him into the lead. Last in the chair was Andrew Frazer. Andrew was actually at the Rolleston quiz on Saturday (coming an impressive 21st) but I did not get the chance to meet him. He took on When the Boat Comes In and had a superb round with 16 points! Going to be hard to beat!

After the SS round the scores on tonights Mastermind were -

Andrew Frazer -16
Henry Morris - 13
Brig Rooke - 10
Sam Goodyear - 8

Sam needed a good round as he stepped out of for the first GK round of the night. After an early stumble Sam stormed into a great round with the ticker going over strong but a pass-string held things up a tad. The answers soon returned and Sam scored a very respectable 22 (indeed it would have won a couple of heats this year).

Brig Rooke also needed a cracking round to put pressure on the others. A stuttering start held the score down for a while and coupled with some tricky questions (including several answers that were just nearly right) Brig managed to reach 16.

Henry Morris has two tasks as he strode to the chair. Firstly surpass Sam Goodyear's 22 and secondly set a target for Andrew. Things did not get off to the best of starts and Henry finished on 19.

Andrew Frazer needed only 6 to win the contest which he was always going to get being a high ranking UK quizzer. After 6 questions he had the total he needed. I have heard some people say that the pressure lifts as soon as you know you have that winning total and allows you to flow to a better score. Whether this was the case for Andrew or not I have no idea but either way he powered to a fantastic score of 36 which meant not only was this the highest score of the series but also Andrew only had one question wrong all night! Superb and a serious contender for the title this year has emerged!

That put the final scores tonight as -


Andrew Frazer -35
Sam Goodyear - 22
Henry Morris - 19

Brig Rooke - 16

And putting that into the context of Mastermind as a whole this season we see....

Qualified

Andrew Frazer -35
Rachael Neiman - 33
Gregory Spiller - 32
Kathryn Palmer - 31
Christine Plume - 29
Jonathan Gordon - 29
Michael Wright - 29
Sean Howley -29
Mark Grant - 28
Sian West - 26
Shahab Mossavat - 26
Matthew Bradshaw -26
Alcuin Edwards - 25
Aidan Mccquade - 24
John Chadwick - 23
Mark Roberts - 20

Highest Scoring Runners Up

Chris Cann – 29

John Wheeler – 29
Helen Marshall - 28

Paul Whittaker - 27
Chris Quinn - 27
Peter Wharmby - 27

Other
Nathan Joss – 26 

lan Sharp - 26

Mike Foden - 26

Bart Smith - 25

Andrew Hunt - 25
Nina Fetherston - 25
Philip Walters - 25
Julie Green - 25
Mark Kirby - 24

David Gow - 24
Andrew Granath - 24

Alan Wharmby - 24

Rosalind Winter - 24

Laurie Handcock – 24

Kevin Baker - 24 
Paul Sharp - 24
Thomas Grinyer - 23
Colin Wilson - 23
Roland Mcfall – 23

Hazel Humprheys - 22
Sam Goodyear - 22
Chris Kirk - 22
Les Wallace - 22

Graeme Marley -22

 Ian Copping - 22

Alan Haddick - 21 
Charlie Tinsley - 21
Aileen Lucas - 20
James Jack -20
Kathy Richards - 19
Brian O Donnell - 19
Henry Morris - 19
Nick Mazonowicz - 19
Sarah Le Fevre - 19

Jackie Phillips - 19

Mathhew Clarke - 18
Nathan Scott – 18
Xavier Woodward - 18
Nick Gunatilleke - 17
Charlotte Mason - 17

Brig Rooke - 16

Barbara Bell - 15

Pocket Pub Quiz Magazine

I am not sure how I first came across Pocket Pub Quiz Magazine but a few weeks ago I stumbled upon the website for the this new publication from Quizzical Media Ltd and in short its blooming marvellous.

For some time I think there has been a gap in the market for this sort of product. Off the rows and rows of monthly puzzle books you will find in your local newsagents a quiz book certainly has a much needed place. I believe Pocket Pub Quiz has been sold in various Tesco and WH Smith stores and of course is available online HERE. Its well worth the cover price and certainly will keep any avid quizzer busy for some time. 

Each issue comes with a range of puzzles from standard quiz questions on a range of subjects (and also a range of difficulty). What this means for the consumer is that you get a chance to test yourself no matter what level. I certainly enjoyed all aspects of the questions and even my other half, not usually a keen quizzer, enjoyed certain elements of it.

But Pocket Pub Quiz is far from just lists of questions. A real effort has been made to keep this book diverse and fresh so included are anagrams, wordsearches, crosswords and matching games....all will test and boost quizzing knowledge. I had bags of fun with this book, learned a lot and it made a huge difference rather than the hours I usually spend ploughing through lists and lists. A nice addition to my learning regime!

One thing that becomes apparent from the offset is that there is a clear passion behind this book. This is a quiz book by quizzers for quizzers and having talked to the man behind the whole project it is evident this is a personal interest and passion. This makes the title all the more enjoyable. The questions are all original and fresh as Ash, the aforementioned brains behind the project, researches each and every questions himself and is determined to make this book stand out!

It is laid out well, being pocket size it is easy to transport and the content is easy to use. It is a great publication!

I really cannot praise this book enough. There was a gap in the market for a product such as this and I hope it succeeds and the clear level of effort and care put into producing a quality product with a wide appeal is evident throughout.

Try it HERE

Independent Article

Not sure what it is about the last week but there has been a fair few articles on the papers about quizzing. This one is from the Independent HERE

Quiz League Week 3 - Tough

Snow had hit the region hard yesterday which probably played a role in a lower than usual turnout at our Sunderland Echo Quiz League Match last night but we still had a 4v4 match, taking on Hastings Hill (lead by Chris Brewis who you may have seen, and indeed will see on Monday, on Only Connect as part of the Wordsmiths this series).

I was warned before hand that this weeks setters tend to make really tough quizzes and that turned out to be very true! I did enjoy the evening, we won 21-20 and I was able to contribute about 6-7 points mainly due to Sports questions (watching the abysmal Flintoff fight did have some use after all!) and I got to know my team mates a little more. But the nature of the questions, which were a) tough to guess and b) hard to work out an answer if you have no idea, as well as the general fact that they were very very tough indeed meant the scoring was low. I dont mind a hard quiz but if its going to be hard I think you need to give the players a chance to work out answers using knowledge they had. There were some great questions in there though and I certainly learned a lot which is one upside!

The Sunderland Echo Quiz League Match  breaks until after Xmas now. after 3 matches, and a week of setting, I am very much enjoying taking part in a league environment and would encourage anyone interested in quizzing to seek out a local league. Good quizzing and good company!

Quiz Machine Earnings of £60,000!

Not sure what I make of this article. HERE

First off, if this is genuine then all credit to the guy. Not only must he have superb knowledge but he must be a lucky individual indeed (as well all know the "stopper" questions are purely guess work). He is a former University Challenge captain apparently but I cannot help

- The Colour of Money game he mentions as his favourite, is my usual game of choice. However it is so unbelievably rigged it would be impossible to make this kind of money from it you would have thought. As soon as you win on it once they litter the final game with stoppers (such as What was Wigans average attendance in the season 2005/2006? A. 34,001 B. 34,0002 etc etc). To memorise the stoppers, considering the sheer amount of questions that must be within the game, would take a heck of a lot of initial investment.

- Interesting that he mentions about dates and numbers....must try that one!

- I don't quite know what he means by Tip 4 though.

I am not 100% sure I believe this. I know under the old system quiz machines were a source of great income for all but winning £60,000 a year by playing Colour of Money on a modern machine...I have my doubts

Mastermind Wiki Challenge Week 16

Mastermind Wiki Challenge

This weeks subjects for the Mastermind Wiki Challenge....

Novels of William Golding

Soviet Union under Stalin 1924-1939

The KLF

When the Boat Comes In

Some interesting ones here. I will be able to have a good go at the Soviet Union subject as it was one of my University modules in my History Degree. To be honest, When the Boat Comes in is not a show I had ever heard of before googling it prior to this post and the other two I don't much fancy this week but I might try and give them a go.

Brain of Britain 2013 - Round 1 Heat 2

Brain of Britain 2013 - Round 1 - Match 2

I missed a review of last weeks Brain of Britain as I was late hearing the show and if you want a review of that show check out Dave Clarks Life After Mastermind blog. Anyway, onto Heat 2 of what I consider to be one of the most enjoyable broadcast quizzes.

Contestants in Heat 2 of Brain of Britain were...

Jenny Dunn

David Hankin

Dhruv Sharma

Rufus Stilgoe

The opening round was littered with some great questions. "Without Fear, Without Favour" I did not know was the motto of the Financial Times but I managed to get the gimmies of the Ryder Cup Winning Captain and American-Born Member of Monty Python. The following round was a bit more tricky but Jenny Dunn marched to an impressive 5 in a row to give her the lead. A great question on the German for "Snap Crackle and Pop" which I am not going to attempt to repeat. After round two everyone was of the mark with Jenny Dunn leading on 7 but Rufus Stilgoe just behind.

Round 3 kicked off with a music question and I certainly did not recognise the old World Service them but Jenny Dunn kept her run. The fact that Jefferson is William Hagues middle name has been following me around in questions all over and here it was again! It is odd how questions tend to do this. Plenty of points scored so far and a two way battle was emerging. At half time (in other words when Beat the Brain starts) the standings were....Alan Hay who was a semi-finalist last year set two cracking questions which indeed Beat the Brains. Lord Snooty's home is Bunkerton Castle which caught everyone out.

Jenny Dunn - 10

Rufus Stilgoe - 9

David Hankin - 1

Dhruv Sharma - 1

Into the second half then and David Hankin got a piece of Olympic Commentary from the 5000m final in 2012 which required Mo Farahs birth country....already a chestnut! I had read the 50 Shades of Grey fact earlier so for the first time this series got a question the Brain's didnt. Shows my level really that it was a 50 Shades question managed this one. Jenny Dunn had by this time opened up a two point lead but the scoring had slowed down.

Round five started with Jenny Dunn extending her lead further and a fact I read only recently regarding the old name for Brighton came up. Everything was going Jennys way as a guess on Nobel prizes notched her on the way to another batch of points. Fray Bentos is based in Uruguay which I felt I should have known. Jennys biggest rival was by this time Rufus Stilgoe who scored not only a bonus from Jenny but a 5-streak to take the lead by two points. 

The penultimate round began with Jenny failing to identify that the major charity launched on Xmas day in 1985 by Noel Edmonds was Comic Relief. None of the Brains knew Campbell-Bannerman is the only UK PM to die at 10 Downing street. 

Jenny Dunn applied some pressure as the first round kicked off but could not score quite enough, and when Rufus won her bonus that was just about the contest over. I also did not know that "Strausbourg" means City of the Road.

Final scores then were - 

Rufus Stilgoe - 19

Jenny Dunn - 17

David Hankin - 3

Dhruv Sharma - 2

So congratulations to Rufus Stilgoe who moves into the next round with a higher score than last weeks winner. Hard luck to Jenny Ryan who lead almost all the way and had a score that would have won last week. To put that into prospective, including last weeks episode, that leaves the scores so far this series in ranked order as...

I am not 100% sure if all runners up are considered for the 4 runners up spots or just those in second place so for now have included a second next to those who came 2nd in their heats. 

Heat Winners

Rufus Stilgoe - 19

Anthony Fish - 14

Others

Jenny Dunn - 17 (2nd)

Carol Atkinson -10 (2nd)

Philip Issac - 7

Douglas Dickie - 5

David Hankin - 3

Dhruv Sharma - 2

Telegraph Article on Pub Quizzing

Not sure if this appeared in print but the Telegraph have a good little article on Quizzing HERE.


Couple of points worthy of some discussion maybe -

-Marcus Berkman is quoted here, his Brain Men book being one of the best books on quizzing out there, and he states Trivial Pursuit started the quizzing boom in the 1980's. Would people who were around at the time agree with that? I am a little young to be able to comment but I am interested to know if that is the case.

-I totally agree on the issue relating to Sky Sports vs Pub Quizzes. Thinking of myself, I definitely drink more in a 2 hour quiz than if I were watching a football game. No matter who was playing. The problem I guess getting people in for the quiz in the first place.

- Funny that the "British Gas" question is mentioned. I was asked that very question in a quiz recently and totally agree with Marcus on that one. I am finding so much lazy setting, particularly in current affairs rounds, lately.

British Open Grand Prix - Rolleston

As mentioned in a previous post, I attended the British Open Grand Prix yesterday down in Rolleston. Although I have attended an event ran by the IQA in Edinburgh previously, this was my first major event with the BQA and certainly, in terms of numbers of players, the biggest event I have attended.

We were there in plenty of time and before long the individual quiz had started. I knew what to expect of course having purchased the questions previously from the BQA website so the content and difficulty were no surprise. As mentioned in a previous post I also knew where I would be roughly placing in the overall standings so had set myself a target score, which I exceed by three, so in that respect I was certainly happy with the totals. My score was of course much lower than the experience players I was sitting with but I wasn't made to feel belittled or "stupid" in anyway and everyone was full of advice and tips for me which I really appreciated.

The questions themselves were great. The Sport round is always going to be my strongest I feel, and is likely to be for some time yet. 39th in Sport was indeed my highest placing of the day and even though it appears a lot of people "drop" that subject I was not far off some of the others in my table which is encouraging. Its the other areas that let me down though, I took the strategy of neglecting one paper (Physical world) and focusing on the others. (Lowest scoring paper is dropped and the best 5 scores count). I had also been told for now to spend as little time on the tiebreakers as possible and I indeed ignored them completely. I do of course intend to study through all the questions at some point and work out how to improve.

Last word on the individual quiz, which was won by Eggheads Pat Gibson with Jesse Honey (Mastermind winner, World Quiz Champion) in second, is to say that I was happy with my score and if I can keep improving every GP then the only way is up. Roll on Coventry!

After Coventry the team quiz began. I did like the idea of randomised teams and I was placed with some very good quizzers indeed and managed to come 4th in the team aspect. Thrown into the mix was an individual element where 90 questions were given and the average of the middle three scores added to the team score to give the winner. The social side of things is as important as the quiz to many so meeting new people is always good!

In all I had a very enjoyable day indeed and would certainly encourage anyone considering attending an event ran by the BQA to do so (click HERE for the link and head to the forum). Everyone is very friendly, welcoming and as I stated earlier, full of advice and tips so even if like me you imagine you may struggle, its well worth attending.

Roll on Coventry!