Book Suggestions: Seasons of the Sun

This series of British History by Dominic Sandbrook has had me gripped recently and they are well worth looking at. Very informative, superbly written and very enjoyable.

February Revision Set

Due in part to having a week and also due to revising some of the months events from my notes for the upcoming GP this weekend, I thought I would put together a set of questions looking back the February.

So here are a set of quick questions covering the month.

Answers in the comment box -


1. Sony announced this month that is was producing the last stereo based around which audio format?

2. Name the track and the band who topped a BBC 6 Music Poll this month to discover the "best track of the last 10 years"?

3. Born in 1924, who died this month having served three terms as major of New York?

4. Which comedian announced he is to give a 25-hour stand up show in aid of Comic Relief?

5. Which South African Cricketer played in his 100th test as captain?

6. What is the name of the Netflix exclusive 'TV' series starring Kevin Spacey? (Which by the way is well worth watching!)

7. Which nation won the Men's Handball World Championship?

8. Name the inventor of Etch a Sketch who died this month?

9. What was the name of the Rhythm band who were abducted and murdered in Mexico this month?

10. Who won the much-criticised ITV Saturday Night show "Splash"?

11. A "Tatler" poll voted which female the most fascinating person in Britain?

12.Which Snooker Player won the German Masters tournament this month?

13. Which female English cricketer became the leading women's 1-day run scorer this month?

14. In football, which nation won the African Nations Cup this month and who scored the winning goal?

15. Name the famous streaker who has decided to quit streaking at famous sports events this month?

16. Radio 2 held a day-long celebration of which famous 1960's album in which they gathered musical stars to recreate the recording session that produced the album?

17. Which director was given the Bafta Fellowship?

18. England achieved their highest ever 20/20 score this month. against whom and for a bonus what was the score?

19. Name the horse that was victorious in the Bet Fair Hurdle this month?

20. Which British Band won a Grammy for their album 'Babel'?

21. Who was the only female in the Top 10 of "most-borrowed" authors from British Libraries?

22. Barrack Obama's long serving speech writer retired this month. Name him.

23. What replaced the Iron as the newest playing piece in the board game Monopoly?

24. Which former pop-star and Eastenders actress filed for Bankruptcy this month?

25. Who was fined for assaulting a police officer with a sunflower?

26. Which Snooker player won the Welsh Open this month?

David St John Daily Mail Article

The Daily Mail published an article recently (HERE) that makes interesting reading. It regards quiz-show veteran David St. John who has apparently been on 28 quiz shows.

The Quiz Addict Quiz Book - Out Now

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Mastermind 2013 - Semi Final 1

     

Mastermind 2013 - Semi Final 1

Tonight saw the first semi final in Mastermind 2013 take place. The contenders were - 

Matthew Bradshaw 

Michael Wright

Aidan Mcquade  

Kathryn Palmer

Mark Grant

Matthew Bradshaw had qualified for the final with 26 and took up Rising Damp this time time around. Scoring 9 points.

Michael Wright had scored 29 first time round and took on American Military Aircraft of the Second World War. I had found this a very interesting subject when trying it for the Wiki challenge but it was of very little use. Michael shot through the first half of the set, a mid-point pass did not halt the flow, and seemed happy with a score of 10. 

Aidan Mcquade won his heat with 24 and Dennis Lehane novels were his chosen subject this time around. Very few pauses, quick answering, no passes and a great 11 points. 

Kathryn Palmer was one of the few people in the heats to break 30 with her score of 31 and anything close to that would certainly give her a chance in the Semi Final. This time round she faced questions on St. Johns Wood Clique, scored 10 and kept things ever so close.

Mark Grant is one of the top ranked quizzers in the country and had won his heat with 28. Dietrich and Stromberg films was the subject and Mark scored 10.

A fantastically close round to set up the GK nicely!

Standings after SS round - 

Aidan Mccquade  - 11

Michael Wright - 10

Kathryn Palmer - 10

Mark Grant - 10

Matthew Bradshaw - 9

Into the GK round and Matthew Bradshaw had the task of setting the first target. A slow start was compensated by a mid-round spree of racking up points but this slowed down at 16. A great effort but unlikely to be enough in the Semi Final.

Michael Wright now had his chance to set the bar even higher. Of course this very much only my opinion, but I felt Michael had a tougher set but dealt with it strongly with quick answers and very few mistakes. A slow down towards the end of the round again though perhaps meant the target posted was not quite enough. 19 scored in total.

Kathryn Palmer next and at least 9 was needed from her round to give her a chance of making the final. The round started well but a few early toughies stopped the scoring kicking in. Again, purely my opinion but I think this was the hardest set of the night at this point. Indeed it was the 9 she needed and tied with Michael.

Mark Grant next. An experienced quizzer who I thought was one of the top contenders for the title this series perhaps did not get off to the start he wanted but soon settled into the round and heading towards the 19 he needed. It was achieved and it was now a matter of setting the target score for the Aidan but again Mark stalled on 19 to make it a three way tie.

Aidan Mccquade came to the chair knowing 9 would take him to the Mastermind final. A 4-way tie was very much a possibility? Aidan got off to a good start and by the time he spent a few seconds summoning Spandau Ballet it looked likely it would take the win. Part of me wanted to see a four way tie but Aidan soon reached the 20 he needed, adding one more for luck and making it to the final.

Final Standings - 

Aidan Mccquade  - 21

Michael Wright - 19

Kathryn Palmer - 19

Mark Grant - 19

Matthew Bradshaw - 16

So congratulations to Aidan Mccquade who takes his place in the Mastermind final! Best of luck!

The Quiz Addict Quiz Book Out Now

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Another DK suggestion....

In my round up of my favourite DK titles a few days ago I overlooked one of my favourite titles, perhaps not just published by DK, but in my entire collection....

History Year By Year is a great, fantastically illustrated title with reams of facts and facts presented in engaging ways. Its one of those books you dip into looking for some information and merge some hours later. 

Mastermind - Semi Final 1 (Wiki Challenge)

I am as yet unsure of who is appearing in this weeks Semi Final. The following subjects will be taken on, some being very interesting indeed.  I will have a stab at a few of these for certain....

Rising Damp

US Military Aircraft in world War 2

Novels of Dennis Lehane

St John's Wood Clique of Victorian Artists

Films of Dietrich and Von Sternber 

Mastermind - Round One - Final Standings

     

Mastermind 2013 - Heats - Final Standings

Well there we have it. After 24 episodes we find ourselves at the end of the First round heats of this years Mastermind. Its been a great series so far and has the potential to be a cracking Semi Final line up. Here are the final standings from the first round of heats.....

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
Marucs Hake - 28
Mark Grant - 28
Didier Bruyere - 27
Rob White - 27
Richard Tarleton - 27
Nell Whiteway - 27
Mark Skinner - 26
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
Simon Rundell
Phil Bennion - 25

Andrew Hunt - 25
Graham Barker - 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
Katie Bateman - 24
Michael Webb - 23
Tony Ryan - 23
Thomas Grinyer - 23
Rob Hemming - 23
Colin Wilson - 23
Roland Mcfall – 23

Johnathan Payton  -23

Mick Judge - 22

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

Graeme Marley -22

 Ian Copping - 22

Alan Haddick - 21 
Tim Parry - 21
Charlie Tinsley - 21
Aileen Lucas - 20
James Jack -20
Phil Saunders -20
Karen Barnes - 19
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
Peter Gibbs - 17
Nick Gunatilleke - 17
Charlotte Mason - 17

Brig Rooke - 16
Kimberley Westall - 16
Katie Jamieson  -15

Barbara Bell - 15

One of the worst quiz rounds I have played in and Anagrams!

It is becoming a pet hate of mine in quizzes to be stuck with an anagram question. I do not dislike anagrams at all and am a keen player of scrabble, various on-line word games and indeed anagramming games but finding them in the middle of a GK round in a pub quiz is annoying. "What is the only English Anagram of Stationed?" etc is the common type.

However, I can maybe tolerate the odd one here and there and from a personal point of view it means the non-quizzing fans I usually quiz with get chance to get stuck into it.

This leads me to the worst round of quizzing I have played in. By worst I mean least enjoyable of course. It started with the quiz master completely making a hash of the instructions. What he basically tried to say, was that he was going to ask three questions with a two-word answer only required for each. After three questions you took all those letters and had to make a word with it.

Here's an easy example - (My own as I am not in the habit of reproducing another quizmasters sets)

1. Who is the author of plays including the Crucible and Death of a Salesman? Arthur Miller
2. Who is the lead singer of Aerosmith? Steve Tyler
3. In which TV series did George Clooney play Dr Doug Ross? E. R.

So take all those initials and you are left with AMSTER?

The quiz master then wanted you to to make a word out of those initials.  See the problem? There are at least 6 different words you could make but the only way to get the point was if the answer you gave was the same word on the quiz master's sheet. He justified this by saying it stopped Google cheats.

Now, each correct anagram was worth 2 points, he did 5 rounds of this meaning 10 points in a quiz out of 60 points was based on guess work! He also made the questions so easy, pretty much every team will have got all the question answers so even more importance was placed on the questions.

Two remedies to this if he insists on carrying on with he round, which was met with many groans.....

1. Make the anagram answer once in which there is only one possible word

2. Give a crossword style clue to the word wanted and this would allow people to "work backwards" as well as work out which word it is!

Anyway, enough said. Just like Family Fortunes rounds I would rather not see Anagrams in quizzes especially as bad as this!

Eggheads Filming Date!

Good news for me this week on the Eggheads front! After the audition a few weeks ago we were contacted this week with a filming date (March 4th) so we will be heading up to Glasgow! I will let you know a date for broadcast as soon as I know.

Dk Eyewitness Companions

I was originally turned onto these books after Pat Gibson recommended them in an interview. After spending some months col
lating them and studying them I have found them to be very useful indeed and they have certainly improved my quizzing. Here are some of my favourites....


The World History title is an excellent revision set. Very visual and engaging with all the key topics covered.



This is a great primer for Philosophy which feeds the mind with all the main ideas explained but the most useful section I found was the biographies of the prominent philosophers.




Astronomy is a subject I have found hard to engage with but this book really served to increase my basic quizzing knowledge. The best Astronomy primer I have come across.

The Quiz Addict Quiz Book Out Now

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Brain of Britain Semi Final Preview

Brain of Britain Semi Final Preview

The first Brain of Britain Semi Final airs tomorrow and already it is shaping up to be a cracking series. This weeks episodes was one of the closet I can ever remember in my years following the series so hopefully the Semi Finals will stir up a treat.

In among  the winners there are many top quizzers indeed. David Stainer, Only Connect Champion of Champions among many other accolades, leads the way with Eggheads own Barry Simmons in the mix. Some great performances elsewhere mean its very tough to call.

Heat Winners

David Stainer - 26
Jill Goodwin  - 24
Rufus Stilgoe - 19
Barry Simmons - 17
Clive Dunning - 17
Paul Jordan - 16
George Sheldrick - 16
Scott Dawson - 15

Anthony Fish - 14
David Buckle - 14

Rob Cruise - 11
John Harris - 8

By my calculations the following 4 contestants will be those re-appearing as the highest scoring runners up. Indeed only three players have scored higher than Jeremy Dunn and with 14,13 and 12 none of the others can be discounted.

Others

Jenny Dunn - 17 (2nd)
Darren Martin - 14 (2nd)
John Colemans - 13 (2nd)
Rod Riesco - 12 (2nd)

The Quiz Addict Ebook

A little bit of self-plugging here (sorry). The Quiz Addict Quiz Book is still available on the Amazon store. Reaction has been fairly positive so I am delighted with the feedback so far and hope everyone has enjoyed it. I will be releasing a series of ebooks as I have enjoyed the experience and would encourage anyone else to have a go!

This book is a 200-question set on various subjects aimed at testing all. I have tried to avoid chestnuts and easy-gimmies and go straight for some of t

P.s. - You do not need a Kindle to read it as Amazon allow you to download a free app to view it on your laptop, PC or most other devices.

Click below to follow the link to Amazon.

Mastermind Wiki Challenge

Its been a few weeks since I have had chance to do the Wiki Challenge on Mastermind due to being very busy with work and other matters but I will be dedicating some time this week to have a go at the subjects in the last first round match which takes place on Friday.

The subjects are - 

Ian Dury

The Red Army  1941-1945

The Life and Work of Gerald Durrell 

History of Celtic FC

I fancy a stab at all of those on the Wiki Challenge so hopefully I will get some time to do it. 

Book Suggestion

I have mentioned this excellent title earlier in the year but the more I work through it the more useful I am finding it. Full of facts about the year gone by plus tons of lists, fact sheets and guides to essential quizzing material. There are chunks you may, like me, skip past such as the sections on the very very detailed US Election results but on the whole this is a brilliant title!

Brain of Britain 2013 - Round 1 - Match 12

Brain of Britain - Round 1 - Match 12

The final first round heat in the 2013 series, which has flown over, involved the following contestants -

Phil Beckett
John Harris
Gina Jollif
Peter Russell

The first few rounds were well contested with everyone getting off the score sheet. Kicked myself for not getting the name of the dog in Punch and Judy (Toby)....I even paused the player to have a proper think but it just would not come! The hurling question was one of the few I managed that the Brain's didn't but I found this generally a tough episode. The animal known as the War Horse in the novel/film being Joey probably the best new fact I learned (although I feel I should have known this!).

Barry Manilow then graced us ("I Write The Songs" being wrote by Bruce Johnston as the basis of the question) with turned into a tough ask that no one picked up on. No-one was really taking command in this heat so it remained wide open. 3,3,4,4 were the scores. It remained close up until the half time interval.

The first two rounds of the second half have often decided the game in this series but still no-one was able to take command in this heat. The Portland Club is haunting me and it cropped up again! Known my luck when I am actually asked this fact I have seen 4-5 times in this week I will forget! 6-7-7-8 was now the score with the final round approaching.

Phil Beckett started the crucial round off with a point but a spelling questions stumped all. John Harris missed his chance to add to his score and Gina Jollif followed suit. Phil Beckett got what could prove a bonus here. Peter Russell began to stake his claim for the win starting well with a correct answer on Irene Thomas but as was the story of the match he could not put a run together.

And that meant...........
A three way tie!

A question on the buzzer and they gave a chestnut regarding Amy Johnson the London Airport she took off from. John Harris took it and advances to the semi final. A very tight and entertaining episode. By some distance the lowest winning score of the series but I am sure John will do well in the Semi-Final!



Final results -

John Harris - 8 (Tiebreak win)

Phil Beckett - 8
Peter Russell - 8
Gina Jollif - 7

Final Standings....

Heat Winners

David Stainer - 26
Jill Goodwin  - 24
Rufus Stilgoe - 19
Barry Simmons - 17
Clive Dunning - 17
Paul Jordan - 16
George Sheldrick - 16
Scott Dawson - 15

Anthony Fish - 14
David Buckle - 14

Rob Cruise - 11
John Harris - 8

Others

Jenny Dunn - 17 (2nd)
Darren Martin - 14 (2nd)
John Colemans - 13 (2nd)
Rod Riesco - 12 (2nd)
Paddy Hayes - 11 (2nd)
Ramadas Mullath - 11 (2nd)

Carol Atkinson -10 (2nd)
Gordon Taylor - 10 (2nd)
David Love - 9 (2nd)
Allison Jacobs - 9 (2nd)
Phil Beckett - 8 (Tied 2nd)
Peter Russell - 8(Tied 2nd)
George Duda - 5 (Tied 2nd)
Oliver Levy - 5 (Tied 2nd)
Gareth Parkin - 10
Steve O'Gorman - 9
John Newth - 9
Sarah Greenan - 8
Gina Jollif - 7
Bel Freedman - 7

Philip Issac - 7
Andrew Ward - 7
Dave Tilley - 7
Brian Rolls - 7

John Snedden - 7

Simon Mason  - 6

Chris Gould - 6

Douglas Dickie - 5
Bob Delciaro - 4
Jonathan Perry  - 4

David Hankin - 3
Richard Moss - 3
Julian Alrdige - 3

Dhruv Sharma - 2
Clare Green - 0

Mastermind 2012/2013 - Round 1 Heat 23

     

Mastermind 2012/2013 - Round 1 Heat 23

In the penultimate first round heat for this years Mastermind, Marcus Hake moved into the Semi-Finals with a storming win. It was wide open after the first round but the GK round allowed Marcus to build on his narrow first round lead with some excellent fast paced answering and some solid displays of knowledge. Credit to the other contenders but the bar is high for entry into the Semi-Final as a runner up and unfortunately this weeks contestants just missed out.

Marucs Hake - 28
Johnathan Payton  -23
Mick Judge - 22
Kimberley Westall - 16

That puts the standings at....

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
Marucs Hake - 28
Mark Grant - 28
Didier Bruyere - 27
Rob White - 27
Richard Tarleton - 27
Nell Whiteway - 27
Mark Skinner - 26
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
Simon Rundell
Phil Bennion - 25

Andrew Hunt - 25
Graham Barker - 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
Katie Bateman - 24
Michael Webb - 23
Tony Ryan - 23
Thomas Grinyer - 23
Rob Hemming - 23
Colin Wilson - 23
Roland Mcfall – 23

Johnathan Payton  -23

Mick Judge - 22

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

Graeme Marley -22

 Ian Copping - 22

Alan Haddick - 21 
Tim Parry - 21
Charlie Tinsley - 21
Aileen Lucas - 20
James Jack -20
Phil Saunders -20
Karen Barnes - 19
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
Peter Gibbs - 17
Nick Gunatilleke - 17
Charlotte Mason - 17

Brig Rooke - 16
Kimberley Westall - 16
Katie Jamieson  -15

Barbara Bell - 15

Ebook

The e book seems to have been rectified now so is available Here


Anyone with the old version should be receiving the updated version soon!

Brain of Britain - Round 1 Match 11

Brain of Britain - Round 1 - Match 11

A little late in this result due to a busy week but a cracking episode of the show this week saw Barry Simmons take the win. Barry, you may have noticed, is the same Barry from Eggheads. It was not mentioned within the show however and his score of 17 was enough to win. Its shaping up to be a great year.

This weeks results - 

Barry Simmons - 17

David Love - 9

John Snedden - 7

Richard Moss - 3

Heat Winners

David Stainer - 26
Jill Goodwin  - 24
Rufus Stilgoe - 19
Barry Simmons - 17
Clive Dunning - 17
Paul Jordan - 16
George Sheldrick - 16
Scott Dawson - 15

Anthony Fish - 14
David Buckle - 14

Rob Cruise - 11

Others

Jenny Dunn - 17 (2nd)
Darren Martin - 14 (2nd)
John Colemans - 13 (2nd)
Rod Riesco - 12 (2nd)
Paddy Hayes - 11 (2nd)
Ramadas Mullath - 11 (2md)

Carol Atkinson -10 (2nd)
Gordon Taylor - 10 (2nd)
David Love - 9 (2nd)
Allison Jacobs - 9 (2nd)
George Duda - 5 (Tied 2nd)
Oliver Levy - 5 (Tied 2nd)
Gareth Parkin - 10
Steve O'Gorman - 9
John Newth - 9
Sarah Greenan - 8
Bel Freedman - 7

Philip Issac - 7
Andrew Ward - 7
Dave Tilley - 7
Brian Rolls - 7

John Snedden - 7

Simon Mason  - 6

Chris Gould - 6

Douglas Dickie - 5
Bob Delciaro - 4
Jonathan Perry  - 4

David Hankin - 3
Richard Moss - 3
Julian Alrdige - 3

Dhruv Sharma - 2
Clare Green - 0

TQA Quiz Trek 2013 - #4

 #4

Chesters, Sunderland

Tuesday Nights

I found out about the Chesters Pub by accident. Being relativley new to the area still I am still working out where pubs are and which ones may have a quiz. As it happens when I enquired at the Chesters it turned out to be a Tuesday Night (and a Sunday) but with Tuesday being one of the days when there are not many quizzes locally, last night was an ideal time to try it out.

Its a nice little pub, I actually ate a lovely mixed grill before hand, with a good range of real ale, plenty of parking space and a nice friendly atmosphere. The quiz kicks off 8.30pm with the pictures being handed out. 18 in all and they all seemed to be people who had been in the news recently which helped with guessing I suppose on a few I had no idea on.

20 General Knowledge questions follow but there are more than one part to some questions. Some involving listing 5 of one thing, others are four answers all with the same initials. (This lead to a really off putting clue about Lynsday Davenpot....clue given was "An 80's and 90's tall tennis player who didnt really do much...more on that later). All in all it was a good section and I really enjoyed this round.

The quiz rounds off with 15 music tracks. There was a nice range here but the quiz master felt the need throughout the whole quiz to apologise to younger players. I am not a huge fan of large music rounds. I prefer artisit and track rounds of perhaps 5 songs but here we had what seemed like a never ending 15 tracks and artisits to identify. It was fun in part I suppose and plenty for each of us to pick up points on.

The prizes on offer were beer cheques for round winners, chas prizes for the top 4 teams and with 11 decent size teams it seems to be a popular. The questions were clearly written by the quizmaster and he was a very good host. He seemed to have a handle on cheating and it was a fair quiz but...

The two downsides maybe for me were the picture rounds and music rounds which were worth more than the GK round. Just a personal preference. The quiz master also "marked up" which is very common in pub quizzes. This means he makes sure the quiz is close to the last round. I can see why quiz masters do it as at the end of the day thier job is keep the pub full. We knew we had missed 5 of the music tracks yet our score was somehow 14/15. I don't like when this happens as it means if you have a really good week you never know who has been scored up.

At the end of the day though my quibbles are only minor and everyone seemed to enjoy the quiz, including me. I can see myself going back as the GK questions were very entertaining. Worth a look for drinks, food and quizzing.

Eggheads Audition

My first TV audition of the year took place today when myself and a team from a local quiz I attend headed to Newcastle for an Audition for Eggheads. This is the first time I have tried for the show as to be perfectly honest its been the first time I have 4 other people wanting to do it!

The audition process, for anyone interested or anyone who is googling to find out what its like for an upcoming audition, is very simple and enjoyable. There were five teams all sat round in a room and the first part of the day started with a simple sheet of around 10 questions which you are given 5 minutes to do. 6 Multiple choice and 4 without choices if I remember correctly. I did not find out my score on this but I think I managed all but one.

Then the researchers take the role of Jeremy Vine and each member of the team faces a question on a subject. Correct and you make it though to the final, wrong and you're out. Obviously this is where my practising at talking "around the answers" came in. There were a few teams who gave their answers straight away without any explaining, even when prompted, so I think we did well to stand out by actually describing the thought process. A very enjoyable quizzing session!

Following this we had to wait as each team has an individual meeting with the researchers, one on one for some legal issues and another simply to ask questions to you as a team to put you on the spot. Not general knowledge questions..."what if...." questions.

All in all it was a very enjoyable process, probably more to do with the fact its a team based audition. Filming starts in Glasgow on the 25th February so I am hoping for a call soon to let me know if we have made it. I feel this one went much better than the Mastermind audition I failed last year but you can never tell.

The Mythology Quiz Book

David Clark has done it all when it comes to quizzing. Mastermind champion, writer of the excellent Life After Mastermind blog and appearances on just about every broadcast quiz worth its salt. He has also published a range of books for Kindle and The Mythology Quiz Book is certainly worth a look. Its been one of my weak areas for some time but plenty of reading supplemented by this quiz book has turned that around!

Excellent and you don't need a kindle to read it as with a free app from Amazon you can view it on your laptop or mobile device!

E-Book issues

I posted a few days ago about the release of my new book and thankfully it was brought to my attention yesterday over a problem that seems to have occurred  I did say it was a trial run for me to get the book on the store and see how it works and there appears to be one or two formatting and setting issues.

To cut a long story short after realising I had uploaded the first draft of the book, I tried to take it down and upload the final one with all errors fixed but it did not work and as of yesterday the book on the store is  It was mainly a few wording and spellcheck changes that had caused the problems.

Anyway, if you have the old version of the book and want the new one I can sort that out easily for you. My email address if fully234@hotmail.com so email me and I will arrange it. The easy way to tell if you have the old version is on the first pace in the question relating to Adam Adamant, if you see the word "san" in the question you have the old version.

Anyone still wanting to download it, perhaps delay it until tomorrow when the finalised version I am assured by Amazon will be on the store.

The link will stll be HERE

Yorkshire GP

I travelled down to Yorkshire yesterday for my third Quizzing Grand Prix in succession. Living up in Sunderland this is probably the closest GP to me geographically so it was not too early a start! The venue was Lee Brigg WMC, Altofts and around 80 quizzers took part.

I know what to expect by now from these events and again it was hugely enjoyable . On a personal note in the individual quiz the hours and hours of work I had put in over the past month seemed to pay off as I scored around 15 points more than usual and around 30 places higher than usual too! I beat some good quizzers for the first time and managed my highest ever genre placing (15th in Entertainment) which I was over the moon with.  I also managed to get my best ever Hot 100 score so all the work has certainly paid for. I think I was helped in part by a good chunk (at least half a dozen) of questions focusing on recent events which I had worked a lot on to overcome bad current affairs rounds in local quizzes.

The team quiz in the afternoon was equally as enjoyable with even my old home town (Peterlee) coming up in the questions.

Next stop is Northants at the start of March which is quite a trek for us so will mean an overnight stay and for anyone interested in these events I would definitely recommend them. Always welcoming  friendly and a great day out!

Mastermind - Round 1 - Heat 22

     

The Semi Finals inch ever closer and the contest this year is shaping up to be something very special indeed. A lot of top quizzers are lining up to take their place in the final and this weeks winner Didier Bruyere adds his name to that list. I cannot imagine how hard it is to not only master another language but to be able to then compete in Mastermind, with John Humphreys 100mph questions and be able to fire back instant responses is astonishing. Didier is a regular at GP events around the country and is a contender in any event he plays in so he was always going to be tough to beat.

I am sure he won't mind me saying either than the only thing that may let him down is the "British-biased" questions. "Milk snatcher" being the example in this heat. That is by no means a criticism of any sort as Didier did fantastic throughout and is certainly a contender for the series and scored superbly on a set that I found to be harder than the others.

Overall a superb episode and a great win for Didier -

Didier Bruyere - 27
Katie Bateman - 24
Michael Webb - 23
Tim Jarvis - 22

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
Didier Bruyere - 27
Rob White - 27
Richard Tarleton - 27
Nell Whiteway - 27
Mark Skinner - 26
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
Simon Rundell
Phil Bennion - 25

Andrew Hunt - 25
Graham Barker - 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

Katie Bateman - 24
Michael Webb - 23
Tony Ryan - 23

Thomas Grinyer - 23
Rob Hemming - 23
Colin Wilson - 23
Roland Mcfall – 23

Hazel Humprheys - 22
Sam Goodyear - 22
Chris Kirk - 22
Tim Jarvis - 22


Les Wallace - 22

Graeme Marley -22

 Ian Copping - 22

Alan Haddick - 21 
Tim Parry - 21
Charlie Tinsley - 21
Aileen Lucas - 20
James Jack -20
Phil Saunders -20
Karen Barnes - 19
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
Peter Gibbs - 17
Nick Gunatilleke - 17
Charlotte Mason - 17

Brig Rooke - 16
Katie Jamieson  -15

Barbara Bell - 15