The Quiz in the North - Rochdale - 17th September

The latest Quiz in the North Event is only a matter of weeks away. This is very much a player-ran event in which various top quizzers take turns setting fun and testing sets for all to enjoy. The events are always well attended, involve various apres-quizzing and socialising and a perfect introduction to the "written exam" style of competitive quizzing. 

In the words of organiser Colin Daffern

"Andy Kelly and myself will be hosting the next Quiz In The North at the Flying Horse in Rochdale on Saturday 17th September. There will be a full day's quizzing, including a team quiz set by the fabulous Lindsay Baumeister plus plenty of post-quiz socialising.

If you're interested in attending, please sign up using the event link below. See you there!"

LINK (via Facebook)

If you don't use Facebook pop me a message in the comments or daniel@thequizaddict.com and Ill put you in touch with the organisers.

New Podcast Episodes! Out now

 The latest batch of episodes of the Quiz Addict Podcast are now underway with the first two episodes out today. The initial half a dozen or so episodes of the series will be themed around "General Knowledge Trios" before reverting back to the usual subjects. If you wish to make a donation to the podcast or indeed have suggestions for future episodes get in touch daniel@thequizaddict.com 

University Challenge Night- Tonight!

 

It somewhat escaped my attention when mentioning the return of University Challenge last week, that BBC Two has something of a University Challenge style night in store! After the main show itself at 9pm, a one hour documentary airs "University Challenge at 60" which looks interesting, followed by the entertaining movie "Starter For Ten", which is well worth a watch!

British Quizzing Championships

 

There is still time to register for the British Quizzing Championships which are taking place on Saturday 3rd September in Northampton. Open to anyone and you can find full details HERE. Hundreds of people will be taking part and its a great step into the world of competitive quizzing if you have yet to sample a GP style event. The British Quizzing Championships were one of the first events I went to over a decade ago and I would certainly recommend it as a starting point! There will a pairs event on the day as well as well as a buzzer event the following day (sadly now entries and this is the only part of the weekend Ill be doing) and it should be a cracking weekend.

If you are interested in previous winners of the contest, you will recognise many of the names below, most of whom will be competing again for one of the most prestigious titles in quiz.

Year	Venue	Winner - Singles	Winner - Pairs
2004	Old Trafford Manchester	Kevin Ashman	Not held
2005	Altrincham	Kevin Ashman	Not held
2006	Shrewsbury	Kevin Ashman	Ian Bayley & Pat Gibson
2007	Derby	Pat Gibson	Gareth Aubrey & Olav Bjortomt
2008	Staveley	Sean Carey	David Edwards & Nic Paul
2009	Derby	Mark Bytheway	David Lea & Kathryn Johnson
2010	Derby	Pat Gibson	David Edwards & Nic Paul
2011	Lichfield	Kevin Ashman	Pat Gibson & Ian Bayley
2012	Lichfield	Jesse Honey	David Stainer & Olav Bjortomt
2013	Hilton, Edinburgh, Dublin	Kevin Ashman	Kevin Ashman & Pat Gibson
2014	Rothwell, Edinburgh, Dublin	Pat Gibson	David Stainer & Olav Bjortomt
2015	Newark, Edinburgh, Dublin	Pat Gibson	Anne Hegerty & John Wilson
2016	Coventry, Edinburgh	Nic Paul	Brian Chesney & Jeff Evans
2017	Coventry, Edinburgh	Kevin Ashman	Kevin Ashman & Pat Gibson
2018	Coventry, Edinburgh, London	Pat Gibson	Not held
2019	Northampton, Edinburgh	Paul Sinha	Kevin Ashman & Pat Gibson
2020	Various	Pat Gibson	Not held

Podcast Suggestion - Unreal

One of my favourite podcasts of 2022 so far, has to be Unreal: A Critical History of reality TV. Over the course of ten episodes (available on all major platforms and BBC Sounds HERE) the show takes a look at the evolution of reality TV from Big Brother onwards. Each episode is tied in which a particular show, or style of show, and as well as being extremely interesting and informative, there are plenty of useful facts for quizzing that emerge and gentle reminders of shows we perhaps would rather forget!

New Shoots - Quizzing Documentary

 

I got a question on Twitter this week asking for a link to the "CJ and Jenny Ryan" quiz documentary Channel 4 put out a good few years ago. Always worthy of a repost on the blog as well.....Well worth 20 minutes of your time if you haven't seen it!

Online Quiz League

 

The latest season of the Online Quiz League is due to begin on Wednesday 31st August. About to embark on its 8th Season, the league continues to go from strength to strength. Its a 4v4 format and is played every Wednesday at 8pm running for 11 weeks. Whether you have a full team or are an individual seeking to take part in some more competitive quizzing, then check out the website HERE for full information and registration details!

Podcast - New Episodes This Week

The latest episodes of the Quiz Addict Podcast are all now written, recorded and scheduled to go live in the coming days. With over a years worth of episodes to catch up with (see below) there is plenty of content already available. 15 questions in 5 minutes...

University Challenge - Returns on Monday!

 

After the announcement of the return of Only Connect on the 29th August, we all hoped quizzy Mondays would be back in full force with University Challenge alongside....and indeed it is! The first round battle will  be between Bristol and Durham (my home team!).

Speedquizzing Night in Sunderland

 

With a child free night, after eating food at The Stack in Seaburn, Sunderland, we discovered a quiz that I wasn't aware existed. Now, I like to think I'm usually aware of the quiz scene in Sunderland and have a good grasp of the various nights and where.....but all I will say is I had no idea this existed, and it is by far not only the biggest quiz night in Sunderland, but perhaps the largest regular pub quiz I have ever been to!

As you may be able to see from the Picture above, the Stack is a superb venue in Seaburn, Sunderland right on the coast and with this being an especially warm, this partially open air venue was perfect! The host uses Speedquizzing technology which means you do need a device to play (mobile phone, ipad etc). 

The quiz runs from 8pm-10pm (and it is a 8pm sharp start) and runs in three sections. Each round is treated as a separate quiz with 20 questions per quiz and evil mode activated or the final round which has more prizes. Its free to enter and you can drop in and out. Many teams did...and speaking of team, there was an astounding 154 teams in action on Tuesday! The questions were a nice range for a mass audience.

I also posted the below picture of the large screen on my Twitter account (@quizaddictblog) and got informed by the official Speedquizzing account that this may be the largest screen they have seen used for a Speed Quiz.

All in all, a fun night with a wide range of food and drinks available around the stack, and certainly something I would hope to get back to once the summer is over!

Podcast Suggestion - Victoria Groce interview

 

It is always fascinating to hear inside the mind of truly elite quizzers, and the most recent episode of the 'Freakonomics People I Mostly Admire' features Victoria Groce. Now, of course a star of The Chase USA, this episode is an insight into how Victoria got to where she is today in the quizzing world and for those people grinding Anki cards daily like I do, its a superb motivational listen to hear just how far that can get you! It is available on all major podcast apps and the main Freakonomics website HERE

Speedquizzing - Elite Event

 

After the success of the inaugural edition, SpeedQuizzing will run their 2nd "Elite" event in January 2023 in York.  A full days quizzing is in store with the main event hosted and written by Paul Sinha from the Chase. Everything is provided, including the tables, and the fee is £25 including lunch. This will sell out pretty quickly if last time, and the general popularity of SpeedQuizzing, is anything to go by. Full information is available HERE and if you are going...I shall see you there!

Fastest Finger First

 

Coming to ITV later this month, is a new daytime quiz show fronted by Anita Rani under the name "Fastest Finger First". As you can tell from the image and the name of the show, this is indeed a spin off from Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? with the prize on the show being a seat on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?  itself. An interesting concept and for once the UK are slow to the field with Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?  spin offs with Australia and USA amongst many to have tried it. 

Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? : Fastest Finger First begins 29th August on ITV

ZQL Game of the Week

 

Another game of the week from the excellent Zephyr Quiz League in which I have been playing in! If you are interested in taking part head over to Zephyr Quiz League on Facebook and register your interest for Season 3!

Brain of Britain

 

Just in case you missed it, the latest series of Brain of Britain began last Monday on BBC Radio 4 with the show available HERE on iplayer.