European Quizzing Championships 2012

The European Quizzing Championships have been taking place over the past few days over in Tartu, Estonia. I am hoping to attend next year as a few things kept me back this time around.

Anyway, England were victorious in the team quiz with Eggheads Pat Gibson and Kevin Ashman, Mastermind Champion and World Quiz Champion Jesse Honey and top ranked Uk quizzer Olav Bortman.

Indeed Kevin and Pat also took the pairs title to make it a very successful weekend for them.

The individual title, as the new European quizzing Champion, went to Holger Waldenberger . Congratulations to all the winners!

Top 10 Most Useful Reference Books 2012 #9 TV Companion

To continue with my series of the reference books I have found most useful this year I move onto to a title which I received as a gift last Xmas and have hardly put down since...

9

The Penguin TV Companion is a rarity on this list as it is the only title which covers a "narrow" field. Obviously, TV is by no means a narrow quizzing area but the other reference works I will be including are much more wide ranging, covering a vast array of subjects.

This title is a treasure trove of information on TV shows from throughout history containing cast lists, characters, air dates and brief summaries or each show. Each page is packed with TV Trivia and entries are not just limited to TV shows as you will read all about major TV Actors, brands and stations. Knowing this book inside out would ensure your future TV rounds are fruitful!

It is essentially, to use a cliche, on of those books you will dip into for one piece of information and will emerge some hours later with a brain full of new facts. It also comes in handy for setting too. Well written, well presented and for me an essential book this year!

Breakaway is back......With Repeats

Based on the viewing figures I assume which were considerably higher this series, the BBC will be showing the first series of the show in the usual slot (BBC 2 4.30pm) from tomorrow. A good chance to see the series if you have not already or if you have only just caught on with the show in the latest run.

Well worth watching!

Mastermind 2012/2013 - Heat 12

Mastermind 2012/2012 - Heat 12

It seems a long time since I settled down to watch Mastermind but after a weeks break, the current Series returned for the 12th heat in the series. I believe this marks the half way point of the contest with another 12 heats to go following this one. As a reminder we have it now confirmed that regardless of finishing position, any runner up is eligible to make it in as one of the 6 highest scoring runners up with the current need for 27 points to ensure this is case.

So without further a do tonight's contenders were...

Mike Foden
Julie Green
James Jack
Mark Grant

It was good to see another familiar face as this episode began. I met Mike Foden at the Brunton Shield event in Edinburgh and he mentioned he was doing Mastermind this year but I did not know what week he would be on. He plays in the Sunderland Echo Quiz League which I have joined this year. Mike has done Mastermind on a previous occasion and he went out first tonight with the subject Steely Dan, scoring 9. James Jack looked very confident scoring 12 with the Boston Bruisers and Julie Green matched that with the Mapp and Lucia novels.

Another familiar quizzing face rounded off proceedings as Mark Grant scored 10 with Henry Mayhews London Poor. He did seem to get asked very long winded questions throughout though but by the end of the SS Round everyone was still in with a shout.

Mike Foden was first out and stormed through his GK set taking his total to 26, a score which would have won (or at least tied) half of the heats this year. It set a good target for the others to achieve and it was  likely that the next GK contender, Mark Grant would be the biggest threat to beating that. Indeed Mark managed to take his total to 28. A very confident round from a quizzer who will be a contender for the title this year (If you are wondering where you have seen him before then amongst the many shows he has done lately, he was a multiple winner on Cleverdicks.

Julie Green seemed to take an odd approach to her round. Any time a question came up she did not like the sound of she began to laugh, smile and almost give in without trying. This was a strange tactic as she got a good few answers correct taking her to 25.

James Jack did not look comfortable or very happy to be in the chair in his GK round. 12 from the first round should have gave him confidence but he managed 8 on his set to take his total to 20 points.

That means this week we had -

Mark Grant - 28
Mike Foden - 26
Julie Green - 25
James Jack - 20

So Mark moves into the final and has to be take as one of the favourites for the title. Mike joins three players on 26 points who are sharing that 6th spot for qualification as a highest scoring runner up. I however foolishly have not noted down passes so am not sure who stands first in this position. 

And that leaves the overall standings of Mastermind this year at...

Qualified

Gregory Spiller - 32
Kathryn Palmer - 31
Christine Plume - 29
Jonathan Gordon - 29
Michael Wright - 29
Mark Grant - 28
Sian West - 26
Shahab Mossavat - 26
Matthew Bradshaw -26
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

Nathan Joss – 26 

lan Sharp - 26

Mike Foden - 26

Other

Bart Smith - 25

Andrew Hunt - 25
Nina Fetherston - 25
Philip Walters - 25
Julie Green - 25

Andrew Granath - 24

Alan Wharmby - 24

Rosalind Winter - 24

Laurie Handcock – 24

 Kevin Baker - 24 
Roland Mcfall – 23

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

Graeme Marley -22

 Ian Copping - 22

Alan Haddick - 21 
James Jack -20
Kathy Richards - 19
Brian O Donnell - 19
Nick Mazonowicz - 19
Sarah Le Fevre - 19

Jackie Phillips - 19

Mathhew Clarke - 18
Nathan Scott – 18
Xavier Woodward - 18
Nick Gunatilleke - 17
Barbara Bell - 15

Top 10 Most Useful Reference Books 2012 #10 - Facts Facts Facts

I have over the course of 2012 mentioned a wide range of Reference Works, I have suggested, reviewed and comment on a vast number of books and I hope some have been of use.

So, as the year comes to an end I am going to be counting down what I consider to have been the Top 10 most useful books to me personally this year. This list is simply relevant to me and my quizzing this year and I am not commenting here on which books I think are the "best" as such, simply those that I have found most useful this year.

I will post one up every few days but to Kick it all off....

10

Facts Facts Facts is one of the many titles in the Chambers Series of Reference works which they have been producing for some time.

Facts Facts Facts is perhaps my favourite of the Chambers series. It comes nicely in a hardbacked format with a good layout to the whole book. Every major quizzing area is covered as you would expect and learning the information in this book will surely set you up for better quizzing.

It was published in 2010 so is fairly up to date in most areas, it is easy to find what you are looking for and there is a great level of detail packed into each of the 992 pages. Better quizzers than me have also sworn by this book.

Well worth a place on any bookshelf and studying this has certainly added my quizzing in more ways than one this year!

Only Connect Children in Need Special

Only Connect Children in Need Special

As we still await the last Quarter Final of the Current Series of Only Connect, we take a break this coming Monday for a Children in Need Special. 

The line ups for this years special are - 

Charlie Higson, Matthew Paris and Daisy Goodwin

vs

Rosie Boycott, Clarke Carlisle and Richard Osman

As always its 8.30pm on BBC Four!

Recommendations: Sport

Posting my Mythology suggestions last night gave me an idea to post up some more themed links to books which have helped me in my quizzing. I have indeed bought a heck of a lot of books over the years so have a good range to compare each title with. Over the next few weeks I am going to post up some recommendations in each of the quiz categories....Starting with Sport.



Trevor Montague is a name I am sure you have heard of with relation to reference works. His A-Z of Everything is universally popular but the sporting compendium (A-Z of Sport) certainly deserves more praise. Although dating from 2004, just after the Athens Olympics, this book has vital information about the history, rules, winners, losers and everything else you would need to know about Sport. Essential for a quizzing book shelf!







The Chambers Fact Finder Series are always worth a mention and the Sport one is good too. Covering similar ground to the title above this is slightly more up to date (2008), slightly easier to work around and contains a range of different facts.




The Olympics comes up a heck of a lot in quizzes and I have recommended this before and it is well worth mentioning again. A treasure trove of goodies that is worth its weight in quizzing gold.




If its unusual facts and information you are after there are a few Miscellanies I would definitely suggest. All are great in their own right with superb facts you won't have seen anywhere else! (Schotts is a great series and that own is well worth a look)






And finally if you want simply to test yourself out and see what you already know about Sport then by far the best Sporting Quiz book I have come across is the one from Whittakers...Covers every sport, range of difficulties, unique questions...ideal

Only Connect Quarter Final 3

Only Connect 2012/2013 - Quarter Final 3

After two high quality Quarter Finals so far, and the show topping the 1 million viewers marks, we enter the penultimate match in this Quarter Final. Already 2 have advanced to the Semi Final and tonight we saw....

TEFL Teachers
Saul Jones
Chris Sowton
Emma-Louisa Mutter

vs

Scribes
Dom Tait
Holly Pattendon
Gareth Price

The third quarter final in this years Only Connect turned out to be a slightly one sided match. Getting to this stage is an achievement in itself but the Scribes continued their first round form to dominate here. The TEFL Teachers showed promise early on but the Scribes were just too good tonight.

The first round started with a rare occurrence in my household, I actually got a question neither team did (the trigonometry question). With the difficulty ramped up in latter rounds that is the last time I expect that to happen this series. The teams soon settled though with the Scribes edging it 6-3 largely due to their continued strategy of buzzing early and not wasting any points. I did hope this was the start of a close game but it was simply a sign of things to come.

Indeed, just like last week, the second round is where it was won. 9-0 the Scribes took this round to earn a 15-3 lead. Easily the hardest round I have seen this series with a couple of questions catching everybody out. 

The Teachers needed something big on the wall and needed to hope the Scribes struggled. Only a confusion over Robots stopped them solving the wall nut two lines and 3 connections was probably going to be enough for a win in this match. It just shows how alert you need to be in this round as they seemed to get stuck on the "data" clue being in with the robot connection. The Teachers had a tougher wall but matched the score of the Scribes which was unlikely to be enough.

Into the last round and a very harsh opening penalty for Chris Sowton who just could not get Pistorious out. I imagine this whole round is one of the lowest scoring final rounds of the series far and indeed it was not until Dom Tait went on a run with the Botanists that the scoring started to come.

27-9 it ended with the Scribes always being in control and indeed the Semi Final's are shaping up to be very interesting indeed!

University Challenge - Repêchage Match 1

Lincoln College,Oxford vs Lancaster 

With the first round over the next 2 episodes of this years University Challenge will involve two Repechage matches involving the highest scoring runners up. Based on previous form these matches were too close to call and I was expecting a close run match tonight...

University of Lancaster
Alan Webster
Irene Kretzschmar
Ian Dickson
George Pinkerton

vs

Lincoln College, Oxford

Victor Jones
Michael Hopkins
Jackie Thompson
Hugh Reid


Lancaster got the game off to the perfect start with a maximum on lost limbs only for Jackie Thimpson to claw back for Lincoln...a pattern that would continue all night. Indeed this was a very close contest throughout and more proof for anyone who needs it that this Repechage round is a great idea which produces great matches every year.

Indeed as Victor Jones recognised the last lines of 'Paradise Lost' (I did not have clue!) it looked as if it could swing anyway. I always look forward to the picture rounds every week and this week did not let me down. The first being titles of famous works in the original language. Very tough but cracking questions. Pinkerton and Webster were driving Lancaster forward but they just could not pull away. After a great round of pre-war football based questions Lancaster were leading 85-70 but should have been much further ahead.

Yet again, and as I said last week I would love to see a stat on this, the music round starter went unanswered. An Elvis song I had never heard of to be fair but with two older players in the game I was surprised this and all 3 Elvis Bonuses went unanswered. They definitely need to either make the music rounds more gettable next year or remove them as it is becoming a bit of a joke the lack of points being scored on them.

The match stayed tight up until the 100 point mark when a crucial few buzzes from Webster started to take the game away from Lincoln. Indeed, Lincoln never really got going all night and although they scored enough to stay in touch throughout I think it is fair to say the better team won.

Lancaster too the match 165-125 and I don't think there can be too many complaints. Lancaster have a solid line up with Pinkerton and Webster at the spearhead. Past series have shown if you can get such a strong double act you can be hard to beat. Although they need to up their game to win I don't think any team would fancy a match against Lancaster in the next round!

Book Suggestion: The Golden Age of Myth and Legend

I have mentioned and recommended a good few of the books in the Wordsworth series prior to this one but I have somehow over looked this. This is the classic Golden Age of Myth and Legend work by Thomas Bullfinch which is part of the Wordsworth classic range.


Mythology is one of the staples for quizzers and this book has helped me a great deal in an area I usually struggle with. It is very readable and fantastic work outside of what it can do for your quiz wise and I would urge anyone to try it out.




If you prefer lists etc then maybe this will be more up your street. Its another classic work that is easy for reference and in fact these two books combined will serve you very well on any Mythology Questions you may encounter...

Only Connect - Quarter Final 3 Preview

Only Connect - Quarter Final 3 Preview

After two great Quarter Finals in which any one of the winners may well go on to win the series, we come to the third Quarter Final this coming Monday as The Teachers meet the Scribes!

The Scribes were one of the strongest teams in the first round scoring an impressive 31 points, lead by Dom Tait, which makes them a very formidable force. They will certainly take some beating as they looked strong in all 4 rounds. I would consider them as favourites going in!

The Teachers though showed great work under pressure in the last round, heading onto the last round tied they managed to win by a few clear points keeping their never. 22 was scored which is a decent total indeed but they will need to be on the top of their game to match the Scribes!

Prediction: Scribes Win 

Mastermind Challenge - Week 12

Well, with no Mastermind to review this week I will make an earlier usual than post regarding the Mastermind Challenge. Have a browse through the Wiki pages for the subjects due on this weeks show and see how much it improves your score...

Steely Dan
Mapp and Lucia Novels of EF Benson
Boston Bruins Since 1970
Henry Mayhews London Labour and London Poor


I am sure Steely Dan has been done a good few times on the show and I will have a little look at that and due to studying it at uni I think Ill try Mayhew's without the aid of Wiki.

Great Big Politics Pub Quiz 2012

I rarely make mention of Quizzing events outside of my native north-east on this blog, with the exception of the major GP's and World Championships etc, but this one seems worthy of a mention.

Raising money for the Red Cross/Red Crescent Syria Appeal this year the Great Big Politics Pub Quiz 2012 takes place on Tuesday 20th November in Belfast at The Black Box (in the Cathedral Corner). I know from my stats I have a few readers from that part of the world.

A little blurb about the event -

"As ever, there will be a mixture of serious and fun questions – all politics-themed: local and international, real-life and drawn from literature and screen. Your quiz-masters will be specially elevated for the evening from the blue benches of the Assembly chamber. This year we have several party leaders and the Chairs of at least four Assembly Committees, so let’s hope they have as many answers as questions.

An amazing treasure trove of books, DVDs and political ephemera is being assembled and donated by our regular quiz supporters at Stratagem (thanks!) so the ticket price is well worth every penny of the few quid it costs.

And that’s before we even mention that, just for laughs, we’re throwing in the stand-up services of Ronan Linskey"

Another Mastermind Application...

Long time readers will know that I had an audition for this years series of Mastermind and was quite disappointed not to get on. I felt the audition had went well, certainly in scoring 17/20 I did well in the GK test they gave, and they "seemed" keen on my subjects. But it came to nothing but a rejection letter. So this week I have decided to apply again for the next series which I probably won't hear back from until next year.

I figured that my GK round was sufficient so it was either a dislike of my personality or my subjects that let me down. There is nothing much I can do about my personality, so I have re thought my subjects and taken a different strategy this year.

Eurovision is top of the list again. Last year I tried to take the subject as Eurovision from 1990 which I thought was reasonable but in the audition they asked me to expand it to the full history of the contest. Now, this is a fair request but this year some subjects have been very narrow. One contestant has already had Epsom Derby Since 1980.....my Eurovision suggestion was much wider than that! So this year I have tried again and went for Eurovision since 1980. At the depth I would like to prepare for a Mastermind show I don't think expanding my choice to the full contest history would be a wise move but if I have to then I guess I will.

I have chosen something "topical" and what has been in the news more than James Bond recently. So, rather predictably, I have decided to try the James Bond Films.Although I am a huge Bond fan and would make a good go of a SS round on the subject tomorrow, I have kind of chosen this one as a SS I hope will get me on the show. If I could pick the subjects after an audition I probably would not chose Bond but if it gets me on Mastermind...

I decided after my last failed audition and watching this series I would also fling in a Monarch so have chosen The Life of Henry III. No real reason other than the fact its a period I am interested in and I don't recall it being done recently.

My fourth and final subject I wondered over for some time. They seem to like TV shows (funnily enough I was not allowed to do a Tv Show last year with over 100 episodes yet this year Fawlty Towers at a whopping 12 episodes was allowed!) but there is not one that appealed so I went down the music route again. I am trying for the Stereophonics again which was on my form last year too.

Fingers crossed.....

Breakaway Special

I have thoroughly enjoyed this series of Breakway and it is a shame it has been such a short one with the final episode airing tomorrow. I'll post more on my thoughts on this show and the series in general later in the week but I just wanted to do a quick update today to mention that the final show of the series airing tomorrow, Friday, will indeed be a Champions Special were winners will return to compete against other. Barry Humphreys, who you may also have seen on Only Connect this week, will be one of those taking part as it was indeed he who gave me the heads up about this!