Worst Quiz Question Ever
I was going to write about the best quiz questions ever – but I am a little tired, and I think that post requires rather more thought than I am capable of right now. So…instead, what is the worst quiz question ever?
I don’t mean a question that is just plain wrong/out of date (e.g. What is the largest country in Africa? Sudan). Looking for something more than that – collector items…
My personal favourite, that I heard at a quiz in the bustling town of Romford about 9 years ago:
Which celebrity famously came to speak at the Oxford Union? (we actually got it right, because it was a little bit topical at the time, but the correct answer was just one of several equally famous speakers there from the last 6 months, all of whom had received newspaper coverage).
I’ve also had the following question reported to me:
Who, or what, was Eleanor Gray?
Answers to both questions on a postcard…
Any other seriously dodgy questions?
From the Goldhawk pub quiz c. 2005: ‘Who was the best cricketer of all time?’
When clarification was sought, the question was modified to: ‘Statistically, who was the best cricketer of all time?’
The correct answer was apparently Ian Botham!
Brilliant. Particularly, as in every sense that is so far from being true. Was this a pub quiz run by David Brent, by any chance?
For me it was the lamentable Million Pound Drop (not a pub quiz, I know!). The question was something like “Which of these newspapers was published most recently?” They meant ‘went into publication most recently’ but amongst the three or four choices was one daily paper. The show was on a Friday, so that was the right answer (it was published that morning). So many others… (such as the Dr Who debacle).
I have two, similar to the above, and both football-related
1) Name the most famous Russian football team. Apparently Spartak Moscow.
2) Which football team has won the European Cup more times than the English league? Intended answer: Nottingham Forest, correct answer: any non-English European champion.
On one of those National Lottery quiz formats a few years ago, I heard “Which musical, set in the French Revolution…?”. The rest of the question referred to Fantine or Jean Valjean, or something similarly clear and unambiguous, but what an idiotic (and early buzz killing) opener.
Was the answer to Eleanor Gray, the plane from which the Hiroshima bomb was dropped? Sounds just about similar enough to Enola Gay to be possible.
My favourite quizmaster error I’ve heard of was the answer Kim Jong the 3rd being given as the leader of North Korea.
At quizzes I go to any errors seem to be mundane ones like, which Hitchcock film is based on a Daphne DuMaurier story? My team fortunately went for the one chosen by the QM.
Yes – it was supposed to be about Enola Gay…
I love King John III as an answer. I’ve also heard talk of “Who founded Jersey 200?” which, if true, would surely be up there with the best of them.
the flaw in your rosaening is that is circular! here it is:assume that the probability of randomly picking the correct answer is 25%then the correct answer is Bthus the probability of randomly picking the correct answer is 25%