In this very hot weather, it can be tough for a quiz master to remain cool. Quiz venues are typically pubs, and pubs aren’t renowned for their ventilation systems. The people at the quiz have come to do a quiz, not to admire sweat patches oozing across the quiz master’s shirt. We’re even seeing “heat” […]
We don’t normally post adverts etc., but I’ve now heard about ‘The Big Give Quiz’ from a few different sources, and it sounds like it will be good fun. It is, in particular, an opportunity to feel like you are on a celebrity quiz show special: if you win you get a nice wadge of […]
In 2002, the BBC conducted a poll to find out whom the British public considered the greatest British people in history. You can read the Wikipedia article about it here and see the full list of the top 100, in order, here. On Friday 18th May 2012, the QuizQuizQuiz Friday Quiz asked for people to name any […]
When I tell people I am a professional quiz master, and that I set quiz questions for iPhone quiz games, TV shows etc. I am often asked if we write the questions for ‘University Challenge’ (we don’t), such is the high profile of the show in the UK. ‘University Challenge’ style questions are very hard […]
At our quiz nights, the quizmaster and/or the quizmaster’s helper(s), does the marking. But I’ve been to many a pub quiz night in which the routine is for teams to swap papers and mark each others, and even quizzes when teams are trusted to mark their own quiz sheets. In an earlier post about our […]
We’re going to veer away from the world of the pub quiz night for this post (but will come back on topic next time). I noticed that ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ is taking applications for shows in the summer: details on their website. But that isn’t really what this post is about (well […]
I’ve heard professional comedians complain that as soon as they reveal to someone that they are a stand-up, they are asked to tell jokes. I’m no expert but I am a big fan, and I know enough about stand-up comedy to know that many of the best stand-ups don’t tell jokes. And even if they […]
Who becomes a professional quiz master? If you run a quiz night, and get paid for it you are a professional quiz master. As Aleksandr Orlov would say: “Simples”. But there is a difference between running an occasional quiz night and getting a bit of pocket money for it, and it actually being your main, […]
I was lucky enough to attend the pub quiz at the Fox in Putney in its 2005-2006 pomp. Lucky on three fronts 1. it was a great pub quiz 2. I happened to be in a very good team so regularly went home with a bit of cash in my pocket 3. attending that quiz […]
This is the big topic for anybody who runs or attends any kind of quiz night these days. Once upon a time it was about people sneaking a look at reference books in their bag. Then it was about texting friends to ask them for help, or indeed for them to look something up for […]