Quiz Blog

Inspired by pubquizpostmortem.blogspot.co.uk I've decided to set up this blog about my own quizzing exploits. I don't really know how or if this is going to develop, so I'll just stick to a basic formula for now and see how things turn out. I've been pub quizzing for years, but there is still oodles of stuff out there that I have zero knowledge of. This blog is designed in part to help me improve by analysing the (often dreadful) mistakes made, working out what to improve and perhaps rectifying it by making some basic cheat sheets of useful/useless facts. So, beginning last night at the Victory pub quiz...

15/07/2014
My Team: Me + 7 others
Total points: 81/100 (joint 4th)

Not a bad score, to be fair, but just outside the cash prize zone. Could have been much better though.

9 1/2 Questions Incorrect -
1) Tommy the Tortoise is believed to be the UK's oldest pet. How old is she - 116, 120 or 124?
2) Rip van Winkle slept for how many years?
3) Golfer Jack Nicklaus suffers from which visual impairment?
4) Carpology is the study of what?
5) Mardi Gras usually takes place in which month?
6) Who was the Roman goddess of the hunt?
7) Which comedy duo released hit single 'The Stonk' for Comic Relief?
7 1/2) Brass is an alloy of which two elements? (1 point for each)
8) 'Helix aspersa' is the latin name for which garden pest?
9) Which US 'President' is depicted on the $100 bill?

A couple here were especially irritating. I find there are two different 'days' as a pub quizzer, one where all your 50/50 guesses go right and the other where they all go completely wrong. This time sadly represents the latter.

Answers below:

1) 116
2) 20 years
3) Colour blindness
4) Seeds
5) February
6) Diana
7) Hale and Pace
7 1/2) Copper and zinc
8) Garden snail
9) Benjamin Franklin*

Just like Pub Quiz post mortem, here I offer my analysis and excuses -

1) The definition of quizzer's agony - a news story that nobody (all 8 of us) on the team had seen. Already aware of a tortoise that had made it to about 150 years, we plumped for 124, but at the end of the day it was just a 1 in 3 guess. Born in 1898, Tommy's owner mistook her for a male until she began to lay eggs, hence the name. www.itv.com/news/2014-07-16/is-this-tortoise-the-uks-oldest-pet/
2) Rip van Winkle's story is not a story I have ever thought of reading thus far in my life, but it looks a little more interesting than I was expecting. I knew from past experience that it was either 20 years or 100, and naturally, went for the wrong one. 100 years might sound like a ridiculous amount of time, but anything is allowed in fiction. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
Nerd fact - Washington Irving wrote the story whilst living in Birmingham.
3) I was quite happy with the team's answer of cataracts, having no prior knowledge myself. Golf is one of those areas which I need to put more work into. Apparently Nicklaus' wife chooses his clothes for him.
4) Almost impossible to guess. One teammate suggested 'karpos' was Greek for fruit, but we didn't make the jump. I was certain that our answer of 'keys' was wrong, but having no idea myself, I wasn't prepared to argue.
5) Another 50/50 meltdown, opting for March. To be fair to us, Mardi Gras (and thus Pancake Day) in 2014 was celebrated on March 4th.
6) With minutes to go until half time, when the papers were to be swapped, I stated with certainty that the answer was Artemis. I then realised to my cost that the question was about the Roman goddess, not the Greek one.
Nerd fact: Sun god and Diana's twin, Apollo, has the same name in both Greek and Roman mythology.
7) Unforgivable that I did not know this, it was both a no 1 single and was produced by Brian May (the greatest guitarist of them all).
Nerd fact: Cliff Richard had the first Comic Relief single in 1986 with the cast of the Young Ones performing - 'Living Doll'... (which also reached no. 1)
7 1/2) We got copper, but ended up putting nickel as the second element.
Nerd fact: An alloy of these two is cupronickel, which is used among other things in many modern coins.
8) 'Helix' should have been the clue. Latin clearly an Achilles' Heel for the team.
9)*CONTROVERSIAL! Franklin is undoubtedly on the note, hence the phrase 'rolling in the Benjamins' which my friend Benjamin happened to mention. However, Franklin was never elected President of the USA, dying shortly after George Washington (our answer) began his term as the first. The quizmaster's contention that Franklin was President of his local library did little to assuage things, but frank(lin)ly, he did found an astonishing number of organisations, so on this the quizmaster could easily be right.
Update: Franklin was President of Pennsylvania for 3 years. He was also President of the American Philosophical Society, the Academy, Charity School and College of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society, probably among many others.

So there you have it, my first quiz blog. Hope you like it and I intend to post a comprehensive cheat sheet of people on US money in a little while (I currently have too much time on my hands).
Ciao for now.