Friday 24 October 2014

Top 10 Most Useful Quiz Books 2014 #10

Running along with the Top 10 countdown of the most useful reference books of the past 12 months I am also going to be looking at some of the most useful quiz books! Again, with just about 10 weeks of the year to go I intend to have the countdown running at one per week. And we will start with..


10.



The University Challenge Quiz Book

Some TV tie in titles are very disappointing but in the range of books I have tied into University Challenge, none fit that mould! This is the latest title in the series and contains a wide range of questions from the show and beyond. I have slowly worked my way through this all year and picked up a heck of a lot of information, ideas for further reading and great questions that have come in handy across all types and formats of quizzing.

Well worth picking up and also an ideal gift for quizzing fans!

Wednesday 22 October 2014

Mastermind Standings - 2014/2015



With 10 heats completed in this years Mastermind and 40 people having sat in the chair here are the current standings from the series so far...

Mark Eaves - 30 (Q)
Ian Clark - 30 (Q)
Hazel Humprheys - 28 (Q)
Peter Russell - 26 (Q)
Chris Grandison - 26 (Q)
Brian Davies - 26 (Q)
Andrew Teale - 24 (Q)
Hywel Morgan - 23 (Q)
Mike Foden - 21 (Q)
Paula Keaveney - 21 (Q)
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Gareth Kingston - 28 (2nd)
Diane Hallaghan - 28 (2nd)
Alice Mennel - 26
John Benyon - 25 (2nd)
Susan Sworn - 25 (2nd =)
Jeremy Renals - 25  (2nd =)
Stuary Skelly - 24
Les Morrell-  24
Ciaran Ward - 23 (2nd)
Howard Towner - 23
Cliff Morgan - 21 (2nd)
Louise Boradbent - 21 (2nd)
John Carrington - 21 (2nd)
Neil Crockford - 21 (2nd)
David Love - 21
Neil Madle - 20
Martin Roebuck - 20
Derek Heyes - 20
Jack Young - 20
Sally Mabey - 20
Sarah Lake - 20
Lena Gazey - 19 (2nd)
Tim Allison - 19
Stephen Peter - 17
Andy Crane -17
Diana Muri - 16
Sidin Sunny - 15
Graham Gowland - 15
Mark Roman Gold - 15
Rod Allday - 15

Tuesday 21 October 2014

Top 10 - Most Useful Reference Books 2014 #10

Some of you may remember the feature I ran from last year counting down the Top 10 Reference books I found most useful across the year. With just about ten weeks left of the year it's time for the countdown to start again. Running concurrently with this will be the Top 10 Quiz Books of the year.

Lets start then with...


10


Over the last few years this book has taken pride of place on my book shelve. The World Almanac and Book of Facts turns up under my Xmas tree every year and 12 months later it has been studied from cover to cover. Although the book is American and you can discount about 100-150 pages on regional American politics, the rest is quiz gold. Reviews of the year, up to date lists of winners of major prizes, features on major stories of the year. It works two fold, both as a reference work in general and as a review of the year. It runs pretty much up to date, for a Almanac, and usually facts are included right up until publication date (this case being December 2013-November 2014).

Ideal for dipping into, well laid out and a great addition to the book shelf!

Thursday 16 October 2014

Mastermind Standings - 2014/2015



With 9 heats completed in this years Mastermind here are the current standings from the series so far...(Still not sure if its 6 highest scoring runners up in all or whether they need to have finished second?)

Mark Eaves - 30 (Q)
Ian Clark - 30 (Q)
Hazel Humprheys - 28 (Q)
Peter Russell - 26 (Q)
Chris Grandison - 26 (Q)
Brian Davies - 26 (Q)
Andrew Teale - 24 (Q)
Mike Foden - 21 (Q)
Paula Keaveney - 21 (Q)
--------------------------------------------------------
Gareth Kingston - 28 (2nd)
Diane Hallaghan - 28 (2nd)
Alice Mennel - 26
John Benyon - 25 (2nd)
Susan Sworn - 25 (2nd =)
Jeremy Renals - 25  (2nd =)
Stuary Skelly - 24
Les Morrell-  24
Ciaran Ward - 23 (2nd)
Howard Towner - 23
Cliff Morgan - 21 (2nd)
Louise Boradbent - 21 (2nd)
John Carrington - 21 (2nd)
David Love - 21
Neil Madle - 20
Martin Roebuck - 20
Derek Heyes - 20
Jack Young - 20
Sally Mabey - 20
Sarah Lake - 20
Lena Gazey - 19 (2nd)
Tim Allison - 19
Stephen Peter - 17
Andy Crane -17
Sidin Sunny - 15
Graham Gowland - 15
Mark Roman Gold - 15

Sunday 12 October 2014

Week in Quizzing

Just a few updates for this week.


Fifteen to One is returning tomorrow (Monday 13th October) for the second series since its relaunch. Everything seems to have been retained for the first series earlier in the year including running times etc so I am very much looking forward to that!


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The addition of the new Egghead, Lisa, to the long running BBC 2 show has been the subject of much social media discussion. With her debut week over the hoorah seems to have calmed down a little and the show is as still enjoyable as ever. I am not sure if they have some new setters in, but there have been some cracking questions this week. Well worth catching up on the player.

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The Twitter feed continues to grow. Thank you to any readers who follow and I reached 1,000 followers this week which I was happy about.

The second ebook is selling well and thank you for all the positive feedback. I intend to get the next one out just after Xmas.

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Speaking of books. The National Quiz Team (Pat Gibson, Olav Bjortmont, David Stainer and Kevin Ashman) have put of a quiz book. Entitled The Only Quiz Book You Will Ever Need it was released on Thursday in both Kindle and Paperback editions.

The Kindle Edition is very well put together and at half the price, that is the one I went for.

Mastermind 2014/2015 - Heat 9

 
 
Mastermind 2014/2015 - Heat 9
 
Another close episode this week with everyone hitting over 20. Indeed three of the contestants scored 12 in their GK round so the deciding factor this week was the Specialist Rounds and it Was Brian Davies' knowledge of Robert Peel that won it for him. David Love was third in the series won by Gary Grant but a few long pauses in the SS round perhaps cost him victory. Well done to all involved, a cracking episode!
 
 
Brian Davies - 26
Ciaran Ward - 24
David Love - 21
Sarah Lake - 20
 
 


Thursday 9 October 2014

Mastermind Standings 2014/2015



Following this weeks heat of Mastermind 2014/2015 here are the current standings from the series so far...(Still not sure if its 6 highest scoring runners up in all or whether they need to have finished second?)

Mark Eaves - 30 (Q)
Ian Clark - 30 (Q)
Hazel Humprheys - 28 (Q)
Peter Russell - 26 (Q)
Chris Grandison - 26 (Q)
Andrew Teale - 24 (Q)
Mike Foden - 21 (Q)
Paula Keaveney - 21 (Q)
--------------------------------------------------------
Gareth Kingston - 28 (2nd)
Diane Hallaghan - 28 (2nd)
Alice Mennel - 26
John Benyon - 25 (2nd)
Susan Sworn - 25 (2nd =)
Jeremy Renals - 25  (2nd =)
Stuary Skelly - 24
Les Morrell-  24
Howard Towner - 23
Cliff Morgan - 21 (2nd)
Louise Boradbent - 21 (2nd)
John Carrington - 21 (2nd)
Neil Madle - 20
Martin Roebuck - 20
Derek Heyes - 20
Jack Young - 20
Sally Mabey - 20
Lena Gazey - 19 (2nd)
Tim Allison - 19
Stephen Peter - 17
Andy Crane -17
Sidin Sunny - 15
Graham Gowland - 15
Mark Roman Gold - 15

Pressure Pad

Pressure Pad

The second series of the BBC show Pressure Pad has recently came to an end, and having rather enjoyed it myself, I am interested to know the views of others?

I remember enjoying the first series and was pleased, and not surprised, to see it back for another go. So many quiz shows these days get an initial outing and never see the light of day again. The BBC are a little more persistent with these than ITV however. The second series of Pressure Pad brought with it new game modes and overall a better range of question setting. I actually thoroughly enjoyed the series. A couple of points worth mentioning - 

I think the show is a little long and there is too much chit chat. Luckily, I watch this entirely on Iplayer as I am out of the house when the show airs live, plus I no longer have a Sky plus box since moving. I would find it rather dull sitting through all the post-game and end-game chats!

The other issues is a more touchy one....the standard of contestants. My suspicions about the recruitment policy for this show began when they dropped a team of experienced quizzers at the last minute when due to record series 1. It has became obvious from the show that they aren't looking for top quizzers....no disrespect to anyone who has been on the show so please don't take it the wrong way if you have.

The way some of the rounds work and the style of questions would make for some very long games if two top level quizzers went head to head. There was a round in the latter episodes of last series which involved naming Us states based on their capitals.....two top quizzers would have easily got all 25 (it was one go each) and hence there would be no questions left! 

In saying that, some of the rounds would be brilliant with better players involved. Too often, great games modes with interesting categories ended too early due to a lack of knowledge amongst the players. Think about good quality quizzers going head to head on the list rounds, or the round where you have to answer 4 correct questions in the quickest time? This would surely make for good TV!

Anyway, I will certainly still with watching the show as there is still plenty in there for me to enjoy but it is a little bit of a missed opportunity I feel. A good format that is let down by casting policies.

Tuesday 7 October 2014

The Chase USA - Begins on Challenge - Monday 8pm


I struggled to find many of the episodes of The Chase USA online but really enjoyed the ones I did come across. Hence I was pleased to see the show starting on Challenge TV here in the UK on Monday at 8pm. I guess the only downside being it clashes with OC/UC......thank goodness for Plus 1 channels!

New Egghead Lisa Thiel

It seems like a lot of debate has been emerging on Social Media about the latest addition to the Eggheads team Lisa Thiel who made her debut last week. We all know Twitter is a harsh place but regardless a few talking points seemed to have emerged that are worth addressing and getting opinions on - 

-  Lisa was offered the job. Lets just bear this in mind....regardless of how good you are at quizzing if the BBC approached you and offered you £xxxx to bean Egghead would you turn it down? The production team have to consider a number of factors including ratings, appealing to all age groups/denominations and producing a watchable show. They have more knowledge and experience in doing that than most of the people passing judgement on Lisa, and must have seen something in her to give her the nod. And thus far, in my opinion, this judgement has proven to be a sound one!


 -  One of the main arguments revolves around the availability of other top quizzers who could have stepped in. With Pat and Kevin the team, arguably the two finest quizzers of all in addition to Barry Simmons (2013 Brain of Britain)....does the team really need strengthening? Adding top level, shall we say elite?, quizzers to the team would start making the task of beating them even more difficult. Nobody wants to watch the Eggheads 5 vs 1 in the final every night of the week! That is no disrespect to the new Egghead Lisa who certainly brings something new to the team.

- I personally think Lisa has settled in well and gives new dynamic to the show. Keeping a show that has been running 10+ years fresh is important and this decision certainly does that!


Any other views of the new Egghead?

Monday 6 October 2014

Picture Quiz #5

Political Figures
----------------------

Political figures to tackle today taken from past and present across the globe

1.    2. 
3.  4. 

5. 6.



Answers
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1. Dilma Rousseff
2. Kaiser Wilhelm II
3. Herbert Hoover
4. Narendra Modi
5. Benito Mussolini
6. Brezhnev

Sunday 5 October 2014

Sunderland Echo Quiz League: Gowan Scott Trophy

Heading into the final week things couldn't be tighter...






With one round of games to play the league has produced a very tight outcome. The top 4 qualify for the Semi Finals. Our one point defeat to Penshaw this week means that we (Museum Vaults) won't be making repeating our appearance in the final from last year. The teams finishing the the last two places will be setting questions for the final rounds and we should avoid bottom place due to our superior average but the game at Chaplins to end the league stage should be fun this week.


Penshaw vs Ashbrooke
Chaplins vs Museum Vaults
The Isis vs Hasting Hill

Saturday 4 October 2014

New Egghead debuts!

Last night's episode of Eggheads marked the debut of Lisa Thiel as the latest member of the Eggheads team. After the departure of Daphne, Eggheads seemingly wanted a female face to replace her and seemingly the story goes that after Lisa's impressive performance on Revenge of the Egghead, she was offered a place on the team.

Regardless of her quizzing background or the suitably of other top level female quizzers for the position (which tends to dominate the social media discussions on the subject) I wish Lisa the best of luck! She certainly made a strong start.....

What do readers think of her appointment as the new Egghead?



New E-Book - Out now - The Quiz Addict Book #2

I am happy to say that the second book is out now in the Kindle Store priced 77p. You don't need a Kindle to read it as it can be read on most devices and indeed read on your laptop PC. Slight format change from last time with only 5 questions per page and the answers on the following page making it easier to navigate hopefully.

All feedback welcome as always.



Here is a link to the to the book on the site




Thanks :)

Thursday 2 October 2014

Picture Quiz #4

The latest in a series of picture quizzes....can you identify these pop/rock bands?

1.  2. 
3.  4. 

5.6. 

Answers
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1. Busted
2. ACDC
3. Greenday
4. Bross
5. The Seekers
6. Cast

Fifteen to One is Back


It appears as if Channel 4 will start the second series of Fifteen to One on 13th October at 3pm. They are sticking with the hour long format which is one minor downside, but its great to have the show back so soon. Here's hoping its the second series of many more to come....