QuizList

Ugh … Football.

Anyway, to happier things.  An unusual one-off quiz is listed for 1 July, apparently linked to the London Festival of Architecture.  See the relevant section of the site. I am not at all sure who can attend and who can’t, but if it interests you at all, follow links or email for details.

A few weeks ago I posed the question, ‘Is quizzing the new rock and roll?’  If the answer is in the affirmative,  then we must expect all that accompanies rock and roll (drink, drugs, loads of money, tight trousers, widespread adulation… oh well, one out of five isn’t bad).  But every rock and roll scene has its groupies, and quizzing is no exception.

Now, let’s tease out exactly what I mean, and be warned it may not be as exciting as all that.  Some years ago you might have said that quizzing was like the biblical Matthew’s concept of the resurrection:  ‘.. they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven’.  I think around this time the late Professor Propellorhead sent me, with some amusement, the following definition from the ‘Trivia Hall of Fame’: Quiz goggles n. Optical illusion by which the scarcity of women at quizzes makes them appear much more attractive than they really are. Also known to occur at science fiction conventions and wherever war-gamers or RPG fans gather. Then the ‘scene’ began to change and more women joined in with some of the inevitable consequences.  We now even have the phenomenon of ‘quiz dating’, and if you are really interested, try cutting and pasting this link:  http://www.thelondonpaper.com/life-style/love/features/quiz-dating-is-the-latest-trend-to-hit-lovers-in-london

Of course, there have always been stories…

However, to facts. If you go to a number of different quizzes in, for instance, N6, you do see quiz groupies.  These are older men,usually alone, who tend to sit at the bar and follow the quiz nights around the area;  so you might see them on Tuesday in the Prince of Wales, then on Wednesday in the Angel, then Thursday in the Victoria, and so on.  They don’t actually seem to like the quiz or quizmaster very much or indeed anyone who plays in it… yet they are quiz followers.  I think they just like the buzz that a quiz generates.

Which leads me to a moral question.  What do you do if you go to a quiz and someone on their own asks whether they can join your team?  We have generally said ‘no’ and not regretted it.  If you have actually accepted someone into your team, have you noticed that they never pay their entrance fee?  Well, I suppose that kind of freeloading is a bit rock and roll…