Post 8: "Q&A"

How many ways can you get to Oleta Adams?

Quizzes are brilliant. I love a quiz. Some people might describe me as a teeny bit competitive but really I am just the kind of person who likes to throw themselves wholeheartedly into whatever I'm doing. And win. Even if I'm playing against a child. It's good for them to learn that life is a struggle to succeed.

In which film did Dr Mark Greene actor Anthony Edwards play Tom Cruise’s unfortunate best friend?

For a year, my husband and I went with our friends (another couple) to a monthly film quiz. Our team was called 1 in 4 because one of us had absolutely no interest in films at all. There was another team who came each month who we dubbed “the Nemesis”. They took the quiz extremely seriously and wrote down the correct answers in a notebook whenever they got anything wrong. This made beating them incredibly sweet. Especially unravelling a challenging anagram such as Matban.

With which MP did weather girl Sian Lloyd have a public relationship?

When I was 16, a boyfriend asked me to go to a supper quiz with him. His best friend had been asked to bring a couple of people to make up a table at a charity event. It turned out to be a very posh do, we were on a table with Lords and Ladies and a member of parliament and the average age in the room was upper 60s. The quiz opened with a history round. I had nothing to contribute. Then geography. Still nothing. Current affairs. Nada. Science. Zero. Sports… you guessed it.

They were all very nice to me but clearly assumed I was thick as two short planks. The next round was art and I answered a couple of questions, they were supportive, in a patronising fashion. This was followed by literature where I did a bit better. The MC then announced the final round to be contemporary culture and the temperature in the room dropped - these were not contemporaneous people. This round was made up of questions about soaps, sitcoms, films and music. I answered all 10 questions as the entire room gaped in amazement, leading our table to victory. It was a magical evening.

In which soap opera’s opening episode did we learn of the death of Reg Cox?

We made a party for our newly wed cousins last year, and as he is a movie buff a film quiz seemed to be the only obvious choice. We transformed the room into a cinema, created rounds based on romantic film moments, and made kosher versions of typical movie theatre food. (It was awesome - details on request). Unfortunately we hadn't realised that his bride wasn't quite as obsessed with this hobby… luckily she is still speaking to us despite having had to sit through what must have been a very long night, culminating in a reenactment of Titanic.

Which author's writing shows up in every category of the Dewey Decimal System?

I can ignore most clickbait. “She looked in the mirror and you'll never believe what she saw!” does nothing for me. “These child stars have really changed!” doesn't hook me in. But here is my guilty secret. “How well do you know The Sound of Music?” “How many 80s pop groups can you recognise from their hair?” “Which of these actors have played doctors in soaps?” “Which book titles do these cartoons represent?”

These I like.

A well put together quiz gives a variety of people the chance to feel good about themselves as everyone knows something about something. I might not be able to tell you the name of the shadow minister for whatsit or when the battle of thingy was but I can answer all of the questions in this post - can you?