3 ways to win at Quizzies

London, UK

This is possibly the most self-indulgent post I've written in a while.

Last night I was invited along to a quiz, organized by and held at a very well known tennis club. I did warn my host that I'm a bit competitive and hated losing.

I felt confident about our teams prospects of winning the entire event when I looked at the " mini-marathon" list of questions. These are the ones which you usually fill in during these first half of the evening, before the drinks break and in-between the rounds. One of these questions listed four countries - Japan , Sweden, South Africa and New Zealand. The question was on what side of the road do they drive. All on the left except Sweden, of course! Naturally, had this question been asked in or before 1967, then all four answers would have been "on the left" as Sweden changed over that year.

So on to the quiz proper. Round One - Geography (my favourite). I answered nine out of ten correctly which placed our team in the lead. A lead we held on to comfortably until the end. Although this was a team effort with some brilliant answers coming in from my new friends, I have to say, I was in a rich vein of form. I mean, do you know who wrote (from the literature round) " The Good, The Bad and The Bubbly?" or what sporting team are the Black Stars?

Out of the seven rounds, I seemed to dominate, without pissing off my team-mates too much, certainly five. I did, however, upset the table next door. They didn't seem to understand the difference between Washington and Washington D.C. The question was about which states Obama took in the primaries last week. (Tables swapped answer papers - personally I prefer an independent team of adjudicators)

In the end we won by 4 points and deservedly went up to the Quizmaster ( a well-known actor) to collect our bottles of champagne.

So, in brief, here are the 3 ways in which to be a success at quizzes


1. Invite me, who's excellent at general knowledge
2. Ensure I'm plied with a suitable glass of wine
3. Back down when I'm convinced about a correct answer