16 LISTENER MARCH 10 2018
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QUIZ SHOWS
- How do you find the
questions for your quizzes?
If I hear a surprising fact, or
somebody uses an unusual
turn of phrase, or perhaps
there is a debate between
friends about something trivial
(say, whether tortoiseshell cats
are exclusively female), I often
make a quick note of it. I’m
always listening for interesting
morsels of information. When
it’s quiz-writing time, I review
the notes from the week
and decide which ones have
potential. - Do you do pub quizzes?
Yes, I enter them occasion-
ally. I think the pub-quiz
format has made big strides
in the past decade, and many
are now well organised and
a lot of fun. My team has a
tendency to start quickly out
of the block, throw back a few
drinks too many, and stagger
to the finish line in the middle
of the pack. - How do you strike a balance
between making questions too
hard and too easy?
I use some of my friends and
relatives as quiz guinea pigs.
They’re often subjected to
out-of-the-blue text messages
containing questions. In a
multi-choice format, when
the correct answer is right in
front of the reader, I have to
increase the difficulty slightly,
compared with open ques-
tions. One satisfying aspect of
writing for this format is that
a well-designed question may
allow the reader to deduce
the right answer by a process
of eliminating the incorrect
options.- What makes a good quiz
question?
If the reader gets a question
wrong, will they still find the
answer entertaining? Will it
prompt further
thought
or discussion?
I particularly
enjoy questions
about the origins
of old sayings,
many of which are
deeply silly, yet we
take the expressions
for granted without
pausing to think about what
they mean. For example, “as
happy as a clam”. Why would
a clam be especially happy?
The meaning becomes clearer
when you realise the full
expression is “as happy as a
clam at high tide”.- Are people always
suggesting questions to you?
People do make frequent
suggestions, but I’ve writ-
ten thousands of questions
by now and there’s a good
chance I have already covered
it. Also, it’s quite tricky to
work a question into multi-
choice, and many ideas are
unsuitable for that reason.
However, I have used some
good suggestions from time
to time.- Accuracy is important. Are
your answers ever contested?
I originally wrote the list of
correct answers without any
elaboration. When I used
questions that challenged
common misconceptions
(does the word “posh” really
derive from the phrase “port
out, starboard home”?), some
readers asked for further
explanation. Since then, I’ve
made a point of including
as much extra detail as I can
squeeze into the small answersspace. By the way, there is no
evidence for that or any other
explanation of posh’s origin.- How do you verify your
answers?
I research each question thor-
oughly, using primary sources
where possible. This means a
lot of time is spent scanning
scientific papers, trawling
through statistical data,
watching clips from
movies, or reading
old texts and so
forth. Verifying a
quotation can
be one of the
most difficult
research
tasks, and it’s
really surpris-
ing how
many well-
known quotes
are either
misattributed
or just plain false.
A good example is
Marie Antoinette sup-
posedly saying, “Let them
eat cake”. Again, no evidence. - Do you have quiz heroes and
favourite quizzes?
The TV show QI is a favourite,
because it combines thought-
provoking questions with
some amusing discussion. I
also enjoy the panel shows 8
Out of 10 Cats and Never Mind
the Buzzcocks. The American
crossword constructor Merl
Reagle, who died in 2015, was
an inspiration for the clever-
ness of his themed puzzles. l
Question marks
The Listener’s quizmaster-in-chief, Gabe
Atkinson, says a well-designed question may
allow the reader to deduce the right answer.