If you have any quiz books that were printed in the first decade of this century, they may well contain questions that are no longer valid, answers that are no longer correct, or answers that used to be unique but no longer are. This piece looks at 12 examples of such questions and answers, and… Continue reading 12 quiz questions that need updating
The new Trivia Season has begun. The three TV quiz formats that will reach their conclusions next spring are back on our screens: “University Challenge” began in July, “Mastermind” in August and “Only Connect” a week ago, on the first Monday in September. Once again “Only Connect” precedes “University Challenge” in an hour’s worth of… Continue reading Word of the week: amanuensis
The 2016 UK #1 “I took a pill in Ibiza” by Mike Posner is a recent addition to my repertoire. It was unfamiliar to me until last week. It reminds me of Joe South’s classic 1969 release “The games people play” (which peaked at #6) so I mix the two songs together. Ibiza is one… Continue reading More pop trivia: UK #1s that feature places
At the end of this piece is a list of songs that were “Stuck at 2” in the UK for one act but made it to #1 for at least one different act. First, a few notes. In many cases, the original version only got as far as #2 but a later (and, you might… Continue reading Stuck at 2: Songs that peaked at #2 for one act and reached #1 for a different act
A work in progress, begun 24 July 2019 If you are a keen Scrabble player, you may already know that the 7 letters that produce most anagrams in English are AEINRST. They form the word “Retains”, and all of the following words, which are acceptable in the game of Scrabble here in the UK: Anestri,… Continue reading 9-letter anagrams: Retains + 2 letters
In recent weeks, repeats of the quiz show “Tenable” have been shown on ITV on weekday afternoons. Episodes from Series 3 were being shown until earlier this week: S3Ep50 (Series 3 Episode 50) was shown on Monday 8 July 2019. Since then episodes from the start of Series 2 have been broadcast, beginning with S2Ep1… Continue reading “Tenable” Series 2, repeated July 2019
At various times in the last three years I have posted pieces about songs that were “Stuck at 2”. They made it to #2 in the UK charts but no further. The original piece, from June 2016, is here. Over the last year I have been posting lists of the songs that were “Stuck at… Continue reading Stuck at 2: the lists are complete, and a BBC Top 40 revisited
