Correct Answer – Plus 10
The phrase above is like music to a quizzer’s ears, validating their thirst for knowledge (read: trivia), and the need to be smarter than everyone else. Quizzing as per unconfirmed reports and unreliable sources is the world’s most intellectual hobby after all. It gives you the ability to negotiate the posers that life throws at you, one question at a time. And with more people joining in this celebration of knowledge, let us take a deep-dive into how quizzing got to where it is today.
- Daly pe Daly
Every quizzer will tell you about how the word “quiz” came about when a Dublin theatre owner called Richard (or James. Different sources, different names) Daly made a bet to introduce a word into the language within 24 hours, and how the story is a “hoax”, which is also what the word was used to mean since the 1780s. #RiteOfPassage
- It began with a bee
One of the earliest nonacademic competitions based on knowledge was a bee, not a quiz. The BBC 1938 Transatlantic Spelling Bee was a spelling match between the students of Harvard and Radcliffe colleges and students of Oxford. The idea later evolved into a Knowledge Bee. After the Second World War, this avant-garde form of entertainment was no longer a novelty. It became an integral part of radio broadcasting: Wilfred Pickles, on Have A Go, introduced the notion of cash prizes through his catchphrase “Give him the money, Barney.”
- Hamid Sayani ki Awaaz me…
Closer home, quizzing got popular on radio when “Dr. IQ” became the first major success in the game show genre way back in 1939. Closer home, the Bournvita Quiz Contest, with brothers Hamid and Ameen Sayani at its helm, became the first quiz show to be broadcast on radio in India in 1972.
- Life O’Brien
Exposed to the pub-quiz culture in England, quizzing was brought to India by Mr. Neil O’Brien when he conducted the first documented, formal quiz in 1967 at Christ the King Church Parish Hall in Calcutta.
5. Option A, B, C, or D..?
Quirky hosts, interesting formats, and gamified questions gave quizzing a new life(line) through TV shows like Jeopardy!, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, The Weakest Link, with the last 2 being Kaun Banega Crorepati and Kamzor Kadi Kaun to the Indian audiences.
6. Quite Interesting, Indeed…
Quizzing-based entertainment has found its sweet spot with comedy, which can be experienced through panel shows like QI, OnlyConnect, 8 out of 10 Cats, and Kvizzing with Comedians, and India Wants To Know.
- Bring Your Own Quizzes
Mostly functioning through city quiz clubs and enthusiasts, quizzing sees a wide variety of formats now from written quizzes, to pounces, to MIMIR, to even a potluck of questions through the BYOQs.
Quizzing is beautifully vast, so here we’re leaving the rest for you to be explored and be amazed by.
And, we really hope to see your quizzing prowess on KarmaPlay!
See you soon 😊
XOXO
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