It was never my idea nor one of my unfulfilled ambitions to be a member of a pub quiz team - though unlike say; sky diving or snowboarding I have never felt particularly hostile at the thought of its participation. I have dabbled in the past - been an add on in various pubs and clubs eons apart - and even had a regular drinking haunt once that held quizzes every Thursday night - and ignored the proceedings, choosing instead to sit quietly - or perhaps chattily because we'd only really just met - lady friend now wife, in a nook and allow the whole thing (apart from my occasional sage sotto voce comments to her ladyship if i new an answer), to wash over me.
All that was a little while ago. I'm now in a team - practically by default. To say I hardly know the other team members is something of an understatement, but I think we're getting there. The most awkward time is the hour or so after arriving at the pub before the quiz has begun. Then its small talk time: what you've been up to during that day (in my case very little since I'm currently not working - which add another layer of difficulty when everyone else involved is in full time work) or comments about what's in the news or more specifically what's happening in the football as there is always a game on during these early sessions - and I'm not really that much of a fan. And since we're all neighbours (and men) - tittle tattle about fence protective treatments, driveway seals, and the pluses and minuses of regular local trades persons (window cleaners, lawn weeding specialists, tree loppers).
Then the quiz starts and it simply doesn't matter how well or how comfortable you are in their company - your absolute focus is on the questions. This is where I would like to say - everything is forgiven. My clumsy efforts at the triumphs and disasters of this or that premier league team/manager/draw. Anything to do with transfer windows or footballers salaries. How well this team is doing under such and such or whu such and such is playing brilliantly or crap. Now we have questions that are outside of everyone's zone of the quietly confident. And this is where I pull everything around. Or used to. But it seems not any more.
I have a few theories as to why i'm not astounding all around me with the my protean knowledge. Or my vast reservoir of trivia, my incredible memory for detail or my all round scholastic frame of mind. Why for once my half a lifetime of reading/watching films/listening to music /and indulging in the huge variety of odd interests and hobbies I have embarked on at different times in my life. And that is - I'm getting older and more forgetful and the questions are more - speculative and playful rather than dealing with hard factual information. So often one might hear something like 'name the four states that enjoy a shore line with lake Michigan'. This is great - I love the States, obsessed with them actually and factually I know that Wisconsin/Illinois/Indiana and Michigan itself constitutes the answer. Or name the book that Dickens was writing and died before he was able to finish it taps in to an old obsession with English Lit and I know - and hardly anyone else on whichever team I have been at whatever period of my life that its the Mystery of Edwin Drood. or that Frans Hals painted the Laughing Cavalier (art phase) ' treen' describes objects made of wood (antiques phase) a wren is on the reverse side of a British farthing (numismatics phase) or Cleveland Williams fought Muhammad Ali with wrecked kidneys and predictable ran out of energy before the end of the third round. (boxing obsession phase). There are loads of these. But a lot of the questions aren't based on factually recall. A lot of them are estimates and nearest tos and the like - but not all. So I really need to make it count when my subjects come up.
All this has made me wonder about how you train your brain to be better at quizzes. Memory is one thing. But the information has to be there as well. This is what I think could be done:
I've been watching The Chase quite a lot lately - which can only help because the same or similar questions do come up in that quiz as have been asked in others. So positive reinforcement: watch as many quizzes as you can and try to answer as many questions as possible. Have the sub-titles on so that you get a bit longer than them to think the answer through - but here's the thing, when they either say the answer correctly or if they get it wrong - it's there on your screen allowing two sense to take it in: sight and sound, together with the meorable effort of them and you - a winning mix. Then once its over re-wind it keeping the sub titles on and try your hardest to beat them - which to an extent you should be able to because you have already heard (and seen) the answer.
Thtas one thing - but the next is a bit more technical. A bit more trick of the trade. Staying with the Chase and why not it's the one TV quiz show that's hitting all the high points at the moment (not eggheads which is sen as somewhat pedestrian in comparison and Millionaire is now off air) it's noticeable that the chasers (and they're all about the same in terms of held knowledge and performance) and I remember this with the eggheads as well - certain questions are absolute bankers for them. The questions are in a way predicted by the quizzers who have studiously ensured that they know all the rivers in the UK, they know all the highest mountains, they know all the capital cities, the atomic numbers, the currencies of every country and so on. These are things that can be learnt specifically to be useful at quizzes. I'm guessing that they all do enough quizzes (and that's another strengthening technique - quiz participation volume, one tends to remember all the questions you or your team get wrong - for ever) for these bankers to never ever feel wasted.
The next issue though - once that has been decided is what exactly are the bankers. I believe i have touched on a few already - rivers/volcanoes/mountains/seas/oceans/capital cities and currencies from geography. Then there's royal households/rulers/periods/wars from history. This list goes on and it will always be subjective which is borne out by different quizzers having specialist strengths in different areas - but there is definitely a hard core that I believe reveals itself the more quizzes you do.
There exists books of lists. they can be read and memorised. I wouldn't mind betting that a lot of quizzers have a side hobby to do with memory. Utilizing the kinds of techniques that memory masters employ when attempting to recall several packs of cards. What they do is commit the information - in the case of the card packs fairly meaningless information except for the purposes of memory power tests - to memory. How they do this is immaterial. Often they turn mundane information into colorful images - or convert strings of information into meaningful scenarios or stories. It doesn't really matter - what matters is that the quizzer can do similar when utilizing technique of rote reading. A list of gems or Greek gods or explorers from New Zealand. They just have to find ways to use hooks and get them into their brains for when the information is needed. So that's the next thing I should think about doing. Boning up on lists of data effectively. But pasting the information into my mind and connecting it with other stimulation so that the relevant strands can be tugged at when required.
I short this is what I think I should do: watch quizzes and take part in plenty - even if I'm trying to be interactive on the TV.
Work on my memory training techniques (fortunately that was a phase I've already been through (Busan/ deBono etc) and practice them with ...data. Data is the things that ALL quizzers should know.
Elicit those lists through books that have been written for that purpose: Schotts Miscellany (including sequels) crossword solving dictionaries, bluffers guides (there's loads of them: literature/music/philosophy/historical periods) and remember those old easy learn handbooks - I remember I had one on (of all things) The Holocaust. Basically cartoonishly printed and illustarted with speech balloons and thought bubbles but actually chock full of insightful information and serious commentaries. And make lists and memorise the information.
Master as many of these as possible. Do crosswords - especially the general knowledge ones. And snatch at every quiz in every newspaper you find. And read non fiction and fiction for pleasure and never turn your nose up at a decent documentary.
