Who is the elder, Gary Numan or Gary Oldman? If you know the answer (which you can find below), you’re likely among the many Brits participating in weekly pub quizzes.
As a nation passionate about trivia, it was no surprise that we reacted promptly to the news: Manchester quizmaster reveals team cheating. One wonders, what special place in hell awaits quiz players who sneak a peek at their phones under the table?
According to the BBC, a “huge investigation” followed after the landlord of Barking Dog in Urmston disclosed that cheaters were whispering questions into his smartphone, although he chose not to identify them.
Some quizmasters argue that this behavior is increasingly tarnishing one of the nation’s beloved pastimes.
Quizmaster David Hartley, 33, from Staffordshire, expressed: “I definitely believe there’s increased use of smartwatches, in particular. Even without a phone in hand, there are still ways to cheat.”
He has been running quizzes at four venues for nearly a decade and instituted a ban on devices about two years ago. “If you’re just on your phone, it takes the fun away from the quiz master,” he remarked.
David Moyes, landlord and quizmaster at Cambridge’s Alma School, mentioned he had to expel a group of students who won suspiciously. He became wary after a weak team suddenly played a “joker” that doubled their points when they accurately answered all questions.
“There was no concrete proof. But later, one of them returned and handed over some money, admitting, ‘Oh, we cheated,'” Moyes recounted.
“The guilt was so overwhelming that he must have felt compelled to return his share. The others didn’t, so he probably slept more soundly than the rest.”
To combat cheating, some pubs are employing high-tech solutions, like smartphone quizzes where participants input their answers directly. If you stray from the dedicated quiz app, you’ll lose points.
The SpeedQuizzing app aims to deter “cheaters and scammers” by allowing just 10 seconds to submit answers per question, in an effort to revive what it calls a “once proud British tradition”.
Others prefer traditional measures. Marcus Berkman, who has competed over 200 times and now crafts quizzes, noted that the quizzes at Prince of Wales, in Highgate, north London, were tightening enforcement against cheating.
“We are very strict with cheaters, so no one cheats,” he insisted. “The regulars would rather endure anything than cheat.”
“Sometimes we remind players: ‘We’re testing what you know, not what you can look up,’ and participants typically cooperate.”
The exact origins of the pub quiz remain somewhat unclear, but it gained traction in the 1970s, thanks to Sharon Burns and Tom Porter. Burns & Porter provided ready-made quizzes to attract patrons on quieter nights.
Today, pub quizzes in Britain continue to be a serious affair; just like the great British pastime of drinking, getting answers right also matters. A recent study by brewer Greene King revealed that 70% of people frequently take part in pub quizzes, with nearly one in ten doing so weekly.
Quizmasters often wish to return to the simpler days of Burns and Porter, yet they can find solace knowing that their predecessors faced similar cheating troubles.
Gail Taylor, for instance, responded to an inquiry from the Guardian this week, sharing a tale from her youth in a Sheffield pub during the 1980s.
Taylor explained how she rigged a basic eavesdropping device under a table to transmit questions to a friend with an encyclopedia stationed in a van outside.
The Guardian could not independently confirm her account, but she stands by it. “Things always went awry,” Taylor recounted. “If the signal failed, we’d scribble down questions and dash to the van with two pints and a list. Then someone else would retrieve the answers. No one seemed to grasp what we were doing.”
Reflecting on this caper over 30 years later, Taylor feels no regret. “Back then, we didn’t have Google, so we couldn’t win anything anyway,” she adds. “I have no guilt about it, and I would do the same tomorrow if given the chance.”
Answer: Gary Numan He is 13 days older than Gary Oldman.
Source: www.theguardian.com
