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The average member of the public probably doesn't know or care about the origins of whatever sport he/she follows, let alone one they may or may not like. Scoring 16 is pretty decent.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Do bare in mind just how bad the general publics geography is. Whenever I watch quiz shows I find people's lack of geographic knowledge shocking, especially knowledge of their own country. There's a good chance a lot of people who did this don't even know Huddersfield is in Yorkshire. Also the scores on pointless can be a bit misleading cos you get a lot of people who do the surveys that spend the 100 seconds they get to answer focusing on the more obscure answers and forgetting to answer the easier ones, the presenters have mentioned this on the show before when answers you think would get close to 100 get more like 60. 

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5 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Do bare in mind just how bad the general publics geography is. Whenever I watch quiz shows I find people's lack of geographic knowledge shocking, especially knowledge of their own country. There's a good chance a lot of people who did this don't even know Huddersfield is in Yorkshire. Also the scores on pointless can be a bit misleading cos you get a lot of people who do the surveys that spend the 100 seconds they get to answer focusing on the more obscure answers and forgetting to answer the easier ones, the presenters have mentioned this on the show before when answers you think would get close to 100 get more like 60. 

I like that aspect of it, because even an answer you think would be a real low-scorer sometimes surprises you. Names of countries, for instance - you can't go for previously reliable names like Central African Republic or Kiribati any more.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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20 minutes ago, DavidM said:

I like watching pointless now and again just to see how lacking in knowledge some people really are . ‘ Oh history ... it’s before my time ‘ . Often student types who are just thick as mince 

As I mentioned on a different thread, it's does my nut in when people say before my time as an excuse to not knowing something. It's like they are saying they can't possibly learn about anything that happened before they were born. Have they never read a book or watched a documentary, or even just paid a tiny bit of attention in school? Those people really f*** me off. 

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27 minutes ago, Eddie said:

16 is loads more than I’d have expected. 

 

8 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Me too. Ask the same question of Football, or Darts, or Cricket, or Formula One - people wouldn't have a clue.

Same, especially when you take into account that the capital of Ethiopia, a major African city with a population of millions only got 3 more than a town in Yorkshire. 

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1 hour ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

As I mentioned on a different thread, it's does my nut in when people say before my time as an excuse to not knowing something. It's like they are saying they can't possibly learn about anything that happened before they were born. Have they never read a book or watched a documentary, or even just paid a tiny bit of attention in school? Those people really f*** me off. 

Having attended both primary and Grammar schools, I was taught very little about the UK, apart from our "great kings and queens". I have absorbed greater knowledge since leaving school. You cannot beat a good reference library.

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1 hour ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

As I mentioned on a different thread, it's does my nut in when people say before my time as an excuse to not knowing something. It's like they are saying they can't possibly learn about anything that happened before they were born. Have they never read a book or watched a documentary, or even just paid a tiny bit of attention in school? Those people really f*** me off. 

Agreed fully. Though in the defence of those people (just slightly), having lived through say the 70s as an adult obviously gives a massive advantage over someone born in the 80s when it comes to 70s knowledge. 

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When people say to me "before my time" I ask them when was the battle of Hastings and mostly they quickly answer 1066. I then point out that 1066 was close to a thousand years ago.

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1 hour ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

As I mentioned on a different thread, it's does my nut in when people say before my time as an excuse to not knowing something. It's like they are saying they can't possibly learn about anything that happened before they were born. Have they never read a book or watched a documentary, or even just paid a tiny bit of attention in school? Those people really f*** me off. 

I think it very much depends on the topic. If it is world events or politics or such then I agree, some understanding of previous events is expected.  But if it is more cultural then less so. As a child of the 70's I would have a good shot as tv programmes in the 80's and beyond but before that I would struggle unless they were classics. Sometimes you just have to live through an era to get all the pop culture references. 

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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2 hours ago, paulwalker71 said:

The question was about finding answers with a 'dd' in them?

I'm struggling to think of any other Yorkshire towns with a double d in them. Perhaps a reason why 16 people 'guessed' it who probably didn't know squat about RL?

Off the top of my head, I can only think of Addingham, and that is really a village rather than a town.

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1 hour ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

As I mentioned on a different thread, it's does my nut in when people say before my time as an excuse to not knowing something. It's like they are saying they can't possibly learn about anything that happened before they were born. Have they never read a book or watched a documentary, or even just paid a tiny bit of attention in school? Those people really f*** me off. 

Read a book?  Steady on, HG, that would be a bit exceptional, wouldn't it?

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2 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Do bare in mind just how bad the general publics geography is. Whenever I watch quiz shows I find people's lack of geographic knowledge shocking, especially knowledge of their own country. There's a good chance a lot of people who did this don't even know Huddersfield is in Yorkshire. Also the scores on pointless can be a bit misleading cos you get a lot of people who do the surveys that spend the 100 seconds they get to answer focusing on the more obscure answers and forgetting to answer the easier ones, the presenters have mentioned this on the show before when answers you think would get close to 100 get more like 60. 

I completely agree with you.  I am amazed how many bright young things on University Challenge can answer questions on obscure aspects of all manner of subjects, yet geography - especially British geography - stumps them time and time again.  I recall someone thinking Dumbarton might be on the Scottish east coast and a complete team unable to accurately locate the Mendips!

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20 minutes ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

I completely agree with you.  I am amazed how many bright young things on University Challenge can answer questions on obscure aspects of all manner of subjects, yet geography - especially British geography - stumps them time and time again.  I recall someone thinking Dumbarton might be on the Scottish east coast and a complete team unable to accurately locate the Mendips!

What also usually stops the University Challenge competitors in their tracks is classical music. Occasionally you get a real hotshot, or someone who's heard enough to make en educated guess, but more often it just causes furrowed brows, embarrassed looks and wild guesses. Often the same name three times in a row, just in case Paxo responds with "how unlucky, that actually was Schubert this time." after question three.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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18 minutes ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

I completely agree with you.  I am amazed how many bright young things on University Challenge can answer questions on obscure aspects of all manner of subjects, yet geography - especially British geography - stumps them time and time again.  I recall someone thinking Dumbarton might be on the Scottish east coast and a complete team unable to accurately locate the Mendips!

I remember a show once, I think it was that 5 gold rings of whatever it was called, don't think it lasted long, and the contestants were asked to locate the Scottish border and they put it up by Edinburgh.

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2 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

What also usually stops the University Challenge competitors in their tracks is classical music. Occasionally you get a real hotshot, or someone who's heard enough to make en educated guess, but more often it just causes furrowed brows, embarrassed looks and wild guesses. Often the same name three times in a row, just in case Paxo responds with "how unlucky, that actually was Schubert this time." after question three.

Completely agree!

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45 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

I think it very much depends on the topic. If it is world events or politics or such then I agree, some understanding of previous events is expected.  But if it is more cultural then less so. As a child of the 70's I would have a good shot as tv programmes in the 80's and beyond but before that I would struggle unless they were classics. Sometimes you just have to live through an era to get all the pop culture references. 

I agree with that to a certain extent with pop culture references because some show/bands will have been basically forgotten and music is probably my weakest subject, I struggle to answer things that are supposed to be really easy about music, so yes, as I say I do agree in that respect.

What I will say is I still think I have a pretty good general knowledge of entertainment culture from the part. I know things about shows I've never watched just because I've picked stuff up in passing from watching other shows or flicking through a TV magazine or what have you. Its amazing how much I know about soaps despite never having watched a single episode and it's just stuff I've heard. The people on these quiz shows often seem to be missing that basic, what I will call accidental, general knowledge and the average quiz show doesn't really test contestants with ridiculously obscure pop culture references. The only shows that might do that are university challenge and mastermind and if you're on those shows you're considering yourself to be intelligent anyway. 

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