Quiz Setting Made Easy

Dawson explores the very essence of human existence.

In his case the answer to the ancient philosophical conundrum What sets humans apart from the animal kingdom?' is straightforward.

It is not the ability to form tools, communicate or feel empathy with our fellow planet dwellers but our desire to acquire (and retain) as much trivia as possible.

In brief, this is his explanation for modern Britain's obsession with the pub quiz and the consequent growth in the number of question and answer books, many of which have been published under the misapprehension that all a budding quiz setter needs to succeed is a large enough selection of questions that can be adapted according to circumstance.

Yet, as Quiz Setting Made Easy makes clear, there are many pitfalls for the budding Magnus Magnusson, not least the murmurs of complaint from contestants attempting to answer vaguely worded and poorly researched questions.

Then there are the potential disasters and the nagging doubts that bring the quiz setter out in a cold sweat in the middle of the night: Does the venue have a PA system?

How do I make sure people turn up? What happens in the event of a tie? Who marks the questions, them or me?Written in light-hearted vein, Quiz Setting Made Easy is designed to soothe the quiz setter's brow and bring back the fun to what is, after all, a leisure-time pursuit.

In addition to his expert advice on the dos and don'ts of quiz setting, John illustrates the style and expertise required of the fully fledged question-master.

With 72 rounds containing over 1,100 expertly worded questions, John Dawson makes enough suggestions for alternative topics, interval rounds, tie-breakers and music rounds to keep a quiz-setter going for years.

His ideas could also be adapted for use in the classroom, during wet weekends in Cleethorpes or the 90 degrees heat of an M6 traffic jam...in fact anywhere humans pursue the trivial.