In 1948, the BBC began its long-running radio quiz between teams from boys’ grammar schools. A year later, it was decided that girls might be clever enough to compete.
The programme invariably closed with the blazered team captains calling for three cheers for their opponents. When it was finally buried in 1986 it was not because of a “trendy educational philosophy which says that having winners and losers is elitist” (Mail on Sunday) but because its audience was mainly of retirement age and expecting questions about Dickens, Latin gerunds and the dates of the kings and queens of England rather than ones about Venn diagrams, ecology and Kes.
ITV (in the Midlands and East Anglia) tried a similar format in 1993 - under the rather more demotic title Swot or Wot?
Best wrong answers
Q According to the proverb, what should you not do if you live in a glass house?
A Take a bath.
Q What do you do if you “splice the mainbrace”?
A Get married.
Q What is a billet-doux?
A It’s something you sit on and wash your - oh no, it’s not!
