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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   3169 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for March 8, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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If you like that, you'll probably also like the radio show Round Britain Quiz. I haven't kept up with it since the 1980s when the host at the time died and the original panellists were elderly, but it was revamped to a new format and continues to this day.

Round Britain Quiz (or RBQ for short) is a panel game that has been broadcast on BBC Radio since 1947, making it the oldest quiz still broadcast on British radio. It was based on a format called Transatlantic Quiz, a contest between American and British teams on which Alistair Cooke was an early participant.

The format of the quiz is that teams from various regions around the United Kingdom play in a tournament of head-to-head battles. In a half-hour programme, each team is given four multi-part cryptic questions, each worth up to six points, to be awarded on the host's judgement. The parts of the question are generally centred on a common theme, and a degree of lateral thinking is necessary to score full marks.

...Until 1995, there was a "resident London team" which was challenged by teams from other parts of the UK (and sometimes the Republic of Ireland). There were two hosts, one with each team. In the 1950s, the hosts were Gilbert Harding and Lionel Hale. Later hosts, in various combinations, included Roy Plomley, Jack Longland, Anthony Quinton, Louis Allen, and, for many years, Gordon Clough.

The programme was formally taken out of production after the death of Gordon Clough in 1996, but was revived a year later with a single chairman and a new format of six teams playing four matches each. From 1997 it was hosted by broadcaster Nick Clarke until his death in 2006. He was succeeded at the start of the 2007 series by Tom Sutcliffe. Kirsty Lang took over hosting in March 2022.

Plainly taped off the radio episode from the 80s here.

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