Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
I was “outed” in the newspaper last week. It’s true. It may be an “open secret” in many circles that I host a weekly trivia contest in an Irish pub in downtown Davis, but many of my colleagues at the University don’t know that I spend my time thus. On many an occasion I have encountered professional workmates at the Pub who impressed upon me how much respect they once had for me as a scholar and teacher. Perhaps this is why you won’t find my last name on my website or in the signature file of emails that I send out as your quizmaster. My lovely wife Kate has often questioned whether my attempts to maintain these two identities, and really, it should be said, a number of other identities as well, were at all practical or practicable. During my 14 years of hosting “Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour” on local radio station KDVS, and in my professional resume which now stretches to an unwieldy 27 pages, you won’t find me mentioning the words “pub quiz.”
That said, this is how a Davis Enterprise recent article begins, ostensibly on the topic of my elevation to Davis Poet Laureate: “It’s hard not to run into UC Davis professor Andy Jones. On Monday nights, the English prof becomes the quiz master at de Vere’s Irish Pub, where he circles the crowded bar, microphone in hand, issuing questions to trivia fans.”
The article continues in this way: “On Wednesdays from 5 to 6 p.m., Jones broadcasts his long-standing radio show, “Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour,” for which he’s interviewed everyone from novelist and poet Margaret Atwood to the late political cartoonist Rex Babin.”
“And on the first and third Thursdays, you’ll find him at the John Natsoulas Gallery, hosting a poetry reading, which he’s done for the past eight years.”
“Now as the city of Davis’ third poet laureate, Jones will be even more prominent as the city’s most well-known advocate for the arts.”
I feel like I am writing a Bob Dunning column, insofar as I am quoting others to fill my quota! Thanks to Enterprise reporter Rachel Uda, for getting the facts right. That’s refreshing.
So, how should I change my life and practices now that people know that Dr. Andy Jones is the Quizmaster at de Vere’s Irish Pub? Stay tuned.
Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on men’s jobs, famous Brits. The United Nations, hammers, The New York Times and other newspapers, YouTube, rude people, shoes, dogs, abs, protocols, poisons, science and technology, dissolution, the stature of great senators, movies that launched superstars, timeless sins of distraction, the death of John F. Kennedy, being in time, international cities, films without aliens, basketball, Tolkien, great novels, and Shakespeare.
Kate is out of town, so I have shared the quiz with her already, and will hear back if it is too difficult. Adjustments may be made. I hope you can join us tonight!
Your Quizmaster
https://www.yourquizmaster.com
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