Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Welcome to December! As I marched with my family in the candlelit parade through downtown Davis last Thursday, and the subsequent visit to The Varsity Theatre for the free showing of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, I thought of London, and the London wintertimes I spent in 1985 and 1987 watching British and continental shoppers and revelers getting ready for Christmas. I acted in The Christmas Carol when I was a youth, and it was thrilling to me to be walking the same streets that Dickens had walked when inventing that foundational Christmas story 140 years earlier. While our modern American Christmas traditions are sustained by movies and TV shows (and you can expect me to ask A Charlie Brown Christmas question every year), the trees, the images on cards, and many of the carols that we associate with classic Christmas traditions were created or re-discovered in Dickens’ London. Do certain literary works or locales fuel your holiday celebrations?
Of course, not everyone celebrates Christmas, something I remind myself at Christmas time (and also around Easter). Not everyone watches TV, either. I myself actually have to do web research to pose simple questions about shows such as CSI and Dancing with the Stars. That said, tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature a number of TV shows and other entertainments for children. Expect questions tonight on Dr. Seuss, Charlie Brown, microblogging, CPR, bats and boats, art and art history, popular musicians, combat sports, history enumerated, chemical reactions, old actors, inventions, big countries, California cities, Swedes, sitcoms that I had barely heard of, platinum singles from the last decade, emus in October, Muppets, New York Hotels, religious terms, great screenplays, early explorers, insects, Illinois, Newt Gingrich (not Herman Cain this time), French literature, baseball, and Shakespeare.
Some teams grab their preferred tables as early as 4:45. Will I see you inside our toasty and traditional de Vere’s Irish Pub when I arrive at 6 tonight?
Best,
Your Quizmaster
https://www.yourquizmaster.com
http://www.twitter.com/yourquizmaster
http://www.facebook.com/yourquizmaster
Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
10. Great Americans. Who is the current Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court?
11. The US Military. According to a recent report by a group of retired generals, what has become the leading medical disqualifier for military service?
12. Stats You Should Know. Rounded off to the nearest percent, what is the current US unemployment rate? (This number has gone down since last week – I expect it to drop further.)
13. Pop Culture – Television. What is the last name of the contestant who won the most recent Dancing with the Stars competition?
14. American History. The Mayflower Compact, signed on November 11, 1620, was the governing document of what colony?