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"Wise Old Owls"
Television Appearance #2
"The Local" (August 1999)
 Yorkshire
Television produced a series of five, hour-long, live shows for
Friday evenings in 1999 (in fact two half-hour slots either side of the
main ITN night-time news). These shows were broadcast from the
studio-set of "The Woolpack", a pivotal setting for much
of the action in the popular long running YTV soap "Emmerdale Farm".
Since the programme's premise was to re-create a night-out in the
local pub, it naturally had to feature a quiz of some sort!
The show's producer approached the Wise Old Owls
and asked if we'd supply a list of names of "quiz people"
prepared to take part in the show. It so happened the producer
knew the late Steve Crew, one of the founders of the Wise Old Owls.
He was aware we ran quizzes right across the region and so would be able
to supply contestants that were both capable and representative
of Yorkshire TV's audience. Moreover, our ability to put them
directly in touch with likely contestants obviated the need for expensive
and time consuming auditions.
The quiz itself, rather than being a team affair like
most pub quizzes, was for individuals. Four contestants appeared on
each of the first four shows, the winner of each heat going through
to the final which was to form part of the fifth show. In each
instance the contestants were faced with twenty questions, all about
things which had been in the news or were otherwise topical. The
questions were thrown out to all four contestants and the fastest to
the buzzer would get the chance to answer. A point was awarded
for each correct answer, and the highest score would win (a tie break
question was available for tied matches).
Chris himself appeared in the fourth and final heat
broadcast on 20 August 1999. In so doing he represented the Robin
Hood in Altofts (a pub he used to frequent on Monday evenings to take
part in Tim Johnson's excellent multi-part quiz night). Chris stormed his
heat, winning with 9 points. The heat's other contestants were Paul
Stone (Old Halfway House, Horbury) 3 points, Chris Chappell (Masons'
Arms, Ossett) 3 points, and Lorna Rouse (Morley Dashers,
Morley) 2 points.
The following week, i.e. the fifth and last show, the
final was staged. The other heat winners taking part were Darryl
Sunderland of Todmorden, Chris Randal of Worksop, and Julian Barker from
the British Queen in Bradford. Chris won but only after a low
scoring tie with Darrell and only then by virtue of getting the second
bite at a tie-break question! There was no prize but a
handsome trophy now sits on Chris' office bookcase! He certainly
enjoyed the experience and through going along to the TV studios got to
meet a living Yorkshire legend, the one-and-only Dickie Bird!
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