I've had my dad tell me that the guys at work have seen me in the local newspaper, and my grandparents have been telling me that people have phoned them up to tell them that they'd seen their grandson in the news. Lots of messages from people telling me how proud they are of me. I'm very touched by all the nice messages.
The total amount that I have raised so far is creeping slowly towards the £3000 mark. Donations continued to pour in after the marathon, especially when I mentioned how I had decisively and comprehensively beaten last year's time.
Last night I hosted the quiz evening with a friend in order to raise some more money and the takings that night amounted to just over £500 - a very impressive and unexpected amount indeed. The evening went rather smoothly, I felt, except we arrived at the venue a little later than we ought to have done, and as a result, had not finished setting up the room by the time the first guests arrived. Furthermore, we had to keep a lot of people waiting before actually beginning, which might have frustrated a few of the more impatient participants. Also, in hindsight, we could have provided more to eat and drink, especially during the interval, so that is clearly something to learn for the future if I organise an event like this again. On the other hand, we got at least sixty people into the room, onto eleven different tables/teams, and they appeared to enjoy the questions. It seemed to be the right mix - easy questions, difficult questions, and extremely hard questions. Enough to satisfy everybody, yet also being able to separate the men from the boys. And presumably the women from the girls.
I got a lot of compliments about the quiz style and questions and also on the witty repartee between me and my friend, with whom I had written the questions. We went roughly halfway on the whole thing, writing 100 questions each, 10 for each round, and then choosing the best 5 of each of our questions for every round, so there was a good, healthy mix. We've both been to plenty of quizzes before so we knew what kind of questions to write and how to aim them at our audience.
The quiz comprised the following rounds: 1) Marathons and Deafness; 2) History; 3) Geography; 4) Art and Literature; 5) Music; 6) Science and Nature; 7) Sport; 8) Spellings; 9) TV; 10) Film. I wrote all of the questions for the first and eighth rounds but otherwise we wrote half of the questions between ourselves. There was also a raffle, for which I had worked very hard to try to get some decent prizes. Many companies were kind enough to donate a few, including my own company, the local cinema, a theatre in town, and a nearby restaurant. Hopefully the people that won on the raffle are satisfied with their prizes.
Overall, it was a success because the vast majority of people went away happy. Many of them were lovely people that I'd never met before but were pleased to have met me and taken part. They'd enjoyed their evening, they'd learned a few things, met a few people and had a good time. The evening overran by a fair bit, but in my defence, the guests got more for their money -- the quiz could have been over in two-and-a-half hours, but instead it took three hours. We gave the public what they wanted. 160 questions (100 quiz questions, plus 60 marathon round picture questions). That's 5p per question. Absolute bargain. Plus a raffle prize for a couple more quid if they got lucky. You'd be hard-pressed to get a better quiz deal, if I may say so myself.
Some people might want to know what the questions were. As this is a blog about the marathon, I'll stay on topic and just post the questions to the first round - the marathon (and deafness) round:
1
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Until
1990, they were known as Marathon bars - what are they now called?
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2
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What
was the name of the Greek messenger who allegedly ran the first ever marathon
- from the Battle of Marathon to Athens in 490BC?
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3
|
In
what year was the first London Marathon run?
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4
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Which
famous (clipper) ship do runners pass around 10km into the London Marathon?
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5
|
In
which US state was the first wheelchair marathon held – Iowa, Ohio or Utah?
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6
|
The
London Marathon is currently sponsored by Virgin, but who were the previous
sponsors?
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7
|
After
which inventor is the unit of sound intensity, the decibel, named?
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8
|
The
incus is the medical name for what tiny bone in the middle ear?
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9
|
What
hearing condition’s symptoms include a ‘ringing’ in the ears?
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10
|
“The
Sound Of Silence” gave which duo their first number one single in the USA?
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Answers on a postcard, please.
