Quizzing fun for all the family

Take a colourful journey through the world of the British quiz show, and test your bookworm credentials, with two super quiz books from some of the nation’s best and brainiest quizzers

Fingers on Buzzers:
A Celebration of the Great British Quiz

Jenny Ryan and Lucy Porter

FROM Bullseye to Pointless, enjoy an interactive and kaleidoscopic journey through the history of the Great British Quiz with the two brainboxes who together host Fingers on Buzzers, the nation’s number one podcast about quizzing and quiz shows.

Lucy Porter – who has written sitcoms and stand-up specials for Radio 4, and appeared on TV quizcoms such as The News Quiz, Have I Got News For You and QI – and quizzing partner Jenny Ryan – best known as one of the resident elite quizzers on award-winning ITV teatime quiz show The Chase – confess to loving quizzing ‘truly, madly, deeply’ and promise readers that there ‘is something for everyone in these pages.’

Discover a range of quiz questions, brain teasers and game suggestions, tips on how to write fun and exciting quizzes for any audience, and enjoy a whistle-stop (and often nostalgic) tour through the history of quiz and game shows on TV.

And by looking back at some of the greatest (and not so great!) quiz shows of all time, and what made them so good or so bad, our quiz aficionados provide quiz fans with useful ideas about how to host their very own game show at home.

Ryan and Porter say they are big fans of basic quick-fire question quizzes but there are many options, depending on whether you’re running a quiz for family, friends, colleagues... or even those who are your arch-nemeses. From the early days of TV quiz shows to our more recent love of the pub quiz – and also incorporating a huge host of pop quizzes for the whole family to enjoy – Fingers on Buzzers is an entertaining and informative celebration of our great British obsession and the perfect gift book for all avid quizzers!
(John Blake, hardback, £14.99)

The Book Lover’s Quiz Book 2 More Quizzes for Book Whizzes

Gary Wigglesworth

SO you think you’re a bookworm whizz? Test your literary knowledge with this fun and knowledge-filled offering from book quiz ‘king’ Gary Wigglesworth who runs London’s only monthly book quiz at the Betsey Trotwood pub in Farringdon.

This delightfully witty, wise and wonderful literary quiz book ‘with a difference’ mirrors the format of Wigglesworth’s (pictured below) lively and popular quizzes both in London and at literary festivals across the country, and includes lot of multiple-choice questions, some amusing answers, clever red herrings, little-known facts about authors and some much-loved Say What You See picture rounds.

Book lovers can answer questions by themselves or host a quiz among friends with twenty-four quizzes to keep you guessing with a variety of question styles. The entertaining rounds include deciphering anagrams, Blankety Books where you must fill in the missing word in each title, Two of a Kind which involves identifying a character and author who share the same initials, guess the book with the Say What You See pictures and badly drawn covers, and Book Bingo.

The quizzes are carefully weighted so keen bookworms will get a work-out while more casual readers can still have lots of enjoyment just having a go. And all the questions are designed to aid guessing, with multiple-choice answers and hints (making the reader smile with amusing wrong answers!), clever red herrings, and little-known facts and footnotes. With questions ranging from ‘I know that!’ to ones that will make your brain attempt a desperate bid for freedom, this super quiz book is perfect for the home, the pub or waiting in a queue, and will remind you of your favourite books... and give you a list of new ones to search out. Books, humour and entertainment in one delightful package!
(Robinson, hardback, £16.99)