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Young World
Who wants to be a quizzard?
BHARAT V. EPUR
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This year too the Young World quiz promises great excitement. The fun begins in Chennai today... So brush up your general knowledge, read the newspaper and get set to go.
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A TV quiz that became an instant hit.
"Let's quiz, shall we?" If such a question were to be put to any group of youngsters nowadays, chances are that a good majority of them would say, "Yes, let's!" This is so, thanks to an innate curiosity among children combined with their exposure to modern live, telecast and/or web-based quiz programmes. It has taken a number of years for such a situation to develop. The word "quiz" itself owes its origin to an apocryphal event set in Dublin in 1780.
As per accepted wisdom, one night James Daly, a theatre manager, laid a bet that he could introduce within 24 hours a new word with a new meaning into the English language. Accordingly, during that night, on every accessible wall, he chalked up four mystic letters. When the citizens of Dublin woke up the next morning, they were all inquiring what those letters or that word meant. And that word was? "Quiz!"
The word quiz entered our lexicon on that day Quizzes have been a staple diet of many schools and colleges — both for academic and for extra-curricular subjects. With Marconi's invention of the wireless, radio became a new forum for quizzing. The BBC can take credit for introducing diverse radio programmes on this subject — the foremost of which was "Mastermind". With the advent of TV, the Hollywood studios began to make their inexorable march towards dominance in this genre. Even "Mastermind" made the transition from a radio show to a television show. But the show that made the biggest impact worldwide was "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" This mega-show originated in Britain and spread all over the world including India, where it aired as the unforgettable "Kaun Banega Crorepati" starring Amitabh Bachchan.
Quizzing on the radio in India can trace its origins to the "Bournvita Quiz Contest" with the inimitable Hamid Sayani as the quizmaster. This programme also made its transition to TV with Derek O'Brien hosting the show in its new avatar. But the person who can claim credit for bringing quizzing into our living rooms is none other than Siddhartha Basu with his "Quiz Time" in the 1980s. He followed it up with many other programmes including "Mastermind India" and "Kaun Banega Crorepati", of which he was the producer.
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The Hindu-Young World Quiz, series started in 2000 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Young World supplement as an Inter-school, Inter-city Quiz has become the best known and most widely attended live quizzing event in the country. This quiz, conducted every year since then, over a period of three months in eleven cities, draws enthusiastic responses from children from schools nationwide. The winning teams, of two members each, from all the regional centres are brought to Chennai for the Grand All-India Final, where the winners are showered with a veritable cornucopia of prizes.
In this year's edition of the quiz, the regionals are being conducted at Chennai( August 31), Visakhapatnam (September 6), Vijayawada (September 8), Bangalore (September 14), New Delhi( September 21), Thiruvananthapuram (September 28), Kochi (September 29), Madurai (October 2), Coimbatore (October 5), Tiruchirapalli(October 11) and Hyderabad (October 19).
The Grand All-India Finals will be held at Chennai on October 26. Once again the quiz master is Mr. V. V. Ramanan. "Eveready" is the title sponsor of this year's quiz, and, "Hercules'(cycles), "Dash" (watches from itan), "Britannia" and "Fourth R" are the cosponsors. "Coca-Cola" is the official drink. "LetsQuiz.com" is managing this event.
Students from Standard VIII and XII who wish to participate in this quiz may obtain their registration forms from their school principals or by contacting the Regional managers of The Hindu in the centres mentioned.
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