Here Endeth the Behemoth
Another 500-odd question quiz done and gone
And so: marking done, Paypal payment requests still not sent out, extension expired ... here are the final scores and positions for The Behemoth, and the obligatory, slightly eccentric report...
The Obligatory, Slightly Eccentric Report
Once again, Kevin has triumphed. No real surprise there. The format is perfectly suited to the man with the biggest, most awe-inspiring general knowledge. It is 505 questions after all, and not 30 like The Windmill pub quiz last night in Rustington ("What nationality was the architect Frank Lloyd Wright?" ... hmmm, how challenging, such a question perplexes my genial brain with its difficult nature. I may have to do a PhD on it). Upsets ain't going to happen if everyone brings their top game to the table. The best will out. And Kevin was certainly the best, by 26.5 points. A sizeable margin indeed. His finished question paper was astonishingly impressive in the width and depth of the answers given.
You set some things in this kind of venture and expect no one to get them, because you are silly like that. Kevin got them again and again, making my jaw-drop in the fashion of a ventriloquist dummy's very loosely wired mouth. And when someone can keep shocking you with their brilliance eight years after your first encounter with the fellow, you know that they really do have something that nobody else has. A better brain for a start (suddenly, got a Heroes flashback to Sylar removing the brain of photographic memorising waitress Charlie. Be careful, Kevin).
In second place Mark Bytheway usurps perennial runner-up Pat, though this may be more due to the fact that Pat tested it many months ago. I reckon he would have picked up the extra dozen or so points and then some during the April-August gap. Everyone, myself included, knows more stuff later due to this thing we call the onset of time: the longer the time, the more we learn (just throwing a wild theory out there that looks pretty lame when I read it over again). I mean, we know more in the future than we do now and ach, sod it. Let me think about this for a few days and not get back to you.
Lest we forget, Pat has current World and British titles to comfort him. The Behemoth is nowt compared to such globe-straddling prestige. However, Mark's knowledge is improving at what appears to be a geometric rate (a phrase I learnt from Terminator 2 and have not stopped using ever since in a completely mistaken way, possibly) and some of his answers were insanely good in their obscurity. Mark is undoubtedly the coming man. Not being remiss of praising close allies: mighty congrats to my Broken Heart team-mate Sean, who bested fellow BH Bayley (who called it "easy", a comment I quite liked for its blatant contradiction of the result-related facts) by two points to claim 4th position. First time he's returned one of these to me, and he should be glad he did.
Plus, well done to Belgian's finest, Erik Derycke, who topped the foreign contingent and therefore gets a freebie for this quiz and the next. In other overseas news the Finn, Tero Kalliolevo, impressed me muchly in his first attempt at one of my big quizzes, despite his expressing afterwards how physically and mentally draining the whole thing was. Hey, it's meant to do your head in! Right, I think that's enough slapping named individuals on the back. It can get a bit patronising, cheesy and tiring. For me, at least.
Let's go on to the scores: there was a marked drop in many from the last time out - an average of about 5 per cent. This was due to the tougher nature of the questions: ("Too much science!" said one, maybe two Hawking haters, "Much more sport than last time" said a renowned sport-phobic and "Not enough natural history" said the only other subject balance commentator, who was definitely right. These remarks have been taken on board and possibly take into account for my next hee-yooge quiz venture). Fiendishly and I have to say carelessly, I managed to also make much longer than before (blame the huge break betwixt Behemoth and Colossus) and so I have made special effort to streamline every future quiz word count to stop eyes and brains from tiring too easily and too early; after all people don't want freakin' mini-essays. They, meaning British quizzers, always want to get to the point as quickly as possible. They can't be doing with hundred-word questions Having said all that, special mention must therefore be made of those who suffered no such marked drop: Bayley, Fred Filby, Kathryn, Ole Martin Halck and other peeps, whose statistics I can't be bothered to calculate. You hung in there! Thumbs up!
Also, putting on my marker's hat here and giving out advice, in future when the question is asking for a number, colour or, most crucially, a country, please please guess. I know the quiz was longer than a London bus queue during an RMT strike (Bob Crow ... grrrrrrr! That's all I have for you) and all and made you feel like you ran two marathons in a row while trying to do a series of su doku puzzles at the same time, but if a potential answer can be drawn from your memory and existing knowledge of more than 200 countries or the spectrum of far fewer colours, please - for the love of the sweet Lord above - put something, anything. You will not regret it. A blank space under certain questions made me feel so very depressed, and you don't want me to mope about all depressed like. (Then again maybe I should get on the receiving end of 505 questions in a three hour period and see how I cope with the thorny problem of putting down answers in every possible slot. This might be a request. Somebody out there, please ... ).
Finally, mention must be made of the dirtiest yet most sublimely logical answer given to a question courtesy of Ken Jennings (go Ken go! Beat that stuck up neuro-something guy Ogi! Even if I was rooting for him every round before the Grand Slam final), who said that a "vagina" is added to a croque-monsieur to make a croque-madame. Makes you think doesn't it?
Wait. Just one more thing
Very finally, like James Bond, the huge quiz will return soon. The series has been put in motion, possibly of the perpetual kind because I seem to love setting them so. I have been building the next one to the detriment of my social and proper work life, and have now made it to the mid-400s question range. It is provisionally named The Quiz, or perhaps The Mighty, or maybe even The Supergiant (Leviathan is a bit too obvious at this stage don't you think?) and will be sent out for testing very soon, with a noticeable decline in questions on car companies, architecture and chefs/restaurants.
I noticed how those particular subjects really stood out in the Behemoth, like a gang of sore thumbs jabbing at me every time I processed another paper (the demagogue in me thinks that marking is a brilliant way to while away the precious hours of my life). Not that you complained about the concentration of such subjects, but I'm sure there are other subjects I can grow crazy on. Like, Asian fruit trees, Muslim architecture and dynasties, graphic novelists and so on.
Anyhoo, to all those who underwent this trial by trivia, many thanks for doing the quiz and submitting to the brute capitalist streak in me. I hope you think it was worth it, I really do. Because without the people who did it, it would be nothing.
No, that's not actually right (I sound like an emetic awards thank you speech). They'd be questions in one of my files, like the Ark of the Covenant's final destination at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. They'd be mine, all mine, but I'd undoubtedly feel a hollowed out feeling inside, knowing they are not being shared with the world (yeah, right).
The Behemoth Final Positions and Scores
NB If you have submitted your filled-in question sheet and do not see your name below, please e-mail thebehemothquiz@googlemail.com expressing your deep concerns. I will, of course, blame the internet and endeavour to mark whatever was once lost but is now hopefully rediscovered.
Thus, 64 people paid for the quiz or acted as freebie Mclovin' testers. Fifty-two managed to return answer sheets so they could feel the wrath of my marking figure/felt tip pen. Here are those brave souls in score order (out of 507):
1 Kevin Ashman (UK) 351.5
2 Mark Bytheway (UK) 325
3 Pat Gibson (Ire) 312.5
4 Sean Carey (UK) 293
5 Ian Bayley (UK) 291
6 Mark Grant (UK/Australia) 267.5
7 Erik Derycke (Bel) 264.5
8 Dorjana Sirola (Cro) 256.5
9= William De'Ath (UK) 255
9= Barry Simmons (UK) 255
11 Tero Kalliolevo (Fin) 254
12 Marnix Baes (Bel) 252
13 David Stainer (UK) 249.5
14 Phil Duffy (UK) 245
15 Fred Filby (UK) 241
16 Scott Dawson (UK) 239
17 Kathryn Johnson (UK) 235
18= Ken Jennings (US) 224
18= Ole Martin Halck (Nor) 224
20 Nic Paul (UK) 222
21 Thomas Kolåsæter (Nor) 221.5
22 Harald Aastorp (Nor) 221
23 Chris Quinn (UK) 220
24 Chris Jones (UK) 214
25= Tore Dahl (Nor) 211
25= Alan Gibbs (UK) 211
27 Diane Hallagan (UK) 210
28= Quentin Holt (UK) 204
28= Tim Westcott (UK) 204
30 Jenny Ryan 203 (UK) 203
31 Steven Deceuster (Bel) 202
32 Mick McCarthy (UK) 201
33 Lars Heggland (Nor) 200
34 Phil Smith (UK) 195.5
35 Stig Sanner (Nor) 188
36 Christian Flermoe (Nor) 185
37 Rob Hannah (UK) 184
38 Peter Ediss (UK) 176
39 John Harrison (UK) 174
40 Will Jones (UK) 159
41 Paul Emerson (UK) 153
42 Andrew Whittingham (UK) 149.5
43 Karen Skjånes (Nor) 145
44 Jon Strøm (Nor) 144
45 Paul Davis (UK) 139
46 Bjørn Revil (Nor)131
47 Beth Maclure (UK) 116
THE "FREE NOW & NEXT TIME" ZONE
---------------------------------------------
48= Jone Frafjord (Nor) 97
48= Ivar Areklett (Nor) 97
50 James Middleton (UK) 92
51 Brett Chambers (US) 88
52 Janice Taylor (UK) 75
And so: marking done, Paypal payment requests still not sent out, extension expired ... here are the final scores and positions for The Behemoth, and the obligatory, slightly eccentric report...
The Obligatory, Slightly Eccentric Report
Once again, Kevin has triumphed. No real surprise there. The format is perfectly suited to the man with the biggest, most awe-inspiring general knowledge. It is 505 questions after all, and not 30 like The Windmill pub quiz last night in Rustington ("What nationality was the architect Frank Lloyd Wright?" ... hmmm, how challenging, such a question perplexes my genial brain with its difficult nature. I may have to do a PhD on it). Upsets ain't going to happen if everyone brings their top game to the table. The best will out. And Kevin was certainly the best, by 26.5 points. A sizeable margin indeed. His finished question paper was astonishingly impressive in the width and depth of the answers given.
You set some things in this kind of venture and expect no one to get them, because you are silly like that. Kevin got them again and again, making my jaw-drop in the fashion of a ventriloquist dummy's very loosely wired mouth. And when someone can keep shocking you with their brilliance eight years after your first encounter with the fellow, you know that they really do have something that nobody else has. A better brain for a start (suddenly, got a Heroes flashback to Sylar removing the brain of photographic memorising waitress Charlie. Be careful, Kevin).
In second place Mark Bytheway usurps perennial runner-up Pat, though this may be more due to the fact that Pat tested it many months ago. I reckon he would have picked up the extra dozen or so points and then some during the April-August gap. Everyone, myself included, knows more stuff later due to this thing we call the onset of time: the longer the time, the more we learn (just throwing a wild theory out there that looks pretty lame when I read it over again). I mean, we know more in the future than we do now and ach, sod it. Let me think about this for a few days and not get back to you.
Lest we forget, Pat has current World and British titles to comfort him. The Behemoth is nowt compared to such globe-straddling prestige. However, Mark's knowledge is improving at what appears to be a geometric rate (a phrase I learnt from Terminator 2 and have not stopped using ever since in a completely mistaken way, possibly) and some of his answers were insanely good in their obscurity. Mark is undoubtedly the coming man. Not being remiss of praising close allies: mighty congrats to my Broken Heart team-mate Sean, who bested fellow BH Bayley (who called it "easy", a comment I quite liked for its blatant contradiction of the result-related facts) by two points to claim 4th position. First time he's returned one of these to me, and he should be glad he did.
Plus, well done to Belgian's finest, Erik Derycke, who topped the foreign contingent and therefore gets a freebie for this quiz and the next. In other overseas news the Finn, Tero Kalliolevo, impressed me muchly in his first attempt at one of my big quizzes, despite his expressing afterwards how physically and mentally draining the whole thing was. Hey, it's meant to do your head in! Right, I think that's enough slapping named individuals on the back. It can get a bit patronising, cheesy and tiring. For me, at least.
Let's go on to the scores: there was a marked drop in many from the last time out - an average of about 5 per cent. This was due to the tougher nature of the questions: ("Too much science!" said one, maybe two Hawking haters, "Much more sport than last time" said a renowned sport-phobic and "Not enough natural history" said the only other subject balance commentator, who was definitely right. These remarks have been taken on board and possibly take into account for my next hee-yooge quiz venture). Fiendishly and I have to say carelessly, I managed to also make much longer than before (blame the huge break betwixt Behemoth and Colossus) and so I have made special effort to streamline every future quiz word count to stop eyes and brains from tiring too easily and too early; after all people don't want freakin' mini-essays. They, meaning British quizzers, always want to get to the point as quickly as possible. They can't be doing with hundred-word questions Having said all that, special mention must therefore be made of those who suffered no such marked drop: Bayley, Fred Filby, Kathryn, Ole Martin Halck and other peeps, whose statistics I can't be bothered to calculate. You hung in there! Thumbs up!
Also, putting on my marker's hat here and giving out advice, in future when the question is asking for a number, colour or, most crucially, a country, please please guess. I know the quiz was longer than a London bus queue during an RMT strike (Bob Crow ... grrrrrrr! That's all I have for you) and all and made you feel like you ran two marathons in a row while trying to do a series of su doku puzzles at the same time, but if a potential answer can be drawn from your memory and existing knowledge of more than 200 countries or the spectrum of far fewer colours, please - for the love of the sweet Lord above - put something, anything. You will not regret it. A blank space under certain questions made me feel so very depressed, and you don't want me to mope about all depressed like. (Then again maybe I should get on the receiving end of 505 questions in a three hour period and see how I cope with the thorny problem of putting down answers in every possible slot. This might be a request. Somebody out there, please ... ).
Finally, mention must be made of the dirtiest yet most sublimely logical answer given to a question courtesy of Ken Jennings (go Ken go! Beat that stuck up neuro-something guy Ogi! Even if I was rooting for him every round before the Grand Slam final), who said that a "vagina" is added to a croque-monsieur to make a croque-madame. Makes you think doesn't it?
Wait. Just one more thing
Very finally, like James Bond, the huge quiz will return soon. The series has been put in motion, possibly of the perpetual kind because I seem to love setting them so. I have been building the next one to the detriment of my social and proper work life, and have now made it to the mid-400s question range. It is provisionally named The Quiz, or perhaps The Mighty, or maybe even The Supergiant (Leviathan is a bit too obvious at this stage don't you think?) and will be sent out for testing very soon, with a noticeable decline in questions on car companies, architecture and chefs/restaurants.
I noticed how those particular subjects really stood out in the Behemoth, like a gang of sore thumbs jabbing at me every time I processed another paper (the demagogue in me thinks that marking is a brilliant way to while away the precious hours of my life). Not that you complained about the concentration of such subjects, but I'm sure there are other subjects I can grow crazy on. Like, Asian fruit trees, Muslim architecture and dynasties, graphic novelists and so on.
Anyhoo, to all those who underwent this trial by trivia, many thanks for doing the quiz and submitting to the brute capitalist streak in me. I hope you think it was worth it, I really do. Because without the people who did it, it would be nothing.
No, that's not actually right (I sound like an emetic awards thank you speech). They'd be questions in one of my files, like the Ark of the Covenant's final destination at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. They'd be mine, all mine, but I'd undoubtedly feel a hollowed out feeling inside, knowing they are not being shared with the world (yeah, right).
The Behemoth Final Positions and Scores
NB If you have submitted your filled-in question sheet and do not see your name below, please e-mail thebehemothquiz@googlemail.com expressing your deep concerns. I will, of course, blame the internet and endeavour to mark whatever was once lost but is now hopefully rediscovered.
Thus, 64 people paid for the quiz or acted as freebie Mclovin' testers. Fifty-two managed to return answer sheets so they could feel the wrath of my marking figure/felt tip pen. Here are those brave souls in score order (out of 507):
1 Kevin Ashman (UK) 351.5
2 Mark Bytheway (UK) 325
3 Pat Gibson (Ire) 312.5
4 Sean Carey (UK) 293
5 Ian Bayley (UK) 291
6 Mark Grant (UK/Australia) 267.5
7 Erik Derycke (Bel) 264.5
8 Dorjana Sirola (Cro) 256.5
9= William De'Ath (UK) 255
9= Barry Simmons (UK) 255
11 Tero Kalliolevo (Fin) 254
12 Marnix Baes (Bel) 252
13 David Stainer (UK) 249.5
14 Phil Duffy (UK) 245
15 Fred Filby (UK) 241
16 Scott Dawson (UK) 239
17 Kathryn Johnson (UK) 235
18= Ken Jennings (US) 224
18= Ole Martin Halck (Nor) 224
20 Nic Paul (UK) 222
21 Thomas Kolåsæter (Nor) 221.5
22 Harald Aastorp (Nor) 221
23 Chris Quinn (UK) 220
24 Chris Jones (UK) 214
25= Tore Dahl (Nor) 211
25= Alan Gibbs (UK) 211
27 Diane Hallagan (UK) 210
28= Quentin Holt (UK) 204
28= Tim Westcott (UK) 204
30 Jenny Ryan 203 (UK) 203
31 Steven Deceuster (Bel) 202
32 Mick McCarthy (UK) 201
33 Lars Heggland (Nor) 200
34 Phil Smith (UK) 195.5
35 Stig Sanner (Nor) 188
36 Christian Flermoe (Nor) 185
37 Rob Hannah (UK) 184
38 Peter Ediss (UK) 176
39 John Harrison (UK) 174
40 Will Jones (UK) 159
41 Paul Emerson (UK) 153
42 Andrew Whittingham (UK) 149.5
43 Karen Skjånes (Nor) 145
44 Jon Strøm (Nor) 144
45 Paul Davis (UK) 139
46 Bjørn Revil (Nor)131
47 Beth Maclure (UK) 116
THE "FREE NOW & NEXT TIME" ZONE
---------------------------------------------
48= Jone Frafjord (Nor) 97
48= Ivar Areklett (Nor) 97
50 James Middleton (UK) 92
51 Brett Chambers (US) 88
52 Janice Taylor (UK) 75
posted by That Quiz Guy at 7:41 AM
1 Comments:
Very finally, like James Bond, the huge quiz will return soon.
Hurrah!
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