NEARLY £1000 PAID OUT

New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 354, 5 April 1946, Page 16

NEARLY £1000 PAID OUT

Sixth Year of 2ZB Quiz Session

ROSPECTIVE sergeants: major, poring over general knowledge papers at Army schools of instruction during the war years, frequently wondered what military significance there was in knowing that the sinking of the Lusitania helped to bring America into the first World War in 1917, or that Luther Burbank gave his mame to a plum. It helped little when platoons got inextricably mixed up with one another during company and battalion drill, and even at this late stage it is still difficult to see the point of the tests. But they did leave behind them a residue of assorted general knowledgeand in that respect they have a parallel in the quiz session, "Give It a Name Jackpots," which is now in its sixth year at 2ZB. Since this quiz was originated by Ian Mackay, about 4,000 questions have been asked and nearly £1,000 has been paid out in prize money by the sponsors, who provide £156 a year. For the last few years, Maurice Hawken has been quiz-master, so we asked him to tell us something about the session from his side of the microphone. First he talked about the financial side. The largest single prize won, he explained, was £42; another substantial reward was £26, while one man drew the highest-prized question eight times and won three of them, making £40 in one year out of his erudition. "What type of person enters the competitions?" "On the average," said Mr. Hawken, "their age is about 35 and they are generally well-read. They win by a fluke sometimes, of course, but in most cases the contestants can call on a fairly extensive background of knowledge." Country Listeners Like It "Who are the main followers of the sessions?" "The main appeal is to country listeners, but competitors come from various parts of New Zealand — Gisborne, Wanganui, Taumarunui, Westport, and so on. Sometimes they write to us, saying they will be in Wellington on a,

certain date, and asking if they can join in. , Arrangements are then made for them to compete." "Who sets the questions?" "IT do most of them myself, some from my books at home, and others at the. Wellington Public Library-and I must say the library staff are most help~ ful. A few "questions are sent in by listeners." Good prizes are sometimes missed by a very narrow margin, Mr. Hawken said..

Then again, many questions produce complete blanks on the faces of contestants. "Can you recall one to which nobody knew the answer?" "Yes, several; but here is one which was worth £39 and yet had no taker: The first Rotary Club was founded on February 23, 1905, in Chicago, by a lawyer who induced three of his friends to join-a coal-dealer, a sgilor, and a mining engineer. Meetings were held in

rotation at each member’s place of business, so that each could become acquainted with the other’s work. A national association was formed in 1910, and in 1912 an international association was formed to provide charters for Win- | nipeg, Canada and London. What was the name of the founder? The answer was: Paul Percil Harris." | Seance in the Studio "How is the quiz conducted in the studio?" "The competitors sit in a semi-circle. On a table near the microphone are cards bearing numbers one to twelve, face downwards. A coin is tossed and the winner nominates which end of the semicircle starts first. It is a curious coincidence that in 90 per cent. of cases, the question carrying the largest prize-money comes at the end of the session. Each competitor chooses a card from the | table and is asked the question corresponding with its number." Tongue-tied and Helpless "Have you ever had difficulty over microphone frights?" : "Occasionally a contestant becorhes tongue-tied though he or she knows the answer perfectly. But we do our best to put everybody at ease by having a chat about anything at all for hilan-heut before the session. We try to get newcomers over that dentist’s-waiting-room feeling." "You, of course, are used to it, and can hardly appreciate how tyros feel?" "On the contrary, I know their feelings very well, I once had to answer questions put to me by’ the class. If I could not answer correctly, the class won the prize. I remember one young woman who, as temporary .quiz-master, copied some of my sayings and mannerisms. ‘Take your time and don’t get excited,’ she said. And, for the life of me, I could not answer some of the posers." Some answers have been astonishing. A nervous girl declared that Queen Victoria’s father was Henry VIII. And then there were the competitors who did not know who wrote the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam or who was the heroine of Annie Laurie. These were catch questions, a form not often used. One elderly woman, about 70, who called herself Sarah Gamp, was asked to give the names of Captain Scott’s companions in his dash to the Pole. She produced all the surnames correctly and then surprised the whole class by saying that she could give the Christian names, too, if required. Didn’t Like His Voice Mr. Hawken told us that recently a woman called at his place of business. "You have a voice like Maurice Hawken," she remarked. "Are you his brother?" Mr. Hawken said he wasn’t. "Oh, it doesn’t matter," said the lady; "I don’t like Hawken’s voice anywayhe puts on too much side!" One thing he had discovered through his library researches, he said, was that whereas in science and art credit for inventions or discovery was commonly given to foreigners, the truth was that in many cases the pioneering work could be traced to Britons. "One more question-a personal one," we said. "What does your wife think of your radio work?" "She’s a hard critic. She takes the greatest pleasure in switching off the set when I am on the air. She says it’s the only time she can do it with impunity."