History & Origins of Quizzes

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. One of the greatest mysteries in the history of quizzes is the origin of the word 'quiz' itself. Legend has it that a Dublin theater owner named James Daly made a bet with his Irish colleagues that he could introduce a new word to the English language in a matter of one day. Daly opted to introduce the word 'quiz', and he was successful with his attempt. According to the legend, how did he go about doing this?

Answer: He wrote down the word 'quiz' on walls, until it became a word of mouth among the people of Dublin

James Daly supposedly wrote the word 'quiz', using chalk, on the walls of Dublin in the year 1791. Consequently, the people of Dublin began to repeatedly say the word, even though they were unaware of its definition. An alternative version of the story also claims that Daly hired street urchins to write down the words on the walls of Dublin.

But with this theory aside, some etymologists conjecture that 'quiz' came from the same roots or origins as the words 'question' and 'inquisition'. After all, sources have pointed to the fact that the word was in use before 1791. During that time, 'quiz' was used as a noun to refer to an eccentric person.

2. Ever since Reginald Fessenden transmitted the first radio broadcast in 1906, people have been enthusiastic about this newfound form of entertainment. Consequently, the first nationally broadcasted radio quiz show [in the United States] came about thirty years later. What was the title of this radio quiz show?

Answer: Professor Quiz

"Professor Quiz" was first broadcasted nationally (in the U.S.) on October 11, 1936. In this quiz show, the listeners sent in questions that they think the host, Dr. Craig Earl, could not answer. If Dr. Earl was not able to answer the given question, the sender would win a cash prize.

Another radio program called "Vox Pop" was first broadcast on 1932. However, "Vox Pop" is not considered the first quiz show because its format does not satisfy the definition of a quiz show. In this show, the hosts would interview people from the streets, and at some point in time, the interviewees would be asked trivia questions by the hosts.

Some people consider "Vox Pop" the first radio quiz show. However, although trivia questions or quizzes were present in this program, it was not a program that was entirely composed of quizzes. Metaphorically speaking, quizzes were simply a "side-dish" in this radio program. This is certainly a debatable issue, but it does not affect the answer to the question since the question was asking for "...the first nationally broadcasted radio quiz show [in the United States]." "Vox Pop" was not broadcast nationally until much later than "Professor Quiz".

3. Quiz machines became popular in the United Kingdom during the 1980s, and several of them still exist and are still being made today. These machines work very much like slot machines, but there are certain differences. An obvious example is that people playing the machines must answer trivia questions, which is not a feature in regular slot machines. In the early years of quiz machines, many players gave names to some objects and plays that relate to quiz machines due to their increasing popularity. To test your knowledge on quiz machine jargon, what does the term 'mofo' mean?

Answer: A player who presses a button for an answer without even thinking of the question

The first generation of quiz machines only consisted of the traditional question-and-answer format. Thereafter, the machines offered formats similar to those in television quiz shows. Today, many people are attempting to create a 'multi-quiz machine', which consists of a plethora of trivia questions incorporated in multiple formats.

As a side note, there are some quiz machines that combine trivia questions with the traditional slot machine format of matching objects.

4. "100%" is a television quiz show that debuted in "Channel Five" in the United Kingdom. In this show, three players are asked one hundred questions in multiple-choice or true-or-false format. The person who garners the highest percentage by answering the most questions correctly will win a �100 cash prize and will be asked if he or she would like to return for the next show, upon which the same rules as the previous show apply. This quiz show is sometimes called "the game show without a host" because the true host of the show cannot be seen, although he can be heard, on-screen. The question is, who was the first person to act as the question-master for this show?

Answer: Robin Houston

One of the most prominent contestants in "100%" is Ian Lygo. In 1998, he scored the highest percentage for 75 consecutive shows, a record in game show history. Ultimately, the producers of the show asked him to step down as an undefeated champion because they feared that the show's ratings would plummet. Thereafter, the show restricted the number of consecutive wins to 25.

In addition to Ian Lygo's 75 consecutive appearances, he also holds the record in the show as the contestant scoring the highest percentage in a non-special show, with 87% (they aired some 'special-edition' shows like "100% Gold", where older people were contestants and the questions were especially categorized for those contestants to answer.)

5. The movie "Quiz Show" chronicled the 1950s scandal pertaining to the game show "Twenty-One". The primary character in this movie was Charles van Doren, played by Ralph Fiennes. The scandal consisted of the episodes of the aforementioned game show wherein the results were fixed by the producers. They did this with the intent of incrementing their show's ratings. The movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, but the question is, to which other film did it lose?

Answer: Forrest Gump

"Quiz Show" was directed by Robert Redford, and it was released in 1994, the year when the comedy/drama film "Forrest Gump" was released. Although "Quiz Show" was nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award, "Forrest Gump" took the Oscar instead.

Concerning the "Twenty-One" scandal, the producers did not simply plan the winning and losing results for each fixed episode. The producers also ordered the contestants how and when to do certain things, such as which questions to respond to and which questions they must deliberately answer incorrectly. As it was mentioned, Charles van Doren was greatly involved in this scandal. One time, the producers asked the current champion, Herbert Stempel, to deliberately lose in favor of Charles van Doren, which ultimately succeeded, commencing the incredible, albeit planned, winning streak of the latter contestant. Stempel finally decided to reveal the secrets of the show, upon which the scandal began.

6. Canadians Chris Haney and Scott Abbott were the masterminds behind the boardgame "Trivial Pursuit". Both men were involved in the journalism industry, with Haney working for the Montreal Gazette, and Abbott for The Canadian Press. But the main factor that contributed to the creation of "Trivial Pursuit" was Haney and Abbott's love for trivia and their desire to use their brains. In fact, right before they came up with the idea of the quiz boardgame, they were doing something that corroborates the mentioned fact. What were these two boardgame inventors doing?

Answer: They were playing a best of seven game of Scrabble

Haney and Abbott never truly revealed the winner of the best of seven Scrabble game. But since they thought of the idea of "Trivial Pursuit" (or "Trivia Pursuit", as it was first called) immediately after their household Scrabble tournament, both of them should be considered winners.

Their quiz boardgame became popular around the world, and millions of boardgames had been sold. In addition, several newer versions of the game were created, such as "Trivial Pursuit: Millenium Edition". It is most certainly expected that more versions of this successful quiz boardgame will be made, considering that the progression of time brings about newer trivia facts.

7. The name for a higher education admission quiz in Sweden is "H�gskoleprovet". It is similar in nature to the American SAT, although there are some obvious differences. For example, the language used in each section, with the exception of the English Reading Comprehension section or ELF (engelsk l�sf�rst�else), is obviously Swedish. Another section of the test is called the ORD, which primary purpose is to test what?

Answer: Vocabulary

I hope no one picked "A certain airport in Chicago" for an answer, because the ORD has nothing to do with the O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. But with all jocularity aside, ORD (ordf�rst�else) is a section of the H�gskoleprovet admission quiz.

The other three sections of the H�gskoleprovet that were not yet mentioned are: NOG (logiskt t�nkande kring matematiska problem), for data sufficiency; L�S (svensk l�sf�rst�else), for Swedish reading comprehension; and DTK (diagram, tabeller och kartor), for diagrams, tables, and maps.

The entirety of the H�gskoleprovet contains 122 multiple choice questions.

8. Buzzers are commonly used in quizbowls or television quiz shows. They are used to facilitate in ascertaining the first person or team to "ring in", and therefore, to determine the person or team who opts to answer a question. Buzzer systems are sometimes called "lockout systems", but the real question is why?

Answer: The other contestants can no longer ring in when a contestant or team has already done so

Buzzer systems are also called lockout systems because whenever a contestant or team rings in to answer, the other contestants are "locked out" from doing the same. On the other hand, the word "buzzer", in the context of "buzzer systems", probably originated as an onomatopoeic term, referring to the sound that the system makes when a contestant rings in to answer a question.

9. A pop quiz is a type of quiz that is given, usually for education or school purposes, without prior warning. It is typically given by teachers or educators to determine whether the students are studying the studied material on a regular basis. The etymology of the word "quiz" had already been addressed. Therefore, it is fair to ask the following question: where did the "pop" in "pop quiz" originate?

Answer: "Pop" is a word that represents "surprise" or "unexpected", just as someone becomes surprised when something "pops!" without prior knowledge

When a person sees something "pop out of nowhere," what is his initial reaction? Most of the time, he becomes surprised. That is exactly the idea of using the word "pop" in a type of quiz given without prior warning.

In some schools (especially elementary and high schools), pop quizzes are given by teachers once or twice every schoolyear. Sometimes, they are not even given at all. The point is that they are, more often than not, rarely given. This is because if they were given very often, they wouldn't really be too "unexpected", would they?

10. Einstein's Quiz, also known as Einstein's Riddle, is a fairly well-known logic quiz. It begins with a statement informing that there are five neighboring houses. Each house is unique in color, and the people who live in each respective house differ in nationality. In addition, no house owner smokes the same brand of cigar, owns the same pet, nor drinks the same beverage. But the true question that the riddle is asking is: "Who owns the fish?" Of course, one cannot answer the riddle solely with the above information. Therefore, Einstein provided several clues so that answering the question becomes possible. Which of these numbers, according to Einstein, represents the percent in the total population that will be able to come up with the correct answer?

Answer: 2

The provided clues for Einstein's quiz are as follows:

1. The Brit lives in the red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house is on the left of the white house.
5. The green homeowner drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the center house drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes Blend lives next to the one who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps the horse lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12. The owner who smokes Bluemaster drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who smokes Blend has a neighbor who drinks water.

According to Albert Einstein, only 2% of the total world population could answer this question. This question only requires logic, and there are absolutely no tricks involved. I will not provide the answer here, because that is ultimately your job. And for those who may wonder (if there are any at all), I was able to come up with the answer myself.

Source: Author CountSolo

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ArleneRimmer before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

No, there is nothing wrong with your eyes. Nor did I make any mistake on writing this quiz's title. The thing is, this is not an animal, movie, or television quiz. Rather, this quiz pertains to the history and origins of quizzes themselves.

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