solan_goose

You've been on FT a long time and I understand you came here via another team playing in another quiz tournament - how did that all happen?

I still feel like a newcomer compared to lots of old timers! Long ago I joined an online team on cix, a UK conferencing system, that participated in monthly postal quizzes. Fast forward to 2012 and a teammate very kindly invited me to join him here in the Quiz Makers Guild, for which I am extremely grateful. After a slow first few months, the rest is history (and geography, and literature, and ...).

Quiz_Beagle; Stedman

Through a RL friend, I know that you take part in a postal quiz, as well as FT. Do you also play pub/charity quizzes?

Previously I attended maybe half a dozen events a year, usually in London after work. This year I have already taken part (virtually) in many more than usual.

Trident

You've reached the top 100 for most badges on the site! What badge are you most proud of?

Thank you for pointing that out! Probably Tier 7 of You Graduated!, with Legendary Champion a close second. I was also very relieved to achieve Tier 1 for Endurance and The Everything Challenge.

Quiz_Beagle

What's your next FunTriva goal?

Write more quizzes, either generally or in response to specific challenges. I doubt that I will over-exert myself too much on achieving further tiers of endurance-based badges.

FatherSteve

How do you react when people complain about the US-centricity of FunTrivia?

I'm pretty relaxed about the US centricity because there is actually loads of non-US material across the site and, anyway, many aspects of US culture are globally pervasive. Perhaps those who complain should write more non-US quizzes! Inevitably I find it challenging when questions appear involving your local sports, food and drink, adverts, childhood TV programmes and the like, but that's the luck of the draw. As for entire quizzes, it's fine provided they are accurately titled and categorised if they have a regional rather than truly global focus.

Trident

You are a part of the Quiz Makers Guild team. What's your favourite part about having a team on FunTrivia?

I am very proud and delighted to have been invited to join QMG back in 2012 and I really enjoy the warmth, humour, friendship, collaboration and support without any pressure to constantly compete/participate. This is unusual for me as, in other sporting contexts, I don't feel a need to "belong" to a team and I prefer to compete as an individual.

Stedman

As your name implies, you live in Kent. What is your favourite place in (or part of) the Garden of England?

My favourite area is Romney Marsh and, specifically, the weirdness that is Dungeness (especially in the years before it became trendy) and the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway. Also, the cluster of castles and stately homes near me in west Kent is amazing.

Trident

You wrote a quiz called 'The Garden of England' about Kent. Why did you decide to write that quiz and does it mean you enjoy gardens in any way?

I have lived in Kent for over two decades. Kent is traditionally known as "The Garden Of England" because of things like the farmland, orchards, hopfields and formal grounds of stately homes. I do enjoy gardening ...and pruning ... but not weeding! I am fortunate to be able to visit the many wonderful formal gardens locally at places like Sissinghust, Scotney Castle, Ightham Mote, Penshurst Place, Hever Castle and Great Dixter.

Quiz_Beagle

Are you a Man of Kent or a Kentish Man?

I suppose being born in London tenuously makes me a Kentish Man as it is well to the west of the bulk of the River Medway! However I now live a few hundred yards from the Medway and, after examining the local river bends on a map, there is a technical argument for me having become a Man of Kent.

solan_goose

Challenge Quiz is run out of Kent (as the setter Ian Wallace very frequently reminds us). You're KentQuizzer. What is it about Kent and trivia brilliance?

Blush! It must be down to the products of the hopfields and, increasingly, the vineyards. Or, maybe the amount of reading, quizzing and puzzling that so many living here do/did during the rail commute to and from London.

FatherSteve

Does the difference between British English and US English annoy you, amuse you or something else?

The US deviations from proper English never annoy and sometimes amuse! I appreciate your reducing excessive printer toner and internet bandwidth usage by frugally dropping letters from words like "colour" and "aluminium", although your continued use of "automobile" and "elevator" rather than "car" and "lift" suggests that you still have a long way to go to achieve environmentally-friendly spelling.

Stedman

If you didn't work in IT, is there another career you'd like to follow?

I certainly have interests in areas such as number theory, local history, genealogy, transport history and puzzles, although I am not sure about any of them as full-time jobs rather than hobbies and research interests. Working in IT since the 1980s has been fascinating and I don't regret it.

Trident

IT is notorious for having funny stories of co-workers being a bit clueless. Do you have any interesting stories about work?

One of my slightly-clueless colleagues had spent all day testing cash machines in the (standalone) testing area at our bank datacentre. In the evening he stopped off on the way to the pub to withdraw money from the (real) cash machine in the foyer of our building. He inserted his card, entered his PIN and the money appeared. He then blissfully wandered off, leaving the notes sticking out just as he had done upstairs for many of the tests that day. Yes, I did grab the notes before they were swallowed back ... and yes, I did give him the money later on in the pub ... just in time for him to pay for a round of drinks!

FatherSteve

Were you asked to recommend three to five books to someone who wanted to know about computers, connectivity and the cyber universe, which would you recommend?

A great question and by far the most difficult of the lot! I'll start generically. Reference books and study guides for older children are often more clearly written and better illustrated than many books for adults, so don't be ashamed to browse the children's section of the bookshop. The yellow "for Dummies" series covers many computing topics and builds up understanding very well. O'Reilly books are great, but realistically only suitable once you are ready for much deeper content. Also, remember that you can print or download articles from Wikipedia - I find it great for decent content on uncontroversial topics generally.

My specific suggestions are personal and highly subjective - and they certainly don't cover the full spectrum of computing - but I find them interesting individually. Some are rather dated but still relevant and provide a good foundation. I have deliberately avoided the myriad recent populist works about social media, large IT companies and their CEOs.

"Hello World" by Hannah Fry is a very accessible book about algorithms and data. "The Signal and the Noise" by Nate Silver goes deep into data modelling and the art and science of prediction. "The Soul Of A New Machine" by Tracy Kidder is a Pulitzer prize-winning account of a team developing a new type of computer within a large IT company at the beginning of the 1980s. "Accidental Empires" by Robert X Cringley documents the development of the microcomputer industry up to the early 1990s.

Trident; Stedman

If you could eat only one British food for the rest of your life, which would you choose? If you could sit down to a perfect meal, what would it be? And who would you share it with? (rossian will allow 'alive or dead' for the dining companion).

- fish and chips, ideally at the seaside
- salmon starter; selection of roast meats with all the trimmings, vegetables and sauces; knickerbocker glory; mature English Cheddar cheese and biscuits/celery/grapes; suitably-matched wines for the various courses
- Victoria Coren Mitchell (alive) or Pierre de Fermat (dead)

FatherSteve

When drinking whisky, is it best to mix it with ice, soda, water or something else?

It is best to sniff it rather than drink it. The aroma of a peaty Islay whisky is amazing. However, much as I thoroughly enjoy most types of alcohol, for some reason I don't like whisky.

solan_goose

How did you end up appearing on Only Connect? Enquiring minds need to know. What were the best and worst things about appearing on the show? What advice would you give to anyone thinking of appearing on a TV quiz or game show? Would you do it again?

Another teammate in the aforementioned cix quiz team asked if anyone wanted to join her in a team of three - we passed our audition in Cardiff with flying colours immediately after meeting each other in the flesh for the first time. We returned to Cardiff a few weeks later to film both episodes in one day with a change of clothes in between as part of the logisitics of filming a series broadcast over many months. The best bit was spending an hour with Victoria Coren Mitchell. The worst bit was only spending an hour with Victoria Coren Mitchell. My advice is definitely to go for it! I will doubtless apply for other quiz shows in the future but, sadly, I am not allowed to reapply for Only Connect itself.

Stedman

Would you be willing to confess to a 'guilty pleasure', such as a TV show that you feel you can't stop watching, even though you know you should?

No. OK, if you insist. Wasting hours watching geeky YouTube videos that have links to other geeky YouTube videos that have links to ...

FatherSteve

If you could listen to the music popular in only one decade, which would it be?

The 1980s - lots of stuff by The Police, U2, Eurythmics, Dire Straits, Pretenders, Phil Collins, T'Pau, Bangles and a decent portion of Kate Bush. However I would be sad to miss out on The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel and The Kinks, for example.

Quiz_Beagle

I see you are keen on genealogy. Are you compiling a family tree and, if so, how far back have you got?

I am confidently back to the 1700s so far in Norfolk and Buckinghamshire and I am content with having got back to the mid-1800s in rural north Wales. A piece of my long-standing robust detective work has recently been confirmed by DNA test results. The growth of online sources has been amazing since the days when I had to visit record offices in person and pore through files and ledgers. However this is tempered by the modern perils of transcription errors and beginners lazily wrongly piggybacking on published trees.

solan_goose

A little bird tells me you're very keen on the intricacies of the UK road network. How did that come about and - since we're here - what's your favourite motorway (that isn't in Kent) and why?

I love the history of transport and I am fascinated by classification systems such as counties, postcodes and telephone area codes. The two come together with road numbering systems. It would be disingenuous to claim the non-Kent aspects of the M25 London (nearly-)Orbital Motorway, so I'll go for the M11 because of friends near Cambridge, the Church Langley water tower landmark en route and the M11's role in convenient access from Kent to "the North" skirting London.

Quiz_Beagle

Is there something surprising about yourself that you can share with FunTrivia players?

I have represented the UK at a World Sudoku Championship.

FatherSteve

Are bagpipes a musical instrument, an instrument of torture, or something else?

Yes, yes and yes. A lot depends on the skill of the player and the angle at which the pipes are held.

Thanks for this!

Great interview!

Yes, 80s music is the best!!

Well done, KQ! I knew you would make this an entertaining and interesting read.

Thanks all - special thanks to rossian and the question setters

Thanks KQ, great stuff. And I've made a careful note of your IT book recommendations...

Very good interview which I enjoyed and I am duly noting your genealogy mention in particular in case I need to see if we're cousins anytime soon in that part of the world.

I also enjoyed hearing that I am not the only one who looks up after at least an hour of you tube or looking up things about people or a subject. My only excuse is that as a translator it might serve a purpose. No, I doubt that's valid but I have fun anyway as you appear to!