Questions for Quizmasters

A collection of questions for pub quizzes

The earliest known examples of the word quiz date back to 1780; its etymology is unknown, but it may have originated in student slang. It initially meant an “odd, eccentric person” or a “joke, hoax”. Later (perhaps by association with words such as “inquisitive”) it came to mean “to observe, study intently”, and thence (from about mid-19th century) “test, exam.”

Another theory is that the word quiz comes from the Irish cuisle meaning “a pulse” or “a vein”. This word was used jokingly to describe a quick test as a sudden pulse or shock. This meaning then expanded to encompass any test or exam.

There is a well-known myth about the word quiz that says that in 1791 a Dublin theatre owner named Richard Daly made a bet that he could introduce a word into the language within 24 hours. However, there is no evidence to support the story, and the term was already in use before the alleged bet in 1791.

Copyleft: you may use these questions in your quizzes according to the following licence:

Madrid Pub Quiz by Luis de Avendaño is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

We aim to have accurate answers to short questions

This is not a game, there’s no scoring, and questions are provided as a service only. There may be errors: do not use these answers in mission critical or life changing situations. Use at your own risk. There, that should appease the lawyers.

Try a question:

Random quote on Society

December

I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.
We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,'
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.

Oliver Herford (1863-1935)

Acknowledgements &c.

This website was mentioned in the The Sunday Times on December 23^rd, 2007: ‘I spy with my little eye something better to do’ by Sally Kinnes:

Don’t park yourself in front of the telly after the Christmas lunch when the web offers a host of games for all the family… If you know the fictional company that James Bond often claims to work for is Universal Exports, you may have done too many pub quizzes. But others looking for some questions should go to www.avendano.org/quiz/index.php. It has more than 900 questions in 10 categories, including sport, music and history, all of which can be printed out for quiz masters.

We’ve received a very kind message from John Bowe, 10^th January 2009.

Just like to thank you for your questions that have been used on my impossible pub quiz on John Bowe Saturday Radio Show in Ireland. The show has been going for over 4 years and we have used your questions regularly. Cheers, John

Questions compiled by Luis de Avendaño. Additional questions provided by Alex Carter, Antony Reid, Antonio Vázquez, Declan Forde, Peter Moore, Steve Owen, John Wirnsberger, Clive Mendes, and Jennifer Riggins.

Thanks also to Alan; Alan Boxall; Alan Chapple; Andy Henderson at the Breeze Beer Garden in Thailand; Anthony Anchors; Barbara Ridgely; Bob Clarke; Bren Murphy of The Irish Rover, Madrid; Brian Holt; Carter Young; Charles Ongeri; Chris; Chris Goode and Nic Crequer; Chris O'Byrne; Chris Wilkins; Colin Dinnie; Colin Hurst; Damian Considine; Dan Hall; Dave Cohen, ex-teammate; Dave Harrop; Dave Love and Andy Bell; David Heslop; David Keen; David Regal; Diane Peake; Esther Ford; Fithi Garza; Geoff Swaine; George Holdstock; George Pitchley and Colin Hurst; Gerry O’Sullivan of Killarney; Godfrey Donaldson of Jeffreys Bay, South Africa; Graham Jones; Harry Winfield, question master of the Marina Alta Pensionisters Association in Benitachell, Alicante, Spain; Ian; Ian Gerrard; Jake Whiteman; Jeff Hicks; Jim Welsh; Jimmy Rafferty; John Polias; Jonathan Burt; Jurgen Lobert; Karim Nanji, Entertainments Officer, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London; Keith Woodcock from Chippenham; Ken G. Fisher of Toronto; Kevin Magill of the Cayman Islands; Kirsty Taylor; Lesley Melvin; Lucy Boulding; Luke Williams in Switzerland; Lynda Finn in New Zeland; Lynne and Thierry in Paris, and Steve Hall in Angola; Matt Jones; Mike Healy and Carol Balster; Mike Jones; Mike Mooney from Leeds; Mike O'Shea; Mr Lucky; Neil Robinson in New Zealand; Nick Dadds; Nick Wilde; Nicola Wood; Oscar Nolan from Dublin; RKN; Rolland Willa; Ross Stewart of Auckland, New Zealand; Russ Hall; Sam Jones PhD, South Wales; Sebastien D. Fortas; Shelley; Sinead Fisher; Steve Rose; Steven Malan; Susanne; Suzy Fewtrell of New Zealand; Ted Bollard from Dublin; Terry Denham; Tim Sharples; Tony Newman; Yvonne Steyn from Somerset West, South Africa; and many others for correcting, amending and fine tuning the questions and answers.

Please send corrections and amendments to These questions have all been used at the Moore’s Irish Pub quiz (formerly O’Donnell’s), at Triskel Tavern on Calle San Vicente Ferrer 3, and at Paddy’s Irish Tavern, Calle Concha Espina 69. New questions are added at irregular intervals. However, if 1606 questions are not enough, we recommend you check TriviaBug.

Sources: Encyclopedia Britannica, The World Almanac and Book of Facts, Whitaker’s Almanac, The Compact Edition of The Oxford English Dictionary, Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Collins Gem Fact File, Diccionario Enciclopédico Espasa 1 and Wikipedia.