Category Archives: Guest posts

Guest post by game show champ Brendan Richards – 1 of 2

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Brendan Richards, with The Big Brass Mug he took home for winning Episode 7 in Series 10 of ‘Hard Quiz’.

Hello, and welcome to our latest HowToWinGameShows.com guest post! And this time, it’s from Brendan Richards: a veteran of Wheel Of Fortune, Celebrity Name Game, and most recently, Hard Quiz ! This week, Brendan takes us through his various game show appearances over the years, and next week, he’ll return to dig down into a little more detail, and share his top tips for game show success.

So, a very warm welcome to you, Brendan… and take it away!

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Ever since my days as a toddler I’d been fascinated by game shows – the lights, the sounds, the prizes on offer, and the range of questions.

One of my biggest dreams was to make it onto Sale of the Century; I ended up on the ‘Fame Game’ board on 21 July 1995, which at the time was a big deal for me.

The ‘Sale of the Century’ Fame Game board regularly featured viewers who’d sent in their photos… Looks like Brendan may have been slightly too young to qualify as a contestant at the time!

(That night’s champion, Cameron Burge, later went on to win the lot…)

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My first in-studio game show experience, though, was on Wheel of Fortune (Transmission date: 27 May 2004). I was a few months fresh out of high school at that time, and maybe too eager to try and win (leading to a bit of brain freeze). I solved two puzzles, but I’ll rue the moment I picked car care products (i.e. car oil) over sports clothes. Never pick a prize on impulse if you don’t know what it is.

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15 years later, I’d auditioned for Celebrity Name Game with one of my sisters, Sally. My knowledge of pop culture helped me get through that audition. Sally unfortunately had some trouble with the pop culture side of things, so I re-auditioned with my other sister, Jodie (with a few days’ notice), and we were both accepted not long after. (Transmission date: 16 September 2019).

We went up against Shay and Mon (whom we got on very well with during the session), and we had Rove McManus and – to Jodie’s delight – Stacey Thompson (“Ranger Stacey”) as the celebrities. We had a slow start in the first round (words starting with certain letters), but my clues for the second round (words associated with teachers) helped our score a great deal.

When “Mr. Miyagi” (the teacher from The Karate Kid) was presented as an answer, I passed because I couldn’t remember that name. I do remember hearing a crew member saying to the audience I’d made the best choice to pass immediately without hesitating or stumbling on clues, which could have cost vital seconds.

Then to the head-to-head round; I’d cracked a couple of jokes to everyone’s delight, culminating in my enthusiastic answering of “BUZZ LIGHTYEAR!” on the last question to win that round.

Finally in the Bonus round, I gave Jodie a good head start with Rove and Stacey correctly answering 6 of the 10 answers, including this moment:

ME: You see these at construction sites.

ROVE: Arsecrack.

ME: (BRIEFLY LAUGHING) NO! Something that lifts a lot of—

ROVE & STACEY: Crane!

Ultimately, Jodie and I won $10,000! Rove leapt straight into me (slamming right into my face in the process), but the victory was worth the pain from that.

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Then to Hard Quiz, a show where I was not afraid to laugh at myself. (Or Tom Gleeson, for that matter.)

Around 2021 or 2022, I landed a video audition where I explained why I chose Monty Python as my special subject. During the call, I was reminded to not give too much away about my chosen subject, in case it was used in one of the show’s questions. Then, in June 2024, I was contacted to see if I’d still like to be a contestant, with taping set for Friday 13th (yeech!) September.

And so I found myself in wonderful sunny (?) Melbourne. In the weeks before, I took to watching / listening to / reading as much Monty Python material as my spare time could allow.

For this episode, I went up against Bec (expert subject: American presidential assassinations), Nathan (expert subject: Poker) and Mel (expert subject: Contraception – yes, really!).

During the taping, I decided not just to play hard, but to laugh hard as well, and keep Tom Gleeson at bay. (I think he was genuinely surprised with what I came up with during the show.)

I buzzed in on at least one question on everyone else’s expert subjects; one question about condom material had the audience laughing, but they got an unexpected bigger laugh when I protested: “I haven’t had any experience! Don’t ask!”

After the Expert Round, I had a very sizeable lead, so I wasn’t worried if I got some questions wrong in Tom’s Round. Thankfully, I kept my lead during both that round and The People’s Round.

In the final Head-to-Head round, I knew the competition was tough, but Nathan kept his cool and managed to get three correct. When we came to my last question, these were the scores:

NATHAN

N

Y

N

Y

Y

BRENDAN

Y

Y

N

Y

I had to get this last question correct, if I was to win the show. And the question was…

TOM: The 16th century painting An Allegory with Venus and Cupid inspired what piece of Monty Python iconography?

BRENDAN: I don’t believe this…! It’s something that’s been seen in almost all 45 episodes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. It has to be the foot.

The moment Tom shouted “CORRECT!”, that really was it. I had played HARD… and won!

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And congratulations to you, Brendan! By the way, the transmission date of Brendan’s Hard Quiz episode was 12 March 2025… and if you’re in Australia, you can watch it on ABC iview, right here: 

https://iview.abc.net.au/show/hard-quiz/series/10/video/LE2331V007S00

Next week, Brendan will take us through the Hard Quiz contestant experience in more detail, with exclusive excerpts from his diary on record day (including some top behind-the-scenes tips).

That’s next Tuesday, right here at HowToWinGameShows.com. Until then, then!

Guest post by quiz show champ Barry Lee! Part 7 of 7

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Hello and welcome to the final instalment in Barry Lee’s guest post series. Last week, Barry was outlining some of his study techniques. If you haven’t read that instalment yet, I’d strongly, STRONGLY recommend that you go back and read it now, because this week’s post follows directly on from it.

Okay, done that? All up to date? Good. And now, Dear Reader, read on…

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I recently saw a good example of how the learning process I have outlined here could be utilised when the same question (“in what decade were Kit-Kat bars introduced?”*) was asked on The (UK) Chase and turned up a few weeks later on Mastermind Australia – it may well have been asked on The Chase Australia when I was not watching. I have seen other similar questions, which ask what decade a popular snack or beverage was introduced in, or in what country it originated. So if I was preparing for a contemporary show, I would get busy with Google and Wikipedia etc. and produce a list of such products with the decade and country details included and whenever I heard a question which asked about a product not on my list, I would add those details. 

For some of the more traditional quiz question topics, (e.g. history, mythology, classic art, music and literature), older style reference books aimed at children / teenagers can often be the best way of covering a topic, because the better examples of those books omit the obscure and esoteric, and the dull and dry, and focus on the mainstream details, presented in an appealing manner, which are likely to turn up as questions. I mention older style children’s reference books because my observation is that books published in the last few decades tend to be too lightweight to be of much use for this purpose.

Another easily overlooked, but often very handy, way of filling in gaps in knowledge is through crossword dictionaries – the better examples of which are packed with loads of diverse and pithy information grouped in useful ways. To take an example, a reasonably common form of quiz question is to give the name of an item of clothing and ask what part of the body it is worn on – a good crossword dictionary will provide lists of the names of styles and types of hats, footwear etc. which can be quickly browsed, and will likely do this as concisely and comprehensively as any other reference book or website. The same approach can be taken for other common forms of questions such as the ones which ask about varieties of fruits and vegetables, foods and beverages etc.

Quiz Books, if you can get your hands on them (many of the best examples are out of print, and not yet old enough to have their contents freely available online), can also be handy for broadening the horizons for beginners and for revising and filling in the gaps for more advanced contestants. The only caution I would give, which I think has been mentioned elsewhere on this site, is that some of the British quiz books, particularly the older ones, tend to have questions which are well beyond the level typically encountered now on Australian shows – so you need to keep a clear focus on what you’re using them for.

One particular challenge I found in my days as a young quiz show hopeful was learning about things which were not often covered in traditional reference books, but which were fairly well known to people who had been around long enough to have lived through or otherwise encountered the relevant details. Examples of this would be famous crimes, scandals, fads and fashions etc. which would be overlooked by the mainstream encyclopaedias and history references. Aside from specific books or websites on those themes, a useful option for dealing with this problem is popular history books (there may be equivalent websites?) which are presented in a tabloid newspaper style. Some of these books simply reproduce front pages from major newspapers from a particular era. Others, such as The Chronicle series produced by Penguin about 30 years ago, go through an era month by month, year by year, and present a series of brief articles about interesting events which happened on nominated dates. Titles in that series included – Chronicle of Australia, Chronicle of the 20th Century, Chronicle of The World, Chronicle of America, Chronicle of Britain, Chronicle of the Royal Family, Chronicle of the Second World War, and Chronicle of the Cinema. They are big, thick, hardback books – and very browsable.

In my tales of Ford Superquiz and Sale of the Century, I mentioned a handy little notepad I had put together for quick study/revision. It’s basically lists of useful info drawn from a wide range of reference books – distilled wisdom, so to speak, for quiz show purposes. Here are some examples of the details listed in the notepad:

  • National capitals, grouped by continent and region,
  • Rivers on which prominent national capitals are located,
  • Airports of major capital cities,
  • Units of currency and predominant languages and religions of countries,
  • Highest mountains, longest rivers and largest lakes in continents and major countries,
  • Notable volcanoes,
  • British monarchs and their consorts,
  • Notable battles,
  • US Presidents and Vice Presidents,
  • Australian PMs and notable state Premiers
  • State flora and fauna emblems
  • Alloys and their components,
  • Vitamins,
  • Bones of the human body,
  • Medical names of common diseases and illnesses.
  • Military ranks,
  • Olympic Games locations – summer and winter – and notable gold medallists,
  • Number of team members for major team sports,
  • Boxing weight categories,
  • America’s Cup winners,
  • Planets and their moons,

etc. etc. etc.

These days, it could all be done on an electronic device, but it’s worth bearing in mind that notepads of the paper variety don’t crash, and can’t be accidentally deleted!

The late, great Cary Young on ‘Sale of the Century’.

Finally, a few words on the difference between being very good and truly exceptional in the world of TV quizzes. I reflected on this after reading the January 2023 tribute to Cary Young, which drew on Cary’s interview with Brydon Coverdale. What particularly struck me about that was hearing, for the first time, of the huge, systematic effort which Cary had put into being the absolute master of the “Who Am I?” Fame Game questions on Sale of the Century. It was an illustration of not just sustained hard work, but also of strategy – dominating the Fame Game questions on Sale gave Cary a practical advantage (by increasing the odds of getting extra points) but also would have given him a psychological advantage by adding to the frustration of his opponents. Cary’s approach to the Fame Game questions also put into perspective my memory of being rather pleased with myself over one such question I encountered on Sale. The question began with the clue that the person was born in Bundaberg in 1892. At that point I knew the answer would either be Bert Hinkler or Gladys Moncrieff – I had remembered, from my amateur question writing days, the interesting coincidence that two then-notable Australians had been born in that year in that town. I can’t now recall what the next clue was but I got it straight away on that. By comparison, had I been facing Cary Young on that show, there’s a good chance he would have been able to buzz in correctly on the first clue because, as he revealed to Brydon, he had not only meticulously learned the life dates of many noted people, he had also kept track of which of them had previously been the subject of a question on Sale – and worked on the assumption that repeat questions were less likely. That really is ‘next level’ stuff, and serves as an example – inspiring and maybe a little sobering – to those who aspire to the very highest levels of achievement in this wonderfully addictive TV genre.

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Indeed it does, and what an inspiring note to end this guest post series on! I’d just like to thank Barry once again for sharing all his memories, his insights and his fantastic tips and hints with us. I’ve really enjoyed reading his quiz-related adventures, and bringing them to you. 

And just a reminder… if you’d like to follow Barry’s footsteps and share your particular game show experiences with a wider audience, why not get in touch with me? I’m at Stephen@HowToWinGameShows.com. 

Thank you, as always, for your support for the site – I’ll see you again soon!

 

 

* And for those playing along at home, Kit-Kats were introduced in the 1930s.

Guest post by quiz show champ Barry Lee! Part 6 of 7

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Hello, and welcome back! This week, Barry outlines some of his preparatory study techniques, that saw him taking home the top prizes on both Ford Superquiz AND Sale of the Century. Here’s hoping they can work for you too!

Take it away, Barry!

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= Getting the knowledge =

There’s lots of useful advice on this site – all of which rings true with my experience – about the learning part of preparing for quiz shows. What follows are suggestions (some of which, I appreciate, might seem quaintly ‘olde worlde’) which might help beginners to build on and flesh out the advice which others have offered. I will start with a very interesting insight once shared with me by quiz master and question writer extraordinaire George Black, who I mentioned earlier. George told me of his estimate that there were about 25,000 questions circulating on the then contemporary (mid-’70s) Australian quiz shows. His view was that anyone who managed to acquire the body of knowledge represented by those questions could expect to do very well on any general knowledge quiz show – not a guarantee of unfailing success, but a very good foundation for that.

The balance and components of the current corpus of Australian quiz show “general knowledge” would be very different from what it was 50 years ago – much less about history, geographical facts, literature and classical/older music and much more about pop culture, celebrities, consumer products and sport – but from what I have observed, the concept of a quiz show corpus of knowledge is still very relevant as a way of framing and guiding the process of learning. The essence of this process is to get a good feel for the range of questions asked on whatever show you are aiming for, and then to work out the most time-efficient means of acquiring sufficient knowledge to give yourself a good chance of success. Watching the show as much as possible and, one way or another, recording the questions is very useful – in fact, it’s invaluable.

 Whether you’re starting with a good range of knowledge relevant to the questions on the show, or obviously have a lot to learn, the basics are the same – it’s about being analytical and systematic in filling in the gaps. Areas of subject matter weakness are best addressed by looking closely at the questions asked in that subject matter area on the show that you’re aiming at. Take note of the questions asked in that area (or areas) over at least a few months and look for patterns – there will always be randoms and outliers, but in most cases, some patterns will emerge over time. Once you have a sense of those patterns you have a good starting point for focusing your learning efforts. 

It’s then about finding the most concise source of information which, if you master it, would allow you to answer a healthy proportion of future questions in that subject area on that show. The logic of this is that, for most shows, you don’t need to know the answer to every question – it’s about tilting the odds in your favour, and having enough knowledge to have a better-than-average chance compared to your competitors. The sort of focused learning I am describing here was easier in the pre-internet days. Back then, it was a matter of hunting out, through libraries or bookshops (more often of the second-hand variety), one or two reference books which covered the particular topic in enough detail (but not too much). For most subject areas, I always had in mind a few obscure/challenging questions I had remembered from recent quiz shows, which I would use to test newly encountered reference books. If a book was concise and compact, but still managed to contain the relevant details, and plenty of similar material, it would be on my beg, borrow or buy list – but I would always be looking for books which did the job even better. But even with the pithiest books, it still takes focus and discipline to absorb only the knowledge which you judge likely to be relevant to the show you’re aiming at and not stray off course – which is why it is so important to get the best possible feel for the sorts of questions asked on that show. These days, instead of printed books, it might be a Wikipedia article or similar but the basic process is the same – look for the most concise webpage or site for the relevant subject area. Wikipedia is particularly useful because many articles have that handy list of related articles at the end, which could serve as a useful way of working your way through a topic – but the key is always to avoid going too deeply into a topic and wasting time and memory space on details which are unlikely to be the basis of questions.

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Great advice there from Barry, but as we all know, when researching some of those tangents and rabbit holes of new and interesting facts can be just so tempting… He’s right – real self-discipline is required during this process. While you’re using the above methods to assemble your game show databanks, it truly IS a case of “keeping your eyes on the prize”!

Next week, we’ll round this series out with even more of Barry’s handy hints and quiz show study tips! See you then!

Guest post by quiz show champ Barry Lee! Part 5 of 7

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Barry Lee (L) on ‘Sale of the Century’ in 1986, with the show’s host Tony Barber (R).

Hello, and welcome to the antepenultimate instalment of Barry’s seven-part series on his quiz show adventures. You join us this week in the early 80s, after Barry’s triumph on Ford Superquiz, but before his winning run on Sale of the Century…

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= Great Temptation Lives Again =

After what seemed like a very long five years, Great Temptation returned in practically identical form as Sale of the Century in June 1980. The “mad minute” had yet to be invented, so the relatively limited number of questions meant that scores of more than about $80 were very respectable – as had been the case with Great Temptation. One sad change was that George Black had passed away in 1978 and was replaced, for the first few years, by Reg Barry as question writer and Professor Sam Ball as the in-studio adjudicator – roles eventually taken on by the redoubtable Fran Powell. Watching that very first episode, which is currently out there on YouTube, is a reminder of just how much questions have changed in the intervening years – a fair number on British history and even one about the Hanseatic League (the ‘what’ league?) Those older style questions were part of the quiz world I had grown up in, so I didn’t waste time in getting myself to an audition – just in case the reborn show, like its predecessor, fell foul in the ratings to a popular soap opera.

The audition was the usual thing – a fairly large group of hopefuls gathered early evening in a community hall, each with a sheet of paper with space for answers to 40 questions. Only two or three scored over 30, and my mid-30s score was the highest on the night. The months rolled on and I heard nothing, but in the meantime I had been through the same process for Ford Superquiz and that had come good for me with the call in the latter part of 1981. After the success with the Ford show, I felt my chances of getting on Sale were limited. Even though they were on the same network and from the same production house (Grundy’s), there had been a rivalry of sorts between the two shows, and my strong association with the Ford show, along with what I guessed would be a spirit of wanting to give other competitors a sporting chance, probably meant that I was moved to the back of the queue. Whatever the score on all of that, the call finally came in early 1986. It was all very last minute and rushed. I was on holidays interstate, staying with friends when Grundy’s called my workplace after a contestant who had been lined up for the following Sunday’s recording pulled out at very short notice. Happily, the call was taken by a colleague who knew where I was and how to get in touch. It was straight into it on that Sunday!

I was on the first of the five shows recorded that day and managed my best score – $161, after spending $9 on a fob watch. I’ve read the comments from David Poltorak and others here about the dangers of the second night. The close shave for me came later – on my second last night. By the end of those first five shows I had scored enough for all of the prizes other than the cash jackpot. As with Ford Superquiz, Sale became an exercise in delayed gratification, although not as drawn out. My appearances bookended the 1986 Ashes series between Australia and England which ran for three weeks, so it was a four week gap between my first and last recording days.

Things were going well in the first show of my last recording day – my sixth episode – but not so well that I thought I could have scored the $139 needed to get the 700 Sale dollars required for the cash jackpot and other prizes. With that thought, I was tempted by an offer of a piano and $2500 in cash in return for 16 Sale dollars. That took me back from $80 to $64… at which point another contestant, who’d been ambling along 40 or more behind, sprung into life and by the time we started the “mad minute”, was very close on my heels. After the first seven questions in the “mad minute” I was behind $74 to $80, with the challenger on a roll, and I could see my game show life flashing before my eyes with about 30 seconds to go. The exhilarating prospect of an upset win seemed to get the better of the challenger, who then gave three wrong answers. There was time for three correct answers from me, which was enough for an $89 to $65 win – phew! The final show went more comfortably ($100 to $70) and a journey on- and off-camera with the Great Temptation / Sale of the Century format, which had started 15 years earlier, came to a very happy end.

Barry on ‘Sale of the Century’ in 1986, with the show’s host Tony Barber.

My final episode aired on ANZAC Day, which made it doubly memorable. The cash jackpot had gone off a few weeks before I started, but was still a very welcome boost to the finances and there was some other nice stuff including, as Kath & Kim would say, a Specific Cruise with a classy Scandinavian line.

Aside from the very happy outcome, one aspect of the Sale experience which I found particularly interesting is what it showed me about the way that memory works. In the four years between Superquiz and Sale, I had watched Sale as often as I could and was still interested in general knowledge quizzing, but with other things to get on with, and with the odds of hearing from Sale seemingly dwindling as time marched on, when the call finally came I was conscious of being out of practice and having forgotten a lot of what I formerly had at my fingertips. In the few days I had to prepare before the first recording session, I dug out my old note pad from Superquiz days and a few pithy single-volume reference works. There was nowhere near enough time to get through all of them, but as I quickly got back into it, I found that whole slabs of memory started coming back, triggered by reading the most salient bits. I wouldn’t pretend that everything came back to me, but enough to get me through Sale reasonably safely. The key to it seemed to have been a relatively systematic approach, with the information I had earlier memorised grouped fairly logically and coherently – working through series of random questions might be good for practise and filling in gaps, but not the best use of time when time is at a premium. The only other advice I would offer from the Superquiz and Sale experiences is about meals: For the late morning/afternoon recording sessions I started the day with a solid breakfast and then had a very light lunch – just grapes and apple juice, so that as little blood as possible was diverted from the brain to the digestive bits.  At the end of the day, a hamburger with the lot and a milkshake at the airport was something to look forward to.

Once it was all over, I fairly quickly decided that Sale of the Century would be my last quiz show. I wanted to get on with other things, so I passed on the chance to return for Sale championships and have not pursued any other shows in the many years since – which is why I have absolutely no qualms in sharing here anything and everything I know (still remember) that might be useful to quiz show hopefuls.

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And I’m so glad you ARE sharing it all, Barry – again, thank you! Join us here again next Tuesday when Barry goes deeper into his studying and revision techniques. Insider training tips from a two-time quiz show champion? You won’t want to miss that!

Oh, and if you’re in Melbourne, my Comedy Festival show For The Term of His Natural Lies now has only SIX PERFORMANCES LEFT! From tonight until April 20, at 8:45 PM. Tickets for these last few remaining performances are available RIGHT HERE:

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/stephen-hall-presents-for-the-term-of-his-natural-lies/

Don’t miss out!   

 

Guest post by quiz show champ Barry Lee! Part 4 of 7

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Hello and welcome back to Barry Lee’s seven-part guest post series. And this week, the time has arrived for Barry to take his place in the contestant’s seat…

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= Pick a Box Redux II = 

In 1981, Pick a Box was reborn in all but name as Ford Superquiz, with Bert and Patti Newton, and Philip Brady as announcer.

Each show consisted of three best-of-five question contests between champs and challengers. The receptacles with the mystery prizes were called “prisms”, but later changed to “boxes”, when Bob Dyer contacted Bert and gave his blessing for the term “box” to be used. There were 20 prisms/boxes – a contestant who survived to pick them all and then returned for one last successful contest received $50,000 in addition to the other prizes and cash picked up along the way. If everything went well, the total cash and prizes on offer amounted to about $100,000.

The questions, which were of a similar standard to Pick a Box, were written and adjudicated for most of its run by by John Morris, who had been a champ on the earlier show. Hutton Gibson, father of Mel, is the contestant whose name comes up most often in any searches for Ford Superquiz, but in the two seasons it ran, only one contestant had the good fortune to win everything and that, as it turned out, was me.

Barry with the cheque for his ‘Ford Superquiz’ winnings, sitting between Patti and Bert.

It took 88 questions, of which I answered 82 correctly, and three tiebreakers in the 21 match-ups I faced, to get through it all. One tie-breaker, from recollection, was against Trevor Sauer, who later went on to do very well on other shows, but the one I will never forget was against Margaret Lawrence who had, as far as I am aware, never lost on a TV quiz show. It was the second last show of 1981 and the producers obviously wanted the sort of carryover champ whose name would help to maintain interest over the long break before the show resumed in 1982.

After the first five questions, we were tied on 4 points – I guessed wrongly that Amundsen was the Polar explorer who won the 1922 Nobel Peace Prize (it was Nansen) and Margaret had forgotten that Abraham was the father of Ishmael. On the first tiebreaker we both knew that Trollope wrote Barchester Towers. The next question involved knowing the number of balls on the table at the start of a game of snooker*. In a contest between a young man and a highly refined lady of a certain age, that probably seemed like an unfair question, but this then young man had never played snooker and was not a fan of Pot Black. I had, fortuitously, read that detail during the flight to Melbourne the day before, in a little spiral-bound notepad I had put together which grouped and summarised a lot of random facts, particularly on subjects for which I had no real affinity. Aside from having a bit of a brag, I mention that story as an illustration of the role of chance and good fortune in game shows. Then – and now – I have no delusions about how lucky I was with that outcome – the overall range and depth of Margaret’s general knowledge would have far exceeded mine. When the show returned in 1982, I appeared on four more episodes to get to the final prize which, at the time, resulted in the largest single winnings on an Australian game show – about $95k. My last question asked “Which emperor was forced to renounce his legendary divinity in 1946?” I briefly mused over Haile Selassie and then quickly realised it had to be Hirohito.

The change to my finances was very nice, but the rest of it was weird – why are the people standing behind me in the checkout queue so interested in what groceries I am buying? Who is that bloke on TV who looks a bit like me but sounds like someone else?? There were plans for a Superquiz championship, but that all came to nought when the show lost the ratings battle with A Country Practice and ended with the 1982 season.

Superquiz aired once a week – as had Pick a Box – with three episodes recorded every third Sunday in the old GTV 9 studios in Richmond – warm, welcoming red brick on the outside and intriguingly labyrinthine on the inside. My first appearance was in the final episode recorded for the day – I started on the second best of five question match-ups in that episode. After that, it was three weeks before returning for the final recording session for 1981 – then a 15-week break for the first recording session of 1982. Those three episodes took me tantalisingly close, with another three weeks to wait before returning for one final match-up to win all that was on offer. I’ve mentioned this detail as a reminder that, as is so often the case in life, a capacity to deal with delayed gratification can also be important to success in the world of game shows!

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Absolutely! I remember being stressed about my two week gap between the first four episodes and the final three episodes of my seven-night run on Temptation in 2005… but Barry! Your 15-WEEK wait must have been absolutely AGONISING! (You earned every cent of that prize money, if you ask me). Join us again next week, when Barry recounts his adventures on a show that’s a lot familiar (well, familiar to me, anyway): SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALE OF THE CENTURY! 

And by the way, if you’re in Melbourne, I’m thrilled to report that the Melbourne International Comedy Festival season of my new show For The Term of His Natural Lies is NOW UNDERWAY! Huzzah! But there are just 13 shows left… every night from now until April 20, at 8:45 PM, and you can grab tickets RIGHT HERE:

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/stephen-hall-presents-for-the-term-of-his-natural-lies/

I’d love to see you there. And if you do get along, please come and say hello after the show – promise I’ll be friendly!   

* For those playing along at home, there are 22 balls (15 red, 6 coloured, and 1 white) on the table at the start of a snooker game.

Guest post by quiz show champ Barry Lee! Part 3 of 7

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Hello and welcome back to two-time quiz show champ Barry Lee’s trip down Quiz Show Memory Lane. And we pick up this week where we left off last week! The early 1970s…

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= Pick a Box Redux I =

There was a certain irony in Great Temptation losing a ratings battle with a Ten network show because GT had delivered a similar fate in 1973 to Ten’s The New Moneymakers hosted by the very likeable Philip Brady, who we so sadly lost a short time ago. The Moneymakers (the no-nonsense name reflecting the fact that all of the prizes were cash – no cars, trips, furniture or appliances) had begun on the Ten network in Brisbane and, after its success in that market, was extended to other states in 1971. It was the first quiz show which ran Monday to Friday in the 7.00PM slot, a pattern later adopted by Great Temptation.

The format was a combination of Great Temptation and an extended version of Pick a Box. The first round had three contestants with buzzers competing to be the first and second to get five questions correct. The second round pitted the successful two from the first round against each other in a best-of-five questions contest – one would have headphones (with loud music) while the first was asked the five questions – ties were broken by a single point lead. This was the same format as Pick a Box and the questions were of a similar standard. The final round pitted the winner of the second round against the carryover champ – with the winner being the first to ten points, and a two point lead being required to break a tie. As with the second round, both contestants faced the same questions, with headphones being used. The questions in this round were serious stuff, and probably some of the most consistently challenging asked on an Australian TV quiz show (other than in championships) – reflecting the wide knowledge and experience of George Black who served as question writer and adjudicator for this show as well as for Great Temptation. A later re-jigging of the format, and a slight change of name to The New Moneymakers, saw the first two rounds dropped, with each episode consisting of as many first-to-ten-point contests as time permitted. In the three seasons which Money Makers and its re-jigged format ran nationally, five people (as best I can remember) including two former Pick a Box champs (Evelyn Lynch and Mervyn Vinson), won the ultimate prize of $20,000 cash – a serious amount of money in those days.

The undefeated champion of champions in match-ups against the other big winners, and some overseas challengers, was Margaret Lawrence, who had also won the top prize on the Coles show in 1966 and had been a formidable contestant going back to the radio quizzes of the early post-war years.

Host Philip Brady and champion Margaret Lawrence on the set of ‘The New Moneymakers’.

Much of Margaret’s winnings from that show – totalling around $70,000 – was generously donated to an indigenous education charity. While it was not mentioned during her Moneymakers appearances, Margaret was also a generous patron of the arts and a quick search will find a website about that part of her life and her gifts to the Victorian College of the Arts at the University of Melbourne. That site mentions the tantalising possibility of a proposed contest between Margaret and Barry Jones, with some intriguing speculation about why that didn’t happen. The challenging questions on this show were what really hooked me on the quiz show format. There were many that I didn’t know, but which seemed sufficiently interesting to set me off on journeys of research and learning that I found intrinsically fascinating. In the process, and along with my amateur question-writing for Temptation and Great Temptation, I developed many of the skills and techniques, and much of the body of knowledge, which served me so well in later years. Even now, I still hear the occasional challenging question and remember that I first heard it (and often last heard it!) on a show which went to air half a century ago – but this does not happen often enough in a world which no longer cares about where Hamlet went to university*, what Bizet’s Carmen did for a living**, what battle might have been called “la Belle Alliance”***, the name of the suffragette who fell under the King’s horse in the 1913 Derby****, the family relationship between Jack Lang and Henry Lawson*****, who owned a raven called ‘Grip’******, the king who died from a monkey bite*******, the name of the only ship to escape the cyclone which struck Samoa in 1889******** – and many other intriguingly obscure bits of trivia.

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And that’s where we’ll leave it for this week.

And for those of you playing along at home, please scroll down for the answers to Barry’s questions……………..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Hamlet attended the University of Wittenberg.

** Carmen worked in a cigarette factory.

*** The Battle of Waterloo was known by this name in Prussia.

**** Emily Wilding Davison was the suffragette who fell under the King’s horse (‘Anmer’) in the 1913 Derby.

***** (NSW Premier) Jack Lang and (poet and author) Henry Lawson were brothers-in-law: they married sisters from the Bredt family. (Hilda and Bertha)

****** Charles Dickens owned a raved called ‘Grip’.

******* King Alexander of Greece died from a monkey bite (in October, 1920).

******** HMS Calliope was the only ship to escape the cyclone which struck Samoa in 1889.

See you next time!

Guest post by quiz show champ Barry Lee! Part 2 of 7

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Hello and welcome to the second instalment of our seven-part guest post from quiz show champ Barry Lee. And this week finds us at the start of the groovy 1970s! Over to you, Barry…

=============================================================== The First Temptation =

Tony Barber, who first became widely known as the “Cambridge Whistler” in TV adverts for a now-forgotten brand of cigarettes, had popped up again in 1970 as the host of Temptation – another show sponsored by (supermarket chain) Coles. That Temptation ran in an early afternoon timeslot Monday to Friday for one hour, consisting of two contests per episode, utilising what later became the essence of Great Temptation and Sale of the Century format – three contestants, with buzzers, competing to earn play dollars which could be used to make purchases from the Gift Shop and from the big shop at the end of the game. Contestants were chosen from the large studio audience and it was strictly ladies only – no blokes allowed. From recollection, the show went out live, or with a short delay, on the day of recording – so it was five days a week of recording at the old Channel 7 studios in Epping. I occasionally made it to the weekday recordings – Tony was at his best in that milieu. He had a wonderful line of cheeky chappie patter which helped to kick things along in the recording breaks, including naughty old sayings such as the one that begins “no matter how much you jiggle and dance…”. The waves of laughter probably brought back memories of the Tivoli for some in the audience.

When Pick a Box and the Coles $7,000 Question (as it then was) ended, an evening version of the show, called Great Temptation, was ready to take over, with the E-type Jag driving Barbie Rogers as hostess and the mellifluous Max Rowley as announcer.

Tony Barber and Barbara “Barbie” Rogers – hosts of ‘Great Temptation’

Pick a Box champ George Black, who had graduated to the role of question writer/adjudicator in the latter years of that show, filled the same role for Great Temptation, and it was through getting to know George that I took my first serious steps into the world of TV quiz shows. Great Temptation was recorded on Sundays and I, along with my mother – who thought it was great fun, was a regular in the studio audience. Eventually, I plucked up the courage to talk to George Black during recording breaks – his desk was just off set, in the shadows – and we quickly developed a friendly rapport. Before long, I was writing questions for the show – originally $2.00 for a hundred (yes, two bucks) and later $5.00 for a hundred. I was too young to appear on the show, so having the thrill of hearing some of my questions occasionally making the cut, and getting a bit of pocket money for the effort, was not too bad a consolation prize, and invaluable preparation for what came later. Even if I hadn’t got to know George Black, the experience of attending recording sessions was still useful and interesting. It takes you a few steps closer to what it feels like to be a contestant – although nothing quite prepares you for the first blast of those dazzling lights (and even, as happened to me on my first appearance, hearing my own heart beating without benefit of a stethoscope). If time and geography permit, I would recommend it for all aspirants.

The ratings success of Great Temptation saw it extended to a five-day-a-week offering, with the recordings still all done on Sundays. In a small way, it introduced the concept of a mounting jackpot in the form of a diamond and ruby ring, which would have a small stone, worth about $100, added to it each night until it was won – after some long stretches, squeezing in all those stones tested the jeweller’s skills and produced some serious knuckle-dusters! The success of Great Temptation continued until the fateful decision to test it against the Ten network’s ratings juggernaut Number 96 in a mid-evening timeslot. Sadly, GT came off second best and it came to an end in 1975. The daytime show ended around the same time and for the next few years, until the ABC kicked off a local version of Mastermind (in 1978), with Huw Evans as host, it was something of a drought for fans of general knowledge quiz shows.

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And that’s where we’ll leave it for this week. Be sure to check back in here again next Tuesday, when Barry introduces us to some new moneymakers from a show named – coincidentally enough – The New Moneymakers!   

And if you have a hankering to contribute your own guest post, don’t be shy; just shoot me an email at Stephen@HowToWinGameShows.com, and let’s chat. See you next week!

Guest post by quiz show champ Barry Lee! Part 1 of 7

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Barry Lee (centre) on ‘Ford SuperQuiz’, sitting between co-hosts Patti Newton (left) and Bert Newton (right).

Hello! I hope March has been treating you well so far. Today I’m really happy to introduce you to a brand new guest contributor to the blog.

A few weeks ago, I received a lovely email from a gentleman by the name of Barry Lee. It was a friendly, chatty email, full of quiz show-related links and tidbits, and mentions of Barry’s own quiz show appearances. Barry appeared to be a lifelong quiz aficionado – and participant – so I asked him if he’d be interested in sharing his experiences with HTWGS visitors… and he said yes! So, starting today, I’m running a seven-part guest post series from two-time Quiz Show Champ (Ford SuperQuiz, 1981/1982 and Sale of the Century, 1986) Barry Lee, sharing his own adventures in this arena we all love so much. Take it away, Barry!

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= Getting Started =

My forays into the world of TV quiz shows grew out of an upbringing in which books and music and discovering interesting things were valued.

Family outings to the Sydney Botanic Gardens – a favourite – were not just about admiring the botanical wonders, they were also about learning the botanical names and how to pronounce them and, even better, the origins of those names. A trip on the Manly ferry would include picking out the sights of Sydney Harbour and knowing a fact or two about each of them. The thrill of a trip to the top of the recently opened AMP Building would be heightened by a discussion of the terminal velocity of a penny dropped from up there (not recommended) and its impact on the footpath below. The Argonauts were on the wireless and Peter Scriven’s charming Tintookies were opening young minds to things beyond the everyday.

Best of all, though, was the Mitchell Library – the glorious location, the majestic sandstone edifice, and the exhilarating experience of being admitted to the home of more books than I could ever imagine existed. This, and the wonderful old bookshops of Sydney, was my magic casement into a world of unending curiosity and learning.

Not long after I learned to read, birthday and Christmas gifts would regularly include at least one children’s reference book (more on this later), followed by grown-up books like the excellent Pears Cyclopedia and the equally excellent Oxford Illustrated Dictionary. A Shorter Oxford and a set of Britannica followed a few years later, and eventually a set of World Book, when I worked out that it was probably the best all-rounder for quiz show swotting.

My parents relented and acquired a TV in the mid-60s. Pick a Box on Monday nights with Bob and Dolly, and the Coles £3,000 / $6,000 Question on Wednesday nights, by then with Roland Strong, quickly became favourites, and a few years later It’s Academic – a quiz show for teams of high school students, which made that exciting world seem more within reach.

Before too long, I had the pleasure of knowing the occasional answer, but the real fun was seeing the amazing memory feats of the champs of that era – particularly, of course, Barry Jones and George Black and other stars in the Pick a Box firmament including Evelyn Lynch, Mervyn Vinson, Leah Andrews and John and Julie Morris. Barry’s unforgettable disquisition on the early viceregal rule of British India was beyond my intellectual pay grade at the time, but still dazzling stuff in its own way.

When Pick a Box came to an end in 1971, it really was the end of an era – the game show equivalent, in a sense, of the retirement of Menzies.

Happily, there was a lively successor waiting to take over the hallowed 7.00PM Monday night time slot, and its counterpart on Wednesday nights when the Coles show ended around the same time…

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Tune in next week to find out what that successor was! I’d like to thank Barry for beckoning us down Memory Lane. And for any of you a little too young to remember some of the shows and personalities mentioned above, if you click on the underlined titles and names, you’ll be able to learn a bit more about them, if you’re curious…

And OF COURSE you’re curious. I mean, you are a game show enthusiast, aren’t you? Chronic, incurable lifelong curiosity is a given!

We’ll be back next Tuesday with the second instalment of Barry’s quiz show reminiscences… and just a reminder, if you’d like to follow in his footsteps and write a guest post – or a series of guest posts – my (virtual) door is always open! Just drop me a line at Stephen@HowToWinGameShows.com, and let’s get a conversation going!

In the meantime, I’ll see you back here next Tuesday for the second instalment of Barry’s game show adventures. Until then, then! 

A post from special Guest Blogger Rowena Stewart!

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Rowena Stewart

Hello, and welcome to the first HTWGS.com post for 2025.

And I have a treat for you today – it’s a guest post from first-time contributor, Rowena Stewart!

“Who is Rowena Stewart?”, I pretend to hear you ask. Well… Rowena is an avid quiz show watcher who grew up on a diet of classroom posters, newspaper puzzles and reading the origin story of Vegemite on the jar’s label. Much later in life, she discovered the widespread community of others with a similar thirst for knowledge and she’s now doing her bit to raise awareness of – and invite others into – the wondrous world of quizzing. 

I’m grateful to Rowena for reaching out to me, and for wanting to spread the word about the many quizzing opportunities out there for you, dear HowToWinGameShows.com visitor.

And now… Take it away, Rowena!

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Have you ever watched a quiz show and thought “Who could possibly know the answer to that?”

I’ve often asked that myself, and the answer is an ever-growing community of very welcoming, supportive, and knowledgeable people I’ve gotten to know over the past few years. 

We’re a group of curious people called competitive or league quizzers and we love learning interesting facts, and trivia. But we don’t just stop at getting the immediate answer to questions. We go down rabbit holes and click all the Wikipedia links, branching out from points of interest to create a dense canopy to the forest of knowledge. Then we pay a modest fee to be tested on our recall, purely for pleasure with no lure of a monetary reward.

One such testing method you might have heard about is the World Quizzing Championships (WQC), held annually on the first Saturday of June. This is sometimes considered “The Olympics of Quizzing” as it’s a worldwide event with all continents (bar Antarctica) represented. Many are deterred by its difficulty, but it’s not often we mere mortals get to measure ourselves against the giants of the quiz world. Being an international quiz, there can be no bias towards one part of the world. So when it comes to movies, you might get a question about an American blockbuster alongside questions on Bollywood, Egyptian Cinema and Best Foreign Language Film Directors. The quiz itself is so challenging the top score is around 70%. Yet, in 2024 almost 2000 individuals took part. 

Despite its prominence, the WQC isn’t necessarily the best place for a newcomer to begin. 

That’s why Quizzing Australia launched the Australian Quiz Championships (AQC) in February of 2024 as an offering that’s more accessible to an Australian audience without compromising on difficulty. Its format is inspired by the World Quizzing Championships but with an innovative approach to topic distribution, giving specialists more to play for.

The questions aren’t the short-form ‘know-it-or-don’t’ type you’d get at pub trivia. They’re more like what you’d hear on Mastermind or Hard Quiz, but printed on a piece of paper beside a box for you to write your answer. Each question will usually include multiple pieces of information to help you reach the answer. For example, rather than “For two points, name the horse and jockey who won the Melbourne Cup in 2015″, the question may be phrased as follows: “In 2015, Michelle Payne became the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup. What alliterative name did her horse have? It’s no Model of a Modern Major General, but it is named after a City in Cornwall.”*

With enough exposure and practice, these hints become less puzzling and more of a confirmation you’ve got the correct answer, like cryptic crossword clues.  

These kinds of hints and keywords also get used in game shows and it’s how players like Australian Chasers Issa Schultz, Brydon Coverdale, David Poltorak and Mara Lejins can answer correctly after having heard only half the question. For example, if you hear the word “arachnid”, 99% of the time the answer is going to be “a spider” (and maybe only 1%, “a scorpion”). 

So if you’re serious about winning on a game show, why not come and prepare in a low-pressure environment and train that recall muscle? Then, when you get to the TV studio with butterflies in your stomach, those keywords will be like Pavlov ringing a bell for his dogs.

While the AQC occurs once per year,  Quizzing Australia also runs a number of other events throughout the year:

  • Squizzed / Hot 100 – these are written quizzes of 100 questions each, completed individually. These are arranged at physical venues monthly in most capital cities. Check Facebook for details.

  • Quiz Nations – online format played in teams with an individual answer component and a team answer component. It’s just like your weekly community sport competitions… but instead of tossing or kicking a ball around, you’re verbally answering quiz questions!

  • National Quiz Day – This is a full-day annual event where the national pairs and teams championships are contested, interspersed with novelty subject quizzes. Location will vary by year – check Quizzing Australia’s events page for updates.

  • State championships – written pen-and-paper quizzes with an individual round and pairs / teams round. ACT, QLD, VIC are in March. NSW, SA and WA are in November. 

And if you want something a bit more casual that can be done in your own time, here’s a selection of some other resources available:

  • Learned League – This is an invite-only competition run through a website. Past questions for each season are publicly available here. It was mentioned in Brydon “The Shark” Coverdale’s Quizmasters (which you have a copy of, right?) Good. Now open it up to Chapter 9 ‘Trivial Pursuits’ for an excellent summary on gameplay. 

I hope to see you at one of these events sometime soon! And for readers outside of Australia, check out your local quiz leagues for any events they may be running in your area. Questions sets for the Australian Quiz Championships will be made available after the event. Sets from other Quizzing Australia events can be found on their website here. For any enquiries, the best way to contact them is via emailing info@quizzingaustralia.org. 

* For those playing along at home, the answer is ‘Prince of Penzance’.

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Once again, I’d like to thank Rowena so much for this week’s post, and to remind you that if YOU’d like to do what Rowena’s done, and contribute a guest post for HowToWinGameShows.com, just email me at Stephen@HowToWinGameShows.com, and let’s start a discussion! My (virtual) door is always open.

Until next time, take care!

Stephen 

Coming soon, from The Land Of The Maple Leaf…

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Hello, and Happy Tuesday to you! I have some cool news to share with you this week, by way of a welcome visit from our favourite Canadian guest blogger.

Serial game show contestant and aficionado Ryan Vickers has been a great friend of HowToWinGameShows.com for ages now, having written loads of great guest posts for the site since August 2017. You can find a choice selection of Ryan’s game show-related adventures right HERE.

It was Ryan who first alerted me to the fascinating series The Search For Canada’s Game Shows, (which you can watch at

https://www.CanadasGameShows.com/season-episodes).

Ryan appeared in the first series of this show, and since then, he’s developed a real rapport with its producers. Could that possibly, conceivably, somehow have a little something to do with Ryan’s return today?

Hm.

Let’s see, shall we? Take it away, Ryan…

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O Canada! O Game Shows! Season Two!
(Yes, I’m paraphrasing Stephen’s great title from last year!)*

Hi there friends! It’s guest blogger Ryan Vickers speaking to you from slightly-getting-warmer Canada.

I wanted to share with you that The Search for Canada’s Game Shows is back on GameTV here in Canada later this month! We are rolling out a three-night premiere with all-new episodes on March 29th, 30th and 31st (and an early shout out… Happy Birthday Mom!)

Our first season focused on the origins of Canadian game shows up until the turn of the 21st century. Our second season looks at more recent Canadian game show activity and the focus on more competitive shows that have taken over the prime-time airwaves here in The Great White North. We’ll explore shows created in Canada and how they’ve evolved; the proliferation of shows that have food as their centrepiece; the progression of prizes; the role of comedy and comedians in game shows and the future of game shows here.

I look forward to sharing some neat facts about Season Two after it airs; but for now, I also need to let you know that you can catch the show at the end of March (concurrently with the television broadcast) if you don’t live in Canada – all episodes will be available for viewing at CanadasGameShows.com. In fact, you can pop over there right now and see interview segments from this season’s episodes, as well as sneak previews of each episode in Season Two!

I hope you enjoy!

Ryan.

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Thanks very much for the heads-up, Ryan – I’m really looking forward to the new season, and to hearing more about it from your good self. 

But hey, Ryan shouldn’t have to do all the heavy lifting in the guest post department. If you – yes, YOU! the person reading this right now – ever feel inclined to write a guest post for the site, I’m always open to suggestions. It can be autobiographical, it can be behind-the-scenes info, it can be analysis or opinion…. as long as it’s game show-related, I’ll consider it. So, if you think you may have something to offer, something that I can help share with a wider audience, just email me at Stephen@HowToWinGameShows.com. You never know where it may lead!

I’ll see you next time, and yes… Happy Birthday, Mrs Vickers (Ryan’s mum). 

* Aw, shucks, Ryan… – SH