Two quizmasters, on the facts

Indian Express

04-07-2025

Two quizmasters in conversation.
Derek O'Brien: This is the first time we're doing something like this. Thank you, Siddhartha.
Siddhartha Basu: It's the first time ever the both of us have been together, and I'm delighted.
DOB: You and I met just three years ago. And it was such a beautiful occasion. We had dinner at home. You started Quiz Time in 1985, I was 24, you were 31. You were doing television shows, and I was more into stage shows before I did TV. Yes, but we only first met in 2022. And it's been so lovely.
SB: I'm thankful to hear that from you, because your family has been right at the forefront of open quizzing. Let us chat about the whole business of the purpose of general knowledge, quizzing and life lessons, too.
DOB: It's very interesting that you've used the word 'business'. For you and me, it was business. But the interesting story is how it moved from a hobby into a business.
SB: Prannoy Roy used to joke with me, 'You'll always be a Bong yaar', because he thought I wasn't businessman enough. We hadn't thought of it that way, but, fortunately, the business followed.
DOB: Yes, from 1967 to the 1980s, nobody ever charged a rupee for a quiz. You and I did.
SB: You know Quiz Time or a national inter-college quiz wasn't my idea; I was roped into it by happenstance as a host. I was asked to come for 10 minutes and just give an introduction. I was in and out. And then, one month later, they said, 'Why don't you be the quiz master for Rs 1,000 an episode?' I left my job instantly. My son was yet to be born and I took the plunge.
DOB: While working for eight years in an advertising agency, Ogilvy, I started doing quizzes on weekends for a fee, Rs 2,000 a quiz — for Maggi and Bata. This was in the late 1980s.
SB: Since you mentioned the Maggi Quiz, the largest ever live ground quiz I have done was the national finals of the Maggi Quiz at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Delhi for 15,000 kids. I want you to rewind to when the first open quiz was conducted by your father, Neil.
DOB: In 1966, my dad, who was in his 30s, was sent by his employers to the UK. My parents were there for three months and that is where they were exposed to University Challenge, a quiz started in 1962.
The local parish in Kolkata used to have a contest for one-act plays. So, Neil and his cousin Errol came up with the idea to change that to an inter-parish quiz. And so was born India's first open quiz, the Eddie Hyde Memorial. The Bournvita Quiz Contest on TV came in 1993. Then you and Amitabh Bachchan, with Kaun Banega Crorepati, took quizzing to another level.
SB: Kolkata has been the capital of quizzing. The city had many quizzards and a number of them came later on Mastermind, which is another show that I was doing. But then I think there are all those people who know the strangest things about the strangest things. I've always been averse to the term trivia, because I don't think it needs to be about peripheral information.
DOB: Today, it's not just the recall of knowledge which excites young people. 'Can I speak better English? Can I feel confident?' That is where young people are moving to.
SB: What has become terribly important now is to have contextual knowledge and information. See how much misinformation and propaganda is out there. And WhatsApp University. How do you train, particularly young people, but also ourselves, to have our antennas up… on another note, because even your brothers (Andy, Barry) have been quizzing, tell us about growing up.
DOB: My father would always tell us to read. Then write it down. That will help you recall. He had his diaries, so he would read, and he would write.
SB: Note it down?
DOB: Yes. Write it down as a quiz question in a diary. From 1967, he's had all these questions. So you never have to prepare for a quiz when you're setting a quiz. For all the research you do, whether for a quiz or in Parliament, there is a simple rule: You need three authentic sources.
SB: Minimum. Reliable. Authentic sources.
DOB: Yes, verified sources. And that is where the authenticity comes in. So do not forward information you receive on your mobile phone. Check first.
SB: It is incumbent on everybody to be sure of the facts before they spread it or just forward it.
DOB: You receive a piece of information, you put it on your family WhatsApp group without checking, and you are the editor who is putting it out. So you have to be careful.
SB: Fact-checking for anything that is shared publicly has now become very important, and everybody needs to be able to do it at their level.
DOB: I have enjoyed this conversation. I really want the two of us to do a couple of quizzes together — for a good cause. And whatever we raise from those quiz shows, we will give to a charity of our choice.
SB: I accept, let's figure it out.
The writer is MP and leader, All India Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party