THEY are nearing their 300th quiz since lockdown began last March and as new restrictions are imposed, Goose's Quizzes are still keeping people entertained.
And for quiz host Andrew Wildgoose, who has been used to asking questions for months now, he found himself questioning a recent email which revealed he had been recognised in the New Year Honours List.
During the first lockdown Goose’s Quizzes brought nightly quizzing to people's homes and provided a little bit of light in dark times.
They have pledged to keep going through this latest phase. As well as their usual offering, they have now introduced a Sunday night live streamed podcast which is a weekly catch up full of chat and laughter to keep people going.
Read more: The ultimate lockdown quiz - can you take on the the hardest challenge?
Goose’s Quizzes had been running in bars in Edinburgh and Glasgow for several years. It was founded in 2011 at Edinburgh’s Golf Tavern to help fund Mr Wilgoose’s masters degree and was running around 45 different quizzes per week at venues across Edinburgh and Glasgow pre-covid.
However, with hospitality closing overnight last March, they quickly looked at how they could adapt and what they could offer so came up with the nightly quiz Goose In Your Hoose.
Mr Wildgoose and his team run free-to-join quizzes though Twitch. Totalling around 10,550 questions asked and over 235,00 quizzers participating, GIYH has welcomed more than 10,000 viewers at its peak. Kicking off at 7pm, the quiz comprises between 40 to 50 questions with all answers submitted via a simple Google Form submission.
And while founder Mr Wildgoose might describe his brand of chat as “nonsense,” how the quiz business responded during lockdown to keep communities connected and bring people together didn’t go unnoticed.
He was shocked and humbled to discover he had been awarded a British Empire Medal, BEM, in the New Year Honours list for his role in the pandemic and also for work in raising money for charity. Goose's Quizzes has raised over £21,400 for a number of UK-wide charities including St. Columba's Hospice, in Edinburgh, Epilepsy Scotland, Children First and Scottish Women in Business.
Andrew Wildgoose was awarded a BEM
Mr Wildgoose has no idea who nominated him, but was delighted once he realised it was not a scam.
“I received an email and it said I had been awarded an honour, but my first reaction was that this must have been a scam,” he said. “I phoned the Cabinet Office and they confirmed that it was genuine. I wasn’t exactly sure how I had earned it, but it was for a combination of keeping people together in lockdown and partly for helping charity. I have no idea who would have put me forward for this, but maybe one day one of the quizzers might own up.”
The BEM in recognition for Mr Wildgoose’s quizzes reinforces just how important they have become to people whose lives had been turned upside down during lockdown as the world changed and adapted.
“While quizzing might be how it all started, we realise it has become more than just a pub quiz online,” he added. “We have regulars who take part and we have got to know them throughout this. We have a great chat function during the quiz and there is always a lot of banter and comments.
“It could be that someone is living alone and by doing our quiz they feel connected and get to speak to us. That is one reason why we developed our Sunday night offering.
“As well as giving us a bit of a break from putting together another quiz together, we use it as a bit of a chat show but it is interactive. We will also be reviewing the week’s quizzes and going into a bit more detail about some of the answers and looking at how many people got particular answers right. That is the whole point we want people to be involved, send us messages or pictures. It is one of the really nice things about lockdown is that we have been able to get to know our quizzers really well.”
Read more: New Year Honours List 2020: Full list revealed
Competitors can take part every night at 7pm but it is then available on a stream for the next 20 hours which allows people from all over the world to sit down and take part when it is suitable to them or their evening. Answers are submitted by 5pm and then the winner announced on that night’s quiz. As well as Mr Wildgoose he is regularly joined by four other quiz hosts Scott Brayford, Louis Moorehead, Mark Bradshaw and Kirsty Paterson.
Goose's Quizzes stream live at 7pm on Twitch
Mr Wildgoose added: “We have teams from Canada who take part five hours after we have live streamed as it is their evening and people can take part when they want to. Then we mark the quizzes in time for the following evening.”
The quizzes also offer an opportunity to support local businesses who continue to be impacted by the pandemic, including Paraffle Embroidery, Barneys Brewery, Holyrood Distillery and the Edinburgh Beer Box, via partnerships and competitions.
They also launched a charitable project which sells T-shirts to fund quiz events for charities at no cost. Since launching GIYH has run a further 302 corporate and private quizzes and 22 charity and fundraiser quizzes.
To take part go to www.twitch.tv/goosesquizzes
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