Quiz Time, Gentlemen, Please!

Quiz Time, Gentlemen, Please!

Last week, Warren told us of an episode of 'Treasure Hunt' that was fimed in Dorset. We were looking for ideas for a future episode of 'Round The Archives' and he thought it might make an interesting article. And, usefully, it is available to watch on YouTube.

And while looking at the schedule for 'The Herbs' episode 'Strawberry Picking' (that we did a video on), we noticed an edition of an obscure darts-based quiz show called 'Quiz Time, Gentlemen Please!'. It looked interesting, but we thought no more about it as we never expected to see any actual footage of it.

So imagine our surprise when a couple of days later, BBC Archive posted a few minutes from the final edition. We were even more surprised that one of the pubs involved was The Elm Park Hotel; a pub that was in the town I grew up in.

Andrew said that when he watched it he was looking out for my parents. I said that he wouldn't have seen them because as far as I know they never stepped foot in there. My dad not being a big drinker. only having the occasional brandy. and my mum not drinking alcohol at all. And having two young children at home (as my sister was 11 and my brother was just 7) they didn't go out much in the evenings.

And when I was old enough to drink I seem to remember that the pub had a bit of a bad reputation, so I would have been discouraged from going in there.

In the actual clip there is an abundance of men in suits and ties, smoking and drinking lots of beer. In fact I'm amazed that they could throw the darts straight.

For, yes, the quiz is an early version of 'Bullseye' that is played in the actual pub; one player throwing the darts and the other answering the questions.

The contestant from The Elm Park Hotel is asked a question about the film 'Bonnie and Clyde' and claims that Warren Beatty played Bonnie. I think he was confused or possibly slightly drunk.

It was an interesting look into the pub culture of the 60s. though to be honest with the pianist and the communal sing-a-long it could have been from the 1930s.

Sadly the Elm Park Hotel is no longer a pub and the building has been made into a supermarket.

The clip can found on the BBC Archive Twitter feed @BBCArchive and now we're hoping they can unearth something from the even more elusive 'Moon Clue Game'...

(Written by Lisa Parker)