British Quizzing Championships

Last updated

The British Quiz Championship (BQC), also termed the British Quizzing Championship, is a quiz competition in the United Kingdom. The current competition has been organised since 2004 by Chris Jones' and IQA-CEO Jane Allen's company Quizzing Ltd. Early in 2011 the re-launch of the quizzing.co.uk website saw it rebranded as the home of the British Quiz Association.

Contents

Before 2004 there had already been some sort of "British Championship" since 1999 run first only by Trevor Montague then by the British Quiz Association (see that page for champions), but after internal strife and a fall in interest in 2003/2004 (see attendance in the BQA links) the old BQA-management gave up and the only British Quiz Championship now is this one run by Quizzing Ltd.

British Quizzing Championship Roll of Honour since 2004

YearVenueWinner - SinglesWinner - Pairs
2004Old Trafford Manchester Kevin Ashman Not held
2005Altrincham Kevin Ashman Not held
2006Shrewsbury Kevin Ashman Ian Bayley & Pat Gibson
2007Derby Pat Gibson Gareth Aubrey & Olav Bjortomt
2008StaveleySean Carey David Edwards & Nic Paul
2009Derby Mark Bytheway David Lea & Kathryn Johnson
2010Derby Pat Gibson David Edwards & Nic Paul
2011Lichfield Kevin Ashman Pat Gibson & Ian Bayley
2012Lichfield Jesse Honey David Stainer & Olav Bjortomt
2013Hilton, Edinburgh, Dublin Kevin Ashman Kevin Ashman & Pat Gibson
2014Rothwell, Edinburgh, Dublin Pat Gibson David Stainer & Olav Bjortomt
2015Newark, Edinburgh, Dublin Pat Gibson Anne Hegerty & John Wilson
2016Coventry, EdinburghNic PaulBrian Chesney & Jeff Evans
2017Coventry, Edinburgh Kevin Ashman Kevin Ashman & Pat Gibson
2018Coventry, Edinburgh, London Pat Gibson Not held
2019Northampton, Edinburgh Paul Sinha Kevin Ashman & Pat Gibson
2020Various Pat Gibson Not held
2021Various Evan Lynch Not held
2022Various Pat Gibson Pat Gibson & Scott Dawson
2023Various Pat Gibson Not held
2024Various Pat Gibson Not held

2004 - Venue Old Trafford Manchester - Winner Kevin Ashman

The 2004 British Quiz Championship was run in 2004 as part of the World Quizzing Championship - as staged at various worldwide locations, such as Old Trafford Stadium on 3 July 2004),

The 2004 event saw 67 entrants at Old Trafford who were joined, in the international event, by several hundred other Quizzers from countries such as Belgium, Estonia, the Netherlands, India and Malaysia quizzing in places such as Bangalore and Kuala Lumpur.

Both the 2004 British and World events were won by England's Kevin Ashman.

2005 - Venue Altrincham - Winner Kevin Ashman

Having won the 2005 MSN Search sponsored World Quizzing Championships on 2 July Kevin Ashman went on to retain his British title later that year.

PositionCompetitor
1Kevin Ashman
2Mark Bytheway
3John Wilson
4 Barry Simmons
5Geoff Thomas
6Pat Gibson
=7Dag Griffiths
=7Eric Kilby
=7Sean Carey
=7Darren Martin

2006 - Venue Boreatton Park, Shrewsbury - Winner Kevin Ashman

Kevin Ashman made it a hat-trick of British Championships in 2005. In a field of 41 competitors Ashman won by 21 points from Mark Bytheway and Pat Gibson in joint second position. A full report on the event is available here

PositionCompetitor
1Kevin Ashman
=2Mark Bytheway
=2Pat Gibson
=4John Wilson
=4Olav Bjortomt
6Mark Labbett
7Mark Kerr
8Barbara Thompson
9Eric Kilby
10Ian Bayley

2007 - Venue Derby Conference Centre - Winner Pat Gibson

The absence of the previous winners and runners up for the last two years (Kevin Ashman and Mark Bytheway) left the field wide open. Pat Gibson emerged victorious, adding the British title to the World title he had also taken from Ashman earlier in the year. Gibson's margin of victory over Bjortomt was 12 points.

PositionCompetitor
1Pat Gibson
2Olav Bjortomt
=3 Mark Labbett
=3William De'Ath
5Eric Kilby
6Nic Paul
=7Chris Quinn
=7Ian Bayley
=7Mark Kerr
=7John Wilson

A full report is available here.

2008 - Venue Staveley - Winner Sean Carey

A field of 61 competitors including Kevin Ashman (3 time British Champion, past World and European Champion), Mark Bytheway (2008 World Quiz Champion), Pat Gibson (2007 World and British Champion) met at Staveley in Derbyshire. With such a strong field of competitors it was perhaps a surprise that it was Sean Carey who took the title, beating second placed Kevin Ashman by 8 points. Ranked 19th before the start of the event, Carey is the lowest ranked competitor to win the British title, and the first person from outside the top 3. That said, he was likely ranked lower than he ought to have been on account of his not being able to attend as many ranking events as his peers. When he has competed in Grands Prix he has typically been placed in the top 10 of finishers.

PositionCompetitor
1Sean Carey
2Kevin Ashman
3Mark Bytheway
4Pat Gibson
5Nic Paul
=6Alan Gibbs
=6John Wilson
=6Olav Bjortomt
=9Chris Quinn
=9Dave Edwards
=9Mark Labbett

2009 - Venue Derby Conference Centre - Winner Mark Bytheway

All the big players were in attendance for this one, including every former winner of the title. For the first time ever the event had to be settled on a tie-break, Kevin Ashman and Mark Bytheway being neck-and-neck, 8 points ahead of Pat Gibson in third place. Reference was had to the players' discarded scores (both in Sport & Games) with Bytheway emerging victorious by a margin of one point (170 to 169 out of 240). Byethway's achievement was well received by the field of 62, not least because he is still recovering from surgery undertaken after he was struck with a life-threatening illness. Kevin Ashman was typically magnanimous in defeat. He now holds 'just' the World and European individual titles!

PositionCompetitor
1Mark Bytheway
2Kevin Ashman
3Pat Gibson
4Chris Quinn
5Jesse Honey
6Sean Carey
7Mark Kerr
8John Wilson
9Nic Paul
10Ian Bayley

There was a first in the Pairs event, Kathryn Johnson partnering David Lea to a win. In so doing she becomes the first woman to hold a Championship title on the UK quiz circuit. Like the Individual event, the Pairs saw a tie, which had to be decided on 'countback'. The unlucky Pair who finished as runners-up were Chris Quinn and Mark Kerr.

2010 - Venue Derby Conference Centre - Winner Pat Gibson

Pat Gibson regained the title he first won in 2007 and was the first to get his hands on the new Mark Bytheway Trophy, named in memory of last year's winner who died in July 2010. The trophy is to be inscribed with the names of former winners. This year's questions were written by former (BQA/Montague era) champion, John Wilson (since 2006 they have been composed by Quizzing.co.uk's principal setter Chris Jones).

PositionCompetitor
1Pat Gibson
2Kevin Ashman
3 Jesse Honey
4Olav Bjortomt
5Barry Simmons
6Nic Paul
7Dag Griffiths
8Ian Bayley
9David Stainer
10Sean Carey

In the Pairs event, 2008 winners David Edwards and Nic Paul became the first duo to regain the title. Second place went to Jesse Honey & Sean Carey and third to Kevin Ashman & Pat Gibson.

2011 - Venue Cathedral Lodge Hotel, Lichfield - Winner Kevin Ashman

John Wilson again wrote the questions for the individual championship, which for the first time was held in 2 venues, the main one in Lichfield but with some players taking part in a venue in Normandy. Kevin Ashman won with a score of 158 out of a maximum 210, a full 24 points ahead of defending champion Pat Gibson.

PositionCompetitor
1 Kevin Ashman
2 Pat Gibson
3Ian Bayley
4Olav Bjortomt
5Eric Wildsmith
6Sean Carey
7Phil Smith
8David Hesp
9Alan Gibbs
10Peter Watson

In the Pairs event, Ian Bayley and Pat Gibson repeated their win of 2006.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Ashman</span> English professional quizzer

Kevin Clifford Ashman is an English quiz player. He is considered one of the greatest quizzers in the world, has been a professional quizzer since 2002 and he has appeared on Eggheads since 2003 and is the only Egghead to appear in every series of the show as of April 2023. He has won most of the top-level quiz tournaments in which he has taken part, among them several World and European Championships.

<i>Superstars</i> (British TV programme) British television series

Superstars is a TV sports competition in which elite athletes from a variety of sports compete against each other in a number of events, resembling a decathlon. The athletes must not compete in the sport for which they practice as their profession. Points are awarded for the position in which the competitor places in each event. The competitor with the most points at the end of all ten events is declared the champion.

<i>Eggheads</i> (game show) British quiz show

Eggheads is a British quiz show produced by 12 Yard. It was first broadcast in November 2003 chaired by Dermot Murnaghan. In 2008, Jeremy Vine became joint chair, and subsequently sole chair. The show has inspired three spinoff series: Are You an Egghead? (2008), Revenge of the Egghead (2014) and Make Me an Egghead (2016). There have also been episodes of the regular series featuring teams of celebrities in their own short series, with their own rolling prize fund.

<i>Brain of Britain</i> Britisg radio quiz show (since 1953)

Brain of Britain is a BBC radio general knowledge quiz, broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Rickardsson</span> Swedish motorcycle speedway rider

Jan Tony Soren Rickardsson is a Swedish former professional motorcycle speedway rider. He competed in the Speedway World Championships from 1989 to 2006 and won six Speedway World Championship titles in 15 attempts. He earned 43 caps for the Sweden national speedway team. In 2011, Rickardsson was named an FIM Legend for his motorcycling achievements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Quizzing Championships</span>

The World Quizzing Championships is an individual quiz contest organised by the International Quizzing Association. The competition has been staged annually since 2003 with an increasing number of contestants from an increasing number of nations. Since 2006, the competition has been staged on the first Saturday of every June.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olav Bjortomt</span> English professional quizzer

Stein Olav Bjortomt is an English international quiz player, four-time world champion and three-time individual European champion. He is the star player of the world's most successful quizzing clubs, Broken Hearts, with which he has won several European championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat Gibson</span> Irish quizzer

Patrick Gibson is an Irish quizzer based in the United Kingdom. On 24 April 2004, he became the fifth contestant to win the £1m jackpot on the quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and the fourth legitimate contestant to do so. He is a multiple world champion in quizzing and one of the world's most successful quiz players. He is best known for winning several quiz shows and being a panellist on Eggheads. He was born, raised and educated in Ireland but currently lives in the United Kingdom and competes as part of the England quiz team. As of 5 December 2018, Gibson is currently the No. 1 ranked quizzer in the world.

David Edwards is a Welsh physics teacher, best known as a TV quiz contestant. On 21 April 2001 he became the first man to win the million pounds in the UK version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and only the second person after Judith Keppel. He competed in both series of Are You an Egghead?, reaching the last 16 in 2008, and the final in 2009, where he lost to fellow Millionaire winner Pat Gibson.

Christopher John Hughes is an English television personality and one of Britain's leading quizzers.

The British Quiz Association (BQA) runs the British Quizzing Championships on the first Saturday in September every year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speedway World Championship</span> Motorcycle speedway competition

The World Championship of Speedway is an international competition between the highest-ranked motorcycle speedway riders of the world, run under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). The first official championships were held in 1936.

Nico Pattyn is one of Belgium's most successful quiz players. He became European Quizzing Champion in November 2007, claiming the title in Blackpool. He was the first to beat English quiz legend, Kevin Ashman at the European championships individuals. He also won an individual silver medal at the first European Quizzing Championships in 2004 in his hometown Ghent and in 2013 in Liverpool, behind his compatriot Ronny Swiggers.

The International Quizzing Championships (IQC) is an annual multi-disciplinary quiz event, in which representatives from various countries compete as individuals, in pairs, and/or in teams.

Are You an Egghead? is a BBC quiz show that was presented by Dermot Murnaghan. It is a spin-off from the quiz show Eggheads, with its goal to find a further Egghead to complement the existing team. The first series was aired weekdays from 20 October to 2 December 2008 and was won by Barry Simmons. The second and final series was aired from 12 October to 23 November 2009 and was won by Pat Gibson. A similar show, Make Me an Egghead, aired in 2016.

Mark Bytheway was an England International Quiz player best known for becoming Quizzing World Champion in 2008 and winning the Top Brain competition of Brain of Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barry Simmons</span> British TV personality

Barry Lawrence Simmons is a Scottish quiz show contestant, the winner of the first BBC Two TV show Are You an Egghead?, and of Brain of Britain 2013. Simmons was born in Edinburgh and now lives in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

Ronny Swiggers is one of Belgium's most successful quiz players. In November 2013, he became European Quizzing Champion, winning the individual competition at the European Championship in Liverpool, beating compatriot Nico Pattyn and Englishman Jesse Honey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tero Kalliolevo</span> Finnish quizzer

Tero Kalliolevo from Finland is the Nordic countries' most successful quiz player in international competitions.

Jesse Honey is an English urban planner and quiz player from South London, best known for winning the Mastermind series 2010 and holding one of its records, becoming a member of the English National quiz team later in the year, and going on to win the World Quizzing Championship 2012.