The Fieldhouse, Solihull welcomed some very exciting guests last Sunday 8th July to celebrate the final of the Ember Inns National Quiz League.  Leading the pack of guests was one of the UK’s most famous quiz players, Mark Labbett, a.k.a The Beast from ITV’s The Chase.

Teams from the pub who were the overall winners in the nationwide competition had the chance to challenge a team of expert quizzers, including Shaun Wallace and Jenny Ryan, led by Mark at the National Final.

Every Sunday, since 15th April,  teams up and down the country have been taking part in quizzes, testing their knowledge in categories as broad as sports, music, history and general knowledge in a fiercely fought National Quiz League.

Mark Labbett commented: “It’s great to be involved and meet the top teams in this year’s Ember Inns National Quiz League.  Pub quizzes are still as popular as ever and I remember how much I enjoyed playing on pub quiz teams in the past.  I’m looking forward to taking on the challenge with the Ember Inns teams, but I’m confident of victory.”

Fiona Richardson, Ember Marketing Manager said “We are so excited to be hosting this event and to have Mark and his team of expert quizzers to put our top teams through our paces. Our Sunday night quizzes are hugely popular, with 121 pubs up and down the country entering this year, so this will be a great way to celebrate the end of this year’s National Quiz League.”

For all those participating in a quiz night, Mark has put together some expert tips:

  1. Think of an exciting quiz team name in advance – this will impress your team members, the judges and make other teams sit up and take note
  2. Don’t offer to write the answers, unless you have really good handwriting – nothing annoys judges more than answers they can’t read
  3. Get there early to choose a good seat, not too far away from the quiz master
  4. Make sure you watch the news the day of the quiz, there are always questions related to topical news stories
  5. When answering questions, go with your first instinct, it’s generally right
  6. If no one else on the team knows the answer, but you have a guess, write the guess down, as you never know
  7. Don’t talk over the quiz master – not only will it annoy other teams, but your own team as well
  8. As you progress through the quiz, work out who is your strongest team member so that if you go to a tie-break, you have given yourselves the best chance of winning
  9. No matter how excited you might be to actually know an answer, don’t give the game away by shouting it out – practice in advance how to whisper clearly
  10. Leave your phone out of sight and out of mind