To think general knowledge quiz shows do not give a measure of intelligence, just of memorisation skills?

Leg arm bowling

Fast Leg bowling

I thought it was under arm at first - and then deleted a bit - but left the 'arm' in by mistake.

So that was my general knowledge not quite remembering - but 'underarm' bowling would have been an interesting, if less dangerous, approach.

Poor old Seville! not doing too well here on one of their main exports by the sound of it. Marmalade has decreased in popularity over the years though .I can remember going shopping with my Nan in the 60s/70s for Seville oranges. as she made her own home made marmalade. Blood oranges too are gorgeous to eat ,so juicy and full of flavour .I think best time to buy about Jan/March?

I love the people on here denigrating sport as a subject. Snobbery at its finest.

Tennis and rugby are both elitist sports. So are many sports associated with horses. Carriage driving at the Olympia Horse Show will definitely show you a bit of ye olde elitism. So once upon a time would lacrosse.

I'm not at all sure why being shit at the intricacies of sport amounts to snobbery. I love riding, but I couldn't tell you how the fault system in Olympic show jumping works at gunpoint.

Your brain has neuroplasticity, still, which is why we can keep learning new skills and bounce back from memory loss (barring degenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s) but like any muscle, you must not just exercise it, and you MUST exercise it, but actively strain it at times in order to make those new connections, just like if you were building larger muscles at the gym. I struggle every day with my memory loss, but I still force myself to learn things every day, in hopes that it’s helping, in hopes that I’m coming back.

This goes for everyone. The less you “work” your brain, the sooner it will fail you. There are so, so many studies of those who stay mentally active doing better at “fending” off the mental atrophy we associate with aging. I noticed you said you haven’t read a book since A levels. Perhaps it’s the time. Maybe not a book. Maybe start with some magazine articles. Or maybe there is a book that sounds interesting to you. It doesn’t have to be the next great literary masterpiece. Don’t try to force yourself to read what others would. Honestly, it can have someone ripping off a lady’s bodice on the cover. WHO CARES. The point is that your brain is working, it’s making connections from one page to the next, it’s working to connect what you read yesterday with what you read today, and that’s enough.

Also OP, not all facts are memorised. Things like American State Capitals or countries in the Allied Forces I just know. However, World Cup Winners I know the last 6 but I've had to learn and memorise the ones prior to those.

You don't seem to be interested in things around you which is fine, but you can't be cross when you have limited general knowledge.

I think tv quizzes are the ability to soak up information on a multitude of information. From animals to the Zambezi and including animals found on the Zambezi. To the Kardashians, to Royal Families . Including how royals are connected to the Royals

I work in a school
also agree that general knowledge should be covered more in school. In some shape of form

OTOH, my mother seems surprised that I'm a bit wooly on the order of prime ministers and other cabinet officials in the 70s and 80s... Personally I don't think a 34 year old not knowing that is abnormal, but her knowing them doesn't make her knowledge superior, since she worked for the government from the early 70s, including in the cabinet office at one stage. Same with popular culture from before you were born. The younger generation know different stuff to us.

I am good at quizzes and have good general knowledge and lot of people mock me - I get called Rain Man!

I don't think I am particularly intelligent but I am good at retaining pointless information

Its good you have a great degree .However I think as you get a bit older maybe 30s/40s/50s you will gain a greater knowledge .My Friend is very good at the pub quiz (cancelled until further notice obv!) has a STEM degree ,and a wide knowledge of various subjects .However we dont normally win as many of the questions are about Sports (esp Football!) My own DS has a Masters in Physics ,but also knows Sports questions /footie very well!

OP, your drip feed post about having an illness that caused memory loss was very misleading regarding your original post.

If you can't remember stuff like marmalade is made from oranges, and your family skit you for it, then they are abviously dickheads.

I hate it on quizzes when someone is asked a question, for example about The Beatles, but don't know the answer because it was ', before their time', like they only know about things from the year of their birth onwards.

Name one of Henry VIII's wives - oh I don't know. That was before my time 😠

There haven’t been people denigrating sport on this thread

Rugby is believed to have been started when someone picked up the ball. Who was he?

In 1932, there was a controversial cricket tour of Australia when fast leg arm bowling was used. What was the name of that tour?

Which country has hosted the most Olympic Games?

See - general knowledge questions

I think it's less about intelligence and more about intellectual curiosity about the world around you.

It makes me laugh on Pointless when the contestants try to excuse a lack of knowledge by saying that something is "before their time" and Xander and Richard get really cross because what people are really saying is that the only bits of life worth knowing about are those bits which relate directly to them and their life. It's a sort of laziness, I suppose.

We enjoy quizzes and are sometime baffled by what people don't know. Not TV questions like your OP, because that's so dependent on taste, but general knowledge type questions. That example earlier about identifying Scotland as a city is a good example.

There are general knowledge questions about sport.

Well do you think sport questions are valid on University Challenge?

There are people who've said they don't have much interest in sport.

I'm really, really good at quizzes. Pre-Covid I was in a team and we did really well in pub quizzes, made quite a bit of money and many bottles of wine between us.

I don't think it's a measure of intelligence, I just find it hard to forget useless information. DS1 is a dynamo at them - photographic memory - but devoid of common sense.

I love the people on here denigrating sport as a subject. Snobbery at its finest.

Sometimes you just don't know which is also ok, esp if it is a TV show or that you haven't seen and have nothing to go on. But I think Geog/History lends itself to 'coming up with an answer' based on existing knowledge.

YABU

A lot of quizzing is basic common knowledge and then it is coupled with educated guesses about things. Profesional quizzers of course do learn and revise facts as part of their job the average quizzer does not. Amateur quizzers tend to be curious, interested in learning and good problem solvers.

I can't understand how some people get on to quiz shows though, I have watched mainstream quiz shows where contestants though, George Bush was the first President of the USA, that Ecuador was in Europe and that Paris was a country.

I get that some people hate quizzes, but those people also tend not to be interested in current affairs or the world around them which is fine, horses for courses. However, to say it is because some are only good at it because of having a better memory is a bit demeaning.