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

It is noticeable that when they have University Challenge programmes featuring old alumni of universities the contestants don't score that well.

Some of them do - Val McDermid is always brilliant.

always find it fascinating that on Mastermind, one contestant can be 100% on top of a weirdly obsessive esoteric chosen subject, but a complete loss when it gets to the general knowledge round

I used to wonder why some contestants were so poor at their specialist subject - but then I discovered that if you apply to Mastermind you have to give several options as specialist subjects and you might not get your preferred choice!

(Obviously, there's the stage fright factor too - that's why I wouldn't go on it, it's one thing to sit on your sofa shouting the answers but quite another, I expect, to do so in a TV studio knowing you're being filmed).

The people on University Challenge are very intelligent in the sense that they have an extraordinary ability to retain facts. They may not have good emotional intelligence or what we describe as 'common sense

I loved Monkman and Seagull from a few years ago.

The people on University Challenge are very intelligent in the sense that they have an extraordinary ability to retain facts. They may not have good emotional intelligence or what we describe as 'common sense'
It is noticeable that when they have University Challenge programmes featuring old alumni of universities the contestants don't score that well. However these people are very successful in their careers

totally disagree - I don't often watch it, but always find it fascinating that on Mastermind, one contestant can be 100% on top of a weirdly obsessive esoteric chosen subject, but a complete loss when it gets to the general knowledge round - and surpassed by someone that scored low on the specialist subject, but a reasonable grasp of general knowledge.

again a variety sold in the UK but also most people have heard of jaffa cakes

I wonder what people would say if they were asked why Jaffa cakes are called Jaffa cakes?

And then a follow up - give them the definition of a cake and a biscuit for VAT purposes and ask them if a Jaffa cake is a cake and outline their reasoning

I googled it and Seville came up - how the hell am I supposed to know that? I've never even been to Spain so how could that be a measure of my intelligence?

Seville oranges are sold all over the UK, as is Seville marmalade.

There are many orange varieties, some are named after the area they were first produced or the port they were exported from.

So Seville makes sense for Spain and 'S'. If it was Israel and 'J' it would be 'Jaffa', again a variety sold in the UK but also most people have heard of jaffa cakes.

So true. We had the 70s trivia pursuit and I reckon you could answer all questions with 'the Titanic' or 'Dick van Dyke' and do ok.

I've found my general knowledge has improved with age, because my brain has amassed more facts. On Mastermind, say, I normally get most of the general knowledge questions right - but when I watched it as a child I'd probably only know one or two answers at most.

I'm no more intelligent now than I was 30 - 40 years ago. If anything, I am probably less intelligent as many of my brain cells will have died off since then - I just know more facts.

My husband has less general knowledge and sometimes asks me how I know things (we often do quizzes together) - often I can trace a fact to a particular book. I am a wide and indiscriminate reader and it's by no means the case that you have to read non-fiction to pick up general knowledge - you can pick up facts even from what might be called pulp fiction - romance novels, magazines, thrillers.

So my advice, if you want to increase your general knowledge, would be to read more. It doesn't matter what you read, it's how much you read that counts.

Some people can go through life only concerned about things that actually affect them. You have said that you haven’t been to Spain and you don’t eat marmalade - but many people will be able to name places in countries that they haven’t been to and the main constituent of common foods even if they don’t eat them. It isn’t about intelligence but interest in the world around them.

I don’t think good general knowledge necessarily means high intelligence, but those who are intelligent are often more widely read and generally curious.

I spent a lot of my youth around people who were much smarter than me, so I developed a fear of looking stupid. If someone mentioned oranges and marmalade to me, and I didn’t know that marmalade was made from oranges I would consider why they’d said that and consider whether I’m missing something obvious. Then I’d think that marmalade is orange so it’s probably made of oranges.

If someone mentioned foie gras and I didn’t know what it was, I wouldn’t say so - I would look it up. Mainly because I’d be interested to know but also because I wouldn’t want it known I didn’t know.

I’m lucky that I absorb information easily (accept about geography weirdly, but I did know about Seville oranges even though I don’t eat oranges or marmalade and haven’t been to Spain since I was little). My recall is not what it was though, thanks to ME and fibromyalgia.

I also think that it would be harder to retain information on stuff you just look up randomly on the internet, because there’s no context and it’s too “easy”. I don’t know how I first heard about Seville oranges but it’s probably through reading or the radio - not reading a specific book about them, but just a mention in passing in a fiction book. Things like that just get added to your general store of knowledge. You don’t even know that you know it.

No, you wouldn't go to a quiz as easy as that but these questions do come up time and again, I can assure you.

@gingham I would be suprised if anyone couldn't answer those questions you've picked the most obvious choices for each answer. I've never been to a quiz as easy as that!

I think general knowledge is a very good indicator of intelligence levels

To be honest, OP, you shot yourself in the foot when you said you didn’t know marmalade’s made with oranges. You don’t have to eat it to be aware.

(Who’s going to tell her about honey? 😉 )

YANBU I have excellent recall of General Knowledge and Trivia but I don't think it makes me any cleverer than DP who doesn't.

You don't need to have memorized random facts, or eat lots of marmalade, to know that marmalade is made of oranges. That's basic common knowledge.

If you don't read, aren't curious about the world around you, and don't make lateral connections (e.g. look at the colour of marmalade), that will impact on your knowledge of the world. And because reading, curiosity and the ability to make deductions are often indicators of intelligence, people will see you as less intelligent, rightly or wrongly.

I'm also reeling at the idea that you consider who Malcolm X is to be an "obscure" fact. The majority of people couldn't give you a details of his entire history and work, but would at least know that he was a black civil rights activist in the US.

ADHD or memory problems don't make someone not intelligent, @pennypinchh and I don't think anyone has called you stupid. DH has terrible short-term memory and executive function due to chemo 10 years ago. He drives me mad losing keys/shoes/papers, or forgetting important dates. But he can quote endlessly from films he saw as a teen, or tell you an unbelievable range of stats about athletics/rugby/swimming. He is way better than me at mathematical/logic puzzles (and I'm pretty good!) but struggles learning languages and doesn't read fiction for pleasure so doesn't know much about some fairly famous works of literature.

I have a great memory for useless facts, and am good at pulling things together to answer questions I had never thought about before. I am good at word games if I can see them written down but not so much if I have to do them in my head. We both have similar A-levels and uni qualifications. In pub quizzes we generally do very well, though the sports and music rounds can sometimes destroy us. Who is more intelligent? Not easy to define.

I also think that even without formally "revising" for quizzes, you do get better at them with practice. I have definitely improved at Only Connect over the years, as I learn more about how the questions work and what sort of patterns to look for. But the first 5 point question I got right was on the Teletubbies! When DH and I watch together, I usually win at University Challenge because my memory is better, but he normally beats me at Only Connect because he thinks better in that way.

I've spent my entire life being told I am not clever, just have a good memory! Imagine that as a kid in school when they give out prizes for x, y and z and you get told, very time, that you aren't clever, you have 'just' memorised the answers! Spelling? Nope, not for you. Other kids can spell elephant and get a sticker but you try and nope, you don't know anything. DSis gets told she is clever, DM tells me DSis works hard to learn but I 'just' remember things!

I am observant, curious (see user name), and remember passing information. Don't ask me why or how, I just do. I used that 'trick' to gain 2 good degrees, lectured a science based subject for a couple of decades and now run my own business. And I am still 'just' lucky because I have an eye and ear for small pieces of information.

So, if you are unobservant, lack curiosity (who doesn't read the labels and packets of breakfast stuff as a kid?) and can't recall trivia then no, you aren't at all unintelligent, you just aren't actively storing information as it passes you.

I have, it appears, what is known as a superior autobiographical memory. Doesn't make me a genius, or a memory chanpion. It just means I remember stuff and am good at quizzes!

I love reading, quizzing and adore quiz shows. Are they a good measure of intelligence? To a certain extent.

There are a few questions with a fairly obvious answer 9 times out of 10 in many quizzes, as with the following. There are exceptions to every rule so when quizzing wait for the rest of the question before giving the answer, just in case.

Which dairy product ... ? Cheese

Which Victorian author ... ? Dickens

Which US horror writer ... ? Stephen King

Which Italian food staple ... ? Pasta

Which late physicist ... ? Stephen Hawking

Which Irish playwright ...? Oscar Wilde

There are others but if in the very unlikely circumstance that one quizzer got all these questions they'd get 6 points already.

Keen quizzers notice these fine details because they're obviously into details.

There's a programme on ITV tonight about Millionaire which I'm looking forward to. Any other WWTBAM nuts on here?

No one knows everything about everything. My mother insists I'm rubbish at Geography... (Despite have an A grade AS level in the subject) as I don't know lots of random capitals, and have a habit of getting lost. But I know lots of obscure science facts, and not too bad on history. Wouldn't have a clue on questions about soaps or sports. Maths I always found easy. I've read a lot, but a find a lot of books on those 'must read' lists rather dull and boring (I'll happily admit I prefer murder mysteries and thrillers, trying to solve the mysteries even though they are completely unfeasible). I'll probably be rubbish on an individual quiz show, but do ok on team ones.

My DDs are only 9&7, but one struggles to remember stuff and one remembers everything. The one that struggles to remember facts and sequences like spellings and times tables, she's quite good at working out connections and analysing stuff in front of her. Also very practical skilled. She's clever in her own way. Not the sort that's easy to measure.

I think it rather depends on the quiz and the subject.
My football, snooker, golf, horse racing knowledge is postage stamp sized. I have no interest at all. I’d fail miserably on the first round of many popular quizzes. That doesn’t make me dim.

I really enjoy programmes like Only Connect and UC because they are more aligned to my way of thinking.

That says good memory, an ability to retain complex information, is a reasonable marker of traditional intelligence.

The British were referred to as Limeys as the navy etc kept crates of limes on the ships to stop the sailors becoming ill with scurvey on long voyages

Limeys
Poms

We do have lots of fruit based nicknames

As an aside I think it was more limes used to treat scurvey as they lasted better than oranges. The British were referred to as Limeys as the navy etc kept crates of limes on the ships to stop the sailors becoming ill with scurvey on long voyages.