The viewers like to see that sometimes they enjoy testing themselves against us as well as the students
"The viewers like to see that sometimes; they enjoy testing themselves against us as well as the students."The question-setter really found his niche in the 1940s with the first cash quiz show The 64,000 Dollar Question on American radio. For Fifteen-to-One, the programme's presenter, William G Stewart, is supplied with some 25,000 questions a year - about 150 for each programme. Meanwhile Peter Gwynn, producer of University Challenge, has half a dozen freelancers - including Ms Barker and Mr Cohen - producing 4,500 questions for each series. You want them to answer just a certain amount."What's impressive is the never ending volume of questions that flow through these television formats. So it should have been `What did Pitman develop that's widely used?' Academically correct and accessible to Joe Soap Public, you see."The question-setter's dream is, it seems, to reach a harmony between these two demands. "If they don't answer any, it's so frustrating," says Mr Cohen "It's awful I cringe if that happens.
"Samuel Pepys was using a form of shorthand long before Pitman. "For example: `What did Isaac Pitman invent? Shorthand' from Wednesday's show That was wrong, so wrong," he chides. The real skill lies in the wording which is where, he reckons, Chris Tarrant's researchers have been lacking "They do set some questions badly," says Mr Cohen. It's tempting to imagine the anorak element clinging snobbily to the dry, arcane teasers of University Challenge or the specialist-smugness perfected on Mastermind Ms Barker and Mr Cohen are absolutely democratic "Each requires the same amount of checking," says Mr Cohen. "If he knows it, I know I've hit the right level."There's no hierarchy, it seems, among the different quiz show styles. It's very easy to find something that no one can answer but getting something that everyone knows is more difficult." To test the climate of popular knowledge, she tries questions out on Stuart, her hairdresser. "But it is tough, especially making the multiple choice options believable.
"Everyone thinks they could set them," says Ms Barker, slightly peeved She is an arts graduate and former Mastermind semi-finalist. Mr Cohen and Ms Barker are similarly cagey about disclosing too many trade secrets, but they also want to put the record straight. Now they have struck a deal - still under wraps - to provide some of the questions for Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?Understandably discreet, they operate in secretive conditions Celador refuses to talk about them. For security reasons Mr Cohen and his partner Janet Barker do not disclose their location or their company name. Suffice to say, in the event of appearing on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, Neville is the best friend you could have at the end of a phone.The couple have a database of some 28,000 questions which they supply to a diverse range of shows including Mastermind, University Challenge, 100 Per Cent and Lucky Numbers. "Is it possible to set the foolproof question?" Yes and no, says one half of the industry's question-setting supremos, Neville Cohen.
Later the programme admitted the correct answer was in fact 12 TV executives promised a full investigation. Researchers everywhere nervously triple-checked their facts.For Celador Productions, which produces the show, the answer to another million-pound question eludes them. When asked "Theoretically, what is the number of strokes with which a tennis player can win a set?", Tony chose 24 - and won. The question in question, as it were, secured a pounds 125,000 win for Tony Kennedy from Blackpool. After all, these anonymous grafters get scant recognition for supplying tens of thousands of questions to satisfy the voracious appetites of Britain's quiz show viewers.Last week the slip-up on tennis put the setters and checkers under the spotlight as never before. Meanwhile, the question-setter puts away her books on ancient history and turns to Debrett's instead.It's a shame, really, that the quiz- setter's art should come to light last week only because of one badly researched question - on the minimum number of points required to win a set of tennis. Fred can sell his house, buy another one, give up his work and live on a beach for a year or two.
"You're sure? Really sure?...Well, Fred, you've won pounds 64,000." The crowd erupts Fred beams The credits roll. It's D." "Are you sure? Is that your final answer?" Chris Tarrant wrings out the last drops of what passes for dramatic tension on prime-time ITV broadcasting. As Adrian Woolfe, head of marketing and promotions for the show, says, "It has all the production values of a peak-time drama." Outside the film Casino, it's certainly the shrewdest union of gambling and theatre to date. The lights dim The music pulses ominously The contestant sweats appropriately "You don't want to phone a friend?" Pause again. Fred Jones from Worcester, sweating under the studio spotlights on Chris Tarrant's TV quiz Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? "So, Fred, for pounds 64,000, Queen Nefertiti was once ruler of which country? Was it a) Holland b) Greece c) Persia or d) Egypt?" "D, Chris. Hundreds of obscure dates and names swirl before her pink-rimmed eyes. She sighs, pulls down a worn history book and leafs through Ancient Egypt Picture another scene. A hunched figure pores over the open pages, trawling the archives of historical and popular trivia.