I own a boozer and our pub quiz has a waiting list after I got a load of celebs to pose the questions each week
A PUB has found the answer to getting punters in for its quiz — by asking a different A-lister to pose the questions each week.
Dame Judi Dench was the first, followed by a string of fellow thesps, including Michael Sheen and Bryan Cranston.
The Barley Mow had struggled to get its quiz going again after Covid — and now there is a waiting list to take part.
Fourteen teams a week pack out the Grade II-listed pub in Marylebone, West London — popular with actors and musicians.
A different celeb hosts the “top ten” round via pre-recorded link, with Dench kicking off with the longest motorways in England. Last night, Calendar Girls actress Celia Imrie asked for the most successful tennis players by grand slams.
Pub owner Will Norris, 44, a RADA graduate, said: “The first guest we had was Judi Dench because one of the guys who works here knows her daughter.
“Once you get Judi Dench, lots of people want to get on board — now we’ve done 52 weeks of it.
“We have another 42 weeks filmed and ready to go including Martin Freeman and Jodie Whittaker.
“It’s so busy that we have to kick non-quizzers out!”
Sheen, who played Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host Chris Tarrant in Quiz, asked for ten countries ending with “land” — while standing outside the Sydney Opera House.
Quizzers were asked for the ten most common chemical elements in the body by Bryan Cranston, who played a chemistry teacher turned drugs kingpin in Breaking Bad.
The Christmas quiz, raising money for Shelter, is already sold out, though the identity of the celebrity question-master is still a mystery.
Will said: “We don’t know who yet but we’ll get someone big in.”
He told how it has a “sense of community” often missing from pubs in the capital.
Will went on: “People are loyal to us and lots of our quiz teams come regularly — it creates a feeling of safety and acknowledgement.”
A-LISTER'S QUIZ QUESTION ANSWERS
DAME JUDI DENCH ANSWERS: 1. M6 — 232.2 miles; 2. M1 — 193.5 miles; 3. M4 — 189 miles; 4. M5 — 162.9 miles; 5. M25 — 117 miles; 6. M62 — 107 miles; 7. M40 — 89 miles; 8. M8 — 60.3 miles; 9. M3 — 58.6 miles; 10. M11 — 55 miles.
MICHAEL SHEEN ANSWERS: 1. England; 2. Finland; 3. Iceland; 4. Ireland; 5. Netherlands; 6. New Zealand; 7. Poland; 8. Scotland; 9. Switzerland; 10. Thailand.
CELIA IMRIE ANSWERS: 1. Margaret Court — 24; 2 = Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams — 23; 4 = Rafael Nadal and Steffi Graf — 22; 6. Roger Federer — 20; 7. Helen Wills — 19; 8 = Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova — 18; 10. Pete Sampras — 14.
BRYAN CRANSTON ANSWERS: 1. Oxygen — 65 per cent mass, 2. Carbon — 18.5%; 3. Hydrogen — 10%; 4. Nitrogen — 3.2%; 5. Calcium — 1.5%; 6. Phosphorus — 1%; 7. Potassium —0.4%; 8. Sulphur — 0.3%; 9. Sodium — 0.2%; 10. Chlorine — 0.2% mass.