As part of the GREAT British Season of events to celebrate the shared living bridge between the United Kingdom, Bengal and India, The British Deputy High Commission in Calcutta hosted the GREAT British Open Quiz in association with The Telegraph on February 11 at the Uttirno Auditorium, Alipore. The event witnessed enthusiastic participation by Calcuttans of all ages and from all walks of life. The preliminary round of the quiz was participated by nearly 50 two-member teams from which six finalists were selected. Conducted by celebrated quizmaster Siddhartha Basu, in his inimitable witty and energetic style, the final provided a dynamic, entertaining and intellectually stimulating experience for participants and audience alike. Divided into six rounds with questions based on India-UK connections and their shared heritage and culture, the quiz was intensely competitive and closely fought till the end by all six finalist teams. A unique and surprising feature of the quiz was a few questions for the audience at the end of each round, which were answered promptly and correctly by a very knowledgeable crowd. Glimpses.
Christina Scott and Debanjan Chakrabarti, director east and northeast India, British Council, enjoyed the quiz, which was high on entertainment. (right) Christina Scott
British deputy high commissioner to India Christina Scott conducted a special Royal Round. “I am really pleased to be here today. This quiz offers a great opportunity to spotlight the links between India and the UK and the relationship between the two countries which is getting stronger every year. Calcutta has the reputation of being the intellectual capital of India so I am sure we have some quiz experts taking part today. There is also a nice crowd here, good atmosphere and some fantastic prizes waiting to be won,” she said before stepping onto the stage.
The many moods of Siddhartha Basu as he hosted the quiz.
Titash Banerjea Kunal Mandal of team Not So Great Expectations (right), the runners-up, were awarded their trophy and prizes by world billiards champion Sourav Kothari and filmmaker Arindam Sil.
Special guests psychotherapist Minu Budhia (left) and filmmaker Arindam Sil (centre) went up on stage with British Deputy High Commissioner to India, Christina Scott, to give away the prizes.
At the close of the event, quizmaster Siddhartha Basu expressed his delight at the charged-up atmosphere, congratulated the teams for their brilliant performance and the audience for their support and enthusiasm. “This was for me a great return to the city of my birth to conduct a quiz. The last time I visited was before the Covid lockdown. It was good to see the British Deputy High Commission organise an open quiz on such a huge scale with such generous prizes. We saw wonderful competitors, great spirit and a very close contest in the end, decided on the last few questions. It was all very exciting and we had good winners too. In fact, all top three positions did extremely well. We also had some amazing people in the audience who came up with some really good answers. So it was a very interesting evening of quizzing, which is terrific for the city, once known to be the quizzing capital of the country. So Calcutta, keep quizzing and keep coming up with the right answers!” he signed off.
Winners. (right) The written preliminary round was participated in huge numbers by two-member teams of students, professionals and people from all walks of life.
Proud winners of the Great British Open Quiz Raktim Nag (left) and Aakash Roy pose with their trophies. Raktim said, “It was a great experience finally sitting for a live, offline quiz hosted by Siddhartha Basu, who has been an idol since childhood. Thank you to the British Deputy High Commission for organising this open quiz and giving us a chance to take part in this lovely event. I had great fun!” “It was a very different kind of an experience in this beautiful open-air auditorium. What made it extra special was being quizzed by a legend from the quizzing fraternity. I have almost grown up on Siddhartha Basu’s programmes. So it was a privilege and I am really happy to have won today from amongst so many quality teams,” commented Aakash.