Wiz Quiz Column

15 questions that cover the world...

Wiz Quiz is a weekly quiz column I started writing in Sri Lanka’s broadsheet Daily News from January 2011. It appears every Tuesday in a section focused on younger readers, and offers a set of 15 questions drawn from the wide world of knowledge.

Every week, we present a new set of 15 questions, and publish the answers to the previous week’s questions. The newspaper gives away prizes for those who get all the answers right.

I’ve been involved in quizzing most of my life — now for over 30 years. I was an avid ‘quiz kid’ during my school time, and later became a quiz compiler and quizmaster on the national media. I’ve been hosting long-running quizzes on radio and television in both in English and Sinhala.

I am partnering on this with my friend and long-standing quiz enthusiast (and film buff) Vindana Ariyawansa. Vindana too started quizzing as a school boy aged 13, and was later a member of University of Kentucky quiz team for three years. In 2008, he published a Quiz Book in English containing 1,000 questions and answers on general knowledge.

Here, in a single place, are all the weblinks to the weekly Quiz Quiz column as it appears in Daily News. This page will be updated on a regular basis.

Wiz Quiz 1, published on 18 January 2011: Potpourri of 2011

Wiz Quiz 2, published on 25 January 2011: A Handful of Oscars

Wiz Quiz 3, published on 1 February 2011: Wetlands are not wastelands!

Wiz Quiz 4, published on 8 February 2011: Of oil prices and food crises

Wiz Quiz 5, published on 15 February 2011: Fury of a Young Lady (La Nina)

Wiz Quiz 6, published on 22 February 2011: Cricket World Cup is here (scroll down the page to find the quiz)

Wiz Quiz 7, published on 1 March 2011: Films, Canals and Famous Cities

Wiz Quiz 8, published on 8 March 2011: Women Holding Half the Sky

Wiz Quiz 9, published on 15 March 2011: Can Computers Outsmart Us?

Wiz Quiz 10, published on 22 March 2011: Japan’s Struggles with the Four Elements – reflections after Fukushima triple disaster

Wiz Quiz 11, published on 29 March 2011: Hazards of Harnessing Nuclear Power

Wiz Quiz 12, published on 5 April 2011: Celluloid Dreams, East and West – tribute to Sri Lanka’s leading film maker Lester James Peries

Wiz Quiz 13, published on 12 April 2011: Going Where Noone Has Gone Before… (Marks 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first spaceflight)

Wiz Quiz 14, published on 19 April 2011: Celebrating Earth Day

Wiz Quiz 15, published on 26 April 2011: Cartoons, No Laughing Matter

Wiz Quiz 16, published on 3 May 2011: Celebrating the Media (to mark World Press Freedom Day)

Wiz Quiz 17, published on 10 May 2011: Of Royal Weddings and Desert Flowers

Wiz Quiz, No new quiz published on 17 May 2011: Answers to (previous week’s) Wiz Quiz 17

Wiz Quiz 18, published on 24 May 2011: National Anthems in South Asia

Wiz Quiz 19, published on 31 May 2011: Marking World Environment Day

Wiz Quiz 20, published on 7 June 2011: Any time is Tea time!

Wiz Quiz 21, published on 14 June 2011: Lankan Artist George Keyt Remembered

Wiz Quiz 22, published on 21 June 2011: Islands Around the World

Wiz Quiz 23, published on 28 June 2011: Celebrating Problem Solvers (about the Right Livelihood Award)

Wiz Quiz 24, published on 5 July 2011: Asian Actresses with a Cause

Wiz Quiz 25, published on 12 July 2011: The Expanding World of Google

Wiz Quiz 26, published on 19 July 2011: Indian Novelists: The Empire Writes Back!

Wiz Quiz 27, published on 26 July 2011: Goodbye, Space Shuttle!

Wiz Quiz 28, published on 2 August 2011: Have a Rice Day! (about rice in our lives and culture)

Wiz Quiz 29, published on 9 August 2011: Celebrating Nelson Mandela

Wiz Quiz 30, published on 16 August 2011: Pluto’s New Identity

Wiz Quiz 31, published on 23 August 2011: Maldives on the Frontline (small island states impacted by climate change)

Wiz Quiz 32, published on 30 August 2011: Race to the bottom of the Sea (about deep ocean exploration)

Wiz Quiz 33, published on 6 Sep 2011: Real and celluloid Bridge on the River Kwai

Wiz Quiz 34, published on 13 Sep 2011: Lankans in the Night Sky

Wiz Quiz 35, published on 20 Sep 2011: Satyajit Ray as a Writer

Wiz Quiz 36, published on 27 Sep 2011: United Nations General Assembly

Wiz Quiz 37, published on 4 Oct 2011: Greenpeace Turns Forty

Wiz Quiz 38, published on 11 Oct 2011: Celebrating peace makers with Nobel Prizes

Wiz Quiz 39, published on 18 Oct 2011: Goodbye, Steve Jobs!

Wiz Quiz 40, published on 25 Oct 2011: Commonwealth for a Common Future

Wiz Quiz 41, published on 1 Nov 2011: Pugwash for a Safer World

Wiz Quiz 42, published on 8 Nov 2011: The Indian Ocean

Wiz Quiz 43, published on 15 Nov 2011: Children’s Authors: Reaching the Child in Us All

Wiz Quiz 44, published on 22 Nov 2011: Mobile Phone: Tech Marvel in Everyone’s Pocket

Wiz Quiz 45, published on 29 Nov 2011: Films shot on location in Ceylon and Sri Lanka

Wiz Quiz 46, published on 6 Dec 2011: Public figures taking on HIV

Wiz Quiz 47, published on 13 Dec 2011: Dam safety is everybody’s business!

Wiz Quiz 48, published on 20 Dec 2011: The Global Adventures of Tintin

Wiz Quiz 49, published on 27 Dec 2011: South Pole, a century later

Wiz Quiz 50, published on 3 Jan 2012: Celebrating Ananda Coomaraswamy

Wiz Quiz 51, published on 10 Jan 2012: Looking back at 2011…

Wiz Quiz 52, published on 17 Jan 2012: Celebrating International Year of Cooperatives

Wiz Quiz 53, published on 24 Jan 2012: Do you really know where you are? (satellite navigation)

Wiz Quiz 54, published on 31 Jan 2012: Saluting versatile artist Mahagamasekera

Wiz Quiz 55, published on 7 Feb 2012: Ancient languages and alphabets

Wiz Quiz 56, published on 14 Feb 2012: A generation of TV broadcasting in Sri Lanka

Wiz Quiz 57, published on 21 Feb 2012: It’s Oscar Awards time once again!

Wiz Quiz 58, published on 28 Feb 2012: Charles Dickens at 200

Wiz Quiz 59, published on 6 March 2012: The power of social networks

Wiz Quiz 60, published on 13 March 2012: The world of billionaires

Wiz Quiz 61, published on 20 March 2012: Counting people: census time again!

Wiz Quiz 62, published on 27 March 2012: Saving electricity today for a better tomorrow!

Wiz Quiz 63, published on 3 April 2012: Remembering the ‘Battle of Ceylon’…

Wiz Quiz 64, published on 10 April 2012: Remembering the Titanic, a century later…

Wiz Quiz 65, published on 17 April 2012: Inspired by the Titanic disaster

Wiz Quiz 66, published on 24 April 2012: Remembering dramatist and writer Sugathapala de Silva

Wiz Quiz 67, published on 1 May 2012: Buddhist temple paintings in Sri Lanka

Wiz Quiz 68, published on 8 May 2012: Diamonds are forever

Wiz Quiz 69, published on 15 May 2012: It’s cartoon time!

Wiz Quiz 70, published on 22 May 2012: A glimpse of Dharmasena Pathiraja’s films

Wiz Quiz 71, published on 29 May 2012: Celebrating the Monsoon!

One Response to “Wiz Quiz Column”

  1. AOM Nafeel Says:

    I am sorry the quiestion is not connected to the topic. Is there remedy for prevent from a mosquito bite: any innovations tobe followed easily by the most of the poor people.

    One of my suggestions is : Sound & trap —- Try some nod in mouth organ and see the mosquitoes hit the m/organ.


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