King William's College

King William's College is an independent school for ages 3 to 18, situated near Castletown on the Isle of Man, which has recently widened entry from boys-only to co-educational. It was founded in 1833 from the Bishop Barrow Trust as an Anglican foundation, with 46 boys. King William's College attracts a high number of international students, as it teaches them for the International Baccalaureat.

General Knowledge Paper

Since 1904, the College has set an annual general knowledge test, known as the General Knowledge Paper. The pupils sit the test twice; once unseen on the day before the Christmas holidays, and again when they return to school in the New Year, after having spent the holiday researching the answers. However, the test is now voluntary. It is well-known to be highly difficult, a common score being just two correct answers from the list of several hundred. The best scores are 40-50 for the unseen test and about 270 of 360 for the second sitting. Traditionally, the best scorers were given a free half pint of bitter, while anyone doing particulary badly was given a detention.

The quiz is always introduced with the following Latin motto: "Scire ubi aliquid invenire possis, ea demum maxima pars eruditionis est", which translates as: "To know where to find anything is, after all, the greatest part of education."

The quiz is popular with non-pupils, and has been published in The Guardian since 1951.

The current quizmaster is Dr Pat Cullen, a retired GP, who has been setting the quiz since 1997. He reports that he now checks questions by typing them into Google and changing them if necessary to make sure the answers cannot be found immediately.

Former students

Former students include:

• Dean Farrar
• Sir W. H. Bragg
• Joseph George Cumming
• the Rev. James Maurice Wilson

External links

• The College's website
• I like to irritate Interview in the Guardian with the current quizmaster.
• This Year's Quiz in The Guardian