The Spanish Armada

Several of this week's questions – particularly in the General Knowledge section – raise issues regarding the art of allowing leeway.

The times when we give leeway, obviously, are usually when the answer is a number that people may not know exactly but can have a stab at. Often the number is that of a year.

The art of allowing leeway is firstly in deciding whether leeway is necessary, and secondly in deciding how much to give.

Is leeway needed for the year of the Spanish Armada?

In 1066 And All That, there are only two dates: 55 BC and 1066. But if Messrs. Sellars and Yeatman had run to, say, half a dozen dates, then the year of the Spanish Armada (or the Great Admadillo, as they called it) might well have been one of them.

In other words, any serious UK–based quizzer might be expected to know the answer to this question without needing leeway. That's my opinion, anyway; clearly the question setter saw it differently.

So if leeway is necessary, how much should be allowed?

I would suggest that for something that happened very nearly 430 years ago, a year's leeway either way is unlikely to be of much use. If someone didn't know the exact year, the chances of their getting to within one year of it are, I would suggest, pretty slim.

On the other hand, they really should know that it happened in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. That narrows it down to somewhere between 1558 and 1603.

You can't really allow more leeway in one direction than in the other, so you might allow 1573 to 1603 (fifteen years either way). Or you might think they should be able to get the right century, and allow 1577 to 1599 (eleven years either way). Or, you might decide to make the amount of leeway a nice round number and allow 1578 to 1598 (ten years either way).

I would suggest that somwehere between ten and fifteen years is about right in this case (if you felt you needed to allow leeway at all).

On TV quizzes, they often ask in which decade something happened. I suspect that this may be to make it more understandable for the viewers, so less appropriate in a League. But it's certainly an option.

Another question with leeway in this week's MQL set was the one about Foinavon (General Knowledge, question 59). This happened only just over fifty years ago, and within the memory of many Quiz League contestants (I suspect). In this case, I would suggest that one year either way is plenty; and the question setter clearly agreed. What surprises me is that they thought the same amount of leeway was appropriate for this question and for the one about the Spanish Armada.

A third example is the question about the marathon distance (General Knowledge, question 49). Here 100 yards either way was allowed. This to me seems quite generous; I'd have thought lots of people would know this exactly, but if you feel you should allow leeway then I'd say 100 yards either way is probably about right.

Finally, we have the 'Sir' Bobby Charlton question (General Knowledge, question 41). For me, this is one that definitely should have had leeway; I certainly could only guess at it before I heard the answer. But as with the Spanish Armada question, it seems to me that one goal either way is not much use at all. If you're guessing, what are the chances of your getting to within one? I would have allowed ten goals either way.

On the other hand, this answer is very close to a nice round number, which is encompassed by the given leeway. It's also true that 249 is the sort of number that sticks in the mind, once you've heard it – not least because it's exactly 200 more goals than he scored for England. If you're a Manchester United fan, you probably have heard it before; if not, maybe not.

I'm guessing that the question was inspired by Wayne Rooney's passing Sir Bobby's total, when it would undoubtedly have been mentioned. But how many other than Manchester United fans would have taken any notice of the actual number?

I think I'll try this question on my football mates, who support an entirely different club (see question 71) and are at best indifferent to Manchester United – and see how they get on.