Round one: Literature

The problem with quizzes is that the same questions keep coming up, like “What’s the name of the only member of ZZ Top without a beard?”*. So the more quizzes you do, the more predictable they get. Luckily, here comes quizzer, comedian and Rose d’Or winner Paul Sinha with his series, Paul Sinha’s Perfect Pub Quiz. In each episode he invites the audience to tell him their favourite quiz questions, before offering up not just different and surprising questions, but also the fascinating stories behind the answers.

This week's show is full of questions for the Literature Round of the quiz. Paul asks about the first work of sci-fi to depict a flight to the moon, an author's curiously-labelled filing cabinet and the best-selling British writer still alive at the time of recording. The audience, meanwhile, contribute questions about unusual verbs, literary hotels, and the works of Eric Morecambe.

It’s facts, jokes, stories and puns – just the way you like them.

Written and performed by Paul Sinha
Additional material: Oliver Levy
Additional questions: The Audience

Original music: Tim Sutton

Sound engineer: Jerry Peal

Producer: Ed Morrish

A Lead Mojo production for BBC Radio 4

*Frank Beard, as you well know.