Press


Time Out London • 2019
Another kind mention in Time Out London magazine, in an article titled ‘Eight of the Best Pub Quizzes in London’ (thanks to Brixton Ritzy regular Rishi for the heads up!). Under the heading ‘The film buff one’:

Although you’ll be swapping popcorn for pints, it’s not just the questions that are film-related at the genre-defining You’re Going to Need a Bigger Boat [sic] cinema-centric pub quiz. The name is a line from ‘Jaws’, for one, and the quiz itself is projected, movie-style, on to an enormous screen for gawping punters. Plus, like most films nowadays, the whole thing is about two-and-a-half hours long. Running for more than 13 years, this quiz is as cult as they come, testing silver-screen aficionados on trailers, posters, clips and soundtracks. Get there early to grab the best seats. Needless to say, no phones allowed.


Time Out London • 2019
Considering the sheer variety of stuff to do in the capital, it was awfully nice of Time Out London to describe us as “London’s premiere movie quiz” and include us as one of their ‘50 Best Nights Out in London

If this night’s title has you immediately shouting “Ah! Like, from ‘Jaws’!” then you’re probably the kind of person who’ll dig London’s premiere movie quiz. Talking place monthly in Brixton, Piccadilly and Brentford, it’s been going for more than 15 years now – enough prowess to give even Barry Norman a run for his money.TimeOut2019_50


Evening Standard • 2019
The Evening Standard newspaper compiled a shortlist of London boozers where you can expect to find ‘London’s Best Pub Quizzes’, and because we don’t just have one venue, they kindly gave us our own special entry.

Prove your Tinseltown trivia credentials at this quiz dedicated to to all things film. It’s been going for well over a decade now and is hugely popular with London’s movie obsessives. It’ll test your knowledge on everything from iconic quotes to cult classics, with plenty of film clips to jog the collective memory. It moves around a bit — originally it was at the the Boogaloo in Highgate, then moved to boozers in Kentish Town and Hackney, and now can usually be found either in the O’Neill’s in the West End, Brixton’s Ritzy Picturehouse or the Lord Nelson in Brentford.
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Londonist • 2019
Another mention from the lovely folk at Londonist, who kindly called us “London’s best cinema-centric quiz” and put us at the top of their list of ‘London’s Best Quizzes’! Under the heading ‘One for the film buffs’, they had this to say about us:

You're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat. One of the most epic lines in cinema history, and the name of London's best cinema-centric quiz. This one shifts about a bit, between The Ritzy in Brixton and O'Neill's Flamingo Room in Soho, and has had residencies in pubs in Highgate and Brentford. On top of that the team make occasional trips to the world's movie mecca Hollywood — yes, these people really like films.The perfect chance for you and your assembled motley crew to show off your reels of knowledge. Clips from films are projected onto the big screen, and you'll have to answer questions about the actors, stories, soundtracks and everything in between. Prizes include cinema tickets, t-shirts, box-sets and most importantly, cinephile bragging rights.Remember to book ahead, as this one tends to sell out way in advance.



Culture Whisper • 2018
In Culture Whisper’s list of the “most interesting, challenging and lucrative pub quizzes in London”, we got a namecheck as “the cinematic one”…

You’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat is a touring pub quiz with three venues: Upstairs at the Ritzy, The Flamingo Room and The Lord Nelson. The special subject? Well, can you guess? That’s right, all things film (and not just Jaws, either, that would be too easy). Questions and scenes are projected on a big screen, and you’ll also need to recognise soundtracks. This quiz has run for 12 years and tickets still sell out fast. Pass the popcorn.



Culture Calling • 2018
Culture Calling put together this ‘London Film Fan Guide to March’ and were nice enough to include us in their highlights of “fantastic events for cinephiles” for the month, alongside such illustrious company as the Prince Charles Cinema and the BFI.

You may count yourself as a bit of a film buff with all these screenings at your fingertips, but just how good is your movie trivia knowledge? If you can quote-along with the best of them and can pick out a film score in five seconds then the You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat Film Quiz is right up your street. With monthly nights in both Brixton and Hackney, the quiz is less bog standard questions, more audio-visual extravaganza. Now all you need is a team of fellow film fans and an awesome team name.



Backstage • 2017
We recently got this lovely mention from casting website Backstage in their list of 6 Events Every London Actor Should Add to Their Calendars:
If you’re an actor, chances are you’re keen on the movies. So why not give those little grey cells a workout with London’s legendary film quiz, “You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat”? Held in different locations across the capital three times a month, all the questions are asked via films projected on big screens. It’s fun but tough, so top tip: if you don't know what film the quiz title refers to, you might want to do some cinematic homework before you go! Tickets are £6.backstage


SheerLuxe.com • 2016
The "online fashion and lifestyle magazine" very generously included us in their list of The Coolest Pub Quizzes in London. They had this to say about us:
Movie mavens will be in their element at this cinematic extravaganza. An evening wholly dedicated to film sensations spanning the decades, You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat is a test of film trivia and references, with all the questions projected onto a cinema screen. The quizzes are hosted in various locations across London, including the likes of The Ritzy Cinema and Hackney Picturehouse. Keep your eyes on the website for further dates.Screen Shot 2017-02-17 at 16.34.49


Thrillist.com • 2016
The London offshoot of American "leading men's digital lifestyle brand" website thrillist.com recently highlighted the best pub quizzes in London for each night of the week. And because we have multiple venues and different nights each month, they gave us our own special category! They requested this particular photo of our Brixton Ritzy winners 'Milk Was A Bad Choice', posing proudly with their awesome Jurassic World/Jaws print, done by illustrator and fellow Bigger Boat regular Dave O'Flanagan). So this one doesn’t fall on any particular day of the week, nor is it at one spot, but if you’re a cinephile, this will be heaven. Presented exclusively in an audio/visual format -- it is a cinema quiz, after all -- this long running, pop-up quiz night is loaded with obscure references, the details and plot twists of which will have you itching to IMBD the hell out of everything. Moving between the Ritzy, Hackney Attic, and The Lord Nelson, check out their page to see where they’ll be showing next.Screen Shot 2016-10-23 at 15.43.24


JOE.co.uk • 2016
JOE recently started a regular feature to discover "the funniest, most inventive and entertaining pub quizzes around the UK". They asked their readers to send in suggestions for their first stop - London. Huge thanks if you dropped our name for their list of Best Pub Quizzes in LondonYou're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat is a huge, projected pub quiz [all] about films. Running monthly and hosted in a number of locations… it's definitely one for film buffs



London Evening Standard • 2015
The Evening Standard included us in a recent article covering London’s Best Alternative Quizzes: If you know your franchises but also your poorly received sequels, dodgy cameos and bad blockbuster remakes, you’re in the right place. You know this is a serious film quiz because two of its venues are at cinemas and the format is an audio-visual spectacular.



Ideas Mag • 2015
Ideas Mag approached us asking for some tips on how to run the perfect quiz, so we agreed to give away a few of our trade secrets (rest assured the photo at the top of the article was not taken at one of our quiz nights!):

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Le Bonbon • 2015
French magazine Le Bonbon recently launched their English-language sister magazine and website Le Bonbon London. They very kindly included us in their list of Best Film Quizzes in LondonYou’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat (if you can’t figure out the name, better catch up on film classics!) is a very relaxed, interactive quiz running across 3 different London venues. The good news is the team size is unlimited so you can bring along all your nerdy cinephile friends to help you win!



Stylist Magazine • 2014
Another mention from Stylist Magazine, this time in an online article titled London’s Most Creative and Challenging Pub Quizzes. For the ‘Film Quiz’ category: The Bigger Boat Film Quiz is infamous around London and takes place in several locations (try The Ritzy Cinema or the Hackney Picturehouse if you're not a North Londoner), but The Assembly House is its official residency. If you don't get what the quiz's name is referring to, it might be worth giving this one a miss, as it's a glorious geeky test of film trivia and references, with questions asked via a film projection.Screen Shot 2015-05-15 at 12.04.32





London Live • 2014
TV channel London Live filmed a series of linking segments at our Hackney Picturehouse quiz night in April, chatting to a couple of quizzers before the quiz started. Thanks for the nice things you said about us!

Here’s a shot of Lee-Jay giving an interview about the quiz (not a bad performance for his first live TV appearance).

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Stylist Magazine • 2014
Stylist Magazine recently put out a special puzzles and quizzes-themed issue (hence all the titles are anagrams), and no prizes for guessing which of the UK's many pub quizzes they opted to feature in their Going Out section. They very nicely described us as an "immersive multimedia experience that is about as far from a pub quiz as you can get", which we're happy to take as a compliment! Know your Spielberg from your Scorsese? Get your A-team together to prove your film knowledge at this immersive multimedia experience that is about as far from a pub quiz as you can get. Sign up on the website to receive clues and get there in plenty of time - tables can't be reserved. stylist_mag





New Empress • 2014
New Empress Magazine sent Mark Searby to chat to us about the quiz (considering their previous interview subject was legendary critic and BBC Radio film guy Mark Kermode this was a scary act to follow). As you can tell from the background noise, it was another busy quiz night in The Assembly House, Kentish Town! Mark Searby chats to film quiz extraordinaire Simon Williams about his popular quiz night ‘You’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat’. Here we learn about a great many film quiz-related issues and discover exactly what neuroscience and microbiology have to do with the world of film (clue: not much). Anyone who needs the quiz title reference explaining must go to the back of the class. Screen Shot 2015-05-15 at 12.37.04





Film4 Frightfest • 2013
In our fourth outing with brilliant compere Andy Nyman, we tested the FrightFest audience once again with our Quiz From Hell IV: The Final Chapter. This time, Andy had several of his actor pals record themselves asking questions and it was great to see the crowd's reaction when the likes of Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Alan Tudyk and Scott Bakula popped up on the Empire cinema's vast Screen 1.

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Said Dread Central:With regular festival features such as Andy Nyman's "Quiz From Hell" still managing to remain immensely fun for genre fans alongside the now traditional "Turn Off Your Bloody Phone" idents and smatterings of short films, the atmosphere inside the Empire cinema remained as energetic and positive as ever despite the effects of sleep deprivation and the discomfort of spending almost five full days with your ass welded to a theatre seat."While lovehorror.co.uk said:A break from the endless horror next with the always fun and always insanely hard ‘Andy Nyman’s Quiz From Hell 4′.



Shortlist • 2013
Shortlist describe their newsletter Mr Hyde as "a daily email for men covering film, style, culture and places to eat meat". We like to think we come under all four categories. They had this to say about one of our recent quiz nights:A couple of weeks ago we entered our very first “You’re Going To Need A Bigger Boat” film quiz (yes, we did win, thanks for asking) and we can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s a multimedia quiz featuring video projections, rather than a lone guy with a clipboard.1308 BBFQ shortlist mention





Time Out London • 2012
Another Best London Pub Quizzes list and another showing for yours truly (we’re assuming we're only at the bottom ‘cause it's alphabetical!). Says Time Out London: You'll get an interactive experience at this famously difficult film quiz where the questions are asked using projections, sound clips and posters. It runs monthly at the Boogaloo, but now also makes appearances at the Ritzy in Brixton. There's no maximum team size, which is lucky, as you'll likely need all the movie-buff help you can get.



London Evening Standard • 2012
The London Evening Standard included us in their article titled Five Of The Best: London's Pub Quizzes in which they encouraged readers to:Go north for monthly film-based quiz night - 'You're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat' – where an exceptionally nerdy knowledge of all things cinema will see you bag the booty. Things are a little more interesting here as there are film clips, posters and soundtracks played instead of the usual question-asking set up.



Film4 FrightFest • 2012
Once again we teamed up with Andy Nyman to put the FrightFest audience through its paces with our Quiz From Hell 3: The New Blood. Sadly plans to present the quiz in 3D didn’t quite work out but we still managed to put together another fiendish test of horror knowledge, including a round of Andy recreating some classic London-set horror films, specially filmed for us by director Russ Gomm.



Here’s a selection of some of the write-ups of the event...

Film4 blog: Andy Nyman’s Quiz From Hell has become legend in the three short years it’s been a part of the festival. It’s notoriously tricky, silly and for the hardcore only – and it’s a perfect break from the grisly goings-on elsewhere. Gore Press: One of my favourite parts of last year’s Frightfest as I finally joined in with ANDY NYMAN’S QUIZ FROM HELL and certainly wasn’t disappointed. I was made to feel like a total moron, but I definitely was not disappointed! Running for the third year and destined to provide some of the hardest fucking questions you’ve ever been asked about horror, Quiz From Hell 3 is all part of the Short Film Showcase package and 100% worth the £12 entry fee. …Managing to answer 25% of the questions without your brain bleeding out of your nose will be impressive enough. Last year they had poster mash-ups, general knowledge and the most absurd ‘music round’ you’ve EVER HEARD OF. All hosted by the actor, genius and gentleman Andy Nyman. Brilliant fun. Movie Ramblings: The afternoon began with the legendarily difficult FrightFest Quiz From Hell, hosted by actor Andy Nyman (who has just been cast as ‘The Tumour’ in ‘Kick Ass 2’). I expected to be decimated – there are people in the FrightFest audience with truly scary amounts of trivia knowledge about movies that I’m beginning to suspect haven’t even been made yet! – but the concluding soundtrack round really separated the Counts from the ghouls and before I come back next year (please!) I’m going to have to do a whole lot of homework. Still, I gave myself an extra point for recognising the image to ‘The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane’ during the poster round. Just to make me feel better.



IGN UK • 2012
On the eve of this year’s Film4 FrightFest, entertainment behemoth IGN kindly included us in their 26 highlights of “the world's greatest horror festival” in an article titled The A–Z of FrightFest:Q is for Quiz: The irascible Andy Nyman – magician, writer, actor and raconteur – is once again master of ceremonies for the regular Sunday quiz. Run by those stalwarts from the Bigger Boat Film Quiz in Brixton and Highgate, this will be the usual funny, fast-paced mix of the gettable and the near impossible. As always it will separate the casual fans from the truly committed (unhinged)...



Weekend Notes • 2012
In their article entitled 8 Ways To Geek Out in London, Weekend Notes had this to say about us:Another themed pub quiz, only this time its movies. You're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat is easily the hardest movie-centric pub quiz in the capital and is not for the faint hearted. From soundtracks to Sci-Fi, Oscar winners to Oscar losers, Bigger Boat is quiz too far for some but the greatest challenge a night can bestow to others (I mean geeks; the greatest challenge to geeks).



Time Out London • 2011
In October 2011, the very cool New Empress Magazine picked their four favourite film quizzes for a piece in the Time Out London blog, and two of them were ours! You can read the entire article here.

You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat: Every first Wednesday of the month, the Boogaloo pub in Highgate is host to the You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat Film Quiz. Projected onto a big screen, this hugely popular night updates the good old British pub quiz for the 21st Century.


Andy Nyman’s Quiz From Hell: A Film4 Frightfest spin-off from the You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat team, presented by horror actor and ‘Dead Set’ star Andy Nyman. Positively ghoulish and devilishly hard – for true gore-hounds only!



Film4 FrightFest • 2011
In August 2011 we were back at FrightFest for the Quiz From Hell 2: Electric Boo!-Galoo (apologies, our pun).


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Here’s a selection of some of the write-ups of the event...

Total Film: Luckily, good times were right around the corner in the shape of Andy Nyman's Quiz From Hell 2."Like all sequels, this is going to be a bit shitter than the first one," reckoned our host. But he proved himself wrong with a cracking horror-knowledge test that included the poser, "How many different types of pussy are on offer at the Titty Twister bar in From Dusk Till Dawn?" You wouldn't get that on A Question Of Sport. (The answer's 17, if you were wondering). Horror Channel: Andy Nyman's Quiz From Hell 2 was a brain-aching challenge that tested the horror movie knowledge of even the most dedicated horror fan. This fun and very competitive occurrence is quickly becoming one of the must attend events at FrightFest, not only thanks to the rather quirky questions but also to the fabulous host. Andy is a really talented guy and on stage he has the crowd in his hands. He's a FrightFest regular and one of the nicest people you could ever wish to meet. SFX: “Look after the person sitting next to you,” shiny-bonced FrightFest deity Alan Jones decreed on the first night of the fest. He’s right: relationships are formed and sealed here. Case in point – the bloke that won Andy Nyman’s horror quiz this year promptly proceeded to the foyer where he proposed to his girlfriend (she accepted). 37 new horror films, 2 screens, 5 days, you’ve just won the quiz, it doesn’t get much better than this…Gore Press: Quiz from Hell by name…Andy Nyman – star of The Glass Man and all-round great guy – hosts the second annual Frightfest Quiz From Hell. This was my first foray into the hellish question-based fun, and boy was it DIFFICULT. There were two trivia rounds, which I did quite well on, one poster mash-up round which was genius (and I also did reasonably well on), a “what happens next” round which was surprisingly easy and… then… the “Motherfucking Soundtracks” round. Oh dear God no. Motherfucking Soundtracks features 20 clips of music from horror films (songs, scores etc…), with question 1 being 20 seconds music clip, question 2 being 19 seconds etc… all the way until question 20, which is ONE SECOND LONG.Needless to say I absolutely fucking sucked at this. Motherfucking Soundtracks indeed. Nyman was the perfect host and it was a great additional to the Sunday afternoon, and pulled in a surprisingly large audience for the short film showcase. Great pairing of events.Love Horror:On a lighter note it was then time for Andy Nyman’s Quiz From Hell which I attempted this year and ended up finding that my horror knowledge was not all it should be as the rock hard questions kept coming through five rounds covering all sorts of subjects from horror soundtracks to mash-up posters to how many types of pussy are on offer at the Titty Twister (its 17 and no I won’t list them all for you!).



Sky Movies • 2010
We were hired to develop and run a film quiz event in conjunction with Sky Movies HD that saw teams from some of the top movie magazines in the UK compete against one another in a quickfire fingers-on-buzzers gameshow-style panel show. In front of a live audience, and presented by the affable Mark Dolan, host of Sky's own 35mm film show, the four teams and their celebrity captains - Carl Weathers, Paul McGann, Marshall Bell and Alice Krige - went head-to-head to see who would come out on top.

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Mark Dolan Total Film TeamWinner • Empire SFX and Paul McGann



Here are some snippets from some of the write-ups of the event…

SFX Magazine (Full article is available here):The format was University Challenge-based, with starter questions and bonuses, and it was introduced by Mark Dolan, presenter of Sky’s 35mm show (if you don’t have Sky, he’s probably more familiar from Balls Of Steel), who introduced Russell as Jordan Farley, the ninny. (He clearly doesn’t read the mag, but we won’t hold that against him; we might hold against him the fact that he kept giving HeyUGuys clues, but they did have Weathers on their side and had minus pints for a while because of the penalties he incurred, so we’ll let that slide). In the first half SFX got off to a roaring lead thanks to Richard’s intimate knowledge of Wayne’s World, and Russell’s love of Hitchcock. We came a bit of a cropper on the music round (hell, would anybody recognise the theme from Born On The Fourth Of July except John Williams?) but were in a commanding lead by the break. But it was a game of two halves, and Empire fought back valiantly (the blighters), until at the final whistle it was 110 all. It was a tie-break situation… And we were just slightly slower on the button on a question about The Odd Couple. Bugger. So near, and yet so far. But we feel we failed with honour. And we did talk Penge with Doctor Who.Hey U Guys (Full article is available here):Sky Movies man Mark Dolan led the charge through the questions which took us on a merry jaunt through Hitchcock cameos, tall tales from the Wizard of Oz and obscure taglines. We got off to a great start and plunged instantly into minus figures when we felt the burn of being buzzer happy. Cementing our position as underdogs we watched the opposing teams stretch out long leads while we eventually emerged into positive figures before falling foul of the almost prescient abilities our our knowledgeable opponents, but we still got a question on Backdraft right – and that made us happy.Total Sci-Fi Online (Full article is available here):Given the collective movie buffery of the competing teams, what could have been a rather one-sided viewing experience for the audience actually turned out to be a very engaging 90 minutes. The questions varied markedly in difficulty, allowing the spectators to silently participate while occasionally giving the competitors pause. The mix of clips, stills and soundtracks livened up the atmosphere, as did the personalised buzzers allocated to teams.



Film4 Frightfest • 2010
Now in its twelfth year, Film4 FrightFest is billed as the UK's premiere fantasy and horror film festival. They have previously put together their own quizzes but this year decided to go for something a little more slick and brought us in to create for them a horror-themed audiovisual quiz, or, as the FrightFest organisers put it "a mind-bending test of horror knowledge"

We had the pleasure of teaming up with actor, writer, producer, magician and all-round gentleman Andy Nyman to develop and stage Andy Nyman's Quiz From Hell. Shown in all its gory glory on the massive Screen 1 in Leicester Square's iconic Empire Cinema, it was certainly the biggest ever quiz for the You're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat team!

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frightfest2012stage Images copyright Julie Edwards 2010: www.julieedwardsphotography.co.uk


Here are some snippets from some of the write-ups of the event...

Total Film:”Next up was Andy Nyman’s Quiz From Hell – it’s always good to see the expert FrightFest crowd pushed to the limits of their immense knowledge."Horror Channel:”a smart, funny and brain scratching segment that caused many discussions in the cinema foyer. Seriously did anyone get them all correct?"Dread Central:”Andy took some time away from the stage of Ghost Stories to pop over and treat us all to an excellent live-action horror quiz projected onto the Empire’s massive screen"Outpost Skaro:”Andy Nyman took to the stage next to host the Quiz From Hell, made by Simon Williams and Lee-Jay Bannister who are behind genius pub film quiz You're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat. This was well made and presented, with a good balance both for the casual viewer as well as the horror addict, and rounds like "What Happened Next?" incorporating clips added to the variety. My personal favourite section was the Soundtracks segment - 20 clips from 20 films, the first playing for 20 seconds, the next for 19, then 18... all the way down to the last for a single second!"



Londonist • 2010
The Londonist kindly gave us a special mention prior to our Fifth Birthday Quiz in which they called us "an all-singing, all-dancing, part-exploding, often stirring car chase of an event" which, as big Jerry Bruckheimer fans, we are happy to accept as the ultimate compliment!

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Pauline Frommer’s London • 2009
The new edition of Pauline Frommer's London has been recognised as the best guidebook of the year by the North American Travel Journalists Association. We got a nice namecheck in the 2007 edition so it's pretty cool that in the updated version we are mentioned as the highlight of London pub quizzes!
A flashy night is held at the rock-'n'-roll bar The Boogaloo; it slots monthly movie quiz nights (called "You're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat," the first Wednesday of the month) using clips, soundtrack snippets, and posters with the movie titles removed. If you can name the move that the night's name comes from, you're already ahead of the game. (It's Jaws.)
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British Airways High Life Magazine • 2009
You're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat went truly international with this nice little mention in BA's in-flight magazine High Life: "London's coolest bars have reinvented the great British pub quiz. If you though the good old British pub quiz was about warm ale and the Battle of Hastings, think again. Some of the capital's hippest drinking dens have their own quirky take on the theme ... movie buffs can show off at The Boogaloo.”

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Time Out London • 2009
Time Out London were gracious enough to include us in their list of the best film quizzes in London, in which they described us as "a very high-tech (and often tough) quiz".



Frommer's London • 2007
We were lucky enough to get a namecheck in renowned American guidebook Pauline Frommer's London (thus explaining the noticeable influx of American-speaking Bigger Boat fans in recent months!). In the chapter titled "How Londoners Amuse Themselves", the author attempts to explain the British obsession with quiz nights, and provides advice to American visitors hoping to join in:
Foreigners who win should expect to receive some good-natured ribbing from the regulars, which depending on your charms can easily be parlayed into some free pints... Should you need to recruit extra players on the spot for your team (which I recommend, since it will round out your knowledge base), you'll make some new English friends - after all, nothing bonds strangers together like useless trivia.



Londonist • 2007
Londonist have been big supporters of You're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat from the beginning and have written many very nice things about us. In this article, part of their regular "Londonist Loves..." series, they published this great write-up of a typical quiz night:Last night Londonist put together another team for You’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat in Highgate. By 11pm we had confirmed two things. 1. We are not as smart as we thought we were, and 2. This is the best pub quiz we’ve ever been to. This was our second outing and while again we managed to finish respectably enough in the top ten, this is without a doubt the toughest quiz we’ve ever been to. It’s also a lot of fun. The setting is great. The Boogaloo on Archway Road is a very special venue – check out their mission statement: 'To encourage and promote, to entertain and educate our audience in real music, to return to it’s golden era, a time when boogaloo was hip, Elvis was King, Jack Kennedy was a poster boy and vinyl was all the rage. To develop and promote this through the ideal surroundings of a ‘Juke Joint’…' Nice. The whole thing is run very professionally by Simon and Lee-Jay, but they have a special circle of hell reserved after coming up with questions like: 'What was Dalton’s third rule in the 1989 Patrick Swayze movie Road House? Clue: Rule 1 – never underestimate your opponent. Expect the unexpected. Rule 2 – take it outside. Never start anything inside the bar unless it’s absolutely necessary.' That one cropped up the last time we were there and we’re still in awe of people who have that kind of thing filed away along with trivia about Dolph Lundgren. The same punters also seem to have no problem recognising the theme from Rain Man remixed as a techno track and can spot and name King Acrisius from Clash of the Titans without breaking a sweat. The quiz itself is broken up into several rounds covering trivia (which actor was the highest ranking officer in WW2?), soundtracks (Pearl Harbor and a trance remix of Planet of the Apes for Christ’s sake!), trailers, a guest star round (Dustin Hoffman last night) and a photo section that will give you a headache. Damn good fun though. The whole thing runs from around 8.30pm until 10.30pm depending on how many times they have to replay the cut up trailers or soundbites for idiots like us. The half way mark features a run down of the scores so far and perhaps the best bit is finding out the answers (Little Orphan Annie’s second name anyone?) and shaking your head miserably into your beer as you realise the team next to you really do take Sean Bean’s career very seriously indeed. Prizes range from big *ck-off top of the line toys (Robocop / Kill Bill) to DVDs and plonk!



Evening Standard • 2006
In their round-up of London's greatest pub quizzes, the Evening Standard kindly included us as the "Best [Pub Quiz] For Movie Buffs" (they even got our name right) and described us as "a glitzy two-hour film quiz recorded on DVD and projected on a big screen."

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Islington Gazette • 2006
The Islington Gazette interviewed us for an article on the London pub quiz scene, and asked us to provide a collection of some of our favourite questions (it's just a shame they couldn't get the name right!).

Here's a brief excerpt from the full-page article:
Competing for the title of best pub quiz is The Boogaloo's "We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat" [sic] film quiz. The monthly event has been put together by movie buffs Simon Williams, 27, and Lee-Jay Bannister, 28, since May last year and is a runaway success. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost reportedly used the Boogaloo as their inspiration for the Winchester in Shaun Of The Dead and Jude Law has appeared on screen as a quiz master. The quiz name comes from the unforgettable moment in Steven Spielberg's shark attack thriller Jaws when Roy Scheider first comes face to face with the mechanical monster. Simon said: "A lot of the people who come to take part aren't movie buffs and so we make sure the questions aren't too obscure. And we try to mix it up a bit and add some chick flick questions which your typical movie buff may not be that good at." Gerry O'Boyle is the proud owner of The Boogaloo and responsible for its rich quiz history. "We have always had a quiz here because I think it's something there is a demand for. We have a great reputation and I think it's important that we uphold it... We are always packed on quiz nights."

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