Meet the Weekend quizmaster: ‘Four decades later, with 42,000 questions, it’s still here’

Noel Welch gives his personal account of 40 years compiling our Weekend quiz

Quizmaster Noel Welch has been compiling the weekly quiz in ‘Weekend’ for 40 years. Picture: Larry Cummins

Looking back at my schooldays in Deerpark Secondary School in Cork, now Coláiste Éamann Rís, two of my favourite subjects were Geography and History. Studying capital cities and researching important dates in history were the seeds that sparked my keen interest in quizzes and research.

Over the years, I realised that to truly broaden my general knowledge, my information base had to be expanded, and consuming media was the perfect recipe. A visit to the Cork City Library remains a great source for research and ideas for questions, as well as watching various news channels and quiz shows.