I've previously gone on record as a fan of the Simpsons. Tonight's Channel 4 show (actually one I'd commented on before) was particularly educational - offering re-tellings of Homer's Odyssey, Joan of Arc and Hamlet. One glaring inaccuracy though, that needs to be pointed out, is groundskeeper Willie showing up in the Hundred Years War, between the French and English, and declaring himself a great English hero!
Afterwards, as I flicked through the channels - wondering what to watch without Wimbledon - I caught the end of the quiz show Eggheads, where the decisive final question was 'where was political theorist Machiavelli from? Florence, Rome or Milan'. Reminds me of the time I saw 'What was Wittgenstein's first name?' for £125,000 on Who Wants to be a Millionnaire? - if more quiz questions were about philosophers and political theorists, I could probably do them, but as it is I'd use up all my life-lines not knowing soap actors!
That episode of The Simpsons is great! I especially like Mayor Quimby as Zeus...
ReplyDeleteI've always been frustrated by the lack of philosophy questions in pub quizes! A sport round every week but never a question about the liar paradox or the ontological proof of God?? Preposterous.