Beadle

I ran a quiz last night for a large company for whom this was actually my 6th quiz. This clearly means they're going well, but creates its own problems. I have to make sure there are no repeated questions so have to go thoroughly through the previous quizzes and often use questions untried at corporate events. Also, I have to guard against familiarity with the format breeding complacency. Usually, with our quizzes, people are so impressed with the format and set-up itself that you've got them won over from the start.
However, these repeated quizzes have a really good atmosphere, loud and competitive. Usually, they're for 200ish people and over 20 teams, while last night it was only 10 teams/60 people so a bit less intense, but still a bit of a bear-pit.
They're also really long - I had to produce a good 2 and a half hour's material, which can sometimes open your eyes to good questions you don't use that often.
One of the participants came up to me half way through, told me Jeremy Beadle had died, and asked me if I could announce it because "Beadle meant a lot to a lot of the people here". I said no, i don't think it would be appropriate, it would bring the mood down, before realising he was joking - not about Beadle dying, which is sad, of course, but about the intensity of feeling about him in that room. People coming up to me and asking me to say certain things on the mic is quite common, and it took a while for me to negate my naturally amenable (cowardly) nature and say no to pretty much everything. The microphone is mine, all mine....