Going for Gold
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40 free Going for Gold trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Going for Gold was a fixture of British daytime television for the best part of a decade: a general knowledge contest in which players from all over Europe flew in to face one another, a week at a time. It had a famously catchy theme tune, a host with a line for every occasion and a last round built around buzzing in at exactly the right moment. This quiz covers the people in front of and behind the cameras, how each round worked, the prizes, the champions, and what became of the format after the first run ended, including the versions made in other countries and the 2008 comeback. It is written for anyone who watched over lunch in the late 1980s and 1990s, for game show fans who know the format from elsewhere, and for quiz setters after a nostalgic round.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which future Oscar-winning film composer co-wrote the theme tune for the daytime quiz Going for Gold?
Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer wrote the theme with Sandy McClelland in 1987, a year before his score for Rain Man made his name in Hollywood.
Q 02Which Irish broadcaster hosted Going for Gold throughout the original run from 1987 to 1996?
Henry Kelly
Henry Kelly fronted all ten series, having started out as a newspaper journalist reporting from Belfast in the early 1970s.
Q 03Contestants from across Europe had to answer every Going for Gold question in which language?
English
English was the only language used, yet players from the Continent still won six of the nine series that were open to all of Europe.
Q 04Which Australian soap's lunchtime showing usually came just before Going for Gold?
Neighbours
Neighbours had reached British screens only a year earlier, in October 1986, as part of a revamped daytime schedule.
Q 05Which British network showed Going for Gold at lunchtime for almost nine years from October 1987?
BBC1
BBC1 gave the quiz a regular 1.50pm slot, and during the early series repeated each edition the following morning.
Q 06The Going for Gold series champion once won tickets to which sporting event as the star prize?
The Olympic Games
The Olympic Games tickets went to the series winner, while the runner-up in a grand final left with a consolation prize such as a colour television.
Q 07Which veteran ITN newsreader hosted the live revival of the quiz show Going for Gold in 2008?
John Suchet
John Suchet took over 12 years after the original ended, fronting a version open only to players from the UK and Ireland.
Q 08How did the United Kingdom compete on Going for Gold alongside countries such as Norway and Denmark?
As four nations
As four nations: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each sent their own players, and so did Jersey and the Isle of Man.
Q 09In which Going for Gold round did a single wrong answer send a contestant's score back to zero?
Four in a Row
Four in a Row gave each player 40 seconds on a category of their choice, and a perfect run of correct answers stopped the clock early.
Q 10The host of the 2008 Going for Gold revival is the elder brother of an actor famous as which detective?
Hercule Poirot
Hercule Poirot was played from 1989 to 2013 by the host's younger brother David, who earned a BAFTA nomination for the role.
Q 11Which choice did the trailing finalist make before each question in the last round of Going for Gold?
Play or pass
Play or pass decided who held the big four-point zone, so the player who was behind could back a subject or hand it to the rival.
Q 12What did the series champion of the original Going for Gold usually win as the star prize?
A faraway holiday
A faraway holiday was the usual reward, with Australia, New Zealand and the USA among the destinations shown off in a promo film every episode.
Q 13The two hosts of Going for Gold both also presented shows on which radio station, launched in 1992?
Classic FM
Q 21Which long-running French quiz show is a direct adaptation of the British format Going for Gold?
Questions pour un champion
Questions pour un champion launched in November 1988 and far outlasted the British original, reaching its 10,000th edition in 2022.
Q 22Which presenter fronted France's version of Going for Gold for over 27 years, until 2016?
Julien Lepers
Julien Lepers hosted from November 1988 to February 2016, and is also a songwriter who composed hits for the singer Herbert Léonard.
Q 23Which British quiz launched in 2000 repackaged the later rounds of Going for Gold under a new title?
One to Win
Classic FM had the original host among its launch presenters, and the revival's host later took over its weekday morning show.
Q 14The original Going for Gold host first became a household name on which ITV entertainment show?
Game for a Laugh
Game for a Laugh made him famous from 1981, and he stayed for two years before leaving for breakfast television.
Q 15The co-composer of the Going for Gold theme won a first Academy Award for scoring which animated film?
The Lion King
The Lion King earned him the Oscar for Best Original Score, and a second followed for Dune almost three decades later.
Q 16Which quiz champion, later a regular on Eggheads, won the first series of Going for Gold?
Daphne Fowler
Daphne Fowler won under her then surname Hudson, and went on to take Brain of Britain and two Fifteen to One titles.
Q 17The long questions in Going for Gold's opening and closing rounds usually took which form?
A first-person description
A first-person description of a mystery person, animal, place or object ran for 20 to 30 seconds, adding detail until somebody buzzed in.
Q 18Which British broadcaster brought Going for Gold back to daytime television in October 2008?
Channel 5
Channel 5 screened the revival live each weekday until March 2009, paying the day's winner £1,000.
Q 19Which Australian television mogul's company sold the Going for Gold format to Britain?
Reg Grundy
Reg Grundy built his company on game shows, having devised and hosted a quiz on Sydney radio in 1957, three decades before this deal.
Q 20Going for Gold began life as which unsold American game show pilot, recorded in 1987?
Run for the Money
Run for the Money was recorded for ABC at its Television Center in Los Angeles with Bill Rafferty hosting, and when no network bought it the format went to Europe.
One to Win kept the buzzer, category and head-to-head rounds but raised the final target to 21 points, with £200 for each day's winner.
Q 24Which pan-European satellite service also carried Going for Gold to viewers on the Continent?
Super Channel
Super Channel shared the broadcasts, a natural fit for a quiz whose players flew in from countries such as Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Q 25Which sporting term describes Going for Gold's format, where beaten players returned the next day?
Repechage
Repechage meant seven players began on Monday and the losers kept coming back, so one unlucky contestant could appear all week.
Q 26For several series, Going for Gold was recorded before tiny audiences at which Hertfordshire studio base?
Elstree
Elstree was home to the quiz for several series after a start at Television Centre, and the studio audience there is said to have numbered just six at times.
Q 27On Going for Gold, which 1980s studio feature revealed the contestants and later took them away?
A revolving set
A revolving set swung the players in and out, and in most series they sat in two tiers, much like the panel on Blankety Blank.
Q 28Going for Gold's original host spent the early 1970s in Belfast as Northern Editor of which newspaper?
The Irish Times
The Irish Times sent him north in 1970 as the Troubles began, and two years later he published the book How Stormont Fell.
Q 29The co-composer of the Going for Gold theme tune was born in which European country?
Germany
Germany, in the city of Frankfurt: he wrote the theme during his years working in the United Kingdom, before turning to Hollywood scores.
Q 30In 2000, the original Going for Gold host played a quiz show host in the last episodes of which sitcom?
Dinnerladies
Dinnerladies cast him as the host of a television quiz in its final two episodes, in which canteen worker Bren gets the chance to play for a cash prize.