General Knowledge Club of Royal College Colombo, Sri Lanka

The General Knowledge Club of Royal College Colombo, Sri Lanka was inaugurated in 1976 as the General Knowledge Society, but, a more systemized General Knowledge Club was formed in 1980, with Mrs Padmini Rajapakse as Teacher-in-Charge. Mr. N. I. Wijesekara was the first Student Chairman. In 1990, the post of Teacher-in-Charge was handed over to Mrs. O. C. Samarasinghe who retired in 2005, and Mrs. K. L. M. Kalupahana was her Assistant. Currently the latter is the Senior Teacher-in-Charge and she is supported by Mrs. Disna Ranjani.

The annual of the Club is the Blue & Gold Quiz which is widely recognized by Academic Institutions all over the country as a highly advanced and competitive one. First held in 1987, it has a regular attendance of around 35 schools. In 1999, it was attended by 47 schools, a record team participation for a quiz in Sri Lanka.

The Quiz Team is the heart of the Club. Since the 1980's, it has continued its winning spirit to this day and is recognized as the best Quiz Team in Sri Lanka.

"They had done so much for the school as they had won almost every competition" praised former Principal of Royal College Mr. H. L. B. Gomes in his address at the Blue & Gold Quiz 2003.

Further, the 1995/96 Club report says,

"It is a matter of justifiable pride for me to report that our Quiz Team has won all the Inter-School Quizzes it has participated in since 1991 and even in competitions with adult teams has been at the forefront in the sphere of General Knowledge Quizzes.

The secret of the glorious achievements of the Quiz Team is nothing but the commitment and accurate understanding. The Quiz Team was the home for many professionals such as doctors, lawyers and bankers and help them to develop their logical thinking or identifying the right task

Open Competitions won by the Quiz Team

- Sri Lanka Masterminds, organized by the Lion's Club of Moratuwa-Ratmalana

Royal emerged overall winners on four occasions in 1994, 1995, 1997, and in 2000. Royal holds the record
for the highest score in the competition with 47 marks (out of 50) in 1997.

- Wisdom 2006 conducted by The Management Club of Galle Face Hotel.

The Quiz Team's Participation in Television Quiz Competitions

- Hatton National Penamuthu - 2000 - Champions - Walls Discovery Quiz - 2001 - Runners Up - Hatton National Penamuthu 2001 - Runners Up - Rupavahini Nestomalt Buddhi Prabodhaya - 2004 - Semi-finalist

International Representations - SAARC Quiz (this list is incomplete)

- 1996 - Dinesh Weeratunge (Radio Quiz) - 1997 - Sajinda Jayasena, Lasith Gunawardane (Television Quiz) - 1998 - Dulantha de Silva (Radio Quiz) - 2001 - Imran Furkan (Selected to represent Sri Lanka for the Radio Quiz) - 2001 - Maruka Ranasinghe (Selected to represent Sri Lanka for the Radio Quiz) - 2002 - Mayuka Ranasinghe - (Television Quiz, Bangladesh) - 2002 - Nuwan Senaratne (Television Quiz, Nepal) - 2003 - Asela Olupeliyawa, Tharanga Mahakumarage (Television Quiz, Karachi, Pakistan) - 2005 - Indika Perera (Television Quiz, Sri Lanka)

Some Outstanding Performances in the Inter School Quiz Arena

- Sri Lanka Masterminds - have won 11 out of 12 competitions

- Vishaka Vidyalaya Quiz - unbeaten Champions for 10 years

- Min Probe - unbeaten Champions for 6 years

- St. Thomas' College Quiz - have won 9 out 11 competitions

St. Peter's College Quiz - have won 6 out of 8 competitions

- Chinese National Day Commemorative Quiz - unbeaten Champions for 2 years