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Question: Which program is in Guinness World Records
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as the world’s longest running TV quiz show?
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“It’s Academic” is a Saturday morning
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television program for high school students.
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The show has been broadcast in the
Washington area for 50 years.
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Teams from local schools face subjects like history,
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literature, mathematics, science and sports.
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Susan Altman is the producer of the show.
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“It’s a great age group to work with.
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They are fun, they are enthusiastic,
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they say funny things without even meaning to half the time.”
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Ms. Altman’s mother, Sophie,
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was a TV producer in the 1950’s.
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She started “It’s Academic” after local
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officials asked her to create a program
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that showed extraordinary students.
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“And at that time — this was in 1961 —
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the United States, of course,was going through a lot
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of upheaval with school integration,
and they wanted things to help out
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to make the schools look good and to show
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that integration could work and work well.”
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The show’s host, Mac McGarry,
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says the teams became more diverse over the years.
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“When we first started,
the young people from various countries
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were not in evidence so much. But now,
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each program presents young people from all over the world,
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at least descendants of people from all over the world.
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So this is a microcosm of the way America is, today.”
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Mac McGarry is 85 years old.
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He has hosted “It’s Academic” since the beginning.
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He has asked more than 200,000 questions.
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He has gotten more than a few funny answers.
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“We had a question one time: ‘Who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo?’
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and the young fellow answered Duke Ellington.
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Another time, we had a question of
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‘Who along with Frederick Engels wrote
Communist Manifesto?’ Groucho Marx!”
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The correct answers are the Duke of Wellington and Karl Marx.
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Kelly Reeder knows that.
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She led the team from Rockville
High School in Maryland last year.
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“Me and all the other people on the team,
we’ve put in a lot of effort over the years
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and a lot of time to be where we are.
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So, and I mean it’s a really huge honor to end up on the A team.”
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Her school has won the championship on
“It’s Academic” several times.
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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton competed on
the show when she was a teenager.
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So did astronaut Timothy Creamer.
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Maybe one of these students will also rise to fame.