In his student days, he had won several retrieval championships,
racing against the clock while digging out obscure items of
information on lists prepared by ingeniously sadistic judges. ("What
was the rainfall in the capital of the world's smallest national state
on the day when the second-largest number of home runs was scored in
college baseball?" was one that he recalled with particular
affection.)

- Arthur C. Clarke, _The Fountains of Paradise_ (1978)