LONDON -- By and large, British commuters tend to be a fairly grumpy bunch -- but somewhere there's a train driver who's doing his best to change all that.
An employee of Southern Rail UK brightened passengers' morning commutes on Tuesday by giving them an actual quiz over the public address system.
There was a hashtag and everything -- #timetunneltrain -- and the quiz featured questions that revolved around dates, with the idea being that commuters post their answers on Twitter to kill time on their way to work.
Tuesday morning's quiz went down a storm.
On a train to London Bridge and the driver is hosting a quiz over the tannoy. So awesome. He even has a hashtag: #timetunneltrain— Dan Schreiber (@Schreiberland) January 26, 2016
Hats off to the driver of the 8:06 from Streatham today for his excellent #timetunneltrain in-train entertainment, get this man a raise!— Will Dixon (@WillDixonMusic) January 26, 2016
Was on the #timetunneltrain this morning, give that man a raise @SouthernRailUK! Not that I managed to get the year mind...— Tom Howes (@howesypunk) January 26, 2016
The happiest guard ever on the train to work this AM. Running a quiz complete with music round he sung himself... #timetunneltrain— special__ed (@special__ed) January 26, 2016
#timetunneltrain @SouthernRailUK please can you tell us this drivers shifts so we can always make sure we're on his train?— Olivia Cook (@oliviaaimee) January 26, 2016
Can we actually set up a fanpage for this driver?? #timetunneltrain @SouthernRailUK— Elizabeth P (@arc_en_ciel08) January 26, 2016
I only got this train as a one off, but am going to change my commute so I get this train every day #timetunneltrain— SMB (@Woobear) January 26, 2016
Love, love, LOVE finding myself on the #timetunneltrain thank you 'Quiz Master' for brightening my morning - always a treat! #SouthernRail — Lisa MacGregor (@LisaMacGregor_) January 26, 2016
Oh god. He's actually singing the music round. This is the best train tannoy quiz ever. #timetunneltrain— Helen Undy (@helen_undy) January 26, 2016
The thing is, though, this wasn't just a one off.
A bit of trawling through the #timetunneltrain hashtag shows that the quiz has been brightening commutes for awhile now.
#timetunneltrain yay. Good way to start what would otherwise be a crappy Monday journey.— Noel Thethy (@noelt) November 30, 2015
Our train is late so our train driver is setting us quiz questions and singing to us. Must admit it's cheered me right up #timetunneltrain— Shonagh Manson (@shonaghm) November 16, 2015
Well this is a first for a commute. @SouthernRailUK conductor singing Ice, Ice Baby over the intercom #timetunneltrain— Hannah Simmons (@h_simmons) November 3, 2015
Random quiz from the relentlessly chirpy driver (7.11am from Crystal Palace to Victoria)! #southerntrains #timetunneltrain— Charlotte (@vintagegaylady) October 7, 2015
At this stage we don't know exactly who the mystery driver is. We reached out to Southern Rail to see if they'll help us identify him, but they said they couldn't offer any information. However, a clue may lie in this image shared by Peter Hannaford last December.
#timetunneltrain Thanks to time tunnel Steve.... Driver on 0907 from EG today pic.twitter.com/dhC0ddPLqN— Peter Hannaford (@hannafop) December 15, 2015
We reached out to Peter Hannaford, who confirmed that Steve -- the driver pictured -- was indeed the man behind the quiz. Hannaford said he'd snapped a quick picture of the Steve as he was getting out of his cab at the end of the train journey.
Hannaford told Mashable the passengers loved Steve's quiz.
"He gave all sorts of funny stats about the train... age, make, capacity etc... did a music question (sang)... made a lot of reference to his hashtag too," Hannaford explained. ""[There was] lots of smiling going on which of course on commuter trains isn't the norm."
Wherever you are, Steve, we salute you.