Withington Pub Quiz League

Albert and the Prodigals head to the top unbeaten after a couple of weeks

Bards beat History Men

Charabancs lost to KFD

Albert beat Opsimaths

Prodigals beat Ethel Rodin

Bards beat History Men

The History Men drop their women - and their points

Ivor goes all philosophical ...

Here we are, back for our 22nd season in the WQL. Einstein once defined madness as doing the same thing time and time again but expecting a different outcome. He undeniably knew a lot about time but perhaps he knew less about the strange ways of quizzers. We have finished second in the league on two occasions and thus think that with just one more heave we might make it to the top. Sadly our efforts are starting to resemble those of Sisyphus and his boulder (now there's a Greek mythic character who should be the patron of aspiring quizzers). To improve our chances we decided this week to follow the example of Agamemnon and 'do an Iphigenia' so we sacrificed not only Anne but also Vanessa. Sadly despite an all-male Historymen team the result was still a terrible trouncing by the Bards (btw fellow-quizzers should not worry unduly as our Iphigenias have also been rescued by Artemis and will be back). This week saw the elevation of Steve and Rupert from our (very small) subs bench.

A 19 point margin of defeat is quite something. If we were to grumble (and we never do that) we could lament that Young David lost the toss and we ended up playing second. Although we might grumble (and we never do) we copped it for the unanswered questions (3-7 against us). But in truth the Bards were just better in all departments: more twos (9-4), more steals (7-2) and altogether a sterling performance compared to the pathetic effort I observed from the QM seat last week.

There was of course nothing wrong with the questions at all. As Mike O’B mentioned last week it is the current stuff that catches us out (does anyone go to the cinema these days?). Even our knowledge of myths was challenged (though Young David saved us there). We were slow to spot the themes (even the current cricketers despite - as retirees - having the luxury of watching the tests live). And my personal contribution to our score would have not got off the ground without the 'gimme' for seat four: the question that was as easy as ABC. Kieran might complain about easy questions but when you have been battered more times than a fish in a Glasgow chippy in previous rounds it is balm to the soul (or sole?).

Up in smoke for the last time

(R4/Q2)

Charabancs lost to KFD

KFD get back to winning ways

Kieran celebrates a nicely ticking over KFD machine ...

The assiduous reader of these late night witterings will know that our man at one or the other end of the Panama Canal often appears as the Lowestoft Ben Duckett due to his habit of smiting his first question for a maximum and then going off on one à la Jos Buttler or indeed Ben Duckett. Also he hails from Lowestoft as well as a clutch of other so-so towns in the south east of England. Well tonight Baz kept Bazball on a pretty short leash, eschewing the fireworks, giving nothing away to the opposition but laying the groundwork for the middle order.

'Big' loss?

(R6/Q6)

Enter the Didsbury Joe Root. A statement performance from even younger Thomas, nudging and nurdling from the start with ones and a hefty input in KFD's trademark conferring huddle (which was working a treat), keeping our scoring ticking over at an impressive rate and lighting up proceedings with a perfectly placed two here and there. This is Thomas's third full season with the KFD first team squad and, along with being a reliable points scorer off his own bat, he covers a lot of gaps in knowledge for the rest of us: pretty much anything that's happened in the last thirty years. Speaking of KFD academy graduates it looks like young Liam© may be ready to return to the fray come the new year which is just as well since David is buggering off to New Zealand for a month or more and ... more of that later, maybe.

Just as the season has got going we now have the 'governing body mandated' two week break without even the sideshow of ill-tempered trench warfare in the courtroom to distract us as the (non existent) league subscription fees get trousered by m'learned friends. Unless, that is, Mike is about to indict one of our number for smuggling an extra packet of crisps into the losers' round or surreptitiously supplying an on-form team member with a 'hollow legs' - looking at you again Thomas. If things get to that stage then HH J Hammond will try to keep some sort of order, natch.

I might look friendly but my pen's awfully sharp

(R1/Q6)

So good they named her twice

(R1/Q7)

Albert beat Opsimaths

A thumping win lifts Albert to the top of the table

The Sun in October was just not shining for Howell ...

Something of a disaster for the Opsimaths with a poor showing from across the team. Just 5 two-pointers for us (while Albert got 11) - and 3 of them were in the final 2 rounds.

Mike O'B kept good order throughout and if the paddle of rebuke was in the building it was securely confined to its bag. We only managed to draw Round 7 and lost the remainder.

Our new recruit Tehmeena settled in well and seemed to enjoy the evening, but it was just a night when names too frequently were almost but not quite there.

'D' for Dreadful

(R6/Q5)

... to which Albert's Grumpster-in-chief adds ...

Before I proceed with the report I wish to take issue with the foul slur printed by the editor of this newsheet last week. He used the word 'happy' in relation to me. This is a blatant attempt to undermine the entire philosophical and ethical basis of The Albert quiz team. Backstabbing, conspiratorial, cowardly, divisive - yes. 'Happy' NEVER!

This was an entertaining quiz because despite some overlong questions it did contain a lot of entertaining information - on top of which the 'Connections' round was an innovative tweak.

The score indicates that the questions suited The Albert more than The Opsis and, certainly they did appear to get a good proportion of the more awkward topics. Once again our star was our new player, Ian. He has played an important part in our excellent start to the season (ED: which might make you just a little happy maybe?).

Big Ron - the ups and downs of football

(R5/Q3)

Prodigals beat Ethel Rodin

The Prods win this battle of the giants to go second

A Doctor writes in ...

Ethel were apprehensive ahead of this match: a combination of playing the Prodigals (on their day the best team in the league and usually victorious against us) and having a quiz set by The Electric Pigs (a team where, as proven by last week’s scores, the Venn diagram of common knowledge with Ethel's troops suggests a quiz that wouldn’t play to our strengths). And so it proved.

Annoyingly, the final deficit was pretty much established by the middle of Round 2, so, despite most of the rest of the quiz being fairly evenly matched, victory always seemed well out of reach.

What's more it was a bad toss to lose: all 3 unanswered questions came to Ethel, we were sitting in the wrong seats for the subjects that came up, and (of course) we knew far more of their answers than our own. The usual excuses I hear you say …. plus there was occasional uneven pairing. We could have got close on a good day, but it was a fair result in the end. The Prods are a good team and Richard’s mythology knowledge was particularly helpful on this occasion.

The 'baker’s cyst' question fell to the wrong player. Greg said "Bursitis", which I suppose wasn’t wrong anatomically (just as our answer about the narrow gauge railways: "Not linked to the main network", wasn’t right, but wasn’t wrong either).

Perfectly formed City Centre boozer between a Vine and a Waterhouse

(R4/Q6)

With a few medical questions, non-medical setters don’t always know whether an answer is mainstream or small-print (would anyone other than a doctor know?). Having said that the 'Sartorius' question was one of very few bonuses to come over to us. The Sartorius is known as ‘the Tailor’s muscle’ (hence the word 'sartorial' from tailors traditionally sitting cross-legged as they sew). This anatomical knowledge has been of zero clinical value to me professionally, whereas knowing about ‘the Honeymoon Muscle’ (a muscle that causes abduction and lateral rotation at the hip joint, a critical action for an altogether different activity) has been quite useful!

Quiz paper set by...

... Electric Pigs

Average Aggregate score 72.8

I was on the Opsi's voluminous bench this week (we have a rotating squad of 8 at the moment) so I took myself to the Albert Club where Stella promptly offered me QM duties for the Prods v Ethel encounter.

As MOBO says above, there were a few over-wordy questions, but plenty of innovative material to interest the brains. The evening started with a long ponder by both teams on how far various London-based football league teams were from St Paul's. Not many points gained on this opening Round 1 pair but loads of interesting conferring as the competitors drew imaginary mental maps.

A good evening's work from the Pigs and a very healthy average aggregate score well into the 70s.

'Mr Church'

(R8/Q2)

a... so what did Howell make of the paper...

I'm not sure that going first with this paper made a huge difference. The 10 questions that were unanswered split 4-6 in favour of the Opsis, but there seemed to be a few more straightforward opportunities going to Albert than us. The questions seemed pretty fair to me and I thought the connections round with 3 consecutive letters in each answer was nicely crafted.

I don't mind paired rounds but I prefer the paired questions to be further away from each other. For instance our team guessed wrongly that 'Liechtenstein' was the one of the answers for the first of the 'anthems without words' and so it was a bit irritating to see that 'Liechtenstein' was the answer to the paired question. In truth I never heard the Litshensteiners (or whatever they are called) singing on 11th October 2008 at the World Cup qualifier before Wales swept them away 2-0 but, with hindsight, perhaps the booing from an admittedly sparse Welsh crowd may have drowned out the turgid tune of their anthem, let alone their singing of it.

... and James' summary?

Relatively high aggregate score. Decent themes and ideas.

Reasons to be thankful

(R1/Q3)

... and Kieran was pretty happy ...

A thoroughly entertaining evening supplied by the Pigs who have delivered the best papers of the season for a few years now. I might quibble that something could not be described as unusual when thirty five other instances are cited in the question but that didn't put anyone off. Good to see that the porkers have acted on Guy's urging and embraced "this classical bollocks" in the form of the mythology round. All the Piggie standards were in the paper - nothing was more certain than that we'd start with a lower league football club and end (in the spares) in Coventry, stopping along the way to take in Councillor Simcock's niche interest in niche local transport.

Question of the Week

This week I've chosen the highly evocative Question 3 in Round 1 ...

Butterton, in the Staffordshire Moorlands part of the Peak District, is one of only fourteen doubly thankful villages. What does this mean?

For the answer to this and all the week's other questions click here.

...and also

If any of you are at a loose end this coming Saturday (October 19th - 7.30pm onwards) there's a Quiz/Auction evening at the Albert Club in aid of FOLLA (the Friends of Lapwing Lane Arcade).

It's now ten years since the local community restored this fine old shopping arcade opposite West Didsbury tram stop - and turned it back from a rotting hulk into the beautiful wrought iron structure that it was back in the 1910s.

Electric Pig, Andrew Simcock, is acting as auctioneer for the evening and I'll be setting the quiz questions. Tickets at £5 a head are on sale at the Lapwing Deli on the Arcade, but you should be able to buy one on the door on the evening as well.

Could I be 'FED' and return whence I came?

(R7/Q5)