Withington Pub Quiz League

Cracking win for Ethel who go top; Charas still undefeated after tying at the Club; first wins for CKC and the Prods

Electric Pigs lost to Ethel Rodin

Bards lost to Prodigals

Opsimaths tied with Charabancs

Albert lost to CKC

Latest WithQuiz League Table

Electric Pigs lost to Ethel Rodin

Ethel put down a marker with a big win putting them top of the table

Gary reports an odd happening

A strange event at the Fletcher Moss as evidenced by the following photo ...

Just as the Pigs were asked the one about a Scottish Club Captain who lifted one of last season's European trophies (and had a double-letter in his name) who should appear on the screen above the Pigs but the self-same character.

And Gary goes on to report ...

"And this TV coincidence was not the reason we(I) came up with the right answer. I (as the photo evidence clearly shows) had no sight of the unintended clue and had to overcome the wrong stab at the answer (Scott McTominay) from those who did have sight of the screen!"

But for a bullet or two 20th century history could have been oh so different

(R2/Q4)

Bards lost to Prodigals

A close-ish game at the Parrswood with our 2025/26 champions off the mark

Scouser in Rome

(R4/Q6)

Opsimaths tied with Charabancs

The Opsis are up and running - just

Just like 'our Andy' Mike learns to 'Hope Again'

Good to be back with old friends at the Club. It was Opsis 'Classic' (Hilary, Brian, Howell and myself) pitted against the high-flying Charas (Damian, Bill, Bernard and John). Well, I say high-flying since one week into the season they were on maximum points at the top of the table. After this week's round of matches they were a mere second in the table following a nasty scare from the elder of the Albert Club's home teams.

The evening started somewhat late since the Chara from Bradford had forgotten to call into the FM and collect the envelope. Thereafter things went swimmingly for the visiting team as they eased into a 5-point lead by the halfway mark. They retained this advantage right up to the final round. Kerplunk! A late Opsi resurgence in Round 8 with Hilary slotting home 'Catmint' and a collective Opsimath effort sorting out Robert Helpmann's alter ego only left a Chara fluff on Joseph Banks' lifespan to allow the home team to equalise at the last.

Stop press! The Opsimaths are off the bottom luxuriating with a single league point in 7th place.

We were indebted to Ivor and David who QMed for us as well as fielding any question-paper flak with equanimity.

Onwards and upwards!

Panama Twat

(R1/Q3)

Relationship with Oppenheimer

(R3/Q4)

Albert lost to CKC

CKC soaraway in their best start to a season for a while

Kieran's happy and Thomas is a star - a Dillon double

Well here we are again and that was some start to the season.

Playing the Albert is always a tough proposition; they're a genuinely elite team so we can feel very pleased to have come away with a ten-point win.

'Nico Paz worldie of the night' moment was a conferred consensus that Salem could possibly be the name of a fictional cat. It went in top bins and that was pretty much the story of the night. One of those nights when the famed CKC huddle was working at its peak and everyone sparkled at times.

Starman was Thomas who matched Albert Ashton blow for blow with 6 twos. Thomas is a seasoned member of the CKC team now after five seasons in the line up; he's Phil Foden, he's one of our own. Tonight was his best performance to date, not just the six maximums but assists all over the place and what is known as a s**t-eating eating grin when the round about Irish SPOTY winners was announced. He's not Irish (I'm one generation more Irish than he is) but Irish is his thing and he excelled tonight.

A plant for climbing

(R7/Q3)

The first three rounds were very even with CKC holding a one point lead going into Round 4. Then the 'One Aswer Required' round went our way by 7 to 1 and afterwards we never looked back. Rounds 5, 6 and 7 were drawn and we gilded the lily a little in Round 8.

MOBO helmed the night to its conclusion well before 10.00pm, always the sign of a QM who knows his business.

So we've started with a banging win, rather different from this time last season. Now there's a break and I hope Ethel James enjoys his family holiday. Then back to the Griffin, the Pigs and El Presidente in his rightful place. Just now all is right with the world.

Truss's truss

(R1/Q8)

Mike welcomes Thomas' generous filial forgiveness

Certainly a game of two halves. The first half very competitive: the lead changing hands and just one point in it at half time. However, after the break Albert fell away and were well beaten by the end. Another feature of this quiz was that in the first half there were relatively few twos and most points were the product of conferring; whilst In the second half both teams scored more twos - but CKC had most of them.

The Albert has a new team member, Stephen, whose speciality is the Ancient World. I was gratified to see that Thomas had forgiven his father for the cruel treatment dished out to him last week. Kieran mumbled some mealy-mouthed excuse about Thomas not being registered for European tickets. Certainly forgiveness as demonstrated by Thomas has never been a feature of the Albert ethos where all decisions are governed by resentment and a desire for vengeance.

Pithy sayer

(R3/Q1)

This week's Quiz paper set by...

... The History Men

Average Aggregate score 71.3

Worthy enough average aggregate hiding a massive discrepancy with 3 matches scoring in the 60s and the fourth (Albert v CKC) racking up close on 90 points.

At the Club we were generally content though one competitor did use the 'curate's egg' metaphor. The harshest outcry was for the 'Spion Kop' answer when it was the word 'Battle' that honoured the double-letter rule. Neither team saw that one and consequently there was a general miff in the air. I was a little unhappy that the word 'children' was in the 'Robert Helpmann' question at the end since I decided on balance to confer when I could well have secured an Opsi victory if I had ignored the usual convention about not including a word in the question that cropped up in the answer (well, 'children' and 'child' are almost the same). Perhaps this is me being a bit picky as well as overly cautious.

The paper did include a fair bit of 'Ivorness' with seedy royal family offspring and Irish sports personalities - oh, and I gather Guy is the cycling nut. Finishing on a positive ... full marks for Round 1 with its 'egg-cellent' theme. Only kedgeree missing!

South Manchester Palladian Hall

(R3/Q8)

... so what were Kieran's views ...

Having seen the other scores our aggregate of 86 is an outlier and clearly we thought it an excellent paper from the History Men with plenty of points on offer once you'd given it a little thought. Ivor's predilection for inconsequential royals was there of course and also his hang up about GAA (Ed: No, me neither) but that's what we've come to expect from the Pied Piper. The quiz overall made for a fine evening and a thoroughly enjoyable contest at least from our side of the room.

It's not a gripe but whichever History person thinks Keane to be an "alternative" band needs to recalibrate their musical antennae. They're about as alternative as rice pudding - alternative to interesting maybe.

... and MOBO's ...

The paper was traditional but sound enough as reflected in the combined score. The only contentious questions were the Spion Kop question in the double letter round (it seems unreasonable to have the double letter contained in the word 'battle' rather than in the name of the battle itself) and a feeling that Pete Doherty's various bands were rated too highly.

"It is Now!" Official

(R7/Q2)

Question of the Week

At the Club when Ivor came to read out Round 7 Question 2 about the misnamed Azerbaijani he offered to eat his hat if this question wasn't voted Question of the Week. Well, Ivor eat that hat - earflaps and all. It was a good question but rather spoilt in my view by using the word 'nickname'. The answer given was just a misleading description attached by the press at the time.

So instead my choice is the reverse of Ivor's recommendation - it's Round 2 Question 7 in the double-letter round ...

Whose statue stands at the entrance to Broadcasting House the BBC’s HQ? A BBC employee in World War 2 a quote next to the statue reads: “If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear”.

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

Symbol of the BBC

(R2/Q7)

... and also

No games next Wednesday. It's the first of this season's 'Free Weeks'. We return to battle on Wednesday November 4th with the Charas setting.

Watch out kids!

(R8/Q7)