Withington Pub Quiz League - quizbiz 10/03/05

Results & Match Reports

History Men beat Ethel Rodin in a fairly close match to keep their very slim hopes of the crown alive - they must now win their last game against the Pigs AND hope that the Fingers lose both of their last 2 games

Electric Pigs eased home past the hapless Opsimaths who now have 'woodenspoondom' staring them in the face for the first time in their long and illustrious history

Fifth Finger managed a comfortable victory over Albert despite being only able to field 2 players (Martin & Kieran) - both of whom, incidentally, scored 7 2s

Albert Park, unable to field young Mr Rainford, who was otherwise engaged, suffered a thumping at home to FCEK

St Caths beat Snoopy's Friends by a comfortable margin at St Caths club - St Caths have now crept back up to 4th place but are well adrift of the top 3 (FCEK, History Men and Fifth Finger)

Quiz Paper Verdict

The paper this week was set by the X-Pats. A good paper, by all accounts, that had a theme to the answers in each round but left you to work them out. You seemed to like this approach. However many of you found the themes far from obvious after the first few questions - particularly the 'Boxers' round (if, indeed, the theme was Boxers - was there a boxer called 'Trinidad'?). Perhaps the uncertainty here suggests a rule for setters: please clarify what the theme is at the end of a round if you don't declare it up front.

Personally I could have done without a whole round linked to Michael Jackson - especially as, unable to think of any MJ hit with a number in it, I plucked 3 out of the ether to be told by QM, Andrew Simcock, that "No, it wasn't The Jackson 3, you ?*!!*?."

The visiting "Professor of History" on the Opsimaths team (Nick Mansfield) regarded the Bunker Hill question (Round 6 Question 2) as bunkum. According to Nick Bunker Hill was a draw and, anyway, the Brits won a number of later battles before being booted out of the States.

Nevertheless it was a good evening's quizzing and an enjoyable and challenging paper of just about the right level of difficulty.

The Question of the Week

This week QotW has been nominated by Ivor and his engine (otherwise known as the History Men). The award goes to Round 8 Question 3:

What football song was a hit for the Cockney Rejects?

Click here to see the answers to this and the rest of the week's questions and answers.

Chatterbox

CUPS, COCONUTS, CAMBRIDGE and CONGRATULATIONS

Gary told me last night that he is about to drop his hands into the famous bag'o balls and pull out the cup ties. So the Cup will kick off in just under 3 weeks' time. This year (as agreed at last season's end of season evening), we will revert to the simpler format of: beaten in Round One go into the Plate; beaten otherwise and retire for an early bath.

A wonderful snippet of conversation from last night's Pigs v Opsimaths encounter. When we got to the I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles question, our genial QM (Andrew) chucked in for free "and I bet no-one knows what the home fans favourite song is at Cambridge United?". Well quick as a flash with a beam as wide as the River Cam, Nick shouted out "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts!" Andrew looked genuinely dumbstruck (something that doesn't often happen). Of course Nick was spot on. It turns out his Dad (who died last year) was, until then, the oldest living ex-Cambridge United player and had been an honoured guest at every home game since goodness knows when. Nick was brought up on Cambridge United and coconuts. So there, small world, big quiz.

And one other thing....we are about to get some excellent news. Never mind Eggheads, a very good friend of Withquiz has just won a shedload of dosh on a very well known ITV quiz show. Watch this space and book early for the party of a lifetime in a few week's time. More details when I'm allowed to divulge them.

Fr Megson

A Succinct View Of Last Night's Quiz As Told By The Albert Park

A Chairde,

Albert Park set off at a blistering pace last night in the seething cauldron that is The Bowling Club. The local constabulary struggled to prevent the lone drinker at the bar from spilling on to the pitch as the home idols threatened to become the first team this season to do the double over the overpaid, undersexed and over here mercenaries of FCEK.

Tragedy then struck as the home side unaccountably lost control of their destiny and veered off sharply down the lanes and underpasses of their pre- Cambrian childhood memories. The rest was largely silence.

"It was the Clitheroe question wot done for us,"

opined Mark, their eloquent anchorman.

"It seemed to have the same effect on us as Jaffa cakes did on that French geezer wot used to write long books about nothing in particular. It certainly got me thinking about the good old radio days. I practically grew up with THE CLITHEROE KID, though unfortunately, due to Jimmy's hormonal imbalance, the experience was never likely to be mutual. Still, size isn't everything and he were a fine looking man in an elfin sort of way. And really, really funny in a way that only Lancastrian midgets can be. Well can I remember the whole family sat round the wireless on a wet Sunday afternoon choking on his cheeky capers and our boiled knuckle of lamb. I suppose it's the same for all of us old codgers but I honestly feel that in those good old days Sundays were definitely wetter and tinned peas were without a doubt greener. And Spangles - does anyone remember Spangles? ........................."

Yes, yes but returning to the painful present for a moment can I just ask Richard how he found the questions last night.

"Sorry, I'm not quite with you. I don't, think they went missing, did they? I'm sure Jitka had them for most of the evening. I seem to remember her reading out some of them for us..................oh yes, I see what you mean now. Sorry, I was miles away thinking about Spangles.

Yes, the questions were set by The X-Pats who apparently used to be Irish though they always seem quite normal to me when I see them in the pub. They always tend to set 64 questions and last night was no exception. I wouldn't say they were brilliant but they certainly managed to inspire me. And while we're on the subject.....Did you know that spires are those pointy things you sometimes find on the top of cathedrals? I'm quite fond of cathedrals, especially the ones that look like giant gothic phallic symbols that reach out as if to ravage the sullen skies of Britain, thereby unleashing golden showers on the sordid detritus that calls itself mankind..............sorry got a bit carried away there..............anyway its about time we had a whole quiz given over to cathedrals. I could do the first half - maybe 32 interesting facts about Beverley - that's a cathedral by the way, not a girl. Then I could balance things a bit in the second half by asking 32 interesting facts about Ripon. With maybe a spot the connection question at the end.

Or better still, we could do a reality TV series about life in a cathedral. We could brick up a couple of quiz teams in a cathedral for a year and a day and see how they cope without food or water or hanky-panky, though I suppose we could allow a small bit of hanky-panky if we kept it tasteful and used an Anglican cathedral. It would make fabulous viewing and it would probably make all the contestants feel terribly ascetic and a bit peckish as well, I shouldn't wonder. I know I could eat a horse just thinking about it. You don't have any Spangles on you by any chance?"

Fr. M.