Withington Pub Quiz League - quizbiz 15/12/05

Results & Match Reports

Having overcome the Beecher's Brook of Withquiz challenges last week, by beating the Fingers at the Griffin, FCEK crashed at home to the History Men. These are the first points dropped so far this season by Fr M's crew. Damian writes:

An interesting paper from the X-Pats. It was fun working out the answers from the themes, though we jumped to the wrong conclusion when "Turkey" came up as an answer supposing the round's theme was another general Christmassy one. In fact we were talking about whiskys! It was little misunderstandings like that, which helped us to our first defeat of the season.

In any event, we were thinking of approaching our saintly captain with bell, book and candle in the hope he would take pity on us and grant forgiveness. He's certainly partial to Bells and loves to chant incomprehensible gibberish from the odd book now and again, but I don't think we should trust him with a candle!!

Opsimaths, flushed with their success against arch-rivals Albert Park last week, spluttered at first but eventually coasted home against Ethel Rodin.

Fifth Finger profited from FCEK's slip up with a comfortable home victory over Electric Pigs.

St Caths went down in a very close match, by a single point, to their vistors, Albert Park.

Albert also played a "last question" game - but in this case the home team managed to get the points against Snoopy's Friends.

Quiz Paper Verdict

This week the paper came from the X-Pats. Good thematic stuff early on, but it seemed to us at the Albert Club that the effort of keeping up the themes eventually told, and led to some "below the belt stuff" towards the end. Ballyregan Bob? Who knows of 1980s greyhounds? And for that matter to which Christmas Number One is this a reference? Also I was a bit miffed at the Just a Minute question. I immediately thought of Nicholas Parsons (in line with the theme) but dismissed this thought since the question was about the host of the PILOT show with the clear implication (given that trick questions are off limits) that it was a different person to the one that hosted the subsequent trillion editions! Wrong! It WAS a trick question.

My general thoughts on themes are that they should give a subsidiary angle on a good question. Last night I thought some questions were selected to prop up an exhausted theme rather than because of their intrinsic qualities. In other words, were it not for the theme, many of the questions would never have occurred to anybody as fair game.

Anyway what do I know? Albert Park's skipper, Richard Seed, has given the paper a ringing endorsement on the message board: "Best quiz of the season so far!!" he says. He felt the themes were fascinating and well executed. Over to you St Caths....

Dream Theme of the Week

Just for a change this week, we have selected a whole round. Richard Seed has voted for Round 6, and, in particular, the way its thematic content was executed.

Click here to view this, and all the other rounds. See if you can spot the themes.

Fr Megson

FCEK's Manager makes a terse 74 second post-match statement

following defeat in Ladybarn's Stadium of Murk

A Chairde,

I think it was Father Megson's father (who, following his successful operation, was also known as Father Megson) who once stated that pride comes before a fall. Well, perhaps we were too overweeningly proud leaving the Griffin last week clutching our deux points, and so it was fairly inevitable that we would fall to earth last night.

Let's be honest. We didn't just fall to earth, we got buried six feet under. And I'm sure I caught just the merest glimpse of lady's underwear as The Histrionic Men once again danced merrily on our graves. Once Fr. M., that most reliable of tossers, had won the toss and elected to go first thereby handing Ivor the Bogside question, we knew we were dead and gone. Nor did it ever seem even remotely likely that we could pull off a St. Winifred type resurrection. Though in truth, if you were born in 17th century North Wales would you really want to come back?

The quiz was fine in general. We kept managing to suss out the themes.......it was the answers that refused to come to us.

We wuz brain-dead and we got what we deserved against a very in-form team viz. a damned good stuffing. Which reminds me of the setters' still much reviled turkey quiz all those years ago.

The fall from our David Cameron-like status last week to this week's Charles Kennedy performance was best summed up by Ivan Denisovich who grudgingly accepted his first free drink of the season with the brutal but heart-rending admission:

"I hate Christmas!"

Cheer up Ivan, you've survived worse in the gulag. And don't worry about David Cameron..........he won't last.

Fr.M.