Withington Pub Quiz League - quizbiz 25/10/06

Results & Match Reports

Albert coasted ahead of the Opsimaths during the first 3 rounds and never looked back

History Men were up at half time against the Napier Girls but then got comprehensively bingo'd in the second half

Snoopy's Friends enjoyed a comfortable victory over Albert Park

X-Pats lost at home to the good ladies from Ethel Rodin's finishing school

Quiz Paper Verdict

2 FCEKs set this week's paper. A cracker as far as we were concerned at The Fletcher Moss. Themes, bingo and an unexpected German flavour to the second half. Some comments:

Ivor HistoryMan:

"Top marks for the variety and interest of the questions and there were only 4 zero point questions in the whole game. I quite enjoyed the 'decades' round and with a spread of almost 1400 years there were plenty to choose from."

Kieran, the Big Napier Girl's blouse:

"As ever a superb effort from 2FCEKs, 2 Fcekers of whom attended to QM and generally add to the gaiety of the evening. Very high scoring and a good spread of questions. Don't know about question of the week but having the opportunity to answer to two successive questions on 'that dickhead formerly known as Josef Ratzinger' was hugely enjoyable!"

Oh, and by the way, Gerry, which team member was it that got the job of undertaking the necessary research on the Cerne Abbas Giant (Round 1 Question 8)?

The Question of the Week

This week the award goes to the first Bingo question:

Which successful play of the 1960s by an English playwright contains the following stage direction: “They climb the Andes”?

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

Chatterbox

Just a reminder that if audio-visual quizzes are your bag then get yourself down to the Albert Club on Monday (30/10) at 8.15pm for the next Albert Club monthly quiz.

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A 'strange but true' moment earlier this evening courtesy of The Albert.....

Did you know that last year's QM supreme, the venerable Eric of Snoopy's, was once a famous film star (well sort of)? Eric's right hand featured in the 1960s war film Sink the Bismarck. Apparently some frantic morse-coding was required for a particular shot - and who should be on hand (ugh) but the young Eric.

After extensive Googling I have managed to find the very hand poised ready to deliver some message back to base.

Fr Megson

"Man is born free but is everywhere in chains"

Nowhere is this truth more universal than in the village of Didsbury, where our children, as soon as they are old enough to be expelled from school, invariably disappear and spend the rest of their lives in chains. Chains like CAFE ROUGE, THE SLUG AND LETTUCE, O'NEILLS and THE PIE AND PORRINGER. You name it, Didsbury's got it. O tempora, O mores! What a waste!

Don't get me wrong, nobody likes to see teenagers enjoying themselves more than Fr. Megson. It gives him great pleasure to mooch around Platt Fields of a summer's evening, peering into its various nooks and crannies and lending his vocal support to any trysting teenagers he finds happily ensconced there. But don't you agree that the young pups of today deserve a good kick up the arse for squandering their cosseted lives in these stripped pine fancy Dan emporiums where even the unfortunate worm in your bottle of poncey Mexican lager gets served up on a bed of sun-dried tomatoes?

Have they no idea of the many sacrifices we, their parents, had to make? The way we had to suffer for our art. Don't they realise that great wastrels are made, not born? Have they no appreciation of the countless hours we had to spend ripening and maturing in the permanent fug of smoke that was South Manchester pub life in the early '70s? The endless weekends we spent developing and honing our skills amid the noisome detritus of spilt beer, pork scratchings, soggy Number 6 packets of ten, dog-eared copies of SPORTING LIFE and beaten dockets, more spilt beer, blood, sweat and other bodily secretions less easy to identify? How we endured all this and still managed (mostly) to be up on time of a Monday morning to do our civic duty and sign on.

Marvellous. Just reflect on this and ask yourself one question: Without surviving all these hardships would we have become the unsung scourges of the taproom that we are today? I think not. Fear not though, the little green

shoots of recovery are beginning to bud. Sometimes a trendy young blade

will stop Fr. Megson on the street and say:

"Scuse me Father but would you mind not staring at my girlfriend's naked midriff. And incidentally Father, do places like that White Swan you're always banging on about really exist? I called in to Didsbury Library last week and asked if they could direct me to a pub in Ladybarn, and they said if its not on the shelf we don't have it. But had I tried looking in the section marked ORWELLIAN DYSTOPIAS OF THE 1930s? And by the way Father you're still ogling my girlfriend's bellybutton".

If he does decide to wine and dine his wee girl with the stunning belly button in the White Swan, he will be pleasantly surprised. Gone are the days when it was just a basic boozer with lighting problems. Today, thanks to the efforts of one of the most progressive landlords ever to wield a baseball bat in Ladybarn, it has become a total sensory experience. A riot of light and colour will take your breath away as you enter with virtually every room having its own individually styled decor. Their revolutionary idea of all-year round Christmas decorations has won them many friends within the Green Party - as well as its own state of the art light bulb. Although, if you intend visiting their sumptuous en suite toilets, it is still advisable to carry a small torch for those annoying moments when the barman accidentally turns the sandwich maker on without first turning off the TV thereby overloading their extensive but overly complicated wiring system. This should cease to be a problem in 2009 when their application to rejoin the National Grid is due to be reconsidered by the Health and Safety Executive.

Other recent improvements include a freshly laundered beermat at every table and a strictly-adhered to policy of washing all the pots and glasses on a weekly basis, even when there is no direct evidence that the previous user was recovering from a sexually transmitted disease. And if the very mention of STDs is enough to inflame your gastric juices, you may like to note that The White Swan is rapidly earning a reputation as one of the finest gastropods

(I think he means gastropubs, Ed) in the whole of Ladybarn. Try their all-night breakfasts (egg, beans, bacon, beans, sausage, beans and a freshly tinned tomato served with bread, dripping and lashings of house vodka) which, at £5.95, represents excellent value for money.

Finally, another unique feature that makes the White Swan a Mecca for impoverished drinkers everywhere except, possibly, Saudi Arabia.....

From November this year it will be possible to opt out of the time honoured tradition of buying drinks at the bar and join their exclusive BYO club. This enables you to bring your own supply (subject to a minimum of 96 cans) and drink it in the warmth and luxury of the taproom. You can even use the beermats!! A nominal corkage charge of £34.75 (plus vat) applies though this fee can sometimes be waived if you are willing to let the landlord drink 65% of the total cannage. So, drop everything folks and get down to the White Swan tonight. You have nothing to lose but your chains - and the odd quiz or two.

Father Megson