Ethel Rodin lost at home to X-Pats who are now mounting a strong challenge for Europe tucked in behind the Girls and the Men in third place.

Napier Girls beat History Men with a near record score of 55 points - and, what we believe, could be a record tally of 21 '2-pointers' in their favour.  By beating second-placed History Men they have considerably reinforced their position at the top of the table.

What was the first country to gain official independence in the 21st century?

Of course, as you all know, the cricket was a disaster - not just a hard fought series where we came second but a total humiliation.  The rest however was really wonderful: Uluru at dawn, Sydney Harbour on New Year's Eve, the scale of MCG (much bigger than Old Trafford Football ground), Swan River in Perth, the charm and beauty of Adelaide, Tasmania, and on and on.  We went to New Zealand for 10 days after the final rites at Sydney and were able to visit Napier.  The Girls there looked so much better than over here but whether they scored so heavily I never established.

Anyway enough of all that.

I have received another email from the BBC.  They are auditioning for a new series called The People's Quiz 2007.  The message reads:

"We are looking for people from all across the country to take part in BBC1's brand new Saturday night show The People's Quiz 2007.  The competition is open for anyone. There is a massive six figure prize on offer for the winner.

'The People's Quiz 2007' will be hosted by a Jamie Theakston and an exciting all-star panel of Myleene Klass, GMTV's Kate Garraway and Fifteen to One presenter William G Stewart. who will be present at the auditions.

In an exciting twist, the questions and answers have already been published on our website www.bbc.co.uk/peoplesquiz The application form can be found on our website can be completed and emailed back to us at contestants@uhfevermedia.co.uk.  We will be holding auditions in Manchester, on Saturday 27th January at the GMEX Centre.

My no is at the bottom of the e-mail.

Many thanks in advance for your help and please do not hesitate to get in touch should you have any questions.

Kind Regards,

Alice Dodge

Researcher

The National Lottery: The People's Quiz

Fever Media

alicfe.dodge@uhfevermedia.co.uk

Tel: 0207 619 6631

Fax: 0207 619 6667"

Fr. Megson was rooting through Mike Bath's underwear drawer the other week - and don't say the thought hadn't crossed your mind to take advantage of his absence - when he found this snap of the early days of the Withquiz league.

To the untrained eye not much has changed at St Caths over the years.  Despite the best efforts of the Luftwaffe Mike H. was just as focused on the question then as he is now.  If you look a bit closer, however, you will see that the format in those halcyon days was slightly different to current practice......and, if you are an old prig like me, I'm sure that you will agree that all the new-fangled changes over the years have been very much for the worse.

You will notice first of all that, due to the war effort and Wilfrid Pickles being on the wireless of a Wednesday night, there was a dearth of manpower - girl quiz players weren't invented until 1969 - and teams were very often forced to turn out without any opposition.  Today only the Napier Girls maintain this quaint tradition.  Note also that in those chummier days the QM wasn't expected to be a Norman Nomates and sit all by himself, but was allowed to be a member of the team.  I wonder how many QMs could you trust nowadays not to look at the answer until they had given the wrong response. Not many I fear, with the obvious exception of Jitka.  Cometh the hour, cometh the woman!

Finally you will note that the questions were a lot more straightforward in the '40s.  Theme rounds were a travesty yet to be invented.  Interestingly even Manchester didn't have a Gay Village in those days and I always think the two go hand in hand.  Cameras, however, had been invented and picture rounds were not unheard of - but, due to the blackout, they were rarely a success. Alternatively setters would use nothing but their own ingenuity to conjure up picture questions that combined simplicity with a stunning sense of reality.  For example, Round 4 Question 6 which was being asked as the unnamed photographer from the Reporter captured this snap, simply required the player to:

"NAME THIS ANIMAL"