Withington Pub Quiz League - quizbiz 05/11/08

Down at The Didsbury SPW win their top of the table clash with Snoopy's

The Results

Opsimaths came a cropper at home to Charabancs of Fire

Ethel Rodin fought the Getaways to a standstill in the first tie of the season

Snoopy's Friends missed their chance to go top losing at home to SPW

Albert lost at home to give the X-Pats a welcome first victory of the current campaign

History Men got their season off to a belated winning start by beating the Electric Pigs at the Red

The Paper

The Men They Couldn't Hang set this week. Another tour de force from the 'punks in suits' - and if you didn't know their name had anything to do with that wayward form of 1970s entertainment then you would by the end of an evening with this paper.

General feedback is best summed up by Kieran's typically brief and 'on the button' comments:

"Pretty good but maybe TMTCH over-elaborated a bit after last season's successes. Still, high scoring and most people went home happy"

Ivor's feedback from the Red is in the same vein:

"Points on the board at last for the History Men but it was a close run thing. It was only an 8-point swing on Round 7 that saved us from a fourth consecutive defeat. We had Dave and Gilly from TMTCH in attendance with Gilly in the QM seat doing a sterling job despite being dentally challenged with a temporary crown and gums analgesed with whisky. Generally favourable comments for the paper with plenty of confounding for the first themed round - after hawkeye and cows-lip we were looking for animals or body parts! The spare question on the TMTCH song lyric would challenge even the more outrageous “connections” questions seen in the Albert Club monthly quiz!"

Down at the Albert Club we were closeted away in the Pool Room whilst hordes of sparkler-toting kids ran riot through the rest of the building. When we left at near midnight (yes it was a very time-consuming paper wasn't it?) the bowling green (still illuminated by the floodlights) was showing serious signs of combustion with browny-black rings all over the crown. It could have been the heat from our QM's searing tongue as she struggled with the copious Snoopy-length questions - or just possibly the fact that dozens of rockets had spewed out their cordite a few hours earlier as they headed off towards the roof of the adjacent synagogue.

Anyway....the paper was clearly a labour of love with loads of embellishments both in, and around, the questions. My favourite round was the one themed on Derbyshire towns. I waited and waited for Angela Buxton the buxom Wimbledon champion from the 1950s when British ladies used to win at Wimbledon as often as not, but she never arrived. On the down side I was completely out of it (as was Colin) on all the music-connected questions (and there were a lot).

We enjoyed the 'lost their heads' picture round. Howell, who had another inspired evening despite being on the losing side, had the good sense to read Steve Fossett's name off the left breast of his flying suit ("Bloody hell, Howell! How did you know it was Steve Fossett?" - "I read it off his left tit!").

However (as Kieran said) an enjoyable evening's quizzing with not a hint of a firework question anywhere. Bravo!!

The Question of the Week

This week the Pigs voted for the 'farm-themed' Round 8 Question 4:

What name is shared by an opening move in Chess (pawn to f3 - considered by many to be the worst possible opening move), a suburb of London in the Borough of Richmond, and a character in the television series Dallas?

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

Chatterbox

Kieran spotted a mistake on the fixture list earlier this week. SPW were down to play the Charabancs twice at the Griffin (on January 7th and February 18th). The Fixtures page has now been changed o show the SPW match against the Charabancs on January 7th to be an away match for SPW at the White Swan. Charabancs and SPW please note.

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As seems to happen almost every week these days, I have received an email from a TV production assistant asking me to use the website to recruit volunteers for a new TV Quiz show. So here's the latest (if you're not already booked up to the eyeballs that is, Dave).........

"TV Productions are looking for people with a High Level of General Knowledge for a new game show pilot.

You must be a confident, solo player who is able to think quickly under pressure.

The auditions will take place next Wednesday 12th December at the London Studios.

If you are available on that date and are interested, please email your Quiz history, contact details and profile photo to contestants@itv.com"

Fr Megson

Coming shortly....

Our Father returned from Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro this time) just in time to captain his team to victory at the Albert Club. He assured me that his many Balkan experiences will be shared with us over the coming weeks.