"Alf Tupper did in fact appear in the Victor (which, courtesy of the Vauxhall Victor, fitted the theme).  The Victor was a far higher profile comic than the short-lived Rover (see Wikipedia if in doubt).  In such a close contest the fact that we got that 'wrong' and Albert got it 'right' was crucial.  What's more Valerie Amos is no longer the Leader of the Lords - it's Baroness Ashton.

With both the typos falling to us (the 1990s Klondike goldrush and the child prodigy that was Wellington) and such a close outcome we felt a little miffed.

Sadly we now have little chance of finishing 4th (despite beating both the History Men and Snoopy's home and away)."

Getaways got caught out at home by a rampant band of Electric Pigs

History Men fought a tooth and nail battle at the Red and just came out on the wrong side of the peace line against league runners up Charabancs of Fire.  Our correspondents from either side of the Red's battle royal (Ivor and Damian) write -  Ivor first:

"A great contest with the Charabancs coming back to win on the last two questions.  We can't complain as we always enjoy our contests and chit chat with the Charas.  We live in hope that the Albert overcame Ethel Rodin to make the battle for fourth place still live going into the final game." (Ed: Indeed Albert duly obliged by beating Ethel - see above)

....and Damian:

"Yes, the results say it all.  It was as thrilling and as exciting a down-to-the-wire encounter between the Charas and one of our favourite opponents as I have experienced.  After taking the lead by one at the end of Round 1, the Charas were consistently behind in every subsequent round until the final one.  We thought we'd well and truly flunked it but the twists and turns of Snoopy's questions at the very last gasp played out in our favour.  In a Saint Patrick/Irish laden quiz nobody can prevail against Erin's own Father Meggers and his team, not even Belfast's own egghead Ivor.  The revelation that Ivor's ancestors may have actually originated from the boggy north of England rather than misty Irish moors may have been the decisive factor in the end.....either that or he just downed one pint of the black stuff too many!"

SPW romped to a convincing 26 point victory against TMTCH thus confirming their 'Champions' tag for yet another year

Themes all the way - and not too difficult for us to unravel (apart, of course, from the unlucky souls who took the first question of each round).  The subject matter was certainly 'Opsimath-friendly' with little modern popular culture and loads of questions about stuff they had given up teaching in our schools by the 70s.  Predictably Ireland played a large role (see Fr Megson's revived piece below about St Patrick's day) - but I seem to recall that Snoopy's papers are often green-tinged (definitely not orange-tinged).  A few obvious mistakes were in evidence (Nicholas Montsarrat, not Alistair Maclean, wrote The Cruel Sea and the Duke of Wellington was born in 1769 not 1869) but these slight lapses caused no real problems and were easily sidestepped.  So, for the Opsimaths at least, this was a cracking good evening's entertainment with some good company in in the bustling Sun in September.  Best laugh of the evening was (Round 8 Question 7) when Jim admitted he'd got all of Daniel O'Connell's albums at home.

It also proved a pretty popular paper for our new (?) league champions at Fortress Griffin.  Kieran breaks off from the champagne-fuelled celebrations to comment:

"Pretty good, high scoring and interesting enough.  Tony and co. seemed to have a few problems with knowing which century they should be in though!

And now that's eleven league titles on the trot.  David was wondering if there was an equivalent achievement in sports. Champion jockeys maybe?  Anyone got any offers?"

Like James (in 'The Results' column) Mary found the typos/inaccuracies a real problem.  She writes:

"Too many themed rounds and a large number of typos were the main complaints - the worst typo being in the date on the Wellington question."

From the History Men/Charas tussle Damian comments on Snoopy's paper:

"Snoopy's questions were a tad on the elusive and long-winded side.  The odd typo such as mistaking the birth date of the Duke of Wellington for 1869 rather than 1769 didn't help whilst Yours Truly was flummoxed by the long-drawn-out-question concerning the many names of Lord Halifax, the pre-war Foreign Secretary.  Thank goodness the aeroplane theme came to the rescue.

 

That said, Ivor's trusty stats report only 4 unanswered questions so that would indicate that there was something for everybody."

.....and Ivor, the Orangeman, writes:

"Too many questions about the 'other Ireland'.  There was I waiting in the Herb Round for a question about Ulsterman Sir John Dill, our greatest soldier-diplomat of World War 2, but nothing.  Instead I get a question about Daniel O’Connell.  Coming from a primary school where the school houses were named after the first three Governors of Northern Ireland (Abercorn, Granville and Wakefield - remember that for a future quiz!) there was no hope that I could play the hero and seal a famous victory.  Grrrrr. 

A dispassionate view of the quiz:

•  only four unanswered questions

•  bit of controversy about the typos

•  uncertainty as to whether Downpatrick is the seat of the respective Irish primates

• a suspicion that Alf Tucker might have transferred to other boys’ comics

 but overall: a thumbs up."

and finally Gary from the Getaways/Pigs encounter:

"One of Snoopy's better efforts this one - judiciary arcana notwithstanding."

Who, appropriately enough, is the current Lord Chief Justice?