Withington Pub Quiz League - quizbiz 11/11/09

Opsimaths remain unbeaten just behind SPW, with Ethel and Albert in 3rd and 4th places - the

top 4 can only be separated on score difference

Results & Match Reports

Ethel Rodin continued their excellent sequence of victories beating the Electric Pigs down at the Swan

Albert slugged it out against the Charabancs of Fire just getting their noses in front at the end. Damian sends in the following observations on the Charas' recent run of form:

"Yes, the Charas are happily continuing their losing run this season having long since concluded that coming second in the league each year was just getting too boring. Our new aim is to finish second from the bottom. Coming top or bottom is out of the question as our esteemed leader, Father M (who is currently on one of his religious kicks) has decided that a season of humility will be good for our collective soul but doesn't want us to overdo it by actually finishing last as that would just give us something else to boast about! All those years retaking his theology degree has obviously given him a far more profound insight into the subtleties of human underachievement than the rest of his beknighted team could ever hope to grasp."

History Men ended TMTCH's unbroken one week run with a decisive victory at the Red

Opsimaths fought, and ultimately won, a tense battle against the Bards of Didsbury

Quiz Paper Verdict

This week the paper was prepared by The Prodigals.

Down at the Albert Club in the Opsimaths/Bards contest there was a stonking start with hardly a point dropped in the first 2 rounds. The high scoring continued throughout with very few 'steals' (as Ivor calls the crucial passed over questions). Eventually the Bards justified their recent change of name by failing to identify Snoopy's brother. All in all it seemed to us a pretty good paper with a wide range of subjects and plenty of points to be won.

We did, however, share the same opinion as the Albert and Charas at the Fletcher Moss over the 'Question to Boo'. It had to be Round 4 Question 8 which had the audacity to ask us which non-President of the US had not invented the rocking chair (well, as we all know, Benjamin Franklin never did become President). We didn't even get to know who had invented this wretched piece of furniture!

From the Red Ivor offers his thoughts on an enjoyable evening:

"A mid-table clash results in a HM victory over a three-man TMTCH - but we really only accelerated ahead in the bingo rounds. Bingo is an interesting format - there are times when the goddess of chance decrees that those destined to lose choose all the 'wrong' questions and so it was tonight. We got six 'steals' in the last two rounds.

Many HM thanks go to Anne-Marie for acting as QM (otherwise we, too, would have been a 3-person team and who knows what might have happened then).

Tonight was the second Withquiz appearance for TMTCH new player Dave (lots of players called David tonight). Goodness knows what he thought of our traditional real time commentary (raucous and rude as ever) on the questions and our attempts at answering them. He did stay on for the post-quiz chat so let’s hope he is already accustomed to the strange ways of quizzers!

Too much ale was consumed on our side to determine QotW - however there were very few unanswered questions and plenty of '2s'. Quizzes are always more enjoyable when interesting questions are followed up with answers hitting the treble 20.

The 'Blurt of the Week' award goes to young David for answering "Smallpox" to the Salk question. His 3 teammates were none too forgiving."

Similarly Damian comments after the close fought encounter at the Fletcher Moss:

"All in all, we found the Prodigals's questions a well-balanced mixture of erudition, entertainment and eccentricity. Having introduced the concept many moons ago, we Charas particularly enjoyed the final two Bingo rounds with the notable exception of a couple of googlies......

Historical research tends to indicate that Benjamin Franklin, legendary inventor of the rocking chair, was never actually an American president as stated in the question. Moreover, Wikipedia defines Puerto Rico as a 'self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States'. Is this the same as being an 'island nation'? We had our doubts and therefore did not offer the correct answers. Given the closeness of the score at the end, a tad more quality control on the facts behind the questions might not have come amiss!

For QotW, the vote went to the Ben Franklin rocking chair question despite the confusion over his political status. However, it was suggested that the question be reworded along these lines:

'Which American president (who never actually got to be American president) is wrongly thought to have been the inventor of the rocking chair?'

or

'Give any year in which the man wrongly thought to have invented the rocking chair was never actually elected American president (including any year in his life).'

I leave you to choose."

The Question of the Week

This week the Opsimaths nominate Round 5 (titled 'Countries in People') Question 7 on account of its exceptionally well hidden thematic word:

A multi-award winning film director, producer, writer and actor, born in 1933; he is known for many reasons, but is currently in jail. Who is he?

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

Chatterbox

Via the website I've received an email from a certain Vash Sekar who is interested in setting up a team to join our league - or, at least, being a member of one of our existing teams. If we had another team right now they could play friendlies each week against the 'week off' team. They could then join the Val Draper Cup Competition at the end of this season and the league proper next season. Let's hope Vash can get a team together.