Withington Pub Quiz League - quizbiz 01/12/10

The Pigs, The Prodigals and The Bards all picked up maximum points in their relentless chase of SPW

Results & Match Reports

The Historymen leapt into an early lead only to be pegged back, and finally overtaken by some margin, in their mid-table tussle against the Opsimaths. Former History Boy Wonder, David, (the Compulsory Meat Raffle seemed to have collectively usurped his title this season) played the QM role most competently. Opsimath, Howell, with 5 twos was revealed as the MVP in Stato Ivor's post-match summing up. The Red was eerily quiet and proved an excellent venue for a most enjoyable evening.

SPW were truly rocked back by Compulsory Meat Raffle and only scraped home at the last. Kieran writes:

"Phew! Cracking match with the Meat Raffle on an excellent Charas paper. Three Charas turned up to see the result of their handiwork and Roisin did the honours as QM with Bob, our new member - so far only utilised as QM - making his playing debut. I think he found it a baptism of fire as we all struggled to keep the Meat Raffle at bay right up to question 62 when, thankfully, Barry chose 'G' from the blockbuster bingo chart and rifled home Galicia for the winning points. We roared into an 8-0 lead after Round one but were then reeled in round by round trailing at several points. The result was far too much in doubt for our comfort. That's the closest run thing since the last game of the 2008/09 season. The Meat Raffle seem to be a great addition to the league and it's difficult to understand why they haven't scored more victories so far - but more victories will surely come their way. Their star player was further burnished (can one burnish a star?) by claiming that Blade Runner was the greatest film of all time. Barry and I would probably put it second behind Casablanca - I mean Ingrid Bergman was in Casablanca for heaven's sakes, and I'm still hoping for my sun drenched, windswept kiss, but we can appreciate that she's more likely to appeal to our generation than that of our splendid opponents."

TMTCH worked hard all day to get a team together to play The Bards but then at teatime decided to scratch as it seemed the long trip to New Mills at 11pm was too hazardous a prospect. After talking to TMTCH's Dave I've awarded the match to The Bards but it does seem a little unfair that The Men are penalised just because they live in the North Derbyshire part of Greater Manchester. As is the tradition the scores for this game will be the average winner/loser scores across the other 4 matches.

Electric Pigs kept up their impressive form against the Albert in the Fletcher Moss derby - though Andrew tells me it was a close run thing at the end

Ethel Rodin found the Prodigals too hot to handle down at the Swan.

Quiz Paper Verdict

This week's paper was set by The Charabancs of Fire.

Variety is the spice of life and by God there was plenty of variety in this paper. Themes, Blockbuster-style question choices, Bingo rounds and a 'Who am I?' format. At The Red we found it all thoroughly enjoyable. It took us up to ten minutes before closing time to get through the paper but I don't think any of us felt it hard work. Despite the wildly differing styles employed the Charas seem to have a got a fair balance to the questions. If I was to quibble about anything I thought the first names of the top 8 male tennis players a bit obscure but the rest of my team muttered 'perfectly fair' when David revealed it at the end of the round (neither team had deduced this theme). I did hear someone inveigh a mild oath at the number of French-related questions but, hey ho, there weren't many Ireland-related questions. So well done Gerry and the Charas you served up an excellent pre-Christmas cracker. And finally for connoisseurs of 'firsts'.....Was this the first time in the illustrious history of the Withington Quiz league that a member of one of the teams has been the answer to one of the questions? And it would be interesting, Kieran, if you can tell us what happened to that question at the Griffin?

The Question of the Week

This week a number of you have voted for Blockbuster Bingo Rounds 7/8 Question 9 (MO):

Which MO when translated into Welsh is a popty ping?

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

Chatterbox

In the last few days I've had an interesting chat with Roddy (from Ethel R). Roddy writes:

"One of the questions in the paper two weeks ago appears to have ruffled some fins. There was no intention to upset. Grimsby's past glories appear to be kept tightly hidden by the fans under their sou'westers. Grimsby's place in the first division before, and briefly after, the Second World War escaped the notice of a number of quiz participants who I believe would rate the subject of football amongst their stronger points, including the chap who reviewed that week's Ethel paper before it took the trip to the Red. At least the fans can console themselves in the knowledge that league clubs normally bounce back from the Conference and do not go the way of Glossop North End (Glossop by the way is one of the very few if not the only station not in Greater Manchester that is nevertheless within the Greater Manchester rail rover zone).

It has been suggested (whether in jest or not) that certain topics should be off-limits to the uninitiated. Paradoxically, I find that the questions most likely to contain mistakes are those of which the setter has more than a nodding acquaintance with the subject matter. No-one would fail to check answers to questions outside their realm of knowledge (I hope) and you can be assured that my forthcoming themed round on basket-weaving will be fully researched.

Unless we fall back on the easy approach of drawing our questions from the latest 'best quiz questions ever' book at the library with its anodyne contents, mistakes will continue to be made. This is acknowledged by the fact that a number of spare questions are provided. Even the BBC with their professional researchers (very few if any of whom appear to be scientists) make the occasional error.

Anyway, without mistakes, bad pairings etc there would be nothing to moan about for the rest of the week!!"

All of which has led me to ponder what gets published on this website. The main subject each week has to be the question paper. It's the most significant variable of our routine and inevitably is the thing that we all want to read about. "What did they think about my questions?", "Did anybody share our views on this evening's paper?", "Surely someone else spotted that mistake?"

I believe the website is getting more outspoken in reflecting the views of those who write in and - inevitably - myself, as time goes by. Perhaps it's me getting lazier in editing the input. This can be a bad thing. Hours spent compiling a paper can be rubbished by a few withering remarks. I know this is true - I've been on the receiving end often enough. One slip in accuracy in 72 questions is a pretty good performance and should not be allowed to overshadow the art and forethought that's gone into the rest of the paper.

The raw material for my weekly review of the paper comes from a very small number of quizzers who take the trouble to email or text me the results each Wednesday late on. Like your webmaster these correspondents are often emboldened by alcohol. Sometimes things get said in a fairly brutal way. To make the site as useful as possible I set myself a target of having all the results and critiques available by breakfast on Thursday (which means winter Wednesday evenings usually last until 2am). The down side of this target is that I don't allow myself much time for sober reflection. If anybody has been upset by recent harping on about (say) Harry the Haddock, or Glossop's position in the world then I apologise.

I'll try and be a little more thoughtful and disciplined in future. In the meantime two pleas from me: 1) let me know what you think of the remarks above by emailing in (I'll reflect your comments on the website) or by using the message board - and 2) let's have a wider pool of correspondents on Wednesday evening - all I need is a quick text with a couple of comments and they'll get onto the site later in the evening.

Finally let me be clear that the overall standard of our papers has never been higher. That's not just me saying it. I get plenty of feedback from third parties from all over the place who scour our site each week. One of the reasons for this is the constant flow of opinion - especially when it's constructive - from you.

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...and just one other thing. I've had a chat with Mike Wagstaffe from the Stockport League about arrangements for the WIST Champions Cup matches in a fortnight's time. This year all the papers are being set by Stockport teams with what's now become the usual format for these games - first half 2 rounds of Stockport style questions (30 oral questions followed by 10 written questions) and second half 4 rounds of WithQuiz style questions. Mike tells me he's got plenty of themes lined up for us to enjoy. The question papers for all 4 matches will be delivered to the Red Lion so the 4 WithQuiz teams (SPW, the Charabancs, the Opsimaths and the Historymen) will be expected to pick up the papers whether they are home or away.

Father Megson

FM Warning: Culture Can Kill

A Chairde,

It's a month now since the abortive grand opening of Britain's first Suburb of Culture by HM Liz - and still no sign of any culture in Ladybarn. Not a jot. Expectations ran high last Friday evening when the Boulevard of Dreams (formerly Green Street) was cordoned off by Geoff, a Community Police Officer who used to work at the local B&Q store until he succumbed to pressure, following an anonymous tipoff from Roddy that an example of exotic culture had been unearthed in the cellar of the Stadium of Murk. However extensive research by culture boffins Dr Ivor and Dr Tim from the nearby Red Lion institute has confirmed that it is not a new culture but merely a more virulent strain of the RPR (Robinsonella Pudenda Rubella) culture that was first discovered in the 1920s and went on to claim the lives of more cribbage players in the Heatons than the Great War and the Spanish Flu put together.

"Yes, he is quite an aggressive little critter but rather cute in a non-cuddly sort of way", said Dr Ivor at a hastily convened press conference under a table in the Red Lion institute. "I like to think of him as the Grim Reaper's Most Valued Player or the Jonah of the taproom, if you prefer. Previously the poor little mite was only able to flourish in Stockport but for some reason this new strain seems far more resilient and is expected to outlive the entire drinking population of Ladybarn over the next week or so. All credit to Sean for providing such unique breeding conditions for the little varmint".

Dr Tim then woke up and was quick to assure everyone in a measured and professional manner that there was no cause for panic. "Don't panic, don't panic", he screamed, "we all have to die sometime. You should be perfectly safe provided you don't swallow or go to the toilet. And for Chrissakes don't, I repeat don't, do both together or the paramedics will be off for months with post traumatic stress. God, this is thirsty work. Over here gin wallah, when you're ready".

"This is not the type of culture we were hoping to promote", said an ashen-faced Fr Megson as he struggled into his protective lead underpants designed by Dr Tim, "but beggars can't be choosers. I can assure you that no stone is being left unturned in our efforts to dredge up some proper culture. As we speak Dusty is out on her trusty push bike scouring the streets of Ladybarn for the next generation of working class playwrights and novelists. She is under strict orders not to stop pedalling until she nurtures and caresses the latent talents of horny-handed men of toil and brings forth a nouvelle vague of proletarian wordsmiths to rival the likes of Alan Sillitoe, John Osborne et al. She was on the blower a few minutes ago saying she had found a very promising group of angry young men trying to break into an off-licence on Ladybarn Lane at lunchtime but when she tried to nurture and caress them they set fire to her push bike and ran away. I told her to get the fcek off the blower and give chase on foot but I have to say that she sounded a tad dispirited. But sure that's women for you, no fcekin stamina. Is it any wonder we don't allow them to be priests or play golf?"

DO YOU KNOW ANYBODY IN LADYBARN WHO HAS INDULGED IN CULTURE? WE WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU. PHONE FATHER MEGSON'S FULLY CONFIDENTIAL 'SHOPTHECULT' HOTLINE NOW ON 0800 696969 (calls are free if you are female and have a husky voice; all others are charged at 95p per word or part thereof)