WITHQUIZ

The Withington Pub Quiz League

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6th March 2013

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The Bards keep up their Fairy chase whilst the Pigs and Meat Raffle clamber away from the foot

Results & Match Reports

The Bards fought a long hard attritional match eventually overcoming the Opsimaths on the final question of the evening.  Eric QMed in the sepulchral quietude of the back room of the Cricket Club (though to be honest the main bar area was just as peaceful).  It seems the Cricket Club has fallen victim to its own success in providing the perfect environment for quizzing.

TMTCH were overcome by the Electric Pigs who, having tasted a week at the bottom of the pile, decided they much preferred life a little further up the pecking order.

The History Men just sneaked in ahead of the Prodigals in the Red's front lounge (that's the bit that looks like a pub).  Even-handed as ever Ivor avers.....

"The Historymen and the Prodigals are two of the three teams not to have had a tie this season but we came very close to that tonight in a relatively low scoring game with 14 unanswered questions.  As always with our games against the Prodigals there were plenty of laughs along the way.  How could it be otherwise with Anne-Marie and our Anne cheek by jowl (Ed: Exactly how were they sitting?) exchanging comments on the qualities (or otherwise) of the questions even before they were answered.

The Prodigals did not have Dave 'Egghead' Rainford tonight but he sent along a mate called Ed for his debut.  Ed apparently is a quizzer with a higher national rating than even Dave.  Goodness knows what he thought of us but we suspect our etiquette differs somewhat from the rarefied atmosphere of national quiz events and all the more fun for that.  Anyhow it does not matter how good you are in this league because the setting team always seems to find the teaser for the seat you are occupying.  We tend to struggle with Albert quizzes and with a score of 31 we were lucky to have our noses in front at the end.

Rupert was in the QM seat tonight and only had one error worthy of the Jitka 'Boom' award (this should be up there with the Grammys, Emmys, Oscars and Tonys) - Hurn airport misread as Hum airport (and easily done with some fonts).  Spare to the rescue."

Compulsory Meat Raffle beat the Charabancs with a bit to spare.  Damian reports for us tableside...

"As you can see, we continued our unabated downward spiral suffering the latest in a long and ever-growing line of drubbings at the hands of pretty much anybody we meet.  I guess every  team in the league is by now salivating at the prospect of meeting the Charas.  "Hey", I hear them cry, "we may not be able to beat the Bards or the Fairies, but never fear, there's always the Charas!"  I'd like to think we are in a terminal depression due to the sudden and unexpected resignation of the Pope, but given that our team consists of one lapsed priest, two atheists and one practising Catholic, I guess that's not going to be the most convincing of reasons - however it seems kinder than just admitting we're crap and getting crappier!  But enough of the Charas - many congratulations to the Rafflers on a thorough and well-deserved victory!"

Top of the pile I Blame Smoke Fairies beat fourth-placed Ethel Rodin at Fortress Griffin. 

Quiz Paper Verdict

This week the paper was compiled by Albert.  A long hard marathon of a quiz but - in my view - no slog.  Indeed if there were a problem at the Cricket Club it was the plethora of interesting questions that demanded long conferences....three of the five Premiership teams, three of the five stadiums, etc., etc.  Perhaps a maximum of four of these sorts of questions per quiz would be enough but tonight there seemed to be a lot more than that.  Some of the pairing seemed a bit skew-whiff (Baldwin of Bewdley buried in Worcester eminently gettable; Attlee buried in Westminster Abbey just pot luck from a number of likely candidates) - but this imbalance probably evened out over the whole paper.  I particular liked the chapter title pair where the setter sprinkled just enough information via the chapter names to make the answer guessable.  Our aggregate score was 65 which is low but by no means desperate.  All in all plenty of work for the brain cells but an enjoyable quiz outing.

The Fairies' view courtesy of Captain Kieran......

"Bit of a throwback paper with lots of old chestnuts we haven't seen in ages, some unbalanced pairings and even some airport names!  Not one of our favourite quizzes but we're happy with a comfortable win as the season moves to its climax.  We quite liked the stadiums question and the pair about the teams that haven't played at Wembley - and the public schools round was well done.  Fabrice Del Dongo is our new hero - we definitely need to know more about him."

..and from Ivor...

"Only Round 3 got the thumbs down in this game with the other rounds each having a sufficient 'wow' factor to keep us interested.  Anne got the public schools sussed after Radley and that certainly helped with Wellington but no one had read Charterhouse of Parma."

The Question of the Week

The Pigs vote this week goes to Round 8 Question 5:

What iconic product of his homeland did French poet Leon-Paul Fargue describe as "the feet of God"?

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

Chatterbox

It's getting close to Cup time (the week after Easter week, April 10th, to be precise).  Some really good news is that a new team will be joining us for the Cup/Plate competitions with the prospect that they'll join us in the league in the autumn.  I haven't got a team name or a home venue yet but they'll be captained by Andrew Cooper who has been in touch with me via the website.  I propose giving this new team a bye in Round One of the Cup but trying to organise a friendly on April 10th (the Round One evening) between them and one of the other teams with a bye.  That way they'll be guaranteed at least 3 games (the friendly, the Cup Round 2, and, if they are knocked out in Round 2 of the Cup, then at least one Plate match.  Hope you're all OK with this.  I'll give more details of the new team next week.

I've made the assumption on the Fixtures page that we want to stick with the same Cup/Plate system we've used for the past few seasons where there's a handicap based on a team's average score over the season relative to their opposition.  However if we want anything to change, now's the time to sort it out.  I will organise a draw for the Round One ties next week, or the week after at the latest.  Perhaps you could use the Message Board to express any views.

Father Megson

A view from Heaton Norris Park

(From a sworn affidavit by Fr Megson's amanuensis)

This much is true: if you invent a character, breathe life into him for a decade or more and then try to kill him off, he will find a way to come back and haunt you.  I think I am being haunted by Fr Megson.  He hasn't exactly appeared to me but I think I may have witnessed his disappearance.  Can you be haunted by a disappearance?  I suppose there are more things in heaven and earth and in SK4 than are dreamed about in our philosophy.

Anyway, I was walking through the early morning gloom of Heaton Norris Park this morning when I noticed what looked like a black bundle lying in the distance.  I immediately felt a little bit more spooked by this than a grown man should, largely because my next door neighbour was unlucky enough a few years ago to come across a body hanging from a tree near the same spot.  I walked warily towards it and was relieved to find that it wasn't a body.  It was still shocking though - there, laid out fairly neatly in the grass was a black gown very similar to a chasuble together with a pair of black socks and what looked to be a cheap imitation stole which a priest would wear around his neck during a religious service.  A few feet away lay a roughly carved crucifix (actually in the shape of a cross of Lorraine) and a black hardback book which I initially took to be a missal but on closer inspection turned out to be entitled A Book of Needs.  I didn't hang around; going into work seemed by far the saner option.

I retraced my steps late this afternoon.  All was normal and mundane.  No relics of a priest, living or otherwise.  Assumed into heaven?  I think not.  Fr Megson was never that  kind of priest.  If any of you out there happen to see a naked priest, or even a defrocked one wandering around, please let me know.  I shall be very relieved."