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