Withington Pub Quiz League - quizbiz 20/11/13

It's tight at the top with INBTO, Opsimaths and Bards all winning - next week's showdown at the Griffin will be crucial

Results & Match Reports

INBTO beat Ethel Rodin at the Griffin by a goodly margin.

Meat Raffle lost at home to the Prodigals. Anne-Marie fresh from a 'big birthday' tells the tale:

"Enjoyable quiz with just enough 'blimey I never knew that' balanced with ones we could all get. The difference between the teams was about 30 years as the paper suited the older brains of the Prodigals rather than the young, fresh brains of CMR. Love the Turnpike as an entire round for both teams cost less than the one Bellini I was drinking on Monday evening in Harry's Bar in Venice where I was celebrating a significant birthday. That's how it rolls......one day Harry's Bar, next day the Turnpike."

Opsimaths beat Electric Pigs at the Club by a fairly comfortable margin in the end - though it was pretty close up to Round 6. In truth I think the home team got the rub of the green as to the distribution of the easier questions.

Bards beat the visiting History Men in tonight's nail-biter..... as Tony reports:

"All was decided on the last question. At that point the Historymen led 30-29 on account of young Dave being a fan of Bugs Bunny. Happily I had a vague recollection of androids, so we were able to get the final two points to seal the win after a very close contest. The highlight of the evening was Ivor reciting the names of all the Waltons and a whole covey of Partridges."

whilst from Ivor's point of view.....

"Another exciting match against the Bards. We were 6 points behind after round 1 and whittled the deficit away until it was even going into the final round. Almost inevitably it was even with two questions to go with me versus Tony knowing one of us would be a hero and one would be a goat. This has happened before and once again it was Tony dredging his memory banks to come up with a 2 to secure victory for the Bards. We had an unlucky night plumping for Mantua instead of Padua, Sherman instead of Pershing, hashtag Pontiff instead of hashtag Pontifex and Wenlock (the puppet) instead of Much Wenlock (the town)."

TMTCH lost to Charabancs who seem to have found the secret of winning - drop Megson! Apparently Fr Megson was unavailable. Will he get back in the team or will Jane, the leggy Romanian substitute, take her chance to become a permanent fixture? Damian gives us the inside track on tonight's Parrswood tussle:

"A marked reversal of fortune for a Megsonless Charas tonight. Last week we trailed our opponents by 19 points. This week, with the able support of our no.1 substitute (and occasional QM) Jane, we finished ahead by 21! Consistency has not necessarily been our middle name this season, so far!

It must be pretty obvious to all and sundry by now that we tend to do better when some teams set rather than others. This is no reflection whatsoever on the quality of the papers concerned, it is simply an indication of the type of questions that seems to suit us better."

Quiz Paper Verdict

This week the paper was provided by Albert. The lowest Average Aggregate of the season to date (just) but nevertheless some worthy comments in the feedback. Kieran for instance....

"Very good quiz from The Albert and an enjoyable evening in Ethel's company. The paper had plenty of variety and points were there to be scored but there were very few 'gimmes' which is probably the mark of a good paper. We thought the question of the week was the one about Chamberlain's rather odd career path. Perhaps someone should have been reading the signs there!"

At the Club we found a fair bit to enjoy in the paper but did get a little hung up on Round 6. Had it been declared as a themed round all would have been well but it was given as a paired round and none of us was looking out for links. So when it came to the 5th most memorable film quote the sky was the limit. Given a 'kid' hint we might have known. Like everyone else, it seems, we did enjoy the Round 4 'PM's ministerial posts' pair. A great example of 'just enough information' to spark an interesting conversation with a good chance of a successful outcome. Just what quizzing should be about!

Andrew texted in later in the evening echoing my point about the film quote question:

"I am reminded of what John Lennon said when he was asked if Ringo Starr was the best drummer in the world: 'He's not even the best drummer in The Beatles!'. Similarly, 'Here's looking at you, kid' isn't even the fifth most memorable quote in Casablanca. Not a sensible question in a round where the fact that there was a theme was not announced at the start."

From the Parrswood Damian gives the collective Charas/TMTCH view:

"We thought tonight's paper was, in places, a little confusing. Were some of the rounds paired, or themed, or both? For instance the 'kid' themed round, which didn't have a clear instruction at the start. The 'Grover Cleveland question' sparked a bit of controversy for both teams. Wasn't the fact that Cleveland was the only president to be elected to 2 non-consecutive terms of office (which was the answer both of us came up with) at least as unique for the 1892 election as the official answer given? Other than that, it was straightforward quiz fare which obviously suited our tastes more than it did that of our opponents."

and from the Cricket Club Ivor's critique....

"With a combined score of 61, and 15 unanswereds, this was quite a tricky paper but fair in the split of unanswered, 2s and steals. The occasional question (e.g. the fact that Cleveland won the 1892 election 4 years after losing the previous election) had the 'well I never' factor. We were very surprised that the Albert were suitably equipped to throw in questions about 2012 pop song lyrics and texting argot.

QotW? I quite enjoyed the appearance of the Waltons and the Partridges amongst other contenders but we were unanimous on the 'Worst QotW', namely 'What is the fifth greatest film quotation according to (whoever it was)?'. This must rival the all time greatest worst question set by the Griffin some years back 'How old is Huw Edwards?'

and finally a word from Tony....

"I was a bit miffed that the question on the Olympics was so lacking in erudition. As any true aficionado of the modern Olympics knows, the idea began with Robert Drover's Cotswold Olympicks at Chipping Campden not the 'Jimmy Come Lately' lot in Much Wenlock. Neither venue of course really merits being called a town but that is to quibble."

The Question of the Week

This week the consensus is for Round 4 Questions 2 & 3 on the ministerial posts of Prime Ministers before assuming the top office - of the pair I'll plump for Question 3:

Which 20th century Prime Minister's ministerial path was: Secretary of State for Air, Minister of Housing & Local Government, Minister of Defence, Foreign Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer, PM?

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