Withington Pub Quiz League - quizbiz 19/03/14

Opsimaths win the League - INBTO come second - Bards are third - Pigs, Ethel and History Men slug it out next week for fourth place

Results & Match Reports

In the second of the season's Turnpike derbies Compulsory Meat Raffle beat The Charabancs of Fire. First music industry entrepreneur Rachael comments:

"It was a very exciting and enjoyable match, the Charabancs were great fun to play against as usual and were leading for much of the first half, though things started to go our way in the second half. We enjoyed the paper, plenty of variety and some really challenging and interesting questions. I think this might be the first time we've ever beaten the Charabancs so the win came as something of a surprise!"

and then Damian:

"What can I say? The Charas led in every single round in the first half, were level at half time and then progressively fell apart in the last 3 rounds! Such are the strange swings and roundabouts of quiz fortunes. Rachael, Chief Smiling Assassin of the Rafflers, even made Yours Truly text the results to you. I can see why she and her team are so successful on Mastermind, University Challenge and other brainy quizzes. I ask you, what chance do we poor old Charas have against such youthful ruthlessness couched with such a winning smile? To cap it all, Father M texted us from the graveside of James Joyce, half way up some alp in Switzerland! Apparently his venerable countryman had forecast a great victory for the Charas tonight! Alas, how many times have we warned him about taking that rusty old ouija board with him whenever he goes on his foreign travels?"

At the Griffin I've Never Been to One beat The Electric Pigs. Kieran reports:

"Very enjoyable evening with the always affable Pigs. Ethel's paper really suited us and Martin's fondness for medieval French cathedrals came in very handy. He also demonstrated a hitherto unknown talent in making a keen but fair book and should his teacher's pension prove inadequate I'm sure Fred Done would find a job for him.

Mischievously, I have to point out that the three-trottered Pigs led by one point at the end of both rounds 1 and 2 and were three points ahead half way through round 3. Then their absentee member, Andrew, arrived late from important council business and by the end of round 4 we were ahead by 4 and never looked back. Sorry Andrew - just saying.....but a very enjoyable night and good company during and after the game.

Congratulations on the title to The Opsimaths and yes we want it back. Hmm I seem to have said that rather a lot in recent years."

At the Fletcher Moss Albert were defeated by The Opsimaths who thereby capped their most successful season ever by taking the League crown. In the early rounds things looked to be going a little off track for the visitors but a magnificent performance in the French Picture Round by Hilary took the Opsimaths out of sight. Hilary, it seems, is a frequent visitor to France not to mention a serious francophile. By contrast Mary playing for Albert is halfway through The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul but for the life of her couldn't conjure up an image of the front cover and thus the author's name. Funniest moment of the evening was watching Brian try to convince himself that it would take longer to fill a bath if both taps were turned on than if only one was flowing. Even more bizarre was the calculation by (Albert's) Nick that a full 17 minutes would be required for the two-tap operation. If you're going for a twosie dip with Nick or Brian take a crossword to wile away the waiting time!

The Prodigals lost to The History Men at the Albert Club. Ivor sums up:

"The Albert Club was unusually lively tonight what with Manchester United’s escape act. Perhaps David Moyes will survive for a few further games. Meanwhile in the relative calm behind the curtain Anne-Marie QM’d and watched her side fall to a three man Historymen team. Both teams are guaranteed a place in the A-trophy next season and have no chance of a league fourth place (Ed: Surely the Historymen could finish fourth if next week's results fall right?). But the game was anything but dull - and as always with our encounters with the Prodigals there was plenty of banter and humour before, during and after each question.

As expected the combined score of 60 was not great but par for an Ethel quiz. The balance was very good though (9-8 split on unanswereds and 6-7 on 2s) and it was our superior steal rate (3-6) that ensured victory. The Prodigals did have two consecutive rounds (3 and 4) where they scored 0 points and despite a rally in the second half for once we did not let victory slip away."

..and finally The Bards of Didsbury beat The Men They Couldn't Hang. Graham from the losing corner spills his beans...

"Well a heck of an entertaining evening at the Didsbury CC, as always QM'd by Eric. I have to say that my ghast had never been so flabbered as it was by Tony's knowledge of IKEA, or Sarah's nous about Aussie daytime television programmes (despite Cooper's Crossing possibly being the wrong answer to the Flying Doctors question?). However Tony did not know that a boomerang was a Swedish coat hanger. As for Ethel's low scoring predictions in their intro, well they were right! No 'Question of the Week' from us, but the 'Answer of the Week' from Il Capitano Dave was that Billy, Boris, Malinda and the other one were all pets buried in the Blue Peter garden!"

Quiz Paper Verdict

This week the paper was compiled by Ethel Rodin. Another goodly effort - perhaps a little harder than the average week - but by all accounts well-balanced and full of interest.

At the Fletcher Moss in the Albert/Opsimaths match it made for a keen contest and quite a few 'tip of the tongue' moments. There were some minor niggles such as the river that rises in Switzerland and flows into the Black Sea. Well yes, its waters get to the Black Sea - but when they do they're called the Danube! And the one about the Sumptuary laws had a pretty specific answer given when these laws were really about most forms of consumption - not just clothing. The pair of mnemonic questions at the end of Round 3 intrigued both teams for quite a few minutes without any points being scored. Were these mnemonics tailor-made for this paper by some Rodin wordsmith? If so this could open up a whole new range of questions with DIY phrases indicating obscure lists of things? How about 'Men keep drinking beer' for the first names of this season's runners up?

My own favourite question (I was QMing) was the one about the 1954 Commonwealth Games and the finish of the marathon. This is pretty much my first television sporting memory and I can recall feeling sad and cheated for days after at the sight of Jim Peters staggering around the stadium yards from finishing in what would have been an unbelievably fast time. Strange how heroic failure is seared on one's memory so much more vividly than heroic success. Ever since Jim Peters' name has been sort of connected in my mind with the decline of the British Empire and a noble exit from a globe, which in my bedroom at home, was largely pink. All simplistic tosh, I now know, but nevertheless it is such moments that colour one's childhood perceptions of the world. So thanks, Ethel, for the memory.

Anne-Marie thought it "a quite difficult quiz" while Ivor commented....

"The paper was a curate’s egg, but the themes were well constructed (especially the chemical elements). The sports personalities eluded us (how quickly 1950s and 1960s athletes and golfers get consigned to the dustbin of specialised knowledge). Good to see Rachmaninoff make another appearance in the quiz albeit in the pair (actually triplet) of emigré Eastern Block composers dying of unpleasant illness in the USA (music and medicine - I wonder who set those questions?)."

The Chara view (courtesy of Damian) was....

"Tonight's quiz from Ethel R was a good, solid general knowledge effort that we normally do very well on. We were just up against a team tonight that were even more up for it than we were. Loved the pictures of the French cathedrals and the Loire chateaux (even if Yours Truly could not always guess them right). Not so keen on the ins and outs of IKEA products (is one of the quiz setters on their payroll or something?). We may have fallen flat on our collective derrierés in the main quiz, but we beat our esteemed opponents hands down on the Spares!"

The Question of the Week

The Pigs, the Prodigals, INBTO and the History Men all opt for Round 8 Question 1:

Where amongst others would you be able to find Billy, Borris, Malinda and Markus?

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

Chatterbox

Just as a counterweight to this week's headlines here's a salutary footer (and I do mean 'footer') dug from the website's archive pages...

A reminder not just of heroic failure, but of the strange range of colour schemes I have subjected you to over the years.