Withington Pub Quiz League - quizbiz 15/10/14

Ethel pip the League Champions at the Albert Club - the Bards power on - Albert get the better of Dunkin' Dönitz

Results & Match Reports

History Men beat Electric Pigs in a noisy Red Lion. Ivor tells the story....
"Our usual seating area in the Red Lion was full so we went to the annexe. The Muzak was pretty loud so Andrew requested that I, as History Men Captain (self appointed), ask for it to be turned down. Of course, I delegated the task to Peter on the grounds that he would have more gravitas. The barman agreed to our request but unfortunately did not know how to implement it. Luckily we discovered that if we drank more alcohol the background music faded anyway - indeed everything faded.
As might be expected from previous matches the History Men v the Pigs was always going to be a 'one point either way' contest and so it proved. Needless to say (indeed why am I saying it?) the History Men contrived to almost completely squander an early, comfortable lead of 8 points by the time we got to the final 'Pick Your Own' subject rounds. These started inauspiciously with Tim missing the Medicine question and then opting for Zoology which led to endless discussion as we tried to remember the Greek words for 'women' and 'hairy' resulting eventually in us conjuring up the (presumably non-existent) animal the 'Gynaetrichia'. The match eventually ended in a two person shoot-out with scores 37 all and two questions remaining (the situation that leaves all seat 4 people especially nervous - but then it goes with the territory). Dave went for Music, got classical and opted for a safe one point. I went for Theology and Religious studies (hoping that it wasn't Islamic Studies or Buddhism) and was able to use my 1960s Ulster primary school education with a question on Genesis patriarchs. Miss Turkington’s efforts (Plymouth Brethren and ruling her Primary Six class with a discipline akin to Miss Trunchball in Matilda) finally paid off a mere 46 years later!"

Albert beat Dunkin' Dönitz in their Fletcher Moss bolthole as Mike O'Brien tells....
"The result was a surprise to us. We had a 10 point lead at the end of the first half which, with our usual meltdown, we managed to turn into a 1 point deficit by the final round. But then we rallied enough to win on the last question which ironically was a variation of one of our questions last week - the one on yttrium. DD played 3-handed and would probably have won with a full team."

Bards beat TMTCH at the Cricket Club to cement their position at the top of the table. Graham reports from the losing camp....
"When the Hangers led 5-0 at the end of Round 1 we thought our luck was in. Then reality kicked in. Surprisingly the new Hanger auditioning to become a regular member of the team refused to be put off replacing Il Capitano Dave for the second half, and thought he might turn up again...mad fool."
...whilst Tony (a spectator for the night) gives the winner's view.....
"I was sitting out tonight and helping Eric with the scoring. The Hangmen started well leading 5-2 at the end of Round One. It was level pegging by the end of Round 2 at 8 all and then the Bards surged into a comfortable lead by half time maintaining the pressure after the break to win fairly convincingly.
Jim protested loudly that the Periodic Table was Physics not Chemistry - Bernard had to dredge up his student memories to recall what the upper jaw is called in Posh - Eric struggled with Senecio and Camillieri but did well enough to be asked back. As ever the Hangmen were delightful company and we parted looking forward to a great night at the Parrswood in the second half of the season."

Meat Raffle lost to Charabancs but who cares!! Rachael is getting married at Christmas! She announced her intentions to the assembled throng in the Turnpike. Apparently it was the departure of George Clooney from the eligible stakes scene that clinched her decision. Our special WithQuiz Society correspondent reports that Rachael just went for a 2-point blurt when the question was posed. Hooray! Many congratulations from all your friends in the league. Meat Raffle are setting on December 3rd so prepare yourselves for a plethora of Christmas and Wedding themed posers.
Back to more mundane affairs Damian gives the lowdown on the evening's other match involving the Meat Raffle....
"Tonight was again a game of two halves with a depleted 3-man Raffle team competing successfully in the first half, leading in 2 rounds and drawing in the other 2. But then the Charas soared ahead in every round in the 2nd half. Once more, the team that went second in each half had the easier ride. In any event, the Charas continued their smooth upward progression from the start of the new season, losing by fewer and fewer points each week until the margin was so narrow that they couldn't help winning! Well, you know what I mean."

Opsimaths lost to Ethel Rodin in the top of the table clash at the Albert Club. An excellent match full of good humour with Brian in the chair as QM seeing that all was fair play. The Opsimaths crept ahead over the first half and then accelerated in Rounds 5 and 6 only to lose Round 7 by 9 points to 2. All to play for in the final round then, but Ethel kept her collective head and sneaked home by a single point. A famous victory well merited. It seems to me that Ethel Rodin are now consolidating their position as a 'Top 4 team' making the league that much more open as an annual contest.

Quiz Paper Verdict

The paper this week was set by The Prodigals.

A good solid effort maintaining the standards achieved so far this season. The average aggregate was 77.4 which is the season's highest yet. Generally high-scoring all round (topped by a massive 55 points recorded by the Bards) meant that there were few 'what am I doing here?' moments. In the Opsimaths/Ethel encounter we enjoyed the evening greatly enhanced as it was by QM Brian's scrupulously clear pronunciation. The only negative comments came in the 'Announced theme' rounds where the questions were fine but the themes somewhat laboured ('Crafts') or obscure ('Fictional newspapers').

Damian's feedback from the Turnpike....

"With Anne-Marie acting as QM deploying her customary efficiency and charm and not hesitating to correct poor punctuation and grammar (what a great school headmistress she would have made), we found the Prodigals' paper interesting and quirky - nicely poised between the difficult and the recognisable. The mostpopular offerings of the evening were the 'Guess the surname from 3 clues' round and the final 2 'Pick Your Subjects Rounds'. Given that setting 'Pick Your Subject' rounds has been one of the mainstays of previous quizzes set by the Charas, predictably we basked in such familiar territory and positively cruised through Rounds 7 and 8.
Our QotW? The Samuel Beckett cricket question. Yours Truly has possibly learnt more from his fellow Withquizzers than he ever did by boring old study and reading books! Whoever would have thought that an Irishman who spent most of his life in France and wrote most of his works in French would be such an enthusiast of cricket that he actually got a mention in despatches by the Cricket authorities? Apparently this is a well known fact in Ireland and Father Megson chided me for my lamentable ignorance of the, apparently, longstanding Irish love for this resolutely Anglo-Saxon pastime. Just knock me down with a feather, or maybe a cricket bat!
...and our 'Answer Of The Week'? Chara John's enthusiastic response to the question on why Sophie Wittams has been in the news recently. Apparently she was not the unfortunate person who stuck a leech down her throat until it bled. He seemed crestfallen when the answer turned out to be something rather less exotic but it gave the rest of us a good laugh anyway.....always in the best possible taste of course!"

Ivor's verdict from the Red....

"The quiz paper was very well received and, as the scores suggest, just the right level of difficulty and balance. The 3 clues to a surname with the philosopher theme gets the round of the week - the cricketing Nobel laureate and cricketing PM, the pair of the week.

The 'Wrong answers of the week' were given to the question on the significance of the voyage of the Hougoumont. These were variously:

1) it was the first ship to travel through the Suez canal

2) It sank and survivors on the lifeboat killed and ate the cabin boy (I dare say worse things have happened to cabin boys."

A victorious James comments on behalf of his fellow Rodinistas....

"The paper was a good one. When I set quizzes myself, I get a degree of pleasure when it remains close right up to the wire - and for 3 out of the 5 games last night to be won and lost on the last question reflects very well on the setters.

For me, there was the rare pleasure of being able to gain a point from knowledge acquired just that day in the process of setting my own questions (not for WithQuiz, I must add!) - and as for the tight finish, the topics on the board did land very well for Ethel (which hasn't always been the case with that type of round)."

Mike from the Fletcher Moss concludes "the aggregate score tells us that this was a reasonable paper although it never felt so easy even when we had a good lead" while Tony from the Cricket Club picks up on a hiccup...."It was slightly remiss of the Prodigals to leave the artist's signature on one of the pictures. It was spotted by our QM in time and got scrubbed out. I hope everyone else managed to do the same."

The Question of the Week

Like everyone else I rather liked the 'Clues to a surname with an overall theme' Round 6. I've gone for Question 4:

What surname links: America's Schubert, a book with a character called Sally Bowles and the albums Low, Heroes and Lodger?

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