Withington Pub Quiz League - quizbiz 12/11/14

WIST: Wins for Chunky, The Alex, The Bards and The Opsimaths keep honours even between the two leagues

A-Trophy: Three-One to WithQuiz as The Prodigals, The History Men and The PIgs get through - only The Charabancs judder to a halt against The Printers

Results & Match Reports

WIST Quarter Finals

The Bull's Head lost by a narrow margin to The Opsimaths after storming to a 10-1 lead in the first half of Round 1. In the second half of Round 1 things evened up as the pairing worked its way through with the easier questions coming the way of the visitors. After that it was always fairly close. My hunch is that, whereas the WithQuiz teams are always comfortable diving into the conferred format of the Stockport-style rounds, the Stockport teams find it more difficult getting the hang of the non-time limited WithQuiz-style rounds - too often giving up the chance of individual glory by conferring before they've really thought long and hard about the question. To put it more succinctly the format of these WIST papers gives WithQuiz teams a slight built-in advantage.
Anyway it was an excellent evening with good chit-chat throughout and a first rate QM. Marple seemed eerily quiet at 10.30pm on a Wednesday night as we snuck off into the gloom and headed back to the bright lights the other side of the Mersey, my phone pinging with tidings from the other venues.

Dunkin Dönitz slumped to an uncharacteristic defeat at the hands of the visitors from The Alexandra. It seems, however that DD only had two players on their team - so perhaps it wasn't so surprising given that that they were playing one of Stockport's finest quartet. Mike Wagstaffe from the visiting victors sums up....
"We've not been to the Griffin for a few years as it's no longer a Stockport League venue - just a WithQuiz enclave within our borders. The only noticeable changes since our last visit are that the Smoke Fairies have become Dunkin' Dönitz and are suffering a severe personnel shortage. Kieran and David had to play two-handed. At the fifth time of asking we have finally got past them in Europe. As ever they were convivial hosts and as gracious in defeat as they have been in victory. We had a most enjoyable evening in the Griffin's front parlour."

Traveller's Call lost fairly narrowly to the visiting Bards. Bard Tony reflects....
"We enjoyed our evening at the Traveller's Call. It was enlivened somewhat by a couple having a 'domestic' outside the door, and then somebody coming in to our quiz parlour to demand "the questions". We didn't grasp the significance of this, but our hosts understood fully and told him to come back tomorrow."

Ethel Rodin came close but couldn't quite topple the undisputed giants of the Stockport league, Chunky. James gives his take on the evening's proceedings at The White Swan....
"It was a close match with a set of questions that were on the whole pretty good. But in truth the result was determined at 8:35 by the toss. In Round 1 Chunky stormed to a 7-0 lead against 3 unanswered questions all of which fell to Ethel (and we ended up getting the lion's share of unanswered questions in that round by a margin of 7 to 3). Had we gone first we'd have been 7-0 up too. That kind of kills off the whole competition at the start - as well as hitting team morale - particularly when you're playing the best team around.
Even so, we gradually caught up, and indeed could have won if we'd gone for a few more two-pointers.
In the written round (Round 2) Ethel wrote down the name of the author rather than the name of the 6-volume work in question and lost the points. Had the result hinged on this mistake (and it very nearly did!) Chunky had agreed to allow us the points for our answer. Many thanks to them - always a sporting team to play. Nevertheless grrrr! Frustrating."
....and from the victor's camp John Holden sends these observations....
"The standard of questions was appropriate for a Champions League game; I felt challenged, most of the players did, and every player contributed.
We went first, and the early unanswered questions went to our opponents. In Stockport this is not unusual, but in Withington it probably felt like a mountain for them to climb. However they began to climb it and pushed us hard all the way, including pushing me into Mount Vesuvius: how could anyone confuse Volare with Funiculi Funicula?
'High seas' and 'Bikini' were the only times we jumped the right way. SOMEHOW we didn’t pick up on the name Crabtree; Ethel (unsurprisingly) did, and that round was a crushing victory for them, but they never quite made up the early ground lost. We don’t seem to have the nerve to go for two pointers, but in the last round they forced us to do so, and it came off for us. Others may have analysed the unanswered questions, and whether going first or second was advantageous. We felt we’d been in a battle, and were lucky and relieved to come out just ahead."

A-Trophy Quarter Finals

Electric Pigs enjoyed a comfortable win at the Fletcher Moss against Locomotiv Stöckpört.

The Star simply couldn't cope with the visiting heavyweights that are The History Men. Ivor emailed in on his return to these shores....
"We travelled to the Deep South tonight (well Cheadle) in our pursuit of European glory (albeit in the Europa Cup equivalent) and had a successful outcome against our Stockport League opposition.
The Star were splendid hosts and the evening was rounded off with a buffet. The pub itself was reminiscent of the Turnpike with, not only 1970s prices and decor, but 1970s music on the jukebox so we older codgers felt quite at home.
The History Men inched ahead 20-19 after round one, then had a 12-4 victory in the written round to lead by 9 going into the Withquiz format rounds. As regular readers will know we do have a propensity for imploding and blowing even such large leads, but tonight with Anne on the team we took that half 20-11 to progress comfortably into the semi-finals.
The Star of The Star tonight was our own Anne who only failed to get four 2s in the second half because of her doubts about Alexandria’s library having a gap of 1600 years between opening times. Anne is pretty sure the public library in Bolsover might have had a similar period in abeyance."

Charabancs lost a close encounter of the nostalgic kind to The Printers. Damian explains....
"What can I say? (Ed: I'm sure you'll think of something, Damian!). A thoroughly amiable and relaxed encounter with some old friends from south of the border which brought tears of nostalgia to the eyes of Gerry and Yours Truly, both of whom fondly recall their Stockport quizzing days when it was a case of reminding wives, girlfriends, employers, weekly escorts, relatives and friends that we were unavailable for non-intellectual pursuits not only on ONE night of the week but on TWO! However did we find the energy?
Tonight's quiz was a close and exciting encounter all the way. Curiously, we maintained a narrow lead all the way through the Stockport half of the quiz only to slip behind in the Withquiz half! It was certainly a very educational and entertaining affair where even the ones we found difficult to answer provoked plenty of discussion and a fair amount of mental creativity trying to find the right answer. We really didn't feel too deflated when our mental dexterity proved to fall just a little bit short!

Railway Tiviot Dale lost at home to the marauding Prodigals by a fairly hefty margin.

Quiz Paper Verdict

The paper this week was set by The Stockport League (well in fact by Ashton from WithQuiz's Albert team - as Mike Wagstaffe explains below).

A few niggles about the balance but all-in-all a grand tour through some fascinating facts. A real 'Well I Never' Quiz as the feedback below testifies.

Comments first from Mike of The victorious Alex team....

"Ashton Davies (of The Albert team) kindly volunteered to set the paper at very short notice (there was shortage of volunteers in Stockport as most of our usual setters were taking part in the matches) - and he didn't let us down. A great paper with lots of interesting questions and plenty of food for thought and post-quiz discussion. Both teams at our match opted for 'the only American in Mein Kampf' (Round 3 Question 1) as QotW.

...and Chara Damian.....

"QotW: We particularly liked the one about who was the last Republican to be nominated for the US presidency without either a Bush or a Nixon on the ticket. I so wished I'd given that one more thought when it fell to me. If I had, I probably wouldn't have blurted out Ronald Reagan but worked my way back to the right answer. Great question for those of us who like history, and particularly the American version.

Naff QotW: Although we all enjoyed the Connections Round, I was particularly affronted by the revelation that Lily Allen and an assortment of fictional figures possessed 3 nipples. As someone rumoured to be on nodding terms with a few 'old queen' facts, I have to ask whether the question setter really did not know that Anne Boleyn was the most famous historical figure to enjoy that distinction? Did he not read the transcripts of her trial where it was cited as irrefutable proof that she was a witch and had obviously employed the black arts in order to make Henry VIII marry her? Who knows, it may have led me to spot the connection!

Funniest Information of the week: The startling revelation that Edward Gibbon wrote SIX volumes on the fall of the Roman Empire whilst suffering from swollen testicles! Did he instruct his missus to hit them with a sledgehammer every time he started to nod off whilst in mid chapter? Did he use them in place of a desk? Is this the greatest example in history of someone suffering for their art? Enquiring minds want to know!"

Ivor gives us the view from The Star.....

"Excellent questions tonight and, although there were a few hard ones (19 unanswered over the evening) even these tended to be of interest. The paper was as far removed from 'What is the capital of France?' as any could be - and so, many thanks to the setter. Can there have been another quiz in the UK tonight that had answers varying from railway stations on a US monopoly board, to Charles Manson’s killing gang, to the last Bush/Nixon-free winning ticket of a US presidential Republican candidate?"

Not quite so thrilled by the paper, James comments from the post-match boudoir of 'Oh so nearly' Ethel Rodin....

"As regards pairs, I know it can be hard to set balanced questions sometimes, but there were several tonight where 8 people knew the answer to a question, but nobody knew the answer to its paired question. That's surely avoidable if you've run the questions past a target audience first.

Jake in Monopoly's jail was surely the worst question of the night, even before his very simple pair came up. If I was more awake, I'd think of a suitable anatomical pun for the context, but it's too late now! Having said that some of the links in Round 4 were very good and I'd give that my vote as 'round of the week'.

Finally Bard Captain Tony....

"The quiz itself was interesting, and at times demanding. It was a good mix of the attainable, the well known and the downright obscure. As a test of General Ignorance it worked well and we had the edge over our opponents. To have walked round Hamilton Park, Birkenhead was a decided advantage. (Ed: ...and to have survived to tell the tale even more so!)"

Back to school next Wednesday with a paper from the Opsimaths - you have been warned!

The Question of the Week

Plenty of nominations for the QotW this week (always a good sign). Casting my total undemocratic vote I am plumping for Round 6 Question 3 which a number of you mentioned in despatches:

Who was the last Republican to win a presidential election without having either a Bush or a Nixon on the ticket?

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

Chatterbox

The powers that be (i.e. Mike Wagstaffe and myself) have consulted and determined the line-up for the WIST and A-Trophy semi-finals in February. They are now up on the Fixtures page. We have chosen to ensure a WIST Stockport v WithQuiz final in April rather than go for the 'drawing lots' approach. Hope you're OK with this.

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It's TV Quiz recruiting time again! I have just received an invitation to appear alongside 'Lofty' Osman on Two Tribes....

The email came from:

Dominic Shinya, Casting Researcher, Two Tribes, T: 020 8222 4910, dominic.shinya@endemoluk.com, Endemol UK, Shepherd's Building Central, Charecroft Way, London W14 0EE, Switchboard: 0870 333 1700 and the details are contained in the following flyer: