Withington Pub Quiz League - quizbiz 21/01/15

Wins for Dunkin Dönitz and the Bards whilst Ethel and the Opsimaths slip back

Results & Match Reports

The Men They Couldn't Hang, still seeking that elusive 2015 victory, went down to the mercurial Charabancs of Fire at The Parrswood Hotel. Graham muses....
"Entertainment as ever, despite the Hangers losing. After an encouraging start the Hangers fell apart in Round 4. Nevertheless my own answer that Jan Paderewski was Pope John Paul II's goalkeeping understudy - and Dave's answer of 'sodomy' to the Arnold Bax question about incest - provided no end of hilarity, and a raised eyebrow from Gilly. Great fun all around."
Damian reports from the winner's enclosure....
"Despite being hobbled by a bad back, Yours Truly limped to the Parrswood, quiz questions in hand wondering gloomily if anyone has ever died answering a quiz question? However, a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining evening in the company of Dave, Graham and co. soon put paid to any misplaced feelings of self-pity and woe! This was a quiz of almost 2 halves with the team answering first generally getting the better end of the deal. The Hangmen accordingly led comfortably in the first 3 rounds and then stumbled to zero points in Round 4 (well I did say 'almost 2 halves'). Thereafter, the Charas continued their erratic and unpredictable performance trajectory by taking the lead in every subsequent round - with the Hangers gamely, but vainly, in pursuit. The Charas ran out winners by 6 points!"

The Bards just got the better of The Electric Pigs at the Cricket Club. Tony reports....
"It was nice to get back to winning ways but we had a Dickens of a struggle. The Pigs were on great form and took the lead in Round One and kept it until Round 6, and then regained it yet again after Round 7. We felt we were lucky to pull back to 18-17 after round 4. There was still only one point between the teams after Round 6. Round 7 did not seem to me to be well-balanced - the Pigs scored four twos against our total of three points. However happily we chose well in the beer bingo round scoring 8 points to the Pigs 2. Eric applied his new regime of controlling the thinking time and the Pigs were totally compliant. The quiz was over by 10.15, so we had time for a quick-fire quiz which all enjoyed tremendously, and, for a change, Steve caught his tram without having to sprint the last fifty yards."

The History Men beat Compulsory Meat Raffle at the Red Lion with both teams fielding just 3 players and possibly requiring use of the brand new WithQuiz 'no-show' invoicing system (see Chatterbox below for details). Ivor acted as QM and also our match reporter....
"A three-per-side game tonight but just the same friendly competitive tension and thrills as for a four handed match. Despite the Raffles claim that 'we are used to losing' they were ahead at one stage with the Raffles very young David outscoring our quite young David. Our Anne was back after her lay off with a dental abscess and was in fine form aided by some prophylactic hot chocolate with brandy."

The Prodigals started ahead and stayed ahead in what became a fairly comfortable victory over The Opsimaths. They were worthy winners although I did think going second in the first half on this paper (as The Opsimaths did) was a distinct disadvantage. Conviviality reigned supreme with Danny insisting my answer of 'Cote d'Azur' was allowed for the Somerset Maugham question even though schoolmistressly QM, Cheryl, was minded to mark me wrong. As the final whistle blew Mark was quick to inscribe the Prodigals name on the famous Orkney Dark trophy which bears the name of the winners of the Albert Club derby down the years. Dave regaled us with tales of what was going on behind the scenes at Egghead Central in Glasgow, whilst Howell dreamed up the process for penalising 'non-showing' team members displayed in the Chatterbox area below. All round a most enjoyable midweek evening out!

Dunkin' Dönitz confirmed their return to form beating close rivals Ethel Rodin at the Griffin. Kieran enthuses (I think)....
"Awsum 4sum - fit again Barry - 5 twos - sixth win on the bounce - right back on it - top, top players - luverly jublee - bish bash bosh. Sorry I seem to have come over a bit 'Arry. And speaking of 'Arry - he's still manager of QPR at the time of writing and Nico Kranjcar is still a QPR player. So just how is Harry going to sign the top, top Croatian a week on Saturday? It may bugger up the Special Theory of Relativity for all time....... no that's just adding another complication. Whatever there's every chance that you'll find me on the 31st on a car park somewhere with the window wound down telling everyone who'll listen that Ivor / Roddy / Damian is a top, top player but there's no chance we can get him and I'm going home not expecting anything to happen. OK he's gone now." Ed: Was there a quiz match - or just a load of sniffin' at the Griffin?

Quiz Paper Verdict

The paper this week was set by Albert.

A good high average aggregate of 71.6 and a wide range of subjects covered. There was little if any tricksiness and most rounds galloped along at a cracking pace. You all seemed to find it an admirable basis for a pleasant evening out amongst friends. From the Opsimaths' point of view we felt the difficulty of the questions could have been better balanced with the team going second in the first half IMHO at a distinct disadvantage. Round 5 started with possibly the easiest question asked all season: "Name 2 of the 3 immediate post-WW2 UK Prime Ministers". This one came to Opsimath Nick who blinked and looked up to the ceiling. You could see him asking himself "What trick lies behind this?". After some deal of cogitation he gave up looking for a twist and delivered the straightforward - and correct - answer. At the other extreme there were a few "How on earth is anyone meant to know that?" questions such as the first one in Round 3 that requested the name of the TV personality whose father had been Mayor of Bath in 1952!! Minor quibbles though - it was a good paper. Our own nomination for QotW was the one at the end of Round 5 asking for 2 of the 3 largest English National Parks by area. Did anyone get the South Downs as one of the 3?

What other comments?

Tony....

"Albert produced a quiz which gave us lots of scope for moaning and ribbing but which, in the end, gave us an exciting quiz night. That is what out weekly test of General Ignorance is all about."

Kieran....

"Very good paper, lots of points on offer and some 'I never knew that moments'. I'd nominate John Tyler's extant grandchildren for question of the week - there's some astounding longevity genes in that family. And an honourable mention to 'avalanche' which added to everyone's store of pub quiz bore trivia guaranteed to clear a room in two minutes flat.

David had a legitimate gripe in the Round 4 chestnuts round where everyone was scoring 2s with ease and he got the obscure Somerset Maugham question - where did that come from?"

Damian....

"We thought tonight's paper was a good, workmanlike effort. The themes were a little hard to work out with none of us guessing the Bond Girls and only gradually sussing the Dad's Army theme (who the heck was Farthing?). The Beer Bingo round was imaginative and well received although we found some of the questions did not quite do justice to the originality of the concept.

For the sake of the sheer amusement it gave us, I nominate the question about the only 2 things to avoid in life which duly fell to Hangmen Dave. Given that incest was one of them he immediately and excitedly roared out 'Sodomy' as the other.

Intriguing QotW? Can it really be true that a man born in 1790 (US President John Tyler) has 2 grandchildren still living and might they possibly be called Steve and Bonnie? Answers on a postcard please."

and praise indeed from Ivor....

"The quiz was well received by both teams. I was in the QM seat tonight where it's always hard to judge the level of difficulty seeing all the answers in front of you - but a combined score of 65 for a three v three contest sounds the right level of difficulty.

QotW was the John Tyler question. This exemplifies how to compile the perfect Withington Quiz Question:

It has a question stem with only one possible answer.

... And that stem is essentially 'Who was the 10th US president'?

... However, this is a worthy, but difficult and a somewhat dull question.

... Who was the president preceded by William Harrrison and succeeded by James Polk is worthy, a bit easier, but still dull.

... Which president was involved in the annexation of Texas is interesting factual material that might help eliminate a few no-hoper answers.

... But the piece de resistance is the interesting fact that he still has two surviving grandchildren despite being born in 1790. Of course this of no real help in identifying the illustrious grandparent but is such a gee-whiz fact that all is forgiven even if you have not the slightest idea what the answer is because the question has interest.

... A definitive stem and answer, helpful pointers to allow a second bite at the cherry, and a captivating grace note all add up to the perfect question."

The Question of the Week

After the praise heaped on it above there is little option but to go for Round 6 Question 5:

Despite being born in 1790, this American President still has two living grandchildren. His was the tenth presidency lasting from 1841 to 1845. He succeeded William Henry Harrison and concerned himself largely with the annexation of Texas, although this was ultimately carried out by his successor, James Polk. Who is he?

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

Chatterbox

Following on from this week's news from the West Country, WithQuiz Admin Support Services Office Centre (WASSOC) is proud to present teams with a pro-forma invoice to be used by team captains to charge any team members selected for a match who don't show up or, indeed, are found guilty of any other specified offences under the WithQuiz code of conduct. If necessary the same invoice format can be used to charge a whole team who default on a match. Foreign currency versions are available should any of these problems arise in relation to matches with Stockport League teams in WIST contests.

Happy to accept any suggested modifications before we introduce the process shortly!