Withington Pub Quiz League - quizbiz 19/10/16

The Shrimps and The Opsimaths maintain their 100% records; no joy yet for The Bards, The Men or The Charas

The Results

In the wonderful Ladybarn Social Club the home team, Ethel Rodin, lost to the 100%-ers, The Opsimaths. I arrived just before 10pm having spent the earlier evening hours watching a certain football match - so I needed cheering up. Thank you Nick, Hilary, Howell and Brian for providing me with a suitable distraction! A fine match very ably invigilated by Ethel's QM (whose name I'm afraid I didn't catch). We do have an excellent batch of QMs at the moment who collectively make a big difference to the enjoyment of our quiz evenings. The match finished before 10.30pm so there was again plenty of 'catch up' time.

Shrimps, you may be pleased to hear that our star player, Nick, is absent in a fortnight's time in Greece with erstwhile Opsimath and Jeremy Paxman acolyte, Paddy Duffy. They will be in Athens competing as a duo in the Quiz Olympiad. Since leaving Manchester (and the Opsimaths) for the smoke Paddy has well and truly hitched his wagon to the media. He was Assistant Producer on this week's Panorama programme which had Paxman ambling around the US offering various facial expressions of disbelief at the terribleness of the Presidential campaign. At least we in the UK can be proud of the fact that we have (eventually) consigned our leading sex bully to an unmarked Yorkshire grave; in the US they are seriously considering making him President!

The Bards of Didsbury just don't seem to be able to emulate their stellar performances of last season, losing again - this time to the ever-improving History Men. Ivor reports on the events of the evening at the Cricket Club....

"After a slow start our season is accelerating. We do not often beat the Bards these days but tonight in an almost deserted cricket club we took a lead in the first round and for once we held on. The Bards are back to full strength (with Bernard a strong deputy for Steve) and were unlucky to be playing second ('unanswereds' breaking 0-5 against them); otherwise they might have had points on the board instead of a fourth consecutive defeat."

The Prodigals are starting to exhibit the form they showed towards the end of last season managing to beat The Electric Pigs at the Albert Club.

Albert too are looking in good nick as they eased past The Charabancs of Fire at The Fletcher Moss. First Mike's take on the match....

"An enjoyable contest enlivened by the Greek Chorus of despairing City fans gathered around the TV in the bar. The second half suited us better than the first half. There were very few unanswered questions but a lot of 'ones' so there was plenty of opportunity for conferring."

....then Damian's....

"Yes, another quiz night, another defeat. Maybe my memory is getting faulty but, once upon a time, I'm sure we used to win quite often when posting numbers like 38, 31, 42 and 32 (our last 4 losing scores). Well, not these days. Standards have obviously risen and the constant addition of new faces to revitalise the opposition teams has made a big difference. Correct me if I'm wrong, Mike, but it occurs to me that the Charas are probably the only team left in Withquiz with a line-up unchanged for the last 10 years, and this probably goes a long way to explain our inability to compete these days. At any event, that's my latest attempt to come up with some sort of explanation for our chronic loss of form. I'm always open to alternative explanations of course, providing they are not too rude. Eveline's suggestion that we should sack our absent captain (who fled to the highlands of Scotland this week to escape the constant litany of failure) is probably a tad on the harsh side given our collective sense of responsibility - and possibly blasphemous too!"

(ED: Yes Damian I do believe that The Charas are the Gladys Knight and The Pips of WithQuiz reminding us all each week of 'The Way Things Were'.)

Compulsory Mantis Shrimp who have streaked off the blocks this season kept their 100% record intact by beating The Men They Couldn't Hang. First Rachael's feedback....

"After another enjoyable evening at the Turnpike with the always delightful TMTCH, we ended the night 10 points to the good. This, however, is not representative of the whole match as we finished most of the rounds never more than one or two points ahead. As we entered the final round we led by two points but Round 8 was very good for us and disastrous for the Men."

and then Graham's....

"The Hangers once again managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, this time following the curse of Round 8. Earlier I had been crippled by a tumble on that dreadful cycle lane outside the Turnpike, with it's shallow pavement (my fat lip still throbs as I write). However nothing could deter me carrying on and rising to the Dunkers challenge. Neck and neck until Round 8, and then the quartets threw us. As ever the Shrimps were entertaining, and in the Turnpike, always excellent value. I'm not looking forward to taking on the History Men at the Red next week with the EFL Cup Derby. Any alternative venues, Ivor?"

The Paper

This week's paper was set by Dunkin' Dönitz.

By general acclaim another excellent effort (we've started really well this year). An average aggregate of 80.8 and finishes in the acceptable zone between 10pm and 10.30pm. Even the one quibble I had about the Minch being the strait between the Inner Hebrides (not the Scottish Mainland) and the Outer Hebrides has fallen flat. On consulting a map I find that the strait separating the Inner and Outer Hebrides is called The Little Minch whereas The Minch actually lies between Lewis and Harris and the mainland - as the question stated.

Let's see what others said....

Damian....

"Tonight's offering from the Dunkers was another enjoyable offering much in line with those presented to us in previous weeks. Yours Truly particularly enjoyed the 'what happened on this day in time' round with its special emphasis on the successes and failures of Le Petit Corporal that left me wondering which of the Dunkers suffers from the Napoleon complex? I was a bit miffed though when asked what was considered Boney's most famous tactical victory. I felt confident the answer would be Austerlitz only to be told it was Ulm. So there you go, I can't even rely on my supposedly traditional strengths these days! We loved the alliterative answers round and the missing quartet members too."

and Ivor....

"Quiz got the thumb’s up from both teams. There were plenty of 'tip of the tongue' moments and 'two plausible answers' questions. Round 1 was the only slow round all night but after that we cantered through the quiz for a 10.15 finish. It is always satisfying to dredge up a correct answer when at first you are all a-blank - North Carolina, Rubens Barichello, retreat from Moscow etc."

and Mike....

"We liked the question about the origins of the name Spandau Ballet. The themes were not especially complex but still produced good questions. This helps to explain why we are so fond of themes. It is very difficult for us, as a group, to set 64 questions week after week; it is the device of themes which makes it so much easier to come up with original questions. The theme provides a structure to build on."

and Anne-Marie....

"Really enjoyable quiz and full of interesting facts. Who knew Napoleon did so much on one day of the year? Also enjoyed the fact that DD pinched some of our own Prodigal ideas for their rounds (e.g. the Bible round, the missing quartet round, and the 'On this day' round). Flattered!"

and finally Rachael....

"We enjoyed the paper very much. Some challenging questions but all very fair, entertaining and interesting. An excellent piece of work!"

Question of the Week

This week there's a general consensus as to the merits of Round 7 Question 4:

Which band of the 1980s got its name (according to some) from a piece of graffiti referring to the twitching movements made by prisoners being hanged?

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