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WITHQUIZ The Withington Pub Quiz League QUIZBIZ 14th February 2018 |
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| WQ Archive | Comments | Question papers | |||
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WITHQUIZ The Withington Pub Quiz League QUIZBIZ 14th February 2018 |
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| WQ Archive | Comments | Question papers | |||
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Results & Match Reports |
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WIST Champions Cup: Dunkin' Dönitz beat Mantis Shrimp Smart Italics lost to Alexandra WIST Lowly Grail Cup: Prodigals lost to Bards HMRUFC lost to The Printers |
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Dunkin' Dönitz beat Compulsory Mantis Shrimp in a thrilling match at the Griffin - which although an all-WithQuiz match is nicely poised just over the boundary into Stockport. The margin was a mere one point and there were so many moments during the evening when a slightly different course of events would have led to a different outcome as Kieran reports.... "Look this is starting to get cruel. We're not getting too old for this; we already are way too old to withstand this kind of heart-stopping game with the result in doubt right till the last. For the sixth time in fourteen outings this season the final margin was three points or fewer. Last season it was six times in 24 games. Are we getting worse or more clinical at closing games out? Whatever it is putting years on all of us and may well see off one or more of us off if it goes on like this. This being WIST there was musical accompaniment. Well there was a guy with a guitar and a microphone in the main bar. But he couldn't hold a candle to the brilliant trombonist from the Travellers Call in the previous round. He couldn't hold a note either for that matter. The Griffin is in one of its periodic existential crisis modes. No hand pumps in the main bar, debris outside and yet another raft of new staff. We understand that new beer lines are being installed which may be a long overdue reaction to the alarmingly deteriorating quality of the ale over the last couple of years. I believe that CAMRA have more or less blackballed the place these days. I get the feeling that this refurbishment is the final chance, make or break, and if improved reliability of the beer quality and other attempts at upgrading don't bring the punters back then one of the league's iconic venues will soon be no more. We play what may well be our last game there next week against the History Men and if we're forced to relocate to the Parrswood due to hordes of United fans watching the Sevilla game then we already may have left our home of twenty five years.
Wherever it's played we have a WIST final to look
forward to; our seventh in the eleven seasons of
WIST.
Smart Italics lost to Alexandra. Mike Wagstaffe gives an account of the evening.... "So, we meet the Dunkers again in Europe. Our record against them is less than impressive, with a solitary win in five attempts and that was against a two-man team! Having been runners-up twice we will be hoping for third time lucky in the final. We shaded the first two (Stockport format) rounds to establish a 6-point half-time lead. We stretched this to 10 points by halfway in the WithQuiz rounds, but our cluelessness on the tribes of Israel meant we had a (slightly) nerve-jangling 5-point advantage going into the last round, which was drawn. Smart Italics scored eight two-pointers to our four but (as someone else may have said) we won it on the ones. Interviewed on his way home down Cheadle High Street The Alexandra's new Catalan manager gave his thoughts... "We are so, so happy to arrive in this moment. I am only here for short time but I know already the history of this competition and we look forward to play the final at famous quiz venue like Club of Alberto or maybe Murky Stadium (OK, I know is now called the Social Club of Ladyboys but it is what it is). I say to all the guys they must always improve to beat this fabulous team, Duncan and the Donuts, and we try to win and perhaps get presented the trophy by quiz legend like the Lord of Bath or Farmer Megson".
The Prodigals enjoyed their evening at the Albert Club but nevertheless lost to The Bards of Didsbury. Anne-Marie sums up.... "Good fun tonight but alas we lost. The Bards took the lead in the first half and held on despite a good run by us in the WithQuiz formatted second half. In the end we were beaten on the night by the better team." ....and QM Danny adds.... "I was in the chair for the Prodigals v Bards encounter at the club presiding over a comfortable win for the visitors. The Bards got off to a good start (36-24 after Round 2) which the Prodigals could not claw back despite outscoring the Bards in the WithQuiz section. The key was an excellent team performance from the Bards with contributions from all corners. The line-up of Paul, Bernard, Jim and Tony will surely win more than they lose. The Prodigals played well as a team but were just beaten by the better team on the night."
HMRUFC lost to The Printers
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Quiz Paper Verdict |
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This week the paper was set on behalf of the WithQuiz League by Brian McClintock The average aggregate was 99.0 |
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Plenty of points to be had and quite a few interesting chats along the way. At the Griffin (where I was spectating) the best belly laugh came at the thought of a mass of Spaniards chucking their beloved goats out of the nearest window. Best confer was the one about the 43rd State that had been named after a girlfriend. Loads of possibilities but then the Dunkers weighed up the most likely and plumped for the chap's friend being called Ida and, hey presto, the points were pocketed - which made all the difference in a match won by just a single point. Anne-Marie wholly concurs with her plaudits for the paper.... "Very good quiz and well done Brian. Good fun tonight." ...and the QM at the Club, Danny, adds.... "The paper was very fair giving both teams opportunities to score well. There were no controversies so it was an easy night for the QM. There were a total of 11 unanswered questions which broke 6-5 against the Prodigals. We were all done shortly after 10pm which shows that there were not too many brain twisters. Well done Brian." Meanwhile at the Griffin Kieran and his mates echo the general feeling that the paper was the basis of a great evening's quizzing.... " We were outscored on twos so, surprise surprise, our victory was due to conferring. And what superb conferring it was tonight. Idaho was only settled on at the last because Martin pointed out that Ida could have been the name of the girlfriend of the eccentric Mr Willing (it wasn't as far as I can tell) - and that he thought it might be nicknamed the Gem State (it is of course). Similarly we only hit on Reuben, Reuben for the Tom Conti film because the Shrimp had offered it as their answer to the 'Zebedee' question just before. On such turns of the coin are victories frequently founded. On the other hand we totally failed to spot the 'Cod' in the middle of Crocodile Rock written down in front of us in the middle of a list of Sir Elton's singles - shades and shudders of Tooting BECK. And I very confidently told my fellow Dunkers that Mosley's baronetcy was named after a district of central Manchester - 'not Ancoats but something like it and close to it', I insisted. Ardwick was our eventual answer. Ho hum." Finally from deepest Stockport Mike W adds this.... "A very enjoyable quiz and a great paper with an excellent mix of twos, ones and unanswerables." |
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....and the Dave Barras Question of the Week award this week has been nominated by Dunkin' Dönitz who struggled, pondered, heart-ached and then plumped correctly for the answer to Round 3 Question 4:
For the answer to this and all the week's other questions click here. |
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'WithQuiz at 40' News |
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Make sure you've got Wednesday March 28th in your diaries as this is when we will be gathering to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the formation of our Quiz League. The event will take place at The Didsbury Sports Ground, Ford Lane, Didsbury and will start at 8pm. The bar will be open until midnight. |
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I'm still waiting to hear back from The Electric
Pigs, Compulsory Mantis Shrimp, The History Men and
The Prodigals as to the numbers of their invitees -
but based on returns to date from all the other
teams I expect attendance to be around the 90 mark.
Pleasingly a number of former WithQuizzers are keen
to join us including 9 from The Men They Couldn't
Hang, John Jackson, Bill Souster, Barry Whitehead,
John Tolan, Gerry Leversha, Roz Jones, Alice Calvert
and Sean Regan. There'll also be a delegation
from our neighbours in Stockport.
There will be no charge on the evening (other than
for drinks, of course). So far I have only had
one request for a veggie option meal. Do let
me know if any of your guests want this option
rather than the hot pot supper - and do ensure that
everyone is aware of the change of location to the
Didsbury Sports Ground on Ford Lane (NOT Didsbury
Cricket Club as previously planned).
Finally if you're reading this and used to play in
our league do get in touch so that we can extend an
invitation to you. You'll be most welcome. |
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Fr Megson |
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Letters to the Editor |
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Frenzied activity at WithQuiz HQ as
the venerable quiz league staggers towards its 40th
birthday bash. Hardly a day or night goes by
without Mike having to send an email or three.
So much to do and so little time. Bad tempered
negotiations with Michael O'Leary to have honoured
guests flown over from Vienna without having to pay
extra to get them on the same flight as their "Isn't there anything we can do to help?" you might be asking. Well, not really, since Mike's kitchen is a bit on the bijou side and there would be untold havoc if we all piled in with our Primus stoves and wooden spoons. So best really if we just stay in the pub and get plastered until the food is ready. Oh, there is one thing you can do, I suppose; lay off using the message board for the moment. It's not exactly state of the art and Mike goes to bed every middle of the night worried sick that too much frenzied activity might cause it to go down before the big night. Obviously you have all got to let off steam on a daily basis so Mike has thoughtfully resurrected the old 'Letters to the Editor' page on the website so please endeavour to use this option to take some of the pressure off the Message Board. You will need stamps for this option but don't panic; I am reliably informed that even in these days of privatisation you can still buy a second class one in the local confectionery shop for not much more than the price of a round of drinks in the Red.
So get scribing. And in case
you are a student or somebody who has managed to
float through life without having had to write a
begging letter to the Job Centre here is a useful
template to guide you in this obsolete but still
useful craft. It comes from a regular listener
and contributor to our Postbag over the years.
Clearly WithQuiz isn't this particular punter's cup
of gruel but as dear old Uncle Joe used to say: "We
value all your feedback and we will
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WIST
Champion's Cup
So far our record is three wins (two v Chunky and
one v the Alexandra) and three defeats (two by the
Bards and one by Chunky). And we've played the
Alexandra (just down the road from Martin and me as
it happens) five times over the last decade, winning
four. I confidently expect City to have claimed two
trophies by the time the WIST final comes around and
to still be in the frame for the other two. On
which note the currently scheduled date for the
final is 25th April, one of the possible dates for
the first leg of the Champions League semi finals.
Getting ahead of myself yes but I know Mike
Wagstaffe bleeds sky blue so I'm sure - should it
come to it - that an accommodation can be made.
Whatever, Barry will be furious. They're going
to have to score at least four in Andalusia next
Wednesday just to not be rated the worst of the
English teams. Then again there's always Chelsea."
Lowly Grail Cup
Praise
all round for Brian's paper.
Of
course the narrow margin indicates that Opsi Brian
yet again produced a superb paper, perfectly
balanced to give both teams a very fair chance of
victory. For once the lead didn't change hands
throughout the whole quiz. We led by four after the
first 30 Stockport questions and then drew the
written round 10-10 so we started the Withington
half of the paper ahead by 35 to 31.
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Celebration Evening
luggage; retired old quiz veterans to be dragged
kicking and screaming from their afternoon dens of
iniquity to be shaved, showered and shampooed in a
desperate attempt to make them presentable on the
big night; mugshots of all the teams to be urgently
photo-shopped to make them look as if they are still
alive or at least sentient. All this and that
big hundredweight bag of sausage meat still lying
there festering on Mike's kitchen floor as he
desperately tries to get to grips with his Boots
Home Brew kit manual. Too late now but perhaps
it would have been a sensible idea to bring in
outside caterers.
endeavour to get
back at you within two working days".