Andrew was on hand at the Griffin and decided to film the draw on his phone.  Click the button below and you can see what went on.

CUP DRAW

History Men beat Charabancs

Ivor's crew win (sounds better than 'Ivor's crew lose') to lift themselves above Ethel in the table

First a report from Ivor himself

A most convivial evening with one of our oldest and most favoured rivals.  We used to be contenders in the distant past but now here we are at the end of the season playing a match that is a 'meaningless rubber' (to use a tennis term) in determining who will lift the League Championship.  Not quite meaningless, however, for we denizens of the lower order.  Although The Charas are already likely to finish ninth (barring a last minute surge by the Electric Pigs), we have a glimmer of hope of moving out of eighth place depending on scores elsewhere tonight and next week. 

(R5/Q7)

The Charas played three-handed tonight and they all did well in accruing twos.  The margin of our victory was due to them leaking 9 steals to our 2.  Our combined score of 72 with only 10 unanswered questions was rather better than we manage with usual Bards papers.  Indeed there was a comment after Round 1 that it had been the easiest Bards round ever.  The last three rounds, however, were a sterner test. 

Highlights of the evening included a 'considered blurt' from Anne on her very first question; having thought long and hard she came up with Joni Mitchell instead of Judy Collins.  A 'considered blurt' does differ from the common or garden blurt but is just as annoying to the blurter and evokes the same response from team mates.  Another highlight was Tim getting a pop question correct - albeit an old man’s question from twenty years before Prodigal Mike’s birth. 

(R3/Q4) 

Anne’s blurt however was nothing compared with Graham’s blurt on the question “Which letter of the phonetic alphabet is the name of a fizzy drink?”  Was this an attempt by the Bards to leaven their harder questions with a gratuitously easy one to stop complaints?  If so, it failed, as Graham came up with “Tizer”.  This did cause some merriment.  There was speculation as to whether Marlon Brando would ever have appeared in a film called Last Tizer in Paris.  Poor Graham was not so much tangoed as tizered by his team - but at least in our league you don’t get tasered or even relegated.  We are civilised quizzers. 

We have now won two games on the trot.  Next week we shall see if we can rain on the Shrimps' parade! 

(R1/Q3) 

and now Damian tells his tale

Reduced to a 3-man team for the penultimate match of the season we bravely went into battle against one of our all-time favourite opponents and, perhaps inevitably, finished second best once again. We strove mightily to keep things as close as possible but, at no stage of the proceedings, could we narrow the gap to less than 2 points and we finished up 10 points adrift.

On the plus side, the evening was one of the most enjoyable and entertaining we have experienced this season.  Ivor and co. are such amusing quiz opponents that we can almost forgive them for beating us as regularly as they have done in all our most recent encounters.  They remind us time and time again that our weekly Wednesday quiz outings are intended above all to be occasions of fun and last night proved to be no exception.

(R3/Q3)

Dunkin' Dönitz beat Electric Pigs

A convincing victory for last year's champs

Albert beat Ethel Rodin

A goodly victory to keep Albert's top 4 ambitions intact

Mantis Shrimp lost to Prodigals

A great win for the Albert Club contenders in the game of the season to-date

The breadth of the knowledge of the Shrimps is amazing, as you would probably expect from University Challenge alumni. From the music of the Shangri-Las to venues of World War II conferences, the Shrimps cover a huge area of general knowledge ground, no matter which four are playing. Maybe 1970s US sitcom characters aren’t quite their thing, but they still provide a huge test in this league for any opponent and we had to dig deep to overcome them in their first defeat since November.

Our team interplay was very good and allied to the individual brilliance of John, Jimmy and Michael, we eked out an early advantage which we managed to maintain until the end, despite consistent Shrimp pressure.

A shout-out to Clare Parody who was excellent in the QM’s chair.  Handling a last round answer query is never easy, but both teams compromised to void the question and get Clare’s Deal through unanimously. The quiet authority she added to the proceedings make her an ideal candidate for Speaker or PM, should either job become available.

The relatively early finish to the quiz meant we were able to debate Brexit, Partridge, 80s pop and just about anything else we fancied.  The Shrimps are always excellent company and last night didn’t disappoint.

Now on to next Wednesday against the Electric Pigs with the league on the line. The Pigs beat us last year, so we are guaranteed a proper squeaky bum ride.  A Sky quiz helicopter will be flying over Wilmslow Road between the Fletcher Moss and the Red Lion awaiting the results to see who will become champions.  As I said last week, whatever happens, what a season this has been!

Quiz paper set by...

The Bards

Average aggregate 75.3

...a tad below the overall average for the season with a variety of styles and content on offer.

Damian offers his thoughts...

"We found tonight's paper a generally enjoyable assortment of themes, pairs and various trivia.  Our only quibble was that Round 6, the music venues, would perhaps have been better dedicated to one city, either London or Manchester. Being dedicated to them both seemed to make the theme harder and more confusing to work out.

On a personal note, I would have appreciated it if Round 7 Question 1 had included maybe the name of the author as a helpful clue to answering which play won the 2000 Antoinette Perry award given that, until tonight, none of us present had ever heard of Ms Perry and her awards.

Nominated Candidate for Best Answer of the Night (and possibly the Season)?...: Chara Graham answering Round 8 Question 5 ("What is the only fizzy drink in the letters of the NATO International Phonetic Alphabet?").  As we all sat back confidently expecting an instant 'two',  with the Historymen having absolutely no hope for a steal, our Graham confidently leaned in to QM Mike and, with no hesitation whatsoever, shouted "TIZER"!

Nominated Best Response to Best Answer of the Night (and possibly the Season)?....  Chara John speculating as to whether the history of cinema would have turned out differently if Marlon Brando had ever starred in a film entitled, Last Tizer in Paris?

Maybe dancing  'The Tizer' could be added to the repertoire of such popular shows as Strictly Come Dancing and assorted ballroom fodder but Graham has yet to get back to us on this one! 

...and here are Mike H's views...

"A very enjoyable contest on a paper possibly more accessible than the usual Bards' offerings.  I contributed quite a few questions to Tony myself, but very few were ultimately used (despite getting a whole round for my birth year).

One of the most amazing twos of the night was scored by Tim on a pop music question (Shangri-Las), silencing Ivor's usual 'wrong seat' comments.

The last question of the evening had the best possible answer but unfortunately it remained unanswered."

...and Kieran's....

"This lifelong Manchester City fan was a little miffed to be asked a question to which the answer was the one footballer from that era who never managed Manchester City.  Come on Bards, there are enough to choose from, surely you could have come up with nine correct answers!  Though maybe it was good to be reminded that even during City's very particular take on 'Manager of the Month' they never got desperate enough to give the job to Mick McCarthy.

And OK the EU capitals round featured the nine states who were members after the UK, Ireland and Denmark joined but even allowing that stretch, Berlin would not become the capital of Germany for another 17 years and The Hague has not been the capital of The Netherlands since at least 1814 and arguably never.  Still we won so they are minor quibbles."

...and Dave R's...

"Generally, a good quiz. It provided for a fair contest in the main, but there were very slight grumbles. Some of the questions could have done with a little more information - not least the biblical question in Round 8.  A perfectly good answer to the question that was asked was given, even though it was not the answer on the paper.  A spare was the only way to proceed and Clare's adjudication was satisfactory to both teams.

Having said all of that, there were lots of interesting questions and so it was an all round good effort from the Bards."

The box bites back

(R2/Q3)

(R8/Q8)

(R8/Q7)