|
Electric
Pigs lost to KFD
KFD keep up their title challenge at the Moss
 Kieran
offers this week's football analogies...
Well that was weird. The
Albert set more classical music questions than any
other team (I think) and, sure enough, Round 1 was
entirely devoted to that subject. It's safe to
say that it's not the Pigs favourite topic whereas
we had Martin and David in the side so Barry and I
just sat back and watched the points rack up.
We ended the first round leading 8-0 and won the
game overall by six points so the result was pretty
much settled right at the start. I suspect we
have Jeremy to thank for that early points haul but
there's not much more we can do than smile
gratefully in his general direction, which I'm doing
as I write. Honest.
Round 2 followed, as is the
norm, and it was crazily unbalanced with the Pigs
getting fairly straightforward British towns in pop
song titles and KFD receiving rather more difficult
American equivalents - until the Albert had a
crisis of conscience and threw me the most
ridiculously easy two for Vienna. For
some reason David always gets irritated when I get
an easy maximum so I'm clearly not getting the
'There's no I in team' bollocks across to him.
Maybe Ole or Cristiano could give me some tips.
Then again...
"Keep 'em peeled"
(R3/Sp1)
After the early music rounds
not much else happened. We maintained our lead
and despite a latish start the quiz was finished by
10.00 on the dot. Mike Heale always used
to like this news
so congratulations to the Albert in fulfilling the
setters first duty - not boring the arse off
everyone. Somewhere in the middle of the quiz my uber-nerdy obsession with American politics paid off
as I scored a point for 'cloture' being the term for
the process used in the Senate to end a filibuster.
Anyone else who got that you are much, much sadder
than you know.
Big flag for a little place
(R5/Q5)
So we're just about hanging on
to the leaders, Ethel and the Prodigals in the early
table. The reunited flab (that's not a typo)
four have done enough to merit another run out at
the club next week to see if we can maintain our
respectable early season form. I fear we may
have become West Ham which would make me the
Moyesiah. Hmm maybe getting thumped by the
Opsis wouldn't be so bad.
Ah, the Opsis at the club,
scene of so many epic battles, so many season
defining moments, a storied match to rival anything
Milan, Manchester or Madrid can serve up. The
friendly derby. Yeah, right.
History
Men beat Charabancs
The History mob sneak into 4th place with a win
at the Red
 Damian
pens another of his 'philosophical' pieces...
As the scores indicate,
we let Sam Beckett down by not failing anywhere near
good enough to come within striking distance.
Even the daunting presence of our former captain,
Father Megson (recently released on parole), was
insufficient to intimidate our opponents into
forgetting enough answers to give us a fighting
chance. To add insult to injury, the bar
actually ran out of bitter towards the end of
proceedings (come back Marstons, all is
forgiven!). Maybe the forthcoming
refurbishment will include extending the beer cellar
to accommodate a few extra barrels but we're not
holding our breath!
Scotland's brooch
(R3/Q3)
 Smiley
Ivor chips in...
Our first game in the Red Lion
since 4/3/20 which was also against the Charas. We
won that game by 9 points but tonight we went two
better. Historically (and we have been playing the
Charas since 2002) our games tend to be much closer.
It was a superior two rate (our 9 to their 7) and steal rate (our
8 to their 4)
that did the damage.
Quite a tough quiz tonight with
13 unanswereds but they did break 7-6 so paper
moderation by the Albert was very good. Jeremy from
the Albert kindly acted as QM since our pool of talent was
further diminished by holidays. Holidays in the quiz
season? I'm losing my grip as self-appointed
captain. Apart from the stats, how was the night? To
plagiarise Rachel, it was a convivial evening despite
the Red Lion running out of bitter(!).
Incidentally the planned refurbishments are not far
off and a builder I passed on Monday delivering
materials said it might be a four-month closure. We
await official announcements. The Historymen will
probably relocate to the Parrswood or the Albert
Club for home games depending on other fixtures that
night.
and Mike's thoughts...
I was in the team due to others being unavailable -
and I was getting very frustrated. Thank
goodness I could provide one two (the Kojak
question) and somehow get the Owl for a one.
After just four questions, I made a note about the
one-sidedness of the quiz - switching from Opera to
Abba!
A minor quibble would be that Sancho's donkey was
not given a name by Cervantes (though I do remember
that in English, the name was Dapple). A
couple of the rounds were rather abstruse: Birds
(that round got the bird in fact!) and Rutland.
Ann was moved to hilarity by the question on the
flag of Rutland - nevertheless, she got the answer
right. Many thanks to Jeremy of Albert for QMing so ably, and being very interesting
to listen to
afterwards.
Just a little "irrational exuberance"
(R8/Q6)
|
A poet more celebrated
in his death than his life
(R1/Q7)
Prodigals
beat Bards
The Prodigals win a close encounter at the Club
 Jimmy
sums up...
Caution pays! So sang George and Andrew in
more innocent days. And this adage proved true
as the Prodigals saw off a determined challenge from
the dogged Bards in a very close contest.
The more conservative approach was favoured by your
humble scribe who chose to confer on three first
round questions when a two was quite firmly in his
grasp. Cue howls of disapproval from QM
Anne-Marie. My feeble response was “it‘s all
about game management” but to be honest, at the back
of my mind was an awful blurt in our last game
against the Bards which not only cost us the match
but ultimately the league too.
Maybe those four seasons watching West Ham under Sam
Allardyce had taken a bigger toll on my psyche than
I’d realised. Respect the point indeed…
So, as we trailed the Bards by three points at the
turnaround, three points that you could definitely
lay at my door. The young (and not so young)
guns did indeed have to go for it.
But as an older and better-rounded George later
sang… "you gotta have faith". And confidence in my
team mates to turn around the deficit was not
ill-judged. New(ish) Prod Richard started the
fightback with a good steal on the Mad Men
question. Michael was his usual assured self
with John turning out to be our MVP with successive correct answers
in the Run On round turning the contest in
our favour.
The Bards led for most of the game and can consider
themselves a little unlucky. Tony was in fine
fettle, and it was good to see him robustly clashing
with Anne-Marie on the exact location of the grave
of Princess Alice.
QotW? I’d plump for the 'Major Charles Ingram' one. In a week which found me getting up an hour early to
watch the latest episode of Succession, it’s
sobering to realise that this excellent performer
might not even be in the top three actors on that
great show.
French author in his barefoot phase
(R7/Q2)
Ethel
Rodin beat Opsimaths
Ethel just cling on as the Opsis fail on the
final 'Ethel' question
 Our
reporter Mike ventured to deepest Ladybarn...
What a pleasant evening in Ladybarn at the best
appointed Club in South Manchester (apart, of
course, from the Albert Club). They really
have worked hard to produce a cosy atmosphere
redecorating throughout and removing the somewhat
gaudy picture of Marilyn Monroe in the process.
When I arrived a tad early I congratulated the
barmaid on the smart appearance and referred to the
bad old days of the White Swan. I got a
withering look that shrieked back "Don't mention the
White Swan".
Battenberg and Olives
(R3/Q2)
Ethel are a finely honed team that efficiently cover
most of the bases of knowledge required for a top
flight quiz team - with if anything a penchant for
classical music questions, that as we know, always
seem to get relegated in favour of second-rate 'here
today gone tomorrow' pop trivia. But, hang on
a moment! Round One all about classical music! Roddy and James were in their seventh heaven.
Never mind Roddy, Greg and James, let's have a
shout-out for Geoff. Loyal Rodinista for more
years than he cares to remember and dyed-in-the-wool
Notts County supporter. The scene as he
struggled (unsuccessfully as it happens) to dredge
up Telly Savalas' name with his three team mates
directing telepathic messages in his direction
amounted to a perfect tableau of a quiz evening in
miniature.
The basic passage of the match was a whopping lead
for Ethel after the classical music starters
followed by the Opsis clawing back to level pegging
in Round 8 only - ironically - to fail on the
'Ethel' question at the death.
A keenly fought match which went down to the wire
followed by lots of sociable chat. What more
could you wish for on a Wednesday evening in
Ladybarn?
Ethel's Peak; it's
downhill all the way from here
(R8/Q8)
 and
James reports in from the winner's enclosure...
From last week‘s final question which was perhaps
the easiest question we’ve ever had (and I hope no
matches depended on the 'Brave Springs' answer) to
this week’s final question which might well have
been one of the hardest. That did fortunately work
in Ethel’s favour last night, when Opsimaths needed
two points for the win and one point to tie.
(Ed: Post-match chit chat elicited the fact that
a certain other member of James' household, namely
Lucy Powell MP, is appearing tonight on Question
Time from Hartlepool alongside Alistair Campbell)
|
Quiz paper set by...
...Albert
Average Aggregate score 71.0
Another excellent paper as the comments below
attest. A lower average score than of late,
but pretty respectable nonetheless, and plenty of
interest in the subject matter covered. A whole round
on Rutland! (for the next Opsimaths paper I'm
considering a round on Clackmannanshire which I
visited recently for a hill-walking weekend).
Unashamed multigenerational classical music right up
front!
This
was an intelligent and finely constructed quiz with
good balance planned in. At the Ladybarn Club
we were all appreciative. If I had one small
quibble it was on the final question of the evening
(which interestingly referenced the setter's wife).
The scores were very close and both teams were
stopped in their tracks by some fairly contorted
wording. I think there were about 3
interventions during which we sought clarification
from the QM as to what the question-setter actually
wanted for the answer. As it happened it
didn't matter because neither team knew the answer
anyway.
Many
thanks Albert for entertaining us.
so
what did Jimmy think...
The
quiz itself was well-balanced and reasonably tough.
Gripes? I could have done without the Cock Robin
pair though this might be because one fell to me.
I was also glad we’d wrapped up the points before
the last question which I thought was a bit 'chewy'.
But minor quibbles... really, a very good paper.
Pyxie lot
(R8/Sp1)
and
Damian...
We found tonight's
paper a little on the tough side. I counted 10
unanswered questions which, unfortunately, fell 7/3 to
us. Nonetheless there was a fair amount of
variety to whet most appetites from across the age
spectrum. On the plus side, each Chara scored
at least one two-pointer
and therefore earned the right to try and do Sam a
tad prouder in next week's proceedings.
Everyone bar 'yours truly' managed a couple of twos. If
only I had had the nerve to join them by going for
it on the city known as the 'brooch of Scotland'.
Must try and fail better next time!
Sheffield's answer to everything
(R3/Q4)
and
Ivor...
Did
we like the questions? Generally yes and it was
pleasing to have classical culture (a whole round on
proper music) as well as the more transient popular
culture and current affairs. We were unable to get even one letter correct in
the COP26 question (though the Charas
did) and I am not sure if there were any correct letters
for SAGE from either side. We also struggled with
half-remembered childhood rhymes concerning the
unlawful killing of cock robin. If Jeremy was the
defence counsel would the sparrow have pleaded
diminished responsibility? After all how safe is it
to trust a sparrow with a bow and arrow. Education
of birds seems to have fallen somewhat in the Gavin
Williamson era as it has been some time since a rook
was seen with a book. And practical classes, once
prevalent in the secondary modern establishment, would
once upon a time have
seen many owls adept with a trowel - but no longer.
Tim would have appreciated a whole round on Rutland
as a counter-balance to his round on the Scottish
islands but sadly it did prove a tad difficult.
There was much thought on who was the first declared
gay Tory MP. My guess of Jock Bruce-Gardyne (very
Tory, but very straight) might have been libellous
were he not also very dead (in 1990). Gerry plumped
for Ben Bradshaw (gay, alive but very Labour). It is
interesting that no one really cares anymore about
MPs sexuality. Compare that with the days when
Maureen Colquhoun was vilified coming out as a
lesbian, and Tom Driberg and Jeremy Thorpe had to
keep their heads down. And now we fret in case
people feel mispronounced, or feel aggrieved if
2SGBLTQQIA+ fails to be inclusive enough (by the
way, it appears 'P'
should be added to the acronym to include 'pansexual').
So big it wouldn't fit into the county
(R5/Q2)
and
finally James...
Overall, we thought it was a good quiz. Perhaps the
balance in the Run Ons round favoured the Opsimaths
in that all of their questions seemed
straightforward and didn’t require conferring, but
ours all landed wrong and did.
There were some grumbles about a round
predominantly based on classical music. I don’t
think there are much grounds on which to complain;
almost all of the questions there were mainstream
classical questions, akin to a pop music round based
on the Beatles, Elvis, Michael Jackson and Madonna. That said,
A Lincoln Portrait by Copeland is very
much more obscure than Peter and the Wolf - and I
suspect every team on the night plumped for
‘Prokofiev’ first time round, only to then groan
when the second question came up.
Slightly disappointed that The Ruttles and Eric
Idle’s 1970s comedy programme didn’t make an
appearance in the Rutland round.
Overall a relatively lower scoring quiz than recent
weeks but generally fair with unanswered questions
distributed evenly.
Question of the Week
This week Jimmy has opted for Round 5 Question 8...
Which actor, who was educated at Oakham School, has
recently won plaudits for his portrayal of Major
Charles Ingram in the 2020 TV adaptation of James
Graham’s play Quiz and for his role as Tom
Wambsgans in the current hit Succession?
For the answer to this and all the week's other
questions click
here.
A Wang creation
(R6/Q4)
|
