WITHQUIZ

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17th November 2021

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Ethel slip up at the Red whilst the Prods and KFD power on

Opsimaths lost to KFD

Charabancs lost to Albert

History Men beat Ethel Rodin

Electric Pigs lost to Prodigals

Opsimaths lost to KFD

A pretty good night for teams from Stockport

Kieran kicks off...

On Wednesday evening, about a quarter of a mile from my house, Stockport County pulled off an astonishing comeback.  2-0 down after six minutes they eventually ran out 5-3 winners in their FA Cup derby against Bolton.  Meanwhile, a few miles away in West Didsbury, the Opsimaths.....totally failed to mimic The Hatters in WithQuiz's very own Old Farts Game.

This was one of our easiest victories over the league's quondam big beasts.  Three points ahead after the first round it stayed that way until the 'Run Ons', which are never fruitful Opsi ground.  We won that 9-4 and maintained a comfortable lead until the inevitability of defeat got to our hosts in the last couple of rounds and we ran away with the match.  Victory by such a wide margin was all the more impressive since the five unanswereds came our way (going first first).  Where we really cleaned up was in pass-overs - 11-1 to us.  Have I ever remarked that this is a good strategy for winning quiz games

As always seems to happen when we play the Opsis there was a heroic performance in a losing cause, tonight from Howell, who scored 6 twos making him joint MVP with Martin. 


An honest Tory - no really!

(R6/Q1)


Every week David brings with him a crib sheet containing names, places or circumstances pertaining to events currently in the news.  These have never been of any use until tonight when Chris Bryant, and Torridge and West Devon were numbers 2 and 3 on the list (number one was a Tory party treasurer who hasn't - yet - been fingered for embezzlement).  And after my preening last week over knowing an answer I was certain no one else in any of the other games would get, Barry saw my 'Cloture' (ooh, Matron!) and raised it a 'Black Shuck'.  And anyone else who knew that, what's your excuse?  At least Barry can say he originates from that neck of the woods.  

And that was that.  The biggest margin of victory for either side in this contest for nearly 14 years when some jokers calling themselves Napier Girls left the club having put the Opsis to the sword by 20 points.  Neither Ole nor merch-shifting, goldleaf-covered tomahawk steaks will be referred to in the remainder of this report.  

For the third week running the quiz was finished by 10.00.  Congratulations to the Bards for maintaining this very welcome trend. That left plenty of time for post-match chat with old friends and rivals. Tonight that was largely Mike and David comparing Munros they have conquered. Marilyn didn't feature on either list.  There was also the disturbing news that the Opsis are 'borrowing' Bogota Bob to QM their game against the Historymen next week, and on our paper!  That's 'borrowing' guys.   We want a fully fit and well rested Bob in his rightful place in the Griffin when we take on Ethel in three weeks time in the last game before Christmas.  Some of the things I say about Roberto Martinez when he plays a half fit KDB and City then lose him for the next two months, would make a navvy blush.  You have been warned.

Ah yes, we're setting next week. Time I shut up before offering any more hostages to fortune.


Sleazebuster-in-chief

(R6/Q4)


...to which Mike adds...

Oh, dear!  We couldn't even claim (like Bolton) to have led early on.  This was a sad night for the Opsis, up against KFD 'Classic' (Barry, Martin, David and Kieran - the very quartet that juggernauted their way through from 1999 to 2012 virtually untouched, that is allowing for Michael Delahunty morphing into his brother David along the way).  When they're on song I reckon they're still as sharp as any quizzing outfit in the land - and certainly in Greater Manchester.  It was particularly good to see (newly) retired KFD anchorman Barry looking fit and well and scoring freely. 

For us Howell was the MVP (6 twos) and I was the LVP (a solitary 'Gary Neville') with Nick and Brian somewhere in between.  We were 3 points behind after Round 1 and then just drifted backwards to an eventual 17 point gap.

As ever Opsimath despondency lifted when we engaged in post-stuffing chat on subjects as diverse as David's favourite Munro (An Teallach), Nat Lofthouse (loser in the Stan Mortensen 1953 FA Cup final, but then 'United slayer' in 1958), the most populous town in Scotland without a football league team (East Kilbride - should you wish to know) and many other subjects of mutual interest that old friends might chew the cud over, late on a Wednesday evening.

Hilary was in the QM chair as the sepulchral atmosphere at the start (apart from us the Club was empty) was shattered by a chaingang of Chorlton cyclists who burst into the main lounge and drowned out the second half of the contest.

Well done KFD - you seem to be back to your very best league-winning form.  Maybe we'll get our own back on you when we visit Stockport in the new year.


The Daddy we never had

(R6/Sp1)


1953's other Stanley

(R4/Q2)


History Men beat Ethel Rodin

The History Men topple the table toppers

Ivor is joyous ...

Going into tonight’s game I would have regarded a History Men defeat by fewer than 10 points as something to aim for (you can see how inspirational I am as a captain) but much to our surprise from 22 all at half time we edged into the lead and managed to hold on.  Ethel (going first) copped it for the 'unanswereds' (6 to our 2) which tipped the game our way as we were equal on twos scored (14 each) and Ethel outscored us on 'steals' (4-3).  Greg found himself as MVP on 7 twos but still ended up on the losing side.  However I hope our win is not begrudged as all our teams have had lucky and unlucky breaks, which adds to the merriment of our Wednesday entertainment.


...and sideburn by nature

(R2/Q2)


Electric Pigs lost to Prodigals

Comfortable victory for the league leaders

Anne-Marie's brief summary...

All wrapped up by 10pm. Must be a record for the Pigs. Really enjoyable quiz from The Bards.


Dunston midfielder Phil Turnbull deploys his skill in the box

(R7/Q1)


Charabancs lost to Albert

Albert canter home at the Griffin

Mobo's press release...

This was a strange quiz for us.  Our score is respectable enough yet we managed just 6 twos between us all evening against the Charas' 10.  Either the questions kept falling to the wrong people in the team or the questions were hard and conferring was the only way forward.  Apart from the occasional uneven pair and something about one-eyed Japanese monsters on the loose around Ipswich the questions seemed fair enough.


Wait a minute - did you write this?

(R7/Q2)


On my return to the team I have found them to be their normal selves, in other words,  what the great Terry Thomas would have termed 'an absolute shower'.  However I have been inspired to find a solution to the problem by the following entry from the diary of the Tory politician Chips Channon: 

"13 May 1940: 

I am making a list for my private vendetta of the traitors and, in time, will revenge myself upon them, one by one."

He was talking about those who had betrayed his hero Neville Chamberlain but you get the idea.


Mummy!

(R6/Q3)


Quiz paper set by...

...The Bards

Average Aggregate score 79.0


As Kieran said in his match report, a tidy quiz from the Bards which finished at the Club by 10.00 leaving plenty of time for chat.  The subject matter simply didn't suit the Opsis but it was certainly diverse with a heavy sprinkling of current (sleazy) affairs. I suspected some imbalance in the pairing  favouring the team that led off in the first half ("Which party did Garret Fitzgerald represent?" - come on there are only two and I don't remember any quickie called Wayne Fayne playing for the Windies) but maybe I'm just a biased old Opsimath.

An interesting Run On development where two of the questions could have more accurately been described as 'Run On and On' questions - but we weren't warned of this in advance and that caused a little confusion in the ranks at the Club.  Further developments in this format might spiral out of control if we're not careful.

On the overall scoring front there were yet again plenty of points on offer keeping up the high-scoring start to our post-lockdown season.  Thank you Bards!


so what did Mike H think...

Some questions provoked more conferring than others but in general it was a very accessible quiz.  Not too many questions went unanswered (notable exceptions being the first two in Round 5).  One slight criticism...I don't like 'either/or' questions (R7/Q5, the one about the Nevilles).  Otherwise much enjoyed QMing this paper.

One question perhaps needs a bit more investigation...R3/Q3 regarding the first World Cup final not held in a capital city.  R4/Qs7&8 were clever triple run ons.


and Ivor...

We quizees rather enjoyed the Bards test.  The themes were cracked fairly early on despite some confounders (I had thought Fat Les was going to be another politically incorrect answer until it was pointed out that Fat Les was a curry-eating popular singer and fan of Association Football).  The 'Bravo' in Round 2 led us erroneously to 'Charlie Burnside' as the general, Ethel opting for 'Victor Burnside' for a failed steal, and no doubt had there been a third guess we would have tried 'Mike Burnside' or even 'Romeo Burnside' or perhaps 'Juliet Burnside' to reflect the inclusiveness of the US military.

As always it is the tantalising questions requiring deep mining of the cortex, as well as the 'lucky' questions that provide most satisfaction.  Vanessa had studied bits of Frazer’s epic at university a quarter of a century ago but had never required any knowledge of his work until tonight.  Anne recalled Tony Roche 50 years after his greatest achievements.  We all agonised over the GB tennis player with a Spanish-sounding name until it emerged fully formed after a groupthink.  We also had tantalisingly wrong answers which provided easy steals, e.g. plumping for the wrong Neville brother.  David’s great knowledge of Michigan/Wisconsin border towns unusually led him astray.  In chit chat after he said he would have got Ethel’s question right as Athens is the town REM come from.  This proved to be very useful a little later when my question came in the 'Monsters theme' round, as otherwise I would have floundered.  Perhaps it was always going to be our lucky night.  What’s the betting we will have an unlucky night next week?


East Anglia's one-eyed horror hound

(R5/Q1)


Question of the Week

This week I've opted for the Round 4 innovation - the 'Run On and On' Question 8...

1998 film directed by the Farrelly brothers, starring Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller,

&

Animated children's series, first aired in 1969, which featured the adventures of a girl, her dog and her pet mouse,

&

Musician who has played with Ultravox, Thin Lizzy and Visage.

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


...and also

The Red Lion

My information from behind the bar at the Red is that the pub will remain open during the rest of November but will shut for refurbishment at some time early in December - and will remain closed over the Christmas holidays.

We're advised to consult the Red's Facebook page for up-to-date news...

https://www.facebook.com/redlionwithington/

As soon as I hear relevant dates I will post on this website.  Remember we have agreed that the Fletcher Moss will act as our temporary paper pick-up point while the Red is shut (though I'm not aware that anyone has yet asked the Fletcher Moss landlord if this is OK - Andrew could you have  a word?).


Rachael & Mastermind

Shrimps skipper, Rachael, was on Mastermind this week and won her heat comfortably getting through to the semi-finals.  Most graciously, in her 'winner's comments' over the closing titles she gave a name-check for the Withington Quiz league.  Come on, Rachael, you can do it this time!


It wasn't that funny

(R4/Q5)