Bards lost to KFD
KFD survive a stern challenge to keep up their chase
It's Barry's birthday today (19th) and while Deborah will still be feeding him, since she's taking him out to dinner to celebrate, he doesn't know if she still needs him - awww! Well we still need you Barry, more than ever, as yet again the Lowestoft Ben Duckett was MVP, his four twos being the foundation for an extraordinary victory in one of the weirdest games we've played in many years.
First there was the piano. Actually no, first there was endless confusion about each team's batting order and who was answering the next question. Also repeated requests to the QM at the start of each round to please read the rubric out loud before asking the questions because, you know, it might be quite useful. And an appearance by some geezer named Cyril, playing fourth for us. No idea who he is or where he came from but on the evidence of tonight we're unlikely to be seeing him again.
The Disley Dame
(R1/Q8)
Then there was the piano. And then again. And again. Positioned just the other side of the curtains screening off the raised area of the Parrswood where the Bards play their home games. In the middle of a question the QM was suddenly drowned out by a fortissimo Life On Mars - and recently set records for the length of time taken by one question were broken as we all waited for the din to subside. If only the Bards had been hosting Ethel tonight... The noises off continued at random intervals throughout most of the evening until HH finally lost patience and politely asked the busker to desist, pointing ever so mildly at the black cap he had just donned as he did so. The racket stopped.
Sir Kenny of the Kop
(R1/Q5)
The Bards had a narrow three point lead at the end of Round 6 so naturally we ran out winners by eight, winning the last two rounds 14-3. Conclusion? We know a lot more about words containing 'zz' than we do about astronauts. We know quite a lot about Alexander Pope as well, which helped.
I made Barry wait until Round 3 before scoring the two which allowed him to deliver the Nice One Cyril line he had fastened onto when the initial name confusion occurred. I could go off my fellow KFDers and these days we do have a squad so they are on notice.
Anything else? Of course. In the 'Knights and Dames' round Tony went obiter to tell us all that he knew Ellen MacArthur's dead dentist. We assumed that said dentist was still breathing when he was tending to the dame's pearly whites but it's not a given. It was that sort of evening.
The Lanky Knight
(R1/Q1)
Charabancs lost to
Prodigals
The Prods power on
Damian
reflects on more woe for the Charas...
We won the toss and elected to go second for a change - but the outcome proved to be no different for us. We didn't even come close as the gap increased steadily with each round until we ended up losing by the biggest margin of all the teams tonight. Even our conferring fell short of its usual discipline and some injudicious blurts cost us a few points we could have had - but it wouldn't have made much difference to the outcome. Our search for a maiden victory this season continues unabated, but as tonight's much quoted poet Alexander Pope once advised, "Hope Springs Eternal".
...and Michael adds the Prods point of view...
The Prodigals' campaign rolled on; or rather, it made its way delicately up the icy pavements of the Didsbury Road to the Griffin, where the Charabancs hosted us. As United underwhelmed on the TV in the main room, Danny Glennon produced a Casemiro-like effect on his first appearance this season. We took an early lead on the sporting greats, suffered the ignominy of knowing SFA about Bedfordshire, and then picked off the occasional two over the remaining rounds.
Just in case the Germans visit Liverpool
(R8/Q4)
A
relieved Opsimath skipper reports...
Ivor
and his team mates get that Opsimath pint at last ...
