Withington Pub Quiz League - Quizbiz 25/01/23

Prods (1st) & KFD (2nd) march on whilst Albert slip back behind Ethel;

Charas are still waiting for that first elusive victory

Albert lost to Prodigals

KFD beat Ethel Rodin

History Men beat Charabancs

Electric Pigs lost to Opsimaths

Albert lost to Prodigals

A 3-handed Albert fall to the mighty Prods in the latest top-of-the-table clash

Greatest Film Director ever?

(R6/Q5)

KFD beat Ethel Rodin

A key win for KFD as they extend their lead over 3rd placed Ethel

Kieran is speechless...

I don't have any words to describe this fixture any more. Obviously I'm about to make that statement a lie. But Jesus H, how many times can KFD and Ethel do this? For the sake of all our ageing arteries we've agreed that future fixtures between our two teams will start at question 63 with the scores level at an arbitrary number, say 37-37. Player 4 for each team - Greg and I - will answer one question each and then the game will be over by 8.40 at the latest and we'll all feel a lot less wiped out.

Bob is in Catalunya this week casting an eye over his very high end, very exclusive private vineyard - you can't buy the produce in the shops (you couldn't afford it in any case) - you have to know the man personally to even get on the mailing list never mind consider taking out a second mortgage in order to acquire just one bottle of Denominación de Origen Ganley. Pep's been trying to get it into TAST for ages (he CAN afford it) but he's straight to voicemail every time. The latest cold shoulder came just before the Spurs game last week; it explains a lot.

Remember Station masters?

(R1/Q1)

So David was on QM duties and Thomas took over seat 3. On the way home from the Wolves game on Sunday he said that in the light of the date of today's match he was going to revise Robert Burns. Smart, smart boy! Burns Night coincides with Martin's birthday but although he has Scottish ancestry he holds it in contempt and the evening ended with a happy trip down memory lane recalling the many disastrous Scottish World Cup performances from our youth. So sad that they can't even afford us that small pleasure these days.

Before we got to that there was a quiz game to be endured. Endured not because there was any fault with the Bards paper but because it was Ethel and us. So there was going to be just one point in it with two questions to go and it would all be on Greg and yours truly. Again. Before that the scores had been level at the end of Rounds 1, 2, 6 and 7. Ethel had led by one at the end of Round 3 and then by two at the halfway stage. We were in front for the only time by 2 points at the end of Round 5. Twelve twos for us, versus 11 for our visitors; 15 conferreds apiece with Ethel taking the pass-overs 5-4. Ethel copped for both the unanswereds: the Canadian whisky and the Wiltshire Christmas barmpot - and in a game as tight as this one, that makes a difference.

Dublin & London rhymers

(R2/Q7)

Thomas didn't have a spectacular night for twos but vital conferred points for Scots Wha Hae, Green Fairy and Roald Dahl were all down to him - as well as the somewhat chaotic winning point. Having sussed the Muppet theme in the final round straightaway we'd inched a point ahead when I got the Dustin Hoffman question. Was the answer Ratso or Rizzo? I thought Ratso sounded more like a Muppet character so went for that after conferring. Oops! Ethel duly got the bonus to make it 42-42 with just MVP Greg's last question to come. A nailed-on Ethel victory hove into view. Fortunately for us the Bards had set, deliberately or otherwise, a fiendish sting in the tail to end the night. Both Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. had famous fights against Manny Pacquiao and Oscar the Grouch and Floyd Pepper are both Muppet characters. Needing only one point for the win Greg conferred and, deo gratias, Ethel went for Oscar. At Thomas's prompting we knew it was Floyd but by now matters had become so tense and confused that I thought the one point bonus meant we had salvaged an unlikely draw. I'd even convinced Martin of that until the forlorn Greg told us that we had won by one point. Again.

The infallible defense lawyer

(R1/Q2)

I've had this kind of adrenaline buzz from watching City over the last decade or so: vs QPR, United, Leicester, Liverpool and Villa to name only the most famous instances. I really can't cope with it in quiz games as well. All done by 10.10 and eight players plus the QM completely exhausted, nothing left to give. I think this fixture is now the pinnacle of our harmless Wednesday evening pastime. It always, always delivers and maybe rather than starting it at the last pair we should just agree the draw before a question is asked and spend a couple of hours in each other's company idly chit-chatting. Neither team ever deserves to lose when we meet each other.

But bloody hell what a night!

Father of the National Curriculum

(R7/Q1)

History Men beat Charabancs

The History Men mop up at home against the Charas

A sporting Damian fesses up...

And so our never ending quest for a maiden win this season continues. Despite playing relatively well compared to last week we fared no better in the final score. For once we did well in scoring twos and I counted us neck and neck with the Historymen in that department with 12 apiece. Unfortunately for us they got 5 steals and we got none. The few unanswered questions fell our way too - all of which translated into yet another lop-sided defeat.

'Blurter of the Week' was yours truly on the Nutcracker question. For some reason I have a mental block when answering questions on this topic and keep blurting the Mouse King when the answer for who ruled the Kingdom of Sweets is obviously the Sugar Plum Fairy. It must be because the mouse is, after all, a king whilst the Fairy has no royal title at all for some reason. Shouldn't a kingdom be ruled by a king or queen? I'm blaming Tchaikovsky for the confusion.

Jocky on the Oche

(R3/Q6)

Ivor remembers the 'Glory days'...

Young David’s bus came early tonight (first time ever) so he was well ensconced in our lucky seats in the curtained-off area of the Parrswood. This was indeed fortunate as there were two other matches both of which had been relocated to the Parrswood because of soccer-induced noise pollution at their home venues. The Parrswood is free of such distractions. Even the phantom piano player was missing tonight. Our match was against our old friends the Charabancs. There was a time when we vied for second place in the league in the era of the Griffin hegemony. Alas we have declined somewhat as we fail to learn new facts - and what little we did know slowly gets overwritten in our neural circuits with important questions like “did we switch the oven off before we left the house?”.

Our lucky seats did indeed yield a satisfactory result. Sceptics might query the concept of lucky seats and it is true that in our home games we have won three and lost three so far this season, but if the seats were not lucky we might have lost all six. Anyhow there was to be no luck for the Charabancs who remain rooted to the bottom of the table. Our margin of victory came on the back of us getting five 'steals', and both the unanswered questions falling to the Charas. Each team got 12 twos and the combined score of 86 could have been even higher had certain questions fallen to different seats.

The quiz ended in such good time that not only was there time to chat but we were also able to get our losers’ drinks from Opsimath Brian that we had missed because of an especially constipating quiz before Christmas. So a very convivial evening all round!

Chelsea's risky duo

(R5/Q1)

Electric Pigs lost to Opsimaths

The Opsis nick it by a single point to maintain their upward mobility

Back from his sick-bed Mike reports on a welcome Opsi win...

Had you visited the Parrswood Hotel last night and poked your nose into the various nooks and crannies of its cavernous saloon you'd have seen a Forest of quizzers United in pursuit of their hobby. Indeed 75% of WithQuiz activity had decamped to that cathedral of a pub to escape the 'Red racket' disfiguring other local havens of intellectual discourse. At the Parrswood, unless it's on Freeview, the many screens remain unpixellated. To be strictly accurate it was 50% of WithQuiz activity since the History Men and Charas were always scheduled to be at the Parrswood. Despite this inrush of quizzers the 3 matches (Prods v Albert was the other incomer) took place each in splendid isolation of one another until the results were all in the bag and there was some seepage of personnel between the match areas.

Anyway, to our own match based in the cranny (or is it a nook?) to the left of the main entrance...

The Opsis and the Pigs are well-matched these days. Just before Christmas the Pigs ran out winners at the Club by two points. Last night the roles were reversed and the Opsis clinched it by one point having been neck and neck throughout most of the earlier rounds. As ever the process was scrupulously fair with Andrew officiating magisterially. The final question went to Opsi skipper and Muppet fan, Howell, who deployed his boxing knowledge to good effect.

The presence of the History Men in an adjacent nook/cranny meant that post-match Opsimath Brian was able to honour the debt from a few weeks back when on a particularly lengthy Albert paper the victorious Opsimaths had had to leave the History Men without their customary losers round. Anne, Ivor, David and Vanessa - the slate is now clean!

The Irish secret society who murdered and kidnapped in the 1870s Pennsylvania coalfields

(R3/Q4)

...to which Howell 'the Muppet' Davies adds...

The Parrswood hotel was a bit like a quizzing remake of Zulu - there were that many quizzers 'in the house'. Well there were 3 matches anyway - which meant that WithQuiz members outnumbered the remainder of the clientele by some distance!!

Opsis lost just 2 rounds (by a total of 6 points), drew 2 and won 4 (by a total of 7 points). The final round typified the evening as Opsis were 1 point ahead at the end of Round 7. All questions were answered and with both teams getting 2 twos and 2 ones the lead remained unchanged with the Opsimaths winning with a one pointer on the very last question. It was hard luck on the Pigs in a game that was played in a good spirit and officiated finely by Andrew Simcock - surely WithQuiz's Anthony Taylor!

An early finish meant that we spent more time than usual chatting - which allowed us to put a lot of things right in the world ... now then - what did we talk about again?

'The Donation of Constantine' fresco

(R3/Q1)

Quiz paper set by...

...The Bards

Average Aggregate score 86.3

A good 7 points above the season's average tally for a WithQuiz match, which meant there was much point-scoring happiness for the competitors this week. Indeed in my own match the Opsis and the Pigs squeezed a magnificent top-scoring 89 points out of the paper. Plenty of themes and devices too to keep you on your toes as the evening progressed.

My only gripe was with the Bards' religious correspondent who had invented the totally mythical Roman Catholic post of 'Archbishop of London'. RC-wise London encompasses the Archdiocese of Southwark and the Dioceses of Westminster and Brentwood. To Catholics London simply doesn't exist.

Hoffman's finest role?

(R8/Q7)

...so what were Howell's views?...

The quiz felt quite sporty in its make-up. There were a few comments about the looseness of some of the questions but, that aside, the content led to a fine quiz match.

This weeks themed rounds were quite easy to work out - which undoubtedly aided the sizeable score for both teams.

Kenny Burns - 1978's Footballer of the Year

(R4/Q5)

...and Damian's?...

Tonight's questions were a good selection of themes hidden and otherwise (with no Run-ons, Mike will no doubt be pleased to hear). We had no trouble guessing the hidden themes and particularly enjoyed the round on words prefiguring 'lights'. Although I was prepared to guess 'spot' on the Treasure Island question my memory of this book was insufficient to connect it to the clue in the question so chickened out for a confer instead of going for a two. I guess I better add this book, along with the Nutcracker Suite, for urgent revision ready for when they pop up again in some future quiz. Boo-boo of the week was the Basil Hume question. As we Catholic boys, Mike and I, indignantly pointed out, Hume was never Archbishop of London (no such post in the Catholic Church) prior to becoming Archbishop of Westminster. He was Abbot of Ampleforth. We got the right answer nonetheless or at least I did.

"I wanna be loved by you...
Boop-boop-a-doop!"

(R3/Sp)

...and Ivor's...

We thoroughly enjoyed this quiz and it is refreshing to say that it didn't seem like an exam paper. We liked the spread of knowledge required - from the highbrow (Russian novels) to the Daily Star infotainment (the weird chap with perpetual Christmas lights on his house). The bakery round was the 'swing round' for us (8-2) so perhaps it is appropriate that the Charas get the wooden spoon. We especially liked Round 1 where the theme possibilities continued to confound us until Q4 - added to which the alcoholic beverages chosen as answers were far from the obvious choices. The 'Muppet Round' also proved a memory room for our ageing brains. Did any student ever miss early Sunday evening in front of the TV in the late seventies?

"We're taking it one match at a time"

(R1/Q5)

Question of the Week

This week Howell was in raptures over his memories of the rather attractive Football Manager conjured up by Round 1 Question 5...

Which actress played Guinevere in Excalibur (1981) and the lead role in The Manageress on Channel 4 (1989-90)?

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

Wiltshire's Andy who never gets to celebrate Boxing Day

(R5/Q2)