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Ethel do the double, lifting
the Val Draper trophy after a close match at the Parrs Wood;
at the Club the History Men
beat the Prods to take the Plate;
the Opsimaths win the 'Best
Round' award with their 'Crash, Bang, Wallop' Round 8 |
Val Draper Cup
(Final)
Electric Pigs lost to Ethel Rodin
WithQuiz Plate Cup
(Final)
History Men beat Prodigals
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Val Draper Cup (Final)
Electric Pigs lost to Ethel Rodin
A close contest in which Ethel finally overcame
their handicap disadvantage
 Just
as Ethel finish on a high James hints at change
A match played in good spirits throughout.
Having beaten the Pigs by 10 points and 4 points in
the league, Ethel’s handicap of 7 always looked as
if it would be right on the nose. And so it
proved, with Ethel one point behind going into the
final round. Half the rounds were tied; Pigs
won the literature one; Ethel won three including
doing onomatopoeically well in that final round,
albeit after some long individual deliberations as
to whether to discuss or attempt the slam dunk.
Munro Runner up
(R 4/Q8)
Michael said "Squires" instead of Squeers and was
perhaps harshly punished. Maybe a prompt would
have been the better initial response, but, to be
fair, the Pigs gave the proper name in full.
It’s difficult when the answerer clearly knows the
correct answer - and obviously hasn’t randomly
guessed. Still, we’ve benefited from a few
similar misspeaks this year, as Ivor will no doubt
agree.
So, Ethel do the double (and Greg has done a
quintuple this season as his teams also won two cups
in Stockport and one in Macclesfield). I don’t
think many of us do this just to win, and it is
definitely the participation that has the greatest
appeal. But success has allowed some
validation to friends and family who scratch their
heads at my long term choice of Wednesday night
activity.
Despite this being Ethel’s most successful season
ever, after more than 30 years at it, Roddy dropped
the bombshell a few weeks ago that he is thinking
about gradually retiring from the quiz. He is
worried about the questions starting to be too young
for him. Conversely I think younger questions
are important for the future of the league, but I do
understand what he means. He’s not ever going
to watch Disney+, Netflix or Gogglebox, nor will the
dial on his MW radio ever move far from where it is
now. But breadth of knowledge is what other
team members are for, and personally I think Roddy
still has a huge amount to contribute. He
holds a fountain of ridiculous knowledge drawn from
springs that nobody else has ever found.
Somehow I don’t think he’ll be off any time soon.
But as I’ve said previously, long term succession
planning is important for all of our teams.
There are no transfer fees, but if anyone not
currently involved is reading this and feels that
they have something to offer, and want to give up
their Wednesday evenings for 9 months of the year,
then please reach out!
Farewell Blighty!
(R4 /Q1)
 Mike
was at the Parrs Wood on QMing duties
An enjoyable match with the result in doubt right up
to the last few questions of the evening.
The Pig line-up was Guy, Peter, Tom and Andrew -
with Dave who had been delayed on a flight back from
Belfast subbing for Andrew near the end. For
most of the match their 7-point handicap advantage
looked like seeing them home. But a laser-like
focus kept Ms Rodin (Roddy, Greg, James and Michael)
in hot pursuit and - sure enough - they just pulled
ahead in Round 8. Both teams performed well
and pulled unexpected rabbits out of the hat (the AC
Cobra genius comes to mind). They were also
hot on the themes with quite a few otherwise
insoluble questions falling to the hint that the
theme gave.
The Ballad of John and May
(R5 /Sp1)
Well, Ethel have now won the Stockport League (under
the guise of Smart Alex), the WithQuiz league and
the Val Draper Cup (and Greg also let on that he'd
been in the Macclesfield league's winning team).
It's clearly been their season so congratulations
all round. However as WithQuiz has proved over
the past few seasons nothing is guaranteed and
there'll be 8 other teams snapping at their heels
come October. Well done them - and especially
well done to their veteran skipper, Roddy!
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Barry's little girl says G'Day
(R4 /Q10
- JG)
WithQuiz Plate (Final)
History Men beat Prodigals
The History Men's season which limp-started,
finishes at 100mph
 Ivor
basks in the glory
Our season (which started with six consecutive
defeats) has ended in triumph. The Plate is
the most modest of all the silverware available in
our league and perhaps analogous to the prizes that
used to be awarded in primary schools to children
who were destined never to claw their way to the top
of any greasy pole; Diana, Princess of Wales’s award
for the best kept hamster cage always springs to
mind. However a prize is a prize and we were
very pleased to defeat the WIST Champion’s Cup
victors in our match tonight.
Late Oscar
(R5 /Q5)
The Prodigals had a -2 handicap and the game was
very close (we were ahead 30 to 28 after Round 6)
but in the end we managed to win even without the
handicap advantage. Both teams were on
excellent form and as is usual for our clashes there
was no clashing at all. The tale of the tape
is also a measure of how well the setters, and the
compiler, Brian, had done. In our match each
side scored 12 twos, there were only three
unanswered questions and it was only the slightly
better steal rate for us (4-6) that cemented the
win.
Swiss heart attack recipe
(R6 /Q3)
Quiz paper set by...
... 'Knocked Out United'
(edited by Brian McClintock)
Average Aggregate score 82.5
Another excellent paper from the combined efforts of
Albert, the Charabancs, KFD and the Opsimaths - all
shaken and stirred by Brian. A better than
average aggregate and themes galore without the
usual theme-laden quiz's penalty of imbalance.
Based
on finalist feedback the best round was Round 8
('Crash, Bang, Wallop') from the Opsimaths, closely
followed by KFD's Round 6 (the Val Draper anagram)
and the Charas' Blockbuster Bingo Round 4.
Finally if you want to follow up on the Charas'
R3/Sp2 Tango question follow this link:
https://youtu.be/tAOlukpXQzQ
Grant and Saint hanging on to Washington's
eyeball
(R5 /Q2)
...
so what did Ivor make
of it ...
We enjoyed the quiz. The variety of questions
was a big part of this and I continue to be amazed
at how, no matter how obscure the subject, someone
seems to know the answer. Young David had
steals with the AC Cobra and the early denizen of
his Welsh home town; Vanessa was never going to be
caught out by children’s illustration awards; and
Anne had Return of the Native as an 'A' level
text (the opening chapter describes EH and must be
the dullest chapter in Hardy’s output). Sadly
not all of our side was on top form - my blurt of "Venusian
Man” on the World In Action logo is up there
with Fu Man Chu as a famous Mancunian.
All the rounds were contenders for the 'Round of the
Game' with the onomatopoeic (now there is a word for
a spell-checker) Round 8 winning, if only because
finding ten questions to fit the theme represents a
Herculean effort by the setter (Ed: Brian, of
course). Honourable mentions to both the
Anagram round and the Phonetic Alphabet round. QotW
though was the impressive unimpressive literary
character.
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... and James' verdict ...
Overall a good set of questions which was evenly
balanced.
We sussed the Simpsons theme after 2 questions.
It included good use of some of the less obvious
characters, but we thought the 'BART' answer
was far too easy in comparison with the others - and
could also be guessed, especially as Lisa had
already been dispensed with.
The 2019 film Ford vs Ferrari (a.k.a. Le
Mans ‘66) is mainly focused on Carroll Shelby
(Matt Damon) and Ken Miles (Christian Bale).
His AC is featured prominently. Highly
recommended!
The literature round was considered challenging.
I wonder if, in the land of Obscuria, Jess the
oddjobsman is a secret friend of the Red Lady of P?
The PMs round we thought was decent. Egdon
Heath landed well with Roddy, and Michael avoided
saying "Kentucky Derby" fortunately conferring to
identify the different PM involved. I spent 20
seconds trying to work out which PM was Pickett and
whether there was a run through of a Pitt or
something. Greg conferred for Major Major, but
did know it - he just wasn’t sure.
The phonetic alphabet round had mainly reasonable
questions - but we felt it was too easy a theme to
pick up, making the rest of the round a doddle once
you'd got the theme. In particular, Quebec was
a simple guess, made even easier as the only other
Americas candidate, Lima, had been geographically
excluded in the question.
Bravo McCarthy!
(R3 /Q5)
The Blockbuster round was a good set. Although
a Brummie native, I have never ventured into rural
Worcestershire, at least not east of the M5, but
knew that the Pershore Road goes south from
Birmingham, parallel with the A38 Bristol road, and
very close to Edgbaston cricket ground. I’ve
already alluded to the Red Lady having been somewhat
obscure. Is there a point to Blockbuster
rounds? It removes the issue of question
balance but replaces it with bad luck opportunities.
Only twice in 15 years have we worked out a correct
answer in advance just from the letters.
Instinctively teams go for long sets of initials as
this seems easier, but long term experience suggests
it probably isn’t.
I can’t say that I personally contributed much to
knowledge of Hogwart's teachers but the round was
appreciated by others in both the teams.
The 'Crash, Bang, Wallop' round was a good mishmash
of random things - all relatively accessible. I
suspect there was a factual date error in the 'Kerrang!'
question but I managed to dredge it up nevertheless
(Ed: I've corrected it on the website copy).
To back up his unlikely Simpsons knowledge, Roddy
also remembered the mashed potato product. And
it is always good to be reminded of 'Allo, 'Allo,
which has stood the test of time better than many
70s and 80s shows.
I might have missed a round or two in this critique
but would reinforce the overall view that the set
was balanced and made for a competitive match.
Question
of the Week
This week the History Men really liked Round 5 Question
8 ...
Which literary character is described thus:
"Even among men lacking all
distinction he inevitably stood out as a man lacking more
distinction than all the rest, and people who met him were
always impressed by how unimpressive he was"?
For the answer to this and all the week's other
questions click
here.
... and
also
We
now wait 2 weeks for our traditional End of Season
evening which will be on May 22nd at the Albert
Club starting at 8.30pm.
As
usual a special guest has been invited to dole out
all the gongs so if you have a
trophy from last season - then make sure the
engravings are up-to-date (I usually use Manchester Trophy Market,
287 Palatine Road, Northenden; telephone
0161-884-3359) and do remember to bring the
trophies along on the 22nd.
Following my website appeal a few weeks ago you'll
be glad to know I have
received some contributions from former WithQuizzers
(John Tolan, Paddy Duffy and Fr Megson) towards this
year's End of Season quiz paper.
I've also received this charming note:
"I
write a fortnightly quiz in Highgate in London, and
your quiz has supplied me with many great ideas for
rounds over the last few years, so as a token of
thanks, please find this selection of themed rounds
to use at any time if you wish. All the best,
David Burnage, Regular quiz setter, Famous Royal Oak
pub, Muswell Hill.
Thanks, David.
I will edit
all these contributions into the quiz paper I'm preparing for the
End of Season evening.
Syrian stronghold
(R 8/Sp1)
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