WITHQUIZ

The Withington Pub Quiz League

QUIZBIZ

27th November 2024

Home

WQ Fixtures, Results & Table

WQ Teams

WQ Archive Comments Question papers

NB: For WIST matches next Thursday question papers are to be collected from the Fletcher Moss by the WithQuiz teams - whether playing at home or away

KFD edge nearer the top whilst Ethel slip up; the History Men start their spurt up the table; Albert never tire of tying

Albert tied with Electric Pigs

Ethel Rodin lost to KFD

History Men beat Charabancs

Opsimaths lost to Bards

Latest WithQuiz League Table

Ethel Rodin lost to KFD

KFD win a tense tussle at the top

Kieran lays bare his musical shame

That was some night; a banger from the league leaders, a team selection choice that paid off handsomely and the game that these days is always decided by four or five points, decided in our favour for the first time in four attempts.

The selection decision was Thomas over David.  I guessed that the Prodigals might set questions that would favour youth over experience and my hunch was vindicated as Thomas scored twos on 19th century French Presidents and British Prime Ministers, 1930s literary pseuds and Norman kings.  Sometimes when picking the team I just get lucky; Thomas justified his starting spot and then some; he's being benched next week, obviously.  Thomas now thinks his performance tonight, by some way his best yet in a 'must win' game, should win him the KFD Young Player of the Season award.  Well he doesn't have too much competition does he?   More of that later, maybe.    


Corunna's Golden Balloon

(R1/Q8)


The evening did not start promisingly as Martin announced he was feeling unwell and might not finish the game, or even be able to start.  Our half-fit polymath mercifully lasted the pace and delivered a couple of twos and double figures of assists; there's just no one to equal him - except maybe Greg on the other side of the upstairs room who, for the second time, scored 7 twos against us in a losing cause, only failing on the Bruckner / Mahler toss up. Oh, Kevin De Bruyne / Jeremy Corbyn!  

'Jos Buttler on one' fired off a couple of maximums on his (and everyone else's) favourite sitcoms.  I'm told the former Mrs Bezos rinsed the appalling gimp in the divorce settlement.  However much she got, it wasn't nearly enough and it's a tragedy for honest and useful journalism that he owns the once great Washington Post.  Later on in the quiz the superb Soap fell to Thomas and he couldn't really be expected to know that answer.  Someone on the Prodigals team has great taste in TV comedies.   

We were one point behind after question 4 of the first round and after that we were never headed.  Over the last five or six seasons we've had fantastic contests with Ethel and a just silly number of games won by one point, either way, right at the death.  They're our favourite opponents for that reason.  We have to be at the very top of our game to stand any chance and even then it may not be enough.  I'm sure the Rodinistas feel the same way and it makes for great contests.  


America's 'Breakfast Diplomacy' - Uber Eats delivers across the world

(R6/Q2)


We all speculated whether the Americans could have dropped 2.4 million units of mustard, custard or even tarragon on Afghanistan.  Pop-Tarts shows a serious lack of imagination on the part of Uncle Sam.  I screwed my courage to the crepuscular, Southern Comfort and mantle-sticking places for twos, only getting the Booker Prize theme after I'd been asked the last question in that round.  It's very satisfying when the penny drops like that and confirms what you were already 70% sure was the answer.  My only (tiny) gripe with the paper would be that in the 'Northern Quarter streets' round I could have been asked about Beyoncé's nailed on Grammy winner rather than the card game from which it takes its title.  Any opportunity to get Queen Bee into WithQuiz should not be passed up.  

We started the last round 3 points ahead and neither team was relishing the prospect of eight one hit Spotify wonders.  We'd have been very happy with a 0-0 score but it proved to be an excellent set of questions with four or five great songs as the answers.  Not the one that won it for us, however.  After four questions our lead had been cut to two points.  Of course it had!  This was Ethel vs KFD; what else was going to happen?


Oxford's suspicious literary haunt

(R2/Q5)


And so to the shame, the dreadful shame ... You see I knew the Chesney Hawkes answer - not immediately - but pretty soon into Ethel's 'game on the line', conferring and with absolute certainty.  I like to think I have pretty good taste in music; his dad's band were an early favourite of mine and I'd have had no problem scoring points for one of their songs.  What made it worse was that the other seven quizzers didn't have a clue so that rather marked me out as a dodgy music fan.  At the start of the round Ethel James - every time I describe him thus I can't help but think of the magnificent Etta James (put her alongside Beyoncé at the very least) - anyway James had said of one hit wonders "Chesney Hawkes is bound to be in there" and then, God be praised, Ethel collectively forgot this wise advice.  It came over to us and I, anything but proudly, hoovered up the bonus.  I can never again claim to be a proper music fan but we had won the match, or we did once the formality (for those of us of a certain age) of Zager and Evans was despatched.  Truly a bargain with the devil over music.  Shall I tell you about Robert Johnson?  No, never again. I did get to end the match with another two for Norman Greenbaum's masterpiece but I don't think that has rescued much credibility for me - that's going to take a long, long time.

Great quiz, great opponents, great evening and City didn't lose, or draw or throw away an impregnable lead, what's not to love? By some distance our most impressive performance against a top team for a few years and it felt really good.   

Next week we play Ethel's alter ego in WIST but it will be a Smart Alex shorn of Greg and Roddy who have chosen not to transition but will stay Ethel rather than Alex.  And on a Thursday, that's just weird!


The McGears

(R1/Sp2)


Scott & Crook

(R1/Q1)



History Men beat Charabancs

A solid win for the improving History Men

Ivor watches (almost) everything go right for his team

Our recent home form has been a little poor; our away form not much better.  All great teams (we were once sort of good) can have wobbles (Manchester City spring to mind for some reason) but then natural order is restored.  Tonight we faced our old friends the Charabancs, who themselves once proudly bestrode our league like the Colossus of Rhodes.  How would we fare?  For once we were well prepared.  We got our lucky seats in the Parrswood snug; Young David and I had pre-match training in Mike Bath’s Monday Quiz (winners) and Tuesday night’s Fletcher Moss Quiz (winners).  We even won the toss.  The biggest difference however, was the first season’s appearance of both Anne and Vanessa on the same night.  Vanessa scored 6 twos.  “She’s highly competitive”, said Anne about her niece.  Not to be outdone Auntie Anne got 6 twos as well even though her philosophy remains: “It’s only a pub quiz”. 

We all try hard in our league but sloppy play seldom remains unpunished by team captains or those responsible for team discipline, be it the Paddle of Rebuke or a pithy comment debating whether you are an idiot or just an imbecile.  Although there were no blurts to rival my Fu Man Chu of yesteryear I did offer Annette Crosbie rather than Geraldine McEwan on a passover without consulting team members who of course ALL knew the correct answer.  My defence that they look the same was dismissed out of hand.  I think I will have to plead prosopagnosia as one of my invisible disabilities - which would also account for my poor performance in picture rounds where everyone is either a young, gifted sportsman, or a young, blonde starlet of some pulchritude. 

We nearly got to 50 points but sadly I blurted 2025 in my final question for the famous Zager and Evans hit.  However looking at the lyrics of the song many of the far off predictions are already here.  In 3535: “Ain’t gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lie / Everything you think, do and say / Is in the pill you took today,” does sound like the way the dystopian world of the Donald and Comrade Starmer might be in 2025. 


"As La Rochefoucauld observed: 'Humility is the worst form of conceit.' I do hold the winning hand, James"

(R2/Q4)


High praise from Damian for the returning History Girls

Last week I failed to submit a report for various reasons and promised to make up for that by submitting one this week.  How I wish it had been the other way round!  Last week we secured an honourable draw; this week we were thoroughly trounced by one of our favourite opponents who remain in that category despite the trouncing. At no point in tonight's proceedings were we ahead; trailing all the way through with the gap gradually getting wider and wider.  Everything just seemed to play to their strengths and not to ours.  Generally speaking we conferred pretty well but just couldn't score enough twos, managing only 8 to our opponents' 17 - and grabbing 4 steals to our opponents' 6. The welcome return of Anne only added to our woes.  How could we compete with someone who knew all about space travel and came up with answers like 'crepulous'?  I submit that she and niece Vannessa are a lethal combination for anyone to take on. They could form a team of two on their own and still be among the favourites to win the league! 


"What's that behind, behind you, Kate?"

(R5/Q4)


Opsimaths lost to Bards

Another bad defeat for the Opsis who are slipping down the table

Mike was in the QM chair watching events unfold

Full marks to the Bards who seem now to cover a variety of age ranges and subject ranges (although unlike their opponents last night are worryingly deficient in the gender range department).  Jim was off to a flyer with twos in the first 4 rounds and Robin and John (the 'Teenage Dirtbags' of the Bards' line-up) proved pretty impressive on the pop stuff - clearly they're not one hit wonders!  Tony was - as ever - certain about what he was certain about even if, occasionally, it proved wrong.  Altogether an impressive performance from them.

On the home  benches things weren't so rosy as the score gap widened inexorably.  Emma was pretty good on popular culture but couldn't quite remember that Carl was a Douglas.  Tehmeena revelled in the unusual abundance of Canada questions (Tehmeena hails from Edmonton) but many of the popular culture stuff predated her teenage years.  Hilary and Brian had some sparkling moments but not as many as were required.

Next week WIST - and a trip to the heart of darkness in Edgeley where we face the impressive Alexandra line-up.


"Zip-a-dee-doo-dah"

(R4/Q4)


Albert tied with Electric Pigs

Need a new tie?  Get yourself a game against 'Ties-R-Us' Albert

Mike trawls through his one-hit wonder knowledge

Well, who would have foreseen it?  A third consecutive draw involving the Albert.  Is there a precedent for this in the history of WithQuiz?  Once again a very high aggregate, with very few unanswered questions, from two in-form teams.  It's a mystery why the Pigs have been in such poor form this season after such a display.

It was an enjoyable quiz.  As QM I was much taken by the 'One Hit Wonder' round; all that misery and doom; it was more like one of Albert's paper-setting meetings.  I would have done very badly on this round since my knowledge runs more to Oh Mr Porter.  Think why would anyone want to go to Birmingham?  It was clearly an act of mercy to put the poor woman off at Crewe.  Or if you want more angst: "The Boers have got my daddy, my mother heard today / So she's taken in a lodger and sent me out to play".


Quiz paper set by...

... Prodigals

Average Aggregate score 82.5


Well, the Prods certainly did the accessibility thing with an average aggregate of over 80 and a top aggregate (Albert v the Pigs) of a massive 94.  There was quite a lot of pop stuff including the whole of Round 8 which didn't suit everybody but then plenty else seemed to appeal - especially the proliferation of Announced theme rounds where all answers contain a word that meets a defined criterion (e.g. the 'T-A-R' round, or the round with film titles with a point of the compass in them, both of which featured in this week's paper).  So, all in all, a cracking paper from the Prods.


Peter Blake's impression of bible-black Llareggub

(R2/Q8)


... and what was Damian's verdict ...

Tonight's paper from the Prodigals had plenty of interesting and amusing fare on offer.  We loved the themes on films with a compass point in their titles, questions requiring answers beginning with 'Mac', questions with answers involving the consecutive letters 'T-A-R', the old familiar Run-ons and the Northern Quarter street theme (albeit none of us knew the actual street names though it didn't prevent us from having a good stab at the answers).

The combined score of 82 suggests a high-scoring paper well above the season's average.  My only quibble was the profusion of pop music questions which seemed to crop up regularly all the way through, despite there being an entire round devoted to them at the end.  That was one of the reasons it played so much to our opponents' strengths or, at least, it felt that way. 


Specially for Kieran

(R8/Q5)


... and this was Ivor's view ...

The quiz?  We all enjoyed the bits we knew, of course; the French president of Irish ancestry was a steal for Damian. Only 7 questions unanswered including the Bundy who wasn’t Ted.  Anne surprised herself by getting two science questions correct.  Young David was not young enough to use Urban Dictionary terms. Fortunately Vanessa being a primary school teacher is well up in modern jargon if only to ensure pupils (students) are not actually swearing at each other - the latest means of disparagement is to accuse someone of not having 'ris'. Sadly the Booker connection passed us by though arguably some of the writers (never mind the winning books) are not in the first rank.


... and Kieran's summary ...

A banger from the league leaders.


View from a Provencale Asylum

(R6/Q4)


Question of the Week

This week I enjoyed the way out conferences that accompanied the efforts to answer Round 6 (the one with 'TAR' in every answer) Question 2 - without either team at the Club hitting upon the right answer ...

. The US military air-dropped 2.4 million units of which apparently much-loved food product into Afghanistan during the 2001 invasion?

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


France's Irish Royal President

(R1/Q5)


... and also

Interesting email received this week from one of our regular website readers, James Graham.  James writes ...

"I have been very impressed recently with your website and league set up.

I write quizzes and do the administration work for the Pattaya expat quiz league (Thailand), a very competitive league.  I am wondering what your league does in the event of a wrong answer to a question (or even a wrong question which happens from time to time).

One of the questions in the WithQuiz league two nights ago (20th November) had an answer I don't agree with.   In our league we have an appeals section where the administrator (me or another guy) sits down, re-reads the question and then compares the writer's answer to the answer of the player making the appeal.  How is this rectified in the Withington league?

P.S. The answer I didn't agree with was this one:

R7Q8: What is the lowest possible 3 dart checkout?

The answer given was 163 but I think it should be 159."

In my reply to James I told him we prefer to make the QM all-powerful on the night rather than have some 'after the event arbitration process'.  James, who, I believe was based in Thailand, is now in Prestwich carrying our his admin duties over the internet. He has suggested he might come along to one of the Albert Club quizzes in the next few weeks.

And to round off this item Barry (who set the question) has agreed with James that 159 rather than 163 was indeed the correct answer.  Thailand 1 - WithQuiz 0!


The Blossoms at home in Stockport

(R7/Sp1)