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Bards beat Electric Pigs
The Bards just get the better of the Pigs to keep their 4th place
 Without
his reading glasses, Tony just had to play ...
Tonight's game, as ever when we play the Pigs at the Parrswood, was
nip and tuck throughout. I should have been QM but forgot my reading
glasses and couldn't read a word of the paper, so Robin volunteered to
QM and I had to play. I suspect that this is the reason for
the closeness of the result, although it is churlish of me to
suggest this, since the Pigs played extremely well with many two-point
answers. I would have been happier to have been QM especially as we
had to endure (were subjected to) yet another Blockbuster Round.
I
liked the round on weather conditions, although my answer of Storm
Hunter was not acceptable to the QM, and I was slow to spot the
members of the Supreme Court, though two of them are personal
friends of mine.
A French saint and a British Admiral keep an eye on each other
(R1/Q4)
Albert beat Charabancs
Albert sail on in 3rd place
 Mike
organises a bit of Denton-based train-spotting for his wards
At
last a win. God knows I did my bit. At our winter
training camp I confiscated their comics and small bags of white
powder, and before the fixture threatened Damian with extreme
violence if his team tried to win. Consequently, I am
heartened by the response.
As
a reward I have promised the team an outing to Denton Railway
Station where they should be free from any distractions. This
is how I reveal my softer, caring side.
Mike and his team on a day out at Denton
(R8/Q1)
 Damian
and the Charas come down to earth with a bump
Our pre-Christmas
euphoria was soon brought back down to earth with a bang in our
first match of the New Year. Last time we played the Albert we
managed an honourable draw. This time QM Mike fixed me with a
steely glare and promised me his team would crush us like ants and
so it proved. He always means what he says does Mike. We
led in only one round (R5) but were on the back foot in every other
round. Albert scored twelve twos against our eight and grabbed
seven steals to our two. Small wonder the result went their
way.
Once upon a time we used to do well on the Historymen's questions
but, alas, no longer. These days they never seem to play to
our strengths.
No drink down under
(R8/Q4)
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A Friendly nose job - before and after
(R6/Q6)
Prodigals beat Opsimaths
Another pounding victory for the Prods
 Mike
recalls happier derby days for the Opsis
Kate, John,
Anne-Marie and Jimmy were (as ever) peerless; Brian, Tehmeena,
Hilary and Mike were just less. OK, we knew less than the
Prods but what made it even more frustrating was that when we did
know the answer we often fluffed our lines. Inexplicably I
confused myself into thinking that the darts commentator was Sid
Weddell and the Antarctic sea was the Wedell Sea (thinking I had
chosen an 'added letter' question); when we had Cuba as an answer we
talked ourselves out of it; and Brian was not so far out with Farfaraway in Round 4.
Stella QMed nobly in
the midst of a fairly noisy club, so many thanks to her.
The days of the
Opsimaths going into the Club derby as nailed-on favourites are far
away in another universe just like 2018 AG37 - but even then I don't
think we matched the excellence of the present-day Prods. Nine
played; nine won. Say no more.
The Earps
(R4&5/Q11)
KFD beat Ethel Rodin
KFD keep their 2nd spot with a traditional 5 point margin over
Ethel
 Kieran
tells how the moon shines bright at the Griffin
The
start of Barry's goodbye to all this and that, and a right on point
chewy offering from the History Men. Twos available but not offered
on a plate; on the other hand only 8 unanswereds (5-3 to Ethel's
detriment). We got them in ones, literally in the last round when a
6 point lead at the start meant we knew four ones would see us home
so that was exactly what we got.
The
evening didn't start too promisingly when Ethel forgot to collect
the paper from the Fletcher Moss. Well they've only been at this
quizzing lark for thirty odd years, it takes time to get the hang of
things. The paper was duly retrieved and Bob was poised to ask the first
question when a random punter appeared in the doorway of the Griffin's
'Living Room'. "What's going on here?" she asked, "a quiz" chorused
the nine of us. "Oh a quiz, fantastic" she beamed. "It's not a
public quiz" rebuffed our man glowering on the door of the exclusive
club you're not getting into at any price. She slunk away, totally
crushed. I believe once he's retired and decamped, Barry is planning
to volunteer as a greeter at Norwich cathedral's visitor centre;
he'll wow the tourists.
Just off to Tony's Fancy Dress Ball
(R3/Q6)
I
don't think Greg has ever been outscored on twos in all our contests
with Ethel, but tonight he was at least equalled on three maximums by
fellow Rodinista James, and also by Thomas and yours truly. The game
that these days is always decided by five points was decided by five
points for the third time in the last four contests (the other being
a one point game of course).
Next week the Prodigals are at the club and it's a last chance to keep them
honest for the rest of the season. Meanwhile City at the
considerably less glamorous Parc des Princes could end up as
anything but. They'll probably be a lot of fun along the way.
At
the end of the evening, as we crossed the Griffin's car park, our
man steering the Lovell Telescope pointed out both Jupiter and Mars
shining brightly in the cloudless sky above Heaton Mersey - also the
moon, which we'd spotted for ourselves. I'm going to miss moments
like that a lot.
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Quiz paper set by...
...
History Men
Average Aggregate score
73.0
A good start to the
New Year with a paper that notched just a tad short of the 75 point
target aggregate the setters had aimed for.
A good all round
spread of topics and plenty of variety in the question types
deployed.
At the Club we ran
into trouble at the start of the composite Round 4/5. Trying
to pack 5 different question types into one round freaked us out and
it took a while for the Opsis to settle down and be clear on what
was going on. As it turned out the questions in that double
round were well crafted and the modus operandi not too difficult to
deal with once we'd got the hang of things. However it seems
to me it would be less stressful (especially for the QM) if we
restrict ourselves to just one type of question per round in future.
Post Vine
(R3/Q3)
... and
this was Tony's verdict ...
There was approval all round for tonight's Historymen paper. No-one felt able to nominate a question of the week and,
considering the paper as a whole, neither can I.
... and
this was Mike O'B's verdict ...
The quiz was part of
what has become a pretty high standard of paper this season, full of
interesting facts such as Chris Gayle's scoring feats. The
pairings were reasonably well balanced apart from the odd stinker-wenge
wood! In fairness I have to admit that most of these seemed to
end up with the Charas.
O ur Friend from Norfolk
(R1/Q6)
... and
this was Damian's verdict ...
We can't fault the
variety and novelty of the Historymen's papers generally,
especially their themes and their use of the Bingo format, but
this paper, in particular, was a tad too reliant on obscure sport
and Indie pop group stuff, which never sits well with us old fogies.
Not a very enjoyable experience for us but there it is.
Question of the Week This week
I've chosen the Runalong 3 question in Rounds 4/5 ...
Monty Python characters who were very fond of shrubberies
especially ones with a little path running down the middle,
&
a gritty film drama starring Leila
Morse, Kathy Burke and Ray Winstone about a dysfunctional London
family struggling to survive, while alcohol, drugs and violence get
in their way.
For the answer to this and all the week's other
questions click
here.
Unless I'm Very Much Mistaken
(R7/Q2)
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