Albert re-leapfrog their Historical rivals to regain the second place slot

Mike and his team mates bask in their new status of 'superbeings'

A very traditional paper, reliant on old favourites such as the paired round, but none the worse for that.  It also contained a fresh approach to the Run-ons though it would seem to be a formidable problem to recreate a whole round using this approach.  The lead changed hands several times indicating a good quiz but Round 6 threw the result Albert's way.  There was a lengthy discussion trying to construct the line of succession between Henry VIII and George V - very tenuous. 

At the end Ivor made a strange comment along the lines of "Holy Mother of God how can we oppose these quizzing superbeings?" though on reflection I may have misheard him.

Ivor anticipates a late season down amongst the Opsimaths

(R2/Q5)

Ethel continue their recovery moving up to fourth place

Mike describes a trying evening at the Albert Club

I don't always agree with Kieran but his recent criticisms of the Albert Club as a quizzing venue  were amply borne out this week.  Noise from a City match, frequent visits to the kitchen by the bar staff, a particularly noisy bunch of drinkers right next to the divide into the back lounge (what divide I hear you say) and these were the least of the problems for our QM, Brian.  Add to that a paper full of lengthy questions and plenty of points to dispute then you have the recipe for a long and trying evening.

Both teams did try and it was pretty even pegging until the last couple of rounds when Ethel sped away into the distance to victory by 9 points.

It was great to have Emma back on the Opsis team and with Hilary we were at last able to claim sex equality once more (Howell and I representing the blokes).  Greg, James, Rob and Michael were the Ethels in the room.  Not surprisingly there was a fair bit of political reflecting going on throughout the evening and once we'd done with the paper the opinions burst forth.  Ethel were as ever very sporting and the whole match was played in an excellent spirit as we jointly tackled the challenges of the environment, the paper and the Carlsberg.

James is perpendicular in Gloucester as he writes

A lot could be said about Brian’s QMing but it could be summarised by saying that it left the players of both teams feeling somewhat emotional and tired by the end of the evening.  Several of the subtleties of some excellent questions were not given full justice.  I think both teams lost a few points as a result.  

The 'Animal sounds' round was very clever, and some of the answers far from obvious.  Purr-pendicular was particularly excellent (in fact I write to you today from the tea rooms at Gloucester Cathedral on my way to Cardiff).  I was not so impressed with Baa-kshire (Question 8: name the one county which fits this theme). 

I remember my Dad always used to watch that program with James Bolam in (Round 7, Question 3) and so out of the blue I suggested it as a total guess, purely based on the dates.  I'd never actually watched it.  

The quiz was neck and neck apart from Round 7 which we won 9-1 - and the margin of victory was that 8 points.