Withington Pub Quiz League

Sad news to kick off this week: we've just learnt of the death of Clive Berry, long-time WithQuizzer and former captain of the Prodigals team (see obituary below)

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The Charas stay top alongside the Bards, both of whom have enjoyed back-to-back victories

Prodigals beat Opsimaths

CKC lost to Charabancs

Electric Pigs lost to History Men

Bards beat Ethel Rodin

Latest WithQuiz League Table

CKC lost to Charabancs

The Charas win the Griffin derby to stay top of the table

Damian looks down from his perch

The first derby of the season and our triumphal progress proceeds apace. It was not an auspicious start this week as we lost the toss (more often than not a deal breaker) and promptly fell behind after the first round. Thereafter our fortunes took a turn for the better and we ended up winning 4 of the remaining rounds, drawing two and losing the last round, but by then we had built up sufficient momentum to cross the line for our first victory against our fellow Griffiners since Adam was a lad. Again our greater number of twos (11 v 9) and greater number of steals (5 v 2) swung the deal for us. I can't recall a season that has begun so promisingly. Our improved team discipline finally seems to be paying dividends.

Torquay hotel owner welcomes guests

(R5/Q1)

... while Kieran looks up from his basement pad ...

This isn't going well.

Before anyone goes all post-hoc and gets their propters in a twist we've had many nights when our man with the Boys Big Book of Facts was at the top of the order and we still hated the paper and bombed accordingly.

All credit to the Charas who were deserved winners, but for us there was little interest and less enjoyment in the whole evening.

Positives? Hen's teeth. Bogota Bob (whose moniker inspired us to one of our very few successful guesses) was back looking and sounding good. It was great to catch up with him and he's already providing material for the dark night of the (quiz) soul that looks to be ahead of us this winter.

Bob was also canvassing for punters for his FREE walking tour of Manchester sites of historical and cultural significance, starting at 10.00am every Thursday at the Chinese arch. As you all already know Bob is very engaging and very knowledgeable - and merely encourages donations to the Oasis Centre in Gorton as a recompense for his time and effort. I rather wish he conducted the tours at 8.30pm on Wednesday evenings.

No woman, No Cry

(R1/Q4)

Bards beat Ethel Rodin

The Bards remain unbeaten

A reluctant correspondent writes in ...

"It's about time we submitted a match report" they said. "You're the Captain, you do it" they said. Then they went off, taking the question paper with them, leaving me floundering, trying to remember anything at all about the quiz. Was it Jonnie Paper who was best mates with a dragon everyone called a Puff, which I felt sure was not a wise thing to be? I thought I was on a winner with Jonnie Paper and so did the rest of the Bards who looked on in absolute amazement that I had even heard of anything like a piece of what they like to call "pop" music but it turns out it was the other diminutive for John and so the points went to Ethel.

It was an enjoyable evening in good company and a cheerful atmosphere. Even James was visibly brighter when I told him I would vote for Lucy if they could be bothered to send me a ballot paper. I assured him I still had my Party Card, I was up to date with my Party dues and they did have my email address.

Ethel took an early lead but by the end of Round 2 the Bards were in command and ran out winners by a more comfortable margin than Ethel deserved.

So good at music they named him twice

(R2/Q8)

Grand Slam first

(R1/Q8)

Electric Pigs lost to History Men

History Men's early season's losing run finishes early

Ivor enjoys an early finish without constipation

After the first week of the season the Historymen found themselves rooted to the bottom with a score difference of -12. There was even the possibility we would remain there even with a victory. So it was pleasing to find today that we had ascended to sixth place. Even more pleasing (we really must find an English word with the same combination of unwarranted loss of empathy and glee as the German schadenfreude) to find our lowly position is now occupied by the behemoths formerly known as the Griffin, with Ethel and the Opsis not much better. It will not last of course and no doubt hubris awaits for us; possibly as early as next week.

Our trip to the Fletcher Moss to play the Electric Pigs was pleasant as always and closer than the final result would suggest (we were only a point ahead after five rounds). We lost the toss (again) but fortunately for us going second was advantageous. The Pigs got seven of the ten unanswereds with Dave in seat 4 getting a rare hat-trick of them. They also outscored us in twos (11-9) with Guy achieving five of them to be MVP of the evening (but still be in the losing team). With Andrew in the QM chair and a quiz largely devoid of constipater questions the whole game was finished well before 22.00 leaving sufficient time for conversation and drinking.

The Rosenbergs

(R2/Q5)

Prodigals beat Opsimaths

The Champs prove last week's opener was just a blip with a solid victory

Mike enjoys an evening out at the Club

A friendly drift down 'memory lane' for the first of the season's Albert Club derbies. Prods Jimmy, Michael (a welcome returnee from The Smoke - or the "Great Wen" as he dubbed it), John and Richard crossed swords with Paul, Hilary, Brian and myself for the right to claim the 'Orkney Dark' trophy. Anne-Marie QMed with a clarity of diction that overwhelmed my new hearing aids and pierced my elderly, muzzy skull effortlessly. I heard it all pretty much first time. Sadly, however, the hearing aids didn't prevent me blurting out "Frenchman's Cove" instead of "Frenchman's Creek" when the Daphne du Maurier bonus came across. Mea culpa, fellow Opsimaths!.

Scorewise the two teams were pretty level up to Round 7, the 'Run-ons' round, which the Prods won 8-1. Curtains for the Opsis!

The 'no sniggering at the back' Tor

(R3/Q2)

Post-match some happy memories of Clive Berry and the early versions of the Prodigals he led (variously dubbed Albert Park, the Gateway and then the Getaways when they returned from the Parrs Wood boozer to use the Albert Club again as their home venue). A lovely team to play, not just because they were such good company, but also because they almost always lost. Oh, that you could describe the current Prodigals in such a vein!

Late on were joined by Anne-Marie's daughter, Mary. She's up in Manchester to record an edition of Lee Mack's One Percent Quiz Show - the one that goes out on ITV on Boxing Day. After that other items for debate were the shameful delay of this week's University Challenge programme from Monday to Tuesday to make way for a Northern Ireland football match, the timing and reasoning behind Northern Irish Protestants becoming known as Presbyterians, Andy Burnham and the horrors of being educated by religious bigots of various sorts. So a good old typical WithQuiz evening out.

Quiz paper set by...

... Albert

Average Aggregate score 75.0

A good average which meant no-one went away empty handed but on the whole a bit of a bland paper, I thought. The 'same surname, different first name' round was quite fun, but the 'three 5-letter words' round was a bit of a slog.

... Damian's verdict is more positive ...

A combined score of 75 indicates another high scoring paper to get the new season underway. Plenty of variety amongst the themes both announced and hidden, plus rounds of run-ons and a round of triple clues to provide a common name which I think was the favourite for most of us. A few toughies in there which is par for the course but I counted just 7 unanswereds which broke 4 v 3 to us. So, all in all, a very satisfactory affair certainly as far as we were concerned.

Where Carpathians meet Balkans

(R5/Q2)

... but Kieran on the other hand ...

The Mastermind round - yes, really, that was the theme with which the Albert chose to open their paper - managed what I had thought to be impossible and knocked '200 years of railways' off its 'most obscure and nerdy theme imaginable' perch. There then followed a poorly edited collection of same surnames where we were given a bunch of BBC presenters and the Charas got a shed-load of classical musicians.

Some relief in the 'Cornwall round' but then some complete bozos chucked in as detectives who would have been remaindered as soon as the final reveal was penned. Finally the three answers with five letters; a promising idea on paper. Much like Dr. Johnson's cucumber it should have been "well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing." Seat four of course copped for the banger where the only 'skill' required was to guess which letter of the alphabet could precede 'alta' and sound convincingly Spanish.

After all that the aggregate score was 75 which is right in the middle of the Goldilocks zone for quiz papers. Weird.

... and Tony's summary? ...

It was a well thought out quiz in which both sides prospered at times.

... and finally Ivor's verdict ...

The quiz itself was a test of all fields of human knowledge including some fields not often ploughed (detective birth certificates and lesser known poets). There was perhaps a bit of unevenness between the very difficult and the more straightforward though we accept we are in the territory (and not just the territory of El Dorado and NW Argentinian cities) of what is 'general knowledge'. There was the usual griping if an opponent got the proverbial 'easy' question whilst we were caught out by an inability to translate Persian diamond names. We did appreciate the variety of formats including the treble rhyming round which must have taken the compiler some time to set. I wonder if anyone will attempt a six-letter or seven-letter equivalent.

The Mastermind connection in Round 1 passed us by; I doubt it would have helped even had it been an announced theme. The most interesting fact from those questions was that there have been three winners with the surname Gibson; I shall file that away for future setting. The 'Mettle' round got us confused as we did not appreciate that the metal was only in the question and not the answer. But enough of the criticism. Anne even got to say the word “Chough” without having to swear.

The last round theme was cracked almost immediately and well enjoyed and the classic model names were remembered despite none of us ever having been in one. It also reminded me of my favourite Bernard Manning joke. Bernard had parked his Rolls Royce outside Maine Road while at a match. A local urchin 'volunteered' to mind it for 50p (you can see how old this joke is). Bernard said it did not need minding as he had a Rottweiler in the back seat. The boy then said: ”Does it know how to put out fires?”

Question of the Week

This week Prod Jimmy voted for Question 6 in 'Cornish' Round 3 for its 'well I never' quality ...

Which Cornishman, better known for his work in an entirely different field, was asked by Samuel Taylor Coleridge to proofread the second edition of his and Wordsworth's Lyrical Ballads?

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

Anne's favourite bird

(R3/Q2)

Clive Berry, RIP

Clive was one of the kindest, most courteous quizzers I've had the pleasure of meeting in our long-standing WithQuiz competition. Always considerate of his colleagues and gracious to his opponents. He had a dry wit which he unleashed quietly but most effectively. He was great company.

Clive's close quiz friends, Cheryl and Mark Bassett, Anne-Marie, Pete Conry and Allan Stores send this appreciation:

"All of Clive’s many friends will miss him greatly. A really lovely man and always so full of joy and fun, even when our team had suffered yet another defeat (before the Prodigals became good). And we can still hear his infectious laugh.

As well as being such a good friend to us all, Clive was our captain in the early 2000s when we were still the Albert Park. He led us in our short sojourn to the Gateway (as the Getaways) before leading us back - heads held high - to the Albert Club, this time with our new name The Prodigals - both of which names we think Clive came up with.

After a few years Clive stepped back from regular quizzing but still joined some of us occasionally at Mike’s Monday quiz, and was there at our last visit earlier this year - still laughing as we got thrashed.

Clive was originally from Mansfield (and still had the accent) and supported the Stags - though after moving to Manchester in the 70s he became a long-standing City season-ticket holder. At least he eventually got to see some success there, if not in the quizzing.

Clive had been in poor health for some time but continued smiling. We are all thinking about his wife Sara and his sons Adam and Tim at this sad time and we will post details of his funeral when we get them."

Though the Prods never got their hands on the WithQuiz league trophy under Clive's stewardship they did win it for the first time in 2019, and to his great delight Clive was guest of Honour at the End of Season Presentation evening to hand the Shield over to Anne-Marie, Dave, Jimmy and Michael (see right). He loved that! R.I.P. Clive