The Results & The Paper

Before launching into the results just a personal reflection on a truly memorable evening.  For me yesterday proved why winter Wednesdays can be such fun:

• a cracking paper from Ethel Rodin sets everything up beautifully

• at the Griffin the top two teams fight a magnificent last question thriller with the Fingers getting bested for only the second time this season - Ivor and his History Men go top!!

• St Caths get back into rousing form with a convincing win over their nearest rivals

• down in weird and wonderful Ladybarn the no-hopers called the Opsimaths very nearly upset the form book with another last question thriller against third-placed FCEK

• Roisín's failure to get the Limerick question correct sparks a major interruption as closet poets throughout the White Swan rush to compose verses of the "There was a young lass called Roisín" variety (see below for the anthology to date and details of the Withquiz "Roisín Limerick" competition)

So the results....

FCEK narrowly beat Opsimaths - Fr M writes:

"Just to say we were very impressed with last night's questions. Nicely cryptic and lots of interesting debris to add to the wheely bins of our minds.  For example Fr. Megson had never even heard of a bolshie sect called the 'Diggers'.  Poor Ivan Denisovich had the temerity to suggest this as a possible answer but we put his outburst down to snowblindness, senility and a diet of rotten potatoes.  Well, he was right and we was wrong and may Heaven save us from his wrath and his flying spitoon whenever perestroika and glasnost breaks out on his Gulag.

Well done Ethel for introducing a strong element of ROUND BRITAIN QUIZ into your questions.  Very enjoyable.  Here's hoping you stay in the BBC vaults next time you set and we might even get a ROUND THE HORNE flavoured quiz.  Now that would be fun especially if Baby Tolan can be persuaded to don his Rambling Sid Rumpole party smock.

Far too many decent questions to justify picking just one out for special merit as a Question Of The Week.  I think a new award should be inaugurated specially for the lustrous charms of Dame Ethel Rodin.  How about a 'Lady Of The Night' bauble which she might very well be allowed to hold in perpetuity?  Or at least until the likes of Roisin, Jitka , Mary or Evelyn can come up with a cunning plan to wrest it from her?  And what an interesting wrestling match that should make!

Fr. Megson.

P.S.  Opsimaths played out of their skin last night and should have beaten us.  For the second week running our result hinged on the final question.  There's never a dull moment in Ladybarn these days."

As you can read below the Albert Club saw 2 thumpings last night.  St Caths doing the damage on the Albert Park quiz team was mercifully purely cerebral.  Dave Blythe takes up the story:

"The Albert Park looked set to continue their recent good run of home form last night when they led 7-4 after the first round.  Sadly for the home side things didn't continue in this vein, as St Caths romped to a 44-23 victory, including four 2s in round 5.  Nobody seemed to have a problem with any of the individual questions, but both teams felt there was much too heavy a bias towards literary questions in the quiz as a whole.

Last night's real drama, however, took place at the Albert Park bar.  We had retreated to the side room to avoid a group who had been to a funeral and seemed in noisy but fairly cheerful spirits when we arrived.  Unfortunately, as is so often the case at these events, things took a turn for the worse later on, and we played several rounds during which the normally tranquil atmosphere of the AP club was shattered by the sound of raised voices, breaking glass, and full blown fisticuffs.  Naturally neither team let this affect their game. The whole thing was reminiscent of that Carry On film in which Sid James, as 'Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond', keeps a stiff upper lip while hosting a dinner party at the British Embassy during a siege by the Fuzzy-Wuzzies, with cannonballs flying through the walls and chunks of masonry landing on the table.  I think that Jitka should be awarded some kind of bravery medal for popping in to the bar in the midst of the fray to check how United were getting on."

Snoopy's Friends lost a close encounter to the Albert

And in what has to be the match of the evening, Fifth Finger lost to the History Men.  Kieran first:

"We led every round from 2 to 7 but couldn't kill it off.  Great game really enjoyed it - it doesn't happen often enough that we're challenged like that."

and Ivor:

"Another thriller!  Fifth played with three men for the first 3 rounds but were never behind until near the end.  Indeed with four questions left they were 4 points ahead.  Then came the drama with us cashing in our last two questions for 4 and Fifth conceding a steal on their penultimate question.  And it fell to luckless Barry needing 2 points to win or 1 point for the tie to identify Kelso.  There were 9 'no point' questions in total with the History Men getting 6 of them - so a moderately difficult quiz. 

This is only the second time we have beaten Fifth in the league (out of 6 meetings) and we've never beaten them in the Cup, so we are well pleased! "

Electric Pigs won a close run match against the X-Pats.  Gary writes:

"We liked the quiz very much.  Obviously a lot of thought had gone into it, and some of the questions required some original 'on the spot' semi-lateral thinking.  I think we would vote for the London Underground lines as the question of the week.

Only 2 complaints:-

1) Themed rounds. We're not against them per se, but where it signposts the answer more or less by default, that's not clever.  For instance: is there any other French tennis player with a biblical theme to his name apart from Yannick Noah?

2) A question almost as good as the London Underground one - the D-day landings one - was spoilt by the link to 1944. Too much info making it too easy!"

And just one P.S. from me - (Round 3 Question 8) Omaha is not a US State; it's a large city in Nebraska.  I know.  I once spent a whole afternoon asleep on a  bench in a park there.

The Grand RoisÍn Limerick Competition

As mentioned above, last night's match at the White Swan had to be suspended following Roisín's failure to identify Limerick as the seaport at the mouth of the Shannon.  Waves of cod verse washed over the packed quiz room and it was only after a serious mopping up operation that the match could be resumed.

For one week only the Withquiz editorial board are offering big prizes (to be awarded at the End of Season ceremonies) for what they judge the best limerick submitted on the subject of Roisín's misfortune.  No smut (well not too much) and consideration will only be given to limericks that follow proper scansion conventions.

Below are the entries received so far (now including those submitted on Friday & Saturday):

A wench from the banks of the Lagan

Grew weary of quizzin' and shaggin'

So, fortified by some wine

She embraced Wittgenstein

Marx, Hegel and even Carl Sagan.

(Gerry Butler Yeats)

 

Roisín's general knowledge is awesome

And her team's a formidable foursome

But the mouth of the Shannon

Shot her down like a cannon

It's the geography question that floors 'em!

(John "Baby" Donne)

 

Roisín keeps up with the news

She's relied on to score lots of 2s

So what could be fairer

Than questions on Eire?

But the Shannon just gave her the blues!

(John "Baby" Donne)

 

Roisín's fund of knowledge is vast

Her team almost never come last

But questions on rivers

Just give her the shivers

The Shannon just flowed right on past

(John "Baby" Donne)

 

There was a young lass named Roisín

Whose knowledge of cricket was lean

The week after on Eire

The question seemed fairer

Yet the Shannon stumped Erin's colleen

(Mike "McGonagle" Bath)

 

There was a quiz-queen called R Graven
Who thought that a hoof was a “spavin”
And found that the Shannon
Was not in her canon —
When asked, she smiled cutely, and gave in.
(Copland "the Bard of Chorlton" Smith)

There was a fair lass called Roisín
From Roscommon, so verdant and green,
Who when asked for a town on
The mouth of the Shannon
Found there wasn’t a place to be seen

(Copland "the Bard of Chorlton" Smith)

 

It was when the man asked pretty Roisín
where the Shannon arrived at the oisín,
though it wasn’t that hard
she ummed and she ah-ed
and clearly she hadn’t a noisín

(Copland "the Bard of Chorlton" Smith)

In Ladybarn we lay our scene

In a crowded and raucous shebeen

Roisín's on the spot

But her geography's not

She really should lay off potcheen

(Kieran "Dylan Thomas" Finger)

and from the prolific pen of Damian the Old (who is proving to be the veritable Rufus of the limerick world) I publish the cream of the anthology submitted:

There once was a lass from Belfast

Who'd a very shady quiz past

Cricket questions were out

She couldn't figure them out

And on Ireland she was clearly AGHAST!!

 

or

 

While quizzing last night at the Swan 

We answered our questions each one 

When Roisín had her turn

Her stomach did churn

'Twas the one on the bloody ShanNON

or

Roisín loves to be put to the test

She's considered one of the best! 

But Ireland and Cricket 

Are just not the ticket

She just has to go home for a rest!

or

"It's not on!", says Roisín with dismay

"To poke fun at my mishap this way.

You've got a right bloody cheek

 It's a life you should seek,

 You'll ALL come a cropper SOMEDAY!"

Enough!  Enough!  I hear you say.  Well over to you now.  Best efforts guaranteed publication in cyberspace.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

This week the award goes to Round 3 Question 2:

The yellow one goes round and round; the one shown as maroon or purple is the oldest, and sounds as if intended for dignitaries of the Greek Orthodox Church; the green one seldom goes below and sounds vaguely local.  Explain.

Click here to see the answers to this and the rest of the week's questions and answers.

Eggheads

We have now entered 2 composite Withquiz teams in response to the invitation to take part in this BBC programme:

• The Withington AllStars (Kieran Dillon, Dave Rainford, Gerry Collins, Pete Taylor, Ivor Cartmill and A. N. Other - Kieran please let me know who your final team member is)

• The Didsbury AllStars (Barry McNorton, Damian Land, John Tolan, Mark Basset, Copland Smith and Andrew Simcock).

Apologies to those who volunteered but are not included above.  Kieran and myself sorted out the 2 teams and may yet require some substitutes.

I've just heard from John Tolan that the Beeb are already following up our entry forms.  He writes:

"I've just spent an entertaining half-hour chatting to a young lady named Claire from the Eggheads production team. She wanted to amplify some of the details on the team entry-form, and then proceeded to ask me ten general knowledge questions!

[I only scored 60%].

She is anxious to speak to all the other members of the squad, and will keep trying to contact them by phone.

The possible dates for the event are:

• Fri 11 Feb
• Tues-Fri 22-25 Feb
• Wed-Fri 2-4 March

Please pass this round the squad!"

I will keep you all posted as events unfold!!