the End of Season Social

Most of our teams and players gathered last night at the Albert Club to lay the 2005-06 season to rest.  It turned out to be a most convivial and enjoyable way to the end the season thanks, in no small part, to the excellent quiz prepared by Gerry Hennessy and delivered by John Tolan.  The winner's spoils on the night were shared by Albert Park and the History Men, with the Mad Dogs winning a bottle of wine for the 'Guess the 20th Century event' table quiz.

During the first half of the evening players were asked to submit their votes for the 'Question of the Season' from amongst the 28 questions that had won the Withquiz website 'Question of the Week' award during 2005-06.  The questions receiving the most votes were:

Pos.	Question	Answer	Team	Votes cast
1	Only two countries in the world can be described as ‘double landlocked’, that is, surrounded entirely by countries that are themselves landlocked.  Name either.	(One of) Liechtenstein or Uzbekistan	Mad Dogs	39
2	The following is the Latin version of the chorus of a popular 1960s song: "Fumus draco magus, incoluit mare.  Lusit autumnal'illic, maritimo hanalo."  Name that tune	Puff the Magic Dragon	FCEK	27
3=	Which monarch had a son killed by a cricket ball?	George II - Frederick Louis was hit on the head in 1751	Albert	21
3=	Which company, the third-largest corporation in the world by turnover, derives its name from the entrepreneurial activities of Marcus Samuel in the Caspian Sea area in 1892?	Shell (he collected sea shells for export to London collectors and realised there was potential for exporting lamp oil from the region)	Electric Pigs	21
5	Which woman currently completes the following quartet: George IV, General Charles Napier and Major General Sir Henry Havelock?	Alison Lapper  (statues on four plinths of Trafalgar Square)	History Men	18

At half time the season's trophies were presented and the above QotS results announced.  The Dogs shouldn't feel too smug because, in the presentation speech rounding up the season's affairs, they were also nominated for the 'Worst Question of the Season' with "How old is newsreader Huw Edwards?", and the 'Oddest Question of the Season' for asking us to rank Chile, Ghana and Romania in order of population size.  Unanimous vote for 'Player of the Season' went to Dave from the Pigs who memorably scored 2 points on the last question of the Cup Final last week to earn the Pigs the right to a tiebreaker (and thence cup glory), for dredging up the answer "Tosca" to the Pat Smythe horse question.

For the less squeamish here are some photos of last night.

So the league and the website will now rest for the summer.  When we start back in October it would be great to see a few new teams and new faces.  If you're interested, or know someone who is thinking of joining us, then do get in touch.

....and, as Fr M would say, Slan