Withington Pub Quiz League - quizbiz 18/05/22

The Bards snaffle the Val Draper Cup in Ladybarn whilst The History Men take the Plate at home in the Red

Val Draper Cup Final

Ethel Rodin lost to Bards

WithQuiz Plate Final

Albert lost to History Men

Val Draper Cup Final

Ethel Rodin lost to Bards

The Bards win the Val Draper Cup for the first time since joining WithQuiz

Mike's view from the QM chair...

I rocked up a little early at the Ladybarn Club and was able to sip a pint in its sumptuous lounge before any of the competing team members arrived. As with many drinking establishments these days the walls are liberally decorated with photos of the past (the Parrswood has a fine collection). Here in Ladybarn the photos I noticed spoke of the past history of the very building I was in; a thriving hub of local friendships in post WW2 years declining into what our own Father Megson dubbed 'The Stadium of Murk' by the early years of this century. Full marks then to the local heroes who have stepped in and turned it from an embarrassment neglected by its brewery landlord into a community asset once more.

"Took his stick with its 'orse's 'ead 'andle and shoved it in Wallace's ear."

(R5/Q4)

My reveries pondering ageing local glories were rudely interrupted by the entrance of - well - ageing local glories. The Bards and Ethel teams cascaded through the door; Tony, Robin, John and Jim for the visitors and Roddy, James, Geoff and Greg for the residents. Furnished with our pints chosen from a range of excellent brews we trekked upstairs. In 'Murk' days, I recall it was watered down Robbies or nothing, and the upstairs was reserved for the occasional practice sessions of a jazz combo, whilst downstairs a few desultory punters sat in silence around the bar watching the grainy version of an obscure European football match pirated by an Albanian (or some such) satellite channel.

Five who are half of No. 10

(R7/Sp)

Ethel won the toss and chose to go first and this proved, as the evening wore on, to have been a fateful decision for the questions definitely tilted towards the team going second. The Bards fielded 2 unanswerable questions whereas Ethel took 6 on their collective chin. The 'plus 4 point' handicap in favour of the Bards just grew steadily down the rounds until 15 points separated the combatants at the end.

Happy Hour from Hull

(R6/Sp1)

Tony was in good form himself but if I were to pick a player of the evening I think it would have to be Robin. He had the knack of zooming in on the right answer to questions where the rest of his team seemed nonplussed. For Ethel there were plenty of fruitful conferences (and a few not so fruitful) but not many twos. Greatest surprise for me as QM was that neither team knew the title of Dylan Thomas' epic and moving description of his father's 'rage against the dying of the light' as his Dad fought through his final days.

Serving beer since 1644

(R2/Sp)

So another grand quizzing evening came to a close with enjoyable chit chats featuring amongst other subjects: the lonesome life of a judge once they leave the camaraderie of barristerdom behind and head for the bench (though Tony claimed the bench was not at all lonesome in his day) - and speculation as to who the REALLY naughty Tory MP might be who was being asked not to show his face at Westminister right now. Apparently PMQs was particularly well attended this week as MPs strove to prove to their constituents that 'it's not me - honest!'.

Well done, Bards! At last you have the Val Draper crown.

The Daily with a plunging circulation

(R4/Q1)

Cheese & Vine

(R6/Q4)

WithQuiz Plate Final

Albert lost to History Men

The History Men grab the Plate for the first time since 2010

Ivor basks...

Compared with the Cup (which we have won three times since 2012) some might regard the Plate as not quite in the first rank of achievement - perhaps like winning the Beazer Homes League, or even the prize won by Princess Diana for the best kept guinea pig cage. But even those of us who are now denizens of the bottom half of our league will seize eagerly on any opportunity for silverware (even though the Plate has a silver layer about an atom’s thickness).

Tonight we faced our old rivals in the newly refurbished Red Lion. In truth it did not appear to be different from the old Red Lion and one wonders how much was spent in retaining its coach house appeal. The only noticeable differences were some hard flooring in front of the bar that seemed to allow noise to reflect more efficiently into the snug (much to Eveline’s annoyance), and the gents’ urinals appearing to have had some grouting (but I don’t think Eveline would have noticed that).

With the handicap we had a four point start and we just slowly accelerated from the start and the win was in the bag half way through Round 7. The Albert played first in the first half and seem to have got the harder set (judging by the unanswereds which went 5-2 to them). But the Historymen were on fire with 7 steals to the Albert's 4 and 13 twos to the Albert's 9.

It is not often everything goes right but David got his confidence “just going for it” and notching four twos, and Vanessa was unstoppable in steals and rescues covering everything from Greek mythology, poetry, French cooking to popular TV. She might be Anne’s niece but she does not need nepotism to secure her place! Anne herself was away but we were in her heart. I, of course, was in her seat and as usual (according to Anne) I had the easy questions. However I did have a blurt thinking Demi Moore was Tippi Hedren’s daughter (all these brunette actresses look the same - and not a Bella Emberg or Reeta Webb lookalike amongst them). Mike H also had a good night with no blurts at all (they also serve who stand and wait) and he has now been entrusted with organising our celebration meal. Finally a shout out to Mrs C who not only valiantly worked her way through Romanian and Arabic pronunciation but calmly kept everyone in order. She will not be calm tonight at Goodison Park.

Noel nosh

(R5/Q2)

As a playing captain once more Mike O'B comments...

We lost heavily and have no complaints because the History Men were better on the night. For some reason many of the questions did not fit with our range of knowledge. After a gap of a number of weeks I returned to the team as a player and made the tactical error of getting 3 twos in a row. I thought this would make the rest of the team admire me but in fact it made them loathe me more than they had previously. Still mustn't grumble.

We voted for the Picture Round as the best of the rounds. Now we at The Albert look forward to another season of fear and loathing in Didsbury.

Platinum baby: Born, raised and served (R7/Q4)

.. and playing once more Mike H adds...

In Ann's absence, Alison was a great QM, leaving me to be much less so in Seat one. Suffice it to say the History Men would have achieved the same number of points, had the seat been empty. I enjoyed most of the quiz but only knew 6 answers (none of which came my way) - including just one answer in the whole of the first half.

The quiz was rather speedier than some and was all over (except for the spares) by 10.15.

History Men enjoyed being back in 'Home' territory (the Red Lion) even though it was much noisier than I remember most nights, and there wasn't even competition from football. Personally I prefer the Parrswood.

And as an afterthought I feel extremely honoured to be/have been a member of both of tonight's winning teams - even allowing for Ann's reminders of the limitations of my knowledge (mind you, those aren't her exact words!!!). Indeed if it hadn't been for Bards (Jim, in the first instance, then Tony of course), I may not have heard of WithQuiz's wonderful quizzes and league.

Suede and Pointless

(R6/Q3)

Quiz paper set by...

...'Knocked Out United'

Average Aggregate score 78.0

The tally of points on offer was fine - almost exactly in line with the season's average but - at least down in Ladybarn - there were concerns about the balance with the harder question in most pairs evidently going to the team batting first. As an example the KFD pair about the home towns of the trio of bands was quoted. It seems the Glasgow trio were all well known Glaswegians, whereas the Sheffield trio were much more obscure.

As this week's paper compiler I simply copied and pasted the contributions from the 'KO United' teams; perhaps I should have examined the balance - especially given a paper with so many paired questions - and reversed some of the pairs in an effort to get a more evenly spread level of difficulty. Like Boris I can only apologise and promise the house that such mistakes will never recur.

98.7% human

(R7/Q6)

...but what did Ivor think...

Round of the night? The pictures. Once again beautifully printed and organised and with apt descriptions to help. What next can we expect? Famous sons, or unlikely paramours, or step cousins?

All our knocked out colleagues worked to produce some excellent pairings and themes so we had a paper well worthy of a final. And well edited too!

Phlip the Flop

(R5/Blague 1)

Round of the Finals &

Question of the Week

The combined votes of the finalists indicated that the favourite round of the whole paper was...

Round 3 (Pictures) submitted by The Prodigals

...whilst as QM I sensed the Bards and Ethel greatly enjoyed the conference surrounding the 'numerical date anagrams' pair so I've chosen Round 7 Question 1 as Question of the Week...

The following 3 events happened in years that use the same 4 digits and are numerical anagrams of each other. Give all 3 years.

Richard, son of Oliver Cromwell, resigns as Lord Protector,

The USSR invades to quash Hungarian uprising,

Winston Churchill dies

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

Last King

(R4/Q6)

...and also

Next week's end of season evening will be at the Albert Club starting at 8.30pm. Guests and guest teams will be most welcome.

Andrew will present the season's trophies and I have prepared a friendly table quiz for the occasion.

Will those who currently hold the relevant trophies please make sure they bring them along on the evening - or return them to me in the meantime? By my reckoning the current holders are:

Ethel Rodin:

League Shield and WithQuiz Plate

History Men:

Val Draper Cup

Charabancs (Gerry Collins):

Dave Barras Question of the Season Shield

From a mountain top in Tennessee to The Alamo

(R8/Q8)