Bury & District Quiz League Week 26

This year’s week of summer has been extended evidently and with gardens and Cars benefiting from volcanic ash and the night sky clear enough to spot the satellites and known U.F.O.’s this week the Bury Reprographics Handicap Cup final took place at the Hare and Hounds Holcombe Brook courtesy of Landlord and landlady Andy and Lynne Grant.
With the finalists Rose and Crown Ramsbottom and Swan and Railway Radcliffe B and knownleague teams gathering at shortly after eight a slight hiccup was discovered when staff announced the absence of a diary entry for the event but the magnificent Jo and staff and team members of the Hairy Hounds rallied round and five minutes later all was back on track with later arrivals not realising any problem had occurred. Well done and many thanks to all especially Minnie Mouse and Jo.
The quiz master for the evening was Andy Ainsworth, as Jill had a loss of voice and Peter Maguire was master of ceremonies and scorer.
Alan Clayton was a worried man, as he was alone for twenty minutes, he breathed a sigh of relief when the Swan and Railway glided in at the last minute, and he hadn’t got a clue who to expect either as they had struggled initially for a team. With everyone settled with the many varieties of the real ale in front of them Peter Maguire made the coin toss and the Swan Ram Raiders had the choice of questions and chose the first set of questions in the first half. The Rose and Crown Burglars had a seven point start with the handicap.
First question was on the largest bird of prey in Britain, in the crowd the argument was between Jordan and Vanessa Feltz but the Swans went for Sea Eagle correctly. First question to the Rose Rammy was which Liverpool player has scored more own goals against his club than he has scored for his club? The crowd was murmuring then fell silent, the Rose answered correctly with Carragher.
Question two was about James bond short stories both teams missed the collective name of “For your Eyes Only” and also missed out on the venue for the simarly titled exhibition held at the Imperial War Museum. Both teams also missed questions on New Model Army house of Commons bouncer Col. T. Pride and the parliamentary successor lay preacher Barebones, final questions in the round were against whom did Carragher score two own goals in Sept 1999, the crowd had the answer but the teams didn’t, as Man Utd was the answer. Final question to the Rose was on the worlds heaviest flying bird that has bred on Salisbury plain for the first time in eons, again the crowd submitted Vanessa Feltz for scrutiny but the Rose answered correctly with her correct name of the Great Bustard (it is pronounced differently). Round score 2-4 for totals of 2-11, it seemed that Taylor’s Tigers were roaring and the burglar’s handicap was going to be telling at this early stage, the pressure was on the Swans already.
Round two individuals had categories of Traffic Initials taken by Enid Cathcart and Peter Taylor, Chat Room Mirth taken by Gordon Hubert and Martin Baggoley, Horror Sequels for Alan Clayton and Sue Booth and Henry’s Catherine’s for John Hill and Margaret Chamberlain. Enid took her question on the congestion sign but Peter missed the R-plate area of U.K. displayed for first year drivers and the bonus answer of Northern Ireland was also missed by Enid. Now who would have thought Chat Room Mirth was Gordon’s subject but he scored with the full meaning of LOL and then when Martin passed scored to the shock of the audience, again with the full meaning of ROFL for a bonus point, Alan picked up his points with a nightmare on Elm Street but Sue missed the Friday 13th which was pounced on for a bonus point, the Tiger’s were having a nightmare round of there own.
Final question had John Hill scoring to make a full house for the Swans and Margaret scored for the Rose finally, with Howard and Aragon respectively. Disaster for the Rose as they lost the handicap advantage and almost the overall lead in one round, score 10-2 and overall 12-13. The Swans had eased the pressure.
Round three saw both teams score consistently with the Swans grabbing a tricky pop question successfully normally there Achilles heel, both teams dropped only one question each on the monster term used to describe the power consumed by an electrical device on standby? and the portmanteau monster term used to describe the snippets of different interviews seamlessly edited together to manufacture a story primarily in realty T.V. Which were Vampire Load and Frankebites respectively, unsurprisingly not picked up by the majority of the room either. Six points each on the round.
Round four the Stink or twist round with a theme of Snakes, the Swans had a trouble free passage to four points with answers of “Snakes on a plane, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch” but then stuck when Wheeler Peak in the Snake Range of “Nevada” came up. The Rose scored with the first but could not recall that “Duran Duran” had a hit with Union of the Snake and stuck on one. With questions three and maybe four being stinkers on there side, two would have been a maximum score perhaps anyway. Round score 4-1 halftime total 22-20 and the lead had been taken by the Swans.
Refreshments and fresh air taken by all, the quiz recommenced with the consultation round five, the Swans picked up an excellent bonus point to extend there lead straight away when they recognised the inventors and description of the “Bar Code”, then picked up there own Australian Daylight Saving Question. The Rose arrested the slide with Oscar Pistorius’s nickname of “Blade Runner”. The Swans recognised the Italian herb known as Anchovy grass or Erba acciuga as “Oregano” but the Rose didn’t manage there Mediterranean herb of Salia officinalis or “franse thee” in dutch or “the de la grece” in French indicating its use as a herbal tea, as “Sage” and it wasn’t picked up for a bonus either. The Swans pulled further ahead when they recognised Cuban 800 metre runner Juantorena and a strong cheap cider as “White Lightning”. Final questions of the round on Jersey staying loyal to u.k. time in a referendum and Wrigley Chewing Gum being the first item sold using a bar code were both dropped and not picked up for a bonus, the result was another poor round for the Rose scoring just two and the Swans scoring seven to stretch their lead overall, scores 29-22.
Round six, two part questions and the Rose Rammy Burglars knew they had to steal as many points as possible in this round to get back on competitive terms. They went for four immediately and scored with the description in Moll Flanders due to personal experience of Daniel Defoe of “an emblem of Hell” as Newgate Prison. The Swans could not score with the name of the club situated in Pall Mall in 1880-1887 supporting the conservative party and name in honour of the title taken by main opponent of Gladstone, and to be honest not many in the room did either , as the answer was the “Beaconsfield Club”. The bonus point obviously not taken. The good start for the Swans then evaporated when they missed there second question of Metal atomic number 12 used in structures and capable of forming mechanically resistant alloys with a second part of Dolomite and Magnesite are the chief ores of this eighth most abundant ore on earth. The Swans also missed a bonus with Magnesium being the answer. The Swans scored a safe two points on the more obvious descriptions of Tungsten. Third question saw the Rose deliberate on the four points but choose to go for two on the apple grown from pips by Mary Ann Brailsford in Southwell and the more obvious most popular cooking apple named after the resident of the same house when later discovered as “Bramley”, but to there fortune the Swans struggled with there similar question when they failed to answer on locally named fruit “Kempsters pippin” of Oxfordshire or brightly coloured fruit named more popularly after the park near Woodstock it was first discovered as the apple“ Blenheim Orange” but the Rose couldn’t capitalise with an extra bonus point. The final question of the round saw the Rose grab four easy points with “ Upstairs Downstairs” and then to there horror saw the Swans grab four easy points with “Onedin Line” to slightly spoil there round win of 6-10 but the Rose had recovered to an overall score of 35-32 in favour of the Swans.
Round Seven the second individual round can sometimes swing a match, would it do so in this case, the categories were Swine flu taken by Enid and Sue, Fictional Spy’s in the 1960’s taken by Gordon and Martin, Left? Taken by John and Peter and finally Canine Anatomy taken by Alan and Margaret. The first category went with the teams with answers of Mexico and Tami-flu, the second went with teams also with answers of the Spy who came in from the cold and the Ipcress file, the third Questions answer was given to Peter by Andy Ainsworth, when Peter answered Come away for the opposite left command to come bye for sheepdogs, when the answer on the sheet was just “Away” a few good natured rumblings were heard in the room and a stewards inquiry from last years “Red” answer was demanded by the Elves but Andy was right. The third question for the Swans John Hill had the whole room flummoxed including the Am dram Packhorse team when the question posed was, if stage right is the prompt side what is stage left…. The answer announced when both teams exited stage left was “opposite prompt” denoted as op on scripts normally. Final questions on the round was snapped up by Margaret with “dogleg”but Alan was a little bemused until “dogear” came to mind for the turned down page corner. Round score 8-5 for the Rose who had recovered to a total score of 40 against 41, who was that handicapper? Would it go to the tie break as did last year? Would the pressure tell?
Final round, first question could not be brought to mind by the Rose and the Swans could not pick up the bonus when the members of which church that gather in Diruka Egypt for the festival of the Virgin Mary, could not be recalled as “Coptic Church” congregation members. The Swans took advantage by getting the “Mackems ”as “Wearsiders”, to stretch the lead to three. Second question of the round also had both teams struggling luckily for the Rose the answer of “Extra” for the newspaper printed to give breaking news, wasn’t picked up by the Swans. The Swans then dropped there question on the oldest known Extra that was a printed edition of the London Gazette to announce the English victory on 16th April 1746 at the battle of …… Culloden (although the result is still disputed by a certain nation), and the Rose snapped up the bonus point to close to just two behind. Third question for the Rose was, what type of hat made of soft unstiffened felt, is so named because of its broad rim that hangs down over the face? The Rose thought, deliberated and cogitated but no answer would come and the Swans missed the bonus also. The Swans grabbed the easier slouch hatted wearers of the second world war who helped out when land was put to the plough… Women’s Land Army to finally win the cup for the Swans.
Final question was grabbed by the Swans to reduce the total to two points with slodgers are resident of the “Fens”, and the Old City of Jerusalem fourth quarter other than the Jewish, Muslim, Christian parts is the “Armenian” quarter, not picked up by the Rose for a final round total of 4-3 for the Swans and a final match score of 45-43 to the winners and this seasons Handicap cup holders the SWAN AND RAILWAY RADCLIFFE B’s. Congratulations to them and team members Alec Fontaine and Harry Wilkinson who couldn’t be there on the night. Commiserations go to the Rose Rammy Burglars who couldn’t quite steal a win on the night but there is always ….. next year!
Many thanks to Andy and Peter of the Hairy Hounds.
The night continued with the emergency sandwiches and chips produced by Jo, and the beer round booty was won by the Evil Elves of Stopes Tavern, the excellent ale flowed all evening but the “Titanic” mild didn’t go down well with mild aficionado the Legend Wally, who pronounced it as “weed killer” (damn he noticed-ed) before switching to the Northamptonshire mild variety to his approval. Also and sadly for the PackHorse, Simon Waddington announced that he would not be able to play next season due to other commitments, hopefully he can find time to play the odd game for the PackHorse and return in the near future as he and his knowledge will be missed by all in the league but especially Sue and Mike.

A view on the evening from our regular Reporter Yosemite Sam:

An ode to Jo

At Hare and Hounds it was cup final night,
But on arrival some things weren’t right,
Bar staff seemed unaware of the event,
And a minor crisis became evident.
Tables were readied and off it started,
The Hares asked the questions, and the Hounds just darted
Around for a solution to try and help the mood,
And more importantly try and get some food.
In a really close game Swan B had won the toss,
And some tough questions meant a Rose Rammy loss.
Jo behind the bar relieved some of there depression,
With her speedy butties and blue arsed fly impression
And although there was a panic, it finished in good cheer.
But that’s just my view point, cos I enjoyed the beer!

I would just like to say that I think this has been the best season for competition between the teams. Many teams have been in the mix whether chasing second place or trying to stay off the bottom. A brilliant year all round, long may it continue. I’ll find out more about the Monday question around the seventh track on the Led Zepplin Album (Communication Breakdown - ed), so that hopefully it won’t be repeated. Your roving Reporter Y.S.

Week 27
Presentation Night Monday 26th April
The venue for the evening is Heap Bridge Social Club courtesy of the Committee and Stewardess, there will of course be the normal fayre of a quiz on the night, raffle prizes including an I-POD SHUFFLE donated by the league sponsors BURY REPROGRAPHICS LTD and a signed book by the author Martin Baggoley of Rose Rammy Burglars. All teams are welcome.

A new challenge is always welcome from any pub, club, or society wanting to test their metal against a regular league side

TEAM	P	W	D	L	PTS	FOR	AGAINST
RADCLIFFE CC	20	17	0	3	34	1006	828
STOPES TAVERN	20	13	2	5	28	856	790
ROSE & CROWN (STAR)	20	11	1	8	23	944	833
RAMSBOTTOM CC	20	11	1	8	23	836	804
HARE & HOUNDS	20	10	1	9	21	878	815
SWAN & RAILWAY (B)	20	9	2	9	20	873	836
ROSE & CROWN (RAM)	20	9	1	10	19	790	837
HEAP BRIDGE SC	20	9	0	11	18	820	857
PACK HORSE	20	7	0	13	14	824	879
SWAN & RAILWAY (A)	20	5	0	15	10	720	872
SUN DIAL	20	5	0	15	10	699	895

TEAM	HANDICAP
ROSE & CROWN (STAR)	4
RADCLIFFE CC	0
HARE & HOUNDS	7
SWAN & RAILWAY (B)	6
STOPES TAVERN	9
PACK HORSE	10
HEAP BRIDGE SC	10
ROSE & CROWN (RAM)	13
SUN DIAL	17
SWAN & RAILWAY (A)	14
RAMSBOTTOM CC	10


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		BURY & DISTRICT QUIZ LEAGUE 2009/2010