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| The legendary TV quizmaster - Bamber Gascoigne |
For a good few years now I have met up regularly with two Michaels to tackle local pub quizzes. We used to be a regular team at "The Prince of Wales" until they turned it into a food-led pub restaurant. We mourned its passing and then moved on to three other quizzes which we seem to switch between. We go to "The Hammer and Pincers" up at Bents Green, "The Rising Sun" on Abbey Lane and of course my local - "The Banner Cross" at - astonishingly - Banner Cross.
The oldest Michael was, like me, a Head of English in a secondary school and hails from Oldham in Lancashire - living proof that I am not racially prejudiced. The younger Michael was a warehouseman - Sheffield born and bred, still living in his family home. His aged mother died last year and Old Michael's mother died earlier this year. It's nice to have this regular "date" with the two Michaels and we have enjoyed countless quiz victories even though there can be dry spells when it may seem that success will never return. Being morally upright citizens we have never sneakily employed smart phones to assist our quizzing. To us that would be a heinous crime worthy of the lash.
Between quiz questions we exchange news of our families, our lives and what's been happening. We are not boastful. We never try to score ego points. We're too long in the tooth for that kind of nonsense.
I am happy to report that last night - up at "The Hammer and Pincers" - we scored twenty two out of twenty five to become the winning team, earning the reward of five beer tokens (worth about £14). Questions included the following...
- In which city are the world headquarters of the Coca Cola company?
- In which year did Winston Churchill resign as prime minister on the grounds of ill-health - the same year that James Dean hit the headlines with "Rebel Without a Cause"?
- Which two cartoon characters attended Bedrock High School?
- How many of the 96 English football league managers were sacked last season - 14, 24 or 34?
- Which country did Princess Diana visit in relation to the land mines issue shortly before her death?
- In the Miss Marple stories what is the main method by which murder victims die?
No smart phones or googling! ...Well, how did you do? Answers will be given in the Comments section tomorrow.
YP. I scored 100%....Another typo I mean't 0%. Oh dear what a Muppet I am.
ReplyDeleteADRIAN No my friend you are not a muppet. People have different talents that's all. Please don't cry. Be proud of yourself and chant "I am not a muppet!" repeatedly.
ReplyDeleteI'll give it a try. I've become so used to looking things up online that I will have to restrain myself to play without cheating.
ReplyDelete#1 is Atlanta, of course. A person couldn't live here for five minutes without knowing that.
I'm guessing around 1953 (54? 55? 56?) on #2.
I'm also guessing on #3, but I'm pretty sure it's Pebbles and Bam-Bam from The Flintstones.
#4 - no clue. At all.
I ought to know #5 but I'm drawing a blank. Zimbabwe? Bangladesh? Somalia? Afghanistan?
And #6 - I must confess that I am not a fan of either murder mysteries or Agatha Christie, so again, no clue.
Your dadblamed quiz reveals my utter ignorance (not to mention paucity of spirit) to the world, at least to that portion of it what reads your comments section.
I hate you. :)
RWP...
DeleteWees niet bedroefd. Wees niet racistisch. .... We vochten de Nederlanders voor honderden jaren.
Enkel becausethey spreken grappig .... Het betekent niet dat ze niets te zeggen hebben.
Translation: "Do not be sad. Do not be racist. .... We fought the Dutch for hundreds of years. Just becausethey speak funny .... It does not mean they have nothing to say."
DeleteI do not understand, Adrian, what your comment has to do with me or Yorkshire Pudding or this contest. As Desi Arnaz would say, "You got a lotta 'splainin' to do."
MR RHYMES Please don't hate me. Everybody knows that as we grow older our brain power diminishes. I am sure that if you had been ten years younger you would have got them all right. Good effort though...I said GOOD EFFORT THOUGH!
ReplyDeleteYP. It is your blog but enabling threads or Reply. I think would be a benefit.
ReplyDeleteMaybe not; I took some grand snaps the other day and posted one of a sheep tick. The bloody comment box was damn nigh full of folk banging on about ticks.
Adrian - I didn't know HOW to enable threads but your advice has spurred me on to enable this facility. Thank you kind sir (not muppet!)
DeleteIs Atlanta the home of Coca Cola? Does it have a magical airport with bits of Indian art. Like wee museums scattered about? If it does then it's got Heathrow and Gatwick licked hands down.
ReplyDeleteAtlanta is indeed the home of Coca Cola. Its airport is impressive with trains gliding you to and from your departure/arrivals gates - saving all that leg work you often face at airports.
DeleteYP. I'll look into enabling 'Reply' I did it or maybe Mark did. He's just down the road from you at the university. He does posh things with computers.
ReplyDeleteMARK
He doesn't bite and will help usually within minutes unless I've stumped him.
You've already cracked it. There was i writing HTML code for the link and All I did was add an extra '/'. Buggered the link big time. A bit picky are computers.
DeleteSee it works a treat. RWP left a racist comment on my blog so I've written Racist Words on yours.
DeleteOkay, I went and checked your comments section. It seems to me that if you and stiefbeen talk to one another in Dutch and don't let your other readers in on the fun, and I happen to say, "If you guys are going to converse in Dutch, go find a windmill somewhere." that it is not I but you and he who are being, to use your word, racist, because you are excluding others who do not speak Dutch from enjoying your otherwise superb and fascinating blog. Carolina in Nederland has a Dutch blog (brinkbeest) and an English blog (brinkbeestinenglish). Perhaps you should consider doing the same. Or I could just stop visiting your blog.
ReplyDeleteOr you could learn Dutch. We Americans are spoiled. Most of the world has learned to speak English and so we think everyone should. There is such a thing as meeting people half way. Just my humble opinion.
DeleteDavid, you are correct. Touché.
DeleteMr. Pudding, I applaud your vast store house of knowledge. In addition, please accept my congratulations on the win!
ReplyDeleteMy elder son is a big trivia fan and I have admired his knowledge as well. I think it is a fine endeavor for those gifted.
Oh and I did understand the questions...
I believe that I will appear to be the dumbest person who reads your beautiful blog when people read my reply herein. So, does this always occur at pubs? The quizzes, I mean? And, who is the "expert" that makes the questionnaire and then grades the answers? Do they have certain days for "theme" quizzes. Like, Monday is for football, Wednesday is for politics, etc.? I never knew this! Well, not being too familiar with pubs to begin with over here, maybe it is not so surprising. But still, it would make for an interesting conversation and discussion starter. Hum!
ReplyDeleteThat's a big set of questions you have asked Mama Thyme. Yes, the quizzes always happen in pubs. In Sheffield the questions tend to be set by a company called Red Tooth. Pubs receive the questions in secret packages and they are read out over the sound system by literate members of staff. Favourite days for quizzes in Sheffield are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It is very rare to have a quiz on Friday or Saturday. Economically speaking - one of the main ideas of a pub quiz is to attract people in on evenings that might otherwise be dead.
DeleteThank you for your answers, Mr. Pudding. I LOVE trivia, so I would definitely go to quizz night. But, I never heard this from my SIL who is from the "inland" (i.e. the middle of the country)). And, I just know that I would fall in love with pubs. I know I do not have any voice, but the disintrigation of the "pub" is really awful! Even tho, well, you know....
DeleteMama Thyme - I am sure that the two Michaels would not object to having a nice American lady in our team for a while but you would have to guzzle pints of beer and no burping!
DeleteQUIZ ANSWERS:-
ReplyDelete1. Atlanta
2. 1955
3, BamBam and Pebbles (The Flintstones)
4. 34
5. Angola
6. Poisoning