TORBAY QUIZ LEAGUE

REPORT AND RESULTS

02:12:2009

Christmas Charity Quiz

The deadly serious business of League quizzing took a back seat for the week as an admirable turnout of twelve teams made a beeline for the Royal Hotel in Babbacombe.

GK question-setter Jon Dobbie sent eighty posers across the Atlantic, with League Chair Pat Farmer weighing in with his usual fiendish mix of twenty faces to identify.

Teams came up with the traditional bunch of topical aliases, with a certain Florida-based golfer coming in for a disproportionate amount of attention.

The first batch of questions were simply themed 'General Knowledge' and the very first question was a simple choice - was a nautical mile longer than an imperial one, or vice versa? 75% of the teams opted for the correct nautical version. The first question to floor everybody came halfway through this batch, when none of the teams knew that the collective noun for a group of mice is a mischief. At the end of it two teams had scored 12, Wrong Hole For Tiger were in second on 14, but the Stanley Pike School of Cider led the way with 14.

The announcement of Round Two's subject matter, sport, brought groans from around the room, and the marks were certainly lower at the end of it. The highest tally was twelve, and the lowest just three. The first question set the scene, with nobody spotting that the Olympic Torch is on its way to next year's Winter Olympic venue, Vancouver, rather than London. All of the other questions set found at least one team supplying an answer that agreed with that given by the setter, but five of the questions attracted one correct answer only - and it was always a different team coming up with the goods. Any suggestion of guesswork would be uncharitable. After half of the written questions had been answered, the Spike Scholars still held the lead, but Wrong Hole now shared second place with Nil Desparandum Ex Officio, both five points off the pace.

Round three concerned music, ancient and modern, which proved much more enjoyable for the participants. The lowest score in this round was ten, with the best effort two short of a full house. Despite these figures, the only question that everyone got right was the correct identification of Joss Stone, although a lot of the others tripped up only a small minority of participants. Wrong Hole had a bit of a "mare", as they say, leaving Spike's Cider Scholars in the lead, Nil Desparandum behind them, and in third Tiger Woods Hits A Hydrant & That's Well Under Par another 2.5 points adrift.

The last set of questions were presented under the 'Christmas' banner, and Wrong Hole made a storming comeback, dipping out on only two of the questions on offer. One of the two fooled everyone, with all teams giving Sir Cliff Richard the credit for being the artiste with most Christmas number ones. Unfortunately for everyone, Sir Paul McCartney is the top Christmas chart-topper, with involvement on seven singles over the years. Wrong Hole pushed themselves back up to third, a single point behind Nil Desparandum, but way out in front was the Cider School.

The picture round sensationally found two teams able to identify all twenty faces on the question sheet. Tiger Woods Driving School had found the written questions harder than most teams there, but sprang into life over the pictures, identifying the lot. Royal Returns also claimed a 100% spot-rate, and the feat raised them up to third overall. Nil Desparandum were credited with 19 faces and finished the night a single point behind Spike's Cider Scholars, otherwise known as Royal A.

Teams donated generously when it came to providing draw prizes, and £84 was raised through ticket sales. When added to the entry fees it came to a grand total of £204 to buy toys for children in Torbay Hospital.

John Webber, who collapsed during the evening and was taken to Torbay Hospital, was happily released three hours later with a clean bill of health. Your correspondent would be cheeky in the extreme to infer that he was hoping to try out some of the toys for himself at the hospital!

Full result:

1. Stanley Pike School of Cider 75

2. Nil Desparandum Ex Officio 74

3. Royal Returns 70

4. Tiger Woods Hits A Hydrant & That's Well Under Par 68.5

5.> Wrong Hole For Tiger 65

5.> Jim's WAGS 65

7. We'd Rather Watch The Football 60

8. Memories of Gin Soda & Lemon Juice 58

9. Tiger Woods Driving School 54

10. The Dog's Still Pregnant 47.5

11. Dubai Or Not Dubai 44

12. Dick & Liddy 0