Twas on a Quizless Thursday

I mentioned in a previous post that the rugby club were, unforgivably in my opinion, holding a rugby match last Thursday.  This meant that there was no quiz. Which begs the question – what can you possibly do on a Thursday evening when there’s no quiz?

Well, in our particular case we went to Aberdare. Aberdare is a reasonably sized town and about forty minutes’ drive from Port Talbot, but more importantly it’s where my middle daughter Zara lives with her partner Matt. There’s no reason why you should, but you might possibly recall a post a couple of months ago about going there and playing as a ringer in the quiz at her local. Zara and Matt had been away in Essex, so I thought we were all going round to see her because they came back on Thursday. Nope. Now, I have no doubt this is all due to my lack of attention or my dreadful hearing, but I didn’t know that the point of it was to take three of my grandchildren to the Christmas parade.

I wouldn’t have made a fuss if I had known. But the fact is that the older I get, the less and less I like this sort of thing and the crowds that they generate. And the noise.

My hearing has noticeably deteriorated over the last fifteen years or more. If a pupil at the back answers or asks a question in class I have to go and stand right by them to have a chance of understanding them. Okay. Now, in the last few weeks, since the half term holiday, my mood has taken a bit of a dive. Oddly it stared during the holiday. I was an 8 week half term before that, and though I say it myself I think that I’d coped very well. I was tired, yes, but not noticeably down. I put this down to medication and the fact that I am planning to retire from teaching in July. OK. Now, Lisbon has been on my bucket list since before lockdown, but while I was there it was just like I wasn’t there. I didn’t feel happy. I didn’t feel sad. I didn’t feel anything really. I was just going through the motions. Since coming back my mood has got a bit worse. I’ve felt a familiar sese of dread driving into school. Normally when I feel that I manage to get it under control before morning break. But there’s been a couple of times I haven’t.

Now, getting back to the point, along with the deterioration in my mood there’s been the tinnitus. I’ve always had tinnitus for as long as I can remember. It’s like someone going ‘eeeeeeeeeee’ in my ears, but I’ve only really noticed it at odd moments. But in the last few weeks it has become so ‘loud’ inside my head that it’s really hard to zone out of it. By the last lesson of the day it’s unbearable. So, if all else fails, go to the Doctor. He’s upped my medication and referred me to the audiologist. Hopefully I’ll get seen before Christmas. But I’m not holding my breath.

So coming back to Thursday, as it was I was knackered after a day’s work, a contributory factor being that I’d only driven to Aberdare and back the day before to feed Tommy (that’s Zara’s cat, not her partner). Nonetheless, I behaved myself as well as I could for as long as I could. Thankfully the parade was mercifully short – one fire engine, two marching bands, and er. . . well there wasn’t a lot more, let’s put it that way. We went into the covered market, to look at a shop which has the exquisite good taste to sell my pictures and prints. The plan was that we would stop at a McDonalds on the way home, but by about quarter past 8 my battery was flat. My ears were ringing, and all I wanted was to go home. My third daughter wanted to take my youngest grandson straight home to bed and I gratefully volunteered. I was so tired when I’d dropped them off that I went straight home to bed without any supper, and serve me right.

So it turns out that there are worse things than a Christmas themed quiz after all.

Mastermind Heat Fifteen Preview

The story so far: a fortnight ago I scored a measly aggregate of four on specialist. Last week I outdid myself and ended up with three – mind you, I should be glad it wasn’t zero. So what are the prospects of me ending up with 2 or worse this time out?

Tomorrow night’s subjects are:-

The Poetry of Dame Carol Ann Duffy

The League of Gentlemen

Nigel Mansell

Rene Magritte

On first glance this looks a better bet for me than the last two weeks. he banker subject, if there is one, is probably Nigel Mansell. I don’t follow Formula 1 so much now, but back in the 80s ad early 90s, Nigel’s heyday, I was a big fan. I reckon about 3 if I’m lucky.

Carol Ann Duffy – well it all depends which poems are referenced, but any that have been in the WJEC English literature GCSE anthology a any time over the last quarter of a century ought to give m a shout. Possibly 2.

The League of Gentlemen. I was never a fan of the TV show – sorry about that, I did like the original radio show though. It’s the sort of subject where I might surprise myself by sneaking a point.

Ditto Rene Magritte. I only know about him what everyone else knows, but that might be enough to bring me a point.

So we’re looking at an aggregate of around 7 if things go to plan. Not great but a hell of a lot better than 3.

University Challenge Round Two - Hertford, Oxford v. UCL

The Teams

Hertford, Oxford

Ollie Sourbut

Omer Keskin

Daniel Whittle (capt.)

Rupavardhini Balakrishnan Raju

UCL

James Hall

Ali Izzatdust

Tayana Sawh (capt.)

Jacob Finlay

Amol kicked this off with a tribute to Omer Keskin’s 8 starters in the first round. Careful there, Amol. That sort of thing can affect a team’s performance. Then moving onto UCL he praised their BCR (Bonus Conversion Rate) of 70%. It’s the first time I can recall a host ever mentioning this. Maybe Amol is a secret LAM reader? Sir, if so, I’m honoured.

The first question was fun. It was clear we were looking for an ancient Greek poet. Nobody moved as the question progressed, then, as soon as Amol said the pronoun ‘her’ both Daniel Whittle and Ali Izzatdust reached for their shooting irons. The Hertford skipper won that shoot out to answer Sappho. France and Wales in the Middle Ages brought me a full house and two correct answers to Hertford. The next starter asked for a Manchu capital. Jacob Finlay gambled early and lost five. Omer Keskin, living up to Amol’s pre match praise gave the correct answer of Mukden. Which come to think of it is a good description of my student room in the mid-80s. I was delighted to see that the next set of bonuses was on the architect Charles Holden – most of my favourite London Underground stations were designed by this great man. I took my second full house, and Hertford again took two. Ali Izzatdust won the buzzer race on the next starter to identify various places linked by the name Marlborough. Chess notation did for me – I only got the one, while UCL claimed a full house. Omer Keskin struck back for Hertford with Paracelsus ( or as I once heard him called, Parcels r’ Us). I considered taking a lap of honour for getting two astronomy bonuses right on the set that followed, but decided to roll the dice and let it ride. Hertford took a full house on these. For the picture starter Ali Izzatdust identified that the treaty ending the 1812 war was signed in the city shown on the map. Fair play. 3 more cities that gave their names to peace treaties brought a correct answer and the first time that UCL notably threw away a correct answer which was on the table. Now, for the next starter I don’t know much about cricket’s golden age, but decades ago I read an excellent book about the golden age of US comics, so I knew that these two words would be the answer. So did Ali Izzatdust, who was really earning his corn on the buzzer in this match. Bernhard Tauchnitz – yes, gesundheit – and his collection of authors brought us both a full house. This meant that the teams were very close at the 10 minute mark – with Hertford leading by 65 – 60.

The next starter on psychology and neuroscience provided the opportunity for my internal orchestra to strike up with the strains of the Baby Elephant Walk (see below) . Me? Not a scooby, and neither team could get the term executive dysfunction. Ali Izzatdust recognised the subjects of poems by Pablo Neruda. UCL quite rightly took a full house on a very gentle set on Greek mythology. James Hall buzzed in for the next starter with the answer Bose-Einstein Condensate – which was named after a 1970s Prog Rock group, I believe. 2 bonuses on Somaliland stretched the UCL lead. Omer Keskin tried to stop the rot with an early buzz for the next starter, but made a rare error, allowing James Hall to zag with Slovenia while he had zigged with Slovakia. The set of bonuses on optics that followed had nothing to do with pub measurements, but UCL got them all the same. From being five points behind, UCL now had more than double Hertford’s score. So to the music set. Eventually Ollie Sourbut recognised the work of Richard Wagner. Three more preludes for solo instruments brought two correct answers for both of us. With the next starter Daniel Whittle beat Ali Izzatdust’s dramatic lunge for the buzzer. This earned them a set on people with the surname Luria. One bonus reduced the gap to one full set. I’d guess that all last night’s players were too young to know much about Calypso music, but Trinidad and Tobago was the big clue on that starter.  James Hall came in too early and lost five of the precious lead. With the next starter my decision to let the lap of honour ride was vindicated when I beat Ali Izzatdust to identify Boole as the polymath who outlined a form of Algebra. The US Historian Mike Davis brought two bonuses – could have been a full house as Amol pointed out. Omer Keskin came in early with the Winter Queen or the next starter. Recent novels brought ten points, which meant that as we hit the twenty minute mark the gap was wider than it had been ten minutes previously, though not by much since UCL led by 140 – 120.

Ali Izzatdust – who else? – made the connection between New York state and Sicily with Syracuse. Questions on the Scientist Krebs – wasn’t he Jock Ewing’s illegitimate son in Dallas? – brought just the one bonus. For the second picture starter we saw a giant stone head. ‘Olmec!’ shouted I. James Hall sounded a little less sure when he buzzed in with the same but we were both right. Other historical artifacts yielded nowt. Jacob Finlay knew that good old quiz chestnut about Emma Lazarus who wrote the New Colossus, inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty. Ethics as presented on the website Existential Comics – no, me neither – brought just the one bonus. But UCL were winning the buzzer races now. Especially with Ali Izzadust on such imperious form. He took another starter with -micro – earning a set on the British-Bangladeshi choreographer Akram Khan. They didn’t get any of them but they were still pulling away from Hertford again. Omer Keskin knew that painter Louis Wain was the cat man. The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp (which I can promise you is far more interesting and popular than The English Lessons of Mr. Clark) brought two bonuses, but the clock was running down. Especially when Jacob Finlay identified Sana Marin as a Finnish politician. It was finnish as far as Hertford were concerned. Porridge provided UCL with 2 bonuses, but they were already beyond the event horizon. Skipper Tayana Sawl hammered this home knowing the abbreviation M.E.T. There was time for them to pick up one bonus on the US Bone Wars, before the gong ended the contest with the scores at 225 – 140 to UCL.

In the end, UCL outbuzzed Hertford, not the least of which being the 7 starters contributed by the excellent Ali Izzatdust. Hertford can take consolation from an excellent BCR of 71, while UCL managed 56. Buzzing like that, though will always give you a chance, whatever your bonus conversion rate. A good match between two very useful teams.

How is Amol Doing?

There was a one strange comment Amol made. When both teams made wrong suggestions to the Calypso question he replied, “What are you guys listening to for a living?!” I do not pretend to understand what he meant. For a living? Who listens to things for a living, and why accuse the teams of doing so ?

I’m half thinking that when Amol issued encouragement to Hertford, saying ‘three and a half minutes to go, Hertford, plenty of time’ he was being deliberately ironic.

Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week

The word cosmopolitan ultimately derives from the Greek for citizen of the world.                                                                                   

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

In psychology and neuroscience what two word term is used to denote disruption of those cognitive processes that manage and control other cognitive processes leading to deficiencies in planning, abstract thinking and behavioural control. It is closely associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and may also be caused by stroke, brain injury or dementia. Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.

Mastermind 2024 First Round Heat 14

Hello. How are we doing, dearly beloved? Me? Well, not so great if I’m totally honest, but just trying to soldier on.

Just keeping going is not bad advice for those braving the black chair, come to think of it. The first one to do it last night was Scott Torrance. I was worried about his specialist subject, the New York Subway System. Not because it’s inherently a bad or boring subject – it isn’t. But my goodness, it’s massive – not unlike the subway system itself. Scott started brightly enough, but the wrong answers kept on cropping up. Scott had managed to get 6 by the end of the round. Nothing to be ashamed of, but a score which would give him too much to do in the GK. I thought.

I managed 2 on the subway. The next subject, the Ocean’s films, did nothing to add to the aggregate. Or I did nothing with the round. The same could most definitely not be said about Pamela Fell. She produced a fine double figure round. I had assumed that the subject would just include the 21^st century films, but no, there were a few questions on the original 1960’s Rat Pack film. Didn’t help me because I’ve never watched it, but there you go. With a four point cushion at the moment, Pamela was looking like a contender.

Nicola Grant’s subject, the 1916 Easter Rising, did at least bring me another point to take the aggregate to 3. I should have had another one too, but the name Patrick Pearse failed to leap off the tip of my tongue in time. Nicola clearly knew her stuff, but the round didn’t progress quite as smoothly as I’m sure she would have liked. She, like Scott before her, took a respectable 6.

Which left Damian Pugh, answering on the novels of Donna Tartt. I did say in my preview that I had only read The Secret History. Well, that was wrong. I’ve also read about 2/3 of The Goldfinch. Couldn’t finish it I’m afraid. Well, I’m very sorry but all of the details of both books seem to have seeped out of my memory completely, as I didn’t get any of the questions – and there were a fair proportion on both books. Damian seemed a little hesitant at first but he still did well enough to score a total of 9.

So, it looked as if we were in for a two horse race. Well, it might have looked like it, but Scott Torrance had other ideas. Namely by putting the pressure on the leaders through throwing in an excellent GK round of 13. A couple of weeks ago we saw Anne McElhinney stage a marvellous fightback in GK, to jump from 4^th to 2^nd. I had a feeling that Scott’s 19 and no passes might, just might, be enough. Whatever else, it meant that the rest of the round was going to be interesting.

Sadly, Nicola Grant could not match Scott’s heroic round. She achieved another respectable total of 7, but in truth it never looked like she was going to approach Scott’s score. No shame in that either.

Well, it was time for the first of the two horses in this two horse race to have a gallop. Damian, remember was starting on 9, which meant that 11 would give him the outright lead. 10 would not be enough because he needed a clear round to tie with Scott, but already incurred faults through passes in the specialist round. So that was exactly what he scored – 10. A fine effort, but not quite enough.

So it all came down to Pamela. If she scored 10, then she’d do it. If she scored 9 and no passes, then for the second week in a row there would be a tie break. Heartbreakingly, Pamela had reached 9 with no passes as the last question was being asked. She didn’t know the answer. So. She passed. Oh, the humanity! I don’t blame Pamela for this. A Mastermind round can be an ordeal, a brain scrambling ordeal, especially when the QM is waiting for your last answer. It was desperately bad luck.

I was a little surprised when in the winner’s piece to camera Scott said that he isn’t a quizzer. Maybe the round was just a flash in the pan. If not,  then General Knowledge like that will always give you a chance in the semi-final. Best of luck to you.

The Details

Scott Torrance	The New York Subway System	6	0	13	0	19	0
Pamela Fell	The Ocean’s Films	10	0	9	1	19	1
Nicola Grant	The Easter Rising	6	0	7	0	13	0
Damian Pugh	The Novels of Donna Tartt	9	2	10	2	19	4

Sorry is often the hardest word

Here’s something unusual. I didn’t mention this before because it wasn’t such a big deal, and I’d forgotten about it when blog writing time came along.

Basically, a week ago last Thursday we had a new team playing in the club. It happens from time to time. If there’s a function going on during th day then it’s not unknown for some of the revellers to stick around and they naturally get an invite to play.

It rarely ends successfully for the guest team. Usually they are a) not quizzers and b) not sober. So what starts as high spirits sometimes degenerates. As the team falls further behind, sometimes the louder members of the team get bolshie. By round 6 out of 8 they were shouting ‘google!’ at us whenever we announced the scores. Not in a funny way neither.

You’ve probably experienced something similar yourselves at different times. You know that if you react you really can’t win. You confront them you’re going to provoke something unpleasant. They’re not going to stop accusing you of cheating just because you say you’re not. So we walked out at the end of the quiz, without pistols at dawn or the equivalent.

I’d like to say that I spent the next few days wallowing in self-righteous indignation, but it’s happened enough times over the years that it doesn’t really get to me. So, when Dai Norwich came up to us before the star of the quiz this Thursday and apologized for what happened the week before, I couldn’t think what he was referring to. Fair play to Dai. As I’ve said it’s something I’ve encountered before, although never in the club, and this is the first time that I’ve ever known a QM to react to it. A week later, alright, I admit, but it’s more than I’ve had before.

The Ghost of Christmas Quiz Past

Are you one of those people who enjoy a good moan that Christmas decorations seem to be going up in the streets earlier and earlier each year? What? Me? . . . Might be. Well, it’s maybe a sign of old age and increasing grumpy old gittiness that makes me wonder whether the Christmas themed questions start going up in pub quizzes each year?

Probably not, although I did note that I wrote on the same subject in the blog some fourteen years ago! That was about attending a specially themed Christmas quiz in the last week in November – the very same week we are about to embark upon now. My memories of that quiz are a wee bit hazy, and mostly centre on the fact that our captain was a friend we nicknamed Alan the Bookie. It’s not much of a nickname bearing in mind that a) his name was Alan, and b) he was a bookie. Nobody calls me Dave the teacher, well not that I know of anyway. Other less complimentary nicknames, yes, but I digress. Being blunt, if not downright rude, Alan was not much of a quizzer. However he liked other people to think he was. Which is why, when a charity quiz like the one in question came along, he’d pad out his team with ringers like me and my mate John. Which is fine. There have been times when I have been made distinctly uncomfortable by being made a ringer guest player in a cup semi-final, which I had been told was a normal league match, but for the most part I’ve derived a little bit of pleasure from it. It’s not big and it’s not clever, but I have.

Well, as I said, Alan the Bookie liked other people to think he was a champion quizzer. So as the quiz progressed, every time I came up with an answer he’d respond ‘yeah, I know that’. Which stared to get on my wick. So after half time, when the QM asked a question A the B clearly didn’t know the answer to I’d say “You know that one don’t you?” To which he’d say ‘ Yes . . . but what was it again?” or some such.

Well, there we are. Christmas is a time of peace on Earth and goodwill to all, but I a Christmas quiz sometimes not so much. Coming back to the question I began with, I suppose I should confess that I haven’t noticed any Christmas questions creeping into the quiz at the cub. Yet. There won’t be any Christmas questions on Thursday for the entirely logical reason that there won’t be any quiz at all on Thursday. Apparently the rugby club want to stage a rugby match – whoever heard of such a thing? Thin end of the wedge if you ask me.

Mastermind Preview

I don’t know how I missed making a preview las week, but I’m going to ty to make amends now. In Monday night’s Mastermind the specialist subjects will be:-

The New York Subway system

The Ocean’s Films

The Easter Rising

The Novels of Donna Tartt

Now, there isn’t really anything which resembles a ‘banker’ subject there. If we take the first, I absolutely love subway and metro systems. I’ve enjoyed using them all over Europe. But . . . I have never used the New York subway and know very little about it. As a matter of principle I will wiki it to try and get one or two points.

I’ve seen and enjoyed the remake of Ocean’s Eleven – ie not the Sinatra one – but it’s the only one I’ve watched. Potential of a point, maybe 2.

The Easter Rising offers a chance of another point or maybe two – 20^th Cenury British and Irish History is not a banker subject for me, but it is something that I know a bit about.

As for the novels of Donna Tartt, well, I did read The Secre History, and I’m afraid it’s one of those novels where I can appreciate the prose, and the skill, but I didn’t really enjoy reading it very much. Again, maybe one, maybe none.

So looking at that, while last week’s was my lowest specialist aggregate for a while, I ca’ really say there’s any guarantee I’ll beat it on Monday.