All the President's Men and a Woman

The Quiz Season Kicks In

Yes, I will write about Saturday and how bubonic plague severely affected my ability to do the quiz in a competent fashion. But not right now.

Instead I will go with what is freshest in the mind: the first round of President's Cup. At home versus Beds and Herts (aka Chester Army with Charly Fitzpatrick). Yesterday afternoon at The Castle.

Brewis didn't turn up so Jenny filled in at number two (Brewis's exact text: "Sorry, bollocks, forgot") because luckily she and Beth had thought it would be amusing to come along with Nic and watch as we - Sussex this season, not UC Alumni (the connection with personnel is equally spurious) - proceeded to play like cack-handed silly bastards. As per usual.

It was certainly like that at the beginning. At half time we were down 15-23. My fears that we were going to get tanked were being realised and cold fear began icing over my precious bodily organs. I missed a horrible art question, which I elected to take rather than give to Nic. He obviously knew what it was. Because, er, I had written it on this here blog (must remember: consolidate and maintain ... no more extensive mining for now).

But we turned it around in Round 5 by clawing back five points and eventually found ourself with Fred on the Beds & Herts team having to gain one point to get the win. He didn't get it and neither did we and so we drew 39-39. So we didn't lose. As per usual.

We have one point. A minor hurray for us.

Now I would have mentioned some of the questions but since I believe one match has been postponed that would be very naughty. So you'll just have to get your thrills from the above thrilling prose and not thoughts like: "Oh, I would have got that question in a match situation ... what a div. What a fool."

Notable scores on our side: Peter got 12. I got 18 with seven 2-pointers. The sole one I didn't get was on games/sports terminology and that is one area that flies over my head like the ghost of Concorde.

Anyway, this here - yes, the juicy quiz league quiz format I haven't done since March - is the friendly that we played afterwards. B&H won 42-32.

I think I am getting more proficient at writing them and believe I'm starting to get the right balance between writing interesting stuff people like hearing, setting stuff I need to learn or am unsure about and things that I think should asked in matches but never are. Notice the lack of bird families, old radio, canals, engine parts, old British cars, motorways and breweries. Down with them all.

Also notice how I conform to the quiz question-writing norms by comparing these questions to th BH quizzes. Observe and ponder. Write a dissertation about it. Or just copy them on to a computer file and use them against your quiz addicted enemies. People like me.

Enjoy...

* Starred questions are those that were unanswered by either side

President's Cup friendly 8/10/2006

Round 1
1A On the last day of this year's Ryder Cup, which Swedish golfer won the point that clinched the trophy for Europe?
HENRIK STENSSON
1B This week Robin Robertson won which £10,000 prize for poetry for his collection Swithering?
FORWARD PRIZE
2A Which poet, whose 12th volume of poems entitled District and Circle, did Robertson surprisingly beat?*
SEAMUS HEANEY
2B Christabel Leighton-Porter was the model for which Daily Mirror cartoon pin-up, who was created by Norman Pett in 1932?
JANE
3A The late actor Ballard Berkeley is best remembered for playing which TV comedy role?
MAJOR IN FAWLTY TOWERS or MAJOR GOWEN
3B At this year's Ryder Cup which Irish golfer controversially settled for a half in his singles match against JJ Henry instead of going for the full point that would have seen Europe win by a record-winning margin?
PAUL MCGINLEY
4A Created in 1962 by writer Peter O'Donnell and artist Jim Holdaway, which comic strip heroine had a sidekick called Willie Garvin?
MODESTY BLAISE
4B The late actor John Barron is best remembered for playing which TV comedy role?
CJ in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin

Round 2
1A What useful two-letter word in Scrabble is a Vietnamese coin?
XU
1B Which teenage film star made a guest appearance in the third episode of the current series of BBC2 comedy Extras as a sex-obsessed twerp in a boy scout uniform?
DANIEL RATCLIFFE
2A Having previously published Hospital Sketches about her experiences as a nurse during the American Civil War, who wrote her most famous novel in six weeks in 1868 with the aim of making money?*
LOUISA M ALCOTT
2B Which English chemist was aged 41 when he published his New System of Chemical Philosophy in 1808, in which he set forth the concepts of atom and molecule?
JOHN DALTON
3A Which Scottish physicist was aged 41 when he completed his work on equations for electromagnetic theory in 1873?
JAMES CLERK MAXWELL
3B What useful two-letter word in Scrabble is a type of Maori digging-stick?*
KO
4A Which rock star star made a guest appearance in the second episode of the current series of Extras and improvised a song that included the lines: "Little fat man who sold his soul/ Little fat man who sold his dream"?
DAVID BOWIE
4B Forced to resign as a reporter at the age of 26 due to an ankle injury, who stayed at home and wrote her most famous novel in secrecy, the book being eventually published in 1936?
MARGARET MITCHELL

Round 3
1A The British surgeon James Blundell performed the first of what type of operation in 1819? His patient survived 56 hours.*
HUMAN-TO-HUMAN BLOOD TRANSFUSION
1B Designed by the Scottish engineer William Symington and launched in 1802, what was the name of the world's first paddlewheel steamer?*
CHARLOTTE DUNDAS
2A Named after the founder of the IBF, which badminton tournament was first held at Queen's Hall in Preston in February 1949?
THOMAS CUP
2B In 1884, the English surgeon Rickman John Godleee performed the first operation to remove what?*
BRAIN TUMOUR
3A Which song from the musical West Side Story features the lines: "I'll drive a Buick through San Juan/ If there's a road you can drive on/ I'll give my cousins a free ride/ How can you get all of them inside"?
AMERICA
3B Named after the woman who donated the trophy, which badminton competition was first held at Lytham St Annes in 1957?
UBER CUP
4A Designed by the Scottish engineer Henry Bell and launched in 1812, what was the name of the first commercially successful steamship in Europe?*
COMET
4B Which song from West Side Story features the lines: "There's a place for us,/A time and place for us./Hold my hand and we're halfway there/Hold my hand and I'll take you there"?
SOMEWHERE

Round 4
1A Now seen as Greece's second city, which place was founded in 315BC by the Macedonian king Cassander and named after his wife, a sister of Alexander the Great?
THESSALONIKI or SALONICA
1B Given a name meaning "ancient springtime", which Israeli city was founded in 1909 when a group of Jews moved out of the Arab port of Jaffa and acquired 12 acres of land?
TEL AVIV
2A Which Manchester City player controversially smashed Portsmouth midfielder Pedro Mendes in the face with his arm in August?
BEN THATCHER
2B Which Welsh-born actor played alcoholic Don Birnam in the 1947 film The Lost Weekend?
RAY MILLAND
3A Which American actor played the alcoholic Henry Chinaski in the 1987 film Barfly?
MICKEY ROURKE
3B Which Manchester City player controversially bared his backside after his side drew at Goodison Park at the end of September?
JOEY BARTON
4A Led by practising Mormon Brandon Flowers, which US rock band have just released their second album Sam's Town?
THE KILLERS
4B Known for such albums as Odelay and Mutations, which American solo-musician's latest is called The Information?
BECK

Round 5
1A On what sort of device would you find a morsing-hole?*
A GUN OR FIREARM
1B Founded in 1660, which society had Viscount Brouncker for its first president?
ROYAL SOCIETY
2A Which astronomer is the current president of the Royal Society?
SIR MARTIN REES
2B On what object would you find a hardy-hole?*
AN ANVIL
3A Doing it in a sloop-rigged fishing boat called the Spray, which American became the first person to sail solo around the world in 1898?
JOSHUA SLOCUM
3B Who spent three weeks at number one in 1974 with his version of Everything I Own?
KEN BOOTHE
4A Who spent two weeks at number one in 1974 with Devil Gate Drive?
SUZI QUATRO
4B Which man, who sailed in the Lively Lady, completed his singlehanded voyage around the world when he arrived back in Portsmouth on July 4, 1968 after 354 days at sea?
ALEC ROSE

Round 6
1A What word links a breed of dog, a channel at the tip of South America and a 19th century expeditionary ship?
BEAGLE
1B Who is the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales?
LORD PHILLIPS (OF WORTH MALTRAVERS)
2A What place name links the seat of an English duke, a breed of spaniel and a misleadingly named apple?*
BLENHEIM
2B One of the great sporting upsets, who defeated Eric Bristow in the Embassy World Darts final in 1983?
KEITH DELLER
3A Which 18th century war began with the invasion of Silesia by Frederick II of Prussia?
WAR OF AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION (1740)
3B Which 17th century war began with the Second Defenestration of Prague and the subsequent Bohemian Revolt?
THIRTY YEARS' WAR (1618)
4A One of the great sporting upsets, which number one seed lost to the unseeded teenager Billie Jean Moffitt at Wimbledon in 1962?*
MARGARET SMITH
4B Who did Lord Phillips succeed as Lord Chief Justice in 2005?
LORD WOOLF

Round 7
1A On this day (October 8th) in 1982, which British silver-medal winner in the 1500m at the 1920 Olympics and 1959 Nobel Peace Prize winner died aged 92?
PHILIP NOEL-BAKER
1B On a map, isohyets connect points that receive equal amounts of what?
RAINFALL
2A On a map, isocheims connect points that receive the same what?
MEAN WINTER TEMPERATURE (accept TEMPERATURE)
2B First published in 1687, which physical law is also known as the Law of Inertia?
NEWTON'S FIRST LAW OF MOTION
3A Comprising part of the Irish Sea, which firth stretches from St Bees Head in Cumbria to the Mull of Galloway?
SOLWAY FIRTH
3B Actually more of a strait than a firth, which firth separates the Orkney Islands from Caithness in the north of Scotland?
PENTLAND FIRTH
4A In his 1687 work Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Newton showed that the laws of motion combined with which of his other laws explained Kepler's laws of planetary motion?
LAW OF UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION
4B On this day in 1953, which Blackburn-born contralto, for whom Benjamin Britten wrote such parts as Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia, died of breast cancer aged 41?
KATHLEEN FERRIER

Round 8
1A Which Irish stand-up comedian presents the panel show Mock the Week on BBC2?
DARA O'BRIAIN
1B Which Devon-born inventor patented an early steam engine on July 2, 1698 and published details of it in the 1702 book Miner's Friend?
THOMAS SAVERY
2A Which tinsmith and Baptist lay preacher developed his steam engine with Thomas Savery in 1712?
THOMAS NEWCOMEN
2B In Greek mythology, who was chief of the nine Muses and the muse of epic poetry?
CALLIOPE
3A Along with iron, the alloy invar mainly consists of which metal?
NICKEL (64 per cent, iron is 36 per cent)
3B Known for his partnership with Ben Miller, which actor and comedian presents the panel show Best of the Worst on Channel 4?
ALEXANDER ARMSTRONG
4A Having a name meaning "good cheer", in Greek mythology who was the muse of comedy and pastoral poetry?
THALIA
4B The alloy pewter traditionally consists of 85 to 99 per cent of which metal?
TIN (Copper 1-4 per cent)

Spares
1 Having a name that means "southern capital", which Chinese city is located at the meeting of the Qinhuai River and the Yangste?
NANJING
2 Black, white, treacle, tower and Jack-by-the-Hedge are all varieties of which plant?
MUSTARD
3 Stephen Darling created which comic strip hero in 1942?
GARTH
4 What is the full name of the Royal Society?
THE ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF NATURAL KNOWLEDGE