Weak Apologies and Lost Time with President's Cup coda
Distractions
I will go back in time and review the PEN goings on (no, wait I already have: SEE BELOW as you haven't read it yet because it was invisible before), but for now I will apologise for the radio silence by saying things like:
a) I suffered badly, mentally and everything, when I dropped my mobile phone in a mug of coffee and therefore lost all contact with the human world
b) I was somehow cowed by the slum-like nature of my bedroom. It is drowning in information: books, magazines and newspapers piling up until simply navigating the way towards my resting place is a hazardous running-of-the-gauntlet fraught with many a chance of toppling over and making a further crashing FUBAR mess of paper and pages; it reminds me a little bit of Francis Bacon's hellishly tip-like studio. Which makes me proud in a perverse way (but, not I hasten to add, the Baconian masochistic way).
c) ruddy TV series on the internet. I keep on chaining them without regard to the passing of days. First I watched all of I Claudius (brilliant! Sian Phillips sure was hot, even if she played a pensioner. Er, I'll stop there), then every single Screenwipe with Charlie Brooker (unutterably brilliant and bruisingly incisive and so funny I barked loudly with laughter at one minute intervals, I am not lying) and c) Chuck (new NBC series from the creator of The OC. Not so brilliant but still amusing, slick and liable to waste all my precious time).
So those are all my pathetic excuses. Truly pathetic. Oh, all those things and pouring practically all my time into writing the New Statesman Christmas quiz. I never knew it would take me so long. Thinking up wrong answers is tough taxing work, I tells ya.
President's Cup Round Five
Back to business. No more swanning around with rich writer and journo types. Back to the nitty gritty of top class GK competition among the relatively lowly (don't worry: my feelings about traditional competitive quizzing haven't yet stooped to the level of divine apathy that consumed Dr Manhattan when dealing with insignificant Earth affairs). Last Sunday saw us play Oxford away in the final match of the first half of the President's Cup season.
We had lost on both prior visits and I was worried that we would forfeit immediately on account of poor Sunday public transport (curse you slow running train!). Thankfully, my arrival - 40 minutes past official match commencement time - was treated with welcome clemency by our opponents and we started up league business after Moby's friendly.
I don't know exactly why our fortunes have undergone such a sea-change (top of the table? Are you kidding after all the disasters and near-misses of yester-seasons?) but I began to get an inkling or two why.
Kathryn is one reason (for her contribution I am truly thankful, especially as this particular Sunday was her birthday). Nic is another. The contribution of guest players like Mark is another. In fact, nothing troubled us much during this match and Mark scored possibly the first President's Cup full house of the season as we piled on a massive 22 two-pointers (the season tally was previously 55 from four matches, while Roger says it may well have been a record - fancy that, hmmm?) and, Mike and Roger, please forgive me for such crowing language, but completely monstered the Oxford team despite their notching up a decent 36 points in reply to our 56. I also get the feeling that our monthly bouts of hardcore Quizzing competition have hardened and enhanced our playing abilities no end.
It is all thoroughly satisfying to play so well and so smoothly and I just hope our title push doesn't go tits up. It probably will, but I'm only saying that so the inevitable disappointment is softened. You see how my garbled and weasel-inflected words serve to reflect my own confused intentions and aims. Let's just leave it there and hope the Xmas break doesn't disrupt our near perfect competitive equilibrium. I'll stay off the crack this Yuletide as a result.
President's Cup friendly 2/12/07
There were 25 unanswered*. Oooh. Ouch. I'm getting more irked, even embarrassed by questions people don't answer. The feeling induced in me is - what I am doing wrong? Am I losing touch? - and so on. Oh, and not forgetting am I getting airs about becoming the Emperor of the Universe. Such sensations are mildly grim. In fact, they make me feel like a bit of a spunk-hat. And we can't have that.
But still Oxford pulled out a nice little victory 30-26 (though Sussex was lacking one team member).
Round 1
1a England bowler Ryan Sidebottom plays for which county?
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
1b Which Politburo member was assassinated at Communist Party headquarters in Leningrad in November 1934 by Leonid Nikolayev, thus giving Stalin the pretext for his Great Purge?
SERGEY KIROV
2a John Antoine Nau became the first winner of which prestigious prize in 1903?
PRIX GONCOURT (for Force ennemie)
2b Which SI unit shares its name with the French scientist whose inverse-square law indicates the magnitude and direction of electrostatic force that one stationary, electrically charged object of small dimensions exerts on another?
COULOMB
3a Which politician and chief of the Soviet security and police apparatus was deposed as head of the NKVD on June 26, 1953 and executed by firing squad before the year's end?
LAVRENTIY BERIA
3b The most controversial decision to award the Prix Goncourt came in 1919 when which famous author won it instead of the public's favourite Roland Dorgeles for his war novel Les Croix de bois?*
MARCEL PROUST
4a Which SI unit is named after the Englishman whose law of electrolysis states that the mass of a substance produced at an electrode during the process is proportional to the number of moles of electrons transferred at that electrode?*
FARAD
4b The emerging England all-rounder Ravi Bopara plays for which county side?
ESSEX
Round 2
1a Which car company's current models include the V8 Vantage and V8 Vantage Roadster?
ASTON MARTIN
1b Which Polish footballer scored the vital goal in the 1-1 draw that prevented England's qualification for the 1974 World Cup?
JAN DOMARSKI
2a Whose massive biography of Adolf Hitler was divided into two books, the first subtitled Hubris and the second Nemesis?*
IAN KERSHAW
2b The 911 is the top selling model of which car company?
PORSCHE
3a Having made his name directing adverts and music videos, which Englishman went on to make the film American History X and the abortion documentary Lake of Fire?*
TONY KAYE
(Mark actually said his first name is Tony and his second is four letters and begins with K. Which was funny and, sadly, unacceptable when he elaborated and gave a wrong surname)
3b Which Englishman directed the popular "Swimblack" and "Surfer" advertising campaigns for Guinness before making such films as Sexy Beast and Birth?*
JONATHAN GLAZER
4a Which Croatian player scored the winner in the 3-2 win that prevented England's qualification for Euro 2008?
MLADEN PETRIC
4b Which acclaimed biographer of Potemkin went on to write Stalin: The Court of The Red Tsar?
SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE
Round 3
1a Which former wife of Peter O'Toole played Augustus's wife Livia in the TV series I Claudius?
SIAN PHILLIPS
1b Come Together is the first track on which 1969 Beatles album?*
ABBEY ROAD
2a Danilo Turk is the president elect of which European country?
SLOVENIA
2b Which Lord of the Rings star played the Praetorian guard Macro in the BBC series I Claudius?*
JOHN RHYS-DAVIES
3a Which King was born on December 24, 1166 in Beaumont Palace, Oxford?
JOHN
3b Ivan Gasparovic is the president of which European country?
SLOVAKIA
4a Drive My Car is the first track on which 1965 Beatles album?*
RUBBER SOUL
4b Which King was born in Winchester Castle on October 1, 1207?
HENRY III
Round 4
1a What surname is shared by the creator of The Beano's Roger the Dodger and the Daily Express comic strip The Gambols?
APPLEBY (Barrie and Barry)
1b What surname is shared by the creator of The Guardian's daily strip If ... and the artist behind such Beano strips as Pup Parade, aka The Bash Street Kids' dogs?
BELL (Steve and Gordon)
2a Which now defunct computer company was started in Toronto in 1954 by Polish immigrant and Auschwitz survivor Jack Tramiel?*
COMMODORE
2b Which Englishman composed Variations on a Theme by Hindemith, as well as The Bear, a one-act opera based on the Chekhov play?
WILLIAM WALTON
3a Which German composed Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel and the Paganini Variations, both for solo piano?
JOHANNES BRAHMS
3b Cushat Law, Bloodybush Edge and Hedgehope Hill are notable tops in which range of rolling hills?*
CHEVIOT HILLS
4a Haddington Hill is the location of the highest point in which English chalk escarpment?*
CHILTERN HILLS
4b Which pioneering home video games company was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney?
ATARI
Round 5
1a The largest in Spain, which autonomous community is home to such cities as Salamanca and Segovia?
CASTILE-LEON
1b Located in the Italian region of the Marche, what was the hometown of Rossini and is now the site of an annual Opera Festival held in his honour?
PESARO
2a Which aquatic plant bearing an edible seed often used in Chinese cookery has the scientific name Trapa natans?
WATER CHESTNUT
2b Name either of Spain's autonomous cities in Africa.
CEUTA or MELILLA
3a Site of an annual summer music festival, which town in Tuscany was the birthplace of the composers Luigi Boccherini, Alfredo Catalani and Puccini?*
LUCCA
3b Chris Huhne is Liberal Democrat MP for which Hampshire constituency?*
EASTLEIGH
4a Vince Cable is Liberal Democrat MP for which Greater London constituency?
TWICKENHAM
4b Often used in Asian cookery, which herb belongs to the genus Cymbopogon and has such common names as "silky heads" and "barbed wire grass"?
LEMONGRASS (I suppose CITRONELLA was also acceptable)
Round 6
1a What was the nationality of the pop groups Black Box, JT and the Big Family and Starlight?
ITALIAN
1b The 26th of July Movement was a revolutionary organisation involved in the overthrow of which country's government?
CUBA
2a Dating from the Century 21 Exposition in 1962, the Space Needle is the most recognisable landmark of which American city?
SEATTLE
2b Which American boxer defended his middleweight title 12 times and was the first middleweight champion to hold the top three sanctioning body belts?*
MARVIN HAGLER
3a In which country was King Savang Vatthana forced to abdicate in December 1975?*
LAOS
3b What was the nationality of the pop groups Human Resource, 2 Unlimited and Ten Sharp?
DUTCH
4a Which American boxer defended his middleweight title a record 20 times and was the first fighter in history to unify the WBO, WBC, IBF and WBA titles?*
BERNARD HOPKINS
4b The Aon Center, the Merchandise Mart and the John Hancock Center are among the most notable buildings in which American city?
CHICAGO
Round 7
1a The Dzhungarian, the striped dwarf and the dwarf desert are types of which pet rodent?
HAMSTER
1b In which team sport does Mexico play the USA for the Manuel Avilla Camacho Cup?*
POLO
2a Which woman won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1989 for Breathing Lessons?
ANNE TYLER
2b Which artist married his first wife Isabelle Brandt in 1609 and his second, Helen Fourment in 1630?
PETER PAUL RUBENS
3a Which 17th century artist was married to Caterina Bolnes, who bore him 11 children?*
JAN VERMEER
3b The Sheltie, the English shorthair and the Abyssinian are common varieties of which pet rodent?*
GUINEA PIG
4a In which sport do American and British women teams contest the Wolfe-Noel Cup?*
SQUASH
4b Which woman won the 1985 Pulitzer prize for her novel Foreign Affairs?*
ALISON LURIE
Round 8
1a The Roman emperor Hadrian was succeeded in 138 by which adopted son?*
ANTONINUS PIUS
1b In Greek mythology, which King of Colchis was the owner of the Golden Fleece sought by Jason?*
AEETES
2a What term describes a line that joins two points of a circle?
CHORD
2b In music, what is a "fipple"?
MOUTHPIECE (for all wind instruments)
3a In Greek myth, Jason was the son of Aeson, the king of which land?*
IOLCOS
3b What term describes the portion of a circle between the centre and two points on the perimeter?
SECTOR
4a Which small portable reed organ was perfected by Alexandre Debain of Paris in the early 1840s?
HARMONIUM
4b Which Roman emperor murdered his brother Geta along with thousands of his supporters in 212?*
CARACALLA
Spares I really didn't think about writing
Nicknamed Lo Spagnoletto meaning The Little Spaniard, which Baroque painter's Martyrdom of St Bartholomew can be seen in the Prado?
JUSEPE DE RIBERA
What is the last train on the Paris Metro every night nicknamed in French because it sweeps up remaining passengers?
BALAI (meaning "broom")
What religious title is shared by a Correggio painting in the Brera in Milan, a Veronese artwork in the National Gallery and another by Brueghel the Elder in the Musee Royaux des Beaux-Arts in Brussels?
THE ADORATION OF KINGS
I will go back in time and review the PEN goings on (no, wait I already have: SEE BELOW as you haven't read it yet because it was invisible before), but for now I will apologise for the radio silence by saying things like:
a) I suffered badly, mentally and everything, when I dropped my mobile phone in a mug of coffee and therefore lost all contact with the human world
b) I was somehow cowed by the slum-like nature of my bedroom. It is drowning in information: books, magazines and newspapers piling up until simply navigating the way towards my resting place is a hazardous running-of-the-gauntlet fraught with many a chance of toppling over and making a further crashing FUBAR mess of paper and pages; it reminds me a little bit of Francis Bacon's hellishly tip-like studio. Which makes me proud in a perverse way (but, not I hasten to add, the Baconian masochistic way).
c) ruddy TV series on the internet. I keep on chaining them without regard to the passing of days. First I watched all of I Claudius (brilliant! Sian Phillips sure was hot, even if she played a pensioner. Er, I'll stop there), then every single Screenwipe with Charlie Brooker (unutterably brilliant and bruisingly incisive and so funny I barked loudly with laughter at one minute intervals, I am not lying) and c) Chuck (new NBC series from the creator of The OC. Not so brilliant but still amusing, slick and liable to waste all my precious time).
So those are all my pathetic excuses. Truly pathetic. Oh, all those things and pouring practically all my time into writing the New Statesman Christmas quiz. I never knew it would take me so long. Thinking up wrong answers is tough taxing work, I tells ya.
President's Cup Round Five
Back to business. No more swanning around with rich writer and journo types. Back to the nitty gritty of top class GK competition among the relatively lowly (don't worry: my feelings about traditional competitive quizzing haven't yet stooped to the level of divine apathy that consumed Dr Manhattan when dealing with insignificant Earth affairs). Last Sunday saw us play Oxford away in the final match of the first half of the President's Cup season.
We had lost on both prior visits and I was worried that we would forfeit immediately on account of poor Sunday public transport (curse you slow running train!). Thankfully, my arrival - 40 minutes past official match commencement time - was treated with welcome clemency by our opponents and we started up league business after Moby's friendly.
I don't know exactly why our fortunes have undergone such a sea-change (top of the table? Are you kidding after all the disasters and near-misses of yester-seasons?) but I began to get an inkling or two why.
Kathryn is one reason (for her contribution I am truly thankful, especially as this particular Sunday was her birthday). Nic is another. The contribution of guest players like Mark is another. In fact, nothing troubled us much during this match and Mark scored possibly the first President's Cup full house of the season as we piled on a massive 22 two-pointers (the season tally was previously 55 from four matches, while Roger says it may well have been a record - fancy that, hmmm?) and, Mike and Roger, please forgive me for such crowing language, but completely monstered the Oxford team despite their notching up a decent 36 points in reply to our 56. I also get the feeling that our monthly bouts of hardcore Quizzing competition have hardened and enhanced our playing abilities no end.
It is all thoroughly satisfying to play so well and so smoothly and I just hope our title push doesn't go tits up. It probably will, but I'm only saying that so the inevitable disappointment is softened. You see how my garbled and weasel-inflected words serve to reflect my own confused intentions and aims. Let's just leave it there and hope the Xmas break doesn't disrupt our near perfect competitive equilibrium. I'll stay off the crack this Yuletide as a result.
President's Cup friendly 2/12/07
There were 25 unanswered*. Oooh. Ouch. I'm getting more irked, even embarrassed by questions people don't answer. The feeling induced in me is - what I am doing wrong? Am I losing touch? - and so on. Oh, and not forgetting am I getting airs about becoming the Emperor of the Universe. Such sensations are mildly grim. In fact, they make me feel like a bit of a spunk-hat. And we can't have that.
But still Oxford pulled out a nice little victory 30-26 (though Sussex was lacking one team member).
Round 1
1a England bowler Ryan Sidebottom plays for which county?
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
1b Which Politburo member was assassinated at Communist Party headquarters in Leningrad in November 1934 by Leonid Nikolayev, thus giving Stalin the pretext for his Great Purge?
SERGEY KIROV
2a John Antoine Nau became the first winner of which prestigious prize in 1903?
PRIX GONCOURT (for Force ennemie)
2b Which SI unit shares its name with the French scientist whose inverse-square law indicates the magnitude and direction of electrostatic force that one stationary, electrically charged object of small dimensions exerts on another?
COULOMB
3a Which politician and chief of the Soviet security and police apparatus was deposed as head of the NKVD on June 26, 1953 and executed by firing squad before the year's end?
LAVRENTIY BERIA
3b The most controversial decision to award the Prix Goncourt came in 1919 when which famous author won it instead of the public's favourite Roland Dorgeles for his war novel Les Croix de bois?*
MARCEL PROUST
4a Which SI unit is named after the Englishman whose law of electrolysis states that the mass of a substance produced at an electrode during the process is proportional to the number of moles of electrons transferred at that electrode?*
FARAD
4b The emerging England all-rounder Ravi Bopara plays for which county side?
ESSEX
Round 2
1a Which car company's current models include the V8 Vantage and V8 Vantage Roadster?
ASTON MARTIN
1b Which Polish footballer scored the vital goal in the 1-1 draw that prevented England's qualification for the 1974 World Cup?
JAN DOMARSKI
2a Whose massive biography of Adolf Hitler was divided into two books, the first subtitled Hubris and the second Nemesis?*
IAN KERSHAW
2b The 911 is the top selling model of which car company?
PORSCHE
3a Having made his name directing adverts and music videos, which Englishman went on to make the film American History X and the abortion documentary Lake of Fire?*
TONY KAYE
(Mark actually said his first name is Tony and his second is four letters and begins with K. Which was funny and, sadly, unacceptable when he elaborated and gave a wrong surname)
3b Which Englishman directed the popular "Swimblack" and "Surfer" advertising campaigns for Guinness before making such films as Sexy Beast and Birth?*
JONATHAN GLAZER
4a Which Croatian player scored the winner in the 3-2 win that prevented England's qualification for Euro 2008?
MLADEN PETRIC
4b Which acclaimed biographer of Potemkin went on to write Stalin: The Court of The Red Tsar?
SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE
Round 3
1a Which former wife of Peter O'Toole played Augustus's wife Livia in the TV series I Claudius?
SIAN PHILLIPS
1b Come Together is the first track on which 1969 Beatles album?*
ABBEY ROAD
2a Danilo Turk is the president elect of which European country?
SLOVENIA
2b Which Lord of the Rings star played the Praetorian guard Macro in the BBC series I Claudius?*
JOHN RHYS-DAVIES
3a Which King was born on December 24, 1166 in Beaumont Palace, Oxford?
JOHN
3b Ivan Gasparovic is the president of which European country?
SLOVAKIA
4a Drive My Car is the first track on which 1965 Beatles album?*
RUBBER SOUL
4b Which King was born in Winchester Castle on October 1, 1207?
HENRY III
Round 4
1a What surname is shared by the creator of The Beano's Roger the Dodger and the Daily Express comic strip The Gambols?
APPLEBY (Barrie and Barry)
1b What surname is shared by the creator of The Guardian's daily strip If ... and the artist behind such Beano strips as Pup Parade, aka The Bash Street Kids' dogs?
BELL (Steve and Gordon)
2a Which now defunct computer company was started in Toronto in 1954 by Polish immigrant and Auschwitz survivor Jack Tramiel?*
COMMODORE
2b Which Englishman composed Variations on a Theme by Hindemith, as well as The Bear, a one-act opera based on the Chekhov play?
WILLIAM WALTON
3a Which German composed Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel and the Paganini Variations, both for solo piano?
JOHANNES BRAHMS
3b Cushat Law, Bloodybush Edge and Hedgehope Hill are notable tops in which range of rolling hills?*
CHEVIOT HILLS
4a Haddington Hill is the location of the highest point in which English chalk escarpment?*
CHILTERN HILLS
4b Which pioneering home video games company was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney?
ATARI
Round 5
1a The largest in Spain, which autonomous community is home to such cities as Salamanca and Segovia?
CASTILE-LEON
1b Located in the Italian region of the Marche, what was the hometown of Rossini and is now the site of an annual Opera Festival held in his honour?
PESARO
2a Which aquatic plant bearing an edible seed often used in Chinese cookery has the scientific name Trapa natans?
WATER CHESTNUT
2b Name either of Spain's autonomous cities in Africa.
CEUTA or MELILLA
3a Site of an annual summer music festival, which town in Tuscany was the birthplace of the composers Luigi Boccherini, Alfredo Catalani and Puccini?*
LUCCA
3b Chris Huhne is Liberal Democrat MP for which Hampshire constituency?*
EASTLEIGH
4a Vince Cable is Liberal Democrat MP for which Greater London constituency?
TWICKENHAM
4b Often used in Asian cookery, which herb belongs to the genus Cymbopogon and has such common names as "silky heads" and "barbed wire grass"?
LEMONGRASS (I suppose CITRONELLA was also acceptable)
Round 6
1a What was the nationality of the pop groups Black Box, JT and the Big Family and Starlight?
ITALIAN
1b The 26th of July Movement was a revolutionary organisation involved in the overthrow of which country's government?
CUBA
2a Dating from the Century 21 Exposition in 1962, the Space Needle is the most recognisable landmark of which American city?
SEATTLE
2b Which American boxer defended his middleweight title 12 times and was the first middleweight champion to hold the top three sanctioning body belts?*
MARVIN HAGLER
3a In which country was King Savang Vatthana forced to abdicate in December 1975?*
LAOS
3b What was the nationality of the pop groups Human Resource, 2 Unlimited and Ten Sharp?
DUTCH
4a Which American boxer defended his middleweight title a record 20 times and was the first fighter in history to unify the WBO, WBC, IBF and WBA titles?*
BERNARD HOPKINS
4b The Aon Center, the Merchandise Mart and the John Hancock Center are among the most notable buildings in which American city?
CHICAGO
Round 7
1a The Dzhungarian, the striped dwarf and the dwarf desert are types of which pet rodent?
HAMSTER
1b In which team sport does Mexico play the USA for the Manuel Avilla Camacho Cup?*
POLO
2a Which woman won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1989 for Breathing Lessons?
ANNE TYLER
2b Which artist married his first wife Isabelle Brandt in 1609 and his second, Helen Fourment in 1630?
PETER PAUL RUBENS
3a Which 17th century artist was married to Caterina Bolnes, who bore him 11 children?*
JAN VERMEER
3b The Sheltie, the English shorthair and the Abyssinian are common varieties of which pet rodent?*
GUINEA PIG
4a In which sport do American and British women teams contest the Wolfe-Noel Cup?*
SQUASH
4b Which woman won the 1985 Pulitzer prize for her novel Foreign Affairs?*
ALISON LURIE
Round 8
1a The Roman emperor Hadrian was succeeded in 138 by which adopted son?*
ANTONINUS PIUS
1b In Greek mythology, which King of Colchis was the owner of the Golden Fleece sought by Jason?*
AEETES
2a What term describes a line that joins two points of a circle?
CHORD
2b In music, what is a "fipple"?
MOUTHPIECE (for all wind instruments)
3a In Greek myth, Jason was the son of Aeson, the king of which land?*
IOLCOS
3b What term describes the portion of a circle between the centre and two points on the perimeter?
SECTOR
4a Which small portable reed organ was perfected by Alexandre Debain of Paris in the early 1840s?
HARMONIUM
4b Which Roman emperor murdered his brother Geta along with thousands of his supporters in 212?*
CARACALLA
Spares I really didn't think about writing
Nicknamed Lo Spagnoletto meaning The Little Spaniard, which Baroque painter's Martyrdom of St Bartholomew can be seen in the Prado?
JUSEPE DE RIBERA
What is the last train on the Paris Metro every night nicknamed in French because it sweeps up remaining passengers?
BALAI (meaning "broom")
What religious title is shared by a Correggio painting in the Brera in Milan, a Veronese artwork in the National Gallery and another by Brueghel the Elder in the Musee Royaux des Beaux-Arts in Brussels?
THE ADORATION OF KINGS
posted by That Quiz Guy at 11:31 AM
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