28th November–Home to the Harrington Academicals

On a bitterly cold night with a biting wind the Lemmings prepared to meet the Gawsworth visitors – but the weather was the least of their problems. With Sunil and Becky alternating (Becky’s shift pattern) the Lemmings have been able to put up a team of four so far this season but disaster struck this time; For family reasons Bob was unable to play and the home team had to provide the question master leaving a team of two!! Despite desperate efforts Nick had failed to attract reserves to play but through Mark’s sterling efforts John Knight very kindly agreed to act as the question master; Becky too agreed to play but would be unable to attend until 9PM or thereabouts – at least a viable team.

Both sets of questions had been set by the Sutton Club and we found them to be well balanced and interesting with a round on writers known by three names (all of which were required). One contentious question was what is the common name for the scapula – the visitors said shoulderblade but the question master’s answer sheet was collar bone – the Lemmings thought the Academicals were right and after checking with Wikipedia (contentious!!) they were given the points.

The questions are now available on line here. (I am struggling to put a link on the right – will persevere.)

At the end of the Specialists the Lemmings were trailing by just 5 points with 45 to the visitors’ 50 – the large number of conferred points mainly due to playing with three. General Knowledge is usually the Lemmings’ strong point so they entered those questions with some optimism, especially as Becky would be arriving shortly. But it was not to be – no complaints about the questions but the visitors won by over 30 points with 99 to 66!! Final score was 149 to 111.

Individual scores were Becky 0/3, Sunil 6/9, Nick 6/15 Tomo 15/15 with conferred points 16/18 and pass-overs 2/6. The Harrington collected 4/12 pass-overs. Had it not been for Tomo it would have been an even greater defeat.

The meal ended with a splendid beef stew and french bread – many thanks to Steve (Brian on holiday), to John the QM ad the Academicals for a very pleasant evening.

21 November Round 2 of the Cup

Having had a bye in the first round of the Cup this was the Lemmings’ first appearance in this season’s contest  and it was with some trepidation that they prepared to meet the Oxford C once again on their home turf. Not that the visitors are in any way the stony-faced miseries that A League teams are often portrayed, on the contrary they are a relaxed, friendly team with an immense store of knowledge finishing top in the A League last season with Alice achieving the highest score.

The Lemmings started off well dropping just one point in the first round (both teams overruling a member’s correct answer in one case – Assyria!!) but then began to flag a little. The questions were well balanced but unfortunately not the Lemmings’ strengths.

Scores for each round of 20 questions were (visitors first) 17/16, 20/12, 20/7, 17/15, 18/14 and 20/14

The evening was rounded off with a fine selection of sandwiches – many thanks to Brian and Stephen, to the Oxford C for an interesting and light hearted game and to the question master from the Sutton Mutton.

14th November - Home to the Harrington B

It was a pleasure to offer a warm welcome to the Harrington B who were promoted to the B League at the end of last season – it is quite some time since we played a team from the Harrington Arms in Gawsworth and we are looking forward to the return game in this historic pub.

It was a most enjoyable game with lots of jokes and laughter and interesting rounds. The lefties on the Lemmings were rather disappointed with a round introduced as being on the Russian Revolution as they had been running through the prominent names Kerensky, Korrnilov, Martov and the usual revolutionaries but in fact most of the questions were about Russian individuals in the arts etc – nothing wrong with that and leftie noses are easily put out of joint.

The questions will shortly appear here when I hope to add a few comments on the blog and any others are welcome. At the end of the evening IJ who had posted a comment in the 7th November blog introduced himself (which was a relief as we had been trying to identify him!!) and we discussed his comments but really whether or not a question deserves the award is decided at the AGM and not by the blogger.

At the end of the Specialist the Lemmings had a nose ahead with 47 to 41 and increased their lead in the General Knowledge with 92 to 71. Individual scores were Bob 6/18, Sunil 0/15, Nick 6/15 and Tomo with 18/24 – an excellent score of 42!! Conferred points were 10 with 7 pass-overs while the visitors collected 6/3 pass-overs

The evening was rounded off with an excellent minestrone soup and crusty bread – thank you Brian, the visitors from the Harrington and Andrew the question master from the Nags Head who kept the quiz moving bristly along.

7 November–Home to the Nags Head

On a very cold evening the Nags Head this week had to cross the Waters Green again after meeting our sister team the Rams last week. The Lemmings once more had Becky playing after a firm first appearance the previous week. The Nags are old friends one of whom (Andrew) made an impressive appearance on the TV quiz 15 to 1 earlier in the year.

The question master from the Rams kept the game running smoothly at a brisk pace  whilst offering beer breaks at satisfactory intervals. By the end of the Specialist rounds the Lemmings had a nose ahead with 61 points to 55 and were feeling rather smug. But then the Nags made a remarkable comeback in the General Knowledge beating the home team with 91  to 80 and taking victory with 146 to 141. Even so, Bob, who has been playing in the Quiz League for many years scored his best ever PB with 42 – congratulations Bob, well done.

There were two nominations for the coveted Nine Banded Armadillo award, both from the sports section in the Specialist rounds – Questions 5 (bitten by a lion) and 8 (jolly hockey sticks).

Individual scores Bob 15/27, Becky 9/9, Nick 12/6, Tomo 12/12 conferred points 10/18 and pass overs 3/8

A generous supper was provided by Brian and Stephen – many thanks to them, to the question master and to the victorious Nags Head for an interesting game