“Yesssss!!!”
I do not mind a bit of celebration. There is nothing wrong with reacting positively to a perceived success. Except this was in Bangor at a student pub quiz and the quiz master had just confirmed that in golf an ‘Eagle’ is in fact the same as ‘two under par’. If you are celebrating this, then you have clearly set your expectations at the low end of the spectrum.
Just moments before I had corrected the quiz master by explaining that it was Rodney King, not Rowan, who was beaten on camera by the LA police. He was genuinely surprised, and blamed his wife’s handwriting. I do not know if the guy who celebrated his Eagle answer knew the answer to this question or not.
I sat at the bar reading Peter Kaye’s autobiography, killing time until it was time to go to bed, as the quiz continued around me.
“In what year was Shergar kidnapped? 1983, 1985 or 1987?” asked the quiz master in the numbers round.
Yes, strictly speaking the answer is a number, but I would suggest this was more History or even Sport. The girl next to me at the bar said, “How am I supposed to know that, I was even born in 1987″.
I have never felt more old in my entire life. We had exchanged smiles just seconds before, and now I felt like a dirty old man. A dirty old man that knew the answer was 1983, but a dirty old man nonetheless.
As more and more questions were asked, I could not help but notice that the dumbing down of University education that I have read so much about appeared to have spread to pub-based entertainment. “Water contains two hydrogen atoms, and one atom of what?”, and “Who is the current Chancellor of the Exchequer” were just two examples of the questions that led me to believe that the scores were going to be very high indeed.
Eventually the results were announced.
“And so to the scores, firstly in third place, and winning 6 cans of lager, is the Rude Girls with 34 points!”. I had counted 8 rounds, most with 10 questions, so conservatively I thought there had been 60 quesions. And 34 had earned a place on the podium. Unbelievable.
“In second place, with 38 points, and winning 8 cans of lager are the Norfolk Enchants!”
“And the winners, with a commendable total of 40, are Kate’s Bush, who win a £10 bar voucher and a bottle of wine!”
I honestly feel I could have won that quiz on my own, and probably would have done if it hadn’t been for Peter Kaye.
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Fussy Bitch · January 24, 2007 at 8:25 am
SWith questions that difficult the Ist and 2nd teams obviously earned bonus points for imaginative names.
Dr J · January 24, 2007 at 8:47 am
A depressing insight into the minds of the Big Brother generation. And just when I’m ready to draw my pension these blighters will be in charge!
“O tempora, o mores!” indeed.
Oli · January 24, 2007 at 9:16 am
To be honest that question was before my time too.
z · January 24, 2007 at 9:30 am
Damn. I wish I’d thought of Norfolk Enchants as my team name for the church quiz a few weeks ago. Now it’d be plagiarism.
marycub · January 24, 2007 at 9:38 am
Not before my time (just) but i will say this… you are as old as the woman you feel
bear that in mind next time you’re hanging around student pubs.
billyboy · January 24, 2007 at 10:25 am
I live in France and my 14 year old daughters curiculum is very similar to whn I was at school in the 70s. Recently she needed some help with her maths. As I have said, it is quite a while since I had done these type of equations so I thought it best to do abit of revision and with this in mind I went to the BBC website. It is a very good site, but I could not find them in the GSCE section. The reason being is that they are now cionsiderd “A” level maths. I then started looking through the site and find that in general the UK syallabus is about 2 years behind what I did in the 70s and what les frogs do now.
I think I might have eaten shergar or at least one of his relatives.
GH · January 24, 2007 at 11:38 am
As a mate of mine says, you’ve gotta look on the positive side. Most Uni leavers now are so crap that they make your degree worth more in the job market.
Oh, and there’s nothing wrong with being a dirty old man. Letching at young girlies in student pubs is a large part of my life when I’m single…. and not so single. Its almost enough to make me want to become a professor. As I recall most of them have a drool problem too.
GH.
drunk punk · January 24, 2007 at 1:05 pm
reluctantly joined the mrs in a church quiz night. our team consisted of me, the wife, her 85 year old mother (had Caz late in life), a deaf old bloke who’s answers consisted of “Eh? Wassat again?”, a woman who looked like Barbara Woodhouse and actually said “Sit!” as I approached our table and a Polish couple who spoke minimal intelligible English. We won. What more can you say?
marycub · January 24, 2007 at 1:22 pm
i feel the intellectual level of this country is quickly diminishing
Sam · January 24, 2007 at 2:45 pm
I feel like two worlds have collided – I can’t believe you were in Bangor, Mr A.
I feel I ought to defend my students, but hey. If you came to a pub quiz in one of our Students’ Union venues I’ve no doubt that you would find a stiff challenge to your quiz-conquering intellect.
What most surprises me is that you found somewhere to stay round here…
Cleavers · January 24, 2007 at 7:49 pm
I went to my first Canadian pub quiz last night and was a bit thrown as it wasn’t at all like anything I’ve been used to back home. It’s very formal, where the pub has to register, the questions are provided in a sealed envelope the night of, and it’s all logged online for a league of sorts. Plus,it was bloody difficult. Damn those GCSEs.
snowbug · January 24, 2007 at 9:35 pm
They have to dumb-down the quizes as all the participants are drinking and were born in a different decade then us…
Alan · January 24, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Used to see a girl in Corby, Northants, my mate and I used to go to all the quizzes and clean up. It was like taking candy from babies. Mind you it helped that they were all pissed up jocks.
Murph · January 25, 2007 at 9:15 am
We had a pub team called the “Norfolk Enchants” and so another team started up called “Suffolk Enwhats”.
Admin comment by Mr Angry · January 29, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Fussy Bitch – the names were the best bit
Dr J – There was no Latin section, or the scores would’ve been even less.
Oli – Liar.
z – Use it next time. Churchgoers all love a little play on words. Isn’t churchgoer a misleading name, I bet most of them aren’t much of a go-er at all.
drunk punk – you were clearly the brains of the bunch!
marycub – you’re not wrong.
Sam – to be fair, I wasn’t in a student Union venue, just a pub. And though I officially stayed in a hotel, it would better be described as a B&B over a pub. When I’m there next you can hook me up with some student hotties?
Cleavers – That is what Internet phones are designed for!
snowbug – There was a lot of drinking now you mention it…
Alan – I used to play football out that way, so I know what you’re saying about the locals. I didn’t clean up though.
Murph – Now THAT is a good quiz name!
marycub – I once snogged a 13 year old (I was 12) does that count?
Billboy – you send your daughter to school in France? I am calling Childline.
GH – I was told 5 minutes into my chosen career that my degree was worth nothing…which was nice.