Oxfordshire Quiz League | Match Reports

Weekly Match Reports - Winter 2024/25
(A big thank you to Jonny Peacock)

Presentation Night and Music Table Top (17th April)

Well it’s one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, now go cat go! It’s the end of season tabletop at the Masons Arms, with the Headington Quarrymen. Jeff Welch (no relation to Florence, and her machine?) had 156 music clips and related pictures ready to put the music-lovers and others through their paces. The Masons function room has space to cut a few shapes out on the floor, but we were spared that.

But first, end of season presentations: The Plough collected their Premier League and Blockbuster trophies, followed by Championship winners the Blenheim and League One champions the Windrush. David Quinn thanked the Masons for hosting tonight, and there was a box of beer for Jonny as administrator.

On with the quiz and was indeed go cat go with a first-round theme of cats and dogs. The Ploughman’s Bunch! had their tails up with a maximum twelve, equalled by the Blackbird and others. The Royal Blenheim took an early lead in the next round, only one sax short of the max on a wordless theme of instrumentals. It was all words, something beginning with S, in round three, as the Nomads stayed with the Blenheim.

A varied DIY self-catering buffet came out to accompany the twenty-four pictures in round four, with the Nomads putting names to all two dozen faces. Home team the Masons Arms were evidently reluctant to showboat, having a good round but never lifting above what the chart compilers term ‘bubbling under’. Foreigner wanted to know what love is, and that was the theme of round five, twelve songs telling us all what love is. The Blenheim cleaned up again to go two points clear into round six, this and that, words and music, questions and answers – songs linked by ‘and’. The White Hart and the Windrush Club did all they could to earn all the points there were, but the leaders were still out of reach.

The combined voltage of the King’s Arms and the Chequers made a connection with round seven, electric, and the Plough were charging up for another late run. With only the fifty-two point Blockbuster to mark, the Nomads were Top of the Pops, Number One, top of the heap after leapfrogging long-time leaders the Blenheim. The Plough outscored the chasing pack by six to take them from fifth to a finish in third place, and the Nomads scored well to finish second, but a tantalizing one point ahead, and winners on the night it was the Royal Blenheim.

Congratulations to them and respect to all teams for the fun of taking part in a memorable night to close out the 2024-25 Winter Season.

Thanks to Jeff Welch for all of those 156 questions, no selection from this week as it was all blasted out on the Masons super sound system.

That’s it for a few weeks now – no quiz 24 April, 1 or 8 May, then the Summer League kicks off with a tabletop: 15 May at the Blackbird (cash only!), 8pm 20:00 set by Jon Young. League matches start on 22 May, enjoy the break!

Sports Table Top (10th April)

And they’re off! Seven teams mustered in the wild west end of Witney, for a sports themed tabletop in the Windrush Club. Tim Busby came off the bench in advance of a gruelling summer league to put the runners through their paces for a one-off quiz. With Karen behind the bar, under the watchful eye of the guvnor Dean, it was all good to go, at least once all the travellers had negotiated the special commemorative roadworks and other unscheduled delays.

Tim had six rounds of mixed bag questions, a mixed bag picture round, and to finish, a Blockbuster that was also, in a very real sense, a mixed bag. The first round was ten pairs of questions and getting off to a storming start were the Nomads with seventeen, ahead of the field and (spoiler alert) destined to stay there. The Ploughman’s Bunch! were hitting top form in round two, but the Nomads bounced back in round three to go four points clear of the field.

Those four points were eliminated by the Bunch! in round four, pictures, to go level with sixty-four each but after disobeying the golden rule (“RTBQ”), supplying only the surname, not full name, of the four ex Oxford United players. Their top score of thirty-three was impressively equalled by the Masons Arms, who also equalled the top score of nine in round five. The Blackbird were keeping at the back of the peloton with hosts the Windrush, not wanting to grandstand in their home venue.

Windrush catering team Jean and Pauline were busy setting out a nourishing spread of chips, sandwiches and sausage rolls (vegan option provided!) which complemented the wide range of beers wines and spirits available at keen prices. The Bunch! were looking like eventual winners in rounds six with the best round score to draw level, again, with the Nomads. All to play for!

There were another twenty points available in round seven, and the Nomads put clear blue water, seven points, behind them with nineteen, with only the forty-point Blockbuster to mark. The White Hart had saved their energy for a late sprint to the line, which unfortunately never materialised. The Plough surprised themselves with a delayed surge to get the highest score of thirty-three to take themselves to a podium finish in bronze medal third place. Only slightly behind on thirty-two were the Ploughman’s Bunch! to finish second,

Deserved winners, after leading (or jointly) throughout were the Bletchingdon Nomads, with a super score of 129, congratulations to them.

Thanks to Tim Busby for all of those 168 questions, with an “unusual” selection from this week below.

Q1: Played in the 1900 Olympics, demonstration in 1924,68 and 92, a Chistera is used in which sport?

Q2: Which snooker player wrote the crime novels ‘Framed’, ‘Double Kiss’ and ‘The Break’?

Q3: What is the height of the Bulls Eye on a competition dart board?

A1: Pelota.

A2: Ronnie O’Sullivan.

A3: 5’8” or 173cm.

Week 22 (3rd April)

Well, that’s it then! What a great, topsy-turvy final week that was: no premiership or championship teams won, although three drew, not all with each other. Who are the Rolling Stones, or was it vice versa? A rare slip from Jeff, resolved in a variety of ways and with goodwill all round. The Plough win the Premier League and the Blockbuster, rounding off a great season for them with a very high-scoring draw, the Royal Blenheim won the Championship despite losing to a very non-Rickety Press, and the Windrush take League One in a season where they were finished equivalent to runners-up in League One. Crazy times, crazy quiz!

In a week where the average scores were equal to the highest of the season, the top-scoring team were the Chequers Chippy with fourscore. Yet another convivial game to end the season with the Blackbird team coming all the way from the other side of Oxford. The home team started on a high with a 12-7 lead, followed by 13-10 and 11-7 to reach a twelve-point advantage after three rounds. The picture round was an eighteen-all draw. The match seemed to take a turn in round five with the Blackbird gaining back four points with an 8-12 score, but the Chequers rallied to 8-7 in round six. A nine-point lead was enough to negate the loss in the final round, and it all ended Chequers 80 - Blackbird 74.

Another team with an impressive total score is the Windrush, who would have been fourth in a unified league, but hit the glass ceiling of League One, winning it by a good margin. The Windrush Club welcomed their nearest neighbours, the White Hart Eynsham, to Witney for a fun-filled end of term quiz, no-one brought Operation or Battleships with them, though. The home side had a good evening, not showing any signs of taking their metaphorical feet off the metaphorical gas, despite the result not being a pivotal one. The first three rounds were won by the Windrush to give them a 34-25 lead before the Pictures (which were accompanied by another great sandwiches selection). However, the White Hart kept the match interesting with a 16-18 win on the Pics. Undeterred, the Windies pushed on with wins of 8-7 and 9-5 in the Tick-Your-Pick and Pot Luck rounds to give themselves a healthy lead of 67-55 going into Give-It-Away. Surely not even the Windrush could take the last round so literally (as they often do) and squander such a position? Well, it WAS close, but the home side prevailed 10-9 for a final score of Windrush 77- White Hart 64. As usual, a very good-natured quiz with some great answers from both teams, sometimes plucked from obscure areas of memory (or just dumb luck, you decide). The White Hart have consistently scored well, fifth-highest total, but did not convert those scores into winning matches.

The Sun travelled countless miles to The Chandos, Oakley on the joint longest Quiz League journey of the season (The Chandos to Hooky, being the same distance). Round one would have been a nine-all draw, if the league's strictest question master had had his way. However, against his "I go by what it says on the sheet" the Chandos magnanimously gave the Sun a leg-up for the Rolling Stones answer to 'Hot Rocks' by allowing their bonus point. Would they regret it? Perhaps! As round two saw the Chandos fall further behind, but a good 10-4 in round three kept it close and after the pictures The Sun was a point ahead. Rounds five and six saw each team having a stinker - so going into the 'Give It away' round, the Chandos had a two-point lead. Unfortunately for The Sun, they gave the Chandos five questions that they knew, and with two bonuses the game ended Chandos 63 - Sun 55. The food after round five was chicken breast rolls and French fries - excellent. It was a great evening with much beer drunk and friendly chatter. The Chandos bows out until the Winter League restarts, we are not attending the two tabletops but heading out onto the Aunt Sally throw. Thanks to the organisers and question setter and to all the other teams - it's been fun! Have a good summer! Captain Mole.

When the Masons and the Bunch! go head-to-head the form book says there can only be one winner. But if ever there was a fixture where the formbook has been an unreliable guide it’s this one. As so often this season, the home team got off to a flying start, leading 13-8 at the end of the first round. A bit of give and take and the scores were equal before the pictures, with the home team nudging ahead afterwards. The Bunch! were one point ahead going into the last round, but the home team managed to draw level by the end of the quiz. Phew, a draw. Another nail-biter in the best pub in Oxfordshire.. but we would say that wouldn’t we. Score was Masons Arms 74 – Ploughman’s Bunch! 74.

A very close match all evening at the Rickety Press, with the first two rounds being drawn, Rounds 4 and 6 won by the Blenheim and rounds 3,5 and 7 being won by the home team. The greatest hits albums caused a bit of a problem, disputing that Hot Rocks was by the Rolling Stones and not the Who but both teams looked it up at the end of the round and gave us the points, so the match finished Rickety Press 79 - Royal Blenheim 76.

And finally, at Premier League winners the Plough there was a tremendous match, against the Bletchingdon Nomads. One point in it, in the first three rounds, level after the pictures then the Plough took rounds five and six by two and one to go three ahead with one round to play, tension! The Nomads took a photographic bonus to draw level, and a photo finish was in prospect. Both teams took each of their last four questions for the score to finish level, so on the very last question it all ended Plough 79 – Nomads 79, a match of the highest standard played in the very best spirit. What a great way to round off the season, smiles all round.

Thanks to Jeff Welch for a full season of great questions, with a selection on M - - - - o words from this week below.

Q1: What is the title of the 2023 biopic of composer Leonard Bernstein starring Bradley Cooper?

Q2: Which character did Ian McKellen play in the X-Men series?

Q3: Which model of Austin car, introduced in 1983, had a talking dashboard?

A1: Maestro.

A2: Magneto.

A3: Maestro.

Week 21 - (27th March)

No dramas or changed league positions this week, but plenty of good matches responding to Jeff’s good questions.

For only the second time this season, and following eighteen consecutive wins, the Plough lost. With Jeff himself as guest question master the Blenheim stormed to an amazing start, with bonus answers on the first three questions, going 9-0 ahead. The round finished a dominating 14-2 to the home team, an ignominious drubbing for the visitors, and those two points were for knowing only one of the three Leicestershire towns listed (thank you, Blaby). It was always going to be an uphill struggle for the Plough to regain twelve points against such a strong team, and that’s the way it turned out. The Plough could have pulled off an unlikely turnaround but hit the rocks on the Gibraltar question in the final round. It was a great victory for the Blenheim to consolidate their Championship crown, as the Plough were deservedly beaten despite winning five of the final six rounds, and the home team took it Royal Blenheim 73 – Plough 71.

Confirmed League One winners the Windrush Club were well beaten by an in-form Ploughman’s Bunch! How would the Bunch! cope with their ever-present stalwart Jeremy missing this match versus the Windrush for holiday reasons, I mean is that really a good enough excuse? Well initially not well, taking two three-point swings against in the first three questions and showing definite signs of “flakiness”. (The Windrush certainly know their planetary rotation times). However, Lady Luck came to help out later in the round when asked to name food in Spanish, two completely random guesses gave the Bunch a three-point swing back. “Luck be a lady tonight”.

After that there was no sliding (well actually there were about five on each table, with the halftime refreshment of “sliders and chips” …. mmm delicious). The Bunch edged each of the remaining six rounds for a win Ploughman's Bunch! 86 - Windrush Club 55 There were a number of great answers in the night, Possibly David P knowing that the lady who said referring to the 2017 election “You’re joking not another one” was from Bristol whilst David Q knew her name was Brenda. Would the team manage to amalgamate these two facts in 40 seconds? Touch and go but yes. A lovely night with lovely opponents, great questions and great food, nowhere better to spend a Thursday night, not even on holiday in the Netherlands I would suggest.

The scores from Pothole Heaven were Sun 60 - Masons 56. This was a game of wonder. The Masons wondered how they'd lost, and the Sun wondered how they'd won. The Masons had a good start which they built on steadily, so that by the end of round five they were a comfortable nine points ahead. The Sun recouped the deficit in round six, so the teams were even going into Give it Away. Much to the dismay of the Masons, the Sun were lucky in their giveaways and scraped a narrow victory.

The result for the Rickety Press was very close all evening with the White Hart leading after the first three rounds but with the Rickety Press gradually clawing their way to a win. As always, a great night at Eynsham with a brilliant atmosphere, and the “Items of clothing” set of questions resulted in a lot of laughter. Final score: Rickety Press 67 - White Hart 64.

After the long expedition to the outer confines of Oxfordshire (and organising refreshments!), both teams settled down to the quiz. A slow start for the home boys who managed four points against thirteen to the Chequers. They rallied in round two with a 9-5 score, but the next four rounds were wins for the Chequers (3-10, 16-17, 8-13 and 6-9). Nobody gave anything away with an 8-8 draw in the final round. As always, a very convivial evening with lovely chicken and chips to sustain us before the long trek home. Chandos Arms 54 - Chequers 75

It was great to have friends from the Blackbird back in Bletchingdon for the last home game of the season. It was a tricky, but enjoyable, quiz with only four instances of either team reaching double figures in a round (except the Pictures). Having said that, both teams agreed that the father and son question on Best Song Oscars was probably the ‘question of the year’. Scores were tight with the Nomads just edging four of the first five rounds to give themselves a five-point lead going into Round six. However, they then excelled in the round, winning that by five points and therefore giving themselves a ten-point lead as they went into the final, “Give it Away” round. What could possibly go wrong? Well, what could possibly go wrong was that, before they’d reached their second question, the Nomads lead had been halved as the Blackbird got their first two questions right and picked up a bonus on the Nomads first one! Things continued to get closer as the Blackbird went on to get all of their first four questions correct whilst the Nomads only got one of theirs. So, with two questions for each team remaining, the Nomads lead was now down to just two points, and it was anybody’s game. Fortunately for the Nomads, the visitors came unstuck on their last two questions whilst the Nomads got theirs. The Nomads also picked up a bonus point whilst enjoying burgers in Guantanamo Bay. So, despite a valiant fightback from the visitors, the final score was Nomads 72 – 65 Blackbird. Aided by the fact that the Nomads had never enjoyed a Friday Night Dinner (just burgers in Guantanamo), the Blackbird comfortably took the Blockbuster. Another excellent evening with plenty of food, drink and, best of all, laughter!

Thanks to Jeff Welch for the questions, with a selection on television from this week below.

Q1: What is the name of the Coronation St character played by Simon Gregson since 1989?

Q2: Who took over from Michael Praed in ‘Robin of Sherwood’?

Q3: Starring Lucy Punch, which 2025 TV comedy series follows her ‘Motherland’ character?

A1: Steve McDonald.

A2: Jason Connery.

A3: Amandaland.

Week 20 - (21st March)

As the winter season draws to a close, on the day of the spring equinox, the winners of all three divisions are now settled, with two matches still to play. That’s not to say that the coming weeks will not be the usual competitive, hard-fought games, it’s all about pride, not glory, now.

The Royal Blenheim were confirmed as Championship champions with a secure lead. The Blackbird welcomed the Royal Blenheim to, er, the Royal Blenheim thanks to a curious reciprocal arrangement with the home and away fixtures. Thankfully, there were, for once, no United games on the telescreen and they didn't insist on CASH ONLY! The 'home' team got off to a 10-7 start when the Royalists cast the wrong Vicky for Line of Duty, but the 'visitors' edged back at a snail-like pace of a point a round for the next two, collecting bonuses on Beverley, parkin cakes and BSB. The Blackbird clung on to their now-microscopic lead with an 18-18 draw on the pictures, but their opponents came storming past in Round five with bonuses on Queens and Georgia Hall. But the Blenheim failed to put the correct value on another Hall, Whitehall, in Round six so it was all to play for on the Give it Away with the Blackbird levelling the scores with an immediate one-pointer for the Hillary Shield. Sadly, their next four two-pointers (Volcanoes, Last Films, Isle of Man and Car Regs) proved beyond them and the Blenheim found themselves winners with three questions still to go. It finished Blackbird 66 - 70 Royal Blenheim. Still, the Leysians found their form on the Blockbuster with three perfect sets. Convivial hosts, they may need to up their game on the after-match refreshments, though.

And the Windrush are consolidating their lead at the top of league one. The Sun Inn made good time from Hook Norton to arrive in Witney before most of the home side! There followed the closest of matches and a last round filled with jeopardy: In Round one, there was only a single point between the teams as the Windies took it 11-10. In Round two, the home side Took Their Pick slightly better than the visitors with an 8-5 score for 19-15 after two rounds. Round three, the 3x4 round, was shared 10-10, but the Windies opened up a gap in the picture round with a full house (surprising themselves!) versus the Sun's fourteen points. The Windrush felt that a ten-point lead (49-39) would surely be enough to see them through but back came The Sun Inn with scores of 6-13 and 6-7 to make it a two-point game going into the dreaded and often aptly named Give It Away round. The away team edged that too, by 6-7, but it wasn't enough to deny the Windrush their fifth win on the spin, albeit by just the single point: Windrush Club 67 – Sun Hook Norton 66. What a match! Well played everyone. Lovely sandwiches, sausage rolls and chips refuelled the teams at half time with plenty of scope for seconds and thirds right up to the end of a great quiz. The home side also took the Blockbuster with some great combined Star Trek knowledge from the current and former captains.

The Plough continue their good form, winning a social and good-humoured match against the White Hart Eynsham. The first and fifth rounds were tied and nine each, but the home team won all of the others by narrow margins, to end ten points ahead. Rupert read the questions with his accustomed clarity and grammatical punctiliousness. Neither team gained more than one bonus in any round, it was a close match all the way, but the Plough had the better of it under Howard’s calm captaincy. Neither team knew that Walter Raleigh (the inventor of the bicycle, made from potatoes) was bumped from the ten-bob note when the 50p coin was struck. Tim and Jonny were both convinced that the Mars bar was the economic measure, despite not starting with F. No rhubarb was forced, even when the delicious internation buffet was put out. The match ended Plough 79 – White Hart 69.

And for their stablemates it was Rickety Press 66-74 Ploughman’s Bunch! The Bunch threatened to take the lead a couple of times in the first round, but a bonus to the home team on Ikea levelled things up; round two was more decisive, the 9-2 margin leaving the Press playing catch-up unavailingly throughout the rest of the contest. The third round was tied (David Quinn excelling on F-companies and Cliff Richard), as were the pictures, and the final round; in between, the hosts edged round six with good Last of the Summer Wine knowledge, and the visitors round five (crowned by Charles's bonus on Royalty). Despite being under the weather, Beth captained superbly in trying circumstances and the Bunch! were pleased to leave the pub with a win under their belts and begin the long trek to the car.

The Masons and the Chandos met at the Masons for a bottom of the table clash, with the residents fielding a slightly different line up to usual. The first round was drawn eleven-all, but by the pictures the home team were ten points ahead of the visitors. The picture didn’t change in the second half of the quiz, the Masons having sown the thing up in the penultimate round. Final score Masons 77 – Chandos 56. As usual a great night out in the Headington venue.

The highest-scoring match of the week was in Chippy, where the Chequers played host to the Bletchingdon Nomads. It was a good, friendly but very tense game where there was never more than three points difference between the teams. The Chequers won rounds two (9-6) and five (12-6) while the Nomads retaliated in rounds three (10-13) and four (16-19). All the other rounds were draws. This made for a nail-biting finish and the final result was decided on the last two questions to finish Chequers 77 - Nomads 74.

Thanks to Jeff Welch for the questions, with a food themed selection from this week below.

Q1: Which cake is traditionally eaten on Bonfire Night?

Q2: What rhubarb is grown in darkness to produce an early, sweeter, tender crop?

Q3: What is the North American dish made mainly of sweet corn and lima beans?

A1: Parkin. (Yorkshire ginger cake with molasses, oatmeal and spices)

A2: Forced rhubarb.

A3: Succotash. (name is from the Narragansett sahquttahhash, "broken corn kernels")

Week 19 - (13th March)

In a week where the winners of two of the three divisions were decided, Jeff set a tough quiz. This was shown by the lowest average scores of the season so far, but still a respectable (when I’m) sixty-four. The Plough became Premiership champions, and the Windrush are unassailable at the peak of League One, but it’s all still to play for in the Championship, with the Blenheim and the Nomads in contention.

The Ploughman’s Bunch! were hosts to their stablemates, fellow titans the Plough. Truly, it was the keenly anticipated battle of the behemoths, the clash of the leviathans. The first round was taken 7-11 by the Plough when the Bunch! got both unanswered questions, then a reversal in round two when Bunch! earned three bonuses to level the scores. The hosts then pulled three ahead in the 3x4 round three with the Plough being left the fourth orphan question all three times. The Bunch! gained another one in round six to go five ahead with two rounds to play. The questions got the better of Bunch! while the Plough picked up a bonus to make the scores equal going into the final round. The Plough won the only bonus of the round (Billy the Badger, hunted down by Tim) and with a couple that both teams missed, a tense night finished Ploughman’s Bunch! 71 – Plough 74, and to the victors the spoils.

Windrush win League One! The Windrush wanderers wound their way from the wild west to the Oakley outpost, where thankfully there was no Annie getting her gun! The Windies were warned, however, by The Wild Bunch (The Chandos Team) that they'd be heading back west with their tails between their legs. Let's see how that played out...The visitors were quick on the draw in the first three rounds, outgunning the homesteaders 6-8, 10-21 and 8-10 for an 18-31 aggregate lead heading into the wanted posters (pictures) round. The pictures and the next two rounds saw the Chandos circling their wagons to fight off the Windies with scores of 17-15, 8-7 and 8-6. The overall score was 51-59 before the Give It Away Round, but it proved to be Custer's Last Stand for the Chandos who found themselves hog-tied at Chandos Arms 58 – Windrush Club 68 after a 7-9 last round win for the Windrush. The visitors then tarred & feathered the cheery Chandos with a 13-16 Blockbuster shoot-out. It was a very pleasant evening at the Chandos, despite the jokey threat, with some fine beer and really good sandwiches at half-time.

In the Masons v Chequers fixture the home team got off to the least flying start imaginable, losing 6-13 to the visitors. But thankfully apart from the pictures which went 16-17 to the Chequers the Headington team managed to win all of the other rounds. The give it away round is always a nervous affair, but the game was won before the end, with the final score being Masons Arms 64 – Chequers 56. Another enjoyable evening in the best of pubs.

After a slow start in which the first round was only partially rescued by their knowledge of Viz, the White Hart recovered strongly in the next two rounds to open up a ten-point lead against the Blackbird. Although the visitors performed more strongly in the latter stages and indeed dominated the last round to take it 9-4, the damage had been done, and the hosts ran out fairly comfortable winners. White Hart 64 - Blackbird 53.

And in the frozen north it was Sun 76 - Rickety Press 57. The margin of victory seems huge but apart from round five there was little difference between the teams, and The Sun had a rare victory in the picture round. The Rickety Press had a Family Guy expert which helped them nail the Blockbuster. After a pleasant evening, good Hooky and a very nice curry we hope the Press didn't hit too many potholes on the way home.

Royal Blenheim 73 - 60 Bletchingdon Nomads. Still reeling from having to pay a four-figure sum to replace a wheel after last week's elongated trip to Chippy, it was good to be back at the Chestnut Tree Cafe, AKA the Royal Blenheim, to watch our conquering heroes on the multiple telescreens at the Theatre of Dodgy Penalties. Correctly re-educated at the Ministry of Love, how we loved Big Bruno! Meanwhile, there was a quiz going on and tonight's Victory Gin went to the home team, beating their Championship title rivals, the Bletchingdon Nomads, with surprising ease. Nearly all the damage was done on the two Take your Pick rounds (2 and 5). The first was a 14-6 shellacking for the Blenheim with bonuses on Malawi and Dennis Lillee, and the second resulted in a similar eight-point margin when the away team picked all the toughies and only found one they could answer with Leap Years. So the peripatetic itinerant tautologists actually won the rest of the quiz with a stirring mini-comeback on the last two rounds and bonuses on Bryony Page, Epic and Charles III's 3rd name (hey, two out of three ain't bad!). Epic, indeed! Big Bruno continued to lecture us from the telescreens and tears of gratitude rolled gently down your correspondent's face.

Thanks to Jeff Welch for the questions, with a selection on kings from this week below.

Q1: Eton College was founded in the 15th century by which king?

Q2: After which king is the railway bridge over the Tyne named?

Q3: What are the three middle names of King Chares III?

A1: King Henry VI. (Eton founded 1440, Henry VI reigned 1422-61 & 1470-71)

A2: King Edward VII. (reigned 1901-10, bridge opened 1906)

A3: Philip Arthur George.

Week 18 - (6th March)

As the winter season moves into the endgame there is not much change in league positions, but plenty of drama within the matches and without. Average team scores have been remarkably consistent for the past five weeks, but local conditions apply, and recollections may vary.

The Windrush Club are pulling ahead of the field in League One, and it’s going to be a tough job for any team to overtake them. On a warm summery evening (in early March!), The Windrush welcomed the Masons Arms team to sub-tropical Witney. The evening's quizzing also turned out to be a sweaty affair ending in a hot and humid close finish. The home team started uncharacteristically well with 12-9 in the Pot Luck pairs opening round. The Masons immediately responded 8-11 to level things up. Round three saw the home side take an 8-5 win to re-establish a small lead, but yet again the Masons got close and personal with a 14-16 win on the Pictures to make it a one-point match. In Rounds five and six, the Windies built an eight-point lead going into the last round. Not for the first time, The Windrush took the 'Give It Away' round far too literally and had the Masons hot breath on their metaphorical necks, as they produced a run for the tape with 4-10. Alas for the visitors and relief for the home side, the final score was 63-61 to The Windrush, another close defeat for the Masons Arms. What a great contest! The Masons continued their momentum (as is the way with momentum) to win the Blockbuster.

Still in League One the Rickety Press moved up to second place with a win against the cheery Chandos. It was a very good game with the rounds going four to the home, two to the away and two drawn with very close scores on most of the games except round one which the Press won 12-4. The bingo call for 23 flummoxed everyone until we heard the answer which then made sense, as did the answer to the racehorse owner question. The match ended Rickety Press 76 - Chandos Arms 58.

There were two good wins for the two Premier League teams, with the Bunch! getting the highest aggregate score, and their stablemates the Plough securing the highest team score. Blackbird 73-83 Ploughman’s Bunch! In the middle of the Blackbird's come-back in round six came the Bunch! answer of the night - Terry Hall the ventriloquist. Unfortunately, we gave it to the Archie Andrews question and promptly forgot about him for the one about Lenny the Lion. Either side of this the home team picked up a five-point swing on bingo calls and executions to halve their deficit going into the give-it-away round. The visitors held their nerve, though, and good answers across the team on rugby league, squirrels, sparrows, Cold Comfort Farm, Bonar Law, and hairdressing saw them home. Earlier the home team, despite the real answer of the night on Matt Helm, had slipped behind as the Bunch! only put a foot wrong on web design, otherwise perfect as they took a ten-point lead into the pictures, and the fabulous food - in many ways the highlight of a convivial evening, the friendly rivalry expertly marshalled throughout by Tara on the questions.

The Plough drafted in occasional player Amy who made a significant difference to the score, with inspired answers including the Big Mango and Pear Drops. Under Tim’s assured captaincy the home team won every round except the second, which was tied as the Sun stunned the home team with their only bonus, Taser. There was lovely food at half-time including sausages, chips, and veggie quiche, and the beer on tap covered two seasons as winter turned to spring. The final score was Plough 87 – Sun Hooky 56, putting the Plough into a strong position to see out the final four fixtures.

The Nomads have a habit of welcoming teams whose name is going to come up as an answer to one of the questions. In November it was the Chandos Arms and this time it was the White Hart (one of the Blockbuster answers). The first three rounds saw every combination of results – Nomads won Round one, White Hart took Round two, and Round three was a draw. But with the Nomads taking the Picture Round and (unusually!) Round five, they went into Round six with an eight-point lead and things were looking reasonably promising for the home team. Not to be - as the White Hart picked up three bonus points and as a result were only five points behind as the final round beckoned. However, the Nomads edged that by a single point and so the final score was Nomads 73 – 67 White Hart. Although neither team knew anything about Bingo calls, they (rather worryingly perhaps) both knew their ballet! However, the answer of the night had to be when the White Hart actually worked out that GHD could stand for “Good Hair Day” and got the points they truly deserved! A great evening with lots of laughs and more than enough to eat and drink. In fact, as well as the usual vast array of mouthwatering sandwiches, both teams tucked into an enormous chocolate birthday cake – courtesy of the Nomads captain, Carl Davies who is now a year older than he was last week!

Just three weeks after their last trip to Pothole Norton, the Royal Blenheim ventured north again, heading for lovely Chippy ... but this time did not survive unscathed. A couple of miles from their destination, Nick's car ground to a halt with four old codgers on board, one tyre completely flat. How many quizzers does it take to change a tyre? Well, more than four, obviously. After about 25 minutes of huffing and puffing, trying to winch the car up by the light of the odd mobile phone, they had to be aided by a couple of passing Samaritans. Meanwhile, Anna was holding the fort at the Chequers, getting the drinks in (she's a star). Having aged about ten years each, four even older men finally arrived, and the home team awoke from their slumbers. Without doubt, all this gave the visitors a big and unfair advantage and they raced into a one-point lead at the end of the first and second rounds. Stirring slightly, the Chequers sneaked ahead after Round three but the pictures, especially the poor benighted souls who have presented Bargain Hunt, proved a trial for them and the visitors were able to establish a decisive lead in Rounds five and six, mainly because they did ken John Peel and made some lucky guesses on the dollar bill front. The soft southerners faltered slightly in the Give it Away, getting their hyphenated PMs mixed up, but stumbled over the finishing line by 68 to 59. A tough quiz - well, the two teams made it seem tough - but some great hospitality with chicken curry and chips in Chippy. You will be surprised to hear that the Darby & Joan Club made it back to Oxford without further scathes or fiascos. A night of drama ended Chequers Chipping Norton 59 - 68 Royal Blenheim.

Thanks to Jeff Welch for the questions, with a sporting selection from this week below.

Q1: Phil Chisnall was the last direct transfer, for £25,000 in 1964, between which two clubs?

Q2: Will Carling’s thirteen-year career in Rugby Union was for which club?

Q3: In which city did Wigan Warriors play Rugby League v Warrington Wolves on 1 March 2025?

A1: Liverpool and Manchester United.

A2: Harlequins.

A3: Las Vegas.

Week 17 - (27th February)

As a spectacular solar system syzygy lit up the night sky, the quiz teams got indoors for the evening’s entertainment. Mars stood high above the Milky Way, our Galaxy, and the good ship Venus shone like a second moon. Why are the stars all named after chocolate?

The planets orbit the Sun, or so I’m reliably informed, but the Sun was eclipsed by night’s black bird this week. Captain John reports that it was a lovely evening, lovely pub, great company, pleasure as always to go there. The Blackbird got off to a flyer in the first four rounds, giving them a 17-point lead, would you believe. The next two rounds were disastrous for the away team, plus some inspired answers from the Sun brought the quiz back to normality, we drew the last round twelve points apiece, to scrape home by a flattering scoreline. The evening was capped off with a lovely home-made stew. Look forward to the next visit. Sun 65 - Blackbird 71.

The Plough made a favourite visit to The Chandos Arms, always a great night in a perfect pub. Conor and Christian behind the bar were taking care of business, and it was back to sometime in the past with delicious Vale Brewery of Brill ‘Lock Prop and Barrel’ at an inflation-busting £4 a pint, culture shock for the guests from the big city. Question-master Tony got things started on what turned out to be an unusual night: in the seventy-two written questions there were 16 bonuses and 14 unanswered questions, the best part of half missed by one or both teams, so a different selection would have affected the result dramatically. As it was, both teams started tentatively, but the Plough had very much the better of the second half, after captain Nancy went freestyle. A filling spread of burgers and hot chips were served at the perfect moment, very well received by all. The evening ended Chandos Arms 51 – Plough 79, and away into the starlit darkness.

White Hart 74 - Royal Blenheim 69. Having shared both of the first two rounds ten points each, the mini round on Eastenders proved to be fruitful for the White Hart or, more particularly, one member of their team, who answered all four questions to the amazement of just about everyone else there. That, plus some other bonuses, gave the hosts a ten-point cushion, which they consolidated in the next two rounds. Although the visitors chipped away at the lead in rounds six and seven, it wasn't enough, and the White Hart emerged with a rare victory over their high-flying guests.

As ever, it was a very pleasant game at the Masons Arms with only three points difference between the teams by the end of the fourth round, but then the Rickety Press started to pull away. Very nice night with lots of lovely food. Masons Arms 55 - Rickety Press 74.

The Windrush Club welcomed The Chequers to Witney for another close match...just like the reverse fixture back in November, it was a tight game with lots of jokey banter between two teams that get on really well. After a shaky start on the first three questions, The Windies settled into their stride to rescue a 10-10 draw for Round one. Round two was also close, with the home team edging it 8-7. In the 3x4 Round, the Windrush established some daylight by winning it 13-4. However, The Chippy Chequers immediately reduced that lead by winning the Pictures Round 14-17. The Windies' seven-point lead stretched to an eight-point margin after the second Take Your Pick Round was another close one, 10-9 to the home side. Round six, just like the first Pot Luck Round, was shared (6-6) giving the Windies a 61-53 lead which they then tried to Give Away in the aptly named last round. However, despite a spirited effort from the Chequers with an 8-12 scoreline, The Windrush prevailed 69-65 to win a great and close contest. Thanks for a fabulous evening to everyone on both teams, to Ian for reading the questions and Karen and Dean behind the bar who served with a smile (each, not one between them).

The Nomads knew that playing the Ploughman’s Bunch! away was always going to be a tough match. And it was. The biggest gap between the teams was at the end of Round two when the Bunch! had a three-point lead. But then the Nomads took a narrow lead after winning Rounds three and four – only to lose it in Round five and regain it in Round six. So, at the beginning of Round seven, the Nomads had a one-point lead. Clearly the game could go either way and the result was going to depend on which questions were given away. It was a very tense round with both teams getting four of their first five questions right. So it was now down to the last two questions and the subjects left were “Porridge” and “WW2 Battles”. Knowing that the Nomads captain, Carl Davies, would love the battles question, the Bunch! naturally gave them “Porridge”. Could the Bunch! still overtake them? Well, it wasn’t to be as, despite being neither a Quaker or a Scott, “Pete the Porridge” knew his oats and reassured his teammates of the correct answer. And although the Bunch! got the WW2 question right, it was to no avail - the final score being Ploughman’s Bunch! 75 – 76 Nomads. A great night with great food – what more could you ask for?

Where’s Freddy Mercury when you need him? Don’t stop me now, I’m having such a good time….

Thanks to Jeff Welch for the questions, with a celestial selection from this week below.

Q1: The Sun is currency of which ‘-stan’ country?

Q2: Voyager 2 sent back images of which planet and its moons in January 1986?

Q3: Pepper, clove, cinnamon, and fennel are four of Five Spice Powder, what is the fifth?

A1: Uzbekistan.

A2: Uranus.

A3: Star Anise.

Week 16 - (20th February)

The results in most matches were a lot closer this week, although the average scores have stayed steady. This is thanks to Jeff’s teasing questions which somehow ensure interesting results every week – average winning scores were down, and losing scores higher, close games.

The Sun Hooky registered the highest score of the week, coming forth out of their northern fastness to come upon the flat lands of Bletchingdon for the evening. The club wasn't full but enough to give a buzz, and the PA speaker did help. It was an odd quiz - either you knew it or you didn't: a total of 52 two-point answers but only eight single point steals and twelve where no-one knew it at all. Often over a season the paired questions seem to favour either one side or the other but tonight the Sun were surprised that the Nomads did not know a couple of theirs early on; probably just lack of overlap with knowledge bases. The Sun got all theirs in round one and picked up two bonus points to lead a rather shocked Nomads 14-6 after the first round. More normal service resumed thereafter as the points were roughly shared over rounds two to six, including the pictures where neither team did very well. The Sun led 66-59 with just the give-it-away round to go. Unfortunately for them the Nomads then gave it away completely by picking the wrong ones for themselves and giving the Sun ones they knew. The Sun got five out of six and picked up two bonuses, the Nomads didn't score at all until question ten, so the sun shone on the Sun. As ever the sandwiches were fresh and the beer eminently quaffable. At the end of the day, it gets very dark, and the score was Nomads 61 - Sun 78.

One point separated the Blenheim and the Bunch! before the match, and afterwards, but the advantage changed. As Nick sportingly remarked, the Bunch! were good value for their away win, conceding no bonuses at all as they carried last week's good form into a testing quiz well marshalled by setter Jeff as question-master. Mind you, there were only two bonuses for the visitors (David Parr on CHIS and CHAS on Vivaldi), but the Bunch! drew two rounds and won all the rest, albeit by slender margins. The Blenheim chose more than their fair share of the questions neither team knew, including a surprising couple on popular music, but Beth chose confidently on both questions and answers; a couple of good guesses from the Bunch! helped, alongside arcane knowledge of things like the Bowring Bowl, West Brom's mascot, and Hastings Pier. Tasty sandwiches alongside the array of beers and ciders topped off an enjoyable trip into the city. It all finished Royal Blenheim 68 – Ploughman’s Bunch! 77.

Chequers 61 - White Hart 75. The first sign that the visitors' luck was in came when they answered the first four questions, and they rode their luck with some inspired/educated guessing for the rest of the contest. You know it's your night when you correctly answer questions about ballet and Tennessee Ernie Ford. The Chequers of the chessboard came back after the cheeseboard interval (how refined) to take the fifth round 10-7 and stir memories of great leads squandered in the past. But it was a brief revival, as the White Hart shaded the last two rounds to register a convincing win against convivial opponents in the most convivial of pubs.

The Blackbird had an entertaining evening, as always against The Chandos, a game played in good spirit. Slow start for the Blackbird, trailing by five after the first round, nip and tuck for the next two rounds, then the pictures, the Chandos nemesis! The Blackbird closed the gap and went ahead, Next two rounds the Blackbird extended their lead, nearly blew it the last round, but held on by the skin of their teeth! Good evening, lovely food, smashing visitors. Blackbird 65 - Chandos Arms 58.

Plough 73 – Masons Arms 66. With the Plough still shut for the staff lap of honour round the Caribbean, local community-owned local venue The White Hart Wolvercote kindly welcomed the quiz, as last week. The home team started off slowly, 42-46 behind after the pictures, but 14-6 with two (out of six total) bonuses in round six sealed the win. Those eight points were more than the winning margin of seven, so thanks for that one round. Thanks to the White Hart hosting the quiz, and for the tasty food, and great hospitality in a lively pub.

The Windrush Club ventured into the 'big city', with a trip to The Rickety Press in Jericho, Oxford. After parking the car about half a mile away, they were welcomed into a busy and noisy, but friendly Rickety Press. The quiz transpired to be not so much a game of two halves, but rather one of two rounds...The Windrush benefited from many of the early questions just not suiting the Rickety Press's knowledge base whilst simultaneously falling nicely for the visitors: Round one score was 1-13 to The Windrush and Round two finished 6-11. To come back from a seventeen-point deficit was always going to be a challenge, but the Press lived up to their name and pushed hard with 12-12 in Round 3 and 11-11 in the Picture Round. The second half saw the home side claw back some of the arrears with 10-9, 10-6 and finally 9-5 in Give It Away to end the contest 59-67 to the Windies, who stay clear at the top of league one. Despite the background noise (contributed to by a toga-wearing student pub crawl team), Maureen did a marvellous job of making herself heard, so many thanks to her for a sterling effort! As always with these two teams, the quiz was a really good-natured affair with plenty of jokes flying in both directions. Windrush Club 67 – Rickety Press 59.

Thanks to Jeff Welch for the questions, with a maritime selection from this week below.

Q1: Who invented the marine chronometer in 1761?

Q2: Which ship rescued survivors of the Titanic in 1912?

Q3: Which Russian naval base, population 300,000+ is the largest city north of the Arctic Circle?

A1: John Harrison.

A2: RMS Carpathia.

A3: Murmansk.

Week 15 - (13th February)

Status Quo (and their only number one) this week in the top two divisions, when all the table-turning action was seen in League One as the second half of the winter season takes shape.

The Masons welcomed the ever-jovial Blackbird team to the Quarry. The first round started evenly before the Masons put on a strong run through the latter stages, and despite drawing complete blanks on Cheers, the Masons pulling out to an eight-point lead. The following rounds were nip and tuck, with the Masons avoiding their normal collapse in round three, then the picture round was tied. The second half was again a tight affair, but the Masons continued to hold their lead, despite the Blackbirds efforts to chip away. With a ten-point advantage going into Give It Away, what could go wrong for the Masons? Well, it took five questions before they picked up some points to ease the nerves and then went to answer the last five correctly to take the round 10-5.

Final result: Masons Arms 66 – Blackbird 53, lifting the Masons off the nadir of League One. Great as always to see the Blackbird. A fine result for the Masons, with their stalwart captain somewhere on the road back from the North.

It was a close game at new venue the Rickety Press in Jericho, with the home team winning rounds one-three and six, and the Chequers winning four, five and seven. Results were Rickety Press 68 - Chequers Chipping Norton 62, boosting the Rickety Press from fourth place to second, with only the Windrush ahead.

At the Windrush itself, Karen was behind the bar welcoming the teams in from the cold night. The visitors went off like a train, thirteen points ahead after two rounds including five bonuses, but they hit the buffers, and the buffet, after that. The home team found their form too late, winning the last three rounds 31-28, but it was not enough to recoup the losses of those opening two rounds. Question master Ian kept order on a cheerful, lively night, with much mirth over Shaggy’s real name being Orville, or was it the other way round? League One leaders the Windrush hit top form in the final round, taking it 12-8 with two bonuses showing impressive Argentine and Australian knowledge, but finishing as highest scoring losing team is scant consolation, but at least they retain the league lead. A good-spirited match ended Windrush Club 70 – Plough 84.

The Nomads travelled out to that hidden gem that is the Chandos Arms. The first two rounds were a seesaw affair, the Nomads taking the first 5-10, then the home team 10-8. From then on the Nomads took each round by a few points. Grinding out a victory Chandos 50 – Nomads 75, as always, the Chandos gave a warm welcome with great beer and food. What more could you want on a Thursday evening?

Sun Inn 58 - Royal Blenheim 72. The Championship leaders made the long trek to Hook Norton, traversing dirt-tracks scarred like the face of the moon, jarred by potholes that tunnelled way down to Australia*. Despite being reduced to four players for the first 60.87% of the contest due to one of the players being temporarily abducted by aliens, they leapt into an early lead, thanks to Shelley Long's character in Cheers, a lead they were never to relinquish. Double-barrelled surnames served them well at the start of Round three, but the Sun reduced the gap to just five points by cunningly leaving the last unanswerable questions on 2010 and Chicago to the visitors. It was 13-18 on the pictures and when Round five (with the townies now up to a full fivesome) began with eight points on the first five questions to the visitors, the result was not in much doubt. Round six consisted of eight two-pointers and four questions about which nobody had a clue (10-6 for the home team) and the Sun also shaded the final round 8-7 and were unlucky that NEO didn't quite stand for Near Earth Orbit. At the end of a sporting contest, it was 58-72 to the travel-scarred interlopers and time to savour the sausages and superb chunky chips before testing their vehicles' suspension on the way home.

* for all you 'Cousin Jack' fans out there...

In what was an away game for the White Hart Eynsham at the White Hart Wolvercote, hosting the temporally homeless Bunch!, it was nip and tuck early doors, with the first round drawn (thanks to some embarrassing panda knowledge); as was the second, the last pair of questions seeing the first bonus of the night put the visitors briefly ahead before the hosts hit back with one of their own. Then, coolly marshalled by Beth, the Bunch! hit the kind of stride that has eluded them so often recently, winning round three 13-6 (with excellent PM knowledge from Charles, a bonus on Lady Penelope, an inspiration on Picasso, and the visitors choosing both questions no-one knew) and then only missing one of the pictures. The White Hart fought back but still had to concede three more points in the last pair of questions in round five, after the two Davids had aced Stoke-on-Trent and teapot; and then they lost round six 3-11 (again without the rub of the green) before another 13-6 in the give-it-away saw the Bunch! into the nineties. Thanks are due to the White Hart in Wolvercote for accommodating us and for the pizzas and the hic-hic-array of beers and ciders; and to Martin for reading expeditiously. Final score: Ploughman’s Bunch! 90-62 White Hart.

Thanks to Jeff Welch for the questions, with a food and drink selection from this week below.

Q1: Which snack food is advertised with “It’s a bit of an animal”?

Q2: What coffee drink is made by diluting an espresso shot with hot water?

Q3: Which French dish is lobster meat in a wine sauce, browned in the lobster shell?

A1: Peperami.

A2: Americano.

A3: Lobster Thermidor.

Week 14 - (06th February)

The Windrush Club Witney climbed a little higher above their League One rivals this week, as the only team in that division to win. The quiz started with an early lead taken by the Windrush. After three rounds the scores were tied. The Windrush managed to get their noses back in front after the picture round and managed to keep it till the end. Fun night with good company and a fine spread of food, and it ended Blackbird 55 – Windrush 65.

Oxford was brought to a halt, in gridlock, delaying the arrival of one of the Royal Blenheim's members. Fortunately, the team was augmented by Rev Peter, making a return more surprising than Lazarus. The visitors from the Chandos more than held their own, not only knowing their racecourses, but also ensuring the picture round was a draw - 14 points each. Unfortunately, Peter Pomegranate, apparently the Mary Rose's sister ship, eluded both teams. It ended up Royal Blenheim 79 - Chandos Arms 54.

In Eynsham it was a game of two halves. The White Hart stormed the first half and led by ten points after the picture round. The Sun had the rub of the green for the second half and ran out eventual winners. The atmosphere was jolly, the beer was quaffable, and the sandwiches went down a treat. Final score: White Hart 67 - Sun 73.

The slimline Bunch! quartet received a very warm welcome in Chippy and raced into an early lead, taking the first round 15-6 (including an unlikely bonus on the Osmonds and a likelier one from Charles on horse-racing). The next two rounds were closer, but the Bunch!'s ten points in each were enough to extend the lead to fourteen points (shout out for Mr Parr on Spotify) before the undoubted high spot of the evening - some truly awesome ribs, which required your correspondent to be supplied with a constant stream of napkins. The home team (who had precious little luck throughout) edged the pictures, as they did the last round; but a 13-4 round five put the tie beyond their reach and the considerably less slimline visitors departed in the care of matriarch Beth victorious into the night after copious well-deserved compliments to the chef it finished Chequers 57 - Ploughman’s Bunch! 81.

As always it was great for the Nomads to welcome the Masons Arms to what was a very busy night in Bletchingdon – every seat in the club was taken and long may it continue. Both teams had a tricky start – getting only one of their first three questions right, but then things picked up and the Masons ended the round one point ahead at 9-10. But then disaster struck the away team as they lost Round Two (11-5) and Round Three (14-4) giving the Nomads a fifteen-point lead as they went into the Picture Round. Refreshed by the usual hearty feast of sandwiches though, the Masons fought back well and claimed back one or two points on each of the next three rounds. However, having reduced the Nomads’ lead to ten points (64-54) going into the final round, it wasn’t to be a miraculous comeback as the Nomads hit back and took the final round 12-8. In the end, the final score was Nomads 76 – 62 Masons Arms.

The Plough continued their top form, playing host in a busy pub to the Rickety Press. The home team pulled eleven ahead in the first two rounds courtesy of three bonuses, the Blockbuster making an early appearance, and Tim’s racecourse knowledge. Memories of local MPs earned the visitors a bonus in the next round, then gaining two in the pictures a full house round five put the home team in a strong lead. That was to diminish in round six when the Plough slipped to a 6-11 loss, reducing their lead to six. A repeat of the first-round score of 14-8 secured a win for the home side: Plough 84 – Rickety Press 72.

Thanks to Jeff Welch for the questions, with a scientific selection from this week below.

Q1: Although it can have many causes, anaemia can be a symptom of which vitamin deficiency?

Q2: What is the SI unit for magnetic flux, named after a 19th-century German physicist?

Q3: What term is used for the six types of quark: Up, Down, Top, Bottom, Strange and Charm?

A1: Vitamin B12.

A2: Weber.

A3: Flavours.

Week 13 - (30th January)

Week thirteen, unlucky for some, but lucky for others, with three close finishes and one match drawn. Picture controversy this week – dunnock or dunlin? Dunno, whodunnit?

The Rickety Press played their first game at home in their new pub - was quite noisy at the beginning, but improved as the night went on. It was a very close-run game with the teams being level at the end of round three, with 24 points each. The twitchers (sorry, ornithologists) in both teams were surprised by the answer to picture 13 being given as a Dunnock, which is another name for a hedge sparrow and not the correct answer which should have been a Dunlin - it definitely ruffled some feathers! The inaugural home game ended with a win for the inaugural home team: Rickety Press 64 - Blackbird 60.

Upon the basis that Sun had lost by 35 points in week two, away at the Bunch! they did not have a great deal of expectation for this match. The first round proved to be tricky for both teams, the Bunch! edging it 9-5 but neither team very confident on Monopoly. The Sun did better in round two which both sides found easier with some judicious choices edging it 11-9. However, the 3x4 didn't do nearly as well: then Sun didn't get any in one section where the Bunch! got five. The total for the round was 13-4 to the Bunch! - after three rounds 31 -20 and a low scoring evening in prospect. The Sun had thought that the Bunch! would stretch away in second half. However, the Sun won the pictures 17- 13 despite getting one only marginally wrong: we still don't know who Daria was! By then 37-44 didn't look too bad. In the next two rounds the Sun chipped away into the lead winning round five 8-7 and round six 9-7: both teams getting Mrs Nixon’s Christian name only fractionally wrong. The hosts were rather surprised to find themselves only four points down going into last round but with no particular expectations. However, they won the first half 6-2 to find ourselves level. It all got a bit tense thereafter. The Bunch! knew every one of their last three putting the onus back on to keep up in every pair to keep the prospect of draw alive. Thankfully they did and were relieved to get a relatively easy one to finish, knowing that Getty Museum was in LA. A lot of "if onlys" - should have listened to Pete with the Waterworks on the Monopoly question but as the statutory Welshman they were glad when he confirmed Flint as the Welsh County. Howls of derision when the stand-in captain gave away "chocolate " were mollified when we realised neither side had any idea of the answer. As ever the beer was good, and all were very well served with a pasta bake at half time. It finished all level, a draw, tied at Sun 66 - Ploughman's Bunch! 66.

The Chequers are the only team to beat the Plough this season (so far, plenty of time yet) and that was on Halloween, so meeting on week thirteen felt inauspicious to the home team. And so it proved, for the opening two rounds at least, waiting until their third question before Howard kicked in with Juventus to open the scoring. The Chequers were on good form in the next round too, ending it 20-14 ahead, the double in prospect. Then three bonuses in a 13-4 round three (good work on potatoes!), four points on the pictures and then a disastrous round five for the Chequers, 2-11 picking all that neither team knew. The last two rounds were no better for the visitors as the plough kept to its lonely furrow in the distance. A sociable evening with the usual selection of great food and beer ended Plough 81 – Chequers 54.

The White Hart made their first trek out east for a couple of years to the ever-friendly welcome at the Chandos. Early on, the hospitality was in shorter supply as the hosts took the first two questions and the White Hart struggled to get on the board. But a few narrowly won rounds left the visitors seven points ahead after the pictures, and a couple of more decisive rounds at the end gave the White Hart a victory margin that was wider than it felt at the time: Chandos Arms 51 - White Hart 76

The Windrush Club welcomed the Bletchingdon Nomads to Witney for what turned out to be one of the best nights of competitive quizzing I've been involved in. The visitors started strongly with wins in Rounds one and two for a 15-22 lead. In the 3x4 Round, though, the Windies fought back with a 13-4 win to make it 28-26 going into the Picture Round (which was accompanied by a great selection of sandwiches, sausage rolls and crisps). The Nomads took the Pictures Round 12-15, regaining the overall lead 40-41. The second Take Your Pick Round saw the visitors extend that to a two-point lead. The Windrush weren't deterred, however, and the home side won the next two rounds 11-7 and 9-8 to wrest the lead back and hold it for a win Windrush Club 66 - Bletchingdon Nomads 63. With the lead changing hands so many times, the result always in jeopardy and the extremely good-natured banter between the two teams, it was a great evening! Thanks to all for a really good match.

Masons Arms 70 - 72 Royal Blenheim. Two closely matched teams, not quite hitting their best form, slugged out a very close contest in the cavernous confines of the conference hall at the back of the Masons Arms in lovely Headington Quarry. It was good to find that question-setter-and-reader, Jeff's vocal cords had recovered from the battering they took at the Blenheim last week and it was even better to be spared the sight of another United victory against random European minnows. The away team edged each of the first three rounds, collecting bonuses with Juventus, Martin Freeman and Zoe Saldanha, but the masonic lodgers pulled a point back on the pictures to trail 41-46. Round five foxed all parties and ended a 7-7 draw but round six was more of a stroll with all questions answered for two points except Liz McColgan's maiden name. With a three-point lead to defend going into the final round, the city-folk were boosted by an early bonus with The World is Not Enough - those Latin O-levels coming in handy again - and clung on despite a lack of any knowledge of Dubai Chocolate and the J. Paul Getty Museum, to end 70-72 to the fortunate visitors but the Blockbuster proved Mission Impossible.

Thanks to Jeff Welch for the questions, with a literary selection from this week below. Fixtures, Weekly

Q1: Tom Joad is the central character in which book?

Q2: Who wrote the 1912 novel ‘Riders of the Purple Sage’?

Q3: Which author wrote The Mallen – ‘Streak’, ‘Girl’ and ‘Litter’ between 1973 and 1974?

A1: The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck, 1939).

A2: Zane Grey.

A3: Catherine Cookson.

Week 12 - (23rd January)

No changes in any league positions this week, but that’s not to say that there was a shortage of drama.

The Gardeners Arms (now closed) team have a new venue: The Rickety Press. But there was no quarter from their first opponents, the Nomads, who were unsure about this team that turned up calling themselves the “Rickety Press”. They felt sure they’d seen them before. So, the Nomads put their best foot forward, got all their Round one questions right and picked up a bonus point on the only one that the Rickety Press got wrong, 13-10 to the Nomads at the end of the round. But by then the beer had been flowing for a while (both teams had arrived at 7.30pm) and the scores dropped a shade. Rickety Press edged Round two, Nomads Round three and the Picture Round was drawn. But then something strange happened (it must have been the change in the amazing buffet of sandwiches) because the Nomads’ “Round 5 collapse” just didn’t happen. In fact, they won it 12-6. With Round 6 drawn (and neither team being able to answer questions about Julia Roberts or 2024 Pop Music) the Nomads went into the final round with an unassailable lead of twelve points. Or was it? The Rickety Press stormed back and were leading 2-7 at the halfway mark. The Nomads were quickly making calculations but, more importantly, they got the last three questions right. In the end, the final score was Nomads 74 – 67 Rickety Press. A great evening with lots of laughs and more than enough to eat and drink.

The highest-scoring match of the week was at the White Hart, who had almost forgotten the procedure in these circumstances: their last win was in early November. After the visitors had shaded the first round, the White Hart took the next couple to lead by six points after the pictures. The next two rounds were closely fought, leaving the hosts with an almost comfortable five-point lead going into 'give it away'. Any illusions of comfort for the hosts were shattered when the Masons scored seven points without reply at the start of that round, while the White Hart contemplated adding to their long losing streak, eight successive, not successful, games. A couple of correct answers steadied the ship but still left the hosts needing to answer the final question to secure the win. Those magic words of 'Ashes' and '1981' were sufficient clues to enable the White Hart to take the points and stumble over the line. White Hart 75 – Masons Arms 73.

The Plough started well against the Blackbird, going into a 9-0 lead halfway through the first round with three bonuses from the first three pairs of questions; remember those nine points which were to prove critical. The Blackbird chipped away at that lead to draw level after the pictures and then go two ahead after round five. Paula put on the customary fabulous feast of fine filling food: stew, chunky sandwiches, veggie burgers, sausages, the lot. The effect was to boost the Plough to score twenty-five points in the final two rounds, but the hosts could only manage fourteen in reply. So the Plough finished nine points ahead, those same nine they took without reply at the start. It all finished Blackbird 67 – Plough 76.

Always a good friendly evening for the North Oxon Derby! The Chequers Chippy started with a balanced first round, scoring 13-10, but the second round ended with a bigger gap on a score of 10-4. The Sun Hooky team regained a few points on the 3×4, reaching 6-9. The pictures let them regain those three points with 16-12, and round five widened the difference with 11-5. The last two rounds were almost equal with 8-7 and a draw of 7-7 in the final one. There seemed to be very few bonus points gained by either team, just one or two per round. The final score in was Chequers 71- Sun 54.

The Bunch! keep improving towards their early season form, getting an impressive score again this week. The practice that the Chandos have of ordering another round when they get to fifty points is something that perhaps should be followed by all other teams. Although the effect was pretty instant - having reached the landmark at the end of round six, the visitors promptly lost the last round 14-2. Up to that point they had cheerfully hung on in there in what they explained was almost a local derby after their trips to Hook and Chipping Norton, losing a couple of rounds and the pictures by a single point, and another round by just two; despite the absence of Adrian's father Captain Mole, they knew who his mother was played by. As for the Bunch!, they eked out a lead via twelve bonuses to five across the evening, with highlights on the Alternative Vote, Vine, and answering Denver and Chicago the right way round on Planes. A further highlight was the apparent sausage rolls which turned out to contain halloumi and were truly scrumptious. Ploughman’s Bunch! 79-52 Chandos Arms.

The Royal Blenheim maintained their position at the top of the Championship with the highest score of the week and a relatively comfortable win against Witney's Windrush Club. Both teams were out of the blocks quickly, setting a new world record of 2 mins 37 seconds to complete the first round, with the Windies 13-10 up thanks to the home team's failure to interpret "in 2024" as "at the end of 2024". Round two proved rather harder, at least for the visitors who coughed up early bonuses on Vine, Poltergeist and Rosa Mota. Knowing the location of the de Havilland factory (Hatfield) enabled them to close the gap to 32-28 after Round three. The pictures were pretty level but, with Jeff having to shout ever louder to make himself heard over the noise of footballistas watching United nicking another match on the TV, the Blenheim strode away in the last three rounds, winning those by a combined score of 34-16. They certainly had the rub of the green on such questions as the number of players in a rugby league scrum, Julia Roberts' roles and the categories they chose to give away, with the final margin flattering the winners. Royal Blenheim 83 - 60 Windrush Club.

Thanks to Jeff Welch for the questions, with a pop music selection from this week below.

Q1: Which singer’s debut album was ‘The Fame’ in 2008?

Q2: Which American group had a number one single with ‘Candy Girl’?

Q3: What was the title of the best-selling single of 2024, by Noah Kahan?

A1: Lady Gaga.

A2: New Edition. (in 1983)

A3: Stick Season.

Week 11 - (16th January)

It’s week eleven, the half-way point of the winter season, and what is the news? Jeff has kept us agile and alert with his varied questions, and there is no team without a win, and no team unbeaten, but fortunes have been mixed: win some, lose some draw some. The Plough are well clear at the top of the Premiership, but it’s a marathon not a sprint. The Nomads and the Blenheim have swapped the Championship lead a few times, who’s to say what might happen, and the Blackbird are at the top of League One, but the Windrush are level with them on points. Exciting times!

The Chequers Chippy found their early season form again, registering the top score of the week, an impressive 85 when the average was 66, the lowest of the winter so far. As usual, it was a very friendly evening with the Blackbird team. Unfortunately, they seemed to be picking all the wrong questions most of the evening, knowing the visitors’ but not their own. This gave the Chequers a few chances at some bonus points. The first round saw a score of 4-12 and the second of 3-11. They rallied in the 3×4 round with a 12-10 result, then winning the pictures 19-18. But disaster struck in round five, with a score of 0-12. Round six was a draw at 11-11 and the final round brought an 8-11 result. This was, as always, accompanied by a lovely spread of various foods. At the whistle it was Blackbird 57 – Chequers 85, now up to third in League One.

The Windrush consolidated their position at second in League One (that means it hasn’t changed!) They made the long and arduous journey from Witney to Eynsham, for a fine evening's quizzing at The White Hart. Fuelled with fabulous pints of Hooky and San Miguel (and Guinness Zero for Chris the intrepid driver), the Windies started like a hurricane with a 3-13 scoreline in Round one. The home side then blew back with scores of 9-4 and 12-9 to reduce the visitors' lead to a draughty two points before the pictures round. The Windrush Club spluttered to a 15-16 win and, with a tailwind now back in their sails, they breezed through the next two rounds 4-9 and 2-13. This wafted the away team into Round six with a 45-64 lead that no huffing or puffing could bring down. A 10-8 home win in Give It Away made the final score of White Hart 55 - 72 Windrush Club for a gusty, gutsy win to the Windrush. A fine selection of sandwiches and crisps (washed down with more excellent beer) rewarded both teams for a friendly contest.

The Plough ventured north to Bletchingdon Sports and Social Club, the happening hub of the village. The Nomads were set up with a great match in prospect, and wired for sound, ensuring question-master John Clark could be heard above the busy sporting and social activities. The away team took round one 10-12 with a star question, then two unexpected bonuses in round two put the Plough five ahead. The Nomads rallied in round three, taking the first six points and ending the round one behind, staying there in a drawn (no, it was printed out) picture round. And what next in round five? What else but the Nomads’ habitual round five collapse, to find themselves eight points adrift, which they fully recouped in the first five questions of round six to draw level, what drama. But a slew of unanswered questions and a final Plough bonus saw the match end Nomads 69 – Plough 76. Giant platters of generous food fed the teams, with a little left over for the other Corinthians participating in their own sports. It was a good-natured match played in the best spirit and it’s always a good night when these teams meet.

Following the sudden closure of their pub, the formerly-known-as-the-Gardeners Arms (FKATGA) sought sanctuary at a heaving Royal Blenheim, flying a flag of convenience. It was a tight, if low-scoring, game, both sides drawing a complete blank with many of Jeff's tough but fair questions. Only five bonuses were scored all night - either you knew the answer for two points, or you scored nowt, putting a lot of pressure on category selection and fuelling the argument that a fairer scoring system would give one point for getting your own question right and two for a bonus. FKATGA took an early lead and stretched it to seven points early in Round three with good recall of Bo Derek and Angelo Dundee (not together) but the Royalists, regular winners of the Rock & Pop tabletops, fought back with knowledge of 'If', 'My Iron Lung' and the number of weeks that 'Everything I Do' held the No. 1 spot in a stranglehold. All square going into the Picture Round when the Blenheim skipper embarrassed himself by failing to identify the artist of 'The Card Players' despite the fact that he'd just used another painting in the same series as the cover of his latest book (https://masterpointpress.com/bridge-and-the-victorians). But FKATGA added a couple of costly extra letters to Micah Richards' name and the home team were in front for the first time.

Round five levelled the scores again when both sides drew a complete blank on Zorro's horse, Magneto, EPCOT and RAF Waddington. With the Marvel question, it was as if FKATGA were rehearsing a Two Ronnies sketch when their answer, Iceman, gave them zero points there but a bonus point at the start of Round six, it being Gerwyn Price's nickname. The Blenheim regained the lead seconds later after employing the same trick, answering 'pineal gland' twice in a row to nab a bonus. Two up going into the last round, the homeboys (and girls) got an immediate bonus with Walter Swinburn and clung on thereafter to run out 68-63 winners. Bad luck, FKATGA, and perhaps they will have better luck in their search for a pub. Hearty thanks to Jeff who really had to shout to make himself (almost) heard above the din of football supporters hoping Southampton would see things out at Old Trafford. Royal Blenheim 68 - 63 Gardeners Arms.

In Hook Norton, the Quiz Gods favoured The Sun this week, who were fortunate in their choices and just plain lucky in their guesses. A strong opening was always going to be a challenge to peg back though The Chandos pipped The Sun at the pictures. Good Hooky beer and a lovely Mexican chilli provided comfort and consolation. Final score: Sun 68 – Chandos Arms 45.

A see-saw encounter with the cheerful Masons outfit saw the Bunch! leap into a four-point lead in the first round (Charles starring with Auriga) only to find themselves one down after two. Back in front on the Greek alphabet, the home team then found themselves pegged back to even-stevens on Golf, before another swing (not a see-saw) saw the Bunch! suddenly five up after body parts. The Masons took four points in a row in the middle of round five, and no fewer than eleven in a row at the end of round six and the beginning of the give-it-away, but under Beth's assured captaincy the Bunch! had some similar streaks to steady the ship (including David Parr's Jolene and David Quinn's Delius, what a pair they make) and at the end the scores on the Marjorie Doors were Ploughman’s Bunch! 74-59 Masons Arms on an enjoyable evening under Martin's chairmanship and with the customary yummy food. It was nice to encounter again, in happier circumstances, the Sherlock Holmes bee-keeping question, last seen in August 2023 when the Masons answered it correctly to clinch the narrowest of victories over the Bethless Bunch! in Headington.

Thanks to Jeff Welch for the questions, with an American selection, commemorating the final days of the Biden presidency, from this week below.

Q1: What was the middle name of America president Ulysses Grant?

Q2: What sport is played by the Florida Panthers?

Q3: At 4.4 miles, at what military location in America is the world’s longest runway?

A1: Simpson.

A2: Ice Hockey.

A3: Area 51 (Nevada).

Week 10 - (9th January)

Happy New Year quizzers! What does 2025 have in prospect? That’s a very good question, talking of which there was the usual suite of very good questions from Jeff Welch. It was a topsy-turvy set of results this week, with all four Championship teams losing, and the bottom three League One teams all winning, there are always some surprises in store.

The Blackbird continued their run of good form, prevailing against the current top Championship team Bletchingdon Nomads, and consolidating their lead at the peak of League One. It was a good evening against the jovial Nomads, only one or two points after every round between the teams. Come the final round, teams all square going into the Give it away round. All questions answered until the final pair, Blackbird gave them Arsenal FC, as a Spurs supporter, first time in his life that they did captain John Conway a favour, Nomads slipped up, Blackbird stepped in with the answer, and joyfully answered the "Toy Story" question to grab victory. Great quiz, thanks Jeff. Final score: Blackbird 79 - Nomads 76.

The Masons remain at the foot of League One but gained a precious two points this week. On a freezing night in the Quarry the Masons played the Sun, who had made the long trip South. Putting their early season form behind them, the home team made a strong start and took an early lead. Round three was the only one to go the way of the visitors, whilst a very strong picture round for the home team set them up for a smooth run to the finish. A really enjoyable evening of quizzing all round with the usual great Masons beer and food. At the finish it was Masons Arms 73 - 56 Sun Hook Norton.

And fellow denizens of the deep, the Chandos Arms, also registered another win. Wow, the Chequers at Chipping Norton entertained the Chandos Arms, Oakley in an extremely close contest. The pendulum just kept swinging. The Chandos were out of the blocks getting a perfect score on their questions and picking up a bonus, round one score 8-13. The pendulum swung with the Chequers taking round two by four points. At this point Belshazzar's feast arrived: fish, chips, calamari and mushy peas - full marks to the Chequers! All team members replete and sated with food we went into Round three and saw the pendulum swing back with the Chandos winning by four points, the first time they have won the 3x4 round as an away team! Picture round, guess what, the Chequers won by four points. Running total 44-45. The Chandos ruined the four-point pendulum swing by winning round five by only three points, but don't worry the Chequers swung it back again with the requisite four-point victory in round six. The Give-it-Away started with scores level at 61-all. The Chandos put the afterburners on, final score Chequers Chippy 65 - Chandos Arms 68. What a fantastic contest, splendid food, great atmosphere and friendly teams. Nice to see the waiter being question-master or was it the question-master being a waiter?

And overcoming adversity, both in the quiz and their venue, were the Gardeners Arms who won against the White Hart 66 - 65. As you can see it was a very close game all the way through.

We would like to give our very sincere good wishes to the White Hart for accommodating us at their pub as we very belatedly discovered that the Gardeners Arms had closed without us being informed! Also, to David Quinn for getting us photocopies of the questions.

Windrush 68-77 Ploughman’s Bunch! This featured a memorable performance from one particular member of the Bunch! squad, whose answers on Spongebob, Derek Hatton, birthstones, plastic surgery, airports, and women's cricket, not to mention Jane Austen, Beaujolais Nouveau, Dr Strangelove, Imperial Measurements, and neutrinos single-handedly more than accounted for the gap between the teams. OK, so he (or she) did insist that the picture of the durian was a lychee, but that will soon no doubt be forgiven and forgotten by his (or her) grateful team-mates, and will certainly not be mentioned on every possible subsequent occasion (including half-a-dozen in the club after the game and in the car on the way back). A warm welcome on a cold night in Witney was followed by a drawn first round, with bonuses traded on boxing and cars; but it was round two that was in truth decisive, the away team taking it 12-4 with four bonuses (including one which followed an agonising choice between rod and perch, only to be told that either was acceptable). The Windies hit back to take round three with a Countdown bonus, but the Bunch! then edged, despite everything, the pictures and took round five (as Beth followed up her sure-footed Gilbert and Sullivan knowledge with a last-second addition of redcurrant jelly). The home team's pop knowledge saw them take round six, before an astonishing bonus on Emmerdale set the away team back on course in the give-it-away, as they celebrated the return of David Parr from a long injury lay-off. All of this alongside a lovely spread of food and nice beer - Karen's special.

Finally, the Plough, who are (so far) having a very good winter season. They did well enough this week against a slightly depleted (thanks for that) Royal Blenheim. There was never more than two points in it, and the Blenheim won rounds five and six to go into give-it-away 65-66 down. Then two bonuses to the home team and a 12-6 final round win made it look easier than it was, to finish Plough 78 – Royal Blenheim 71.

Thanks to Jeff Welch for the questions, with a sporty selection from this week below.

Q1: Which Liverpool footballer played only four times for England, and was a non-playing member of the 1966 World Cup squad?

Q2: Who is the current captain of the England women’s cricket team?

Q3: Who captained Arsenal in their so-called invincible season of 2003-04?

A1: Ian Callaghan.

A2: Heather Knight.

A3: Patrick Viera.

Week 9 - (19th December)

This report is delivered to you by Wenceslas Pizzas™ – Deep Pan, crisp and even.

As the Christmas sparkle lights up, so the quiz teams get down to a serious session of Jeff’s jolly questions, with a small seasonal sprinkling of topical teasers this week. There were a few changes in league positions, it’s all to play for yet, and some close results, as usual. It’s so good that Jeff keeps the excitement going, no match is a safe bet, and I’m sure that there are more surprises to come. But of course, if we knew what they were it wouldn’t be a surprise.

Royal Blenheim 73 - Blackbird 75. Although played at Blackbird, as it was so busy in town, this was actually a home game for the Blenheim. It was a very close game, never more than three points separating teams. Went down to the wire, Band Aid the deciding question: Bananarama, not U2, deciding in favour of Blackbird. Well run by Jeff, asking his own questions. Good friendly contest with excellent food, as usual. The result takes the Blackbird to the top of League One, with an average of seventy points per game, equivalent to a Championship mid-table standing.

The Blenheim’s loss cleared the way for the Nomads to take the top place in the championship, playing at home to the Chequers Chipping Norton. It was great for the Nomads to see their friends from the Chequers. In fact, so great that they gave them the first round by a point. Nomads then won the next three rounds to be ten points ahead by the end of the picture round... as usual there was a collapse in round five that reduced the lead by three. Then a steadying of the ship. Final score Bletchingdon Nomads 80 - Chequers 70.

The Chandos played host to their rivals the Masons; basement battles are always fraught matches, and this one was no exception. The Chandos soared into a 11-4 lead in round one, drew breath in round two drawing the round, and then took the lead to nine points ahead on the picture round. Alas the Masons started their comeback, by knocking five points off the lead - both teams awarded a point for the thrush answer, despite having different answers - Mistle thrush and song thrush! Sausage and chips and round five saw the Masons reducing Chandos lead to one solitary point. Round six was all square - all down to ‘Give it away'. With three questions left the Masons were four points up. The Chandos needed to get both of their questions right and get the bonus on their opponents’ last question. Would you believe it? They did! Winning Chandos Arms 61 to Masons Arms 60! Helluva match! Great atmosphere, with very friendly visitors - Happy Christmas to all! From Captain Mole.

The Plough continue their run of top form, this week in the busy and welcoming White Hart Eynsham. It was very good to see this lovely local doing such good trade, with an interesting choice of local beers, too. Trevor negotiated a reduction in the music volume and called the teams to order for a ding-dong (merrily on high) round one: three bonus points to the visitors, sandwiched by three for the home team at the start and close, to finish nine each, really quite remarkable ©Alan Partridge, not in his pear tree. The Plough had strong rounds two and five, then the White Hart fought back in round six, but finishing with four bonus points in the final round won the match for the away team: White Hart 70 – Plough 86.

Their stablemates bounced back from last week’s defeat: Ploughman’s Bunch! 79 - 63 Gardeners Arms. The visitors took an early lead, due to the home side’s Blue Peter ignorance; they also won the pictures, and the penultimate round (the Bunch! failing to recognise the persistent Christmas Carol theme that popped up in Lily the Pink's rhyme of Julius Caesar). The damage was done in favour of the home team, however, by an unusual 14-5 scoreline in round two (some last-minute revision of The Twelve Days of Christmas paying off), and a 14-8 in round three (with unprecedented Bunch! bonuses on pop music). Narrower margins, but still for the Bunch!, applied in the other rounds (including a bonus on Jackie Collins, and the one Blue Peter golden retriever we could remember returning in the Boat Race reserve crew). The questions were expertly read by Stuart; and fine beer and food was supplied, as it has been all year, by landlord Tim and his team - very much appreciated.

It was a clear and chill night as the Sun Hook Norton welcomed the Windrush club to the not quite frozen North. The first round went the way of the visitors 10 -7 which was extended in round two so the visitors led 31 26. They maintained this lead over the next two rounds including the pictures which were both drawn. They then had a bit of a meltdown in round five which they lost 13-6 to leave it 58-56. Another drawn round left the home team with a narrow lead going into the last round which they successfully defended to run out winners. Good beer and sausages to eat and an early finish - what more do you need? Final result: Sun Hook Norton 75 - Windrush Club 70.

So that’s it for 2024, no matches for the next two weeks, how did that happen? The same thing happened last year, as I remember it. Have a great Christmas and New Year break, see you all on the other side in 2025.

Thanks to Jeff Welch for the questions, with a Christmas selection from this week below.

Q1: In the song ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ on how many of the twelve days are birds given as gifts?

Q2: What is the name of the town that The Grinch tries to ruin Christmas for?

Q3: What is the Wallace & Gromit Christmas day 2024 film with the return of Feathers McGraw?

A1: Six (1st Partridge; 2nd Doves; 3rd Hens; 4th Calling; 6th Geese; 7th Swans)

A2: Whoville.

A3: Vengeance Most Fowl.

Week 8 - (12th December)

A great result for the Masons this week, their first win of the season, which leaves no team unbeaten and no team without a win, after eight weeks. This is a tribute to Jeff’s question-setting skills, appreciated by all. The Plough continue their top form, highest scorers again with 91, with the rest of the pack in the seventies. The two top championship teams met, and the Blenheim’s win took them to the top of their league.

The Masons made the big trip to Chippy more in hope than expectation, but after three rounds in the more than pleasant environs of the Chequers they were 33-16 ahead. But if there’s a team who can squander a healthy early lead it’s the boys and girls from the Quarry. The pictures were even, and then as could have been predicted the home team rallied somewhat. A couple of answers in the final round meant that the visitors stayed ahead, just, to record their first win of the season. Phew. Final result Chequers 69 – Masons Arms 72.

The Blackbird report on a good evening, against very learned opposition the White Hart. It was nip and tuck, for the first five rounds, with only three points separating the teams. Round six saw the Blackbird take a ten-point lead going into the final round, and some inspired answers by Kerry man Frank got them past the winning post. Warning to other teams, the Eynsham mafia's knowledge on music is excellent. The evening was topped up with lovely food, respect to question reader Tara, a proper pro! Blackbird 77 - White Hart 65.

The Gardeners Arms welcomed the Sun from up north in Hook Norton, and up until the pictures there was very little to separate the teams. The picture round and round five created the greater disparity. Normal service was resumed but going into round seven The Sun knew they couldn't be beaten. There was a jovial atmosphere throughout. The beer was tasty, and the pizzas went down a treat. Gardeners Arms 56 Sun 79.

The Windrush Club continued their recent good run of form with a fourth win in a row, at home to the friendly quizzers who are The Chandos Arms team. The home side won the first four rounds, but by small margins, to lead 43-36 after the pictures (which were accompanied by a good selection of fresh sandwiches and some tasty sausage rolls!). Round five saw The Chandos leading the Tick-Your-Pick by 2-11 with three questions to go, but The Windies rallied to limit the damage to 7-11. The last two rounds saw the home side back in their stride, winning both of them 12-3, boosting their final score to Windrush Club 74 – Chandos Arms 53.

The Plough stablemates, that is both premiership sides, met in their derby match, and the excitement was running so high that both the questions and the reader were initially missing. A late start ramped up the pressure, but it was the Bunch! who had the slow start, 14-8 in the first and second rounds, then 12-6 in the third, already eighteen behind. Round five was closer, one bonus point making the difference, then round six could have been very different if the five bonus points had been distributed more unevenly, but the round, and the final round, went to the Plough for an unprecedented decisive win against their great rivals: Plough 91 – Ploughman’s Bunch! 62.

The big match to decide the temporary stewardship of top spot in the Championship went the way of the Royal Blenheim after an exciting match, somewhere in the sticks on the edge of Bletchingdon. The Royalists, reinforced by a new recruit, Anna, once a big winner on Millionaire, hurtled out of the blocks with a 13-8 lead at the end of round one, largely thanks to the pink and strawberry moons. But the Bletchers reduced the gap to just one by riding the Love Rollercoaster at the beginning of round three, only to pick Eurovision as their first 2003 choice - no one could remember the name of Jemini's deathless nul-pointer. The Blenheim shaded the picture round 17-15 and re-established a nine-point lead by picking the right categories in round five, but the home team then proved more familiar with those lovely horror franchisees, Pinhead and Jigsaw. With a six-point lead to defend going into the last round, the Blenheim were pleased to be passed Dickens only to have no idea in which novel to find Sergeant Buzfuz. What, Sergeant Buzfuz, the seven-piece indie band fronted by Joe Murphy? Er, no. But Sharon provided a fruity bonus, and the Blenheim had more than enough to hang on even though they imagined there were a thousand zeroes in a googol. Final score: Nomads 70 - 77 Royal Blenheim. But hats off to the Nomads for a friendly game, for questions blasted out on the Marshall amps, for a vast spread of carbohydrates and for a rare full house of 21 points on what seemed to the away team like quite a tough Blockbuster. The Championship race could go all the way to the wire....

Thanks to Jeff Welch for the questions, with an actresses selection from this week below.

Q1: In Only Fools and Horses, which actress played Del Boy’s wife, Raquel?

Q2: Jim Carter, Carson in Downton Abbey, is married to which actress?

Q3: In Only Fools and Horses, which actress played Rodney’s wife, Cassandra?

A1: Tessa Peake-Jones.

A2: Imelda Staunton.

A3: Gwyneth Strong.

Week 7 - (5th December)

It was a dark and stormy night, and the captain said to the mate “Tell us a story, Jim” …

Storm Darragh made for some interesting journeys across the county this week, but our drivers regard deep puddles as an opportunity to wash out the wheel arches, and all teams made it to their destinations. The average winning score has been stuck at 75 for the past four weeks, but it was remarkable this week that the average losing score has leapfrogged (other jumping metaphors are available) to 71, so it was tight games all round.

The Chequers team ventured south from Chippy through the chill Oxfordshire air to take on the Royal Blenheim. Seldom have two teams been so evenly matched, as they proceeded almost in lockstep through the first few rounds. Horrible Histories provided all-knowing alliteration, but the Chequers displayed superior horse racing knowledge. In the pictures, Shirley was known to all, but John and Tennessee were more obscure wily Williamses! Both teams geared up for the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury's petroleum past, but only the Chequers correctly knew Welby was a former Bishop of Durham. As ever, Jeff tricked us all with his Scrabble question near the death, as we struggled to contend with raucous carol singers, whose enthusiasm was more than matched by their tuneless-ness! Justice was done, and it ended all-square: Royal Blenheim 75 - Chequers 75, the second 75-all draw of the season for the Chequers.

Chandos Arms 67 - Gardeners Arms 72. A horrendous journey each way with the wet weather and flooding, but a very friendly night. It was a very close game all the way through, and whilst the visitors won the points with lemon as the flavour on the top of a Whitby bun nobody had ever heard of it including someone who was brought up in that area!

It’s always a treat to visit the Sun Hooky, worth the journey as the travel guides have it. Arriving in the village on the stroke of eight was quite an achievement, as the church bells rang out to the in-car soundtrack of the Darkness festive irony Don’t Let the Bells End. Bonus points were hard to secure in a close contest where the Plough just kept in front until the Sun rose in round five to go one ahead with a thumping 12-8. Sustained by lovely chips and chicken nuggets, the battle resumed. A good start to the final round took the visitors into a six-point lead, but the home team pulled three back with three questions remaining. Blanks all round on the tower of tyres then sharing the last two questions let the Plough off the hook, to finish Sun Hooky 76 – Plough 79.

The Windrush Club made a trip to the Masons Arms and the first dilemma was which beer to choose! There was a great selection in this friendly, busy pub which even had a selection of alcohol-free drinks for the driver. With beverages sorted, the quiz started with the home team winning the first round 12-8. This week, The Windies woke up earlier than usual and took round two by 6-10 to level the aggregate scores. From there, the visitors never looked back, winning every round by just point every time apart from a 'huge' two-point win in round five. The final scores were Masons Arms 64-70 Windrush Club in a very tight match that was highly enjoyable for both teams. Great half-time snacks were gratefully hoovered up, as well as some more of that lovely beer.

Bep Guardiola rallied her troops into this difficult mid-week fixture following a run of poor form caused in part by the absence of Welsh Dave (Steffan Rhodri, from Gavin & Stacey). It's always a pleasure to welcome the jovial Blackbird team, good value throughout and providing highlights on Garage Music and A-roads, to the delight of ‘Storm Darragh’. They took an early chance for a bonus on Horrible Histories and were unlucky to be pegged back on Gardening; their one-point lead was reversed in round two, when neither team got the given answer on the Smiths. Round three was more or less decisive in the context of a close match, 12-6 to the Bunch!, with three unanswered questions in a row going to the visitors. The hosts edged further ahead on the pictures, but after the break for yummy food, to complement the ever-excellent beer, the Blackbird took round five, despite Beth's inspiration on beefcake and buns, when neither team knew the Stargazing question. With six points in it, there was still the prospect of a collapse of Feyenoord or even Brighton proportions, but the Bunch! eased the tension with a 9-6 round six, and also took the final round by three points. It was a good all-round effort by both teams; but tyro reader brother-in-law Phil put in the performance of the night. Ploughman’s Bunch! 82-70 Blackbird.

The Nomads always enjoy their trip to the White Hart and it’s not just because it’s closer to home for two of the team than Bletchingdon. It’s always a closely fought match though and this time was no exception. The Nomads edged the first two rounds but then the White Hart levelled the game in round three. The Nomads won the picture round, but their lead was short-lived as the home team took the lead for the first time by winning round five. Round six was drawn and so there was only one point in it at the start of “Give it Away”. The White Hart missed their first question, and the Nomads picked up a bonus point – crucial because both teams scored identically after that. So the Nomads held on and the final score was White Hart 71 – 73 Bletchingdon Nomads. A most enjoyable evening, great company, lots of laughs and more than enough to eat and drink.

Thanks to Jeff Welch for the questions, with a business selection from this week below.

Q1: Which company was formed in 1998 by Tamara and Simon Hill-Norton, having 76 UK women’s activewear stores?

Q2: Which car company bought a 75% stake in Aston Martin in 1987?

Q3: What is the Yoshida Kogyo Kabushiki company most famous for manufacturing?

A1: Sweaty Betty.

A2: Ford.

A3: Zips (YKK).

Week 6 - (28th November)

Jeff slightly cranked up the level of difficulty this week, with average scores, not ages, in the mid-sixties. As usual, there were some great matches with changing fortunes.

The Plough are hitting a run of form, top score again this week at home with an impressive 94, raining on the Chandos Arms’ parade after their recent win. Magisterial question reader Rupert called the teams to order, and the match began. The visitors started confidently, but slipped behind in round one, conceding two bonuses, which they consistently repeated until the final round, when the first thirteen points and three bonuses went to the Plough, before the cheery Chandos chaps took their final question. Ruth impressed recalling the strong and stable slogan, as did Nancy’s inspiration of the Ditch between Oz and NZ. The Chandos prevailed in the picture round, but it was one-way traffic as the points accumulated to the Plough. The visitors matched their legendary enthusiasm for a final pint before departing into the ice and mist. Final score was Plough 94 – Chandos Arms 52, a sociable evening in good company with a great selection of beers and fine food.

The Plough’s stablemates the Ploughman’s Bunch! have slipped up in successive weeks, both times to strong opposition, this week at the Bletchingdon Nomads. It was a seesaw game by any measure, and a pleasure to welcome friends from the Bunch! to the lively Social Club. The Nomads started off with an ominous four-point lead for the Bunch! after round one, then in round two the Bunch! fell asleep (that’s the only explanation) and after it, Nomads were three points up. Round three, the Bunch! had pulled two points back, due to Jeremy guessing a random word for the name of 10cc's studio in Stockport! Nomads won the picture round by one to lead by two. Then Nomads traditional round five collapse, and the Bunch! were two up. In round six the seesaw moved again, and the Nomads went into the final round two up! Give it away round: Nomads turn to make a wild guess. How many presenters has Blue Peter had? Five different guesses. Captain Carl made a desperate choice...and was correct! then the Bunch! thought long and hard and chose to give away Cathedrals - St Chads and St Phillips? Broad smile on the face of Nomads’ Brummie! Final score: Bletchingdon Nomads 73 – Ploughman’s Bunch! 65. Fantastic evening!

Blackbird 56 - Sun 63. This was a closely contested match in a very genial atmosphere. Blackbird had a storming start in round one; Sun pulled back in round two. After that there was only a point between the teams until the last round when the Sun were luckier with the questions. The good-humoured hosts provided lashings of lovely grub - stew, hotdogs, sandwiches and gently spiced drumsticks. Tasty!

The Blenheim took a commanding nine-point lead after three rounds, but the White Hart won the next three all by a single point giving them hope of getting something out of the match with a good last round. Alas, it was not to be with the Blenheim doubling their lead running out winners, the White Hart having to console themselves with a victory in the Blockbuster. Final score was Royal Blenheim 71 - White Hart 59.

Gardeners Arms 76 - Masons Arms 50 The Gardeners have suffered more than their share of misfortunes this season, the latest necessitating a temporary relocation to the Grapes in George St. As you can imagine the night was a little chaotic at the lively Grapes, but many thanks to the Masons for being really good sports: it was really appreciated by all of the team. The Masons prevailed in in the picture round due to their knowledge of instruments and their proper names which the Gardeners got totally wrong, and they got absolutely correct!

The Windrush Club visit to The Chequers Chipping Norton: The home team started strongly with solid wins in rounds one and two to give them a nine-point lead going into the 3x4 round. This is the point, as last week, where The Windies 'turned up', taking it 6-14 to reduce the arrears to a single point. The pictures round was shared 18 each, but the visitors then had two good rounds of 5-10 in Take Your Pick and 6-12 in the Pot Luck Pairs to have a ten-point advantage before Give It Away. The Chequers gave it a good go, with a 10-5 win, but the Windrush secured an away win 67-72. The Chequers is a friendly and welcoming pub with a great range of beers, and we were made most welcome by a very genial team.

Q1: Pho, a rice noodle broth with herbs and meat, originated in which country?

Q2: Greengages belong to which family of fruits?

Q3: Surströmming, lightly salted fermented herring, is traditional to the cuisine of which country?

A1: Vietnam.

A2: Plum (subspecies: prunus domestica italica)

A3: Sweden.

Week 5 - (21st November)

Winter set in on week five of the Winter League, but it takes more than a cold snap to keep the teams away from their regular weekly quiz. The Chandos won after the best part of two years, congratulations to them, and the Blenheim found top form to knock top team the Ploughman’s Bunch! from the peak of the premiership.

Back to the Future to January 2023, reviving memories of the Chandos securing a victory – it’s been a long time, but worth the wait. Captain Mole missed the game, John won’t believe they won until he sees this report. The jovial Blackbird team braved the arctic conditions arriving at the warm and cosy Chandos in good spirits. Without their esteemed leader Mr Mole the Chandos raced into a 20 - 9 lead after two rounds. Round three saw the Blackbird rally winning it by eight points, helped in no small part by having heard of The Yellow Magic Orchestra. The comeback continued in round four. Chandos consolidated in round five, then lost round six, as the teams approached the last round level at 52 points apiece. The Chandos took the last round 10 - 6, Bruno Mars proving to be a key answer, leaving the Chandos over the moon, and mars. Result, and what a result: Chandos Arms 62 - Blackbird 58.

The Nomads report on a wonderful evening in Hook Norton: Great Beer, Great company, Great Food, and a cracking quiz! Nomads took an early lead, then lost rounds two and three. A drawn picture round meant the Sun were five points up. Then Nomads slowly pulled it back and won round five by two, round six by four, so two points ahead. Nomads held their nerve to give a final score of Sun 67 - Bletchingdon Nomads 73.

The Chequers Chippy got back to their winning ways, resulting in a second successive defeat for hosts the White Hart. It was a nail-biting match with the home team leading all evening, winning rounds one, three and four, while the visitors took rounds two and six with a drawn round five. This led to a tie before the final round, when the Chequers pulled all the stops to win the game. As always, a very convivial evening with a very friendly team. The match finished White Hart 69 - Chequers 72.

The Plough trekked across the arctic wastes and up the hill to Headington Quarry for a warm welcome, and a fabulous range of draft beers, at the Masons Arms. Three rounds finished 8-13 with one bonus, putting the match beyond the Masons’ reach after round five. With Barbara clearly and patiently reading the questions it was a lovely night, made even lovelier by a fine array of food. The Masons left their late rally too late, winning the final round to end a friendly, convivial evening, with guest spectator Jeff Welch. The game finished Masons Arms 68 – Plough 91.

The Windrush Club welcomed the Gardeners Arms to wintry Witney for what turned out to be a real slug-fest of a quiz. Round one saw the visitors take an early lead 8-13, but the home team reduced the deficit with 10-8 in round two. The Windies then chose uncharacteristically well in the 3x4 round three, to win it 11-3. A narrow 19-18 win on the pictures gave the home team a 48-42 running scoreline, but the Gardeners fought back with wins in both rounds five and six to make it 60-63 going into the final round. This is when the Windrush surprised even themselves by NOT giving it away, but taking it 14-4 for a final score Windrush Club 74-67 Gardeners Arms. As was said on the night, a real ding-dong battle! It was a really friendly quiz-night with both teams enjoying shared laughs, good beer and a nice selection of sandwiches and snacks.

After last week's car crash just north of Shoeburyness where the A13 finally peters out into a dirt-track, the Blenheim returned to winning ways with a solid away win in ever-lovely Wolvercote. Indeed, apart from a brief moment in round two, the Royalists were never behind. A six-point run with bonuses on Pocahontas and Maxim - after which there was a brief debate on whether Axiom was sufficiently synonymic (no!) - gave them a 22-19 lead and the Bunch! never got closer than that. The ice lolly set in the picture round brought back fond memories of Gerry Anderson-inspired Fabs and Zooms while the Bunch! unaccountably failed to recognise the great Flavor Flav, so the lead was stretched to 49-43. Would 'fructivore' have been deemed an acceptable answer for the fruit-eating animal? Fortunately, the Blenheim opted for 'frugivore' so no debate was required there. No one was old enough to remember which month the Magna Carta was signed. The denizens of the Westgate had an eight-point lead going into the final round and that quickly stretched to twelve when the question on American Football exposed an area of General Ignorance. But, with the match gone, the Bunch! picked up the only bonus of the second half (on Bruno Mars) to reduce the deficit to just seven points at the end. A tight match ended Ploughman’s Bunch! 72 - Royal Blenheim 79.

Q1: Which pioneering Japanese electronic music group had a top 20 hit with ‘Computer Game (Theme from The Invaders)’

Q2: Which Queen hit opens ‘Steve walks warily down the street, with the brim pulled way down low’?

Q3: At the age of seventeen, Richard Oakes replaced Bernard Butler as guitarist in which group?

A1: Yellow Magic Orchestra.

A2: Another One Bites the Dust.

A3: Suede.

Week 4 - (14th November)

Four matches into the season, and there is now no team left with a 100% record, as two championship sides relinquished theirs. It’s very competitive, and thanks to Jeff for questions that give everyone a chance to shine, or to crash.

The Gardeners Arms secured their first win of the winter, as the Chequers Chippy slipped to a defeat after taking three points from premiership opponents in the past two weeks. Everyone had a lovely night in a wonderfully warm inviting pub, complete with candles. The food was great, and the visitors won five out of seven rounds only failing on rounds five and six. Final score was Chequers 56 - Gardeners 70.

And the Blenheim hosted fellow championship opponents in downtown Oxford. A gnat's whisker separated the teams throughout, with the scores being all square after round six. So it was fortunate The Sun gave away the A-Roads question in round seven to find themselves heading home up the A3400 with the narrowest of victories. It was a genial evening, and the Titanic was tasty, went down well, you could say. At the end of the day, it gets very dark, and the score was Royal Blenheim 74 - Sun 76.

The Blackbird would like to start by apologising to the Masons Arms, as this game was highway robbery of the highest degree. The Blackbird only took the lead with the 3rd question of the last round, so a big thank you to the Masons for the jovial manner and good banter in defeat, pleasure to play against these guys. Special mention to Tara, for making her debut as Quizmaster, passed with flying colours. Lovely food as always. And the score: Blackbird 67 - Masons 65.

It’s always a pleasure for the Nomads to welcome the Chandos Arms to Bletchingdon and this week was no exception. Both teams got off to an excellent start with the Nomads just edging the first round 11-10. However the Nomads then gradually built on that lead by taking rounds 2,3,4 and 5 by an average of three points. Round six was drawn but then the Nomads “Gave it Away” quite successfully to end the match Nomads 78 v 56 Chandos Arms. Neither team knew that the Chandos Portrait was of William Shakespeare although I guess the Chandos Arms will probably remember that forever.

The Plough Wolvercote were hosts to the Windrush for a game decided by two early rounds. The Windrush were 3-0 up after the first two questions, a strong start which won them the round. Then two bonuses in each of the next two rounds put the Plough ahead, and subsequent rounds consolidated the home team lead. It was Tim’s fate this week to have his two correct answers passed over (Cluedo and the Chinese Wall) but it was a strong team performance under Howard’s assured captaincy. The match finished Plough 85 – Windrush 57.

The Ploughman’s Bunch! were without Jeremy (Ireland) and David (broken foot), but still turned up with five for a closely fought match against the excellent White Hart team. Though the Bunch! were never behind, having gained a 3-point lead in the first round, it was nip and tuck all the way, with each team winning two rounds, two tied rounds and the away side taking the pictures on their superior reptile knowledge. A good number of bonus points too, fairly evenly shared (4-5). The Bunch! maths skills were needed too (Cluedo). Another quiz with some interesting questions (such as the motto of NATO), all read in inimitable style by the question master, ably assisted by Beryl, the ladybird, who had flown in especially. The evening was rounded off by some great food, with Beth much taken by the sandwiches. White Hart 70 - Ploughman’s Bunch! 75.

Thanks to Jeff Welch for the questions, with a film selection from this week below.

Q1: In which Bond film does the villain Emilio Largo appear?

Q2: Which was the only Carry On film in which Roy Castle appeared?

Q3: What was the title of the 2024 film in the Alien franchise?

A1: Thunderball.

A2: Carry on Up the Khyber.

A3: Romulus.

Week 3 - (7th November)

Jeff Welch seems to have the knack of writing a set of questions that result in close matches and unexpected results, that is quite a skill, great for an exciting evening, and for the quiz league. There were no home wins this week, very unusual, but the Bunch! did manage a draw against the resurgent Chequers Chippy.

Way out west at the Windrush in Witney, two well matched sides were in a hard fought battle, the standard of General Knowledge from both sides excellent. Two losing rounds for the home team scuppered their chances, and it is very hard to pull back scores in this well constructed quiz, congratulations to Jeff the setter. The night was capped off with an excellent selection of sandwiches, also good bar prices, a venue for a Tabletops in the future, visitors the Blackbird suggested. The match finished Windrush Club 64 - Blackbird 76.

Bletchingdon Nomads made their trip to Headington Quarry looking forward to good company and a good quiz. Hope springs eternal after last week’s drubbing, but losses in rounds 1,2,3, and 5, and a draw in round 4 left Nomads nine points adrift. Hope was disappearing round the ring road when the Nomads woke from their slumber. Then round six was an eight point win for the Nomads. So, give it away. Starting one point down, neck-and-neck until the final pair. Nomads got theirs, so all in the hands of the Masons... they slipped. Final score Masons 70 Nomads 71. A wonderful night!

The Royal Blenheim made the trek out to the Bucks/Oxon borders to take on the Chandos Arms in Oakley. The Chandos got off to a flying start and took the first round 10-9. In the second round, knowledge of King Lear's daughters and Staffordshire settlements allowed the Blenheim to take the round 9-4. This set the scene for the later rounds despite a very challenging picture round when those Good Charlottes with the exception of Ms Rampling proved particularly challenging. Nobody knew that Oasis were starting their overpriced reunion tour in Cardiff, but no matter - it ended up, thanks to Vince Hill and others being pulled out of the bag, with a victory to the Blenheim 70 - 56, fuelled by generous portions of the Chandos chunky chips.

In Hook Norton, despite the hosts shading the first round and three others being drawn, the White Hart won the rest by enough to enjoy a surprisingly comfortable victory overall. Quite how that happened is anyone's guess, but it demonstrated that both teams knew more about 60s/70s crooners than chemical elements, and that knowledge of Su Pollard's singing career is nothing to be ashamed of, possibly. The beer, food and general welcome were second to none, as usual. Sun 53 - White Hart 68.

Still reeling from their defeat in Chippy, the Plough visited a favourite venue, the Gardeners Arms. A couple of bonuses in round one settled the away team, but an all too familiar rout in round three gave the Gardeners the lead, which they held on to in the picture round, before suffering their own turnaround to slip three behind. The Plough narrowly took the last two rounds, despite some dodgy decisions from Captain Peacock, failing to take heed of his own inspirational quotes on display. Final score, and a heartfelt sigh of relief from the visitors, was Gardeners Arms 70 – Plough 77.

Ploughman’s Bunch! 75 – Chequers 75. Fresh from their victory over the Plough, the Chequers settled in to a comfortable position on the shoulder of stablemates the Bunch!, narrowly losing rounds one and three and drawing round two and the pictures. A bit of good fortune on the last two questions of round five saw the home side draw seven points clear as the Bunch! made a bid for the winning line. But they peaked too soon, and a swing on the perfumes questions in round six gave the Chequers the scent of another famous victory. The plucky Chippy outfit still needed a perfect start to the give-it-away round, and they found this by giving away the two questions that the Bunch! didn't know. Suddenly it was neck-and-neck, with the Bunch! playing catch-up as the Chequers answered everything they were given. Now it was the home team who needed to be perfect to salvage a draw, and they were, the teams crossing the line in a dead heat. As ever with a drawn match, all players could reflect on the missed intervention that would have delivered victory, but also on the contribution that avoided defeat. David Quinn as question-master controlled the tense match with aplomb (not a plum).

Week 2 - (31st October)

Plenty of treats this week, and no tricks, for the quiz on a cold, misty, spooky Halloween. The streets were thronged with marauding youngsters on a sugar high, demanding sweet tributes, but all the quizzers wanted was refreshment and a good match, so Jeff provided a great set of questions to ensure that.

Ploughman’s Bunch! 89-54 Sun Hook Norton. The Sun's long journey to one of their nearer Oxford away games was rewarded as they edged round one, the home team having three of the four unanswered questions. Although another one followed in round two with the Belarussian river, (Q1 below) bonuses on Wallis Simpson, Matilda, and perfect numbers, together with David Parr's inside knowledge of salmon and David Quinn's inspiration on Bradford City, saw the Bunch! open up a tidy lead, which was considerably extended in round three when it was the Sun's turn to get the three unanswered questions. The pictures went 18-16 the way of the Bunch!, and round five was also close - the home team edging it thanks to last-ditch answers on Rhode Island, Rwanda, and Kim Hughes. The second paired round saw both unanswered questions fall to the luckless Sun, and the Bunch cantered to the finishing line despite Jeremy’s failure to remember that larkspur was delphinium. Lovely food; lovely chairmanship by Martin; excellent captaincy by Beth; a good all-round team performance, with Charles and David Parr in particularly good form; and we look forward to the return match in Hook Norton in January.

The Windrush Club made a fog-hampered journey over to Bletchingdon for an enjoyable evening's quizzing at The Bletchingdon Nomads. The away team edged round one 6-8, with the Nomads levelling the match with a 9-7 in round two. The Windrush then took the next three rounds for a ten point lead going into round six, which the Nomads won 13-8 to give them hope of a comeback. Unusually for the Windrush, they didn't take 'Give It Away' literally and prevailed 7-10 for a final score of 57-65. The welcome at the Bletchingdon Sports & Social Club was warm and friendly and the beer on top form. Lovely fresh sandwiches sustained the quizzers as did some tasty pork pies and sausage rolls. All in all, a great evening with thanks to our convivial hosts, The Nomads.

And at the Blackbird it was a good evening, played in a very sporting atmosphere, tight game until the Gardeners imploded in round five with a nine point turnaround, which sealed their fate. Frank's stag weekend seemed to have fired his passion, with some cracking answers, especially with Leonard Nimoy, where did that come from? Food lovely as ever, capped off with a lovely stew. Blackbird 77 - Gardeners Arms 63.

White Hart 80 – Chandos Arms 52. Having had a tricky journey across a fog-bound county, the Chandos then endured some unfortunate question choices and a number of 'nearly but not quite' answers. As a result, the White Hart shaded every round to end with a rather flattering margin of victory. All the members of the home team had their moments but, for some reason, Martin's knowledge of the M25 proved a particular highlight.

Royal Blenheim 79 - 57 Masons Arms. Credit to Jeff for a quiz mercifully lacking in Halloween-themed questions. (Nick’s favourite: who was the first – and only – player with all nine letters of Halloween in his name to make a Premier League appearance on 31 October [in 1998]?*) Certainly the city centre where the Royal Blenheim welcomed the Masons Arms was awash with witches and ghouls of all kinds. The home team got off to a 'slow' start, having no idea what ZIP stood for and getting their Celtic diaspora mixed up when it came to rugby tenants of the Kassam, but 0-5 after four questions was soon turned round to 10-7 at the end of Round one. The Blenheim built their lead steadily from there, aided by useful knowledge of Peter Kay, Leonard Nimoy and Sam Hain, but frustrated by the discovery that JD Salinger was Jerome David rather than Jeremy David. But the masonic fivesome fought back to win the pictures 15-13, giving a score of 44-34 after four rounds. Sarah Michelle Gellar gave them their second (and final) bonus of the evening before the Royalists pulled away again in Round six, with a surprising clean sweep on islands and astronomy. The last round was more nip-and-tuck with everyone strangely unable to remember what day of the week June 2nd 1953 was. So a final score of 79-57 to the home team.

* Noel Whelan of Coventry City ... Xmas and Halloween all in one name!

And in shock news (the shock was to the Plough, not the home team) it was Chequers Chippy 71 – Plough 65, a turnip for the books, not the island question (Q3 below) that was Swedes. The Chequers got off to a good start, taking the first round 11-6, a score they repeated in round three to go eight ahead. Question master Mike Wilks kept good order and timed the break perfectly for a real treat of food to be put out: Thai prawn and veg curry, fish goujons, chicken wings, accompanied by perfect chips – the Chequers Chipping Norton is highly recommended for food, compliments to the chef and landlord. The subsequent rounds were finely balanced, in other words the Plough had no opportunity to catch up. A 1998 mini round brought out the best from Connor, the Chequers newest, and youngest, recruit - born in that year (is he old enough to go to a pub?) his extreme youth and brains made the difference between the teams, congratulations to the Chequers on a very well deserved win.

Week 1 - (24th October)

And they’re off! Winter is here, with twenty-two weeks of league fixtures ahead, twelve teams each play eleven home and eleven away matches up to next April, with two weeks off as 2024 turns to 2025. In a tribute to the League organiser, David Quinn, all six top division teams won their games this week, but a couple of them were outscored by the Blackbird who came out the wrong side of a high-scoring match.

The highest-scoring team this week were the Ploughman’s Bunch! who ventured across the Ot Moor to the Chandos Arms, Oakley. A warm welcome (and later scrummy chips) awaited as ever, and the home team concentrated their fire on the areas where most points lay, with near full-houses on the pictures and the blockbuster, while adding a morale-boosting tie in the give-it-away round to take into next week's fixture. Elsewhere, however, the Bunch! dominated, with sizeable wins in the other rounds and every bit of luck going their way for most of the contest. Spectacular missed opportunities on one picture, one traditional song, and one medical term will pass into Bunch! folklore as sticks to tease team members with over the long winter months, but for the most part this was a faultless display from the visitors (including all the cricketing signals despite the absence of seasoned umpire David Quinn), marshalled by Beth who had risen from her sick bed to take in her one fairly local fixture of the season. A couple of deer but only one fatality (a hit and run) from the 70 million field voles were spotted on the return journey. Chandos 47-92 Bunch!

The Sun 72 - The Chequers 63, always an enjoyable local derby, and this week’s match was close until the pictures when the Sun's greater knowledge of cricket helped them to a lead which they maintained to the end. The beer was eminently quaffable, and the sausage and chips went down a treat.

Masons Arms 65 - White Hart 70. Graced by the presence of question setter Jeff on question master duties, this match followed the usual pattern between these two closely matched sides, to the extent of the scores being level after the picture round. The White Hart then edged the next two rounds to give them a seemingly unassailable 10-point lead going into 'give it away'. Only just, as a low-scoring affair saw the visitors score just two points and frankly stumble over the line.

The Royal Blenheim ran the all-conquering Plough team pretty close over the summer, but it's set to be a very different story this winter as they will be missing the two great pillars of the team, Jeff Welch and Peter Groves. Jeff, who knows 49% of the world's facts, is setting the questions and Peter, who also knows a non-overlapping 49%, is taking a sabbatical. As they've been quizzing together and winning county titles (as the Chester Arms, Far from the Madding Crowd, etc) since the turn of the century - possibly longer, who knows? - they leave a huge gap. Still, the remaining foursome (Nick, Trevor, Mark and Tony) made a pretty good start to life as a championship team. Having inched their way into the Windrush carpark, they found the home team in pretty good form. It was 27-27 after three tight rounds, 45-45 after the pictures and 55-56 after the second Take your Pick round. A solitary bonus off the 1st question of Round 6 stretched the Royalists' lead to 65-69 with a round to go but the Give it Away finale proved a bit of a nightmare for the Windies after the shock of the away team knowing the answer to the 2024 Pop question which was the automatic first giveaway at this, and no doubt other, games. Suddenly, the Blenheim had the first eight points in a row and 12 of the first 13 before the Windrush nabbed the Monopoly question at the end. So a 68-81 that was closer than the score suggests. Windrush Club 68 - Royal Blenheim 81.

Summer champions the Plough opened the winter season at home to the Blackbird. The first four rounds all went to the home team by a small margin each time, then the visitors took one back, and the Plough went into the final round an unlucky thirteen ahead. The Blackbird found their best form to win back nine of those with three correct and three bonuses, and the Plough were looking furrowed. Calm nerves held under captain Nancy, and the Plough finished winners on 80 to the Blackbirds strong 75. A sociable evening ended with a discussion of the excellent standard of Jeff’s questions – nothing too simple, and none were impossible, well done Jeff.

It was a special evening at the Gardeners Arms as they all bid a fond farewell to Carsten who is leaving the UK after thirteen years of quizzing. Quite rightly, Carsten oversaw the evening in the role of Question Master – the role he preferred most. And he certainly went out on a high – in control but with numerous breaks for funny stories and laughter. But what about the quiz I hear you say? Well, both teams knew it was going to be close when the first round ended in a draw. Then the Bletchingdon Nomads took round two, the Gardeners round 3, the Nomads round 4, The Gardeners round 5 (are you getting the idea now?), the Nomads round 6 and the Gardeners round 7. So it was definitely close, but when all the adding up was done, it finished Gardeners 68 v 76 Nomads. A great evening and we wish Carsten all the very best – he will be missed.

Thanks to Jeff Welch for the questions, with a literary selection from this week below. Fixtures, Weekly Scores, Reports etc. are at: www.oxfordshire-quiz-league.com

Q1: Which 1817 novel is set during the Jacobite rebellion of 1715?

Q2: Under what name does American author Daniel Handler write?

Q3: Who wrote the 1929 novel ‘The Good Companions’?

A1: Rob Roy (by Walter Scott).

A2: Lemony Snicket.

A3: J B Priestley.

Table Top - (17th October)

And so it begins, the winter league stretching ahead of us in all its icy fog-bound glory, through to early April 2025, but with a generous two weeks off as the year turns. The only scheduled tabletop of the season was held in the convivial surroundings of the Masons Arms, Headington Quarry. Jon Young, from the White Hart Eynsham team, stepped up to set a stimulating and challenging quiz to get the winter season started.

Starting the quiz, and indeed the season, in the time-honoured way with round one, pot luck, it was clear from the off that Jon had set the standard high. That brought out the best in the Chequers team (augmented by a few from Woodstock Social Club) who sprang into an early lead with eight out of ten. We were back on familiar ground in round two, places, with three teams missing a full atlas by only one map, including the Nomads who briefly took the lead. The Gardeners Arms, on a lap of honour to say auf wiedersehen to Carsten, were only a pretzel (not a bagel) off the top score.

Habitual tabletop mavens the Ploughman’s Bunch! found their form in round three, with 6½ against the round average of a paltry two, which considering the theme was this year, 2024, reflects a general lack of attention all round. Jon had put together a great picture round, not all mugshots but including such varied images as outdoor games, knots, and cheese. The deliberations were sustained by a super selection of Posh Fish food – chips, onion rings and all the delights for chip butties! The pictures were refreshingly different, like the food, and produced a good total from the Royal Blenheim, but a top score from the Plough which took them into the lead.

That advantage dissolved in the next round, where Jon had thoughtfully provided the initial letters of the answers. This helpful start helped the Bunch! who registered the only maximum score of the night to take the lead, the fourth change of six in a roller-coaster contest. The music boomed out in round five, a fiendish combination of samples and cover versions, which showed the strength of the Nomads, who owned the round, and there was a good showing by the White Hart, who were clearly missing Jon Young on question-setter duties.

The Blackbird saved their best form for round six, films and TV, but the Plough had the highest score in to retain the lead going into the monster blockbuster round, sixty-three points up for grabs. The Chandos had a good showing in the blockbuster, the long form playing to their strength, but they were suffering from missing pie night at the home pub. The home team, the Masons Arms left their late run too late, but a very impressive top score of forty-seven took them that step closer to a podium finish.

The Ploughman’s Bunch! took the trophy, four points clear of their rivals and runners-up the Plough, with Bletchingdon Nomads a little way adrift but clear of the rest of the field in bronze medal position.

Weekly Match Reports - Winter 2024/25 (A big thank you to Jonny Peacock)

Weekly Match Reports - Winter 2024/25
(A big thank you to Jonny Peacock)