A blessed quiz. Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti

Charles C

Many will have heard the quiz drums echoing last night. Those not at The Duchy Arms would have had to make with whispers of some quiet conversation somewhere else. The trivia melee taught us many things, not least that the Caesar salad was invited by a Mexican restaurateur, Cardini Caesar (not a Roman Emperor); Aberdeenshire is the UK's first county alphabetically; and, Canada is the country with the largest coastline (202,080 km - would you believe it?!). Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies, ten teams joined the fun. In the end, "Sloshy 92" won the consolation Smarties, having shown us good cocktail knowledge. Just ahead of them, earning the bottle of wine, was late-comers-but-party-goers, "Clark's Angels", who proved very good on Monopoly and Pippa Middleton. "Briany B" were next, exhibiting particular prowess when it came to films, just behind wonder trio, "3", who earned my points-per-person accolade and the room's respect for their Smurf knowledge. "Fishermans's Friends" delivered another strong performance in what was a dense pack of scores, nailing some tricky cryptic tube stations, as did "Some of Parr", taking the time to do the things we never had, who got three out of three on the Toto - Africa lyrics question. "Xistential Cry6" got a podium finish, earning joint-bronze, and showing us superb chemical element expertise, together with "Quiztic Megs", whose celebrity and sports knowledge was second to none.
Finally, just one point ahead of them, "The Rookies" took silver (my 'last' packet of Rolos), with an especially good recollection of rocks and flowers. An excruciating one point more, winning the £40 bar tab, "Fake Quiz! Sad" got three 3-out-of-3's (film posters, tube stations, lyrics) in the second half to secure the victory. Amazing stuff. My question on the world record distance traveled by a human cannonball (193ft!!!!) saw "Some of Parr" win through to the envelopes stage. The £88 eluded them, though, which means £132 cold. Hard.
Cash will be up for grabs next week. Oh, wow - I love The Quiz. It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you! There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do. #onlytheduchyarmshastheanswer