Al Capone, correct crochet terminology and the art of giving friendship flowers

Charles C

Among a tense set of trivia teasers last night at The Duchy Arms we learned the majority of Al Capone’s operations took place in Chicago, a ‘purl’ is a knitting not a crochet stitch and yellow is the colour for flowers of friendship.

Just as they had hoped, “We’re Only Here For The Smarties” won the consolation Smarties but not before being able to name all four of the world’s countries that contain one and only one vowel (Chad, Cyprus, Egypt, Kyrgyzstan). Just ahead of them, playing a skilful blinder of a quiz for the bottle of wine came “Cheese & Pickle”, who wrongly believed their team name represented a very odd sandwich filling (despite the whole of Britain knowing that it is in fact the best!) but they knew the Mayan civilisation was located in modern-day Mexico. “Pass The Duchy” were just ahead of them, including getting 3 out of 3 in the tube station question.

Newcomers “TBT” delivered a solid performance despite it being their first rodeo, even getting the tricksy Saddam Hussein anagram correct. “Bottom Trumps” just missed out on a podium finish but knew the Snatch line about ‘pigs being able to go through bone like butter’. “Brexit Boo Boys” had a stormer of a quiz, particularly the second half, even knowing that Catherine Zeta Jones was born in Swansea. “Charlie’s Angels” also had a great quiz, earning silver while also demonstrating a particularly impressive knowledge of Amanda Seyfried’s back catalogue of films. At the end, having got 3 out of 3 on Carly Rae Jepsen’s song lyrics and - appropriately - the Rachel Stevens question, “S Club Parrty” won the bar tab. Top stuff.

“Charlie’s Angels” guessed the height of St Paul’s exactly spot on, winning the chance to play against the jackpot envelopes. They just missed picking the right one so it was another rollover. £136 up for grabs next week. If you’re not there, you can’t grab it. Come and see us. It’s lovely. #onlytheduchyarmshastheanswer