Second jackpot win in two weeks!! Unbelievable scenes!! #believethehype

Charles C

Damp and muggy might be how one described the atmosphere OUTSIDE the Duchy Arms last night at the quiz. But INSIDE, as teams tested themselves against a trial of trivia teasers, it was busy and buzzy. Along the way we learned that: Somalia is the African country (yes, pedants, we’re talking about mainland Africa not islands!) with the longest coastline; the world’s first vaccine was developed to combat smallpox; and, a ‘cereologist’ is someone who studies crop circles.

By the end, “Power less” had won the consolation Smarties but were rightly confident that they had got the question on the new Destiny’s Child musical correct. Local athletes, “Las Sacapuntas” delivered a brace of sports knowledge, knowing John Terry was the first captain to lift the FA cup in the new Wembley stadium and that the San Diego Padres are the only baseball team not to have an English name. The bottle of wine was theirs. Just beyond them came a triumvirate of teams, “I Am Smarticus” (knew that tapenade is made from olives), “French For Mushrooms” (amazing on celebrity identification – Corey Feldman, Cheryl Cole AND Angelina Jolie), and dynamic duo “Please Don't Call Me Fredo”, who did best on the Owen Wilson films question.

Just ahead of them, regular legends “Fishermen’s Friends” did very well to get three out of three on the Arctic Monkeys lyrics question (I wish someone would tell me that I look good on the dancefloor). One point more, power-couple “Don't Worry There Is No Point” earned my points-per-person Wine Gums, getting the badly explained film plot question on Wall-E and the anagram of The Little Mermaid.

Only half a point beyond them, earning third place, “Quiz In My Pants” knew that there is a VW Beetle on The Beatles’ Abbey Road cover and that ‘e’ is the most common letter in Scrabble. In silver medal position, “Quizantine Empire” got the sponge riddle and knew that it is Italian which is spoken on the largest island in the Mediterranean (Sicily). In first place, however, earning the £40 bar tab, and having got a perfect score in the first half, “You’ll Never Walk Malone” delivered a simply epic quiz performance, getting 3-from-3 on the cryptic band names, the lyrics and the cartoon characters (who even is Coraline?). Wonderful to see.

For the jackpot, “Please Don't Call Me Fredo”, still reeling from not getting the points-per-person award, provided the closest guess to my question on the distance from London to New York (5,578km if you’re wondering) and then only went and chose the right jackpot envelope. Two jackpot wins in two weeks! Unbelievable scenes!! The cold. hard. cash. was theirs; making a 1000% return on their entry fee. More of the same next week. It’s there to be won! Come and get it! #onlytheduchyarmshastheanswer