Tony, Danny, Tina, Daren, Robson Hound, El barnetto, Alistair, Kevster and Nicky did not go to the Jolly Farmers last night.
They did not enter a team with an amusing twist on the theme of hounds and they did not drink copious amounts of alcohol.
Theo may have turned up on time or he may have been late - we just dont know.
The opening round probably contained 30 questions on random themes, some of which we would have got right, others not.
A Team that didn't contain the word Hound in it's title was in the lead at this point (Lead - geddit? Hound, Lead !!)
There were 2 more rounds and Theo was probably relieved at not having to artificially massage the Hound's score down to keep all the other teams happy.
Strangely Kevster's family team won and proceeded to bombard him with texts about how we were too scared to take them on.
There was no rioting and then the raffle was drawn and none of us won - again!!
Hoorah for The Hound - Transmission ends..................
Sunday 31 January 2010
25th September 2009
Jolly Farmers, Purley – Thursday 25th September 2009
Those attending: Tina Bear, El Barnetto, Robson Hound, SmithD2 and That Kevster
I’ve never been too sure what it takes to establish ‘a tradition’ but I would suggest that several, consecutive, Thursday evenings spent quaffing beer and being baffled by a Pub’s Quiz scoring system pretty much constitute one. Thus the generally knowledgeable collective, loosely referred to as ‘The Hound’, gathered for its latest, traditional, shenanigans.
The positioning of the ‘pre-match meal sub-report’ in these writings is always a potential minefield – I am choosing to address the matter earl y doors and thus leave room for some ‘post-match munchies’ reporting later on. I have it from the various horses’ mouths that they individually enjoyed a multi-filling baguette from Upper Crust, an omelette, a Mr Wimpy meal and a ham, egg & chips dish. At the risk of propagating another tradition I shall invite those readers not present to match the diners to the dishes. In terms of my own pre-match prep I fell from last weeks’ standard of fine-dining, but poisoned, scallops to a lowly, post-gym, vaguely chocolate flavoured, protein-shake. Nowhere near as nice on the palate but it stayed inside me for a bit longer – for which I’m grateful.
And so to the quiz. If indeed what followed can be called ‘A Quiz’.
Initial suspicions were quickly confirmed when an irksome little prole announced that our tradit ional Question Master was away and that, in the tradition of the totally pointless Supply Teacher, he would be standing in his stead and demanding answers from us. At this stage it’s fair to say we were already unhappy. The winds of change had begun to blow.
So as not to baffle The Irksome Little Prole, we decided not to continue our hilarious series of ‘variation-on-The-Hound’ themed team names and just plumped for ‘The Hound’. Plain and simple.
And so to the first round. The usual fare – SmithD2 complained of fewer than usual, ‘… is it A)… or is it B)…’ type questions – but Robson Hound declared himself pleased it was so. As if to emphasise D2’s point the evening’s real stinker reared its open-ended head here. The question was, ‘In cockney rhyming slang wha t does Steffi Graff mean?’ We said ‘laugh’. The Prole later, absurdly, gave the answer as ‘bath’. I could give all sorts of proof for the accuracy of our answer (http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/slang/steffi_graf; http://www.thornton-cleveleys.co.uk/cockney.htm; http://www.londonslang.com/db/s/) but The Prole was having none of it. And so to Andre Agassi – when he’s ‘having a Steffi’ do you imagine him to be, a) bathing or, b) chuckling gently to himself?!
The Irksome Little Prole then ran through the Round 1 scores – all of which were a good 30% down on what we have, traditionally, become accustomed to under the Traditional Question Master. We were somewhere around last.
And so to (the music) round two. And Mrs Bear falling victim to the rapidly spreading, and highly contagious, Rioting Fever. The Hound had done well – we thought we got all but maybe two right. The Irksome Little Prole gave us a new total score that was almost lower than our Round One mark. Mrs Bear rioted. I welled up with a strange mixture of pride and redundancy. Again. No matter. Mrs Bear returned from haranguing The Irksome Little Prole and assured us that all would be taken care of.
And so to the last round. We were mostly good, occasionally unsure and on at least one occasion (what is LANCASTER* an anagram of?) found significantly wanting. Still, to hell with it – The Irksome Little Prole seemed to be making it up on the spur of the moment so we figured we could be in with a chance, depending on those changeable winds. And thus it was we came 4th. At least that’s what I think because there were two teams in joint 3rd. But then 2 minutes later The Irksome Little Prole announced that actually there’d been a tie for 2nd as well. So who knows where we actually came? Vaguely interesting to note that the wining score would, in a traditional week, have come last.
And to cap off a splendid evening some absolute Berk (see what I did there – more rhyming slang) won the £500+ raffle that’s been building up for the last couple of months. Grrrrrrrrrrr. Thereafter the evening took on an ‘end-of-term’ feeling and the air was thick with scrunched up bits of paper being hurled from one disgruntled team20to another – the Quizzard’s Sleeve possibly being the worst culprits. Despite SmithD2’s best efforts when Mrs Bear wasn’t looking.
All that is left is my post-match meal report which consisted of a £1 bag of Yellow Monster Munch and a can of Uri Geller. The very hautest of Haute Cuisine. And the fact that Halle Berry has got fantastic Brad Pitts (Die Another Day is playing in the background as I type this). Fantastic.
Those attending: Tina Bear, El Barnetto, Robson Hound, SmithD2 and That Kevster
I’ve never been too sure what it takes to establish ‘a tradition’ but I would suggest that several, consecutive, Thursday evenings spent quaffing beer and being baffled by a Pub’s Quiz scoring system pretty much constitute one. Thus the generally knowledgeable collective, loosely referred to as ‘The Hound’, gathered for its latest, traditional, shenanigans.
The positioning of the ‘pre-match meal sub-report’ in these writings is always a potential minefield – I am choosing to address the matter earl y doors and thus leave room for some ‘post-match munchies’ reporting later on. I have it from the various horses’ mouths that they individually enjoyed a multi-filling baguette from Upper Crust, an omelette, a Mr Wimpy meal and a ham, egg & chips dish. At the risk of propagating another tradition I shall invite those readers not present to match the diners to the dishes. In terms of my own pre-match prep I fell from last weeks’ standard of fine-dining, but poisoned, scallops to a lowly, post-gym, vaguely chocolate flavoured, protein-shake. Nowhere near as nice on the palate but it stayed inside me for a bit longer – for which I’m grateful.
And so to the quiz. If indeed what followed can be called ‘A Quiz’.
Initial suspicions were quickly confirmed when an irksome little prole announced that our tradit ional Question Master was away and that, in the tradition of the totally pointless Supply Teacher, he would be standing in his stead and demanding answers from us. At this stage it’s fair to say we were already unhappy. The winds of change had begun to blow.
So as not to baffle The Irksome Little Prole, we decided not to continue our hilarious series of ‘variation-on-The-Hound’ themed team names and just plumped for ‘The Hound’. Plain and simple.
And so to the first round. The usual fare – SmithD2 complained of fewer than usual, ‘… is it A)… or is it B)…’ type questions – but Robson Hound declared himself pleased it was so. As if to emphasise D2’s point the evening’s real stinker reared its open-ended head here. The question was, ‘In cockney rhyming slang wha t does Steffi Graff mean?’ We said ‘laugh’. The Prole later, absurdly, gave the answer as ‘bath’. I could give all sorts of proof for the accuracy of our answer (http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/slang/steffi_graf; http://www.thornton-cleveleys.co.uk/cockney.htm; http://www.londonslang.com/db/s/) but The Prole was having none of it. And so to Andre Agassi – when he’s ‘having a Steffi’ do you imagine him to be, a) bathing or, b) chuckling gently to himself?!
The Irksome Little Prole then ran through the Round 1 scores – all of which were a good 30% down on what we have, traditionally, become accustomed to under the Traditional Question Master. We were somewhere around last.
And so to (the music) round two. And Mrs Bear falling victim to the rapidly spreading, and highly contagious, Rioting Fever. The Hound had done well – we thought we got all but maybe two right. The Irksome Little Prole gave us a new total score that was almost lower than our Round One mark. Mrs Bear rioted. I welled up with a strange mixture of pride and redundancy. Again. No matter. Mrs Bear returned from haranguing The Irksome Little Prole and assured us that all would be taken care of.
And so to the last round. We were mostly good, occasionally unsure and on at least one occasion (what is LANCASTER* an anagram of?) found significantly wanting. Still, to hell with it – The Irksome Little Prole seemed to be making it up on the spur of the moment so we figured we could be in with a chance, depending on those changeable winds. And thus it was we came 4th. At least that’s what I think because there were two teams in joint 3rd. But then 2 minutes later The Irksome Little Prole announced that actually there’d been a tie for 2nd as well. So who knows where we actually came? Vaguely interesting to note that the wining score would, in a traditional week, have come last.
And to cap off a splendid evening some absolute Berk (see what I did there – more rhyming slang) won the £500+ raffle that’s been building up for the last couple of months. Grrrrrrrrrrr. Thereafter the evening took on an ‘end-of-term’ feeling and the air was thick with scrunched up bits of paper being hurled from one disgruntled team20to another – the Quizzard’s Sleeve possibly being the worst culprits. Despite SmithD2’s best efforts when Mrs Bear wasn’t looking.
All that is left is my post-match meal report which consisted of a £1 bag of Yellow Monster Munch and a can of Uri Geller. The very hautest of Haute Cuisine. And the fact that Halle Berry has got fantastic Brad Pitts (Die Another Day is playing in the background as I type this). Fantastic.
3rd September 2009
'You'll never win anything with kids' is how the old adage goes and bearing this in mind we fielded a team of 3, all in their 'roaring' forties.
Pre match meals consisted of 1) A pork Pie 2) A Chicken fillet burger 3) two pieces of chicken and chips (Just for fun, see if you can match the meal with the player!! It's an on-line, interactive type of thing)
Using the Dail Mail headlines to come up with our team name, Robin's illegible handwriting lead to the Quiz master mistakenly naming us 'Give me 'BARK' my hound' or possibly 'Give me BACH my Hound'.
A strong opening round was marred only by the failure to spot the made up US town from the list;
Short and round
rough and ready
Monkey's elbow
Virgin's town
We continued to shine in the music round, although Robson seemed intent on answering 'Girls Aloud' to every question, whilst Pete just shouted 'Chubby Checker' at anyone that passed our table.
The final round was the usual mayhem and flurry of torn strips of paper and unsurprisingly we found ourselves in yet another play off.
The tie breaker was - 'What is the square mileage of Wales?'.
Crazily some of the answers given were 17, 243 and 400,000 !!!- We were close with 14,000 (Arrived at using the cunning formula of 100w x 100L + 'some more'). Unfortunately the actual answer was 8,900 ish.
We cried into our collective bears and Pete 'arrivederci' for his holiday. That is all
Pre match meals consisted of 1) A pork Pie 2) A Chicken fillet burger 3) two pieces of chicken and chips (Just for fun, see if you can match the meal with the player!! It's an on-line, interactive type of thing)
Using the Dail Mail headlines to come up with our team name, Robin's illegible handwriting lead to the Quiz master mistakenly naming us 'Give me 'BARK' my hound' or possibly 'Give me BACH my Hound'.
A strong opening round was marred only by the failure to spot the made up US town from the list;
Short and round
rough and ready
Monkey's elbow
Virgin's town
We continued to shine in the music round, although Robson seemed intent on answering 'Girls Aloud' to every question, whilst Pete just shouted 'Chubby Checker' at anyone that passed our table.
The final round was the usual mayhem and flurry of torn strips of paper and unsurprisingly we found ourselves in yet another play off.
The tie breaker was - 'What is the square mileage of Wales?'.
Crazily some of the answers given were 17, 243 and 400,000 !!!- We were close with 14,000 (Arrived at using the cunning formula of 100w x 100L + 'some more'). Unfortunately the actual answer was 8,900 ish.
We cried into our collective bears and Pete 'arrivederci' for his holiday. That is all
13th August 2009
As Pete's obviously not going to get round to it.....
'A sixpack of Hounds' won the quiz aagain last night, coming from behind (Danny)to claim the first prize of a crate of Bulmer's Cider,with no need for a tie break this week.
Mrs El Barnetto made her debut and specialised in films
I'm afraid I was very, very drunk
Hot nuts were the only food on offer.
That just about wraps it up I believe
'A sixpack of Hounds' won the quiz aagain last night, coming from behind (Danny)to claim the first prize of a crate of Bulmer's Cider,with no need for a tie break this week.
Mrs El Barnetto made her debut and specialised in films
I'm afraid I was very, very drunk
Hot nuts were the only food on offer.
That just about wraps it up I believe
6th August 2009
At the start of the 09/10 season the Hound fielded a new looking team. Well, the team looked new but the team members certainly didn't.
Playing under the moniker of 'The return of the hound' and due to a spate of last minute withdrawals and injuries, quiz debuts were handed to Tina and Alistair.
Robin's pre match briefing to Tina was;
"basically we need you to take Kevster's role and if there's anything we see, that we don't like, you riot". This was a role that Tina fulfilled admirably, successfully arguing with the quiz master that Thailand is actually further south than Cambodia and thus winning us an extra point.
The first round kicked things off, which is the norm and, as is the norm, we struggled with the early pace in a round that was quite frankly, eclectic.
However, the second round found us settling down and playing some quite attractive quizzing. This saw us entering the final round in first place. Some particularly pleasing answers were; Maroon5, Beetroot, The Truman Show and Richard III
However, the pace and the pressure started to tell and some tired minds started to make elementary mistakes especially in the True or false round (is it true? Or is it false?)
Unsurprisingly, when the final scores were read out, we found ourselves in a play off with all the other teams.
The tie break question was along the lines of 'What is the highest number of credited actors in a British film' and much to our amazement our answer of 243 turned out to be the closest.
So the Hound claimed the crate of beer and 3 points and Tina and Alistair go away with stats of played 1 won 1.
On to next week then.
Playing under the moniker of 'The return of the hound' and due to a spate of last minute withdrawals and injuries, quiz debuts were handed to Tina and Alistair.
Robin's pre match briefing to Tina was;
"basically we need you to take Kevster's role and if there's anything we see, that we don't like, you riot". This was a role that Tina fulfilled admirably, successfully arguing with the quiz master that Thailand is actually further south than Cambodia and thus winning us an extra point.
The first round kicked things off, which is the norm and, as is the norm, we struggled with the early pace in a round that was quite frankly, eclectic.
However, the second round found us settling down and playing some quite attractive quizzing. This saw us entering the final round in first place. Some particularly pleasing answers were; Maroon5, Beetroot, The Truman Show and Richard III
However, the pace and the pressure started to tell and some tired minds started to make elementary mistakes especially in the True or false round (is it true? Or is it false?)
Unsurprisingly, when the final scores were read out, we found ourselves in a play off with all the other teams.
The tie break question was along the lines of 'What is the highest number of credited actors in a British film' and much to our amazement our answer of 243 turned out to be the closest.
So the Hound claimed the crate of beer and 3 points and Tina and Alistair go away with stats of played 1 won 1.
On to next week then.
21st August 2009
Daren, Tina, Pete, Mrs Pete and myself took to the blocks as Usain Hound
at the Farmers last night. And like our namesake, we got a fast start,
built through the "drive phase" and cantered clear, showboating to the
crowd as we took the prize.
It didn't quite work that way though. We received an early boost as Pete
had cunningly hid Mrs B's house keys, forcing her to either roam the
streets of Croydon or join us, must have been a close decision. The quiz
normally has a number of multi choice questions and it seemed to be one
of those nights where we got more of the line decisions wrong than
right, whoever heard of an American town called Elephant for example?
That said we did enough to stay in contention and surprise, surprise, it
came down to a nine-way playoff on "What is the population of India".
Our 1.1bn estimate seemed to be based on later statistics than the
actual answer and it was not to be.
http://geography.about.com/od/obtainpopulationdata/a/indiapopulation.htm
For those food addicts, none was consumed although Pete's pre-quiz meal
was apparently a very satisfying chicken kebab.
The one disappointing note to the evening, was Daren's failure, I think
for the first time, to get the anagram question.
MEGATONS anyone?
at the Farmers last night. And like our namesake, we got a fast start,
built through the "drive phase" and cantered clear, showboating to the
crowd as we took the prize.
It didn't quite work that way though. We received an early boost as Pete
had cunningly hid Mrs B's house keys, forcing her to either roam the
streets of Croydon or join us, must have been a close decision. The quiz
normally has a number of multi choice questions and it seemed to be one
of those nights where we got more of the line decisions wrong than
right, whoever heard of an American town called Elephant for example?
That said we did enough to stay in contention and surprise, surprise, it
came down to a nine-way playoff on "What is the population of India".
Our 1.1bn estimate seemed to be based on later statistics than the
actual answer and it was not to be.
http://geography.about.com/od/obtainpopulationdata/a/indiapopulation.htm
For those food addicts, none was consumed although Pete's pre-quiz meal
was apparently a very satisfying chicken kebab.
The one disappointing note to the evening, was Daren's failure, I think
for the first time, to get the anagram question.
MEGATONS anyone?
27th August 2009
It was Kevster, Daren, Tina and myself who made up the team and we
arrived at the JF with our hopes high. The first task was selecting the
team name and scanning the paper for topical themes, it was clearly a
slow news week so we settled on "Revenge Of The Cyber Hound". Onto the
quiz and probably fair to say, a bit easier than some but that's no
consolation as it only means that those 50/50 decisions are that much
more important. One such that vexed us was "At Which London Tourist
Attraction do visitors spend the most per head?". Well in true Hound
fashion we got the right answer (Madame Tussauds) and talked ourselves
into the wrong one(O2 Arena). There were some good answers though,
Rihanna, 11, and False to name but a few.
Early on I got the impression that it was one of those nights that the
quizmaster couldn't be bothered with a tiebreak round and so it proved,
we were just off the pace the whole way and finished third to the
Pickled Eggheads. A good night had by all though.
arrived at the JF with our hopes high. The first task was selecting the
team name and scanning the paper for topical themes, it was clearly a
slow news week so we settled on "Revenge Of The Cyber Hound". Onto the
quiz and probably fair to say, a bit easier than some but that's no
consolation as it only means that those 50/50 decisions are that much
more important. One such that vexed us was "At Which London Tourist
Attraction do visitors spend the most per head?". Well in true Hound
fashion we got the right answer (Madame Tussauds) and talked ourselves
into the wrong one(O2 Arena). There were some good answers though,
Rihanna, 11, and False to name but a few.
Early on I got the impression that it was one of those nights that the
quizmaster couldn't be bothered with a tiebreak round and so it proved,
we were just off the pace the whole way and finished third to the
Pickled Eggheads. A good night had by all though.
10 th September 2009
All,
My first taste of the weekly quiz night and I get the honour to update you on the result. Some of you already know, I am a man of few words, so I will keep it short. I almost didn't make it but luckily, Daren told me that it was at the Jolly Farmers, as I was heading for 'The Snatch' at first. Apparently, I was a day late for that one. Also, to my surprise I could not sample the potential culinary delights that I have heard so much about. Therefore, a trip to KFC to purchase a Tower Burger ensued. Not one of the best I have had, but hit the mark.
Onto the Farmers. I note that although I grew up in Purley, my experience of the Farmers is limited due to it being a bit of a safe house for some 'do-as-you-likies' when I was younger. This was my third visit to the pub, and I must say, it had a much calmer atmosphere than back in the day.
At about 8:15 the quiz master said his piece about how is in the overall league winners pot (£550), and that this week's raffle prize was a bottle of Champers. Very nice indeed. Also, quizmaster informed us that there was £350 in the pot and six keys left if you wish to gamble the champers ! With a team consisting of Tina (great writing skills), Dazzler (obscurity a speciality), Hound (he knows everything), and Kevster (for he loves rioting) I thought we must have a great chance.
First round consisted of 30 questions. When the first question 'What company use the logo 'It's finger licking good' in their adverts rolled off the quizmasters tongue, I thought 'yes please' we are in here.
End of round one, we were somewhere near the bottom with 27 points. Interestingly, we counted we got at least 5 answers incorrect. Only 3 points adrift. Plenty of time to pull this back. As the quiz progressed, it was interesting to learn that Brad Pitt's first name is in fact William, and that Robin has a wide musical knowledge plucking Labbi Syphry (forgive the spelling) from thin air. We progressed well until the true / false round of 5 questions where we slipped up slightly. However we had the last, most important round which was double bubble for correct answers. From memory this went fairly well, and spotlight on Daren with the assistance from Kevster, the last question as the first was answered correctly.
My first experience of the quiz however left me slightly perplexed. We finished joint last with five other teams on 105 points. There was only one winner with 108 points, joint second with 2 teams on 107 points and a couple with 106 points. It was all very close, and I understand that it is always like that, very close. I do feel slightly embarrassed because the two young ladies sitting at the bar beat The Hound of the Bungholies.
As the marking system is a mystery, I take comfort that there could have been many differing 'PERMUTATIONS' to the results !
My first taste of the weekly quiz night and I get the honour to update you on the result. Some of you already know, I am a man of few words, so I will keep it short. I almost didn't make it but luckily, Daren told me that it was at the Jolly Farmers, as I was heading for 'The Snatch' at first. Apparently, I was a day late for that one. Also, to my surprise I could not sample the potential culinary delights that I have heard so much about. Therefore, a trip to KFC to purchase a Tower Burger ensued. Not one of the best I have had, but hit the mark.
Onto the Farmers. I note that although I grew up in Purley, my experience of the Farmers is limited due to it being a bit of a safe house for some 'do-as-you-likies' when I was younger. This was my third visit to the pub, and I must say, it had a much calmer atmosphere than back in the day.
At about 8:15 the quiz master said his piece about how is in the overall league winners pot (£550), and that this week's raffle prize was a bottle of Champers. Very nice indeed. Also, quizmaster informed us that there was £350 in the pot and six keys left if you wish to gamble the champers ! With a team consisting of Tina (great writing skills), Dazzler (obscurity a speciality), Hound (he knows everything), and Kevster (for he loves rioting) I thought we must have a great chance.
First round consisted of 30 questions. When the first question 'What company use the logo 'It's finger licking good' in their adverts rolled off the quizmasters tongue, I thought 'yes please' we are in here.
End of round one, we were somewhere near the bottom with 27 points. Interestingly, we counted we got at least 5 answers incorrect. Only 3 points adrift. Plenty of time to pull this back. As the quiz progressed, it was interesting to learn that Brad Pitt's first name is in fact William, and that Robin has a wide musical knowledge plucking Labbi Syphry (forgive the spelling) from thin air. We progressed well until the true / false round of 5 questions where we slipped up slightly. However we had the last, most important round which was double bubble for correct answers. From memory this went fairly well, and spotlight on Daren with the assistance from Kevster, the last question as the first was answered correctly.
My first experience of the quiz however left me slightly perplexed. We finished joint last with five other teams on 105 points. There was only one winner with 108 points, joint second with 2 teams on 107 points and a couple with 106 points. It was all very close, and I understand that it is always like that, very close. I do feel slightly embarrassed because the two young ladies sitting at the bar beat The Hound of the Bungholies.
As the marking system is a mystery, I take comfort that there could have been many differing 'PERMUTATIONS' to the results !
17th September 2009
Dear all,
Re: The Wisdom of Hounds
We decided to use Mr Bronson's suggestion and we had a brief discussion on the merits and the Wisdom of Crowds.
Firstly, I would like to congratulate Robin on achieving a personal best in his 10K on Wednesday night. He was a little excited and as a result, was a little rough around the edges when we met for the main event of the week last night. Hounding around Purley in the early hours of Thursday - bad hound.
We met a little bit later than usual at around 7.20 and the Farmers was pretty empty. No take aways or trips to Tesco for essential savoury items this week. Tina arrived in good time and then the usual teams turned up just before the start. Regular teams attended: Quizard Slaves, Chuckle brothers and sisters, Nice and Easy, The Jolly Wallies etc. There were also a team of young ladies dressed lik e 14 year old boys - strange that! I can't remember their team name, but Flowery Pants and Bottom Cracks was appropriate.
The drinks were Bulmers, Fosters, Guinness and Kronenbourg being drunk at the usual frenetic pace.
Well on to the quiz, personally it was the usual blur, but Daren and Tina both put in an excellent performance. Daren coming out with some great left field answers: Mel Gibson and knowing the characters in The Princess and The Bride. There appeared to be many film questions in it last night. The cricket question was a bit strange: apparently a water soaked pitch is commonly known as a greasy pitch!? No trouble with bits of paper flying around this week, as the word round was answered almost immediately (usurped) by Kevin and Daren.
Kevster turned up at 9.15 and confirmed our answer on the boxer, who had obtained titles at 3 different weights - it wasn't Marvin Hagler. Kevster's birthday (40th) and he had eaten at a very posh restaurant in Reigate (Tony Tobin's Dining Room) with his mother and daughter. Seafood does not a gree with our Kevster, as the scallops had repeated!
At the end of the quiz, I was pretty confident as most questions had been answered without the need for consulation and reasoning, with both purpose and authority (Tina loves to scibble out wrong and, it was clear that the Wisdom of the Hounds would shine t hrough. This proved to be true.
The Hounds came out on top again with 108 points leaving the majority of teams lagging behind on 107. Hoorah, high fives for one and all and a subsequent tip to Kebabish, where Robin and I sampled their high quality cuisine - not quite in the league of Tony Tobin, but still very tasty after a few beers. I arrived home at 12.20am - far too late for a school night.
Hoorah for the Hound! More beer later please!
Re: The Wisdom of Hounds
We decided to use Mr Bronson's suggestion and we had a brief discussion on the merits and the Wisdom of Crowds.
Firstly, I would like to congratulate Robin on achieving a personal best in his 10K on Wednesday night. He was a little excited and as a result, was a little rough around the edges when we met for the main event of the week last night. Hounding around Purley in the early hours of Thursday - bad hound.
We met a little bit later than usual at around 7.20 and the Farmers was pretty empty. No take aways or trips to Tesco for essential savoury items this week. Tina arrived in good time and then the usual teams turned up just before the start. Regular teams attended: Quizard Slaves, Chuckle brothers and sisters, Nice and Easy, The Jolly Wallies etc. There were also a team of young ladies dressed lik e 14 year old boys - strange that! I can't remember their team name, but Flowery Pants and Bottom Cracks was appropriate.
The drinks were Bulmers, Fosters, Guinness and Kronenbourg being drunk at the usual frenetic pace.
Well on to the quiz, personally it was the usual blur, but Daren and Tina both put in an excellent performance. Daren coming out with some great left field answers: Mel Gibson and knowing the characters in The Princess and The Bride. There appeared to be many film questions in it last night. The cricket question was a bit strange: apparently a water soaked pitch is commonly known as a greasy pitch!? No trouble with bits of paper flying around this week, as the word round was answered almost immediately (usurped) by Kevin and Daren.
Kevster turned up at 9.15 and confirmed our answer on the boxer, who had obtained titles at 3 different weights - it wasn't Marvin Hagler. Kevster's birthday (40th) and he had eaten at a very posh restaurant in Reigate (Tony Tobin's Dining Room) with his mother and daughter. Seafood does not a gree with our Kevster, as the scallops had repeated!
At the end of the quiz, I was pretty confident as most questions had been answered without the need for consulation and reasoning, with both purpose and authority (Tina loves to scibble out wrong and, it was clear that the Wisdom of the Hounds would shine t hrough. This proved to be true.
The Hounds came out on top again with 108 points leaving the majority of teams lagging behind on 107. Hoorah, high fives for one and all and a subsequent tip to Kebabish, where Robin and I sampled their high quality cuisine - not quite in the league of Tony Tobin, but still very tasty after a few beers. I arrived home at 12.20am - far too late for a school night.
Hoorah for the Hound! More beer later please!
1st October 2009
Another Thursday, another quiz and to lend an Irish flavour to
proceedings, The O'Hounds made their way to the arena. In order of
arrival at the JF, the team was Daren, myself, Pete, Tina and Kevster;
in descending order of fine dining, pre-quiz meals were salmon, quiche,
a baguette, chicken and chips and a chicken burger and chips. Usual
rules apply.
To add extra spice to proceedings, one of the rival teams was made up
entirely of Sullivans, headed up Kevster's dad, a veteran of 30 years in
the Met. Tina knew she had to be on her best behaviour and no rioting
would be tolerated.
Onto the quiz and the O'Hounds came flying out of their blocks and led
after one round with 29/30. Onto the traditional music round and a true
team effort here with the answer sheet flying round the team with
everyone making contributions. We felt we'd done well here but after
round 2, although we were again disputing the lead with only 3 points
separated all the teams.
In the final round our standards slipped and with a poor true or false
round we felt we were back in the pack and would it be a tiebreaker?
Typically my short term memory has failed me and I can remember very few
of the answers, Guy Gibson,
www.wiki.answers.com/Q/How_long_is_a_venus_day (the question being is it
longer than an Earth year or was it a Venus year?) and Amy Winehouse are
about all I can come up.
Well, no surprise, all but one teams got exactly the same score and the
tie-breaker was, how many fans attended the first Wembley Cup Final?
www.wembleystadium.com/StadiumHistory/greatmoments/1steverwembleyFACupFi
nal.htm Apparently Daren knew this but in the confusion we went low and
the rest is history. The only consolation was the winners were our local
rivals Quizzards Sleeve and not the Sullivan family. All in all a
welcome return to normality.
proceedings, The O'Hounds made their way to the arena. In order of
arrival at the JF, the team was Daren, myself, Pete, Tina and Kevster;
in descending order of fine dining, pre-quiz meals were salmon, quiche,
a baguette, chicken and chips and a chicken burger and chips. Usual
rules apply.
To add extra spice to proceedings, one of the rival teams was made up
entirely of Sullivans, headed up Kevster's dad, a veteran of 30 years in
the Met. Tina knew she had to be on her best behaviour and no rioting
would be tolerated.
Onto the quiz and the O'Hounds came flying out of their blocks and led
after one round with 29/30. Onto the traditional music round and a true
team effort here with the answer sheet flying round the team with
everyone making contributions. We felt we'd done well here but after
round 2, although we were again disputing the lead with only 3 points
separated all the teams.
In the final round our standards slipped and with a poor true or false
round we felt we were back in the pack and would it be a tiebreaker?
Typically my short term memory has failed me and I can remember very few
of the answers, Guy Gibson,
www.wiki.answers.com/Q/How_long_is_a_venus_day (the question being is it
longer than an Earth year or was it a Venus year?) and Amy Winehouse are
about all I can come up.
Well, no surprise, all but one teams got exactly the same score and the
tie-breaker was, how many fans attended the first Wembley Cup Final?
www.wembleystadium.com/StadiumHistory/greatmoments/1steverwembleyFACupFi
nal.htm Apparently Daren knew this but in the confusion we went low and
the rest is history. The only consolation was the winners were our local
rivals Quizzards Sleeve and not the Sullivan family. All in all a
welcome return to normality.
8th october 2009
When it feels like, the world is on your shoulders.
And all of the madmen has got U going crazy.
It's time to get out, step out into the street.
Where all of the action is right there at your feet.
Well I know a place where we can dance the whole night away, underneath the electric stars.
Just come with me and we can shake your blues right away.
You'll be doing fine once the music starts.
Oh, feel the beat of the rhythm of the night.
The pre match entertainment was provided by the local loonies who treated us to their wild dancing to the 'choons in my head' followed by an interesting monologue about the Headmaster and wife murder in South Croydon.
But enough of such nonsense and on with the quiz..........
Theo was late and therefore there was a distinct lack of the usual pre-amble and it was straight nto the questions
Rodger, Lady Tina of Bear, El Barnetto, Kevster, Robson Hound and Smudger made up a somewhat unorthodox team flying under the flag of 'The Pink Hound'.
the food quiz this week is;
a kebab (assumed)
a Kebab
A kebab
a chicken curry
A chicken burger and chips
Not sure (Forgot to ask him)
Round 1 was Ok, marred by 3 wrong answers which I think were; who's youngest Robbie Williams or Ricky Martin? Which name means Butterfly, Vanessa or Vivienne? and a.n.other that escapes me for the moment.
Inbetween rounds a certain Mr Danny Bronson of Walton on the Hill submitted multiple entries for the 'win a mini' competition that had been handed out. Good luck Mr Bronson.
The music round bore up many juicy musical fruits , most of which we were low hanging and we were able to pick off. One that escaped us was the artist behind Rhythm of the night........... As Mr Rodger pointed out, our failure to get that was a Debargecle (Debacle).
Anyway, fair to say that the final round wasn't our finest although somewhere along the line Robson Hound showed his working out to get the speed that the earth rotates the sun. The Answers to the True or False were all True this week and the theme tune was Jaws and not Psycho.
Now usually when we get a great score everyone goes into a tie-break. Ho Hum. But this week, maybe because Theo was pushed for time, there was no tie break and a slightly disgruntled Hound came in Fourth.
We held a mini riot and then headed out onto the streets and made our ways home under spluttering street lights ..........
Twelve o'clock.
Along the reaches of the street
Held in a lunar synthesis,
Whispering lunar incantations
And all of the madmen has got U going crazy.
It's time to get out, step out into the street.
Where all of the action is right there at your feet.
Well I know a place where we can dance the whole night away, underneath the electric stars.
Just come with me and we can shake your blues right away.
You'll be doing fine once the music starts.
Oh, feel the beat of the rhythm of the night.
The pre match entertainment was provided by the local loonies who treated us to their wild dancing to the 'choons in my head' followed by an interesting monologue about the Headmaster and wife murder in South Croydon.
But enough of such nonsense and on with the quiz..........
Theo was late and therefore there was a distinct lack of the usual pre-amble and it was straight nto the questions
Rodger, Lady Tina of Bear, El Barnetto, Kevster, Robson Hound and Smudger made up a somewhat unorthodox team flying under the flag of 'The Pink Hound'.
the food quiz this week is;
a kebab (assumed)
a Kebab
A kebab
a chicken curry
A chicken burger and chips
Not sure (Forgot to ask him)
Round 1 was Ok, marred by 3 wrong answers which I think were; who's youngest Robbie Williams or Ricky Martin? Which name means Butterfly, Vanessa or Vivienne? and a.n.other that escapes me for the moment.
Inbetween rounds a certain Mr Danny Bronson of Walton on the Hill submitted multiple entries for the 'win a mini' competition that had been handed out. Good luck Mr Bronson.
The music round bore up many juicy musical fruits , most of which we were low hanging and we were able to pick off. One that escaped us was the artist behind Rhythm of the night........... As Mr Rodger pointed out, our failure to get that was a Debargecle (Debacle).
Anyway, fair to say that the final round wasn't our finest although somewhere along the line Robson Hound showed his working out to get the speed that the earth rotates the sun. The Answers to the True or False were all True this week and the theme tune was Jaws and not Psycho.
Now usually when we get a great score everyone goes into a tie-break. Ho Hum. But this week, maybe because Theo was pushed for time, there was no tie break and a slightly disgruntled Hound came in Fourth.
We held a mini riot and then headed out onto the streets and made our ways home under spluttering street lights ..........
Twelve o'clock.
Along the reaches of the street
Held in a lunar synthesis,
Whispering lunar incantations
29th October 2009
A new Thursday and a new position, planning to implement the shadow
team, we positioned ourselves round the corner from Theo by the ladies
loos. Central to the new plan was Pete turning up in disguise to act as
captain. We wondered if he was already in the pub in disguise having
spotted several likely candidates, but once 8pm came and went it was
clear he'd been grounded and with Kevster also out of action, Tina,
Daren and myself would have to revert to Plan A - enter under a Houndish
name and answer as many questions right as possible.
This is what we attempted and a solid first round saw us in the middle
of the pack. Onto the music round and it seemed to be 70s disco night,
Car Wash, Lady Marmalade, I Feel Love etc. None of our strong suits, is
it anyone's?, but again we didn't disgrace ourselves and we went into
the last round with chances.
A better true or false round than usual 4/5 and we managed a word out of
BARITONE but was clear from our new position in the pub were there were
some very large teams around, 11 Hamsters were counted, plus a few
others were making none too discreet use of phones. With eight teams
tied it looked like the whole quiz could go to tie break but two teams
broke the deadlock and a clear winner emerged. Daren expressed himself
confused.
Not a difficult one but pre match meals were a) bacon grills and chips
b) fish finger sandwich plus cheese on toast c) brie baguette. The rest
of the evening was spent discussing euthanasia, not as a consequence of
the quiz result, but I pity Daren if a few marbles start rolling around.
team, we positioned ourselves round the corner from Theo by the ladies
loos. Central to the new plan was Pete turning up in disguise to act as
captain. We wondered if he was already in the pub in disguise having
spotted several likely candidates, but once 8pm came and went it was
clear he'd been grounded and with Kevster also out of action, Tina,
Daren and myself would have to revert to Plan A - enter under a Houndish
name and answer as many questions right as possible.
This is what we attempted and a solid first round saw us in the middle
of the pack. Onto the music round and it seemed to be 70s disco night,
Car Wash, Lady Marmalade, I Feel Love etc. None of our strong suits, is
it anyone's?, but again we didn't disgrace ourselves and we went into
the last round with chances.
A better true or false round than usual 4/5 and we managed a word out of
BARITONE but was clear from our new position in the pub were there were
some very large teams around, 11 Hamsters were counted, plus a few
others were making none too discreet use of phones. With eight teams
tied it looked like the whole quiz could go to tie break but two teams
broke the deadlock and a clear winner emerged. Daren expressed himself
confused.
Not a difficult one but pre match meals were a) bacon grills and chips
b) fish finger sandwich plus cheese on toast c) brie baguette. The rest
of the evening was spent discussing euthanasia, not as a consequence of
the quiz result, but I pity Daren if a few marbles start rolling around.
12th November 2009
Good Morning,
I left work early yesterday to do my CV stuff - I've had a rather frustrating week to say the least. So, I rang Robson at 5.10pm. Robson was leaving the office and spoke to me in the L&G stairwell (sounded like he was in the toilet). We agreed on the our usual time at the Jolly Farmers (7pm). I then rang Daren Smith at 5.15pm - he was also leaving the office and getting into the lift - he was very worried about his connectivity!
I then watched the Weakest Link and caught the 6.28 to Purley. Mrs B phoned me as I was on the train and told me she had lost her keys - she was carrying a heavy computer and it was raining. I asked her if she was coming to the quiz - the answer was in the negative - so I told her to find the keys or she'd be sitting outside the house for a while - she found her keys!
So, I arrived just before 7 and the usual looneys were there listening to Bob Marley. I can't remember precisely what was eaten, but I can tell you that Robson had chicken curry for the 15th time this week! I had the amber nectar, which is why my head is a little fuzzy. You will see that this report is extremely detailed now, but my recollections of the quiz are somewhat blurred!
Last night, Robson, Smithers, El Barnetto and the Kevster Devster we were "The Fantastic Mr Hound". What a fantastic name. (Apologies for absence came from the tired Mrs Bear and Mrs B had quickly changed into her nighty - we looked out of the Jolly Farmers and saw that it was raining - no further explanation for absence needed).
I can remember what everyone was wearing so for further excitement, can you guess who was wearing what?
Blue shirt with squares.
Striped top
fleece top
jumper and shirt
The usual format ensued, but I think we were all in a calmer and more playful mood last night - Daren didn't riot about the double choice question until late in the first round!
The usual American Town question came up; i.e. Which is not an American town?
Hairy Nose
2 Egg
Intercourse
There was another one or two mentioned but again, the beer has distorted my memory!
The team were in with a shout of winning all the way and, the scoring was almost credible this week! We did exceptionally in the true or false round with every question correct - we thought we were in with a reasonable chance of winning. With many teams level on 102 points, the Hamsters (Kevster's old man) came in with 104 and the Fantastic Mr Hound came in with 105, only to be pipped by an excellent performance by the Usual Suspects with a massive 109 points!
We were then charmed by the lovely Robyn from Quizard Sleeve - Smithers wants to buy her synthesizers and Kevster discussed the ups and downs of West Ham United - until her boyfriend turned up.
There was also a new team this week "3 pints of lager and I'm yours" - lovely!
Daren mentioned Ms Bangers is due to become Mrs Bangers next Friday and Robin mentioned that Paul Colman is leaving L&G today. We also had a discussion about the merits of history amongst other bilge!
We left the Farmers at well after 11pm and we thought the excitement was over. Kevster very kindly offered me a lift home. As we were walking up Russell Hill we heard a yell and a shriek from a rather posh car. It was indeed the one and only Angela Garner (Nee Hargreaves). Kevster took me home and I ate the remains of Emma's pizza and went to bed.
Well, that's it. I only have two Fridays left at L&G - hoorah!
Shippoopi
I left work early yesterday to do my CV stuff - I've had a rather frustrating week to say the least. So, I rang Robson at 5.10pm. Robson was leaving the office and spoke to me in the L&G stairwell (sounded like he was in the toilet). We agreed on the our usual time at the Jolly Farmers (7pm). I then rang Daren Smith at 5.15pm - he was also leaving the office and getting into the lift - he was very worried about his connectivity!
I then watched the Weakest Link and caught the 6.28 to Purley. Mrs B phoned me as I was on the train and told me she had lost her keys - she was carrying a heavy computer and it was raining. I asked her if she was coming to the quiz - the answer was in the negative - so I told her to find the keys or she'd be sitting outside the house for a while - she found her keys!
So, I arrived just before 7 and the usual looneys were there listening to Bob Marley. I can't remember precisely what was eaten, but I can tell you that Robson had chicken curry for the 15th time this week! I had the amber nectar, which is why my head is a little fuzzy. You will see that this report is extremely detailed now, but my recollections of the quiz are somewhat blurred!
Last night, Robson, Smithers, El Barnetto and the Kevster Devster we were "The Fantastic Mr Hound". What a fantastic name. (Apologies for absence came from the tired Mrs Bear and Mrs B had quickly changed into her nighty - we looked out of the Jolly Farmers and saw that it was raining - no further explanation for absence needed).
I can remember what everyone was wearing so for further excitement, can you guess who was wearing what?
Blue shirt with squares.
Striped top
fleece top
jumper and shirt
The usual format ensued, but I think we were all in a calmer and more playful mood last night - Daren didn't riot about the double choice question until late in the first round!
The usual American Town question came up; i.e. Which is not an American town?
Hairy Nose
2 Egg
Intercourse
There was another one or two mentioned but again, the beer has distorted my memory!
The team were in with a shout of winning all the way and, the scoring was almost credible this week! We did exceptionally in the true or false round with every question correct - we thought we were in with a reasonable chance of winning. With many teams level on 102 points, the Hamsters (Kevster's old man) came in with 104 and the Fantastic Mr Hound came in with 105, only to be pipped by an excellent performance by the Usual Suspects with a massive 109 points!
We were then charmed by the lovely Robyn from Quizard Sleeve - Smithers wants to buy her synthesizers and Kevster discussed the ups and downs of West Ham United - until her boyfriend turned up.
There was also a new team this week "3 pints of lager and I'm yours" - lovely!
Daren mentioned Ms Bangers is due to become Mrs Bangers next Friday and Robin mentioned that Paul Colman is leaving L&G today. We also had a discussion about the merits of history amongst other bilge!
We left the Farmers at well after 11pm and we thought the excitement was over. Kevster very kindly offered me a lift home. As we were walking up Russell Hill we heard a yell and a shriek from a rather posh car. It was indeed the one and only Angela Garner (Nee Hargreaves). Kevster took me home and I ate the remains of Emma's pizza and went to bed.
Well, that's it. I only have two Fridays left at L&G - hoorah!
Shippoopi
4th December 2009
What with November being the new holiday season recent Hound appearances at The Jolly Farmers have been somewhat restricted. Robson Hound was still away for this fixture and indeed Mr Smith only made it back from 2 weeks of pyramids, diving and Russian models 48 hours before. El Barnetto was away in that London watching the live recording of HIGNFY and so it was just Smith and I who comprised a somewhat straightforwardly named 'The Hound'. Although an honourable shout must go to 'Geoff' who was semi-officially recruited in the smoking area by Daren and did his best to help the pair of us out in the later rounds.
There was no pre-match food this week to speak of but, for Danny's amusement; one of wore trainers and the other, shoes - which was which?
After a slow start we were 4 behind the lead at the end of Round 1 and had dropped to 5 behind at the end of the second.
The final round yeilded a 'TTFTT'. which we were nowhere near, and 'SLEDGING', which Daren quickly got.
And so it finished - with The Hound on 103 and the winners on 108. Daren very much wanted me to point out that he and I were therefore clearly one point better than Robson Hound as he finished 6 point behind the winner when he competed without us.
There were no Hamsters this week and no incidents on the 40 minute bus ride home.
The End.
There was no pre-match food this week to speak of but, for Danny's amusement; one of wore trainers and the other, shoes - which was which?
After a slow start we were 4 behind the lead at the end of Round 1 and had dropped to 5 behind at the end of the second.
The final round yeilded a 'TTFTT'. which we were nowhere near, and 'SLEDGING', which Daren quickly got.
And so it finished - with The Hound on 103 and the winners on 108. Daren very much wanted me to point out that he and I were therefore clearly one point better than Robson Hound as he finished 6 point behind the winner when he competed without us.
There were no Hamsters this week and no incidents on the 40 minute bus ride home.
The End.
17th December 2009 (Xmas do)
A quick reminder of last week's 'Grand day out' for those that went. And for those that didn't, apologies for the long story, but there's a lot to pack in.
We met under snow laden-skies last Thursday at The Blue Ball in Walton on the Hill at about 13:00. The 'we' being a disparate band comprising Robin,Kevin,Pete,Danny, Az, Mr C. and myself.
The Blue Ball was to provide us with sustenance for the long day of 'hard boozing' that lay ahead and a flurry of sandwiches arrived just as we were in a heated discussion about Barber versus GRE (1990). It was also noted at this juncture that the number of hounds in employment were outnumberd by those 'resting' by 3 to 4. A sign of the times.
After the pesky eating was out of the way we moved on to The Chequers to get down to some serious drinking in a very pleasant setting. So pleasant was it, that Pete busied himself with concoocting plans for getting one of the bar tables home with him. After a couple of pints here or maybe 3 it was time to head off again and to say adieu to Az and Mr C.
The next pub was The Hare & Hounds, where Danny regaled us with tales of what the bar-maid was prepared to get up to by way of keeping her patrons happy. Tony and Brammers joined us at this stage. I'm sure there's no connection.
With great reluctance Pete supped up his ale and we left the bar-maids dubious charms and ventured out into the wilds of Banstead Heath. It being dark now we had the devil's own job of avoiding the puddles on the muddy track that leads up to 'The Rat'. Unfortunately the Rat doesn't open until 17.30 and we'd arrived some 10 minutes earlier and so stood outside trying to stay warm by the glow of a Marlboro lite. A car pulled up and an old fella, who we mistakenly took to be the landlord shouted out of the window "what are you fookers doing there? Get the b4stard to open up, I'm dying for a drink". It seemed a sensible plan and we complied.
Once we'd roused the landlord we enjoyed a few games of bar billiards whilst warming ourselves by the side of a roaring log fire. All was well in the world of the Hounds.
But soon enough it was time to say goodbye to Brammers and to head off to Banstead station for the train back into Purley. Tony kindly gave us all a lift to the station - have you ever seen a car packed with 6 Hounds, 5 of whom were slightly worse for wear?
Tony disgorged his merry cargo at the station with 13 minutes to go until the next train. More than enough time to visit the local 'offy' and purchase a pack of Sol for the journey. Danny was startled to hear Pete's mate, Troy, speaking to him over the railway Station's assistance intercom and the journey into Purley was taken up with a game of sh1thead, which Pete lost.
On arriving in Purley, Danny showed me the alleyway and exact spot where he lost his virginity - which was nice - and we finally we made it to The Jolly Farmers for the quiz.
Going under the sobriquet of 'A hound is not just for xmas' we were somewhat surprised, given our addled state, to be leading after the first round. Even more so to be leading after the second. By this stage it was snowing heavily and the night seemed to be enchanted
But something went awry with the third round and somehow we conspired to finish six points off the lead and in third place. Unfortunately no-one i have spoken to so far can recall any of the questions so no idea what happened there. Danny did point out that the state of our answer sheet, ripped to shreds and soaked with beer and pernod and covered in some drunkard's scrawl, may have had something to do with it.
Then to top the night off, our arch rivals 'Quizzards Sleeve' walked off with the £450 raffle prize. At this point I cried into my Pastis and took my leave as I wasn't sure about the look of the band that were playing. 'As gay as Christmas' was Robin's assessment.
Suffice to say Kevster rioted on the bus on his way home.
Plans are afoot to hold a similar 'Summer Hound do' possibly incorporating the final night of the quiz league, which is sometime in May. So listen out for further announcements.
We met under snow laden-skies last Thursday at The Blue Ball in Walton on the Hill at about 13:00. The 'we' being a disparate band comprising Robin,Kevin,Pete,Danny, Az, Mr C. and myself.
The Blue Ball was to provide us with sustenance for the long day of 'hard boozing' that lay ahead and a flurry of sandwiches arrived just as we were in a heated discussion about Barber versus GRE (1990). It was also noted at this juncture that the number of hounds in employment were outnumberd by those 'resting' by 3 to 4. A sign of the times.
After the pesky eating was out of the way we moved on to The Chequers to get down to some serious drinking in a very pleasant setting. So pleasant was it, that Pete busied himself with concoocting plans for getting one of the bar tables home with him. After a couple of pints here or maybe 3 it was time to head off again and to say adieu to Az and Mr C.
The next pub was The Hare & Hounds, where Danny regaled us with tales of what the bar-maid was prepared to get up to by way of keeping her patrons happy. Tony and Brammers joined us at this stage. I'm sure there's no connection.
With great reluctance Pete supped up his ale and we left the bar-maids dubious charms and ventured out into the wilds of Banstead Heath. It being dark now we had the devil's own job of avoiding the puddles on the muddy track that leads up to 'The Rat'. Unfortunately the Rat doesn't open until 17.30 and we'd arrived some 10 minutes earlier and so stood outside trying to stay warm by the glow of a Marlboro lite. A car pulled up and an old fella, who we mistakenly took to be the landlord shouted out of the window "what are you fookers doing there? Get the b4stard to open up, I'm dying for a drink". It seemed a sensible plan and we complied.
Once we'd roused the landlord we enjoyed a few games of bar billiards whilst warming ourselves by the side of a roaring log fire. All was well in the world of the Hounds.
But soon enough it was time to say goodbye to Brammers and to head off to Banstead station for the train back into Purley. Tony kindly gave us all a lift to the station - have you ever seen a car packed with 6 Hounds, 5 of whom were slightly worse for wear?
Tony disgorged his merry cargo at the station with 13 minutes to go until the next train. More than enough time to visit the local 'offy' and purchase a pack of Sol for the journey. Danny was startled to hear Pete's mate, Troy, speaking to him over the railway Station's assistance intercom and the journey into Purley was taken up with a game of sh1thead, which Pete lost.
On arriving in Purley, Danny showed me the alleyway and exact spot where he lost his virginity - which was nice - and we finally we made it to The Jolly Farmers for the quiz.
Going under the sobriquet of 'A hound is not just for xmas' we were somewhat surprised, given our addled state, to be leading after the first round. Even more so to be leading after the second. By this stage it was snowing heavily and the night seemed to be enchanted
But something went awry with the third round and somehow we conspired to finish six points off the lead and in third place. Unfortunately no-one i have spoken to so far can recall any of the questions so no idea what happened there. Danny did point out that the state of our answer sheet, ripped to shreds and soaked with beer and pernod and covered in some drunkard's scrawl, may have had something to do with it.
Then to top the night off, our arch rivals 'Quizzards Sleeve' walked off with the £450 raffle prize. At this point I cried into my Pastis and took my leave as I wasn't sure about the look of the band that were playing. 'As gay as Christmas' was Robin's assessment.
Suffice to say Kevster rioted on the bus on his way home.
Plans are afoot to hold a similar 'Summer Hound do' possibly incorporating the final night of the quiz league, which is sometime in May. So listen out for further announcements.
10th December 2009
As part of our regular update and by way of introduction to those of you who may be attending the quiz next week, a brief summary of last nights performance follows;
Only 2 of us this week, myself and the Kevster. Theo kicked the quiz off in the normal manner at 8.30 with Round 1 which consists of 30 general knowledge questions. We stumbled over the length of the Berlin wall and relative sizes of Sumatra and Borneo but were pleased to come out of the round on 26 which was just 1 point off the lead.
The music round was next up and we were pleased with Apache by the Shadows and Bizet for the opera question but less so by failing to get Julie Covington. The Name that tune section went well with the correct identification of the Yogi Bear theme tune, amongst others.
And so we entered the final round handily placed just 1 point off the lead and in a chasing pack of about 4 teams. I dont think that anyone got the answer to anagram of ACTIVATE although we did come up with the right answer but didn't have the courage of our convictions.
The final round stretched the field a bit and we were pleased with our performance, finishing in clear third just 2 points behind the winners. Not bad for a team of 2. If only we'd had a bigger team we might of known the fictional town that Heartbeat is set in and the time it took Amir Khan to achieve his ko (was it 76 seconds or 86?) and we might have won.
Anyway - next week's raffle prize is up to £450 with only 4 keys to choose from - So I hope to see a full complement of Hounds winning not only the quiz but the raffle too.
Good day to you all
Only 2 of us this week, myself and the Kevster. Theo kicked the quiz off in the normal manner at 8.30 with Round 1 which consists of 30 general knowledge questions. We stumbled over the length of the Berlin wall and relative sizes of Sumatra and Borneo but were pleased to come out of the round on 26 which was just 1 point off the lead.
The music round was next up and we were pleased with Apache by the Shadows and Bizet for the opera question but less so by failing to get Julie Covington. The Name that tune section went well with the correct identification of the Yogi Bear theme tune, amongst others.
And so we entered the final round handily placed just 1 point off the lead and in a chasing pack of about 4 teams. I dont think that anyone got the answer to anagram of ACTIVATE although we did come up with the right answer but didn't have the courage of our convictions.
The final round stretched the field a bit and we were pleased with our performance, finishing in clear third just 2 points behind the winners. Not bad for a team of 2. If only we'd had a bigger team we might of known the fictional town that Heartbeat is set in and the time it took Amir Khan to achieve his ko (was it 76 seconds or 86?) and we might have won.
Anyway - next week's raffle prize is up to £450 with only 4 keys to choose from - So I hope to see a full complement of Hounds winning not only the quiz but the raffle too.
Good day to you all
7th January 2010
The first quiz since the drunken escapade three weeks ago and the Hounds were straining at their respective leashes. Even though Daren's "mystery guest" didn't materialise, we still had a more than respectable team of five with Emma B augmenting the four regulars. Footwear was a pair of brown shoes, a pair of black shoes, a pair of Christian Louboutin's and two pairs of trainers. With both Emma and Daren securing WFH Fridays, spirits were high.
Conditions, or maybe it being January meant slightly fewer teams than normal but deadly rivals Quizzards Sleeve and The Hamsters were both in attendance and sat nearby. SnowHound adopted their usual front running tactics with 28/30 on the first round (actually 26 right plus a possible) meant we tied for the lead. The music round followed a diva sort of theme and our respective knowledges dovetailed beautifully with barely a question incorrect. We were unable to extend our lead however and it was to be all on the final round, for a change.
Emma's entertainment and film knowledge really came to the fore here as those questions where we normally sit around blankly and look at each other were answered with confidence. Despite a difference of opinion on the Cher song, was it "If I Could Turn Back Time" of "Gypsies Tramps and Thieves"? (it was the latter) and the usual true or false lottery (they were all true) we felt we were in the mixer. The hot rumour was we were in for a tie-break and we steeled ourselves for this but SnowHound emerged as a clear two point winner! Our Hound party drinks now include a case of stella.
After that a band, which I think was the owner and a couple of mates came on and Daren and Kevster worked through what their set would be on open mic night. Sounds like a treat for everyone.
Conditions, or maybe it being January meant slightly fewer teams than normal but deadly rivals Quizzards Sleeve and The Hamsters were both in attendance and sat nearby. SnowHound adopted their usual front running tactics with 28/30 on the first round (actually 26 right plus a possible) meant we tied for the lead. The music round followed a diva sort of theme and our respective knowledges dovetailed beautifully with barely a question incorrect. We were unable to extend our lead however and it was to be all on the final round, for a change.
Emma's entertainment and film knowledge really came to the fore here as those questions where we normally sit around blankly and look at each other were answered with confidence. Despite a difference of opinion on the Cher song, was it "If I Could Turn Back Time" of "Gypsies Tramps and Thieves"? (it was the latter) and the usual true or false lottery (they were all true) we felt we were in the mixer. The hot rumour was we were in for a tie-break and we steeled ourselves for this but SnowHound emerged as a clear two point winner! Our Hound party drinks now include a case of stella.
After that a band, which I think was the owner and a couple of mates came on and Daren and Kevster worked through what their set would be on open mic night. Sounds like a treat for everyone.
14th Janaury 2010
2010 is rapidly turning into The Year of the Hound.
SmithD2, Robsonhound and yours truly notched a second successive quiz victory, leading from gun to tape, to defend their title of weekly champions.
Having shivered to glory last week under the moniker of Snow Hound we thawed slightly this, and entered ourselves (!) as The Slush Puppies
There was no pre-match food to speak of (aside from a rather disappointing packet of Ham & Mustard crisps) but an interesting development in the footwear stakes with all three participants wearing trainers - identify them at your leisure;
1 white
1 blue
1 grey
We got but a couple wrong in the first round to lead jointly with The Hamsters - only got one wrong in the second, music, round and to claim the outright lead and ended up a point ahead of anyone else. Along the way we correctly identified the only false American town name from the following; Chunky, Kermit, Wham, Bum Pass, Bandy Legs and Yazoo but we went for five x True in the True or False round and it was actuallyTTFFF. Ridiculous. We struggled initially with the anagram (NICENESS) but Robson eventually proved he's not just all about the numbers and produced the answer just in the nick of time for our final, and ultimately decisive, point.
Our winning score of 110 is the highest I can remember and approximately equivalent to the number of cans of dreadful Australian lager that have now been won and are maturing chez Smithd2 ahead of the end of season wassail.
Three cheers for The Hound - hip-hip, woof-woof; hip-hip, woof-woof; hip-hip, woof-woof.
SmithD2, Robsonhound and yours truly notched a second successive quiz victory, leading from gun to tape, to defend their title of weekly champions.
Having shivered to glory last week under the moniker of Snow Hound we thawed slightly this, and entered ourselves (!) as The Slush Puppies
There was no pre-match food to speak of (aside from a rather disappointing packet of Ham & Mustard crisps) but an interesting development in the footwear stakes with all three participants wearing trainers - identify them at your leisure;
1 white
1 blue
1 grey
We got but a couple wrong in the first round to lead jointly with The Hamsters - only got one wrong in the second, music, round and to claim the outright lead and ended up a point ahead of anyone else. Along the way we correctly identified the only false American town name from the following; Chunky, Kermit, Wham, Bum Pass, Bandy Legs and Yazoo but we went for five x True in the True or False round and it was actuallyTTFFF. Ridiculous. We struggled initially with the anagram (NICENESS) but Robson eventually proved he's not just all about the numbers and produced the answer just in the nick of time for our final, and ultimately decisive, point.
Our winning score of 110 is the highest I can remember and approximately equivalent to the number of cans of dreadful Australian lager that have now been won and are maturing chez Smithd2 ahead of the end of season wassail.
Three cheers for The Hound - hip-hip, woof-woof; hip-hip, woof-woof; hip-hip, woof-woof.
21st January 2010
For those of you unable to attend last night, this week's status report seeks to replicate some of the excitement of the Thursday night quiz by taking the form of a True or False round.
Quite straightforward, the traditional 5 questions and all you have to do is say whether the statements are TRUE or FALSE. Please don't use your mobile phones or shout out the answers.
Remember, they may all be true, they may all be false............
Right, i'll give you a few moments to hand iyour answers in and dont forget raffle tickets are still on sale.
Quite straightforward, the traditional 5 questions and all you have to do is say whether the statements are TRUE or FALSE. Please don't use your mobile phones or shout out the answers.
Remember, they may all be true, they may all be false............
- This week's team went under the topical name of 'The Hound's Golden Globes'
- This week's team consisted of four members; Robson Hound, Kevster, Daren and Nicky F
- The mid quiz snacks consisted of a tub of hot nuts and a packet of Hula Hoops
- In round 2, The 3 Wise Monkeys (fronted by our erstwhile friend Jeff) were disqualified for shouting out answers and were subsequently barred from getting drinks at the bar
- Despite finishing second, The Hound still walked off with a crate of Becks as the winners took the bottle of wine
Right, i'll give you a few moments to hand iyour answers in and dont forget raffle tickets are still on sale.
January28th 2010
Apologies all, I've been, ahem, busy for most of the morning. Apologies for the slight formality of the format.
Attendees
Hound were Nicky, Daren, Kevin and myself. Two hounds walked to the JF, two got the train. Pre-quiz meals were, in descending order of calorific content:
Meat pie and chips
Bacon sandwich and salmon sandwich
Hot nuts
Blueberries and a banana.
Please match the meal and mode of transport to the hound.
Indecisiveness
Despite a suggestion of Apple's New iHound, this was felt a bit clanky by some of the team, well Daren. Lots of alternatives were suggested and pooh-poohed. I actually can't remember what we finished up as; not a good start.
The Quiz
Not a great start and we didn't even get the phoney American town, clearly missing Tina's influence. Despite the music round being a rum old collection, we actually did very well and pulled up to joint lead. I think a record 11 teams contested the tie-break. We didn't win, neither were we second.
Questions
I can't remember the anagram question but can remember the answer - so what's an anagram of neurosis?
How many carats was the Cullinan diamond (the largest ever found) in it's uncut state?
Drinks
Bit different to the usual fare. Nicky drank industrial quantities of merlot. Kevster saw fit to throw the last pint of Kronenbourg in the pub over Daren, forcing a switch to Amstel. I drank Brains Dark - which had the consistency and taste of treacle.
Robin.
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