The Archdeacon of Bedford...

Thursday 27th March 2014
Purley Arms
(written by The Greenest Hound - posted by Kevster)


The Hound gathered one by one at the Purley Arms, arrival timings staggered by circa 5 minutes in what appeared to Daren, being the first arrival, as a deliberate plot to make him go to the bar and buy 5 individual drinks. No exciting pre-match dinner stories surfaced, although it was noted that the "Arms" was actually doing food on this spring evening, a first since July 2013 if I'm not mistaken.

The first round consisted of anagrams of Oscar winning actors and actresses which we duly rattled through quickly, although Graham's exclamation of William Robins would have got Mr Spooner very excited. Perhaps the most coincidentally remarkable would have been that Clint Eastwood creates the anagram Old West Action! A fine 10/10 in this round.

Full list:

MONK HATS (TOM HANKS), OLD WEST ACTION (CLINT EASTWOOD), RESTYLE PERM (MERYL STREEP), ALLOW MINI RIBS (ROBIN WILLIAMS), OPULENCE PREZ (PENELOPE CRUZ), CANYON SNEER (SEAN CONNERY), UNCORKS BALLAD (SANDRA BULLOCK), WENT TALKIES (KATE WINSLET), CIAO PLAN (AL PACINO) & RAREY BLEH (HALLE BERRY).

The second round as usual was on current affairs, the usual tabloid "stories" abounded with the Hound scoring a reasonable 8/10, the two incorrect being where the party Prince Harry and his current squeeze had chosen to holiday (Khazakstan apparently rather than Barbados) and the number of former followers of the deposed Egyptian President Morsi who faced a death sentence (528 rather than the Hound's 546).

3rd round focussed on Mothers, being immediately prior to Mother's day, to which a full house of points was garnered through a full team contribution. A conversation subsequently ensued that Gin (Mother's ruin) was actually just flavoured Vodka, which it is!

4th round, the connections round, started with a question on who was the British cycling athlete who had won the Champs Elysee stage of the TDF on no less than four consecutive occasions. Cavendish the answer, Robson immediately touted the connection as the Great Escape. A speculation the remaining 80% of the team were dubious to accept at such an early stage. Following further questions on Thunderbird 2's pilot (Virgil), Harry Enfield's greek arsenal supporter (Stavros)and where the Royal regatta is staged (Henly)the fog started to clear and the connection was confirmed. There was not the least bit of gloating by Robson though and no insistence that this feat was recorded in the blog was thrust upon the minute taker! A sound 9/10.

A full 30 in the three 10 pointer questions started to add to the uneasy feeling starting to develop having won the last three quizzes, the last donating the money to Sport Relief. It became clear that pre-agreed strategies may need to come into play to keep the locals from becoming (more) restless. Questions were: Colour of Double word square in Scrabble (Pink), Russian Premier in 1991 (Yeltzin) and whose advertising tag line was "The appliance of science" (Zanussi).

Mid quiz break and amongst the furious Googling for previous unsureties, Graham returned from his turn in the chair at the bar clutching two large packets of Flaming Hot Mega Monster Munch (20% extra no less). Sustenance gratefully received by the team, they were demolished in mere seconds.

Round 5 was the top ten BBC comedies as surveyed in 2010. Much deliberation and shouts of "no, Channel 4!", "that was ITV", "did anyone really like that!", we settled on our 10. I believe we got 7 but they were rattled through so quickly I cannot be sure, my reactions dulled by the imbibing of a number of Hop based effervescent beverages. Most notable exclusion from our list was Yes Minister.

Daren piped up that he likes Bottom, out of the blue which was rapidly brushed over, as there was no evidence that this was related to the last round or not.

Jeopardy next. Exit strategy already agreed up front we answered all ten sensibly, actually gaining an admirable 8 on which we were confident, failing only on number of counties in Ireland (32 to our 33) and first film with both Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks (Joe vs the Volcano to our Sleepless in Seattle). Wipeout no points and no face lost.

Last round music as usual and even Graham's extensive musical knowledge was stretched with Einstein a Go Go confused with Blondie and Stereophonics confused with the original version of Handbags. An acceptable 13 in that round.

Chocolates win missed out on by 1 year. First year Premium Bonds issued (1955 to our 1956).

The Hound were second by 16 points, incidentally the points we "threw" in the jeopardy round, and honour was restored.

We all departed our separate ways into the night, Kevster's beeline for what is now known as the Epic chicken kebab. He's just saying.....

Gloves off next Thursday and no pulling punches.