Quiz Fiend's First Victory!

Yes, it's true. For the very first time since starting this blog, the sweet aroma of a win has found its way to my team and smothered us with its warm embrace. Back at the (rather appropriately named) Victory pub this time, after the first half this feat looked very much in doubt. However, an almost unprecedented second half spurt secured us 1st place by just two points. Obviously, I'm understandably chuffed at this outcome, but that doesn't mean that I'll be overlooking my standard dissection of the ones that got away. Here we go...

22/07/2014
My team: Me + 4 others
Total points: 84/100 (1st)

With only 3 more points than last time, it doesn't look quite so impressive, but that's how these things often pan out. We were still £30 better off than last time.

Questions incorrect:
1-3) The 'Starter for Ten' was to name 10 of the 14 most populous cities (proper) in the world. We managed 7/10.
4) Which is the largest of the Greek Ionian islands?
5) Which of these cities is furthest north - Edinburgh, Copenhagen or Moscow?
6) Which liquid is the basis for Tabasco sauce?
7) Which company invented instant coffee?
71/2) The ilium is found where in the body?
8) The ileum is found where in the body?

The Starter for 10 is a fairly contentious minefield (not helped by the figures for the quiz being 4 years old) and I intend to write a guide to it in the near future. As for the others, here are the correct answers:

4) Cephalonia
5) Edinburgh
6) Vinegar
7) Nestle
71/2) The hip
8) Small intestine

The excuses:
4) We went for Corfu, which as it turns out is the second largest Ionian island. So as guesses go, we didn't have too much to be ashamed of.
Quiz nugget: Cephalonia is the setting for Louis de Bernieres' award winning 1994 novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin.
5) Latitudes are always a pain in the backside and my crudely drawn map ruined the day, opting for Moscow. If I hadn't bothered, we would have got the point.
Quiz nugget: Edinburgh is known as the 'Athens of the North' due to it's historically high educational reputation.
6) Not one that I even felt qualified to hazard a guess at.
Quiz nugget: Tabasco sauce was first produced in Louisiana in 1868 (and not the Mexican state of Tabasco)
7) Here is the story according to Nestle, who claim to have invented it in 1938. We went for Nescafe (the brand name).
71/2) We got 1 point for putting down 'pelvis', which seems a little harsh. Wikipedia's definition of the ilium is 'the largest bone of the pelvis'.
8) Another 1 pointer, this time more justifiably. We needed to specify 'small' for both marks. Apparently 'Ileum' is from the Greek meaning 'to twist up tightly'.

So there we have it. Not bad for a few hours work! I know you probably won't share all of my joy as you read this but I hope this has at least quenched your ravenous thirst until my next upload. See you soon, and as always, don't hesitate to correct anything I've put down here.

Toodles.