News From the Bar Wars Front

Hi again ladies and gentlemen, you've come to the right place. I wouldn't dream of letting you down. So sit back and get ready for the blow by blow report of our relatively unspectacular outing at Bar Wars this week. As usual, we had our great moments, but sadly a Wipeout round and a couple of other misfortunes greeted us this week, resulting in a relatively poor set of results this time. But on the bright side, at least we have some idea on what to revise with a vengeance. Here's the damage...

17/08/2014
Venue: First Bowl Hereford Arena                   Team: Me + 3 others
Score: 53/81 (7th)                                          Final Fling: 9/15 - 1st (but no cash)

I need not remind my more regular readers that 7th is the worst position I have posted in a quiz since I began this blog. However, this score summary might reveal the real Achilles' heels.

Picture Round: 15/15
General Knowledge: 10/10
That Wars the Week That Wars: 7/11
Wipeout: 0/15 (WIPEOUT!)
Screenplay: 8/10
Music Round: 13/20

We had 7 correct questions on the Wipeout and we contested our nemesis question to no avail. More on that below. Had we not wiped out we would have had 8/10, giving us joint 3rd place with 61. We also had our worst music round performance for some time. At last then, we get to the ones that stumped us. A * signifies a Wipeout Question.

Questions 

1) Which boys name replaced Harry as the most popular boy's name in England and Wales in 2013? (The new list was out this week)

2) Google has started conducting research into why which animals are eating its fibre optic cables?

3) Who won this years edition of Big Brother?

4) 10 years ago this week, which Cornish village was the victim of dreadful flooding?

5) What is the Guinness World Record for balancing spoons on the human body - 47 or 53?*

6) Which was the first British football club to win a 'major' European trophy?*

7) Identify the Robin Williams film from this quote - 'I is disgustipated.'

8) Same criteria as 7) - 'If we were interested in making money, we wouldn't have become teachers.'

Among the music questions we failed to identify were Viva Forever by the Spice Girls, something by Pharrell Williams and something else that we thought was by Take That but didn't turn out to be. We also incorrectly named the song 'Bonfire Heart' by James Blunt as just 'Bonfire'. Did those faze you?

Answers

1) Oliver
2) Sharks
3) Helen Wood
4) Boscastle
5) 53
6) Tottenham Hotspur (contested)
7) Popeye
8) Flubber

The Excuses

1) This was a little irritating as I had seen the list a few days before. We went with Jack, which is always popular, but unfortunately for us, Jack currently lurks at #2 in the chart, poised for a comeback if necessary. As it happens, Jack was the top baby name in England and Wales for 15 years (1994 - 2008).
The Know-down: Harry, Jacob and Charlie round out the England and Wales top 5 this year. The top girls name for 2013 was Amelia.

2) I have to take the blame for this one. Despite my team mate having thought he'd heard the correct

A hungry shark stalks its delicious prey

answer, I disparaged the idea that the story was about underwater cables, and lost out as a result. Our final guess of rabbit was about as far away as it could reasonably be.
The Know-down: According to this article, the first deep ocean fibre optic cable, laid in 1989, failed 4 times due to attacks by sharks, so this is hardly a new problem. Google is trying to resolve the problem by adding a Kevlar-like coating to the cables.

3) Why do you do this to us Leon? Why? I was only faintly aware that Big Brother was still going, and had no idea that it was currently airing. To be honest, I was pretty proud of our vague answer of Gemma, and I really don't have that much more to say on the matter.

Wood, delighted at taking part in the contest

The Know-down: The concept of Big Brother is taken from George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984. It was developed by John de Mol and originally aired in the Netherlands before being exported all over the world. There have been 33 total series of the UK version, 15 regular, 14 celebrity editions and 4 'special series' whatever they are. I fear it might destroy my soul if I investigate too much. The show originally aired in the UK in 2000 on Channel 4, but began being shown on Channel 5 in 2011.

Boscastle, not quite in its prime...

4) Even though I'd read this article a few days ago, I felt sure something like this would never come up in a quiz. I mean that would be a big farfetched, right? Wrong.
The Know-down: Boscastle is on Cornwall's north coast and is part of the county's Outstanding Area of Natural Beauty. Luckily, no one died as a direct result of the 2004 floods. The town is also home to a Museum of Witchcraft.

Elchiyev credits this feat to his magnetic personality

5) * Either number was impressive, so there's no point risking it on a wipeout.
The Know-down: The record belongs to Georgian kickboxing trainer Etibar Elchiyev and he broke his own record of 50 in doing so. Here's a video of him doing so.

The offending cup

6) * WIPEOUT! I suppose this one really depends on your definition of 'major European trophy'. One of our football mad team members was not happy at all. Tottenham Hotspur is the answer given as they won the now defunct European Cup Winner's Cup (a tournament of domestic league winners from European countries) in 1961. However, the tournament was not recognised by UEFA as official until the 1962/3 season, adding another web of controversy to this question. In its defence, the ECWC was later recognised as the second most prestigious European Cup after the UEFA Champions League. Celtic won this league in 1967, which was our answer and thus doomed us.


Unbelievably, Popeye is not
considered among William's best work

7) Yes, this was part of a round dedicated to Robin Williams, who of course sadly died this week. I think we did him justice, except on these two questions. We went for Flubber on this one. To be honest, I don't feel too bad about not having seen Popeye.
The Know-down: This 1980 film was directed by Robert Altman and co-stars Shelley Duvall. It was William's first ever foray into the world of cinema.

8) Not perhaps the most stand out quote from Flubber. We put Good Will Hunting, knowing it was wrong, but not having a reasonable alternative.
The Know-down: Flubber was released in 1997, and is a remake of the 1961 film The Absent-Minded Professor. It co stars Marcia Gay Harden and Jodi Benson as Weebo.

Final Fling

After the Wipeout, this is what we were in it for. Blank slate and all that. Unfortunately, it was not to be and the cash is once again drifting over to next time. Here are the 6 culprits. Well done to you if you got these, especially the first four.

1) Black Amish is a type of which fruit?

2) Berger's Disease affects which organ of the body?

3) In which decade of the 20th Century were women first admitted to the London Stock Exchange?

4) A rabologist is a collector of what?

5) Who presents the Channel 4 TV programme Property Ladder?

6) Which US state is known as the 'Sunflower State'?

Answers

1) Apple
2) Kidneys
3) 1970s (1973)
4) Walking sticks
5) Sarah Beeny
6) Kansas

The Excuses

1) Sometimes, it really just is best to go for the simple answer, if you don't know. Fruits are always tricky ones for us.
The Know-down: Unsurprisingly, the apple is thought to have originated in Pennsylvania.

2) We put liver. Sadly our resident doctor in waiting hadn't joined us this week.
The Know-down: Berger's disease is also known as IgA nephropathy. It should not be confused with Buerger's disease, which mainly affects the hands and feet.

The hallmark of equality

3) Not much surprises me about the position of women in past society, but I have to say that this did.

A collector's item

The Know-down: The London Stock Exchange was formed in 1773, so the addition of women took 200 years to achieve.


4) Are you having a laugh?


5) I should have got this. I even said the answer, but I hate house programmes and we ended going with Kirsty Allsopp.
The Know-down: The show has been running since 2001, and follows amateur property developers renovating houses and trying to make a profit out of them. Beeny has presented all 7 series.

6) You either know it or you don't. But we should have known it. I think panic had set in a little by this stage.
The Know-down: Kansas became a state in 1861, just as civil war was breaking out. It is named after the Kansas river. Other nicknames include 'The Wheat State', 'Midway USA', The Cyclone State' and 'Bleeding Kansas' among many others.

Let me know how you found those.

I'll have to leave things here as not only am I exhausted, but my father is determined to turn the internet off by 12 after something he read in the Daily Express (am I the only one who's a little sceptical?) and I have quite a few other things to do before that. Until later then.