OSA Event

ORC pub quiz: ‘Older and Wiser’ romp home to magnificent (2nd place) victory

(from our ring-side match correspondent)

The omens were poor and the playing conditions quite uncertain. Although (or maybe because) the team had engaged in a pre-match practice session in the Crown, there was every indication that it would be, once again, a complete and utter farce.

Though short on wisdom, but long in age, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the home team of Eason, Wilkinson, Shepherd and Gates (listed by age and inverse wisdom) scored a magnificent total of 76½ by answering correctly such esoteric questions as the real name of Lady Gaga (Wilkinson: second half), the theme tune for a really obscure musical (Gates, left-field at 34 minutes), and the minimum number of serves that a tennis player would need to win in a game of mixed doubles (Shepherd: first half). The final (and possibly oldest) member of the team (Eason), also correctly guessed a song from the musical Carrousel, but sadly he had spelled it incorrectly as Caroussel, and though this was generously overlooked by the scorekeepers, it proved to be the correct answer… to an entirely different question.

Led by Quizmeister Kate Sloyan, the evening was definitely a game of two halves (and the previous two pints) and as the questions came, and the refreshments were drunk, it was clear that yet again, ‘Older and Wiser’ would not step up to the plate (of free snacks) and hold aloft the golden cup of victory. “Coming in second was no disgrace” said an emotional Eason, and the team still won the runner-up prize of £10.80. Once you subtract their combined entrance fee of £8.00, this still left a fabulous sum of £2.80 profit, which was exactly £0.40 each (said Eason, who allotted the final prize money to the other members of the team).

‘Older and Wiser’ they certainly were, as they chased him from the building, claiming unfair recompense for what had been, after all, an evening of unquestionable fun.

Published: 26 August 2011