......Right now it's 50/50.....

Quiz night tonight, the first game I've played since 31st October due to work commitments. The team has lost two games while I've been absent and we've slipped to mid-table. Tonight we had to play the second placed team...St.Mary's B....an away match.

We got the rough end of the questions again...what a run of bad luck we're having ......but it wasn't as bad as it has been in previous weeks.

Round 1 we had one slip up and lost the round 9-6
Round 2 we pulled a point back and won 5-6. My indiviidual question was on medical specialisms.
Total 14-12
Round 3 we won 4-6.
Total 18-18
Round 4 Theme Knights of the Round Table ....we had to stick on 2 points because our third (four point) question was a stinker, " What name was given to the empty seat at King Arthur's Round Table?". The opponents got the much easier "Which British pop group formed in 1959 enjoyed success through the 60's and 70's with a string of comedy songs?" and scored 4 points.
Total 22-20

The answers ....for us The Seat Perilous....for them The Barron Knights

The opponenets then refused to take a half time break and pressed on.

Round 5 saw the worst of the unbalanced questions and we lost the round 10-2
Total 32-24
Round six we drew 8-8
Total 40-32

So two rounds left and 8 points adrift...didn't look good.

Round 7 Indidviduals again...some judicious selections saw us win the round 4-9
Total 44-41
Round 8 a bonus on the opponents first question and a clean sweep for us saw us win the round 6-9.

Total 50-50.... a hard fought draw!.....one that we thought was out of reach at the end of round six!

Some questions for you:-
1. Which word for a violent criminal is taken from the name of a tribe of northern India known for murder by strangulation?
2. Which word is taken from an Iranian tribe notorious for their drug fuelled acts of political murder?
3. What name is given to the medical specialism dealing with blood conditionsd?
4. What name is given to the medical specialism dealing with kidney conditions?
5. Where in Virginia are the headquarters of the CIA?
6. Where in Virginia are the headquarters of the FBI?
7. In which South American country was the hero Bernardo Higgins born?
8. In which South American country was the revolutionary Simon Bolivar born?
9. What is the correct name of the species of whale often known as the "White whale"?
10. What species of whale is the largest of the toothed whales?

And the one I was most proud of getting right.

11. The names of which two German scientists are given to the process of manufacturing ammonia from Nitrogen in the air?

Why was I so proud....because the process is usually known by only one of the names.

So a draw.....it won't move us up the table much....but it might just stop the rot and let us have a better second half of the season than the first one has been.

Das vidanya moy padruga.













Oh....you want to know the answers? Ok then.


1. Thug (from the Thugee tribe)
2. Assassin ( from the Hashasin)
3. Haematology
4. Nephrology
5. Langley
6. Quantico
7. Chile
8. Venezuela ( and yes....Bolivia is named after him)
9. Beluga whale
10. Sperm whale
11. Haber-Bosch process (only ever known these days as the Haber process)