Dwarf

Our team name for this week's pub quiz is 'Dwarf' which was chosen by Dave not with reference to any individuals that are vertically challenged and round but as an acronym. Thus it should properly be D*W*A*R*F standing for "Dennis Wise is A Rat-assed F**ker". You see, Dave and Marty are fervent Leeds United supporters, and Dennis Wise who was until very recently the Leeds manager, decided to high-tail it to Newcastle United as the "Director of Football Operations" or some such random post. The team name was a rant as his two-faced traitorous behaviour.

It was a tough news round this week, with us only managing seven which was still top. There were a few very random questions in this one including one asking which "children's product was celebrating its 50th anniversary this year". We were along the right lines and guessed Barbie but the answer was Lego. On a random aside, the word 'Lego' was coined by its Danish inventor from the phrase "leg godt" which means "play well" in Danish, apparently. We also missed a question on the (unprouncable) name of some African mosquito which was just thoroughly random.

We soon recovered and scored an excellent ten points on a round on "Cats" which had been picked as the joker round. Of course, there weren't really any questions on cat breeds and the like but references to cats including the author of the book of poems "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats", the name of Postman Pat's cat, the name of the cub in "Born Free" and the panther in the "Jungle Book" and other such references. Between our wide range of knowledge we managed to get them all.

The next two rounds on Sport and Westerns were also pretty tricky though we managed eight each on the two of them collaboratively. We missed a question asking which country won the inaugural cricket world cup when I realised far too late that it was the West Indies. For the Westerns, one question that stood out asked who was the female lead in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". Despite having seen the film barely two weeks previously, I couldn't remember the answer, but Dave remembered that it was Kathryn Ross.

The Pot Luck round was a true collaborative effort when we managed an amazing 10 points with some inspired guessing. Dave got a couple including the usual anagram question. I somehow figured that the word "lemming" originated from the Norwegian language, and between the lot of us we guessed that Eva Peron died of cancer. So in the end another easy victory for the teachers as we are now called. At least there will be a more level playing field the following week from today, as we won't be taking part - Dave and Vicky will be in Australia, Marty in China, Keith somewhere else and it will be reunion dinner night for me.

It was also a happy and sad night both at the Shoe. Keith received some very good news today and had cause to celebrate. But it was also the last quiz night for Liz and Fletch who are set to depart tomorrow for England. Fittingly, their team was called "Archie Gemmill's last stand". We'll miss you Liz and Fletch.