Vera, Chuck and Dave
Getting there on time was a disaster last time, so I decide to arrive after the first round had already been completed. Luckily Pete and Ivan were there on time and we’re off to a respectable start. My most useful contribution in round two is knowing what was unusual about the Tyrell P34 formula one car (it had 6 wheels). I also know what was unusual about the Brabham BT46 (it had a massive great fan on the back) but the quizmaster didn’t ask that.
In place of the usual beer round, tonight’s quiz is sponsored by Transport for London and at stake is a massive £130 of Oyster Card credit. I haven’t had any income for several weeks and if we win I’ll be able to go to work tomorrow without borrowing money. The first question involves identifying tube lines from their seat covers and I feel absolutely certain that I recognise the Bakerloo Line, even though I seldom travel on it. I am wrong. Luckily neither Ivan or Pete knew the right answer. We finish with 11 out of 13 - good but not good enough because another team got 12. The shits.
Round three involves giving 10 of the 18 most popular pub names in Britain (The Prince of Wales is the 19th), assisted by clues. Ivan insists that the Marquis of Granby is one of them, although it doesn’t match any of the clues. We overrule him and give a different wrong answer instead. Ivan also fails to identify the pub name which is an England cricketer. “Well, Bell’s a rubbish batsman anyway”, he claims.
We’re just outside the money. But we’re on blazing form tonight and round four goes well. I do my best to harm the cause by insisting that Neptune is green. I feel my teammates should defer to me given that I have a PhD in astronomy. They feel otherwise. They are right and it’s blue. I slightly redeem myself by getting the 1970s film named after a piano lesson book (Five Easy Pieces). We score 20 out of 20 and we’ve sneaked into third place, winning 8 pounds. I might not have got 45 pounds worth of Oyster Card but at least I can buy a single bus fare.
Obviously none of us win the snowball. Annoying Dave who’s number comes up far, far more often than statistically possible, skips up to the front for about the 45th time in the last two years. I’ve seen him win probably more than a thousand pounds, and nice guy though he is, I deeply resent his unfair snowball success. So I’m very happy that, when asked what city was built on the sight of ancient Tenochtitlan, Dave is the only person in the pub who doesn’t know it’s Mexico City. He offers Gateshead. It’s been a good evening at the pub quiz.