Prize Quiz – Saxtead Old Mill House – Friday 27th January

Please contact Nick, Ruth or any of the staff on 01728 685064

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Shhhhhh – Pop Up Occurring in Brandeston

I feel like I’ve held out on you. I’ve eaten out at the Queen’s Head, Brandeston and not posted anything. Mostly because I’ve been in great company, enjoying the conversations so much and because the food was so good I’ve been eating it not photographing much of it. Just as well I’m not a professional food blogger.

Now, I have a big secret to share.  Brandeston Queen’s Head is about to host a ‘pop-up’ restaurant, for two days only at the end of January.  David Williams @stillcooking has been working as a consultant for Alan Randal @queensheadbrand at Brandeston Queen’s Head. Knowing that David and his wife Susanne @susannewilliams are looking for their own restaurant eventually the idea of the ‘pop-up’ was born.  This will be run to their ideas, food and service ethos.  The team have worked hard over the last few months developing  ideas for the Brandeston Queen’s head and if this new venture follows on the high standards they have set so far things should be very good indeed.  For more information see their website here.

 

J2O Quiz the Tangled Threads – Film Quiz

This is the second post on the new style J2O pub quiz.  As well as the Mangled Mugs in the previous post they are doing something called Tangled Threads.  The plots and key players of three films mixed together; you just have to see if you can untangle them.

I have converted the clips into a single ‘video’ so just click below and pause as you get to the end of each section; to give yourself time to scratch your head or argue with yourself about the answers.

 

J2O and a new style of Pub Quiz

A lady called Pippa contacted me from a company who are working with J2O, the fruity juice drink people; creating a new kind of pub quiz.  I’ll admit the flattery worked (nice words about the blog and bribery with free drinks and a quiz book).  She has sent me some samples of the quiz to share.  Earlier today I posted my effort at picture merging for the local quiz.  Above and below are the J2O high-tech versions that they call mangled mugs.  So what to you think?  Low-tech or High-tech?  Can you solve them?

I’ll post J2O’s ‘Tangled Threads’ in a future blog.

 

Quick Picture Quiz – a taste of things to come

A quick picture quiz for you; from one of the quizzes that were set when the PC was out of action.  I may load some of the questions over the coming weeks.  There will also be some news of a quiz format being tested by the people who make J2O but more of that later.

In the meantime I trashed a Sunday magazine, who are these people?  Picture quiz PDF download

 

That Duckworth – Farctum – Lewis Ruling in Full

I have to admit that when I bumped into Duckworth and Lewis in the bar last night they were in no fit state to help with any form of adjudication.  I decided instead to dig round the back of the pavilion and see if I could find some other form of support.  I might have guessed as much, for there under an old net, were my good friends Saggers and Truffles who were only slightly the worse for wear having consumed quantities of scrumpy; but they have the constitution for it.  Below is the transcript of the official adjudication.

Saggers:   You need our help, why?

Farctum:  I’ve been playing Pub Cricket with a bunch of twits and we may have a bit of a controversial outcome.

Truffles:  What rules were you playing?

Farctum:  Well, that may have been my first mistake.  You see I thought everyone knew my local rules.  Name the pub, how many legs are in the name and write a review of the ambiance and the food.  All should be well.

Saggers:  And it wasn’t?

Farctum:  Let’s just say it soon became clear we would need to create a way of weighting and adjusting the rules to suit the conditions and the experience of the players.  Plus the light was beginning to fade, there was snow on the pitch………

Truffles:  It’s beginning to sound like you hadn’t warmed the players up properly before you started.

Farctum:  That could be true, but we are where we are; so I need to design a full proof way of adjusting the scores to come up with a fair result.

Saggers:  Let’s hear it then….

Farctum:  Well first we had @jaydubblah with the Douglas Bader, not a very full review and she admitted that his leglessness could be a problem.  More cake anyone.

Truffles:  Thanks it is rather fine.

Farctum:  Anyway I decided that the legs component should be worth 6, two for the ones he started with, two for the spares and two for @jaydubblah’s own; the reasons for this will become clear tomorrow.

Saggers:  So six legs = six runs

Farctum:  Well now, you see, I decided to add a multiplier of 5 for actually having been there and another 5 for the review, even though the review amounted to ‘it’s OK’.

Truffles:  This cake is marvellous – could I have some more

Farctum:  There you go.  Anyway that gave a score of 6x5x5=150 a decent score in anyone’s eyes and I thought OK I’m on a roll and I quickly calculated up the rest.

Saggers:  I hope you did some adjustments for those that did not visit the pubs etc. 

Farctum:  Yes I did and the final scores were:

Pub name, County, Number of legs, Been there, Review, Total

Douglas Bader, Suffolk, 6, 5, 5, 150

Mops and Brooms, Hertfordshire, 2, 5, 1, 10

Punch Bowl, Essex, 2, 5, 10, 100

Bug and Spider, Wiltshire, 16, 1, 1, 16

Twenty Church Wardens, Norfolk, 42, 1, 1, 42

Fox and Hounds, Suffolk, 242, 1, 1, 242

Crab and Lobster, Yorkshire, 22, 5, 5, 550

Truffles:  Looks great.  I don’t see why you needed us.  Thanks for the cake though; is that a bottle of claret I see?

Farctum:  Yes, help yourself.  Well it was fine until……………

Saggers:  What happened?

Farctum:  @Martincampbell2 came up with The Beehive, near Bury St Edmunds.  He is thorough and even had all the evidence for how many legs there were.

Truffles:  So what’s the problem?

Farctum:  Even on a bad day for England 600,000 sounds like a bit of a trouncing; plus the two I have to add for his legs, the reasons for which will become clear tomorrow.

It means his score card looks like this:

Pub name, County, Number of legs, Been there, Review, Total
The Beehive, Suffolk, 600002, 1, 1, 600002

Overall, not what you would call a balanced scorecard and after so many years of corporate jargon I can’t have that, can I?

Saggers:  I have a solution

Truffles:  You do?

Farctum:  Great, what is it?

Saggers:  Well it is the bees that have the legs, not the hive.  So you could give a duck ie two legs.  Or as you did with the others, for reasons that will be clear tomorrow, the two for his own legs. 

Farctum:  Yes, but that doesn’t seem right because it was a very clever answer.

Truffles:  Life is tough sometimes babe, did I ever tell you about my experience with ballroom dancing?

Farctum:  Not now Truffles, but thanks for calling me babe.  Anyway some hives have legs don’t they so that would be four, plus two.

Saggers:  I’ve got it…..

Truffles:  Is it catching?

Saggers:  Only at Silly Mid Off

Farctum:  Come on I need to give them something!

Saggers:  Make @MartinCampbell2 the man of the match; I don’t know award him some virtual shoes like these which are perfect for cricket.

Then give the game to the team with the next highest points.

Farctum:  Perfect, so @josordoni wins the match.

 

The Tenth Day of Christmas – Pub Cricket

We have Lords a leaping. I love cricket; therefore Lords is inextricably linked to the game. I am as happy with a beach game, village cricket or a county game; sadly I’ve never been to a Test match but have watched hours of it on TV. I am also rather fond of a good pub, with excellent food and a great atmosphere. One of those games to try and break up the miles travelled by car is Pub Cricket; which also ties in nicely to the legs theme running through the last few days.

My quest today is a mini review of a pub, including the number of legs in the pub name, so where have you been, what’s the nosh and atmos like and what score will you declare? We can then have a little County Championship. If there are enough responses I might create another map.

The playlist for today’s post is here with the list in words in the first comment.

Update as at 20.36 using the DFL [Duckworth/Farctum/Lewis scoring method] – full league table and methodology will follow!

Forgot to do you an update to the legs quest yesterday but for the record we are now up to 548 legs delivered. I now have four declarations of the correct answer.

 

Pub Quiz – Round 8 – Many hands make light work. In which……

… we have a round of questions related to light

1	How long does it take in minutes (rounded to nearest whole number) for light to travel to Earth from the Sun?
2	Who is attributed with the invention of the first practical light bulb (integrated system)?
3	The Electric Light Orchestra was created by which two rock stars?
4	The lightest metal is what?
5	Cigarette lighters contain which liquid hydro-carbon?
6	Which poem starts Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward,
7	Where would you expect to pay £150 for an electric company, illustrated by a light bulb?
8	Which team wears Light Blue in the Varsity Boat Race?
9	In 1895 which famous studios produced individually designed and constructed stained glass lamps?
10	What was the police based film that Jack Warner stared in before Dixon of Dock Green?

 

Round 7 – Pub quiz – Cloak and Dagger in which……

All of the answers are to do with cloaks, capes, daggers and other such ephemera

Oh to those who have asked – this is one of my rounds, general consensus is that O/H’s rounds are easier. So a score above 7 of this and you are doing very well.

1	What is the name of the cloak that Harry Potter is given by Dumbeldore
2	What are the three swords used in modern fencing?
3	Where would you expect to find a dagger board?
4	What is the name of the traditional religious dress dagger worn by Sikhs?
5	What is the name of the traditional Scottish dress dagger?
6	Who wrote the lyrics in Joseph and the amazing technicoloured dreamcoat?
7	Who says “Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.”
8	A traditional fairy tale throughout the world, what title do we tend to give to the Italian’s Cappuchetto Rosso and the German Rottkapchen
9	What are the murder weapons in traditional Cluedo?
10	Who was known as the caped crusader, who appeared in DC comics?

 

Pub Quiz – Round 4 – Keeping up with the Jones, in which……

The questions all have something Jones related as before if you post your answers in the comments section I will let you know how you are doing

1	What rank was Jack Jones in Dad’s Army?
2	Alias Smith and Jones starred who?
3	Tom Jones was born where?
4	John Paul Jones was a founder member of which legendary band?
5	Norah Jones has a famous father – who?
6	Terry Jones came to fame with Monty Pythons Flying Circus – when did this first appear on our screens?
7	Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones died in 1969 – how did he die?
8	There have been a number of Indiana Jones Films since 1981 – what is the name of the last film made about the adventurer?
9	The origin of the phrase “keeping up with the Jones’s” was first popularised in what way?
10	Who was the author of a History of Tom Jones (a Foundling 1749)?