image from http://www.thetoad.co.za

We lost.

Boo hoo.

End of blog.

Kidding. But not about the losing part.

After last week’s triumph, word got out and the popularity of Ken Niks soared. Which meant everyone showed up for quiz night, and so we decided to split the team into two – Ken Niks and Ken Fokal. Although I’m not sure dividing our brain power made any difference as both teams achieved exactly the same amount of points by the end of the evening!

The scene was set and an exciting anticipation hung in the air. Could we pull it off two weeks in a row? The first question was an easy one, “Who is the lead singer of The Heartbreakers?” To which we answered, Tom Petty. But the hoped for streak never got out of the starting blocks. Our first two rounds were average. After a dismal third and fourth round we knew we were out of the running. Luckily a late surge in the final round helped us save some face. But it was still a fun night out and we learnt some random information.

For instance did you know that the first Red Cross society was formed in 1863?

And that the Greek God of music, is not Aphrodite, Dionysus or Athena but actually Apollo.

We discovered that the treaty that ended the Anglo-Boer War was called the Treaty of Vereeniging.

And can you guess what Rod Steward used to be before venturing into the world of music? A soccer player, a train spotter or a construction site worker? No he was a grave digger.

Did you know that vitreous humour is the jelly like substance in your eyes?

And who did Mohammed Ali beat in 1975, even after being battered by 440 direct punches from him? Joe Frazier.

Dougie then asked us what had happened to the first firemen who were dispatched to the Great Chicago fire. This had us analysing several permutations. Did they die of asphyxiation? Did their carriage break down? Did a bridge collapse resulting in them drowning in a Chicago waterway while trying to get there? Nope they simply got lost.

We were certain that the busiest container port in the world was Rotterdam. And it may have been in the past but currently Singapore takes that title.

We all knew that Cartographers draw maps.

And did you know that Napoleon crowned himself as Emperor of France.

In the end out of twenty teams, we ended up at 8^th position drawn on 38 points along with five other teams. Competition at The Toad is tough! The Usual Suspects did a sterling job of claiming the top prize for the week. Well done!

So our moment of fame was rather short lived. But you know how the saying goes – today’s losers could be tomorrow’s winners. We’ll be back!

As we gathered around on this Tuesday evening we jokingly asked if anyone had watched CNN, National Geographic or picked up a Time magazine recently. Apparently not. It seemed we were all relying on the osmosis approach of acquiring knowledge! Dougie the Quiz Master kicked off the proceedings with the first question, ‘What does the Litmus test measure?’. To which various team members eagerly blurted out, ‘Ph levels and acidity’. Lorne our scriber jotted down the answer. Next up, we debated what skin colour was underneath a Polar bear’s fur. We settled on black, deducing that it would need to be black to attract heat. Adi gave us a rendition of the Toto song that topped the charts in 1983. And then Dani hazarded that a comet was most recently named after JK Rowling. We managed to get all ten questions correct in round one. What a great start. Ken Niks was in the lead!

Our meals arrived during round two, so a few of us were slightly distracted from the task at hand. But we still managed to pull a decent score from this round. We confirmed that Buddhism reached Japan before Christianity. And that a gymnast currently holds the highest individual medal tally in the Olympics.

Round three tested our cricket and star wars trivia. Thanks guys! Lorne knew who the first English limerick writer was. (No its not Shakespeare). Then we brainstormed what the acronym for the newly constructed SKA Radio Telescope in the Karoo stood for. Sutherland? Satellite? Karoo? Africa? The team was undecided so settled on an unlikely answer – Ster Kyker Apparaat. And actually received a point here for originality! During this round we also discovered that the Euro has 27 and not 25 states and that Mount Popocatepetl is an active volcano located in Mexico. Ken Niks was still in the lead after round three.

Round four had us contemplating how many movies Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan had starred in together. Turns out three. We also learnt that London would be the first city to host the modern Summer Olympics for a third time. Bobbie impressed us with his Ferrari knowledge knowing exactly what model Magnum PI drove! And the Hackett’s animal knowledge was put to good use, as we learnt that Shiva Inu was actually a breed of dog. Ken Niks was on fire and once again scored high in the round.

The final round started off well, two good hunches turned out to be correct! The guys surprised us with their knowledge of the Louvre artwork, and the girls recall of Brigette Jones Diary came in handy. And everyone knew what the abbreviation MRI stood for (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). We clocked up eight correct answers in the final round.

As the Quiz Master tallied the scores we waited with bated breath.  The Usual Suspects, Cunning Stunts, Smeg and The Brits gave us a good run. Did they have a better final round than ours? But in the end Ken Niks took the title by two points. Ken Niks were the winners! Going from bottom feeders a few weeks earlier to the winners! What a turnaround? Well done Ken Niks. The win should be attributed to the fact that everyone knew a little of something. And when added together it amounted to quite a lot of random knowledge. Plus the team functioned well together, logically debating and trying to reach consensus on tricky answers. No-one person dominated, no-one lost their marbles or threw a hissy fit as sometimes happens in heated debates. Instead everyone had their say, had some fun and learnt new things in the process. A good team effort.

The question remains, can Ken Niks defend the title next week?