Winners are grinners

I have worked out how to win trivia competitions. Pick highly intelligent people as your team mates, don’t play against cheaters, and don’t drink too much.

On Sunday, Will and I killed them at the Devonshire Arms in Kensington. Killed them. Our second half was our strongest, with a ridiculous 18 or so correct answers in a row.

Admittedly, I didn’t contribute as much as my team member, but knew all of the album covers, knew that alligators were native to America and China (the latter was dismissed by Will despite my explanation of plate tectonics), and knew that the Phantom was known as the Ghost that Walks.

Will was the one that got us across the line though. He knew about soccer deaths in the 80’s, knew that when talking about radios FM stood for Frequency Modulation, knew that Rockefeller became a millionaire in 1912 or something, knew that Black 47 was also known as the potato famine, and many more questions that I had no chance of knowing.

Playing against at least a dozen other teams, most made up of five or six players, Will and I won. The look on the punters’ faces when it was announced was fantastic – disbelief, admiration, and general pissedoffedness.

Will and I giggled as we shared our £84 pot, and made plans to return and clean up again soon.


“When you make your move, I won't hesitate, if you take too long, you could be too late, this time I'm playing to win”
Playing to Win, John Farnham

Good and bad

Things I like:
Fireworks!
Pimms o'clock
First dates
Ribena poppers
Handbags
Marks & Spencer
Puns
Dresses
San Pellegrino
Eyelash curlers
Baths
Lists
Peppermint tea before bed

Things I don’t like:
Revolving doors
Stupid people
Dogs on trains
Christmas carols
Inconsistant document formatting
Olympia trains at Earls Court
Walking down stairs
People who complain about speed cameras
Waiting
Other people's feet
Midweek hangovers
Losing trivia
Tepid drinks

An open letter

Dear Mum, Jackie and Natalii (the only people who read this thing),

Apologies for the lack of posts lately. All I seem to write about is the tube and trivia.

I promise to go adventuring and/or drinking this weekend so that I have something interesting to write about next week.

Love ya hard,
xAm

To paraphrase Paul Keating...

It was the loss Facthunt needed to have.

For the first time in history (not to be over dramatic or anything), Facthunt lost the King's Arms trivia competition last night. It was a draw between us and another team, so "Quizmaster Liam" decided to have an utterly confusing and unprofessional tie breaker. We were beaten by a smidge.

But it was a good thing, as the hype was getting a bit too much to live up to. And at the end of the day, you know, trivia is the real winner.

Though I place the blame on Hugh Grant, who walked past the pub halfway through the second round and distracted us. True story!

Celebrity status

Oh my gosh, we are totally famous!

Check this out...

http://www.propeller.me.uk/viewmailer.asp?mailer_id=3230&id=706648

Snaps!

Snaps to Facthunt, for our SIXTH consecutive trivia win!

Snaps to Tesco Direct, for delivering my new mattress! Sayonara crappy old mattress with the springs that nearly dislocated my shoulder, oh, you shall not be missed.

Snaps to the Barley Mow, our new favourite (non local) pub! It was well worth the three-tube hour-long trip to Shoreditch just to enjoy the generous hospitality of Eddie, Laura and Greg. Magners for £2, unlimited credits on the jukebox, free run of the place after 11pm, hilarious foreign accents, and ridiculous card tricks – you know I’ll be going back.

Snaps to me for getting a new job! A 10-week contract with a great company and the title of ‘Marketing & Events Executive’. Best part is that I don’t have to do another Birmingham conference with my current job. I am fabulous in London, Birmingham not so much.

Snaps to Marks & Spencer! I will never tire of their chicken laksa noodle salad. I’ve had it at least a dozen times since I’ve been here, and it just keeps getting better. M&S, you don’t put a foot wrong.

Snaps to The People’s Post Office! You may make me wait half an hour in the queue, but it only cost me £6.45 to send a large package to Australia.

Snaps to Mark and Matt for giving us a Wii console! The dance mat is super fun, even if Amber is mega competitive and won’t tell me how to use the hand controls so she can be the best at ‘Rhythm is a Dancer’.

To paraphrase Kylie Minogue...

... we did it again!

Facthunt won the King's Arms Trivia Competition AGAIN this week, despite a bunch of skanky fashion students trying to cheat their way through.

31 points got us £27.

Forget full-time employment, I am going to hit the trivia circuit and earn my living that way!

And the winner is...

Us!

Facthunt took honours in their debut performace at the Kings Arms Trivia Competition last night. The £19 purse bought us a round of celebratory drinks and next weeks entrance fee.

Game on!

Facthunt!

We're off to Alex's local pub for the regular trivia competition tonight. Amber and I are renowned trivia nuts, and have pulled together a fairly solid team...

Name: Amanda
Age: 25*
Trivia areas of strength: nature science, 80's fashion, algorithms, trouser styles

Name: Amber
Age: 30
Trivia areas of strength: natural disasters, serial killers, 80's music, politics, tube facts

Name: Juliet
Age: 28
Trivia areas of strength: Anne of Green Gables, charity shops in London, the society murders in Melbourne, popular 70s soul singers

Wish us luck!

* Childbearing age according to Amber, who removed my date of birth from my CV