The last fortnight in my quiz world...

I haven't been updating this blog as much recently - I was previously posting an update every two or three days, but those have since dried up to around once a week in frequency, thanks to a combination of things. Ironically, I've been working harder on my quizzing, as well as having a lot to do at uni in terms of reading and writing essays.

However, apart from that, I've been pretty lucky in quiz endeavours in the last fortnight or so.

Firstly, I was on the winning team at a university pub quiz not long ago - £100 jackpot, though the presence of six of us meant that I only actually came away with £15 or so. Still, not a bad night's work.

I also played for the Rainhill Victoria team in the Merseyside Quiz League Challenge Cup competition. Mark Kerr, one of the team's players, sent out a message on Facebook to anyone who fancied playing for the night as they had a couple of regular players missing. I volunteered, travelled to Southport, and played in the match against Zetland, which we luckily won 47-38. I got eight points, which I was reasonably pleased with for a debut. They've asked me to play in the remaining Challenge Cup fixtures, which I'm happy to do, so I'll be playing in another match a week tomorrow. I'd like to improve my score, as I think nerves played a part in the first match as well, particularly until I settled in and started to get a few right answers.

On Saturday, I travelled to Rainhill - ironically the venue for next week's match - to attend the Quiz in the North 2, a follow-up to the successful Quiz in the North held at Rochdale in August. It was a great day of quizzing, and I'm looking forward to more of these events if they're held. On a personal note, I achieved probably my best result yet in a competitive written quiz - 92/170, which placed me 27th out of the 42 competitors. Not bad, I don't think. There were a few silly errors but not half as many as there normally are from me.

The European Quizzing Championships took place this weekend in Bucharest, Romania. Olav Bjortomt is the new individual champion, with Kevin Ashman and Finland's Tero Kalliolevo finishing in second and third respectively. Well done to those three. Pity I couldn't attend, as I'd have loved to, but I'm determined to be there next year, where the venue will be Rotterdam. Sounds like a great event, and all the feedback I've read from those who attended seems to be overwhelmingly positive.

Anyway, apologies for those - if there are any of you - who've been checking the blog regularly only to find no new updates or questions. I'll try to update it more, and I'll write a quiz to be posted after this.

Briefly...

I'm playing in a Merseyside Quiz League cup match tonight - stepped in for someone who's missing, so travelling to Southport in a couple of hours. Fingers crossed I give a good showing. Certainly wouldn't want to make a tit of myself. You never know, I might even be able to play more regularly if there's space for an extra team member. Anyway...

A few quick questions for today, all taken from my ever-expanding spreadsheet of things I'm trying to learn and remember (with varying amounts of success on most occasions). Answers a few lines below, as always.

1 Which potentially active stratovolcano is the highest peak in Iran and the Middle East?

2 Who is the current UK MP for Welwyn Hatfield?

3 Which king granted the Royal Society its charter?

4 What is the county town of Buckinghamshire?

5 Who received a Best Director Oscar nomination for Crossfire (1947)?

Answers:

1 Mount Damavand

2 Grant Shapps

3 Charles II

4 Aylesbury

5 Edward Dmytryk