A Fairly Honourable Defeat

The novels of Iris Murdoch (and this is one of the better ones, in my view) provide me with a hook on which to hang this week's report on the quiz. However, the twist here, and most writing should aim to have one, is that it was not our team that suffered the defeat in question. Not at all. Things being back to normal in terms of numbers of competitors and so forth, we enjoyed a resounding victory with a score of 145; the runners-up bagging 132 and the bronze medallists, 122. There were three more non-medal-winning teams, too.

But it is those bronze medallists whom I celebrate here. Luis's team, our traditional friends and rivals, were down to two people on Monday night, and neither of them was the eponymous Luis. Yet they were able to achieve their 122 just between them, whereas our 145 and Edu, Dave and Jimmy's team's 132 were achieved with six and five players respectively. So well done, David and Gitte, proving that weight of numbers isn't always that important, although in fact in our team each one of us has a kind of specialist area, so everyone contributes something, and thus team members are missed when unable to be present. But we were all there on Monday, and firing on all cylinders. So to round off, I will evoke the title of another fine novel by Ms. Murdoch in order to salute my team-mates (and myself, of course): The Nice and the Good.