A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of being quiz master at the inaugural Lanware Bull vs Bear quiz at the Brewers Hall in London. Post lockdown quizzing apathy had certainly waned, and the crowd was eager to tuck in, literally. With the best brains from all corners of the London financial services sector, the stage was set for an evening of classic Trivia.

To keep things competitive, there were 120 points up for grabs across 9 scintillating rounds to suit all quizzers. We had the classic quiz rounds to keep everyone happy, along with more quirky ones which included: guessing whether pictures were real or created by AI, guessing flavours of jellybeans and of course, the world-famous “Service Station or Cheese?”

And the winner is…

The victorious team achieved a respectable 90 points (75%), which was about the measure of the quiz, tough but hopefully fun-tough. Congratulations to “The Best Team Name” including Lucy Churchill, Julian Rea, Mike Merritt-Holmes and Teresa D for winning by a clear 6 points.
Rather confusingly, the actual best team name award went to “CTRL+ALT+DRINK”, who also were the proud receivers of the wooden spoon. Noted feedback, apparently, we need more millennial questions next time!

A big thank you goes to…

We would like to say a huge thank you to the sponsors Abacus Group, ACA, Fund HQ, 2&20 and 1961 Consulting for both their contributions, but also for attending and getting into the spirit of good quizzing and hopefully, everybody learnt something new. A massive thank you also goes to our chief referees, Harrison and Siobhan who kept everything under control brilliantly. You worked very hard in the evening and made our 3 hours of chaos look at least like organised chaos!

So, which was it?

For those who were present and losing sleep over it, I can confirm that the flavours of the Jellybeans were: Toasted Marshmallows, Hot Cinnamon, Cotton Candy, Kiwi, Tutti Fruitti, Chocolate Pudding, Caramel Popcorn, Bubble tea, Buttered Popcorn and Lemon & Lime. The best result was 9 out of 10 for this round, we’re looking for a 10 out of 10 on the special round next year.

As predicted, the favourite round was "Service Station or Cheese?" The premise was easy, I gave a name, and the quizzers had to decide whether it was a service station or a cheese. Can you spot from this sample which is which? Woolley Edge; Magor; Berkswell; Pont Abraham; Bagborough.

And for those at the event, my favourite chesses from the round were:

Barkham Blue - Barkham Blue® | UK Blue Cheese - Two Hoots Cheese
Tunworth Cheese - Tunworth Cheese – Hampshire Cheeses (hampshirecheesecompany.co.uk)

All for a good cause

Once again, thank you to all the quizzers who attended to help raise money for our 30for30 charity campaign and we look forward to seeing you all next year for an even bigger and better Lanware Bull vs Bear quiz night!