The Brains of Bray 2024
Published 12:43 on 20 Feb 2024
And now you could see the competition.
No, not sailing...
For many of us , the highlight of the early days of "Covid imprisonment" was the on-line quiz run by a dedicated team of quizmasters on an every second Saturday night basis with contestants taking part from many location throughout the globe. Indeed many of us showered and dressed up (at least from the waist-up) to look our best! For many the post quiz chats went on long into the night after the nightly winners were declared!
Well, on Saturday February 17th the quiz returned to its original format with teams of up to 4 contestants huddled around tables in the club.
The value for money event (EUR15 per head) kicked off at 7:30 pm with a very tasty pork stroganoff supper (and a vegetarian option only available to vegetarians!) from the culinary hand of Fiona Cassidy and ably served by her son Rían who served dessert to your table at the interval (very posh for BSC!).
So to the important matters of the night. The quiz!
Were the questions easy?
Like all questions, if you knew the answers, they were a doddle!
If you didn't, they were diabolical!!
It was a great night with a lot of effort put in by the team of Mark, Jack, Juris, and Cillian (who composed from Vancouver the fiendish photo questions of the last round depicting 8 different cake types). Most competitors felt that these would challenge pastry chefs in Michelin starred restaurants BUT not the team of "Wizard" (a.k.a "Quiz Family Cassidy") whose culinary knowledge saw them attain the podium with such knowledge. (For our part, Cheesecake, Battenberg and Victoria Sponge were recognisable!). The bar was "manned" by Anna who kept us well hydrated a very important attribute required by all aspiring BSC quizzers!
To encourage your participation in the next event, please find below a brief sample of the 80 questions on the night: (Answers are given below)
- Who won the 2023 Hurling All Ireland?
- How many Chromosomes in the Human Body?
- Name the first Dog in space
- Name 4 of the 5 Great Lakes
- What colours are the three stripes of the Spanish flag?
- Name the Male or Female winner of the 2024 Australian Tennis Open?
- Name the fishing boat in the "Perfect Storm" Movie (it was on RTE the previous night)
- What number is expressed in binary notation as "1000"?
- What author won both a Nobel Prize and an Oscar?
- Name the bomber which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945.
- What African country became known as Eswatini in 2018?
Well if you think the above were challenging, wait til you try the music round, which was provided by Juris.
To say that this was unusual, would be an understatement!
The music was played in reverse with a half-point for the artist and a further half-point for the song title. It was so much fun, we have repeated all 8 here as audio attachments!
A further quirk was that there was a joker available to each team (that had the effect of doubling the score for that round) BUT unlike the on-line quiz where you had to select your round in advance, now could select your joker after the round which had the effect of causing substantial swings in the scoring from one round to the next.
It was a great night's fun. It was well attended with some 27 contestants participating on the night.
If it is repeated, be sure to get your name in early!
We are already on the list.
Many thanks to all,
Tony, Claire and Liz
| Team Name | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Round 6 | Round 7 | Round 8 | Round 9 | Round 10 | Total |
| Wizard | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 15 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 68 |
| Liz's Langers | 5 | 5 | 5 | 16 | 6 | 7.5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 65.5 |
| All at Sea | 3 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 58 |
| Der Hahn Im Korb | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 58 |
| Laser Squad | 5 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 5 | 6.5 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 57.5 |
| Mid Life Pisces | 3 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 48 |
| AIB | 2 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 5 | 4.5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 47.5 |
________________________________________
Answers:
- Who won the 2023 Hurling All Ireland? Limerick
- How many pairs of chromosomes in the Human Body? 23
- Name the first Dog in space. Laika
- Name 4 of the 5 Great Lakes. Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior
- What colours are the three stripes of the Spanish flag? Red, yellow, red
- Name the Male or Female winner of the 2024 Australian Tennis Open? Aryna Sabalenka OR Jannik Sinner
- Name the fishing boat in the "Perfect Storm" Movie (it was on RTE the previous night) The Andrea Gail
- What number is expressed in binary notation as "1000"? 8
- What author won both a Nobel Prize and an Oscar? G B Shaw
- Name the bomber which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945. Enola Gay
- What African country became known as Eswatini in 2018? Swaziland
Downloads
- Audio Q1.mp3
- Audio Q2.mp3
- Audio Q3.mp3
- Audio Q4.mp3
- Audio Q5.mp3
- Audio Q6.mp3
- Audio Q7.mp3
- Audio Q8.mp3
- Answer Q1.mp3
- Answer Q2.mp3
- Answer Q3.mp3
- Answer Q4.mp3
- Answer Q5.mp3
- Answer Q6.mp3
- Answer Q7.mp3
- Answer Q8.mp3
Last updated 10:56 on 22 April 2024
