OK, this entry is unashamedly for Unison’s Harrogate Branch members who go to quiz nights at Robert Street. Late one night a couple of weeks ago, Dan sent me a text asking for help. He had been in Accra with the new intake of volunteers. Some of them had been with him to the quiz night at Champs Sports Bar. They had won the quiz and as part of the prize they had been asked to set and host the following week’s quiz. Most of the team had to leave Accra and go to their placements before the next quiz. Hosting therefore fell to Dan, Steve (pictured, asking something obscure on football) and myself. We were assisted by Anne, Dean and Jessie, Sarah’s daughter on the night before she flew back to the UK. I reassured Dan that I had some experience of this type and the idea of asking quiz questions on another continent did appeal.
Champs is an ex-pat bar on the Accra Ring Road. It is very unGhanaian. During the Africa Cup it had hosted the BBC World Service’s Saturday afternoon’s sports programme a couple of times. We were given instructions and expected to bring powerpoint presentations, a film clip, several rounds of questions and music. Steve did sport and current affairs. Dan did the music round and wrestled with a clip of ‘Anchorman’ – two hours before we left Koforidua for Accra he found a continuity error which messed up his questions. I did a round based on people celebrating their birthdays on 21st February including Robert Mugabe and Charlotte Church. Wikipedia has its uses. We also discovered it was UNESCO Mother Language Day which was an excuse to use Alta Vista to translate Beatles song titles into Korean and back again. Some were hard and unfathomable like ‘Silence’ (Something) and ‘Inside living one’ (A Day in the Life) but my favourites were much easier – ‘The strawberry keeps defending forever’ and ‘The superior red pepper, the heart of which is lonely, hits the evil unit’. One round ended with a six way tie, so there had to be a drink off between those six team.
There were no complaints about questions or the marking, we only overran our slot a bit and we had some Windows Vista issues which led to a last minute music round substitution but as hosts we were given free beer for the duration. The next set of new volunteers arrives in September. This time I’ll be waiting for that text from Dan.
Champs is an ex-pat bar on the Accra Ring Road. It is very unGhanaian. During the Africa Cup it had hosted the BBC World Service’s Saturday afternoon’s sports programme a couple of times. We were given instructions and expected to bring powerpoint presentations, a film clip, several rounds of questions and music. Steve did sport and current affairs. Dan did the music round and wrestled with a clip of ‘Anchorman’ – two hours before we left Koforidua for Accra he found a continuity error which messed up his questions. I did a round based on people celebrating their birthdays on 21st February including Robert Mugabe and Charlotte Church. Wikipedia has its uses. We also discovered it was UNESCO Mother Language Day which was an excuse to use Alta Vista to translate Beatles song titles into Korean and back again. Some were hard and unfathomable like ‘Silence’ (Something) and ‘Inside living one’ (A Day in the Life) but my favourites were much easier – ‘The strawberry keeps defending forever’ and ‘The superior red pepper, the heart of which is lonely, hits the evil unit’. One round ended with a six way tie, so there had to be a drink off between those six team.
There were no complaints about questions or the marking, we only overran our slot a bit and we had some Windows Vista issues which led to a last minute music round substitution but as hosts we were given free beer for the duration. The next set of new volunteers arrives in September. This time I’ll be waiting for that text from Dan.
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