Return of the Mighty "Stunts"

The first Queens Head Quiz night marked a true return to form for our once legendary* pub quiz team “The Cupid Stunts”

At our peak we amassed a prize fund of almost £200, which which bought us all a day out at a Harlequins match, and enough lager to keep us going for the first half.

After three long years without competing, Ads, JB and Myself claimed a dominant win and a free meal voucher each.

What makes this achievement even more enjoyable is that we achieved it without the help of the de-facto team captain and human encyclopedia, Chi Chi.

Of course modesty prevents me from taking all the glory for the win, but it was my pen JB used to write the answers.


* Contrary to our own delusions, the cupid stunts were never legendary outside of our own over inflated egos. In fact I once got the “You Say We Pay” qualifier question wrong on Richard & Judy, and JB was soundly trashed last week by a kid whilst watching Junior Mastermind.

Happy Birthday Britain

Today marks the 300th anniversary of the signing of the 1707 Act of Union, which united the Kingdoms of Scotland and England under a new moniker The Kingdom of Great Britain.

Politics aside, I think that’s an event worth celebrating. A day for both English and Scot to put aside our differences and enjoy what brings us together as Brits.

So are there to be huge parades, fireworks in the skies, and nationwide festivities and a rip-roaring chorus of Rule Britannia?

No.

But there will be a commemorative £2 coin.

If you would kindly not spend it all at once then it would sure help fight inflation!

Mind the..!

It’s a moment in which the normal rules of space and time cease to exist. Everything around you moves into slow motion and your brain begins its unenviable task of analysing the situation and trying to find a way out. There of course is no way out, I have caught my foot, my balance has gone and one way or another I am going down!

It was a stupid situation, I was climbing a set of stairs I had climbed every working weekday of my life for the last 3 years. A set of stairs I have, up until today, always managed to successfully navigate without incident. Today however was different. For one thing to a combination of being in a bad mood because there was a large truck blocking my parking space. Secondly in the true spirit of the modern age I was, instead of looking where I was going, fiddling about with my iPod.

It was a recipe for disaster and all those people who gleefully hold the mantra “I told you so” were given cause to wax lyrical as my foot caught under the top step and I found the accident was already in progress.

As I fell to my knees, all hopes that my little moment would have taken place beyond the sight of watching eyes were quickly dashed. I accepted my short round of applause and limped off to nurse my slightly bruised ego – a chocolate Hob Nob was involved!

Look out Cosmos - Us Brits are Coming!!

One of the most unexpected news stories of the past week has been the growing support for a British manned spaceflight programme. Just as you get used to the daily round of stories about Iraq, The Ashes, Big Brother - and in the case of one newspaper, Diana Conspiracies – Britain suddenly announces that they will follow the Americans and take that “one small step for man”

It wouldn’t be the first time that we as an Island had got involved with the space race. I recently watched a documentary about the early years of a British rocket programme, based on the German V2 designs captured at the end of the war. The home of this fledging space programm - The Isle of Wight.

This facility was abandoned in the 50’s, and today there is very little left on the Cliffside to suggest that this was almost the venue of an English Cape Canaveral. As a nation though we continued our attempts to get into space, mostly through the efforts of the Garden Shed Inventor.

Our highest profile attempt to “boldly go” came through the Beagle 2 project, named in honour of the boat which took Darwin on his voyages of scientific discovery. Lead by Colin Pillinger, who looked every inch the part of the Open University professor, the project was based at the National Space Centre at the University of Leicester.

Hitching a lift on the back of a European “Mars Express” mission, Beagle 2 – which had famously been introduced to the world in a Tesco’s shopping trolley – made it to the Red Planet before losing communications with Earth.

In another strangely British twist, the signal due to be sent back to confirm a safe landing was a specially written tune by indie band Blur.

NASA’s Mars Odyssey craft eventually found a crater which is believed to be the final resting place of the Beagle.

So we certainly have a history, and a bunch of talented and be-bearded individuals who could well pull off a lunar landing. The problem will be what happens then?

For some reason the words “package holiday” and “all inclusive” come springing to mind. Might we really only be 50 years away from Brits swapping the Mediterranean for the Sea of Tranquility. Low cost hotels and London theme pubs would pop up all over the surface as people took advantage of the new Budget Spacelines and went off on an astral booze-cruize.

Will the brightest object in the night sky soon burn with a neon glow, a zero gravity Ibiza for the next generation of hardcore clubbers?

God only knows what Sir Patrick Moore will see through his telescope!

Happy Twentyohsevenmas!!!

After months of being inundated by festive advertising and images of snow covered happy people – Christmas is over!!!!

The crackers have been pulled, resealed and boxed again ready for next year. The beer got all warm and drunk, and we all followed. Boxing Day gave way to Fencing day and the Christmas tree was planted back into the garden to grow a bit for next year - A plan flawed only by it’s artificialness.

At least the decorations can stay on until the squirrels steal and bury them in the spring!

2006 has been consigned to the history books and we stand willing to embrace a new 12 month period during which we shall probably continue to put off doing all the stuff we’ve been promising to do since the dawn of the Millennium.

The problem is that television keeps getting better, alcohol more varied and handheld gaming consoles more addictive. So instead of setting forth unto the world in the spirit of Magellan or Columbus, I’m more than prepared to wait and see the world through future versions of Grand Theft Auto.

Other members of the Bryson fold have been busier over the last 12 months and there are to be several noteable changes this year. Somewhere in-between me playing Liberty City Stories and switching on the telly to watch Ghosthunting with Girls Aloud, Macca Bought a House. A proper adult house with mortgages and bills and discussions about soft furnishings and the pro’s and cons of under-floor heating.

It’s a big deal to somebody like me whose idea of financial management is making sure that crumpled banknotes are removed from my jeans before I wash them.

Then we have Chi-Chi, who is also off to start his marital home and brand new for 2007 job possibly involving some sort of Tie.

For Conrad and Lindsey there is to be the pitter-patter of tiny feet followed by the lengthy sleep deprived joy of a newborn baby.

Throw into this mix that fact that Tony Blair’s resignation is creeping ever closer (There will be some non café culture binge-drinking that night!) and the knowledge that Englands painful slide into Rugby obscurity will be over by the summer. Which should mean that all the bandwagon jumpers from 2003 will vacate Twickenham and we might actually manage to get some tickets for something other than the Italy game.

Then of course there is Le Mans. The greatest race will be run for the 75th time this year, and we shall be there in force. After 5 years of trial and error Tom and Myself feel like old hands, and plan to utilise our knowledge to the full for what may be the last hurrah down at le sarthe (for the foreseeable future anyway)

These changes are not the beginning of the end for the Bryson Boy’s, mearly the end of the beginning. One thing is for sure, whatever comes from the next 12 months will be recorded, satirised or have the preverbial taken out of it right here.

Unless of course, they were right about Bird-Flu!

There is a robin outside that looks a little groggy…