Last Thursday, four teams — representing the north, south, east and west of the capital — assembled at the Museum of London to answer that age-old question: which bit of London is the best. The Londoner Challenge, a quiz put together by Londonist with the museum, was a light-hearted version of University Challenge, in which all the questions were about London.
The two qualifying heats saw north London trounce the east, while south London gained a cool victory over the west. The final was all set up for a classic battle between north and south. With two Mastermind finalists on the team, and some masterful buzzer-play, the south eventually gained a comfortable victory.
So congratulations to Team South, and well done everyone else who took part. Thanks also to the Museum of London for putting together a superb stage, with working buzzers and everything. Those teams in full:
Team East: Peter Stean (Captain), Nigel White, Jan Dewhurst, Will Jones
Team North: Jonathan Turton (Captain), Mark Walton, Abby Chicken, Andrew Saffrey
Team South: Pete Watts (Captain), Jesse Honey, Paul Steeples, Caroline Hatwell
Team West: Mike Paterson (Captain), Sean Carey, Kathryn Johnson, Ian Wright
We'll be publishing most of the questions as part of an upcoming ebook of London quizziness, but here are 10 tasters from the 228 fiendish teasers the teams had to answer last week...
- What pub name can be found on Newman Street, Berwick Street, Kingly Street, Rupert Street and Bennett Street?
- What’s the only street name within the City of London that ends in the word ‘Road’?
- Which current production completes this sequence: The Woman in White, Monty Python’s Spamalot, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and...
- According to A Day in the Life, by the Beatles, how many holes would it take to fill the Albert Hall, assuming it’s the same as the number of holes in Blackburn, Lancashire?
- In which London museum might you find a jar full of moles, half a pregnant cat and the penis bone of a walrus, all on prominent display?
- What gets divided up between the monarch, the Vintners’ company and the Dyers’ company on the Thames each year?
- Who was the last English monarch to enter the House of Commons?
- At the 1948 London Olympics, the British amateur football team was managed by the great Matt Busby. What unlikely item did he hand out to his players at half time, in accordance with the sponsors’ wishes?
- Who are the “Official Supplier of Cereal Bars To The Olympic and Paralympic Games”?
- What can be found in Earl’s Court and King’s Cross St Pancras Tube stations, but is missing from Barons Court Tube?
