HERE'S a pub quiz question. When - and where - was the first Darwen pub quiz?
The question came up in the Alexandra the other night and, not having a clue, I rang an old colleague, Harold Heys, who usually has an idea about this sort of obscure local stuff.
"Exactly 40 years ago," he told me. "Probably at the Swan; possibly the Ellenshaw".
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I was impressed until he explained that he had actually organised it all - an inter-pub sports quiz for Darwen Sports Council and it ran for several years and attracted plenty of interest.
It could have been the first pub quiz to be held in East Lancashire.
They've certainly taken off in those 40 years and for most of the time he has either been setting them or playing in them - sport, general knowledge, music - all over the place.
His strangest quiz, he recalled, was hosting an impromptu contest over Siberia on the way to Moscow from Peking many years ago.
The ancient China Airways plane had lost an engine and the quiz was an interesting diversion for the back few rows as well as the three Chinese stewardesses who were gently steered to victory to smiles all round.
The Anchor won that first-ever Darwen quiz and their regular squad was Dave Moore, Tony Farrell, Bob Jepson, Roy Kitchen, Neil Jepson and Ken Bateson.
The Catholic Club also had a good team in those early days with such stalwarts as Andy Rigby, Des Atkinson, Lou Barnes and Len Walmsley. Later, the Police team of Dave Shepherd, Colin Dunne, Bob Moffatt and Tony Riding took over as top dogs
Said Dave Moore: "People still talk about those early quizzes. They were a lot of fun." Contestants still remember coming up with the Rovers half-back line in the 1960 FA Cup final or the Darwen CC pro when they won their first Northern League title in 1966.
Within a few years it was all very competitive and quiz fans were spending hours in the record books. Leagues sprang up and top players were poached.
Darwen's Cemetery B proved to be one of the top teams in the Blackburn area Thwaites general knowledge league for several years with a regular squad of Andy Rosthorn, Dave Almond, Joe Haworth and Harold Heys. In recent years of course, with the surge of the internet, the humble pub quiz has gone commercial and global. It's big business and world-wide.
Forty years and thousands of questions on, Harold is still running quizzes. He organises the annual Darwen primary schools spelling competition, for instance, and tomorrow night it's the annual Darwen services charity quiz at the cricket club.
l The 1960 Rovers half-back line? Clayton, Woods, McGrath. And the pro? Alan Bolton.
Posted by: Ian the Beancounter, Darwen on 4:44pm Mon 3 Mar 08
Simon, he appears to be a proud Darrener who lives in my part of the town. But I've lived here for 53 years and don't know who he is - so perhaps he's a figment dreamed up by LT to make us Darreners think that they care about us. Your blog, however, would probably incomprehensible to most people!! :-))
Simon, he appears to be a proud Darrener who lives in my part of the town. But I've lived here for 53 years and don't know who he is - so perhaps he's a figment dreamed up by LT to make us Darreners think that they care about us. Your blog, however, would probably incomprehensible to most people!! :-))
Posted by: dollyfan, Darwen on 10:10pm Mon 3 Mar 08
Ian the Beancounter and simplysimon are you the same users as the forum, we could start our own quiz then, you start the question 1st one on with the correct answer sets the next question and so on.
dollyfan
Ian the Beancounter and simplysimon are you the same users as the forum, we could start our own quiz then, you start the question 1st one on with the correct answer sets the next question and so on.
dollyfan
Posted by: simplysimon, burnley on 3:44pm Tue 4 Mar 08
Iank are you asking the first question or answering it ? It looks like you are doing both to me.
Yes they are.(answer)
is that the first question? (question)
You can't have a proper quiz if you ask the questions and answer them as well!
Unless you ask the question that you already know you don't have the answer for.
Have you got a question without the answer?
That's the question you should ask. :)
Iank are you asking the first question or answering it ? It looks like you are doing both to me.
Yes they are.(answer)
is that the first question? (question)
You can't have a proper quiz if you ask the questions and answer them as well!
Unless you ask the question that you already know you don't have the answer for.
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