Last night a small gang of London Bloggers strutted their stuff at the wondrous Hunterian Museum after winning its inaugural Museums at Night quiz.
Themed around Lost London, the topic of their current exhibition, the quiz was organised by M@ from The Londonist – with contributions from four notable writers.
A few last minute drop outs resulted in an invite to your correspondent just before he was about to depart for a visit to a train repair shed, and with trepidation I accepted. I am not good at “pub quizzes” as I have one of those memories that sucks up facts, but has a devil of a job discharging them again on demand.
A team made up of London bloggers though – were we to be victorious, or end up looking like people who only sound clever when we have access to Google?
Fortunately, the combined forces of Tired of London, Jane’s London (who spent most of the evening trying to sell her jewellery!), Caroline’s Miscellany and London Ramblings were able to fill in the necessary gaps in each other’s knowledge.
Shockingly, we won – and quite resoundingly with 56/60. Would have been 57, but I overruled Caroline’s suggestion for one answer and she was right to my wrong. Opps!
The reward being a goody bag of London books and toys, and a large Sainsbury’s bag.
A fun night out – but all the more so for being in the Hunterian, which I have mentioned in the past, and will again say is one of those strangely little known museums, despite being quite large, in the centre of London and a damn interesting place to visit. Oh, and completely free of charge.
The victory was all yours Ian. I was utter bobbins when it came to answers, so would like to formally thank your massive brain for my new Derelict London book and my new model London in a bag.
Absolutely – as you knew more answers than anyone else, I could hardly complain!
Aha. I was going to seek you out and say hello but had to rush off at the end. Anyway, congratulations. We got a relatively modest 51 (4th=), team included @lucyinglis (Georgian London) @archangelheritage @bilaeva. Like you, I wrongly overruled my team-mates, but on TWO questions. Quel horreur. I know @carolineld (Caroline’s Miscellany), very clued-up and an excellent blogger. Cheers, Mike.
Congratulations guys, and thanks to all of you for coming. But tell me, which were the four questions you got wrong?
The full quiz (apart from the picture round) will appear on Londonist on Monday, so others can see how they would have fared.
Location of Battle Bridge – I said St Pancras and Caroline said Kings Cross. I should have argued that one as it was the parish of St Pancras, but I couldn’t be sure last night!
The name of the former slums by the Neckinger river.
The artist who painted the bicycles.
The question about the first location of the Romans in London
A big thank you to my team mates. It’s amazing how being on the winning team boosts the ego even though my contribution didn’t quite match my expectations! A fun evening.
Exceptional performance, having seen the questions on Londonist I have to say that was one tough quiz.