Knitters 0 Non-knitters 2

After last year's attempt to beat the Eggheads we were up for another challenge and a few months ago we entered BBC4's newest quiz show Only Connect. The Knitters teams was made up myself and Tom, reprising our roles from Eggheads, and new member Esther. The episode was broadcast on Monday night and you can still find it on BBC iPlayer if you're quick. Actually, it's funny how you misremember things - I wasn't looking forward to watching but it wasn't as bad as I thought. We did OK, and certainly have nothing to be too ashamed of...all I kept thinking though was how rough I looked and that I don't smile much ;( We take some comfort in the fact that we were beaten by a team of Quiz Professionals who run their own Quiz Show company! (Though not sure why they were the 'Lapsed Psychologists' and not the 'Quiz Quiz Quiz' team...?

The game itself was a good one. If you're into useless trivia it's perfect for you! What really got the nerves going was when we heard the string-heavy theme tune which made me think...oh dear, this sounds like it's going to be a bit too highbrow for my liking. Indeed, some of the questions in the rehearsal (and the show) went right over my head (I still have no idea what a quark is) but I am especialy proud that we managed to get the pilots of the Thunderbirds in the right order for one point, even if we didn't know any novels by Evelyn Waugh. But our winning streak still hasn't started! Two done, two lost....next time victory is ours.

In a nice twist, Gerard and I went off to our semi-regular pop quiz at our favourite London pub, the Retro Bar last night. With 19 out of 20 we won the bloody thing! hurray. Our prize....we didn't get the money but we did win the 2009 Cliff Richard calendar, which they give away every year in the quiz. Secretly I was quite pleased and I kept hold of mine. So he might be a homophobic hypocrite but he was a bit of a looker once and his tunes (pre-1981) aren't bad. Last time I mentioned Cliff on this blog we had a barrage of Cliff fans getting in touch and commenting to preserve his sainthood. This week they failed to get him to number one in what was a gimmick that actually just tarnishes what is an amazing pop career. It's a shame he had to try so hard with a crap song and a crap gimmick. Re-release some of his good stuff and he's more likely to to get to number one again. There's some kind of irony in Cliff, once a supporter of the hateful Festival of Light, that he's sandwiched between Sex on Fire, I Kissed A Girl and The Pussycat Dolls!

Craig

Congratulations to Cliff

As we count the days towards this year's I Knit London Eurovision party and the musical event of the year (what do you mean you disagree?!) let's reflect on the news that yet-to-be-Sir Cliff was cheated out of his 1967 win by the fascists in Spain. Don't believe it...read more.

I've always been a secret Cliff fan. His work during the 70s and early 80s is up there with the best. We must forgive him his excursion into Stock, Aitken and Waterman and all those bloody Christmas songs, and forget all about the Lord's Prayer one. Eek. But, perhaps if he'd been rightfully crowned Eurovision king in 1967 his career would've taken a different route altogether. Maybe Franco is responsible for the Millennium Prayer after all.

That's right, a year before Lulu boomed and bang-a-banged her way to Eurovision victory, and a year after Sandie Shaw barefoot Puppet on a String, Cliff made up the UK hat-trick of winners! Only Franco paid off the juries and secured a win for Massiel instead (below).

La La La indeed.

Cliff deserves to be declared our 2nd winner - how's about a performance of Congratulations on 24th May?

Craigxx