Warrington Quiz League

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Kem Barlow, one of the founder members of the Warrington League.  Ken was Team Secretary for BACO Hotrods, a team from the British Aluminium Company, in the 1975-76 season, the first season of the Warrington Quiz League.  Over the half century his genial presence has always been much appreciated and respected.  His quizzing high spots included playing in the winning Woodworms team in the final of the Warrington Knock-out in 1987-88, and, more recently, partnering John Hall in winning the Warrington Pairs Competition.  He will be much missed.

It is with sadness that I report the recent deaths of both Sarah Trevarthen, former member of the Ringers quiz team, and Tony Elbra, a long-standing member of the former Ex-Men quiz team.  Sarah’s funeral was held on Friday, 5^th September; Tony’s will take place on 16^th September at St. Peter’s, Oughtrington, Lymm.

Many of you will have met Sarah Trevarthen, a member of the Ringers quiz team and a former winner of BBC’s Brain of Britain and Counterpoint, also a finalist on Mastermind.  Sarah is, tragically, currently in hospital on end-of-life cancer support.

We have been informed that Glenys Hopkins passed away suddenly at home on 1 July 2025. She was involved in quizzing in the Culcheth and Warrington areas for many years.
Her funeral will take place at Culcheth C of E church at 2.30pm on Tuesday 29 July, followed by cremation at Warrington crematorium at 4pm. Family flowers only, donations in lieu, if desired, to British Heart Foundation

Photos and videos from this year's finals and presentations can be found at Merseyside Quiz Leagues Finals and Presentation Evening - Merseyside Quiz Leagues

BBC Two’s Mastermind is currently scouring the UK to find contenders for the next series, which will be filmed in Belfast!   

We would encourage you to apply as soon as possible as casting is currently underway, with applications for the latest series closing soon.  

To apply, please click: CAST IT REACH or click on the image below:

Or email mastermind.hth@hattrick.com (the application takes just 10 minutes to complete).  

Entry is open to UK residents (including Channel Islands & the Isle of Man) who are aged 18 or over.  

Hat Trick/Hindsight are committed to making programmes as inclusive as possible.   

The Mastermind Casting team

The MQL Buzzer Quiz tournament took place on Saturday 15th Feb 2025 at Hoylake Community Centre.  After an excellent day's quizzing, the final was contested by The Jenever Convention and Organised Quite Late.

You can watch the final by clicking on the linke below:

You can watch the final of this year's MQL Pairs competition at the link below

The fourth Diamond Jubilee Pairs competition will be held on Wednesday 25th September starting at 8 pm at Prescot Cables FC club, courtesy of the Ormskirk QL.  The address is Eaton Street, Prescot, L34 6HB.

Format

All entrants will be placed into either a higher or lower pool and on the night a draw will be made to create pairs made from a player from each pool.  The First Round is a 40/50-question written quiz that will find the top 6 pairs.  In the Semi-finals these six pairs will be asked questions in turn in a 15 to 1 type format.  A pair has three lives and loses a life each time they answer incorrectly or fail to answer.  There are 10 seconds to answer and there are no bonuses.  The questioning continues until only three teams remain.  Those three teams then contest the Final played in the same way until a winning pair is found.  If there are sufficient numbers then the Pairs finishing seventh, eighth and ninth in the First Round will contest a Plate Final on the same lines as the Final.

Entry

If you would like to take part, then please send an email entitled Merseyside Pairs to either me (briathom59@gmail.com) and perhaps copy it to your League Secretary.  Entries will be confirmed on the Sunday before the competition.  The competition is open to MQL players and there is no charge for entering.

Reports on previous competitions can be seen on the webpage and a recording of the 2023 Final can be viewed here.

I hope that you will be able to join us and look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards

Brian Thompson

MQL General Secretary