Christmas Meetup 2023

Last night was the club's annual Christmas get-together, where we went to a local RSL for food, drink and a good chat. and we had all three of those, despite the place being rammed full of humanity escaping the heat (and hoping to win the meat raffle).

We spent a lot of the evening chatting and putting the world to rights. But we did have the annual Christmas Quiz, with people competing for the coveted Golden KV2 trophy.

I'd written the quiz during the year, and it was intended to be in the traditional 'people shouting answers out until someone gets it right' format. However late in the day I had a request that maybe we could have written answers instead, so switched to that. However I didn't rewrite the quiz, which had a lot of questions written on the assumption that there would be loads of guesses until someone stumbled on the right answer. This long preamble is to justify the fact that the winning score was a mere 5 out of 20 - it was quite hard.

On the plus side, everyone went away having learned stuff.

How would you do? No Googling. And I'll post the answers in the comments.
(I fact-checked the answers as best I could. I don't guarantee they are correct.)

1 - In which sea-battle in 32BC did Mark Antony and Octavian square off to decide who would rule Rome.

2 - Which country has an AK47 on its flag?

3 - If you were a medieval knight, what part of your body would be protected by a poleyn?

4 - The Knights of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta operate as a unit in the army of which country?

5 - The battle of Poltava saw the end of Sweden as the dominant power in Northern Europe. In what year was it fought?

6 - The British defeat at Majuba Hill in 1881 occurred during which war?

7 - Finnish sniper Simo Häyhä, known as The White Death was claimed to be the deadliest sniper ever. In a career that lasted just around 100 days in 1939-40, how many kills was he claimed to have made with his rifle? (Up to 10% each way)

8 - The victory of the indigenous Mapuche people at The Battle of Curalaba in 1598 halted Spanish expansion in which modern country?

9 - Which conflict was ended by the Peace of Westphalia

10 - When first written this piece of music had a title which translates as ‘War Song for the Army of the Rhine’. By what title is it now known?

11 - The so-called Pastry War of 1838-1839 was fought between France and which other nation?

12 - In the American Civil War the 1864 battles of Sabine Crossroads and Pleasant Hill were part of which campaign?

13 - In Edgar Rice Burrough’s John Carter books, what name do the Martians give to their own planet?

14 - Who was the British nurse executed by the Germans in 1915 for assisting more than 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium?

15 - On the 9th August 1942, during the Siege of Leningrad, the Russians launched Operation Squall, a coordinated bombardment of various German artillery positions. This was to prevent the Germans from disrupting what?

16 - After WW1, the mother of Italian flying ace Franceso Barraca presented the personal emblem his plane carried to a car company, who have used it as their emblem ever since. Which car company is it?

17 - What is believed to be the first example of an attack coordinated by synchronised watches took place in which conflict?

18 - With 11 kills (8 confirmed) what nationality was the most successful F14 Tomcat ace of all time?

19 - Which campaign is the central feature of the first Flashman book?

20 - The US WWII armoured vehicle designated T17E1 was known by which name?

(If question 20 seems a bit specific - it is. It was thrown in as a nod to one of the club-members)

Anyway, Ralph relinquished the trophy at the start of the quiz and then went home with again at the end. He's setting the quiz next year as well.

Bryan then revealed this lovely cake with a spectacular WWII Christmas Cheer cake-topper he'd printed and painted. We all rolled dice for it - lowest won. After five exciting rounds, Bailey's 4 pipped Dave's 6 to make him the winner.