KAZOO'S LINE IS IT ANYWAY?

The eagerly anticipated Popquiz on Tuesday, July 15th at The Station Inn, was a huge success. £160 was raised for Whitby Now and everyone went home with aching brains, yet happy that they finally knew the length of Gene Simmond's tongue.

Kate Longmate turned up with a wad of questions thicker than a docker's sandwich, and asked them with such poise and style that a fellow at the bar bought her a complimentary drink for having such a richly commanding voice. If you didn't manage to make it, you can test your pop skill by trying the half dozen sample posers at the bottom of this article. These are actual questions asked in the quiz, so you can gauge the level of knowledge required.

There was a round of questions about the Whitby music scene, which the Whitby Now team won. There was a kazoo round, sponsored by Robinson's Jet, and a fiendishly difficult anagram, which is reproduced in the sample questions down at the bottom.

A good turn out, which included The Banter, Folk Devils, The Gazette and the fabulous Dingbats tussled with such topics as how tall Prince is, what the first tune ever played on Radio One was, and how many people there are in Polyphonic Spree.

Although they won the booby prize, this representative of The Dingbats team epitomises the sense of fun and exhuberance that made this quiz a night to remember, as he proudly displays his kazoo and a picture of Cliff Richard stuck to a wooden spoon.

There was a fantastic selection of prizes on offer. Jim Marshall OBE donated a tiny Marshall amp that you can actually plug a guitar into and pretend to be Justin Hawkins. It is inadvisable to attempt to stand atop it during a particularly complicated solo though, as it is barely three inches high. Mr Marshall also provided a signed copy of his book 'The Father Of Loud'. And it it didn't stop there, oh no!

Folk Devils provided a CD voucher, which they then proceeded to win for themselves. Jean from Lander's Butchers came up with a bottle of Bell's Whisky as the raffle prize, a bottle of wine came from an undisclosed source, and there were trophies too. Each winner got a sea creature perched on a silver plinth. Rumour has it that the whale Folk Devils won for the kazoo round is proudly on display in the Sandgate shop as we speak.

In this picture the victorious Sludge Ghaut team, which included only one member of the band in all honesty, sit smugly behind their stash of winnings. Colin and Andy of The Station Inn displayed their considerable largesse by providing beer tokens as prizes, some of which can be seen here in their liquid reincarnation.

Unfortunately one sinister incident slightly marred an otherwise perfect night out. In the debris after the event, crib notes were discovered on the subjects of Wham, Dollar, Take That and The Spice Girls. An internal investigation is currently being conducted. A woman is helping police with their inquiries.

It's seven inches long, by the way.

Gene Simmond's tongue that is.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

1. Alex James played bass in Blur, but what is he now well known for?

2. Which band advertised for a bassist with the requirement that they were 'into Husker Du and Peter, Paul and Mary'?

3. How tall is Prince?

4. Name three Whitby pubs Mark Liddell has never played in?

5. Which artist is hidden in the anagram 'An acute girlish air'?

6. Which of the following is a genuine piece of Morrisey tour merchandise?
a. A torch with 'There is a light that never goes out' on the handle
b. A pillowcase embroidered with 'Last Night I Dreamed That Somebody Loved Me'
c. A tartan 'Shoplifters of the World' trolley
d. A Vauxhall viva with Mozza's face emblazoned on the roof.

The answers are in the first comment under this post.