Wednesday 31st Oct
HOSTED by former England and British Lion, Celebrity Masterchef winner, Strictly Come Dancing finalist, and one of the BBC's own A Question Of Sport team hosts, Matt Dawson, The Pink Lion presented the Ultimate Pub Quiz, A Question Of Sport.
Matt's co-host was Rugby World Cup winner, Josh Lewsey. And the hosts were joined by a number of sporting celebrity guests for the evening who were dotted around the pub as ringers in various teams.
Thomas Pink devised a sports quiz testing all aspects of knowledge every discerning fan should know, but did manage to baffle a large percentage of the participants on more than one occasion. Soon you can test your own knowledge by having a go at the quiz yourself.
Back to the evening in question, and Richard Hill headed up Hillies Hookers, who thankfully came a respectable third, though the team did have the edge on the others when one particular question was "How many Lions tours has Lions legend Richard Hill played in?" Thankfully, 'Hilda' as he is affectionately known by his former teammates, got the answer correct!
Former Lion, Roger Baird was in one team, and the inimitable boxing World Champion, Chris Eubank in another, looking awfully dapper. The charming Chris was the perfect gent and team member, despite looking a little lost at some of the rugby questions. His team came a good fifth, but did have the added advantage of having a cetain Rugby Unplugged editor placed conveniently close to interrogate on rugby questions!
The enchanting Channel 4 racing pundit Lesley Graham, took centre stage of her team, and her knowledge of rugby was impressive. Sweetly she apologised to Matt Dawson for asking for an autograph explaining her son was a huge fan so would he oblige, which of course he did.
The winning team was led by Thomas Pink CEO, Jonathan Heilbron, but they had the biggest advantage over any team with the inclusion of Sky Sports rugby presenter and journalist, Alex Payne! The team also managed to cause a proper ruckus over the "In what minute of the game did Jonny Wilkinson kick the winning drop goal in the 2003 RWC Final?" The answer given was 99th minute, but both Heilbron and Payne were hell-bent on having 100th allowed as the correct answer. Despite this, unsurprisingly, this team won.
However, Mr Heilbron being the gent that he is, conceded the win to the second place team, the Big Pink Pussies, since the prize was a tailored Lions blazer for each contestant. And The Pussies were led by none other than England Rugby's Tom Voyce; Lewsey joshed over the mic it was the closest his old Wasps teammate would get to being in the Lions!
Once the formal part of the quiz mastery was over, Matt Dawson was surprised by the hosts with a large chocolate candle-laden cake to celebrate his 40th birthday. And we hear the celebrations went on late into the night with shots all round, and no doubt a few sore heads to begin November!
