Headingley LitFest: Oxfam Literary Quiz

Tuesday, 20 March 2018

Oxfam Literary Quiz - HEART Centre

This specially-themed monthly quiz, set and delivered with great panache by Mike Bird, Heart Centre manager, was a delightful test of Headingley's amassed brains. Pictures of book covers – no title or author – was one challenging round. An Only Connect wall was fiendishly difficult and got the little grey cells beloved of Hercule Poirot going into overdrive. Literary questions on the weather, dates in March and, of course, Endings – this year's LitFest theme – were also a cause of collective searching of the memory banks.

A most enjoyable evening of competitive quizzing, social chat in the packed Assembly cafe and some great raffle prizes. Do go to them on a regular basis – every third Wednesday of the month.

Participants' Comments

Well organised, challenging quiz, fun and informative, literary heaven!

I enjoyed the occasion enormously. Good fun and sociable and the samosas were tasty.

Well organised and attended. Enjoyable evening.

It was the first time that I have taken I part with Headingley LitFest and I found it quite hard. A very good evening though generally.

Great fun quiz.

Good fun but it could be slicker, with better scoring instructions.

Quite difficult!

Enjoyable but the only connect question was too difficult.

Great fun and good to raise so much money.

A very stimulating quiz.

Good fun!

Great fun, thanks.

The first time I've been to the Oxfam Quiz. I will do so again. All good clean heterosexual fun.

The most boring quiz I have ever been to in my life!! Even though we scored 74 out of 80! Questions were too obscure and difficult.

No comments:

LITERARY HEADINGLEY

Headingley is just the place for it! Don't expect a big circus with marquees, though: we're not at that stage yet. We're all volunteers as well.

Our venues include the HEART Centre on Bennett Road, the New Headingley Club on St Michael's Road, friendly cafés, historic local cinemas, Headingley Library, people's houses and the historic Leeds Library in Commercial Street, city centre.

Headingley's Literary Links

Headingley has strong connections with many writers:

Arthur Ransome was born in Headingley, J R R Tolkien lived at 5 Holly Bank and also at 2 Darnley Road, West Park when he was reader in English Language at the University of Leeds 1920 - 25, Alan Bennett lived over a butcher's shop opposite the Three Horseshoes, now Royale Dry Cleaners.

Lucy Newlyn has published poetry about her early life in Headingley, George Orwell stayed at 21 Estcourt Avenue with his sister Marjorie and her husband Humphrey 'Humpy' Dakin (with whom he visited the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth), T S Eliot used to visit his mother-in-law in Weetwood Lane, William Fryer Harvey was brought up in Spring Bank, Trevor Griffiths lived just off Victoria Road on Winstanley Terrace, Jon Silkin's first office of STAND magazine was his flat at 144 Otley Road, Sir Geoffrey Hill lived in Shire Oak Road, Peter Redgrove lived in Headingley between 1962 and 1965 when he was Gregory Fellow of Poetry at the University of Leeds, and playwright Kay Mellor still lives near The Hollies in Far Headingley.

Wilson Barrett, the charismatic first manager of the Grand Theatre, Leeds (a prolific playwright as well), lived in Beech Grove Terrace, Woodhouse in the 1870s. His house was a meeting place for many writers, artists and visitors to Leeds - such as W. S. Gilbert, George Grossmith and Atkinson Grimshaw.

Headingley LitFest 2020 was the thirteenth. The fourteenth will take place from March 2021 and will be adapted to the rules of the Covid pandemic. We are now a proud part of the annual Leeds Lit Fest.