The 2008 Annual SYP Pub Quiz

Posted on May 29, 2008 in Uncategorized

The 2008 annual SYP pub quiz, in aid of book trade charity BTBS, saw 26 teams (some 190 publishers, agents and friends) battle it out over seven rounds at Tiger Tiger on London’s Haymarket. A venue used to seeing dance floor grooves and lamp-lit passion became the province of bookish pursuit of points for prizes. My team, led by last year’s Chair Doug Wallace, were perched close to the bar, a precarious place for any publisher.

Red wine at night, publisher's delight

The occasion was set up to raise money for the BTBS: the SYP did just that, trouncing last year’s £320 with some £1500 through team registration and raffle sales on the night.

The markers get stuck in, led by Mia Kilroy, near left

The beloved wooden spoon was ‘won’ by The Hybrid Embryos from Reader’s Digest, finishing with 27.5 points.

Our view of the big screen

At the other end of the table, ‘Bjorn Borg Ate My Hamster’, a literary agent miscellany featuring staff from the likes of Andrew Nurnberg and Johnson & Alcock, among others, stumped up an impressive 44.5 points to come 3rd.

Wallace and Mattu get cosy for the camera

In second place, flashing their publishing credentials with highly animated vigour from the back of room, were The Bookseller on 47.5 points, who were presented with gift-wrapped champagne and chocolates kindly donated by Waitrose Food and Home Canary Wharf.

First place came from the Random House quarter: we had ‘International Rescue’ trumping at the top on 48.5. They graciously accepted their four bottles of red and four bottles of white, again as donated very kindly by Waitrose Food and Home and by now probably strewn across Haymarket.

From Random House, the winners: L-R: Davide Ferrauto, Gemma Hamerton, Jana Jonekova, Nikki Griffiths, Craig Pass, Alison Rhodes, Justin Ward-Turner and Mike Abbott

On that note we’d like to thank the many sponsors who contributed to some fantastic raffle prizes and helped us pull in over £500 in ticket sales on the night!

Chair Jon Slack, Simon Juden and a punter with some very large books

Grateful thanks go to Simon Juden, Chief Executive of the Publishers Association, who did a wonderful job of compering for the evening. Several jokes raised the bar for SYP Quiz Comperes to come, and he even admitted to having Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon playing in his car on the way the quiz.

Our awesome compere Simon Juden with Vice Chair Tori Hunt

Thanks must go to the SYP members on the pub-quiz sub-committee, who put in a solid amount of work leading up to the night with good humour and were impeccably pleasant and efficient on the night. This was a huge undertaking and it came off really well: here’s to the SYP!