This round celebrated the fact that Happiness is the Road was the featured album this year, and was a fairly straightforward set of related questions.

01		The Happiness on the Road CD was recorded and mixed live at which venue on 19th Nov 2008?
02		How many songs that appear on Happiness, were actually recorded during the Somewhere Else sessions? You can chose either 3, 5, 7 or 10.
03		Who provided the artwork for the album?
04		Volume One of Happiness (Essence) was inspired by whose book?
05		H wore a distinctive coat during the Happiness tour. It was bought for a wedding, but whose wedding was it?
06		Prior to the album release, a competition was run to create a video for a song from the album. Which song was it?
07		A competition winner was chosen to play on one of the album songs. The song was Essence, but what did the winner play on it?
08		The vinyl version of Volume 2 (The Hard Shoulder) has two additional live tracks added, one is Nothing Fills The Hole, but what is the other?
09		Who played clarinet on Throw Me Out?
10		What was unique about the way the album was first released?

This round focused on previous Marillion Weekends.

01		What was the name of the venue in Minehead where the quiz was held?
02		In the A-Z setlist in 2011, XTC was used for the letter X but what XTC song did they cover?
03		Who was the first act to play at the first convention at Pontins in 2002?
04		Which year saw the first of Stephanie's Prog Discos?
05		What was the number of the chalet where the Marillion Museum was held in 2007, was it 173, 209 or 312?
06		There's been a variety of wristbands over the years, but which two years did we have guitar-shaped ones? Both years are required for the point.
07		Who was the compere of the Bootleg Bingo set in 2002?
08		At Butlins in 2003 and 2005, we had to share the site with other non-fans. What event was happening on the same weekend in 2003?
09		During which track did h fall off the stage in Port Zélande in 2017?
10		Name the song by Keane that was covered on the Saturday night in 2007.

All of the answers in this round have something to do with the letter h, but that didn’t mean they were necessarily about the h-era.

01		Which song beginning with the letter ‘H’ has the longest running time?
02		Which song beginning with the letter ‘H’ has the shortest running time?
03		What is the most recent racket CD release (as of February 2019) with a letter ‘H’ in the title?
04		How many album track titles end with the letter ‘H’?
05		How is "Hogarth" spelt on h's birth certificate?
06		Beginning with the letter ‘H’, what is the first track on A Collection of Recycled Gifts?
07		What was the fourth song beginning with the letter ‘H’ to be released as a single?
08		Beginning with the letter ‘H’, what was the b-side of Cover My Eyes?
09		The 2nd concert in the triple FRC (Front Row Club) set Curtain Call was recorded at what venue beginning with the letter ‘H’?
10		What was the first ever Web Fan Club Christmas CD entitled?.

The UK children’s programme Runaround was broadcast on ITV from 1975 to 1986 and featured Mike Reid, later better known to the British as Frank Butcher from the BBC soap opera Eastenders. Runaround was based on a short-lived US show of the same name, and was also made in the Netherlands as Ren je Rot/Kies je Ster (1973-83) and Germany as Eins, Zwei oder Drei, which has broadcast since 1977 to the present day.

The round we based on Runaround was slightly simpler. Darren stood stage left holding a large letter H while Fraser stood stage right holding a large letter L, indicating Higher or Lower respectively.

One representative from each team made their way to the front from where Mezza would ask them a series of questions in the format “Is [The answer to Statement A] higher or lower than [The answer to Statement B]?” The team member then had to stand by the letter denoting the answer they thought correct, and then Mezza would give them the opportunity to change their mind by saying, “Runaround now!” There was an obvious tyranny of consensus going on and few souls were brave enough to choose the less popular option and stick with it, but sometimes it was the right option to choose.

If correct, they stayed in, if not, they sat down. The winner got ten points, the runners up five. And yes, some of these questions are basically impossible to actually know. Sorry.

01		Is the total number of studio albums with h as vocalist higher or lower than the total number of studio albums with Fish as vocalist?
02		Is the total number of STCBM Pre-Orders higher or lower than the total number of F E A R Pre-Orders?
03		What is the most recent racket CD release (as of February 2019) with a letter ‘H’ in the title?
04		Is the amount of pages in both of h’s diaries added together higher or lower than the time in minutes of the world record for the DVD release Clocks Already Ticking?
05		Is the total number of HITR Pre-Orders higher or lower than the distance in kilometres as the crow flies from Tokyo to Timbuktu?
06		Is the number of releases in the FRC Collection, including Download-only releases, and where Curtain Call is counted as three releases higher or lower than the number of countries represented at the 2015 Marillion Weekend in Port Zélande?
07		Is the number of countries visited on the Marbles tour higher or lower than the number of studio albums?

There were more questions than this. Two got used, and the rest we’re hanging on to until next time.

For this year’s music round, there was nothing playing backwards or at variable speed. All you had to do was identify artist and song of ten tracks that shared names with a Marillion song. They were played for thirty seconds or so each. Half a point each. Easy, right? Ah, but what if you’ve never turned on a radio? What if you only listen to prog?

Bit harder then…

The sound files can be found here.

The final song contained an offer of a beer if anyone actually got the full name of the artist. The answer sheet also contained an asterisk as follows:

* This offer is only redeemable from Darren Moore. No other members of the 2019 Marillion Pub Quiz Team accept any responsibility for Darren’s entirely reckless offer of a free pint. Unless he’s offering us one, in which case, we accept!

A good job, as two teams got it correct!

This round was based around quotes from various folk associated with the band.

01		Which British music magazine stated this after the first convention in 2002; "The gathered supporters aren't exactly slaves to fashion; there are women here - not all reluctant and some even young - but essentially this paunchy, greying crowd resembles the largest pub quiz team in history"?
02		In a review of the 'new' online forum in the Web Magazine in 2002, which band member answered the question "Any reason why ‘Good morning!’ is a standard greeting?" with "Between sound check and gig I try to have an hour’s sleep if at all possible, so if I wake up at 7pm at night my internal clock thinks it's morning"?
03		Which convention support act said this; "There is something a little daunting about getting up on stage on your own in front of 2500 of someone else's fans. True I was armed with a recent top ten hit, but that doesn't help a great deal if you haven't learnt to play it yet"?
04		Which band member wrote this introduction to the 2007 Convention Programme; "While I was looking up how to get here I worked out that if I booked myself as sea-freight it was quite a bit cheaper than other options and if I took the 16-20 week option I could travel all the way for a mere £16.83. I thought that was pretty reasonable. Of course I didn't really consider it. I would have missed Christmas"?
05		About which album did H say; “Writing about truth is a little bit like getting your dick out in public and hoping no-one laughs”.
06		Mark and H are speaking about whom; “He’s a talented, miserable fucker but we love him” (Mark) and “He’s very good at card tricks and does descend into a vagrant during the time of recording” (h)?
07		Which album cover is Carl Glover talking about when he said; “There’s someone out there on a Marillion cover and doesn’t even know it. But that happens more than you think”?
08		In which publication did Steve Rothery write, “This is me inventing the selfie”?
09		One which live DVD release did h say, “I’m really not used to having everybody sat there like budgerigars or something”?
10		What was the name given to the drink invented by Fish when recording Clutching at Straws which he describes as "vodka mixed with Bovril"?

Nice easy one to understand. Here are ten working titles for songs that ended up on albums or b-sides. As what did they become better known?

01		The Huge Idea
02		One Way Street
03		Second Chance
04		Poppadom Jam
05		Blinding Obvious
06		Ultimate Gift
07		Waltz Piano Idea
08		Blues in C
09		Purple
10		Russian Ice Skaters

A straight ahead general knowledge round about stuff from the dim and distant past. Mostly.

01		Steve Rothery joined the band in 1979. What was the name of the bass-player/ singer at the time?
02		Fish and Diz Minnitt's audition was recording a song called Close in January 1981. After Fish added lyrics, what song did it become?
03		What was the first song Mark Kelly had a hand in writing?
04		In what year was the first publication by The Web fan club?
05		Which band member played flute on the early song The Madcap's Embrace?
06		Name the missing album in this sequence; Fugazi, Brave, Afraid of Sunlight, Anoraknophobia, Marbles?
07		Which words replaced ‘Antichrist’ on the radio friendly version of Market Square Heroes?
08		Who witnessed the band’s first gig in March 1980 and has since mixed some of the band’s output?
09		Which song from Clutching at Straws was pretty much made up on the spot when Chris Kimsey told the band they were short of songs?
10		What was the first album written at the Racket Club?

This round was based on the UK TV quiz show, Only Connect. A show in which presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell invites teams to sort sixteen tiles with words on them into four groups of four and earn a bonus for knowing what connects the tiles in each group. We did the same, but with pictures.

There were some pics that seemed to go with two groups, but even though many struggled one team managed to get everything right for ten points.



Click here to see a larger version of the quiz images.

Ha, you thought you would find the answers here didn't you? You were going to cheat by looking, weren't you? Naughty, naughty!

If you really want to view the answers click here.