The Headliners’ performance in the notoriously tricky quiz was a vast improvement on last year’s dreadful show and the ten-strong team, boosted by the brain power of Alun Thorne, Will Ventham, Gary Church, Andy Coyne, Lisa Pilkington, Martin Guest and Julian King, finished in a respectable fifth place out of 40.

First place went to the general knowledge gurus on the George Green Dream Team, who came up trumps at the end of the eight-round heavyweight quiz.

The ladies in attendance were all delighted to discover the newly introduced fashion round, which the Headliners’ team captain, Dawn Roberts, managed to score an impressive ten-out-of-ten on, without the need to confer with her team mates. Looks like reading Grazia serves a purpose after all.

Other highlights included the food round, when many a team was caught out by the ‘smiling nut question’. Despite appearances a ‘smiling nut’ is apparently a pistachio and not a cashew.

After the quiz came the auction, when two generous souls entered into a feverish bidding war for a meal for six at the chef’s table at Opus, which went for a whopping £2,600 in the end. A good result for Marie Curie.

Then came some light entertainment in the form of the King of Pop, better known as Michael Jackson impersonator Anthony Edwards, who wowed the crowd with his vigorous hip thrusting (hee-heeee) and sequined blazer during performances of Billy Jean and Thriller.

The night was rounded off nicely with the drawing of the raffle, when Al-whom-the-gods-love-Thorne won his usual hotel mini break prize and tickets to see Evita at the Hippodrome.

A good night was had by all and most importantly, Marie Curie raised some much-needed funds.

ENDS