Years in League: 1995-6 to date
Division 1: 1996-7 to date
Division 2: 1995-6
Titles: Division 1 Champions (3) 2008-9, 2010-11, 2013-14; Division 2 Champions 1995-6; All-London Cup 1995; Charity Shield 2002
Former names: Red Lion (1995-6 to 2002-3), Crown & Anchor (2003-4), Priory Nomads (2004-5 to 2006-7). See also Animals
The Nomads began life in the South London Quiz League (as QLL was then known) as the Red Lion, Barnes. They entered the All-London Cup and in their first-ever game found themselves facing a team including no lesser lights than
Kevin Ashman and
Gavin Fuller. But the Red Lion won that game comfortably, thanks to a maximum handicap, and went on to take the trophy. They entered Division 2 for the 1995-96 season and won promotion with a perfect season (the first of only two such occurrances in QLL history; the second being by Broken Hearts in 2002-3).
At that stage, the squad consisted of Andrew Frazer, Roger Bennett, John Bennett, Peter Jay and Jim Holland, joined a season or so later by Richard Jones and JJ Barnes. Peter and Jim were Red Lion regulars who represented the pub in the Fuller's brewery quiz league. That is where they met Andrew and Roger, and later John and Richard playing for the Windmill, Chiswick (which won that competition 5 times in 8 attempts).
The Red Lion played in Division 1 from 1996-97, finishing second in 2000-01 and winning the Charity Shield in 2002. In 2003-04, after a change of management at the Red Lion, the team moved to the Crown and Anchor, Chiswick, and again finished as runners-up in Division 1. The Crown and Anchor also changed management, and the team had to move on again in 2004-05 to the Priory Arms, Stockwell, changing its name to the Priory Nomads.
The Nomads shared the Priory venue with the Animals who had played there since joining the QLL in 2000-01, winning promotion in 2002-03. The Animals core squad consisted of Dave Lea, Paul Steeples, Simon and Kathryn Cearns and
Josh Mandel. The team had formed following a suggestion from the landlady of the Priory, because they tended to do well in the pub's Sunday quiz. At times, the team included several prominent people from the bridge world (Simon and Kathryn are good bridge players) including David Burn, who has written several books on the subject, as well as ghost-writing many of Zia Mahmood's columns in the Guardian.
With both Simon, Kathryn and Josh and the Priory Arms itself unavailable for 2007-08, Dave and Paul joined forces with the Nomads, dropping Priory from the team name and moving to the Carpenters Arms. The new improved Nomads finished second in Division 1 in 2007-08 and won the title the following year.