Years in League: 2011-12 to 2014-15
Division 3: 2011-12 to 2014-15
Merged with
Hoop Dreamers to form
Ceefax the Hoop at the start of the 2015-16 season.
Ceefax the Cat were a new team for the 2011-12 season, formed from a core of players who had enjoyed reasonable success (and £50 bar vouchers) at The Warrington pub quiz in Maida Vale. Happily the start of the league season coincided with the return of Sam from exile in Paris, so the time had arrived to face the QLL challenge. Expectations for the first season were low - avoiding a last place finish being the primary aim. This was duly achieved with 3 wins and a draw ensuring a second from bottom placing.
The second season saw captain Tom Barnes departing for Central America and the recruitment of lifestyle king and self-proclaimed “best food and drink quizzer in the world” Barry Humphrey – “phantom fist” and “Bazza finger” were swiftly added the Ceefax lexicon. What followed was a season of highs and lows with each satisfying win being promptly followed by a chastening loss. Promotion remained a (remote) possibility going into the penultimate week, however inconsistency and an incredible failure to pick up a single full-house bonus during the course of the season sealed Ceefax's fate of a 4th place finish and another year in division 3.
The 2013 summer transfer window saw the departure of Messrs Goodyear and Humphrey to the Division 1 bound TEAiM, however the return of both Tom Barnes and Andy Hughes, as well as the promotion of Sarah Gordon from regular reader to fully-fledged cat ensured that the Ceefax juggernaut would roll on for another year. There was some early promise with three wins in the first six games, but just one win for the rest of the season saw us drop like a stone, avoiding the wooden spoon by a single point.
2014-15 was the experimental "try and persuade Ned's mates to play QLL when they don't really want to" season. Dick Fiddy joined Ned, Nick and Andy as the weekly stalwarts, joined by a varied cast of bemused ringers. This campaign was at times a bit of a slog, a run of eight successive defeats leaving Ceefax staring in the face of a first-ever last-placed finish. However, three wins and a draw from the last five games ensured we overtook London Scottish to finish second bottom for the third time in four years.
Is that where the story ends? No sir! Our awful early season form had left us with a promisingly weighty 28 point handicap for the cup. A narrow win over Mint Imperials in the first round was followed by comfortable victories over Lion of Fire, TEAiM and JAN, bringing us to a showdown against the formidable Nomads on Finals Night, in front of all the QLL doyens plus a (potential) audience of millions via Periscope. Ceefax added to their 24 point headstart with a 7-4 win in Round One, but this was gradually eroded away by the previous year's League champions, with a disastrous 10-1 reverse in the final round tying the scores. A tense tiebreak round also ended in a draw, meaning it went down to a slightly dodgy second tiebreak question on London buses - this was won by Ceefax, adding the final dramatic flourish to the greatest QLL match ever [citation needed].
We merged with Hoop Dreamers to form Ceefax the Hoop for the 2015-16 season, so winning the cup was Ceefax the Cat's last ever act in the QLL. The name remains an ongoing force within the London Monday pub quiz scene, however.
The team name derives from a real life cat named Ceefax pictured below, who as of March 2017 is no longer with us. It was unanimously agreed that this is a fine name for both a cat and a quiz team.
