Years in League: 2012-13 to date
Division 2: 2021-23, 2024-25
Division 3: 2012-21, 2023-24
Titles: All-London Cup 2017, Division 3 Champions 2023-24
JAN is a concept; an ethos; a philosophy. But more than that, JAN is a team in division 3 of the Quiz League of London.
When Amoebas were promoted to division 2 at the end of their debut season, squad member Will "Wizzles" Howells ran away to form a new team. He was partly motivated by a desire to get more use out of the spreadsheet he'd built to administer his summer league team, partly by the chance to be In Charge, and partly by the opportunity to play more games that a smaller team would bring - and definitely not by division 2 looking daunting.
Joining Will in the Amoeba splinter cell was his former
Only Connect team-mate Simon Belcher. They quickly recruited summer league players Amy Macpherson and Chris Clough (a summer league alumnus Will had drafted for his 8-point handicap and for sharing his name with a director of 1980s
Doctor Who). Completing the line-up were QLL newcomers Michael Reeve, whom Will knew of old and of Twitter, and death-obsessed academic Suda Perera, who between them added two PhDs to the line-up.
There remained the toughest decision facing any new team: what name to choose. Something based on their home venue, The Hope? A well-known idiom with the word "quiz" puntastically shoe-horned in? During a discussion at the Crown, Will had casually joked, "If we don't manage to come up with a decent name soon, we'll end up being called something ridiculous like JAN." As it transpired, he was right. Formally christened JAN, the team played their very first match, against Mint Imperials. They lost.
Midway through the season, as they were settling into their weekly routine and their delightful home pub, JAN faced a shock announcement from the youngest member of the team: Suda had a new job out of London and would no longer be able to play on Tuesday nights. The team were naturally disappointed by Suda's success, but good news followed almost immediately. Beth Webster of division 1's Pericardium, who had faced Will and Simon on
Only Connect, was looking for a new team. The transfer was quickly agreed and the new signing made her first appearance for the team when JAN played their return match against Mint Imperials. They lost.
JAN's second season brought with it Suda's return and two signings with a considerable Welsh bent: Nathan Hamer, whom Will knew through his trombone, and Hywel Morgan, who likes darts. This expanded and reinvigorated incarnation of JAN went on to finish the 2013/14 season at the bottom of division 3.
Was it time to shake things up? Possibly - but events took care of themselves. Hywel left London, leaving a considerable shortage of darts knowledge in his stead, and Chris Clough, statistically JAN's strongest player, announced that he was forming a new team, Thread Vietnam. This proved the shot in the arm JAN needed and the team dramatically improved on the previous year, ending the 2014/15 season firmly mid table.
As the 2015/16 season dawned, it was time for a new signing. Laurie Hooper had been a member of 2014/15 division 3 champions Grinling Gibbons but was now out of contract. Will snapped him up, growing the team back to eight and setting a firm foundation for the new season. At the time of writing, JAN are in last place - so the only way is up!