Brian Viner: False hunches about Notre Dame and true confessions of a homework cheat

There was a wonderful response to this column's end-of-year quiz a fortnight ago, which just possibly had something to do with the marvellous prize generously donated by brewers Shepherd Neame: 365 bottles of Spitfire beer.

Marking the hundreds of entries has been practically a full-time job, although a gratifying one, not least because I sniffed out a dastardly conspiracy: one ingenious fellow plainly recruited several of his friends to e-mail the same list of answers, perhaps with the intention of splitting the prize.

But I rumbled you just as I was myself rumbled 30 years ago by my Latin master Mr Clough whenever I hastily copied Simon Cliffe's homework on the bus, not through the answers you got right but one you got wrong. For me, the giveaway was usually an inaccurate ablative absolute. For you it was the identity of the man who came a distant third behind Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus in the 1977 "Duel in the Sun". His name was Hubert Green, not Hubert Glenn.

Anyway, here are the answers, not to all the questions, but to those which posed most difficulty. In which novel does the young hero Leo take a crucial catch in the deep during the annual village cricket match? The answer was L P Hartley's The Go-Between, not Billy Bunter of Greyfriars as one person suggested.

In the film Follow The Sun, which great American golfer was played by Glenn Ford? Maybe this was where the Hubert Glenn thing came from. The right answer was Ben Hogan.

What did Hanif Mohammed rather eccentrically do in the last over before lunch, when bowling for Pakistan against Somerset at Taunton in July 1954? I truly thought this one might stump you, but most of you read it beautifully. During the over, Hanif switched from bowling right-handed to bowling left-handed.

"It matters not whether you won or lost, but how you played the game." This line is generally accredited to which celebrated American sportswriter? Hunter S Thomson was one intriguing answer, but the right one was Grantland Rice (1880-1954), whose most celebrated piece of writing described the legendary Notre Dame line-up in a 1924 American football match against the US army. "Outlined against a blue-grey October sky, the four horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they were known as Famine, Pestilence, Destruction and Death. These are only aliases. Their real names are Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden." Great stuff.

Geoff Boycott had 16 different opening partners during his long Test career. The most regular of them was Graham Gooch. But, for a point each, who was the first of them, and who was the last? This one did stump a lot of you, perhaps because I threw you a googly by mentioning Gooch. Boycott's rather unlikely first partner was Fred Titmus, which almost everyone got right; his last, against India in Calcutta in January 1982, was Gooch, although at least a third of you suggested Wayne Larkins.

Who was Tondu Rugby Club's third XV player of the year in 1996? Some thought Nathan Strong, others thought Gavin Henson, and one or two even went for Brian Viner, as if I would so shamelessly parade my own sporting exploits in these pages. Or win a Welsh rugby club's player of the year award, for that matter. The answer was an ageing but still formidable J P R Williams.

Which legendary sporting career began, on paper, on 11 September 1954? The clue was in the words "on paper", which led several people, cleverly, to suggest that it was the day Bobby Charlton signed for Manchester United. But no, it was the day Tiger was first published, featuring Roy of the Rovers.

Which sportsman was imprisoned by the Gestapo for alleged homosexual offences and which Englishman had got the better of him in 1934, 1935 and 1936? Gottfried von Cramm and Fred Perry, although I hang my head before those who pointed out that the latter beat the former, in the men's singles final at Wimbledon, only in 1935 and 1936.

What sensational sporting upset occurred on 10 July 1951? Not the World Cup result US 1 England 0, as one reader thought, but Randolph Turpin's defeat of Sugar Ray Robinson to win the world middleweight title.

A man, born to Czech immigrants in 1895, founded, played for, managed and owned a famous sporting outfit over the course of 60 years from the 1920s to the 1980s? A point for his name, and a point for the team's. Some thought Santiago Bernabeu, while all those who guessed Abe Saperstein, founder of the Harlem Globetrotters, got the right country, but the wrong sport. The answer was George Halas of the Chicago Bears.

There were around 80 entries with all answers correct, and the tie-breakers - advertising slogans for Spitfire beer - were judged by Shepherd Neame. The winner is Dr Stephen Davies, who suggested "Don't mention the Warne!" The runners-up, who receive a selection of CDs from Warner Music, are Ger Siggins and Jane Watts. My thanks to everyone who entered, and in particular to Shepherd Neame, and Nick Stewart of the Lord's Taverners, who dreamt up many of the questions, but not this one: how long will it take Dr Davies to drink 365 bottles of beer?

Who I Like This Week...

David Beckham, who, for a man frequently accused of being a trifle simple, has masterminded his career with quite astounding brilliance. He left Manchester United at the right time, just as he leaves Real Madrid at the right time. Of course, he would like to have played in a more successful team at the Bernabeu, but he has made himself one of the most famous men in the Spanish-speaking world, and by heading for southern California he is, in effect, staying in the Spanish-speaking world. So it doesn't matter that the average American is uninterested in soccer. By choosing to move to Los Angeles Beckham (pictured) finally acknowledges that his England career is over, but we knew that anyway, and out there his fame and fortune can only burgeon.

And Who I Don't

Well, I'm quite cross with myself, for not writing several months ago that Beckham would more than likely choose LA Galaxy for the final phase of his career. In September I met a guy in a bar over there, a screenwriter, who told me that he thought it was a done deal: the presence of Beckham's LA soccer camp, his adoration of celebrity, the beach for the family, sufficient funds to reward him handsomely, and the challenge of making the game more popular, made it, in this fellow's opinion, a "no-brainer". He convinced me, too, not least because as a screenwriter he knows how the best stories end. But I didn't so much as have a bet on it.

b.viner@independent.co.uk