Bibliogryphon

Well Gianluca Vialli checking out before the game begins is a massive man-trap avoided for the 2023 game

48 The Pretenders – Brass in Pocket 47 The Specials — Ghost Town 47 Blondie — Atomic 47 The Police – Don't Stand So Close to Me 40 David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes +4 39 The Jam – Going Underground / Dreams of Children -6 36 Blondie – Call Me 36 ABBA — The Winner Takes It All 33 Adam & the Ants – Stand and Deliver 32 Soft Cell — Tainted love 29 The Specials – Too Much Too Young 24 The Jam – Start! 24 The Police – Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic  24 Adam & the Ants – Prince Charming  20 David Bowie & Queen – Under Pressure 11 The Human League – Don't You Want Me

Congrats to @WEP 1923 Henry Kissinger/Gloria Whelan 1924 Jimmy Carter/Eva Marie Saint 1925 Pete Murray/Ysanne Churchman 1926 Timothy Dudley-Smith/Judith Magre 1927 Sandy Gall/Leontyne Price 1928 Joss Ackland/Queen Ratna of Nepal 1929 John Woodvine/Imelda Marcos 1930 Douglas Hurd/Edna O'Brien  1931 Ken Bates/Leslie Caron 1932 Roy Hattersley/Prunella Scales

I was backing Super Trooper over Winner but it is one of the better ABBA tracks. I remember NME including it on a list of most depressing songs ever. (For content not quality)

I prefer Start! to Going Underground and Call Me to Atomic I thought Under Pressure would do a lot better as well as Don't You Want Me which to me is an iconic Eighties track

It feels like it has been left over from the Seventies. There is a lot more here with substance

Great fun @Book It is rare for me to be at the top of any table and happy with my joint win shared with @ThereWillBeDeaths7

47 Blondie — Atomic 47 The Specials – Ghost Town 46 David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes 43 The Police – Don't Stand So Close to Me 41 The Jam – Going Underground / Dreams of Children -1 41 The Pretenders – Brass in Pocket 40 Soft Cell – Tainted Love 40 ABBA – The Winner Takes It All 32 Blondie – Call Me 32 Adam & the Ants – Stand and Deliver +2 29 The Specials – Too Much Too Young 28 Adam & the Ants – Prince Charming 26 David Bowie & Queen – Under Pressure 24 The Police – Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic 24 The Jam – Start! 13 Detroit Spinners – Working my Way Back to You 12 Olivia Newton-John & ELO – Xanadu +2 12 The Human League – Don't You Want Me 10 Dexy's Midnight Runners – Geno 5 Roxy Music – Jealous Guy -5

She wrote the book that the Meryl Streep, Rosanne Barr film The Life & Loves of a She-Devil was based earlier it had been a much better BBC TV series. She adapted Pride & Prejudice for the BBC but not the version that everyone still talks about. Big news in British literary circles

Be my guest.

Our Flag Means Death comes to BBC2 from tonight. Very funny but might be a bit 'woke' for those that don't like that sort of thing

There is an update for the masterlist for the Time category I incorrectly rejected a pick from @BuffaloPhil which would have given them a unique pick rather than use their sub so I will include Katie Couric as a unique and remove one of the picks of Jurgen Habermas

Not had time to run one because of Scavenger Hunt but please feel free to organise

No apology needed just an observation and a reminder to make sure you enter every time to keep those hits coming in

Hell did not score for Pope Benedict as they did not enter after the last hit

Fay Weldon gets me off to a quick start DL 0 Bibliogryphon 1

MariNisia can claim victory in 20/20 + 2

Congratulations to @MariNisia for a splendid victory. Those early hit set you up nicely. Now we are all back to level pegging for 2023 Scoreboard MariNisa - 8 Bibliogryphon-6 Yvonne - 5 Arghton -5 Grimgrass - 4 Summer in Transylvania - 4 Hell - 3 Chilean Way - 3 WEP - 2 Doorslammer - 2 Death Impends - 1 Lady Fiona - 1 Thanks to everyone that played and hope you enjoy 20/20+3

1. Henry Kissinger 2. Bob Barker 3. Nigel Starmer-Smith 4. Jimmy Carter 5. Tony Bennett 6. Jacques Delors 7. Norman Tebbit 8. Joanne Woodward 9. Joss Ackland (Joker) 10. Bob Newhart 11. Rolf Harris 12. Ryuichi Sakamoto 13. Nigel Lawson 14. Sonny Rollins 15. Pervez Musharraf

She was on my theme team and my shadowlist

Kayne West is also a unique in the TIME category

And now we wait....

The teams are up. This is not the free for all of Round IV where there were vast numbers of uniques I think quantity is going to be important and I think to win this on unique picks will be very very lucky (but not impossible) The number of picks in each category is Corrie - 49 Brits - 47 Oscars - 47 F1 - 48 TIME - 50 Poor old Phil Collins has been picked in 22 out of 28 teams so I hope it doesn't come down to him being a winning pick You have until 18th January to submit any challenges with evidence. I am hoping that I have not made any mistakes but it has been quite a stressful start to the new year especially as someone had both Pope Benedict and Barbara Walters in their TIME teams. Will this game wrap up in 2023 or will the next round be in 2024? Do keep an eye out for your own picks because not all of these will be front page news especially some of the smaller players in The Street and the F1 drivers from the early years

Verification is taking a little longer than expected I have completed 19 out of the 27 entries so hopefully today or tomorrow. Should speed up as the same names keep coming up Everyone who have Pope Benedict has at least got a sub to replace him with but if they have not updated me then they will be starting the game without a sub This is an educational experience