The Vicar sent in his apologies leaving a slightly under-manned yet nevertheless formidable Royal Blenheim (Oxford City) foursome of Justin (Only Connects’ Victoria Coren-Mitchell’s personal favourite), Nick the Thespian, Doc and Geoff, and the Ben Stokes doppelganger, to attempt to thwart the juggernaut that is the Plough (Wolvercote).

Unbeaten with seven wins on the bounce, the Premiership front runners were at full strength knowing victory would almost certainly assure them of a successful defence of their crown. A pulsating contest, ably read by Mrs Doc, went down to the wire with the Fab Four needing to correctly answer the last question to earn a deserved draw. This they duly managed thereby inflicting the first partial blemish to their opposition’s otherwise impeccable record.

Consequently, the title race is still on, more so as the other principal challenger, the Ploughman’s Bunch (also Wolvercote), bagged the points in overwhelming The Bell (Lower Heyford). It wasn’t all plain-sailing, however, as they had a calamitous picture round. Still, they averted one of their own and prevailed 73-57.

With the leaders in Section One, the Bletchingdon Nomads, having a night off, the bookies favourites for this championship, the Green Road Club, took full advantage in sweeping past a somewhat out of sorts Black Swan (East Oxford). The 74-59 scoreline was enough to send the Kidlington outfit to the top of the table.

Following a brace of defeats and a share of the spoils in their encounter with the Green Road, the Royal Sun (Begbroke) claimed their first scalp since early June in overwhelming near-neighbours the Seacourt Bridge (Botley), 79-66.

With Trevor the Speller on the questions, and comfortably leading the Blue Boar (Chipping Norton) by 11 points early doors, the White Hart (Eynsham) survived a brave comeback to take the honours, 76-71, to grab their third win of the campaign.

Lozza, of the North Oxford Conservative Club (Summertown) made the short trek to the in-form Gardener’s Arms (North Parade) more in hope than expectation. Trailing by five before Pictures, lost a little momentum and handed the initiative to their guests.

Still, it took a failure to remember it was Halls Mentholyptus and not Vic that provided ‘vapour action’ in the 1980s advert for the home outfit to hand a last gasp win, 72-70, to their opponents.

JAMES CARR'S QUESTIONS

* Born and raised in Monroeville, Alabama, in 1926, which female American author won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1961?

* Five jockeys rode 100+ winners in the 2014/2015 National Hunt Season. A.P McCoy, Richard Johnson, Tom Scudamore and Sam Twiston-Davies were four. Name the fifth.

* In which children’s comic did the character Dan Dare first appear in September 1954?

Answers: Harper Lee; Brian Hughes; Eagle