Penwortham quiz fans take on Eggheads masterminds

The group of five put up a good fight in the general knowledge quiz, which aired on Thursday night, but ultimately lost the battle against the Eggheads in the final round.

Andy Wright, a retired manager who organised the team, said: “It was three of us against three of the Eggheads. Strangely we got knocked out on a question about pub games. The question was ‘In the most popular version of Dominoes which tile has the biggest number of spots. In the end we clumped for the wrong one - we went with a double nine but it was a double six so it wasn’t to be.”

In each episode of Eggheads, which is presented by Jeremy Vine, a team of five quiz and game show champions called the Eggheads are challenged by a team of five contestants for prize money.

Contestants have to answer five rounds of general knowledge questions. If players answer incorrectly they get sent off the show. The aim is to have as many players remaining in the quiz until the final round so that contestants can pitch their brains together to answer the final questions.

Andy has long harboured a dream to enter into the show. He said: “Work had taken me overseas and for the last 10 years I have been watching the show from my home in Holland and I thought when I go home I’m going to round up the lads and we are going to enter.”

In Andy's team were Stephen Robinson, an accountant in Preston, who Andy says was the ‘sports wizard’, Richard Yates, a solicitor in Preston, who is a ‘great cricketer and golf fanatic’, Dave Sharp, who was the team’s ‘history man’ and Phil Nuttal who answered the questions about art and literature but whose strength is geography. “We have all quizzed together at various times in various teams for over 30 years,” said Andy. “Three of us are in the same quiz on a Tuesday night at the Fleece Inn in Penwortham - we are just a competitive lot.”