SUPERBRAIN 2011 is chartered surveyor Tony Gold, 56, who won the second Superbrain title in 1986.

“I have put on a bit of weight since then and lost some hair,”

said Mr Gold, from Sunderland.

Superbrain, compiled by David Chisholm, of Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, is the North- East’s toughest trivia quiz. It made its 25th annual appearance with The Northern Echo on December 27.

Mr Gold, who appeared on the BBC2 quiz programme Eggheads five years ago and beat the panel of resident eggheads, wins the £250 first prize. He scored 294 points out of a possible 300 – although he was tied with last year’s winner, Ian Dodds, and only the luck of the draw separated them.

“I feel really sorry for the other fellow because it is a lot of hard work,” said Mr Gold.

“It is now so computerised. In the past you had to have a sound general knowledge, but you also became a private detective.

“I once rang the Duke of Buccleuch to get an answer, and Barbara Cartland. I expected someone like her maid to pick it up, but it was her and in the end I couldn’t get her off the phone.”

Quizmaster Mr Chisholm said: “I put a few questions in that were meant to be people’s downfall, and they were. Tony and Ian were practically the only people to put the right answer to Pop 42, so fair play to them.”

Pop 42 asked: “Once in legal trouble with the Rolling Stones, Jim Morrison was lead singer with which band, who, despite being critically acclaimed, only managed one top ten, which reached number seven in the early-Nineties.”

Most people put the Doors; only the Superbrains correctly put Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine.

THE WINNERS

Superbrain 2011 (£250): Tony Gold, Sunderland. Runner-up (£100): Ian Dodds, Low Fell. King of the Pictures (£25): Mick Crawford, Middleton St George. TV and Film (£25): Ian Brown, Ferryhill.

Literature (£25): Ken Wilkinson, Sunderland. General Knowledge (£25): Mandy Moore, Middlesbrough. North-East (£25): Graham Perry, Kiphill, County Durham. Pop (£25): Chris Hancock, Sedgefield. Sport (£25): John Otter, Romanby, Northallerton. Internet prize (£50): Bernadine Harker, Halifax. Cheques should be despatched within a few weeks.