Brian Chesney, a member of Malvern U3A has been crowned this year’s BBC Mastermind Champion.
Millions of viewers saw Brian, a retired librarian, compile a near-record score of 32 - answering 13 questions correctly on his specialist subject, The Revolt of the Netherlands 1568-1609, and 19 on general knowledge.
Broadcast on Good Friday this year, Brian won the two previous rounds answering questions on The Life and Prime Ministership of Harold Wilson and The Giordano Bruno Novels of SJ Parris.
This was the second time Brian had reached the Grand Final – just losing the winners spot in 2014 on number of passes.
Brian, a member of U3A since 2011, said “This time I was determined to try not to pass on a question and so it was a fantastic feeling to go one better than last time and finally hold the winners glass bowl.
“Because of my specialist subject the BBC flew my wife (who is my inspiration) and I to Delft in the Netherlands where we visited the Prisenhof Museum which was a wonderful experience.
“I have been an active member of my U3As history group for many years and the fact that U3A is all about learning, research and retaining knowledge certainly helped me in becoming a Mastermind champion.”