Dr Who fan Gavin Fuller (24) last night became the youngest-ever champion of Mastermind.
Gavin, from Fareham, Hampshire, a part-time archivist in the historic ship HMS Warrior at Portsmouth, scored 32 points to win the 21st competition.
He beat runner-up Barrie Douce (23) by just one point in the final at the Commonwealth Institute. London.
Gavin, who chose The Crusades, 1095-1154. as his final specialist subject, said. "It came as a great surprise to win.
"I'd applied for Mastermind in three previous years but was unsuccessful, and had even had an audition in 1989. This time I thought: 'If I get lucky I may just get through to the semis'."
In his first round he chose Dr Who as his specialist subject. "I'm a great fan and over the nears hove accumulated a vast knowledge on the subject," he said.
"I've seen most of the programmes, and for Mastermind it was just a question of re-reading all the Dr Who books again Gavin, who graduated from Exeter University in 1990 with a BA in history, chose two of the subjects he studied there for his other two specialist subjects.
For the Crusades, he says he had knowledge of the subject, but developed it for the final, as he did with the Mediaeval Castle in the British Isles, 1050-1500.
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