TONY has struck gold for a fourth time in The Northern Echo’s Superbrain quiz.

Last year’s winner Tony Gold has held onto his crown - a crown he first won in 1986.

The semi-retired chartered surveyor from Houghton-le-Spring got 282 marks out of 300, and so pipped by a point the runner-up, Ian Dodds, from Gateshead.

“I thought it would be close this year because it was hard - harder than previous years,” said Mr Gold, 59. “I would usually consider 285 marks to be the benchmark.”

He found one question in particular to be a chew-on: “The name of what was changed in 1914, having originally been called Mermaid?”

He said: ”I am sick of reading about pubs called Mermaid and seeing stories about mermaids found off Saltburn and Robin Hoods Bay. In the end I put that it was a shipyard like the Neptune Yard - I thought it had to be something coastal.”

But the answer was, in fact, Dainty Dinah’s famous toffee, made in Chester-le-Street.

“I’m now an expert in mermaids - but not in toffees,” he said.

The North-East’s toughest trivia quiz was again set by David Chisholm of Newton Aycliffe, who completed a hat-trick of wins in the early 2000s. He tries to set it so that people have to work for the answers - you can’t just tap the question into Google and get it right straightaway.

“Doing Superbrain has changed enormously,” said Mr Gold. “Thirty years ago, when it first kicked off, the winners always thanked the librarians who had helped them. Now you have to work on your screen.”

Many thanks to everyone who entered, and congratulations to our winners - unusually, there appear to be more female winners of the categories than male.

Winner (250): Tony Gold, Sunderland
Runner-up (100) and King of the Pictures (25): Ian Dodds, Low Fell, Gateshead.
TV/Film (25): Phil Spencer, Tow Law
Literature (25): Becky Mallon, Durham
General Knowledge (25): Graham Perry, Kiphill, Durham.
North-East (25): Stacey Wood, Belmont, Durham.
Pop (25): Sandi Wood, Darlington.
Sport (25): Helen Broadwith, Northallerton.