A GROUP of friends from Darlington have been crowned as national pub quiz champions.

The team known as the Galacticos, who began their journey to glory taking part in the quiz at the Darlington Flyer pub in Skinnergate, bagged a £10,000 prize in a grand final on Monday.

Pub company Stonegate held its national pub quiz final at Tattershall Castle in London on Monday night.

Sixteen teams were invited to take part, following 600 heats and 60 semi finals across the country.

Shaun Wallace, known as the Dark Destroyer from popular TV quiz The Chase, led the event.

He presented the winners, Darlington team The Galacticos, with a £10,000 after they sealed their victory.

The team began their journey with victory at the Darlington Flyer before a tricky semi-final at York's Yates pub.

Friends Michael McPartland, Tony Walmsley, Clive Dunning and Kevin Bearne finished in the lead by just one point after a number of tough rounds of questions – including some from Mr Wallace's personal repertoire.

Michael McPartland, The Galacticos’ team captain, said: “The venue for the final was fantastic…just across the River Thames from the London Eye.

“We knew it would be very challenging, with some great teams with three teams…being very close throughout the rest of the quiz.

[A further team member], Norman Wilson, played in the heat and the semi-final but couldn't make the final. [He was] still very much part of the team and will have a share of the prize money.

“We've been quizzing either together or against each other for years, in pub quizzes and quiz tournaments up and down the country. We also all play together in a team in the Sunderland Quiz League and have won the league 4 times in the last 5 years”.

Alan Armstrong, Head of Marketing at Stonegate said: “We are so pleased for The Galacticos in what was an epic grand finale. We pride ourselves on putting on a good show, and this certainly didn’t fail to disappoint.”