REVELLING in the glory of being the Superbrain of 2005 is Peter Twiss, a retired teacher from High Shincliffe, near Durham City.

Mr Twiss and his team, based in The Avenue pub, in the village, scored 333.5 out of 360 in The Northern Echo's quiz, which teased brains over Christmas.

They will donate their £250 first prize to the tsunami appeal.

"It's a glory game," said Mr Twiss, who this week has been supply teaching at Rosa Street School, in Spennymoor.

"You do it for the glory of winning, not the money.

"In fact I'm amazed we won - looking at the answers, there were some obvious things that I missed."

His favourite question was TV26 which asked "Who once gave Anita Hart some bad advice live on TV?" The answer was weatherman Michael Fish, who in 1987 advised Anita that rumours of an impending hurricane were nonsense.

"I am an inveterate quizzer and have loads of reference books, but I got it through persistence, using Google on the Internet and looking at things from left field," said Mr Twiss, who used to teach at Thornley and who won Superbrain in 1996.

Mr Twiss' team included his 24-year-old son, Adam, John Deller, who works for Durham Education Service, archaeologist Robin Taylor-Wilson and businessman Gary Saunders. They were six-and-a-half points ahead of their nearest challengers.

The quiz was set by last year's winners, David Chisholm and Dave Tucker, from Aycliffe.

"We didn't want to go down in history as setting the first Superbrain where someone got full marks, but we might have gone a little the other way," said Mr Chisholm.

The pair will be having another go at setting the perfect trivia quiz next year. Early indications are that there will not be so many picture questions.

Winners: £250 Peter Twiss, of High Shincliffe; £125 (second prize and Literature winner): Robin Taylor-Wilson, Durham City. £25 category winners: King of the Pictures: Ian Self, Carrville, Durham; Pop: John Deller, Shincliffe; Current affairs: Dave Blacklock, Gilesgate, Durham; TV&Film: Stuart Hamilton, Richmond; Sport: Hugh McDowell, Redcar; North-East: Mike Buckle, Sadberge.