AN unemployed man who entered BBC quiz show Mastermind after losing his job was tonight declared the winner. Chris Webber fired the questions at Clive Dunning.

THE new Mastermind of Britain, otherwise known as Clive Dunning, has put his success down to the need to prove himself after losing his job.

Mr Dunning, 55, from Norton, Stockton, said being made redundant from his job as an English lecturer left him feeling “humiliated.”

“I really needed a new focus,” he said, “and I’d been tinkering with the idea of going on Mastermind for a while. It gave me something to aim for.

“I was badly affected. I felt so humiliated. I had this bee in my bonnet about proving I wasn’t stupid.”

Mr Dunning, a father-of-three, who has been with his partner, Jean Dove, a nurse, for 30 years, worked at ICI after leaving school with one CSE and a solitary O Level. He went on to work as a labourer in the building trade.

But aged 30 he decided to take an access course which eventually led to him studying English Literature at Teesside University and then becoming a lecturer at Stockton Riverside College.

After losing his job he filled in a BBC on-line form and was asked 15 questions on the phone by a researcher.

He did well enough to be put before a panel in a studio of TV production assistants in Newcastle and, after answering 20 questions, was eventually selected for the TV show, one of less than 100 chosen from between 2,000 and 3,000 hopefuls.

Mr Dunning’s first four choices for a specialist subject were rejected for his heat in the BBC’s Salford studios, but eventually he answered questions on the Blackadder TV show.

In the semi-final he chose the Life and Music of John Lennon and in the final the Life and Poetry of Philip Larkin.

“In the final you get to do a film on your subject. Some of the others got to go to places like New York and Rome … I got Hull," he smiled.

“It was still an enjoyable day about Larkin’s life there.”

Mr Dunning, a keen Middlesbrough fan who was up against another Teesside finalist, third-placed Michael McPartland of Acklam, Middlesbrough, said the walk to the famous black chair was “unbelievably nerve-wracking.”

So what was it like to win the Mastermind glass bowl?

“I thought I’d be euphoric, punching the air, but it was nothing like that. I just felt relieved it was all over. When we got home I went for a pint at the Malleable Social Club where I do a quiz on a Monday night.

“What’s been great has been all the people here at home saying, ‘well done, we’re proud of you.’ This area gets battered in the national media. I just hope I’ve helped put a more positive image of Stockton over.”

• Mr Dunning is establishing a private tuition service and specialises in teaching GCSE level English Literature and Language to people of all ages. He can be contacted on 01642-658905 or 07944-195296.

Arrive announces investment in 23 Sapphires

Local bus company Arriva North East has announced that its new Premium bus service, Sapphire, is heading for Teesside, East Cleveland and North Yorkshire this summer.

The new state-of-the-art buses will provide an exciting new customer experience for bus passengers. The service will include; free on board WIFI, electric charging points for phones, iPads and laptops, audio-visual stop announcements and luxury seats with extra leg room. The new buses, driven by a dedicated group of Sapphire drivers, will start arriving this August and will all be out in service by the end of the summer.
The new Sapphire buses represent a £4 million investment by the company and will operate on the 5/5a serving Middlesbrough, Guisborough and Loftus and the X3/X4 serving Middlesbrough, Redcar, Loftus and Whitby

Nick Knox, area managing director for Arriva North East, said: “We’re delighted to be introducing Sapphire on these routes, we have listened to our customers and we’re confident that they will be really pleased with the new, enhanced journey experience. We know that by investing in the local communities in which we operate not only encourages more people to join us on board, but also helps improve the local economy by ensuring good quality transport links for both business and leisure.”

Sapphire customers are also able to download the Arriva journey planner APP which makes bus travel easier for all, the new technology can track buses in real time meaning waiting at the bus stop will soon be a thing of the past; allowing customers to spend an extra few minutes finishing their breakfast or hitting a few more shops before heading for their bus.