Accrington quiz fanatic to appear on TV show today (From Chorley Citizen)

Accrington quiz fanatic to appear on TV show today

9:00am Thursday 15th September 2011 in TV By Emma Cruces, Reporter

A QUIZ fanatic from Accrington has done battle with a giant of general knowledge on a TV gameshow.

Paul Rishton, 40, took part in an episode of ITV teatime quiz show The Chase, which is due to be broadcast today.

The show, which is hosted by Bradley Walsh, sees a team of four try to answer as many questions correctly to amass cash for themselves but one person stands in their way - a quiz genius called The Chaser.

It is their job to answer more questions than the contestants to eliminate them and stop anyone who eludes their clutches from winning thousands of pounds in cash in the Final Chase section.

In his episode, Paul is up against the formidable Chaser Anne Hegarty, nicknamed The Governess for her stern manner, who has appeared on Mastermind and 15 to 1 among other shows.

Paul, who works as a 999 and 100 operator at BT in Blackburn, said: “I’ve always loved quizzes and gameshows and particularly enjoyed The Chase so I applied to go on it.

“After an audition in Manchester I made it through to final 160 people to go on the show from 9,000 people.”

Paul, who moved to Ashton-in-Makerfield from Accrington last year after marrying wife Kath, was a regular at the weekly quiz at the Peel Park pub in Accrington.

His friends Simon and Rachel Shields, who have just taken over the Griffin’s Head pub in Huncoat, Accrington, are inviting people to the pub for a special screening.

Paul’s episode of The Chase will be shown on ITV1 at 5pm.