I HAVE a confession to make...I've never watched a full episode of University Challenge in my life.

But this week I was won over by Jeremy Paxman's gig - and it's all down to Ted Loveday.

You probably know who I'm talking about. Ted is everywhere. He's become a sensation after leading his Cambridge College team to glory in the grand final this week.

Ted's time to shine came when he answered 10 starter questions correctly in the last round of the quiz show, helping Gonville and Cauis College defeat Oxford's Magdalen College.

In a hugely impressive moment, it took Ted less than three seconds to name the ancient Greek term for an expression only found once in literature.

The answer was, of course, hapax legomenon, which Ted endearingly mispronounced before Paxman had even finished the question.

As the audience cheered, Ted burst into an ear-to-ear smile - the same expression I get on Friday at 6pm when I have a large glass of red wine.

Ted is a man after our own hearts. His thick cream cable-knit jumper became a hit in its own right.

In the aftermath of the quiz, the law student said he had revised for the programme by watching YouTube videos and researchingWikipedia.

"I know some of the questions on the show can seem fairly intimidating and high-brow," he said, in the understatement of the century.

"But there's no magic secret to it - all the answers will be out there on Wikipedia somewhere."

I have a cream cable-knit, I'm never off Wikipedia and I mispronounce words all the time.

But that's where our similarities end. Ted's private school education and the fact he's made it onto University Challenge suggest he's far more intellectual than me.

I can't even imagine how anyone can make it on to a televised academic knowledge-fest.

My claim to fame is getting the publication date of the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx correct once in a poorly attended pub quiz on a Sunday night in a dingy pub in Leith.

FYI it's 1848.

How on Earth do you get to the point when you're able to answer questions on ancient Greek?

The problem with the clever people I've met is they don't have common sense.

They may know how to solve mind-boggling maths problems - but do they know how to mastermind an auction win on Ebay? I'm the queen of that, thank you very much.