A SOLAR power expert dazzled in a top national radio quiz as he was crowned Champion of Champions for 2021.

Dad-of-three Tom Cutter from Ross-on-Wye beat the best of the best to take the overall PopMaster title on Ken Bruce’s Radio 2 show on Christmas Eve, beating his Bexleyheath rival by five points.

The 43-year-old electrician, who said on air he loves living in Ross, won through to the final stages in his first appearance back in August, scooping 37 points with his encyclopaedic pop knowledge, then added another 41 points in last week’s second-round heats.

That gave him a 12-point leader over Brian Spurrell going into the play off, with Ken Bruce telling listeners: "Forget about the Rumble in the Jungle or the Thriller in Manila, this is the real deal!

"In the red corner it’s the Herefordshire Hustler with 78 points, Tom Upper-Cutter!

"And in the blue corner, it’s the Bexleyheath Behemoth, flying Brian Spurrell with 66 points."

His rival went first choosing ’70s hits’ as his specialist subject and took his score to 90 points.

Tom, who has three children Millie, Oliver and William with wife Lynette, a local nurse, then chose ’Pot Luck’ as his special subject and overhauled Brian by answering a tough eight-point question about the second biggest UK hit for US band Los Lobos after chart-topper La Bamba (Come On, Let’s Go).

He also answered tough questions correctly on Kate Bush, The Cool Notes and Lonnie Donegan.

And that was enough to give him the overall Champion of Champion glass trophy, with Ken Bruce declaring Tom "a worthy, worthy winner".

Tom said it was a little "nerve-wracking" going live on air to millions of listeners, but Ken was "such a pro" putting him at his ease, and he just tried to focus on answering the questions.

"I’ve always been interested in music and who the artists, labels are," he added. "My mum always had a good music collection which got me into the older stuff before I did a bit of DJing in the 90s, and dad was a drummer in a band.

"I love all sorts, even cheesy pop stuff, but Motown/soul music is a particular favourite.

"I’d listened to PopMaster during tea breaks and enjoyed it and loads of people said you should have a go, and then I took the plunge in August by emailing them, and was totally surprised to be on the show just four days later.

"In the final, I knew he had a lead after his go and had no idea whether I’d won or not until Ken said, which was a massive relief.

"And I’m a Ross boy, so it was great to be representing the town and giving it a shout out.

"Loads of local people have said well done online, which is really humbling, and my family are really pleased.

"But as it was Christmas, my wife and kids were like that’s fine, now get on with doing all the festive stuff like cutting the turkey!"

To listen to the final, go to www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0bcxkqn