Brainy ex-student and University Challenge star John Watt has been reunited with his team mates - thanks to the Telegraph & Argus.

But sadly the reunion did not come in time for Mr Watt to take part in University Challenge Reunited.

The T&A reported last week how the victorious 1980 University Challenge team from Bradford University had re-formed.

The team was brought back together 22 years on to mark the 40th anniversary of the highbrow quiz show.

But when the Bradford team went head-to-head with old foes Lancaster in a special edition of the BBC2 show, hosted by Jeremy Paxman, they failed to repeat their heroics of 1980, and lost the tie.

They were forced to bring in a substitute, Martin Lee, who lives in Singapore, after both production company Granada and Bradford University were unable to track down Mr Warr, one of the four original team members.

In the 1980 broadcast, the bespectacled mature student - who was 41 at the time - was a top performer, successfully interrupting a number of times to win the 'starter for ten' questions. But without him in the 2002 version, the Bradford team lost by a short head.

Mr Watt, still a fan of University Challenge, was watching the show at his home in Huddersfield and was gobsmacked to see his old team mates on television. And when he was later shown a copy of the T&A he contacted us and was put in touch with his old colleagues.

An evening out and curry is now being planned. But his team mates are just rueing the fact that their old team-mate was not in the studio for the re-run.

With him, they believe, they could have won again. "Without a doubt," said team member Maxwell Cooter. "We were only one question away from winning as it was - I'd find it hard to believe that the 'human encyclopaedia' wouldn't have known some the questions that bugged us.

"He would also have made us more confident: we had a bad attack of the nerves.

"What made it more galling for us is that he'd submitted questions to Granada for University Challenge so his name was on file."

Mr Watt, who now works at County Hall in Wakefield, said: "I am still in a state of shock after the bizarre experience of suddenly seeing my twenty-years-ago self on screen.

"It's odd that Granada could find Martin in Singapore but couldn't find me in the Huddersfield phone book.

"The Telegraph & Argus gave us tremendous support and encouragement 20 years ago," he added.