AN OXFORD University student from Blackburn has captained his team to the brink of the semi-finals of popular TV quiz show University Challenge.

Michael Davies, from Lammack, is studying philosophy, economics and politics at the historic university and was grilled by presenter Jeremy Paxman.

The former Clitheroe Grammar School pupil has used his brains to guide his team through three rounds of the show.

His Somerville College team will now compete in a second quarter final game after beating Cambridge college Clare.

Michael, who lives with his parents and brother in Columbia Way when he’s not at Oxford, correctly answered several of Paxman’s question, including: “Named after an Italian statistician born in 1884, which coefficient is used as a statistical measure of inequality?”

The answer was gini.

Michael and his team will appear on University Challenge at least once more when they compete in the final quarter final stages, but he remained tight-lipped about whether they were successful at getting through to the round after that.