Starter for 10: can anyone beat Manchester on University Challenge? A modest Brice thanked his family for helping the team secure their win, telling the Telegraph one answer came almost directly from his aunt, Lynda Shay. When faced with the question of which US state was closest in area to the UK, he said: "My cousins live in Oregon, and one of the first things my aunt said when I arrived was to ask whether I knew it was closest in size to England. Bless her. He also admitted getting the answer to a question about British Prime Ministers correct, despite temporarily forgetting how many "h's were in Churchill under pressure. When asked to add up the number of letters in the surname of the Prime Minister who won the 1945 general election and his two successors, he said he settled on "19 or 20," narrowing it down to the former because the question specified a prime number. He also successfully answered questions on the laws of thermodynamics, with an A Level course in physics, and chemistry teacher parents who he joked would "never have forgiven him" for getting it wrong. The final last night saw the team pull ahead of their rivals from the early stages, securing a convincing victory of 190 - 140 thanks to specialisms including economics, physics with astrophysics and pain epidemiology. Their win has been called one of the "greatest comebacks in the show's history," after a near-disastrous start in the first round saw them narrowly win 180 - 175. Richard Gilbert, the team captain who studies linguistics, told the Telegraph: "I still have nightmares about it. It was a "mare. I think it was a mixture of nerves and the questions not going our way. When we look back at it, there's nothing we could have got even now; we just didn't know the answers. There was a large bit of luck involved for the rest of it. Their coach, who has been called the "Alex Ferguson of University Challenge" for his dedication and expertise, said he was "absolutely delighted" with the win, praising the outstanding knowledge and preparation of the team. Members celebrated their win together last night in a local pub near to the university campus, where the result was revealed to their peers around a year after filming.