Former EastEnders star Shaun Williamson was celebrating after his team triumphed at the final of the KM Big Charity Quiz on Friday (January 10).

The final took place at Westgate Hall in Canterbury, and raised £1,500 for the KM Charity Team’s work helping to equip children with the knowledge and motivation to enable them to meet their full potential.

Shaun and his fellow quizzers from Canterbury’s Unicorn Inn saw off competition from the 14 other top-ranked teams from last year’s Medway, Maidstone, Ashford and Canterbury quizzes.

In what was an extremely close contest, just two points separated the top four teams. The Moomins came second, with Dickensians in third place, and Maypole Masterminds in fourth.

Afterwards, Shaun said: “It was a really well-run event and we really enjoyed ourselves.”

He added: “We qualified by going to the Maidstone Big Quiz heat in November, and we crept through by the skin of our teeth in runners-up place and were invited to the final.

“We got some very obvious questions wrong in the early rounds, so I wasn’t holding out any great hope. But everybody else got a few wrong as well, and that was it.”

The Southern Co-op, Canterbury Bounce, Chimera Climbing, Hornby, the Dog at Wingham, Doddington Place Gardens, Encade Photography and Shepherd Neame all donated special prizes on the night.

And staff from Office Angels helped to ensure everything went like clockwork.

Shaun and the Unicorn are Big Quiz veterans, with the pub being a repeat quiz-final winner in years gone by.

The Kent-based actor said: “I used to be in the Unicorn quiz team when I was in EastEnders.

“We were very good – we used to win the league a lot and the cup and the Big KM Quiz.

“And then I sort of lost touch with them, which was a shame.

“It was a big thing for me to reconnect with them. I’m writing a book about quizzing, and I wanted to have as many quiz experiences as I could this year. So this was one of them.

“It was my plan to get the team back together again and see if we could win the Big KM Quiz, and we did. It was really good fun.”

Shaun added that he hoped the team would go on to defend its title, and said that he had the date for the 2020 Canterbury Big Quiz on Friday April 17 in his diary.

Before that, bookings are now open for this year’s Medway quiz, which takes place at the George Hotel in Chatham on Friday, March 6.

It will raise money for Gravesend and Dartford Messenger charity of the year the YMCA, Medway Messenger charity partner Abigail's Footsteps, and the KM Charity Team's work promoting literacy and green travel in schools.

Teams of up to eight people can take part, and they will receive complimentary bottles of wine and fizzy water on their tables.

Once again, there will be a fundraising bar stocked by Shepherd Neame. Contestants will have the chance to win a Hornby gift set in a fundraising raffle. And there will be special prizes for the top teams of any organisation entering a minimum of three teams, the health and care sector, and local government and schools.

Tables cost £65.

The Medway quiz is also supported by Specsavers, Office Angels and IMP Studio & Live.

See KMBigQuiz.co.uk for bookings and information.