SCOTS salesman John Savage reached the final of the BBC's Mastermind in one of the most dramatic contests in the history of the quiz show.

Mr Savage, 52, previously made history by answering questions on Celtic FC. He said he went from "hail, hail to heil, heil," with his new specialist subject of Nazi Germany 1933-1945.

He was in last place after answering eight correct questions on his specialist subject. But he was top scorer with 13 points in the general knowledge round, and won last night's televised semi-final despite tying with two others who also finished with 21 points.

He was the only one not to have any passes: rivals Colin Daffern and Gregory Spiller had four and three respectively.

That means Mr Savage now faces the famous black chair one more time in the grand final.

John Humphrys, the quizmaster of the BBC2 show said: "I cannot remember this ever happening before: three identical scores."

In the qualifying heat, Mr Savage, from Polmont, Falkirk, scored 11 points answering questions on Celtic, and was the first person to pick the football club as a specialist subject.

Mr Savage lived in Bo'ness, where many of his family still live, for 30 years before moving to Polmont, where he lives with wife Lynne and son Andrew, 14. He works in sales at Scott Direct in Grangemouth.