Contestant to Chaser DARRAGH'S SMART MOVE

He was so clued-up, TV bosses had only one question to ask: when can you start?

- Judy Kean

He’s got two left feet, can’t hold a tune and is hopeless at sport. But the one skill Darragh Ennis does have is the ability to remember random facts – and he’s got that to thank for a secondary job that has made him famous.

The Irish scientist is celebrating three years since he joined hit TV quiz show The Chase as a Chaser and says he feels fortunate that he’s blessed with a good memory.

“My mother’s always called me a ‘mine of useless information’,” says Darragh, 43. “I always had a good memory for random facts and weird things. I’m rubbish at all sports, I can’t dance, can’t sing. I don’t have talents in a lot of fields, but I can remember things. I don’t have to work at it. I breezed through school without studying. The only time I really started studying was when it got hard at university.”

Darragh, from Dublin, did a Bachelor of Science in biology, then a PhD in ecology. After working as a biomedical scientist, he did postdoctoral research in Montreal, Canada, before landing a job as a lab manager and research technician at the University of Oxford. He specialises in researching the brains of insects.