QUEEN of the catty putdown Anne Robinson - quizmaster on the The Weakest Link - met her match when Bolton-based Sean Kennedy appeared on the BBC show.

Sean, a Liverpool-born property developer, moved to Bolton 20 years ago, so, when the acid-tongued quiz show host asked where he was from, he told her Bolton, rather than his home city.

Robinson, who was born and raised in Liverpool, detected Sean's Liverpudlian accent and asked him: "Why on earth would anyone want to move to Bolton."

Used to turning contestants to jelly with a single quip, the fearsome host was unprepared for his witty riposte.

Sean said: "I said I had moved to Bolton under the witness protection scheme and she didn't have any comeback to that.

"Everyone, including the audience and crew, were laughing."

Sadly, Sean was runner-up on the programme, which was shown last night.

Bolton Hospice also lost out as Sean promised to donate the £2,800 prize pot to the hospice if he had won.

While he was at the TV studio, Sean, of Ladybridge Gardens, took a copy of Robinson's autobiography and got her to sign it for a charity auction.

He said: "Afterwards she came over and spoke to me, which she doesn't normally do with contestants, and asked me which school I had gone to in Liverpool.

"She went to a posh public school, but I didn't. But she was lovely - she was charm itself.

"I had a good time on the show and I struck up a good rapport with her."

Sean gave the signed book to his local pub, the Bob Smithy Inn in Chorley Old Road, which auctioned it off to raise money for Bolton Hospice.

Sean bid £500 for his own book so he could re-auction it at another fundraiser at David Lloyd's sports club in Bolton.

The sports club, in Chorley Street, is holding the charity auction in aid of Bolton Hospice on Saturday, May 10, which is free to attend.