David Rainford, one of the quizzers on the BBC show Eggheads, has died.

Fellow quizzer and comedian Paul Sinha tweeted: "Devastated at the loss of my friend, David Rainford. Egghead, great bloke, great friend. We had blindingly good nights out mate. X"

Eggheads presenter Jeremy Vine tweeted: "I'm very sad to hear that one of the Eggheads has died. Dave “TremendousKnowledge” Rainford, famous for being banned from pub quiz machines in Manchester, was the best company after a recording: always fun and sociable. I never saw him angry or ungenerous, not once. RIP"

Rainford, from Manchester, was a long-time quiz fan and also a rugby fan, nicknamed 'Tremendous Knowledge'. He won £250,000 on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? in 2005 and became an Egghead in 2012.

Anne Hegerty from The Chase tweeted: "Very sad to learn that Tremendous Knowledge Dave Rainford of #Eggheads has died. One of the nicest people I ever knew. Never a bad word about anyone."

Lee Hayes tweeted: "I remember him from the 80s when he would hang around the quiz machines in pubs in Withington and other parts of South Manchester. He was barred from playing them, go (sic) obvious reasons, so he would help others and we would buy him drinks from the winnings! Good times. R.I.P. Dave"

Danny aka @thelordjalapeno tweeted: "This is devastating, was fortunate enough to go on Eggheads and Dave kept in touch with a few of us afterwards as we were rugby fans. Such a lovely bloke"

Cause of death has not been confirmed but Rainford had recently been ill and had missed a number of shows.