Clerk Richard Smith is under siege as thousands of Americans clamour for the answer to a quiz question.

One question has stumped thousands of US radio listeners - and they believe 35-year-old Richard, sitting at his desk in an open-plan office in Worcester Street, Oxford, can help them.

Trans-Atlantic callers have besieged him all week in a desperate bid to claim the radio station's $6,000 prize.

Nearly 1,000 people have contacted him personally, 50,000 have called up his office website and some have even sent letters by courier. The question which has baffled everyone is: "Who is Moses Baritz?"

The Americans believe Richard, 35, a senior clerk at the Institute of Actuaries' Oxford office, knows the answer because he set the same question in a light-hearted quiz on the Internet last year, to mark his organisation's 150th anniversary.

His quiz took the form of a teaser for each year the institute - members of which assess insurance risks - had existed. The 1924 question was: "Moses Baritz proved to be quite a turn-on for Manchester housewives. He was the first member of which profession?" Unfortunately for him, a radio station in Los Angeles this week asked a similar question in a radio phone-in quiz.

It stumped listeners who started searching the Internet for the answer - and came across Richard's quiz.

When they realised he had not included the answer on his web page, the search to track him down began.

Richard, who occasionally sets quizzes for churches and colleagues as a hobby, said: "It was interesting to separate those who were honest about why they required the information and those that fabricated blatant lies.

"One of the fabricated reasons was 'My friend and I are having a friendly office debate and we would like to know the answer to solve our argument'. "Some of them were really pushy. One was a real Internet stalker and she was ringing every organisation she could.

"I admit giving the first few, who were honest, the answer and they e-mailed me back to thank me. The radio station later pleaded with me not to reveal it.

"I know the question can't have been answered yet because I'm still getting requests. The irony is the quiz show is called 'You Can't Win'.

"It all seems obsessive. I think if I behaved like that I'd be lying on a couch telling somebody about it. Some of the e-mails were sent at 3am or 4am in the morning their time."

Richard doesn't know if the radio station staff thought up the question themselves or hijacked it from his website. He suspects the latter.

* Did you know the answer? Moses Baritz was the first disc jockey. But can you tell us anything about him?

Story date: Friday 05 March

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