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Charles William Ingram (born 6 August 1963), a former British army major from Derbyshire, gained infamy for his appearance on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. He was a contestant on series 10, scheduled for broadcast on 15 & 18 September, 2001. By taking brazen risks and playing the game in an unusual manner, Ingram correctly answered fifteen questions to win the show's top prize of £1 million, becoming the third contestant to do so. However he was denied the winnings due to due to being suspected of cheating throughout most of his run. As a result, the episodes that he appeared in were not broadcast, though footage from them has been used in documentaries.

Ingram became a contestant on the show following his wife Diana and his brother-in-law Adrian Pollock, who had each won £32,000 as contestants on the show. To prepare, Ingram practised for about twenty minutes per day on a homemade "Fastest Finger First" machine. In episodes recorded in September 2001, Ingram got into the "hot seat" but used two lifelines early, ending the day at £4,000 and with only the 50/50 lifeline remaining. The production team doubted he would proceed much further when filming resumed, but he surprised them and reached the top prize of £1 million, though his win would ultimately be short-lived.

The show's production company were tipped off by the show's producers of the assumed irregularities occurring within the quiz and suspended the top prize payout to investigate the matter. While reviewing the recording, the production team made a connection between Ingram's answers and coughs coming from one of the waiting contestants, lecturer Tecwen Whittock; in another instance, the coughing came from Diana while she was in the audience. Based on this evidence, all three were accused of cheating, and the matter was handed over to police to investigate further.

Following a lengthy trial at Southwark Crown Court, the Ingrams and Whittock were convicted on a single count of procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception. After the court case, Charles gained the nickname of "The Coughing Major" and was subsequently convicted of an unrelated offence involving insurance fraud in 2003, and was ordered to resign his commission as a major by the Army Board.

Early life and military career

Charles Ingram was born on 6 August 1963 in Shardlow, Derbyshire, the son of retired RAF wing commander John Ingram and his wife, theatre set designer Susan Ingram. His father's Wellington bomber, operating with 103 Squadron from RAF Elsham Wolds, had been shot down in late September 1941; he was taken as a prisoner of war while two of his crew were killed.

Ingram's parents divorced when he was young and he spent most of his education years boarding privately at Oswestry School in Oswestry, Shropshire. There he was a member of the Combined Cadet Force and completed the Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award. He went on to obtain a BSc in civil engineering from Kingston University.

Major Charles Ingram

Charles Ingram during his military career

In 1987, Ingram trained for the British Army at Sandhurst and was commissioned as an officer in the Royal Engineers. He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1990 and major in 1995. In 1999, Ingram was sent to Banja Luka in Bosnia for six months on United Nations peacekeeping duties. He graduated from Cranfield University with a master's degree in corporate management in August 2000. He was ordered by the Army Board via letter to resign his commission on 20 August 2003 and to give up his rank of major. It is widely disputed whether or not he was dishonourably discharged.

WWTBAM Run

Background

Prior to Charles Ingram's main appearance on the show, his wife Diana had appeared on the show and won £32,000. Prior to that, her brother and Charles' brother-in-law Adrian Pollock appeared on the show and also won the same amount of money.

Charles had first appeared on Millionaire on 27 January 2001, but didn't make it to the Hot Seat. He and Diana also appeared on Millionaire Couples on 24 March 2001, but didn't make it into the Hot Seat.

On September 9th 2001, having practised with a Fastest Finger First button of his own invention, Charles quickly managed to get into the chair opposite Chris Tarrant for the big money prize. He said that the plan was to "get a million between them".

Fastest Finger First Question

Fastest Finger First Question
Put these words in the order they occur in the title of the Agatha Christie thriller.
⬥ A: Nile ⬥ B: On
⬥ C: Death ⬥ D: The

From the 8 remaining contestants, 7 got it right, but Charles (with a time of 3.97 seconds) was the fastest to correctly answer C-B-D-A, making it into the Hot Seat.

Charles's Run to the Million

Night 1

On the first night of his game, when he got into the hot seat, Charles got through the first four questions without using any lifelines. On the fifth question, he still didn't use a lifeline, but took a while to answer. On question 6, Charles used his Ask the Audience lifeline, and then used his Phone-a-Friend on question 7. After 7 questions, Charles won £4,000 but the klaxon called time, so he had to return the next day to continue, ending the day at £4,000 and with only the 50/50 lifeline remaining.

£100 (1 of 15) - Not Timed
On which of these would you air laundry?
⬥ A: Clothes dog ⬥ B: Clothes horse
⬥ C: Clothes rabbit ⬥ D: Clothes pig
£200 (2 of 15) - Not Timed
What name is given to a person who is against increasing the powers of the European Union?
⬥ A: Eurosceptic ⬥ B: Eurostar
⬥ C: Eurotrash ⬥ D: Eurovision
£300 (3 of 15) - Not Timed
What is butterscotch?
⬥ A: Shortbread ⬥ B: Pavement game
⬥ C: Garden flower ⬥ D: Brittle toffee
£500 (4 of 15) - Not Timed
Which of these is the nickname for a famous Scottish army regiment?
⬥ A: Black Cat ⬥ B: Black Widow
⬥ C: Black Sea ⬥ D: Black Watch
£1,000 (5 of 15) - Not Timed
The Normans, who invaded and conquered England in 1066, spoke which language?
⬥ A: German ⬥ B: Norwegian
⬥ C: French ⬥ D: Danish
£2,000 (6 of 15) - Not Timed
In 'Coronation Street', who is Audrey's daughter?
"Ask the Audience" lifeline used.
⬥ A: Janice ⬥ B: Gail
⬥ C: Linda ⬥ D: Sally
Ask the Audience Results: A: 4% ⬥ B: 89% ⬥ C: 3% ⬥ D: 4%
Charles did not know, so he used his first lifeline, He asked the audience, which gave a resounding 4-89-3-4 vote. Charles went with the audience, and won £2,000.
£4,000 (7 of 15) - Not Timed
The River Foyle is found in which part of the United Kingdom?
"Phone-a-Friend" lifeline used.
⬥ A: England ⬥ B: Scotland
⬥ C: Northern Ireland ⬥ D: Wales
Charles did not know, so he decided to phone his friend Gerald, who was 99% sure it was Northern Ireland. He went with him and won £4,000. After this question, the klaxon called time and Charles would return on £4,000 with 1 lifeline still available.

Night 2

Charles Ingram night two

Charles returns to Millionaire on his infamous second night.

On the next night, before starting the game, Chris asked Charles if he had a strategy. Charles said that he was a little defensive on the last show so he's "going on the counter-attack". Throughout his run, the production team grew more and more suspicious of Charles. He was taking brazen risks and playing the game in an unusual manner.

On nearly every question that night, he would try to say all four choices by giving a humorous comment on each of them. Then Tecwen, who was in the FFC seat right behind Charles, would cough immediately after Charles said a correct answer. Charles then inexplicably changed his answer to the correct one. This strategy worked throughout most of the night. Charles later claimed he did this strategy for drama and to "think without interruption".

However, during the later questions, Charles chose to play it safe and check around all the answers multiple times, leading to more constant coughing from Tecwen. Despite this Charles won the maximum prize of £1 million, but due to the coughing being obvious in the later questions and the irregularities in answering the questions, his cheque was stopped.


£8,000 (8 of 15) - Not Timed
Who was the second husband of Jacqueline Kennedy?
⬥ A: Adnan Khashoggi ⬥ B: Ronald Reagan
⬥ C: Aristotle Onassis ⬥ D: Rupert Murdoch
Charles immediately thought it was Aristotle Onassis, and Tecwen coughed immediately after Charles said his name. After two coughs, Charles was confident and went for it.
£16,000 (9 of 15) - Not Timed
Emmenthal is a cheese from which country?
⬥ A: France ⬥ B: Italy
⬥ C: Netherlands ⬥ D: Switzerland
Charles immediately thought it was Switzerland, and went for it. This is the only question of the night that Charles knew the answer to without getting help from either his wife Diana or Fastest Finger First contestant Tecwen Whittock.
£32,000 (10 of 15) - Not Timed
Who had a hit UK album with 'Born To Do It', released in 2000?
"50:50" lifeline used
⬥ A: Coldplay ⬥ B: Toploader
⬥ C: A1 ⬥ D: Craig David
Charles didn't know. After using his 50/50 the two remaining answers were A1, what he thought the answer was, and Craig David, who he said he had never heard of. Diana took a huge gamble and coughed when Charles was musing over Craig David, hinting that was the correct answer. After nearly locking in A1 as his final answer, he backed off and later said "80% of the time I'm wrong when I guess, so you know what—I'll go Craig David." He then locked in Craig David as his final answer. However, the announcement of the correct answer was delayed by Chris Tarrant going to a commercial break. After the break, Chris recapped exactly how Charles approached the question before revealing Craig David was the correct answer.
£64,000 (11 of 15) - Not Timed
Gentlemen v Players was an annual match between amateurs and professionals of which sport?
⬥ A: Lawn tennis ⬥ B: Rugby Union
⬥ C: Polo ⬥ D: Cricket
Charles checked all the answers and two coughs from Tecwen told Charles it was Cricket.
£125,000 (12 of 15) - Not Timed
'The Ambassadors', in the National Gallery, is a painting by which artist?
⬥ A: Van Eyck ⬥ B: Holbein
⬥ C: Michelangelo ⬥ D: Rembrandt
It took two coughs from Tecwen for Charles to be certain that it was Holbein.
£250,000 (13 of 15) - Not Timed
What type of garment is an Anthony Eden?
⬥ A: Overcoat ⬥ B: Hat
⬥ C: Shoe ⬥ D: Tie
It took three coughs from Tecwen this time instead of two for Charles to choose the correct answer.
£500,000 (14 of 15) - Not Timed
Baron Haussmann is best known for his planning of which city?
⬥ A: Rome ⬥ B: Paris
⬥ C: Berlin ⬥ D: Athens
Charles immediately thought it was Berlin simply because he thought Baron Haussmann was a German name. He forgot to slowly say all the answers, not giving Tecwen a chance to help. Tecwen then took a huge risk by coughing and loudly whispering 'No!'. He broke the code by creating a signal that meant that Charles was about to give an incorrect answer. But Charles continued to think it was Berlin, so Tecwen made a new signal, a nose-blow, trying to tell Charles that it was the all-stop signal. When Charles rules out Paris, Tecwen coughed hinting that it was correct, stopping Charles mid-sentence. Charles once again thought it was Berlin, and Tecwen once again did his all-stop signal. After saying Paris two more times, and hearing two more coughs from Tecwen, Charles finally went with Paris.
£1,000,000 (15 of 15) - Not Timed
A number one followed by one hundred zeros is known by what name?
⬥ A: Googol ⬥ B: Megatron
⬥ C: Gigabit ⬥ D: Nanomole
Charles thought it was Nanomole. He said that he never heard of a Googol, but Tecwen had, so he coughed. Charles then visited all the answers again to check with Tecwen. Although he'd never heard of a Googol, he was actually thinking it was, even though he'd just thought moments before that it was a Nanomole. As he says Googol again, Tecwen coughs a second time. Charles then checked all the answers a third time and on Googol, Tecwen coughed for the last time. After saying Googol one last time, Charles finally played Googol as his final answer. However, the announcement of the correct answer was delayed by Chris Tarrant going to a commercial break, which Charles asked Chris not to do. After the break, Chris recapped exactly how Charles approached the million pound question. He tore up the cheque for £500,000, and announced that Charles had just won £1,000,000.
Charles Ingram: Millionaire
Screenshot 2023-08-23 at 15.29

After the show

Immediately after Ingram's win, Chris Tarrant called him "the most amazing contestant we have ever, ever had".

Cheating scandal

Main article: Charles Ingram cheating scandal

Charles Ingram and Chris Tarrant

Charles Ingram and Chris Tarrant with the million pound cheque awarded to Charles after his win. The cheque was later stripped and therefore not awarded due to the suspicion surrounding Charles' run

By the time Ingram had left the set, the show's production company, Celador, began to receive allegations of irregularities occurring within the quiz and suspended the jackpot payout to investigate the matter.

While reviewing the recording, the production staff noted that Ingram initially favoured an incorrect answer for each question, and also made a connection between Fastest Finger First contestant Tecwen Whittock's coughing and Ingram's answers. They also noticed that Ingram's wife Diana had coughed before Ingram changed his answer on the £32,000 question. Believing that cheating had occurred, the production company Celador withheld the winnings, suspended the broadcast of Ingram's run, and reported the incident to police. Both the Ingrams and Whittock were charged with "procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception", and taken to Southwark Crown Court in 2003. In court, Ingram said his life had become a 'living hell' since the show, later saying “My family has been subject to about 60 acts of assault, aggression, abuse and vandalism over the last five years.”

Gettyimages-683796056-640x640

Charles at a news conference in central London in September 2001, speaking after his cheque for £1 million was suspended.

During the four-week long trial, the prosecution presented a recording of Ingram's second day on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, pager telephone records which were theorised to be a result of practice for a discarded scheme in which four pagers would be hidden on Ingram's body, and testimony from one of the production staff and a "Fastest Finger First" contestant attending the recording, Larry Whitehurst. Although the defence provided evidence claiming Whittock's coughing was a result of dust allergies and a hay fever he was suffering from, and Whittock himself testified against the accusations, footage showed that Whittock was not coughing when he became a contestant after Ingram. In court, Ingram claimed the videotape of his appearance on Millionaire was "unrepresentative of what I heard", and he continues to assert that it was "unfairly manipulated". A video recording, with coughing amplified relative to other sounds, including Ingram's and Tarrant's voices, was prepared by Celador's editors (Editworks) for the prosecution and "for the benefit of the jury" during the trial (and later for viewers in television broadcasts). Ingram claims that he neither "listened for, encouraged, nor noticed any coughing". The prosecution alleged that, of the 192 coughs recorded during his second-night performance, 32 were recorded from the ten Fastest Finger First contestants, and that 19 of the 32 coughs heard on the video tape were "significant". The prosecution asserted that these "significant" coughs were by Whittock when the correct answer had been spoken. On 7 April 2003, the group were found guilty, with all three given suspended prison sentences and fines. The Ingrams were later ordered to pay legal costs within two months of the trial's conclusion. On 24 July 2003, the British Army ordered Charles Ingram to resign his commission as a Major, in the wake of the trial.

Charles Ingram trial

Artist illustration of the Ingrams and Tecwen Whittock in court for the trial

In the aftermath of the trial, the scandal became the subject of an ITV documentary entitled Millionaire: A Major Fraud (aired as an edition of Tonight with Trevor McDonald) presented by Martin Bashir and broadcast on 21 April 2003, with a follow-up two weeks later entitled Millionaire: The Final Answer. The documentary featured excerpts from the recording that had been enhanced for the Ingrams' trial, footage of the actions made by Ingram's wife in the audience, and interviews with production staff and some of the contestants who had been present during the recording. None of the defendants in the case took part, with Ingram later describing Major Fraud and a subsequent programme of the matter, shown on ITV2, as "one of the greatest TV editing con tricks in history".

Despite his conviction, Ingram considers him, his wife and Tecwen to be innocent of all charges made against them, and often claims on social media and on interviews, that they didn't cheat. To this day, they are still trying to appeal their case.

TV appearances

Following his appearance on Millionaire, Ingram has appeared on various other television shows, including Channel 4's The Games, the BBC's The Weakest Link, and Channel 4's Wife Swap, featuring alongside his wife in the latter two.

On The Weakest Link, Anne Robinson jokingly referred to the "dashing young major with a throat infection", regarding his Millionaire appearance. A question was also posed concerning, "In classical music what 'C' is the act of throat clearing which members of the audience are asked to try to avoid?", the answer being "coughing".

Ingram also narrowly lost to Paul Daniels on the short-lived Channel 5 game show 19 Keys in November 2003.

The Ingrams featured on numerous television shows in the UK and overseas including:

  • Have I Been Here Before? Series 2 – Summer 06 TBC – ITV1;
  • Big Brother's Big Mouth with Russell Brand - 7 Jul 06 - E4, Sky 140;
  • The Good Day Show with Tracy Falkes - 13 Jun 06 - Legal TV, Sky 885;
  • Celebrity Weakest Link Couples Special - 14 Jan 06 - BBC1;
  • Heads Up With Richard Herring – 10 Nov 05 – Poker Zone, Sky 226;
  • Hell's Kitchen - 23 Apr 05 - ITV1 & ITV2;
  • The Games - 2 Apr 05 - Channel 4;
  • Friday Night Project - 23 Feb 05 - Channel 4;
  • The Vera Show - 8 Sep 04 - Austria ORF2;
  • Hell's Kitchen - 30 May 04 - ITV1;
  • Jack Dee Live At The Apollo - 26 May 04 - BBC1;
  • Fear Factor - 8 to 14 May 04 - Sky One, Sky 106 (Winner);
  • The Games - 9 Jan-18 Apr - Channel 4 & E4;
  • Celebrity Poker Club - 18 to 19 Mar 04 - Challenge TV Sky 121;
  • This Morning, Regression - 25 Feb 04 - ITV1;
  • 100 Greatest TV Moments - 31 Dec 03 - Channel 4 & E4;
  • Real Story with Fiona Bruce - 24 Nov 03 - BBC1 & BBC3;
  • TV Cheats - 22 Nov 03 - ITV1;
  • GMTV Today - 12 Nov 03 - GMTV;
  • Celebrity Wife Swap - 11 to 16 Nov 03 - Channel 4;
  • Richard and Judy - 11 Nov 03 - Channel 4;
  • This Morning (TV Quick Awards) - 9 Sep 03 - ITV1;
  • This Morning - 20 Aug 03 - ITV1;
  • Yes/No Quiz Show - 13 Aug 03 - Bravo TV, Sky 124;
  • This Morning - 5 Aug 03 - ITV1;
  • 19 Keys - 29 Jun 03 - Channel 5;
  • This Morning - 26 Jun 03 - ITV1;
  • Tonight with Jonathan Ross - 13 Jun 03 - BBC1;
  • Tonight with Trevor McDonald Part 2 - 9 May 03 - ITV1;
  • Nationwide USA - 2 Hour Special - 8 May 03 - ABC;
  • Hard Talk - 23 Apr 03 - BBC News 24 & BBC World;
  • This Morning - 23 Apr 03 - ITV1;
  • Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Programme Special - 21 Apr 03 - ITV2;
  • Tonight with Trevor McDonald Part 1 - 21 Apr 03 - ITV1;
  • The John Daley Show - 18 Apr 03 - BBC Northern Ireland;
  • GMTV Today - 15 Apr 03 - GMTV.

Insurance fraud case

In late 2003, Ingram and his wife were charged with further fraud offences. On 28 October, Ingram was found guilty at Bournemouth Crown Court of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception, and of a second charge of deception, having attempted to claim on an insurance policy after an alleged burglary at his home. Ingram had failed to tell Direct Line Insurance about claims he had made in the three years before he took out the policy in July 2001. The court was told that Ingram had been a "habitual claimant" with Norwich Union after suffering "unfortunate" losses of private possessions.

Christopher Parker, prosecuting, said Ingram switched insurers to Zurich Insurance Group in 1997, after Norwich Union reduced a burglary claim from £19,000 to £9,000, and in 2000 switched again to Direct Line. "He has been ineluctably dishonest," Parker said. "He went to Direct Line and didn't make a disclosure about his claims history, because he knew he wouldn't have been insured. It might not have started off as the most monstrous piece of villainy but these things tend to snowball and it all came to a sticky end when he claimed for £30,000." Staff at Direct Line were already "suspicious" about Ingram's £30,000 burglary claim but decided to investigate only after reading newspaper coverage about his questionable win on Millionaire.

Ingram was given a conditional discharge on the charge of fraudulently claiming £30,000 on insurance. The judge told Ingram he took into account "the punishment [Ingram had] brought upon [himself] and [his] dire financial state" and rejected an alternative option of community service after Ingram told a probation officer he feared other criminals would bully him.

Legacy

Since his infamous Millionaire appearance, Ingram has gone on several other game shows, most notably appearing on The Weakest Link with his wife Diana. During his time on the show, Anne jokingly referred to him as "the dashing young major with a throat infection", and one question posed to him and Diana asked "In classical music what 'C' is the act of throat clearing which members of the audience are asked to try to avoid?", the answer being "coughing".

Jeremy Clarkson Cough

"You're supposed to cough after the question's been answered!"

Ingram has been referenced several times in the revived series of Millionaire, which began airing in 2018. Current UK host Jeremy Clarkson joked about the scandal on the show during a 2019 episode, when an audience member began coughing while he was preparing to read the next question, Clarkson joked that they were supposed to start coughing after he had read the question. In another episode, in response to a contestant's sudden change of mind when answering a question, Clarkson jokingly said "not since the coughing major have we seen that".

On April 17th 2020, Clarkson indirectly referred to Ingram in a Twitter video. He revealed that he would be hosting an online pub quiz for his followers, and joked that they didn't even have to cough to cheat.

In September 2020, during Donald Fear's successful run to the million, Clarkson asked Fear how many people had won the million on the show. Fear told him that he thought six people had won (accidentally including Ingram as one of the winners), to which Clarkson replied "you could be the seventh."

Quotes

God, no!
~ Charles Ingram after the klaxon called time
I'm gonna go for Craig David.
~ One of Charles Ingram's most famous quotes
I'm not sure I can go, I just don't think I can do this one. God... I don't think It's a megatron. And I have to say, I haven't, I don't think I've heard of a googol. By process of elimination, I actually think it's a googol, even though I don't know what a googol is.
~ Charles Ingram on the final question
I completely refute that obviously.
~ Charles Ingram after being accused of cheating on the show, two hours after he won the million.
I simply don't understand why the magistrates found me guilty and frankly I'm not only devastated, I find it incredulous.
~ Charles Ingram after the trial
I very much regret that the pressures associated with recent events have made it impossible for me to complete my full term of military service, as I had hitherto envisaged. The idea that Diana and I will be able to live a life of ease without obtaining future employment is, I am afraid, an illusion.
~ Charles Ingram about leaving the Army
I did not cheat, if I can use that very firm expression to cover everything. I can't say that there wasn't coughing going on, but I did not either hear or use coughing as any form of mechanism for being able to answer those questions.
~ Charles Ingram claiming to not have cheated during an interview
I should make one thing clear and I'll only say it once and then move on. We didn't cheat on that show. There was no plan to cheat on that show. I won that money perfectly honestly and fairly and squarely, and while I was sitting there in the centre of the studio, I did not notice any coughing at all. I was entirely unaware of it. As for the victims, I've heard a lot of people say that this is a victimless crime. Well actually there are victims, the three defendants were the victims, we should not have been found guilty on the evidence that was presented in court. We were found guilty on a very good story. Pieces of the jigsaw crammed together that were ill-fitting, and indeed pieces were missing and they were wallpapered over. We didn't do it. We really didn't cheat. I certainly did not cheat. In the middle of that room, I heard no coughing whatsoever.
~ Charles Ingram claiming to not have cheated

Gallery

Videos

In popular culture

  • His cheating scandal inspired the Indian novel Q & A, which in turn inspired the hit 2009 movie Slumdog Millionaire.
  • A book covering the case, Bad Show: The Quiz, The Cough, The Millionaire Major, by Bob Woffinden and James Plaskett, was published in January 2015.
  • Quiz, a play written by James Graham that re-examines the events and subsequent conviction of the Ingrams and Whittock, opened at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, on 3 November 2017, running until 9 December 2017. The play transferred to the West End, playing at the Noël Coward Theatrefrom 31 March 2018 to 16 June 2018. In 2019, Graham adapted his play into a serial drama for ITV that was broadcast in April 2020 in three parts. Ingram was portrayed in the series by Matthew Macfadyen. The series also aired on AMC and BBC America in the United States in June 2020 and on RTÉ One in Ireland in February 2021.

Trivia and Notes

  • To date as of now, Charles Ingram is the last UK contestant to be stripped of his prize money, the previous three contestants were Neil Muir, Sheridan Booth and Andrew Lavelle - who were all stripped of their prize money for having criminal records. As his win was illegitimate, Charles is the only UK top prize winner to be stripped of their money, and one of three worldwide top prize winners to be stripped of their money (alongside Asen Angelov and Lertlak Panchanawaporn)
  • This scheme of using 4 vibrating message pagers (each corresponding to answers A, B, C or D) was originally going to be used to help Charles Ingram cheat his way to the million when he was in the hot seat before the cheats dropped the plan as they thought it would be 'too risky'.
  • It's often believed that Charles Ingram would've gotten away with it had he not gone for the million. One member of the audience at the time, did suggest that had he walked away at some point prior to the £500,000 question, he might not have gained such notoriety.[1]
  • Ironically, Tecwen Whittock was the contestant after Charles but wound up only winning £1,000 after flunking out on the £8,000 question.
  • A week after Charles' infamous run, Robert Brydges won £1,000,000 legitimately, and replaced Charles as the official third million pound winner. Robert was in the audience during Charles' run and was one of those who suspected something wasn't right.
  • Charles Ingram and Diana live in Bath and sell custom jewellery.
  • Charles Ingram voted to remain in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, and has opposed Brexit. He has frequently criticised the Conservative Party and its leaders, particularly Boris Johnson.
  • In 2010, Charles lost three toes on his left foot in an incident involving a lawnmower.

Sources

  1. The three people who had previously forfeited the prize money stopped trying in the beginning and took the prize money, so they didn't stand out much, and his act got more attention.
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