Millionaire winner with a lot of friends to phone
Teacher to give much of his prize money away after going one better than his brother on ITV quiz show
WITH its networks of highly competitive middle class retirees, secret syndicates and quiet obsessives, the very British pursuit of top-level television quizzing is known to be a small world. Judging by last night’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, however, it may be even smaller than once thought.
On last night’s episode of ITV’S longrunning quiz show, Donald Fear, a 57-year-old history teacher from Shropshire, became the first person to win the jackpot in 14 years when he correctly answered all 15 questions put to him by host Jeremy Clarkson.
Just a year earlier, Mr Fear’s older brother, Davyth, 60, took home £500,000 when he decided against guessing at the £1 million question.
Donald Fear’s victory – the sixth in the show’s history and first since it was relaunched – comes just months after ITV aired the drama Quiz, which told the story of how “the coughing major”, Charles Ingram, gained a place on the programme with the help of a somewhat shadowy (but entirely legal) syndicate of British quiz fanatics.
While there is certainly no suggestion anything was untoward about the show’s newest millionaire, Mr Fear, who watched and enjoyed Quiz, admits to having been “hooked since the first episode” in 1998.
After his brother’s success last year, Mr Fear was inspired to give it a go himself, but says it is only “luck” that led him to go one better. For the £1 million cheque, Clarkson asked: “In 1718, which pirate died in battle off the coast of what is now North Carolina?”
Mr Fear, who has taught history for 33 years but now plans to retire early, said: “I saw ‘1718’, the synapses went, ‘Blackbeard.’ As million pound questions go, I’d say that was one of the easier ones.” The brothers celebrated the victory together. “He could not be more delighted. He’s a lot cleverer than I am, but I was luckier with the final question,” he added.
Fear plans to give away the majority of his winnings to friends and family. He and his wife of 33 years, Debs, a nurse, will keep around £300,000, but plan only to splash out on a motorhome.
Asked how he plans to spend his early retirement, his answer, true to form for a quizzer, was unequivocal.
“Oh, I’ll apply to other quiz shows, I think. I’m hoping Egg Heads gets recommissioned.”
Quiz answers: 1 b, 2 c, 3 d, 4 c, 5 b, 6 d, 7 b, 8 a, 9 b, 10 b, 11 a, 12 d, 13 c, 14 c, 15 b