HIGHLIGHTS OF WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE?
In three years, 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?' has created drama, delight and disappointment. From the contestant who thought the clergy were marsupials to the phone-a-friend pensioner with a passion for plum brandy, relive some of the programme's best moments...
|
|
Name: Michelle Simmonds
Age: 30
Occupation: Hotel Administrator
Appeared: 17 FEB 2001
Amount won: Nil
"I think I was more upset than she was," said Chris Tarrant after Michelle had been eliminated. "It was almost as nerve-wracking as watching someone win a million." Michelle would doubtless agree, exiting the show with no money after using her lifelines early, asking the audience where Everton Football Club are based and phoning a friend to see which 'EastEnders' character was played by Todd Carty.
Michelle's first milestone question - for £1,000 - was her downfall. Faced with finding an answer to the word specifically linking a kind of mammal with an archbishop or high-ranking bishop, she chose 'Marsupial' when the answer should have been 'Primate'. Tabloid infamy briefly followed, but she calmly accepted her fate, noting: "I am gutted, but it's because I'm embarrassed, not because I'm not upset not to have won any money."
Name: John Sexton
Age: 52
Occupation: Racing Journalist
Appeared: 19 FEB 2001
Amount won: £250,000
Composure, logic and humour are three qualities rarely displayed by contestants, but John Sexton had them all.
From his first question - What is the popular name of the UK national flag? - he stormed ahead with the easy answer of "Union Jack", taking Jools Holland, The Muppets, Madonna and Alfred Hitchcock in his stride to reach question 11.
To win £125,000, John had to identify the fruit that is the principal ingredient of slivovitz brandy. Without hesitation, but with a lot of audience laughter, he nominated his elderly mother as the phone-a-friend. Three seconds later, she had given the answer as "Plum". She was right.
With only three answers left to the jackpot, John correctly identified the phrase "History Is Bunk" to Henry Ford, but was unable to name the Prime Minister who was in office when women won the right to vote, despite having a hunch that it was David Lloyd George. He would have been right again, but left with £250,000 and an assured place in the Millionaire Hall of Fame.
Name: John Davidson
Age: 39
Occupation: Dog Handler
Appeared: 10 FEB 1999
Amount won: Nil
Qualifying for the hotseat in less than seven seconds (after a tricky geographical poser), John Davidson began promisingly. Identifying Danes as natives of Denmark he then realized that the word 'incognito' referred to someone in disguise, and knew that The Shadows were Cliff Richard's backing band.
Faced with another reference to the atlas - which would have baffled many of his rivals - the Northumbrian took little time to respond to 'Which of these countries is washed by the Gulf of Mexico?' with the correct answer of the USA.
At the first milestone stage - worth £1,000 - Davidson hesitated to find a girls' name which is also the title of a Jane Austen novel. Without using a lifeline he claimed the answer was 'Jane'. 'Emma' was the right answer, and John left penniless.
|
Name: Peter Lee
Age: 65
Occupation: Retired Naval Officer
Appeared: 18 JAN 2000, rollover to 19 JAN 2000
Amount won: £500,000
Had Peter Lee the contestant known more about Peterlee, the town in County Durham, he may have beaten Judith Keppel to Millionaire glory.
The Welshman could not identify which county cricket team was based at Chester-le-Street and settled for a £500,000 cheque instead, unaware that the entire North East of England was yelling "Durham" at their screens.
Lee had been great value throughout, asking the audience for the source of the word 'Corgi', oblivious to its Welsh origins. Later he phoned friend Derek Ford to confirm which impressionist painter had a son who became a successful film director. The answer was Renoir, taking him to within two questions of the big prize.
Translating the word 'Kamikaze' to mean 'divine wind', he progressed to £500,000 before surrendering. "I had no real idea about the million pound question - I don't even follow cricket." He remained philosophical about his situation, noting: "It isn't ?1m I've lost - it's £500,000 I've won."
Within days of his appearance, Lee received an invitation from Chester-le-Street District Council to visit the town. His response was not recorded.
Name: Steve Devlin
Age: 53
Occupation: Unemployed
Appeared: 17 JAN 2001
Amount won: £500,000
"Half a million pounds is a lot of money," said the unassuming Irishman after collecting his winning cheque. "It's going to make a huge difference to me." Yet Steve Devlin came close to quitting the show, as he had done 18 months previously, when overcome with nerves.
Dreading taking part in the fastest finger qualification, he had brought a lucky charm - old friend Joe Cauley, who has a "calming influence". It worked well enough to get Steve into the hot seat, and the initial questions (on comedy, alcohol, geography and textiles) were quickly overcome.
Heading toward the £32,000 milestone, he faced varied subjects before identifying the word 'Kismet' as meaning fate or destiny. The topic was unusually appropriate as he later admitted, "I'm not a great believer in horoscopes but my stars said that wealth was highlighted this week and that I was in a fine position to make progress in spite of everything. It looks like they were right."
Progressing to the final question, he decided not to gamble after being asked "In 1912, former US President Theodore Roosevelt was a candidate for which political party?" Believing the answer to be 'Bull Moose', he opted instead for the safety of £500,000 in the bank. Had he stayed in the chair, Steve would have been the UK's second millionaire.
Name: David Snaith
Age: 40
Occupation: Maintenance Engineer
Appeared: 16 MAR 1999
Amount won: Nil
One of the few people who have left the show without troubling the scorer, David Snaith used his knowledge of photography to outwit his nine rivals and win the fastest finger round.
He took the first of the 15 questions - emulsion, primer and undercoat are all terms connected with what? - effortlessly, giving the right response: painting. He then identified 'Driving School' as the TV series that featured hopeless motorist Maureen, and took little time in realizing that Charles Dickens wrote 'A Tale Of Two Cities'.
When asked, "To which group of people does the word 'Romany' refer?", Snaith chose the first possibility, Gypsies, to move to the £1,000 level. The next two minutes proved that the show's motto - the questions are only easy if you know them - was indisputable, as Chris Tarrant asked, "Which word means the prevailing weather conditions of a region?"
Using his 50:50 lifeline to leave 'front' and 'climate' as possible answers, he chose the first option, and went home with nothing.
|
|
|
