September 10: On This Day in World History … briefly
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
2001: Charles Ingram cheats his way to £1 million on ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’
Charles William Ingram is an English former British Army major who became known for cheating on the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in 2001, after winning a million in local currency. He was convicted after a lengthy and controversial four-day jury deliberation at Southwark Crown Court on a single count of procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception. He was convicted of an unrelated insurance fraud in 2003, and ordered to resign his commission as a major by the Army Board.
Ingram is married to Diana Ingram and has since participated in other television shows, including The Weakest Link, Wife Swap, Hell’s Kitchen, and on Big Brother’s Big Mouth.
On 9 and 10 September 2001, Ingram was a contestant on the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. His wife Diana Ingram and her brother Adrian Pollock had previously been contestants on the show, both winning £32 000. The show, presented by Chris Tarrant, was one of the highest-rated in the United Kingdom at its peak in 1999; one edition was watched by 19 million viewers, a third of the British population.
By the time recording ended on the first day, Ingram had reached £4,000 and used two of his three ‘lifelines’. The production team doubted he would proceed much further when recording resumed; however, then he went on to win the top prize of £1 million. Ingram flipped between answers erratically, appearing to settle on one answer before suddenly moving to another. For example, asked who recorded the 2000 Craig David album ‘Born to Do It’, Ingram said he had ‘never heard of David’ and appeared to go for a different option before moving to the correct answer.
The show’s production company Celador suspended the £1 million payout after they suspected Ingram had cheated. Production staff accused Ingram and his wife of defrauding the game show by having an accomplice in the audience, lecturer Tecwen Whittock, cough when Ingram read out a correct answer.
Tarrant, who drank champagne with the Ingrams in their dressing room, said he was convinced that Ingram was genuine when he signed the £1 million cheque:
“If I thought there was anything wrong, I certainly would not have signed it.” When asked whether the atmosphere in the dressing room was tense after the show, Tarrant replied: “No, not at all. They seemed as normal as people who have just won a million pounds would be in the situation.” However, he said that on his way to the dressing room “I had been told there had been quite an unpleasant exchange.”
A member of the crew, Eve Winstanley, testified in court that Ingram seemed ‘very unhappy’ for someone who had just won a million pounds.
Celador employees produced and reviewed various compilation tapes, before and after contacting the police. Celador and their editing company, Editworks, retained all the tapes during the case and reproduced all tapes for court.
In court, Paul Smith of Celador Productions confirmed that his company had previously produced a television programme involving witnesses about the case, for broadcast on ITV after the trial. This was subsequently broadcast on ITV a month after the trial as Tonight With Trevor McDonald – Major Fraud, which was credited with over 17 million viewers. Two weeks later, the day after Major Fraud aired in the US, the same channel broadcast another programme on the same topic entitled ‘The Final Answer’, which was credited with over 5 million viewers.
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