On the first day of his trial for conspiracy to cheat the programme 'Who Wants To Be a Millionaire' out of its 1m jackpot prize, a jury at Southwark Crown Court watched an unedited video recording of him making his way to the top. It was never shown on TV.

Charles Ingram is accused with his wife Diana and college lecturer Tecwen Whittock of tricking game show host Chris Tarrant into signing the 1m cheque. All three deny the charge.

Here are details of the video presented to the court:-

Ingram was first shown winning the "fastest finger" round by putting in correct order the words from the Agatha Christie novel "Death", "On", "The", "Nile", in 3.97 seconds.

After reaching the hot seat to face host Chris Tarrant, Ingram told Tarrant: "To be honest, I will be happy to walk away with anything.

"If I can go away to work and hold my head up high, I will be happy.

"I will probably crash and burn, so we will see. The only thing I have done is read quite a lot of children's books."

He said his children had asked for a pony if he won.

"All of them are willing to share one and they have been saying they are happy to give up their next three birthdays and Christmases."

Tarrant referred to Ingram's wife in the studio audience and her previous 32,000 win on the show.

Ingram joked: "We have both got big families so there are plenty of people to come."

He easily passed through the first questions, guessing that the word "horse" followed the word "clothes" and that butterscotch was a type of toffee.

Coronation Street

But on question six, for 2,000, he had to use the "ask the audience" lifeline when faced with the question: "In Coronation Street, who is Audrey's daughter?"

The audience gave an 89% vote for Gail. He selected the answer and progressed to the next question.

Next he struggled on the question: "The River Foyle is found in which part of the UK?"

He phoned a friend, Gerald in south Wales, who gave him the correct answer of Northern Ireland.

The recording for the day then came to an end, with Ingram looking to the ceiling and saying: "God, no."

The next night he returned, he told Tarrant he would be more assertive: "I have a strategy. I was a bit defensive on the last show and I started to talk myself out of answers that I should know.

"This time I'm going on a counter-attack. I'm going to be a bit more positive. I'm going to show a bit more self-commitment."

He struggled on the first question that night, question eight for 8,000.

Asked who was the second husband of Jacqueline Kennedy, he pondered the four possibilities: Adnan Khashoggi, Ronald Reagan, Aristotle Onassis, or Rupert Murdoch.

Aristotle Onassis

On two occasions, when he said the name Aristotle Onassis out loud, a cough was heard on the tape played in court, coming from one of the contestants waiting for their turn at the "fastest finger" round.

Ingram selected Aristotle Onassis, which was the correct answer, taking him up to 8,000.

No coughing could be heard when Ingram faced question 9: "Emmental is a cheese from which country? - France, Italy, Netherlands or Switzerland."

Ingram said: "Counterattack! I would like to say Switzerland but I am not sure.

"When you're up here, your doubts multiply tenfold."

He said he remembered seeing it on packaging before.

Tarrant told him it was the right answer, adding: "I do not know what your strategy or counter-strategy is but you have just got 16,000. You're doing well."

On the 32,000 question of "Who made the album Born To Do It in 2000?", he selected his "50-50" lifeline, leaving him the options of Craig David or A1.

Gasps

He said he thought it was A1, drawing gasps from the audience.

Mr Hilliard, prosecuting, suggested it was this which made Ingram change his mind and choose Craig David - the correct answer.

Again there was no coughing.

Question 11 was: "Gentlemen versus players was an annual match between amateurs and professionals of which sport - lawn tennis, rugby union, polo or cricket."

Major Ingram: "I think it is cricket."

Two coughs.

"I think I have seen it printed on an old cigarette carton or on my grandfather's study wall. Maybe it was polo... It is less likely to be rugby union. I think I would take cricket."

Told he has won 64,000, he jumped up and shouts "yes" before returning to his seat, saying "no more risks".

For 125,000, Ingram was asked: "The Ambassadors in the National Gallery is a painting by which artist? - Van Eyck, Holbein, Michaelangelo, Rembrandt."

Major Ingram: "I think I'm going to go for Holbein."

Cough. Tarrant: "Final answer?"

Ingram: "Yes."

Again he jumped to his feet being told he had won.

Ingram said by this stage he was able to consider buying his own house with the money he stood to win, but the next question promised 250,000.

Audience cheers

Tarrant asked: "What kind of garment is an Anthony Eden? - An overcoat, hat, shoe, tie."

Ingram: "I think it is a hat."

Cough.

Ingram: "Again I'm not sure. I think it is..."

Coughing.

Ingram: "I am sure it is a hat. Am I sure?"

Cough.

Ingram: "Yes, hat, it's a hat."

And, to cheers, Tarrant told him it was the right answer.

For the 500,000 question, he was asked: "Baron Haussmann is best known for his planning of which city?

Rome, Paris, Berlin, Athens."

Ingram: "I think it is Berlin. I think Haussmann is a more German name than Italian or Parisian or Athens.

"I am really not sure. I'm never sure. If I was at home, I would be saying Berlin if I was watching this on TV."

A cough was then heard, which the prosecution claim sounded like someone saying the word "no".

Ingram: "I do not think it's Paris."

Cough.

City planning

Ingram: "I do not think it's Athens, I am sure it is not Rome. I would have thought it's Berlin but there's a chance it is Paris but I am not sure.

"Think, think, think! I know I have read this, I think it is Berlin, it could be Paris.

"I think it is Paris."

Cough.

Ingram: "Yes, I am going to play."

Tarrant: "Hang on, where are we?"

Ingram: "I am just talking to myself. It is either Berlin or Paris. I think it is Paris."

Cough.

Ingram: "I am going to play Paris."

Tarrant: "You were convinced it was Berlin."

Ingram: "I know. I think it's Paris."

Tarrant: "He thought it was Berlin, Berlin, Berlin.

'Amazing man'

"You changed your answer to Paris.

"That brought you 500,000. What a man! What a man. Quite an amazing man."

The final question was: "A number one followed by 100 zeros is known by what name?"

A googol, a megatron, a gigabit or a nanomol.

Ingram: "I am not sure."

Tarrant: "Charles, you've not been sure since question number two."

Ingram: "The doubt is multiplied. I think it is nanomol but it could be a gigabit, but I am not sure. I do not think I can do this one. I do not think it is a megatron. I do not think I have heard of a googol."

Cough

Ingram: "Googol, googol, googol. By a process of elimination I have to think it's a googol but I do not know what a googol is.

"I do not think it's a gigabit, nanomol, and I do not think it's a megatron. I really do think it's a googol.

Tarrant: "But you think it's a nanomol, you have never heard of a googol."

Ingram: "It has to be a googol."

Final answer

Tarrant: "It's also the only chance you will have to lose 468,000.

"You are going for the one you have never heard of."

Ingram: "I do not mind taking the odd risk now and again.

"My strategy has been direct so far - take it by the bit and go for it. I've been very positive, I think.

"I do not think it's a gigabit, I do not think it's a nanomol or megatron. I am sure it's a googol."

Cough.

Ingram: "Surely, surely."

He then teased the audience, saying: "I'm going to play. No, I'm not. Yes, I am."

Tarrant: "You lose 468,000 if you are wrong."

Ingram: "No, it's a googol. God, is it a googol? Yes, it's a googol. Yes, yes, it's a googol."

Cough.

Ingram: "I am going to play googol."

Tarrant: "Final answer?"

Tarrant said: "He initially went for nanomol, he then went through the various options again.

"He then went for googol because he had never heard of it and he had heard of the other three.

You've just won 1m."

After the audience cheers had died down and Ingram's wife had joined him on the set, Tarrant said: "I have no idea how you got there, you went to hell and back out there.

"You are an amazing human being."

His wife asked: "How the hell did you do it?"

...............................................................................

Hmmm? From reading this commentary it really does seem as though he asked the audience to confirm to him the answers and it seems too, that one or more of them actually did so with the use of a distinct cough given at the right time to indicate whether the particular answer was correct.

Indeed, even uncertainties were ironed out by an indicative cough given at the appropriate moment.

Did anyone happen to see this?

My own personal viewpoint : GUILTY.

:-)

Cough once for Guilty, twice for Not Guilty

*Clears throat*

MM

if i was on the jury - NOT GUILTY
anyone who tricks that wanker tarrant into signing the cheque is alright by me

It was never shown on tv apparently, because tv chiefs suspected something.

It won't be the first time someone has bent the rules to win a prize. I say give it to him. TV companies wriggle out of anything.

There would be an easier way of co-operating than coughing surely.

Guilty
Guru

I'm not there, and haven't heard ALL the evidence for myself, so I have doubts either way and therefore he is not guilty............

I read somewhere that SOME of his answers took a very long time, over 20 minutes!

I gave some thought to how it might have been done, and came to the conclusion that if you had a friend with a mobile phone on VIBRATE mode sat in the crowd, he could text the question to someone with a PC, who could text back the answer!

I'm not saying this did happen, just my own theory.

I also read that the producers witheld the cheque after the show after a complaint from a member of the audience!

It's far too early to determine IMHO, but IF the person coughing was the same person each time, this would look very bad.

Andy.

It took me 3 seconds via Google to locate the meaning of Googol........ 10 secoinds to locate Haussman's link to Paris

Andy, someone might have had his GSM live talking to someone on a pc at home, a simple search..........

What if someone at home was texting someone with a gsm in the audience !! Would take 20 secs max to get the answer to him !!

One needs to identify the "Cougher" and establish if
said Cougher is known to the Ingrams IMO!

Or have I missed the point!

Jeff

Addo,

Excactly!

As some answers took quite a long time, I had presumed there would have been 2 way communication, to explain the delay, but you're right, it could have been done directly from the studio without any further help, with the right equipment.

As his wife had been on the show before, and I believe he was in the audience, I did wonder if they formulated the idea after that show.

Jeff,

Yes I had presumed that as a member of the audience "complained" straight after the show, the "cougher" was the same person throughout. I haven't seen this reported yet, but I guess it will come out in the trial.

If he was, I'm not sure there would be any need to prove whether he is known or not. After all, they have checked this out before deciding to prosecute, so they obviously think there is a case to answer here.


Andy.

I think the 3rd accused is the 'cougher'


"Charles Ingram is accused with his wife Diana and college lecturer Tecwen Whittock"

Whittock was the cougher and was there as a contestant. He later won through to the hot seat and the cough disappeared.

The guy who won is Welsh isn't he so he must be guilty.

:-)

Whittock said his cough was due to a dust allergy and it only disappeared when he took the hotseat coz he was able to quaf several glasses of water
:-)
i still say good luck to 'em

"Ahem".....guilty.

regards

The simple solution to all this is just to show the programme on Television and let the general public decide guilty or not! They could have a phone vote at the end of the show which would generate nice dosh for them and the man in question would have the largest and fairest jury ever! So stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
:-)

perhaps they will when the trial is over.
Good money spinner. That way they'll win both ways.
Guru

Should they be pronounced guilty? }Cough{
Are we sure that's the right answer? }cough{
Aren't they just the victims of an innocent coincidence? }cough cough{ }cough cough }COUGH COUGH!{

How long before Halls Cough Sweets sponsor the show?

in case you have not heard the delay in the trial is because a new jury has been sworn in after one of the original jurors fell ill (with a bad cough :-)

Having read a report in a newspaper today, he looks guilty as hell!

Apparently they were using 4 pagers, two in his pockets, and two strapped to his legs. A guy was sat with his phone on, and someone outside could therefore hear the questions as Tarrant said them.

The person on the outside then just needed to call the relevant pager, ie A,B,C,or D, and the contestant would feel the vibration, and give the answer.

When the guy using the phone was stopped and monitored by security, the coughing started!

The police reported that prior to the show, there were loads of "2222" messages sent to each of the pagers from their home phone, but none to any of the pagers since the show.

This looks like a well thought out plan.

Andy.

As they appear to have been caught red-handed, it clearly wasn't thought out all that well.

Exotoxin,

We'll have to see, because I think it will come out that a member of the audience alerted the producers to something, and that's how they were found out.

This looks like a carefully planned operation to me.

they only know what they know now becuase of the investigation, as a result of the complaint, otherwise they wouldn't have known.

Andy.

They weren't using 4 pagers - the allegation was that they had been sending a of of pager messages and the assumption is that they might have been planning to use 4 pagers.

One of my old friends is now a Canadian Attorney. This story reminds me of something that happened to one of his staff five years ago.

He was defending a yardie who had slipped into Canada and was standing accused of a drugs related attempted murder and quite clearly guilty as hell. He'd shot a man 5 times. The jury foreman coughed on delivering the guilty verdict. The jurors, used to the way the foreman spoke, heard it as 'guilty'. The rest of the court heard 'not guilty'.

After the jury had left, the judge told the defendant he was free to go, and off he toddled.

When the mistake was realised, a nationwide manhunt began to find the yardie. He saw his picture on TV and phoned Anthony to ask him what to do. Anthony's advice: "If you turn yourself in, which I'm obliged by law to tell you to do, you'll serve 10 to 15 years inside and then you'll be deported back home. If, on the other hand, you manage to slip out of the country by the same route you used to come in, I expect that that will be the end of the matter."

A natural for the Darwin awards, he turned himself in.

see http://www.criminal-lawyer.on.ca/mistrial.html for the legal view on this, which is still being debated.

Other coverage: http://archives.tcm.ie/breakingnews/2002/06/22/story56786.asp


Gausie

zzaxx99,

how do you know, did they search him?

I will try to read the article properly later.

Andy.

Good job the contestant was not Ainsoph in disguise.

Tarrant could have handed him all the the correct answers in 12 inich high letters and he still would have walked away with nothing

All this legal work is to determine whether or not the chap will get 1m. I wonder how much the legal costs are going to be and who will pay them ?

Nope, the chap isn't getting the 1m whichever way it goes. This is a criminal trial to see if he goes to jail. You are paying the legal costs.

Kayak Thank you for your reply but if he is judged not to be guilty [unlikely] then surely he will get the 1m otherwise why not ?

Well, he won't get it because ITV will refuse to pay him. He could sue ITV for the money of course, but a civil trial has a lower standard of proof (on the balance of probabilities) than a criminal trial (beyond reasonable doubt). So even though a criminal trial might not find that he was guilty beyond reasonable doubt, a civil trial would probably still find that he had cheated, on the balance of probabilities.

who cares?
thats the 3rd million pound question ive known the answer to, unfortunately i would have been out of the game long before i ever saw one. what has happened to quiz shows? can anyone remember hughie green and "the 64 million question"? at least i think thats what it was called. contestants were put in a sound proof booth and told their questions in advance. the more money ( or was it airmiles,my memory is stirring ) the more parts to the guestion and the harder the question. there was a time limit in total. every correct answer stopped the clock ( which i think started at 60 seconds ). the first answer was the only one accepted. this show was shown in the late 60s or early 70s. the prizes were relatively peanuts. they understood the risks and possibilities for cheating that long ago so i say if hes guilty good luck to him

Hughie Green (Ms Yates natural father which she only believed after DNA tests instead of Jess Yates her legal father) was the host of Double Your Money. The other one was the $64,000 question. Then there was Take your Pick which had the Yes/No interlude.

guilty

Was the cougher an Eric Morecambe lookalike coughing answers like he used to
aaarrrgghhuugghh ARSENAL!

Zoltar,

Pretty much, from what I've read.
Apparently one cough sounded like "no"!

Reading again in the paper today, the latest from the trial looks worse than ever. The lecturer was asked by the police if he was having an affair with the Major's wife, due to the number of phone calls they were exchanging in the weeks leading up to the quiz.

The more the case progresses, the more guilty they look, IMHO.

Guilty

Jury returned majority guilty verdict on the 2 men.

She's guilty as well. Hope they like porridge.

April 7, 2003

(15:10) A jury at a London court has found three people guilty of cheating their way to the top prize on the British television show, 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?'

The court heard that British army major Charles Ingram, a contestant on the show, and lecturer Tecwen Whittock conned their way to the 1 million prize using a series of coughs to indicate the correct answers.

Major Ingram's wife Diana was found guilty on a conspiracy charge.

The plot was uncovered when production staff on the show in September 2001 became suspicious of loud coughing and called in police.

The cheque to Major Ingram was then stopped, and the show was never broadcast.

if they show the episode in question I think the ratings would go through the roof.
Best pr they could have ever got.
Guru

There is to be a 90 min special by Trevor McDonald on the Tonight programme later this month.

K

suspended sentencies, 40k costs between them. likely cost to the tax payer over a million. dont you just love justice?

supperrod,

Totally agree, utterly pathetic, suspended sentence.

Utter humiliation for the justice system, lets see the doors wide open now for anyone to scam a million quid.
Even if he was jailed he`d be out in a year, not bad

They tried to cheat at a quiz and got caught.
Yes they were guilty of fraud and as such deserve to be punished but sending them to jail seems a little over the top considering the amount of harm they did.
Ok they went for a 1m but at a principle level no worse than cheating at the local pub quiz for the prize of a few pints.
I would have thought the probable loss of careers/reputation and a criminal record was sufficient punishment.
Does the fact that they cheated to win a million make the crime any more heinous?
Maybe yes in that the case went to court, where as cheating at the local pub quiz would probably just end up with a banning from the pub but sticking them all in jail does not to me seem appropriate.
I would rather the jails were used for those who were of more danger to society.

you mean like Chris Tarrent?

and lets face it whittock was quite intelligent.
Guru

Sunday Times

April 20, 2003

Quiz cheats had innocent accomplice
Richard Brooks, Arts Editor

THE army major who cheated his way to a 1m quiz show prize had an unwitting second accomplice in addition to the college lecturer whose coughs alerted him to the right answers.
An ITV documentary to be shown tomorrow night will broadcast for the first time the whole episode of the Who Wants to be a Millionaire? programme in which Major Charles Ingram appears.

The programme will show how Tom Lucy, a retired Hertfordshire publican sitting next to Tecwen Whittock, the lecturer, innocently gave away the answer to a question worth 250,000.

Whittock relayed Lucys answer to Ingram in the hot seat with the agreed signal of a cough. Ingram was given a suspended jail sentence earlier this month for cheating his way to the 1m top prize. Whittock received a similar sentence, as did Ingrams wife, Diana.

Whittock was sitting next to Lucy after they had taken part in the fastest finger first round of the quiz, in which the contestant to go forward to compete for the 1m prize is chosen. Celador, the production company that makes the programme for ITV, had microphones covering not only Chris Tarrant, the presenter, and Ingram, but also the remaining nine members of the fastest finger first panel.

By the time Ingram reached the 250,000 question, he had used up all his lifelines. Tarrant asked him: What type of garment was an Anthony Eden? Neither Ingram nor Whittock knew.

The documentary will show Whittock nonchalantly asking Lucy what he thinks the answer is. Its a hat, comes the reply, before Lucy adds: Jesus, I wish I was up there. Lucy admits in an interview for the programme that, albeit in innocence, he again confirmed to Whittock that the answer was correct before the lecturer was confident enough to cough.

Whittock is also shown taking the chair after Ingram, an officer in the Royal Engineers, had walked off with his 1m. The lecturer, who last week resigned from his post at Pontypridd College, won only 1,000. He failed with the 4,000 question and is seen leaving the set with what looks like relief.

In the documentary, presented by Martin Bashir, Ingram is shown getting to 1,000 without help. He asks the audience for the answer to the 2,000 question and phones a friend for the 4,000 one. Filming then finishes for the night.

The next evening Whittock began coughing to signal the correct answers. For example, on the 8,000 question about who was the second husband of Jacqueline Kennedy, Whittock coughed when Tarrant called the name Aristotle Onassis.

Ingrams wife coughed on the next question about which singer recorded the hit album Born to Do It. The answer was Craig David.

The coughs then get more frequent and audible. Larry Whitehurst, another fastest finger first panellist, says what he thought happened with the 500,000 question: which city was planned by Baron Haussmann? (Answer: Paris.) It was almost immediate, the bloke whos coughing, says Whitehurst. Hes sending him signals. At the climax of the show, Tarrant asks Ingram to tell him for 1m the term for the number one followed by 100 zeros. Im entirely focused on Tecwen Whittock, says Whitehurst. Im waiting for him to cough at precisely the moment the major mentions the word googol. The first time he mentions it there is a cough, cough.

Tarrant admits that he had no idea of the cheating. I thought, Ingrams got about as much chance of getting to 32,000 as going to the moon in a rocket, he says in the film.

There was just no way this guy could go much further. I could see his wife sitting up there frowning at him and I was thinking, Oh, God, hed promised his little girls ponies.

The programme also includes a recording of the telephone call made by Paul Smith, Celadors managing director, to Ingram to tell him of the documentary makers suspicions.

Ingram replies: Right. Yeah, well I mean, you know, I completely refute that obviously. Um. Good Lord. Im absolutely gobsmacked. All right. Well, thanks for letting me know.

I presume the major will get his index linked pension when he retires from the army!!

regards
linhurst

Something I just read and found amusing:

"After sentencing, Mr Tarrant issued a statement saying the
plot to cheat the show was a 'very cynical plan, motivated
by sheer greed'..." (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2910119.stm)

- all other "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" contestants
motivated by altruism, philanthropy, the sheer joy of
general knowledge


hehe :)

J.

See it on ITV at 21:00 tonight!

gulty

Homer

errr.....yes ...... you been asleep the last few weeks?

no offence....cant wait to see the episode. cant see that all this publicity will do millionaire any harm

should have taken the 125,000.
Would have probably got away with it, that's what his wife thought!
Guru

Not guilty.
Guilty.....Cough.

Watched the programme last night and what a scream!

Guilty as hell and he deserves the loss of reputation and
Slung out of the Army.

Total idiot and no regard for his family!

His children will suffer!

Jeff

:)
I used it at a wedding recently. Had to do a speach and asked if I was the only one who heard the best man coughing when the vicar asked the question of the bridegroom "Do you take this woman............"
Will be forever part of the culture of this country.
Anyone want a little bet on the wife breaking ranks and selling her story?

Martini,

That's exactly what I thought!

I think there will be a seperation soon, she looked a right dragon on the box, I can't imagine her staying long with someone down on their cash, never mind reputation.

She has nothing to lose now, so she can go for it.

Guilty as sin

They might stay together for the sake of their 3 daughters
For a while at least

djal

Do you remember Nasty Nick from Big Brother? He did a few celebrity TV spots afterwards.

I don't think the Major could do the same thing because he was so bloody stupid and has lost all our respect but - I reckon there might be a bit of a future for his wife in a TV slot of some kind. I think we could feel sorry for her - kinda sorta like a slave might do for his dominatrix, IYSWIM...........

I reckon she looks more terrifying than Anne Robinson, she should take over the weakest link!

Which her husband was, of course!

Seriously though, she looked pretty scary, no prizes for guessing who wears the trousers in their house.

Currently live on itv ..... not impressed with their performance


ains

deffo guilty

but on the other hand it wouldnt be too difficult to edit a few well timed coughs ( even for a tenth rate technician )

i knew the million pound answer but was amazed at the alternative answers....gigabit, megatron,.....cant remember the last , but you could get the answer from a simple process of elimination. at least anyone who has ever used a computer could.

before the flack starts THIS WAS FOR A MILLION QUID.

your right rod ..... elimination gets you the answer but I would have stuck with the half a million ..... not worth the risk as I had never heard of the answer


ains

I agree,

Too much at stake, and I'd never heard of it either.

I don't believe they edited in those coughs, and the Major has said he probably won't appeal tonight, I wonder why?

I would have thought that Googol was not that difficult an answer. I remember that a googolplex is factorial googol (googol multiplied by every number below it)

I thought a googolplex was 10 to the power of a googol

first read about googol in a book whilst at school. showed it to my maths master who said that a googol to the power of a googol could never be written other than in shorthand as it would contain more zeros than there are atoms in the universe. ( dont try this at home ) :o)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/2971037.stm
Millionaire cheats appeal 'unlikely'

It has been reported that the couple stand to make 2m from the worldwide interest in their story.

Their spokesman David Thomas told BBC News Online: "Charles and Di are aware of the enormous worldwide interest in their story and offers have been made.

He lives next to a mate of mine in West Lavington where he`s treated like a God,
funny old world.

I thought a googol was a Welsh giant.

Extoxin
Yes, you are right.
Googol:-
10 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000

"The number of states in a black hole with a mass roughly equivalent to the Andromeda Galaxy". And you've got a Googolplex.

Haystack,

"I would have thought that Googol was not that difficult an answer"

It depends on whether you KNOW the answer, which he clearly didn't!

I could ask you a question which I know the answer to, and you'never heard of it, which makes it "easy" for me, and "hard" for you!

I think the most incriminating evidence is the phone call when he was told he wouldn't get the cheque .... we would be really mad and get angry but he took it in his stride and clearly anticipated it.


ains

Andy

the major clearly didnt know the answer to anything which in itself is most unusual. obviously if you asked me your middle name and gave 4 choices i would be guessing, but often on millionaire its possible to deduce the answer from what you DO know rather than what you DONT.

eg i assume you are male with andy for a name so if you said your middle name was john,jane,margaret os sue, i could deduce nor name with some degree of certainty. weve all heard of a boy named sue.

A boy named Sue?, nope round here thats a girls name, haven`t heard that before,
in fact there`s a song about it

"Wiltshire be where men are men and Sue is a girls` name"

shag

thats my whole point.thats why i USED sue, in the song the guy WAS called sue which is why i can only deduce the answer with a DEGREE of certainty.

superrod,

Yes I agree, but considering he didn't seem to know the answers to hardly any of the questions, his powers of deduction were far too good to be true!

I can't belive they didn't go to jail, and now they're going to make a fortune selling the rights!

it's a funny old world, honesty is the best policy and all that bull

Andy

only too true.
my ex wife was working in a garage for 18months and claiming benefits. when she got caught all the DHSS wanted from her was a promise to stop claiming. really dont know why i bother working.


there has been a lot of talk as to whether the major was cheating or stealing. as someone who has phoned up 14 times at a cost of 28 quid i say they were definitely THIEVES.

no, superr in the song the GIRL`s called Sue, honest,

johnny cash

a boy named sue

Johny Cash has a boy named Sue?, never happens round this neck of the woods mate, strangling animals yes, but never any boys named Sue, seems unnatural to me.

Andy
I meant it was not a difficult question for 1m. Quite a lot of people knew the answer was googol. I would have expected a more obscure question. perhaps you should set us a general knowledge quiz.

Haystack,

Maybe not for 1 million, but I have to be honest and admit i'd never heard of it!

I certainly thought some of the questions he received were easy up to that point, I guessed Paris, although wouldn't have gambled real money on the answer.

The only ones I couldn't answer were Craig David, Holbein, and Googol out of the 15 questions.

Even stranger is, why on earth give a name to a simple equation , surely 10 to the 100th.is self explanatory,easily written and understood by most,as the dictionary says ` googol is a fanciful word not used technically`
What is the name for 100 squared e.g.a `froogal`?, strikes me that the setters of the quiz were none too bright either.

"Words of wisdom are spoken by children at least as often as by scientists. The name 'googol' was invented by a child (Dr Kasner's nine-year-old nephew) who was asked to think up a name for a very big number, namely, 1 with a hundred zeros after it. He was very certain that this number was not infinite, and therefore equally certain that it had to have a name. At the same time that he suggested 'googol' he gave a name for a still larger number: 'Googolplex'. A googolplex is much larger than a googol, but is still finite, as the inventor of the name was quick to point out. It was first suggested that a googolplex should be 1, followed by writing zeros until you got tired. This is a description of what would happen if one actually tried to write a googolplex, but different people get tired at different times and it would never do to have Carnera a better mathematician than Dr Einstein, simply because he had more endurance. The googolplex then, is a specific finite number, with so many zeros after the 1 that the number of zeros is a googol. A googolplex is much bigger than a googol, much bigger even than a googol times a googol. A googol times a googol would be 1 with 200 zeros, whereas a googolplex is 1 with a googol of zeros. You will get some idea of the size of this very large but finite number from the fact that there would not be enough room to write it, if you went to the farthest star, touring all the nebulae and putting down zeros every inch of the way.

-- Kasner and Newman. Mathematics and the Imagination. 1940"

Explained to the Nth, degree then

Charles & Di
need a good PR man
Who could be better than.....

http://www.theinformationminister.com/

Andy
Paris was not too difficult for people who have been there a few times. There is a Blvd. Hausman in Paris. Most of the big stores are there.