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David "Dave" Edwards, a former physics teacher at Cheadle High School and Denstone College from Staffordshire, was a contestant on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? in Series 9 on 21st April, 2001. He became the second contestant in the UK to win £1,000,000.

David appeared on Fastest Finger First on the show in Series 8 on 23rd December 2000, but he didn’t make it to the Hot Seat. In his second appearance, David became the second contestant in the UK to win £1,000,000 on the show after Judith Keppel, and the first male UK contestant to do so. Later, David appeared with Tara Palmer-Tomkinson for the 5th Birthday Special in Series 14 on 6th September 2003, and won £32,000, playing for their chosen two charities.

He competed in both series of Are You an Egghead?, reaching the last 16 in 2008, and the final in 2009, where he lost to fellow Millionaire winner Pat Gibson.

Early life[]

David Edwards was born in Barry, South Wales in 1947. In 1969, Edwards graduated in Metallurgy at Swansea University, subsequently completing a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at Keele University. He studied Advanced French as an external student at Keele University with his wife Viv Edwards, where he got 90% in all of his class tests. He worked as a physics teacher at Cheadle High School and Denstone College, Staffordshire.

WWTBAM Run[]

Fastest Finger First[]

Fastest Finger First Question
Put these words in alphabetical order.
⬥ A: Fathom ⬥ B: Folly
⬥ C: First ⬥ D: Fence
From the 10 starting contestants, 4 got it right, but David (with a time of 4.83 seconds) was the fastest to correctly answer A-D-C-B, making it into the Hot Seat.

David's Run to the Million[]

£100 (1 of 15) - Not Timed
Which of these is a drink made with fruit juices, spices, and often wine or spirits?
⬥ A: Knock ⬥ B: Thump
⬥ C: Punch ⬥ D: Whack


£200 (2 of 15) - Not Timed
A large, portable cassette recorder with built-in speakers is known as a ghetto...what?
⬥ A: Blaster ⬥ B: Blower
⬥ C: Blarer ⬥ D: Banger


£300 (3 of 15) - Not Timed
Which of these phrases refers to a brief success?
⬥ A: Blaze in the pot ⬥ B: Spark in the tub
⬥ C: Flare in the jug ⬥ D: Flash in the pan


£500 (4 of 15) - Not Timed
Which of these is a type of hat?
⬥ A: Sausage roll ⬥ B: Pork pie
⬥ C: Scotch egg ⬥ D: Potato crisp


£1,000 (5 of 15) - Not Timed
Which of these is a duty levied on the legal recognition of certain documents?
⬥ A: Off duty ⬥ B: Stamp duty
⬥ C: Heavy-duty ⬥ D: Jury duty


£2,000 (6 of 15) - Not Timed
Which singer was regularly ridiculed by Morecambe and Wise in their TV shows?
⬥ A: Rolf Harris ⬥ B: Des O'Connor
⬥ C: Gracie Fields ⬥ D: Barry Manilow


£4,000 (7 of 15) - Not Timed
Which of these is a game played by Harry Potter and his friends?
⬥ A: Qwerty ⬥ B: Quibble
⬥ C: Quidditch ⬥ D: Quantum


£8,000 (8 of 15) - Not Timed
Which city will host the 2001 FA Cup Final?
⬥ A: London ⬥ B: Birmingham
⬥ C: Manchester ⬥ D: Cardiff


£16,000 (9 of 15) - Not Timed
Which of these have to pass a test on 'The Knowledge' to get a licence in London?
⬥ A: Taxi drivers ⬥ B: Bus drivers
⬥ C: Police officers ⬥ D: Ambulance drivers


£32,000 (10 of 15) - Not Timed
In 2001, Donald Campbell's Bluebird was recovered from which lake?
⬥ A: Bala Lake ⬥ B: Kielder Water
⬥ C: Coniston Water ⬥ D: Lake Windermere


£64,000 (11 of 15) - Not Timed
According to legend, the composer Salieri poisoned which rival?
⬥ A: Brahms ⬥ B: Haydn
⬥ C: Liszt ⬥ D: Mozart


£125,000 (12 of 15) - Not Timed
What is the real first name of Home Secretary Jack Straw?
'Ask the Audience', 'Phone-a-Friend' and '50:50' lifelines used
⬥ A: Justin ⬥ B: James
⬥ C: John ⬥ D: Joseph
Ask the Audience Results: A: 2% ⬥ B: 14% ⬥ C: 62% ⬥ D: 22%
David, after ruling out A and D, decided to Ask the Audience, who voted 2-14-62-22. After giving it some thought, he decided to call his son Richard, who had no idea. He then decided to use his 50:50, eliminating A and D, the ones he had previously discarded. Finally, he decided to go with the audience, C: John, and won £125,000.


£250,000 (13 of 15) - Not Timed
What kind of creature is a 'grackle'?
⬥ A: Lizard ⬥ B: Bird
⬥ C: Fish ⬥ D: Beetle


£500,000 (14 of 15) - Not Timed
The Newlyn School of the late 19th century is associated with which group of people?
⬥ A: Method actors ⬥ B: Circus entertainers
⬥ C: Painters ⬥ D: Musicians


£1,000,000 (15 of 15) - Not Timed
If you planted the seeds of 'Quercus robur', what would grow?
⬥ A: Trees ⬥ B: Flowers
⬥ C: Vegetables ⬥ D: Grain
David immediately told Chris that Quercus is a type of tree, and after ruling out the other choices, he decided to go with A: Trees, and after Chris himself eliminated all wrong answers one by one, he won £1,000,000.

David Edwards: Millionaire

Other quiz appearances[]

Edwards was the Mastermind champion in 1990, and was awarded the title of Mensa Superbrain in 1985 after winning a newspaper competition.

Edwards has also participated in a grand final of Fifteen to One, and appeared in both series of Are You an Egghead?, reaching the final of series two but coming second to fellow Mastermind and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire winner Pat Gibson. He has won the British Quizzing Championships for pairs in 2008 and 2010 with his partner Nic Paul.

Broadcast on 30 March 2012, he appeared on the quiz show Champions special edition of The Weakest Link, competing against other winners of major UK quiz shows including Chris Hughes and fellow WWTBAM winner Judith Keppel. He was voted off in Round 6 with 2 votes.

In the 7 September 2016 edition of Make Me an Egghead, he lost to Terry Toomey in the final round, despite having two Eggheads to help him to Toomey's one. Edwards had the two strongest eggheads – Kevin Ashman and Pat Gibson on his side. However, neither could help him on two questions, both of which he got wrong.[citation needed]

International quizzing[]

Edwards has been a member of the Welsh National Quiz Team since its inception. Since 2008 Edwards has been the Captain of the national side, and in 2010 led Wales to its highest ever finish in the European Championships (4th).

Trivia[]

  • His son and Phone-a-Friend, Richard Edwards, would then appear 3 years later as the current contestant on the show on 8th May 2004 and made into the hot seat and walked away with a cheque worth £125,000, and David himself served as his Phone-a-Friend during his £16,000 question.
  • After the British version's cancellation in 2014, Edwards said in a BBC interview that he felt the show went downhill after auditions were introduced.
  • David's wife, Viv, who accompanied him on the show, is an accomplished linguistic scholar, documenting the growth of creoles and patois and the effects of it on the English spoken in post-colonial Jamaica.

Gallery[]

Sources[]


External links[]

Preceded by
Michael McGinty
UK Contestant (Series 9)
David Edwards
Succeeded by
Ian Farmer
Preceded by
Judith Keppel
UK Top Prize Winners
David Edwards
Succeeded by
Robert Brydges
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