David 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 on the show after Judith Keppel, and the first male UK contestant to do so. Later then he appeared with Tara Palmer-Tomkinson for 5th Birthday Special in Series 14 on 6th September 2003 and won £32,000, played for their chosen two charities.
David, albeit as Dave, 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.
Small biography
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.
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. |
Post-WWTBAM
On 6th September, 2003 he returned into the Hot Seat for charity and played with last year's I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! runner up Tara Palmer-Tomkinson and won £32,000 shared with herself after answering the £125,000 question incorrectly and plunged £32,000.
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).
Edwards was also the champion of Mastermind in 1990, and was awarded the title of Mensa Superbrain in 1985 after winning a newspaper competition.[1]
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.
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.
Sources
- ↑ Top Brains of Mensa to compete in Bristol Mensa, 21 September 2009
External links
| Preceded by Michael McGinty |
UK Contestant (Series 9) David Edwards |
Succeeded by Ian Farmer |