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Pat Gibson (19 July 1961), a software developer and professional quiz player originally born in Ireland but at the time living in Wigan, Greater Manchester, was a contestant on series 15 of the UK version of the show on 3, 24 April, 2004. He was the fourth UK contestant to legitimately win £1,000,000 and fifth million pound winner overall.

Pat is a multiple world champion in quizzing and one of the world's most successful quiz players. He is best known for winning several quiz shows and being a panellist on Eggheads. He was born, raised and educated in Ireland but currently lives in the United Kingdom and competes as part of the England quiz team. He is currently the No. 1 ranked quizzer in the world. He was the only UK finalist ever to reach the million-pound question with two of his lifelines left.

Early life and education[]

Pat Gibson was born in Galway in 1961. He moved to Letterkenny, County Donegal in the early 1970s. He was educated at Scoil Colmcille and St Eunan's College in Letterkenny. Pat holds an engineering degree from University College Galway. He emigrated to the United Kingdom in the 1980s, where he trained as a COBOL computer programmer.

WWTBAM Run[]

Pat originally appeared on Fastest Finger First on 28 February 2004, but didn’t get into the Hot Seat. He later appeared on Fastest Finger First on 24 April 2004, and got into the Hot Set and went on to win the top prize.

Fastest Finger First[]

Fastest Finger First
Put these inventions in chronological order.
⬥ A: Microwave oven ⬥ B: Escalator
⬥ C: Microscope ⬥ D: Catapult
From the 8 remaining contestants, 5 got it right, but Pat (with a time of 4.56 seconds) was the fastest to correctly answer D-C-B-A, making it into the Hot Seat.

Pat's Run to the Million[]

£100 (1 of 15) - Not Timed
In children's stories, how many wishes are traditionally granted by a genie or a fairy?
⬥ A: One ⬥ B: Two
⬥ C: Three ⬥ D: Four


£200 (2 of 15) - Not Timed
Which phrase refers to a discussion about work outside working hours?
⬥ A: Talking factory ⬥ B: Talking store
⬥ C: Talking shop ⬥ D: Talking mill


£300 (3 of 15) - Not Timed
What is the colour of the front door of Number Ten Downing Street?
⬥ A: Red ⬥ B: Blue
⬥ C: Yellow ⬥ D: Black


£500 (4 of 15) - Not Timed
Complete TV presenter David Dickinson's famous catchphrase: 'Cheap as.... '?
⬥ A: Cheddar ⬥ B: Chowder
⬥ C: Chips ⬥ D: Chilli


£1,000 (5 of 15) - Not Timed
What is the first word in the phonetic alphabet?
⬥ A: Apple ⬥ B: Alpha
⬥ C: Armadillo ⬥ D: Amazon


£2,000 (6 of 15) - Not Timed
Which girl's name is the title of a song on The Beatles album 'Rubber Soul'?
⬥ A: Mandy ⬥ B: Michelle
⬥ C: Madeleine ⬥ D: Marianne


£4,000 (7 of 15) - Not Timed
In 1581, Sir Francis Drake became mayor of which city?
⬥ A: Hull ⬥ B: Glasgow
⬥ C: Plymouth ⬥ D: Bristol


£8,000 (8 of 15) - Not Timed
'The Walrus and the Carpenter' is a well-known verse in which children's novel?
⬥ A: Swallows and Amazons ⬥ B: The Hobbit
⬥ C: Through the Looking-Glass ⬥ D: Stig of the Dump


£16,000 (9 of 15) - Not Timed
In heraldry, a lion standing on one or two hind legs with one foreleg raised above the other is described as what?
⬥ A: Dormant ⬥ B: Passant
⬥ C: Couchant ⬥ D: Rampant


£32,000 (10 of 15) - Not Timed
What is the name of the world's highest active volcano?
⬥ A: Etna ⬥ B: St Helens
⬥ C: Cotopaxi ⬥ D: Krakatoa


£64,000 (11 of 15) - Not Timed
In Welsh place names, what does 'afon' mean?
'Ask the Audience' lifeline used
⬥ A: Fort ⬥ B: Meadow
⬥ C: Pool ⬥ D: River
Ask the Audience Results: A: 12% ⬥ B: 16% ⬥ C: 10% ⬥ D: 62%


£125,000 (12 of 15) - Not Timed
Which king wrote a famous denunciation of smoking?
⬥ A: Richard I ⬥ B: William I
⬥ C: George I ⬥ D: James I


£250,000 (13 of 15) - Not Timed
What is the female equivalent of the Oedipus complex?
⬥ A: Electra complex ⬥ B: Athena complex
⬥ C: Diana complex ⬥ D: Pandora complex
The klaxon called time and Pat would return on £250,000 with 2 lifelines still available.


£500,000 (14 of 15) - Not Timed
Which of these creatures are most associated with the naturalist and artist John James Audubon?
⬥ A: Beetles ⬥ B: Butterflies
⬥ C: Birds ⬥ D: Bats


£1,000,000 (15 of 15) - Not Timed
Which of these is not one of the American Triple Crown horse races?
'50:50' and 'Phone-a-Friend' lifelines used
⬥ A: Arlington Million ⬥ B: Belmont Stakes
⬥ C: Kentucky Derby ⬥ D: Preakness Stakes
Pat had an idea of what the answer was, but decided to use his 50:50, eliminating B and D. His answer still showed up, but decided anyways to call his friend and former contestant Mark Kerr, who was 90% certain it was the Arlington Million. That was his idea as well, so after a few moments, he decided to lock in his answer, and won £1,000,000.

Pat GIbson: Millionaire

Other quiz show appearances[]

Mastermind[]

In 2005 he was crowned champion of Mastermind: his specialist subjects included Father Ted, the books of Iain M. Banks and the films of Quentin Tarantino.

On 6 August 2010 he was crowned Mastermind Champion of Champions with a winning score of 36 points with no passes. Jesse Honey also scored 36 but had 2 passes.

Brain of Britain[]

On 25 December 2006 he won the BBC Radio 4 quiz show Brain of Britain, becoming only the fourth person after Roger Pritchard, Kevin Ashman and Chris Hughes to win both that and Mastermind.

In 2008 he finished third in BBC Radio 4's Brain of Brains, behind Egghead Chris Hughes and the eventual winner, 2008 World Quizzing Champion Mark Bytheway.

Eggheads and Are You an Egghead?[]

Gibson competed in both the first and second series of Are You an Egghead?, a series seeking a new panellist to join the resident team on the BBC Two / 12 Yard quiz show Eggheads. In the first series, he was beaten in the quarter-finals by friend Mark Kerr. He returned for the second series in 2009, and won the final broadcast on 23 November 2009, beating fellow Mastermind and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? winner David Edwards and thereby claiming a place on the Eggheads team.

National and international quizzing championships[]

He has amassed 25 international medals (7 gold, 11 silver and 7 bronze), the second highest total ever (behind Kevin Ashman with 27) and is ranked the second strongest player in the World/Europe. In 2007 Gibson won the IQA World Quizzing Championship. In pairs competitions he partners Ian Bayley and they have won the British and European titles.

In 2010 Gibson won the IQA World Quizzing Championship achieving an all-time high score of 180/210, defeating both Kevin Ashman and Belgian Ronny Swiggers who tied at 169/210. Gibson retained the World Quizzing Championship title in 2011 with a score of 186/210, a 10-point margin over Kevin Ashman, and won again in 2013 with a score of 172/210.

Despite being originally from Ireland, Gibson competes for the England team.

Domestic competition[]

Pat plays in the Summer in the Orrell and District League for the Millstone team, and in the winter in the Ormskirk league for Collywobblers.[citation needed]

Trivia[]

  • The contestant that played before Pat Gibson, Bill Copland walked away empty-handed, the polar opposite of Pat's winnings.
  • Pat served as a Phone-a-Friend of former contestant Mark Kerr, and helped him reach £64,000. Mark later retributed the favour, by serving as his Phone-a-Friend during Pat's million pound question.
  • Pat later served as a Phone-a-Friend for Dermot and Molly Murnaghan on 26th August 2012 and helped them reach £50,000. He also served as a Phone-a-Friend for Des O'Connor and Lee Mack on 20th December 2012 and helped them reach £75,000.
  • Pat's run was split into two parts, in order to make room for the Celebrity Easter special shows.

Gallery[]

Sources[]

Preceded by
Bill Copland
UK Contestant (Series 15)
Pat Gibson
Succeeded by
Tony Slattery & Jon Snow
(Celebrity Easter Special)
Preceded by
Sir Tim Rice & Alice Beer
(Celebrity Easter Special)
UK Contestant (Series 15)
Pat Gibson
Succeeded by
Lesley Cook
Preceded by
Robert Brydges
UK Top Prize Winners
Pat Gibson
Succeeded by
Ingram Wilcox
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