Charles Ingram

His father's Wellington bomber, operating with 103 Squadron from RAF Elsham Wolds, had been shot down in late September 1941; he was taken as a prisoner of war while two of his crew were killed.

Ingram's parents divorced when he was young and he spent most of his education years boarding privately at Oswestry School in Oswestry, Shropshire.

There he was a member of the Combined Cadet Force and completed the Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award.

He went on to obtain a BSc in civil engineering from Kingston University.

Charles William Ingram (born 6 August 1963) is an English fraudster, novelist and former British Army major who gained fame for his appearance on the ITV television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? In episodes recorded in September 2001, Ingram correctly answered fifteen questions to win the show's maximum prize of £1 million, becoming the third recorded contestant to ever do so.

However, he was denied the winnings due to suspicion of cheating.

Following a lengthy trial at Southwark Crown Court, Ingram was convicted on a single count of procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception.

Charles William Ingram was born on 6 August 1963 in Shardlow, Derbyshire, the son of retired Royal Air Force Wing Commander John Ingram and his wife Susan, a theatre set designer.

In 1987, Ingram trained for the British Army at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was commissioned as an officer in the Royal Engineers.

He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1990 and major in 1995.

In 1999, Ingram was sent to Banja Luka in Bosnia for six months on United Nations peacekeeping duties.

He graduated from Cranfield University with a master's degree in corporate management in August 2000.

One of the questions Ingram got during the run was "Who had a hit UK album with Born to Do It released in 2000?"

After using his 50/50 the two remaining answers were A1 (what he believed the answer to be) and Craig David, who he said he had never heard of.

After nearly locking in A1 as his final answer, he backed off and later said "80% of the time I'm wrong when I guess, so you know what—I'll go Craig David."

He then locked in the correct answer of Craig David.

At the penultimate question, worth £500,000, Ingram was asked: "Baron Haussmann is best known for his planning of which city?"

Among the options were Berlin and Paris, the former of which he immediately assumed as the right answer due to his belief that Baron Haussmann is a German name.

However, after some time he said "there's a possibility that it's Paris" before eventually deciding to lock in Paris as his final answer.

This got Ingram to the £1 million question—"A number one followed by one hundred zeros is known by what name?"—to which he thought the answer was nanomole and initially said he did not know what a googol is.

However, he eventually decided to lock in "googol" as his final answer which won him the £1 million prize.

Of Ingram's unusual behaviour while playing for the final question, and after the scandal had become public knowledge, Rod Taylor, an executive producer, said, "It became obvious that he wasn't under the pressure that he should have been, somehow... He should have been very, very careful, and very certain. And he certainly wasn't [either of those].

After Ingram had won the £1 million, producers were suspicious enough that a search was performed on him.

His hair, clothing, and shoes were searched; however, the method of cheating used meant that nothing incriminating was found on his person.

After he left the set, the show's production company, Celador, were tipped off by the show's producers of the assumed irregularities occurring within the quiz and suspended the jackpot payout to investigate the matter.

At the same time, the show's presenter, Chris Tarrant, overheard that the Ingrams had been arguing, despite Ingram's success, moments before Tarrant joined them in their dressing room for champagne; another member of the production team also noted a similar thought about the couple's behaviour.

While reviewing the recording, the production team made a connection between Ingram's answers and coughs coming from one of the waiting contestants, Tecwen Whittock; for one question, the coughing came from Ingram's wife Diana while she was in the audience.

Based on this evidence, all three were accused of cheating, and the matter handed over to police to investigate further.

Whittock and the Ingrams were eventually charged with "procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception".

On 9 September 2001, Ingram became a contestant on the ITV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, following his wife Diana and her brother Adrian Pollock, each of whom had won £32,000 as contestants on the show.

To prepare, Ingram practised for about twenty minutes per day on a homemade "Fastest Finger First" machine.

Ingram got into the "hot seat" but used two lifelines early, ending the day at £4,000 and with only the 50/50 lifeline remaining.

The production team did not expect him to proceed much further, but he ended up making it all the way to the £1 million prize on the second day of recording.

Throughout Ingram's run, the production team were increasingly suspicious of him.

He was taking brazen risks and playing the game in an unusual manner.

He was subsequently convicted of an unrelated offence involving insurance fraud in 2003 and ordered to resign his commission as a major by the Army Board.

He was ordered by the Army Board via letter to resign his commission on 20 August 2003 and to give up his rank of major.

It is widely disputed whether or not he was dishonourably discharged.

Following a trial at Southwark Crown Court lasting four weeks (including jury deliberation for three and a half days), Ingram, his wife and Whittock were convicted by a majority verdict of their offences on 7 April 2003.

Both of the Ingrams and Whittock were given prison sentences, suspended for two years—the Ingrams were sentenced to eighteen months; Whittock was sentenced to twelve months—and each fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 towards prosecution costs.