How to win a million!

Millionaire’s latest winner Donald Fear on hitting the jackpot and tips for future contestants

- Ian MacEwan

Since Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? was first broadcast on ITV in 1998, six contestants have won the top prize but what does it take to go all the way?

Five of those winners, starting with the first, Judith Keppel in 2000, look back on their time in the hot seat in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: The Million Pound Question.

The six-part series also features contributions from hosts Chris Tarrant and Jeremy Clarkson as well as celebrities who have played the game, and revisits the infamous Charles Ingram ‘coughing major’ scandal of 2001.

Here Donald Fear, a 57-year-old teacher from Telford who heard the immortal words, ‘You’ve just won one million pounds!’ in September, tells TV Times about his life-changing appearance on the show.

Your brother Davyth won £500,000 on Millionaire last year. Did he give you any advice?

He said accuracy was more important than speed on the ‘fastest finger first’. He also said to stay calm and do a professional job – those were the words going through my head as I walked to the chair!