Watch the moment below!
Video credit: 2018 US Open Tennis Tournament
An English teacher almost won the jackpot prize on Britain’s “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” after he got stumped on a question involving Winston Churchill. His friend knew the answer but unfortunately, 36-year-old John Robinson had already used up his “phone a friend” lifeline earlier in the game.
Still, it was a good night for John as he managed to amass £500,000 after whizzing through the questions before hitting a brick wall on the final one when he was asked which ex-PM had never served as Foreign Secretary.
Luckily, the super-smart teacher also displayed a touch of prudence as he refused to risk the half-million already in the bag. Good thing, too, as he told host Jeremy Clarkson that he would have answered Anthony Eden when the correct answer should have been Churchill.
It was only later after the show that he found out that his friend Martin knew the answer. However, he had already called for Martin’s help earlier on a question about the Suez Canal.
John said, “Had I saved him for the final question, I’d be a millionaire. But I can’t be too disappointed because I needed him for the £250,000 engineering question.”
Still, he said he wouldn’t have been able to face his girlfriend Chloe if he got the final answer wrong.
While he answered the first 14 questions correctly, he used his first lifeline at £2,000.
He said, “There’s a slight bit of disappointment, which I know sounds ridiculous given it’s more money than I’ve ever seen in my life.
“When I used a lifeline early on I thought, ‘Oh God, I might not even make it to £64,000.’
“I am not sure I could have faced speaking to Chloe afterward. I don’t think she would have forgiven me.
“Having never seen that amount of money in my life, I wasn’t going to risk it. It’s not a feeling I would’ve liked to experience.”
But even with his large windfall, John has no plans of quitting his job at Bishop Challoner Catholic College in Kings Heath, Birmingham.
He explained, “Everyone will say, ‘Quit your job’. But my plan is to keep teaching while I work out what I want to do. Maybe I could quit in the future.
“But for now I’ll keep teaching and put the money to pay off my mortgage. Once it’s sunk in I’ll use it to go traveling and have some exciting holidays.”
Judith Keppel was the first person to win the top prize in 2000 and the last person who won it was Ingram Wilcox back in 2006.
Major Charles Ingram won in 2001 but was later found out to have cheated and was convicted of fraud.
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