IT was one of the biggest scandals in British TV history – when a British Army major with the help of his coughing wife fraudulently won £1million on the nation’s favourite quiz show.
Brazen Charles Ingram – aided by a team relaying the correct answers to him by coughing from the audience – cheated his way to the jackpot on ITV’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire 25 years ago.
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But presenter Chris Tarrant – the quizmaster during the infamous heist – still faces questions about the ‘Coughing Major’ on an almost daily basis.
In an exclusive interview to mark the incident’s 25th anniversary, Chris today reveals how he was quizzed about the scandal 3,500 miles away while on a trip to Kazakhstan, while someone else recently told him they spotted his “Coughing Major mate” flogging his possessions at a Somerset car boot sale.
Speaking to The Sun, Chris, 79, whose show at the time was watched by 10 million viewers at night, said: “It is probably the most extraordinary thing I have ever been involved in in 50 years on TV.
“It still find it hard to believe it happened. It was so brazen. Everyone still wants to talk to me about it.
“I went to Kazakhstan and someone collared me and wanted to know all about the Coughing Major. I was in the foothills of the Himalayas for goodness sake.
“On another occasion a few months ago, I was down in the west country and someone proceeded to tell me that they’d just seen ‘my mate the Coughing Major’ flogging his things at a car boot sale with a sign reading something like ‘Forced to sell all my goods by ITV’.
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“It’s so weird. It should’ve read ‘Selling all my stuff because I cheated’ more like. I had to point out he most certainly isn’t ‘my mate’.
“Apparently, the same people said they later approached him with a Who Wants to Be A Millionaire board game and asked the Major to sign it.
“They claimed he promptly told them to ‘f*** off’.
“He came so close to getting away with it. I personally think he was jolly lucky he never went to prison.”
Today Chris reveals how a blazing dressing room row between Ingram and his wife Diana – moments after winning the million – alerted his suspicion to something “being off”.
He told how eagle-eyed producers caught the cheating while scouring footage at 2am, a fraud squad were scrambled into to investigate in the middle of the night and the show was forced to hugely tighten security after the scandal.
Former TisWas presenter and Capital Radio presenter Chris also admitted that it would have “killed the show dead” if Ingram and Diana had not been found guilty of fraud at a trial in 2003.
On September 9 2001, Charles Ingram – a serving Major in the British army – landed a place on the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
It came just months after his wife Diana, who he had three kids with, had also appeared in the show and won £32,000.
Using a devious plan, Diana and accomplice Tecwen Whittock – sat in the audience at the London studios – then relayed the correct answers to Ingram.
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As bumbling Ingram floundered, one of them began coughing every time they heard a correct answer to alert him to what the answer to each question was.
Initially, the plan worked as Ingram sensationally won a million despite burning two of his lifelines on very early, easy questions.
But their plan was soon foiled when produces spotted the pattern of coughing who quickly alerted the fraud squad.
Ingram’s jackpot cheque was cancelled before he could cash it and in 2003, he and his wife were both given an 18 month prison sentence suspended for two years, while Whittock received a 12 month sentence suspended for two years.
But presenter Chris, who hosted the show for 16 years from 1998 to 2014, was initially completely unaware that anything untoward was afoot.
He said: “I remembered his wife had been on the show before and when I was told her husband was on I remember thinking in rehearsals he didn’t seem very bright at all. Yet somehow he got through.
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“He blew two of his three lifelines just getting to the £2,000 mark, which is not a sign of someone who gets to £30,000, let alone a £1million.
“The show was filmed over two days and at the end of day one there were a few things that in hindsight were off.
“One of Ingram’s entourage kept coming in with his phone on set and putting it in and out of his pocket and got a telling off from the floor manager.
“Producers also said to me, ‘Do you know there was some really weird interference tonight? There were some strange noises.’ Despite that I thought nothing of it really. The next day was bonkers.
“Ingram appeared to have no idea what the answer to any question was but despite that kept on getting every one right.
“He’d sometimes think it was definitely one answer – which would’ve been wrong – and then just pivoted to the right one.
“I just thought he was a very strange, very brave, very mad, extraordinary human being.
“I’d never heard the audience gasp as much as that night because he was so bonkers.
“We got to the £1million question and when I told him that if he got it wrong he lose a fortune but he didn’t flinch and just said he wanted to play.
“Usually even the smartest people who get to that point have an internal fight but he just cracked on.
“People were screaming and cheering and Ingram was obviously happy initially and Diana even rushed on to congratulate him as he was given his £1million cheque.”
But it was after the show that events took a strange turn for Chris.
He said: “Backstage, the Ingrams just went to their dressing room and didn’t come out, didn’t buy anyone a drink.
“A producer was sent with a bottle of champagne who was angrily told to go away and reduced to tears.
“All that could be heard from behind the door was the pair of them arguing, which is a very strange way of celebrating winning £1million.
“On reflection it was clearly Diana telling her husband that he went to far.”
By this point most of the team were convinced something was up. They spent hours round the clock, rewatching and relistening to the episode.
It wasn’t until about 2am one night that one of the team heard a succession of coughs coming from the audience every time he read out the correct answer. The cheating was exposed.
Chris said: “The team found the pattern at 2am and by 3am the fraud squad were brought in. We were sworn to a vow of silence.
“The episode was due to be aired that weekend and we had to pull it. The fraud squad grilled me for hours over whether I knew anything but I heard nothing.
“In a studio people cough all the time. However, it did make complete sense as to how this not very bright chap had won the jackpot.
“A quite amusing moment was when the team had to call Ingram up and tell him the £1million cheque couldn’t be cashed.
“Ingram’s reaction to that call was very telling I think too.
“Instead of being utterly furious or perplexed, as most normal people would, he simply said something like, ‘Thanks for informing me, I’ll have a chat with my legal team.’
“As the trail against them was prepared, it was a nervous time for all of us on the show because we were accusing a serving Major in the Army of fraud.
“If we’d lost, the show would’ve been ended, I’m sure of it. But thankfully, they were utterly bang to rights.
“Watching it back, it was so damn obvious what they were doing but we had absolutely no idea at the time.”
Chris was called upon to attend the trial at Southwark Crown Court in which he said even the judge couldn’t resist asking him if part of his evidence was “your final answer” – a nod to one of his catchphrases on the show.
A judge spared the trio jail – something Chris was “surprised was allowed to happen”.
After he was sentenced, the Army Board forced Ingram to resign after 17 years of service.
The Ingrams, who now live near Bath and are still together, have since been pictured selling jewellery in a Christmas market stall in the city and at car boot sales.
Diana also runs Bathwick Candle & Co, designing “eco-friendly, pure natural essential oil scented soy wax candles in bespoke pots”, to sell online for £20 and above.
Ingram has now declared himself as bankrupt four times – the last time being in 2019.
Incredibly, Chris continued to do the iconic quiz show for another 13 years – but admitted it made the team wake up to the prospect of future cheating.
He said: “The fact they nearly got away with it made us tighten everything up.
“Everyone had to had to hand their phones over and put them in special bags.
“Everyone was sent through airport-like metal detectors. The team jumped on anything suspicious.
“People continued to cough in the studio but I had to accept that people just had a cold and weren’t cheating from but it made everyone more on guard.
“We had to monitor a few people and there was a syndicate that got involved once but they weren’t cheating.”
Chris left the show in 2014 and handed the reins over to Jeremy Clarkson, who he thinks has “done a very good job” of hosting the show but admits, “I don’t miss it a bit”.
He added: “I barely ever watched it. I’d done almost 700 shows of it. In fact, I don’t watch quiz shows full stop.
“My days of working on TV shows are behind me thankfully and I’m very happy with that.”
Despite this, it hasn’t prevented Chris getting stopped on a daily basis by people making comments like, “Do you want to phone a friend?” or “Is that your final answer?”
He said: “It’s a daily occurrence. It’s fine. I’m used to it. It literally happens all over the world.”
Who has won the jackpot on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire has offered hundreds of hopeful contestants the chance to become millionaires, but there has only been a handful of lucky winners.
There have only been five real winners so far on the show as Charles Ingram, who was the third winner of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? in 2001, had his claim to the prize thrown out because of cheating allegations.
The official winners are…
Judith Keppel
- In 2000, garden designer Judith Keppel made quiz show history as she became the first ever winner of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Judith is also the only woman ever to have won the million-pound prize.
David Edwards
- Former physics teacher David became the second contestant to win the top prize in April 2001. Following his success, Edwards went on to compete in both series of Are You an Egghead? in 2008 and 2009.
Robert Brydges
- Oxford-educated banker Robert became the third Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? champion when he won the quiz show several moths after David in 2001. Robert has stayed out of the limelight since his win.
Pat Gibson
- World champion Irish quiz player Pat won the show in 2004. Amazingly Pat had TWO of his lifelines still available for his final question, something no other winner has managed.
Ingram Wilcox
- Ingram came close to losing on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in 2006 as he had used all his lifelines up at the £32,000 mark, but in a shocking twist he went on to scoop the jackpot.
Now Chris’ new projects involve animals.
Last year he released a book called For the Love of Bears, – detailing his global expeditions to track and observe bears around the world.
He has now just returned from Botswana for his new book For the Love of Lions, which will be out soon.
Chris joked: “I’m so bloody busy being retired now. I used to work so hard.
“Now I really enjoy life and I see lots more of my kids and my enchanting army of grandkids. I travel a lot. Things are great.”
In 2024, the Ingrams tried and failed to appeal against their fraud sentence, which Chris said he was not surprised by.
He added: “It’s bizarre the game they are playing. Ingram was as guilty as Guy Fawkes.
“It’s weird they are still denying it but then again everything and everyone about the whole thing is odd.
“The fact that everyone still remembers it to this day, and it was a quarter of a century ago, is remarkable.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if it was still remembered well in another 25 years. It was so audacious.”
Chris Tarrant’s book For the Love of Bears is out now.