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| Birth Name(s) : Charles Ingram |
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Full Charles Ingram Biography
Charles Ingram (born August 6, 1963) is a former British Army Major who made headlines in the United Kingdom when he was accused of cheating on the television show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?. Despite being convicted of deception, Ingram maintains that he did not cheat.
He is married to Diana Ingram, who has since participated in other television game shows, including the Weakest Link and Hell's Kitchen.
Charles Ingram went to Oswestry School and obtained a BSc in Civil Engineering from Kingston Polytechnic, an MSc in Corporate Management from Cranfield University, Chartered membership of the Institute of Personnel and Development, membership of the Chartered Management Institute, membership of the Association for Project Management, membership of the Society of Authors, and membership of Mensa. In 1986 he trained for the Army at Sandhurst and was commissioned as an officer in the Royal Engineers. He was promoted to the rank of Major in 1995, and in 1999 he served in Bosnia for six months on NATO peacekeeping duties. He resigned from the Army in 2003 to become a novelist.
On the day of the verdict, the Ingrams were each given 18-month prison sentences suspended for two years, each fined £15,000, and each ordered to pay £10,000 towards prosecution costs. Within two months of the verdict and sentence, the trial judge ordered the Ingrams to pay additional defence costs orders, Charles £40,000 and Diana £25,000.
The Army Board invited Major Ingram to resign his commission. He retired on 19 August 2003 with his state-earned pension of 17 years.
Whitehurst, another contestant who has appeared on the show as a Fastest Finger First contestant on four occasions, contacted Celador a week after the show, to share with them his concerns about Ingram's peculiar performance. Celador told him they were already investigating concerns about cheating, and that they were considering the possibility of coughing as a source of assistance. Whitehurst told Celador he saw Whittock coughing. Celador's MD, Paul Smith, advised Whitehurst to contact the police if he had concerns. Instead, Whitehurst contacted The Sun newspaper. Three days later, after The Sun had printed the exclusive about the allegation, Whitehurst, who had by now approached the police as 'Horace' via email, spoke to them for the first time. Graham Whitehurst told police during interview that he saw another contestant, Whittock, cough once during the last question and that he thought it might have helped Ingram. He also said that what he saw could have been a 'complete coincidence'.
Whittock has suffered from a persistent cough for his entire life and insisted that he had had a genuine cough caused by a combination of hay fever and a dust allergy. It was nothing more than 'coincidence' if his throat problem had coincided with the right answer. He also insisted that he had not known the answers to three of the questions he allegedly helped with. Police, however, found the answer to one of them in a hand-written general knowledge book at his home, along with the answer to another question he said he had not known but was not said to have helped with .
Celador employees produced and reviewed various compilation tapes, before and after contacting the police. Celador and their editing company, Editworks, retained all the tapes during the case and reproduced all tapes for court.
It was suggested in the media that Ingram took a considerable amount of time on the second night - on one question 'half an hour' - to answer each of the questions. Such was the rumour-mill, The Sun reported he had been in the hot seat for three hours on the second night. The Special Enquiry Team of New Scotland Yard were reportedly keen to learn whether this may have been a delaying tactic to allow someone outside the studio to look up the questions on a computer or the internet, before sending a text message to a mobile phone held by an audience member. The audience member would then cough corresponding to one of the four options.
In fact, and including any delay caused by the host who does much of the talking and controls the quiz, the time between the questions given (flashed-up on screen) and answers accepted (green light highlighting correct answer) on the night alleged cheating took place were as follows:
- Q8. 1 minute 1 second.
- Q9. 48 seconds.
- Q10. 4 minutes 11 seconds (Used 50:50 lifeline).
- Q11. 2 minutes 6 seconds.
- Q12. 1 minute 47 seconds.
- Q13. 1 minute 4 seconds.
- Q14. 4 minutes 6 seconds.
- Q15. 5 minutes 21 seconds. |
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