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sir_quirky_k (

sir_quirky_k) wrote,
@ 2007-09-10 20:30:00

Current music:

Amy MacDonald - Let's Start A Band

To-day I...
* Watched old MILLIONAIRE, including Kate Heusser's run. Lawks, that might just be more entertaining than most of the jackpot winners. Question 14 was memorable for so many reasons - Tarrant claiming ATA had never been used at that point before (it had, on the very first Q14 to boot), then Kate trusting them...

Must admit I loved Kate's response to Question 15, one I actually vaguely recall seeing the first time, and which stood out as perhaps the best quote by a contestant on an ITV game show until the 'bollocks' exclamation six years later: 'I'm delighted to say I haven't got a clue'. So were ITV, for having that moment to spoil the fourth-from-last ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE would be no match for spoiling the very last one. (Was Keppel v Meldrew the last time two channels got an eight-figure audience at the same time?)

* Had acute self-esteem crisis number You Name It. This one's over being a bit crap at helping Quirks-brother put his Argos flat-pack bed-n-storage unit together, and gaining no sympathy for it. Nor, for that matter, wanting any. 20 days until I'm out of here, then...

* Improvised on Alice, and produced a melody that might be worth building upon.

Oh, Saturday: I was due to withdraw £150 to pay for living costs this summer. In a fit of rage caused from briefly losing, then finding, my wallet, I withdrew £250, and told Mum she could keep the excess. She refused, and I threatened to gamble it all away on Israel to beat England Reserves that afternoon. I didn't, and later joked that my threat was probably more effective than McClaren.

(Lawks, Israel were available at 13.00 with one bookmaker... lawks, Russia are 8.00 for the next match! Don't tempt me...)

£7 did go though, for I ended up acquring the Amy MacDonald album. There are several very good songs on there, but I believe I could have acquired at least as many good songs in £7 of charity-shop raids.

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daweaver
2007-09-12 06:05 pm UTC (link)

Must admit I loved Kate's response to Question 15, 'I'm delighted to say I don't have a clue'. So were ITV, for having that moment to spoil the fourth-from-last ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE would be no match for spoiling the very last one. (Was Keppel v Meldrew the last time two channels got an eight-figure audience at the same time?)

I'm still waiting to see any evidence that there was a grand conspiracy to give away the million opposite something big; after this long, if such evidence existed, we would have smelt it. ITV wanted to give away that top prize, had wanted to get shot of it at least since Peter Lee at the start of 2000, and didn't much care when it went.

BARB made a significant change to its viewing figures from 31.12.2001, improving the demographic accuracy, but effectively making figures not comparable across that date. The rule of thumb used at the time was to increase figures by 10%. Last year, the X-Fools finale had 10.8 million, opposite 9.45m for Strictly Come Prancing.

This one's over being a bit crap at helping Quirks-brother put his Argos flat-pack bed-n-storage unit together, and gaining no sympathy for it.

The facts show that Argos flat-packs are very difficult to assemble. Far more difficult than certain other self-assembly products on the market. That's the advantage of eating your swedes.

I ended up acquring the Amy MacDonald album. There are several very good songs on there, but I believe I could have acquired at least as many good songs in £7 of charity-shop raids.

The consensus from the panel here: Album sounds like a grower. She's got talent, it requires a bit of nurturing; not as much as Sparky, but letting MacDonald go would be wrong.

Oh, and we would. Some listener more than others, and certainly not in preference to Meg White Stripe, but yes.

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	sir_quirky_k 2007-09-12 09:06 pm UTC (link)
	Didn't Lee actually have the right answer to Question 15, only to think better of risking £468,000 on it? I've spent £5 on five CDs in a charity shop in Dorchester today, along with spending four times that (less a penny) on the book mentioned in an earlier post. Will report on all six purchases in due course. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Showing our age. Again.

daweaver
2007-09-13 06:48 pm UTC (link)

Didn't Lee actually have the right answer to Question 15, only to think better of risking £468,000 on it?

Somewhere around here... (goes off and shuffles some dusty old files) ah, got it!

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
Season 6, Episode 3; 18 January 2000

For the UK Record...
£500,000: What does the Japanese word "kamikaze" literally mean?
A - Sacred venture B - Divine wind
C - Self-destruction D - Final attack
"It’s divine wind... I’ve been to Japan a few times, and this is a phrase I’ve picked up... I’ve come with nothing, and if I go with 32....."
B - Divine wind.
"You’ve just won five hundred..."
Massive cheering drowns Chris out. Peter’s up and punching the air.

"Half a million pounds. But we don’t want to give you that..."

For the World Record.......
£One Million: Which county cricket side is based at Chester-Le-Street
A - Warwickshire B - Durham
C - Northants D - Leicestershire
"I’m not sure. I’ll take the money."
He thinks Leicestershire, but he’s not that sure.
Peter Lee goes away with £500,000.
Warwickshire plays at New Road. Northants at the County Ground. Leicestershire at ... Grace Road. It’s Durham that plays at the Riverside, Chester-Le-Street. He was right not to risk it!

"Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Summary"
Written by Iain Weaver
From a format by Jeremy Soria and Chris M Dickson

Cor, whatever happened to him, eh?

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Re: Showing our age. Again.

sir_quirky_k
2007-09-13 07:27 pm UTC (link)

Ah, he was right not to risk it!

£1m was the (post-tax) world record for a fair while. Indeed, it is still the largest single-appearance prize of all time to my knowledge, post-tax at least. Of the remote contenders:

* Kevin Olmstead, USD 2,180,000, MILLIONAIRE, 2001. Tax would easily account for the difference here.
* Ken Jennings, USD 2,522,700, JEOPARDY!, 2004. Tax might do it here, but this was accumulated over 75 appearances, the final USD 2,000 being for his eventual loss. And still more than Ian Lygo won for a whole week of wins... Won an additional USD 500,000 in a tournament in which he came second to...
* Brad Rutter, USD 2,000,000 + previous winnings totalling approximately USD 1,250,000 (includes non-cash prizes), JEOPARDY!, 2005 (previous appearances were some time earlier). Multiple appearances, but I believe he was the first to top the Woodley-Keppel mark in real terms.
* Eduardo (surname unknown), EUR 2,190,000, PASAPALABRA, 2006. Again subject to tax, but at what rate I have no idea. It is undisputably the biggest pre-tax single win in game show history, however. I believe he won more money before/after this, for PASAPALABRA's endgame is/was such that it was almost never won (here's how rarely it was won; the jackpot started at EUR 30,000, i.e. One Rock, and increased EUR 6,000 each day it was not won, and this wasn't the first time it had reaeched seven figures) but the contestant who came closest 'won' the game, gained some money and returned next time - and if one does win the jackpot, for some bizarre reason they do still stay until they lose.
* Helma (surname unknown), EUR 1,495,000, MILJOENENJACHT, 2005. Taxed at 25%, though there's the subsidiary lottery income to consider (the sharing of the jackpot with all lottery ticket holders in the postcode includes the contestant). Unless there were only two or three others, and I recall there being rather more, that won't put it above an untaxed £1m.

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Re: Showing our age. Again.
(Anonymous)
2008-04-05 04:50 pm UTC (link)

Cor, - I`m still around - living in the same place I did then, a fantastic village in deepest, out of the way Wales (3 miles from Cardigan). It was a fantastic experience and I can`t believe it was over 8 years ago. Have looked after my 3 grown up kids (and grandchildren and great grandchildren) in the States and my wife and I have travelled the world - back 2 months ago from 6 weeks in the Caribbean - have written a book about it - available from Amazon (!!!) `Yes Chris - Final Answer` ISBN no. 0-9552611-0-4. I`m now 73 and we virtually live on the money, having existed on two small pensions before the win. Life is now very comfortable and we treat it as one huge bonus. I`m still not saying whether or not I knew the million pound question! We were invited to the ground for two test matches and had a fabulous time there being looked after by the mayor, etc., as well as the mayor (and several past ones!) of Peterlee, not far away. The win changed our lives overnight and we consider ourselves extremely lucky

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Re: Showing our age. Again.

sir_quirky_k
2008-04-05 06:00 pm UTC (link)

I'm... stunned. Goodness knows how you found this, but welcome!

Seem to very, very vaguely recall an interview in the Mail's Weekend supplement where you said you knew the question but on the other hand it seemed you hinted at not knowing. (And I don't think I'd personally answer the million-pound question unless it was 'what is your name?'...) Either way, you were brilliant in getting as far as you did, and it's great to hear the money has been so incredibly valuable to you, and... well, I find it quite startling that you've discovered this.

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Re: Showing our age. Again.
(Anonymous)
2008-04-17 04:13 pm UTC (link)

Just opened up again. Had never used a computer until about 4 or 5 years ago. The mate who set it up for me said he would open a `favourite` for me: Peter Lee, UK Who wants to be a millionaire`. Open it about once a year. There`s about 30 websites, some current, others slipping down the list. Was just checking a few weeks ago, and found yours had been added to the list. So, out of curiosity I had to have a look! Thanks for your comments. All I can say in mitigation about the £M question: Put yourselves in my place - the first person in Britain to reach that question (the book explains it all in detail). I had half a million, and as you suggested, I didn`t know my own name, or whether or not I had any friends, etc.at that moment. Maybe, if the person before me - who`s become a very good friend - had reached that amount, I may very well have gone on. Being on two small pensions I didn`t want to lose that amount - and make the record books for the wrong reason. There was a nagging doubt in my mind and I was happy with what I won. They tell you at the studios - if you`re lucky enough to get to 6 figures don`t blow it - they desperately want you to win. Incidentally, anyone still trying to get on, now is the best time to do it, especially by phone call. When I was lucky enough to get there, an average of 77,000 people a day were ringing - and they selected 100 a day by `random selection`. So, I made a lot of calls - i.e. about 750 over a 15 month period. Nowadays, a few calls only MAY get you a `ringback`. Go for it.
Cheers again.

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Re: Showing our age. Again.

sir_quirky_k
2008-04-17 05:34 pm UTC (link)

Well, you're absolutely right. I also note the comments made in the studios, and would compare and contrast this with Deal or No Deal, where there is a clear sense of the producers seeking players to gamble, win or lose. It's evident simply from viewing, notably in the way the host acts. Compare and contrast the behaviour of the respective hosts in an episode of Deal or No Deal from 2007, and the famous Duncan Bickley £218,000 loss. I have also been told by an ex-contestant that contestants in the studios are given some kind of pep talk which (unlike the one you received) was not cautionary in the slightest; he asserted that a few contestants would be influenced by this.

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