What happened to the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire UK winners?

It was once a ratings winner watched by 19 million people – and now Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is back.

The iconic ITV game show returns to UK screens this spring, but with Jeremy Clarkson replacing Chris Tarrant as host.

Millionaire ran for 15 years before its last episode in 2014, but ITV bosses have relaunched the show to mark the 20th anniversary of its debut.

Grand Tour presenter Clarkson, 57, will host seven episodes which will air in one week.

The former Top Gear frontman, a self-described ‘big fan’ of the show, said he was looking forward to ‘making a few millionaires’.

But what became of those lucky few who scooped the jackpot first time around?

Only six contestants battled their way to the top prize between 1998 and 2014 – and several were tinged with controversy…

Judith Keppel, November 20, 2000

Garden designer Keppel, from London, is one of the show’s most memorable contestants, as she was first to land the big prize.

As well as remaining the show’s only female winner in its history, she is also the third cousin by marriage of Camilla Parker Bowles.

Her triumphant episode raised suspicion at the time, as critics accused ITV of rigging the win to compete with the last ever episode of One Foot in the Grave on BBC One.

Her final question was about Eleanor of Aquitaine – and by a quirk of fortune, Keppel had visited her tomb two months before winning the top prize.

She went on a four-day money management course after hitting the Millionaire jackpot, before buying a property in France which she still lives in for six months a year.

Keppel, now aged 75, is a regular on the BBC quiz show ‘Eggheads’, which pits quiz experts against the public. She’s appeared on the show since it first aired in 2003.

David Edwards, April 21, 2001

Physics teacher David Edwards, who taught in Denstone, Staffordshire, was the first man to win the top prize in April 2001.

The seasoned-quizzer, now 71, took a risky route to the top prize by using all three lifelines on the £125,000 question.

Edwards, from Barry, South Wales, was previously crowned Mastermind Champion in 1990 and awarded the title of Mensa Superbrain in 1985.

When news of his victory leaked before the show’s airing, Edwards told journalists he had set aside £1,000 to cover the calling costs for getting on the show and had relentlessly rehearsed the Fastest Finger round.

Edwards returned to teach following his victory before leaving Denstone. Putting his prodigious general knowledge to good use, he led the Welsh National Quiz Team to fourth – its highest ever finish – in the European Championships in 2010.

Charles Ingram, September 10, 2001

Major Ingram’s million pound scoop is among the most memorable in the show’s worldwide history – but for the wrong reasons.

The then army major’s moment of glory was cut short when viewers noticed an oddly symmetrical pattern of coughs from the audience as he deliberated questions.

His seven figure pay-out was suspended amid accusations of cheating by Ingram, his wife Diana and accomplice Tecwen Whittock.

The couple were found guilty of ‘procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception’ following a four-week trial in 2003. They both received suspended jail terms and were made to pay £115,000 at Southward Crown Court.

More trouble followed when the Ingram were convicted of insurance fraud for falsely claiming, amongst other things, £42 for a broken duck ornament.

When forced to resign from the army in 2003, Ingram started work as an author and produced The Network – a colossal 728 page spy novel detailing an al-Qa’eda plot to nuke London.

In 2010 three of his toes were sliced off in a freak lawn mower accident at his home in Wiltshire.

Most recently, Ingram, now 54, was spotted at a Somerset market selling his wife’s homemade glass brooches and necklaces for £5.

Robert Brydges, September 29, 2001

The show’s fourth million pound win was similarly mired in controversy. Robert Brydges was not a cheat, but the former director of investment brokers GNI Fund Management and the owner of a £2m home.

No one doubted the Holland Park resident’s intelligence when he confidently recalled that the volt was named after an Italian nobleman to score a million, but some did doubt his worthiness.

His neighbour Sarah Elliott told the press: ‘Bob is loaded. When I found out he was going on the show I knew he would win.

‘He’s as sharp as a razor and has no problem under pressure. But gambling on the tricky questions must be a lot easier when you’re already worth millions. I suppose £16,000 must seem like loose change to him.’

Pat Gibson, April 24, 2004

The second Egghead in the list and the show’s fifth winner, Pat Gibson is the cream of the quizzing world. The Galway born 56 year-old made history when he approached the final question with two lifelines in the bank.

Former £250,000 winner Mark Kerr helped him determine that Arlington Million was not an American Triple Crown winner.

Gibson would go on to have a decorated quizzing career, winning Mastermind in 2005 with a specialist subject of Father Ted, before triumphing in Radio 4’s Brain of Britain a year later.

With 25 international quiz medals, including four world titles, he is now ranked the second strongest general player on the world scene. He became an Eggheads panelist in 2009.

Ingram Wilcox, September 23, 2006

The show’s final winner triumphed in September 2006. Father of five and life-long civil servant Ingram Wilcox identified Bombardier Billy Wells as the boxer famous for striking the gong at the beginning of J.Arthur Rank films.

The 71 year-old has said he now lives a modest life after giving a large chunk of his winnings to his children.

In 2015 he told The Guardian: ‘Even at the time I won it, when I started looking round for a house, nine years ago, I saw that quite sizeable areas of Bath didn’t have a house for less than a million.

‘At the time it seemed like an unimaginable amount, but I have learned better than that.’