Donald Fear stunned Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? viewers by becoming the first contestant in 14 years to win the show’s £1 million jackpot — just 12 months after his brother Davyth had walked away with £500,000.
The 57-year-old history and politics teacher from Shropshire raced through all 15 questions in around 20 minutes, showing barely any hesitation and leaving host Jeremy Clarkson amazed by his extraordinary knowledge.
By the time he reached the final question, Donald still had three lifelines available. He ultimately needed none of them.
Donald Fear, 57, from Shropshire, scooped the £1 million prize during a sensational run on last night’s show, on which he only used one of his lifelines and knew the winning answer within a ‘microsecond’
Donald Fear is pictured with host Jeremy Clarkson winning the highest prize on Who Wants to be a Millionaire
He said he was able to answer the £1million question – ‘In 1718, which pirate died in battle off the coast of what is now North Carolina?’ – before he’d seen it properly
The Final Question He Knew Almost Instantly
Donald’s million-pound question asked:
“In 1718, which pirate died in battle off the coast of what is now North Carolina?”
The options were Calico Jack, Blackbeard, Bartholomew Roberts and Captain Kidd.
For a history teacher with a particular talent for dates, the answer was almost immediate.
Donald explained that he had taught piracy as a special unit and remembered that Blackbeard died in 1718 off the coast of North Carolina.
“The first thing I spotted was that there was a date in there… then a microsecond later I saw that it was 1718,” he said. “Then synapses went, ‘That’s got to be Blackbeard’. That was the only thing it could be. I’m a dates man.”
He then gave his final answer: “Blackbeard, final answer.”
Clarkson announced: “Donald Fear, you’ve just won a million pounds!”
Donald, who still had three lifelines remaining at that point, could hardly believe how straightforward the final question had been.
“That was absolutely incredible, how easy was that!” he said.
When Clarkson asked how he knew the answer, Donald simply replied: “Well I taught it!”
His Brother Had Come Close a Year Earlier
Donald’s brother Davyth (pictured above) walked away from an ‘easy’ £1million question on a previous Millionaire appearance
Donald’s victory was made even more remarkable by the fact that his older brother Davyth had appeared on the same programme just a year earlier.
Davyth reached the final question but chose to walk away with £500,000 rather than risk losing the money.
Donald later admitted that he had hoped to go one step further than his brother.
“I said my aim is to get one step further than my brother has,” he explained. “When I found out where he got to I thought ah, maybe not.”
Despite their rivalry, Donald said Davyth was delighted by his success.
“He’ll be very pleased for me, that’s the sort of person he is,” Donald said.
The brothers later celebrated together, spending a night in a hotel with their wives.
“We got absolutely plastered and he kept poking me saying how pleased and how overjoyed he was by it,” Donald recalled.
Donald also admitted that, despite his impressive performance, he considered his brother the more intelligent sibling.
“He has three years on me, I would say Dave would win 90 per cent of the time,” he said.
Clarkson Compares Him to the Internet
Mr Fear, who has been a teacher for more than three decades, said he had been inundated with support from his students who heard he was on the show, but hasn’t let on about his big win
Mr Fear, who is currently Head of History at Haberdashers Adams Grammar school in Shropshire, handed in his notice a day after his win but will see out the school term
He described himself as ‘lucky’ and said he wouldn’t have known a question about This Morning which came up in the previous episode
Donald’s performance left Jeremy Clarkson struggling to find an adequate comparison for his knowledge.
During the programme, Clarkson described him as being like “sitting next to the internet in a pink shirt.”
On another occasion, he compared the contestant to “having the Encyclopaedia Britannica sitting opposite me” and said: “It’s Google, in a head.”
Donald had little need for the show’s lifelines. He hesitated on only two questions and used just one lifeline — 50:50 — throughout his run.
“I was so fortunate,” he said. “Of the 15 questions, I probably knew 13 immediately before the options appeared.”
He added: “A quiz is very easy if you know the answers and I did know the answers.”
He Plans to Give Away Most of the Money
Mr Fear said that he plans to give 70 percent of his winnings away to family members and to charity and leave himself with just enough for a ‘comfortable retirement’
The contestant, who still had three lifelines left, said upon winning: ‘That was absolutely incredible, how easy was that!’
Despite becoming a millionaire, Donald said he had no intention of dramatically changing his lifestyle.
He planned to give at least 70 per cent of his winnings to members of his family and charity, keeping the remainder for what he described as a “comfortable retirement”.
“I’m not going to be a millionaire for very long because I’m giving loads of it away!” he said.
Donald joked that although he could theoretically spend the money on a luxury car such as an Aston Martin, it would not necessarily be practical.
“I could buy an Aston Martin for instance, but I could get into the thing, but I could never get out of it. I’m fat!”
He also said he was perfectly happy with the home he had shared with his wife for 27 years.
“It is in a lovely area and we have been there 27 years and we have lovely neighbours, so why move somewhere else?” he said.
Instead, the big purchase on his list was a motor home.
A Motor Home and Holidays Around Britain
Donald and his wife, Debs, had already celebrated his victory with a caravan trip along the Northumberland coast.
The couple went to Whitley Bay the day after the show and treated themselves to dinner at an Italian restaurant, where they splashed out on a bottle of Prosecco.
They had previously planned to travel to Santander, Bilbao and Pamplona in Spain before heading towards the Pyrenees, but those plans were disrupted by Covid-19.
With his new fortune, Donald said he hoped to buy a motor home and explore Britain instead.
“Much as I’d love to jump on the next plane to the States or something like that, it’s just not an option,” he said.
“So for the moment it’s wonderful Britain, probably Wales first of all — so a motor home in Wales is what I’m going to spend my million pounds on.”
He Resigned From Teaching — But Not Immediately
Donald had worked as a teacher for more than three decades and was head of history at Haberdashers’ Adams Grammar School in Shropshire, where former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was once a pupil.
The day after the programme was recorded, Donald handed in his notice.
However, he decided to remain in the classroom until the end of the school term, meaning his retirement would come two years earlier than originally planned.
“I resigned the day after the show, the rules are you have to go at the end of the term,” he told the Mirror.
He said leaving immediately would have been unfair to his students, particularly those preparing for their A-levels.
“How unfair to my A level students would that have been?” he said. “They are amazing people and that would have been totally letting them down.”
Donald promised to finish the term properly and ensure his Year 13 students were not disadvantaged, while also making sure his Year 12 students were ready for the next stage of their studies.
A Teacher Proud to Represent His Profession
Donald, who has been married to Debs, a nurse, for 33 years, is the father of four children: Kat, 31, Ali, 30, Izzy, 26, and Chris, 22.
He said he had received considerable support from students who knew he was appearing on the programme, although he had not revealed the outcome.
When asked whether his pupils had given him a nickname, he joked that he did not know of one, although he suspected his politics students probably had plenty to say behind his back.
“I am unmercifully teased by my Politics students who think they know my political leanings!” he said.
Donald described himself as “a bit of a democratic socialist” and said he felt particularly proud to have represented teachers and historians on the programme.
“I am deeply conscious of the incredibly distinguished list of previous winners — Eggheads, World Quiz Champions, Mastermind Champion, Brain of Britain, a barrister, a top civil servant…and me!” he said.
“I feel I’m flying the flag for the teaching profession, redbrick universities — I went to Swansea — and historians!”
How He Prepared for the Show
Donald also revealed that he had prepared for the Fastest Finger First round by watching old episodes and practising his responses by “button-pressing in the air”.
After winning the second Fastest Finger First round, he said he was “in the zone immediately”.
There was, however, one unexpected challenge: getting comfortably onto the famous chair.
“I was a bit worried I was going to fall off… because I’ve got quite short legs,” he admitted.
He said his apparent calmness was partly the result of concentrating on staying still and avoiding embarrassing himself on national television.
Donald had originally hoped his parents would be able to watch him in the studio, but the episodes were recorded without a studio audience because of Covid-19. Contestants were also given the option of a double Phone A Friend instead of asking the audience.
His chosen lifelines included his retired pharmacist father, his brother Davyth and another Phone A Friend named Terry.
Donald said his father would have been his choice for questions involving science, medicine and diseases, while Davyth was his general back-up and Terry was reserved for popular culture, sport and celebrity questions.
Donald’s 15 Questions
The questions that took Donald all the way to the £1 million jackpot were:
- £100: In the UK, the abbreviation NHS stands for National “what” Service?
Answer: Health - £200: Which Disney character famously leaves a glass slipper behind at a royal ball?
Answer: Cinderella - £300: What name is given to the revolving belt machinery in an airport that delivers checked luggage from the plane to baggage reclaim?
Answer: Carousel - £500: Which brand was chiefly associated with the manufacture of household locks?
Answer: Chubb - £1,000: The hammer and sickle is one of the most recognisable symbols of which political ideology?
Answer: Communism - £2,000: Which toys have been marketed with the phrase “Robots in Disguise”?
Answer: Transformers - £4,000: What does the word “loquacious” mean?
Answer: Chatty - £8,000: Obstetrics is a branch of medicine particularly concerned with what?
Answer: Childbirth - £16,000: In Doctor Who, what was the signature look of the fourth Doctor, as portrayed by Tom Baker?
Answer: Wide-brimmed hat and extra-long scarf - £32,000: Which religious observance lasts for the shortest period of time during the calendar year?
Answer: Diwali - £64,000: At the closest point, which island group is only 50 miles south-east of the coast of Florida?
Answer: Bahamas - £125,000: Construction of which famous landmark was completed first?
Answer: “Big Ben” Clock Tower - £250,000: Which of these cetaceans is classified as a “toothed whale”?
Answer: Sperm whale - £500,000: Who is the only British politician to have held all four “Great Offices of State” at some point during their career?
Answer: James Callaghan - £1 million: In 1718, which pirate died in battle off the coast of what is now North Carolina?
Answer: Blackbeard
The Previous Millionaire Winners
Donald became the sixth contestant in the UK programme’s history to win the £1 million top prize.
The first was Judith Keppel, who achieved the feat in November 2000 after correctly answering a question about which king was married to Eleanor of Aquitaine. Her answer was Henry II.
David Edwards, a former physics teacher, won the jackpot in April 2001. He later appeared on a winners special with Tara Palmer-Tomkinson and won £32,000 for charity.
Robert Brydges, a former banker, became the next millionaire in September 2001. He reached the final question and used his 50:50 lifeline before securing the seven-figure prize.
Pat Gibson won £1 million in April 2004. He reached the final question with two lifelines still available and used both a 50:50 and Phone A Friend to secure the jackpot.
The most recent winner before Donald was retired civil servant Ingram Wilcox, who won in September 2006 and shared his winnings among his five children. A year after appearing on the show, he moved into a new home in France.
For 14 years, no contestant had managed to match those achievements.
Then Donald Fear took his place in the chair.
Within roughly 20 minutes, the history teacher had gone from Fastest Finger First contestant to the newest UK Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? jackpot winner — and, thanks to a single date in a question about Blackbeard, he barely needed his lifelines to do it.