David Edwards (born 1947) is a Welsh

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

teacher, best known as a TV quiz contestant. On 21 April 2001 he became the first man to win the million pounds in the UK version of ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' and only the second person after

Judith Keppel Judith Cynthia Aline Keppel (born 18 August 1942) is a British quiz show contestant who was the first person to win one million pounds on the British television game show ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. She has appeared on the former BBC Two ...

. He competed in both series of ''

Are You an Egghead? ''Are You an Egghead?'' is a BBC quiz show that was presented by Dermot Murnaghan. It is a spin-off from the quiz show '' Eggheads'', with its goal to find a further Egghead to complement the existing team. The first series was aired weekdays f ...

'', reaching the last 16 in 2008, and the final in 2009, where he lost to fellow ''Millionaire'' winner Pat Gibson.

Early career

Born in Barry, Wales, Edwards graduated in Metallurgy from

Swansea University Swansea University ( cy, Prifysgol Abertawe) is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. ...

in 1969, subsequently completing a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at

Keele University Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Keele ...

. He studied Advanced French as an external student at

with his wife Viv Edwards. He worked as a physics teacher at

Cheadle High School The Cheadle Academy (formerly Cheadle High School) is a coeducational secondary school with academy status located in Cheadle, Staffordshire in the Midlands area of England. It has around 790 pupils ranging from Year 7 to 13. The Cheadle A ...

and

Denstone College Denstone College is a mixed, independent, boarding and day school in Denstone, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, England. It is a Woodard School, having been founded by Nathaniel Woodard, and so Christian traditions are practised as part of Colleg ...

, Staffordshire, prior to his appearance on ''Millionaire''.

''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire''

His million pound question was "If you planted the seeds of ''

Quercus robur ''Quercus robur'', commonly known as common oak, pedunculate oak, European oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus. It is widel ...

'', what would grow?" The options were Trees, Flowers, Vegetables and Grain. The correct answer was Trees. He used no lifelines for this question, having used all three on a £125,000 question. The phone-a-friend he used during his run was his son, Richard Edwards, who later won £125,000 on the show in May 2004, and David returned the favour and acted as his son's phone-a-friend.

Other quiz appearances

Edwards was the ''

Mastermind Mastermind, Master Mind or The Mastermind may refer to: Fictional characters * Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde), a fictional supervillain in Marvel Comics, a title also held by his daughters: ** Martinique Jason, the first daughter and successor of th ...

'' champion in 1990, and was awarded the title of Mensa Superbrain in 1985 after winning a newspaper competition.Top Brains of Mensa to compete in Bristol
Mensa, 21 September 2009 Edwards has also participated in a grand final of ''

Fifteen to One ''Fifteen to One'' is a British general knowledge quiz show broadcast on Channel 4. It originally ran from 11 January 1988 to 19 December 2003 and had a reputation for being one of the toughest quizzes on TV. Throughout the show's original run ...

'', and appeared in both series of ''

'', reaching the final of series two but coming second to fellow ''

'' and ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and l ...

'' winner Pat Gibson. He has won the

British Quizzing Championships The British Quiz Championship (BQC), also termed the British Quizzing Championship, is a quiz competition in the United Kingdom. The current competition has been organised since 2004 by Chris Jones' and IQA-CEO Jane Allen's company Quizzing Ltd. ...

for pairs in 2008 and 2010 with his partner Nic Paul. Broadcast on 30 March 2012, he appeared on the quiz show Champions special edition of ''

The Weakest Link ''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host Anne Robinson completed her contract. ...

'', competing against other winners of major UK quiz shows including

Chris Hughes Chris Hughes (born November 26, 1983) is an American entrepreneur and author who co-founded and served as spokesman for the online social directory and networking site Facebook until 2007. He was the publisher and editor-in-chief of ''The New R ...

and fellow WWTBAM winner

. He was voted off in Round 6 with 2 votes. In the 7 September 2016 edition of ''

Make Me an Egghead ''Make Me an Egghead'' is a Television of the United Kingdom, British quiz show on BBC Two presented by Jeremy Vine. It was a spin-off from ''Eggheads (TV series), Eggheads'' with the goal to find two further Eggheads, one male and one female, t ...

'', he lost to Terry Toomey in the final round, despite having two Eggheads to help him to Toomey's one. Edwards had the two strongest eggheads –

Kevin Ashman Kevin Clifford Ashman (born 2 November 1959) is an English quiz player. He is often considered one of the greatest quizzers in the world, and since 2002 has been a professional quizzer; he has been an '' Egghead'' since 2003. He has won most o ...

and Pat Gibson on his side. However, neither could help him on two questions, both of which he got wrong.

International quizzing

Edwards has been a member of the Welsh National Quiz Team since its inception. Since 2008 Edwards has been the Captain of the national side, and in 2010 led Wales to its highest ever finish in the European Championships (4th).

References

External links

How I made a million – The Guardian

David Edwards – Quiz Players
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, David Living people Contestants on British game shows Alumni of Keele University 1947 births