Patrick Gibson (born 19 July 1961) is an Irish quizzer. On 24 April 2004 he became the fourth contestant to win the £1m jackpot on the quiz show ''

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 ...

''. He is a multiple world champion in quizzing and one of the world's most successful quiz players. He is best known for winning several quiz shows and being a panellist on '' Eggheads''. He was born, raised and educated in Ireland but currently lives in the United Kingdom and competes as part of the England quiz team. As of 5 December 2018, Gibson is currently the No. 1 ranked quizzer in the world.

Early life and education

Pat was born in

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...

in 1961. He moved to

Letterkenny Letterkenny ( ga, Leitir Ceanainn , meaning 'hillside of the O'Cannons'), nicknamed 'the Cathedral Town', is the largest and most populous town in County Donegal, a county in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. Letterkenny lies on the R ...

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconn ...

in the early 1970s. He was educated at Scoil Colmcille and

St Eunan's College St Eunan's College ( ; ga, Coláiste Adhamhnáin), known locally as The College to distinguish it from the cathedral and GAA club, is a voluntary Roman Catholic all-male secondary day school (and former boarding school) in County Donegal, Ire ...

in Letterkenny. Pat holds an engineering degree from

University College Galway The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...

. He emigrated to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in the 1980s, where he trained as a COBOL computer programmer.

TV quiz shows

''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''

On his one million pound question, he still had his 50:50 and phone a friend (he had used the Ask-the-Audience lifeline on the £64,000 question). The question was "Which of these is not one of the American Triple Crown horse races?" Gibson used the 50:50 first, where B. "Belmont Stakes" and D. "Preakness Stakes" disappeared. With A. "Arlington Million" and C. "Kentucky Derby", he then used his phone-a-friend option, phoning Mark Kerr (a highly ranked British quiz player and winner of TV's "Brainiest Estate Agent" title, as well as winner of £250,000 on ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'') who said he was 90% sure the answer was Arlington Million, which was Pat's original instinct. Gibson had acted as Kerr's phone-a-friend during his appearance on the show during the same series (15), broadcast weeks before Gibson's success. He correctly answered "Arlington Million" to win £1 million.

''Mastermind''

In 2005 he was crowned champion of ''

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 ...

'': his specialist subjects included ''

Father Ted ''Father Ted'' is a sitcom created by Irish writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews and produced by British production company Hat Trick Productions for Channel 4. It aired over three series from 21 April 1995 until 1 May 1998, including ...

'', the books of Iain M. Banks and the films of

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensembl ...

. On 6 August 2010 he was crowned

Mastermind Champion of Champions Mastermind Champion of Champions is a pair of special series of BBC quiz program Mastermind Mastermind, Master Mind or The Mastermind may refer to: Fictional characters * Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde), a fictional supervillain in Marvel Comics, a ...

with a winning score of 36 points with no passes.

Jesse Honey Jesse Honey (born 1977) is an English urban planner and quiz player from South London, best known for winning the ''Mastermind'' series 2010 and holding one of its records, becoming a member of the English National quiz team l ...

also scored 36 but had 2 passes.

''Brain of Britain''

On 25 December 2006 he won the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

quiz show ''

Brain of Britain ''Brain of Britain'' is a BBC radio general knowledge quiz, broadcast on BBC Radio 4. History It began as a slot in ''What Do You Know?'' in 1953. The main part of the show was the "Brain of Britain" quiz itself, originally called "Ask Me An ...

'', becoming only the fourth person after Roger Pritchard,

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

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 ...

to win both that and ''Mastermind''. In 2008 he finished third in

's Brain of Brains, behind Egghead

and the eventual winner, 2008 World Quizzing Champion

Mark Bytheway Mark Bytheway (22 July 1963 – 9 July 2010) was an England International Quiz player best known for becoming Quizzing World Champion in 2008 and winning the ''Top Brain'' competition of Brain of Britain. Brain of Britain I ...

''Eggheads'' and ''Are You an Egghead?''

Gibson competed in both the first and second 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 ...

'', a series seeking a new panellist to join the resident team on the BBC Two / 12 Yard quiz show '' Eggheads''. In the first series, he was beaten in the quarter-finals by friend Mark Kerr. He returned for the second series in 2009, and won the final broadcast on 23 November 2009, beating fellow ''

'' and ''

'' winner David Edwards and thereby claiming a place on the Eggheads team.

National and international quizzing championships

He has amassed 25 international medals (7 gold, 11 silver and 7 bronze), the second highest total ever (behind

with 27) and is ranked the second strongest player in the World/Europe.International Quizzing Association, Rankings
/ref> In 2007 Gibson won the IQA

World Quizzing Championship The World Quizzing Championships is an individual quiz contest organised by the International Quizzing Association (the umbrella organisation of various quizzing organisations from more than 25 countries around the world). The competition has bee ...

. In pairs competitions he partners

Ian Bayley __NOTOC__ Ian Bayley is a British quiz player who has won several medals in quizzing, both in singles and as a member of a team. He won the European Championships three times straight from 2007 to 2009 with " ...

and they have won the British and European titles. In 2010 Gibson won the IQA

achieving an all-time high score of 180/210, defeating both

and Belgian

Ronny Swiggers Ronny Swiggers (born 1961 in Belgium) from Mechelen is one of Belgium's most successful quiz players. In November 2013 he became European Quizzing Champion, winning the individual competition at the European C ...

who tied at 169/210. Gibson retained the

title in 2011 with a score of 186/210, a 10-point margin over

, and won again in 2013 with a score of 172/210. Despite being originally from Ireland, Gibson competes for the England team.

Domestic competition

Pat plays in the Summer in the Orrell and District League for the Millstone team, and in the winter in the Ormskirk league for Collywobblers.

References

External links

World Quizzing Championships 2010

Interview with Pat Gibson
on the Norwegian Quiz Association website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Pat 1963 births Living people Alumni of the University of Galway Contestants on British game shows IQA team event gold medalists Irish expatriates in England People educated at St Eunan's College People from Letterkenny People from Galway (city)