David Edwards (born 1947) is a Welsh
physics 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. He competed in both series of ''
Are You an Egghead?'', 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 in 1969, subsequently completing a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at
Keele University. He studied Advanced French as an external student at
Keele University with his wife Viv Edwards. He worked as a physics teacher at
Cheadle High School 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 Colle ...
,
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
, 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'', 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'' champion in 1990, and was awarded the title of