London
Three people were found guilty this week of cheating their way to the top prize on Britain’s TV quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Charles Ingram won 1 million pounds ($1.5 million) by correctly answering a series of increasingly difficult questions. He didn’t do it alone, though, the court found. His friend, Tecwen Whittock, also a contestant on the show, helped him identify the correct answers by coughing in code—using 19 different coughs. His wife, Diana Ingram, designed the scheme. The three were given only suspended sentences, but they have to forfeit the prize money and pay about $20,000 each in fines.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Normalising relations with the Taliban in AfghanistanThe Explainer The regime is coming in from the diplomatic cold, as countries lose hope of armed opposition and seek cooperation on counterterrorism, counter-narcotics and deportation of immigrants
-
Best poetry books of 2025The Week Recommends Magnificent collections from Luke Kennard, Leo Boix and Isabelle Baafi
-
‘Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right’ by Laura K. Field and ‘The Dream Factory: London’s First Playhouse and the Making of William Shakespeare’ by Daniel SwiftFeature An insider’s POV on the GOP and the untold story of Shakespeare’s first theater
