Monday 27th December 1999

An unemployed father-of-three has become the UK's first TV quiz show millionaire. Ian Woodley, 39, won the prize in a competition on Chris Evans' TFI Friday programme - and promised: "I'm staying unemployed". He beat off six competitors by successfully answering the £1m question: "In the film American Pie, what was the pie made from - cherries or apples?"

Mr Woodley said afterwards that he almost gave the wrong answer because the right one - apples - seemed too obvious. The Charlton Athletic supporter, from Lee, south London, said his first big purchase would be a corporate box at his club's ground, The Valley. He promised to "sort" his children, Greg, 14, Laura, 11, and Michael, eight, - and offered to support his ex-wife if she wanted to give up her job.

The big prize was only the first in a series of Christmas million-pound giveaways. It was followed by a £12.9m rollover jackpot on the National Lottery later on Christmas Eve on BBC One. ITV then weighed in with four editions of its quiz show phenomenon Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - one on Christmas Eve, three on Christmas Day. But the show, hosted by Chris Tarrant, did not follow in TFI Friday's footsteps. It awarded a top prize of £125,000 on Christmas Day. The only show guaranteed to create a millionaire, was Evans's, after running a quiz for several weeks.

Last week, 35-year-old insurance clerk Clare Barwick from Worthing, West Sussex won £1m on Evans's Virgin Radio when she correctly answered that writer George Eliot, and not TS Eliot, was really a woman.

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I stand corrected, I was going by Cris Tarrant's claim that they were the first to give £1m.

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