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Dial-a-Cab driver Martin Newbolt (D35) was sitting in the 'Who Wants
to be a Millionaire' hot seat, with his dad - and former DaC driver - Dave
alongside him in a special "Parents and Children" edition of the
popular game show. Host Chris Tarrant had asked him the question:
"Which folk hero was the subject of Rossini's last opera?" Looking
at the choice of four answers, neither was sure and plumped for using their
final piece of assistance - a 50:50 split. Martin and Dave then plumped for
William Tell. Silence followed. Seconds that must have felt like minutes,
perhaps even hours... Then the master of how to make a human being sweat, Chris Tarrant, looked at them both, a pained expression on his face that suddenly turned into a smile followed by those magic words: "You have won £64,000!" Nerves vanished to be replaced by huge grins. "We never dreamed we would be successful in even getting on the show," Martin told Call Sign, "let alone winning!" During the show, they had to know that it was Shakespeare who wrote "some men achieve greatness while others have it thrust upon them." That won them £4000. Then they weren't sure what a 'Madeleine' was and had to ask the audience - almost all of whom seemed to know that it was a cake! However, that was enough to take their winnings to £8000. "To be honest," said Martin, "before getting there, we said that 8K was what we'd be happy to walk away with. But |
LUCKY MARTIN WINS
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when you're in that chair, you don't think normally!" They doubled that to 16K when their 'phone-a-friend' correctly identified Sammy McIlroy as having managed the Northern Irish football team The Big Question... |
memorable seconds, William Tell made that £64,000... But one question still remained; do they keep the 64K or go for the really huge amount of £125,000? Chris asks the question: Which flower is sometimes known as the Lentlilly? Dave thinks it's a daffodil while Martin hasn't a clue. Can they afford the risk of Dave being wrong and losing them 32K of their £64,000? They decide to take the £64,000... After presenting the delighted cabbies with their cheque, the necessary blood must still be drawn in the name of entertaining the huge TV audience and the twosome are told that had they taken the risk, they would have won £125,000...! "It was too much of a risk," Martin told Call Sign afterwards. "It was partly a guess and we just couldn't take the chance. But we are delighted with our £32,000 each." With Martin's wife Sandra currently in hospital, there was no better tonic to help her to a speedy recovery. And on behalf of everyone at Call Sign, we only have one thing to add. You couldn't lend us a fiver until Friday...? |
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