Charles Ingram
English fraudster (born 1963)
Why this is trending
Interest in “Charles Ingram” spiked on Wikipedia on 2026-07-20.
Categorised under People, this article fits a familiar pattern. wt.cat.people.1
By monitoring millions of daily Wikipedia page views, GlyphSignal helps you spot cultural moments as they happen and understand the stories behind the numbers.
Key Takeaways
- Charles William Ingram (born 6 August 1963) is a British convicted fraudster and a former major in the British Army who gained fame for his appearance on the ITV television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
- Following a lengthy trial at Southwark Crown Court, Ingram was convicted on a single count of procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception.
- Early life Charles William Ingram was born on 6 August 1963 in Shardlow, Derbyshire, the son of John Ingram, a retired Royal Air Force (RAF) wing commander, and his wife, Susan, a theatre set designer.
- Ingram's parents divorced when he was young, and he spent most of his education years boarding privately at Oswestry School in Oswestry, Shropshire.
- He went on to obtain a BSc in civil engineering from Kingston University.
Source note: This page combines GlyphSignal analysis with attributed reference material from Wikipedia. GlyphSignal adds trend context, traffic history, categorization, and editorial interpretation. See how we build these pages.
Source summary
WikipediaCharles William Ingram (born 6 August 1963) is a British convicted fraudster and a former major in the British Army who gained fame for his appearance on the ITV television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Across two episodes recorded in September 2001, Ingram correctly answered 15 questions to win the show's maximum prize of £1 million, becoming the third recorded contestant ever to do so; however, he was denied the winnings due to suspicion of cheating and was subsequently arrested.
Following a lengthy trial at Southwark Crown Court, Ingram was convicted on a single count of procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception. He was subsequently convicted of an unrelated offence involving insurance fraud in 2003 and ordered to resign his commission as a major by the Army Board.
Charles William Ingram was born on 6 August 1963 in Shardlow, Derbyshire, the son of John Ingram, a retired Royal Air Force (RAF) wing commander, and his wife, Susan, a theatre set designer. His father's Wellington bomber, operating with 103 Squadron from RAF Elsham Wolds, had been shot down in late September 1941; he was taken as a prisoner of war while two of his crew were killed.
Content sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0
