Musselburgh's Ray Mann on winning £125,000 on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

The Honest Toun’s Ray Mann took home the money during an episode aired on Sunday evening, hosted by Jeremy Clarkson.

Retired taxi driver Ray, who used to work for Central Taxis in Edinburgh, applied to be on the show in September. His episode was filmed in November.

The 68-year-old, who has lived in Musselburgh all his adult life, was inspired to apply after watching Donald Fear win the £1million jackpot last September – the first jackpot winner in 14 years.

Ray had often said to his wife Dot, to whom he has been married for 42 years, that he would like the chance to sit in the famous chair.

Combined with lockdown, retirement and there being “nothing better to do than watch TV”, he decided to give it a go.

After the application process, which included online quizzes and an interview, Ray was told he was one of 36 contestants selected out of 45,000 applicants.

Ray had to keep his appearance a secret, and only his ‘phone a friends’ and immediate family knew.

He did not do much ‘training’ beforehand but did watch old episodes to practise ‘fastest finger first’ – the part of the show where the contestant who answers a question the quickest gets to play the main game.

On the day of filming, Ray was taken to TV studios in Manchester. After breakfast, he and the other contestants practised ‘fastest finger first’ to get used to operating the computer.

Some talks, lunch, make-up and a brief chat with Jeremy, who wished them all well, followed before filming began.

Ray (pictured above), a father-of-three, said: “Dan [the contestant who qualified before him and won £125,000 too] was miles clear of everyone [during the practice sessions] so I was not disappointed he got in first, I knew he’d get through.

“Me and the girl sitting next to me were second and third fastest at answering so it was touch and go as to who would be next.”

Ray forgot to press enter on his computer and submit his answer to the first ‘fastest finger first’ round but, thankfully, answered the second – “put these stages of withdrawing money from an ATM in order” – in 3.44 seconds, just under 0.2 seconds quicker than anyone else.

Ray said that his job as a taxi driver helped him answer the eighth question (see questions right), having once had Julian Fellowes as a passenger.

It was plain sailing until the £32,000 question, when Ray used his first lifeline, phoning his sister Monica for help. Ray’s shock was evident (see picture below) when she answered correctly without hesitation; afterwards, Monica told him she knew the answer from reading a Terry Pratchett novel.

Ray used his three remaining lifelines on the £64,000 question and then declined to answer the £250,000 question: which country shares the longest land border with Germany?

And it was just as well, as he had a hunch it was Poland!

READ MORE: The 13 questions Ray faced - how many can you answer?

Ray told the Courier: “It was a wonderful experience, everyone was lovely and we all had a lovely time. There was a great camaraderie with everyone and we all got on.

“I have a son in South Africa who managed to watch it live.

"It was extremely weird to watch myself back.

“Jeremy is really nice and has quite a dry sense of humour that I like. It is amazing how many people it takes to make that show happen, they all work really hard.”

Ray said he would use some of the winnings to treat himself and Dot to a holiday – a safari in Tanzania and beach holiday in Zanzibar – when Covid restrictions allowed.