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One of the only winners of the full seven-figure jackpot prize in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire's 25 year history has quietly given away his fortune, we can reveal.

Donald Fear, 61, became only the sixth contestant to win the big prize on the hugely popular ITV quiz show in 2020.

But he only kept a fraction of his winnings - enough to fund a modest retirement - and gave away £700,000 of his million-pound windfall to family and friends.

And Mr Fear even forgot to buy his wife anything at all from his winnings - except a £30 pair of walking boots.

He told MailOnline: 'Giving the money away was the best thing that happened.'

And incredibly he only went on the show after his brother won the penultimate stage the year before on the show: Davyth Fear took home £500,000 in 2019, a win that inspired Donald to apply too - only to go one better.

Former history and politics teacher Mr Fear now spends his days playing table tennis and snooker as well as competing in two local pub quizzes a week and looking after his beloved grandchildren.

He remains the only British contestant to have won using just one lifeline - the 50:50.

He is also the only player who conquered the quiz show with Jeremy Clarkson as host, with Judith Keppel, David Edwards, Robert Brydges, Pat Gibson and Ingram Wilcox all taking home the million pounds while Chris Tarrant was presenting. Former Army Major Charles Ingram also won but was later found to have cheated.

After his win he decided to keep just enough of the prize money to allow him to retire from teaching after 33 years and purchase a motorhome for him and his wife Debs, 60, to take on holidays.

Mr Fear and his wife, who have been married for 37 years, said they never thought about leaving their home in the Shropshire countryside which they bought for £47,000 back in 1993.

Mr Fear gave £110,000 to each of his four children and divided a further £160,000 between his parents, his brother, his two sisters as well as his wife's mother and two siblings.

Mrs Fear, a former teacher and nurse who retired last year, jokes that she was only ever treated to a £30 pair of boots - and even paid for the couple's new kitchen with her own money.

Speaking alongside his wife at their home in the sleepy Shropshire hamlet of Admanston, Mr Fear told MailOnline: 'The win will have its knock on legacy for a couple of generations to come hopefully.'

Mrs Fear, added: 'It hasn't really been life-changing as people would think because he decided to help the family so much which was lovely… I think we've got quite simple tastes really. We don't go for big flashy things.

'That was the nice thing - that everyone benefitted. I don't think I could have been happy if we had lots and lots of money and members of our family didn't. We all benefitted.

'The other thing that was nice was people were genuinely pleased for us and were saying it couldn't have happened to nicer people. And that was just lovely to hear that from lots of people.'

Mr Fear, who was born in Bristol before moving to Wales and then Shropshire, continued: 'It struck me afterwards that the one person that didn't get anything was [my wife] because it just didn't occur to me! As far as I was concerned it was our money.

His wife, whom he married on August 8 1987, joked: 'I think you bought me a pair of boots! £30 boots I got!'

Mr Fear replied: 'You'd think I'd have got you a car or something… I'm very lucky not to be divorced as a result of that I think.'

The couple have, however, enjoyed trips to France and Spain in their £53,000 motor home, which proudly sits in their driveway. After Mr Fear won the show, they celebrated by taking the caravan down to Whitley Bay, North Tyneside.

His wife joked: 'It was already booked anyway!'

Reflecting on life after teaching, he added: 'I love retirement, I can waste time for England me. I've joined the Rotary Club, I play league table tennis, I play snooker a couple of times a week, I do a couple pubs quizzes, it's an amazing social life, it's great. And of course, the grandchildren have all come along since.'

The Fears have also been attending Slimming World at their local community centre - but Mr Fear confessed that he's 'giving up because it's a waste of time!'.

The father-of-four won Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in July 2020 with no audience due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The final question he answered correctly was: 'In 1718, which pirate died in battle off the coast of what is now North Carolina?' He said he knew the answer – Blackbeard – before the options even

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