History teacher becomes first Who Wants to be a Millionaire winner in 14 years

In just 20 minutes, Donald Fear won Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Photo / Supplied

It's been 14 years since the last Who Wants to be a Millionaire winner and one Englishman has done it in just 20 minutes.

Donald Fear, a teacher, answered each question without any signs of hesitation and still had three lifelines by the time he reached the last question.

The £1 million question was: In 1718, which pirate died in battle off the coast of what is now North Carolina?

To host Jeremy Clarkson's surprise, Fear had taught piracy one year as a special unit and was very good with dates.

With no hesitation, Fear answered correctly, meaning he had just won in just 20 minutes, which is thought the be a record time.

The Daily Mail said Fear planned to give at least 70 per cent of the winnings to his family and spend the rest on retirement.

Donald Fear's older brother Davyth Fear had won £500,000 on Who Wants to be a Millionaire last year. Photo / Supplied

Fear's win came 12 months after his brother appeared on the show and walked away with £500,000.

"The first thing I spotted was that there was a date in there ... then a microsecond later I saw that it was 1718," he said. "Then synapses went, 'That's got to be Blackbeard'. That was the only thing it could be. I'm a dates man," Fear said.

After his win, the teacher handed in his notice as head of history. He will see the school term out and then start his early retirement.

"I'm not going to be a millionaire for very long because I'm giving loads of it away," he said.

Fear, a father of four and a grandfather, used his 50/50 lifeline for one of the questions.

Fear told the Daily Mail he was fortunate to know all the questions, he said out of all 15 questions, he only had to think about two.

The last winner was back in 2006, when retired civil servant Ingram Wilcox won the jackpot.

As Fear's brother had been on the show one year earlier, his plan was to go "one step further than his brother".

Overall, only five contestants have won the jackpot in the UK version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? The first was back in 2000.