    harold james plaskett (born dhekelia, cyprus, 18 march 1960) was british chess champion in 1990, awarded the international grandmaster title in 1985, and is also a writer, blogger, sometime explorer/cryptozoologist and legal campaigner. married in 1995 to writer fiona pitt-kethley, they have a son, alexander, born 1996, and live in cartagena, spain. ==biography== plaskett was educated at bedford modern school.school of the black and red-a history of bedford modern school, by andrew underwood (1981); reset and updated by peter boon, paul middleton and richard wildman (2010) he has written nine chess books and a quasi-autobiography, coincidences. for some years in the 1990s he was chess columnist at the new statesman. he appeared unsuccessfully several times on who wants to be a millionaire?, and then drew on his experiences to write a defence of contestant charles ingram, who along with two supposed accomplices had been found guilty of cheating to win the Â£1 million top prize. this essay led to an article by bob woffinden in the daily mail of 9 october 2004 â is the coughing major innocent?, and also prompted a reconsideration of the case in the guardian comment is free blog on 17 july 2006 from jon ronson â are the millionaire three innocent?are the millionaire three innocent? guardian.co.uk woffinden and ronson had both been initially sceptical. plaskett may also be heard at episode 29 of the pod delusion podcast being interviewed by political blogger, mark thompson, who was himself led by plaskett's essay to take an interest in the case of the millionaire three. plaskett finally got into the hot seat on a show broadcast on 21 january 2006, becoming the seventh person to reach Â£125,000 without using any of his lifelines en route to winning Â£250,000.charles ingram and 'who wants to be a miilionaire?' he was accompanied
1960_births British_chess_players British_chess_writers British_non-fiction_writers Chess_grandmasters Living_people People_educated_at_Bedford_Modern_School