Stephen Fry couldn’t answer this ’80s music question on ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’

Sir Stephen Fry took part in a celebrity edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? over the weekend and was stumped on a question about a pop song.

• READ MORE: 13 Quite Interesting Things Learned From Stephen Fry’s Run On QI

The former QI host took away £250,000 for mental health charity Mind on Sunday (January 26).

Reaching the £500,000 question, however, host Jeremy Clarkson asked the following: “Which of these cover songs entered the UK Top 40 the longest time after the original version first charted?”

The options to choose from were ‘Tragedy’ by Steps, ‘Fast Car’ by Jonas Blue & Dakota, ‘Uptown Girl’ by Westlife, or ‘Killing Me Softly’ by The Fugees. The question left Fry stumped.

He said to the host: “Well Jeremy this is not my subject I’m afraid, but I’ve got one friend who might know these things, he’s pretty good on pop music I think and that’s Richard Osman, so we might as well give him a tinkle”.

He called Osman, known for his knowledge of obscure facts as a presenter of the Pointless quiz show, using his Phone A Friend lifeline. Unfortunately, Osman could not provide an answer, and Fry chose to walk away with the £250,000 he has already won rather than risk it.

“The fact is I’m clearly going to have to pack it in here” he said. “But it’s been amazing and so I’ll take the money and run, that’s my final response!”

After bowing out, the answer was then revealed to be Jonas Blue & Dakota’s cover of ‘Fast Car’. Released in 2015, the song reached number two in the UK charts, 27 years after Tracy Chapman’s original which first charted in 1988. The first release peaked at number five in the UK, although it re-entered the charts in 2013, reaching number four.

Steps’ Bee Gees cover, ‘Tragedy’, was released in 1998; while The Fugees’ ‘Killin’ Me Softly’ was released in 1996, a reworking of a Lori Lieberman hit. Westlife’s take on Billie Joel’s classic ‘Uptown Girl’ came out in 2001. All were around 20 years after their previous versions.

Fry’s achievement was the largest celebrity win since the show was relaunched in the UK in 2018. It follows the announcement of his Knighthood in the 2025 New Year’s Honours list, as well as being asked to read The Shipping Forecast to mark the service’s 100th anniversary.

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