Biography
Generally known in the chess world as 'Jim', he has written nine chess books and also one quasi-autobiographical one, 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 £1 million top prize.
This essay led to an article by Bob Woffinden in The Daily Mail of 9 October 2004 – 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 – Are the Millionaire three innocent? 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 hotseat on 21 January 2006, becoming the seventh person to reach £125,000 without using any of his lifelines en route to winning £250,000. He was accompanied by friend and fellow Grandmaster Stuart Conquest.
He also organised and led a 1999 National Geographic expedition to Bermuda to follow up reports of "Octopus giganteus" near the island, but was unsuccessful in filming it.
Plaskett's brother, Allan, invented the snickometer device which is used globally to assist in umpiring decisions in cricket.
Read more about this topic: James Plaskett
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man’s life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.”
—James Boswell (1740–95)
“The death of Irving, which at any other time would have attracted universal attention, having occurred while these things were transpiring, went almost unobserved. I shall have to read of it in the biography of authors.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“As we approached the log house,... the projecting ends of the logs lapping over each other irregularly several feet at the corners gave it a very rich and picturesque look, far removed from the meanness of weather-boards. It was a very spacious, low building, about eighty feet long, with many large apartments ... a style of architecture not described by Vitruvius, I suspect, though possibly hinted at in the biography of Orpheus.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)