Tributes have been paid to a “brilliant” former head teacher whose passion for general knowledge led him to feature on The Chase quiz show just a month before he died.
Tim McCarthy, from Tyldesley, Greater Manchester, died in July following a long illness and is due to appear on the hit ITV gameshow at 17:00 BST.
“He never told us who won so we can’t wait to see what happened,” his friend Stuart Keane said.
The 64-year-old’s widow Rachel McCarthy added: “He was so excited when he was selected for the show even though he was very ill.”
Mrs McCarthy said the day of its airing was “going to be very difficult but it was part of his bucket list”.
She revealed her husband knew he had only months to live when he went on the show.
“He was the most clever man I ever knew,” she said.
Mr Keane added: “He was brilliant friend with a brilliant mind.”
Warrington-born Mr McCarthy was a precocious student embarking on a physics degree at the University of Manchester, from which he graduated at the early age of 19.
The former principal of Stockport Academy went on to launch a string of other academies across the UK, Dubai and India as the founding chief executive of Aurora Academies Trust.
The trust was set up in 2012 after the Conservative government of the time allowed private not-for -profit organisations and charities to run schools or found new schools outside local authority control, with the help of government money.
The charismatic teacher once made headlines for betting that his pupils would score improved GCSE results, and then sharing his winnings in a celebration for colleagues and students.
The idea saw Mr McCarthy, who also paid for his honeymoon in Venice in 1994 by placing a bet on a horse, win £1,000 when he was deputy head of Avondale High School in Stockport in 2000.
The father-of-three said at the time: “The idea of the bet was just tongue-in-cheek to start with but it became a real motivating force for the children.
“They really put a big effort into their exams.”
Family and friends will be packing Mr McCarthy’s local pub The Colliers to watch this evening’s episode of The Chase on the screens normally reserved for football matches.
“I’ve posted on Facebook that this will be a celebration of his life,” Mrs McCarthy said.
