[1] Plaskett was born in Dhekelia, Cyprus, on 18 March 1960[1] and was educated at Bedford Modern School, England.

[5] At the European Junior Chess Championship 1978/79, which was won by John van der Wiel, Plaskett came third with 8 points out of 13 games.

[15][16] He undertook a three-week expedition in search of it in the waters off the Bermudan coast in August 1999, in collaboration with Cliff Stanford of Demon Internet.

[17] After appearing four times at the qualifying stage of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?,[18] Plaskett, who had arrived with fellow grandmaster and friend Stuart Conquest, got into the hot seat on the show broadcast on 21 January 2006.

[20] Plaskett's book on the Ingram affair inspired a stage play by James Graham, called Quiz.